Chat woke up around five. It was Thursday, and still dark out. He yawned and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. A small hand held comfortably on his face made him aware of the young woman asleep on the floor, with her head against the chaise. He sat up, aware that he was still holding her hand. Tilting his head, he took in her sleeping face.
"Silly Princess, sleeping on the floor isn't healthy." He said softly, gracefully standing up and slipping his arms around her delicately sleeping frame. Her head lay on his chest and he walked slowly to her ladder, choosing to carry her to her bed slowly instead of just jumping into the loft and waking her. He shifted her a bit before drawing back her covers and placing her underneath them.
He covered her up and stood back, watching her sleep. He was quite aware that it was a creepy thing for him to be doing.
He was also quite aware that he didn't feel like stopping, and that he had no intention of doing so. He glanced at the phone lying next to her pillow.
He picked it up with a curious expression, wanting to look through her conversations. He mentally berated himself.
No, he couldn't do that. Invading her room was one thing, going through her personal conversations was another.
He did however, change her alarm time from 6 a.m, to 6 p.m , so that when she wondered why her alarm had not sounded, she'd see her mistake.
Chat recalled what Chloe said, and if that thing planned on making Marinette's pants rip, she would be sorely disappointed. He smirked to himself.
But he wouldn't be, he had a plan. Last night, he recorded those men…He could broadcast it on Live TV…It would ruin her…But that was one recording…So how much more would multiple recordings do?
He had never thought to record Chloe blackmailing him over the phone.
His reasoning was completely simple.
Fear of her finding out.
It was stupid, but if you were in the situation, you would understand how terryfing just the thought of being caught was.
Oh, but as Chat Noir?
It could be possible, but how would Chat Noir record something that Chloe said to Adrien when HE was Adrien?
But even if he couldn't get a confession from her…He could get her a sentence for her crimes against Marinette…
It was something, he would take it.
If Paris knew how conniving she really was, maybe they wouldn't love her as much as she said they did…
He knelt on the floor next to Marinette's bed, resting an arm on her bed and laying his head on it. Today was his photo-shoot, and afterwards he had the Ravensburg Fashion Show to model for,that would only end around 8 in the evening. There would be maximum security at the event and slinking out as Chat wasn't an option. He would be expected to stay for the after party which ended at 12, but if he didn't leave then he wouldn't be able to see Marinette(Awake, that is).
He sighed. Couldn't he just… ditch the photo-shoot and say he got attacked by Chat Noir or something?..
He groaned. If he did that then the news would reach his father and it would be the end of his independence.
Chat stood up and retrieved his plushies before sitting at the bottom of Marinette's bed. For a while he just stared at them, with a final glance at the sleeping woman, he began to play with the plushies.
"Hi Marinette. I'm Chat Noir." He said, holding the Chat plushy.
"Hi Chat Noir! *Gasp* How did you know my name?" He mimicked Marinette's voice, bringing Marinette's plush hands to her plush face in shock.
"I found it! Nyaaa haa haa haa!"He made the Chat plush say, before making hopping motions with the Plush to the Marinette plush.
"Where?" Marinette plush asked.
"In your…Diary!Nyaaaa haaa ha haa,NYAAA HA HA HA!"He said as the Chat plush.
Plushy Marinette growls, and Chat dropped the mini Chat to place the plush pan in Marinette's plush hands.
"How dare you! Come here you alley cat!" He squeaked in Marinette's voice.
He made the Marinette plushy chase his one, she eventually threw the pan at the mini chat, Chat dropped mini chat(Plushy Chat) on the bed.
"Oh princess, you wound me!" He said, making his plush grab its chest.
"I'm sorry chaton, have some quiche!" He made Marinette say.
"Chump chump chump!" He said, smashing the quiche plush in the face of mini Chat.
"You must be tired now." Marinette plushy said.
"Indeed I am, princess, but before I sleep, I want something from you."
"Ohhhh, whats that?" Marinette plushy says hopping closer.
He brings the plushies millimeters apart, and their faces are almost touching.
He glances at each of the plushies, deviously.
A small smirk formed on his immaculate face.
"…More quiche." He whispered, and Marinette plushy jumps back in embarrassment.
"Mangy cat!" She said, or rather Chat said in Marinette's voice, chasing mini Chat with her pan, but suddenly Mini Chat turned, causing the Marinette plushy to drop her pan and almost fall.
