Seven Seconds

An Extra Set of Ears

Now completely alone, Chat Noir stayed frozen in place. What in the world just happened? He and Marinette were joking around with each other a few minutes ago, and now they were broken up?

Wait, no. They weren't broken up. They were just... having a fight. Yeah, a teeny tiny little fight. Like all couples did. That's all it was, there was nothing more than that. They were still together.

But, what exactly happened? It's like Marinette had a panic attack or something.

It was certainly strange, and he didn't know the reason. But whatever the explanation was, it didn't matter. Marinette was the one for him, the love of his life. He loved her, and he would always be there for her.

So he looked down at the hatch before lightly tapping on it.

No response.

He tried again, a little stronger this time. And he called out to her. "Princess?"

Still no response.

Then as a last resort, he banged on the hatch one time, paused, and then three more times. It was the same way that Marinette always did it.

But there was nothing.

His attempt to open it himself was pointless as he quickly discovered that it was locked from the inside. For a split second he actually considered breaking it open. After all, his cataclysm would be more than enough to do the job effectively. But no. No matter how much he wanted to talk to her, he could never betray her trust like that.

So with a heavy heart Chat Noir finally sat against the brick wall next to the hatch and rested his head back.

Marinette had told him to leave, but he couldn't do that. She was too vulnerable and in danger of being akumatized. He had to stay and protect her.

So he sat there, the minutes slowly turning into hours, and the night getting darker and colder. Every once in a while he would reach over and tap very lightly on the hatch. If she was asleep, he didn't want to wake her. But if she was awake, he wanted to let her know that he was still there.

More and more time passed. And even though he was determined to stay awake, Chat Noir eventually drifted off into a light, uneasy sleep.

************************************

"Chat Noir," a voice whispered softly.

He shook his head as he was being pulled from his dream. The dream was too nice to leave; Marinette was taking the cat ears off of his head and trying them on herself. She was so incredibly adorable.

"Chat Noir?" it tried again.

Why wouldn't that voice leave him alone? Marinette was giggling at her reflection. And he needed to stay there with her forever and for always.

"Chaton?"

He suddenly opened his eyes, finding Marinette's face right in front of him. It took a second for the drowsiness to disappear as he looked at her.

"It's morning," she whispered.

Sure enough, the sky was lighting up in different shades of reds and oranges. But Chat Noir didn't notice, he was too distracted by the beauty in front of him. That girl, who despite having tired eyes and a tear-stained face, still looked as beautiful as ever. "Princess," he whispered.

And she did the thing that he absolutely loved; she tilted her head at him.

Wanting to say anything and everything to her, but not able to, he ended up just staring. His nerves stopped the words from coming out, too afraid to say the wrong thing and make her upset again.