Chapter Two
There were fourteen missed calls on Adrien's phone when he finally dropped his transformation and dared to look. Two from Nathalie, one from his bodyguard, and eleven from Kagami. He sighed. He was going to feel the consequence of his foray to the bakery. Still, he didn't feel bad about it, not one bit. As he showered and climbed into bed, he couldn't stop smiling.
He figured he'd put out a few fires before bed, so he quickly texted Kagami:
Adrien: So sorry about today. I swear I wasn't trying to make fun of you. Ended up trapped in one of Adventurer's carts and had to walk home. Can we talk tomorrow?
It was well after midnight, so he wasn't surprised when she didn't respond. Still, he knew a big conversation was inevitable, and he'd have to make it face-to-face. Ladybug's words to him rung in his ears… you can't be two people at the same time… so that begged the question: who did he really want to be? Were Adrien and Chat Noir two different people? He had never really thought that much about it. He felt free as Chat Noir. Adrien's life was so controlled and intense. But he liked himself as Adrien as well—he knew he was a good person, and that had to count for something.
He shook his head to clear these way-too-deep-for-this-late thoughts, bid goodnight to Plagg, and postponed any further pondering for morning.
When Marinette came down the stairs for breakfast Sunday morning, her parents immediately knew something was off. Of course Marinette was smiling, of course she ate breakfast and made pleasant conversation. But something was off.
"Marinette, dear, are you sure everything is alright?" Sabine asked for the third time.
Marinette rolled her eyes. "Yes, everything is just fine. I think I'll go for a walk though."
"Do you want any company?"
"No, I just want some quiet time. Unless you need any help here? I can certainly stay—"
"We're fine, sweetheart," Tom insisted. "Why don't you take your sketch book?"
"That's a good idea," she said, a bit absently. A few minutes later, Marinette struck out on the streets of Paris, armed with her sketch book and pencil.
She didn't come home for hours. "Who should we call?" Tom said, nervously pacing the bakery floor.
"Oh Tom, there's no need to panic. Our daughter is more than capable of getting home by herself, and she's only been gone a few hours. She said she needed some quiet time. Give her space. She knows we love her."
"But Sabine, are you sure she's safe?"
"Of course. She had a hard time yesterday with Adventurer," Sabine consoled, stroking her husband's broad shoulders. "We know how much she cares for Luka. It must have been torturous for her to see him akumatized, and then to have to go after him herself—she deserves a little bit of time to think through things—"
"That's my fear," Tom said, pacing again, "She's now shown us she'll fly straight into danger without even thinking…"
Sabine laughed a little. "If you're so worried, why don't you call her and find out where she is. She has her phone on her, you know."
"No, no," Tom said brusquely, accelerating his pacing, "I don't want to invade her privacy."
Sabine laughed harder this time. "Whatever you say, dear. I'll be in the office, preparing orders for next week."
"Adrien!" He looked up at the sound of his name, but inwardly groaned when he saw the smiling face that had called it. "Look! Our photos were highlighted in Paris Teen Weekly!" Lila stuffed a copy of the magazine in his face. "How should we celebrate? How about dinner tonight? I know this adorable little bistro and ever since I saved his vanilla bean farm from being sold to hippopotamus hunters, the chef and I have been very close."
"Uh—" Adrien could barely breathe, she was so close.
"Excellent!" she squealed, squeezing his arm. "Give me your phone so I can—I mean you can make the reservation. I don't like to take advantage of our friendship." She talked so fast that he couldn't quite make sense of what she had said. All he knew is that she was digging her hands into his pockets looking for his phone, and he felt horribly uncomfortable.
"Hey Adrien," a gentle voice said from behind, that brought both him and Lila up short. Lila's hands flew back to herself, and Adrien released a gasp of relief.
"Marinette!" He said, prying away from Lila's clutching fingers. "Did you have a good weekend?"
She gave a little half smile and said, "Just fine, thanks." Adrien didn't know why, but he wasn't sure he believed her. They started walking lazily toward the classroom. "I have something for you," she said. She opened her backpack and pulled out three pink and white boxes of passionfruit macarons. "I'm afraid they're a day old. Chat Noir and I made these for you on Saturday afternoon, but when Adventurer got akumatized, he forgot them."
Adrien feigned surprise. "Chat Noir made those? With you?"
