Chapter 34

We made a silent agreement to move up to her bed as the chaise grew increasingly uncomfortable. There, we ate cookies and talked and cuddled until we fell asleep.

Marinette's POV

I woke up snuggled in this cocoon of warmth.

It felt so nice and I really didn't want to move, but I knew I needed to get a move on for school. I'm always thinking I have time when I don't and end up being late, and it can't be any different this time.

But it is.

If I was late or missed my alarm, Tikki would've been telling me to wake up. Even if there was something important happening, she would've alerted me so I was aware of everything that was happening.

I slowly cracked one eye open and, surprised that light wasn't blaring through my window, blinked them both open. A smile made its way onto my face when I saw Chat cuddling up to me. He had a big smile on his face too, even in the midst of sleep. The worries that I knew he had and tried to hide from me seemed to disappear when he slept, which I was grateful for.

What I wasn't grateful for was how his mind worked.

He thought so little of himself, which just tore at my heart. He is great and strong and kind and just...amazing. He should be treated like such so he's the happiest person on the planet. He deserves it for what he does for everyone else.

And everything his father has done should be erased and replaced with happy memories. His dad should realize how perfect his son truly is and treat him like that. Even if he wasn't nearly as good a person, he should still be treated like a human being.

I hate that he can't see that. And that he has been through such horrors that he thinks he's only worth leaving. That's unacceptable! And I'm going to do everything in my power, and some things that may not be, to make him see how great he is and how it's not okay that he has adapted to being love deprived.

I'll call in the big guns if I have to.

A sudden muffled ringing brought me out of my plotting. I twisted awkwardly to feel for my phone that's somewhere in the sheets next to me and keep contact with Chat at the same time.

He seemed to have similar feelings because he tightened his grip on me and groaned.

It brought a smile to my face and made me momentarily forget about my mission to find my phone. Another set of ringing cleared up the blissful fog in my brain and gave me that push to reach just a little bit farther to grab onto my phone.

I quickly scooped it up in my hand, registering that I had an hour before I had to worry about school, and quickly swiped the screen to accept the call from my best friend.

I barely got out a "hello" before loud squealing came through the phone, causing me to pull it back from my ear. Chat seemed to have heard it too, from the way his face scrunched up and how he buried his face in my stomach.

I was grinning like a fool when I brought the now-silent phone close enough to hear the fangirling going on on the other side.

"-like seriously. I never realized how human he is. Do you realise how lucky you are?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Girl, are you even listening to me?"

"Of course, Alya."

"Okay, then what was I saying about Ladybug and Chat Noir's relationship? Hmm?"

"They're perfect for each other" I replied absentmindedly.

"Yeah, okay, girl. Now, can you actually listen to me? I have something important to talk to you about."

I immediately snapped to attention, taking my focus from the boyfriend curled against me.

"What's wrong?"

"We should totally go on a double date!" Alya proposed gleefully.

I rolled my eyes, relaxing once again. But my eyes soon grew to the size of moons.

"You and Nino are dating?" I questioned into the phone. Though a bit too loudly, if Chat's sleepy eyes blinking open to reveal glittering emeralds was anything to go by. His lips pulled into a lazy smile and I smiled back, forgetting once again about my best friend on the line.

"Well, um...we might have gone on a date or two…"

My friend's admission sent me into a fit of squealing that rivalled her earlier one. Those two are perfect for each other and I said as much.

"Okay," she answered. "But can we get back to the other thing? A double date? You, me, Nino, and Chat-freaking-Noir."

I went to answer, but was interrupted by my boyfriend cuddling closer to me and nuzzling me with his nose. As if that wasn't enough to be absolutely adorable, he began to purr as he tried to get closer to me.

"Purrincess…"

My lips didn't need anything from me to begin smiling like a fool.

"Chat…"

"Purrincess, what-" insert yawn here "-are you doing up so early?"

One of his hands came up to rub his eye, but quickly made its way to wrap itself around me and pull me closer to its owner. One of mine made its way to his hair and gently made its way through its strands, which prompted more purring from my kitty.

"Alya called me to talk," I answered quietly.

"Mmm…"

His eyes were closed again and he looked like he was going back to the peacefulness of sleep. It made this bubble of joy for me that he trusted me enough to let down all those barriers that prevented him from being in this state of bliss.

I heard Alya clear her throat over the line and it snapped be back from my musings, just in time to hear her giggles.

"Girl, is he there with you?"

"No?" I responded, fully aware that it sounded nothing like an answer, but completely like a question.

