Hey! Thanks to everyone for the reviews, favs, and follows! Melty Camembert Hearts! This is is guys the last prompt! We made it to the end!
A special thank you to my beta's SunshineMLB and JuliaFC, beta's-extraordinaire!
Also, I do not own the characters, just the plot! Enjoy!^-^
Day 31 - Kidnapped
This was a prime example of why he was supposed to check his surroundings before running headfirst into things. The one time, the ONE time he didn't check to make sure the coast was clear, THIS had to happen.
His wrists were bound to the arms of a chair, palm up, with what looked like black ribbon. His ankles were tied together with the same black ribbon, and more of it was tied around his middle, keeping him firmly pinned to what he took to be a desk chair. He moved his wrists, trying to break through the ribbon and thought - what the hell is this stuff made of, why can't I break free?!
From what he could see around the dark room, the faces of his captors were quite amused, watching him try to regain his bearings and find a way to escape as he finally came to. The throbbing pain at the back of his head wasn't helping him concentrate though.
A somewhat familiar, feisty female voice asked him suddenly, "Chat Noir, what a pleasant surprise. What, exactly, are you doing here?"
That wasn't a question he could, or WOULD answer. He said it trying to stay light, "Curious, I was wondering the same thing."
There was a soft chuckle to his right, as another familiar voice said it bluntly, "Oh don't worry, we are all pretty sure of what you are doing here Romeo."
He was glad that the mask hid his face, otherwise they would no doubt see the blush he could feel warming his cheeks. His tail flicked behind him and he smirked, "Girls, I know I'm purrfectly irresistible, but there are much better ways to get my attention."
Through the dark, he saw a small red light flickering in and out. He felt his ears flatten against his hair and his voice dropped, no longer amused, "Are you recording this?"
The feisty voice said it happily, "Oh, I would never pass up such a purrfect opportunity. Don't worry though, this won't go online or anything." There was a short pause before she said it threateningly, "If."
The tension in the room thickened, and he felt his heart fighting against his ribcage as he asked, already regretting it, "If?"
He could just make out three of the five faces starting to smirk, the other two shaking their heads.
"IF," the feisty voice emphasized, "you answer a few questions for us, being completely honest of course."
"Hmm, intriguing but, I'll have to decline." He said easily, adding it to try and make them feel guilty, "Besides my head still feels a little fuzzy after, whoever, hit me with, whatever."
Four of them chuckled and the fifth said it in a high pitched voice he could never mistake, "I'm so sorry I hit you so hard, you startled me!"
He smiled in her direction, "It's okay. I'll be alright. I'm sorry for startling you."
Someone cleared their throat and he turned back to her with a slight scowl, "Surely we can find a more civilized way to do this. I didn't think you'd resort to kidnapping." He moved his tied up wrists to emphasize his point and miss feisty in front of him smirked wider.
"Answer this ONE question, and we'll let you loose tomcat."
He let the silence carry, debating using cataclysm to catch them by surprise. If he could touch the chair he was tied to, he'd be able to make it back up the skylight with plenty of time to spare before his time ran out. He glanced around carefully, knowing how smart his captors were. The odds that one of them would be able to get something into his hand was too high. The last thing he wanted was to be on a time limit to de-transforming in front of them.
No. He couldn't risk it.
He told her firmly, breaking the tense air, "I don't think she'll be happy if she finds out you did this."
"She'll forgive us." The feisty voice said bluntly.
He heard slight shuffling behind him, her quiet voice asking curious, "Do you purr kittycat?"
He felt long fingers move through his hair just behind his ear, and held his breath, trying with all his might not to let it happen. He wouldn't purr in front of all these girls. He wouldn't. But it felt good… so, so good. No! He couldn't fall for it. He couldn't, and he found himself holding his breath.
Kwami's. This was the worst form of torture he had ever experienced. The string of purr's rippled out of him when it became too much to keep in, much to the girls' delight. "He does purr!" One of them exclaimed.
She started rubbing in soft circles and he finally caved when he felt himself settling against her hand, "OKAY OKAY! ONE QUESTION, ONE!"
