Day 2: Cat Costume

"Not happening!" I exclaimed as I stared at myself in the mirror.

"Oh, come on, Marinette! It's Halloween! You have to dress up!" Alya whined as she adjusted the black and orange witch at she had on her head.

"Yeah, but I'm not wearing this!" I pointed to the tight black leathered jacket that ended right above my stomach that came paired with a matching short skirt. The skirt had a tail attached to the back and the jacket had a large gold bell for a zipper.

"Oh, come on! It's not that bad." I quickly picked up the packaging that the costume came in and practically shoved it in her face.

"Sexy Chat Noir?!" I exclaimed. Alya could barely control her laughter. "My parents are going to kill me if they see me in this!"

"Well, then. It's a good thing we're at my house, now isn't it?" Alya smirked as she said this. I groaned.

"Can we please switch costumes?" I begged.

"Nope! I make a good Candy Corn Witch!" Alya twirled in her black and orange dress. "Don't you think?" I groaned again.

"Alya! All of our classmates are going to be at this party!"

"Relax, by the end of the night, you will think this was the best costume ever!"

"And what makes you think that?"

"You'll see soon enough." Alya smirked as she turned toward the door of her room. I didn't move from where I stood. "Come on! You look great!"

"Alya, I'm really not comfortable with wearing this. I don't understand why you want me to." Alya sighed.

"Fine, it was supposed to be a surprise, but I'll tell you." Alya turned to face me. "Nino told me that Adrien was going as Chat Noir, so I thought it would be cute if you two were matching."

"But if he's already going to be Chat Noir, wouldn't it make more sense for me to be Ladybug?" Alya thought about this for a second.

"Heh, yeah, you're right. That would make more sense. Oh well!" Alya said, looking down to her phone. "Oh! We'd better get going! We'll be late at this point!"

"I'm not leaving like this!" I exclaimed.

"Yes you are!" Alya gripped my arm and started pulling my out the door. "Besides, you may get to slow dance with Adrien."

"A slow dance… with Adrien?!" I felt excited. I suddenly spotted my purse on Alya's bed. "W-wait! My purse!" I tried to pull away from her.

"No, you don't need it!"

"B-but-" I peeked back to the purse, Tikki stuck her head out and smiled. I sighed as Alya dragged me out of her room. We walked out of the front door and into the dark night.

"All right! Let's head to the party!" Alya pulled out a black mask and a headband with ears and handed them to me. I reluctantly slipped the black mask and ears on. She started to lead the way to the school, I followed her slowly.

We passed multiple crowds of people, with children all dressed in colorful costumes as they raced from house to house. I noticed a few of the parents would look at me, some were shocked and others seemed disgusted at my costume. I hugged myself and looked to the ground as I continued to push my way through the crowds. It wasn't long after the crowds had passed that I realized Alya was gone.

I stopped walking and frantically looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Alya?" I called, looking back into the crowds. There was no response. "Where did she go?" I looked around again. "Alya!" Still nothing. "Maybe she just went on ahead?" I decided that this was the case, and I continued to walk in the direction of the school.

As I grew closer to the school, I came across a detour sign on the sidewalk. I looked at it questioningly as I didn't remember hearing about any construction around the school. I decided to continue on the sidewalk instead of taking the detour.

It wasn't long before I felt as though I was being watched. I glanced behind me, but there was no one there. I brushed it off as me being paranoid from walking alone at night and continued on my way, although the feeling didn't go away. As I looked around, I could have sworn I saw someone on one of the roof tops, but as I looked back toward the roof, they were gone. I, again, shrugged it off as being paranoid. I continued my walk.

Suddenly, a man, in a ghost costume without a mask, stumbled on to the sidewalk and fell over. I quickly rushed over to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked, helping him to his feet.

"Yes." The man replied, "Sorry, I must have had a little too much to drink." The man laughed.

"Are you going to make it home all right?"

