Part 3 — I'll close my eyes…
"M-me? Why me?" She was sure that the colour of her face now was rivalling the red of her mask. Her eyes wide open, she exchanged a terrified look with Chat Noir's much calmer one; he gave her a soft smile.
"We've been through a lot together," he said. "Evillustrator, Weredad, the time your dad invited me to brunch, the time you rehearsed your love declaration to, uh, what was his nickname?" Chat Noir asked, pretending he didn't remember.
"B-buttercup," she whispered.
"Oh, yes, Buttercup." He looked up and now Marinette could tell that the blush on his face wasn't due to the security light. "You've been the only girl I ever went to the cinema with, Marinette." He then reached for his nape again. "Successfully, I mean. I tried taking Milady to see a movie once, but that was a disaster…" He chuckled. "She got both of us kicked out because she was screaming at the screen. I don't blame her, she was going through a hard time. But…"
"You've never gone to the movies with anyone else?" Marinette asked, her eyes widening in shock. Chat Noir shook his head. "Wow. And there I was, thinking that you had who knows how many girlfriends. I mean, look at you…"
That made Chat Noir burst into a wholehearted laugh. "Oh yeah. You know, Marinette, I don't usually wear a black leather-like spandex suit when I'm not transformed."
She flushed at that. "Uh, I don't mean it that way. I mean, you would be handsome even wearing nothing at all." The words slipped out of her mouth and then she realised what she had said. She was certain that now her face had reached a shade of red still unknown to mankind. "Uh, ah, I-I d-didn't m-mean—" She put her hands up defensively and cringed, her eyes closed like in anticipation to get hit by lightning. But when her mind stopped catastrophising and she looked at Chat Noir, the boy was cackling.
"I'm flattered, Marinette, thank you." He dried the few tears that had formed in the corner of his eyes with the back of his gloved hand, and when he looked at her, his gaze was so intense that Marinette thought for a second that he had figured her out. "I won't say it back to you because that would sound," he said and muffled a chuckle, "even worse, but…" He chuckled again. "You're very pretty yourself, Marinette." He leaned closer and Marinette felt her knees turn into jelly. "And clever. You make me feel safe; I don't mind being stuck here with you. And I don't mind you finding out who I am."
Marinette's breath started getting erratic. She knew he was right. There was no way she was going to be able to keep her eyes closed forever. They were both trapped, so nobody was going to magically conjure a storm of ladybugs that would bring the electricity back. At some point, she was going to find out. Unless…
"Would Plagg eat a macaron?" she asked suddenly, hoping that Tikki hadn't already eaten the last one she was keeping in her purse for emergencies.
Chat Noir raised an eyebrow. "How do you know the name of my kwami?" he thought out loud. He raised a hand to his chin and thought about it for a moment.
Oh no! Marinette cringe-smiled. "Er, um, Multimouse?" she muttered, and relaxed when she saw the gleam of understanding flashing through Chat Noir's eyes.
"Of course, you unified Plagg and Mullo, didn't you?" She nodded, so he continued, "Okay, it makes sense. As of your question… Uh, I don't know. I think Milady fed him a macaron once, so maybe he wouldn't mind, but," he hummed, raising an eyebrow, "how would I get one?"
By now, Marinette had visibly relaxed. She grinned at him and opened her purse, for some reason making sure he couldn't see its content—maybe girls' things, thought Chat Noir with a mental shrug. Anyway, she dipped her fingers inside the bag and produced a pink polka-dotted macaron, which she offered to him.
"There. That should be enough to recharge Plagg."
As Chat Noir stretched his hand to pick the macaron that she was offering, his heart burst with such gratitude and love for his pigtailed friend that he had to physically hurt himself by biting his lip to not wrap her into a hug and kiss her then and there.
"Thank you! You're a lifesaver!" he squealed, as his ring beeped louder and Marinette jerked a little and turned around just in time to not witness his transformation wear off.
Hang on a second, how did she… oh, yes, maybe Multimouse again, he thought as Plagg twirled out of his ring and fell onto his hands.
"I'm not paid enough for this," complained Plagg, flopping his little body listlessly in Adrien's hands. However, almost immediately, the little black furball was up, raising an eyebrow when he noticed Marinette giving them her back. And grimaced in disgust when Adrien presented him with the pink macaron. "Ew, what's that? I'm not eating it…"
Adrien pouted. "Come on, Plagg, Marinette was so nice to give me this, I don't have any more food and we're stuck."
Plagg also pouted, but eventually, he took hold of the macaron and started chewing lazily at it. As soon as Adrien was able to transform back, he moved closer to the floor platform in front of them.