Marinette nodded. "Yeah, he said he was having a rough day, so he spent a few hours in the bakery and my dad taught him how to make macarons. He said he wanted to try passionfruit because you had recommended it once."
"Uh, yeah, I guess I did do that, huh? Well, thanks! What's Chat Noir like anyway? Super cool?"
Marinette raised an eyebrow. "I thought you two were friends."
"Oh, oh yeah, of c-course we are. He's a nice guy. I was just wondering what you thought."
"It was fun," Marinette responded with a much more convincing smile. "Usually he's pretty self-absorbed, but Saturday, he was…"
"Was what?"
But whatever Chat Noir was, Adrien didn't find out, as the bell rang and Marinette's eyebrows few to her hairline. "Oh no! And I was actually on time today!" She pressed the boxes of macarons into Adrien's hands and bolted for her seat. He chuckled to himself. He couldn't place his finger on it, but she was different today.
"GIRL!" Alya hissed seconds after class dismissed for lunch. "You talked to Adrien! Without tripping over yourself!"
Marinette rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't… I just brought cookies to a friend."
"Wait, don't you like him anymore?" Marinette stole a quick glance at the blonde still packing his things up at his desk. He was talking to Nino. Just then, he looked up and their eyes met. One corner of his mouth lifted and his eyes softened. Her stomach flipped and her pulse quickened.
"Oh Alya, I don't know-" Alya laughed at the exchange, but Marinette held up a hand to her, "—but he's in love with Kagami. Kagami's so cool, I just don't compare."
Alya shook her head. "You're unbelievable. I mean, you're… you know… and you still think you don't compare."
Marinette grabbed Alya's wrist, "Shh!"
Alya just laughed lightly. "I know, I know. We talked about it. I promise I'll be good." But Marinette's eyes still dropped and her shoulders sagged. "Are you ok?" Alya pressed.
"Oh, I'm fine," Marinette said vaguely as the two walked out the door toward the locker room.
"Do you want to get lunch with me?"
"Nah, I'm not super hungry, I think I'll just go for a walk. Get some quiet time, you know?"
"Well, at least make sure you eat something."
"Yeah," Marinette said with a little shrug. "Maybe I'll do that." As Marinette strolled away, Alya's eyebrows knit in concern. Now the text she had received from Marinette's mom on Sunday afternoon made more sense. Alya pulled out her phone to re-read:
Sabine Cheng: Would you keep an eye on Marinette for me? I don't know what, but I think something's up.
Alya: sure thing, Ms C.
Now Alya added to the conversation:
Alya: I see what you mean, Ms C. do u think this is about adventurer?
It took a few minutes to get a response, so Alya got some food at the cafeteria and sat at the table where Nino and Adrien were still talking. She tuned them out.
Sabine Cheng: I don't know. Come to think of it, it started a few weeks ago.
Alya wracked her brain. A few weeks ago was that awful fight with Miracle Queen and Hawkmoth. A few weeks ago was when Master Fu had left and Ladybug had been named the next guardian. Alya tapped her fingernail on her teeth as she put it together. Poor Marinette had been dealing with the weight of Paris on her shoulders.
Alya: I think I know what it is. Marinette has a lot of responsibility here at school. She's stressed.
Sabine Cheng: hm. You are probably right. Any ideas of how to help?
Alya: lemme think. I'll get back to u
Sabine Cheng: Thanks dear
Adrien's voice pulled her from her phone, "Alya, have you noticed anything strange about Marinette recently?"
"Dude, are you going to share those macarons, or do I have to steal one from you?" Nino asked as soon as the bell for lunch rang. The room buzzed with the noise of scraping chairs and a dozen conversations breaking out. He and Adrien stood and started packing up their things. "They've been taunting me all morning!"
"Oh, sure, of course!" Adrien held out one of the boxes to Nino who took four greedily and stuffed one, whole, in his mouth. "Oh man, these are the best. Marinette sure can bake!"
Adrien carefully stowed the box back in his bag, then looked at Marinette. She was talking to a very animated Alya. Just then she turned her head and looked back at him. They made eye contact and Adrien couldn't hold back his smile. The thought crossed his mind again that she looked different today, somehow. "Yeah," Adrien said, turning back to Nino and heading for the door. "She sure can bake. Have you noticed anything different about Marinette, though?"
"Marinette? Different?" Nino questioned through a second mouthful of macarons.