Chat made mini chat catch her.
"Oh Chat, thank you for catching me." Marinette plushy squeaked out.
"It's no problem, princess."
"However shall I thank you?" Marinette plushy says as she looks at mini chat.
"Hmmm…"Mini Chat humms.
Chat stared at the plushies for a second, and suddenly, barely registering what he was doing, he smooshed the plushies faces together in a kiss.
Horror crept into his eyes, and he froze at what he he'd done.
"Urmm…"Real Marinette said.
Chat looked up, mortified, the plushies still in a kissing position.
Marinette barely realized what was happening…But Chat didn't know that.
"Errr…I swear this is not what it looks like."Chat said upon seeing the awake woman that he'd thought was asleep.
Marinette blinked.
"I was just playing with them." He explained.
"And one thing led to another." He said as a blazing red blush covered his face.
Marinette still didn't know what he was saying, she was not really awake yet.
Chat looked down at the two still connected plushies and he hastily ripped them from each other.
Marinette yawned.
"Silly chaton."She said and flopped down onto her pillow once more.
Chat sighed in relief.
The red blush on his face remained, and he glared at the Chat plush, as if it were the one to initiate contact with Mini Marinette.
He sighed, picking up mini Chat.
No, mini Chat was innocent, it was him that was the freak of nature.
What was he thinking?
He looked at Marinette's clock, it was now 6:15.
He needed to get home and get ready for the photo-shoot and then the Ravensburg Fashion Show. He was one of the fifty famous Catwalk model's asked to model for the five Collections that Anton Ravensburg would be releasing this evening.
Catwalk…Oh the irony.
Chat walked around Marinette's bed and again knelt on the floor next to it at her head-side.
He quietly watched her sleep once more. He smiled fondly at his first real friend as she turned towards him in her sleep. Some of her hair had gotten into her mouth, he pulled it out and brushed it out of her beautiful face.
His hand lingered for a moment before the rational part of his brain forced him to draw his hand away from his Princess.
Chat stood up and jumped down from the loft, ripped a memo page from the pad and wrote down a note in his elegant writing:
'Goodmorning, Princess. I hope you had a lovely sleep. I had to leave a bit early because I have some business to attend to, and a fashion show I have to model in this evening. Anyway, a few days ago I overheard a few guys say that they were asked to attack you, and yesterday I heard that someone would try to 'get you' today… Be careful, don't disregard your safety, or I might as well kill you myself.
Claws out, Princess.'
He jumped back up to her loft and stuck the note to her phone.
He contemplated something for a few seconds before eventually leaning down, brushing some of her hair away from her forehead, and pressing a gentle kiss to it.
It was a normal thing to do. He remembered his mother doing it every day when she was around…
He retrieved his plushies, climbed out the trapdoor, and locked it. It was still fairly dark out, and the wind was cold. He took a deep breath, let the air bite his skin for the slightest of seconds, and then he was gone.
Several hours later, Chat lay in the backseat of his limo, returning from the Ravensburg photo-shoot. He needed to go home, shower, and return for the fashion show as he was one of the runway models, but that was an understatement…
He was the 'first-out' for collection 5.
That meant he would be the main face of collection 5, which was -according to Anton Ravensburg- his favourite one.
He had been told that the Martin twins, Cassio and Leo Martin were usually the main faces of the Ravensburg collection, and though not as much adored and Universally recognized as Adrien was, the twins were loved by most of Paris, and were extremely handsome.
They would be the faces of collections 1 and 2.
A man named Dominique Lestrange would be main-face for collection 3.
Collection 4 would be covered by Blaise Mendes.
The 45 or so other models were not as famous as the five but were quite dashing and well-known in their own right.
He rubbed his eye. It really itched, some make-up had gotten into it earlier, and now his eye was slightly red.
He groaned, a make-up artist and one of his father's apprentices would be arriving at his house to do his make-up and hide the black eye as well as give him the outfit Gabriel wanted him to wear so that he would look immaculate once more when he stepped out of his limo.
Adrien showered when he got home, and walked into his room, glancing at the plushies that lay on the bed. He smiled, got dressed and waited for the make-up artist to touch up his face. Hopefully, Marinette was okay. If he found out someone had attacked his friend, there would be hell to pay.
