prompt: I was reading Heartstrings on Ao3 and I fell in love and wanted to write something too!
pairing: Marinette | Chat Noir
notes: Lately I've been so infatuated with Miraculous Ladybug that I need to get something out of me, so I hope this first fanfic goes over well and everyone in the fandom enjoys it.

There was something about today that made Marinette want to sleep. Maybe it was the cold dreary, sad looking sky, or the fact that she had just finished up her last final before the winter break. Either way her entire body ached, and her brain felt worn out more, thinking of anything remotely interesting became a burden.

Snow was in the forecast for the next week, and she wondered if her super hero suit would be enough to keep her warm. Maybe adding a hat or scarf? Mittens? Did she even have knitting needles? She would have to ask her mother, she was usually pretty good at finding things if she wasn't working in the bakery. Her father on the other hand, good at baking and that was about it.

Speaking of feeling cold, her fingers were freezing. The temperature in Paris had been dropping quickly over the last couple of weeks. Marinette could have swarm it was summer just yesterday, wearing her bikini on the beach, her skin burning instead of tanning like at intended. Thinking about that day made her cheeks flare up with heat.

She had seen Adrien the day after turning into a lobster, he had laughed at her.Laughed! She had never felt so embarrassed to be near him–granted she always felt embarrassed around him. Still she missed the summer and fighting Hawkmoth's akumas with Chat Noir. During the winter the villian wasn't as active, in fact, he almost seemed preoccupied. Was he taking finals too?

Marinette breathed into her hands, warming them as best she could. "Good job, idiot, you forgot your gloves at home and your jacket is hardly warm. For fashion, right?" She laughed mockingly at herself, but cursed inwardly at her forgetfulness.

Her home was still twelve blocks away and the air wasn't getting any warmer, even the sun was hiding away any hope she might have for a reprieve from the weather.

Her mood went from tired to frustrated the moment she felt a familiar stare on the back of her neck. It was flirtatious, full of desire and something darker. Lust? She was never quite sure with him, but his staring always had a query to them, as though he were constantly questioning what she was doing even if she wasn't doing anything at all. Just like right now.

"Chat Noir." Monotone, just how she wanted to sound.

"My lady." He purred, smooth as the cheshire cat come to life.

Leaning against the wall of some bad deli shop, that kind of smelled oddly like dog food at times, was the mischievous black cat himself. Green eyes the only bright thing she had seen all day, other than Adrien's, but that was everyday.

He was fidgeting with his tail, swaying it side to side, eyes not straying anywhere else but to her. She felt like he was trying to pry her open, like a new hardcover book that needed its spine broken in.

Marinette quirks a brow, hating him for a millisecond until he smiles and it does something to her that makes her uncomfortable. "What do you want, kitty?" She tried her best to be teasing, and sarcastic, but the hands that were gripping around her heart weren't allowing her to do much.

Lately her super hero partner had been making her inside churn in unfamiliar ways. If she were Ladybug right now, he couldn't do this to her, he couldn't look at her with those smoldering eyes and stupid perfect smile that made her melt.

But why did it have to be him?

If it were Adrien, she'd be all for it. But he didn't know her, he didn't know she existed if she wasn't scrambling for words in front of him. But it was Chat Noir, the masked boy she had been partnering with to fight crime since she had gotten her miraculous stone and her kwami Tikki. Marinette had no idea who was behind that black mask, broad shouldered, piercing gaze, oh god she was rambling. He did that to her too.

Dropping his tail, he walked towards her, offering his hand to place hers in. Marinette knew better and she wasn't about to let him play his games, so her hands remained at her sides cold and clenched.

"I am here to save you, my lady." His confidence made her want to walk away, and she considered it for a moment.

"From what?" If anything she needed to be saved from his presence.

His eyes held an unspoken question, like he was raising a brow she couldn't see. "You're cold?" Rhetorical as always.

