Was I Wrong?

For a few seconds, Marinette simply stared at her grinning partner, completely baffled as to what the heck he was even here for. He'd basically come here completely out of the blue, no real reason for him to even be here. staring back at her, he waved at her. Clearly he was expecting her to open the window so he could speak with her. For what, she had absolutely no idea. Had she not been so curious, she probably would have just closed her curtains.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, once she had opened the window, coming off as slightly more abrasive than intended.

"Not happy to see me, Princess?"

"Chat, I'm not in the mood for your games."

"I suppose we play computer games..."

"Chat!"

"What?"

With a heavy sigh, Marinette glared at the cat-themed hero who was stood with the biggest grin she'd ever seen on his face. they seemed to have a rather contrasting relationship, depending on who she was. As ladybug, she had a friendly, yet no nonsense attitude with him, occasionally engaging in his terrible jokes, but keeping focused on the task at hand. She could trust him with anything, and valued his honesty above all else.

As Marinette, she tried to keep up that sort of personality, but with a slightly more '' manner, so Chat wouldn't be able to put two and two together, and figure out she was Ladybug. In spite of that, being around him, she found it nearly impossible to put up with him sometimes. He was her closest friend as Ladybug, and that seemed to seep into their relationship when she was Marinette, regardless of if she wanted it to or not.

"Look, Chat, I'm tired, and I want to go to sleep, so what do you - "

"You really seem to like this model, huh?" Was he ignoring her, or was he just testing to see how far he could push her? He had gone over to her desk, literally walking past her, and had began inspecting her wall, lined with pictures of Adrien. She could have sworn she saw his cheeks go a bit red upon seeing those. "Celebrity crush?"

"No - Yes - I - None of your business, cat!" She broke out into a combination of stutters and blushes, which only seemed to amuse Chat Noir. He was enjoying himself, Marinette could tell. He was doing everything he could to stop himself from bursting out into laughter. She forced herself to calm down, before she addressed the hero in front of her. "What do you want, kitty? I'm tired."

Deciding he had had his fun, Chat turned to her with a smile, and leaned against her wall, his armed crossed, trying to look suave. "Nothing really. Just wanted to check up on you."

"Really? Why?" What reason did Chat have to check up on her of all people?

"Your captivating beauty beckons me to come to your side from across Paris, of course!" Chat stated with his usual flirtatious grin. Had it not been for the miraculous Soul Link revelation, Marinette would have been willing to put money on him doing this to every girl that crossed his field of vision. He kept it going for about five seconds before he gave her the real reason. "You've been having a rough couple of days. I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"How do you know if I've been having a good day or not?"

"These eye's aren't just here to look -retty, Mari."

And now he was making puns. Ooooh, she wanted to punch him. She was really getting tempted to punch him. She probably would have done if he hadn't locked eyes with her, and she felt a wash of warmth cover her, similar to that she had felt with Adrien. Coincidentally, they shared the same green eye color, one Marinette adored. She could get lost in those for hours...

So she had to tear her gaze away from him to make sure she didn't. "So - So you watch me? Isn't that stalking?"

"I thought they called it ''."

"That's what they call it in movies." Marinette muttered, remembering this exact conversation happening with Alya a few days ago. Oh, she could practically taste the irony.

"Well, I don't ',' Princess. Let's just say I'm observant and I hear things." Chat stood upright and pointed at the pictures above Marinette's desk with his thumb. "You've been trying to help this guy, right?"

"How - How the heck did you..."

"Again, I'm observant." Chat said, almost purring at the fact he seemed to have one-upped Marinette's attempts at secrecy. "So, what's so special about this mug, then? Not a bad looking guy at all, but is that it?" He asked, referring to Adrien. "Seems a bit superficial if I'm honest."

"No, it's nothing like that!" Marinette defended, blushing. Why did she even feel the need to defend herself against Chat? What part of her brain was screaming at her to make sure he understood? Why did she even care what he thought of her? "He - He's handsome, yes... But there's a lot more to him than just that!"

"Such as?"

"Why - Why do you even care?"

"Maybe I wanna make sure my Princess is falling in love with the right guy."

Another explosion of color hit Marinette's cheeks. But it had nothing to do with Adrien... "He - He's a really kind person... And he's just a really kind guy... He's a famous model, so it would be so easy for him to become someone like Chloe - You'll have seen her, I'm certain - But he wound up as such a kind person... The first day I met him, I was convinced he was just like Chloe. Some sort of rich, self absorbed bully... But he proved me so wrong..."

Why was she telling him all of this?

"He's got all this confidence, all this money, fame, his future is basically assured for him... He's smart, he's generous, he's caring... He found a small kitten the other day, and went out of his way to help it. It's just a small thing, I know, but the small things are what makes up a person."

What was it about Chat?

"And when I saw he was feeling down... I tried to help... and just made things worse. I thought he was going to hate me. I really did... But he thanked me, for trying, even when I made him feel so much worse... He's so patient, so gracious and thankful for everything anyone does for him..."

Why was talking to Chat about Adrien so easy?

Looking at him now, Chat had just watched, smiling kindly at him as she had just rambled on about the things she loved about Adrien, not at all interrupting, not questioning, not making fun of her, or doing anything like that. He was just smiling and listening to her. "Cute." Was all he had to say once he was certain she had finished talking.

For some reason, that compliment made her knees feel weak.

"Well then, I guess I've bothered you for long enough." Chat declared, making his way back towards the window. "Stay safe, Princess."

It would have been easy to let him go. Marinette could have not said a single word, and Chat would be gone, probably for good.

She didn't do that though.

And she never figured out why.

"Chat?"

"Yeah?" He turned his head to face her again, a soft expression on his face.