It was now Tuesday night. Adrien still hadn't gone back to school. He hadn't even left his room after returning home from the hospital. Except for now.
Right now he stood outside a florist shop window transformed as Chat Noir. His black leather suit allowed him to blend into the darkness of the night, ensuring that he wouldn't be seen by any wandering pedestrians. Although, he doubted anyone would be out this late given the fact that everyone was currently terrified of him.
Due to this new fear, nights were now lonely. But it most definitely had its advantages. Like right now. He didn't have to worry about anyone seeing him doing what he was about to do.
Chat Noir tugged at the handle attached to the glass door, not being surprised that it was locked but definitely disappointed. He walked around the building for a bit to try to find an open window but only made his way back to his original position; in front of the glass door.
He sighed in defeat. He didn't want to use his Cataclysm right now. If he did, he would only have 5 minutes to get everything he needed to get done. He didn't want to rush. But, he didn't see another way through this.
Raising his hand, Chat Noir called out the magic words and watched as his hand was instantly engulfed in black particles. He reached out to the door and gently tapped it, the door quickly turning black and crumbling to the ground, leaving nothing but a pile of rubble. Chat Noir stepped over it and entered the shop, using his baton as a light source to see all the beautiful flowers.
He browsed the large quantity of flowers, yet none of them caught his eye. He needed this to be perfect. He kept messing up with everyone around him, especially Marinette. He couldn't mess up this too.
After a few minutes of searching, his eyes finally landed on a bouquet of red roses. He really needed to stop getting her roses. Chat Noir walked over to the bouquet and picked it up, gently pinching one of the petals. He brought it closer to his face and took a small sniff. They smelt amazing.
Suddenly, his ring beeped telling him he was about to detransform. Had he really spent all his time searching for flowers? He bit his lip as he rushed out of the broken door and used his baton to launch him across Paris and into his bedroom window.
The moment he arrived, Plaggs powers had given out and he was ripped from the Miraculous. He landed on Adrien's bed and grunted as Adrien walked over to his cabinet and handed him a piece of cheese.
"Eat that fast, Plagg. We're going back out right away," Adrien whispered, careful not to wake the other kwamis as he admired the roses. He prayed this would be enough to get her to forgive him.
Plagg didn't say anything as he slowly ate the cheese. What once filled him with so much joy now only seemed to fill him with dread. The faster he ate this, the faster he would be forced to transform. He hated transforming for this new Chat Noir.
Once he finally finished, Adrien wasted no time transforming back and leaping straight out of the window. He couldn't help but smile as he made his way to Marinettes bakery, the wind gently slapping across his face as he continued on with his journey.
He roughly landed on Marinettes balcony, clenching the flowers tightly as an even larger goofy smile spread across his face. He couldn't wait to see her. Well, assuming she was awake.
As he knocked on the balcony hatch, his stomach almost instantly started doing flips. Was he making a mistake by involving Marinette with Chat Noir? What if he put her in danger? Should he leave now and make amends with her as Adrien? Would being friends with her as Adrien still be too risky?
Adrien shook those thoughts out of his head. He was done listening to what everyone told him. His entire life he had been forced to follow orders by everyone around him, even by Ladybug. He wouldn't have that anymore. Now that he was free of everyones grasps, he would make his own decisions. No one would stop him this time.
The hatch began to rattle as a pair of tired-looking eyes revealed themselves. When they landed on the figure standing on their balcony, they widened and all traces of tiredness was gone. Then, the hatch shut.
I mean, what was Chat Noir expecting? For Marinette to come running into his arms? No, she hated him. He had messed everything up with her. A bouquet of flowers wasn't going to fix anything.
Chat Noir sighed and gently placed the flowers down before turning around and leaping onto the balcony fence. He glanced one last time at the still-closed hatch before pulling out his baton and preparing to leave. But just as he was about to jump, he felt a tug on his tail preventing him from doing so. He turned around and saw Marinette holding onto his leather belt wearing her pajamas and a very messy hairstyle that only she could pull off.
"W...where are you going?" She asked.
"Well, you closed the hatch. I thought you didn't want me here..."
