When Chat Noir slipped into Marinette Dupain-Cheng's room on a Thursday night to play video games, he was not expecting to find the girl sewing a small gold bell onto a black ribbon. "Uh, Princess, what are you doing?" Her hand slipped as she was startled out of her concentration, stabbing her finger with the sewing needle. Apparently, she hadn't heard him come in, oops.

"Oww!" She stuck the injured finger in her mouth and tried to talk around it. It was a valiant effort on her part and Chat probably would have been able to understand her had he not been so focused on the fact that Marinette was sucking on her finger right in front of him. For some reason, it distracted from what she was trying to say.

"I-I'm sorry, what did you say Princess?" Marinette huffed in exasperation. Thankfully, she assumed that his lack of understanding what she said was just because of how jumbled her words had come out. Chat watched as she removed her finger from her mouth with a wet pop that caused him to physically jump. Marinette luckily didn't notice.

"I said, sorry Chat I'm too swamped to play video games tonight but your more than welcome to stay to keep me company." She gave him a soft smile. His heart began to beat a little faster at that smile. He realized she was waiting for his answer so he began nodding his head quickly.

She picked the sewing needle back up and resumed her work. The question of why she was sewing a bell to ribbon popped back into his head. "So, what exactly are you doing?" In reply she pointed to her computer at the other side of her L shaped desk so Chat went to look. Pulled up on screen was an etsy listing for one 'Chat Noir Inspired Bell Choker' with several pictures of a choker like the one Marinette was making right now. He flipped through the pictures on the listing. When he got to the last one his breath hitched and his face began to heat. It seemed to be a candid shot of Marinette laughing at something the photographer, probably Alya, said. Her hair was in two buns a top of her head, instead of her normal pig tails, which put her neck on display. Around that neck sat one of the chokers she was currently making. "Uh, P-Princess? I'm still kind of confused on what you're doing."

Marinette paused her sewing once more but didn't look him in the eyes. "Um, well, I was designing the other day and the idea for a choker inspired by the bell on your suit came to mind. I couldn't get the idea out of my head so I made one of them." He realized she was blushing. "Yesterday I went to lunch with my friend and she said I should try selling them. I was laughing at the idea which is when she snapped that." Marinette pointed to the screen which still showed the picture of her. "She convinced me though, so I made a listing."

Chat was staring at the picture of Marinette in the choker again and the girl seemed to notice his fixation on the picture. "Alya said I needed someone modeling the choker in one of the pictures so people could see it on an actual person. Apparently, a dress form doesn't have enough personality. She added the picture she'd taken of me and I haven't taken it down because, well, she's right. I'll probably see if she will model one of the chokers for me tomorrow so I can take that picture down."

Chat's brows drew together in confusion. Why would Marinette want to replace her picture with one of Alya? He couldn't let her do that, she looked great in the picture and the world shouldn't be denied the opportunity to see it. "Hey Princess, what if we made a deal? You keep the photo of you up and I'll model one of the chokers myself! That way all of the internet will know that Chat Noir indorses these pretty little necklaces, especially on you." Wait, what did he just say? "Uh, I-I m-mean, made by you. These pretty little necklaces m-made by you." Why was he stuttering?

Marinette either chose to ignore his slip up or hadn't realized it happened, which Chat was unbelievably grateful for. She was pondering the proposition with her thumb pressed against her lips and the rest of her fingers curled under her chin. Why couldn't he stop staring? "Hmm, well I guess a picture of you in one would help increase sales." She placed a hand over her eyes and sighed. "Okay, deal. Let's just hope that the picture of me won't cancel out any business one of you stirs up."

Chat was confused again. Why would Marinette's amazing picture deter business? Maybe those jealous of how pretty she looked? His puzzling out of Marinette's statement was interrupted when she held out one of the larger chokers to him. He plucked it from her fingers and set it on his lap while his hand went to the real bell zipper at the neck of his suit.