"When she brought me the macarons, she seemed different. And Saturday… I mean, last week sometime she just seemed… I can't quite figure it out."
Nino chuckled. "She's not different, she's just dating Luka and so she finally can talk to you without tripping all over herself."
"What?" Adrien scoffed.
"Yeah, she's been hung up on you for so long, dude, that she could never talk to you. But now that she's dating Luka, she's moved on."
"Wait, what?"
"Oh come on dude, it's not like it was that big of a secret…" Nino backpedaled.
"Marinette was… hung up on… and no, she's not dating Luka." Adrien's brain was buzzing.
Nino's hands flapped with the realization of his blunder. "I mean, it wasn't like really hung up, it was like, just kind of a thing and she just didn't want to and Alya told me not to say anybody likes anybody and… Hang on. She's not dating Luka? Says who?"
"Says her," Adrien replied simply.
"When did she tell you she wasn't dating Luka?"
A year of covering Chat Noir's tail came in handy sometimes. "I got sucked up in one of those carts on Saturday with Adventurer. I heard her tell him that she just wanted to be friends."
Nino raised an eyebrow. The boys finished collecting their lunches and sat down. Alya was texting someone and sat with them. Adrien was still processing what Nino had said. He was reminded of something Marinette had confessed to him—or rather, to Chat Noir—on Saturday. Someone she had hoped would be someone. Hung up on him. Was Marinette…
"Dude, don't read into things," Nino said, as if he could see the wheels turning in Adrien's brain. "Marinette is the same old Marinette we've always known and loved."
"Yeah," Adrien said and took a slow bite. "Still, Alya, have you noticed anything strange about Marinette recently?"
Alya's head snapped up from her phone. "Ma-Marinette? Strange? Uh, uh… why would you think there was anything strange about Marinette?"
Nino and Adrien both noticed the over-the-top response. Adrien smirked, "So, you have noticed something's up."
But Alya had been steeling herself for this moment all weekend, ever since Marinette had brought her the fox miraculous and placed all Ladybug's cards in her shaky hands. Alya knew then that her friendship with Marinette had changed into a fully-fledged partnership, and now it had to include protecting this crucial secret at all costs. "Ok, you're right," she responded smoothly. "Marinette's super busy and I think she's feeling the stress of it all. I mean, between being class representative, designing yet another album cover for Jagged Stone, upcoming finals, and submitting dress designs to two major fashion houses around Paris, I think she could just use some cheering up. Or helping hands." The two boys just sat and gawked.
"She's really got all that going on?" Adrien whispered, aghast.
Alya just laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh you two, she's always had that much going on. Sometimes more."
"But surely she'd just say no if it got to be too much," Nino countered.
Alya laughed harder still. "Marinette? Say no? Don't you know her at all?"
The three of them laughed again, but again the wheels whirred in Adrien's head. Alya was right—Marinette never said no. Marinette never turned anyone away, or asked for help, or thought about herself. It was just so second nature for her; he'd never thought it might be burdensome. But wasn't he one of the masses placing their emotional burdens on her petit shoulders? Wasn't she the one he'd instinctively gone to after that horrific half-hour in the archery range? "So, Alya, do you have a plan?"
Marinette's feet thumped soundlessly along the familiar pavement, taking her home. Her bones ached—a deep, permanent, throbbing reminder that everything was on her shoulders now. There was no one she could talk to, no one to share the load with. She missed Master Fu; she missed racing to his home to ask for help; she missed knowing that there was backup in case she failed, that there was someone out there who always knew what to do. Her fingers instinctively lifted to her earlobe and felt the tiny black earrings there. They felt heavier than ever. She breathed in deeply and kept walking. She had briefly felt comfort in Luka's calm, listening ear. But now that escape was lost to her forever. She remembered the comfort of the underwater hug with Chat Noir and then again two days ago, without her mask, moments before Adventurer got akumatized. She was grateful she'd told Alya her identity and had someone to talk to about things now, but she knew that she'd have to be incredibly careful—Hawkmoth knew Alya was a miraculous holder, and would undoubtedly be watching her every move, just as he had Chloe's.
Oh, Chloe. She'd only come to school a handful of times in the last few weeks, and even then, she'd been totally aloof. And then there was Lila, who was just the opposite—way too close, way too loud, and way too devious. But Marinette was having a hard time feeling the drive to help them, as she knew she should. She was having a hard time feeling much of anything besides overwhelmed.