Laughter erupted around him and a gentle voice saying it in his defense, "Come on guys, I think he's suffered enough."
The evil hand moved out of his hair and he let out a heavy breath in relief. The lights clicked on and he blinked a few times as his vision adjusted.
Alya had a brilliant smirk on her face, her phone camera pointed directly at him. Mylene was standing at her side with a somewhat guilty smile. Alix was sitting in a chair, leaning forward on the back with an evil grin. Juleka moved from behind him, giving him a shy smile. Rose was sitting cross-legged on the chaise, telling him again, "I really am sorry Chat Noir."
He told Rose with a small smile, hoping to get Alya to let him go before she could really interrogate him, "At least we know you can take care of yourself. That's some arm you have."
Rose smiled at him nervously and Alya said it quickly, "You aren't getting out of answering my question hero."
He caught her eyes and nodded, already knowing what she was no doubt going to ask.
Alya motioned to the rather large bouquet of roses and the small, neatly wrapped gift box lying on Marinette's desk. "How long have you been dating Marinette?"
His response was instant as he raised an eyebrow at her with a cunning smirk, "Who says I'm dating her at all?"
Alya's eyes narrowed, "Don't act coy Chat Noir. I want a straight answer."
"Maybe I just know she has had a long week at school, and maybe I wanted to surprise her to try and cheer her up. It doesn't mean we are dating." He told them easily, seeing them exchange small glances.
Alya however, wasn't buying it, "Oh please. Do I look like a girl who can't hear a lie?"
He pursed his lips slightly, thinking about all the lies she so readily believed from Lila. But, that was something Chat Noir wouldn't know, so he kept quiet.
She had a triumphant smirk on her face, and she leaned closer to him, her voice dangerously quiet, "Spill the beans kittycat. Or I'll let Juleka melt you into a purring mess. I'm sure all of my followers on the Ladyblog would LOVE to hear your pur up close."
Juleka looked far too excited by the prospect and he said it defiantly, "Do your worst."
The wicked chuckles from Alya, Alix, and to his surprise Juleka, sent chills down his spine. Alya looked at Alix, "Would you care to do the honors?"
Alix stood proudly, "Hell yeah I would." She moved over to him and he asked instantly, "What are you doing?"
"Around you go Chat." Alix whispered evilly, his eyes widening in horror as she spun him in place, Alya's voice saying it evenly as the world turned around him, "Just answer the question hero."
"You call this torture? This is a blast!" He said letting out a shaky laugh, faking his excitement as he tried not to get dizzy.
Alix stopped him suddenly with a huff, "Ladybug must throw him around too much."
He smirked, "Far too much. Nice try though." He said as their faces came in and out of focus.
"You know, I am a bit curious, Chat Noir." Mylene said shyly, making him instantly worried. She moved towards him, asking, "Is the bell just for show?"
She reached towards it and he moved back away from her as much as he could, "Don't." He said sternly, seeing her quickly withdraw her hand.
Alya smirked, her phone still trained on him, "Ooo, touchy about the bell aren't we? Why?"
"It doesn't always make noise though." Rose noted, her head falling to the side slightly, "When he was helping us escape from the kissy zombies, the bell didn't ring or make noise at all."
Juleka nodded, "But he rang it to get the giant baby's attention."
Alya's expression changed to her reporter face, "Interesting, so you can control the bell making noise?"
He admitted it reluctantly, "Not exactly."
Rose pointed at him with a bright smile, "HAPPY! You have to be happy for the bell to ring don't you!? When Ladybug flicked the bell one time during an interview, it rang crystal clear!"
He stayed silent and Alya asked him, "Is that true?"
"If I answer, will you let me go?" He responded in hope.
"You aren't getting out of answering my first question, which I will get an answer to one way or another. Answer this one, and maybe I'll make sure nothing worse happens." Alya said slyly.
He hesitated, but then told them the truth, "Yes, it will ring if I'm happy, and stay quiet during a fight, but it won't ring for just anyone who tries. There is only one other person besides Ladybug who has ever made it ring."
"Who?" All five girls asked excitedly.
