Chapter 5
Mais pourtant!
Lorsque je pense à elle
Je me sens infidèle
je veux fuir dans nuit
Pour voir ma coccinelle
J'ai la cœur en duel.
"Why did you call us here?" Chat asked as he reached the top of the Eiffel Tower, where Ladybug and Sirena were sitting waiting for him while eating a bag of popcorn that I bought while I waited for Ladybug to arrive.
"Finally, you show up!" Playfully said Ladybug.
"Look who is talking little miss 'I was delayed.'" Chat answered back with a smug.
"Yes, yes, we're terrible time managers, I think we're clear on that," I intervened. "But I didn't call you in here to decide who's the worst, I called you because I feel like both of you deserve an explanation of what happened today."
"You mean your little romance with your professor?" Chat asked nonchalantly.
"It's not..." I took a deep breath, stopping myself from saying anything else. "Listen, I'm just gonna tell you my version of the events. Get comfy, it's a long story." Ladybug and Chat Noir obeyed and reclined their backs to the Eiffel Tower
"Pass me the popcorn, I have the feeling this is gonna be good." Chat said motioning to Ladybug, who shared some of it with him. I cleared my throat and began to narrate my story.
"It all started a few weeks ago, I hadn't slept at all and I knew the next night was going to be the same, so I decided to stay at the school library to work on some projects and whatnot. I thought I was alone so I started humming the song that was playing in my earbuds, the hums turned into words and soon I was actually singing, with my earbuds on, so you can imagine, I was actually screaming. Suddenly somebody tapped on my shoulder and I turned to see that it was professor LeBeau, he looked at me with a half-frown half-smile. I swear I thought he was going to scold me, so I spoke first.
'I'm sorry Mr. LeBeau, I didn't...'
'Is that un año by Sebastian Yatra?' You can imagine my surprise at the fact that he knew about Latin music, so I simply nodded. 'I love that song, and you're singing it beautifully!'
'Thanks, professor, I'd love to be a singer someday, but I don't know if I can pull it off...' I answered him, and he said:
'I'm sure you could if you put your mind to it.' And the conversation just kinda flowed swiftly, and no, don't worry, nothing crazy happened after that, you dirty-minded people, but anyways.
We found each other by chance during lunch and after school, and if I have to be honest with you, I'm not mad about it at all, he's a very, very handsome man, and kind and smart and fun!
I found out he actually liked me last Friday, not because he told me, but because I was able to see it in his thoughts, we were in the library and the thought just popped up in his mind... I was a wreck after that so I ran away from the library without explaining myself or anything... In my haste, I took one of the books he had been reading, and only noticed when I arrived home.
I had some time to think about it over the weekend and I decided to talk to him, at least to return the book I took from him, which leads us to today.
Today I managed to leave from my last class early and went straight to his classroom. He was teaching an older class, and some of the students were making fun of him simply because they saw him as their equal they could mock and not a professor they should respect, I mean, he's only 22! Some students can be cruel... One of them was shooting paper projectiles with a straw, and he snatched it from him just before the bell rang.
When the students were heading out of the classroom and I was trying to work up some courage to go and talk to him, I saw the black butterfly coming in from a window akumatizing him. I saw his transformation first hand, and he saw that I saw, we looked at each other for a moment but in the end he passed me over and started to throw paper projectiles at people, but then I saw that the projectiles were still visible and I figured that if I peeled them off, their effect would wear off, and it did!
Fast forward a lil' bit, I was freeing people from their sleep prison when Ladybug came running towards me saying:
'Alba, I need your help!' and showed me the flower lucky charm she got and I immediately knew what I had to do, and the rest is history... I haven't talked to him after that... so you see, there's no scandalous romance."
"Yet," Chat Noir added with his mouth full of popcorn. "But by the looks of it, he likes you and you like him back!" Chat's words made my face feel hot.
"Of course not..." Now both of them looked at me with the same questioning eyebrow I give them when I question them. Same energy there... I don't like them now. "Ugh! It's no fun when you do it."
