La Curiosité du Chat
Chapitre 07 : Les Choses Sont un Gâchis
KarmaHope
Marinette couldn't believe she had actually called Adrien Agreste. That she'd actually had a conversation with him! She stared down at her cell phone blankly, her hands still shaking violently from the sheer force of the nerves that had threatened to overwhelm her. How she had managed to not drop her phone in the middle of their conversation, she would never know.
"Eeee!" Alya's excited squeal shook her out of the Adrien-induced trance. "You did it, Mari! I'm so proud of you!"
The dark-haired girl smiled weakly. "I hate you, Alya," she said, dropping her phone onto the chaise lounge with a sense of finality. "You're the worst."
"No, I'm not," Alya said confidently. "I just got you to hold an entire conversation with your crush, and you didn't embarrass yourself too badly! Really, girl, you just need to be more confident. Think of yourself for once!"
"Yeah, I know," Marinette sighed, gazing over at her computer's monitor, which now sported a group picture of her, Alya, Nino, and Adrien as its background image. Her week in China, spent with her relatives and far removed from her troubles in France, had given her some time to think. While she hadn't managed to figure everything out – far from it, in fact – she had come to a couple realizations, aided in part by observing her older cousin's attitude about and interactions with her boyfriend.
She had been forced to come to terms with the fact that her behavior regarding Adrien was downright childish and even rather creepy, if one really looked at it. She had realized that in the wake of her massive celebrity crush and her resulting inability to speak naturally with him, she had channeled her affections in such a way that it made talking with him even harder.
After all, how could one hold a conversation with someone while knowing she had a super embarrassing edit of him as her desktop background? While knowing she had his entire schedule mapped out on a pull-down sheet mounted to her ceiling?
And so she had started to step back, just a little bit. She'd taken down the schedule, storing it away in the corner to use as pattern paper later on. She'd replaced her desktop background with a photo that – while it was still of him, in part – was much more natural. One she wouldn't be embarrassed about if he saw it.
Which, speaking of …
"We're having the party here, aren't we," Marinette said resignedly, looking at Alya. "I've been to your apartment. There's no way we're fitting our entire class in there."
"Well, I mean, it makes sense," Alya said, leaning back in her chair. "Your parents were going to make snacks anyway – you know they were. I thought maybe we could all hang out at the park until it got dark, and then come back here."
"Yeah, it does make sense," Marinette agreed. "Okay, I'll talk to my parents about it tonight." She grinned. "This is going to be so much fun!"
Alya grinned back at her. "And you can finally ask Adrien if he wants to hang out this summer," she said, reaching over to tap the top Marinette's thigh. "I know you chickened out last time."
Marinette groaned as she tugged her pigtails. "What was I supposed to do? Chloé was there! She asked him if he was going on a cruise with her family, and he said he was too busy! If he turned down Chloé and a cruise, how could he possibly have said yes to my pathetic request?"
"But he said he would love to come to our party," Alya said. "He even told us when would work best specifically so he could come! Mari, you underestimate yourself."
Marinette shrugged, swallowing the butterflies that began to leap up into her throat. "You think so?" she asked hopefully.
Alya smiled as she stood. "Marinette," she said, resting a hand on her friend's shoulder, "I know so. Now come on, I really need to be getting home."
Marinette pushed herself off the chaise lounge and walked with Alya down to the front door. "I'll see you soon," she said as her friend began the walk home.
"Don't forget to call Adrien again!" Alya called back in response. "And actually call him – don't just text him!"
"Okay!" Marinette said, loud enough for Alya to hear. "Bye!"
As soon as Alya had turned the corner, Marinette dashed back up the three flights of stairs to her bedroom. Anyone else might have been out of breath, but Marinette barely felt even a slight burning in her legs. Alone for the first time since the ordeal, she squealed excitedly as she hopped in place.
She'd actually talked to Adrien Agreste!
He'd agreed to come to their party!
