I noticed a lot of grammar or spelling issues in the last chapter that are really bugging me but I'm too lazy to go back and fix it haha. So just wanted to apologize for that, and for the grammar mistakes that I'll probably miss in this chapter too.
Okay, so again thank you all so much for the lovely reviews! I adore you all! Here's a couple replies real quick-
MistyWolfGirl: I promise I'll be revealing the villain soon! Patience ;)
HammerInLava2017: I think if I had everyone get infected, the story would start to get a little boring and expected and so I wont be doing that! But an important infection will be happening sometime soon so be prepared! ;3
Now on to the story! *heart emojis galore*
Marinette still couldn't believe her luck. Three hours. THREE hours of just her and Adrien walking alone together! Well, not really alone as the others were generally around but it was one on one time and she was so excited to write about it in her diary and to show their future children about the time their father kept making her laugh with silly jokes and HAD HIS ARM AROUND HER! She sighed in bliss, her eyes away and dreamy.
"Oh Girl you've got it bad!" Alya laughed, poking her friend in the side.
Alya and Marinette were once again together as Adrien left to be Nino's bathroom buddy while they had walked off the trail somewhere to apparently find a "good tree."
"Alya!" Marinette squealed, "I can talk to him like a mostly normal person now!"
Her brown haired friend rolled her eyes, "Marinette you've been able to for a few days now, haven't you noticed? In all seriousness though, I'm totally proud of you! My little girl is growing up."
Alya shed a fake tear and laughed at her embarrassed friend. They checked the time and realized it was almost 1 in the afternoon.
"I don't know how long those boys were planning on being out there, but how about you and I get started on our lunches?" Alya suggested.
Marinette bobbed her dark blue hair and smiled, "sounds great, I'm starving!"
The two girls found a large rock to sit on and unpacked their lunches from their bags. They had croissant sandwiches, grapes, string cheese, sliced carrots, and a cookie (curtesy of the Dupain-Chang bakery). Marinette snuck the cookie into her backpack's front pocket where Tikki was securely hidden in.
"You think they're okay?" Marinette asked Alya after a few minutes of them digging into their food. It'd been about ten minutes now since Adrien and Nino had left and they hadn't heard from them yet.
"I wouldn't sweat it!" Alya said waving her hand in the air, "my guess is they got hungry too and decided to eat before joining back up with us. Nino probably wanted some 'bro time'."
Marinette laughed and nodded her head in relief. She hoped her friend and love of her life were safe, though she felt no sense of anything bad and Tikki seemed content so she trusted her Kwami's instincts for danger. After the girls finished eating, they wanted to continue resting and relax a little longer until the boys caught up to them.
"You don't mind if I go and sketch a little?" Mari asked Alya.
Alya smiled, "no girl you're good! Go create some fabulous designs! I need to go through my photos anyways and make some space for more so now's a good time to do that!"
Marinette nodded, and put down her bag. She pulled out her sketchbook and a pencil, and allowed Tikki to come out and hide in her hoodie pocket. Looking around, she noticed a large beautiful tree. It's branches were low enough to reach if she were to jump and grab it correctly. She leapt into the air, successfully managing to grab the thin branch and hoist herself up while holding her pencil and sketchbook in her mouth. With a huff of her breath for good measure, she pulled herself higher on the branch and reached for the next one. As she grabbed onto the next branch, the weak one beneath her snapped and fell to the floor. She squealed but it was muffled as she still had the sketchbook in her mouth.
Tikki flew out from the girls pocket, "Marinette are you alright?"
The bluenette dangled from the branch, her legs dangling and swinging. She held on the branch above her tightly and nodded to Tikki, though her eyes were wide and worried. The floor was a good 12 feet below, which really wasn't too bad of a fall but she still wasn't hoping to find herself with a sprained ankle anytime soon.
Tikki flew towards her hands and with a determined scowl she instructed Marinette, "try to stop swinging your legs! If you can get enough balance, try to pull yourself up to the branch above you! I'll try to help pull you up!"
Mari groaned, pull ups were never fun but this was a safety issue and so she put her best effort and complied. Tikki's efforts to help were gracious and did help Marinette as she managed to pull herself to the branch. She straddled it with her legs, leaned back against the trunk of the tree, and spat out her sketchbook and pencil. For a moment she sat there and caught her breath, wiping the sweat from her forehead and wondering how she got herself into this little mess.
