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“Aargh! Tikki I just don’t get this whole section of math problems!” Marinette stomped away from her computer desk.
“Well maybe if you would have been paying attention to your teacher instead of Aaadrien…!” Tikki flipped heart-shaped loop-de-loops around Marinette’s head with a grin.
Marinette pulled on her pigtails. “What am I supposed to do now? Do you know anything about proofs, Tikki?” Her hands ran down her face in exasperation.
“Nope!” Tikki popped, “Not a thing! Do you have a classmate that could help you?” She flew down and attempted to lift Marinette’s phone.
Marinette reached down and grabbed the phone from the struggling kwami and thumbed through her contacts.
“Adrien would know but I can’t ask him. Alix is good at physics, not math. Alya is just as bad at geometry as I am…Oh, Tikki, this isn’t going to work!” Marinette exclaimed and flopped backward on her chaise.
“Oh Marinette, you really must control your temper. Is there something you can do to cool off and approach the problems from a fresh perspective?” Tikki flew over and sat in Marinette’s bangs, patting her forehead comfortingly.
“I should probably water my plants I guess,” Marinette’s left pigtail slid out of its tie, she pulled the other tie out and left them on the chaise. “It’s only been a couple of days, but it’s been pretty warm. I bet their soil is bone dry.” She sat up and combed through her hair with her fingers to get rid of the ponytail line.
“That’s a great idea! Fresh air for a fresh perspective!” Tikki spun in circles, “and you know how much I love visiting your flowers!”
Marinette smiled, feeling her frustration lines soften on her forehead.
“Let me fill up the watering can then.”
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Adrien had finished the video call with his Mandarin instructor early, the native Chinese man calling the lesson short due to a disruption on his street on the other side of the world. Nobody would be checking on him for at least another 45 minutes. He set a timer on his watch and set it on his bed before transforming.
“I should be able to get a quick patrol in, Plagg.” Adrien put both hands on his hips and addressed his kwami.
“But Adrieeeennn—“
“And stock up on camembert.” The boy interrupted.
“Well then what are you waiting for? Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” Plagg zoomed to his hand and pulled on the finger that held Adrien’s miraculous.
“I thought that might convince you. Plagg? Transformez moi!” Adrien flashed his ring in front of his face and sat back and enjoyed the transformation, smiling at the tiny ‘woo-hoo’ that Plagg had let slip at the last second.
Chat Noir slipped the watch on his forearm and slid it under the edge of his black gloves. He reached over and grabbed his wallet from his duffel bag by the bed tucking it into his boot, Plagg would kill him if he forgot that part of going out. Wedging the edge of his baton under part of the couch he angled himself out the window.
Chat didn’t consider himself a show-off. He just really loved doing flips. It was like choosing how often you wanted loops on a rollercoaster.
‘If I’m going to consider this patrol, I’d better go the route past the school. It seems to be a hot spot for akumas’ Chat thought to himself as he vaulted over a double set of chimneys.
He planted his baton in the gutter near the intersection to the school and lifted himself up, higher, higher…
“Oh, Marinette! Hello!” He waved at her with his free hand. The magic baton, confused by the change in direction, swung him around in a wide arc before he was dumped unceremoniously on the balcony of the girl that had caught his interest.
CRASH!
Chat Noir raised a gloved hand up to his hair, mussing it further as he shook potting soil out of his ears. From his spot on the floor he could only see a broken terracotta pot, a pair of pink pants, and balled up fists.
“What was that?!” Marinette screeched. “You completely murdered my asparagus fern!”
Chat stumbled to his feet to face his red-faced classmate. His green eyes were blown wide in panic while hers were scrunched shut in rage. He was totally distracted. Why had she let her hair down?
“-ast thing I need is accident-prone strays crash-landing on my roof. Plant murderer! I should have stayed inside staring at my math book. Stupid cat! Where am I going to get another pot?” Marinette’s voice was getting louder by the word.
Chat leaned in and planted a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.
Marinette blinked, her huge blue eyes going crosseyed staring at her nose.
If you asked Chat later, he would say he had no idea what he was doing. It went completely against his instincts, to get closer to that screaming face rather than cowering. Maybe it was something to do with the suit, making him rush into danger like that.
What was more amazing? It worked. She was so baffled, her mind stuttered to a stop.
“Hey Purr-incess, I’m headed to the store on the next block over to get some cheese for my kwa—my friend. If you help meow-t we can pick you out a new pot. Compliments of the Chat.” Chat Noir didn’t wait for her to respond. He wanted to keep her off balance so she didn’t start yelling again.
He scooped her up by the waist, her arm looping over his shoulders like it was second nature.
She rolled her eyes and muttered, “You know your puns are the worst.”
Chat Noir exhaled and launched them toward the store’s rooftop, “Speaking of wurst, I need some sausage and apples for my cheese board.” He grinned, shocked that his impulsive action had passed so easily.
Marinette pressed her forehead into her palm. “How did I get roped into grocery shopping with you?”
Chat waggled his eyebrows, “So you can spend time with a superhero.” He set her down in the alleyway next to the store and leaned closer so he was looking up at her.
She scoffed and pushed his nose away with a finger. “How do you know Ladybug and I aren’t bffs? Huh?”
Chat grinned and took a step back. “Well you must be, she pulls that move on me all the time.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “No wonder my puns don’t im-purr-ess you much.”