Her heart felt as if it would explode as she dashed over to her desktop and stared into image-Adrien's greener-than-green eyes. The photo was from that one time they had all gone to the movies together – Alya had insisted upon a selfie that she'd immediately texted to everyone in the group. Marinette and Adrien were separated by Nino, but she didn't really mind – it only meant that she had a normal facial expression in the photo rather than the blushing mess.
She didn't notice Tikki calling her name until the frustrated kwami tugged at a loose strand of her hair. "Ow," she said, pulling her hair from Tikki's grasp. "Sorry, Tikki. I wasn't paying attention."
"I could tell," the kwami chirped. "So, it looks like you'll get to see Adrien this summer after all!"
"Not you too," Marinette groaned, spinning away from her computer. "Alya already reminded me of my failure. But yeah, I guess I will!"
"Are you going to give everyone their souvenirs at the party?" Tikki asked, but Marinette, already in much higher spirits, had already jumped up.
"Maybe," she dismissed as she bounced over to her bed, twirling along the way. "Probably," she conceded, knowing Alya probably wouldn't go home until she got it. She twirled again at the base of the ladder to her bed, squealing as she did. "I'm just so happy!"
"Don't forget you need to call Adrien again to tell him you're having the party here," Tikki reminded her.
Marinette paused before dashing back to the chaise lounge to grab her phone. "Right!" she exclaimed. "I'll just go do that real quick!"
Only a few moments later, Marinette found herself standing on her balcony, her phone clutched tightly against her chest as rested her elbows upon the rail. She already felt on top of the world, and the light breeze tickling her hair only brought her higher. Even the stress of her impending second phone call with Adrien fell away with the pleasantness of the day.
On impulse, Marinette pulled the ties from her pigtails, allowing her dark hair to flutter freely in the wind. It wasn't something she did often – not when she felt that letting her hair down made her look even younger than her fifteen, nearly sixteen years. Besides that, she was always on the move. It got in her way as she tried to work, and she didn't have the time to tie it up when an akuma attacked.
But she had none of that to worry about now, and so she and Tikki – who was nestled in the crook of her neck – laughed as she shook her head enough to whip the free strands around. It was only as she was pushing bluish-black strands out of her face that her eyes met a pair of equally-shocked green ones staring back at her from across the street.
She shrieked, grabbing at her hair to corral it into two messy pigtails.
Chat yelped as he slipped off the roof he was standing on.
"Chat!" His name tore from her throat as she let go of her hair to clutch at the railing before her. Her knuckles were white and her hair fell loosely around her face as she peered down into the street below. "Are you okay?"
"M'fine," came the muffled response from four stories below as Chat pushed himself to his feet. "I've survived worse. Nine lives, y'know."
Marinette forced herself to grin. "That's a myth, you know," she said as she continued to look on in worry as Chat worked his way back up to the roof, limping slightly. She forcefully swallowed back the guild that threatened to overwhelm her. It wasn't her fault, she knew. He had been the one lurking outside her house, not the other way around.
Speaking of …
"What are you doing here, Chat?" she asked with a sigh as the cat in question landed, somewhat ungracefully, upon her balcony. He was obviously still favoring his leg. "I'm perfectly safe," she continued. "There haven't been any akuma attacks today … and isn't it still a bit early for patrol?"
Chat Noir smiled sheepishly, somewhat abashed. "I just needed to get out," he admitted, looking down at his feet. "I didn't mean to come here, but … it happened anyway." He shrugged. "I can leave, if you'd like."
Marinette regarded him for a second. She knew her Kitty well, and he truly did look remorseful. He also looked equal parts uncomfortable and like he didn't want to leave; it was odd, seeing her partner so out of his element like this. She didn't understand his nervousness – it was just her, after all. Taking a deep breath, she smiled and rolled her eyes. "You can stay, you silly kitty," she said. "I wasn't planning on doing anything else today, except …"
She felt the blood drain from her face as she realized. "Ah, merde!" she cursed, forgetting her previous train of thought. "My phone!"
In her panic, she had dropped it when she'd grabbed at her hair. Glancing frantically down at her feet, she squeaked in horror when she spotted it hanging precariously over the edge of the balcony. Half of her wanted to dart down to snatch it up immediately, but she feared knocking it the rest of the way over and sending it down into the sidewalk below. Instead, she crouched slowly and plucked it up gently. A flash of red told her why her phone hadn't met its end the way it probably should have.
