Okay. So.
I went back and edited the last two chapters. There was something about them that was just driving me insane, and I finally figured it out—the whole conversation with Adrien skewed some stuff on accident. I wrote that scene out differently than I intended, and went on about the other chapters without realizing it very well.
The difference is:
- CH3: Marinette and Adrien have a slightly different dynamic. I've altered the second conversation so it Adrien is more defensive of Chat, and of course Marinette didn't like that he was defending Chat, since she believed him to be the victim. She ends up scaring him off on accident and instantly regrets it.
- CH4: Marinette's a tad bit mad at Chat. They still turn out friends though, cause it's a kitty pity party so ya know.
I'm so so so sorry about this. The chapters were just bugging me, and I thought it'd be best if I took a moment to revise them before I continued. I know it's a very disorganized and unprofessional thing to do, I really am sorry.
As a result though, I'm so happy with this chapter.
When she was little, Marinette was one of those girls that wanted to be a princess. Not in the Chloe Bourgeois kind of way, the kind where the princess ruled with an iron fist and got everything she wanted, but… in a different way. She'd poured over Disney movies and imagined herself with a dashing prince that she would save because that was what Mulan and Ariel and Pocahontas did. And Tiana too. Yes, she'd wanted to be a princess like Tiana was a princess, not like Chloe Bourgeois wanted to be a princess.
So, one birthday when this princess obsession had been at its peak, her parents bought her a sterling silver necklace with a little iris charm strung around it. Her dad had pulled the big flower book off the shelf, the one from up high where she couldn't reach, with age-yellowed pages and a cracked spine, and he'd shown her just what irises meant.
Royalty.
Only royalty could have irises, he'd told her, meaning Marinette was royalty. He'd pointed at the three petals on the page that stuck upright and told her that they meant valour, faith, and wisdom, saying that if Marinette wanted to be a princess, she had to be a kind, fair princess, the kind that deserved irises and loved her people like her family. He'd closed up the book, bowed low, and told her that her kingdom awaited, if she chose to rule it.
So for an afternoon, she'd been a princess in her own home. The bakery was her kingdom, her subjects the customers, and her advisers her parents. People had curtsied and bowed before her, taken her suggestions about which pastries were the best with happy smiles, and she'd done it all with the valour, faith, and wisdom of a princess, the necklace like a badge of honour around her neck.
At the end of a long day of ruling, Princess Marinette sat in bed with her maman, trying to stay awake as a story about a princess and a pea was read off in a soft, soothing voice. Her maman had taken the necklace off before she could fall asleep, saying that flowers were delicate, and she didn't want to squish it, did she?
No, she didn't.
The necklace was put back in its little jewellery box and tucked away where it was safe.
It was a fond memory, filled with that odd kind of childhood nostalgia that slapped rose-tinted glasses on the years before she turned 13.
Marinette stared out the window, wondering how much she'd give to get it back just for a day. Fingering the necklace in her hand, she stared out the window and wondered.
It was kind of ironic. She technically was a princess now, but only by name and not by title, and only in the eyes of a man she'd declared her friend less than an hour ago. Though if she asked him to, she was sure that Chat Noir would bow, offering up the words designed for real royalty without an inch of hesitation. He'd call himself her 'knight in shining armour' with a smirk on his face.
She didn't know why the memory came to her. She didn't know why she'd gone to the jewellery box in the corner and fished the necklace out. She didn't know why she was so sure she knew what Chat would do.
She just… didn't know.
She fiddled with the charm in her hand, rubbing her hands over the tarnished silver. Maybe she should polish it. She was sure Alya had to have some silver polish lying around—just going off the sheer amount of jewellery she owned, it was certain—and it wasn't like she'd mind Marinette borrowing some.
Instead, she pulled the necklace around her neck and clasped it there. She didn't know why. It just made her smile, made her think of her parents and her friends and how happy she was to have them.
Chat Noir didn't seem to have anybody.
Well, now she supposed he had her.
"I just made a new friend. I'm amazing," he'd said. If only that smile hadn't seemed fake, she could've just nodded along and wondered what made a man that happy to make a new friend. Maybe he just never had too many friends to begin with? He'd talked about one friend—a 'she'—but even then he'd talked about her like she was nothing more than an old friend.
She couldn't believe she'd just done that. She'd befriended Chat Noir, just hours after deciding that he had to be wrong about Adrien Agreste, and she'd told him he could come back if he wanted to. She hadn't just fed the stray cat, she'd stuck a collar on it, called it 'fluffy', and told it it could come and go as it pleased. She'd taken in that mangy stray and offered him friendship.
