Welcome to New York

Marinette Did Not Have Sex with Chat Noir

"In New York, of all places? I mean, it's not even the same continent as the one where the two of you grew up."

"I know!"

Marinette was sitting on the living room couch with Liam, telling him about her day. They were both lounging in their pajamas, and her legs were draped over his lap.

"It was kind of crazy," Marinette continued. "I mean, I never really thought of us as close friends, but he was in our inner circle- you know, me, Alya, Nino, and Adrien."

"Right."

"But anyway, we just sort of lost touch after high school, especially after I left Paris, so I really haven't even thought about him much in a long time. I mean, I haven't even spoken to the guy in four years, and all of a sudden I have a meeting with him and we're entering into a partnership?"

"That's insane- but what's even more insane is that you never told me you were friends with Adrien Agreste."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I just told you I haven't spoken to him in four years. We're really not friends anymore, and we weren't even very close when we were friends. He just never came up."

"Okay, but you're a designer, Mari. You've been into designing clothes since you were a kid, and someone in your 'inner circle' was the son of one of the world's top designers," he said, making air quotes with his fingers around the words "inner circle."

"I'm aware."

"That's a big deal! Did you ever get to do any fashion-y stuff with him?"

"No, not really," Marinette said. "Except for when I won a design contest and Adrien wore my hat in a photoshoot. But other than that, no."

"Really? I would think being friends with Gabriel Agreste's son- you know, pre-arrest- would have opened some doors for you."

Marinette shrugged. "I guess it could have, but I was always too shy to talk to Adrien about a lot of stuff."

"Really? Why?"

Marinette laughed. "Because fourteen-year-old me had an enormous crush on him. It was so bad that I had a whole section of wall in my bedroom dedicated to pictures of him."

Liam laughed. "Are you serious? You actually had a shrine?"

"Yes! And even if I hadn't had a crush on him, there's no way I ever would have been able to talk to Monsieur Agreste without making a fool of myself. He was one of my favorite designers. I pretty much idolized the guy for years."

"Oh. So, when he got arrested..."

"Yeah, that was a big mess," Marinette nodded, remembering that day. "His name kind of left a bad taste in my mouth after that day. He had caused so much pain across Paris... but I didn't even really know him. It was just awful for Adrien."

"Yeah, I would imagine."

"Especially with how much Adrien looked up to Ladybug and Chat Noir," Marinette continued. "To have your heroes get your dad arrested for terrorizing Paris would just be an awful thing for anyone to go through."

"Wow. Did he hate Ladybug and Cat Nuwar after that?"

Marinette laughed. "First of all, it's pronounced Chat Noir. And no, he still looked up to them. He recognized that his dad was doing a bad thing, and he was really upset about it for a long time, but as far as I know, he never resented Ladybug or Chat Noir for his defeat."

"Did you ever meet Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

"...yes."

"Really?"

"Yes- I, um, helped them once, too. One of my classmates was akumatized, and I helped them get him back to normal."

"That's amazing," Liam said excitedly. "What were they like?"

Marinette thought carefully about her answer so as to ensure she wouldn't give away her secret. "Ladybug was cool, but I really knew Chat Noir better." Her cheeks turned slightly pink. "I've never actually told anyone this- not even Alya- but he used to stop by my bedroom sometimes when I was sixteen."

Liam's eyes grew wide. "What? You had sex with Chat Noir?"

Marinette's eyes grew even wider. "No! No, he stopped by as a friend. We weren't in a relationship or anything. Nothing ever happened." Her cheeks turned darker. "Except for one kiss."

Liam's jaw dropped. "Marinette! You kissed Chat Noir and never told me?!"

"To be fair, I never told anyone."

"I can't believe this!" Liam looked around the apartment. "Where's my laptop? I'm gonna go book a flight to Paris so I can fight Chat Noir."

Liam stood from the couch, and Marinette laughed and pulled her fiancé back down.

"We already have tickets to go for Christmas. We can't afford two round trips to Paris. Besides, it only happened once. He used to come over on Friday nights, and we would alternate between movie nights and game nights each week. Once, during game night, we were playing Monopoly, and you know how intense that can get." Liam nodded knowingly. "So, we had a small disagreement because- and he would always deny this- he cheated. And you can't just cheat at Monopoly. So, we started bickering, and I, um, sort of tackled him trying to take back the money. So, we kind of wrestled a little bit, and by that time it was probably about 1 A.M., and we just... got caught up in the moment."

"And kissed."

"Yes."

"Because Chat Noir, a superhero who was notorious for his flirtatiousness, came to your bedroom clad in a skin-tight leather suit in the middle of the night once a week. And you wrestled. And kissed."

"It was fourteen years ago, Liam."

"How do you even know he wasn't, like, ten years older than you?"

"We were both sixteen," Marinette said.

"Wait, sixteen? He was that young?"

"I mean, he and Ladybug started fighting akumas when they were both around thirteen."

"Are you serious?" Marinette nodded. "Huh. I always just assumed they were older than that."

"I think a lot of people do."

"But wouldn't it take a toll on someone to have the entire city of Paris depending on them when they're just kids?"

Marinette nodded slowly. "Yeah, it did take a toll. We didn't really talk about it much, but whenever he needed to talk, I listened. There were a couple of times when he told me about having nightmares and stuff. He also kind of got anxious whenever people around him got upset- because, you know, negative emotions made people vulnerable to akumas. I have to admit, I got that way sometimes too, just because almost my entire class was akumatized at some point."

Liam slowly shook his head. "That is absolutely unreal. I remember seeing all this stuff on the news when I was a teenager, but I guess I never really thought about its effect."

"I mean, it's not like we were all fighting in a war or something," Marinette said, suddenly uncomfortable. "And every time someone was akumatized, we knew Ladybug and Chat Noir would come through and fix it all."

"Still," Liam said. "People all around the city were essentially getting possessed every other week. That would have scared anyone."

Marinette nodded, but didn't respond.