Red String • Marichat

Chapter Two

Marinette was in her room doing her physics homework. School had been cut early that day due to the previous attack from the villain.

She sighed as she put her fist on her pale cheek. Tikki flew out of the bed Marinette had made for her when she first met her.

"Don't give up Marinette! You can do it! Don't give up!" She cheered in her cute high pitched voice.

Marinette laughed, resting her arm on the desk. "Maybe I could if I could pay attention." She teased her lilac eyed kwami. Tikki giggled a sorry in response.

A light rapping on her window made Marinette jump, her papers flying off the table.

Chat Noir was crouched right outside her window staring at her, his piercing electric green eyes that were infused with yellow almost glowed. He had his cheeky smile planted on his face and waved at her.

She went to her window and unlocked it so the cat could come in. He pushed the window up with ease before sliding himself in.

"To what do I owe the pleasure Chat Noir?" Marinette slowly bent down to retrieve her loose papers, pain coursing through her back.

"What? Aren't you glad to see me Princess?" He helped her pick up the papers and handed them back to her, but not before noticing they were their physics homework.

"Not really, no." She teased before sitting down on the couch. She began to do her homework again, ignoring Chat as he pranced around her room.

"Me-ouch Marinette. Whatcha doing?" Chat settled for a seat next to Marinette and leaned his head over her shoulders. Marinette blushed, pink dusting her porcelain cheek as she felt Chat's breath on her ear.

"Physics homework, a subject I'm not very good at so if you could." She gently pressed a finger to his nose and gently pushed his face the other way.

"Something you don't know, but this cat happens to be paw-sitively the best at physics."

After a while if negotiating, Chat finally convinced her to let him help.

"Thanks. I probably wouldn't have gotten this done so early with out you. Good job kitty." Marinette closed her book and set it on her desk before settling back in in the couch.

"Who am I not to help a damsel in distress?"

"So why did you come to my room Chat Noir?" Chat's ears twitched at the sound of his name.

"I wanted to check and make sure you were okay. That hit looked like it really hurt." Once again his green eyes were laced with worry as he did a once over on Marinette.

"Don't worry. I'm fine, thanks to you." She scratched him behind the ear and he let out a purr, nuzzling into her hand. Marinette laughed as she pulled back and Chat felt the tips of his ears turn red from embarrassment.

Did I really just purr? He thought to himself as Marinette continued to giggle softly.

"So what's the damage?"

The question caught Marinette off guard as she stopped giggling. "What?"

"The damage. You couldn't have taken that hit and just brushed it off. You're not invincible, Marinette."

Marinette looked Chat deeply in his shocking green eyes with her sky blue ones. He was the first person to ask her that besides Nino and Alya. Everyone else had just rushed off to Chat Noir and Ladybug, completely forgetting about her.

She felt a flutter in her chest but it happened so fast she just shrugged it off.

"Nothing much. Just a slight bump on my head and some bruises on my back." She shrugged nonchalantly. She felt the pain sear into her shoulders but she bit back her cry. She was glad she had worn a sweater tonight instead of her usual tank top. She didn't want Chat Noir to feel bad if he saw the cuts on the blade of her shoulder.

"Show me your back." He commanded, reaching out for her.

"I'm fine really Chat." She leaned back and swatted his hand away. It was starting to get hard keeping up this happy-go-lucky attitude with all this movement. She didn't want to clotted blood to reopen. Then she would have to change bandages and that would be too risky if her parents found them.

"Then why don't you show me your back Princess?" He reached for her again, this time successfully grabbing her. Marinette resisted against his grip but eventually gave up.

Chat slowly turned her around so her back was facing him. He began to tug her shirt up warily, just below her ribcage. He nearly flinched when he saw her bare back. He knew she hit the wall hard, but not this hard.

Her skin was no longer a ceramic white but now a collage of blacks, purples, and blues. It wasn't just in different parts  though. Chat looked in horror as he stared. Her entire back was bruised badly with red scrapes and cuts everywhere. Then he noticed a bandage peeking out just barely in view, which he could only assume was wrapped tightly around her shoulder.

"Marinette how could you not tell me? How could you even try to hide this?" Marinette turned her head to looked at her horrified partner. This was exactly why she didn't want him to find out.

"I didn't want to be a bother. It's fine Chat."

Chat furiously shook his head. "Being a bother? Marinette this is serious! This is not fine!"

"Chat please-"

"No. That's final." She stared at her friend. She's never seen this side of him, not even as Ladybug. "This is all my fault Marinette, I'm so sorry. I should've been there quicker. I should've taken the hit not you."

His ears drooped and he looked away from her in shame. He was sitting cross legged with his hands on his thighs and his body turned from her.

"Chat Noir it's not your fault. You tried and if you hadn't protected me the way you did today, it could have been a lot worse-"

"But you shouldn't have gotten hit anyways." Chat Noir interrupted, the pain noticeable by the crack in his voice. She really couldn't understand why he cared so much. He's only visited her a few times since the Evillustrator, not enough to form a bond that could affect him like this. Or maybe he was just a sensitive person to others.

Marinette felt her heart break, bit after bit staring at her best friend who was currently hurting. She's never seen this side of Chat Noir, not even as Ladybug, and the fact he felt so guilty because of her hurt even more than her back. Scratch that. There was the time she jumped inside the T-Rex but that was different. She hadn't been hurt.

She wanted to comfort him, make all of this go away. He was always there for her, it's her turn now.

She wrapped her thin arms around his slightly muscular build. Some indescribable aroma instantly surrounded her. It was faint but smelled nice. The weak smell of cheese mostly masked by the smell of some weird mixture of honey and mint. She hugged him from behind, arms tightly squeezing Chat's torso and her cheek pressed flat against the cool leather on his back.

He froze, not sure what to do. Slowly and cautiously he wrapped his larger hands around hers and held them tightly.

Chat took a deep breath and turned to his classmate.

"Thanks Marinette." He quirked a corner of his mouth up before the beeping of his miraculous interrupted their moment.

"You should probably go before you transform back." She murmured into his back before withdrawing from his warmth. She instantly felt cold but smiled softly at him.

He nodded before heading to her window. She got up to lock it but he popped his head in once more.

"Thank you Mari. Really." He pressed a long kiss on her forehead, his soft skin touching her porcelain one. After a few seconds he slowly pulled away before leaving.

Marinette's heart was beating loudly. Badump badump badump.

Bye, Chat Noir.

Hey! What did I say? Anyways Is it just me or has anyone else notice that they skipped episode 12 in the English version last Sunday? Anyone? Until next time, peace!