Making it to my room faster than I've ever moved in my life, I landed on the balcony. Within the blink of an eye, I changed back and Tikki flew in through the glass to unlock the door for me. Zooming inside, I threw off all of my clothes, threw on a clean set of pyjamas. I had just finished wrapping my still-damp hair up in a towel when there was a swift knock at my bedroom door. "Just a minute!" The last thing I did was put on a pair of slippers before practically bursting the door open. I have no idea why I was expecting someone other than who it was, but I was definitely not anticipating who was really on the opposite side of the door.
"Ca-…! A-Adrien!" This look of profound shock overtook my face as I beheld not my boyfriend but my fiancé. Adrien was outside standing alone in the hallway. He came straight into my room, hurrying inside. "Are you ok?! Are you alright?!" He grabbed me by the shoulders with the palpable concern. His eyes scanned me over repeatedly as if to confirm my "alrightness" with his senses. My lips sputtered for a second. "I-I'm fine," no, I'm not fine. Where's my boyfriend? WHERE is my boyfriend?!
I want my Cat Noir!
Adrien must have believed me as he gave a sigh of relief, loosening his grip on my shoulders a little. "Thank goodness….." It was my turn to look at him concerned. "Is everything alright?" "It is now. Don't worry, Marinette; everything's alright now. Cat Noir and Ladybug took care of that akumatized man. The city's safe again," uh yeah, I know; I'm the one who helped make it safe. Still, purely for show, I made myself also sigh in relief. "That's good. A-And your stocks are ok too?" He blinked, taken aback momentarily. "My stocks? Oh, right! Uh, yeah; there'll all good. Listen, I'm sorry I didn't come check on you sooner," his voice was suddenly apologetic, though sincerely so. I waved my hand in the air. "Oh no! That's fine! I just finished uh, taking a bath! Helps with the stress and all….." Well it's not a complete lie; baths really did help me de-stress.
Adrien smiled. I felt my checks flush at the sensation of his fingers now brushing some stray wet hairs off my forehead, tucking them back under the towel. "It's ok, Marinette; you don't need to do anything else tonight. You've had a really long day and I want you to end on a high note." "Adrien…." I half-gasped. The hand which was still holding onto me retightened its grip. It felt like he was about to say something important. "I'm sorry to do this to you, Marinette, but I've got to go…"
"There you are!" A booming voice interrupted us. We both glanced back down into the hall to see Uncle Julien coming over, giving us a wave. "We were wondering where you kids ran off to! First your dad disappears, and then you two vanish; it's not polite for the hosts to leave their guests like that," he lightly admonished us. "Sorry, Uncle," Adrien spoke for both of us, of which I was grateful for. Uncle Julien shook his head as if it didn't matter anymore. "Ah, it's all in the past. Besides, you guys missed it! Cat Noir and Ladybug took down the akumatized gardener; some loser calling himself "Poisoned Ivy". We all watched their battle on the big screen tv downstairs." "Oh… Huh. How 'bout that?" Adrien and I side-eyed each other.
"Ah well. You'll get a chance to see their next fight. People are getting akuamatized left, right, and centre these days," Uncle Julien waved his hand flippantly again. "Don't I know it," Adrien groaned. "By the way, your dad's looking for you, Adrien," Adrien's uncle added just then. My fiancé flinched at the news. "B-But I've got to go….." He began, only to be cut off by his uncle interrupting. "You'll have plenty of time to do whatever it is later. You know how your dad doesn't like to be kept waiting." "Er, r-right. Um….." Adrien's head then spun in my direction, pensively so.
"I'm sorry, Marinette. Looks like I'll have to leave you for tonight." My back arched- in a good way. "N-No! That's fine! I'm expecting someone anyways….. Friend! I-I'm expecting my friend to call! I was uh, going to tell her all about the family dinner. You know how girls are," what am I saying? I sound like a total idiot! He's never going to buy that! But hope did start to fill me when he simply smiled, seemingly charmed by this. His hand reached down to give mine a squeeze. "Ok then. Good night, Marinette." "Yes, good night, Miss Dupain-Cheng. I look forward to getting more acquainted with you in the future," Uncle Julien said. "Good night, you two. I'll see you later," with one last smile he gave me, I finally shut my bedroom door, standing there stiff as a board for a minute. My lips parted a sliver as I continued to stare at the wood mere inches from my face. A single, solitary thought ran on repeat through my mind: Cat Noir.
Roughly a minute and a half later I heard something come in through the balcony door this time. My hopes were immediately raised to a hundred. Of course! He's going to wait until I'm properly alone in the room; can't expect him to come in here while Adrien's present. Spinning around I was ready to throw my arms around my beloved's neck.
