Chapter One. What do you mean, Chat?

Marinette Dupain-Cheng felt bad for all the trees that she killed on nights like these. Shortly after her graduation from fashion school in the spring, she accepted a lucrative internship with Gabriel Agreste. It had been four long months of fetching coffee and dry-cleaning and whatever else her demanding and reclusive boss wanted. Finally though - finally - she was able to come in handy in a pinch when one of the designers missed a critical piece of a runway design right before it was supposed to go on. With her skillful hands (and a little bit of Tikki's encouragement), she was able to fix it, impressing Mr. Agreste so much that he asked for her portfolio by the end of the week.

"Uuuuuugh, Tikki!" Marinette complained, resting her forehead on her desk. "This isn't going to do at all! Mr. Agreste will just laugh at me!"

Crumpled balls of paper and rejected designs cluttered the usually organized desk of her studio. The twenty-three-year-old had moved out of the small room above her family bakery with the money she saved up working through school. Her apartment was a real shoebox, but it had room for a bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette/sitting room, and a spare room that she had taken over as her design studio.

The little red kwami flew out of her little blanket nest on the stool next to Marinette's chair to hug her chosen one on the cheek, giving her a sweet kiss as well. "What are you talking about, Marinette?" she chimed in her upbeat, high-pitched voice. "Just do your best, and I'm sure Mr. Agreste will love it! Remember all that work you put into the Eiffel Tower glasses and album cover for Jagged Stone? He loved it too!"

"Oh, Tikki, that was years ago!" Marinette groaned. "Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a fashion designer."

"I don't know about that," a familiar voice said from the window.

Marinette jolted up, spinning around so quickly that she fell off her chair, falling sprawled out on the floor. "Chat?" she said a little weakly, her face flaming.

The leather-clad superhero grinned in a very Cheshire way from his perch on the window sill before hopping down to help her up. Her hands tingled from the touch. Adrien would always tug her heartstrings, but Chat Noir had wormed his way in there over the years. He was more than just a flirt or goofball; he was also brave, loyal, and always ready to back her up, as Ladybug or as Marinette.

She wished she could tell him that she was both, but their identities just had to stay a secret. It didn't matter how much it hurt her to accomplish that. She had a duty to Paris and Tikki, not to mention Master Fu. Still, she remembered the afternoon she first really saw Chat.

Ladybug and Chat Noir had just saved Paris again from another Akuma, and it came at the cost of Marinette being late to her mother Sabine's birthday dinner. She de-transformed quickly after battle and was so distracted running back that she didn't even notice a taxi barrelling down towards her as she crossed the street.

"Watch out!" a familiar voice said before she felt an arm wrap around her midsection and yank her out of the path of traffic. She looked up, and the sunlight hit Chat Noir just right to make his mischievous green eyes light up. It took her breath away.

They landed on the other side of the street, and he set her down gently as some bystanders clapped. "Are you okay, Purr-incess?" he asked with some concern.

Even his lame pun didn't stop her hammering heart. "U-uh, yeah. I mean, yes. Thank - thank you!" she said, blushing.

"Let me take you home," he said. She let him, and they talked the whole way. Well, he mostly told lame puns, but still.

He came to check in on her that night, and then kept coming back every week since. They'd been friends for almost seven years, but she still didn't have the courage to tell him who she was… or that she was in love with him.

"You seem different tonight, is everything okay?" she asked, setting down a cup of tea in front of him as he reclined back on the futon she had put in the studio. Sometimes she stayed up so late working, she couldn't make it back to her bedroom.

"Mari, these are amazing," he said, avoiding her question as he looked at her designs. "Fa- uh, Mr. Agreste is really going to love these."

She smiled a little at his words. "Thanks, that means a lot. I worked hard on those."

"I can tell. Whoever gets to wear these will be a lucky model."

"Well, that's if he decides to manufacture them," she shrugged. "Even then, it's his son Adrien, and I'm sure he doesn't care where the clothes come from."

"That's not true!" he said so forcefully that she looked at him in surprise. His green eyes got wider and his ears flattened out in embarrassment. "I mean… I can't see how he wouldn't care," he said with bravado. "You're amazing, Princess."

She laughed. "Hey, you never answered my question!" she protested. "What's wrong with you?"

His smile fell quickly. "Oh, right, about that…"

"Yeah?"

"I can't see you anymore after tonight," he said softly, looking away. "This has to be the last time."

Her heart dropped into her stomach. "What do you mean, Chat?"

"I'm getting married, Mari."

"You're… you're…" she stammered.

He put a hand to the back of his head, scratching it uncomfortably. "At least, my civilian self is, and…" his cheeks were very evidently red. "I can't go into that marriage without being fair to my wife… and being fair means that I can't be, uh… distracted… by us."

Her face was flaming. Could it be that Chat had feelings for her? But he was getting married?

"Say something," he begged her.

He was right. They couldn't do this anymore.

"You need to go," she said, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Mari?"

"Go!" she shouted, her eyebrows furrowing. "You're right; we can't do this! So just go!" She stood suddenly, shoving him towards the window. "Leave!"

He could see that she was fighting tears, but her small hands were balled up in fists. He didn't want to make any worse. So he hopped up on the window ledge and disappeared into the night.

Marinette sank to the floor, full-body sobs erupting from her. Tikki flew out of her hiding spot again to bury herself in her Miraculous holder's hair. "Oh, Marinette."

"I'll be okay, Tikki," she sniffed, tears still falling freely from her eyes. "I just didn't know it would hurt this much."