After the long drive to the Fashion show, they arrived to find thousands of screaming fans.
To see one model was one thing, but to see five highly esteemed ones and 45 other really handsome ones had sent the fans into a craze.
He noted the 4 other limos, each parked as designated locations.
His eyes widened suddenly as he noted the 200 or so men in bullet proof vests carrying large guns.
Even as Chat Noir, that would be tricky to escape from.
Another 250 men were pushing back the fans with large plastic shields. Adrien raised a brow.
He was surprised that so many people were jeopardizing their lives by waiting outside a fashion show that they would never get into, right before crime time began.
He shook his head. So Marinette wasn't the only one who was uninterested with her safety…
He looked at his driver, and his assistant who was carrying everything Adrien may possibly need for the after-party.
"I'm going to leave with a few of the other models after the after-party, don't wait for me." He said.
They nodded.
A message popped up on his phone. It was time to step onto the red carpet that Anton (Ravensburg) thought would be fun to set out.
His assistant opened the door, and the deafening roar of the fans pierced the air.
He fought the urge to block his ears, as he smiled and waved to them. He glanced to his sides and found that he and the four other famous men, were making their way into the building together. At the entrance, they all turned, and got ready to pose. They were all wearing the designer clothing of the fashion lines that they were actually full-time models for. Adrien stood at the center. They were each given a particular pose to do, and since Anton asked so nicely a week prior to the event, they all obliged.
Adrien's outfit included Gabriel's custom made designer baby-seal boots, a rich maroon pants that had purposely been designed to hang below his waist at the front, but cling to his behind, and a button down white dress shirt – With the sleeves rolled up just below his elbow- that had the first few buttons open, exposing his tanned chest and his six-pack. His hair looked very similar to Chat Noir's but more messed up and his lips (and every other model's lips) had been coated in matte black(Another request of Anton that made all the models sigh once they heard about it). A black string necklace with a green emerald at the center hung around his neck. He didn't need to use the glasses as the artist had covered the bruise up brilliantly.
He groaned knowing what he had to do. Why did he always get the overly seductive pose?
He brought his elegant index finger to his mouth and slipped it between his right canines, bit down and plastered a playful, seductive look to his face, his other hand drifted down to the bottom of his dress shirt, and hoisted it quite high up, exposing his deep V-line ,and even more of his toned abdomen and perfectly tanned skin.
Camera's flashed wildly and the crowd grew even louder, the boys turned, entered the building and went to their respective dressing rooms without another word. They all knew that though they were devilishly handsome, they would never be as perfect as Adrien was, and they despised him for it.
Adrien hardly noticed though as he made his way to the dressing room, his mind heavily occupied with thoughts of Marinette.
What if she thought he was weird after she saw him making their plushies kiss?
She hadn't reacted badly, but still…
And he had a really horrible feeling in his gut that something bad was going to go down today…
There was still an hour before the show began, and since he was modeling Collection 5, he had at least 2 and a half hours to relax.
He slipped out of his private dressing room and walked backstage. He looked around at all the normal models and curiously watched as heavy make-up and designs were plastered on their faces.
It was common knowledge that the Agreste heir did NOT use heavy make-up, lipstick, eyeliner and mascara were fine for him, concealer was used once in a while, but he did not make a habit of it, mostly because Gabriel loved telling people that his son was perfect and had no use for make-up which annoyed Adrien to no ends as he had nothing against the cosmetics that helped so many people out there in all aspects of life.
He ran a hand through his soft hair, and turned to the wardrobe selection, but what caught his attention wasn't the selection, it was the bluenette in the Emerald-green, mermaid, lace evening dress with lacy long sleeves, her shoulders were bare and the lacy emerald sleeves started from her underarm and clung to her arms as if painted on. She looked so beautiful with her silky hair up in a loose updo with tendrils hanging around her face, and little green flowers adorning her hair.
He blinked at the young woman whom he had seen just this morning.
She really was the true definition of a princess.
She looked up.
"Adrien!" She greeted cheerfully and it took him a while to remember that his name was Adrien.
"Marinette." He said with a smile.
"Nice pose out there." She giggled and he groaned.
"Fan-service, the downside of being a model."He said, scratching the back of his head.
"It can't be that bad…"She said.