"Sure, Marinette. Sure. I'll just wait until I see you next to talk about this whole staying the night thing. But ask him about the double date!"

I didn't want to think about how the next time I saw my friend it was going to be torture. I just wanted to get off the phone and enjoy the time I had with my boyfriend.

"I-I'm not sure, Alya. Unless we have it here, there'd be people everywhere. And I don't even know if he would want to go in the first place."

I looked to Chat to guess what his answer would be, but I paused when I noticed that he was obviously tuned into the conversation.

My lips pulled into a small smile at the look of concentration on his face.

"Okay, Alya. I'll let you know what he says. Bye-"

"Now! I want to know the answer in the next two minutes. And I swear, if you hang up on me-"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, Alya. You'll annoy me into oblivion. I get it. Bye." And I hung up.

Not two seconds go by before my phone goes off. Alya.

I'll give you two minutes before I start spamming your phone for an answer.

I snorted. How considerate of her.

"What's so funny, Princess?"

I looked down at my amazing

He brightened when he saw my focus was on him, quickly becoming his normal, talkative self. His expression dimmed a little at the topic of the conversation, but the light was still very much there.

"It would be my pleasure to go on a double date, Mari. I just don't know how to do it without drawing too much attention or revealing my identity. I mean, I may be ready to tell you who I am, but I don't think-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I interjected before he got too far into freaking out. I dropped the phone and sat up, so I could have this conversation face-to-face. "I totally get it. Don't worry about telling anyone who you are under the mask until you are ready. No one who deserves to know you will pressure you into it, anyway."

The look in his face melted the little part that hadn't been previously.

"How do I deserve you?" he asked, seemingly to himself.

My smile matched his as I responded. "How do I deserve you?"

"Well, that's easy. You're my Purrincess!" he enthusiastically replied.

"And you're my kitty."

We were just smiling like idiots at each other, full of joy when my phone sounded again. Chat picked it up, answered it, and tapped the speaker button so we could both participate in the conversation this time. When nothing happened, he tapped it again. And again. And again. He quickly became agitated and practically assaulted my phone to try to turn the speaker on.

I gently took it from his fingers and used my gloveless hands to switch the feature on. Alya's voice filtered through the air, not doing much to help my kitty's spoiled mood.

I reached out a hand to rub his shoulder

"So? What's the verdict?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but was shocked when it was Chat that responded.

"Yes. The only condition is that we need to wait a little bit, so I can find a way to disguise who I am. And take Marinette out on our first date, of course."

I couldn't hear Alya's reaction to him agreeing, though I could imagine it involved some form of screaming or shouting.

What my mind was stuck on was that Chat was going to take me on a date. Sure, it was probably assumed from the fact that we were dating, but still. We hadn't really talked about it and the way he said it, that we would do that before going on the double date…

Alya has very little patience. She wouldn't be okay waiting long.

So I was going to be going on a date with my boyfriend, Chat Noir, very soon.

Okay, I think y'all know what's about to happen.

I'm sorry all of you had to wait this long for an update. I have valid reasons for the beginning (I went on vacation and had zero wifi, so I couldn't even write anything to update later, unless it was on my phone, which I just can't stand with spellcheck and the stupid keyboard and ugh), but then it just faded into my body protesting against sleep deprivation and insisting I fall asleep as soon as I got home from school. Then, school ended, I had to deal with my transfer for next year, and it all just turned into pure laziness and lack of inspiration.

I was doing MariChat May and was on a roll until vacation (again, lack of wifi), then just couldn't bring myself to get back into it. "Summer Brain", as I call it, hit me full force and I just slept the day away, staying up late at night to do meaningless things.

I'll admit, I was writing a bit on personal, completely one-hundred percent original stories, since I had some inspiration and just wanted to get it down or at least do some editing and feel like I was accomplishing something in the time I was supposed to be doing summer work.

But then I fell out of that, too. I have no idea what I've done in the past couple weeks and it's kind depressing.

On a more positive note, I'm rereading this story to get back in the groove of things. I'm absolutely not going to be saying anything related to time, other than this obviously, but I'll be getting those requests up (some of them are already done and I've just been waiting to be in the right mindset to review them and make sure they're ready to post), working on MariChat May, and getting back to updating this.

Again, I'm sorry for such a long wait. I'll be doing my best to be better.

And...yeah. Let me know what you think, if you want. It brightens my day and melts my heart. The reviews I got while I was boarding myself up in my room made me act like a fangirl whose OTP just got together.

Put simply, in complete and utter joy.

And until next time, au revoir.