She audibly swallowed when he began to pull the zipper down slightly. The sound made his eyes flit up to hers. He was not expecting to see Marinette's eyes following the zipper down its path then rake over the bit of his collar bones he'd just exposed. His blood heated at her look but he had no clue why. "P-Princess?" Her eyes met his while her face turned a lovely shade of red.

She quickly turned away from him and walked the few steps back over to the side of her desk she'd been working at. Shuffling some ribbon aside she grabbed her once hidden phone. "L-Let's get a move on kitty we don't have all n-night." Obeying his princess, Chat tried to latch the choker behind his neck. He failed.

"Um, Princess, can you help me with this please? I can't seem to get it to hook on." She giggled slightly but nodded, walking over to him. "Hey, don't judge me, I don't wear necklaces oft…" The rest of his sentence trailed off as her hands brushed the back of his neck, fastening the choker behind him.

"It's not too snug right." Her soft voice was next to his ear and he shivered slightly. Chat's response was little more than a squeaked-out no. "Okay, good. I think it'll be best if we take the picture on the balcony so that there aren't any telling details of my room. I think the string lights will add a nice effect anyway."

The two climbed out onto the balcony and Marinette clicked the lights on. The most light was shining on the brick wall so Chat leaned against it and struck a pose. His head was tilted up and to the right slightly with his left arm behind his head. Marinette snapped a few pictures and looked at the shots she'd taken. "Wow kitty, have you done this before? These are amazing!" She walked over to where he was leaning on the wall so she could show him.

For some reason, he blushed at the compliment but turned on the swagger easily. "What if I told you my civilian self is a part-time model?" He leaned in to her and wiggled his eyebrows. Chat was caught off guard when Marinette also leaned forward and quirked a brow.

"I'd believe it. You certainly have the looks." The swagger was gone. Marinette's face was very close to his. He panicked and forced his head away from hers, only for it to meet the brick wall behind him. She looked concerned. "Are you okay Chat?"

His face was red with embarrassment. Why was he embarrassed? He did stupid stuff in front of Marinette all the time. "Y-Yeah. Just p-peachy. Everything's just d-dandy." She patted his head then headed into her room. He waited a moment to compose himself before going in.

When Chat entered the room, he found Marinette frowning at the picture of herself. "Are you sure I can't take this down?" He still didn't understand why she wanted to remove the picture from the listing.

"Why do you want to take it down? Do you not like it or something?" He didn't see how she couldn't like it but he had to voice the question.

"I absolutely hate it." She crossed her arms and huffed slightly. Chat was floored.

"Wait, Marinette, how do you think you look in this picture?" There was no way she could think she looked anything short of beautiful. She was the only one in the picture though, so it had to be something about how she looked.

Marinette threw her arms in the air. "Agh, I look terrible. You can completely see the zit on my forehead and the bags under my eyes look like someone punched me. I'm pretty sure I'm the epitome of looking bad in pictures, it's why I have Alya model clothes for me when I need pictures done."

Chat's eyes widened at the revelation. "How could you possibly think something like that? This picture is amazing. The sun is hitting you in a way that's making you glow. Though, that could just be the way you're smiling while you laugh. The little nose crinkle you're doing is something models strive for years to perfect but here you are just naturally doing it. This picture is perfect in so many ways. How can you not see that you look gorgeous? Marinette, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on." Both their eyes were wide as they looked at each other.

A lot of things made more sense to Chat after he said that last sentence. Why flirting with Ladybug hadn't been as fun for months. Why he got edgy after not seeing Marinette for a few days. Why he kept blushing and stuttering around her. Why he kept catching himself staring at her. It all made sense when he realized he had feelings for Marinette, feelings that were stronger than ones he'd ever harbored for Ladybug.

Marinette began to chuckle nervously. "Ha, ha, yeah, sure, very funny Chat. If you really are a model in your civilian life then you've seen plenty of girls way prettier than me." She was fidgeting with her hands in her lap, not meeting his eyes.

"No, wow, no. Marinette I really mean what I said, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I don't know if I'm just supposed to admit things like this but I just realized I have big time feelings for you." She was now looking at him with wide eyes, body completely still.

