Continuing Tales

How to Bond With a Cat

A Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Story
by Theonewhosawitall

Part 4 of 19

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Chat had been visiting Marinette every Thursday for almost month now. The times changed depending on his schedule and if there was an akuma or not. Sometimes he was after diner, and sometimes the bakery was shut, he hadn't managed to time it, so he was there before dinner yet. Not after the scolding Natalie gave him for being late to the latest fitting.
Chat was out on patrol on Wednesday. It wasn't his day to go on patrol, but Ladybug still wasn't picking up, and he hadn't seen her in over a month, so this was some desperate attempt to bump into her. he ached to see her. he'd been jumping around like a mad march hare for two hours now, and no sign of her. every flash of red made his heart sore, only for bitter disappointment to send them crashing back down. Somewhere near enough to hear their music, but too far away to hear the words, someone was listening to music. Curiosity dragged the cat after it.
The beat of the music could be heard from the other side of the street. Chat Noir stood on the roof of the building across the road, and looked towards the balcony of the bakery. He could hear the lyrics now, and more importantly, he could hear the voice yelling along to them. Inside, Marinette was dancing wildly around her bedroom, swinging her hips and throwing her arms along to the beat with no sense of how much she looked like an octopus that just slipped on a banana peel. Her hair was pulled free from its usual bunches, and fell freely around her shoulders, framing her face when she was still enough for him to see her face. She yelled along to the words, even as she panted between flailing movements.

"WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER! STAND A LITTLE TALLER! DOESNT MEAN I'M LONE-LY WHEN I'M ALONE!"

He peered through her window, watching her in amusement. He leaned in to call her. "Mari!"

She was yelling too loudly to hear him. "WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES A FIGHTER! FOOTSTEPS EVEN LIGHTER! DOESN'T MEAN I'M O-VER 'CAUSE YOU'RE GONE!"

He climbed down into her room, down the bed ladder and behind her, calling her name all the time.

"MARINETTE!" He shouted.

Marinette stumbled to a stop, shocked by the interruption. She was flushed and out of breath. Chat Noir tilted his head and watched her, intensely. She panted, as she broke into a grin, and reached over to switch off the music. The sudden silence made her think she'd gone momentarily deaf, but her stubborn, loud heartbeat, and breathless gasping proved her wrong.

"Oh, hey Chat!" She beamed.

Chat gave her a concerned look. "You ok?"

"Yeah, wanna dance?" She grinned.

Chat raised an eyebrow. "Dance?"

She put a hand on her hip and smirked. "It's moving your body in time to music."

"I know what dancing is," he bit back a grin.

He really did like when Marinette teased him. It was better than when she gushed about him or stammered through a sentence because of how star struck she was. Teasing was more like bonding. It was fun.

"Great, want to dance or not?" She asked.

She flicked on the music, lower this time so they could still talk, and Chat listened to the words. They took him by surprise.

"This is a break up song!"

"Yeah," she laughed.

She was very happy for someone listening to break up songs.

"You're not supposed to dance to break up songs!" He said.

"Break up songs carry the most power. Makes me feel strong. Dance with me, and I'll show you," she held out a hand and tried to pull him along too.

Chat Noir was a gymnast when he wanted to be, but right now he was stiff as a board, even while she was light as a feather.

"Come on, you said I should see you dance, now prove it!" She grinned.

"I don't usually dance like this," he said.

"Sing with me. The moves will follow!"

"I'm not good at singing."

"Nino says if you can't sing well, sing loud, and sing louder if you don't know the lyrics. At least you're joining in and if people don't like it they can go away or be louder!" Marinette pulled away and hurried to the stereo.

It was difficult to argue her point, given that he never wanted to disagree with Nino, but he also wanted to get back out there and find Ladybug. He was really missing her now.

"Mari-"

"DANCE KITTY!"

Marinette raised the volume till they couldn't hear each other talking, and yelled along to the words. She went dancing around the room with no regard to safety. Standing in plain sight on her jewellery box, Tikki was dancing too. Tikki had started the urge to dance, and she wasn't about to shy away because Chat was here. Anyway, his attention was purely and singly on Marinette.

"HEEEEY I'LL BE GONE TODAY, BUT I'LL BE BACK ALONG THE WAY! SEEMS LIKE EVERY WHERE I GO, THE MORE I SEE THE LESS I KNOW, BUT I KNOW! ONE THING! I LOVE YOU!"

Chat Noir frowned. He had to turn his head to continue watching her. Her eyes were closed as she sang, joyfully, even as she got closer to the open trap door.