Oh god. Tikki! Had Chat seen her? How long had he been standing there, across the way? Was his eyesight good enough to spot the little creature? She silently crossed her fingers and prayed to whatever deity was out there that her secret was still safe.
She would tell Chat the truth eventually – she'd have to – but today was not the day.
"I-is it okay?" Chat asked worriedly, peering over her shoulder at the rectangle clenched within her hands.
Marinette pressed the on button and sighed in relief as the screen lit up. "Uh, yeah, it's fine," she said, making a note to thank Tikki later. She'd even make cookies, she decided as she slid her phone into her back pocket.
"Good," Chat said. "That could have been really bad. I'm, uh, sorry I startled you."
She waved him off as she crouched to retrieve the hair elastics she had also dropped, to less devastating potential consequences than her phone. "These things happen," she said, beginning to tie her hair up into pigtails once again. Tikki and her parents were the only ones who ever really saw her with her hair down; Alya did on the few occasions they had sleepovers, but that was it. With Chat standing there, she was growing irrationally self-conscious.
"If you're going to hang out," she said tentatively, "you can sit down if you'd like. I've only got one chair, but you're welcome to use it."
Chat Noir grinned, apparently regaining some of the bravado she was so familiar with. "How paw-sitively thoughtful of you," he said, turning to plop into her pink and white deck chair. His limbs sprawled as he leaned back, looking quite like the cat who ate the canary. "This is a wonderful setup you have here."
Marinette grinned. "Thanks," she said, tying off her second pigtail. "It wasn't fun, carrying everything up this far, but it was totally worth it." She hesitated for just a second, then climbed up to sit on the counter beside the chair. "I love it up here."
"I can see why," Chat said, snuggling deeper into the chair. "If I had a place like this, I'd never want to leave. It's like …" he paused for a second. "Up here, you can be alone, but you'd never be lonely – not with all of Paris out there."
"I … never thought of it that way," Marinette said, surprised. The look on his face tore at her heartstrings. This was a new side of him that she'd never seen before; it was one that he'd diligently hidden from Ladybug, his partner. Was she so callous toward him as Ladybug that he felt he couldn't trust her with something as close to his heart as his loneliness? Because he was lonely – she could see it.
In fact, it very closely resembled a similar expression she'd seen cross Adrien's face when he thought no one was watching. She smiled weakly, a sympathetic look in her eye. No one should have to feel that way, she thought, not when all she'd ever known was warmth and love.
"Oh," she said, drawing Chat out of his melancholy thoughts, "I was supposed to call a … friend, of mine." Her cheeks heated, and she knew it wasn't entirely from the late afternoon sunlight. As much as she was now working to think of Adrien as a friend before he was a model and her crush, she still got slightly flustered at the thought of him.
"Oh? What for?" Chat asked innocently.
"My friend Alya and I are having a party next week," Marinette said quickly. "I told my friend I'd call him to tell him where it would be. It's, uh, actually why I came up here in the first place." She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head.
"Can't you just text him?"
"Well," she hedged, "I could, but Alya insisted that I actually call him."
Chat snorted. "She'd never know," he said. "Just text him – I'm sure it'll be fine."
Marinette grabbed her phone from her pocket and glanced down at it before looking back up at the black-clad superhero curled up in her pink deck chair. "You don't mind if I –?"
"Not at all," he insisted, closing his eyes. "I'll still be here."
Laughing quietly at how catlike her partner appeared at that moment, curled up and sunning himself in her chair, she dashed a quick text off to Adrien. Well, it should have been quick, but in all reality it took her about five minutes of typing and backspacing before she was finally happy enough to send it. Even then, she cringed slightly as she pressed the button.
"Sorry about that," she said, looking up only to find Chat's face in her own, staring at her intently. "Wh- what?" she asked, leaning away. "What is it?"
