A Cat, a Fox, and a Bee walk into a Bakery

Chapter 5

The three heroes quietly glared at each other behind Marinette's back. When the girl had proposed a movie night (thinking that it would be a nice, quiet activity), each had independently decided to bring snacks.

Chat's ears drooped knowing that he had lost this round, even if Marinette had kindly smiled when she took the covered platter of (extremely healthy and utterly tasteless) finger foods that his chefs had prepared.

Queen Bee and Vixen had fared better, with the former bringing a large box of expensive chocolates, and the latter carrying a bag with bags of chips and containers of dips.

"Oh, it's okay Chaton. Here, you can pick out the movie." Chat perked up as Marinette handed him her DVD case and began flicking through it, while Queen Bee and Vixen helped in the construction of a blanket fort big enough to hold all of them.

It was when the movie was starting up and all four of them were piling into the blanket fort when the problem started.

Marinette had barely sat down on the thick comforter before she practically had three heroes in her lap. Vixen got there first and actually plopped across Marinette's legs, resting her head against her chest and tickling her cheek with her flicking ears. Grumbles ensued, but Chat flopped down and pressed against her left side, and Queen Bee her right.

Automatically, her hands buried themselves in Vixen's and Chat's hair, giving each a gentle rub and scratch behind the ears their Miraculouses granted them. Both heroes slumped against her, Chat giving a loud rumble of a purr and Vixen humming deep in her chest in her own approximation of a purr.

Thankfully she had more control over her fox vocalizations than when she had first gotten her Miraculous, the first time she had let out a fox scream, it had taken a full fifteen minutes to get Chat down from the tree he had ended up in.

And don't get Marinette started on the 'growling', no living creature should be able to make a sound like that.

It took over five minutes for Queen Bee to finally take umbrage with the fact that Vixen and Chat were getting pets and she wasn't (honestly, she lasted longer than the other two thought she would). Making an annoyed sound, she shoved her head under Marinette's arm, making her laugh and remove her hand from Vixen's ears to start stroking Queen Bee's hair.

Vixen's eyes narrowed, and she huffed before shoving her head up and under Marinette's chin, ears pinning back and down. Marinette rolled her eyes and moved her hand from Chat's head to begin petting Vixen again, which made the fox hero relax.

Chat hissed softly, and headbutted Marinette's shoulder insistently, making her frown. "Seriously you three, I only have two hands. And Vixen, put your ears down, I can't see the movie around them."

Unfortunately, by then they weren't listening to her, as evidenced by how Chat proceeded to shove Vixen out of Marinette's lap and plop himself there, smirking as Vixen landed on Queen Bee.

Both female heroes squawked, then turned death glares on Chat, who had enough self-preservation to pin his ears and tuck his tail right before they tackled him.

They had approximately three seconds to tussle before a wash of fury made them all pause and look guiltily over at Marinette.

"What. Did. I. Say. About. Fighting." She gritted out, making all three heroes squeak and shrink back in terror.

Thirty seconds later, they were sitting as far apart as they could get in the blanket fort, and Marinette was sitting apart from all of them, angrily crunching on a chip.

Chat hesitated, then glanced over at the other two. "... Sorry. For screwing things up."

"... We probably could have all handled that better," Vixen admitted. Queen Bee wasn't one to admit when she had been in the wrong, so the fact that she gave a single nod of agreement meant a lot, coming from her.

Over the course of the movie, they all slowly drifted back in towards Marinette, although this time when they all pressed in against her, there was no fighting over positions. And if Queen Bee ended up in Vixen's lap, and Vixen's head on Chat's shoulder while Marinette was cupped between them, well...

They would all claim that it was just more comfortable that way.