Ladybug was the first to come back. Marinette caught herself nearly falling asleep, which was understandable as it was almost midnight. She hoped she didn't look tired and tried to shake it off. Ladybug looked as high-spirited as always, so Marinette didn't want to be anything else.
"They fit perfectly! You're an irreplaceable help, Marinette," Ladybug said with a bright smile. Could this girl get any nicer? Marinette handed her a bag in which to put the clothes in.
"Eheh... W-well I'm glad to help," Marinette said. It took some willpower not to shoot down the compliment.
"What did I miss?" Chat made his way into the room.
"Nothing, kitty. Did they fit?" Marinette searched for another bag as Ladybug closed her eyes in order to not see the clothes Chat was carrying.
"Of course they did. They're great," Chat said and folded the hoodie and jeans nicely and placed them in the bag. Marinette hadn't expected him to be so careful.
"Alright, I think it's best if we call it a day," Ladybug said as she streched her arms. "Tomorrow's going to be full of work and this kitten on my left needs his beauty sleep."
"Hey!" Chat acted offended, but Marinette could definitely imagine him sleeping with a green face mask. She chuckled at the thought.
"Do you think you could give your number to us?" Ladybug asked as if the question was normal.
Marinette froze. Why would Ladybug ask for her phone number? This was where the mission ended, right? The clothes had been given, so why would there be any need for her number?
The only thing that came out of her mouth was a confused question. "What?"
"So we can call you if we need you. I have a feeling you could be of use, and not many people know about this case," Ladybug said calmly. She wasn't being pressuring at all, nor was she doing anything wrong, but Marinette felt like the floor beneath her was shaking. Not much, but just a bit.
It was one thing to make clothes for superheroes and another thing to actually - to actually what? Marinette had no clue what she would do, fight? Find clues? Whatever it was, it was serious. The small amount of confidence Marinette had gained washed away.
"Uh... I'm very flattered, and all, but I think this is where my place is," she said as she opened her arms a bit to indicate that she was talking about her room.
"You sure? I think you have great qualities and you seem easy to work with," Ladybug said. Ladybug stated things as if they were obvious, but still didn't seem to push her opinions. Marinette was blown away by her confidence. She had no problems with expressing her thoughts.
A familiar feeling reached Marinette. She felt kind of like when she was little, watching her favorite cartoon and admiring the main character. Wanting to be exactly like said main character. Right now, that was the way she looked at Ladybug.
Maybe going along with this would help her understand. Would help her learn about how to change.
Chat Noir gave Marinette a curious look. It was surprising that he didn't say anything, seeing how much he had pushed Marinette to help them earlier.
The superheroes were both waiting for an answer. Marinette wasn't sure how tomorrow was gonna play out, but she was willing to give it a try.
"I'll... I'll give you my number."
o - o - o - o - o
No call. It was already the afternoon, and nobody had called Marinette. At this point she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to be called.
Right now she was just staring at her phone. Sitting on her bed and anxiously waiting for something to happen. But she guessed it was to be expected that they realized they had no use for her after all.
"Gosh!" she said to herself out of frustration and threw her pillow on the floor. It was a pretty day outside and she was just gonna spend it losing her mind inside?
Whatever. She checked her phone, this time to see if Adrien's newest photoshoot had been posted yet. It hadn't. She sighed and stood up to go make herself a smoothie. Just as she was about to leave the room, she heard the familiar opening to a Korean drama series.
She jumped back on her bed and grabbed the phone. "Hi?"
"Marinette, did you remember to clean your room?" Sabine said. Marinette's parents were spending the day at a baking contest.
"Yes, mom," Marinette said and almost laughed at the situation.
"Alright, honey. Try to get some fresh air. Love you."
"Love you, too," Marinette said and ended the phone call. Getting up again would be too much work so she decided to give up on the idea of a smoothie.
Her phone rang again. This time Marinette didn't get the chance to say anything, when she already heard Chat Noir's voice. For a second she thought the voice was Adrien's.
"Marinette, come here right now and bring cheese. Camembert. I'll text you the address," he said and closed the call.
Is this the real deal? Marinette was screaming inside as she was reading the address. She almost fell down the stairs of her room while trying to get to the kitchen.
Camembert, Camembert... A little confused as to why cheese was needed, she scanned the fridge with her eyes. Luckily, they did have Camembert. She never really liked that cheese but her dad was a big fan.
She was already heading out the door when she thought of something. Should I bring a yo-yo? Would it be silly? Ladybug probably had some magical yo-yo, so it's not like Marinette would be able to do anything.
Nevertheless, she turned around just to climb back to her room and search her chest of drawers for a yo-yo. Alya had bought her one as a gift, so she knew she had it. It didn't take long before she found it and stuffed it in her purse.
o - o - o - o - o
The address was to a kindergarten for rich kids. Marinette made her way there pretty quickly by bike, as it wasn't too far. She knew the tall building was Adrien's former kindergarten, though she hadn't found that out in a conversation with him. She swore she wasn't a stalker, though!
It seemed like an odd place for Hawkmoth to hide people gone missing, but maybe it had something to do with it being in a pretty random spot. The kindergarten was surrounded by other tall buildings so it would be easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.
Marinette's hands were trembling a little. Her nervousness wasn't helped by the fact that she couldn't spot Chat Noir or Ladybug and she wasn't sure where to leave her bike, but ended up placing it next to some gray building.
"You must be Marinette."
She almost screamed at the sudden voice that didn't sound like it belonged to anyone she knew. But she didn't scream, instead of that she just turned around.
A small, black creature was looking at her. "I'm Plagg. Cool to meet you."
Marinette was confused. Was she seeing things? This is weird. This is so weird. Still, her natural instinct was to be polite. "Hi, Plagg. Nice to meet you, too."
She reached to shake hands with the creature. It turned out to be a bad idea, because Plagg's hands were way too small to shake normally. Plagg didn't seem to mind the thought though, so Marinette ended up giving her pinkie to him.
"So, you got my Camembert?"
