3 Trouble

Marinette's POV

~~~

"What was that about, is he alright Nino?" I looked over to him worried then back at Alya, she looked a bit shaken up too.

Nino stood up and tipped his hat to us, "I don't know but I think I'm gonna go find out." As he gathered all of his things I thought back to what happened yesterday.

It couldn't be from that, could it?

I stood up and chased after Nino before he got too far. I caught him in the hallway about to pull open the door to our lockers, "wait Nino!" He looked up at me and let go of the door handle giving a soft thud. he rounded the corner to meet me by the café doors, "can I talk to him instead, I have to talk to him about something."

"Sure dude, just be cool though, he's been on edge since he walked into the classroom." He gave a pat on my shoulder then went to go see Alya again.

I gave a big sigh before rounding the corner. Before I could even reach the door though, Adrien swings the door open and high tails it down towards the other end of the hallway. Curiosity settling in, I follow him as quietly as I can.

Where is he going, there are no classes in this part of the school...

He walks into the old classrooms that no one uses anymore and shuts the door behind him. So I don't get caught snooping I decided to wait outside and just look in through the clouded glass windows.

I could hear muffled voices from inside the art room then, "No! Chat Noir can't just show up at our school! That wouldn't make any sense, then she'd really not want to talk to me!" It sounded like Adrien was screaming at someone, at the sound of it he was with Chat, but why?

I leaned in closer to the glass to try and hear clearly what they were saying but instead I heard footsteps getting louder and louder.

Crap, crap, crap! They're coming this way!

I ran farther down the hallway and hid behind a janitor's cart out of view. Looking between the cleaning supplies I saw only Adrien step out. He rubbed the back of his head and put his head down as he walked away. When he was out of sight and hearing range I slowly rose and walked over to the room he was in. The furniture was all covered in white sheets with dust swirling everywhere.

So there was someone else here...

I looked over to the window to see a claw mark in the dust on the windowsill. Chat Noir was definitely here, but why doesn't Adrien want him in school...More importantly, how does Adrien even know Chat?

As I pondered this for a while the bell for last period rang. I walked out of the classroom slowly so that I could talk to Tikki without anyone seeing. "What do you think this all means?"

"Well...Maybe Adrien gets advice from Chat Noir about how to get the ladies." She wiggled her eyebrows at me and giggled, "Marinette I think you're thinking way~ too much about this! just focus on school, for now, Adrien is not your top priority at the moment. Trust me, if he was really in any big danger I would sense it!" We both laughed as I walked back to class. She hid back into my bag the second I turned the corner into my last class.

"Hi Marinette, I drew this for you during lunch, do you like it?" I sat down next to Nathaniel and thanked him for the sketch.

Tikki is right, Adrien rejected me, so he's not my priority anymore. Obviously, I'll be there for him as a friend, but I have school and patrol to worry about. I looked to the back of the classroom for a split-second to see Adrien staring out the window. I looked back at Nathaniel's comics as I thought to myself.

School, friends, family, patrol and...

I stopped for a moment. The school bell rang through my ears for the last period to start.

And what? What else do I need to be worried about?

My mind flashed back to last night on the Eiffel Tower as my teacher started the lesson, 'my purrincess~'

and my kitty of course.

~~~

As I was walking home from school alone, I could hear someone calling for me. I was about to turn around to see who it was when Chat Noir came and plucked me off of the ground. "Ch-Chat Noir?! W-what are you doing here? It's the middle of the day!" He smiled at me with confidence in his eyes. We jumped from building to building in intimate silence as he avoided answering my questions.

When we landed on my balcony he didn't let me down, but instead opened the door to my room and jumped down. "So clawfully sorry to jump in like that, but I just couldn't wait to see my purrincess~!" He chuckled as he walked around my room.

I rushed over to him to try and stop him from going over to my desk but it was too late. He looked all around my workspace to see pictures of my friends-mostly Adrien- plastered all over the walls. "Chat, what's wrong?" He didn't look back at me but instead, put his hand over one of the pictures I had of me and Adrien. "Oh, that's my friend Adrien! He's a really sweet guy, but something was wrong with him today..." I paused and thought for a moment before I asked but then cautiously said, "actually, I heard him talking to you today in the abandoned classrooms in my school...Do you two know each other?"

He turned around swiftly still holding the picture, "Marinette..." He held my shoulders and hugged me softly patting my head.

Something doesn't seem right...or maybe it's some kind of déjà Vu, all I know is that something felt familiar about all of this.

As he patted my head he whispered, "I'm so sorry..." At the sound of those words, my eyes went wide and I froze up.

