Chapter Five – Bullet to the Heart

Marinette's phone chimes again and she drops her pen in favour of the updates Nino's sending her every other second. At this rate she'll never get her homework done, but at least she can cross 'reading a book via text messages from one's childhood friend' off her bucket list. Another text comes in before she can put her phone down and she grins inanely at it, sending Nino the appropriate emojis to document her feelings.

"Marinette, maybe you should–" Tikki's voice is cut off by Wayzz darting in front of her, slamming his paw over her mouth.

He glares at her. "Can't she just be happy for a little while longer?" He asks her quietly, so as not to let Marinette hear.

Tikki sighs and pushes his paw away so she can speak. "She needs to do her homework."

Wayzz raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "Master Fu understood the importance of one's studies, but he also understood the importance of one's mental wellbeing." Tikki looks away from him guilty and Wayzz softens his expression, putting his paw on her arm. "Just let her have this. It's not going to hurt her." Before Tikki can reply, there's a brief knock on the skylight and the kwamis' only have enough time to duck into hiding before Cat Noir's standing in Marinette's room, leaning over her from behind.

"Hey purrincess." He grins at her.

She smiles, but doesn't tear her eyes away from her phone where Nino's sent her another two updates. She has no idea how he's finding the time to text her the information while also reading the book. If it were her, she probably would've forgotten their agreement by this point.

"Hi Cat."

"That's all I get?" He asks, putting a hand to his chest in a sign of mock pain. "'Hi Cat'? Not even a 'hey, how you going'?"

Marinette sighs and tears her eyes away from her phone to give Cat a deadpanned look. "Hey, how you going?" She tilts her head. "Better?"

"Much." He grins and grabs her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. She pulls it from his grasp and picks up her pen again, finding her place in the book with her finger. "What is it tonight?" He asks, trying to lift the book up to see the cover. She puts her hand on it to keep it against the desk.

"I need that."

"I know." He smiles at her, but she doesn't notice because she's busy writing her answer. Her phone chimes and her eyes flick to it, but she forces them back to her homework. It chimes again. "You're popular tonight." He tilts his head at her. "Should I be jealous?"

She snorts. "No."

"Who's texting you?"

There's something strange about his tone and she looks up at him. His expression is innocent enough, but there was something about the way he asked that makes her feel like he already knows.

"My friend Nino." She frowns, leaning back in her seat. "You know Alya?"

"She runs the Ladyblog, yes?"

She hums. "Nino's her boyfriend." Her phone chimes a third time and she grips her pen tighter so she doesn't pounce on it.

"It sounds like he wants to get a hold of you."

"He's sending me updates." She sighs and her willpower finally gives out. She drops her pen in favour of her phone and reads the texts greedily. She glances up at Cat and notices his confused expression. "He's reading The Cursed Child. When we were younger we used to read the Harry Potter books together and we'd give each other updates to see what we thought of it."

He smiles. "That's cool."

She smiles fondly, thinking back to the simpler times, back before crushes and Miraculous' and liars that everyone believes. "We used to give each other notes with the updates at school."

"Wouldn't it have just been easier to read together next to each other?" He tilts his head at her, frowning, and she shrugs, putting her phone back down. "Then you could just talk instead of writing notes."

"We didn't really hang out that much at school." She picks her pen up again and moves onto the next question, but she's unable to actually concentrate on it.

"Why not?" He leans against her desk and grabs her phone when it chimes. Without the knowledge of the pervious texts, however, it makes no sense to him. "If he's still sending you updates than he obviously likes you."

She rolls her eyes and reaches for her phone, but he moves it out of her reach. "We're closer now then we were then."

He frowns, and her statement is enough distraction for him to let his guard down. She tugs his arm down and pries her phone from his fingers. Claws? "Why?"

"Why what?" She sends Nino a smiley face emoji and picks her pen up again.

"Why weren't you close back then?" She glances away from him and he leans closer. So close he can count the freckles dotted across her nose. "I find it hard to believe a girl like you would never not be close to her friends."

She frowns, mulling over his choice of words. "'A girl like me'? What do you mean by that?"

His eyes widen and he stands up straight, starting to backpedal. "N–Nothing! I didn't, I wasn't, I–I mean." He swallows audibly and leans his hand on her desk, winking at her. "Y–You're great! Wonderful! Pawsome!"

She raises an eyebrow. ". . . Okay?"

He clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck, momentarily dropping his 'cool guy' facade. "I just meant that you're a really nice person and your kind to everyone and I can't imagine you not not having close friends your entire life." He glances up at her and smiles shyly. She frowns, trying to figure out where she's seen that smile before. "I didn't mean to offend you."

She shakes her head. "You didn't offend me." She smiles reassuringly. "I just . . ." She shrugs. "For future reference: don't say 'a girl like you' when you're talking to a girl. It doesn't always come off exactly . . . nice."

He bites his lip and tilts his head slightly, confused. "Why not? I was just trying to say that you're really nice and kind and–"

"I know." She cuts him off before her cheeks can flush too darkly at all of the compliments. "I mean I know now, since you explained it." She chews her lip for a moment, contemplating how to put her thoughts in a way that makes sense. "Do you know a lot about girls, Cat?"

Ladybug and Kagami immediately jump to mind and he feels his cheeks flush. They flush darker when a certain pigtailed classmate who may or may not be sitting in front of him and biting her lip in a way that his brain keeps trying to say is provocative when he knows it's not replaces the two other girls in his mind.

"I guess so." The smirk ghosting her lips surprises him and he has to force his eyes away from her before he self–combusts.

"I don't mean in that way, Cat." She admonishes lightly, and he is certain that if a match was to come in contact with his face it would alight instantly.

"I know."

She rolls her eyes in a 'sure' kind of way. "Look," She sits up straighter and he lean against her desk. Her phone chimes but she ignores it, her gaze focused on the cat–boy in front of her. "Girls are complicated. And they're also kind of sensitive, and I can say that because I'm a girl." She points at him, mirth dancing in her eyes. "You, under no circumstances whatsoever unless you want a kick in the balls, cannot say that." He nods automatically even though she didn't pose it as a question. "Sometimes people – mostly guys, often other girls – say something that's supposed to be light–hearted but it doesn't feel that way to the girl." Her eyes meet his and any mirth in her eyes disappear instantly, her face becoming blank once again. "Words hurt. They feel like a slap in the face, a kick in the gut."

"A bullet to the heart." Cat murmurs and she nods in agreement.

"Yeah." She tugs on her pigtail. "The phrase 'a girl like you' is rather generalising, and that could be either good or bad." She makes a face and he leans a little closer to her. "Most times it's bad."

He studies her face for a moment and frowns, his face filled with concern. "I take it you've had some bad experiences with this?"

She puffs out her cheeks before releasing a breath. She deflates back into her chair and absentmindedly taps her pen against her notebook. "You could say that." Her eyes dart to his then away.

"Is . . . is that why you've been distancing yourself lately?" Cat doesn't think he's noticed anyone saying something rude to her – Chloé aside, and excluding the rumours Lila's been sending around the school that have started to slowly turn their class against their sweet, everyday Ladybug – but, then, he doesn't actually know which words hurt her. "Because someone's been hurting you with their words?"

She chews on her lip for a moment and he holds his breath, hoping, praying that this time she'll open up to him. "You could say that." She repeats.

He sighs, disappointed, but at least she didn't outright deny it. "You know you can talk to me about anyth–" His words are cut off by screaming and they both jump upright. Cat pulls his staff out, prepared to take off and stop whatever akuma Hawk Moth has created this time, but he hesitates.

A look of determination crosses Marinette's face and her eyes flick to Cat's. "Go."

He shakes his head, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. "Mari–"

"Go." She tells him again, and this time he does.

. . .

"Hey LB." Cat greets, sending her his signature Cat Noir smile.

She crouches beside him and they peer over the roof edge, looking down at the akumatised boy who's turning everything he points his giant lollypop at into a lolly – according to his monologue that the akumas always spurt out, his mum and/or dad wouldn't allow him to have a lolly before bed, so now he's turning everything into lollies so all of the kids in Paris can eat lollies before bed.

"You know where the akuma is?" She asks, her tone implying that this is not a social call, and that they need to get the job done as quickly as possible.

Cat tries not to let his disappointment show in his voice. "No, I just got here." She nods and reaches for her yoyo, preparing to swing after the boy. "Are you okay?"

She falters and almost falls off the roof. He grabs her arm quickly and she presses her hands into the roof tiles to balance herself. She releases a shaky breath and meets his eyes. It's only for a second, but the pain in them almost breaks his heart.

"Let's just get this over with."

He purses his lips and studies her face. The pleading look she shoots him makes him nod instantly. "Okay." He says, but she's already gone.