Drabble #3 : Too Blind To See (Your Beauty)

Summary : In which all sides of the love square come to play. Marichat, Ladrien, Adrienette and Ladynoir all rolled up in one precious cinnamon one-shot. Blind!Adrien AU

Adrien knows what the world is supposed to look like.

Of course he does, he's read every book in his father's library. The books tell him of a world full of vibrancy and bursting with colour.

They tell him the diversity of trees and flowers and insects and animals. They tell him stories of a maid and a prince; of a little girl and a lion; of a princess and her knight. They show him how much he's missing out.

They show him a world he can't see.


He's not supposed to leave the mansion.

'It's your home,' his father insists. But the words left unsaid are already burned into Adrien's memory - You can't see. How are you going to look after yourself? It's not safe. You're blind, Adrien.

Nobody except Nino - his maid's son - visits him.

So the blond, twenty-year-old male is surprised when he hears someone open the door on Wednesday afternoon. (He's blind, not stupid. Nino only visits on weekends and Father is always at work.)

He hears the person's breath hitch and he can practically feel the pity oozing out of the guest.

Adrien clenches his jaw. He hates people who do that. He hates it even more when they start treating him like a porcelain doll - afraid to speak too loud or too rude, in fear of breaking him.

He knows he can't see them, but is it so hard for them to see him?

He expects the usual, wary greetings - the 'hello, Adrien's or the 'how're you doing today?'s or the 'I'm sorry's. (He hates the last one the most.)

He definitely doesn't expect the stranger to start squealing.

'Oh my god, I cannot believe I'm meeting Chat Noir! The Chat Noir!'

Adrien Agreste blinks. Once. Then twice. Which is funny because it makes no difference whether he blinks or not.

How could this girl - this stranger - even know who Chat Noir is?

Father told him that the books he published weren't exactly flying off the shelves.

In fact, he only sold two copies. Adrien didn't even bother to guess who were the buyers. Naturally, it would be Nino and his father.

The girl - he deducts, judging by her voice - rushes forward and he hears her stumble a little before reaching his bedside.

He hears her whisper, 'I can't believe it. I'm actually here.'

No offense, but this is starting to get creepy.


He takes it back.

Because this girl...has just made his day.

They must be a match made in heaven because nobody - and he means, nobody, not even Nino - ever pushed him away after he punned.

(Okay, that doesn't really sound right.)

The girl - who insists on not giving him her name - told him that she had been dying to meet him for quite some time, with Chat Noir being her favourite author ever.

He found that weird since his novels - a trilogy on a young girl called Ladybug - was mainly centered around her true love's blind ignorance of her love for him. But the romance only started to come around in the last half of the second book and it was pretty cheesy anyway. The rest of the novels were basically filled with depression, more depression and a whole lot of self-depreciation.

Adrien was surprised when the girl didn't talk about the romance. Instead, she surprised him by talking (ranting) about the girl's unbelievably low self-esteem.

He ended up having a two-hour-long debate with a random stranger whom he still doesn't know on his bed.

He realized half-way through their discussion that the girl never once mentioned his...'state'.

She talked to him.

Normally.

As though he was normal.

Hell, she even pushed him (and not very lightly) when he started throwing her puns after puns after puns. Adrien couldn't help it! Besides, she should have seen all of them coming. With a pseudonym like Chat Noir, of course, he would have a furry-(fully)equipped arsenal of puns. Adrien never misses an opurrtunity to pun, after all.

By the time she starts retorting his puns with even worse ones, Adrien decides that he likes this girl.


He calls her Ladybug one day.

She doesn't say anything for a moment and Adrien panics. What if he crossed the line? Did she not like his nickname for her? Oh, screw his crappy socializing skills!

But then he hears a laugh bubble out of her.

And he swears it's the most beautiful sound he's ever heard.

Ladybug.

Bright and bubbly and full of luck and spirit.

(So unlike the Ladybug he conjured up when he started on his novel.)

Yes, Adrien thinks, this name suits her well.


Ladybug walks in to him screaming and thrashing in his bed one day.

When he wakes up, he's ashamed to feel her slightly callused, dainty hands on his tear-stained face.

He feels embarrassed for showing her how vulnerable he is. He assures her that it is fine.

She feels differently.

