Pressure

Chat Noir's POV

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Ugh...Where am I?

Dizzily looking around I saw pink walls surrounding me with sketches and pictures on the wall next to me.

Is this...Mari's room?

I went to sit up when pain shot through my stomach. Looking down I saw blood seeping through what looked like a ripped blue shirt. I lifted it to see a large cut across my stomach. In my panicked state, I heard someone walking into the room. I look up and see Marinette carrying a bucket of water and a few pieces of clothing.

I don't think she sees that I'm awake yet!

I lay back down and close my eyes, the second I do she begins to whisper to herself. "Hm...I can use these designs to help with his wounds. I can always just start them over anyways if I need to..." She sighs to herself as I hear the tear of fabric.

Marinette's designs...I feel awful! God, if only I didn't go out tonight and let Ladybug handle it!

No that's not right...we're partners, I shouldn't leave situations up to Ladybug, we're both responsible for the safety of this city...

I kept my eyes closed and kept listening to Marinette, "this one wasn't even my best anyways..." I began to frown at the way she talked about her work and decided I was going to 'wake up,' until I heard someone else in the room with her.

"Oh Marinette, don't say that! All of your designs are amazing, just wait you'll start your own clothing line one day!"

Who's that?

"Tikki shh! What if Chat Noir wakes up and sees you?! How am I going to explain any of this to him?" I squinted one eye open the tiniest bit and saw Marinette's back to me as she talked to the other girl in the room.

"You're right Marinette, it's getting late I think I'm going to go to bed, goodnight!"

"Goodnight Tikki, I'll see you in the morning!" I say Marinette begin to turn around so I shut my squinted eyes completely.

I could feel her breath on my as she stroked my hair and sighed. "Please wake up Chat, I need to know you're okay..." I squinted my eyes open the tiniest bit just in time to see her lean over and kiss my forehead.

A second later I shut my eyes tight feeling her pull away from the bed. I laid there motionless only moving my chest to breathe. I waited a while until I saw the lights switch off through my eyelids then flung my eyes open. Through the dark, I could see Marinette struggling to make it back to her bed.

Wait...I'm in her bed! Where's she gonna--?

My question was answered when she sat on a nearby chair and proceeded to curl up into a ball.

You're too good for me princess...

I laid there for an hour at most to make sure she was asleep before sliding off of her bed and walking over to her. The minute I reached her, I saw her turn in her sleep, about to fall off of the chair, so I extended my arms and softly caught her fragile figure. Lifting her up in a bridal carry, I slowly crept over to her bed and laid her down, pulling the covers over her body.

I hope she doesn't wake up, she went to sleep really late.

I looked at her bedside clock and it said '3:00 AM.'

Or should I say really early...

I frowned at the fact that I'm the one that kept her up this late on a school night. As I began to walk away, I heard soft whimpering from behind me. "A-Adrien...I-I'm sorry..." I backtracked and bent down to where she was laying and brushed the hair out of her eyes to see tears trickling over her nose then down the other side of her face.

"I'm sorry princess...You don't deserve me." I got up to walk away before I heard giggling from behind me.

"Oh hello, Kitty...hehehehe~!"

"Pfft--!" I had to cover my mouth from bursting out laughing, I walked back to Mari and crouched down to her ear and whispered, "Hello my purrincess~ I've missed you..." I seductively kissed her forehead and leaned my head on my arms.

