Chat Noir was just going home after a lunchtime akuma, and he was starving. He could feel his energy draining from him, and if it weren't for the suit, he'd probably be collapsed somewhere, starving to death. Then he would die and his father would be arrested for parental neglect. Ladybug would never know what happened. His classmates would mourn…

Speaking of classmates.

He stopped on top of the school when he caught a glimpse of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng, holding a sack of flour on her shoulders. She and her father seemed to be unloading some sacks from a delivery truck right outside their bakery. He watched as Marinette put down her sack next to a small towering pile and roll her shoulders as she entered the truck to grab another one, passing her father who had one sack on each shoulder.

He whistled as she easily hoisted another one on her shoulders, impressed. He never knew she was that strong. She always looked so small and soft that seeing her easily carry a sack of flour that was half her size and probably twice her weight was quite a nice surprise.

Chat Noir would be a terrible hero if he didn't go down there to lend a helping paw. Maybe he could ask for a croissant as repayment. Just one. He was just so hungry, and they were nice people so they'd at least give him one, right?

Cracking his knuckles, he prepared to leap down from his perch, when he noticed that as Marinette dropped her burden on the pile, a few of the sacks on top wobbled as if about to fall, and they were right above her.

"Princess!"

Without a second thought, he jumped from the building, pounced against the bakery wall, scooped her up, and leaped away, just moments before the sacks fell heavily on the spot where she once stood.

There was beat of silence and then there was some clapping from Tom Dupain.

"W-wow," Marinette said breathlessly, and Chat looked down to see her blinking up at him in surprise, "thanks, Chat Noir, you saved me."

"All in a day's work," he replied, winking, his ego boosted by the awe in her voice.

Marinette giggled daintily, and he was reminded why he gave her the princess nickname. Soft, helpless damsel Marinette, who needed protecting from an akuma. He was the knight sent to protect her from danger. And he'd saved her once again, like the true hero he was.

He grinned at a job well done. He leaned down to put the princess back on her feet, but his nose fell into her hair, and suddenly the world around him faded.

She smelled so nice. Like butter and pastries and bread and everything that was nice and sweet and tasty.

"Um, Chat?"

It made sense, right? After all, she lived in a bakery. Of course she would smell like things sold in a bakery.

He felt his body rumble, and he thought that it felt quite nice. The smell was nice. The rumbling was nice. He felt… nice.

He tilted his head just a little, to catch a bit more of the sweet scent. His movement caught her hair, and the flour dusting her head puffed away into little white speckles in front of his eyes. He watched the little speckles hazily and smiled.

"Chat."

That reminded him, today he only had a salad for breakfast. Then the akuma came around lunch so he was forced to forego even more salad. Absently, he rubbed his cheek against Marinette's and felt the rumble in his chest go stronger. She smelled like cake. God, he wanted cake. He could eat a whole cake. Maybe two.

He moved his head to rub against her other cheek, the rumbling growing even stronger.

Cake, Marinette. A Marinette cake. He liked cake. He liked Marinette. He'd eat a Mari—

"Chat!"

He jolted at the exclamation of his name in his ears.

"H-wha—?"

"Hey, you with me now? I need you to put me down."

Chat blinked away his stupor and began to become painfully aware that he had been holding his classmate just a little bit longer than was appropriate. He looked down at the person in his arms, who, despite the situation, seemed really calm and composed. Then he looked up and saw that her father was staring at them with an unreadable expression.

He blanched.

"S-sorry!" he stammered out and nearly dropped her in his haste to put a respectable distance between them. He backed away, hands raised and head shaking.

Oh, noooo, oh nononono…

Did that really happen? Did he really just hold her for an inordinate amount of time and rub his face against hers? Did he really just think of her as cake somehow?!

He pressed his hands to his face, horrified. He just inappropriately touched Marinette Dupain-Cheng. His classmate. The princess. He groped her, in public, in front of her father, and ohhhh nooooooo…

"Chat Noir," came Marinette's voice, and it sounded very calm for someone who he'd just rubbed up against, "are you okay?"

Chat Noir looked up at her and caught her eyes. They were so blue. And they looked at him so earnestly, so innocently, even after what he did, that before he knew it, he had vaulted away from her in an attempt to escape his mounting guilt.

"Plagg, what the hell happened out there?"

Plagg was humming happily as he held his Camembert in his little paws. He gave Adrien a confused look.

"What are you talking about?"

"Plagg, I inappropriately touched my friend," Adrien mumbled against his mattress.

"She didn't seem to mind," Plagg replied indifferently, hovering over to him on his bed with his cheese in tow.

"Of course she didn't mind! She's too nice!" Adrien cried, lifting his face and wrapping his arms over his head in mortification. "That doesn't make it okay, you know?"

