"What Happened Next?" Monday – Rogercop!
Marinette smiled to herself again, a little giggle escaping as she pulled her needle through the fabric over and over again. Sure, it was more labor-intensive to hand-stitch, but this was a labor of lo-like, a labor of like. Yeah, that sounded right. Friendship. That's all she was thinking about while making this. Her and Chat Noir's friendship.
"Justice has prevailed in the streets of Paris."
Marinette almost laughed aloud thinking about Rogercop. Well, not really about Rogercop, but Chat's impressions of Rogercop she had been listening to for the last three weeks. Every patrol, when she would say it was time for her to go, he would yell out in a perfectly-imitated Rogercop voice, "NOOOOO!" And after every race that she won through the city streets (it was becoming increasingly harder to win lately, curse that cat), after her usual victory dance, he would say, robotically, "YOU WON'T BE DANCING WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" and chase after her again.
Despite all of her inhibitions, Marinette blushed thinking about this. Flicking a glance over to the Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls, she thought of her partner and felt a smile press into her mouth again. There was the super duo dolls, along with the first Akuma villain she had stitched together next (at the request of the victim herself), Lady Wifi, and lastly the Evilustrator. Now here, Marinette had summed up creating this to the reminder that someone had been Akumatized simply because they loved her so much. It was flattering, and the confession from "Nathanael" had been followed by her first real date.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the excitement that she begrudgingly had while teaming up with Chat Noir as her civilian self. Where she was definitely not trying to show off. Or show him that, somehow, the girl on the other side of the mask wasn't so bad either.
And The Evilustrator doll definitely did not remind her of how Chat had had to fight for her, and how he had flirted…and kissed her hand….
"BLEARDY BLEAGH!" she shouted out loud to the dead air of her room, shaking her head, eyes shut tight.
Tikki, from her temporary bed in the scrap fabric pile by Marinette, stirred in her sleep.
Nope, nope, nope, nope.
When she opened her eyes again, she looked down at the detailed Rogercop in her hand. Her labor of like. It was, by far, Chat Noir's favorite villain they had fought. So she had to include him in the group.
With a last knot, the stuffing already in place, Marinette bit off the excess string before placing the new doll in the middle of her collection.
With a wry smile, Marinette picked up the Chat Noir doll in one hand and the Rogercop doll in her other hand. Her impromptu puppet show then began:
Rogercop: "Over here, old friend! In case you've noticed, you've fallen right into my trap!" Robotic 'laughter.'
Chat Noir: "You can't trap justice! It's an idea, a belief."
Marinette tried not to snigger.
Rogercop: "Even the most heartfelt belief can get corroded over time."
She didn't hear the knock on the door downstairs.
She moved her fingers so she could put Chat Noir's hands on his little puppet hips.
Chat Noir: "Justice is a non-corrosive metal!"
She didn't notice Tikki whooshing away suddenly.
She didn't hear the soft padding behind her coming from downstairs, nor the opening of the trap door.
Rogercop: "But metals can be melted, by the heat of 'revanchge!'"
The Real Chat Noir: "It's 'REVENGE', and it's best served cold."
Marinette jumped out of her skin, whipping around so fast in her chair, she ran into her desk; simultaneously she had thrown the Chat Noir doll across the room at the noise.
With cat-like reflexes, the real Chat Noir caught the doll in a clawed hand. He grinned down at it before turning his full-smiley face toward a rather embarrassed and put-out Marinette. He looked toward the Rogercop doll in her hand before holding up his own doll again, replacing the little hands on its hips.
"Eh hem," he 'coughed'. "It's 'REVENGE', and it's best served cold," he repeated pointedly, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Marinette couldn't help herself.
And when her parents walked in on them a half hour later, Marinette, a pair of frameless glasses with a little purple butterfly hastily pasted on them, was in the middle of collapsing onto the floor, yelling out a last, "NOOOOOOO!", her downed Akuma victims scattered around her. Then she laid her head down and stuck her tongue out, eyes closed.
"We did, Chat Noir!" Chat himself yelled out in a squeaky, female-esque voice, holding up the Ladybug doll. "We defeated Hawk Moth!" He looked down at Marinette, a cheeky grin on his face. "Now, we've waited long enough…kiss me!"
When the Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls smacked faces, and Chat made cheesy kissing noises, the audience the two teens didn't know they had burst out laughing, followed immediately by Marinette…and eventually a red-faced super-cat-boy.
Fin!