"Let me go and I'll tell you." He said with a triumphant smirk.
Alya passed the phone to Mylene and walked up to him, leaning into his face, "Not a chance." She stared into his eyes and asked curiously, "Is green your natural eye color, or is it part of your disguise as Chat Noir?"
"No comment." He said with a huff. Alya stepped back with a laugh, "I knew that one was a long shot. Hmm," she tapped her cheek with a finger as she studied him, her eyes traveling up and down his body in a way that made him extremely uncomfortable.
"You know, you are quite the looker Chat Noir." She said with an appreciative nod.
"Thank you?" He said sheepishly.
Mylene giggled softly, "You are just now noticing Alya?"
"No but, I mean do you actually SEE the size of the muscles in his arms?" Alya pointed out, grabbing his upper left arm and running her fingers back and forth slowly as she followed the line of his muscles. He instantly felt his face starting to warm. Alix poked his upper right arm a few times, "He is pretty fit, fighting akuma's must do that to a person."
"He has a nice back too." Juleka muttered shyly, her finger trailing across his shoulders from behind.
"And very, VERY nice abs." Rose said somewhat dreamily as she stared at his stomach, making him shift uncomfortably under their scrutinizing gazes.
Alix huffed amused, "Abs? You should check out the view back here."
"Aww, are we embarrassing you Chat Noir?" Alya teased, his face flaming as the girls giggled. He held his head up high, even knowing that they could probably see how red he was, "Me? Embarrassed? You'll have to try a lot harder than that."
Alya's eyes glinted and he told her hard, "Stop whatever you are thinking of doing, right now."
Her grin widened into a smirk, "I wonder, if your suit comes off."
"It's magic, it doesn't." He said, hoping she wouldn't try what she was clearly threatening.
Alya grabbed the bell quickly, tugging on it gently without it uttering a sound, "I bet this is a zipper."
He felt his face and neck practically catch fire as she tried to unzip his suit, and he couldn't take it anymore, calling her loudly in desperation, "MARINETTE!"
The girl's faces went from wicked amusedment to fearful shock. Alya quickly let go of his bell as she covered his mouth quickly, "Be quiet Chat!"
He moved as much as he could, knowing Plagg would no doubt make fun of him for the next year for calling for help like this. Being at the mercy of five girls, he'd take his chances with Plagg's form of tormenting over this any day. He managed to knock Alya slightly off balance with his tied ankles, her hand slipping and causing her to fall into him.
One of her hands squeezed his thigh as she tried to catch herself, her face crashing into his chest and giving him the chance to call her again. "MARINEEE-!"
Alix grabbed him from behind, putting both of her hands over his mouth to stifle his yelling as she told him harshly, "Not cool cat."
Mylene shifted nervously, the phone camera facing the floor, "I told you this wasn't a good idea Alya."
"Shh, grab that blanket so we can cover him!" Alya told her quickly, her face flushing slightly as she pushed herself up off of him, Rose hiding her face in a pillow with a small whimper.
The trapdoor flew open and Marinette's eyes widened as she took in the scene in her room, "What is going on!? Chat Noir? What did you girls do to him!?"
Marinette rushed over to him, Alix immediately letting go as Marinette glared at her. She started untying him as he whispered it to her, "Sorry Princess."
She flashed him a small smile before kneeling and untying his feet, getting onto the girls instantly, "Chat Noir saves Paris on a regular basis and you tied him up?!"
Alya tried to explain quickly, "We thought he was a burglar!"
"He startled me!" Rose added quickly.
"Why didn't any of you come to get me!" Marinette asked as she turned back to them.
Alya put a hand on her hip, "Why didn't you tell us that you were dating Chat Noir?!"
Marinette's face instantly paled, "You, you think I'm, I'm not dating Chat Noir!"
He rubbed his wrists as he looked at Alya, "I tried to tell you."
Mylene asked curiously, "Then, what are you doing here?"
Alya pointed to the flowers and gift, "And explain that!"
Marientte finally looked over and saw the presents, her cheeks turning pink, "Are those, for me?"
