It had been one long weekend. One filled with not one, not two, not three, but six akuma attacks. Adrien was exhausted. Four of those attacks had been all on one day, and it had led to Marinette getting nearly trampled by an elephant. So, he'd checked on her that evening, despite his exhaustion and Plagg's begs to go home.

He'd ended up staying in her room as Chat for well over four hours, not once leaving her extremely comfortable bed. Marinette had even yelled at him to do something else, but he refused to move. She eventually gave up and had laid down beside him, ignoring most of his flirtations in favor of a magazine. And he fell asleep.

All that had been on a Friday, so come Monday Adrien was slightly nervous to see Marinette, as he was each time he interacted with her as Chat Noir. He walked into class behind Nino, greeting Marinette and Alya as he sat down.

It seemed the girls were absorbed in something else on Marinette's phone, and they ignored both boys. "Oh, Alya! Look how cute he isssss!" Marinette cooed, shaking her best friend's arm before scrolling through her phone again.

"Girl, you have a problem. It's been two days, you can't tell me this is all you've done," Alya laughed.

"I can't help it, look how adorable his little ears are!" Marinette squealed, picking up her phone and shoving it in Alya's face.

For some reason, Adrien's heart skipped a beat. Two days? He? Who were they talking about? Surely they couldn't have been talking about Chat…then again, Marinette seemed to enjoy his company…could she have a crush on Chat? Not that that would be a bad thing, since Adrien was finding that he was starting to fall for Marinette fairly hard.

Screw it. He had to ask.

"Who are you guys talking about?"

Both girls looked down at him surprised, but Marinette was eager enough to show him without much thought in her actions. She held her phone down for him to see, and onscreen was a little brown-and-white hamster sitting on what looked like Marinette's bed. "His name is Howdy, I got him Saturday. Isn't he just the cutest!"

His heart dropped, that was for sure. "Howdy?" he questioned rather than answering her.

Alya snickered, "Marinette loved Hamtaro when she was little; that's one of the hamster's names."

Marinette's grin stretched across her entire face, pure joy at just the pictures on her phone. "I picked him because he looked exactly like Howdy, and since that was my favorite hamster, it was basically destiny!" she explained, scrolling again through the pictures.

Adrien couldn't look too upset, unless he wanted questions, so he went for teasing instead. "You strike me as more of a Pashmina fan, Marinette."

"Everyone always says that!" Marinette groaned. "Wait – you liked Hamtaro?"

Adrien scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I watched the show sometimes when I was little…"

Alya scoffed, "Well, Marinette had every VHS, all the plush hamsters, all the toysets, and the last hamster she had was named after Hamtaro even though he looked nothing like him…"

Marinette rolled her eyes, hushing the other girl. "So I had a problem," she shrugged, "At least I wasn't addicted to Sailor Moon." Alya shoved her, and Nino snickered, commenting that he'd have never thought Alya would have been a fan.

"That explains your love for Ladybug and Chat Noir!" Nino laughed before he was punched.

Adrien came over to Marinette's that afternoon to work on a project the both of them were assigned to. He entered through the bakery and was met with Sabine before he could get to the stairs.

"Ah, you must be here to work with little Mari!" the woman cooed. Adrien nodded, explaining their project. "Well, take these cookies with you for the both of you to snack on!" she shoved a plate in his arms, not that he minded, and sent him up.

He pushed open the trapdoor and set the plate of cookies down before hearing a weird sound. "Watch him!" Marinette called suddenly. Adrien looked out to see a clear ball barreling toward him; he reached out and turned it the other way so the hamster went away from the stairs. Marinette giggled and picked up the ball as Adrien finished pulling himself into the room. "Silly hammy, why don't you play in your cage for a while?" Marinette set the hamster in its cage and turned to face Adrien, "Sorry about that!"

"No problem, ready to get to work?" Adrien smiled, watching Marinette scramble to grab things they would need. He ate a few cookies as the girl ran around, happy at least that she wasn't a mess around him.

They worked for a few hours before deciding on a break. Adrien laid on the girl's chaise with his textbook on his stomach, eyes shut for a few minutes to give them a rest.

"Ooh, you're so cute!" Marinette cooed.

Adrien snickered and shook his head, "Yeah, yeah…" he mumbled, waving her off.

"What was that, Adrien?"

He opened his eyes and spotted Howdy in Marinette's hand, a carrot in her other. Oh. She was talking to Howdy. Adrien blushed at the realization, "It was nothing, don't worry!" he said. Marinette shrugged and plopped down in her chair, scooting herself back over with her hamster. "You wanna say hi to the boy who almost let you go downstairs?"

Adrien snickered and reached out a hand to pet the rodent, only to be bitten. "Ow!" he yelped and yanked his hand away, glaring at the hamster.

"Howdy!" Marinette gasped, "That was mean!" she fussed, getting to her feet and carrying the hamster back to its cage. Adrien practically did a happy dance when she put Howdy back in his cage, glad that she thought of him over the rat's cousin. When she came back over, Marinette took his hand to look where Howdy had bitten. "At least he didn't bite too hard…"

"Yeah, I'm grateful…"

Chat decided to drop by after patrol one evening to see his favorite civilian. He tapped on the trapdoor and waited patiently for Marinette to greet him. "Chat? What are you doing here?"

"What? A knight can't come see his purr-incess?" he smirked. Marinette rolled her eyes and moved to let him jump in.

"Whatever, kitty-cat, you can stay for a little while." He smiled and plopped down on her bed before Marinette could fuss. "Watch out, Howdy's there!" she squealed, diving under him to pick up the hamster.

Chat glared at the hamster. "Howdy?"

