***
Time seemed to slow down for a moment. Chat's eyes narrowed at Marinette. Marinette stared at the cellphone in Chat's hand.
Chat kept his eyes fixed on her face.
He had no idea why he was feeling this upset. This girl…Well, he knew almost nothing about her.
He didn't understand why he felt that small pang in his gut, and he couldn't comprehend why he felt the urge to find this Nathaniel boy and rip his throat out.
But that's precisely what he wanted to do.
He wanted to make the redhead writhe in pain. He wanted to end him. He wanted him to be far, far away from Marinette. Maybe ten feet under…
"Give that back! It's MINE!" She huffed.
"I can think of a lot of things that are mine too, princess." He said coyly.
"Char Noir I really need to take that phone call, please it's important!" She said exasperatedly.
Chat raised a brow at her as she jumped up, trying to grab her phone.
"What could be so important that you would be willing to take the call in front of a supervillain?"
"Geez I don't know, perhaps new guards for my window?"
Chat raised a brow.
"Why does that involve flame-head over here?"
"His cousin is a woodcutter, the only one in Paris with a decent price.I'm going to have to nail it over my window because you broke them,and if my parents find out that I'm purchasing metal guards for an obscene amount of money they're going to come home to see if something is wrong which means that I ruined their wedding anniversary trip and they're going to come back a month early from Thailand and everything will be ruined!..And he's not a flame head you stray."
The phone continued to ring insistently.
Chat looked at the phone in annoyance.
He swiped the screen, rejecting the call.
Marinette groaned. "What the heck!"She yelled, infuriated.
Chat suddenly trapped her between his body and the wall.
"Now however would I get in if you planked your windows up?" He asked, tilting her head up.
"I think the point is that you don't get in." She said curtly, feeling his muscles on her chest.
"Awww how cute,princess is mad that I rejected her boyfriend's call."He mocked.
She pursed her rosy lips, and his eyes flickered to them for the slightest second before he caught himself.
"Why are you here?"She asked.
"Meowch, is my presence unwanted?"
"Yes,it isn't."
"That's a shame, 'cause I'm not going anywhere. A whole month without adults?Sounds like kitty paradise."He smirked.
Marinette's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't inviting you here."
"And I wasn't asking for your permission." He purred out pushing away from the wall.
Marinette frowned at him.
"I take it you realize that you're going to have to identify the man who attempted to rape you yesterday night."He said and she flinched at the words, after a while she nodded.
"Good, so when you go there you're only allowed to say certain things. Sit." He said, suddenly grabbing her hand and pulling her over to her chaise.
"One, you will tell the full truth, except the part about me removing your guards-"
"Why?" She interrupted.
"Because then you would have new guards fitted. And then I can't get in."
"And why don't we want that?" She asked.
"Because then if you lock me out I will just cataclysm them again, or I could attack your friends. So you say he snuck in through your open trapdoor." She blinked, and huffed he dodged the question.
"Then you also tell them that we haven't spoken and we haven't had any contact with each other after the incident." He continued.
"Why?"
"Because they'll stakeout the place if you said you did and that wouldn't be very pleasant." Chat said pointedly, Marinette nodded dumbly.
"When giving the account, you say chloroform does not work on me."
"But that guy could state otherwise-"
"I'll deal with him." He said with an elegant wave of a hand before continuing.
"Then if they ask any questions about me, say that you don't know anything about me at all."
" I really don't know anything." She said with a shrug.
Chat turned to her, pausing from his pacing. He was quiet for a moment, lost in his thoughts. He closed his eyes, exhaled, and let a slow and heartbreakingly sad smile slip onto his face.
"There really isn't anything worth knowing."
Marinette couldn't help herself.
She understood that Chat Noir was an insufferable, annoying, creepy yet sometimes helpful villain. She expected him to be obnoxiously full of himself.
…but…
For one to acknowledge themselves as something not worth knowing, well, that meant that perhaps Chat was just like everyone else; insecure.
This meant that- like the rest of us- he was vulnerable and utterly human.
And sad.
"Why do you think that?" She blurted.
Chat paused again.
"Why do you ask so many 'Why' questions?" He asked, tilting his head.
"Why are you avoiding the question?"She asked, crossing her arms.
"Why are you so curious?"He asked, crossing his arms too.
"Why can't you give a straightforward answer?"
"Because there is no straightforward answer to it?"He said plainly.
"I don't understand." She said.
He stared at her.
"You must be incredibly dumb or extremely brave to try and get a conversation about ME out of me. I'm a sick person, that's all you need to know."He said.
"What extent of sick, you mean like demented?"
Chat blinked at her.
"You ask a lot of questions, princess. You do know that curiosity killed the cat?" He purred out.
"Yes, well… Satisfaction brought it back didn't it?"
Chat pursed his lips.
"Don't think I don't know what you're doing. You want information from me just so you can rat me out to the police." He hissed stooping low to be level with her face.
Marinette blinked.
"No, I don't plan to do that at all. I just wanted to know why you think so lowly of yourself."
