Caged

The Girl who saved Chat Noir

The texts had been non-stop the night before. Of course Alya wanted to know all about Marinette's rescue by the famous Chat Noir. If only that amateur video hadn't been posted on the Ladyblog by a random citizen. But it did. And now the pig-tailed girl had to endure her questioning before class.

"Come on, Mari!" the young journalist pleaded. "I'm dying here! You gotta give me something more!"

To Alya, her best friend was the worst interviewee she had ever experienced. Her friend's answers were so short and vague, she could neither quote her on a written work nor have at least thirty seconds of a video. It was frustrating, really.

"What do you want me to say?" the designer waved her arms.

"What was it like to have Chat Noir carry you across rooftops?" Alya was holding her phone up, recording. Marinette placed her index finger on her lower lip for a moment, and placing it back down before answering.

"Fun!" she finally shared.

But that was it.

Alya gave her a deadpan look, eyebrows flat. She was doing it again, and Marinette knew so, but she had to hide her secret at all costs. Even if it meant momentarily making a fool of herself.

"Girl, you're hopeless," Alya sighed, turning off the screen of her phone. "There has to be a way to get more than one word outta you."

"I'm sorry, Alya. I guess I'm just not good at interviews." Lies.

"Hey, Marinette!" the familiar voice of Adrien made her neck snap to the right. A nervous laugh escaped her lips, right before giving an awkward smile.

"Morning hello—I-I mean, goodmorningAdrien!" the girl's arms tensed on her sides, embarrassed at, once again, mixing up her words in front of her crush. And she thought she had made progress.

"I saw the video of Chat Noir rescuing you yesterday, on the Ladyblog," the golden boy placed his hand on her desk, leaning a little towards her. "How was it?"

Oh my God, Adrien is actually making conversation with me!

"I-It was cool. I mean, who gets rescued by Chat Noir? Ha ha, I mean, lots of people, of course, but not that often," Marinette's hands flailed throughout the entire broken response. And Adrien's smile did not help matters.

"I saw that you saved Chat Noir too. That was pretty brave of you," he pointed out. Marinette's eyes softened, thinking of the moment she had to pull her partner out of the way. It had been nice saving his life, for once. After all the times he had placed himself in danger for her, it was nice returning the favor.

"Yeah," she responded, feeling the nervousness diminish a little. "He's saved me a few times. The least I could do was do the same for him. I wouldn't exactly call it brave, though. Stupid, probably, but brave..."

"Not anyone would have done what you did," the designer's eyes snapped back up to his. She gave him a sheepish smile.

"Good morning, class," Miss Bustier had just walked into the classroom, prompting Adrien to lift his hand and sit in his desk. Marinette sighed and placed her chin on her hands. She gave Alya a quick glance, only to realize the young reporter was furiously typing in her phone.

"Alya...?"

"You didn't think I was gonna waste that marvelous quote you gave Adrien, did you?" Alya cut in, without even looking at her best friend. The designer shook her head, but smiling nonetheless.

Conversation with Marinette was not something Adrien would usually seek out during school. But after seeing another side of the girl on that balcony, the model couldn't help wonder if he could recreate the event in school. Unfortunately, the endeavor turned out to be nothing but a disappointment. And the one moment he thought the shell was cracking, Miss Bustier had to walk in the room. He was going to try again at lunch, but Chloé whisked him away before he could do anything, yet again. Her clinginess was already getting beyond annoying.