A/N: ...Don't look at me. I think it's pretty obvious that I just like seeing the smart ones getting hurt whilst the silly ones end up panicking over them as if it's the end of the world. It's a trope that you can pry from my dead, cold fingers ,':D Also, thank you all so much for the wonderful comments lately- they literally make my day and keep me motivated to create more stories and art 3

So, without further ado, enjoy this drabble~ it's saccharinely stupid, plotless and sweet and hopefully, it shall rot your teeth~~~~


"I won't give up the fight in my life

Cause my life is living for love

I won't give up the fight in my life

Standoff and groove on time"

LOST IN PARADISE - ALI, AKLO

Pairing - Ladynoir

Prompt - 'Scratches and Scars'


~(x)~

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If anyone knew the full extent of Chat Noir's dramatics and utter stupidity (save for his 'poor' kwami who claims to be cheese deprived whenever the little rascal sneaks out and visits her home for some fresh cheese croissants), it was Ladybug. She should've known from the start the minute they literally collided in their first meeting with his obnoxiously, tinkling, golden bell digging into her collarbones and his strange feline ears plastered to his golden tresses.

She pretty much grew up being able to guess what a person is like based on their fashion tastes and their gestures with eerily correct results that would give even the most accomplished fortune tellers a run for their money. Yet, stupid ol' 'I wasn't thinking o'clock' Marinette decided to second guess herself for once after the first few glances of her partner's flashy suit.

Maybe, (she thought at the time), maybe, just like herself, Chat Noir didn't get the chance to envision what he truly wanted with his armour hence his little God of destruction took the reigns himself and was in charge of the whole design and aesthetics department. She was more than aware of the calamitous cat's nature after all. Surely, her partner was much more modest and had better taste than that insanely, flamboyant BDSM-esque ensemble.

No superhero with a sane mind would willingly concoct such an outfit for fights with his life staked on it, right?

She tried to rationalise that chiming little bell zipper (which was a teensy, weensy, bit cute) as perhaps a tool that would only ring if he's in absolute, mortal danger and immediately indicate his location to her. That belief was thrown out of the window instantly as she observed that the bell rang when either of them flicked it and its soft sound was almost inaudible.

Like a kitten's.

She attempted to believe that the belt tail was a secondary or even tertiary weapon that could somehow aid them in battles. That maybe it was secretly a deadly whip in disguise. Or even a resilient rope with supernatural strength!

Mais non! C'est faux!

The belt's only roles in this lifetime were to either express the silly cat's raw emotions(wrapping around any part of her body when he's in a flirty mood or buzzing with anxiety, slashing against the ground or walls when he was irritated or even stricken upright out of fright), be used as an aspect to her lucky charms during battles and even be used against them when the enemy gets a hold of it and tosses the yowling boy away with a fortitude that could land him outside of France!

'I landed near Étretat, My Lady! So no- I wasn't outside of France when Monsieur. Pigeon's army cannonballed me out of the fight. Hmmph! Instead of making fun of me, be glad I came back immediately instead of dining at La Marie Antoinette- the Coquille Saint-Jacques were literally begging for me to eat them...'

Did he even feel anything every time the tail was tugged? She could've sworn that he rubbed it in a soothing manner once a little while ago...

And if he does have some sort of a weird magical nervous system in that belt, similarly to how his leather ears had real canals leading to the inside of his head; what happened to him every time it was taken off?

Has...has she been unintentionally amputating the catboy all this time without a beat...? Or was the tail itself some sort of a sentient, magical being?

.

N'importe comment!

Those aspects barely scratched the surface. It didn't even take up five percent of the idiot sandwich that he totally was. Noir's magical suit aside (especially those damn, illegally adorable ears), his exaggerated behaviour, his 'punny' speech and flirtatious mannerisms itself should have been at least a giant neon sign that spelt out:

"YOUR PARTNER IS AN IDIOT! NUMBER ONE IDIOT IN THE WORLD! PROTECT THIS IDIOT WITH YOUR LIFE BECAUSE HE HAS NO CLUE ON WHAT SELF PRESERVATION IS! AND FOR GOODNESS SAKE, DON'T LET HIM SEE YOU GET HURT OR ELSE ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE!"

