"Faceless Future" Book 2 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy |COMPLETED|

Chpt 37: Cat Noir's Exceptional Rooftop Tour of Villains

"Don't you think we should go out and patrol?" Adrien asked Marinette eagerly. 

He had his reasons for wanting to go.  It had only been a few days since he had last transformed into Cat Noir, but he was feeling some kind of unnamed restlessness.  He felt like being his Cat Noir persona might help that as he always felt a little different when he was Cat Noir.  Like he wasn't carrying around as much mental . . . stuff.  After transforming, he could usually put all of his current worries out of his head for a bit and just enjoy the freedom that came with his powers.  It was probably partly because of that rush that came from racing across the rooftops of the city- it just swept all the unpleasant thoughts from his mind.  And, his Cat Noir personality just felt a little more carefree somehow.  Which was weird, since it was still him.  He didn't really know how that worked.  But, he also had another reason he wanted to go, but he needed Ladybug to come with him.

Marinette had been feeling the restless waves of energy coming off of him for the last hour.  He was practically bouncing around.  Adrien never bounced.  It was weird.  She shut the book she had been trying to read- the homework could wait for another day.

"Okay, okay, let's get you out of the house," she grumbled slightly at him.

"Woo!" he cheered, doing a crazy dance across the floor in his excitement.

"Okay, you are really weird today.  What did you do with Adrien?"  She pretended to be annoyed, but she was actually happy to see him excited about something.  That still wasn't happening too often.

He gave her his lop-sided grin and Marinette's heart gave an extra beat in response to it.  She loved that grin, though she would never tell him as it would give him way too much power over her!

"Should we first take a walk so we can transform away from the house?" she asked him. He nodded, so she went to grab her purse off the hook.

"Tikki, Plagg, ready to go?" she called to them.  They flew out from behind the Jagged Stone album cover on Marinette's desk and got in Marinette's purse.  She got out two macarons from the stash in her drawer. 

"I know it's not cheese, Plagg, but you've always liked the chocolate ones."  She held the cookies up by the top of the purse and one red and one black arm each reached out to pull in a cookie.

"Everyone ready?" Adrien asked, still bouncing slightly.

Marinette nodded and she and Adrien headed downstairs.

Marinette stuck her head into the bakery.  "Mom, we're taking a walk for some fresh air.  We should be back before dinner."

"Okay," Sabine replied, feeling a little better about letting Marinette out of her sight now that she knew Adrien was not Cat Noir.  They couldn't possibly get into any trouble on a walk! But, then Sabine remembered how Marinette was almost hit by that rickshaw the other day.  "Don't forget to watch out for the crazy traffic!"

Marinette and Adrien had been walking away from the bakery when her mom called those words to her.  Marinette stopped and rolled her eyes before responding "Okay, Mom!"  Would her mom never stop saying that to her?  It made her feel like she was six years old!

Adrien picked up on her annoyance and whispered "You know it's just because she loves you." He wished he had parents that would say that to him!

"I know.  I should appreciate it.  Not everyone has such caring parents," Marinette said as if it were a motto. She was often reminded of that by Adrien, and she knew that it was true, but it was still kind of embarrassing in this case!

They started walking down the sidewalk. "How about right here?" Adrien asked her, pointing to a deserted alley.

"Aren't you in a hurry today!" she said, as she turned the corner into the alley. Adrien followed her in.