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Day 21 - The Chat Noir Doll

Marinette burst through the front doors of her school with a bright smile, "I MADE IT!"

The few people who heard her outburst laughed quietly, making her blush. She didn't care right now though, she'd made it on time and that's all she cared about! She was excited about the project for her art class due this afternoon.

She stopped dead in her tracks. Had she grabbed them? She frantically unzipped and reached into her bag, fishing around until her fingers brushed the familiar material she was looking for. She let out a sigh of relief, clutching her bag to her chest with an excited squeal and rushed forward, heading straight up the stairs when she heard her name, "Marinette!"

She turned to look automatically, and crashed straight into someone. Two simultaneous groans were heard as their bodies landed on the floor. Her response was instant, "Oh my god I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

She looked over to make sure whoever she had crashed into was okay, and felt her entire face heat up.

Adrien was smiling at her softly, "Don't worry about it Marinette, I'm okay, are you?" He was already getting back to his feet, holding out a hand to help her up. She put her hand in his, her world of bright light and pink bubbles erupting around them as their eyes stayed locked on each others.

He helped her stand, staring at her like he was waiting for something. OH! He'd asked her a question!

"You're fine!" She squeaked, face-palming as her own words registered before correcting herself, "Fine! I'M fine." She forced herself to stop there before she could let out the relentless rambling nonsense that usually resulted while in the presence of one Adrien Agreste.

"I'm glad you're okay. I thought I might have hurt you." He told her sounding relieved, not commenting on her usual mix up of words. He was actually getting pretty good at translating Marinette's unique language around him.

She shook her head quickly, her pigtails following the movement, "Oh no not at all!"

"Good," he looked down and his eyes widened, "Oh no! I'm sorry Marinette."

She looked down too and saw her stuff littering the floor. She should have zipped the bag back up after her frantic search a minute ago. This was just her luck.

"It was my fault!" She said quickly, bending down to pick up her things. Adrien instantly started helping her, gathering her papers into a neat pile while she shoveled things back into her backpack. He gathered a few more papers when his eyes widened in joy, and partially in horror truth be told.

It was a Chat Noir doll, the same doll he was sure he'd seen when they fought Puppeteer. The same doll that had caused him to go after his lady.

He lifted it and looked it over more carefully. It really was well done. He could even see the subtle pattern in the doll's suit that matched his. The bell on the doll's collar tinkled softly as he brushed it with his thumb, making him smile.

"Wow, did you make this Marinette? It's amazing!" He asked as though he didn't know, smiling more when she blushed at the compliment.

"Uh, yeah, I, I did. You like it?" She asked shakily.

He nodded happily, "It's absolutely pawesome!"

Her face lost all amusement, her tone turning sour, "Did you just make a cat pun?"

He felt his face flush. The pun had just slipped out. "Uh, maybe?"

Her serious expression broke and she let out a giggle that warmed his insides, "Oh god, I can't believe you of all people like puns."

He said it, faking being hurt, "All people like a good pun. They are punny, that's the point."

She rolled her eyes, an amused smirk on her face, "I'll let that one slide." She held her hand out for the doll and he couldn't help but ask, "So, would you happen to have a Ladybug doll?"

She shifted things around in her bag and pulled out the Ladybug doll with an embarrassed smile, "Of course."

She took the Chat Noir doll from him and he took the Ladybug one from her, seeing how well done it was made too. "This one is even better!"

"You can't have a Ladybug without a Chat Noir." She said like it should have been obvious.

The comment left him instantly, "I think Ladybug would be fine on her own without Chat Noir."

He was too busy smiling at the adorably cute Ladybug doll to see Marinette's eyes widen in shock as she asked, "Why would you think that?"

His response was instant, "She's smart, and resourceful, and she's the only one who can purify the akuma's. All Chat Noir can do is destroy things."

Marinette's voice turned hard, her grip on the Chat Noir doll tightening, "Excuse me?"

His eyes snapped to hers, seeing a fire in her eyes. He frowned at her sudden angry expression, confused, "What? It's true."

"No it's not." She told him firmly, "Chat Noir is an essential part of their partnership! He's not a sidekick that can be thrown aside or be forgotten!"

He was flattered that she thought so highly of Chat Noir, but he had to correct her, "I'm not saying he's a sidekick, but I am saying that Ladybug could fight the akuma's without him. Half the time all he does is get in the way or get turned against her."

"That's not his fault!" She scolded him, her voice getting louder, "He is never in her way! He is doing what only HE can do so that she has the chance to purify the akuma. Even if that means throwing himself in front of her to make sure she has that chance. Without him, she'd never have made it past day one!"

He frowned, feeling a spark erupt in his stomach. He wasn't going to let her talk about his lady that way, "She would have been fine on her own from day one. How can you think so little of her!?"

