"Hi, Marinette."
Marinette Dupain-Cheng's fight or flight immediately kicked, recognizing the voice of the boy standing behind her.
"Uh, what?" 'okay that was kinda harsh' She turned to face him as the last of the students trickled out of the schoolroom.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You seem upset." He said.
"Well yeah, I woke up late and barely made it here on time and was not ready to talk to you." She said rolling her eyes, slightly annoyed at the dumb statement.
"Do you want me to leave or something?" He put his hand on the back of his neck nervously.
"Well I didn't say that but not everyone wants to talk to you all the time." She got defensive, a bit of a survival tactic if you asked her.
"Well then what do you want me to do?" He seemed frustrated. Marinette needed to get out of this situation.
"I want you to stop asking me questions and leave me alone." She spoke a bit louder this time hoping to get her point across without being too confrontational or rude. She wasn't taking her chances. She needed to get out of here. Marinette didn't want a repeat of history. She rushed out of the room leaving a confused and slightly mad Adrien.
--:-:--
"She did what?!" Nino yelled over the phone.
"She got mad at me and I don't know why. I'm so confused. All I did was ask her if she was okay." Adrien explained.
"I'll try to talk to her later. She doesn't have the best experience with people in any kind of power so she tends to avoid them." Nino explained.
"What happened?" Adrien asked.
"That's not my story to tell. If you ever get to have a conversation with her then maybe she'll tell you."
"Well alright thanks for telling me. I'll talk to you later then. Bye Nino."
"Bye dude see you later." And with that Nino hung up the phone.
What could possibly have happened to Marinette for her to be that hostile towards those kinds of people? It was a really stupid fear. It seemed like nowadays Adrien had more questions in her head than answers. It was frustrating. Maybe she could talk to Ladybug about it later. She was her only other friend other than Chloé and Nino of course.
Speaking of Ladybug. She and Adrien decided to set a patrol time every few nights. Just to make sure everything in Paris is well and there are no hidden akumas. Adrien thought it was a smart idea you never know what's gonna happen. Better safe than sorry they say. They set the patrol time to 10pm. That way it would seem as if Adrien was already asleep and no one would bother her. Another smart idea this time on her part.
--:-:--
"-yeah but waterparks have more rides," Marinette stated strongly, attempting to make a convincing argument.
"But you're missing the point Mari, there are so many people that you end up standing in line for HOURS before you even get on one," Nino argued back making a stronger point.
"Fine, fine you win. How did we even get on this topic again?" The two had been talking for a few hours now on a bench at the park because Nino said he had something to ask her.
"I have no idea honestly but I won the argument so you gotta buy."
"Oh come on! That's a cheap trick and you know it."
"Yeah, well come on let's go." He tried dragging her over to Andre's stand.
"Why me though? Why can't you pay?"
Nino stopped dragging her for a few seconds to answer her question. "Well first off you lost the debate and second you have more money than me. I mean come on your family owns a bakery. I'm literally an orphan. Donate to the orphans Mari, they need food too."
She gave him an unamused look. "Fine but your paying next time whether you win or not." She walked up to the stand, hearing Andre's usual ice cream jingle.
"Hey, Andre." She waved with an awkward smile.
"Oh, Miss Marinette are you here for some sweethearts ice cream?"
Marinette shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Uh yeah just for me and my friend over there." She said, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder.
Marinette watched as Andre worked his magic. She had always wondered how this legend worked. In theory, it doesn't make sense but in practice is another story. She'd always had the same flavors, mint chocolate chip, and peach. She'd never meet anyway by that description till Chat Noire. Maybe that's why she was so drawn to her.
The girl took a second to just breathe. She listened to the soft whistles of the warm early fall wind zip by. Feeling hair on her face because of it. She could hear birds chirping softly which was strange but welcomed. She opened her eyes looking down at the Seine. Looking at the slow laps of the waves covering the unknown of the river. The sunset at the time added a nice glow to everything. It kind of reminded her of- 'wait what was it that I was gonna say again? What does this glow remind me of?'
"-nette! Marinette! You alive over?" Andre was waving his hand over, trying to get her attention.
"I'm so sorry Andre. I completely spaced." She went into her bag to get some money her parents had given her earlier for lunch that's she ended up not using. "Um, here you go."
"It looks like you are a few euros short but it's fine. You can take it anyway. I can see love coming your way soon and for your friend over there too. I wish you both the best of luck." He smiled down at her.
"Why thank you, Andre." She smiled back at him before grabbing both cones and making her way over back to Nino. Not before taking a quick glance at his ice cream though. 'Chocolate and pralines?' and odd pair indeed.
--:-:--
Ladybug touched down at their agreed-upon rendezvous spot. It was one of the semi-high levels of the Eiffel Tower. She figured Chat Noire would've been here by now. Checking the time she found it was 10:15. They agreed at 10:00. 'Hopefully, nothing happened' They had set it that late to avoid run-ins with anyone that needed either of them. Ladybug once again was spaced out when a sudden noise behind her startled her.