"Well, look at how the tables have turned!" Ladybug thought and looked at Chat with a smug look, he looked at her with the same expression even though he didn't hear what she was thinking.
"Fine! I might like him... but only a little!" I indicated a little bit with my fingers, but Chat got near to me and enlarged the gap between my fingers so that now it looked like a lot. "Whatever I feel doesn't matter! I'm 16! We couldn't be together even if we wanted too, he could literally go to jail! Plus, he's my teacher, imagine what a scandal! I can already see the headlined in the newspapers 'Teacher dates his freshman student.' No thank you, I'd much rather go unnoticed"
"I mean, it's just a matter of waiting until you graduate. Remember what people say, love is patient." Ladybug said with a sad smile as if her advice had talked to herself as well.
"Listen, whatever happens, there's something more urgent we need to do now and that's why I've brought you here today."
"I thought you said you called us to tell us the story," Chat questioned.
"That was just the bribe, but there's another reason... you see, now that Mr. LeBeau was akumatized, he is added to the list of people that I need to search... And I need the emotional support, I'm just not ready for it."
"Are you for real right now?"
"Very! Come on, I'll take you to his place, Ladybug, can you carry me?" Ladybug looked at me confused but then her expression changed to a slight smile when she remembered that I am not as swift and fast on land as I am on the water. I smiled at her and she came to where I was and took me by the waist. "That way!" I pointed West from the Eiffel Tower, she swung her Jojo to the nearest building and in a matter of seconds, we were swinging from rooftop to rooftop with Chat Noir following swift.
We arrive at a complex building when I took my trident and plucked out the left prong which turned into something like a telescope and I used it to find Prof. LeBeau's apartment, when I did, I stopped using the telescope and looked absently at the brick wall in front of me.
"I'm not ready for this."
"What?!" Chat and Ladybug said at the same time.
"What do you mean? You've read thousands of people's minds looking for Hawk Moth." Ladybug said.
"Yeah, but what if it is him? What am I gonna do? It'll hurt too much..."
"Don't worry about it," Chat continued. "Chances of him being Hawk Moth are slim since you saw him get akumatized."
"Well, that's worse! If he's not Hawk Moth then I'll be meddling into his mind without permission and..."
"Oh, come on!" Chat Noir interrupted. "That's never stopped you before! Now do what you need to do or else we'll never know for sure." I took a deep breath and took my telescope again.
"Here goes nothing..." Ladybug and Chat Noir were first hand witnessed of the flow in my emotions, first I was stiff but then my muscles relaxed, and they looked at each other, knowing already that he wasn't the one we were looking for. "It's not him..." I couldn't help a tear of relief coming down from my eye.
"Then why are you crying?" Chat asked.
"He was thinking about me..." I answered absently. When Ladybug and Chat Noir put up a face of disgust I continued. "Nothing like what you're thinking, He's kind and respectful, he was thinking about how sorry he was that I had to see him get akumatized and things like that. There's not a trace of wickedness in his heart and not a sign that he could be Hack Moth or that he could know who he is."
"I guess we're clear then, if it's alright for you there's somewhere else I gotta go to." Ladybug said in a haste, I knew she was planning on going home to wait for Chat Noir, but I also knew that Chat had no plans of going there tonight, so I had to intervene.
"Are you going somewhere as well, kitty?" I asked loud and clear enough that Ladybug could listen.
"Nowhere in particular, it's been a busy day, and I was hoping to catch some hours of sleep." After this, I turned to see Ladybug shaking my head, and she understood the silent message, Chat wasn't going to her place tonight. She looked downcast but headed out to her place nonetheless, as if hoping that he would change his mind and come visit her anyways.
If only she knew what I knew by looking at Adrien's mind. He had had a fencing tournament on Sunday, and right after that, a photoshoot and after that, a trip to England for a fashion show. He got back to Paris at 3 am, and he was absolutely destroyed. He managed to go to school like his usual cheerful self, but the Akuma had only added to his exhaustion. Now, all he wanted to do was catch some hours of sleep. I sat next to him with a sigh.
