In the coming days, Marinette and Cat Noir saw more of each other. It was a little surprising how easily they fit together.

Technically, it wasn't surprising at all.

Marinette moved the stylus against the screen of her tablet vigorously, trying to come up with yet another amazing design for Jagged Stone's new album cover. Of course, it took all of her concentration and time, god knows for how long she had been sitting on that chaise of hers. Her focus was disturbed when she felt her tablet and stylus being snatched away by black-gloved hands.

"Cat Noir!"

The said person just flopped down on her chaise, positioning himself between her legs so that his head was on her stomach, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Pay attention to me, princess." He whined, his voice was slightly muffled.

Marinette's face heated up as a soft blush crept up her cheeks at the close proximity with Cat. She shook her head, she had always been comfortable with him, had she not? What was with the blushing then? Her thoughts didn't stop a fond smile that had made its way to her lips. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"Aw! Is the kitty feline a bit ignored?" Her grip around him loosened a little as he lifted his head to look at her, his face was so close to hers, their noses were almost touching.

Eyes widened, her lips parted in surprise. She would have questioned his actions if the idiot had not opened his big mouth.

"Was that a pun I heard, ma chérie?" His lips curved into a devilish smirk that may or may not have short-circuited poor Marinette's brain for a while.

When she back to her right mind, she gave him an ugly look and smacked his head upside down.

"Meow-ch!" He winced. "The purr-incess has claws." He dared say.

"One more pun and I will kick you out." She warned.

"No need to get feisty, little lady." He turned over so that he was facing her, his head still in her lap.

Marinette would have kicked him out for sure if she wasn't fond of this dork. She ran her fingers through his soft, smooth golden hair. She really needed to ask him about the hair products he used. "So, you didn't answer my question earlier. Were you getting bored and irritated about not getting my attention, being the cat you are?"

Cat Noir cracked his one eye open and peered at the girl's face. "Nope, well, to be honest, a little bit but I took away that tablet because you have been stressing yourself out a lot, lately and that's not good." He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and caressed her cheek gently, careful with his claws. "You need to take care of yourself too, didn't you tell me that it's important to let go and be just a kid sometimes?"

Marinette's heart swelled with affection. "I did, didn't I?" She pressed a kiss on his forehead and he sighed.

"Do you want to sleep, kitten?" She asked as he had his eyes closed while she was rubbing a spot behind his cat ears.

"Nah, I just want you to continue petting me." A soft rumble could be heard in the bluenette's room as the superhero purred. "Oh yes! A little to the left, down, a little right, yeah, that's the spot."

The undercover superheroine giggled and to Cat Noir, it was the sweetest and the most melodious thing he had ever heard.

******

Marinette was sitting on her balcony, sketching some new designs for an upcoming competition. She loved sitting there and cherishing the memories she had made with Cat Noir.

It felt like it was just yesterday when she had comforted him when he was crying on her balcony and had confided in her, while in reality, it had been months. They had become best friends over the span of time. They were closer than ever. So close that they could even finish each others' sentences.

Cat trusted her with his life, they knew sides of each other that no one did. She learnt that Cat was a really gentle guy who could be very serious if the situation called for it, he was very helpful and resourceful and could be relied upon but, he was a tease. He was an emotional guy and was very empathetic, very sweet and considerate. She had even allowed him to enter her room through the skylight if he felt like it, but he would always knock and wait patiently for her permission. Like a gentleman.

Cat's visits were the reason why her room's walls lacked Adrien's photos and why she got rid of his pull-up schedule, she didn't want him to know about her crush on Adrien. Alya had been suspicious about the sudden 'lack of Adrien' in her room. Marinette thought that it wasn't fair to Cat Noir, after all, she was Ladybug.

Apart from her crush's identity and her alter ego's identity, he knew everything about her. Her sassiness, stalker-like habits whenever it came to her mystery boy (something he always teased her about), her favourite food, songs everything.

