Chapter 9
Unfortunately, it was only about two hours later after Chat Noir left when her mother's inevitable call to awaken sounded through the trapdoor.
Marinette grumbled, wearily blinking open her eyes before letting them fall shut again. She really shouldn't have stayed up that late the previous night, but time seemed to stand still whenever she conversed with the charming thief. It wasn't her fault that he knew just what to say to keep her interest piqued and fatigue at bay.
Maybe her parents would gift her with one day off, maybe she could feign an illness…
She felt herself drift back into slumber, only to be startled awake again by another call for her, this one more persistence than the last.
"Not today, Maman!" she yelled the loudest she could in her exhausted state.
It was quiet for a few seconds, and so Marinette figured that was the last of it. Sighing, she nuzzled her face into her pillow and relaxed, ready for sleep's embrace once more.
Until her mother loudly opened the trapdoor, effectively jarring her from her brief period of peace.
"What's wrong, darling?" Sabine asked, climbing the little ladder to get to her daughter's bed. She perched herself on the second to last rung and peered worriedly at Marinette. "Are you sick? Should we send for Doctor Fu?"
Marinette shook her head; Fu would instantly see past any attempt of faking any kind of sickness.
"No, I'm just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."
Which wasn't a total lie. At least she could pat herself on the back for telling the truth, since she couldn't stand liars.
Sabine tilted her head, observing her daughter until she let out a defeated sigh.
"While I would normally let you sleep in, today we have to finish the order for the Bourgeois party tonight. I'm sorry sweetie but we really need your help, I promise that when we're done you can take a nap. Okay?"
Marinette groaned, resigning herself to her fate. She couldn't disappoint her parents and abandon them when they needed her.
"Alright," she moaned, her voice beginning to sound like it normally did instead of the gravelly tone it took in the mornings.
Sabine giggled. "I'll go downstairs and let you dress, try not to fall asleep in the meantime."
Marinette gave her mother an unimpressed look, to which Sabine responded to by kissing her daughter's cheek before climbing back down the ladder and back through the trapdoor.
With a yawn, Marinette got out of bed and trudged her way down the ladder in order to get dressed. To prevent herself from giving into the temptation of collapsing onto her chaise and resuming her sleep, she thought back to the previous night, specifically of what Chat had said of his little 'visit' with Prince Matheo.
Chat had entrusted her with the information that King Alexandre was being held prisoner in Françoise Dupont, and that Matheo hadn't paid any sort of ransom money to have him released. Instead he turned a blind eye to it and continued ruling over the kingdom, perhaps never intending to pay to have him freed.
It made her blood boil, and want to go retrieve him herself, but she knew that idea was practically suicide. She stood no chance up against a foreign army of soldiers, soldiers that probably didn't feel too inclined to give up their royal prisoner.
By this point, she was nearly finished tying her remaining amount of hair into a pigtail, securing it in place with a red ribbon. Deeming herself ready for the day, she tried to rub the last of the fatigue from her eyes and proceeded down the trapdoor and into the bakery.
…
Chat Noir suppressed a yawn as he climbed the vines that lead to his bedroom window. He was tired as hell, but he couldn't bring himself to be the least bit annoyed by it. Last night was spent in pure bliss talking to Marinette, he would do this a hundred times over if he could.
Although, he had to admit that going through a hundred sleepless nights would probably be bad for his health.
He slipped his fingers under the cracked window and opened it fully, heaving himself inside. At last, he was able to take off the mask, thereby letting the flesh around his eyes breathe again.
He walked over to his closet and tossed the mask into the back corner. The faux cat ears followed by soon after, along with his boots, pants, and shirt. With that done he changed into a nightshirt and crawled into bed, finally allowing himself to get some sleep.
That is, until he heard a knock at the door.
"Adrien, I have your breakfast, along with your schedule," Plagg's muffled voice spoke.
"In a few hours, Plagg," he groaned without opening his eyes.
"Can't," was all the butler replied before opening the door. Adrien felt Plagg's eyes on him even as he tried to sleep. "Your father wants you to practice your piano skills and swordplay. Just because you're home doesn't mean you can slack off, according to him. And then tonight you're attending the Bourgeois party."
Adrien cracked his eyes open to give the butler a displeased stare. The Bourgeois party; his father mentioned it at dinner the night before. With his mind caught up in making plans on infiltrating the castle, he only paid attention to half of it and thus forgot all about it.
