Chat Noir was his only scrape at freedom. This heroic cat in glittering onyx being everything he wanted.

Something other than himself.

The rain hit hard against his body as he ran into it. The winds blew at incredible speeds with an angled course. The storm was hard-he knew it would be, everyone was sent home early due to the forecast warning.

But being Chat Noir made him invincible. Not even a storm could break him. Physically, he was strong. Physically, he was good-looking, and while humble, he did recognize his blessings.

Physically, he had money. Physically, he had talent.

And emotionally, he was falling apart.

He leaned against some wall. It didn't matter to what building. It hardly mattered that the canopy beside him shielded the bullets of water. He only rubbed his palms on his face. The shadow of the argument he just had rang loudly, repeating; hammering its way into his thoughts. Sometimes he wanted to vanish. Sometimes he wanted to be Chat Noir forever-not Adrien Agreste.

Plagg must have found him pathetic right now.

"Chat Noir?"

Her faint shout caused his ear to twitch. He perked up to the side, squinting in this Godforsaken rainstorm even with enhanced vision. A broken umbrella and two drenched pigtails came into focus.

Marinette?

He saw her place a hand to her mouth, as if she was coughing into it. She began to approach him, continuing her yelling.

"What's wrong? Why are you out in this storm?"

Then he could see her perfectly. Not only was she out in such horrendous weather, the girl was wearing nothing short of capri jeans and a t-shirt. He felt his heart pound watching every little shiver she gave off.

"What about you? You're soaking wet, Princess!" Chat's hands reached to her face. Her lips were concerningly blue.

"I got trapped somewhere." Marinette's eyes drew to the side. "But since you're right outside of my house, why don't you wait for me on my balcony?"

"No, you should get yourself looked at first."

She pinched his nose. He winced.

"You're just as cold as I am, stupid cat!" She let him go after a few tiny wiggles. "Anyway, standing out here isn't going to make anything better. I'm heading inside-I better see you upstairs!"

And then she ran past him into a blurry light. Marinette wasn't wrong; they were literally outside of her house.

… That made him smirk. It was like his feet led him there on intention.

Placing his silhouette out of sight, he proceeded in stealth up to where his princess ordered him.

The wait was probably no more than fifteen minutes, Chat curled up beside Marinette's window. A knock tapped twice, quiet enough to get his attention and nobody else's. He turned to a window opening and Marinette with a towel around her neck.

"Come on in-but try and keep it down. My parents are still awake."

A grin stretched on his face, "Are you sure it's a good paw-purr-sition inviting me in so late, Princess?"

She grabbed his arm and started pulling him inside. "Not if you make puns all night."

He slid the rest of his way in, chuckling. "How purr-suasive of-" a large towel dropped around his shoulders. Suddenly his head was being grabbed by both sides and leading him across the room somewhere. He was sat on her umbrella bed. Marinette took the towel and vigorously rubbed his golden locks into dry submission.

"Princess, a cat's fur is sensitive!"

"Sorry, the blowdryer is downstairs. My parents won't understand me grabbing it a second time. This is the warmest I have."

But her grip still felt uneasy. He lifted his greens to look at her. Chat's hand dropped on her wrist.

"Your skin is like ice."

After a pause, she drew that hand back. "Well, yeah, I was trapped out in the pouring rain. Warmth doesn't come easy after that."

It was her signature. Whenever something was wrong, Marinette always put on that awkward smile of reassurance. She gave him one last dry session around his shoulders and neck, dropping the towel and turning on her heel.

"You can do the rest. I have some other things here for you."

Other things? And then his eyes widened. A trey of two cute mugs, a small plate of shortbread squares and a thick folded blanket were in Marinette's grasp. She kneeled before him, placing the tray down and wrapping the blanket around Chat.

"Princess, I can't stay-"

"Just for a little while. If you can spare a walk in this weather I'm sure you can spend a couple of minutes with me. Hopefully my company isn't worse than the storm…"

She handed him a mug. The scent of hot cocoa wafted into his nose, and he savored the smell. Marinette's house really was the best-the food never dropped in perfect quality.