Adrien raised a brow and re-enacted the pose.
Marinette's eyes widened.
"Now, please tell me why they want to see me bite myself?" He asked with his finger still in his mouth.
Marinette turned red.
"I have no idea." She laughed out a little nervously.
Adrien dropped his pose.
"So what brings you here?" Adrien asked.
"Your dad actually, he said he'd like to give me a scholarship and he gave me a few tickets and backstage passes to witness what the fashion industry and events look like up close."
Adrien blinked in shock.
His…dad?
"You barely need it, judging from what you're wearing, you have fashion in the bag. Versace?"
Marinette smiled.
"No,MDC."She said.
"MDC? How have I never heard of it?" He asked, even more shocked.
"That's because I haven't launched it yet, silly." She laughed.
It takes him a moment to realize what she meant.
"You made this?" He asked in awe.
"Yup!" She said, twirling.
She grinned at him. "Wow…That's amazing." He said.
"Thank you." She said before staring at something on his face...
"So they do have to do their eyebrows." She said to herself. He caught her words but chose not to comment, knowing she's making reference to Chat Noirs perfect brows.
"Say, Adrien, pal, my buddy who I accidentally bruised, could I ask you some stuff?"
"Stuff?" He asked with a raised brow.
"Nothing bad. Just to ease my curiosity, pleaaaaaseee!"She said and gave him the most innocent grin. He smiled, well with a face like that, how could he say no?
"Go ahead." He said, walking to his private dressing room. Marinette trotted behind happily. He sighed again,she barely knew him but still decided to follow him to a secluded place. This woman would be the death of him.
They entered the room and he sat on a leather sofa while she sat on a chair and pressed a button on her phone.
"Can I record you?"
"Urm, yeah." He said.
"Okay, so I recently made a model friend, he looks about your size, and he told me that models have a specific diet. He visits a lot, so I figured that maybe if I knew what he could eat, I won't mess up by cooking something that he can't. Could you please tell me what kind of food your diet includes?"
He heard Plagg snicker.
Adrien blinked.
She was researching just so that she could cook for Chat… he hadn't asked her to…But she was doing it regardless…
Marinette really was different.
Adrien thought for a moment.
"Mostly light foods, processed foods are a NO, fruits are fine, avocados are slightly fattening in my case so I wouldn't recommend it…"and their conversation continued till Adrien had poured out every bit of information he knew.
Marinette left the room when the show started, thanking him profusely, but Adrien stayed in the room, smiling.
Plagg flew out.
"Thoughtful girl." Plagg said. Adrien looked at him.
"She's such a wonderful person." He said to his kwami.
Plagg nodded.
Adrien sighed, "Do I deserve to be treated this kindly?" He asked,his voice dipping timidly.
Plagg sighed.
"Kid, just because Chloe states otherwise, it doesn't mean that you don't deserve happiness. It doesn't mean that someone can't care about you." He said.
Adrien smiled, it was a beautiful yet broken smile, but if you looked close enough, it was also hopeful.
"Thanks Plagg." He said, standing.
"Now go out there and cut the cheese." Plagg said.
Adrien looked at him in disgust.
"What, isn't 'break a leg' and 'cut the cheese' similar?" He asked the blonde.
"No Plagg, no they aren't." Adrien said, bursting out into bouts of laughter, and exiting the room with a smile.
Step,step,step,step,step,step,and stop.
Three second count till next pose.
Pose.
Three seconds.
Shift weight onto opposite leg.
Don't smile, the attention will be on the face and not the clothes if you smile.
Three seconds, pose.
One, two,three, turn.
Step,step,step,step,step,step, enter the backstage area and get into the next outfit.
Adrien was completely professional, every minute detail was thought of, and his entire persona, look,and very being screamed perfection.
It was common knowledge that no two models stride down the Catwalk the same way, it was also common knowledge that it was impossible to copy Adrien's graceful walk.
But if one looked close enough, they would see, that his walk wasn't something they hadn't seen before…for it was the exact walk that Chat Noir himself did.
Perfectly smooth.
Graceful and seductive.
Slow and teasing.
Long strides and perfect posture.
It's just that nobody looked close enough.
Finally, the models of collection five had completed their set, and he stood at the front as 'first-out'.
