Marichat- We're Just Friends

Chapter 9- The Quizzer

Chapter 9- The Quizzer
"She said that?! Like those exact words?" Chat asked. Alya and Marinette had gone to the ice cream store for about an hour after school before they went back to their respective homes. Within ten minutes of getting home, Chat was on Marinette's roof asking to be let in.
"I swear to God, this girl said to me, 'You need to look hot.'" Now Marinette and Chat were hanging out in her room, Marinette cutting out some fabric for her newest design, and Chat was laying upside down on her chaise.
Chat burst out into laughter, "that's amazing! So you had a crush on some guy-"
"Had is a strong word," Marinette said under her breath.
"Fine, you are working on getting over some guy," He said, glancing at Marinette to make sure that she approved of his wording. "And to get over it, instead of eating a tub of ice cream and crying, your best friend wants you to find a hookup?"
Marinette blushed, "she never said hook up. I think she just wants me to have someone to go on double dates with her."
"Can't you go now as friends with someone?" Chat asked.
"I could but then when they split off to do couple-y stuff I'm stuck in some weird romantic environment with someone I don't see that way, or more likely someone who I do see that way but who doesn't see me that way. Does that make sense?"
"Umm... kind of. Who is this guy that you like who you are going on not dates with?"
Marinette laughed, "no way. That is for me to know and you not to know, and I'm not in the mood to be made fun of by you."
"Damn princess! Is your crush really that embarrassing?" Chat teased.
"Listen, you haven't seen embarrassing until you've seen Marinette Dupen- Cheng with a crush."
"Oh please, the entirety of Paris has watched me be rejected by Ladybug for the better part of a year, is it worse than that?"
"Yes," Marinette said without hesitating. To be honest she didn't think that Chat's crush was embarrassing, besides she was not about to tell him about her basic crush on the most popular boy in Paris. "Without a second thought, my crush is more embarrassing than that. I can barely even speak to my crush, and fight next to him? Not a chance. I'm clumsy normally but around him, it's 1000 times worse."
"Oh, now I have to know who it is!" Chat said.
"Not a chance kitty cat." Marinette said, "besides I don't know what you would do. What if I don't get over him and then I get my heart broken or something? How do I know you wouldn't do something stupid?"
"What do you qualify as 'something stupid?' That's a very vague phrase." Chat said sitting up.
"It's really not." Marinette said under her breath, "Umm... well if you went up and talked to him, or if you told him that I liked him, or oh my god! You might go beat him up."
"I would never beat up a civilian."
"What if he made me cry?"
Chat paused, "Touche, I probably would do something stupid, but that's very on-brand for me."
"Something tells me that Ladybug would not approve of you decking a civilian who wasn't akumatized."
"Come on! I'm your knight in shining leather! It's my job to defend the princess's heart from unsuitable suitors!"
"Okay number one that pun was atrocious," Mariette said.
"I thought it was funny."
"Number two, I never asked you to be my knight, you signed up for that all by yourself."
"Okay fair enough, but someone had to defend your honor!"
"I can defend my honor just fine myself, I'm pretty sure I could kick your ass in or out of that super suit."
"Mari, I have literal superpowers."
"Chat, I have more than two working brain cells."
"Me-ouch!" Chat said. "That was uncalled for."
Mari rolled her eyes, not acknowledging his pun. "And number three, he's not even a suitor. If he was, that would fix a whole lot of my problems."
"Well, then I'll go up to him and sell him on you! I happen to be an excellent wing cat!"
"Nice try, but no."
"Fine, but I will find out!"
"I think you're two brain cells might argue with that."
"This is animal abuse."
Mari laughed as she finished cutting out the sleeve for the dress she was working on. "Anyways now she's convinced that this party next weekend is going to be how I get a boyfriend, and the only solution is to Mean Girls the situation."
"Mean Girls?" Chat asked incredulously.
"Come on Chat! Mean Girls? The iconic early 2000's movie?"
"I've never seen it."
Marinette gasped dramatically, dropping the fabric she was working on and her scissors on her desk and she spun around in her chair. "You've never seen Mean Girls? How are we friends?"
Chat's ears perked up at that word. "We're friends?"
"Well not anymore! At least not until you have watched Mean Girls." Chat's ears drooped, and Marinette giggled. "Fine, fine, we're still friends, but only on a temporary visa. When you watch it then we are full friends again."
"I'll watch it tonight!" Chat promised to smile at her. He couldn't believe it, he had managed to befriend the Marinette Dupen-Cheng, the second coolest girl ever (Ladybug still had the number one spot) as both Adrien and Chat Noir.
"Good! Well, there is this line-" Marinette was interrupted by a loud noise outside. Chat and Mari looked at each other, Akuma.
"Mari I-" Chat stood up staring at her.
"Chat I understand, go." She said also standing.
"Stay inside, actually stay right here okay?" Chat asked, pointing to the spot she was standing in. "I can't have you getting hurt."
"I know, I know, I will be safe. I won't try to be a hero, but you need to go." She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the ladder.
"You are-"
"You don't need to worry about me Chat. I can defend my own honor, remember?" Marinette reassured him.
"Okay." Chat said but made no move to move up the ladder. She was one of his best friends, maybe even his best friend. He didn't like the idea of her being here while an Akuma was attacking. Before he could think of another excuse Marinette stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
"Chaton, I'll be okay. I trust you to protect me." Marinette said. "When you're done you can even come back and check on me okay?"
Chat nodded, that made him feel better. He finally climbed up the ladder, lifting the trap door and stepping out onto Marinette's balcony, and jumping off to go chase the Akuma.