And then she plopped beside him, holding her own mug. He watched her drink, taking in her appearance out of worry. She had changed, but only into yoga pants, a baggy T and cute pink polka-dotted slippers.

She must have been freezing, but the polka-dots did get him; a faint smile tugged on his lips.

He took a sip and breathed in the environment, in fact he had been in here once before, and last time Adrien remembered, the room was stylish and cute, with all of the pink and unique design of-

He stopped, eyes wide.

When did all these pictures of him get in there?

It took some work pulling him out of what baffled him. Finally he could ask, "Are you… a fan of Adrien Agreste?"

He heard a choke. Chat turned to his princess. Seriously? It was true?

"Right, I forget these are all over here." She snorted a little, wiping her mouth and suddenly turning a bit pink. "Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"N-No, not at all. Actually, it's kind of normal for girls your age but… why him?"

He thought they were on the same level. Granted, Adrien was a famous model and Marinette was an aspiring stylist, (and brilliantly gifted at that), but the first day they met she appeared to hate him. Following afterwards, she acted almost scared.

Adrien thought he had screwed everything up.

Well, some things started to fall into place.

Only now he started to feel hurt. Adrien thought Marinette wasn't the same, trying to get to him because of his connections or fascinated by his fame and looks. He considered her the first real friend he made. Somehow, seeing all of this made him the opposite of flattered.

She went quiet, staring at her mug as if thinking hard. "You have to swear to not tell anyone. You'll be the second person I tell-"

"-and don't laugh."

His chest tightened with anticipation. This was Marinette's privacy-he felt he shouldn't barge in. After all, he was Adrien Agreste, and if there was something she wanted to hide from him, well…

… But the curiosity was murdering. So was the pain of it all. He feared a bit that she really did only feel for him what every other girl did-obsession. Like she didn't see him for him.

That would be why he'd push.

"Promise."

She bit her lip, eyes darting about and suddenly stuttering a bit. "I-It's not much of 'I'm his biggest fan' type deal, well, not to say I'm not his biggest fan, I mean, I am, look at my room, but, uh…" She hid in her shoulders, a small nervous smile showing, "... I have a huge crush on him. Like, huge. Massive."

"Crush?" His ears twitched. A crush? On him? And all of this time he thought he was the opposite? It almost seemed unreal hearing it from Marinette herself.

"Yeah-big time, but it wasn't always like that. I actually kind of didn't like him at first."

There it was. At least he was right about one thing. It wasn't like he didn't know what happened, but he now was inclined to ask. "What happened?"

"Well," she sighed, "There's this girl in my class, Chloe Bourgeois? You probably know her, she's the loudest one at school." A hint of annoyance rose on her face; she rolled her eyes. "Chloe, ever since I met her, had selected me as her target to mess with for several years. I've been placed in the same class as her for all of those, and it turned out, after my day was already going horribly, that there she was! Sitting in my classroom. Again."

She threw her hands up, making faces along with the story. He chuckled at the animation, and let her proceed.

"She had been bragging about how Adrien Agreste and her were best friends," used with air quotes, "but I had never even heard of him. When Alya told me he was this famous model, I hoped to everything that he was at least nothing like her-but then I found him putting gum on my seat."

He winced at that. Adrien thought he had properly explained, but maybe it hadn't fully gotten through? Though Marinette wouldn't have a crush on him after that, would she?

"Sounds rough."

"Yeah, but I was wrong." Another sigh. "I don't know what happened-maybe I was just stressed out and done with the treatment and being pushed around, but I didn't let him get a word in when Adrien tried to defend himself. I still mentally slap myself for that every once in awhile..."

He watched as she hung her head, feeling the guilt just by looking. Chat rubbed his neck. "Then what changed?"