"I should,

I waved him off, only, he didn't leave. I ignored it and began walking again, only to notice the man started walking in the same direction as me.

"Tik-" I looked down to my side, only to remember that I had left my purse at Alya's house. Panic immediately overtook any other emotion I had. I peeked back to the man, he had picked up his pace and was now closing in on me. I wasn't positive that he was following me, but just in case he was, I didn't want to lead him to the school where he could hurt my friends and classmates. As I got closer to the school, I took a turn away from it and continued down the street, passed the school and my house. Sure enough, the man took the same turn. I started to pick up my pace a bit.

Suddenly two other men, dressed in a similar fashion as the first appeared at the end of the street. I stopped walking as they came towards me, I looked back behind me and saw the first man walking towards me as well. One of the men reached for me, I closed my eyes and covered my head expecting them to grab me from all sides. Except I only felt one arm, it wrapped around my waist tightly.

Was it one of the men? No, this arm was gentle, protective, almost. I opened my eyes. All three men were running away in the opposite direction from me.

"Are you okay?" That voice. I knew that voice. I peeked up at the person the voice came from. I immediately recognized the blond hair, the black ears, and the tight leather jacket.

"Ch-Chat Noir?" I asked. He glanced down to me, tucking his staff back into place. Chat Noir smirked and pulled me closer to him.

"Now, time to see who the lovely impersonator is." He reached up for the mask.

"N-no! Don't-" I tried to push his hand away, but he had already slipped the mask off my eyes.

"Princess?" He questioned, smirking even more. "I didn't expect you to wear something so…" He stopped and glanced down, then back up to my eyes "Unique."

"Shut up." I replied, pushing him away. "I didn't want to."

"Then why are you?"

"My friend made me. We were supposed to head to a school party, but we got separated, then those men showed up and-"

"Oh, I see." Chat Noir replied. "I can take you to the party, if you want."

"N-no! You don't have to!"

"I'm headed in that direction, anyway." Before I had the chance to reply, he scooped me up in his arms and we were flying through the air.

We landed on the roof of the school in no time and he placed me down onto the roof. I peeked down into the open school yard and saw nearly all of my classmates, dancing and laughing to the music. Adrien, however, was nowhere to be seen.

I sighed pathetically as I sat at the edge of the roof, my legs dangling off. Chat Noir sat beside me.

"Thank you, by the way." I said, "For saving me." I suddenly heard the music slow, and watched as everyone paired off. I sighed again.

"What's wrong?" Chat Noir suddenly said. "You look disappointed."

"Huh? Oh… I just… My friend was supposed to be here, and I was hoping to dance with him but he isn't here. It's probably not his fault he's not here, though. He's an amazing person, but his father is so strict. I feel bad for him, sometimes." I swung my feet over the edge of the roof as I watched the party below. Chat Noir stared at me for a minute, then stood up.

"Well, I may not be as amazing as that guy you wanted to dance with, but…" He extended his hand. "Why don't you dance with me?" I stared at him, then smiled. I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet.

He placed his hands on my hips as I hesitantly wrapped mine around his neck. We started to move slowly. I studied him, making sure he wasn't planning anything suspicious. He didn't seem to be.

I bit my lip nervously as he placed his forehead against mine. He chuckled a bit.

"Nervous?"

"No!" I exclaimed.

"Liar." He whispered. "Why?"

"I-I've never…"

"Never…?"

"Never been this close to you before...like this. Or… really anyone for that matter." I muttered, knowing the blush on my face was clear by now.. His eyes widened, then he smiled.

After a while, the music stopped but before we could pull away, Chat Noir gently placed his lips against my cheek as he handed back the mask. He pulled away and smiled, then turned around.

"You look great, by the way." Chat Noir said, before quickly jumping over to one of the buildings and disappeared from sight.

I stood there, totally speechless, as I watched him leave. I didn't know what just happened or why it happened, however, I did know one thing.

This definitely was the best costume ever.