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And now...

She was paying the price for not heeding to the latter.

"Chat Noir...It is just a little scratch."

Ladybug's tone was so deadpanned that it could probably outdo the dryness of the Sahara desert. Though, she couldn't muster a proper pout due to the sharp, consistent pain on her cheek from the wound. Maybe it was a bit more than just a mere cut after all with the way she can feel it bruising up and aching every second...

"Just a little scratch? JUSTE UNE PETITE BLESSURE?!" The boy clad in black momentarily ripped his hands away from his partner's shoulders only to tug at his own hair and screech out a heavy, frustrated sound. "If it was just a small scratch, it wouldn't still be bleeding, My Lady! It's literally pooling down your cheek like a leaky tap!" His fingers darted back to her shoulders, kitten eyes watering with tears that's begging to be shed, shaking her entire body as if to get his point across.

A heavy welt of guilt and shame began bubbling up from the pit of her stomach and rose to the edge of her throat, her teeth chewing on her bottom lip and her sky blues averting her partner's pleading gaze. She didn't mean to upset him so badly and she knew that he only ever had the best of intentions when it came to her. She doubtlessly hated upsetting her Chaton. Next patrol, she was determined to bring him freshly baked cookies and all other sorts of treats to make it up to him.

With extra chocolate chip!

"I'll clean it up once I get home and it will heal in like a day-" Ladybug tried to calm him down, her strong hands grasping his shoulders gently and rubbing her thumbs against the ends of his collarbones only for the melodramatic catboy to clamp her fingers with his, practically deaf to her reassurances.

"What if it gets infected!? What if you end up hospitalised because of it!? WHAT IF YOU DIE-"

"What!? Chat Noir-"

Oh no. Now he's completely fallen down his downward spiral of complete lunacy and there's nothing that she can do to stop him right away. Is this how her poor friends felt every time she went down the same rabbit hole with her constant catastrophising?

"-And then I'll never see you again! And we'll never get married and have three kids and live on an island with lots and lots of fruit and have a hamster named-"

"Oh boy here we go again-"

"-And the worst thing is that sweet, sweet Marinette doesn't listen to me either and wipes away any blood she sheds with her sleeves as if it's nothing so she might die too! Once, I was too late to save her when she tripped down the stairs and she ended up getting a massive cut on her knee! And what did she do!? She simply shrugged and walked away! And if both you and her die, who am I supposed to marry and have babies with!? BUG, WHAT DO I DO!? I don't want to be a bachelor all the way to my senior age with Plagg and Camembert as my only company-"

Hold on a second...

Did her ears suddenly malfunction from the teen's blubbering? Or was he really talking about her civilian identity?

Oh dear, did he fall for her twice!? Why did that make her heart race ten times more than it usually did when she was in his presence?! Or was he talking about a different Marinette out there in the city? But then again, her name was quite old fashioned that there's hardly any other Marinettes in the world let alone in this city of about two million citizens-

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Wait.

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How did he know about that incident where she did indeed fall down and earn that nasty, bruising score that was insured to leave the umpteenth scar on her body...?

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"Ma-Marinette?" Her own name sounded so foreign on her tongue, her expression almost identical to one who has been constipated for days and her eye twitching. "Who is this Marinette- no wait. Don't tell me. We shouldn't know anything about each others' civilian lives." She hoped that that shut him up, not wanting to dare to step back in the secret identities pool that her partner never had any trouble with diving into without the necessary equipment.

She took a deep sigh, willing her combusted brain to come up with something 'wise' or 'cool' to distract him off the topic(or maybe for herself) and send him back home so that he could get some rest and burn off all his worries through a decent nap.

And then perhaps never mention the name 'Marinette' in her presence ever again.