I looked at her with the same love in my eyes I once looked at my now disappeared mother with.

~~~

Marinette's POV

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I woke up the next morning to the sun shining in my eyes, and an October breeze tickling at my nose. I lazily sat up and stretched myself out. Looking around I saw my room a mess, with three of my projects ripped up.

Ch-Chat Noir!!!

I jumped out of bed as fast as I could and turned around to see no one on the other side.

Maybe he moved to the futon...

I speed walked to the other side of my room to almost pass by a note on my desk. I stopped and backtracked to see my name printed on it. Picking it up I saw little kitty paw prints poorly drawn all over the front.

Silly kitty...

I opened the letter and began to read:

To my Princess,

I'm sorry to have worried you last night...honestly I'm really upset that Ladybug would just drop me off like that on your balcony. I still can't figure out why she would do that, risking my identity, but I'm sure she had her reasons. Don't be worried about me, I'll get my cut glued or stitched in secret so no need to be worried like you were last night ;) thank you again...

You really mean a lot to me.

~Chat Noir

"How can I not be worried!" I throw the paper into the air and turn away from it flopping onto my bed again. "She did it so that she could help you without you seeing her identity...I should know!" I rolled over onto my back as Tikki flew over to me with a worried expression on her face.

She sat on the edge of my bed-stand, "it's alright Marinette, Chat Noir knows how to take care of himself! He'll probably come back tonight too!" I popped up at the realization of what day it was.

"Oh my god, Tikki!" I began pacing the room, anxiously in thought about what I was going to do.

"What's wrong Marinette, don't you want to talk to him about what happened?" She flew over to me as I still paced back and forth mumbling to myself.

I turned to her with my hand on my head, "I do, I do! But tonight...I-I can't! It's my turn to patrol!" As Tikki grasped my train of thought she grew silent and her antennas sank.

I began pacing again, after a while I sat in the corner of my room with a blanket over my head rocking back and forth.

"Well hello, purrince-- Marinette?" I stopped rocking and sat there frozen. "Marinette~? Are you in here?" I lifted the blanket the tiniest bit to see Chat jumping up to my loft.

Now's my chance!

I crawled towards the trapdoor that leads to the hallways connected to the bakery. I silently closed it so I didn't make a loud noise. When I looked outside, I saw that the sun was falling already.

Holy moly! How long did I sleep in?!

I sat down and ate dinner with my parents, then said I was going to see Alya. When I left I swung into an alleyway and opened my bag to reveal Tikki smiling up at me. "Saved by the cat I see?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me and giggled.

"Ha, ha, very funny." I poked her nose before she flew out of my bag.

"I'll need the magic words now ma'am!" She laughed at me as she twisted through the air around me.

Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without this girl. She always brings up my spirit in these types of weird situations.

I looked up at her then confidently said, "TIKKI, SPOTS ON!" Pink and red lights sparkled and twisted around me as she disappeared into my earrings giving them and my suit the Ladybug aesthetic I'm not so known for.

Swinging from building to building I spot a certain kitty sitting on the edge of the Eiffel Tower. I land softly behind him so I can sneak up on him. "Chat Noir?" I tap his shoulder and he jumps at my words.

"Jeez, princess! How do you keep getting up he-" He stops after he turns to see that it's my other half.

"Princess? That's a new one Chaton~." I winked at him as I sat down where he was before and patted the metal ground next to me for him to sit. As he sat down I asked pretending not to know, "why are you out tonight, it's my day to patrol kitty." I scratched under his chin with my forefinger and he purred.

"Aha...well uhm...That is--" He stumbled over his words looking for an excuse.

Don't worry kitty...I already know.

I inwardly laughed at him, "That's okay, two's better than one, am I right?" He perked up and blushed as he scratched the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly and staring off to the side.

We just sat there for a while until I stood up and took my yo-yo out. "Well kitty it's been nice, but I think it's getting a little late." I winked at him but before I could leave he grabbed my hand and pulled me down towards him. I blushed at the sudden lack of space between us, "u-uh Chat? Wh-what's wrong?"

I guess he noticed too that our noses were so close they could touch because he pulled away immediately almost falling off of the tower. I quickly pulled him up and away from the ledge so that he couldn't almost fall again. "S-sorry Mari-- I-I MEAN M'LADY! I uhm...I just wanted to ask you..." I stared at him and waited patiently. He sighed and softly said, "I uh...wanted to ask if you're going to the school's Halloween dance this year? I was gonna go as...well, Chat Noir." I stared at him wide-eyed and jumped on him with no moment's notice.

"Are you crazy Chat! If you tell people you're going as Chat Noir then they see you as the real Chat Noir, they'll know! No, nope, no! I won't allow this, not in a million years Chaton!" I poked him in the chest as I made the point of not doing that to him.

He stared back at me with flushed cheeks then shook himself out of the paralysis. "B-but--!" he thought for a moment then perked up and triumphantly said, "what if I don't tell people that my actual self is going? OH AND THEN YOU AND I COULD MATCH WITH NO ONE KNOWING WHO WE ARE!!" He hopped around excitedly as I sighed.

Could we really get away with this? If we told people our actual selves weren't going but then went as Chat Noir and Ladybug? But what if we won the contest? It's highly unlikely now that I think about how many people are probably going to dress the same as us anyways...

I turned to Chat and sighed, "fine kitty...you can go as, well...yourself." I poked his chest again with a stern look on my face and threatened, "but if I find out you tell anyone about who you really are, we won't be a team anymore." I poked him one more time with more pressure, making him cower backward and wince from it, "Got it?"

"I understand, I'll see ya there M'lady." Before I could tell him I wasn't going as Ladybug he took his staff in hand and jumped away.

Great, just great.