"I LOVE YOU!"

His eyes widened. He noticed the trap door first.

"I LOVE YOU!"

She was getting closer and closer. His heart beat faster.

"I LOVE YOU!"

Chat Noir darted forward and grabbed her hand. He pulled her forward and lifted her up by her waist to avoid falling down the hole. Marinette found herself swept off her feet, giggling manically, and a little breathless. There was a split second where neither of them moved. She stared up at him, surprised to have been plucked out of the air so easily, and he stared back, bewildered by her attitude. Then a mischievous glint sparked in those midnight blue eyes of hers. She took his hand, and yanked him around with her, forcing him into a box step. Chat Noir was taken aback by her mood. She was practically giddy. Giddy people were something he didn't see often.
Once the confusion and surprise drifted away, he got caught up in the joy she was radiating. Chat wanted to dance too, but she was holding him so far out that they could barely move together though. nothing like when they danced at Chloe's party. He knew this wasn't how she could dance. He knew she could do so much better.

"You're holding back," he said.

"Shut up and dance with me!" She laughed.

Chat Noir laughed back. "I will, but you gotta stop holding back!"

He pulled her closer, one hand on her hip and the other in her hand. They twirled around the room like sleeping beauty and her prince together. Tikki stopped dancing for a moment to watch them. Marinette's hair swooshed around her shoulders as easily as his tail swept through his legs. He was light on his claws, and she was as graceful as a ladybug. It was the first time in a long time she didn't trip and fall over herself. joy made her a ballerina. Tikki beamed with delight. Right up until Chat stepped on his own tail, stumbled forward and accidentally sent Marinette crashing to the floor. With nothing else to latch onto, she grabbed Chat, and yanked him down after her.

CRASH!

Down they both went, laying on the floor and groaning until the groaning became laughter and the laughter died into massive grins. Chat lay flat on his back staring up at the ceiling, and gave a satisfied sigh.

"I needed that. Do you know in the whole time we've been hanging out there hasn't been one akuma?" he said.

"I've noticed. Why?" she asked.

Chat's smile faded. "I haven't seen my lady in over a month. I miss her."

Marinette had no idea where his hand was in relation to hers, so she threw her arm out to give him a reassuring pat on whatever it landed on. In the end, his tail entwined with her fingers.

"I'm sure she misses you too." She didn't. Marinette couldn't tell him that though. For two, very good reasons. "Maybe Chloe will upset someone today. She's very good at that."

Chat wanted to argue, but Chloe caused more akumas than anyone else in Paris (besides Hawk Moth) and it was hard to defend that. he rolled over onto his side, so she did too, and they were laying face to face like they were gossiping at a sleep over.

"What's going on? Why are you so happy?" he asked.

Marinette's gaze flicked over at Tikki for a moment. Tikki winked at her, before flitting over to hide behind her pen pot. Her gaze turned back to chat's huge emerald, cat-like stare. It was almost like he could see into her soul, which was a little unnerving, but made her feel like she could trust him.

"Well, there's this boy I like, like, like-like, and today he… it sounds really pathetic," she wrinkled her nose.

"No tell me, please?" he begged.

He hadn't seen her like this before. all excited and love struck about some boy. He wondered who it was, and what he did to make her like this. it was adorable. That little light in her eyes seemed to get brighter and her voice got so tangled with joy and affection that she squealed and covered her face. it made Chat smile. This had to be what Plagg put up with whenever he talked about Ladybug.

"It sounds SO DUMB!" She laughed, but whatever it was, she didn't seem to care because she giggled, took a deep breath, and tried to explain what happened. "So yesterday we were talking and my friend Alya, you know Alya, from the film?"

"I know Alya."

"She said "let's go sit next to-" … let's call him…" Her gaze fell on King Louis XIV on the front of her history text book. "Louis…"

"Alright. So you sat next to Louis," Chat said, pointedly.

He felt excited to be told a secret about her crush. He saw shows and movies about girls gossiping with their closest friends about boys and things, and even though he wasn't a girl, he knew this meant she trusted him, and it made him proud to be a part of her closest friends. The exclusive circle had about five people in it. Nino, Alya, Adrien, Tikki, and now Chat Noir. Even so, Adrien would never find out about "Louis" if she could avoid it.