However, when she looked up to face him, her makeshift calm expression was wiped off squeaky clean by his sparkling emeralds and dopey, fanged beam. Her heart did not skip a few beats or so. Absolutely not. Nope.

"Oh, Bug~" He leaned right into her face with a lovesick grin, personal boundaries long lost history and hearts transforming into hummingbirds for the both of them for entirely different reasons. "How could you not know who Marinette Dupain-Cheng is~?" Chat Noir was blind to the way his Lady's pupils constricted and how her milky complexion paled even further whilst he was lost in his boyish daydreams.

"She's absolutely incredible~! Super talented and so, so smart! She's worked for THE Jagged Stone and impressed many other celebrities with her brilliant work! And not just that- she's super kind and humble and endearingly sweet and always has her heart in the right place. I could literally put my heart in her hands and I can trust that she'll protect it with her life because that's the kind of person she is! Oh, mon Dieu- no words could ever be enough to describe just how wonderful Marinette is- oh! Have I mentioned just how pretty cute she is!? She's so unbelievably pretty that it's no wonder that ninety percent of the school is lowkey crushing on her-"

"Ch-Chat Noir!" Ignoring the way that her cheeks were submerged in a loud, fiery red, she ripped her hands out of his clutches and plastered them against his lips, earning a muffled exclamation from him. Willing her heart to stop ricocheting, she gulped and took a deep sigh.

"Y-You're giving up way too much information. Just from that alone, you've narrowed down your civilian identity to me, twice- as much as I'm happy for you that you really li-li-like- RESPECT the girl...I shouldn't be hearing about it." She felt her heart plummet similarly to the way Chat's faux ears drooped against his golden locks, his eyes completely dimming from its momentary sparkles and she couldn't help but hate herself for it.

She was literally the rain to his parade.

He pushed her hands away from his mouth and then smoothed his towards her cheek, cupping the wounded flesh tenderly and using his thumb to wipe away the streaks of blood that oozed out of the cut. Not once did he falter with the gesture.

"Désolé, my Lady," He pooched his lips into a cute, frustrated pout, wanting nothing more than to break down the stubborn wall between them with power as strong as his ancient destruction. "I didn't intend to do that...I just seem to get carried away sometimes," He fluttered his lashes for extra measure.

"Heh, sometimes?" Ladybug's cheeky smirk was countered by Chat's mock glare which then softened when she cocked her head to the side, leaning her jaw further into his touch. "You need to chill, you silly cat."

She was met with a charming smile, his eyes like bright crescent moons against his domino mask, curtained by his dishevelled fringe. The smile then suddenly switched to an unamused expression and his eyes were quick to glare at her with intensity as great as his infamous namesake.

"Oh, I'll chill once you finally get that cut cleaned up, little bug." He eyed the wound again worryingly, brows furrowed and lips rosy from the number of times he's chewed on them out of anxiety. "You've always been terrible at looking after yourself...making me worry like hell." He muttered quietly, only to raise a brow at the heroine's scoff.

"Says Monsieur. 'I'll sacrifice my life as much as I'd like on a daily basis!'. How many times have you made me worry about you? Dumb cat..." Ladybug's scowl only deepened when the boy responded with a relaxed chuckle, his other hand brushing away her fringe so that he could land a chaste peck on her forehead with adoration.

Her heart might as well have exploded.

"That's why I've been training to get stronger and faster so that I can push us both out of the way, my Lady! You can't use that excuse against me anymore-" Abruptly, Chat stopped mid-sentence, his eyes flashing with amazement and his mouth momentarily parted with awe.

He was blind to the girl's inquisitive looks, hyperfocused at the thin, jagged pink that peeked above her mask by her brow and reached close to her scalp. Had he not held her hair back, he would have never noticed the recent blemish.

"Hey? What's wrong? You've gone quiet." Ladybug tittered out nervously, her veins pumping with adrenaline as she tried to read the emotions that swam through her Minou's eyes. It didn't help that his touch suddenly felt like embers upon her body which was dying to consume her whole and it didn't help how the mood and tension have suddenly shifted.

Have his eyes always held such a fiery passion?