"Tired?" I asked when Ladybug was nothing but a red blur in the distance.
"You have no idea." He looked down to his feet, something was bothering him, and I knew just what it was. "Marinette was shot today... And I wasn't there to protect her..."
"You were there, just a few feet from where it happened."
"Which makes it all the worse! I could have protected her, but I didn't! instead, I ran like a coward."
"You didn't run like a coward, you ran like a hero, ready to transform and prevent the Akuma from shooting at anyone else."
"I know that, but I still feel guilty about it, and then Ladybug got shot too, twice!"
"Kitty, It's not all your fault, she could have been more careful." He sighed and said nothing otherwise. After a few moments, he stood up.
"I better go too..." Chat Noir took off before I could stop him. I had seen him deeply troubled, or maybe conflicted is a better word for it.
Chat followed the straight path to his home, but he wasn't counting that he'd had to pass by a certain bakery where a dark-haired girl was sitting in her balcony waiting for him to pass by.
When she saw him pass so close to her house without stopping, she called out his name.
"Chat Noir!" He, who hadn't noticed she was there, stopped his pace and looked around to see her leaning on the railing of her balcony, so much so that half of her body was hanging from the edge. She raised a hand to say hi to Chat Noir with a deep grin on her face, but the motion made her lose balance making her fall screaming 3 stories down.
As if in slow motion, Chat saw her starting to fall down, hearing her loud screams, this made him take action immediately, using his baton for an impulse to get faster to her. He stood on the sidewalk and caught before she was even close to the floor. How lucky was she that Chat, who was fast and swift on his feet was there to save her without hesitation. She looked at him with wide eyes but then hid her face in his neck, she wasn't scared now, she was terrified, she literally almost died just now! A fall like this was nothing to Ladybug, but right now she wasn't Ladybug, right now she was Marinette, a simple mortal. Chat was fast to act and using his baton he leaped back to Marinette's balcony.
"Are you alright?" He asked without letting go of her just yet.
"I almost... I just... I... what..." Chat Noir's grip around her tightened.
"You're safe now!" He assured her. "I promise I will always keep you safe." Marinette put her arms around his neck hugging him. At that moment, the door to Marinette's balcony flung open revealing a very terrified Tom and a pale Sabine following swift.
"Marinette! What on earth happened?" Tom asked turning red. Chat put Marinette down and she ran to her father and hugged him.
"I... I." She couldn't find the words so Chat answered for her.
"She slipped, but nothing major happened, she's perfectly fine." He assured them.
"You slipped from the railing?" Sabine gasped.
"I'm so clumsy... Chat saved me though." Tom examined her for bruises but founding none, he sighed
"You gotta be more careful Marinette if Chat Noir hadn't been there..." He looked down. She put a hand on his shoulder.
"But he was just in time to catch me, but don't worry dad, I promise I'll be more careful." She was more embarrassed than she was scared now, after all, she was Ladybug, a fall from a four-story house was nothing compared to the things she had endured, however, as Marinette, she had no powers to help protect her from a fall, she was in her vulnerable form, if she had hit the ground without her transformation, at the very least she would have gotten a fracture, or worse.
Sabine got near to where Chat was standing and held her hands to him, he took them and she said.
"Thank you Chat Noir." She pulled him down so that she could hug him properly. "You did well." She said in a soothing whisper while stroking his hair. At first, Chat was shocked at the gesture, but then he settled into the hug and started to enjoy it. He hadn't felt the warmth of a mother's embrace since his mother disappeared years ago! Oh, and how he missed it! Even though he was the superhero right now, the one with superpowers, Sabine's embrace made him feel safer than he had ever felt before. Soon, Marinette and Tom came near to join in the hug, and just for that small moment, Chat felt like the luckiest black cat in the world.
When he got home, Chat recalled the excitement of seeing Marinette wave at him from the distance, the terror of seeing her fall, the relief of having her safe in his arms, the warmth of Sabine's hug and the pain of having to say goodbye.
