Chubby Unicorn Mama: I've teamed up with Epcot97 to tag team #MariChatMay2019. Some chapters I wrote, some he's written, and some we wrote together. We'll tell you who's to blame at the beginning of each chapter. Most chapters are standalone unless otherwise specified. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as we have enjoyed writing them. I also want to send a quick thank you to lillykleaf for letting me know the prompts for the month!

Disclaimer! Neither of us own Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. If we pooled our money, we might just be able to buy someone's big toe.

Chapter 1 (Chubby Unicorn Mama): Marinette meets Chat Noir for the first time. Too bad her hands are all over someone else. But I'm sure there's a very good reason for that…

Marinette Dupain-Cheng loved music. She loved the rhythms, she loved the melodies, she loved how music made her feel. She loved going to concerts, feeling other bodies moving in time to the music, their hearts all beating together. So when her friend Rose invited the class to a concert where the opening group was her band, Kitty Section, Marinette jumped at the chance. She had, after all, designed their costumes. Well… most of their costumes. The majority of the band had colorful costumes, Rose, Ivan and Luka wore unicorn masks, while Juleka wore a cat mask. The fifth member of the band was someone she had never met, but he refused to have his costume "made by an amateur". In fact, the only thing that she knew about him was that he played keyboard, and only wore black.

Shaking off any lingering bad feelings about the band's keyboard player, she was digging through her closet when there was a knock at her trap door. Calling out a "come in" that was barely out of her mouth before the door opened, and her best friend, Alya Cesaire barreled in, a dress over one shoulder, and her overnight bag over the other. "Marinette! What are you going to wear? Have you decided yet? You should wear that one you made. The one with the polka dots!"

Laughing, Marinette held out the dress she'd been considering, a knee length 50's style dress that was red with black polka dots. "This one?"

Alya's eyes grew wide. "Girl, I haven't even seen that one! I meant the pink one, but you should definitely wear this dress!"

"Well, you said 'the one I made'. I made all of these" She gestured around the room, "So that part doesn't really narrow it down. I just finished this one last weekend, and haven't had the chance to wear it yet!"

"You should definitely wear it! Luka's going to love it!" Alya enthused.

It was no secret that Alya was trying to set Marinette up with the older boy. Ever since she and Nino had started dating, Alya had made it her goal to find her best friend the same kind of happiness. While Marinette had never been interested in dating any of the boys that Alya was pushing her towards, she definitely had some kind of connection with Luka. "Alya", she sighed. "Luka and I are just friends. Please stop pushing us together."

"Fine, girl, whatever, go put on your dress, Little Miss Ladybug."

As Marinette put on her dress, Alya also changed into a dark orange dress with white accents. As the girls were finishing up their makeup, another knock came of the trap door. This time it didn't open until after the call to come in, and Marinette's father, Tom, stood there, with a plate of snacks for the girls. "I didn't want my favorite girls going hungry before the big concert" he said with a smile.

"Thanks Dad!" exclaimed Marinette.

Both girls ate a croissant, and grabbed another to take with them as they shrugged into their jackets, and headed out the door. Walking through the early evening air, they chatted about their friends, and how excited they were to see the concert. Alya ran a blog about local bands, and was telling Marinette about the keyboard player for Kitty Section.

"He's kind of a mystery. Nobody knows much about him… even his name. He goes by the stage name of Chat Noir, and won't answer to anything else. Lots of people have tried guessing, but he always keeps his mask on, even during closed rehearsals, so even his bandmates don't know who he is. He's shorter than Luka and Ivan… although most people are shorter than Ivan. Except, maybe, your dad." Alya joked. "A lot of girls think that he's really hot. I mean he's OK, and he does wear skin tight black leather, so if that's your thing…" She trailed off.

Rolling her eyes, Marinette laughed, "Oh yeah. Black leather. Such an original fashion choice!"

Alya bumped her friend's hip with hers. "Trust you to focus on the fashion. Come on. We can check him and his outfit out after the show. Hey! There's Nino!" Waving at her boyfriend, she towed Marinette along towards the entrance to the arena where Kitty Section was opening for Lenni Kim.

"Hey ladies! Glad you guys could make it! We're in the front section, over on the left." Nino guided them to their seats, 3 rows from the front, right in front of where Luka and the new keyboardist, Chat Noir would be standing. The friends chatted while they waited for the band to come out. It wasn't long before Kitty Section was introduced, and the members came out on stage, Ivan at his drum set, Rose at the microphone, The Couffaines on their guitars, and a boy in a black leather suit complete with a belt tail, black mask over his face, and a cat ear headband on his head… that MUST be Chat Noir thought Marinette… at the keyboard.

Nino, Marinette and Alya all cheered their friends loudly, Alya leaning over to compliment Marinette on the brightly colored masks and outfits she had made for four of the band members. As the band started playing, all conversation was rendered impossible, and all that was left was for the friends to dance and sing along. Smiling at her friends onstage, Marinette found her eyes drawn back to the boy behind the keyboard, the mysterious Chat Noir. She studied his outfit… it did appear to be professionally made, and very well done at that. It fit him like a glove, leaving none of his lean musculature to the imagination. What had Marinette entranced, however, was the design of the costume. Her fingers itched to explore the seams and study its construction.

