Faded Soul (Editing)

• • Scarred Protector • •

  Adrien walked into the Dupain Cheng bakery holding sketch pad, Tom looked over at saw Adrien. He motioned for him to come over, "Hello son what are you doing  here"

  Adrien smiled and held up the sketch book, "I brought this for Marinette, I know she loves drawing so I thought I'd get her a new one for when hers gets full." Adrien knew Lila had torn up her old sketch book so the least he could so was get her a new one, Tom nodded to the door that lead to the stairs letting him know he could head up. "Thanks Mr. Dupain"

He walked up the steps trying not to make to much noise, as he opened the door to the main living space "oh hello sweetie what are you doing here" Sabine asked smiling. She liked when Adrien came over he was always so sweet and kind, "do you want me to call for Marinette or do you want to just go up?"

Adrien thought about it for a bit but decided to head up on his own "I can head up in my own, thanks Mrs. Cheng" he opened the trap door and found Marinette unloading after a long day at school. "Hey Mari, I brought you a new sketch book"

  The girl jumped up and practically hit the ceiling "oh sorry you just startled me a little, thanks Adrien" she went in to hug him but felt him flinch when her arms met his. "Are you okay Adrien" he nodded placing a hand over where he cut, it didn't show through the jacket but they had already stated scaring over and healing. "Adrien take off your jacket, I know very well what your doing"  

  Adrien ashamed Marinette had found out, looked at the wooden floor as he slipped off his jacket to reveal the few scars he had made. "Mari look I'm sorry it's just.." he didn't trust himself to finish the sentence.

Marinette held his hand "Adrien what were you thinking, your all I have left.... you and Chat. I can't lose you Adrien"

  Adrien blushed a little, she cared about him, "I'm sorry Marinette, but this is hurting me too. I care about you too" he had to refrain from calling her 'princess' because that would give away too much. She couldn't know who he was.

   Adrien picked the sketch book up again and handed it too Marinette "oh thanks you Adrien I needed a new one since Lila...."

  Adrien put his hand on her shoulder "I know she tore it up,  I saw and don't worry about paying me back. It's the least I could do"

  Marinette pulled him into another hug, "thank you Adrien" she lifted his wrist and placed her thumb on his upper arm just under his scars. "Adrien promise me you won't cut again"

Adrien cupped her right cheek, and brushed it with his thumb "I want you to stop as well" he stopped himself from planting a kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you at school Mari" and with that he slipped his jacket on and left.

That night Marinette heard a knock on her trap door. "Princess are you there?" Chat sounded upset. "Can I come in?" Marinette got up from her seat and climbed up the ladder.

She opened the trapdoor and let Chat climb in, "kitty what's wrong, you seem upset" he landed on the bed and curled up in her arms. "Hey what's wrong"

Chat rested his head on her shoulder and pulled her into a hug, "Princess can we just stay like this for a minute" Marinette started playing with his hair, and running her hand through it.

  After a few moments Chat pushed himself up and planted a kiss on Marinette's forehead. "Chat are you okay, what happened?"

Chat looked down at the mattress on her bed, "I-I just..... I don't know, it's just nice holding you in my arms" he paused for a moment "and knowing your still alive, Princess I know I've told you this before but I really do care about you"

Marinette scratched behind his synthetic cat ear, "I know kitty, I love you too" Chat pulled her close and started kissing her trying to pour all of his love into it. Marinette started kissing back and a low purr escaped Chat.

After a few moments Chat pulled away, both of them breathless. Chat slowly leaned back in and left a trail of kisses from her collar bone to the corner of her mouth. "Princess, I really do love you." Chat didn't say anything but he liked the scent of her shampoo, it surprisingly calmed him down.

"Chat I really don't like anything else about my life other than you"

"Princess..... okay, try making it the rest of the day, I'll come back tonight and if you still hate your life, we'll talk about it okay" Marinette nodded and kissed him.

  It had been an hour since Chat came to visit and it was noon,  and Marinette heard her phone start to ring. She slid her finger across the screen and put the phone to her ear, "Hello and welcome to Attention Whore hotline, we have had many calls from class mates and traced your number from there how may I assist you" Marinette recognized the voice as Alya.

  She ended the call and blocked the number, she had all the numbers blocked now. She at least hoped Alya would come around but she never did.