And oddly enough, she was happy she did. It was very possible that it'd become a mistake later down the road, but she had no regrets at that moment in time. Sure, he was annoying and irritating when he wanted to be, but he seemed like a good person deep down, and she figured that maybe if she just gave it enough time it could work out well.
She sat down on her bed.
Part of her was sure she didn't know what she'd just gotten herself into. Letting him in had been one mistake, but it was tiny and insignificant compared to actually declaring him her friend. The same part of her though, was fine with not knowing what she'd just done, was sure that whatever happened would turn out okay. She was okay.
The only problem left was… figuring out what to think about the Adrien Agreste situation. She still wasn't 100% sure that Chat Noir was entirely correct with his accusations, despite the fact that he had seemed very sure of it when he'd talked about it, but she still… didn't entirely doubt him. She wished she could tell herself to go one way or the other, but her brain seemed stuck somewhere in a mental limbo. She was balanced like a light switch stuck between on and off.
She just had to wait until someone pushed her in the right direction. Like that light switch, she figured that was all she needed, and then she'd be sound in her decision. She needed more reasons to side with one or the other, not based on pure 'he seems innocent' and 'he wouldn't mess with innocents' or anecdotal evidence. Adrien was certain he was guilty and Chat was certain he was guilty, but she wasn't going to be so quick to decide.
She would stand in the middle. That seemed to be the soundest way to go about it—wait until more information came up before she let herself dip to either side. Obviously, neither extreme was working out for her. So yes, good idea. Go Marinette, making a good decision.
She tugged the necklace another time.
That would work for now. Until something came up, she'd just wait and see what happened.
Agreste Fashion Update: Gabriel Agreste Press Conference Addressing Chat Noir Controversy (Full Address) | NBC News
#11 on Trending
3,010,218 views, 72k thumbs up, 33k thumbs down
Streamed live on August 5, 2018, at 8:54
WATCH NOW: CEO and founder of Agreste Fashion, Gabriel Agreste, speaks out about the recent controversy surrounding his son Adrien Agreste in the first of two scheduled press conferences today. This is his first address after relative silence about the ordeal. NBC News Anchor Liliane Dubois reports.
Subscribe to NBC News: /SubscribeToNBC Watch more NBC video: /MoreNBCNews
Top comment: "But this actually made Adrien look worse?" 2.7k thumbs up, 18 replies
Agreste Fashion Update: Adrien Agreste Press Conference Addressing Chat Noir Controversy (Full Address) | NBC News
#5 on Trending
4,702,189 views, 121k thumbs up, 1.7k thumbs down
Streamed live on August 5, 2018, at 10:28
WATCH NOW: Adrien Agreste, former model at Agreste Fashion, addresses the rumours surrounding him and his father, as well as the state of the Chat Noir investigation. NBC News Anchor Liliane Dubois reports.
Subscribe to NBC News: /SubscribeToNBC Watch more NBC video: /MoreNBCNews
Top comment: "4:53 damn I didn't think he was that tall lol" 3.4k thumbs up, 103 replies
According to Alya, there hadn't been much going on at the press conferences. The general gist was:
1. Gabriel was trying to sound official, but he just sounded like an asshole. He looked like one too, but that seemed like it was more of Alya's opinion than anything else. It was hard to disagree though.
2. People didn't believe a word of what came out of his mouth.
3. Nobody took any of it very seriously. One of the reporters asked Adrien if he was dating anybody like it was nothing more than a Vogue interview.
4. Adrien Agreste's assistant looked short next to him. Not Gabriel's assistant, but Adrien's. Gabriel's, the woman with the red streak in her hair, stood just a centimetre or two under Adrien's head.
All in all, the press conferences hadn't been executed well. Gabriel had seemed more eager to defend his brand than his son, while Adrien had looked as uncomfortable about the whole thing as one could get. All the answers had just sounded stiff and scripted, repeating the same 'Adrien is innocent' thing over and over, again and again like a skipping CD, with no evidence to back any of it up.
She didn't need to waste her time with them, Alya said. They didn't have anything important.
Regardless, she'd clicked on each video, read the descriptions, and raked her way through the comments, finding absolutely nothing in the way of useful information. Nobody seemed to take Adrien's remotely seriously, commenting things like "Adrien Agreste looking sad for 23 minutes" and "We love a shady shishtar" and "Water sip count: 1000000000000", while everybody on Gabriel's conference just seemed to hate Gabriel with a passion.
