Chasing Chat Noir

Chapter 2

"What are you doing here, Chat?" I said, completely disregarding his greeting.

Chat dropped from the ceiling and landed perfectly on his feet. "You could say I'm on... patrol."

I rolled my eyes at him; "I don't see ladybug anywhere? Shouldn't she be with you?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I may be a bit early. Thought I'd start my rounds checking on the precious cargo."

I laughed and nodded my head in agreement, "We do have the best Macaroons in Paris."

Chat picked up a frame of me and my family and stared for a moment. "Yeah, the best macaroons in Paris."

I snatched my photo back from him and put it on my bookshelf. If Chat wouldn't have shown up unannounced, I might have forgotten about everyday patrol. Things had been too busy lately.

"Don't you have homework to do or something, Chat? How do you have time to be early for rounds?" I realized my question may potentially lead back to me so I lightened it with a joke: "maybe Ladybug just takes harder classes than you, huh?"

He rolled his eyes before sitting on my bed, his feet swinging back and forth. I could never understand how Chat always seemed to have so much energy. After our fights with Hawkmoth, Chat would still be running around in circles ready for the next adventure. I wondered exactly how he managed to stay this hyper, everything considered.

I felt as if I could pass out from exhaustion.

"Make your jokes about my education, Mari, but I could beat you in any subject no questions asked." He smirked.

"Tell me your real identity and we'll compare grades." I teased while unpacking my books.

"Don't tempt me Mari, I just might do it." He got up from the bed and came up behind me.

One second I was reorganizing the books on my desk, and the next I was too aware of his presence.

He seemed completely unfazed. Chat picked up the book I was holding and smirked, "Oh, you're going to hate the ending to this one."

I snatched it from him, "well I'm not done yet, so no spoilers." I turned around laughing, but the sudden realization hit that we were close. Extremely close.

For a moment, Chat's eyes fluttered down to my lips. He seemed to hesitate, but then pulled away slightly. Then, he glanced at my tie and played with it for a moment. "I really could get used to this new uniform, you know." A small smile formed as he met my eyes.

I meant to respond, I really did. I meant to go back to this whole playful-banter thing, but for some reason, my mouth couldn't move. Instead I met his gaze and swallowed hard. Yup, this whole working overtime must really be getting to me.

Finally, I swallowed hard before answering, "I've had a lot of trouble tying this stupid tie in the mornings. It's been making me late."

It was true; Alya had laughed at me after first period and spent the first five minutes of class trying to perfect the tying process. 'It's all about remembering that this is where you- oh wait, I did that step too early. This time I'll get it for sure.' At this point, I took hers and we tried to see who could do a better job. In the end, Adrien had to tie mine so it had some resemblance of normalcy.

"After patrol tonight, maybe I'll teach you how." He said nonchalantly, before slowly undoing my tie. I sucked in a breath as he reached around me to put my tie on my dresser.

"Maybe you will." I agreed, suddenly realizing that I was, or Ladybug was, about to be late for patrol if I didn't get a move on.

Just as I was about to push Chat back onto the balcony where he entered, he stilled.

"What is it, Chat?" He furrowed his brows, and I could immediately tell something was off.

"Something feels wrong." A moment after he'd spoken, realization hit. Chat grabbed me and was already protecting me before it happened.

First, there was a deafening sound. Then, an extreme force pushed Chat and I across my room. Chat took the brunt of the impact.

Our patrol wouldn't do us any good today. Hawkmoth had already struck, and there was an explosion right next to the bakery.