Your Imprint on Me

Marinette heard the doorbell from her room upstairs, and rushed down to open the door before her parents. With a shout of "I get it!", she stopped her mother from leaving the kitchen, but her father was so engrossed with his game of UMS III that he didn't even hear the door at the first place.

She turned the doorknob and opened the door, and a shouted "Joyeux Noël!" was thrown at her direction before she had an armful of Alya clinging to her neck. She returned the hug with a grin, and said Joyeux Noel back to Adrien and Nino, who were looking at them with amusement.

"Alya, let go!" She tugged at her teasingly, only to make her grip tighter.

"Noooo… it's been so long since we've seen each other, girl. I missed you!"

"It's only been three days!"

"That's three days too long." Alya bemoaned dramatically, and Marinette shook her off with a laugh.

"Welcome, guys. Why don't you come inside?"

They followed in, wishing Merry Christmas to her father, who had paused the game to greet them, and her mother, who gave each one a mug of hot chocolate and a dish of warm cookies. They made their way to Marinette's room (which was currently free of its characteristic posters of a certain person) and sat down on her chaise and in chairs.

"Okay, have you brought your presents with you?"

Nino grabbed his bag and brought out two presents, one perfectly wrapped up and the other one… well, it was a mess. There was way too much tape in some points, and paper was sticking in all directions, barely hiding what was inside. He then gave Adrien the neatly wrapped up one.

"Adrien and I have ours. What about you?"

Alya took her present from her bag, while Marinette opened a drawer and grabbed hers. The four of them had their presents on their laps, and looked at one another with unrepressed kid-like joy.

"Okay, so who begins?" Adrien asked.

"Well, it would be rude if we don't start with our guest, wouldn't it?" Alya elbowed Marinette. "Then we can continue with the receiver until we finish."

"But what if a pair got each other?"

Alya shrugged it off. "We'll decide then if it happens. Now Marinette! Who's your secret Santa for?"

"It's for Nino." She smiled at him and handed him her present. "I hope you like it!"

"Thanks, Marinette! I'm sure I will!"

He tore the light pink wrapping paper quickly, eager to see what was inside. Then he found a blank CD, and a knitted blue scarf. She saw him eyeing the CD with curiosity, and explained herself.

"Some days ago, Bèrnard Renau came to our patisserie with an urgent delivery, and we managed to cover it up in time. He was very thankful, and said he would give us anything in thanks, so I asked for this. It's the installation software for the DJ mixer program they use at Radio Paris, with the licence and all."

Nino'd goggled when he heard Bèrnard's name, and his eyes shifted from the CD to Marinette as her tale went on, not believing just what was on his hands. He opened his mouth, but only a tiny screech came out of it.

"Do you like it?" she asked, her shoulders rising a tiny bit.

"DUDE!" He sprung to his feet and lifted Marinette from his seat, twirling her around. "You've become my best friend from now on. Sorry, Adrien."

He shook his head, but there was a grin in his face. "I'm hurt, Nino, but I get it. It was an awesome gift, after all."

"HEY!" Alya exclaimed from her seat, "Marinette is my best friend. Already taken. Now give your present already."

Nino proceeded to sit down, enveloping the CD lovingly with the scarf and placing it delicately in his bag. Then, he picked up his present and gave it to Adrien, who accepted it with anticipation. His fingers got a bit stuck in the tape, but he managed to tear the wrapping paper. It was a CD with some of his mixes and three "Nathalie gives me permission to skip my obligations to hang out with my dude" tickets. Adrien stared at them with wonder, and Nino shrugged.

"It was a pain to deal with her, and I was aiming for five instead, but that was all I could manage. They have Nathalie's signature in them, so she can't say they're fake."

"So, whenever I use this I'll be able to skip my extracurricular classes to hang out with you?" Nino nodded. "Sorry, Marinette, but I want my best friend back."

She shook her head fondly. "All yours."