"Kid, first of all, there wasn't anything inappropriate about it."

Adrien gave him a disbelieving look, but Plagg raised his block of cheese as though to pacify.

"I'm sure you've noticed by now," the kwami continued, "but when you transform, you don't just wear a magic suit. You get cat-themed powers and, with that, you get cat instincts too. That includes things like wanting to scent stuff you like and purring when you're happy."

Adrien's disbelieving look turned into one of horror. Scenting things he liked? He was scenting Marinette?!

"But I'm not an actual cat!" he hollered, hands grasping his hair, "I can't just go around rubbing my face against people!"

"And purring."

"Not helping, Plagg!"

"Look," Plagg floated closer to him now, his little face actually serious, "if you keep being down about this, it's gonna eat away at you. You'll just have to get used to it. You're not the first Chat Noir to go through this."

"But…"

"Kid, you were starving to the point of almost collapsing. You found your girlfriend—"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"—and she smelled like food. You liked that and it made you happy. So you rubbed your scent on her and purred. That's all that happened."

"Yeah," Adrien said sarcastically, glaring at how nonchalant Plagg was being, "that was all that happened. Nothing inappropriate or anything."

Plagg beamed at him, not quite getting his sarcasm. "Exactly! You're a quick learner, kid!" he exclaimed proudly as he popped the rest of the Camembert in his mouth, "now can I get more cheese?"

Adrien groaned and plopped his face into his sheets. He won't be able to face Marinette tomorrow. There was just no way he could look at her and not feel like throwing himself in the Seine out of guilt and embarrassment.

"So, girl, I heard you were groped by Chat Noir yesterday."

Adrien, who had just put a piece of lettuce in his mouth, accidentally inhaled it and proceeded to choke on it. Nino came to his rescue with pats on his back, Marinette rushed away to grab a cup of water for him, and Alya awkwardly asked if he was okay. He waved at them gratefully, still coughing. When Marinette came back to their table, he was careful to avoid her gaze when he accepted the cup, because he just couldn't look at her right now.

"Alya," Nino said, tone mock scolding and hand still on Adrien's back, "you know that kind of talk isn't proper around our innocent Agreste child."

"Shut up, Nino," Adrien rasped, giving his friend a small glare. He heard a tinkling little giggle from Marinette beside him, and he felt a sort of pleasant wave run through him at the sound.

From across him, Alya merely smirked and placed her chin on her hand. "He's gonna have to learn about these things eventually, Nino. Might as well start now." She turned her eyes to Marinette. "So, Marinette, spill. Chat Noir groping?"

Adrien felt Marinette shift beside him. "He did not grope me," she said, and he turned his head to her in surprise. She actually didn't think he touched her inappropriately? She had her arms crossed and was looking at Alya, unamused. "He was just—I don't know—being a giant cat?"

"But he's not a cat, he's human," Alya pointed out. Adrien nodded in agreement. "A teenaged human boy. With the way he acts, I wouldn't put it past him to try to cop a feel on an unsuspecting civilian."

It was only by sheer luck that Adrien had already finished off his cup of water, otherwise he would've choked on that too. He turned to Alya, his eyes wide with mortification. With the way he acts? How does he act?!

He didn't realize that he voiced the question out loud until Alya laughed and said, "You mean you haven't noticed the way he always struts around like he's trying to seduce half of Paris? And there's the obvious leather kink—"

"Alya!" Marinette interrupted, bless her soul. She actually sounded scandalized.

Adrien hid his face in his arms, feeling the burning warmth of his cheeks against his skin. He so didn't need to hear that from Alya. Ever.

"Alya, what did I tell you about this talk when Adrien is around?" Nino said jokingly.

"Oh, please," Alya scoffed, "for all we know Adrien has his own polka-dot kink going on—"

"Alya!" Marinette interrupted again, and by this point Adrien just wanted to melt in his chair and become a puddle and evaporate and never be heard from again. This was mortifying. Why, oh, why was this a topic of conversation?

"Okay, okay, fine, I'll leave the sunshine child alone, but only if you tell me about your encounter with Chat Noir."

Adrien heard Marinette sigh miserably from beside him. He sympathized with her, he truly did. "Chat Noir came by and saved me from being crushed by a bunch of flour sacks." He lifted his head and gave her a grateful look for summarizing the situation in such a nice, clean way.

"And?"

"And that's it! He scooped me up and jumped away and put me down—"

"Except!" Alya interrupted, pointing a finger, "Eyewitness reports state that he got a little handsy and rubbed against you before putting you down."

"By 'eyewitness', you mean my father," Marinette said flatly, and Adrien tensed up at the mention of her father. "He thought it was hilarious, by the way. Said he didn't think he'd ever hear anyone, let alone a superhero, purr like that."