Marinette softly smiled, " I had to close it to unlock it, silly. You can...come inside if you want." Chat Noir instantly perked up at this offer. On their way down, Marinette took the flowers in her hands and brought them inside with her, holding them tightly as she watched Chat Noir enter her room and fall onto her soft mattress.
"Thank you for the flowers, Chat Noir. They're beautiful."
"You're welcome. Their beauty reminded me of you." Chat Noir smiled as Marinettes eyes grew wide, her face instantly becoming five shades redder. Chat Noirs' facial expression was quick to match hers as he realized the words that had just came out of his mouth. He wasn't here to flirt, he was here to apologize!
"A-anyways! I'm really really really sorry for what I did. Hurting you or even scaring you was the last thing I wanted to do. When I saw the cuts on your arm, I panicked. I handled that wrong and I'm sorry. You don't deserve to be treated the way I treated you." Chat Noir winced, his head hanging low. He didn't even have it in him to look at her. He was ashamed of what he had done and he wouldn't blame her if she kicked him out right now.
But she didn't. Instead, she walked over to Chat Noir and took a seat beside him. She placed a delicate kiss on his cheek and watched as his face flushed a deep shade of red.
"Thank you for caring, Chat Noir. You're a good person. " Chat Noirs' head snapped to look at Marinette. He was...a good person? He hadn't been called that in so long. He was so used to everyone thinking he was the villain that he didn't even know how to react to this.
"You...you think I'm a good person?"
"Yes, I do." Marinette smiled.
Chat Noir looked away from her and down at his hands. The hands which held so much blood and destruction. The hands that didn't know how to do anything but cause pain to others. The hands that, for some reason, Marinette thought belonged to a good person.
Clenching his fists, Chat Noir squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to calm his breathing. Right now wasn't the time to start worrying about himself, it was Marinettes time. He was here for Marinette. Yet her words affected him so much.
"Are you okay, Chat Noir?" Marinette asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Uh...yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Would you mind if I used your bathroom real quick?"
"Not at all, it's right over there."
Chat Noir nodded and followed the direction Marinette had pointed in. He entered the bathroom and locked the door behind him, gently leaning his head against the door. He needed to calm down. Every time he had lost his temper, he wasn't able to control himself. He always ended up doing something stupid. He didn't want to hurt Marinette again.
He walked over to Marinettes sink and splashed some water on his face, a large majority of it slipping down his leather suit and onto the floor. He sighed as he looked for toilet paper to clean up the mess but saw that the toilet paper holder was empty. He leaned down and opened Marinettes cabinet to grab a new roll but something stopped him. Something shiny. A pair of scissors. A pair of scissors which still had dried blood.
His shaky hand slowly reached for the scissors and pulled them out, taking a closer look. This is what she had used to do it. This is what she had used to hurt herself. He couldn't stand the thought of her hurting herself. He couldn't stand the thought of her being hurt.
"Cataclysm..."
The pair of scissors crumbled within Chat's grasp and fell to the floor. He didn't even think to clean it up as he opened the door and walked back to where Marinette was still sitting and sat next to her.
"Can I...see them?"
Marinette reluctantly held out her arm and looked away as Chat gently held her arm in his hands. He slowly ran his thumb across them, his chest feeling more and more hollow the longer he stared at them.
"Why...did you do it?" Chat Noir asked.
"...I don't know."
He looked up at Marinette and saw her watering eyes. He didn't want to see her cry. She was such an amazing girl; nothing in this world should be able to make her cry. He looked back down at the cuts and raised her arm closer to his face, placing a kiss on the first cut.
"What are you doing?" Marinette questioned, wiping away her tears before they fell.
But Chat Noir ignored her question as he kissed the next one.
"Stop it..."
Again, he placed another kiss.
"Chat, stop."
"No, Marinette. If you can't see how wonderful you are, then let me show you." Marinette looked away from him as he said this and pulled her arm back, cradling it in her other arm.
"You don't need to do that-"
"Yes, I do! I need you to understand that you are such a great person. Words can't even begin to describe how amazing you are, and the fact that you, someone who's always looking out for everyone, is capable of doing this is just..."