"Is it obvious?" She mocked, continuing. "Listen, Chat, I need to go home, I have last minute things I need to get done for the bakery. There's this order and–"

He cut her off by pressing he gloved black finger to her lips, his sharp claw glinting in the dull light of the deli. "It'll only be for a moment. It's a gift." He was smiling now, a cat-like grin that put her on the edge.

Marinette wasn't buying it. "A gift? From you? Really?" Chat never gave her anything, other than a few flirtatious grins and bold advances, that was it.

"Really. Will you do me a favor and close those eyes, though, honestly, I don't know if I want them to be closed. I won't be able to stare into their beauty." She was sure his brow were waggling under his mask.

"Cut it out, kitty, and get on with it." Honestly it was getting too cold to be standing outside anymore, she was afraid that he fingers might freeze and fall off by the time she got home.

"Anything for my dear Marinette. Close your eyes, please." And she did, though the moment she had she felt vulnerable, her senses on high alert, and him being so close to her..so close…was he wearing cologne?

"Hands out." His voice sounded near, almost in her ear, and it made the hairs on her neck stand up, but she obliged him, sticking her hands out, nervous as to what he was going to place there. The thought of a dead mouse crossed her mind and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Something funny?" He asked, still closer than she would have liked.

Marinette stifled her laugh, putting on her clean composure she wanted to maintain in front of him. "No, nothing at all. Are you done yet?" She was getting impatient and the weather wasn't being kind.

Then there was warmth. A fuzzy warmth, like the slippers she had back home, only better than that. Maybe he had given her a mouse, a really fluffy, warm mouse.

"Y-You didn't give me an animal did you?" She needed her suspicions answered, because if he was taking this whole cat persona thing too far…

Her answer was a full bellied laugh, something she really hadn't heard from him before, it sounded awfully familiar but she couldn't place it. All she knew was that her stomach was in knots and butterflies were begging to be set free while her heard jumped into her throat. Maybe she'd make it home without losing any fingers because her own temperature was raising. Or was it getting hot out?

She could get used to this laugh.

"You can open your eyes, Princess." He said, further away now, and she felt a heavy weight lift off her.

She opened them, and on her hands was not an animal but a pair of gloves. Chat Noir had somehow slipped them smoothly onto her hands without fuss, honestly she found that impressive. But the gloves they were better than some trick he could do.

They were red, not a bright red, but a subtle red than made her feel calm when looking at it. Inside was lined with soft brown fur, that radiated warmth, as if it were a space heater around her hands. They were simple, yet unique solely because he picked them out. But honestly, Chat Noir, in a department store, shopping? The thought made her giggle.

"Do you like them?" In her pondering she hadn't looked at the super hero, but when she looked up to face those emerald eyes he was flushing, wide eyed, and staring. Not staring like he had before with blatant desire, and familiarity. But with wonderment, curiosity, and enjoyment. There was a sparkle in his eyes that she never wanted to look away from. But she feared if she kept looking back at him she'd do something stupid, not regretful, no, she'd never regret it, and that scared her.

He was waiting for an answer, she realized, looking away, suddenly embarrassed to be getting a gift from him. "I, uhm, yeah, it's great. Th-thank you!" Could she be anymore awkward? God, she wanted to die.

Suddenly he couldn't look at her, in fact, he had drawn away from her, put his hand in front of his face. But she saw through him, to the tiny of red on his cheeks and the way he kept adverting his eyes so to not look at her no matter how prying she got.

"Chat?" She asked, ignoring the gift and focusing all her attention on his interesting mannerism right now.

He put up a hand to stop her from getting any closer. "Please, you were just so-so adorable right then. It made me think about something." He had backed himself into a mental corner now, there was no way out from her questioning gaze.

"Think about what?" She was genuinely curious now but she didn't know if she wanted the answer.

There was a long pause that felt like forever, but the space between them seemed to close even though they were still so apart.

"Kissing you." He finally spoke, forward as ever.