Oh my god.

Nino chuckled and Alya snorted a little. Adrien moaned and dropped his head on the table with a loud thunk. Fortunately, his friends were too absorbed in the conversation to notice.

"So you're not denying that he did rub against you," Alya pressed.

"He rubbed his face against mine," Marinette corrected. "And he was purring. Like a cat."

"If he was being like a cat, wouldn't that mean he was trying to put his scent on you?" Nino supplied, and the smirk was audible in his voice. At that, Marinette made a strangled sound and Alya gasped with delight.

Adrien lifted his head a little from the table and smacked it down again. Why was Nino so sharp? And why were they still talking about this?!

"Oh my god, girl!" Alya squealed, "Chat Noir was totally marking you!"

Adrien heard a groan and a thunk from beside him, and he turned to see that Marinette had smacked her head against the table too.

He smiled sadly. At least he wasn't alone in his indignity. I'm so sorry, Marinette, he thought, But thank you for suffering with me.

He definitely needed to make things up to her somehow. Both as Adrien and as Chat Noir. Maybe he could come by later and—

His thoughts were disrupted by an explosion and some screaming. He whipped his head up and looked out the café window to see people running from and to different directions.

"An akuma!" Alya whispered excitedly, and her chair clattered as she rushed to run out the door. Marinette and Nino yelled her name and followed her. Adrien took advantage of their absence and headed for the restrooms to transform.

He had a job to do. A city to save, a Lady to woo, and a princess to apologize to.

Chat Noir was confused.

Ladybug was Ladybug but she didn't feel like Ladybug.

He couldn't quite place it, and battling against an akuma really wasn't the best time to be thinking about it. He'd noticed it the moment Ladybug landed next to him and the feeling didn't fade all through-out the fight. If anything, the feeling just continued to grow stronger the longer they were in each other's presence.

Thankfully, the battle was now over, and he had time to finally mull it over.

"Bye-bye, little butterfly," Ladybug said, smiling as she watched the white butterfly flutter away from her yo-yo, and then she threw her Lucky Charm into the air, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

He approached her as she watched the little ladybugs fix the damage the akuma had done.

Ladybug grinned at him and held out her fist. He smiled back, feeling a little subdued because of his confusion, but knocked his fist against hers nonetheless.

"Pound it!"

Her miraculous beeped right after and she turned around to yo-yo away, but he caught her wrist before she could go.

"Ladybug, wait."

She looked back at him with confusion. "I'm about to turn back, Chat."

"I know, it's just," he began and looked sincerely at her, imploring her to stay, "there's something weird and I only need a few moments, I promise."

Ladybug blinked and tilted her head. "What's wrong?"

Chat Noir took a deep breath and gestured with his hands. "Just stand there for a bit and don't move." She complied, looking curious more than anything, and he slowly circled her, looking at her from every angle.

"Chat, what's this about?"

"Sorry, my Lady, something's been bugging me about you and I can't tell what it is." He'd circled her twice now, and nothing seemed to be amiss. But why did she seem so strange to him? He leaned in closer and sniffed a little. Then he stiffened.

That.

What was that?

"Um, Chat?"

He leaned in even closer, closer than he would normally allow himself, and sniffed some more.

That smell. It didn't smell like anything. But it also smelled like…himself? At least, something personal and familiar to him. It was distinct and he couldn't describe it but it brought back a very recent memory.

"Chat, what are you doing?"

Flour. Speckles of flour.

He sniffed.

Butter and pastries and bread.

"Chat Noir."

Sniff.

Everything nice and sweet and tasty.

"Chat."

Sniff.

Cake.

Sniff.

Marinette cake.

"Princess," he gasped out in awe, his eyes widening as he finally brought them to his Lady. No, his princess. He took in the pigtails, and the hair color, and the freckles dusting over her nose, and the eyes. The blue eyes. The blue eyes that looked innocently up at him just yesterday.

He felt a pleasant rumble in his chest and he knew he was happy.

"W-what?" Ladybug squeaked, her eyes wide and staring at him. Her miraculous beeped again, and her body turned away just a little, but he grabbed her wrist and grinned at her.

"I found you, Marrrrinette," he whispered, careful not to let anyone else around hear the secret he'd just learned, the 'r' in her name unintentionally coming out as a purr.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" his Lady protested in a quiet voice, trying to shake his hand away.

"There's no use denying it, I know it's you."

"W-what? You don't know that, you—"

"I can smell me on you."

"…what?"

"Yesterday," Chat said simply and leaned closer to her, "I marked you."

There was a long silence, punctuated by Ladybug's miraculous beeping again. Then her eyebrows furrowed and she glared at him, really glared at him.

"You stupid cat."

Chat Noir only wiggled his eyebrows in response and purred.