Her hand pushed the bakery door open with a tinkle and she slumped in, letting her backpack slide from her shoulders.
"Surprise!" a chorus yelled, making her jump, shriek, and throw her books everywhere. Her parents were flanked by Nino, Alya, Kagami, Rose, Juleka, Mylene, Ivan, Alix, Max, Kim, and Adrien. She smiled at all of them, taking an extra second to gaze into those vivid green eyes.
"What are you all doing here?" she gasped.
"We came to help you out," Adrien responded for the group.
"Yeah," Rose piped, "You are always helping us out, and your mom said you've been super busy, so here we are, ready to work!"
"You are all so sweet, but I really don't have that much work to do—"
"Nice try," Alix teased. "I'll bet you my skates that there's eight unfinished dresses upstairs on your sewing machine."
"I'll take that bet—I say nine," Kim boomed, "and I'll throw in my favorite pair of swim trunks that there's forty dozen macarons she's making for charity."
Marinette smiled as her friends thumped upstairs to her bedroom, but she hung back a bit. Her mother slipped an arm around her waist. "Sweetheart, they really do care about you. They wanted to help. Put them to work?"
"Mom, I really don't have that much going on right now, I swear," Marinette promised. At least nothing anyone can help with, she thought.
"Well, then at least take some treats upstairs and have a game night or something," Sabine insisted, pressing a tray of quiches into Marinette's grasping hands. She sighed and followed her friends to the back of the bakery and up the stairs.
But after the first flight, she heard two familiar voices talking in hushed tones. "I fail to see how me being here helps anything," Kagami was hissing. "She clearly doesn't need me here, and it's hardly a productive way to spend an evening."
"She's a friend, and friends do nice things for each other," Adrien responded. Marinette slowed her pace so she would stay just behind the wall where they couldn't see her.
"You said you wanted me to come so we could hang out. You just wanted me to come to be a workhorse for some other girl," Kagami retorted with an edge of frustration in her voice.
"No, no, that's not it at all. I wanted to see you because… well, I just wanted—"
"You know, Adrien, for being the one who keeps asking me out, you sure don't seem to know what you want at all. I've made it perfectly clear what I want. Do you want to be with me or not?"
"Kagami, of course I want to—" Adrien started, and then he was silent. Marinette couldn't help herself. She took a step forward, rounded the corner…
And wished she hadn't. Adrien stood one step lower than Kagami. Her hand was wrapped around the back of his head, her lips pressed against his. A girl was kissing Adrien, here in her house, and it wasn't Marinette. Even though she had practiced through tears and fought the raging beast inside her heart for weeks and reminded herself over and over again that Adrien loved Kagami, watching them kiss was torture. Her knees wobbled, her stomach sunk, and her heart leaped from her chest. She silently retreated around the corner, taking deep breaths and forcing the tears to stay put in her eyes. After a second, she steeled herself against the pain, plastered a smile to her face, and rounded the corner again, much louder this time. Adrien and Kagami separated with a little sucking noise. Marinette ignored them and marched straight upstairs with her tray of quiches.
She paused outside the trap door to her bedroom for several minutes, trying to lower her heartbeat. Finally, when she felt like she could adequately feign a cheerful mood, she pushed the trap door open and climbed into the crowded bedroom.
"Hey, guys, my mom sent up these quiches, but I'm afraid tonight's not a good one for hanging out," she said in a much-too-high voice. "It's probably best that you all… head…" Her friends all stood there, with sad little furrows in their eyebrows, looking at her. Her bones ached again. "Out to the movies!" she finished with a generic thumbs-up. There was a shuffle and startup of several conversations at once. But just then, the dreaded buzz of the news alert on her phone pulled her to reality. Alya and Max also pulled out their phones—they'd set up the AkumaAlert app as well, it seemed.
"Oh no," Rose gasped, looking over Alya's shoulder. "Looks like some kind of foodie gone bad. Oh my, he just turned that kid into a bowl of salad!"
Marinette scanned around her room at the faces all checking their phones for updates. She was just starting to panic on how she would get out of this one with all her friends right there, when she locked eyes with Alya. "Oh, Marinette, your parents said that they needed you to watch the store front for a few minutes while they put together the rest of the food. We'll figure out a movie and head when you get back, okay?"
