Escape From Paris (OLD VERSION)

Chapter 8

Marinette woke up to an akuma alert. Still not used to the time difference (not like it mattered to the designer considering how late she stayed up anyways) she transformed, thankfully getting a little burst of energy that she desperately needed.

When Ladybug arrived in Paris the sunlight blinded her eyes. Even though she had only stayed in Gotham for a few days she was used to the perpetual cloudiness. Ladybug groaned when she realized it was Gigantitan. Poor kid was made fun of because he couldn't draw well. All around her civilians were being into little kid drawings that Ladybug was sure scarred her for life.

From the corner of her eye Ladybug saw Alya recording. The ombre-haired girl was poorly hidden behind an overturned vehicle. Kwamii, why did she put herself in danger like this? Gigantitan shot a beam at Alya and against her will Ladybug dove to deflect the beam. The reporter took the moment as an opportunity.

"Ladybug, do you have anything to say about Chat Noir's disappearance?"

The lady in question rolled her eyes and replied curtly, "No comment." before swinging up to the akuma as Alya shouted frankly rude queries at her.

The other heroes worked with her in perfect sync. In less than half an hour Gigantitian was defeated. As Princess Honey and Tigresse comforted August Ladybug hurriedly shouted, "Bug Out!" and off she went.

Back in Gotham Marinette rushed to get ready. She had to be at work in half an hour! In less than fifteen minutes she was as ready as the girl could be. Mari was dressed in casual clothes, but didn't have time to add some slight makeup. Tikki and Kaalki zoomed into her bag and off she went.

Marinette, still groggy after the rush of miraculous energy had faded, was running down the sidewalk. She didn't notice a man turn the corner and ran into him, knocking them both over. Marinette flushed and helped the man up, running her hands up and down his body to brush off the dirt, all the while rambling apologies. She hadn't looked at his face once and once she was certain there wasn't a speck of dirt left Marinette ran off.

Damian stood in the middle of the sidewalk wide-eyed and a faint blush on his cheeks. (It was not as faint as he thought it was). First the tiny girl knocked him over which shouldn't be possible, it looked like Marinette was as light as a feather. She looked so tired and yet she still helped him without even a thought to herself. How was she such an angel? Marinette looked so cute blushing and muttering apologies and about how she should've had coffee. Damian had to admit to himself, her hands brushing off dirt certainly felt nice. He made up his mind to stop at his newly frequented art supply store.

After speed-walking for about a block it hit Marinette what she did. Her face, which had started to return to its regular colour, grew red once again. She burst out horrified, not really caring she was in the middle of the street,

"Oh no, I basically just groped a stranger this is so embarrassing I can't believe I did that well at least Gotham is a big city I probably won't see him again and I don't even know what his face looks like so that's good right?!"

Marinette didn't stop rambling to herself because who needs punctuation?

Soon reaching her workplace Marinette positioned herself in her usual spot. After 3 hrs of running around the store for customers, she was ready to sleep. It was in the middle of the day but that didn't matter. As she was about to fall asleep the door opened and Damian walked through holding two cups, and he was drinking out of one.

Approaching Marinette he handed her the second cup.

"When you ran into me a few hours ago I noticed you looked tired."

Wait. She had ran into Damian? Her face probably was as red as a Nath's hair. The amazing smell of coffee reached her nose. She glanced at his face suspiciously. Seeming to know what she was thinking, Damian informed her amusedly that it was not poisoned. 'Like that means anything,' she thought. Tikki had told her that as a true holder her powers would get stronger early on. For example Marinette could sense if something was meant to destroy or harm someone, but only if she concentrated hard enough. Eventually coming to the conclusion that her life-juice was safe she downed it.

Damian watched as the petite girl in front of him focused on deciding if the coffee was okay for her to drink. When Marinette suddenly chugged it he felt a little surprised. A voice sounded from somewhere behind Marinette and Damian saw a man emerge.

"Mari, it's your lunch break, you should get something to eat. Have you even eaten today?"

She looked a little embarrassed and responded haltingly,

"Nooooooooo."

The guy caught Damian's eye and winked, before leaving the pair to it. Damian's eyes widened a fraction before he stared at Marinette. She was really pretty, gorgeous even. Her blush expanded and Damian caught himself thinking that he wanted to make her flush more. Damian gathered up his courage and frantically wished he wouldn't embarrass himself.

"Do you want to get lunch somewhere?"

He said it. Now he just watched as she froze. Did he do something wrong? Probably. He really should have listened to Grayson when he had talked about his dates. Not that this was a date of course. It was simply a meeting to make sure Marinette ate. He couldn't just let her starve. It made perfect sense.

Meanwhile, Mari was panicking. Sure, she had been asked out before, but she didnt like  the asker-outers! 'Is it a date? Or maybe he just thinks I'm a friend. Or maybe he doesn't even like me at all and is just trying to be nice.' She made up her mind to refuse politely, but her traitorous mouth opened and she blurted,

"Okay!"

This chapter is really short but I just wanted to get it posted.