When Ladybug Bugs Out

Nightlife

According to Thomas Astruc, Marinette has black hair and I will be sticking to that.

Chat Noir's POV

I smiled back. “That's how my Princess should look all the time.”

Suddenly, we heard a creaking sound make its way closer to Marinette's trapdoor. “Marinette?” called Mme. Dupain-Cheng.

Marinette hissed at me. “Hide!”

“Yes, Mom?” She called down while I hid in her closet.

Her mom poked her head through her door. “Dear, you cleaned out your pictures of that boy Adrien? Why? He was so nice.”

I felt silent tears streak down my face. Marinette was very lucky to have her mom.

Marinette said, “I just don't like him anymore.”

Her mom looked hard at her, then decided she was okay. “If you say, hon. How about you come downstairs? There are some cupcakes your father baked with your name on them!”

My Princess laughed. “Okay, mom. I'll be down in a minute, just have to put away my diary.”

“Alright, dear." Her mother withdrew downstairs.

Marinette flew to the closet, opening it to discover me wiping tears. “I - I'm sorry.” I choked. “Just… your house is so full of love… I haven't been a part of a family like that for a year.”

She sighed, and held her arms open. “Oh, Chat.” I hugged her tight, collecting myself.

When she spoke again, she was soft and gentle. "I'm going to go downstairs so my mom doesn't get suspicious. I'll be back as soon as I can." Squeezing me tight, she let go and went downstairs.

While I waited, I scampered over to her desk to take pictures of her homework on my baton. Retreating to the closet lest I be discovered, I did the homework electronically, proud at how this would cut down drastically on my homework time when I got back to the mansion.

I considered heading to the mansion when it reached around 20 minutes. What if she didn't come back?

Something kept me here, however. It felt like maybe this was a place I was supposed to be.

When I heard the sound of her feet pounding the stairs, I slunk out of the closet and into the shadows. When she climbed up into her bedroom, I grabbed her with one arm and covered her mouth with another. A muffled sound escaped her lips, but it soon stopped when she realised the hands holding her were covered with black material and tipped with claws. I let her go, and she giggled and chided, "Chat, don't do that next time!"

The next hours were spent laughing, chatting, having fun. We played video games, watched movies… I even suggested we play 20 Questions. Finally, Plagg began to yell at me. Adrien! This is an abuse of your powers, Tikki would've put an end to this a long time ago. You're lucky I didn't care until I got hungry for cheese. ‘B-but Plagg…’ I whined. Adrien, what you are doing here is nowhere near smart. What's smart is going home so I can eat Camembert or maybe never go beyond a professional level with Marinette as a saviour of Paris. ‘Plagg, just a LITTLE longer…’ I begged.

In response, he went silent as my Miraculous beeped. I looked down at my ring, shocked. I lost a pad. ‘Plagg!’

I reserve the right to force a timed transformation. His voice floated smugly across my mind. You have 10
5 minutes to say your goodbyes.

“Chat, doesn't that mean you're going to detransform? But you haven't used Cataclysm!"

I grimaced. “My kwami refuses to let me on these visits. I think I finally stretched his patience enough that he’s taking action.”

“Oh.” She looked down and tucked a lock of black hair behind her ear. “I guess you should get going then.”

I leapt onto her windowsill, landing on all fours. Perching there, I looked back. "Until the next, my Princess. Goodnight."

Blowing her a kiss, I leapt into the night.

So we've got some Marichat up in here, and anyone who knows me knows I am all about Marichat!

Also, more leaps in lore - specifically that one scene where Plagg and Adrien communicate via their shared consciousness while Chat Noir and Plagg forcing a detransformation.

But, unknown to our favourite oblivious duo, something was stalking them in the night...

I couldn't resist. There'll be another chapter today. Read on, my bees!