The cold winter weather wasn't a problem anymore, no, never again would it be a problem if he were around. She'd think of this moment; him looking at her with his hands moving away from his face, where she could see the serious expression he was giving her. If any part of her thought he was joking it was wrong, because the way he was looking at her, looking into her entire being as if searching for what she truly wanted, made her entire being tense up. She wanted him, right there, next to the smelly deli, with his thoughtful gift on her hands, and a burning sensation in her gut.

"I have to go," she said bluntly, turned and started to walk away. If she was here any longer she'd do it, she'd kiss Chat Noir.

Marinette kept walking because if she turned back to so that sad look she knew would be on that cat's face she'd go back to him. Then there was no turning back. But there was that sensation of his stare on her back, he was watching her go, he was watching her eave without answering his feelings. It made her feel terrible, because deep down she wanted to answer them, but he was her partner, he didn't know it, and if she went to him, it would complicate everything.

Still, that feeling made her stop in her tracks, and she looked down at the gloves he had given her, like he knew exactly what she needed, she like he always knew exactly where she was at a given moment. Knew he favorite cafe treat, her favorite designer, and favorite flower. All because he had bothered to ask. These past few months of getting to know Chat Noir as Marinette and not as Ladybug, were something magical.

What was a little complication, her whole life was complicated.

"Kitty!" She raced towards him the moment she had turned on her heels and he was walking away, but he turned just like she knew he would.

The distance was closed and they looked down at each other, knowing exactly what the other wanted in that moment. The air around them was warm, and sparking with unanswered energy.

"Thank you for the gloves." Marinette brought them to her face, hiding the red in her cheeks.

"You're welcome, Marinette." The way he said her name made her feel as though she had known him her entire life. It came easy off his tongue, like he had said it a thousand times when he usually called her Princess or my lady.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she leaned up, her lips brushed against his, light, like a feather's kiss, and lingering for a few beats of her heart before going back down to flat feet and wondering if her whole body had turned into lava. She was pretty sure she was melting into a puddle at his feet. Man were his lips soft. Had they always been that soft? Ladybug hadn't thought they were soft when she had to break the spell of Dark Cupid a while back. No, she hadn't been paying attention then, there was so much adrenaline then, it was to save him. Now, as Marinette, it was because she liked him. She liked Chat Noir. Maybe even more than Adrien. She'd admit it to herself, but never to him.

Chat Noir was in a daze, and the only thing to snap him out of it was the beep coming from his ring, signaling how much time he had left in his transformation. Marinette, knowing fully what it meant, still looked up at him, a question in her eyes.

He shook his head, returning back to his regular cheshire self. "I guess I have something to thank you for as well, my lady. That was the best gift of all, so I thank you, from the bottom of my heart." She could tell he was straining himself, his knees were just as wobbly as hers were, in fact, her entire body was jell-o. With that kiss she had done something to him, maybe he was feeling what she was feeling.

Reaching now for her hand Chat took it into his, bringing it to his lips for a few tantalizing moments before letting it go with a reluctance she hadn't seen before. Did he not want to go? Before she sure didn't.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said, standing straight now.

"You will?" How funny he thought this, she couldn't help but smirk.

"Well, I'd like to continue where you left off, my lady." He turned then, readying himself for the leap onto the building rooftop just as another beep sounded from his ring. "Farewell!" He winked, knowing full well that would set her off.

"Ugh! You will not be seeing me tomorrow, Chat Noir!" She was fuming watching him hop from roof to roof, surely smiling as he did.

Marinette pressed her hands to her face, ready to scream into them, but the gloves calmed her down. There softness reminded her of that look he had given her earlier. There were mutual feelings there, she knew that much, there was no way there wasn't. Still, looking at her gloves made her heart do flip-flops that made her uncomfortable. These feelings were going to be her demise, and she didn't think she'd mind falling.

"Stupid kitty," she mumbled into her new gift and walked home smiling.