"Cat Noi-….. Plagg!" I was more than a little shocked to see the tiny black kwami floating in the middle of my room. Thank goodness Tikki was still hiding in my pocket. Plagg flew over to me, unhurried as ever. My face lines morphed from surprise to displeasure.
"Where's Cat Noir?" My boyfriend's kwami rubbed the back of his little neck awkwardly for a second. "He's uh, busy at the moment; he sent me to see you instead. Er, what was my line again? Oh yeah! Cat Noir's fine; you don't need to worry. He misses you, he loves you, and all that lovey dovey blah, blah, blah," Plagg couldn't have delivered those sentences with less emotion. Needless to say, I was not impressed. Don't get me wrong, I love the little guy, but come on! Still, he's the only way I can communicate to Cat Noir when he's not transformed so I better play nice. After sighing internally, I relaxed my posture a tad.
"Ok, good; I'm glad to hear it. Please let Cat Noir know that I'm alright too," simply saying his name again made me smile. "Got it!" Again, I was surprised to see him suddenly flying toward my bedroom. Wait, he's leaving so soon? He never just goes like that unless it's an emergency! "Plagg, where are you going?" "I've gotta get back to Cat Noir," he fired from over his shoulder. "But you never leave without asking if there's any cheese first?" This made the kwami stop mid-air, like he'd suddenly been caught doing something bad. His tiny body spun back around my way as he lifted his hand back up to his mouth again. His eyes moved upwards towards the corner of the ceiling. "Uh, yeah, uh…. I already know where the kitchen is here." "You do?!" I gasped, utterly shocked to hear this. "Yeah, um….. Cat Noir and I have been in this house a couple of times before. Just a couple of times! When you save Paris, you go in a lot of places downtown, and this manor is particularly big…" Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense only…. It doesn't really make sense at all! But I suppose I have to trust Plagg on this one, even if it is Plagg we're talking about.
I sighed, giving him a wave. "Alright. Have a good night, Plagg." "Night, Marinette!" He took off. Obviously Tikki waited until he was gone before coming out from my shirt. "Do you think Cat Noir knows Adrien a little more than we originally thought?" She asked me. I shrugged both my shoulders. "Could be. Maybe he doesn't want to tell me cause he doesn't want to make it weird- well, weirder- between Adrien and me. They could very well know each other in civilian form." "Are you ok with that?" Tikki inquired again. I thought about it for a moment, then grinned. "I don't see why it would a problem. Even if they do know one another or are even friends, I doubt I'll ever meet Cat Noir when he's not transformed. I'd know if I did….." "Mmmmm, you sure about that? It's pretty strong magic. You've known Cat Noir for ten years and he's never suspected that you're Ladybug." "That's true," I frowned. He's so convinced that we're separate people that he's actively put "Ladybug" me in the friendzone since we met so "Marinette" me wouldn't get jealous. "Cat Noir did say that he lives close by…" I hummed to myself. Then again, I wouldn't put it past Plagg from breaking into neighbouring houses to steal their cheese. That's probably what he meant.
Tikki floated up to my cheek, giving it a kind hug. "So maybe Adrien and Cat Noir do know each other, or maybe he does live in the neighbourhood. But you probably shouldn't ask him about it. It's imperative that you both keep your identities a secret; you shouldn't ask him anything about his civilian life," she told me. My face softened, my hand raising up to give her a gentle pet. "I know you're right. I would never ask him and put him in that impossible position." "Mmmmmm, you're such a good girlfriend, Marinette," she nuzzled her face into my cheek. I chuckled lowly. "Heh, good girlfriend; not-so-good fiancée. Poor Adrien…. The guy has no idea," my gaze wandered out into space with shame. "He just wants you to be happy, I'm sure," her small eyes tried to reach mine. I peered over to the top of her red head. "I don't think cheating is what he has in mind." "But you love Cat Noir," she countered. After watching her a second, my distraught frown came back in full force. Tikki drew back so I could walk over to the balcony doors, placing one of my hands up onto the glass panel.
"Cat Noir, where are you? You said you had someone to check on; we both know you meant me. So where is he? What could be keeping him?" "Marinette?" Tikki flew up a bit my way, now slightly concerned. My hand pressed even firmer onto the glass, as if that would bring Cat Noir faster to me. "I want you…. I want to see you, Cat Noir. I hate being apart from you like this. Please… Please, baby; I want you here with me, beside me….." "Marinette," Tikki's voice was lower, sadder this time. "Where is he?
Where are you, my Cat Noir?"
