Blushing Miraculous

The Invitation

It was almost midnight by the time the akumatized villain was defeated. Chat Noir went straight home but had trouble falling asleep.

In the morning Adrien decided that it was time to talk to Marinette again, like they used to before he found out about her crush. She seemed to be feeling much better about the break up with Luka. Plus, he had quickly gotten used to spending time with her. He wanted their time together to continue with him being Adrien, not just as Chat Noir.

As the days went by he talked to her more and more. And it seemed like she was slowly getting better talking back. After two weeks she even managed to get an entire conversation out without stuttering.

Every night over those two weeks he would go to see her as Chat Noir, and every night she would be waiting for him with a different dessert. A couple of times he had to leave early to go battle an akumatized villain. He was disappointed every time he had to cut their evening short.

************************************

Another Saturday morning meant another band practice. Adrien's bodyguard picked Kagami up along the way like usual. They were always one of the first people to arrive.

Adrien kept an eye out for Marinette, but she still hadn't shown up by the time they started the rehearsal. As the minutes ticked by, he was getting more and more concerned. She never missed band practice. And she had already seen Luka a couple of times since they broke up, so it wasn't that. Something had to be wrong.

He was just about to make up some excuse to leave early when she finally arrived. She was carrying a white box, which she gave to Kagami before sitting down next to her. The two friends chatted as the music played.

After the band wrapped up the final song, Adrien rushed over to talk to Marinette. "Hey, is everything okay?" he asked her. "You almost missed practice."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she replied, blushing. "Kagami texted me this morning and asked me to bring some macarons from the bakery. I had to wait for them to finish cooling off."

"Yeah," Kagami said. "I know you haven't been feeling too good lately so I thought that maybe these would cheer you up."

"Oh wow, thanks Kagami," he said, taking the box from her.

"I asked for the raspberry ones. They're your favorite, right?"

Adrien's frowned slightly. Raspberry was probably his least favorite flavor. "That's... great," he said, putting on a fake smile.

"Actually," Marinette said, shifting her feet, "we didn't have too many raspberry ones this morning so I added a bunch of passion fruit ones and strawberry ones. I hope you don't mind."

Adrien looked over at her but she averted his gaze. Passion fruit and strawberry were his favorites.

"Oh that's too bad," Kagami said. "I'm sure these will be good though. Are you all set to leave?"

He nodded, still looking at Marinette.

"We'll see you next time. Thanks again," Kagami said, hugging Marinette.

"Bye guys, enjoy!" Marinette said as they walked away.

************************************

A tarte tatin was the dessert of choice that evening. The pair sat at Marinette's computer desk as they ate. Somehow they got around to talking about football and their favorite teams. The conversation was interrupted, however, by Marinette's phone ringing.

Marinette walked over and picked it up. "Hey Alya," she said, answering the call. "What's up?"

Chat Noir kept eating as he listened to the conversation.

"No, I don't have any plans... yeah, that would be great... awesome, I'll meet you guys there... okay, I will... yeah, okay... bye!"

She disconnected the call and turned towards Chat Noir. "That was my friend, Alya. You know, the girl who runs the Ladyblog?"

"Yeah, I know Alya," he replied. "Why did she call?"

"She invited me to go swimming tomorrow. I guess she's trying to get a group of our friends to all go together."

"Oh, that sounds like fun," Chat Noir said, his face dropping. No one had invited Adrien to go.

"Hey, if you're going to stick around for a while, would you want to help me out with the dress?"

The smile returned to his face. "I would love to."

Marinette clapped her hands. "Awesome!"

They worked together for the next two hours. Chat Noir had never realized how much work goes into making an article of clothing. As Adrien, he had been a model for his father's brand for years, but he had never been involved in this part of the process.

"I can't believe how much work goes into this," he said as Marinette put all her supplies away for the night.

"It's definitely a lot but it's worth it in the end," she replied. "Thanks for all your help."

"Any time, Princess."

Marinette chuckled. "Well I should go to bed now. You leaving?"

Chat Noir opened his mouth to say something but stopped. He knew that he should leave, but that didn't mean that he wanted to.

"You can stay here again if you'd like," she continued.

He nodded. "Do you mind if I use your bathroom?" he asked.

"No, not at all. Go ahead."

Chat Noir went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. "Claws in," he whispered, releasing his transformation.

Adrien grabbed a piece of Camembert from his shirt pocket and tossed it to Plagg, who ate it in one bite.

"Why are we still here?" the kwami asked.

"I want to stay a little longer," Adrien replied, taking his phone out and checking his messages. He had a missed text from Nino. He was thrilled to see that it was an invitation to go swimming. He quickly texted his confirmation and put the phone away. "Plagg, claws out!" he whispered.

"Everything okay?" Marinette asked as Chat Noir came out of the bathroom.

"Yes, everything's fine."

"Great, I'll go change. Same deal as last time, okay? Just keep quiet and close the hatch. Oh, and don't fall asleep. I don't want you getting into trouble."

"I understand," Chat Noir said, lying down on the chaise.

When Marinette was done using the bathroom, he watched her turn off the lights and go to bed.