'It's not fine,' she says, her right hand resting on his and the other cradling his face. 'You're not fine.'

He says nothing.

He hears her sigh and scoot closer to him until she was on the bed next to him.

He expects her to say something stupid and sappy. (He hopes she doesn't. Because he hates empty promises and false hopes.)

He expects her to tell him that it is okay. (He hopes she doesn't. Because nothing is ever going to be okay.)

But she surprises him. (As always.)

She sifts her fingers through his hair and starts humming an unfamiliar tune.

He finds himself melting under her touch. He feels tears dripping down his cheeks again and he raises a hand to wipe them.

She stops him.

'Let it out,' she whispers gently. 'Let it all out, Chat.'

And he does.

(He realizes that the song she was humming was 'Sweet Jasmine Flower'.)

(He also realizes that it's a Chinese song.)


It's been six months since they first met.

And Adrien hates himself.

He hates himself so much.

He hates how she's right in front of him but he can't even see her.

He hates how much he knows about her but couldn't even recognize her if he could see.

He hates how much she's changed him.

He hates how she has become the center of his universe so easily.

He absolutely despises himself for letting himself fall in love.

He doesn't want to get hurt again.

Not after she left.

He doesn't think he'll be able to move on this time if his lady leaves him now.

No, he knows he'll never be capable of moving on.

(Because half of his heart has already been torn out once. He knows he won't survive if someone tears the other half away.)


So as he signs the documents, he reminds himself, This is for Ladybug.

This is so she can find someone she deserves.

This is so her life isn't chained to someone else's.

This is so both of them won't get hurt.

(Liar, he thinks to himself, you're hurting already.)


Marinette finds a package delivered to her doorstep, two weeks after Chat started ignoring her.

There is a letter on top, folded neatly.

Marinette feels a chill run down her spine and she thinks of how similar this scene is to Chat's novel.

(Ladybug walked to the door with small steps, as if she was afraid. She opens the door and sees a small, fist-sized box near her feet. On top of it was a neatly sealed envelope, with Felix's return address.)

Marinette picks up the box, her fingers trembling ever so slightly as she opens the letter.

("Dear Ladybug,

I never got to tell you my real name. And you never got a chance to tell me yours, either. Father knows, of course, but he wouldn't tell me. He was afraid I would leave the mansion to find you. Which I probably would have done if it wasn't for my appointment.

Ah, well, we all have secrets to keep, don't we? It's okay though, you will learn my real name soon enough. My only regret is not being able to be there with you when you do say my name.

I am not good with words, my lady. How ironic, isn't it? An author who can't find words to expurress himself... how unfurrgivable. I must apawlogize, my lady, but I can't seem to stop punning around you.

I know you're smiling now with your eyebrows furrowed. Ah, you thought I was blind, did you? Well, technically I am, but you're the only person I can practically see. I do not know what colour your hair is, or what shade your eyes are, or even if you have freckles or scars.

But in my mind, I see someone beautiful. Someone with a galaxy of tiny freckles sprinkled across her nose; someone with smooth, ebony hair tied into pigtails; someone with the most captivating blue eyes...

Maybe you turn out to be blonde or a redhead, but no matter what you really look like...you'll always be my lady.

In the end, it would always be your fiery determination that I would remember. It would be the way your breath hitched the first time you saw me; the way you laughed for the first time in my room; the way your hand cradled my cheek as we laid in bed that I would remember until the end of time.

Ladybug, I...

...I am truly sorry. Forgive me.

-Yours forever, Chat Noir. ")

Marinette finds a small, ceramic urn in the box, along with his ring.

And she cries.


Chat Noir

(? - 2016)

Beloved friend

Dedicated author

'May you find the lady you've been looking for.'


Warning : Heavy angst ahead. Prepare your poor souls.

Oops, guess I written this at this wrong end. Haha, my bad. (Sorry not sorry.) The title should've warned you guys in the first place. XD

Anyway, I have absolutely no experience with blindness or self-depreciation, so I hope I didn't offend anyone or made too many assumptions about what it actually feels like. So if I have offended anyone, I deeply apologize. I am still a rookie at writing fics related to self-harm/depression and so on, so any advice/feedback on this story would be much appreciated. :)

Read and review, y'all!