When Walls Crumble

Chapter 7: The Stray

Marinette was dancing around cloud nine. Well, anyone who looked would have seen her dancing in her room, but all she saw were pink bubbles and clouds. And Luka. Definitely Luka.

"Oh, Tikki, did you see his smile?" she sighed, flopping down onto her bed.

Tikki giggled. "Of course I did! How could I miss it?"

Marinette sighed again, replaying the moment when his face brightened in a smile over and over again. "He's amazing," she breathed.

Tikki waved her hand in front of Marinette's face. "Earth to Marinette! Wake up! You have homework!"

"Gah!" Marinette shouted, jumping to her feet. "Oh, no, Tikki! I totally forgot!" She began racing around the room, collecting her things and tried to settle down at her desk when she heard a knock on her window. "What on earth..?" she muttered as she walked to the source of the noise.

A surprising, yet not unwelcome sight greeted her on the balcony: Cat Noir was standing there, leaning with one arm on his baton while twirling his tail in the other.

"What have we here?" she mused. "A stray kitty? Awww, how cute!"

Cat Noir laughed. He had never seen such an easy sense of humor from Marinette before. She typically stuttered when he got within a yard of her

"You're a funny girl, Marinette."

Marinette smirked. "Thank you, Cat Noir, but I'm guessing you didn't come by just to compliment my sense of humor. What's up?"

"Right to the point, then? Well, there are a couple of reasons for my presence here."

"You're awfully social for a cat, you know. Especially a black cat."

Cat Noir shrugged with an expression of mock bewilderment on his face. "What can I say? I'm just too paw-some!"

Marinette knew she shouldn't laugh or encourage him, but she snorted at his pun. Then she quickly collected herself and rolled her eyes. "You just think you're so punny, don't you?"

It was Cat Noir's turn to try and fail to keep himself from laughing.

"Anyway," he began, "I came to see how you were doing." His voice changed, unnoticed by him, to a very soft concerned tone. "Sometimes, people who have been targeted find it traumatizing that they could have turned someone into a supervillain. Last time we dealt with the Evillustrator, I was able to prepare you. But this time was different. Also, having a date interrupted is never a fun experience. I was...I guess I was a little concerned, is all."

Marinette smiled. Under his flirty, cocky facade, Cat Noir was a very kind and caring guy. "Thanks, kitty. I'm good. In fact, given the way everything played out, I think it actually was better than I could have planned! Luka was so good to me..." her voice trailed off, living in the moment of his smile once again.

Aww, thought Cat Noir, They are so in love! He let her reminisce for a couple more seconds before clearing his throat. "So, uh, what did you think of the new guy?"

"He saved my life..." she murmured, still daydreaming. "Luka's amazing..."

Cat Noir straightened in surprise. She knew Luka was Viperion?

Marinette realized her error at the same time. "Oh...uh...I-I didn't...When he saved me, I recognized his smile and his voice. For just another superhero, he cared about me way too much. But I don't think anyone else figured it out. It wasn't that obvious."

Cat Noir sighed in relief. So he hadn't screwed up big time. Just a little screw up that wouldn't come back to bite him...Or so he thought.

"Ok," he said slightly hesitantly before changing the subject. "So what do you love about him?"

"He's very kind and observant, he picks up on everything...he figured out who my crush was a while ago before my crush did. When the Evillustrator first showed up, he tried to protect me. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met, he's got a beautiful voice, and he writes music...beautiful music..." she trailed off, noticing Cat Noir's flushed face. He hadn't expected to hear a full heartfelt confession. This wasn't what he was good at.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Marinette apologized. "I didn't mean to go on like that."

Cat Noir chuckled. "I guess I brought it up. Don't sweat it, princess."

Marinette blushed at his nickname. "Are you flirting, kitty?"

"Uh, no! I-I didn't mean..." he stuttered.

Marinette cut across his awkward tirade with a little giggle. "It's ok. Not all friendliness is flirting, after all. Why don't we go inside? There might be some leftover baked goods if you want a snack."

Cat Noir lifted the trapdoor. "After you, princess."

Marinette giggled and curtseyed as she stepped down the trapdoor, causing her to trip and fall flat onto her bed. Cat Noir jumped after her and helped her up with a little chuckle, and of course, a pun: "Looks like you fell for me there, princess."

Marinette rolled her eyes. She had heard that line before. But she couldn't tell him off for it since last time he delivered that line it was to Ladybug. "Whatever, Cat. Let's get a snack."

She led the way down to the bakery and pulled out the boxes that hadn't been sold. Normally, they were donated to the homeless shelters, but they could spare a couple of croissants for a little stray kitten.

He popped one into his mouth. "These," he said with his mouth full, "are cat-tastic!"

Marinette groaned and face-palmed. "Your puns..."

Cat gave her a sideways look and a crooked smirk. "Is my sense of humor to much for you?"

Marinette laughed. "Nope, but it is a little claws-trophobic in here."

Cat Noir gasped in excitement. No one had ever punned back to him before. "Princess! You are paw-sitievely purrfect!"

Marinette shrugged. "And now I regret it," she muttered.

"What?" Cat asked.

"Nothing. Want a drink? Anything else to eat?" she opened the fridge. "Help yourself." She turned towards the counter to grab some cups while Cat Noir tucked away some camembert for Plagg.

Marinette hosted the stray cat and put up with his puns well into the night until she fell asleep at the kitchen table. Adrian looked at the clock and saw that it was a quarter to 2. He gently picked her up and carried her back to her bed and tucked her in.

"Goodnight, Marinette," he whispered before turning and jumping out the window and heading home.