Tattoos ➳ 𝓜𝓲𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓾𝓵𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓢𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓐𝓤

Wounded stray

As the sun began to set, Adrien walked home from his friend Marinette's house. He felt like this project was really strengthening their friendship, especially because Chloè wasn't around to strangle him with her smothering hugs.

"Well wasn't that adorable?" A black and green blur flew from Adrien's pocket, swirling a few times in the air before landing in his hands.

"What are you talking about? He eyed the kwami, a face full of confusion.

"You and Marinette. Who else?" Plagg teased, raising his non-existent eyebrows.

"Plagg, we've been over this! Marinette- she's just a friend," Adrien cautioned, glaring at the smirking, black kwami. Plagg bellowed obnoxiously at such a statement. After his fit of laughter, he grabbed a slice of gooey cheese, shoving it down his throat.

"Whatever you have to keep telling yourself, kid. It's called denial" As a matter of fact, Plagg knew exactly who Adrien's soulmate was, not needing to find the matching tattoo. It was quite obvious, to be frank. The boy and his equally oblivious soulmate were completely unaware of their situation.

"I'll get changed into my pyjamas and do a bit of homework, then I have to meet Ladybug for night patrol, okay? So power up." Adrien considered that Marinette was falling behind with homework also, remembering the stacks of paper on her desk. Maybe that's why she keeps coming in late. He looked down at his hand again where a faded smiley face had been drawn, barely visible. It might be weird if he kept it and she saw it. But he didn't want to wash it off now. He looked down at it and began to wash his hands, frowning slightly as it completely faded.

Plagg was glad Adrien was feeling normal again, or at least close to it. He didn't know what Ladybug had told the boy but it clearly worked. When Adrien was happy, the kwami was happy. It was a simple as that. Plagg phased through a drawer and started hastily attacking more cheese.

"Okay let's get going. Plagg, claws out!"

⥈

Ladybug stood on top of the Eiffel tower, checking the time once again, waiting for her partner to show any minute.

"Hey bugaboo," she heard from behind her, turning around to find Chat Noir leaning against one of the frames, winking. She blushed a little, not long enough to notice.

"I told you, stop calling me that," she scolded, crossing her arms and turning her head away from the silly cat. After a second or two, she peaked a look to find him fake pouting. She couldn't say it was effective, but somehow, it to got to her. "Alright I'm sorry, now stop that," Ladybug apologised facing Chat Noir once again. The cat quit his humorous pouting act, giving Ladybug a genuine smile.

"Are you feeling any better?" She looked deep into his electric green eyes that were flicked with specks of yellow.

"Well, I was feline pretty paw-ful the other day. I'm very fur-tunate you came to my resc-mew," He joked, pausing each time for effect.

Yep. He's definitively back to normal, she facepalmed at the overwhelming amount of ridiculous puns.

"Let's just get this over with," Ladybug joked, returning him a playful wink- catching him off guard. He played it off trying to act wounded by her comment, his hand to his head as if he fainted. They vaulted over buildings, silent as the night. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, no one needed assistance and it was as if the criminals were hiding, none taking action.

"Well I think we're done for the night," Ladybug declared seeing that Paris could take care of itself. She said a bye to Chat Noir and prepared to leap back home, he cut her off quickly by grabbing her arm.

"Wait-" The boy with the messy blonde hair didn't know what he was going to say, but he felt like there was a need to say something.

"Thank you. For everything, I mean it. Thanks for having my back," his green eyes met her sky blue ones, a sympathetic expression taking shape on her face.

"That was rather fur-ward of you, kitty. Anytime," Ladybug joked, in a soft voice- implying that she truly would always be there for him. She swung her yo-yo, zipping away, leaving Chat alone with his draw gaping open. Did she just make a pun? I'm having a good bad influence on her, he admitted. Grabbing his baton, he extended it making him soar into the sky. Heading home, he couldn't help but find it hard to ignore the butterflies that fluttered in his stomach.

⥈

Just before reaching home, he heard a woman desperately wailing for help. Chat bolted in the direction he heard the pleas coming from, pausing to analyse the situation. There, a woman was leaning out of her window trying to grasp the arm of child who was about to plummet to his death. Not good, his thoughts raced. I evaluated the situation for too long. There wasn't a second to waste, it happened all to quickly. Chat Noir lunged off the roof, diving towards the child who was losing grip of the window sill. Abruptly, the child let go as he was unable to hang on any longer. The mother's horrid shrikes and wails echoed down the street as Chat Noir inched closer to the falling boy, grabbing him close and pulling him tight to his chest. With only a second to spare, the child in his arms, he flipped mid air preparing for a rough landing- back facing the concrete below and sharp fence below.

Pain. Pain in one of his arms, his entire back, and his throbbing head. He could barely move, but he managed to sit upright, leaning on the spiked fence that had almost completely impaled his arm. It hurt, the boy thought to himself, helping the child up. Make it stop. He glanced at his arm, warm blood pouring from it. Applying pressure to it, he weakly stood up, head spinning, back aching.

"Tom! Tommy are you okay?" The concerned mother ran out of the building and cupped her son's cheeks in her hands. She then walked over to Chat Noir, helping to support him. "Chat Noir, thank you so much, y-you save my son. I'm forever grateful." The mother said with her hand over her heart looking as if she was about to collapse. She glanced at Chat Noir in a concerned manner as he winced while she supported him. "Is everything alright. You really don't look well. Do you need me to call th-"

"Don't worry about me Ma'am, I'm feeling just... peachy." He cut her off, one hand pushing on his arm to prevent blood loss. Gotta get out of here, he blinked desperately as if it would make his blurred vision disappear.

"I-Is that blood?" The mother's eyes widened as she pushed her son behind her back, shielding him from the possibly traumatising situation.

"Just a bit." Chat admitted. "I feel okay though, don't worry." I don't feel okay at all, he told himself. He needed to leave, right now. The dizzy and faint cat, staggered his steps a little before wishing the woman a good night and heading back home, as fast as he could. Wait, I can't go there. They will notice the blood leaking onto the floor, and missing bandages, he admitted. He attempted calling ladybug, his vision darkening by the second. There was no response. He couldn't think of anywhere to go. Unless... Marinette! He had to get to Marinette's house- she could help him. Hand still clutched to his arm, the cat slowly made his way to Marinette's bedroom window, knocking on it desperately.

The moment her bedroom window opened, the cat who leaned on it for support fell inside, collapsing on top of Marinette.

"H-hey, Chat Noir?! What are y-" The girl looked up at the boy who had fallen on her, unconscious and hurt. She saw blood pouring from a wound on his arm and noticed how he winced when she touched his back. She crawled out from underneath him and stood up, trying her hardest to lift him up by the shoulders. Finally, she leaned him on her pink lounge and started to push down on his arm.

"Chat? Can you hear me?" Marinette panicked, her throat dry. Adrenalin was pumping through her veins. She had to put that aside and calmly focus on helping the wounded stray that had fled into her room.

"Mmngghh," he murmured to let her know he processed what she said.

"Okay, listen carefully. I need to bandage your arm. Y-you're going to have to detransform"

⥈