Guess Who [A Miraculous FanFiction]

Chapter Four: Firecats

Adrien, as he is leaving the Dupain-Cheng's, smiles and thanks Marinette for the company and the studying. He pretends to ignore her blush, though inwardly he is frustrated that he inspires this kind of response with girls.

"Bye Mrs. Dupain-Cheng!" He calls as Marinette hesitates at the open Bakery door. The kind lady waves at him as the door swings closed.

For a moment, Marinette stands there, staring at the ground. Adrien feels like she is going to say something, but after a long hesitation, she turns to go back inside.

"Hey Marinette?" Adrien asks, before she can open the door.

"Uhm, yeah?" Marinette replies, slowly turning back around to face Adrien, biting her lip.

"What do you think of Ladybug?"

"L-Ladybug?" Marinette asks, trying not to stutter over the name. After two hours virtually alone in her bedroom (other than a very silent Tikki), Marinette had gotten a better grip on her tongue. But hearing her alter-ego's name in Adrien's warm voice sends shivers down her spine and her tongue begins to rebel again.

"Yeah. You must have heard our conversation this morning. How old do you think she is?" Adrien raises an eyebrow at her, calmly waiting for an answer. Marinette hesitates and confusion bubbles inside Adrien for a moment.

"Uhm...I'm not sure really. Maybe sixteen, seventeen? Just from what I've seen in pictures and around the city and whatnot, I imagine she and Chat Noir are not too much older than us. Why do you ask?" The words spill out of Marinette's mouth and the two of them stand there, stunned, for a moment. Neither one expected so many words from Marinette.

"Uh...I just...would really like to meet her, I guess. She seems really cool. And I've always..been a big fan of hers. She and Chat have been fighting Akumai for like three years now, right? They have saved so many lives. It's really impressive." Adrien's smile grows and then, as Marinette opens her mouth to reply, his phone begins to ring. He jumps and pulls it out of his pocket.

Glancing at the screen, Adrien holds back a groan. He meets Marinette's gaze and sighs. "Sorry Mari. Gotta run. Curfew!" He starts off down the street at a brisk pace, answering his phone as he half walks, half runs.

Marinette stares after him, her mouth still half open and a forgotten response hanging off her tongue.

Adrien's studying is interrupted by a loud explosion outside his window. Jumping up from his chair, he runs over towards the sound and sees the bright light of a building on fire several blocks away.

"Plagg!" He calls, turning quickly from the window. His kwami doesn't immediately respond and he calls his name again. "Plagg!"

"Whaaaattt?" A grumpy voice echoes from the other side of his room, and Adrien sprints over to his bed.

"Plagg! There's a fire!" Adrien says desperately, beginning to throw his blankets off his bed, searching for his sleepy kwami.

"So what? We're not firecats." Plagg says grumpily just as Adrien finds him, nestled under three pillows. Adrien grabs him and brings him up to eye level.

"It might be from an Akuma." Adrien says, and then before Plagg can complain, he exclaims: "Plagg, claws out!"

A groan issues from the kwami as he is sucked into Adrien's ring and the transformation takes over Adrien. Within seconds, he is bounding over to his long glass-pane windows. Easily, he slides one of them up. He had secretly installed the movable window when he had first became Chat Noir and it was quite useful even when he wasn't sneaking out for patrol.

Chat climbs out the window and onto the small ledge, balancing on his toes as he replaces the pane. As soon as that is done, he uses his staff to fling himself towards the points of light. It takes him less than a minute until he arrives at the scene, and is assaulted immediately by smoke.

Chat starts coughing as he balances precariously on the edge of a roof several apartment complexes down from the burning building. His eyes are sweeping the area, looking for an Akuma, but he doesn't spot one. What he does spot is a large group of people running from the burning building.

With a deep coughing sigh, Chat Noir catapults himself down towards the people. Immediately, a woman accosts him.

"My daughter! Please! She's still inside!" The dark-haired Parisian begs, trying not to collapse. Chat looks up at the building, then back at the woman.

"Which floor?" He asks, quickly helping her to sit on the sidewalk.

"The...fifth." She coughs out, and he hears the sounds of sirens. He glances up, but he can already tell that the fire trucks are much too far away to be helpful.

He's going to have to go inside.

"Okay! I'll get her." Chat promises and runs towards the building, hoping his suit is fireproof. Deep down, he knows it's not...