They shared every secret. Cat would tell her about his life without letting his identity slip.

Her parents too knew about his visits and appreciated her efforts to make him feel better. They had gladly accepted him as family and Cat had cried that day when he was told to make himself feel at home by her parents. They felt bad for the poor kid and knew he meant no harm. They trusted him with their daughter. They would even play video games with him every once in a while and would even invite him to their family nights.

She and he would often have movie marathons and baking classes together. They even had sleepovers and friendly cuddles. Sometimes, they would just watch the stars, enjoying each other's company. They would play the weirdest games possible. They were inseparable.

Marinette smiled at the memory of him giving her a makeover. Boy! He was horrible at it, she had screeched when she saw her reflection in the mirror.

Her parents had come up asking if anything was wrong. One look at her face and they joined Cat Noir, who was laughing his ass off on the floor. She had just pouted but a small smile lingered her face. She loved making him laugh. He had apologized and got her a ticket to Gabriel Agreste's fashion show just to make it even. She had literally jumped in his arms, giving him a hug. He had just chuckled and hugged back.

"I did the right thing, right, Tikki?" She asked her kwami looking up from the design she had been working on.

Tikki was busy watching one of Clara's videos on the internet on her holder's phone.

She took a deep breath and faced Marinette. "Yes, you did, Marinette. Why do you ask the same question every day? Inviting him to your house might have been dangerous in the first place but, it makes both of you happy. It's been months since he has been visiting you and honestly, I don't see what's wrong."

"It's just that... I don't know, Tikki, I mean, if he finds out about my identity, will he be mad? Marinette shuddered. "I don't wanna lose him. He's my best friend."

"Oh, Marinette!" Tikki nuzzled her cheek. "He won't be mad. Besides, he is so happy while he is with you, I think he'd be ecstatic to learn that you are her."

Marinette just hummed in response. She looked at the time.

7:30 PM

"Huh, time flies when you're having fun."

She went inside and flipped through the pages of her sketchbook. "This one's pretty good. Don't you think so too, Tikki?"

No reply.

Marinette looked around trying to search for her kwami, instead, she heard a knock.

Of course, Tikki's sudden disappearances always had to do with Cat showing up. She nodded and he let himself in.

"I am ready for our sleepover purr-incess." Cat beamed.

She sighed, "Is it absolutely necessary to make a pun every time you open your mouth to speak?"

"My purr-incess doesn't like my puns. Meow-ch, I am hurt. Woe is me." He placed a hand over his heart dramatically, pretending to be pained.

She bit back a laugh.

"Anyway, let's play a game." Cat jumped around happily.

Marinette laughed at his childlike habits. He was such a kid. The day she introduced him to bubble wrap, he had spent two hours straight popping it. He had hissed at her when she had tried to take it from him in order to make him eat something. She had ended up feeding him the pizza herself instead. She realised something that day... His lips were incredibly soft. She shook her head.

Just what am I thinking?

"Fine kitty, what would you like to play?"

"Truth and dare."

"You practically know everything about me so what's the point?"

"Then let's just do dares." He clapped excitingly.

"Fine, let's do that." She sat across him.

"I'll go first." Cat tapped his chin and then spoke up. "I dare you to go down and talk to your parents but, the words of a sentence should be in reverse order."

"Pathetic." Marinette gave him a weird look. She went downstairs with the cat following.

"Oh! I see Cat Noir has arrived." Sabine smiled at the two teens.

"Has he yes." The heroine bit her lip.

"Marinette, honey are you alright?" Tom put aside the frosting he had been working on.

"Dad fine am I."

"What's going on?" Her parents asked worriedly.

"Mean you do what? On going is nothing." Marinette was trying to stifle her laughter at her parents' baffled look but failed miserably when she heard Cat laughing. The adults just shrugged it off as a joke.

******

"Well, that was fun," Cat said as they re-entered her bedroom.

