I really like this chapter. Mainly because BananNoir is adorabllleeeee. There's some Marichat in here so I hope you guys don't mind hehe <3. I just couldn't help myself ;). Lemme know what you think <3
AO3
Marinette had just finished buying new fabrics, the material bundled up in her arms when someone rushed into her. The two collided harshly against each other, throwing the both of them onto the ground. Wincing, she rubbed her head as she looked around at the scattered fabrics. Groaning, she stood up, offering a hand to the person who had just bumped into her, “Are you alri-?”
The person in front of her was dressed in a bright yellow banana costume. She blinked a few times to clear her vision but the guy in front of her remained the same. A frown marred her face for a second before he spoke in shock, “Marinette?”
“Chat Noir?” Marinette responded, her frown deepening before she lifted him up with her still outstretched hand, “Is there an akuma attack? Did you lose your miraculous? What happened?”
“No need to worry purrincess. There’s no akuma attacks today,” he practically purred to her annoyed eye-roll before he gave a sheepish chuckle, “Would you believe me if I told you I actually wore this to hide?”
Marinette scoffed, pulling away from him to pick up her discarded fabrics, “Hide from who? Is your adoring fan base at it again?” she drolled rather sarcastically.
“Actually yes,” Chat chuckled, “Yes, they are.”
“You actually have fans?” she turned around, quirking an eyebrow at him playfully.
“Aw come on purrincess, you’ll hurt a kitty’s feelings with talk like that.”
She could practically see his pout through the costume and nudged his elbow lightly, “Come on Chat, you know I’m just kidding. I’m the number one fan on that list after all,” Marinette giggled.
“Should I be hiding from you as well then?” Chat chuckled back, bumping their shoulders together playfully.
Marinette rolled her eyes, “No! I actually have experience with this. I once spent an entire day protecting Adrien Agreste from his adoring fanbase,” the dark-haired girl finished proudly. Recalling that day brought back so many happy memories and she almost sighed in front of the superhero before her. Spending the whole day with her crush was amazing even if she was in her pajamas for the entirety of it.
“Is that so? Should I be jealous?” the banana-costumed boy leaned in close to her before she shoved him back harshly, her face flaming.
“No!” she spluttered, “It’s not like that!”
“Well, how furtunate that I get your services then, purrincess.”
She imagined him winking at her before she scrunched her nose, “You were doing so well without the use of puns. Of course you had to go and ruin a good conversation like that.”
“Aw, would mew purrfer if I stopped?” Chat chuckled at her.
“Yes, yes, I would,” Marinette couldn’t stop herself from laughing as she shoved him back playfully.
The superhero started to speak, presumably to tell another awful pun when they were interrupted by the sounds of girlish screams. Reacting on instinct, Marinette grabbed his hand, yanking him away from the source of the noise. Huffing and puffing, they tore through the streets of Paris, trying to avoid drawing more attention to them. Eventually, she managed to drag him into a quiet alley she usually got away with detransforming in. Panting slightly, she leaned out of the alley, looking for any sign of the fangirls, “I think we lost them.”
“I think so too,” he sucked in a deep breath of air.
“I’m starting to think that maybe the banana costume wasn’t the best choice for staying hidden in broad daylight,” Marinette grinned up at him, her fingers itching to flick the bell that was usually on her partner.
“Me too,” he beamed back down at her.
“Seriously, why a banana costume?! That cannot be easy to move around in,” she tilted her head at him curiously.
“Ehh,” Chat shrugged, “It was the closest costume around.”
She opened her mouth to tell him off when another girlish squeal cut her off. Her head jerked to the side to see a teenage girl pointing at the two of them, “Oh my god, Adrien and his girlfriend are on a date again!!”
“Wha-,” Marinette felt her brow furrow before she flicked her gaze over to the boy next to her. Her eyes widened considerably as her face paled.
No... it-it can’t be...
Before she had time to panic properly, Adrien had already grabbed onto her hand, pulling her out of the alley with him. They bolted straight past the startled girl, ignoring the screeches behind them. Her thoughts were a mess as she ran with the boy in front of her.
How is this possible?! It was never supposed to happen like this! We were supposed to defeat Hawkmoth first!
Eventually, they ran out of breath, finally finding a nice, quiet place away from the fangirls. With a spluttered cough, Marinette stumbled away from him, tugging harshly on her pigtails, “I, you-you can’t... A-Adrien?”
“Marinette, you can’t tell anyone,” he came forward to grasp her hands tightly in his, “Seriously, Ladybug will kill me if she finds out I revealed my identity to a civilian!”
She blinked a few times at his face. Unfortunately though, she was unable to contain her hysterical laughter. Slapping a hand to her face, she giggled manically, “H-how am I supposed to take you seriously when you-you look like that,” Marinette snuck out in between breaths, waving a hand at his banana costume.
Adrien’s hands came to plant firmly on his hips and she imagined the stern look on his face but that did nothing to stop her giggles. Sucking in a gasp of breath, she managed to calm herself down and looked at him seriously when he let out a snicker himself. Soon the two collapsed on each other, laughing their heads off.
When they finally regained their breath, Marinette wiped a stray tear from her eye, “Sorry about that. I don’t know what just came over me. I promise to keep your secret though, even from Ladybug,” she couldn’t help the small smile that twitched at her lips.
“Thank you, Marinette,” his banana costumed head bobbed at her thankfully, and she barely managed to bite back her snicker.
“It’s fine, Adrien,” she smiled shyly at him, “You already know about my own secret anyway,” she gestured to her bare neck, hoping that he would remember her time as Multimouse.
“That’s right!” she practically envisioned his green eyes glimmering at her, “You were Multimouse, right?”
“That’s me!” Marinette chirped with a giggle before she glanced about them, “I think we should get you out of that costume soon, though. We don’t want to have to run again and everyone already knows that you’re the one in the banana costume.”
“You’re probably right,” Adrien chuckled at her before he reached around to unzip his costume. Soon, his cute, blonde head popped up at her, his hair matted to his forehead as he grinned brightly at her.
She stared at him in awe for a few minutes before shaking her head roughly.
This is still Chat Noir! You can’t go around acting all crazy around him now! And someday, when it’s time, I’ll finally be able to reveal that I’m Ladybug.
Pushing away her thoughts, Marinette intertwined their arms with a smile, “Come on, let’s see if we can get you home without any more mishaps.”
“Lead the way, purrincess,” Adrien purred at her.
Ignoring the swoop her heart just gave at Adrien giving her a pet name, she instead rolled her eyes, tugging him along with her, “I’ll kill you if you start punning at me in class.”
Adrien threw his head back as he laughed, and her lips twitched into a smile as she watched him. Everything’s going to be alright. I’ll make sure of it, she thought to herself with one last final nod.
Jean Marchat et Maria Casarès dans “Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne” de Robert Bresson (1945) - inspiré de l'histoire de “Madame de La Pommeraye” dans “Jacques le Fataliste et son Maître” de Denis Diderot (1765-84) - mars 2025.
#FirstFriday in #Marchat the Fairbanks Community Museum on 2nd Ave from 5 pm - 8 pm this Friday, March 3rd and for the month of March #mekellogg2023 (at Fairbanks, Alaska) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpMH0Avr4xM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