"As in Hamtaro's friend Howdy…" Marinette explained. She held the rodent out for Chat to meet, and Chat had to fight everything in him that said to get rid of the stupid thing. He couldn't have anything against Howdy, only Adrien could. So, he hesitantly reached out to pet him…

…only to be bitten.

"Mrow!" he yelped, yanking his hand away.

"Howdy!" Marinette fussed again, apologizing to Chat as she jumped down from her bed and put the hamster in its cage. "I'm sorry, Chat! He doesn't normally bite people…actually he's only every bitten one other person…"

"It's fine, Princess…" he waved off her concern. "Though, I think I need a kiss to make it feel better," he smirked as he watched the girl start to blush. Marinette rolled her eyes, crawling up beside him and snatching his hand to kiss the finger and make the superboy blush. "I didn't think you'd actually do it…"

Marinette laughed loudly, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, kitty-cat!" she said through her laughter. Then she kissed his cheek and laid down on her bed with her phone.

"Oh, you can't do that and not expect this!" Chat warned before flopping across Marinette's belly and cuddling against her.

"Chat!" Marinette squeaked. They shifted around until they were comfortable, and Chat buried his face in the girl's stomach with his arms around her middle. Marinette played with his hair and cat ears, petting him like he was a real cat. It was all so nice and calm, and for once neither of them had to pee as soon as they got comfy. The boy couldn't help but wish it would stay that peaceful.

But then. Howdy.

The hamster started crying. "Sorry, Chat…" Marinette whispered as she peeled herself away to check on her pet. It was at that point Adrien was convinced Howdy had it out for him. That hamster wanted to ruin his life. This was only asserted when Marinette brought the hamster with her when she got back into bed.

"Why'd you bring it with you?" he pouted.

"Sorry, he gets lonely and has nightmares sometimes," Marinette explained.

"Well, so do I!" Chat whined, curling against her desperately. Marinette giggled, setting her pet at her other side. Adrien glared at it, glad that Marinette couldn't see his face.

"Chat, are you jealous of a hamster?" she asked as she threaded her fingers through his hair.

"Noooo," he grumbled.

If only that were true. But, Adrien was certain if he heard Marinette and Mylene coo over that stupid rodent one more time, he was going to scream. He wasn't jealous, he was just tired of it! Yeah, it was awesome Marinette was so passionate about something, but did that something have to be a hamster that hated him?

"Look, I even made him a little apron so he'd really look like Howdy!"

"Oh, Marinette! He's so adorable!"

Adrien rolled his eyes, mouthing the words mockingly. Nino watched him in concern, deciding he should ask Adrien about it. "You OK, bro?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine!" Adrien lied easily, for once glad for his model-training making lies easy.

"Really?" Nino questioned. He didn't fall for it so easily. "You seem really upset about something…"

"Nino, everything's fine," Adrien reassured with a smile. Then, he heard the sound of that stupid hamster wheel and visibly cringed.

Adrien was at Marinette's to work on the project for their last day. They didn't have much else to do, so most of their time was spent goofing around. He was forever thankful that Marinette was starting to be more comfortable around him, even allowing herself to be silly. It was going very well; Adrien had even managed to pin Marinette in tickles.

She was laughing loudly, kicking and punching him as she begged he let her up. "A-Adrien! Quit i-it!" she laughed, shoving his arms.

"Why would I?" he asked through his own laughter. He dug his fingers into her side, and she squirmed away and rolled onto her other side. "Oh, that was a bad idea!" he taunted, tickling her back and then her belly when she flipped to protect herself.

They were having fun. Everything was great. But then. Howdy.

Marinette stopped laughing almost immediately. She looked up toward the sound of the crying, then pulled herself to her feet to get her pet. "Don't cry, hammy…" she cooed before sitting down back beside Adrien. He glared at the hamster, livid that he had, yet again, interrupted.

There had to be a way to get Marinette's attention back solely on him…oh, yeah.

"Marinette," Adrien called. He poked her shoulder repeatedly until the girl looked at him. "Mari, Mari, Marinette, Mari-nette."

"Yes, Adrien," she giggled, pulled her attention away from her pet. Adrien took her chin in his hand and pulled her face closer, ghosting his lips over hers. Marinette froze, a deep blush forming across her face. "U-um! Wh-what was that? N-not that it wasn't good, I mean good you, I-I mean you're good! I – wait!"

Adrien snickered and kissed her cheek, "I know what you mean," he whispered. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, filled with confusion yet utter happiness. He was so excited that that look was purely for him, that Howdy couldn't cause that look. But, the hamster cried in her arms and Marinette tore her eyes away from Adrien's to look at her pet.

Adrien's heart absolutely plummeted when she returned to the stupid rodent. "Marinette," he whined.

That may have surprised her even more than the kiss. "Adrien?"

He blushed then, embarrassed that he'd let his jealously show. The realization dawned on Marinette slowly as a smirk took the place of her surprise. "Are you…" Adrien shook his head violently, turning redder and redder as the girl continued to speak. "You're…jealous!" she laughed, "Adrien Agreste is jealous of a hamster!"

"Noooo!" he whined. Marinette giggled and got to her feet, ignoring the hand that reached for her ankles as she went for the hamster ball for Howdy. She set the hamster on the floor and let him loose so she could sit with Adrien. "I wasn't jealous of him," Adrien said sternly.

"Sure you weren't," Marinette giggled. "Let's finish this project, OK?"

"Fine," Adrien said before he yanked Marinette into his lap, "but you're staying here and you're gonna let me kiss you…"

Marinette couldn't help but laugh, "Demanding much?"

"Frustrated." All because of a hamster.

This was supposed to be short what happened what did I do.

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