"Marinette, can you come behind me again, please? I don't want to risk you getting hurt," he said after calling his power. He waited for Marinette to nod and move behind his back, then used his Cataclysm to destroy the concrete platform in front of them. That created a cloud of debris and dust so it took them a few moments before they were able to do anything. But when they could finally see, Chat Noir smiled at the sight of space in front of them.
"Excellent. Come here now, Marinette, and hold on tight." He gestured to the girl behind him to come closer and Marinette ended up wrapping her arms around his neck, Chat Noir carrying her bridal style and jumping out of the lift onto the floor underneath. "Thanks for flying Chat Noir Airways. We hope you'll be fe-lying again soon."
Marinette giggled softly as she got off him, patting her clothes clean from the dust that was still lingering around. "You're always such a joker, Chat. Shall we try to find a way out?"
He put his baton back behind the small of his back, also patting his suit to get rid of the dust. "I think that the first thing to do is for me to look for cheese. I only have five minutes, after all. Then we'll look for Alya."
Marinette nodded. "Don't worry about Alya, she texted me that she got out and found shelter."
When Chat Noir smiled at her, they both turned to look around, quickly identifying the closest exit and running to it.
Only to end up not being able to open the door.
"What on Earth?" Chat Noir muttered, his ring once again giving a beep of warning. He paled and looked around aimlessly, spotting two other exits and again failing to open them. Again he banged his fist against the door of the last exit he could find, adding a kick to it to express his frustration even further.
"The window?" Marinette said. She walked to the nearest window and tried to open it, to find out that it was locked and even banging at it or kicking it, the glass wouldn't break. It only caused her to limp temporarily. "Shoot. Alya said that the building got wrapped in something green! We're trapped!" she muttered and let herself slide on the floor, ending up in a sitting position, hugging her knees.
Chat Noir tried to use his baton to break the window by extending it against the glass, again to no avail. As he did that, Marinette's phone beeped with a notification and when the girl looked at it, she saw it was the news bulletin by Nadja Chamack. Not knowing what else to do, she clicked play and the music of the news filled the silence of the empty hall.
"Don't be bemused, it's just the news. Moments of terrors in Paris as a new Akuma attacked just after Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated one only half an hour ago. The power of this Akuma seems to be trapping people. All the buildings in Paris have been wrapped in some strange green substance, and immediately after, they came to a sudden halt; nobody can get out of the shelters they had taken when the Akuma alert rang, and everybody seems to be stuck. That must be the case even for Chat Noir and Ladybug because both still haven't come out in the open to fight this new enemy. If you're trapped somewhere, don't panic—"
"Damn it…" said Chat Noir from Marinette's side when she switched off the bulletin; she turned to him to see him picking up his baton again and trying to ring his partner. "She's still not transformed," he concluded after the catphone had gone through a considerable amount of dialling tones and he had heard Ladybug's voicemail at least five times.
"This is a disaster!" Marinette shrieked as Chat Noir's ring beeped a little louder. "How many minutes have you got left?" She grabbed his hand and looked at his ring that only had three pawprints left. "Three. Shoot… I've also run out of macarons."
As she said that, she heard a beep coming from her phone and the notification said that there was an incoming message from Alya and one each from her maman and papa. Marinette sighed, cringing at the thought of what her parents would think, so she looked at that one first.
Maman: [Are you alright, sweetie? We're stuck in the boulangerie. Nobody seems to be able to get in or out. Tom even tried to break the glass of the door, but nothing seems to work. Wherever you are, be careful and stay safe until Ladybug and Chat Noir fix it all]
She sighed.
Marinette: [I'm safe, don't worry. I'll get home when I can]
She had thought of telling her mother that Chat Noir was with her, but she decided not to. It would only worry her more because she was relying on the heroes to save the city. It was bad enough that she felt a growing sense of panic rising in her gut; no need to worry someone else. At least her mother thought she was safe and that help was on its way. She pressed the send button and then looked quickly at Alya's message.
Alya: [Nino joined me in the sewers. He heard the notification of the second Akuma attack when he'd just come out of a supermarket and texted me. So I told him to join me here, but now we're stuck. We can't get out, the manholes are sealed! Are you out of that lift, girl?]
Marinette gulped and eyed Chat Noir warily. The boy had taken a seat on the ground and was looking at his ring with a massive frown. The ring beeped again.
Marinette: [Yes, but I'm still stuck in Montparnasse Tower. With Chat…]
It took less than a millisecond:
Alya: [WHAT?]