She rolled her eyes and started toward the alley entrance, “Are you saying there are people that are actually impressed by them? Come on, Chat, you owe me a new pot.”
He tilted his head and followed after her, totally not noticing the way her hips swayed back and forth, just like Ladybug’s.
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“Please, Princess? You have to get the polka-dotted one!” Chat’s hands clasped together in excitement.
“Chat Noir, that pot is way too small for my fern!”
“But it is a Ladybug pot! It’s important!”
“What’s important is that my plant fits and none of these pots are the right size.” Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed together, surveying the small selection of pots in the garden section.
“How about you get the one with the black cat on it and some extra dirt?” Chat pointed to a large blue pot with a motif of a cat curling around the base.
“That one is way too expensive.” Marinette shook her head and turned away.
“I didn’t hear a no!” Chat set the ladybug pot, a small planted petunia, and a bag of potting soil into the larger pot and swept it off toward the cashier.
“Ugh! Chat Noir! Get back here, you can’t buy all that stuff for me!” Marinette was stomping behind him, but her ballet flats made no noise against the tiled floor.
“Oh! I can’t forget the cheese! Marinette, I don’t have a free hand. Can you grab it?” Chat Noir peeked his smile from behind the large pot.
Marinette sighed, “Fine, you’re not going to listen to me anyway. What kind do you need? And didn’t you need other stuff?”
“No, I was kidding about the cheese board. Just grab the largest wheel of camembert they have, the whole thing. I’ll meet you up front.”
"Really? Then he only said that for the pun? Typical." Marinette muttered to herself as she made her way to the grocery section.
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They walked out of the store each toting a load that required both arms. Chat’s ears flattened against his head. “I don’t think I thought this through very well. I can’t carry all of this and us home. I didn’t think they’d have a wheel of camembert that big.”
“Don’t worry about it, Chat. I live a whole block away. I think we’ll live.” Marinette grinned and turned her feet towards the bakery.
It didn’t take long for them to reach the small alleyway next to the Dupain-Cheng patisserie.
“It will take me two trips, but I am happy to play elevator boy.” Chat Noir grinned and saluted, lifting himself and the large pot up to her balcony and gently, gently setting them down next to the scattered soil. He stepped over the edge and dropped down to lift Marinette, who was still holding the massive wheel of cheese. He set her down just as gently as he had the pot.
“Can I do the ladybug one?” Chat bounced on his heels, “Please, please?”
“I’ll have to show you so you don’t break that one too, but I don’t see why not.” Marinette smiled.
She pulled the price sticker off of the pot and pulled a small trowel out from a basket behind her balcony chair.
“Okay, so we need to pull it out of the plastic liner first. Hold the base of the stems and hold your palm against the dirt to hold it in. No, more like this.” She reached in and shifted his fingers. “The dirt is pretty packed, don’t worry about it. Now flip it. Perfect. Hold still.” She gently pulled on the bottom of the liner and shimmied it up until it popped off the bottom.
“Oh good, the roots are pretty far along. Let me put a couple handfuls of dirt in….and set the plant in there, gently.”
The leaves quivered as Chat slowly lowered the plant into the spotted pot.
“Really? You fight supervillains every other day and you’re scared of a plant?” Marinette teased.
“I just don’t wanna mess up.” Chat whispered slowly.
“Here, I’ll help you pack more dirt around the sides, then we just need to water it and we’re done.” Marinette pulled the bag of potting soil closer to their project.
Chat grinned, but was interrupted by a series of beeps.
Marinette looked confused, “That isn’t what it normally sounds like when you’re about to detransform.”
Chat pushed his glove aside and revealed the beeping watch. “No, I just have to get home. Will you be all right?”
“You mean will I be able to fix the mess you made?” Marinette grinned, “I think I’ll manage.”
Chat Noir tilted his head back and laughed.
Marinette smiled gently, “Thank you for stopping by, you ended up being a big help, Chat.”
“Hey, what are superheroes for?” Chat struck a pose.
“Yeah sure, now if only you could help me with my math homework.” Marinette folded her arms. “You’d better get that cheese home to your kwami soon, it’ll spoil in this sunshine.”
“Plagg would be really mad if that happened. And if I think of a way to help with your math homework, I’ll let you know.” Chat shifted the wheel of cheese under one arm and stood to go, “See you around, Princess!”
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Adrien flopped over on his bed and leaned back against his pillows, hands clasped behind his head. He had just spent an hour video-chatting in his pajamas with Marinette explaining how to do proofs. She stuttered through every sentence, but at least she finished the assignment that was due tomorrow. Well, she stuttered through every sentence except the one under her breath, something about I’ll kill that cat. He couldn’t help but smirk at that one.
“I learned how to plant petunias today, Plagg.” He smiled as he spoke, knowing the kwami was ignoring him, busy trying to build a pyramid out of camembert wedges. “Mom would be proud.”
He closed his eyes, completely prepared to fall asleep.
Wait.
“….Plagg…? How did she know what it sounded like when I detransformed?”
Surprisingly, the cat god had been listening. “Eh, she probably heard it on that blog thing. You beep when you’re in front of reporters all the time.”
“Oh.” He closed his eyes again, only for them to fly open seconds later.
“How did she know what a kwami was?!” His head shot off the pillow.
Plagg cackled gleefully around a mouthful of cheese, somersaulting through the air.