How was it that this girl was able to make him experiment so many emotions in such a short time? Just today he had seen her struggle in physics, get shot by an Akuma and fall to her imminent death. He had always liked Marinette, since the moment he met her he felt a need to make her like him. Surely, she was special, but right now he was feeling something different. Longing, he missed her, he wanted to be there to protect her from anything and anyone, but he also knew he couldn't do that.
"What's with the long face, kid? You just saved the girl; you should be happy." Plagg said nonchalantly flying to a plate of cheese next to Adrien's bed.
"I don't know Plagg, it's like all I can think about is her! Am I going crazy?" He plumped himself to his bed and sat there with his chin in his hands.
"You're not," Plagg answered with his mouth full of cheese. "You're in love." He said simply.
"What?" Adrien looked at him in disbelief.
"You heard it!"
"I'm not in love with Marinette, Plagg, I love Ladybug!"
"Then why is it that Marinette is the only one you talk about lately?" The black kwami crossed his arms and flew to look at Adrien in the eye. "Marinette this, Marinette that... I'm starting to believe that she's all you think about!"
"That's not true!" Adrien looked at Plagg in the eye and they stayed like that for a few moments, until Adrien looked to his hands and said. "I'm not ready to move on from Ladybug, I'm not sure if I'll ever be."
"But you also want to be with Marinette." He said making a suggestive gesture with his 'eyebrows'
"Wait, what?"
"Look at you kid, I knew you would turn around and take my advice to date both girls!" Plagg chuckled, he was somewhat enjoying seeing him suffer for two girls that were actually one in the same girl. This was his favorite part of his job.*
"I'm not dating both girls Plagg, in fact, I don't think I'm gonna date anyone for that matter! I can't think of Marinette that way, she's just a friend!"
"Are you telling me or telling you?"
"Plagg, just... eat your stinky cheese and let me be."
"That's what you should do! Stop worrying about those girls! Come and enjoy a bite of cheese with your friend Plagg."
"You're offering me some of your cheese?"
"You need it." Plagg flew near to Adrien and put a tiny hand on his shoulder.
"Camembert?"
"You know it!"
"You know what? give me the crackers." Plagg flew hurriedly and got the crackers, Adrien took a knife that was laying net to the plate of cheese, he cut a small piece and put it on the cracker. At first, Adrien was grossed out by the smell, but once he ate it, it wasn't that bad! So he took another bite.
"Yes, enjoy it, but you better buy me more in the morning," Plagg said eating from another chunk of cheese.
It was late at night, and Akuma was on the lose, Ladybug was by his side fighting fearlessly against Drillmaster who apparently had been akumatized again, but this was a much darker version of the Akuma. He took his immobilized victims and killed them violently, one of them was Marinette, when he saw the fear in chat's eyes at the sight of Marinette, he let out a dark laugh.
"So she is your friend, isn't she?" Drillmaster asked with an evil grin. As Ladybug ran to him to stop him, He shot her with one of his projectiles, but when he got near to her peel off the white paper ball, it was nowhere to be found. "It' just you and me Chat Noir, come and get your little friend!" Drillmaster took off running all around Paris and suddenly they were standing at the top of the Eiffel tower. Marinette had been tied to Drillmaster's blowpipe and he was dangling her precariously on the edge of the tower, waiting for Chat to take a step forward to let go of her. Marinette was frozen, and so was Ladybug, it was all up to him, but he was scared, because if something happened to Marinette... There was only one thing that Ladybug's miraculous couldn't fix. Death.
With an evil laugh, Drillmaster let go of Marinette, and as if in slow motion he saw her lifeless eyes look at him as she kept falling to her doom. But Chat was faster, he caught up to her and took her to a safe place. Once there he found the white projectile and pulled it off.
"Chat?" Marinette asked drowsily.