Marinette thanked Alya with her eyes and ran downstairs and out the door to the alleyway. She didn't even notice that Kagami was a block away by now, with her head sagging.
"I'll take that bet—I say nine," Kim boomed, "and I'll throw in my favorite pair of swim trunks that there's forty dozen macarons she's making for charity."
Adrien laughed and sighed in relief as he saw the smile wash over Marinette's face. He turned and followed the rest of his friends upstairs. "This was a great idea," he whispered to Alya.
She shook her head with a little smirk, "Yeah, it was, Adrien. Don't try to give me any credit. You're the one who said we should stage an intervention."
He shrugged. At the landing for the next flight of stairs, he felt a hand on his wrist and stopped. Kagami's head was low, her hair covering her eyes. "Adrien, we need to talk," she said heavily.
Oh great. NOW she wants to talk. She hadn't answered his calls for days, and he'd been hesitant to invite her to this intervention tonight, before remembering that she and Marinette were friends—and tonight was about Marinette, not about his comfort level. "Look, Kagami, I think you're a really amazing girl…" Adrien stammered.
"Do you have feelings for Marinette?"
"Wh-What?"
"Do you have feelings for Marinette?"
"C'mon," he scoffed, shaking his head a bit. "She's struggling right now."
"Why did you ask me to come tonight? You know how my mother feels about these kinds of things."
"I knew you were friends, and I thought you could help her."
"I fail to see how me being here helps anything," Kagami hissed, taking a step up so she was a head taller than him. It felt uncomfortably familiar, like when his father sneered at him down his nose. "She clearly doesn't need me here, and it's hardly a productive way to spend an evening."
"She's a friend, and friends do nice things for each other," Adrien responded, raising his voice slightly.
"You said you wanted me to come so we could hang out. You just wanted me to come to be a workhorse for some other girl." Kagami's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.
"No, no, that's not it at all. I wanted to see you because… well, I just wanted—" he wasn't sure where he was going with this. All he knew was that he wanted out, away from this conversation.
"You know, Adrien, for being the one who keeps asking me out, you sure don't seem to know what you want at all. I've made it perfectly clear what I want. Do you want to be with me or not?"
"Kagami, of course I want to—" Several things happened in rapid succession. First, his phone buzzed, and Plagg tugged on the inside of his shirt—his sign that he really needed to take this call. As he reached for his phone in his pocket, though, Kagami grabbed the back of his head and leaned in. He was so surprised by the sudden motion that his brain stopped working. She pressed her lips to his. He noticed what her eyelashes looked like, what the color of her forehead was up close, even the scent of her hair. The only thing he didn't register was what it felt like to kiss her. A small but persistent noise behind them startled him and he pulled back. He turned just in time to see a tense-shouldered Marinette push past the two of them on the stairs with a fake, saccharine smile pasted to her face. So, she'd seen that, had she? His heart plummeted and he felt nauseous. That was not how he planned on tonight going. "Marinette!" He called softly, gently moving Kagami aside to follow the bouncing pigtails upstairs, but Kagami pressed a hand into his chest and glared.
"No, no you don't, Adrien." Plagg tugged at the inside of his shirt more fervently now, and Adrien instinctively pulled out his phone.
Lila had posted a picture of a romantic table for two on the front steps of a restaurant he didn't recognize with the caption: Waiting for my bf— ParisTeenWeekly superstar. #LuckiestGirlEver The post had already gone viral, and by the looks of it, had drummed up quite the media presence.
"Lila…" he murmured under his breath.
"Lila? First Marinette, now Lila? How many girls are you stringing along, Adrien?" Kagami snapped.
"What? No, Kagami! You've got it all wrong! Lila asked me to dinner tonight—"
"A dinner with her, a date with me, an intervention here… you do know this is cruel, don't you? I told you to pick a target. Maybe I wasn't clear. Pick a target and then don't switch." And in a move that was becoming increasingly familiar, she pushed past him, dropped her shoulders and head, and marched away.
"Kagami," he called, chasing after her. "Please don't do this again. I don't want to hurt you. I never want to hurt a friend."
She wheeled around on him. "A friend? I kiss you and you call me a friend?"
"Isn't that what a good relationship should be based on? Friendship?"
She glared. "We have so much—no, everything in common. We are perfect for each other. You will never find someone more compatible with you than me."
