Stumblin' Like My Heart

Chat had been coming around the bakery for months now, or more specifically, to the girl's room situated above it. His original excuse had been that he'd been using her roof as a spring board to another roof, and that he totally hadn't mean to knock over her favorite plant in the process. She'd seen right through that though, somehow he must have heard about her horrible day and was checking in on her for any chance of an akuma making it's appearance.

If only he'd known.

Regardless of his true reason, somehow their meetings had become a common occurrence. A promise of another time had turned into multiple times a week until they were making plans to meet in her room. Sometimes it was right after patrol, and she'd have to use every short cut she knew to make it back before him. Other times it was much later, and she'd worry that perhaps he wasn't going to show.

Those were the nights where he'd come in and curl against her, and she'd pretend she didn't see the sheen of tears in his eyes as she simply held him as tightly as she could.

All of those meetings had led to this moment, though, had led to now.

Or more specifically, had led to a certain boy smiling at her as if she was his whole world, had led to her heart skipping a beat when he gave her that look she'd come to adore so much. The look that made her almost miss a landing while she was Ladybug.

She'd denied her feelings for weeks when it first happened, trying to explain away her new penchant for stuttering around her favorite kitty. The fact that she'd been able to speak to Adrien without a problem didn't a mean a thing, it was nothing. She tried to reassure herself that she didn't like Chat. How could she? He was a pun loving dork who never took anything seriously. Whose flirting could definitely not be trusted.

That's what she tried to tell herself, as least. The key word being tried.

She wasn't quite sure what made her suddenly act on her traitorous feelings. What triggered her to do what she did. Was it the bright smile he sent her when she showed him her newest designs, one of which was inspire by the cat himself? Or maybe it was the way he inched closer to her as she turned to face her computer, one of his arms sneaking its way around her shoulders to rest on the other side of her.

All she was certain of was that one moment, she was perfectly capable, perfectly normal Marinette who was completely able to maintain a certain distance from her partner. And then the next her hand was tangling in his hair, angling his face down towards hers and locking their lips.

She didn't know what she was expecting, honestly. Maybe for him to kiss her back, or pull her closer? Perhaps even push her away and say that he was sorry, but he didn't feel for her 'like that'. He'd be blushing and nervous or so incredibly smug by her kiss that it would drive her crazy. But he did none of those things, in fact, she'd say he hadn't reacted at all if not for what happened next.

Her silly, flirtatious, always-ready-with-a-horrible-pun kitty fell back against her wall! The sound of his form hitting it echoed through the room, but he didn't seem to notice. He slid down the wall without any sign of trying to stop his descent, his eyes hazy, face bleeding red.

If she didn't know any better, she'd say the cat was swooning.

"Chat?" she asked hesitantly, standing from her desk chair and leaning over him. "Are you alright?"

it took a moment for the boy to respond, eyes blinking slowly as he took in his surroundings. Finally, he showed a sign of life, a goofy smile she'd never seen before growing on his face.

"You kissed me." he breathed out, hand raising shakily from his side to grasp hers. She allowed it, intertwining their fingers.

"Yes, I did." she replied simply, still trying to gather her wits. He seemed happy, the boy had swooned, right? But if he was so happy then why hadn't he done anything?

She readied herself to bring up the subject and get some answers when he sighed happily, leaning forward to rest against her.

"That was wonderful."

His tone was so light and content that she couldn't help it, she giggled. Those giggles became full fledged laughter at his confused expression, his face was simply too precious.

"What?" he asked, and she had to bite her lip to hold down another fit of laughter.

"Nothing." she forced herself to say. "I just didn't expect that reaction, is all."

He blushed brightly, but tried to play it off by winking and giving her his patented 'Chat Noir' grin. As if she'd fall for that now.

"What can I say princess?" he spoke, and she tensed, knowing what followed that tone. "I'm head over paws for you."

"That wasn't even a pun." she said flatly, relaxing. She released his hand and moved back to her desk, deciding now was a good time to go back to what she'd been doing before she started all of this. She ignored how he unsteadily followed her, there was no way he'd just stumbled, was there?

"Purrhaps I was too blinded by your beauty to think of one?"

She rolled her eyes at his flirting and sighed. She glanced back at him and gave him a tiny smile.

"Good to know your fall didn't scramble your brain, for a second I was worried." she joked, and he laughed.

"Of course not, purrincess." he came closer to her and placed his hands on either side of her, gripping the desk as he leaned over her. She turned in his arms, waiting for him to speak again. He was practically oozing confidence, back to perfect form.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked, "I didn't really pawticipate last time."

she smiled,ignoring his awful pun; wrapping her arms around his neck and brushing her nose against his flirtatiously.

"Promise you'll keep yourself standing this time?" she questioned, and he nodded slightly. His eyes glanced down at her lips before coming up to meet her gaze once more. When his nod only made her quirk an eyebrow, he spoke.

"Cat's honor."

She giggled and rested her forehead against his, and he took that as his cue. He angled his head just as she angled hers, and leaned down, their lips brushing ever so softly-

And then Marinette had to use every bit of her strength to keep her heavy cat from falling on top of her and onto her desk, his eyes just as hazy as the first time.

'Well,' she thought as she cooed at the boy resting in her arms, 'We'll work on it.'

A/N: Thank you for reading! I love Marichat but I didn't really have time to do any drabbles or actual stories surrounding them, as I've been too busy with life and my other projects on here. However I did have time to write this little thing out, so I hope you enjoyed it!