She clicked off the video and got to work on inputing measurements into a 3D design program. She was at work, and unfortunately, she had work to be doing. The whole Adrien Agreste thing could wait till later.
When the clock hit twelve, she was out on the street, headed towards a sub place a couple blocks down to meet Alya for lunch.
The sky was overcast, leftover from the rainstorm the night before. No shining sun, no warm breeze, only clouds drifting high above that blocked out the sun and tanked the temperature enough to warrant a jacket. She'd worn her rain boots and brought her umbrella just in case, not wanting to risk the loss of another pair of flats to a mud puddle.
"Hey."
She jumped, letting out an "eep". Turning her head, noticed none other than Chat Noir peeking his head out from an alleyway with a massive smile on her face.
"Marinette, c'mere," he said.
"Chat, what're you-"
He waved her in, putting a finger to his lips. Right, don't draw attention to herself.
Walking into the alleyway and off the main streets of Paris was like stepping into another world. It was dark and still damp from the rain last night, trashcans strewn about at the far end with cats sticking their heads in them. He seemed to fit in against the nasty wall, oddly enough.
She turned away from the alley, looking to Chat. "What're you doing here?" she asked. It was the middle of the day, not nighttime in the middle of a rainstorm, and pulling her off into that alleyway had been risky at best. The number of people that could've seen either of them was astronomically high. It was just reckless.
"I'm not that familiar with how friends work, but I'm pretty sure that's not how they typically greet each other," he said.
She glared at him. Irritating Chat was back with a bang, wasn't he? Gone was the Chat who needed a friend, and back was the Chat who acted like he'd spent the whole night thinking up smooth lines to spit out.
"Do you realize how risky that was?" she asked.
"I'm generally risky. It's a thing of mine."
"Well it's not a thing of mine, and I'm afraid I don't like it," she said. "Is this really important?"
"Oh it is, I'll have you know."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Is it?"
"Indeed."
And then out from the pocket of his hoodie came a jewellery box—a leather bracelet box, to be more exact, with the swirling logo of Agreste Fashion stitched on the top of it. It was very possible that whatever was inside was worth more than all her jewellery combined—if he'd actually gotten her Agreste jewellery, that is.
Which was not possible. They'd been official friends for a day, there was no way.
Right?
Maybe he was he a lazy wrapper?
He held it out to her, the biggest smile on his face. "I brought a gift. A friendship gift."
She gaped, not really knowing what to say. He seemed happy enough about it, and she was pretty sure he hadn't gone ahead and splurged on an expensive present already. Emphasis on the 'pretty sure' part because, honestly, she had no idea what to expect with that box.
She took the box, turning it over in her hands to make sure she had in fact seen it right. Yep, there the Agreste Fashion butterfly was, clear as day. "A friendship gift?" she asked.
He nodded enthusiastically.
"You didn't get me something expensive, did you?"
And his smile only got wider. "A princess deserves only the finest," he said. "And so the finest is what she shall receive."
Oh that was not good. He'd gotten her something expensive, hadn't he?
Fear settling in her gut, she cracked open the box. Inside sat a cuff bracelet—with diamonds embedded in it, no less—stamped with Gabriel Agreste's initials. The dreaded initials that, with their mere presence, went to show that there was no way those diamonds were fake. Her hopes that the box had just been repurposed were gone with the wind, and in came the utter shock that Chat Noir had gotten her something so expensive and expected her to take it just like that. But, in all honesty, there was no way she could accept something so expensive, absolutely no way. It wasn't even feasible.
"Chat…" she started, trailing off when she realized the words weren't coming. Her eyes were still locked on the bracelet in that box, and suddenly holding it was like trying to carry a thousand kilo weight in her bare hands.
But the way he beamed at her, at the gift… She didn't want to reject it, yet there was no way she could accept it either.
He cocked his head, looking at her with a smug smile on his face. "Yes, Princess?"
"I…" She shuffled on her feet, stalling for a moment as best as she could. It was the only option she had.
"Love it? Adore it? Find it as paw-sitively amazing as me?"
"I can't accept this," she said. She closed the box and held it out to him and prayed he'd take it back because she couldn't just accept a thousand dollar bracelet at the drop of a hat like this, and she certainly couldn't accept it from a man she'd just become friends with yesterday. Wealthy or not, her morals simply refused to allow it.