So there it was. Yet another girl who felt entitled to him, like he was some kind of prize. "Kagami, I'm a heck of a lot more than just trophies and report cards," he growled.
She breathed deeply, clearly at a loss for words. Her mouth moved up and down a bit before she spun on her heel and marched off again. He didn't follow her this time, but stood there in the doorway of the Dupain Bakery and watched as she shrunk into the distance.
His phone buzzed again. AkumaAlert, at the same little bistro Lila had posted about online. Oh goodie, he groaned to himself. Still, he looked forward to punching something. "Plagg, Claws Out!"
Ladybug was nowhere to be found when he arrived on the scene. "Adrien Agreste, I am Fooderator! I'll teach you to miss your dinner reservations!" the akuma was yelling. He was shooting lasers out of his hands, which turned panicked Parisians into various bits of food.
"Hey Fooderator," Chat Noir called, "hungry for this?" He extended his baton and spun it in a flash of metal, dissipating several blasts. He used his baton as a shield while he scanned the area. It was worse than he feared from Lila's post; it looked like half the paparazzi in Paris had come to glimpse Adrien Agreste with a girlfriend. It made his blood boil. He charged Fooderator, landing several punches and a round-house kick. Fooderator responded with a punch to his stomach and two more blows aimed for Chat Noir's head, which he dodged easily.
Just then the familiar zip of a yo-yo string made them both look up. Chat Noir's heart leapt to his throat. She did a graceful backflip over his head, tucked into a swan dive, caught by her string at the last second, and dropped in a three-point landing. "So, Chat Noir, what's eating this guy?" she said, straightening up and walking toward him.
He grinned. How he loved it when she made puns with him. They took a few steps back and yo-yo and baton alike whizzed as shields while they shared knowledge. "I think he was looking forward to some major publicity. Apparently some girl promised him that Adrien Agreste would come tonight—as her boyfriend."
Ladybug's eyes narrowed and she bared her teeth. "Adrien Agreste was bringing his girlfriend here?"
"No," Chat Noir laughed, "the girl just made it out to look like that." Chat was surprised at the way Ladybug's face lit up when he said the word 'no.'
"Good," she said, a smile teasing her lips. "Though poor Fooderator; that would have been the moment of a lifetime, to have Adrien come to your restaurant." Oh man, Chat's heart couldn't stop leaping. She was cracking jokes and saying his name, in one night. "Any idea where the akuma might be?"
"Maybe his chef hat?" Chat Noir responded, noticing the tall black hat on Fooderator's head. They nodded once at each other, and then launched their attack. Chat Noir raced to Fooderator head-on and Ladybug swung up and over his head before attacking from the rear. They landed blow after blow. They were making serious headway, and Chat started to think they might be able to get this one without needing their powers, when a bunch of flashes startled him from behind.
"Chat Noir!" a sickly sweet voice called to him, "Smile for the camera!"
"Lila!" Ladybug hissed, "This is not the right time!" But the momentary distraction was enough for Fooderator to get the upper hand on Ladybug and fired a laser right at her.
"No!" Chat yelled and threw himself in front of Ladybug. The laser caught him in the stomach and he felt the energy drain from him. Ladybug watched in horror as her dear partner transformed into a bowl of mussels, his baton still spinning in the air and transforming into a loaf of crusty bread, then falling with a little splash into the broth.
"You'll pay for this," Ladybug growled—not at Fooderator, but at Lila. "Lucky Charm." It wasn't a happy spin of her yo-yo; it was a warcry. A pellet gun dropped in her hands, and with eyes still locked on Lila, she shot a round over her shoulder. It caught the chef hat on Fooderator's head and ripped it down the center. The tiny akuma wriggled out. Ladybug didn't say a word, she just threw her yo-yo at it and released the white butterfly while marching straight at Lila, who was looking downright petrified. Ladybug growled "Miraculous Ladybug" and threw the pellet gun over her shoulder, not even caring to see the completion of the battle. She thrust a finger in Lila's face. "How dare you distract my partner or me while we're battling an akuma. How dare you put all of Paris at greater risk." If Ladybug was aware of the hundreds of cameras snapping pictures of this moment, she didn't show it. "We're trying to protect millions of people, and you have the gall to take advantage of the moment for a selfie with Chat Noir? Don't you know how important he is to Paris? Without him, none of us would be here. Don't you know how important he is to me?"
