A Cat, a Fox, and a Bee walk into a Bakery 8
Marinette was staring in shock, and she quietly muttered to Tikki, who was hiding in the collar of her shirt (honestly just to see the chaos). “How the heck did this happen again?”
“Your parents spotted them,” Tikki giggled, covering her mouth with a tiny paw.
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It had been a typical start to a movie night, up until Chat and Queen Bee started to argue over what movie to watch.
“The Princess Bride is a classic!” Queen Bee hissed. “And I’m tired of your stupid anime!”
“You apologize to Hayao Miyazaki this instant!” Chat gave a far more animalistic hiss back, brandishing his copy of Princess Mononoke.
“Do we get a say in this?” Vixen asked from where her head was in Marinette’s lap, the girl’s fingers stroking through her hair.
“NO!” Both heroes yelled, then froze as the trap door to Marinette’s room opened, a bemused Tom and Sabine regarding the four, who at the moment were all doing admirable impressions of deer in headlights.
Everyone remained still for several seconds, until Vixen lazily raised a hand and waved. “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng.”
Tom cracked up, and Sabine playfully nudged her husband with an elbow before smiling at the heroes in her daughter’s room. “If you wanted friends over, Marinette, you could have just asked. You don’t have to hide them up here.”
“If you’re having movie night, the TV in the living room is much bigger, and you can use the couch,” Tom added. “And of course, you’ll need snacks.”
Marinette probably shouldn’t have been surprised by how all three heroes perked up excitedly.
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Which led her to now. Marinette was trying to reconcile the sight of all three heroes in the rest of her house, interacting and actually getting along with her parents.
Chat was the one that was breaking her brain the most. Out of all of them, he was the one she least expected to know another language, but seeing him happily chatting away with her mother in Mandarin had her re-evaluating her Kitty a little bit. The big goofball had some depth to him, it seemed.
Vixen was helping her construct a blanket nest on the couch, while Queen Bee, of all people, was helping her father assemble a snack tray in the kitchen. The normally brash heroine seemed almost embarrassed at the warm attention and playful teasing from her dad, but also seemed to be soaking it up.
“Queenie told me once, her mom died when she was little and her dad doesn’t pay much attention to her,” Vixen whispered in her ear. “Let her have this.”
Marinette’s eyes widened, and she shot Vixen a slight smile. “I don’t mind sharing if Queenie doesn’t.”
“And that’s why we love you, girl.” Marinette yelped as Vixen playfully tackled her to the couch, hugging her.
“Cat pile! Come on, Queenie!” Chat was distracted from his conversation with Sabine, and soon joined the dog cat pile on Marinette on the couch, which did nothing to help Marinette’s giggles.
Queen Bee rolled her eyes, picking up the tray and using her wings to make a quick hop over the couch and set it down on the table. “What are all of you, five?”
“Get down here and let us hug you.” Chat grinned, a hand whipping out and hauling Queen Bee in, ignoring her yelp as he and Vixen bracketed her in with their arms.
“Just let them get it out of their systems, it’ll be over faster that way,” Marinette advised, voice serious but eyes twinkling in mirth.
“Ugh, you’re all so immature,” Queen Bee grumbled, sticking her nose up in the air and thus completely missing Vixen’s mischievous smirk.
She didn’t miss it when the fox heroine playfully kissed her cheek, though, and Vixen erupted into giggles as Queen Bee’s face burst into a furious blush, even if she tried to play it off.
Marinette laughed, then flushed when Vixen pressed a kiss to her cheek, only able to let out a squeak.
The sound of a movie trailer was their first clue that Chat had crept off while they were occupied, and Queen Bee squawked indignantly, squirming to free herself. “I said we were going to watch The Princess Bride!”
“Well, you were busy, Queenie, so I fur-gured that I’d go ahead and pop a movie in.” Chat smirked, and Marinette sighed as the argument resumed for round 2.
Marinette completely missed her mother leaning up to kiss her father’s cheek, then grinning at the foursome before murmuring to her husband. “I’m so glad Marinette’s getting along with her teammates.”
“They are all adorable, aren’t they? I get the feeling that Queen Bee doesn’t have a very good home life,” Tom whispered back as they headed into their room with a simple admonishment to try and keep the noise down a bit.
“I get the same from Chat Noir. We’ll have to make it clear that they’re welcome to come over any time,” Sabine murmured.
“Well, of course. They’re all good kids. I’m glad Marinette has them backing her up.”