He walked to the front of the catwalk, as flawlessly as he had done before, and turned with the other nine models at his heels.
Thunderous applause was heard, and excited chattering began. On his way back, he dared to look down for a second to see his beautiful princess at the side of the catwalk, clapping and smiling excitedly.
He looked back up, fighting back his own smile.
Over the past few days it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so…
He stretched once he got backstage, took off his outfit and walked to his private dressing room while the other models went to their shared one.
He entered and flopped onto the couch.
"That was fun." Adrien said to Plagg who was swallowing Camembert.
"Also, now you don't have to sneak out to see Marinette, she's gonna be at the after-party."
"Hmmm…But it's really hard to find anyone in an after party. It's dark, and crowded, and the music is too loud." Adrien said with a frown.
"Don't worry kid, you'll find her. You always do, don't you?" Plagg reasoned .
"I guess you're right, Plagg. I'm going to shower." He said.
"Do you need to?"
"Yes, I don't like the feeling of glycerine all over me." Adrien said, rubbing at his shining skin.
"Well hurry, the after-party will start in the hall in just 30 minutes." Plagg drawled.
He looks pointedly at Adrien. "And you take at least 45 minutes in the shower."
Adrien gasped, Plagg was right. And his make-up artist still needed to cover his black eye.
By the time he was done with everything, it was 11 p.m.
Adrien sauntered through the reception area where many designers stood, sipping champagne and gushing over the five collections.
He pushed open the door to the hall and stepped into the dark, flashy, music-filled room.
The models were going berserk.
At least a hundred or so female models were there now, and he looked away when he caught a couple doing… something against a wall.
"Ewww." Plagg said.
"Shhhh." Adrien hushed the kwami.
He was not here to join the festivities. He was just here to stalk his princess.
Adrien walked calmly around and eventually through the crowd.
He couldn't see her anywhere.
If Chloe wanted to 'get' Marinette, this would most likely be the best place.
Just the thought of it left him with a pang in his gut and a horrible feeling in his chest.
No, Marinette would be fine, he would find her and everything would go smoothly.
Adrien growled, his height normally helped him when looking for someone, but in a room full of models who were about his height, it did nothing.
Adrien searched for half an hour to no avail.
He was beginning to think she left…But that couldn't be right, nobody was allowed to leave the premises till 24:00…
He eventually left the hall to get back into reception, or at least he thought he did.
Adrien looked around, he was in a large, cluttered room. Stacks of dressing room chairs piled all the way to the ceiling. Items from various fashion shows lay in titanic piles everywhere.
Adrien heard a few voices.
"-go to jail."
"No, she said she would take care of it."
"Take care of it? Are you hearing yourselves? Do you realize what you've just done?"
"Oh shut up Marcus, she's not dead."
Adrien's stomach plummeted.
"She might as well be. The client said ruff her up, scare her, not mutilate her." Someone hissed.
"Relaaaax, she'll survive, we just have to wait for the after party to finish and then we can leave her in front of a hospital."
"You guys are asses, think! She's bleeding really badly, you think she's going to even make it till midnight! You're idiots! All of you!"
"If you're too weak to stomach this then leave."
"Call me weak but at least I have humanity in me."A man said, storming out.
Adrien's hand covered his mouth as he fought to keep his breathing under control.
It could be anyone.
It could be anyone.
It could be anyone.
It wasn't Marinette.
It wasn't her.
It couldn't be her.
Anyone but her.
"Adrien, transform NOW. There isn't much time." Plagg said,eyes wide as if realising something.
Adrien shakily complied.
"Plagg, transform me."
In a flash of green light, he's Chat Noir. He stepped out from behind a pile and walks around the other piles till he sees three men, and a sack, a bumpy looking sack in a pool of blood.
Chat's nostrils flared and his eyes burnes as he looked at the men. Some part of him just knew...
"Chat Noir…"They all gasped in horror.
"What's in the bag?" He askee.
They looked at each other.
"I asked you a question." He hissed.
"We-we-w-we at-tack-k-ked some-someone." One stuttered out.
"A g-girl. We're so-sorry. We-we-we were ask-asked to frame you."
Chat's baton had automatically recorded the confession.
Chat closed his eyes, praying to God that his intuition was wrong.
"Is she in the bag?" He askes lowly. They nodded.