The four of them laughed. Adrien then gave his present to Alya, who meticulously unstuck the wrapping paper instead of tearing it apart. She got an extra memory card for her videos of the two Parisian superheroes, and a Ladybug phone case signed by the superhero herself - Marinette still remembered amusedly when she signed it four days ago. Alya's squeal could be hear downstairs.

Then, Alya gave Marinette her present. It was some sewing materials Marinette had been moaning about for weeks, and a black sweater. She unfolded it, curious, just to crack up laughing.

"What is it?"

Marinette turned the sweater around to show them. In big, white bold letters, it was written 'I'm a cat.' in the chest area. Marinette snorted again, noticing the hood, and showed them it had cat ears on them.

"Marinette's such a fangirl of Chat Noir," Alya began explaining, and Adrien's attention picked up at that. Marinette was a fan? "she's always defending him when we discuss which one of the superhero duo is better, so when I saw this online, I just had to buy it."

"All of this for a joke, Alya?"

"Come on! You have as many good things to say about Chat Noir as me about Ladybug. That's an impressive feat."

"True." She chuckled and threw her arms around her. "Thanks, Alya, I loved it all, although I might tweak a little bit the sweater."

She patted her on the back. "I knew you would."

They proceeded to play some games in her computer, and while Marinette waited for her turn, she began fixing the sweater. Once she finished, she put it on, not really surprised that Alya had gotten her measures perfectly, and put the hoodie on, feeling the ears on them move slightly.

"Guys, how does it look?"

They paused the game and turned around, and Adrien felt how the air left his lungs, probably to never return. Marinette stood, her fingers tugging at one of the sleeves self-consciously. The hood rested on her head softly, the cloth ears a bit droopy, but what caught his attention was his mark. Marinette had sewn a bright green pawprint beside the word cat, and no matter what he did, his eyes were always drawn to it.

Marinette was draped up in a Chat Noir themed sweater, and Adrien had to do his best to stop himself from doing something he would regret later.

(Maybe he wouldn't regret it so much, now that he thought about it.)

Nino and Alya flooded her with praises, Alya even posting one picture of her in the Ladyblog (Adrien won't confirm nor deny that he downloaded the picture later, and left a comment signed as CN. Alya called all of them to shout about it afterwards), while he only managed a half-assed "It looks good on you, Marinette." while he tried desperately not to growl possessively.

This was the beginning of the end of Adrien Agreste's sanity.

Because it didn't end that day, oh no. Marinette began bringing Chat Noir things with herself at class or when they met. She got a green paw sticker for her phone, and a badge on her bag. She sometimes did her pigtails with black ribbons instead of red ones, which had two tiny gold bells on them, and every time she moved, he could hear them twinkling slightly, drawing his attention back to her again and again.

And the days she wore the sweater were the worst. Every time he saw her clad in black, with his mark on her chest, he felt the urge to envelop her with his arms and hiss at anyone else who was looking at her.

He knew he was being strange – heck, even himself didn't understand what was going on with himself – and his friends had started to notice. Marinette had started to notice it. How could she not, if he stared way too much at her Chat Noir's based stuff.

At first, she'd looked as confused as Nino and Alya, and a bit self-conscious. He feared that, after all that progress their friendship had done, his odd behaviour would throw her off and return to the stutter, awkward girl of before, which, even though it had been cute, he preferred the friendship they had a hundred times better.

(Some part of his brain, the one that begged him to drop all pretensions of normalcy and just tackle her to the floor, snorted at that thought, saying he wanted way more of what they had at the moment. He ignored it, as always.)

But it didn't happen. Marinette went from being confused to thoughtful, and then acted as if nothing was going on altogether. That was the day she began bringing more Chat Noir themed objects; scarves, phone cases, pens, her tablet protector, you name it; but just one at a time, almost as if she was daring him to find his mark on her every day.

