Stray ~ A MariChat Love Story (Complete)

Chapter 23: Rivalry

Chat Noir swung from building to building. The night was cold, colder than he'd predicted and his breath came like steam from his frozen lips. It was times like this when he wished he had a little more than the thin cat suit. Sure it was strong, it was armor, but he'd learnt long ago that it served no other purpose.

He landed on Marinette's balcony with a graceful twirl and sauntered towards her trapdoor. He reached won and knocked, but she didn't come up. He did it three more times, but by then he was more worried than excited to see her.

Chat jumped over the railing and hooks his claws around the edges of her round window, peering inside. Marinette was sitting by her desk, sifting through the images of Adrien he'd found before. But she looked utterly miserable and Chat felt another pang of guilt.

Adrien didn't have any right to be here -to trick her into speaking to him through his superhero persona. But he didn't have a choice. He had to see her.

He knocked lightly on her window and Marinette's head snapped towards him. Unlike her reaction earlier today, a wide smile spread across her face at the sight of him. She pushed away from her desk and hurried up her ladder towards the trapdoor. And Chat rushed up to meet her.

Hoisting himself over the railing, Chat spread his hands out on either side of him and clenched his fists around the metal. He exhaled nervously as the trapdoor opened and Marinette shivered as the cold air washed over her.

"Chat?" she asked, "What are you doing here? It's freezing."

He chuckled and set his feet back on her roof, strolling towards her, "That's why I'm just begging to be let in."

Marinette automatically moved back down and Chat Noir slipped inside, shutting the trapdoor behind him. His silver-tipped boots dug into her unmade sheets and Marinette retreated back downstairs to her desk. He jumped over the platform and landed behind her.

"So what have you been up to this fine day, Princess?" he asked.

Marinette sighed, "Nothing much, really. I'm just deciding what to do about my friend." Chat ignored the pain in his chest and walked up from behind her, placing his clawed hands on her shoulders.

"Which one?" he asked. Her face fell and he winced. "Right," he whispered, "Sorry." But he didn't move his hands away from her. He glanced down over her shoulder at the magazine clippings and Marinette slumped back in her desk chair.

"I don't feel like keeping them anymore."

"Why not?" he asked. He trailed his claw lightly over Adrien's image -the image his father wanted him to portray. "Great smile, good posture and the clothes are feline." That earned a chuckle from her.

She narrowed her eyes mischievously at him and reached out to flick the bell on his suit. "Well, if you like them so much, why don't you keep them?" If only she knew how many he actually had...

Chat cleared his throat and sat on the edge of her desk, "Well, what do you plan on doing with them?"

She shrugged and grazed her fingers over the pile, lifting one in her hand. She closed her eyes and crushed it in her palm, so tightly her knuckles turned white, and threw it in the bin beneath her. Chat stared down at her shell-shocked and tried his best not to feel offended.

It wasn't easy.

He pushed his pride down and focused on her -how she felt instead of him. "Better?" he mumbled.

Marinette dropped her head in her palms and groaned. "No, not really, but it's just so hard. It's bad enough I have to see his perfect face every day at school. I don't...I don't want to have to deal with it here too."