Marinette: [Yeah. He's run out of food too]
Alya: [Oh my God… is his timer running out?]
Marinette: [Two pawprints left…I've already given him my last macaron to get out of the lift]
Alya: [Okay. Don't panic, girl. You're fine. Things will be alright]
Marinette: [No, things are NOT going to be alright, Alya. He's going to detransform in 2 minutes and we're in an empty hall with no food]
Alya: [First: don't worry too much and freak out as much as you want when you find out who he is. Second: AFTER you freak out (because I know you will), switch your brain on, I'm sure you can find a solution. If you can get to the sewers, I've some snacks. As I said, Nino was just coming out of a supermarket when the alarm rang. We'll reach under Montparnasse Tower and join you. Good luck!]
Marinette growled and glared at her phone, nearly tempted to throw it to the ground. Shoot. Her gaze kept darting around, trying to find a way out, but there was none she could see. There was no food, nothing. Unless they were able to pass through the walls…
Hang on a second…
"Plagg can pass through matter, can't he?" she asked Chat Noir.
The boy lifted his head and looked at her. "Yeah?"
"He can go and look for food himself and all we need to do is to wait for him, right? I'll sit back to back with you, so I'm not tempted to look at you, and we can talk to pass the time. Then maybe you can use your power and we can meet with Alya and Nino. Alya found him and they're hiding in the sewers; apparently, Nino has snacks."
A spark of joy brightened the black-clad superhero's face. "You're a genius, Marinette! You're always so resourceful and clever, no wonder I've fallen in l—" He slapped a hand on his mouth and bit his lower lip, as he darted his gaze away.
Shoot. Marinette's eyes had gone huge and…was that a blush dusting her cheeks? His heart was beating so fast against his ribcage that he thought he was going to explode. No, no, no… this wasn't the way he wanted her to find out that he was in love with her. Or rather, this wasn't the persona he wanted her to know was in love with her. Not only could it put her in danger, but Chat Noir had rejected her when she had declared her love to him. What kind of an idiot did this make him now?
"You…what?" Marinette asked, her eyebrow raised as she looked at him almost shyly.
Quick. Think. You're Chat Noir, you're supposed to be witty and good with words. Find. A. Solution. Now. "Uuuuuh…. I've fallen in l-lots of situations and gotten out of trouble thanks to you," he muttered and breathed a big sigh of relief when Marinette pursed her lips but let the subject drop.
"O-okay. You're welcome," she said. His ring gave a louder beep and Marinette gasped and turned around, sitting down on the floor and hugging her legs as the flash of green wrapped all around Chat Noir and Adrien appeared in his place, Plagg twirling out of his ring and crashing dramatically in his palms.
"This is ridiculous…where's my cheese?" the kwami asked.
Adrien's hand ran to his nape. "Uh, we're still stuck here so…Marinette had an idea. Can you go and find your cheese, Plagg? You can pass through matter, right?"
Plagg raised an eyebrow and floated towards the nearest external wall, but when he tried to pass through it, he bounced back. "It's a magic barrier, even kwamis can't go through it. Sorry, gamin."
"Damn it!" hissed Adrien, slouching his shoulders and then deciding to sit down back to back with Marinette, who jerked a little, as if the feeling of his clothes pressing against her back was burning her.
"I can go see if I find anything that I can eat. You know, checking vending machines or things like that," said Plagg.
"Wouldn't that be stealing?" wondered Adrien, but Plagg shrugged.
"The Miraculous Cure will fix everything and besides, it's either this or we don't get out. I'll be back soon." The black kwami zipped away and Adrien pulled his legs up, hiding his face behind his knees.
To be Continued…
Author's Note:
Hello there! So… this is chapter 3 of the story. I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter; I was on holiday and very busy. Besides, the birthday girl had been very busy too and still hadn't read the chapter. I wanted her to read it before publication, so I waited. But there's good news: she's now already read even the next chapter, so next Saturday there won't be any problems in updating again. As for my other stories, I don't know when I'll update them. I'm very busy, and in my spare time, I have to write the story for the Big Bang, because that one has got a deadline. So I'll update the other stories as soon as I can.
Back to business, please let me know what you thought of this chapter in a comment! I hope you liked it! I'm always open to dialogue, I don't mind ANY type of feedback! Thank you so, so much to all of you who wrote, or will write, a review or a comment on this story! You always make my day!
As usual, if you read this and you're not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join my favourite Discord servers, Miraculous Fanworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks) and Miraculous Discordance (discord dot gg slash QwgKdUhJNJ). I will wait for you on one of these servers; I promise I won't bite. Bug out!