"Yeah… yeah Louis… anyway, so we're sitting there, and Chloe comes over, and drops a spider down my back and I just – oh it was so embarrassing! I threw my food everywhere! I was so angry! Like, urgh! So mad!"

even now her hands balled into fists and her ears turned red. In the back ground, Tikki mimed taking a deep breath, so Marinette did. Then she grinned. This all sounded vaguely familiar to Chat. Almost exactly like something that happened to Adrien yesterday, but he hadn't seen Chloe out of class, so there was no chance that Chloe could have anything to do with the way Marinette threw her food everywhere. His only conclusion? She must have thrown her food everywhere, twice.

"What'd Louis do?" Chat asked.

"He gave me his food."

"His food?"

"Yeah… Don't get me wrong, I know it's nothing big, he'd probably do it for anyway but, God the fact he's kind enough to do that for anyone makes me love him so much more!"

Well that concludes it. it couldn't have possibly been Adrien that she loved, because it was Alya that collected food from everyone at the table. Even Rose and Juleka. And Nathanael had given her a whole apple, personally.

OH!

NINO GAVE A PACKET OF JAFFA CAKES!
AND NINO WAS SITTING AT THE TABLE WHEN SHE SAT DOWN!
MAYBE SHE HAD A CRUSH ON NINO!

She did give up her favour from Chat for him. And she was never comfortable around Nino and Alya at the same time because they were always making googly eyes at each other or flirting or kissing. Because Marinette was jealous! OR she was disgusted at her best friend and her boyfriend always kissing in front of her… Chat would need more information.

"So this… Louis… what does he look like?" Marinette blushed.

The posters of Adrien were still hanging on the walls, all around them. pose after pose after pose, watching them, grinning at them, close to flirting in some poses. Each one made her heart tug and beat erratically. She was so hopelessly in love that she thought it would be utterly and completely obvious. Chat stared at her, eagerly, desperate for more info. Marinette licked her lip nervously.

"Well… he's… he's just so… he's-"

Beep-beep.

"AKUMA!"

Chat leapt to his feet like a bolt of lightning had hit him. he was upright in seconds, beaming excitedly and already hurrying towards the window, even as Marinette's heart beat three times faster, her stomach on the floor.

"I'll be back! I finally get to see her again!" he giggled manically.

Marinette watched him shoot off from the balcony on his staff, soaring into a shrinking shape way off on the horizon. Marinette couldn't help smirking. That cat must have missed her more than she could understand.

"You were just with her, you silly kitty," she chuckled.

"Mari, akuma! We have to go!" Tikki insisted.

"Cool your jets Tikki. Let's give him a minute to get out of sight, so we know he's not going to see us," Marinette said.

"I think he left too quickly to pay attention to us," Tikki said.

"You're probably right. Are you ready?"

"Ready!"

"Tikki, spots on!"

Chat was vibrating excitedly as he wandered back and forth, glancing about to try and spot Ladybug before she saw him. He failed. She landed behind him and made him jump.

"Hey kitty."

"LADYBUG!" He beamed.

He threw himself forward to hug her. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then she chuckled affectionately. Her cat had missed her. That was adorable. Chat leapt back and he beamed at her.

"Spots slowing you do my lady?" He grinned.

"Maybe you were just too excited to see me," she shrugged.

"Well seeing you is the highlight of my week."

"You must have had a pretty dark week."

"I've been spending it with a friend."

"A friend? Should I be jealous?" She teased.

Chat Noir shook his head and grinned, his eyes sparkling. "She has nothing on you."

Ladybug laughed. Her eyes shone just like his did and she muttered under her breath, "I wouldn't be so sure."

An explosion over by the river made her gasp, but Chat leapt into action, eager to show off to her. Chat Noir threw an arm around her waist and set the staff between his feet.

"Stay close my lady, and don't look down!"

"Wait - Chat - WAIT!"

Ladybug yelped as he kicked up the staff and they went arching through the air above the city and crashing down the other way. After a month of being on solid ground, she was now giving up the entire ability to control her movements. All she could do was cling to Chat and hope he was in control. Chat, spurred on by the way it made Ladybug cling to him, went faster. Her head was against his neck for a blissful ten seconds, that put her heart in her throat and made her knees weak. When they landed, she shoved him away viciously.

"I can do it myself!" She snapped.

Chat's ears drooped. "Sorry, I just-"

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," the akuma sneered.

"No cat dragged me anywhere. I can fly on my own," Ladybug snarled.

Chat whined softly. Guiltily. He didn't want to show how her remark hurt him more than the akuma, but it did. No doubt.

"Is it too easy to ask why you ended up like this?" Chat asked.

