"Just a Friend?" Book 1 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy (MLB FanFic) |COMPLETED|

Chpt 30: Exactly how is it that you purr?

After school the next day Marinette rushed home as soon as the bell rang so she could beat Cat Noir there and try a little experiment. She raced up to her bedroom to wait for him. A minute later there was a knock from above and Cat Noir headed down into her room. He was deep in thought wondering if he should ask Marinette's mom for advice as to what he should say to his father about being in a relationship. And he was also trying to figure out how to make sure he didn't let any information slip to Marinette's mom that indicated that her daughter was his girlfriend. It was so hard now to act like they were just friends when they were more than that. He started to climb down the narrow steps, his mind busy with his problems.

"Hey, Kitty!" came Marinette's voice from below him.

"Marinette- you surprised me!" he said as he stumbled down the last step. "You've never been here when I've come in after school before. Not that you being here now is a problem, I mean this is your room and everything." Her unexpected presence threw him off a bit and he gave her a quick smile. She returned his smile with an expression he couldn't quite place. Suddenly, he had the feeling that Marinette might have something in mind that could derail his efforts at keeping their relationship a secret.

"Well, I'm off to talk with your mom," he said, feeling the need to escape start to grow. He smiled awkwardly at her and then started to head toward the door when he felt a tug on his tail.  He stopped and turned around to see what he was caught on. A startled expression crossed his face when he saw that his tail was currently in Marinette's hands!

"No kiss before you go down?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

For some reason, even though he had been ready for her to try something, that question shocked him and he stammered "B . . . but . . . your mom is downstairs waiting for me. She's so observant. What if she can tell somehow? Won't that be confusing? I'm trying so hard not to--"

"There is no way my mom could tell we shared one kiss!" said Marinette interrupting him. She let go of his tail, quickly walked over to him, put her arms around his neck and kissed him before he even realized what was happening. His eyes closed and he automatically leaned into the kiss to get even closer to her before starting to purr. Marinette enjoyed their kiss for a few moments along with his deep rumbling purr, but knew she had to let him go meet with her mother. She leaned back to look at him, her eyes roving over his contented face noting that his eyes were still closed and that he was still purring. She stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. "I knew I didn't imagine it before- you do purr when you're Cat Noir. How does that work?"

Cat Noir's eyes snapped open at her words and he stepped back from her, embarrassed, the purring stopping abruptly. "I. . . uh, um, I'm not really sure what you mean." He squirmed under her gaze.

"And I've often wondered about your tail. How does it act like a real tail? I mean, it sort of curls up at the end. Why doesn't it fall straight down, like a belt would?" Marinette asked, picking up his tail again and examining it.

Cat Noir backed up, retrieving his tail from her hand with a tug. "Well, um, your mom is waiting for me," he said escaping out her door.

Marinette watched him go. She found it interesting that he was so embarrassed about his cat-like features and wondered why his transformation included those. She didn't seem to really have any ladybug traits.

Cat Noir headed down to the kitchen, feeling even more confused about everything. He hoped Marinette's mom wouldn't notice anything different about him today- his face still felt flushed from the kiss and the embarrassment. He shook his head to clear it and tried to focus on the questions he wanted to ask.

Marinette's mom was waiting for him in the kitchen. "How are you today, Cat Noir?" she asked him, noting from his posture that he seemed less self-assured than he had been recently. She watched him take a seat at the table and grab a cookie from the tray. She then took the seat across from him and noticed that Cat Noir looked at the cookie in his hand but didn't eat it as he normally did. The teenager usually loved those cookies- something was definitely on his mind.

"I need some advice. I've started seeing this girl." Cat Noir paused and looked up to see if she seemed surprised, but she just smiled slightly and indicated that he should continue. "I haven't told my family about her, partly because they haven't been around a lot lately and partly because I'm worried that they won't think I should be seeing her. Not because of anything to do with her, really, just that they think I should be focusing on school and the other things they think are important. If it was just their disapproval, I wouldn't worry about it, but they have kept me from leaving the house and threatened that I would be tutored at home if I didn't do what they wanted." The cookie waved through the air as he gesticulated.

"That is quite a problem," she said. She went silent as she pondered. Cat Noir looked down at the cookie in his hand again and then took a bite. "It is very difficult to know how people will react. Do you think your family is mostly concerned that you won't be able to manage your coursework and extracurriculars if you have a girlfriend?" she asked him.

He thought about what she asked. "Yes, that is probably some of it. Anytime any of my grades slip the littlest bit, I am threatened with not being able to go out with my friends at all. My family likes to be in control and make the decisions, so that is certainly part of it, too. I know this girl isn't who they would choose for me, either, so that plays into it."

"While I don't condone lying to your family, in this case it may be better for you to just mention that you are doing things with a friend. Keep being responsible- maintain your grades, put in a good effort with your extracurriculars and whatever else you are doing. And, when the time is right and you decide to mention that you have a girlfriend, you will be able to point out how she hasn't been a distraction. You've kept up with everything that you were supposed to be doing," she said.

"But, I would expect to get in trouble for lying about who I was seeing. How will that help?" he asked her.

"Don't actually lie about who you are seeing. Call this girl by her name, make it known that you are meeting up with her when you do, just don't mention that she is more than a friend for now. That way you should be able to get a feel for how your family might react. Marinette didn't tell me right away that the boy she was meeting with regularly was her boyfriend." She noticed Cat Noir blush and then continued. "But, she did tell me not too long after their status changed. I would have been hurt if my daughter hadn't told me that information early in their relationship," she continued, "but it seems like she and I have a very different, closer relationship than you have with your family."

Cat Noir felt a little hurt hearing what she said about his father, but couldn't deny that was the truth. She noticed the hurt on his face and gave his arm a quick squeeze of support. "I didn't mean to hurt you," she said, "but I wanted to make the point that different things work best in different relationships, even family ones. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach."

"Yes, thanks, I do know that," said Cat Noir quietly. "It's just hard to hear it said out loud at times. I wish my family were different." He sighed the same sigh he had done so many times. He missed his mom. Things had been better then.

Marinette's mom waited to see whether he wanted to continue with the discussion. When he didn't say anything more, she asked him "So, did you finish that big project of yours on time?" They went on to discuss his week, putting the uncomfortable thoughts out of his mind for now.