"What about Ladybug? I thought you liked her?" There was a tightness in her voice that Chat was a little worried about.

"Yes, I had feelings for Ladybug. At one point, I thought I loved her but I realize that was just a crush. My feelings for you are so much more intense. I obviously don't know exactly what love feels like but this is the closest I've ever felt to it." Chat didn't realize there were tears falling down Marinette's cheeks until he'd finished speaking. "Oh, please don't cry. Marinette I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make this weird, please just forget I said anything." He crouched next to her and whipped the tears from her cheeks. His voice was barely a whisper. "I'm so sorry."

She chuckled slightly and placed both hands on his cheeks. "You silly cat, I'm pretty sure I love you too." She brought her face to his and kissed him gently. Chat's entire body was alight with feeling.

When she broke the kiss, she reached around the back of his neck and undid the choker. Chat's eyes were still closed from the first kiss. He didn't want to open them and find out he'd been dreaming the entire time. He was surprised when Marinette pressed her lips to his again. Her hand wrapped around the bell zipper resting just above his pectorals and pulled it back up his suit. "You know kitty, I never thought collar bones could be so distracting."

He wanted to reply with a pun or a witty quip but his brain still didn't know how to process everything. Instead, her name left his mouth like a small prayer and he crushed her into a hug. Her arms wrapped around his back, holding him tightly. Chat didn't know how long they sat there on the floor like that but eventually Marinette pulled away. Her voice was a quiet whisper in the space between them. "It's getting late Chat and I have school tomorrow. I don't want you to leave quite yet so help me upload your picture before you go."

"Anything my princess wants. Are you going to keep the picture of you up? You don't have to if you really don't want to but you do look beautiful in it." She smiled softly at him and pressed her lips against his again.

"I'm going to keep it up. A certain boy in a cat suit showed me a few things to like about it." This time it was Chat who pressed his lips against hers. "Come on kitty, we'll be here all night if we don't get up." He complied, reluctantly.

Together they uploaded the picture of Chat to the etsy listing. Marinette kissed him goodbye and he was about to jump out the window to her balcony when he had an idea. "My Princess, can I keep the choker?" A questioning look crossed her face but she nodded and grabbed it from her desk. He blew her a kiss then jumped out the window.

The plan was devious but Ladybug couldn't get mad at him for revealing his identity if someone just happened to find out. Right? In this case, he'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission. He honestly didn't think he could resist being close to Marinette at school and if he started cuddling up to her as Adrien without her knowing he was Chat, he'd most definitely upset her. Taking a deep breath, Adrien stepped out of the car wearing a certain Chat Noir inspired choker

He saw her across the courtyard talking to Alya. When the blogger noticed him standing there, she elbowed her friend in the side then pointed to him. Marinette turned to look at who her friend pointed at. He was close enough that she could clearly see the choker, her beautiful blue eyes widening at the sight. Their gazes' locks and whatever she saw in his eyes must have confirmed something for her because suddenly, she was running to him.

When she met him with a hug, he picked her up and spun her around. "Kitty, I'm so glad it's you." Her voice was a whisper in his ear. He set Marinette back to the ground. She pulled her face away from his neck and looked up at him. Adrien gently cupped her cheeks, as she had done to him the night before. The kiss they shared in the school courtyard was fiercer than the others. When they broke away both teens were panting slightly as they rested their foreheads together. "Well, if we don't go say something to Alya she's probably going to have an aneurysm trying to figure out how I ended up kissing the boy I had a crush on."

"Aww, Princess, you had a crush on me?" His face drooped a little. "Wait, had? As in not anymore?"

When she giggled, his face was alight again. "Sorry Adrien, I kind of fell for my partner in a leather cat suit when he came to visit my civilian self."

"My Lady." He breathed the words out, so many things clicking into place.

Marinette pulled back and flicked the little bell on the choker. Adrien swallowed, adam's apple bobbing. She smirked and grabbed his hand. "Come on Chaton, I'd rather not have to go to Alya's funeral because we shocked her to death." They began walking towards a dumbfounded looking Alya, hands intertwined.