Adrien began feeling anticipation every morning when he got at class, wondering where he'd find his mark that day. His eyes never left the door until she came in, and then looked at her up and down, trying to desperately find it. And once he did, his eyes lingered on the object, and he felt hot and bothered under his skin.

He tried with all his might not to follow her with his gaze, waving at her and stuttering a good morning when she walked by his side, and she regarded him with a sweet smile. Sometimes, her fingers bumped into his skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps behind. And then he would feel her gaze on him at class, and it took all his concentration not to turn around. He maybe did once or twice, and was met with red cheeks for being caught. It was an adorable sight.

But sometimes, it was more hidden, and he had to spend the whole day looking for it. Those were the worst days, because his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her at her every movement, until he found his mark. One time it had been a bracelet, then a toe bracelet – just where did she keep getting all that stuff? – and one time it was his mark perfectly drawn on the inside of her wrist with a sharpie.

That day he almost lost it.

It affected him when he was Chat too. When he was on a solo patrol, he'd taken a liking to pass by near her home. She sometimes liked to stay out sketching in her terrace, and every time she did, she was wearing that sweater. The first time he'd seen it, he'd tripped and fallen, avoiding face-planting after a 20 m drop just because of his cat-like instincts. Then, he'd stay for a while, unable to leave.

Sometimes, Marinette noticed, and he was able to tease her for wearing his mark, enjoying the redness that it brought to her cheeks.

Adrien couldn't help but feel they both were in a game of the cat and the mouse, and despite being Chat Noir, he was pretty sure he was the mouse in here. It was in those knowing looks she threw at him when she thought he wasn't looking, or how she seemed to hide the mark better and better every day that passed, just to discretely showing him where it was if he wasn't able to find it by the end of the day.

Also, that little game helped them to know each other better. He began hanging out more with her, sometimes alone, sometimes with their best friends, and he was floored on how much he learnt about her. How passionate she was for everything important to her. How compassionate, that even though she hated Chloe's guts, she still tried to treat her nicely. How courageous and fiery, helping her classmates to leave the room in an Akuma attack, putting herself in harm's way to protect them.

After all this time, falling for her had been the natural step to take.

However, finally realising your feelings didn't mean the torture of finding his signature on her would be tamer. His stares lingered some more, his touch stayed on her one second longer, and he began finding some more time to spend with her.

But then, that day came. It was a cold morning of April. Adrien had just arrived to the Collège, and was making his way to the room, when he heard his name be called. He turned around, and the air got out of his lungs at the sight before him. There it was Marinette, wearing that sweater, and she had the hood on, so the ears perked up on her head. Her legs were clad in a very tight black leggings, letting show how fit she really was, and she was wearing black sturdy combat boots.

It was like seeing his Chat Noir costume on her.

He didn't think – couldn't think – when he grabbed her arm and cornered her against the wall, his arms resting on the wall. The hood on her head had fallen, and she looked at him startled. He was panting slightly, looking at her with an intensity that made her shudder from head to toe. As realisation downed on him, that intensity quickly began leaving him, but Marinette didn't let him backtrack.

"Four months and 14 days. I'm surprised at your resilience, Chaton, considering how you reacted when you saw the sweater for the first time."

His brain short-circuited at that. He looked at her with wide eyes, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, but no sound came out of it.

Marinette continued. "I even thought I had you when I drew the paw in my wrist, but you resisted somehow."

"Wh-wha…?"

She looked at him dead in the eye, but there was a soft smile on her lips. "I know who you are, Chaton. At first I was a bit confused by how bothered you looked when I wore something Chat Noir related, but then everything clicked, and I spent an entire afternoon kicking myself for not noticing earlier. I'm supposed to know my partner, so how come I hadn't noticed it earlier?"

Chaton. Partner.

"M-my Lady?"

She nodded. He left out a whiff of air and buried his head on her shoulder, his heart beating wildly in his chest. The realisation that his partner was his gutsy friend came with a whiplash, but somehow, he didn't find it strange at all. After all, he didn't know anyone more Ladybug than Marinette.