"...just what?" Marinette asked. She looked up and Chat Noir, waiting for an answer. But all he did was stare at her. He was probably thinking that she was disgusting. That she was selfish. That she was a horrible person.
"It's just not right. You don't deserve to feel this way. I wish I could prove this to you or make you feel alright-"
"You can," Marinette whispered as she inched closer to him. " You can make me feel alright."
She wasn't sure what made her say this. Maybe it was because she was still heartbroken from Adrien. Maybe it was because she wanted attention. Maybe it was because she wanted to feel the love that she couldn't provide for herself.
"Marinette, what are you saying?" Chat asked, but he knew what she was asking.
"You know what I'm saying..."
"No, okay? Just no. You aren't in your right mind right now and you don't know what you want-"
"I know what I want," Marinette said as she placed a hand on top of Chats. But that was a lie. She didn't know what she wanted. She didn't know anything right now except that she craved to feel something. Anything. Even if it was fake or a one-time thing. She just wanted to feel something.
"Marinette we can't- I can't do this. I'm not going to take advantage of you-"
"You aren't taking advantage of me if I'm the one asking for it. I'm not drunk or high, I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions right now and I've decided that I want to do this if you want to do it too. Please, Chat Noir. Just give me an honest answer." Marinette pleaded as she squeezed his hand and stared into his eyes.
He knew he shouldn't. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be talking to her. He shouldn't be sitting in her bed with her. What he should be doing was leaving. He should leave and never come back here until Marinette was feeling better.
But he couldn't stop his body from moving forward and from his lips smashing onto hers. His hands were quick to wrap themselves around her small frame, hers doing the same around him.
This kiss was different than the one they had shared when he was Adrien. As Adrien, he wanted her. But right now, he needed her and she needed him.
Chat Noir leaned Marinette against her pillow, Marinette wasting no time wrapping her legs around his waist and pulling him as close as she could. Chat Noir broke away from her, both of them breathing heavily as they stared at each other.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Chat asked, still slightly hesitant.
Marinette rolled her eyes with a small smile and grabbed his face, forcing his lips back onto hers. Chat rested a hand on Marinettes stomach which slowly inched up, stopping at her bra. He removed his hand and began tugging at her shirt, wanting to take it off.
Before the two could go any further, Chat Noir's ring beeped. Marinette groaned as Chat Noir broke away once again and sat up, Marinette still laying down beneath him.
"Sorry..."
"Do you have to go?"
"Well, I could stay if you really want." Chat smiled as he ran a thumb across her bottom lip, staring into her eyes.
"But you're going to detransform soon..."
Chat Noir looked around Marinettes room for a bit before his eyes landed on a red handkerchief that sat on Marinettes desk. He got up without saying anything and walked over to it, picked it up, and showed it to Marinette.
"We can...use this." He suggested.
"Okay..." Marinette blushed as she sat up and shut her eyes, allowing Chat to tie the handkerchief around her face. He gently rubbed her cheek as he admired her.
"We could wait another day if you want-"
"No, this is fine. I'm okay with this," Marinette smiled as she grabbed onto the hand that rested on her face and squeezed it. Chat smiled even more at this gesture and placed a small kiss on her hand.
"Okay. Plagg, claws in."
Marinette couldn't see anything through the handkerchief but she could hear as the familiar sound of a detransformation engulfed the room.
When Plagg exited the Miraculous, he was prepared to be greeted with cheese. But instead, all he saw was a shy Adrien standing before a blinded Marinette. It didn't take him long to figure out what was going on.
Plagg stared at Adrien. But it wasn't a look of shock. It was a look of disappointment. Disappointment in both of them. He knew they were just teens, but he had more faith in them than this. Plagg said nothing as he flew off and hid.
Adrien looked back at a waiting Marinette and sat next to her, placing a kiss on her shoulder as he took one of her hands in his. It felt warm. He could actually feel her now. He was no longer being blocked by the suit.
"Your hands...are soft," Marinette whispered as she intertwined their fingers together. She loved the feeling of her hands in his. She didn't want this feeling to go away. She wanted to feel more. She wanted to feel everything, and that she did.