"Like what?" The akuma asked.

"Akumatized," Ladybug said.

"I've been blessed with the power to exact justice on -"

"Let me guess," Ladybug interrupted.

At the same time all three of them said, "Chloe Bourgeois."

Ladybug felt a smug flicker in her chest. Chloe behaved herself well for the last month (she /was trying to be a better person after all) but she slipped up easily.

"Hurting her isn't a good way to get revenge," Ladybug warned.

"It's the only way she'll learn her lesson!" The akuma snarled.

"You'll have to go through us first!" Chat warned.

"There's more than way to skin a cat," the akuma sniggered.

The two of them stood back to back, automatically in sync enough to fight together. When Chat jumped from atop the carousel because his staff was stolen, Ladybug was there to catch him. When Ladybug rolled across the floor to get away, Chat was there to stand over her and defend her. When Ladybug paused to make sure Alya was sheltered from any potential injury, Chat was there to make sure the akuma didn't see where she was hidden. Sometimes, when he was waiting for an ambush, he got to watch the way she worked. That little frown of thought when she was about to use her lucky charm. That little spark when she finally had her eureka moment. She was so intelligent she made his heart beat faster. That smirk- oh that smirk!
It was perfect. Close enough to evil that it reminded him how lucky he was to have her on his side, and yet so powerful it made Hawk Moth himself tremble. He felt it in his chest when she looked at him like that.

Bud-dum.

"Chat, grab that!" She pointed to a piece of guttering he was standing next to.

Obediently he grabbed it and dragged it over to Ladybug. She used it to create some kind of slip and slide, lured the akuma forward, and let him slip on the guttering, and he slammed down to the floor. She snatched up the hair comb pinned into his hair, dropped it, and stepped on it till it cracked.

"No more evil for you little akuma!" She caught it with the yo-yo, and beamed as it fluttered out, cured. "Bye-bye little butterfly!"

When Ladybug did her thing with the lucky charm and everything got fixed up again everyone usually watched the lights that fixed everything. Chat didn't. He watched Ladybug. Every time, she never failed to look awed by them. They lit up her face, shining her in eyes, and ruffled her hair like a mini hurricane around her. For a moment, just a moment, she wasn't the city's superhero. She wasn't strong, powerful, stubborn Ladybug. For a moment, a single, glorious moment, he caught a glimpse of who she was out of uniform. Just another kid his age, fascinated by the lights. In that moment, he could imagine them together out of uniform too. Just two young kids in love. She tore her gaze away, onto him, and flashed him one of those smiles. One of the victorious smiles that made his heart sing. She held out her fist, and he bumped it with his.

"Pound it!"

It should have felt amazing. They just beat an akuma in record time. But after a month of silence, it was all over too quickly. Chat's ears flattened.

"I guess I'll have to go back to darkness for a while," he muttered.

"Oh kitty. If you miss me that bad, call me," she said.

"I did! You ignored me!" He whined.

"Well some girls don't like cat calling," she shrugged.

He perked up. "Was that a pun?"

"Was it? I guess I've been missing you too," she scratched him under his chin and he fought the urge to purr.

"I knew you'd see things my way bugaboo," he beamed.

Beep-beep! "Gotta go. Catch you later."

Chat gave a loving sigh as he watched her swing away. Shakespeare was right. Parting was such sweet sorrow.

Marinette scratched Tikki between the antenna. It was Tikki's favourite spot. Marinette knew this because it made Tikki chirp. It was the cutest noise Marinette had ever heard. Tikki hid behind Marinette's computer and nibbled her cookie as Chat appeared in the window looking love struck.

"How'd it go?" Marinette smirked.

"Ama-zing!" Chat fell backwards onto the sofa, with a love filled sigh. "I didn't get to use my cataclysm, but- ah..."

Marinette grinned. "Sounds like valentine's day has come around again. Who is she?"

Chat Noir giggled like a school girl. Marinette raised an eyebrow. Was this what she was like when she talked about Adrien? It was cute. cuter since he was a cat, but still.

"I won't tell you her name until you tell me who Louis is, but we can call her... Betty," Chat declared.

Betty Boop looked good in polka-dots too. Marinette sat down on the floor beside the sofa and beamed at him. Alya never had a crush before she started dating Nino. This was the first time she'd get to dish. She didn't imagine doing it with Chat Noir of all people, but she didn't mind. Gossip was gossip.

"Tell me everything!"

How to Bond With a Cat

A Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Story
by Theonewhosawitall

Part 4 of 19

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