"Hey, don't blame me for this," Plagg retorted, setting down the breakfast tray on the bedside table before fixing his master with a cool look. "Maybe next time you won't rendezvous until the sun rises."
That little quip was enough to make Adrien's eyes widen, all thoughts of sleep momentarily abandoned as a sharp knife of fear stabbed him in the stomach.
"You knew I was gone? Does Father know?"
Plagg shook his head.
"No. He wanted to check on you after before he went to bed, probably to inform you about your schedule. But I was able to intervene and convince him that he had taken ill and went to sleep early." He crossed his arms. "You need to be more careful about this."
"I'm careful," Adrien mumbled, leaning over to grab a croissant from the tray. "Considering I'm doing this all alone, with hardly any help, I'd say I'm doing a good job so far. I didn't get arrested."
"Yet," Plagg tacked on, his eyes narrowed into a warning glare. "Normally I'm not one to worry-"
"Then don't," Adrien snapped, the exhaustion brought on from the night finally catching up and briefly taking hold of him. Luckily, he was able to recognize it and he sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head before he was able to look at Plagg again.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. I know you're worried, and Nino too, and Marinette (even though she wouldn't admit it)…but I'll be fine. I promise."
Plagg tilted his head, scrutinizing him for a few seconds until he let out a sigh of defeat.
"Alright, kid. So," His eyes took on a devious glint. "Who's Marinette?"
Damn it. He really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut.
"She's…" Adrien trailed off, unsure of what to say.
They were definitely friends, at least he was sure of that when it came to himself as Chat Noir. She liked Adrien enough, he thought, but he could tell she considered Chat as being closer to her.
Then there was the little detail of him having feelings for her that were more than what could be considered friendly.
"Is that where you were last night?" Plagg slyly asked, taking Adrien's silence as confirmation of Marinette being more than a possible acquaintance. "With her?"
Adrien's cheeks flushed and he shook his head resolutely. Even though the whites of his eyes were currently pink and the tanned skin under them possessed dark circles, his glare didn't miss the effect of resoluteness.
"That's not your concern."
Plagg chuckled, not caring in the least of Adrien's clear dismissal of the topic.
"A masked thief fighting for justice while romancing an unsuspecting maiden," he spoke, taking on a sarcastic tone. "This is how the greatest love stories are written!"
Adrien simply rolled his eyes while Plagg snickered.
"Shall I begin to make preparations for her new room?"
"Shut up, Plagg," he grumbled prior to taking another bite of the croissant, his flustered blush not going unseen by the pesky butler. Maybe if he finished breakfast early, he could quickly practice the piano and his swordplay (that he was already getting plenty of experience with, not that he could tell his father that) and take a nap before going to the party later that evening.
"Good luck," the butler bid mischievously before walking out of the room.
Whether he was wishing him luck with Marinette, or making it through the day with no sleep, Adrien didn't know.
…
True to her mother's word, Marinette was able to nap for a few hours after she helped her parents with the majority of the baking. Later on in the evening, they came to her room to ask her one last time if she wanted to attend the Bourgeois party.
Her answer still remained in the negative. Although the Dupain-Cheng family was invited to the party because they made the desserts, the only thing they would be able to do was hand out different pastries to people. Marinette doubted that Chloe would've permitted them to actually take part in the festivities. Also, there was the fact that she had met Chloe a few times when she would go to the bakery with her father. It didn't take her long to figure out that Chloe was one of the typical wealthy snobs.
And so she followed her parents downstairs to see them out the door, cheerfully waving good-bye as they stepped into the inexpensive coach and eventually drew away from the modest bakery.
Marinette stretched with a sigh, choosing to resist the temptation of falling back asleep since if she continued sleeping, then she would be wide awake for the rest of the night and tomorrow would be a repeat of today.
So she walked back to her room and mindlessly sketched a few designs for dresses, and some jackets for men too. She continued working like that, stopping every so often to rest her fingers, when she distantly heard a knock coming from downstairs.
The noise made Marinette pause, her eyebrows lowering in suspicion.
Who could that be at 10:30 at night? The only reasonable person she could think of was Chat Noir, but he tended to use the balcony as his means of contacting her.
The knocking sounded again, harder and louder this time, reminding her that whoever it could be was still there. And that they seemed pretty determined to be answered.
She rose out of her chair and checked herself in her mirror, using her fingers to tame a few unruly locks of hair before she left her room. On the way she fixed her dress as best she could, and when she looked down she groaned aloud at having forgotten to put on a pair of shoes.