"Marinette!" He hugged her, tightly, they were kneeling on a rooftop and he let out a sob of relief on her shoulder. He then separated from her and looked at her in the eye, but then his her gaze drifted to his lips, when Chat noticed, he looked at her parted lips, suddenly they looked plump and... desirable. She looked back at him and slowly as if all else had banished from existence they closed the space between them with a tender kiss, at first it was shy, but then it got serious. A tear slipped through Chat's eye, he was so relieved to have Marinette safe again.
"Chat?" They stopped kissing abruptly as soon as the voice came, and Chat turned to see an enraged Ladybug getting closer and closer to where they were kneeling. "Are you cheating on me?" Now Chat was petrified, not even Drillmaster throwing Marinette off the Eiffel tower could compare to the fear caused by the sight of an enraged Ladybug. Chat looked at Marinette who was mad as well.
"Are you cheating on me?" And so both girls came up to him with fists clenched and brows furrowed, ready to chastise him for their behavior, he held his hands out in defeat but that didn't stop them, they were getting closer and closer until Chat panicked and screamed.
His scream was loud enough to wake him up to see an alarmed Plagg flying in front of his face.
"What, what is it? Did someone steal the cheese?"
"It was all a dream!" Adrien said putting his hands on his forehead.
"Did they steal the cheese in your dream?" Plagg asked wide-eyed.
"No... I think I had a nightmare..." Adrien looked around his bedroom to see the empty plate of cheese that stood on the side of his bed. "I'm never eating that stinky cheese again."
The first thing that Adrien thought when he saw Marinette that morning at school was: 'why is she so beautiful?' But then he remembered his dream, the face of disappointment that Ladybug had given him when she saw him kissing Marinette was enough to make him shake off any improper thought of her.
'But ah, Marinette, he could still feel her lips in his from his dream, and he could certainly smell her perfume from where he was sitting, she smelled like croissants.
But no! Marinette was just a friend! Ladybug was the owner of his devotions, she was the one that smelled like croissants!
But Marinette had a bakery, it was obvious she would smell like the most delicious bread in the world, not only that, but she could feed him croissants whenever he wanted.
No! but Ladybug was the most beautiful girl in Paris! But more important than that she was fearless, smart, brave, kind…
Do you know who's also like that? Marinette…'
"Mr. Agreste." Came Prof. LeBeau's voice pulling him out from his conflicted thoughts. Apparently, he had been calling out Adrien's name several times.
"Here!" he said standing up abruptly as an answer to the attendance, everybody started giggling. Ugh! It was like his first day of school all over again.
This was his train of thought during the entirety of the school period, his inner duel turned out to be more exhausting than the ones he had to actually fight in real life either as Chat Noir or as Adrien because at least then he knew who his opponent was, but now... He was fighting a powerful enemy one who he didn't know how to stop, himself.
When he got home, all he wanted to do was to sleep, it seemed as though sleep would take away all of his worries, but he knew it wasn't so, he was afraid that if he slept, he would have that awful nightmare again.
He didn't know what to do, he was lost and he didn't know who to tell, he didn't even want to see Marinette, 'cause he was afraid of what he could do.
Adrien went to sit in his piano ready to play a song, it started as a fun ragtime, but soon his emotions got tangled with the notes and even the cheerful melody became one of sorrow and despair. The major chords sounded dark and ominous and every note felt as if his own soul was being ragged.
He stopped playing as soon as he noticed and stood up abruptly. This wasn't what he wanted, he intended to use his music to relax, to escape from the torment of his mind! not make it more vivid and palpable, now even Plagg could feel Adrien's chaotic mind.
"Kid, relax! You can't live like this." Plagg motioned for him to seat in his coach. Adrien ignored him and kept pacing through his bedroom. "Kid, it was just a dream! It's not real! There's nothing to be worried about."
"It felt so real Plagg! I was cheating on Ladybug with Marinette!" Adrien threw his hands in the air and then started to nibble his fingers.
"So what? it's not like that's what's happening! You're not cheating on any of them! You're in the friendzone with both."
"I'm committed to a life in Ladybug's friend zone, but now Marinette is trying to make me leave it."
"Oh my gosh Adrien, You've friend-zoned Marinette so many times, why is it different now?"