"Thanks for your help, Tikki," Marinette said as she nuzzled the red kwami.
"Of course, Marinette!" Tikki said sweetly, "but how are we going to get you down?"
The human girl glanced down at the floor below her and gulped, "well.. let's worry about that later. Might as well get some inspiration while I'm up here!"
She drew for another good ten minutes before she heard voices below her.
"Marinette!" Alya called out, cupping her hands to her face.
Tikki flew into Marinette's pocket before the girl called back, "I'm up here!"
Three familiar faces ran over the the tree and stood below her. Marinette's face blushed in embarrassment. Alya smirked in amusement while Nino and Adrien looked concerned.
"Dude, how did you get all the way up there!?" Nino yelled.
Marinette grinned awkwardly, "the branch I used to get up here broke! So I'm a little.. stuck."
"Jump down!" Adrien yelled out.
The others looked at him like he was insane and Alya asked rudely, "do you want her to kill herself?"
Her turned a bright red and shook his head frantically, "no no, God no! I meant jump down, and I'll catch you!"
"Oh!" Alya smiled suggestively, "well in that case, Jump Marinette!"
She pulled out her camera and added, "oh and don't mind me recording, just want proof that it's Adrien's fault Marinette is dead in case anything goes wrong."
Adrien frowned at her, but walked below the girl in the tree and confidently yelled up to the stuck bluenette, "don't worry Mari! I promise I'll catch you!"
Marinette's stomach was doing all kinds of fun summersaults and flips. First she was nervous about jumping, second about jumping into ADRIEN AGRESTE'S strong beautiful arms, and third she was MOST afraid of being too heavy and killing poor handsome Adrien by squishing him into the forest floor.
"Nino, can you catch my sketchbook and pencil?" She yelled out to the darker boy. He nodded and hurried to catch it as she dropped the items into his hands.
"I'm ready whenever, pri- uh Marinette!" Adrien said a little awkwardly, holding his arms out.
Mari took a deep breath, nodded, and turned to slowly lower herself from the branch. But of course, this was clumsy Marinette and not graceful Ladybug and so as she was trying to slide off the branch carefully, she lost her grip and basically flipped herself off of the branch, screaming as she expected her impending doom below.
But rather than a painful death, she felt herself land into something strong, sturdy and yet soft. Her head was resting against more niceness. It smelt light and refreshing, like pine trees. And was that.. cheese? The hard surface was warm and when she opened her eyes she was looking into the gorgeous green color of Adrien's eyes. He was carrying her bridal style in his arms and holding her tight against his chest.
Her mouth opened into a 'o' at the intensity that he was staring at her. His eyes were wide and his cheeks were rosy. They just stared at each other for what felt like a lifetime to Marinette. But in reality is was only a few seconds before Nino coughed a little too loudly. It broke the spell that both Marinette and Adrien were in. Adrien's eyes widened in surprise and he gently put Marinette on the ground. She let go of him and began to giggle almost hysterically.
Hiding her embarrassed face behind her hands, she squeaked out, "thank you much so! I mean, you thank me! I mean THANK YOU SO MUCH!"
He scratched the back of his head and grinned bashfully, "yeah no problem!"
Alya put her camera down and winked at Marinette who made another high pitched noise.
The four were off and back to continuing their hike. Marinette's heart fluttered and Alya sneakily showed her the video on her camera of Mari falling from the tree and Adrien gallantly catching her.
"You better send that to me when we get home," Marinette whispered threateningly.
Alya only chuckled, "Oh just you wait girl I have SO much to send to you that you'll be making a whole scrapbook, knowing you."
Marinette mocked offense but then leaned into her friend excitedly, "that's not a bad idea!"
This only made Alya laugh harder, "I know you too well!"
...
The sky had darkened considerably since that sunny afternoon. It was almost 6 in the evening, and half of the class was already at their destination. Marinette, Alya, Adrien, Nino, Kim, Alix, Ivan, and Mylene all sat at the clearing. It was a man-made spot in the woods that was at the end of the trail they'd been following all day. The grass and plants were cleared so it was like a giant dirt patch. Forests surrounded the area but left enough clearing for the sky to show clearly. There was a soft breeze, and lots of quiet noises from bugs or other animals coming from the forests that gave the area a feeling of peace.