"Ladybug...that scar on your brow...how did you get that?" For some reason, his question seemed desperate, as if he was longing for a particular answer from her, evident in the raw hoarseness from his voice. It was then, she knew that only she had the power to make or break him.

Common sense urged for her to keep her mouth shut, to shake her head and speed away without uttering a single syllable. The adamant wall between them yelled that she should divert his attention with something else or even resort to a fake answer for the sake of these rules.

Despite all of that, Ladybug was just so sick and terribly tired of keeping her best friend at arm's length, at keeping them both simultaneously locked in a guild of loneliness. Her heart was completely fed up with being denied freedom and happiness because her mind just couldn't let go of that bitter rule that stopped both halves of her life from overlapping into one...and then bleeding into his.

For once, she let her heart take a leap of faith.

And she didn't dare to avert her eyes from his knowing pair.

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"From the looks of your face...I think you already...know...somehow..."

Chat Noir released a shuddering exhale of relief and pure happiness, pressing his lips hard against the scar with a firmness that concluded that none of this was a dream for either party. When she thought that she couldn't be put off guard any further, Ladybug was instantly enveloped within the hero's arms, his nose digging into her hair as he inhaled her scent, his toned appendages pressing her against him as tightly as humanely possible.

"Marinette..." Never has her name sounded ever so delightful and ethereal than now with the way he simply breathed it out against her nape. Her breath also definitely did not hitch in her throat as her partner trailed his supple lips up her jaw and towards her ear. One of his hands freed itself from the embrace, tucking a lock of her midnight strands behind her lobe and then he began to faintly recount the story.

"It was a few weeks ago...just an ordinary day, we had éducation physique and Kim was up to his usual antics. When Monsieur. D'Argencourt had to leave for a few minutes, Kim kicked the ball as hard as he could and it ended up smashing through a window. And then you...you silly girl...you just had to volunteer to get the ball despite everyone's warnings...only to slip on some broken glass, fall and land face-first into the dangerous mess."

The heroine felt rather than saw his fingers tentatively stroking the scar before he pulled back, watching her with an excruciatingly heartbroken look, leaning his forehead breezily against hers.

"Marinette, I was shit-scared. You had blood all over your face from where a piece of glass struck through. And what did you do? You laughed. You patted Kim's back, saying it's all okay, even though he burst into tears and was horrified as hell. And then you tried to head to the bathroom, saying how you'll wash it off with water! It's a good thing I kept you in my arms back then and carried you to the nurse's room. Idiot!"

It was at that moment where all the jigsaw pieces finally rearranged themselves and fitted together to reveal the mystery behind her partner's mask. Ladybug couldn't help but let out a silent gasp, trembling fingers that were clutching his chest now reaching for his cheeks to ensure to herself that this was reality.

"Adrien...of course, it's you..." Her sky blues glittered with unadulterated exhilaration and the apples of her cheeks regained that sakura hue anew. "I guess I'm...sorry? For making you worry? B-Back then...and even right now...?" Once again, guilt churned in her stomach for making her wonderful comrade run around with needless concern and apprehension when it came to her infamous clumsiness, both suited up and in their civilian lives. Especially when she recalled the way he reacted back then to her injury.

The way his voice rose against her for the first time ever as he held her like a bride, demanding that she stops trying to play off the laceration as nothing.

The way that he speedily took her to the nurse's room and stayed by her side at all times as the medic cleaned her up, his eyes never leaving her face.

The way that his tears streamed down his face with alleviation when they were notified that the wound wasn't anything too serious and that no stitches were needed, only a quick trip to the doctors for more advice was more than sufficient.

He held her so thoroughly back then, had peppered kisses of relief all over her head as he'd begged for her to promise to not scare him like that again. Even if it seemed so minor to her.

She should've realised back then that he was her Chat Noir with the heightened protectiveness he held for her and his constant expressions of devotion when he watched her with those beautiful, spring green emeralds. Thankfully, she was here now with him, secure in his arms, his warmth, as if his heart has encased her whole body.

