A/N: Purrsuasion is giving me a bit of trouble, so another update for this then xD For those reading it, it will be updated soon, I promise :)

Arish: Yes, you may! Just please post the link when you've completed it :)

Everyone: If you want, you may make fanart of any of my fanfics :) All I ask is credit for my story and the link to the fanart :)


Chapter 4

The next morning, Adrien yawned as he climbed out of his limo. Because of the Jared incident, he had been up late and hadn't received much sleep. Oh well, he'd gladly sacrifice his rest if it meant keeping Marinette safe.

Speaking of Marinette, he wondered what she thought about Chat Noir. Did she like him? Was she terrified of him? Hopefully with gentle prodding, he could find out in school today.

When he opened the door to his classroom, his eyes brightened and a smile stretched his lips.

There she was. She seemed to be daydreaming of something, with a hand on her cheek in thought. A dopey smile was on her features which only made him smile wider. She looked positively adorable.

But then she frowned. Why did she frown? What was wrong? Did she remember Chat Noir and frown because she was scared of him?

The blond wanted to slap himself. He really needed to stop overthinking everything.

He walked closer to her, she didn't respond to his footsteps. In fact, it looked like she hadn't heard him at all.

He cleared his throat. "Hey, Marinette!"

The girl jumped in her seat, making a squeak of surprise. His lips twitched, desperately fighting to keep the laughter at bay.

"A-Adrien! Uh, hi! Er-morning to you! Good! No! I mean." Marinette closed her eyes, he could tell she was trying to find the right words. He wondered why she was so nervous around him. What did he ever do to her? If anything, she should have been like this around Chat Noir, at least that guy has done some pretty bad stuff to warrant her fear and stutters.

She opened her eyes and frowned. "I-I mean, good morning...to...you..."

The barely formed sentence made a corner of his mouth quirk up and a small chuckle escaped him. "And good morning to you, too." He sat down in his bench and turned around to face her, leaning an elbow on the back of the bench and resting a fist against his cheek. The picture of casual.

"So, how's your project coming along? You're working with Alya, right?" He began innocently.

Her breath hitched in an excited gasp. He guessed she must really like doing this literature project.

"I-uh-yeah! Alya and I! Or...me?" She paused, seemingly thinking hard about something, before almost imperceptibly nodding her head. "Alya and I. We're uh-m-making great project on work!" She stopped, eyes widening before she furiously shook her head. "I mean, great work on project! The project!" She smiled sheepishly.

His eyebrows were drawn down in confusion. All he did was ask about the project, why was she so nervous? He masked his puzzlement with a charming smile that the photographers always loved. Hopefully he could put her at ease. "Sounds great! Nino and I are doing good, too."

"Yeah, me and-er, Alya and I stayed up pretty late last night working on it."

Here it is. The opening he needed. "You must really want to get it done."

Marinette nodded. "We do. It's due by Friday and the sooner we get it done the sooner we have more free time."

He chuckled in amusement. That was a good way to go about the project.

"I guess that's true. How late did you and Alya stay up working on it?" He questioned. He was so close. "Not too late that you'll be tired today, right?"

She shook her head. "No, not that late. I left her house at around ten." She smiled then, as if to reassure him that all went well.

Because of him, he knew, it all did end up well.

Adrien's lips tugged down, showing a look of clueless concern. "That is pretty late. It can be dangerous at that time of night. Especially with that criminal, Chat Noir, loose." He shivered in fear for the act. "That guy gives me the creeps."

Here it was. Now to see how she'd react to that. Would she defend Chat Noir, or would she agree? He found himself waiting with baited breath, hoping she'd think differently about his criminal side than what everyone else thought.

Marinette only bit her lips, her blue bell eyes shifted to the side in wariness.

He guessed she needed more of a push. "Seriously, he's Paris's top criminal, and nobody even has a picture of him!"

She squirmed in her seat, clearly uncomfortable, but still remained silent. This girl was tough to crack.

"The guy's a monster, a maniac! Sure he only steals now, but what next? Will he resort to rape? Murder, to stay on top?" He continued firing off insults about himself, knowing at some point she simply had to say something.

"Adrien."

And there it was. What would her opinion of Chat Noir be?