"Well hello again." Chat Noire said. All Ladybugs wanted to do was hug her.
"Uh Hi. So how are we gonna do this thing." She had her hands in front of her a bit awkwardly.
"I mean I thought you already had a plan. You usually have plans for everything." She explained
In truth, Marinette had been thinking more about her partner than her job. "Okay, this is fine. You take the east side and I'll take the west, easy. Done deal." She gave a thumbs up with her plan, avoiding eye contact.
"Sounds good let's get going." Chat Noire jumped off the tower heading for the east side of Paris. She was slowly getting used to the heights this job requires. Maybe this thing did have some advantages. Truth be told there were a lot more advantages she could think of. Being transformed, having a new friend, and being able to go out. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't as bad as she thought previously.
After a while Chat Noire arrived back at the level of the tower, settling down on the edge waiting for Ladybug to be back so they could discuss anything suspicious. She leaned back on her hands enjoying the slightly crisp chill when she heard feet meet the metal of the tower behind her. She looked back and saw Ladybug walking up to her.
"Your back earlier than expected." Ladybug chided.
"Well yeah, I didn't find anything on my side." Chat Noire looked back down at Paris.
"Me neither." She spoke sitting down next to her.
Silence.
They both shifted a bit looking down at the city of love as labeled.
"So... what ice cream flavors do you get at Andre's?" Ladybug asked.
Chat burst out laughing. "That was so random–" She continued laughing for a minute before being able to answer the question albeit out of breath. "–but I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ladybug look bewildered. "What? How!? Everyone's been there." Chat noticed she talked with her hands a lot. She was very expressive.
"You're back at it with those assumptions again and I was very sheltered LB. When I tell you I didn't do anything, I mean anything." Adrien wished more than anything that she knew what Ladybug was talking about. She wanted to have a normal life.
"I'm sorry. Maybe we can go sometime. it'd be interesting to see what your flavors are."
"What is this about flavors? I'm confused." She gave her a befuddled smile.
"Okay, okay let me explain. So there's this ice cream man named Andre. He moves his cart around every day and when you find it he's gives you ice cream that matches your soulmate." She explained.
"That sounds like a movie thing. How do you know that's accurate?"
"Well Ms. Skeptic, my parent's flavors match each other and they say whoever eats at Andre's together stays together and they've been married for years."
A thought popped in Adrien's head and a sly smile crossed her face. "Didn't you say you wanted to go with me? You gotta crush already?"
Ladybug started blushing at the implications of what she was saying then she punch her arm. "No omg! I meant as friends obviously. What do you wanna go with me or something?" She decided to throw the logic back in her face.
"I mean if you insist Bug." She looked over at Ladybug to find her head buried in her hands. There was some slight redness of the ears giving the blush away anyway. It made Chat Noire laugh a bit.
"Omg... That's not what I meant and you know it." She rubbed her eyes a bit maybe out of exhaustion or embarrassment. Probably both.
"I know. I'm kidding..."
Ladybug looked over at her partner wondering why she had just gone silent and found that she looked like she hearing something. "Hey what's wrong?"
Suddenly Chat Noire stood up and grabbed her hand. "Follow me." They went down a few levels of the tower until Ladybug started hearing music. Where from? She had no idea.
"Do you hear that?" Chat asked.
"The music?"
"You do. Let's dance." She suggested.
"Wait I can't dance. Like I'm so bad at it. It's embarrassing."
"Well then follow my lead." She said holding out a hand to Ladybug.
--:-:--
Chat Noire had no idea what possessed her to start flirting with her partner but she did and now they were dancing near the base of the tower. The dancing was casual with giggles and laughs filling the air as feet were stepped on and trips were made. Ladybug wasn't wrong. Her dancing was terrible but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were having fun.
Chat completely forgot about all her worries and responsibilities. All that mattered was the here and now. The reality of dancing with someone in the dark of the night with soft glows of the light on their faces and soft glows in their hearts and she couldn't be happier than she was right now. But that happiness couldn't last forever.
She had to go back to her house.
Chat Noire stopped dancing. "Hey LB, I gotta go home." She said.
"Aw that's too bad we could have danced more." She gave a pout shoving her a little playfully. "Maybe another time."
And maybe it was the overdose of serotonin or the high of confidence that made this decision for her before she could think about it but Chat reached up a bit kissing her lightly on the cheek. When she realized what she did she quickly yelled a goodbye and went running off in the cold night. 'why the fuck did I do that?'
She arrived back at her house and found someone already there, sitting on her bed, waiting for her.
Nathalie.
--:-:--
Word Count: 2172
A/N 2/11
AHHHHH This was also so exciting to write I absolutely adore dance scenes and really wanted one in this book. Also, some nice interesting cliffhangers don't you think. This is also probably one of my longest chapters damn.
A/N 4/5
So um this is definitely not my longest chapter in hindsight but whatever I was excited and I still love dance scenes 💅 Also I feel like the pacing for this chapter is really weird. Forgot to run this chap through Grammarly, hopefully, there aren't too many mistakes
I can't wait for yall to read chapter 8 😏
-Ray