Halfway through the second song, Chat Noir caught her staring at him. His bright green eyes caught her blue ones, and a smirk found its way across his face. He was used to people staring at him, and checking him out, but something felt different about the way she'd been looking at him, more curious than lustful, and he was intrigued. Under the outfit, and the wild persona he took on when he dressed as Chat Noir, he was the model Adrien Agreste, a boy who had never been allowed out on his own, and had almost no friends, especially of his own age. Even his own father didn't know that he had been slipping out of the house, only his friend Alexandre Plagg, his personal designer, who had made him the outfit, knew.

Having been caught staring at Chat Noir's chest (Were those pockets? What on earth could he fit in them?), Marinette blushed bright red, and shifted her gaze away to the other members of the band, but her eyes kept straying back to the boy in black. He caught her a few more times, and she blushed each time.

Once Lenni Kim came out onstage, Marinette left her friends dancing along to Don't Stop, as she made her way back to congratulate the members of Kitty Section. She was swept into an embrace by Rose and Juleka as she squealed to them about what a great performance it was, and how proud she was of them. Over Rose's shoulder, she grinned at Ivan, who grinned back at her and gave her a thumbs up. She was asking the group how their costumes had faired for them, if they were still comfortable after the full set on stage, and if they needed any adjustments as Luka walked in. While the others said that everything was fine, the masks were a little sweaty and rubbed against their foreheads, but they were under some serious spotlights that they were not used to, Luka said that he had the same problem with his chest plate above his shirt. Marinette had one hand on his chest, the other lifting up the front of his costume, checking where it met his t-shirt, when a male voice behind her commented, "Just couldn't wait to put your hands all over a celebrity, could you? Any one was good enough."

Turning the same color as her dress, and jumping back from Luka like he'd burned her, Marinette whipped around to see the source of the harsh words. There stood Chat Noir, leaning against the door frame, annoyance sparking in his eyes. Steel snapped into Marinette's spine as the other band members gaped slightly at their keyboardist's judgement of the situation. Pointedly turning her back on the boy who had first snubbed her handiwork, and now just insulted her, she turned to Luka and said, "You have a couple of options. The simplest would be to wear a shirt with a higher collar like the others do, or I can add some absorbent padding to the top of the plate, so it won't rub as you move your guitar. For right now, take it off, and clean and dry your…" She broke off, touching the base of her throat to indicate the area. "You're a little red, but no skin is broken, so the discomfort should go away pretty quickly." Turning to the others, she added, "Let me take your masks home with me, and I will add some absorbent padding along the forehead and anywhere else it was irritating you, so it will be much more comfortable next time."

Turning back to Chat Noir, she smiled icily and prepared to chastise him for jumping to conclusions. Instead, what came out was, "Your bell… is that a zipper?" Blushing again, she stepped closer, and added, "These seams are fantastic! Leather is so hard to sew. I was noticing earlier that you have pockets, too! That's just amazing! Whomever made this, really knows their craft!" She looked up at him, ice melted and eyes sparkling.

Completely taken aback, and not used to such unabashed enthusiasm, Chat Noir stuttered as he answered, "A f-f-friend of mine who is in the f-f-fashion industry." He rushed to add, "I assume you are the one who m-m-made the costumes for the others? They are f-f-fabulous."

He only thought she had been smiling earlier. When he complimented her work, Marinette's smile turned radiant. It lit up the room, and completely knocked Chat Noir off his feet. He knew at that moment that he would do anything to make her smile like that again.

"Thank you Monsieur Noir. I hope to be a designer one day, and making these costumes for my friends, to get them noticed in that competition that XY held, was so much fun!"

"Marinette is in our class at school," added Rose, indicating herself, Juleka and Ivan. "I bet she even made that dress she is wearing now!"

"It's true, I did." Marinette gave a little twirl, to the appreciative sounds of Rose and Juleka. Ivan gave her another thumbs up and a smile, and Luka added, "You are a very talented girl, Marinette."

Chat Noir's eyes never left Marinette as she talked and joked with her friends. Even after Lenni Kim had left the stage, and Alya and Nino had joined them, along with Mylene and several other of their classmates, Chat's eyes followed her every movement, widening every time she threw her head back to laugh, but never joined in any of their conversations.

Observing his bandmate's reaction to her, Luka, after a furiously whispered conversation with Chat, dragged him over to where Marinette was talking with some of the girls from his sister's class. Introducing them all to Chat, Luka then asked if he could talk with Marinette for a moment. He left Chat awkwardly standing next to Alya, as she pestered him for an interview for her blog. After talking to Marinette, and telling her about how shy their new keyboardist was, she immediately promised to befriend him, and suggested to the whole group that they go out for ice cream the next day as a post-concert celebration.

Many of their classmates had other obligations, and it turned out that the only two that would be able to make it were Marinette and Chat. She smiled at him, and said, "It's a date! I'll see you tomorrow at 11am." He blushed lightly and nodded, his heart already hers.