"What? You agree with me?" He asked.

He held back a smile when she shook her head.

"No, I don't. I don't agree with you, Adrien. Chat Noir may steal from whomever, whenever he wants. And," she paused to fiddle with a pencil on her desk, "scratch people."

Ooh. Yeah, he probably should've found a way to shield her from the violence. He hoped he didn't mentally scar her or something.

"But," she continued, "he's never killed or raped. I believe he has some sense of morals."

He looked away from her to focus on her words. It seemed she liked Chat Noir, or at least, was just a little fond of him. She didn't agree that he was a monster, she even threw back his words to her from last night!

He grinned at the revelation. Maybe he could woo her at Chat, after all.

Alya and Nino strode into the room, then. As Alya greeted her best friend, his own nodded and greeted him. When Nino sat down, Adrien smiled and raised his fist for a fist bump.

...

A few hours after school, Adrien checked his baton and found an assignment waiting for him: a local bank, this time. He sighed, he knew the vacation wouldn't last long. Still, he figured it'd be good to get out into the field again.

When it was completely dark out he suited up and opened his bedroom window. Using his baton, he reached the ground safely and began making his way to his destination.

He jumped from building to building, quickly making his way to the small bank. He stopped on a random rooftop for a break, taking a moment to take a few needed breaths.

Chat Noir opened the screen in his baton and saw he was near the bank. He'd get the money in no time and present it to Hawk Moth, and then he'd be free to spend the rest of the night as he chose.

Maybe he could pay a visit to his princess. But was it too soon? Would she scream at him and hide if he appeared? Or would she-

He heard the soft rumble of a garbage can.

Curious, he peered down over the side of the building and saw a man hiding behind the corner of the alley below. He must've accidentally hit the trash can in his haste to hide.

The man checked the street outside before silently creeping forward. Chat's eyebrows furrowed. Was this guy following somebody?

He jumped to the next rooftop to silently follow him. Looking in front of the man, he noticed a young woman carrying two large paper bags. She was kind of short, with black hair pulled into twin tails-

Chat almost smacked a hand to his face. Don't tell me it's Marinette.

He advanced another rooftop over, eventually getting in front of the woman. He squinted his eyes and was able to confirm that yes, it was indeed Marinette.

And that guy was following her, with her none the wiser.

He grit his teeth and retreated back until he found the man, hiding inside another alley. Without a moment to spare he hissed and pounced on him. The man gave a cry of shock as he was tackled to the ground. Chat used the opportunity to scratch his face, then punched him in the side of his head to knock him out.

He got off him and dragged his body deeper into passageway, storing it behind a dumpster. Shaking the dirt off his leather suit, he strolled into the street to see Marinette trying to run away, but the weight of the grocery bags were severely tying her down.

He snickered and jogged to catch up with her.

"Slow down, Princess. Relax, you're safe."

She screamed and nearly dropped the bags. When she spun around he schooled his features into a scowl.

"Seriously, are you a magnet for trouble?" He paused, realizing the irony of that statement as he looked down at himself and chuckled. "On second thought, don't answer that."

Marinette sucked in large mouthfuls of air, her eyes widened as she took him in. He noted with a grin that she didn't seem to be looking at him with fear.

"I-you-what?" She stammered at last. He supposed she must be wondering why the hell Chat Noir was standing before her again.

"There was a guy following you back there," he elaborated, jerking his head to the right. His eyes narrowed and he felt his lips pull back in anger at what the bastard was possibly planning for her. Just mug her, mug and kill, or mug, kill and rape? Either three were probable options. "He was going to jump you." That much he knew. "After that, well, I'm glad we'll never know."

She blinked, clearly she didn't know anyone had been stalking her.

He grinned. "Good thing your knight was on the prowl," he paused to lower his voice, "Purrincess."

His smirked as he noticed her shiver and a blush engulf her cheeks.

Chat Noir took a small step away from her and regarded her as if nothing had happened. "So, what do you have in there that's so important that you couldn't wait until tomorrow to get?"

The blackette let out a sigh. "Just baking ingredients, since my parents own a bakery."

Boy, did he know that. He was no stranger to her parents' creations.