Kim's stomach rumbled loudly, "I'm starving! Ms. Bustier and the others should be here by now!" He complained.
Kim and Alix had been there for over an hour, and they were now both bored and hungry. The others nodded their heads in agreement as they too were hungry.
Nathanael, Rose and Juleka entered the clearing, smiling at their friends in greeting.
"Don't worry!" Rose piped up in her high pitched, lovely voice, "Ms. Bustier will be here soon! We just went ahead of her, she's a little slow because she's keeping at Chloe and Sabrina's paces."
Juleka nodded her head in agreement.
The students kept themselves busy while waiting. Many were finishing the snacks they'd packed, out of boredom. Mylene was massaging Ivan's giant feet. Rose, Juleka, and Alya were watching the video Alya had taken of Marinette in the tree.
Rose sighed, "it's so romantic!"
Juleka said simply, "rad."
Alya looked like a proud mother, "you should have seen it in person, the way he was looking at her was so dreamy!"
Marinette sat in embarrassment, her face tomato red. She needed an escape. Adrien and Nino were standing with Kim and Alix, seeing who could throw their peanuts into little plastic cups they had placed a few feet away from them. On the other side, sitting alone was Nathaniel. Marinette made eye contact with him, to which he quickly ducked his head and looked back down at his sketchbook he was drawing in. The bluenette quickly grabbed her drawing supplies from her bag and then hurried to sit beside the red headed boy.
"Mind if I draw with you?" She said politely.
Nathaniel smiled excitedly, a huge blush spreading on his face. His voice remained calm and steady though, and he said nicely, "I'd love that."
Marinette smiled fondly. Nathaniel was quiet, but she knew that he was and an incredibly talented artist. She knew a couple years back, when he'd been akumatized into the Evillustrator, that he'd had been fond of her. The naive girl was completely unaware that his big crush on her was very much still existent.
"Can I see what you've been drawing?" Marinette asked gently, noticing he was blocking his artwork with his arm a little.
Nathaniel was hesitant at first, but he moved his arm away and showed her what he'd been working on.
Much to Marinette's confusion, she found herself both stunned and breathless. Not just because of the talent in which Nathaniel clearly had, but because of the drawing he'd created. It was a beautiful picture of none other than Ladybug and Chat Noir. But it was incredibly romantic, Chat Noir held her close to him and they were looking deeply into one another's eyes. Ladybug was cupping his face, as if she were about to kiss him. Marinette unconsciously brought her fingers to her lips, a bright blush on her face as she looked at the drawing in awe.
"It's still a work in progress and I'm not sure how I feel about his expression," Nathaniel admitted softly after Marinette remained silent.
The girl beside him shook her head frantically and almost burst out in exclamation, "No! No really, it's seriously perfect. Sorry I'm just a little speechless. Nathaniel, this is.. well it's incredible! You're so talented!"
Nathaniel's mouth opened in shock and he turned almost as red as his hair, "thank you Marinette, that really means a lot to me. If you'd like, when I'm finished, you can have it?"
Marinette held her hands to her heart, "oh no no! I'd feel so bad to take it! Maybe a copy. I mean it Nathaniel this is amazing."
He nodded his head, at a loss for words at being so complimented by the girl of his dreams. They went into a comfortable silence as Marinette began to sketch out some designs she'd been imagining and Nathaniel continued his LadyNoir sketch.
Mari was conflicted. The drawing the boy beside her was working on gave her so many feelings she didn't realize she'd ever have. The first one being longing. How could she wish for that moment, when her heart belonged to Adrien. She was so torn, because her mind kept imaging the moment Nathaniel had so beautifully illustrated. And she realized that what she wished was for her Chaton to hold her so, and she wished she was coming in to press her lips against his.
What she didn't notice in that moment, was the way Adrien had been watching both her and Nathaniel. He looked upset, a scowl on his face as he saw the way they talked and the two blushed. Nathaniel looked so amazed with Marinette and whatever he had shown her had obviously amazed her greatly.
"Bro," Nino coughed.
