Forget the Mask
Chapter 9

3rd Person's POV

"Hey there Marinette." Adrien called out to Marinette which surprised her.

"Huh? Oh Uhh, A-adrien! Doing you here- I mean w-what are y-you doing here t-this late?" She stuttered out

"I could say the same thing to you." Adrien snickered which Marinette thought of as cute. Really cute. [I agree Marinette.]

"Oh Uhh...me? I err-" Marinette said as she snapped out of her fantasies.
"Huh? Oh you don't need to tell me, if you don't want." Adrien speedily followed up.

"No Uhh it's fine. I'm just, waiting for someone." Marinette said as she cast her eyes downcast to hide her embarrassment.

"I see, I guess we're on the same boat." Adrien muttered. After that it was followed by long silence with both worrying about their Kwamis, and what to say.

"Uhh so, who are you waiting for? If you don't mind me asking." Adrien asked not able to take in the awkward silence.

"Uhh, a c-close friend of mine. You?"
"Someone I who I really need to talk to."
"I see......."

"Does Alya know you went out?"
"Huh? Oh y-yeah!"

Right now both of them are getting impatient and decided to look for whoever they're looking for.

Adrien went towards the Eiffel Tower while Marinette searched the grounds but there's no sign of their Kwamis nor their partner.

Then a loud crash, which is definitely not needed, was heard.  Marinette was instantly met by Adrien and insisted for her to run, which Marinette gladly accepted but not without worrying about him.

"But what about you?" She asked worryingly.
"Uhh, I'll be okay! My chaperon will pick me up soon." He lied to which Marinette fully believe because she's just that naive and such. [This should have been published sooner but I had to change the chapter's plot.....a reveal seemed too early.]

Marinette ran towards an abandoned confectionary shop, and hoped for Tikki to come soon. If not she'd charge in as herself.

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"Master Fu...s-shouldn't we go now? M-Marinette and A-Adrien might be in trouble!" Tikki said shakily, she didn't know how or why but she caught a high fever as soon as she and Plagg arrived in Master Fu's house.

"Don't worry Lady Tikki. I'm sure they will find a way." Wayzz reassured the worried kwami. [I dunno why but I see Wayzz with that kind of speaking style :r]

"Plagg, why don't you go back to Adrien for now?" Fu said to a now curled up ball of black.

"Whaaat? But I'm tired!" He complained
"But Sir Plagg!" Wayzz started but Fu just shushed him telling him to let Plagg do whatever he wants.

And just like that Plagg went back to sleep........or not.

"Ugh! Fine I'll go." He said and he flew towards one place he's certain to find Adrien this time of night. The Eiffel tower, surprisingly he haven't moved an inch from there.

"Adrien!" Plagg yelled out as he neared his owner.

"Plagg! Claws out!" Adrien immediately yelled.

"But I just got he- woooaaah!" Plagg complained as he got sucked into the ring.

And just like that Chat Noir leaped into action.
Around the Champs Elysées he saw the villain. It was a huge robot like miner.

"I am Robo Digger! I will get Ladybug and Chat's miraculous! Then I will get rich from it! Ha-ha-hah!" It yelled out in a very robotic voice. [Okay Mj, ew. Just ew.]

"Aww too bad, cause the black cat is here to give you bad luck!" Chat Noir yelled as he vaulted down towards the ground. [Again Mj, no. Just no.😖]

"Chat Noir, you will be the death of me!" The robot yelled again and a giant mask that appears in front of akumatized civilians appeared.

"You fool! You're the one doing the killing!" Hawkmoth hollered from the other side as he facepalmed obviously annoyed with the stupid remark his minion did.

"That aside! Get ready for some gold!" The robot yelled again as it turned one of its hands to a pick Axe and in a failed attempt to hit Chat it hit the ground instead and just like it said, the ground turned to pure gold.

"Woah! It is gold. No matter, I'll take you down with my claws!" Chat yelled as he charged for the robot. [I hate myself. 😂😂]

"Where are you M'Lady?" Chat thought as he tried to focus his attention towards the robot.

"Poor little kitty cat. Nine lives now turn eight." The robot said pretending to have low speaking skills or smthn like that.

Just when Chat was about to reach the robot he stepped on what he assumed was pure solid gold but instead he got stuck.  It wasn't normal gold after all.

"Quickgold?" Chat said confused as he thought instantly of quicksand except there's no chance that he'll get sucked in.

"Time to say bye-bye kitty!" The robot said as he lowered his pickaxe to hit a now struggling cat.

"Ladybug, where are you?! I need help!" Chat thought as he scanned the surroundings to find anyone or anything that might help him.  His eyes spotted a certain pigtailed girl slowly climbing the robot.

"Marinette?! What is she doing here?! I told her to run! Well Adrien did but that's besides the point!"

He wanted to speak up obviously,but it might trigger the robot's senses and go after Marinette instead.

Chat closed his eyes preparing for the hit but since it took too long he opened his eyes and all he saw was Marinette dangling from the pickaxe that is now in front of the robot's eyes.

"Marinette!" He yelled worryingly. He used his baton to get him out of the sticky gold surface.