"They made a mistake and thought an order for this Thursday was for next Thursday. So now they're trying to get the baking done and-" She gasped, as if a sudden realization hit her. "I've been out this long and they need these! Thank you, Chat Noir, I appreciate what you've done for me but I have to go."

Before he could react she turned around and started walking down the sidewalk, paper bags jostling around in her arms in her haste to get away. He blinked, shook his head, and managed to stop her with a hand on her shoulder.

"You think I'm just going to let you walk there by yourself? Sorry, not going to happen."

He smirked in amusement when she scowled at his words.

"I can walk down a sidewalk by myself at night perfectly fine," she huffed, no doubt agitated.

He raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "And not get jumped by men lurking in the shadows?"

"Maybe he wasn't going to jump me. Maybe he liked me and was just raising the courage to introduce himself to me."

Chat Noir bit back a growl at that. There was no way in hell he would've let that happen.

"Come on, let's get to your house," he ordered brusquely, placing a possessive hand at the small of her back to lightly push her along.

She obeyed, but her eyes looked about worriedly. What was wrong now?

"Won't people think it's strange that I'm walking next to Paris's top criminal?"

Oh, was that all? "If someone sees then I'll do what I do best: hide." He flashed her a cheeky grin.

She raised a playful eyebrow, her sapphire orbs glittered with mischief. He found himself grinning in anticipation.

"I thought stealing is what you did best?"

"My princess thinks I'm the best thief? I'm honored." He leaned closer to her and waggled his eyebrows, earning a giggle from the blackette.

A sudden idea popped into his head. Without speaking he took the two bags from her arms and continued down the sidewalk, not slowing down. After all, he didn't consider them to be that heavy.

"Chat Noir, that's nice of you, but you don't have to do that," she spoke from beside him, looking shy.

"Nonsense," he retorted. "Princesses shouldn't have to lift a finger, especially ones as lovely as you." He finished the flirtatious remark with a wink.

He turned to the sidewalk ahead of them, making sure to see her light blush out of the corner of his eye.

They continued all the way to her house, with him hiding whenever a person would come along. When he wasn't hiding, the pair engaged in small talk. He found her to be very open to him, a stark difference for when he was his Adrien persona.

When they reached the bakery, Chat handed her the groceries and dipped into a bow.

"Purrleasure to lift a paw to help a princess in need." He rose again and stretched his arms above his head, they had gotten stiff from carrying the bags.

"I have to go. Thank you again, Chat Noir." The corners of her lips drew up in a grateful smile.

"You're welcome. Maybe bake me something with those ingredients?" He teased, winking.

Marinette grinned and looked away, over-acting to appear to be deep in thought. "I don't know," she drawled. "I don't bake things for thieves."

The blond held back a grin and placed a hand over his heart. "Me-owch! I save your life twice, bring you home safely after both times, and I even carried your bags for you! What's an alley cat have to do to get some appreciation?"

"Maybe become a hero instead of a villain?"

He burst out laughing at that suggestion. Was she joking? She had to be. Become a hero? Being a criminal was too much fun to pass up! Besides, he'd never get the same thrills if he was a good guy and to tell the truth, he didn't really care about anyone else but her.

"Princess," he spoke after he calmed down. "I'm only a hero for you. I could give two shits about anyone else. Good night, Marinette."

He gave her one last half-smile before using his baton to leap away, doubling back towards the bank.

...

Two hours later, he walked in Akuma and strode past the gawking criminals with his loot. He wondered if they would ever get used to him bringing back his rewards from a heist for Hawk Moth.

His ego whispered that they were probably super impressed with his skills. He smirked at the thought.

After knocking on his boss's door, he walked in and dropped the two sacks of money on the floor.

Hawk Moth, as expressionless as ever, merely nodded. "Good work, Chat Noir."

He rubbed his claws against his chest in pride. "As always."

He turned to leave, usually these meetings didn't take long at all. He'd go in, drop off the stolen items, then stride back out the door. Easy.

But this time, Hawk Moth called his name.

Intrigued, he turned back around. "Yes?"

"Next time you threaten one of my men to never return here, please inform me first."

Although Hawk Moth wasn't smiling, Chat certainly was.

"Don't worry, sir. I will."