He shifted on his feet, avoiding her surprised eyes as his hand rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah. You said you were having a long week at school, so I figured I'd do something nice to cheer you up."
Marinette was staring at him gently when he finally found the courage to look up at her, "Aww, thank you Kitty. You didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to." He said quickly.
The girls collectively let out soft, happy sighs, besides Alix who groaned even though she was smirking.
Alya lifted up the small box and asked curiously, "So, what's in here?"
He moved over and quickly took the box from her, feeling his face warm, "Nothing really."
The last thing he wanted was for the girls to see what was in this box. Marinette may not be his girlfriend, but he'd had every intention tonight of changing that. With a little bit of luck.
Lila had been on his case for weeks, trying to get him to ask HER out, and Marinette had spent the better part of those weeks fending off her advances by being there with him at almost every turn. He had never been more grateful for Marinette's kindness than these past few weeks. Without even realizing it was happening, because falling had been that effortless, he completely fell in love with her.
The other day when he overheard Lila telling Marinette that he(Adrien) would never love her the way she loved him, he knew he wanted to take the chance to ask Marinette out. The first part of that meant showing her the truth of who he really was. He trusted Marinette absolutely, and the last thing he wanted was to start a relationship with her with a Miraculous-level secret hanging over them. He'd already been mentally prepared for the worst, and he was going to give her the choice of wanting to know or not.
Of course, Lila had ruined their conversation yesterday just as he was about to ask her out as Adrien. The words were literally just about to leave him when Lila threw her arms around his neck from behind, practically choking the life out of him.
So he went to plan B, and that's how he ended up here like this. The plan had been simple. He would tell her the truth of his feelings, and if she didn't want to know who he was underneath, he wouldn't say anything tonight. He'd try again tomorrow as Adrien.
The last thing he expected was to be kidnapped by a group of girls, Lila maybe if she'd been able to get a hold of him, but not them.
Marinette scolded Alya quickly when it looked like she was going to say something, "I can see it all over your face, it's none of your business Alya."
"Oh come on! I know you are dying to know too!" Alya said, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff.
"I think I'd better go." He whispered to Marinette who nodded with an apologetic smile, "Yeah. I'm sorry my friends tried to kidnap you." She shot them all a hard look and they all looked away guiltily.
He headed up her ladder, and realized that she was following him. She followed him onto the balcony, making sure the skylight was shut tight before turning and hugging him tightly, "Thank you for the flowers."
A real smile made its way onto his face and he hugged her back, holding her close, "You're welcome Princess. I guess I should have looked before I leaped huh?"
She let out a soft laugh without letting go, "To avoid being kidnapped, absolutely." She looked up at him, her eyes shining as she smiled, "I really am sorry they tied you up."
"Honestly, I've been tied up so many times between akuma's and Ladybug's yoyo, that wasn't so bad." He said grinning.
She sighed suddenly as she took a small step back out of his arms, "Well, let me get back down and try to fend off all of their questions. I'm sure Alya's dying to know what we are talking about up here."
"I bet she is." He said knowingly, staring down at the box in his hand, "Marinette, I had a, somewhat ulterior motive for coming to see you tonight."
"Is everything okay?" She asked instantly.
"No, it's not like that, everything is fine. Better than fine actually, I just," he held the box out to her, "I was hoping to have more time to do it."
She took the box and asked a little worried, "Time? To do what?"
"I love you." He said calmly.
She went completely still for a few seconds, slowly looking back up into his eyes. Her voice shook as she asked, "What?"
"The past few weeks, I realized that this beautiful and kind person I was lucky enough to call my friend, meant so much more to me than what I thought. I love you Marinette, I'm in love with you."
"Chat, I,"
He touched her face, stopping her from saying anymore, "I just need you to know where my heart is. This part of me," he motioned to the mask, "this is who I wish I could be all the time. It's not that my civilian self isn't me too, because it is, but that part of me is who really wears the mask. I want you to know who I am, it would make all of this so much easier, but that choice is completely up to you. I want to be able to walk up to you and hold your hand, or put my arms around you without fear of someone trying to hurt you to get to me. I'd never forgive myself."