No! This is crazy, Chat Noir can't be Adrien! Me and Adrien are just good friends like he wanted but Chat Noir is--is--

"Are we dating now?" Before I even realized I said it, the words just flowed out of me. As my face reddened I stuttered out, "I-I mean, w-we've been talking and b-being intimate towards each mother I MEAN EACH BROTHER--OTHER!!" Before I could continue my jumbled mess, he cut me off with a gentle kiss.

When we pulled apart, he got down on one knee and said, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you be my girlfriend?" He held my hand to his heart then kissed it.

With tears rolling down my cheeks, I lifted him up from the ground. He looked into my eyes a little worried when I didn't answer, but when I embraced him I gave him the one answer we've both been waiting for, "of course Chaton!" Stroking his hair, he purrs in my ear releasing the beast within him. He pulls away from me and instead presses his lips to mine.

We entwine our bodies and he lifts me up. When I fall back I land a surface similar to a cloud. Still kissing me with the same passion as last night, he suddenly perks up. I stare up at him in awe as he looks out the window his ears twitching slightly. I look down to see that my jacket was nowhere near us but sprawled on the floor by my desk.

Did I take it off or...him?

I shoved that thought to the back of my head when he suddenly got up and headed for the window. "What's wrong Chat?" I put my hand on his back as I approached him.

He jerked at my touch but shook out of the trance and said, "sorry princess, but I hear someone screams me in the distance. I'll be back, stay here!" He kissed me on the forehead before grabbing his staff and jumping out through my circular window.

Tikki came flying out when he left, "I hear it too Marinette! They're screaming for help, there might be an akumatized victim terrorizing the city!" She looked at me then back to the bed and giggled with a little wink, "what good timing Hawkmoth always has." She laughed as my cheeks burned at her small hunting jokes.

I walked up to my balcony and saw Chat Noir jumping away in the distance. When he was finally out of sight I turned to Tikki and smiled, "Time to go!" She laughed at my enthusiasm, "Tikki, SPOTS ON!" Red and pink lights flashed all around me as I turned into the famed heroine of Paris, Ladybug.

When I got to the scene, strangely enough, Chat was nowhere to be seen or an Akumatized victim. I swung around some more to see Chat Noir fighting some gangsters in an alleyway. Getting closer to the scene I soon realized that Chat Noir wasn't winning. Punch after punch Chat couldn't hold the three of them off all at once, he was stumbling over the pressure.

I swung down and threw my yo-yo at one of the gangster's arm that was wielding a knife right before he was about to jab it into my partner. "Chat Noir!" At the exact moment that I called him, I whipped the man's arm back, throwing him into another one of his goons. I jumped down and landed beside him. He looked over to me, leaning on the alley wall and bowed, "m-m'lady, you look purr-cough-purrfect this evening." He hacked and coughed until blood came up then crumpled to the ground holding his side.

"Hold on Kitty, I'll get you help!" I turned back to the last man standing and said in a cocky tone, "but first I think I need to take out the trash." The man smirked and pulled out a knife from his pocket. I scoffed at him and stepped forward with my yo-yo swinging through the air, "heh, surprise surprise! You must all carry knives, you can't even beat me with just your fists!" The man raises an eyebrow at me then looked at me my yo-yo.

I thought for a moment then stopped swinging it and threw it back to where Chat Noir sat on the paved walkway. "L-Ladybug...Don't." I ignored Chat's pleas as I saw the man toss his knife to the side.

He launched himself at me the second we were both unarmed. I jumped up just a millisecond before the man could tackle me, making him run into the wall behind me. He stumbled for a moment before finding my form again, "you stupid bitch! All you do is jump around, you couldn't fight me even if you tried!" He picked up a rock and tossed it in my direction. Instead of jumping this time, I caught the rock between two fingers and laughed.

"Alright, no more jumping, let's go tough guy!" At that the man smirked and ran up to me, he went to punch me but instead I blocked it by sidestepping him, then bending his arm the wrong way. As he went down he scratched my face with his other hand.

A loud screech echoed throughout the alley as the man crumpled to the ground holding his arm. I looked around and found the two knives the men had and took them sticking them in my belt. I ran over to Chat and crouched down, "what were they doing when you got here?" I softly raised his chin then put my ear to his mouth so that he didn't have to use so much energy on his words.

"They were trying to rob a high school girl, I told her to go get the police, they should be here any second..." I looked back at him to make sure he had everything before grabbing my yo-yo and picking him up. I swung all around the city trying to find an empty spot before settling on just bringing him back to my room. When we got there he was already passed out.

"Spots off..." I looked back at Chat then rushed to my bathroom to get some supplies to clean him up.