When he was about to reach Marinette she was thrown towards a nearby river which led Chat to chase after her but only to get caught by the robot.

"What the! I don't have time for you right now so just......Cataclysm!" Chat yelled as he destroyed the robot's cool blue jewel in its hand assuming it was where the akuma is which was a lucky guess for him.
As soon as that happened the akuma flew out and since Ladybug wasn't here to purify it he just put it in a bottle he got from a nearby building. Just to temporarily hold it and prevent it from multiplying or that's what he hopes.

"Marinette!" He yelled as he approached the river only to find Marinette drying her hair already.

"Chat, hey there." Marinette said as she made eye contact with the black cat.

"Marinette! You're soaking wet!" Chat said and without letting her know he brought her to the balcony of her apartment.

"What the Chat! Why did you bring me here?!" Marinette whisper-yelled since she knows that her parents are asleep, and maybe even Alya.

"Why did i- no matter! Why did you do that?! You could have died!" Chat yelled also trying not to wake anyone up.

"Can't you at least thank me for trying to help!? Besides you could have turned to gold!" Marinette huffed as she crossed her arms slightly angry that Chat didn't acknowledge her help even though she doesn't even know why it made her angry.

"Princess, sorry and....thank you. Plus I have nine lives and you only have one." Chat said jokingly which earned him an eye roll courtesy of Marinette.

"Yeah right. With the amount of bad luck you have, you're probably born with only one." Marinette snickered as she flicked Chat's bell for no reason which made Chat pout childishly.  Then after a second Chat thought of a nice comeback.

"Why do you care about me so much?" He asked and caught Marinette's attention.

"Ooh, does my princess have a crash on this clawtastic and not to mention, handsome black cat?" Chat said as he flashed his usual charming, yet annoying smile at Marinette.

"Wha-?! Of course not! D-don't think so highly of yourself you dumb cat!" Marinette said as she tried to hide the small blush forming on her cheeks.

"Is that so? Why don't you give me three reasons about why you're so worried then." Chat said  as he knew he's winning......and forgetting he only has a few minutes before he turns back to normal. Two to be specific.

"Well, Paris can't afford to lose their superhero and Uhh....well, who'll stop hawkmoth a-and defeat him! See three reasons!" Marinette said nervously as she knows she herself can't deny that she is worried about him.

"The last two were practically the same princess."

"Well then Uhh.......you Uhh...." Marinette stuttered out as she can't think straight right now especially since Chat's face was a bit too close to hers.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She muttered.

"Maybe, maybe not." Chat said and Marinette just pushed his face out of the way and opened her mouth to say something when the door leading to her room burst open to reveal someone who would definitely freak out if they saw the current situation.

Marinette instantly covered her best friend's mouth before she could say anything, and Alya just eyed Chat which of course made Marinette nervous and shot the cat with a death glare.

"Uhh...*beep*..well you look at that! One minute before I revert back to my civilian self.....see yah reporter girl and sleep well princess!" Chat hurriedly said as vaulted Oi of Marinette's balcony.

Marinette heaved a relieved sigh and got ready to face Alya.

"Gurl! You have to tell me all the ditz on how you and Chat got close! Time for an interview! Eeeeeek!!" Alya fangirled forgetting the people who are sleeping.

"Shh! Alya, quiet down. I'll tell you everything just....let's sleep for now." Marinette said as she yawned before being able to finish her sentence properly.

Alya agreed as she know the girl is tired after all its like two in the morning.

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Chat has finally arrived at his own house and instantly transformed back when he reached the ground.

Plagg didn't bother asking for cheese and started to fly towards the window to go back to master Fu but he was caught by Adrien.

"What's the deal kid?! I prolonged your transformation as long as I can!" Plagg yelled annoyed.

"Where are you going? And where were you a while ago?! And what happened to Ladybug!? Where was she?" Adrien bombarded Plagg with questions that has been in his mind all this time.

"Woah calm down kid, first somewhere. Second the same place. Third her kwami was sick. And I don't know. Does that solve your questions? Yes. Well then I'm gonna leave now. I'll be here when an akuma attacks so don't worry too much." Plagg stated as he quickly flew out the window before Adrian can answer back.

"Plagg!" Adrien yelled as he reached for Plagg, but was too late. Adrien just plopped down on her bed and thought of the earlier events, why did Marinette even do that? Sure, Chat is needed by Paris but hr has a much more strong suit and he can easily get out if he wanted.

"Come to think of it, Marinette's brave and kind....just like Ladybug. I wonder if.......Nah. It can't be. M'Lady is much more better than her." Adrien though of course showing his faithfulness towards Ladybug even just in his mind.

"I better sleep now. It'll be another long day tomorrow."
And just like that Adrien drifted to his own world of dreams.

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An update! Finally!
Anyway, this was supposed to be longer but I forgot the other details I thought of before I fell asleep....so that's what resulted. But hey I put MariChat! My ghad I'm so happy.
This was supposed to be a reveal but I ditched that idea.....

Under the Spotlight will finally be published this week! Maybe the day after tomorrow. Yay 🙌🙌🙌

Well no spoilers this time. But I hope you support that book as well.

-MJ is out bai!