She put her free hand over his, closing her eyes, "I, you are important to me Chat Noir. You are one of the most important people in my life, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel something more for you."
His heart squeezed, "But?"
"But, there is this boy, this sweet and kind and amazing boy who I've been in love with for a long time. I wish I could explain why I'm so drawn to him, or why it feels like my heart is so heavily chained to his." She tried to smile at him, "But you have somehow miraculously," he smiled shyly at her use of the word, "gained a place in my heart the way he has. I know that's not what you want or deserve to hear,"
"It's okay Marinette." He whispered softly, smiling at her shock, "I already know about your feelings for Adrien."
She blushed nearly scarlet and before she could say anything he told her, "That's part of why I want to show you who I am, but I want it to be your choice. This," he lifted her hand that was still holding the box, "if you want to know the truth, this will tell you everything you need to know. If you decide you don't want to know, don't open it. You can give it back to me tomorrow, and we'll act like this never happened."
"I can't just forget or pretend that I don't know you love me." She said shakily.
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles, "I know, but if you don't want things to change between us like this, if the mask is too much, I completely understand that. I want it to be your choice." He smiled lovingly, "The prince usually finds the princess in the stories, but you're a special kind of princess who deserves and who is strong enough to find her own prince."
He stepped back and smiled at her, "Until tomorrow Princess." He gave her a slight bow before taking off, hope swelling in his heart for what tomorrow would bring.
…
He let out a deep breath, sitting with his head in his hands as he stared at the entrance to their school from the stairs, waiting for her to arrive. Nino sat next to him, saying it lightly, "Bro, you know she is always late."
"I know." He said without moving, "I'm just, hoping today will be different."
Nino said it with a smirk, "Alya said you have some real competition apparently. A certain, feline hero we all know."
He glanced over at Nino but immediately went back to staring at the door, "Oh she told me. Multiple times. She practically blew up my phone last night, telling me if I didn't hurry and do something I was going to lose her."
"Did you talk to Marinette last night about it?" Nino asked curiously.
"No, but I did do something." He admitted, his mood instantly lifting as the door opened and she walked in.
He sat up, watching her look around quickly before her beautiful bluebell eyes caught his. He gave her a small wave, and her smile brightened. She headed straight for him as he stood, seeing a glint of silver on her wrist that wasn't usually there. He started towards her, his pace increasing seeing her do the same, before she was practically running up to him, tears falling from her eyes, "Adrien."
She threw her arms around his neck and he held her up off the ground, burying himself in her shoulder as he whispered it, "You opened it. You really opened it."
"Of course I opened it Kitty." She whispered back, hugging him tighter, "It was you, it's been you all this time. It's always been you."
He set her down and couldn't get the smile off his face, "Will you be my girlfriend Marinette?"
She lifted her wrist, showing him the sterling silver bracelet he'd had engraved with their names. Next to his name was a green paw print outlined in black, and next to hers was a red ladybug with five black spots. She was their everyday Ladybug after all.
She showed him the small Ladybug, "Did you know?"
He asked confused, "Know?"
She started giggling and hugged him again, "You crazy kitten. This bracelet is purrfection, and you don't even know why."
He smirked at the pun, but had to know, "What are you talking about?"
She answered with a mischievous smile, "You don't have to ask me to be your girlfriend. I've always been your Lady." She moved a loose strand of hair behind her ear, drawing his eyes to her earrings.
His eyes widened as he realized what she was saying, and he laughed as he put his arms around her waist and lifted her up, swinging her around, "I LOVE YOU!"
She laughed with him, cupping his face with her hands as she hummed it happily, "And I love you, silly kitty."
What seemed like the entire school erupted into applause as her lips met his, and he knew that the girl in his arms was where fate had been leading him all along.
Thanks for reading! And for sticking with me until the end! This is the last of the prompts guys but don't fret, there will be more stories from AgresteBug soon!
As always, feel free to comment and review, you guys are the greatest motivators and make me a better writer!
Lots of Love and Melty Camembert Hearts! Au Revoir for now!