Adrien looked over to his friend, who had the biggest smirk on his face, "uh, what?"
"You're SO jealous!" Nino laughed out loud.
The blonde model gulped and felt himself feeling hot, "of what?" He said rather guiltily.
"Oh come on dude," Nino was cracking up now, "I see the way you're watching Mari and Nathaniel. You look like you want to stab him with a fork."
"I do not," Adrien mumbled rather unconvincingly, but his eyes stayed on the two artists with an expression of uncertainty.
...
Ms. Bustier and the others showed up a little later. She'd demonstrated how you create your own fire from scratch, and then proceeded to have all the children make campfire baked potatoes. They took forever to cook but the end results, once topped with butter, cheese, sour cream, bacon, broccoli, and lots of seasonings, were marvelous. Exhaustion from the long hike that day, as well as full, warm bellies made everyone go to bed a little earlier that night. The kids were quickly passing out in their sleeping bags, scattered around the dirt clearing.
Marinette lay awake, waiting for all of those around her to be fast asleep. She needed to patrol, and she didn't want to leave Chat Noir waiting wherever he may be. She was hours from the campsite and she was unsure how long it'd take her even with her Ladybug advantages to find him anywhere. Her plan was to call him as soon as she transformed so to figure out his location and where they could meet that would be most time efficient.
Tikki was rather restless, from being hidden just about all day and unable to do much but sleep and eat. She flew low, over to Marinette's ear and whispered, "I'm going to check that everyone is asleep, then we can get going!"
Her chosen nodded her head silently, and felt Tikki's soft pressure beside her swiftly leave. She waited only a minute before the little red kwami returned.
"Well," Kwami began in a whisper, her voice a little hesitant, "Er, there is one person missing. But I'm sure he's just off to the bathroom."
"Missing?" Marinette question, her eyebrow furrowing as she began to sit up, "Who?"
Tikki stuck her lip out, almost stubbornly. Marinette repeated herself, "Tikki, who?"
The kwami glanced over at the girl, and then admitted, "Adrien."
Marinette let out a little gasp, looked around and saw that beside Nino, across the clearing on the boys side, was an empty sleeping bag.
"I really wouldn't worry Marinette," Tikki said kindly but firmly, "He must have just gone to the bathroom. Plus, you need to find Chat Noir so let's get going."
The bluenette wasn't quite comfortable leaving Adrien somewhere alone in the woods, unsure of his safety. But Tikki was right, and she really didn't want to leave Chat Noir waiting too much longer. She quietly slipped out of her sleeping bag, slipped on her tennis shoes, and headed down towards the path of the hike.
After gaining a good amount of distance from her teachers and classmates, she began to speak to her Kwami.
"Tikki?"
"Yes Marinette? Are you ready to transform soon?" Her kwami responded.
Marinette shook her head, "Can we talk? Just for a little?"
Tikki smiled gently, and rushed over to nuzzle her head on Marinette's cheek, "Of course, Marinette!"
Marinette sighed, and Tikki waited patiently for her to speak.
"Tikki," Marinette began even quieter than before, her voice scared and unsure.
The kwami gave her another touch on her cheek to show her she was listening.
"I.." Marinette gulped, "I'm in love with Chat Noir."
Tikki smiled knowingly, and asked, "And what about Adrien?"
Marinette made an odd strangled noise of frustration, while waving her arms dramatically, "and I'm very much in love with him! Tikki what is wrong with me!?"
She let out an ugly, squeaky scream into the quiet night. Tikki giggled on her shoulder.
"Should I tell him?" Marinette asked the Kwami after some silence.
Tikki made a humming noise in thought, "that's up to you I suppose."
"Anyhow, we need to call him and plan our patrol for the night. Tikki, transform me!"
There was a bright flash of red and there stood Ladybug. She used her yo yo to pull herself into a high tree, and once at the top she opened the yo yo to contact her kitty partner.
"Beautiful evening, huh my lady?" Chat Noir grinned cheekily at her over the screen.
"Indeed," she smiled fondly, her stomach flipping in nervousness, "Where should we meet up Chat Noir? I'm many hours away from our usual meeting place at the lake, so I can't meet you there tonight."
Chat Noir nodded, "Fine by me, I'm actually in the same boat. I can send you my location and we can see how far away we are from one another?"