Urine ran down the leg of one of the men. He realised these men were models.
"Open the bag." He said.
"B-but-"
"I said open it!" Chat growled loudly.
They hastily grabbed the bag and removed the thick rope at the top.
They look at him briefly and empty the sack.
Along with the body flows a fountain of scarlet blood.
Whatever remained of his sanity came crashing down and his world crumbled as he watched the body of his first real friend tumble out, bloodied and cut up, stabbed and sliced.
"You…You did this?" He felt the need to vomit. "You hurt her and put her in a sack…"
He choked, noting the gaping hole gushing blood at her abdomen and that the slash marks that covered almost all of her skin were bleeding profusely.
"What did you do to her…"He whispered, as the body rolled a bit on the floor before stilling.
They all look at each other.
"YOU BASTARDS,WHAT DID YOU DO?" He shouted, dropping down beside the body and trying to understand what was happening. He touched her face and noted the deep gash across her porcelain skin.
He choked on what he didn't realise was a sob, and unknowingly tears began to stream down his face.
He didn't know what to do, he didn't know where else to check for wounds because the dress was soaked in absolutely every place, and he realised in horror that the wounds are probably everywhere.
Chloe did it. She got Marinette.
Blood oozed out of her mouth and her breathing sounded weak and almost non-existent. He looks at the men. If he gets his revenge now, Marinette would bleed out.
He clutched the body to his chest protectively and looked up at the men with eyes filled with deep hatred and anger.
"You think this is over, it's not. I'm going to find you after I save her," He said as tears continued to fall.
"-and I won't rest until I destroy each one of you." He said through gritted teeth, not caring if they realised that the girl in his arms was important to him, a supervillain.
He heard a small whimper and he looked down at the woman in his arms.
His time was running out.
"This is not over. I'll kill all of you bastards." He said again, picking her up and jumping out the window behind them.
He needed to get past the security, and fast.
He threw all caution to the wind at that point, deciding to extend his baton onto the road beyond the Fashion Exhibit and then make a run for it.
He did it, but as his feet touched the ground, a flurry of bullets began to shoot at him.
He spun his baton the best he could with one hand and ran as quickly as his legs allowed him to.
He was finally out of range of the exhibit and he held Marinette with both arms, now bridal style, picking up pace.
It was unreal.
"It's okay,Princess. You're okay."He said to the unconscious girl.
This was too cruel. Too brutal.
"You're going to be fine."He said, not trusting himself to look down at her ghostly white yet bloodied face.
It was savage.
It was wrong.
It was everything that Marinette was not.
Marinette was innocent. She was a good person. She never did anything to deserve this.
Chat ran in what he thought was the direction of the hospital when suddenly he detransformed.
"NO!" He yelled.
"Adrien wait-"
"Plagg, Trans-"
"Adrien listen to me-"
"She's dying Plagg, oh my God, Plagg sh-she's-I can't-She's-"
"ADRIEN LISTEN TO ME!" Plagg suddenly yelled at the distraught young man whose shirt was steadily becoming stained with the young woman's blood.
"I need you to follow me. We need to get to the guardian, now."Plagg said.
Adrien didn't understand, but he followed the speeding kwami to a dark place, not too far from his mansion and the bakery.
Plagg flew through the door, yells something to someone and suddenly the door flew open revealing a horrified old man.
He hastily grabbed Marinette and shut the door in Adrien's face.
Adrien sobs, his anxiety beginning to act up. Plagg suddenly flies out the door towards the mansion. Adrien slides down the door, beginning to temble and shake and he begins to sweat.
Plagg is back after a few moments, holding the Marinette plushy and her pan.
"No no no no no no no no, it's okay, she's going to be fine. Everything will be okay. The guardian has this under control."He said quickly.
He placed the plushies into Adrien's arms.
Adrien looks at the plushy, and clutches onto it as he rocked back and forth on the spot. Plagg settled into his chosen ones hair, not knowing what else to do.
Fu and Wayzz were specialized specifically in healing, and he knew that Marinette would come out without a scratch.
He just hoped Adrien would be able to hold himself together for three more hours.
Adrien gritted his teeth.He knew who was behind this.Oh , he knew alright.
She was going to pay dearly for this.
Abusing him was one thing. Hurting Marinette was another. To hell with loyalty.
That thing was going down.