unexpected feelings | marichat

chapter twenty-one

marinette's pov
    i froze, preparing to be pummeled by the massive piece of debris. just before it managed to hit me, though, chat noir arrived. he quickly pulled me close to him and flung us to the ground, using his stick as a shield.
   the rock broke into tiny pieces as it hit the spinning stick, and chat picked one up from beside us. "have i ever told you that you rock?" he quipped, de-attaching himself from me. i found myself still holding onto him, and i scrambled to get back up on my feet.
   "um, no! but you definitely should tell me that more often." he laughed before his face became serious.
   "are you hurt? any bruises, scratches? i threw you too hard, didn't-"
   "chat! i'm fine, really. thank you. without you, right now i'd be the one in tiny pieces instead of that rock," i said, and his face relaxed. he smiled and picked me up, beginning to sprint. i held onto him for dear life, nudging my head into the crook of his neck. for all the times we ran around paris like this, i still hadn't grown all that accustomed to being carried while out of costume. lacking the protection it gave me, i felt like i was on an unsafe roller coaster, my only protection being his strong arms.
his strong arms-
   "hey! where exactly are you taking me?" i asked him, cursing myself for even thinking of his arms in the first place.
   "to a safer place, duh. you can't just be out in the middle of an open space during an akuma battle, you know. not very 'genius' of you," he smirked, looking down at me briefly.
   "i... needed to go to the bathroom."
   "well, now you're going to have to hold it. at least until this all clears up. don't worry, m'lady and i are top notch fighters. this'll be done in no time," he assured me, putting me down in a dark but seemingly safe alleyway.
i silently willed him to leave faster, needing to transform to help him defeat the akuma. he seemed to be in no rush, though.
"huh. ladybug should have shown up by now," he remarked, pulling out his staff. "no new messages."
"maybe she's already waiting for you??"
"maybe. oh well, i guess i'll start off on my own. stay here! i'll come get you when the battles over," he said, beginning to finally walk away.
"thanks, chat! i'll just be waiting here then, where it's safe, so you won't have to save my life again."
"i did save your life, didn't i? you should tip me," he winked and leapt off, extending his stick more with each jump. what a dork. i watched him until he was no longer visible anymore.
"you know, if you're done admiring him from afar, paris could really use ladybug right about now," tikki said, floating out of my purse and smiling at me coyly. i gasped.
"i was NOT admiring him from afar! i was just... staring into the distance. i didn't even notice he was there," i defended. tikki laughed, and i poked her lightly, not being able to resist a small smile that lasted the whole time i transformed.
was i admiring him from afar?
shaking my head, i left the alley, heading towards the akuma. of course i wasn't. i was just, watching the pigeons fly. yeah. he just so happened to be near those, pigeons.
chat perched on the eiffel tower, examining the scene before him.
"paris thinks i'm the liar? the stuck up BRAT? no! come on, lila. tell them the truth. who's really the liar? or are you too scared?" the akumatized person dared, a big hypnotic ball following suit to her steps.
"a sentimonster and an akuma? fun," chat mumbled, still not noticing me behind him.
"who do you think is akumatized?" i asked, which seemed to scare chat noir. he held his staff like a sword at me before realizing i wasn't a threat.
"ladybug??" he asked, attempting to regain his balance. the ledge he was standing on was too short, though, so the action sent him tumbling off. i caught him with my yo-yo just before he hit the ground, and he sighed in relief, his posture relaxing as i pulled him back up.
"bugaboo, are you a tower? because i think eiffel for you," he smirked, looking ridiculous as he leaned back while his feet hung from my yo-yo. i rolled my eyes and extended my hand. he happily took it and brushed himself off.
"anyway, we've probably got to defeat the sentimonster before getting to the akuma, so it'll be easier to get to it. any idea on where the akuma might be though?"
"see that necklace she has? my bets are on that," he said, pointing in the direction of the chain. i examined it more closely. it looked... familiar.
"we need to get closer to the akuma. i think i recognize that thing."
at a closer glance, i saw why the object looked so familiar.
