Riposte 2

A Visitor

After helping her parents in the bakery, Marinette went up to her room and was horrified at seeing her reflection. Hopefully that flour hadn't been on her face when she saw Adrien and Kagami. She took a quick shower and changed her clothes before going out to her balcony.

The last thing Marinette expected that night was an uninvited visitor.

She had just started watering her plants when she heard a noise behind her. Spinning around, she came face to face with a leather-clad superhero.

"Chat Noir" she said in surprise. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"Oh no, nothing's wrong" he said, moving closer to her. "I was just finishing up patrol and saw you here."

No he wasn't. There was no patrol that night. But all Marinette could do was nod her head.

Chat Noir stared at her. The flour was gone from her face. She obviously cleaned herself up after helping her parents. He didn't know why, but he was kind of disappointed that the flour was gone. "Um, what are you up to?" he asked.

"Oh, uh nothing really." She didn't know what else to say.

"That's nice" he said, walking around the balcony. He stopped at the railing and looked out over the city. "So, do you work in your parent's bakery?"

"Yeah, sometimes. I usually help my mother in the front."

"That's cool" he said turning to her. "Your food is really good."

There it was. Mystery solved. He was hungry.

Marinette smiled at him. "Would you like to eat something?"

Chat Noir raised his eyebrows. He really didn't care about getting food. He was just hoping to see Marinette again. But if she was offering...

"Yeah, that would be great" he said.

"Alright, let me go see what we have" she said as she disappeared through the hatch.

After a few minutes she came back with a tray. "Help me with this" she called out from her room.

Chat Noir quickly went over to the hatch and grabbed the tray from her hands. He placed it down on a small makeshift table as Marinette climbed up to the balcony. "I brought some butter cookies and hot chocolate" she explained.

"Thank you so much Marinette" he said, his eyes wide with excitement. He picked up a cookie and quickly popped it into his mouth. "Ths ur elly ood" he mumbled out.

Marinette chuckled. "I'm assuming that was a compliment, so thank you." She picked up a cookie and took a bite. "So, uh... how's Paris?" Ugh, what a dumb question. "I mean... were there any problems on your patrol tonight?"

"No, no problems, everything is nice and quiet" Chat Noir said.

"That's good. You deserve a break. You always work so hard to keep everyone safe."

He gazed over at her. How much more wonderful could she get? "That's really nice of you to say."

"Well it's true" she said before taking another bite.

Just as she finished eating the cookie, her phone chimed. Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out her phone and unlocked it. She sighed in relief at checking the message. "It's just Luka, my..." she trailed off. What exactly was he to her?

"Boyfriend?" Chat Noir offered reluctantly.

Marinette sighed again, but this time out of exasperation. "Not really. It's hard to explain."

His heart skipped a beat. "So, he's not your boyfriend?"

"I... don't know" she said quietly.

He moved up next to her. "Seems like something you should know."

She nodded. "Yeah I should, but I don't. It's just... he's really nice and sweet, and I know that he likes me..."

"But you don't feel the same way" he finished for her.

She covered her face with her hands. "I'm a horrible person" she mumbled.

"No, you're not" Chat Noir said, pulling her hands away from her face. "Not at all."

"I don't know what's wrong with me" she continued, looking down. "Luka's great. I should give him a chance."

He blinked at her. How was this conversation going so incredibly wrong? "Marinette, him being in love with you is not a good enough reason to date him."

This caused her to finally look back at Chat Noir. "You really think so?" she asked after a moment.

"Yes, I really think so."

Marinette stared up at him. "Thanks" she whispered.

He nodded at her. Then he looked down, realizing that he was still holding her hands from when he moved them away from her face. Why did his costume have to have gloves?

She must have realized it too because she suddenly pulled her hands away and picked up a mug from the tray. He followed her lead and picked the other one up. "This is really good" he said after taking a sip.

"The trick is to put seven mini marshmallows in each cup. Not six, not eight, seven. That's what makes it so good" she said, winking at him.

"Well now I know all your secrets" Chat Noir joked.

Marinette laughed. "Yeah, I guess you do."

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

Chat Noir had such a wonderful time at Marinette's. He wished that he could have visited her the next evening too, but she was out with Kagami.

And the next night he really did have patrol, so he had to meet up with Ladybug.

Ladybug, the girl he was in love with for so long. But lately she had been taking up less and less of his thoughts. They were slowly being replaced with thoughts of another blunette.

As soon as they were done with patrol he went to Marinette's house. He landed on the balcony and knocked on the hatch. She didn't answer.

That was weird. Her room lights were on, so she should be home. He figured that she must be downstairs with her parents.

He waited for a few minutes, but she didn't come back to her room. Reluctantly he grabbed his staff and took off for home.

When he was out of sight, Ladybug swung over and landed on her balcony. Detransforming into Marinette, she looked out over the city in the direction that he disappeared.