Chat's eyes flashed.
"I don't think lowly of myself, I think I'm pretty amazing. "Chat said with a smirk,she could feel his cool breath on her face.
"And how about when you're not in this Chat suit? You can't expect me to believe you're Chat Noir 24/7."
Chat stepped back.
"Listen Princess, I'm just here to tell you what to tell the police. Don't make this visit about me."
"Marinette."
"What?"
"My name is Marinette, not Princess."She said, not knowing why she was giving out personal details to a criminal.
"Marinette." He said, testing the name.
She gave him a small smile, and he blinked, wondering if he was imagining that smile. A genuine smile directed at him…
"That's a beautiful name, my lady." He said, hardly containing the smile that crept onto his ethereal features. What was he doing?
"I'm Chat Noir, but you can call me Chat." He said, picking up her hand and planting a kiss on it, marveling at its velvety texture
Marinette scratched her neck and withdrew her hand, her mind going a million miles a minute. Here was a man, who was most certainly no younger than she was, sad and strange. She briefly wondered what triggered the man to become a villain. There was always a reason. Chat Noir must have experienced something that ruined his outlook on life. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. And something in her felt the need to help him, save him from what he'd become.
Suddenly, her phone began to ring in Chat's hand. Chat looked at it and rolled his eyes.
"Persistent boyfriend you got here, princess." He said, glaring at the picture of the two. He watched the phone ring for a moment, and his eyes flickered to Marinette who sat quietly on the chaise, too tired to even banter about Chat calling Nath her boyfriend.
He sighed, cursing his feelings. Slowly, he extended his arm and handed her the phone. She stared at the phone and then at his face in bewilderment. She gently took it from him and swiped her finger across the screen.
Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, and she prayed to God that she didn't regret doing this…
"Hey,Nath?..Yes, I'm okay. Uh-huh. Yeah. No no no, actually, I changed my mind…Yeah, I urm, realized that my wardrobe does the job just fine... Not insane...Awww, thank you …Yes, you are the best friend ever, you know that right?I-uh-gotta go! I have to sleep early to bake some stuff for the bakery they're coming back in 32 days, I have to watch the bakery till they get back, I can handle it, they hired an assistant for the days I'm at campus, you too, byeeeeeee."
The call ended and she stared up at the kitty.
"Best friend ever? That's harsh." He said with a chuckle.
"You were saying?" She said, changing the subject.
Chat frowned. "What was your motive for doing that?" he asked.
"Not getting the wood?"
Chat nodded.
Marinette looked to the ground as if it held an answer. Eventually, she looked back at him.
"However will you get in if I do?" She said.
His eyes widened. Her eyes widened. They stared at each other with widened eyes.
"Is that an invitation?" He asked.
"…Perhaps it is."
They were quiet for a moment.
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand, princess. Why would you do something that could possibly endanger your life? What's your reason?"He asked.
But she didn't know. Not only was it stupid and dangerous, but these weird things only ever happened in movies and cartoons. No person in the right state of mind would be so naïve and moronic. However, something inside her was throwing itself towards Chat's cause. She knew there was more to his story than what met her eyes, or anyone's eyes for the matter. She could fix him…Possibly…Maybe…Hopefully? It was a long-shot, but she was always up for a challenge.
"I don't know, perhaps I get bored, and you don't scare me at all." She said.
"And why is that?" He asked coming to crouch in front of her.
"You're just as lost as everyone else…And I always had a soft spot for strays."
He laughed at her side comment, and studied her kind face, it was strange to have someone genuinely look at him like that, with care. Honestly, he liked it very much.
He thought about what she said. It sounded sincere, but he made a mental note to proceed with caution.
"Okay then, Marinette… You've got yourself a stray cat."
She smiled lightly.
"Awesome." She said.
He stood. "You should go to bed." He said.
"What? It's only 8:30!"
"You have to be at the station at 7 a.m sharp." He pointed out and she groaned.
"I have a knack for being late."She said.
"Don't put it past me to drag you by the ankle out of bed tomorrow morning."He said, suddenly picking her up, ignoring her squeak and carrying her to her bed.
Afterward, he jumped down and sat on her chaise.
"Wait, are you going to be staying here? Like in my room?"She asked in horror.
What had she gotten herself into?
"If I leave you can be sure that someone will try to get in. The wardrobe really can't keep criminals out, you know."
She blinked.
He was right. But this was weird.
"Relax, I'm not going to attack you in your sleep." He said, sitting on the chaise daintily.
She blushed and stuck her head underneath the blanket.
"Hey princess, you wouldn't happen to have some Camembert would you?"
"There's a couple of wheels in the kitchen, knock yourself out."
"Wouldn't you like that." He said sarcastically.
Marinette closed her eyes. Her life really did not seem realistic in the slightest. Villains don't just camp with civilians. Civilians don't just offer villains cheese. Everything was so wrong and she didn't know whether to be frightened or excited.
"You should be asleep." A feline voice said from above her.
Or asleep.