"You've driven me crazy, Mari," he muttered against her, making her giggle.

"Sorry, but it was so funny. I've never pegged you as a possessive guy, Adrien."

"Me neither, but seeing my mark on you was too much for me to handle." He raised his head again. "I love how red and pink looks in you, but you look ravishing in black and green, Princess." he purred the last part, and was satisfied to see the colour flooding her cheeks.

"T-thanks."

He smirked. "Just saying the truth."

She avoided his eyes. "By the way, sorry for keeping the fact that I'd discovered your identity to myself to tease you. Tikki kept scolding me for it."

"Don't worry, I enjoyed the show very much. And if it's of any consolation, Plagg would've prompted you to do it."

"Yes, I would," came a muffled reply from his shirt, and a black head peeked out of it. "It was too fun to see him all bothered and tense, although I could've been fine with less swoo-"

"Plagg, you keep talking and you won't have camembert tonight."

He stopped and narrowed his big eyes at his chosen. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

Plagg chose to shut up, hiding again in his shirt. He grinned at her, his green eyes twinkling when he saw amusement in hers. "Where were we?"

Suddenly, they heard Alya's and Nino's voices.

"Mari, Adrien, are you- wow." Alya stopped herself once she noticed the position they were both in.

They didn't stop looking at each other when Marinette answered. "We're going in a tick, Alya, don't worry."

"Yep, just one second."

"Oookay." Nino replied, dragging a frozen Alya from the arm. Some seconds later, they could hear the reporter shouting a 'Finally' that echoed in the hall, and both couldn't help but snicker at it.

"Well, Princess, there's a lot we need to talk about, but we have to go to class. Maybe we could meet afterwards?"

She nodded. "We could go to my room, if you wish."

He hummed "Oh? Wanting some alone time with me, my Lady?"

"What? Oh. OH!" realisation dawned on her, and her eyes widened as saucers. "I didn't mean- I mean- well, if you want- wait, no! What I meant to say is that we need privacy to talk about this stuff, but l-later…" she began mumbling there, but what she tried to say was clear in his mind.

Feeling his heart beat wildly in his chest, he reached for her chin and lift her face, meeting her in the eye. "I'd love to go to your room to talk about this, and…" he stopped himself, feeling his cheeks heating up "and I'd love the later too. If you want."

"Yes." She replied immediately.

"Good."

They stayed silent some more, just gazing at each other.

"You know Alya's going to ask questions once we get to the room, right?"

A smirk found his way to his face as he answered. "Well, then we need something to tell her, right?"

He closed the gap between them and captured her lips, just as he'd been dying to do since late December. He felt her breath hitch, but she answered eagerly, welcoming his lips with the warmth so characteristic of her. He felt her hands in his hair and he groaned against her lips, his mouth opening slightly, and she took her chance to deepen the kiss, nibbling at his lips.

His hands left the cold wall to encircle her waist, bringing her closer to him. She arched in his touch, and soon, her whole body was flushed against him in a way that even their superhero counterparts had never been, despite being both so touchy feely.

They broke the kiss, both panting for air. He rested his forehead in hers, and saw her closing her eyes with a soft smile. She then opened them again and met his.

"Later?" she asked.

"Later," he promised.

Breaking apart, they smiled at each other, and Adrien offered her his hand.

"Shall we go, my Lady?"

She intertwined their fingers together. "We shall, Chaton."

They walked together inside, ignoring the hoots, and cries of disbelief coming from their classmates.

If you're wondering just how Adrien got Ladybug to sign up that phone case, after an Akuma battle, he'd made up an excuse to leave as soon as possible, then hid in a dark alley, turned into Adrien and ran again to the scene, hoping Ladybug still was around. He caught her attention as she was about to leave, and asked for her signature.

And yes, I have that 'I'm a cat.' sweater. Wearing it rn.