Amnesia [MARICHAT]

8

Marinette and Chat Noir climbed down onto her bed, then down the ladder and into her bedroom. Her bed didn't get very wet, but both of them were dripping water so she brought some towels and two cups of hot chocolate from downstairs.

As Chat was drying off, he asked, "So you like pink, huh?"

Her room was drowning in the color. "I guess," she said. "I mean, I don't really have a preference now but the color seems to be my favorite. You've never been in my room before?"

"Only once, during an akuma attack, so I wasn't really paying attention. We always talk on your balcony, or if we cross paths somewhere. I know you mostly because you have a terrible habit of getting caught right in the middle of akuma attacks." He laughed.

She had a feeling why that was. 

She sat down in her desk chair, him in her chaise. "Well, I heard I'm very clumsy. Maybe I just trip into bad situations?"

He laughed again. "That makes sense."

"So, um.. How long have you and Ladybug been doing this? Fighting akumas, I mean."

Chat sipped his drink. "About a year. When I first met her, she was really clumsy, too."

This was beginning to get awkward. What was she supposed to say? She hadn't planned ahead. 

"Are you guys good friends?"

What the hell was coming out of her mouth?

"Yeah." He then looked out of her window. "I actually need to get a hold of her. She needs to purify the akuma I trapped before."

"You still have it?"

"Yeah - I can't let it out or it will multiply and akumatize more people. That happened the first time someone was changed into a villain, when Ladybug and I hadn't known that we were supposed to capture them."

She was actually really grateful for this opportunity to learn more about how things worked with the hero stuff, so she could save it for later in case she was caught with memory loss as Ladybug. "But you guys saved everybody, right? Even though it had multiplied?"

He smiled, resting his chin in his hand and an elbow on his knee. "Ladybug always comes up with the plans - she usually defeats them. I just help out by distracting them."

"That's not true!" She burst out, and then regretted it when he raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I'm sure it's not. She wouldn't be able to do anything without you."

"I guess," he shrugged. Marinette hated that he felt that way, but how would she really know? She couldn't recall their past battles. "But I'm worried about her," he added. "She acted really strange today, even admitting that she wasn't okay..."

Yeah, that was stupid on her part. She shouldn't have been so careless. 

"Hasn't she ever missed a battle before?"

"No. Never."

"Oh." Crap. Guilt ate at her again, slowly circulating through her bloodstream.  "Um, about what you said earlier...before the akuma..." 

When Marinette raised her gaze from her mug, she saw that the famous Chat Nor was blushing. She blinked. 

"Um, listen - I was just trying to help, I didn't mean to be so forward and -" 

The poor cat was stammering. She put a hand over her mouth to suppress her giggle, but to no avail. He stopped and glared at her. "Are you laughing at me?"

"No. I have no idea what you're talking about." She turned her head, trying to stay quiet but she just couldn't seem to shut up. She burst out laughing at his expression. "I'm s-sorry! You just looked so embarrassed!" 

He crossed his arms and pouted. "I am not embarrassed. I was just afraid I'd offended you or something." 

"Yeah, right," she snorted. "The wittle kitty is embarrassed. Awww-"

He hissed. Like a cat. His belt-tail (which she noticed had a mind of it's own) even smacked the chaise repeatedly in agitation. She resumed her cackling, falling off of her chair and beating the floor with her fist. "You're like an actual cat," she wheezed. 

"It's not my fault," he scowled. "My stupid miraculous gives me these damn cat qualities-"

"Do you like to be pet?"

"What?"

Marinette grinned. "Does the little kitten like to be pet?" She got onto her knees and blinked at him.

"What? No! I'm not an actual cat-"

He stopped speaking the second her fingers scratched behind his ears. He gaped at her and meant to pull away, but when she scratched the ears themselves, he was gone. He practically melted in her arms, twisting his head this way and that, rubbing against her hands. She bit her lip, her smile so wide it hurt her face.

This was hilarious. She would never let it down. 

"Does that feel good?" She whispered, running her digits through his hair, massaging his scalp. 

He couldn't even speak! It was like she hypnotized him. He rolled around on the chaise, appearing for all the world like he truly was a cat. He claws gently kneaded the cushions and that was all she could take. She exploded into unrelenting laughter, watching as Chat Noir realized what had happened and shot up like a bullet, flailing and tumbling off of the chair. 

"Not a word," he growled. "We never speak of this again." 

"I don't know," she sniggered. "This is hysterical. I don't think I can keep this to myself." 

He got to his feet, stomping around the chaise and seething down at her. "Marinette, this stays between us. I can't - I can't control it, okay?" He looked away, blushing furiously.

She stood, too. She reached his eyes. "But it feels good, doesn't it?"

"I -"

"Don't even bother lying, Chat Noir. I don't mind scratching your ears for you." Marinette crossed her arms. "It's adorable, actually." 

"Well, it isn't for me. Damn you, Plagg," he muttered. "This is a secret, okay?" He said. "Especially to Ladybug."

Oh ho ho... If only he knew. "And why is that?"

"If Ladybug ever found out...she would never let me live it down."

"What's to say I won't?"

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it now, is there?"

"I suppose not." The mood settled. "Can you... can you visit me tomorrow?"

"Of course. Why? Is Alya not enough or something?" He joked.

"No, it's not that." She looked out her window. "I just feel like you're the only one I can really talk to."

He frowned. "Marinette..."

"Anyways," she perked up. "You have a chocolate mustache." 

He didn't, but he swiped at his lips and glared at her. "You couldn't tell me this before?" 

"Where's the fun in that?" She grinned. "Now get out of here, you stray cat. The rain has stopped. You'll get home dry."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mari. And tell your friends how you feel, okay? It'll make them feel better, too."

And then the cat vanished through her trapdoor in a flash of black. 

Whoa, guys - don't touch that little orange star or anything. It'll poison you. 

I'm sorry I'm so sarcastic, I just don't know how to speak any other language.