He lifted his hand to her face, and she was so busy trying to figure out whether or not she should be panicking that she completely missed what had happened until she felt her hair tickling her cheek once more. Her hand flew up to it in shock as she stared at him. He leaned back in the chair, grinning smugly as he toyed with her hair elastic between his fingers.
She tried to find words, but had to settle only for, "… What?"
Chat shrugged, his cheeks slightly pink beneath his mask. "I've never seen you with your hair down before. It's, uh, really pretty, actually."
"This is like, the third time you've seen me," Marinette protested while fighting to control her own blush. All the same, she slowly reached up to pull the second tie out as well. She knew Chat wasn't going to give the first one back, and she only looked sillier lopsided.
Besides, she might never be 'beautiful,' not like Ladybug, but she could settle for 'really pretty' any day.
"I don't like wearing it down," she admitted. "It makes me look even younger than I already do."
Chat looked at her, a critical gleam in his green eyes as he examined her face. "I don't think so," he said, "but I understand where you're coming from."
"So are you gonna give me my hair tie back?"
"Nope!"
"Chat!"
Chat Noir leapt from the chair, whirling nimbly away from her outstretched hand. "What?" he asked, "It's not like you don't have more of these."
Marinette rolled her eyes. "It's the principle of the thing," she said sternly, crossing one arm over her chest while she held the other out toward him. "You can't just take people's stuff!"
"Well excuuuse me, Princess," he said, grinning widely as he dropped the offending object back in her palm. "I was just kidding – you can have it back. What would I do with it anyway?"
"I don't know," Marinette replied, closing her hand around the tie before planting her fists on her hips. "Your hair's getting awfully long – I'm sure we could tie it back somehow."
Chat blanched. "I'll pass, thanks," he said, then sighed as he looked to where the sun was sinking closer to the horizon. "I should be getting home, actually, before anyone notices I'm gone. I, uh … sorry again for startling you."
She shrugged. "No harm done," she said. "I understand. I'll see you around, all right?"
He paused in climbing up onto the same counter she'd been sitting on minutes prior. "Yeah," he said, "I'll be seeing you. Goodnight, Princess!"
"Goodnight," Marinette called weakly as he disappeared around the back of her chimney. Almost as soon as he was out of sight, she sunk down into her deck chair and buried her face in her hands. A few moments later, a nudge at the back of her hand prompted her to look up into Tikki's large blue eyes.
"Are you okay, Marinette?"
She sighed. "I don't know, Tikki. That could have been a disaster. What if he'd seen you? What would I have done then?"
Tikki shrugged. "We would have had to tell him," she said. "It's going to happen eventually."
"Yes, but not until after we've defeated Hawkmoth! If Hawkmoth learns about either of our identities …"
The thought was sobering, and both fell quiet. They knew what would happen. Hawkmoth would inevitably target those closest to them, and use the two heroes against each other. She couldn't bear the thought of her parents and her friends becoming collateral to her secrets. At last, Marinette spoke again.
"And, what's worse," she said, her voice small, "is that I think I was just flirting with Chat! Oh, god I hope he didn't notice. How could I be so unfaithful to Adrien?" His name was drawn out in a sob as she buried her face in her hands once again.
"You're not actually dating Adrien," Tikki reminded her gently.
"No, but I want to! And after I'd made so much progress today, too …"
"But maybe this is progress!" The kwami exclaimed, pushing Marinette's hands away from her face. "You're not obsessing over him so much anymore – it's enough that you were comfortable flirting with Chat Noir! Maybe this is what you need, Marinette, to take a step back from it all."
"Maybe," Marinette said morosely. She sighed. "I guess it's no good thinking about it at the moment."
A few minutes later, she returned to her bedroom. She was no longer riding the high of her phone call with Adrien, but at the same time she had very much enjoyed seeing a side of Chat Noir she never got to see as Ladybug. She groaned loudly in frustration, running her hands back through her hair while digging her fingers into her scalp.
When had this all gotten so messed up?
Author's Note:
Again, thank you all for waiting so patiently, and for your wonderful reviews. I kind of teased you a bit with the touch of Marichat a couple chapters ago, so I decided to make it up to you :)