Tikki poked her head out from her hiding spot in Marinette's t-shirt drawer. "Marinette-" she said teasingly.
"I know, I know! I don't want to talk about it." Marinette said. "Tikki spots on!"
Marinette transformed, and waited another 10 seconds to make sure that Chat would be far away from her balcony so she could leave.
(Gang you are about to witness me write an action scene and it's not going to be cute).
When Ladybug finally found where the fight was happening it was a chaotic scene. Three city blocks were completely destroyed and there were probably a dozen or so statues of terrified Parisians and a massive akumatized purple guy with the pointer in his hand. Chat was hiding behind a wall, probably waiting for her so they could come up with a plan together.
She landed next to him, making him jump. "Hey LB, running a little late?"
"Sorry Chat, something came up, what do we have?" She said, looking behind the wall, nearly getting hit with a red beam. She jumped back just in time and the beam flashed past her and hit the building she was standing in front of, going through it completely.
"Oh. Well, that's cool," She said.
"Yeah, are you any good at trivia?" Chat asked.
She squinted at him confused, "does your team need an extra player?"
"Kinda," Chat said, "The villain is called the 'Quizzer,' and is asking completely random trivia questions to people, and when they get one wrong this guy is turning them into statues."
"And the laser beam?" Ladybug asked.
"Honestly I have no idea why that's there yet."
"Okay well, let's see what this Quizzer guys' got shall we?" Ladybug said.
"I think I'm up to the test." Chat said running to the left side of the building they were hiding behind. Ladybug rolled her eyes and ran to the right. When they emerged Quizzer was terrorizing some poor civilian.
"Wrong answer!" The Quizzer yelled, pointing the object in his hand at the civilian and a beam of light came out, hitting the woman he was standing in front of quickly turning to stone.
"Okay don't get hit by that thing!" Ladybug yelled to Chat.
"No kidding," Chat yelled back. At the sound of the hero's voices, the villain turned to them.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir, are you ready for your final test?" Quizzer asked.
Chat laughed, "I like this one he makes puns!"
Quizzer aimed his object at Chat and shot the laser at him, Chat easily dodged the attack, but the beam went past him and destroyed the building behind him.
"It's time for your first question!" Quizzer announced. "Ladybug and Chat Noir, how many bones do sharks have in their bodies?"
Chat and Ladybug exchanged confused looks. Was this really what this person got akumatized for?
"None, they have cartilage which is not a bone." Chat said, getting him a weird look from Ladybug.
"How do you just know things like that?" Ladybug asked.
"I was a very lonely child." Chat said matter of factly, "what's next Quizzer?"
"How many time zones are there?" Quizzer asked. Ladybug looked at Chat expectantly.
"24." Chat answered.
"Which animal doesn't have vocal chords?"
"Ummm..." Chat said glancing over at Ladybug, "I was never into zoology. Now might be a good time for some extra luck."
Ladybugs nodded at Chat. "Lucky Charm! Wrapping paper?" She said skeptically as she looked at the transparent red wrapping paper in her hand. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"I don't know but you better figure it out fast," Chat said as he ran from Quizzer. Apparently at some point during the time it took to call her luck charm Chat answered the question wrong and now the Quizzer was out for blood- or out for statue?
"Wrong answer Chat Noir!" Quizzer screamed as she shot the red laser at him again. "Stop running away!"
Ladybug suddenly understood what she needed to do, "Chat, give me your belt!"
Chat took off his belt and threw it to her, while he kept the Quizzer distracted LB ripped off about a yard of the wrapping paper. She ran toward the Quizzer from behind and when his hand was extended to shoot what she now realized was a laser pointer she jumped and wrapped the paper around his hand tying it with the belt. He tried to shoot her but nothing happened.
"What did you do to me?" The Quizzer demanded.
"Oh come on!" Ladybug said, slightly out of breath, "don't tell me you forgot how the light spectrum works? Red light can't go through red because it gets absorbed."
"Ha! Suck it!" Chat said running over.
"Chat! Mind your manners!" Ladybug scolded him, she had the Quizzer pinned down, now all they had to do was find where the Akuma was.
"Oh please, it's not like he's going to remember this." Chat said, Ladybug rolled her eyes at him. "Any guesses on where the Akuma is?"
"You'll never find it!" The Quizzer screeched.
"It's right there," Ladybug said, pointing to a badge around the Quizzers' neck that did not match the rest of his outfit at all.
"Nice work LB." Chat said. "Cataclysm!"
Chat destroyed the badge allowing the Akuma to escape. Ladybug quickly caught the butterfly, and the Quizzer turned into a confused school teacher.
"What happened? Chat Noir? Ladybug? Oh no! Was I...?" The teacher asked, shocked.
"Yes, you were akumatized." Ladybug said gently.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" He said looking around to see the havoc he had caused.
"It's all good, not a paw-blem." Chat said and winked. "Bugaboo." Chat said, handing her the roll of wrapping paper that she had dropped during the fight.
"Don't call me that." Ladybug said. "Miraculous Ladybug!"
She threw the roll into the air and the street blocks that had been destroyed just moments before went back to their previous state.
Ladybug's earrings started to beep. "Shoot! Can you help Mr...?"
"Allard." The man said, smiling.
"Can you help Mr. Allard get home?" Ladybug asked.
"Anything for you my lady!" Chat said with a cheery smile, Ladybug's earrings beeped again, "you should get going."
"Thanks, Chat. Bug out!" Ladybug said before wrapping her yo-yo around the nearest building and swinging back home.

A/N- okay so this chapter is a little longer than they usually are but it's because I finally know where this story is going so I'm trying to move the plot along a little bit. Anyways please vote and comment if you like the story it really helps motivate me to write more! Thank you so much!
Love y'all!

Words- 2,200