She briefly considered going back to retrieve them, but the persistent knocking came once again. She scoffed, settling on just answering the door in her wool socks. Surely whoever was there wouldn't mind her not being completely decent at 10:30.
When she got to the door she opened it before the person had the chance to knock again.
However, she immediately got a sinking feeling that maybe she should've asked who it was before hastily opening the door.
"Captain Theo, how are you?" she asked, putting on a fake smile and trying not to sound confused as to why on Earth he was standing at her door at this hour. He was dressed in a military uniform unlike the one he usually wore, with this one looking more prestigious and what one would wear to a formal event.
"Wonderful, now that I've seen you," he responded, leering at her in a way that made her so uncomfortable that she shrunk back.
"I'm afraid my parents are helping with the Bourgeois party," she said, hoping to deter him in some way.
"I'm aware, I've just come from there, actually. I was wondering why you weren't there. They left you all alone in this big, empty bakery?"
Something about the way he spoke unsettled her, told her to finish business with him as quickly as possible and get him away from her.
"Yes, they did," she answered slowly in clear mistrust. "But I'm fine by myself, Captain. You needn't worry about me."
"I don't know," he replied mysteriously, a grin on his lips as he took to leaning an arm on the doorframe. The glint in his eyes turned strangely malicious. "There are all sorts of dangers in this town. Chat Noir could have his sights set on this place. You wouldn't be able to handle him all by yourself."
Marinette fought against the urge to laugh. True, Chat did seem to have his sights set on the bakery, but for entirely different reasons. Besides, she had a feeling that all she would have to do is scratch under his chin and he'd be putty in her hands. She was more than capable of handling him.
She schooled her features into a smile of appeasement.
"I appreciate the thought, but I'll be okay. You can go back to the party, as you can see there's no danger here." Except you.
"No, I insist," he persisted, taking a step closer. Alarm bells started blaring in her head. "I must be here to protect you."
"I don't need your protection, Captain," she retorted, her voice hardening. She needed him to leave immediately. "And it isn't appropriate to have a male visitor at an unmarried woman's home while her parents are absent. I insist you take your leave."
With that she tried shutting the door, good manners be damned, yet he stopped the motion by placing his hand on the door, just above her reach.
"Does that really matter to you, Marinette? We've hardly spent enough time together, now that we're both alone I think we should make the most of it."
With a lethal grin he began to push open the door with his hands, leaving Marinette with a pounding heartbeat and using all her strength to keep him at bay.
"I demand that you leave!" she shouted, finishing with a grunt as she continued pushing back on the door. To her increasing panic, she felt herself beginning to lose the battle.
"A girl as beautiful as you should be more kind," he scolded, then gathered his strength and forcefully slammed the door open, knocking her backwards. Marinette quickly collected herself from the sudden movement, eyes narrowing to thin slits as she pointed a finger to the outside.
"Leave, now!"
Theo frowned, pausing in his stalking closer to her. Annoyance and anger flashed in his brown eyes.
"You should really be nicer to the man who is in such a close alliance with the Prince. You should be honored you have my attention!"
Marinette wanted to scoff. Honored? Honored to be pursued by a man who didn't know the meaning of the word 'no' and resulted in breaking down her door in order to get what he wanted? She wasn't honored, she was repulsed.
"I respectfully declined your advances, and now you're intruding in my home. I'm anything but honored. Get out!"
"Well," Despite her harsh words, his lips curled into a predatory smirk. "Then I guess I'll just have to convince you to accept my affections." He resumed his slow pace of prowling closer, reminding Marinette of a cat trying to corner a mouse.
Except she wasn't about to end up like the mouse-eaten for dinner. She ran to the tiny fireplace, retrieving the dull sword mounted on the wall. She didn't know a lot about swordplay, but her father taught her a little bit when she was younger. Hopefully that would be enough to get Theo to leave; she presumed she would just have to land a solid scratch to deter him.
Theo's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing her pointing the tip of a sword straight for his heart. He had to admit, he never imagined seeing that kind of sight. Although, Marinette, fierce Marinette with her brows drawn down and her lips formed in a stubborn, unyielding pout, somehow attracted him all the more.
"Ah, so a game of hard-to-get?" he quipped prior to unsheathing his own shining sword. "You should know that I tend to win, though."
"Well tonight you just might lose," she smoothly fired back, planting her feet on the floor and holding the rapier with both hands.