Unconsciously and with a blink towards him, Marinette mirrored him by rubbing her own and blushed a smidge, "... I had forgotten an umbrella. It was raining outside, and he approached me. It was odd how we were the last ones out-almost as if he had waited on purpose. But even though I lashed out at him, Adrien apologized."

Marinette coughed a couple of times. Chat turned, remembering their time in the rain. Maybe it hadn't had just been his imagination?

"Even though I was the one who got mad, Adrien still said sorry and properly explained himself. Then he gave me his umbrella and left." She curled up, a small smile on her face. "I believed him that time. Then after that I just kind of started stuttering around him, running away when we'd even make eye contact. When I try talking to him, all of my words fall out like pretzels and uhg it's a nightmare."

… This was… interesting.

Adrien couldn't place the feeling dominating his brain now; or maybe it was a bunch of feelings. All that came to mind was one thing:

Oh.

He was sure there was at least a semblance of a blush on him. There was relief because of the confirmation that she did see him as another person. There was understanding because of Marinette filling in all of the blanks,

and then there was Adrien's heart pounding like a construction drill with scattered, nameless emotions whirling about.

His vision felt clouded, almost like he was embraced with Marinette's very being. His eyes dropped to her shivering arms. So that was it.

So that was it.

His arm glided behind her, pulling the girl into his neck swiftly, the blanket falling about her side. Marinette stopped. She could feel the outpouring of sentiment and endearment with just Chat's single touch. A feeling of concern sparked in her. She craned up at him.

"Chat, are you okay?"

He thought about the argument with his father-those useless thoughts almost taking him over earlier. Adrien Agreste worthless? Wishing he was someone else other than himself? No. Both Adrien and Chat were him.

He wrapped his arm around her, squeezing gently. "You're shivering. I'm making you warm."

She could tell it was more. Unbeknownst to him, Marinette was always spending time with Chat. She wanted to pry from the moment she saw him standing outside in such a heavy storm. She bit down on her lip, battling whether or not the question was appropriate.

"Chat Noir, uh…"

Then his eyes opened. "Sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?"

The answer to that was a bit hard. On one end, she was uncomfortable. On the other end, she was uncomfortable because the embrace felt nice. Marinette buried her head into the crook of his neck. "You're such a cat…" and then gently flicked his nose.

He giggled, and Marinette lit up at that. Good. When they were out in the rain he seemed so…

So…

"Chat, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, Princess."

"What were you doing out there?"

His ears perked up, pulling her in closer, most likely avoiding the topic. Marinette's nose got squished and she started pushing.

"Hmmm, I wonder…"

'Chat, too tight!' is what she tried to say as she failed miserably against his super strength. Hearing his chuckle didn't make it any better.

"Just an internal battle," he reassured her with a small stroke, "nothing big."

"It was big enough for you to come running in the pouring rain."

"Princess,"

She looked up as if the nickname was normal by now.

"I'm kind of jealous." he played.

Marinette snorted. "You just want the attention," she started scratching at his chin. Chat lifted his head, his feeling urges beginning to rise.

"What, you think just because I'm a cat I'll-"

Her hand glided more down his collarbone. A small purr hummed from his throat, and both paused.

Chat blushed furiously at himself. A grin stretched on Marinette's face. Even outside of her Ladybug facade, she loved to play with her kitty, and now she discovered a new spot to toy with him. No, it was like a gold mine.

"Please stop."

"I wonder."

Uhg. Now that he knew why Marinette was avoiding him, her natural forwardness was more charming than usual. He was about to turn his head away and let go, but she simply plopped her head on his shoulder, gazing out at the rain towards the window.

Chat looked down, huffing.

"I'll let it go for tonight."

"Come on, it was cuuute."

"You're lucky you are."

He pouted. Marinette smiled with playful glee.

"We both found out something embarrassing about each other tonight."

"There's not embarrassing about a natural feline function.

Marinette snickered. He smiled down at her.

"Come on, don't laugh."

A/N: So I wrote this eons ago and forgot to post it. Have a little fluff fic amidst all of the angst I write.

Stay beautiful~