"Because Ladybug wouldn't be half the hero she is without Chat Noir." She snapped.

"No she'd," he held the ladybug doll up to her face, "be ten times the hero no doubt." He told her crossly.

"How dare you!" She screeched, clutching the Chat doll in her hand and holding it up to his face the same way he had done to her, "This guy, whoever he is, is the reason Dark Cupid didn't get to her. He sacrificed himself when Timebreaker went after her! He even stopped Zombizou's minions from getting to her! She'd be a useless mess of a hero without Chat Noir!"

"She is an amazing hero!" He said finally losing his cool, "Where was Chat Noir when she needed him against Gorizilla?"

"Where was LADYBUG when he was fighting Weredad?" She replied curtly.

"She fought off three akuma's AND Chat Noir when they fought Puppeteer!" He told her sounding triumphant, like that alone proved how amazing she was.

"Oh please!" She scoffed, "Chat Noir defeated the ENTIRE police force when they fought Rogercop!" Trying to one-up him.

"He took off by himself to fight his copycat because his pride got in the way!" Adrien revealed, not caring about trying to keep things secret anymore. He WAS going to prove his point to her, no matter what it took.

"If it wasn't for her trying to deny her obvious feelings for Chat Noir, Nadja Chamack would never have been akumatized into Prime Queen!" Marinette reminded him.

It made his blood boil, "They are superheroes not celebrities Marinette! She did the right thing pulling them off the air like that! It wasn't Ladybug's fault! And maybe if Chat Noir stopped his obnoxious boasting, Oblivio would have never happened either and they wouldn't have lost their memories!"

"Obnoxious boasting!?" She said exasperated, throwing her hands up into the air, "His ability to stay positive and upbeat during a fight spreads to her, and gives her the confidence to keep fighting Adrien! And you don't know what really happened during Oblivio, no one does! He risked himself without his pow-," she stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't say that to Adrien, not without him questioning how she could know that kind of detail.

Wait, how did SHE know that he risked himself without his miraculous? Did she.. remember that?

"HA!" Adrien exclaimed in triumph, "You can't even finish your sentence!"

She knew it was childish, but she didn't care. She stomped her foot and told him angrily, "You don't know anything! God you are just like him, holding Ladybug up on a pedestal when she doesn't deserve it!"

"And you are just like her, stubborn even when something is right in front of you!" He retorted, staring into her stern blue eyes. Beautiful, stern blue eyes… he thought somewhere in the back of his mind in a way that made his anger falter just the slightest. He felt as though he'd seen those eyes staring at him in that frustrated way before. Hadn't he?

Her words finally all caught up with him, and some remaining rational part of his mind told him that there was no way Marinette could have known some of those things. Not unless...

He was still too angry to fully let himself process that, but he knew one thing for sure. He wasn't going to let this moment pass. His voice came out still annoyed as he asked her angrily, "Will you just go out with me already?"

His question didn't even make her flinch. The still rational part of her brain that was functioning was on high alert. There was only one way he could know some of those things, and she couldn't deny it any more. He'd been right in front of her all this time. God... she had trapped them in a freaking LOVE SQUARE!

"Of course I will go out with you, you idiot! You're the boy I told you about!" She admitted, angry with herself that she hadn't been able to see it before.

"I told you we were made for each other, and you just didn't want to listen." He said with an annoyed smirk.

"Oh, you are really going to tell me 'I told you so'?" She snapped, "You're the reason we are in this situation to begin with."

"ME!?" He shouted, shaking the ladybug doll in her direction - having forgotten that it was in his hand all this time, "All I ever did was love you!"

"No, all I ever did was love YOU!" She snapped, pointing the Chat Noir doll at him, "Give me that doll back, I need it for my art project." She took the ladybug doll from him and shoved it back into her bag with the Chat Noir one.

He took her bag once she zipped it up and put it over his shoulder, holding out his other hand to her. He wasn't giving her an option, "I'm walking you to class."

She put her hand in his instantly, narrowing her eyes, "Careful there mister model. Your Agreste is showing."

"Oh ha ha, the princess has jokes now." He muttered unamused.

"I think my jokes are spot-on, don't you think?" She said, sounding pleased with herself.

"You are making fun of me, and I'm feline hurt now purrincess." He said without caring about any of his usual filters, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

They headed to class hand in hand, still going back and forth, without noticing any of the absolutely shocked faces of their classmates who had witnessed the whole thing. Alya had her phone out pointed towards them, a little shocked herself. When she had called out to Marinette, she was glad to see that she had run into Adrien. If she'd known that fighting over a couple of dolls would give her this end result, she would have shoved the dolls in their faces ages ago!

As they disappeared around the corner, Nino was finally able to turn to look at his girlfriend, asking completely confused at the turn of events, "What the hell just happened?"

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Au Revoir for now! Á demain!