"I'll forgive you if you make it up to me," Chat nudged his nose against hers, eyes now determined whilst Ladybug's heart continued to bruise itself against her ribcage. "You almost made me cry again, Marinette." His frown widened like a grumpy kitten and it almost caused her to roll her eyes at him had she not been so flustered.

"Come on. Even you can admit that you were being way too silly with this dumb scratch-" Chat interrupted her with a warning growl. "-Ugh. Okay, not a dumb scratch. I get it. But the point is, it's nowhere near as bad as the one I got on my head and it will heal in a week or so, hopefully. It's not deep enough to scar."

"But I still got worried..." He began to whine now, his feline eyes pleading and his belt tail wrapping itself around both of their torsos, bringing them both even closer together. It was a miracle that Ladybug didn't get a cardiac arrest from the proximity...and knowing that it was Adrien of all people she was in this position with? How was she not a puddle of goo yet!?

"Fine," She might as well give in. "How would you like me to make it up to you?" Mon Dieu, it was finally dawning onto her that she wasn't just dealing with Chat's shenanigans now...it was Adrien's too. And unlike his feline persona, Adrien was a complete mystery when it came to what he truly wants and what's going on in his mind so how was she supposed to predict his wish!?

Also...isn't he in love with her too?

Uh-oh.

"Easy. When we get married, I want six babies with you." Chat answered as if he wasn't about to burst into tears ten minutes ago, radiating with a brightness that practically blinded his partner whilst she simultaneously suffered from whiplash in her brain from his scandalous request. "We could start practising after we get your injury treated~! I've read and educated myself about it all thoroughly so our first time should go without a hitch and I can quickly pop down the shops for condoms if you'd rather I do that- Oh! And if you want more than six kids, that's completely fine with me-"

"Quoi!? Hold up, slow down- WAIT!" Once more, she had her hands against his mouth, her demeanour completely bewildered and her brain screaming with embarrassment. "First off, I can barely look after myself, how can I look after six babies? And second, what do you mean when we get married?"

How did this idiotic cat go from 'wah-wah you're making me cry from all the scratches you're getting' to 'Let's practise lots and lots of sex for our future babies'!? It was like she was being pulled in different directions at a speed faster than sound and her brain just couldn't handle it!

"...You mean...we're not getting married...?" His ears and tail sagged with misery and if the laws of science were to be bent, a literal gloomy cloud would have been floating over his head right now.

Ladybug hated it!

"I didn't say that!" His feline features perked up again and at this rate, the heroine believed that the dog miraculous was far more suiting for the blonde. "And I'm not saying that we are...right now..."

"So it's a maybe~?" He brushed his nose against hers, a small smile resting on his lips as his eyes flickered from her sky blues to her strawberry tinted lips. The hungry, wanting look wasn't lost on Ladybug and she swallowed, looking away as the heat continued to tingle within her cheeks.

"...It's a slow down, Chaton. You haven't even taken me on an official date yet and we've only kissed like...two times? And you don't even remember those-"

"Three times."

"The statue kiss doesn't count!"

"Three times."

"Ugh! Fine. Whatever." The furrows in her brows were soothed away as Chat supplied plenty of light pecks all over her face like little fairy butterflies, evoking a timid smile from her. "You didn't even give me a chance to confess and here you are trying to get me in bed."

"I offered marriage first, ma princesse. And also, isn't your willingness to stay in my arms as I love you more than an indication that my feelings for you are mutual?" He snuck in another kiss on the corner of her mouth, purrs vibrating from his chest and then it was only his cool breath that was hitting her rose-tinted lips.

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"Just kiss me you dramatic fool."

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He didn't need telling twice.

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~(x)~


A/N: Listen. One second I was riding fluff and crack and the next, angst pushed me down and took me from behind, only for crack to take over and rail us all hard.

I'll proofread the next day or something lol. Hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a comment! Or else all the pharmacies in Paris that sells condoms will magically be closed so Adrien and Marinette won't be able to fuc-