Ladybug nodded and after a second she got a beep on her yo yo. She slid the screen to the right, opening a map that had two bright dots. The red dot was Ladybug, and the green one was Chat Noir's location he'd just sent her. To her surprise, he was only half a mile ahead of her on the hiking trail.
"I'll head to you right now, Chaton," Ladybug said, "You're only half a mile away from me."
"Oh really?" He responded, "in that case, Tree you soon!"
The spotted heroine giggled to herself after hanging up. She immediately dashed to meet her partner.
"Long time, no tree!" He greeted her.
Ladybug rolled her eyes, "the same pun in a row, I thought you were better than that Chat?"
"I'm in need of a cat nap, so I'm not exactly thinking properly," he smiled back.
"After we patrol," Ladybug began, looking at the floor nervously, "Do you mind if we talk?"
Chat tilted his head to the side, like a confused kitten, "Talk? And not now?"
"No," she said, looking up at him apologetically through her bangs, "I don't think I'm quite ready now but I'd like to later."
He nodded, smiling at her gently and then looking away, "okay. There's something I'd like to talk to you about as well so.. okay then."
Chat Noir extended his baton and pointed away from them, down the trail. "Shall we explore?"
Ladybug spun her yo yo, ready to latch onto the trees and fly through the night, "ready when you are!"
...
They patrolled the new area of the woods for a good hour and a half, but found nothing yet again. The two superheroes were starting to feel some frustration. They knew something was going on deep in these woods, but night after night they were coming up empty handed.
"It's been a long day for me," Ladybug said as they sat in a tree together resting.
Chat Noir bobbed his head lazily in agreement, his legs outstretched on a branch as he leaned back against the truck of the tree and chewed on a small stick.
"You had something you wanted to talk about, Chaton?" Ladybug spoke up, looking up at her partner who was in the branch above her. She stood against the trunk of the tree, pointing out a foot one at a time to stretch it and alternating between the two.
"As did you, my lady?" He said, looking down and grinning at her.
She looked away, blushing, "You first Chat."
"If you insist," he said. He looked up into the stars. Ladybug glanced up at him, wanting to remember this beautiful view of her partner. He looked strong, and content. The glow of the sky illuminated his messy blonde hair and he looked wistfully at the scene above him.
"You know that I've had feelings for you for some time now, Bugaboo," he began to say. Ladybug's face heated up and she looked down at her feet, nodding slowly.
Chat Noir continued, "And you've never really reciprocated those feelings. But that's okay, you're crazy out of my league and I'm lucky enough to have you both as a partner, and as my best friend."
Ladybug smiled sadly, she was about to say something, to correct him that he meant so much to her and that they were equals, when he continued.
"I think I'm starting to fall in love with someone else, Ladybug. You'll always be my lady, and my partner, and my best friend. But there's this girl, and she's so talented and kind, she's beautiful and she makes me laugh and I feel amazing around her; and I'm realizing that, well I think, that's she's the one for me."
Ladybug's eyes were wide as she stared at her feet. She barely noticed the wet droplets that were falling on to her feet. Quickly, she brought her arm to her face to wipe the wetness.
"I'm happy for you, Chat Noir." She said forcefully.
He picked up the negativity in her voice, but chose to not bring it up, "And what did you want to tell me, bugaboo?" He asked softly.
The bluenette hero refused to look at him. She gave a soft fake laugh, "Its not really important. I was just going to say.."
Ladybug was quiet again, now unsure of what to say and wanting so badly to flee.
"Just was going to say that I'm tired. And this forest issue is really tedious. I hope it'll be over soon. Goodnight, Chat Noir."
With that, she ran away as fast as she could, praying that her partner wouldn't follow her.
She wasn't sure how long she ran for. She wasn't sure how far away she went, or where she even was. Ladybug misjudged a jump and tripped, falling between branches and landing painfully on the forest floor. Hot, sorrowful tears ran down her face. She curled up into herself against a tree, and let loud, choking sobs escape her throat. Her heart was broken, her head was confused, and she felt more miserable than she'd ever felt before.
Ending with a little angst ;) Love square reversed? Leave me lots of reviews my little readers! Will bring you another chapter soon, as well as an introduction to this new "villain" ;))