His face dropped, but he took the box. "Oh."
"It's not that I don't love it—it's… it's gorgeous. But I don't need you to buy me gifts."
"But my princess-"
"Does not need gifts. No friendship gifts are necessary," she said.
He nodded and fiddled with the box for a heartbeat, shoving it back in his pocket all the same. "No friendship gifts, got it," he said. He looked up, and a smile grew across his face. "When's your birthday?"
Goddammit. "Chat."
"I don't have anything to do with this now. I don't wanna return it," he said, shrugging innocently. "And as far as I know, birthday gifts are expected in a friendship. Does it not make purr-fect sense?"
She shook her head. As beautiful as that bracelet was, wearing it on her wrist would be like wearing a 30-kilo weight around for the heck of it. "Just return it," she said. "I refuse to accept anything like that, birthday or otherwise."
"What?"
"You heard me. Keep it cheap. No… Agreste Fashion stuff."
He let out a long sigh. "But-"
"Nope. If you spend 101€ on me, I'm finding your receipt and I'm returning it, hear me?"
"What about my golden personality?" he said, smiling wider. His face was going to split open if he kept it up. "I feel like that's worth a lot."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not kidding."
"Neither am I."
She already had so many regrets. "Just return the bracelet. You don't have to buy me stuff."
He hesitated, looking at her with pursed lips. Then he dipped into a bow. "The Princess' word is law, and this humble knight shall abide by it."
Just like she'd imagined.
She let loose another eye roll but smiled all the same.
So this was what she'd really gotten herself into. Maybe once in a while she'd be expected to give him a hug, which honestly she didn't think would be too often, but it seemed like 95% of the time, she'd be dealing with… that. Nonsense and goofy smiles and puns.
It wasn't the worst thing in the world.
They said quick goodbyes, and Marinette was back on her way to the sub shop.
"That'll be 9€, ma'am," the spritely woman behind the cash register said.
Marinette fumbled to pull her wallet out of her purse. "Sorry, one sec," she said.
Her wallet had somehow ended up slipping all the way to the bottom of her purse, and it seemed it did not want to be found there.
She grabbed at leather.
"Ah- ha?"
In her hand sat a leather little bracelet box that happened to feel exactly like her wallet. Except this had the Agreste Fashion logo on it.
The woman giggled. "I don't think we're that expensive, ma'am. Visa works though," she said.
Marinette shoved the box back in her purse like it was on fire.
There was no way he'd… had he? Had he really slipped the bracelet box in her bag without her looking? Was she that oblivious? The box wasn't exactly the kind you'd find a pair of earrings in—it was much wider, a lot slimmer, but still heavy enough that she thought she would notice it.
She pulled out her wallet and swiped her card without difficulty, ignoring Alya's pointed looks as they stepped out of the sub place.
"Why do you have a-"
"It's a long story," she said. "A very, very long story."
Alya threw her purse another glance but turned back as they made their way down the street again. "Alrighty then."
That stupid, stupid cat. He'd slipped the bracelet in anyways, even though she'd very clearly said that she would not accept it, and now she was stuck lugging a couple thousand euros' worth of diamonds around in her purse. There was nothing she could do about it either. She couldn't just yell 'Chat Noir' out until he popped in and took it back, doing that was just too easy. And maybe a bit of a bad idea. She wasn't doing it, and she was stuck with the bracelet regardless.
She walked on next to Alya.
"Why are there… police up ahead?" Alya asked.
Marinette snapped out of her thoughts, paying attention to the scene in front of her. A police cruiser sat, empty with the sirens off, on a short little side street a few metres away.
Alya walked up beside it, peeking around cautiously into the side street. Another police cruiser sat there, as stagnant as the other, and two police officers stood in front of a wall while another pulled police tape around a pole.
"What happened?" She asked, walking over.
The police looked over and noticed the two of them. "Oh nothing, mademoiselle. They've just been marking these off all over the city."
Covering the exposed brick was a swirl of graffiti.
"Is that…" Marinette frowned at it.
"I'd bet money on it." Alya walked up to the wall, running her fingers over it. The police didn't try to stop her. "Looks like kitty's been a little more active than we thought."
"Oh."
Shit.
Not my favourite thing to have 2 slow chapters in a row, but… LB's coming soon, and I had to add some fluff and the idea was so cute.
Also, I have an irrational hatred for page breaks. This pained me.