"I don't know Plagg! it just is!" Adrien continued to nibble on his nails.
"Ok, that's it! You're freaking me out! This is what you're gonna do, you're gonna transform and you're gonna go for a ride, like now. If you don't say the words I'm gonna transform you myself!"
"Can you do that?"
"No Adrien! Just transform!" He actually screamed now. Adrien had never seen him this altered, and to be honest he wasn't about to disobey him, after all, he was still the kwami of destruction and Adrien had heard stories of some disasters he had caused.
"Plagg claws out!" Plagg was still crossing his arms and frowning when he was sucked into Adrien's ring, but as soon as the transformation was complete, Adrien felt a little better, and he knew what he wanted to do.
"Why did you call me here, chaton?" Ladybug asked seating on the top of the building looking down at le Jardin du Trocadéro.
"Oh nothing, it's just that... We don't do patrols you and I anymore, there's always Sirena."
"This is not another attempt of yours to ask me on a date, is it?" Ladybug said looking at him with an amused grin.
"Wha... what makes you say that, m'Lady?"
"You don't seem ready for a patrol," Ladybug noted because Chat Noir was actually laying down on the rooftop with his hands on the back of his head as if taking in the setting sun. He was finally able to relax, after a few runs around the city.
"I am, my lady, I was just waiting for you!" Chat sat up quickly.
"Okay, then, let's go." She motioned to get up, but he held her hand.
"Wait, the sun is about to set." Ladybug looked at him with big eyes and sat still. They sat like that, in comfortable silence for a few minutes, looking at that marvelous sunset before them. "This is all I needed." Chat Noir said with a sigh.
"Mhm?"
"I've had a couple of rough days and a nice chill with m'Lady is all I needed."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really, All I want to do right now is forget about my worries and race you to The Louvre,"
"What?" Before she could make out his words he was already running towards the museum. So Ladybug took her Jojo and started to swing from rooftop to rooftop. Of course, Chat had the advantage since he was faster, but Ladybug caught up because not only was she running, she was also swinging her Jojo. They reached The Louvre, almost at the same time, but Chat got there a split second earlier and he made sure to throw it in Ladybug's face.
"I won!" He did his victory dance while Ladybug rolled her eyes with an almost imperceptible half-smile.
"Yeah, yeah, you won this time, but only because you cheated!" That last word triggered a mixture of emotions inside of Chat's chest, he remembered the nightmare he had had, and it was as if a giant wave of cold water had crashed unto him. "Are you okay, Chaton? You look pale..." She got near to him motioning to touch his forehead, but he shook her off.
"It's nothing, but hey." He said recovering his cool quickly, "I'm no cheater!" Ladybug relaxed her worried expression
"Yes you are, you got off before I even had time to understand what was going on!"
"You should have known m'Lady! You know me already." She rolled her eyes again.
"So, you brought me out from my daily routine for a race?"
"Nope," She shook his head. "Patrol, get it straight!"
"Yeah, right! We both know that was an excuse! What's the real reason?" She looked at him with tender eyes while he scratched the back of his head and then shrugged.
"To be honest... I've had a lot in my mind lately... And all I wanted was to have a little bit of fun with my favorite Lady!" He said with a suggestive grin, which Ladybug shook off, still hiding a slight smile.
"Did it work?"
"The race? Totally! Thanks for that, m'Lady." He bowed, and this time she let out a small giggle covering her mouth with her hand.
"I better go chaton, I'm glad I was able to help." She swung her Jojo and left swinging from rooftop to rooftop. Chat Noir stared at her left, feeling better now. Ladybug was indeed the one true love of his life, there was no doubt in that.
But yet!
When I think about her!
I feel unfaithful,
I want to run away in the night,
To see my Ladybug.
My heart is in a duel!
[*Depending on how this story goes I want to make another fanfic about the origin of the miraculous. I would also like to talk about some previous (and maybe future) miraculous holders. Let me know what you think about that
See you next week
Peace,
SDG]