"Sure was." Marinette smiled. "Fine my turn." She grinned mischievously.

Cat gulped.

She gave him the dare.

"No, not happening." He shook his head.

"Oh come on Cat, just do it." She whined.

"Nope."

Marinette grabbed his arm and yanked him to the bathroom. He was surprised at her strength and tried to break free but she won't budge. He looked with horror as she dipped a toothbrush in toilet water.

"Open your mouth Cat."

"Not happening." He shut his mouth.

Marinette smirked and tickled him.

Perks of being best friends: you know all the tickle spots.

Once he opened his mouth to laugh, she shoved the brush into his mouth and started brushing his teeth.

As soon as Cat Noir came back to his senses and overcame the shock, he got out of her hold and ran to the basin. He brushed his teeth with real toothpaste and even used mouth freshener.

"Oh, my claws!" He muttered. Once he was done panicking, he looked up at Marinette. She was filming him and wore a smirk.

Cat smiled evilly at her. "Well played princess but now, revenge time."

She rolled her eyes "Bring it on kitty cat."

Cat smirked, "Who said anything about dares as a means of revenge?"

"But, wait! No, that isn't fair." Marinette waved her arms frantically. She was panicking.

"Chillax, purr-incess, but, dares won't be the only means of revenge. I just want to mess with you, cat's all." His voice was eerily soft. "Maybe I will take pity on you and just use the dare."

"Ughhh... fine! It's your turn anyway." She sighed in defeat.

"I dare you to wear a baddie outfit tomorrow at school and flirt with Adrien Agreste," Cat smirked.

He didn't know where this dare came from, there was no explanation for why he had asked her to flirt with his civilian self. All he knew she hated being seductive and flirting with Adrien would be a whole new level of torture, considering she couldn't even form coherent sentences around his alter-ego. He had always wondered why... He wouldn't let this opportunity slide.

Yeah, it's not like I want her to wear something like that or to flirt with my alter-ego. This is just a means of revenge, that's right... No matter how cute--

Shut up, Agreste! She looks good in anything.

Seriously, shut up!

Marinette looked as if she'd seen a ghost. "I b-but I..." She stammered.

"Oooh, I got you good! Remember princess, I will be watching. And this is just the beginning of my revenge."

Marinette gulped.

He honestly enjoyed her reaction.

"Anyway, I got the game... Ultimate Mecha Strike V. Let's have a match." He searched his bag.

"But, it isn't released yet. How did you get it?" Marinette looked at him in disbelief.

"This cat has his ways princess." He puffed his chest.

"Fine, kitty. Game on!" There was the competitive Marinette he enjoyed playing against.

They took their seats as the game loaded. Match after match and Cat lost again and again and again and again and again. It wasn't new but, she wasn't going easy on him like usual. She was mad at him for the dare

He honestly thought that innocent little Marinette won't be able to pull the seductress look off. Sure, she was full of surprises, but still.

Man, tomorrow would be fun. After the tenth game, they were both very tired. They had had snacks and weren't hungry.

Marinette yawned.

"Come on purr-incess, let's sleep. Tomorrow would be a purr-fect day. You wouldn't want to be late. That would be a cat-tastrophe." He teased. He was lucky that she was too tired to respond.

He gently lifted her and managed to get them both to her loft-bed.

He gently laid her down and got under the sheets as well, joining her. They cuddled in her bed.

"And I forgot to tell you, my birthday is next week. I would like to celebrate it with you and take you somewhere." Cat said.

"Don't you have other friends?" Marinette muttered sleepily.

"I do, but, I love spending time with you princess."

She hummed and snuggled in his chest, drifting off to sleep. He held her closer to him, occasionally playing with her hair as he listened to her calm breathing and fell asleep too.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•
A/N: The starting few chapters are crappy according to me. Sorry about that... It's my first story so, be a teensy tiny bit kind. It gets better, purr-omise.

{Edited: February 11, 2020}