Running from the Night (A Ladybug and Chat Noir Fanfic)

Chapter 6

"Marinette! Where are you? Are you okay?" Chat Noir's breathy voice came through Marinette's phone. She looked up and saw the black leather clad hero on the rooftop he had left her on. She was standing in an alley across the street. Tiki was eating a macaroon beside her.

"Yeah of course I just -uh- made my way home, I didn't want to get in the way and my parents needed help at the bakery," Marinette said watching her boyfriend visibly relax once he knew she was safe.

"Good, wait how did you get down the building!?"

"SorryIgottagomomscallingme!" Marinette rushed and hung up the call. She watched Chat pull the baton phone away from his ear with his head tilted for a moment before jumping out of view off the building. Marinette let out a sigh of relief, she could safely make her way home without him seeing now. She opened her purse for Tiki to fly in and made her way to the bakery where her parents really did need her help.

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Marinette brushed the flour off her clothing as she opened the trap door to her room with a plateful of chocolate filled croissants. Her parents had been grateful she had saved them from having to close the front due a large order and didn't question the rather large amount of dessert she had taken once the store was closed for the day. Once the trapdoor was shut behind her, a swarm of kwami's rushed her, or more accurately the plate.

She watched them with a fond expression as Mullo fought to get the best one, she knew it was one of the floating mouse's favourite foods, along with cheese of course. She walked over to her desk where her purse was sitting alongside homework and her sketchbook. She sat down in her pink chair and mulled over if she should be responsible or work on her designs. Her thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of her phone. She flipped it over to the screen and almost fell out of her chair in shock.

'As you wish princess'

The notification on her phone displayed Chat Noirs text. She felt the blood rising to her cheeks, she didn't think he'd actually do it! She opened the notification to see her conversation with him from the morning. She had been in a good mood from the cute cat puns he had sent, not that she would admit this, and had been rather brazen in her reply to his request for her picture when she was showering.

The last text she had sent was sitting just above his response, 'you first kitty'. The three dots appeared showing he was following up his text.

With a small buzz she watched as a photo attachment was sent. It took a moment to load but once it did she felt her entire face burn. The photo displayed a section of Chat Noir's uncovered abs, it was cropped to only show his torso, the towel around his waist and some of the shower behind him. She observed that his leather suit really didn't do his abs justice, he was very toned for someone their age.

A brief thought crossed her mind that he could be older than her but she quickly pushed that aside. Marinette couldn't believe he had actually sent her a photo, she half thought he would just send her a photo of a cat, but now she was looking at his civilian self, half nude. She didn't realize until her mouth was hanging open until another message appeared on her screen.

'Your turn'

Her eyes shot wide open and she gulped, her mouth suddenly very dry. She shot a look over to the kwami's. Tiki was in the center of a large group conversation about the best sweets. Tiki would definitely not condone the fact that Chat had taken a risk in sending her a photo of his civilian self. Now very self conscious, Marinette tried to casually stand up with her phone and fake yawn as she made her way to the ladder up to her bed. She almost immediately tripped on her feet and struggled to get up the ladder as the kwamis all looked at her frantic actions, luckily it was a normal sight at this point.

Once in her bed Marinette looked at the photo again and giggled nervously before an idea popped into her head. She sat up and opened her camera. She gave the phone her best innocent look and sent the photo. It was just a selfie of the shoulders and above.

'Not fair' Chat sent with a sad face emoji.

'I never said what it would be a picture of'

She sent back quickly with an angel emoji. She giggled, picturing Chat pouting at her.

'Now aren't you claw-ver, not to say I'm disappointed, you are beautiful Marinette'

The string of texts came through rapidly leaving Marinette blushing even more than before. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to be his girlfriend.

She was about to reply when a notification appeared at the top of her phone, a new post from the Ladyblog. She tapped on the notification. Ever since she had taken the earrings back from Alya the blog had gone silent, much to the fans disappointment. It was odd to the fans that Alya hadn't reported on Ladybug's return, although the blog had become less frequent once Scarabella made her appearance. This had been written off as the author being less enthusiastic about any other miraculous holder than Ladybug.

Once the blog loaded, any joy Marinette had been feeling vanished, replaced by cold fear. The very top displayed two dark photos, at the center of each were two figures. In the first Chat Noir had his around around Multimouse's waist as they cuddled on a rooftop. The second featured Chat Noir slightly in front of someone on a rooftop. It was Chat Noir locked in a kiss with Marinette. She remembered that kiss, they had a picnic date on the rooftop while Chat was "on patrol".

She scrolled down to the headline, Chat Noir Cheating on Ladybug? Her eyebrows furrowed, how did someone get these photos of them? How could Alya post this? She felt tears gathering in her eyes making her vision blurry. She couldn't read the blog post and let the phone tip from her fingers. She pulled her blankets up to her chest and fought the urge to start panicking. In the moment she let the anger take her over, it was better than helpless panic. She grabbed her phone roughly and before she could second guess it she pressed call.

"Hello?" Alya's voice responded.

"How could you! I can't believe you would do this to me!" Marinette said in an even, hard tone.

"What-"

"You know better than anyone how dangerous that was, you put Chat Noir and all of the Miraculous' at risk! I get that you're angry at me but you didn't have to endanger him to get to me," she hissed with a cold hatred, any wish she had to reconcile with Alya had vanished.

"Marinette I don't-" Alya began to respond but Marinette couldn't stand her voice and hung up the phone. She felt her breath coming out in short ragged bursts as blood pulsed in her ears.

"Marinette?" A small voice called from behind her, she turned and saw Tiki through blurry tear filled vision, "what happened?"

Mariette could barely look at the small kwami, she knew how disappointed Tiki would be in her. Her voice caught with emotion and she couldn't get the words out to explain what happened. She felt her friend hug her arm, the magical creature's tiny body gave off a calming warmth but it was too small of relief against the betrayal Marinette felt.

"Watch out!" The squeak gave Marinette only enough time to look up. She watched all the kwami's scatter, including Tiki, into hiding spots. A purple butterfly had landed on her phone and a familiar cold voice entered her mind.