Lila stammered, "I… I… just wanted to…"
"Just don't, ok Lila?"
A sick smile stole over her face. "I'm sorry, Ladybug, it's just that I was so excited to see you both in action, I couldn't help it. You're the best ever," she sneered.
"Just think about it more carefully next time, alright?" Ladybug warned, trying to soften her face and hide the loathing. Lila nodded and skipped off, giving the paparazzi a wink as she left.
Ladybug turned around to see Chat Noir and the dazed chef staring at her with slack jaws. She tried to smile at them.
"Whoa…" Chat sighed. "That was… that was…"
"Chef!" she said to the poor akuma victim. Her earrings beeped. "I'm sorry you didn't get your big moment in the spotlight. I think the girl who said she was Adrien's girlfriend was a bit confused." Her earrings beeped again. "Chat, can you help him out tonight?" Chat Noir nodded and they pounded fists. "Bug out!" she cried before soaring off into the night.
The chef looked confused, but happy. Chat Noir thought his heart might leap right out of his suit. How important he is to me… And he fell again. He couldn't help it. No matter how hard he tried to move past it, one small sentence, one small look, one tiny touch from her and he was right back to where he was the moment he met her. But it felt better this time—more like a partnership, more like a friend, more two-sided.
"It's too bad she couldn't stay for dinner," the chef murmured. "I've got such a lovely meal prepared, since I was planning on feeding Adrien Agreste tonight."
A sudden idea popped into Chat Noir's head. "Would you be willing to take in a stray cat instead?"
The chef's face broke into a huge grin. "Chat Noir? Eating at my restaurant? That's even better than Adrien Agreste!"
"Great. I've got something I need to do first, though, but I promise I'll be right back, ok?"
The chef nodded, then raced back to his kitchen to make a few final arrangements.
Marinette made a show of stumping upstairs to her friends. They were huddled around her room, eyes glued to their phones. "Marinette!" Alya cried as she entered. Everyone looked up. "Did you see that akuma attack?"
"Yeah, crazy!" she responded.
"I can't believe Lila would distract Ladybug and Chat Noir like that," Max said, with a shake of his head.
"Yeah, really not cool," Ivan agreed.
Marinette's heart swelled to hear her friends recognize Lila's manipulative and dangerous behavior. Nino continued, "Yeah, good thing Ladybug was still able to capture the akuma. She really is the greatest protector of all time."
The achy bones returned full force.
"Hey guys, if we want to make the evening show, we'd better go now," Juleka said quietly. Everyone looked up expectantly at Marinette, who sat gingerly on her bed. How she hated always having to make the decisions.
"I'm kind of tired, and you guys can go without me," she started. Alya gave an I-told-you-so look to everyone in the room.
"Come on, Marinette," Mylene crooned, "let's go have some fun."
But Marinette still couldn't shake the feeling of weight on her shoulders. She looked in the faces of her friends—grateful for each of them, but envious of their innocence. None of them would truly understand, or could ever understand. There was only one person in all of Paris who knew just how heavy this life was, and he was nowhere to be—
There was a knock on the balcony skylight. It made Rose squeak with surprise. Everyone looked up at the ceiling. Ivan was closest—he opened the latch and a pair of smiling green eyes, shrouded in a black mask, descended into the room, upside down. "Hey guys, how's it hanging?"
"Ch…ch… CHAT NOIR?" Kim stammered. "What are you doing here?"
He lowered himself into the room with one arm and landed softly on all fours. He smiled around at the gawking faces. "I got reservations at an amazing little bistro, and was wondering if I might steal my Purrincess away for an evening," he said, strutting toward Marinette. "If you'd like, of course."
She blushed as he took her hand and kissed it lightly. "Oh you silly cat," she said. A brilliant peal of laughter escaped from her throat—something only he could elicit.
Alya gave her a little shove. "Go, Marinette, you deserve it."
Marinette didn't resist. She gave Chat Noir her hand, but he took her waist. Her friends watched in shock as Chat Noir walked to the skylight, lifted Marinette off her feet in a bridal-style carry, extended his baton, and launched the two of them into the fading evening sky.
Author Note: In case the name "Mommadon" didn't clue you in, I've got four gorgeous children to my name who are the perfect age for Miraculous. These musings are based on what they think season 4 may hold. My 6 year old named "Fooderator." Just thought you all needed to know that. More chapters will definitely be following!