"that's chloe's new necklace!" i exclaimed, and chat squinted at it before his face flashed in recognition. i grabbed my bug-phone, pulling up a picture chloe had posted of it earlier today. chat leaned over my shoulder to get a closer look.
'new necklace daddykins brought me from his recent trip to achu! the sapphires and diamonds really bring out my eyes,' the caption read.
"seems like life's been treating her pretty well. maybe someone jealous of her stole the necklace and became akumatized?" chat wondered.
   "maybe- wait! look at this comment from lila," i pointed out, noticing that it had a couple hundred likes.
   'awh, how cute!! i had one just like that, prince ali gave it to me! its nice to see that the plastic replicas are almost as sparkly as the original," her comment read. below it, many had replied, either for or against lila's accusations.
   "of course it had something to do with lila," i muttered, rubbing at my temple with my hand.
   "ok, but do you really think chloe would get akumatized over a little comment? that's not like her," chat remarked. he was right, of course. chloe was a lot of things, but weak? not one of them.
   "so that means something must've happened after this was posted, likely at school," i figured. chat nodded in agreement. "now, we just need to figure out how to disarm her and deakumatize her. i can't use my lucky charm yet, though. we need to fight her in order to find her weaknesses before that."
   "you know i always love a good cat fight," he grinned, posing with his 'claws' defensively.
"chloe! are you really going to let yourself be controlled by hawkmoth once again?" i asked, calling out from the rooftop we stood on. she made a beeline for me, infuriated.
   "i am no longer chloe! i'm hypnotizer, and after you fall under my control, nothing can stop me. it'll be fun watching you and your little cat boyfriend stumble as i give lila- and you two freaks- what is deserved," she attested. i refrained from rolling my eyes and approached her calmly.
   "chloe-"
   "HYPNOTIZER!"
   "sorry. hypnotizer, i know lila's a liar, and that she's no fun to be around. she-"
   "m'lady, maybe get to the point faster?"
   "right. anyway, no matter what she did to you, is it really worth all of this? isn't it better if she doesn't get the best of you?" i sígnaled all around, gently placing my hand on her shoulder. i inched it closer to the necklace, and for a second i saw the wheels turning in her brain. the second was brief though, and she shoved me, glaring as if i were a piece of gum on her new shoes.
   "and why should i listen to anything YOU tell me, huh? you were the one who took away my miraculous, even when i did nothing wrong! you took the only thing i had going for me, did you know that? now, i'm going to take away yours. see how a taste of your own medicine feels."
   i was backed up against a wall, and hypnotizer's (a/n: the more i read her name the more ridiculous it sounds i am so sorry) hand was dangerously close to my earrings. i finally regained my footing and pushed her hard enough to get her off me. she landed with a grunt, looking up angrily.
   "this is how you wanna play? fine. spiro, get them!"
   "awh, you mean this thing? it's cute. CATACLYSM!" chat called out, making the poor sentimonster go haywire. it was, as chloe would say, now rendered useless, utterly useless.
"chat! the amok! it's the little brooch holding the ball together," i called, and he took it out, smashing it so i could purify the feather.
   "ugh! i guess i'll have to work on this myself. hawkmoth, you better get me something better than these ugly miraculouses after i get them for you," she whined, reaching into her suit for a, a phone? a jewel-encrusted phone?
   "wow, a sparkly phone, i'm so scared," chat mocked, raising his hands in fake fear. "give me a break, what're you gonna do with that, call the mayor and tell him to arrest us?"
   she smirked and clicked the power button. the screen lit up, and she scrolled for a few seconds before becoming satisfied. a few seconds after the click, a massive diamond weapon materialized in front of her.
   chat gulped. "ok, now i'm a little scared. on the bright side, though, we'll be kabobbed in style??"
   we began to run, as far as possible from the huge sword thing she was now pointing at us.
   chat's ring began to beep, signaling that our time was speedily running out. it was time for a push of luck.

(a/n: hey besties marichat development is coming soon I PROMISE <3 also some plot twists may or may not happen pls dont hate me or the characters k but GOOD STUFF IS COMING I SWEAR LOVE YALL )