Chapter 1: Knives Leave Gashes

Marinette tiptoed back to her room, a first aid kit hidden under her arm and blood on her fingertips.

"Marinette?" The girl froze when her father caught sight of her. He looked her up and down before fixing his eyes on her hands. "What happened? What's wrong?"

Biting her lip, Marinette thought back to fifteen minutes earlier.

Marinette thought her night would be calm and quiet. Chat Noir was patrolling, which gave her extra time to work on her homework and newest designs. She didn't expect her partner to land on her balcony. She didn't expect him to tap on her window and she definitely didn't expect him to be bleeding.

"Chat?" she asked as she let him in. Marinette caught a glimpse of red seeping through his suit. "Please tell me that's ketchup."

Chat Noir cracked a weak smile. "Cats do love their tomatoes," he joked before his hand went to his side and he bent over in pain. Marinette rushed to hold him up and walked him over to her bed.

"What happened?" she asked him, moving her books so he could sit.

"Uh, you know, normal superhero stuff..."

"Akuma?" Marinette wondered aloud. How had she not heard? She should've been out with him, fighting the akumatized victim. Not in here doing scien-

"Not an akuma."

"Then what? And why didn't you contact Ladybug?"

Chat chuckled slightly and winced at the pain. "Some baddies were trying to rob a bank. I stopped them."

"Then what is this?" Her fingers touched where the hero had been holding a moment ago. She drew her hand back and stared at the blood on her fingertips.

"One of them had a knife. He snagged me, it's nothing."

Marinette gave a frown and looked around before she grabbed a piece of cloth and pressed it to the area. Chat let out a hiss as his hands gripped her quilt. "It doesn't seem like nothing."

"It's just a scratch, I promise."

"Cats leave scratches, knives leave gashes."

"Hehe, that rhymes."

"Chat... You should be at a hospital, or at least at your own home-"

"No."

"No?" The teen looked at Chat surprised. "Why not?"

"I can't go home... Not like this..."

"What about the hospital?"

"They wouldn't understand... You're the only one-"

"I can't help you."

It was now Chat's turn to look surprised. "Why not?"

"In order for me to help you, you'd have to change back, and I can't know your identity."

"Doesn't matter... No time..."

"I thought you said they just snagged you."

"Please," Chat looked at Marinette, silently begging her to help him. She looked at him before glancing at Tikki, who was safely hidden by her desk. Tikki gave a nod and Marinette bit her lip looking back at Chat.

"Marinette!" The designer blinked, her father breaking her out of her thoughts. "Are you okay? Do I need to get your Mother?"

"No!" Marinette said a little too quickly. "I mean, no... I'm fine, Papa. I just... poked myself with a needle."

"That's a lot of blood for a small prick."

"I was just so tired! Yeah, haha, I was trying to work on a new outfit and I'm so tired that I poked myself a couple of times."

Tom looked closer at Marinette's hands suspiciously. She quickly hid them behind her back and gave a nervous smile. "Well, okay... If you need help let me know. And please, go to sleep."

"Yes, papa, love you," she kissed him on the cheek and then scurried back to her bedroom. Tom Dupain shook his head at his daughter and left the living room, turning out the light.

Marinette closed her bedroom door and began giving Chat a piece of her mind. "You'd better be happy I'm clumsy and injure myself a lot. If my Dad found out you were here he'd freak. Why couldn't you have just gone-" she turned and stopped talking. There, lying on her bed, was Adrien Agreste. The Adrien Agreste. The same Adrien Agreste she had a crush on.

He was on her bed bleeding. Which meant Adrien was Cat Noir.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh," Marinette began freaking out. "Adrieniscatnoirican'tbelievethisihaveacrushoncatnoir!"

"Uh, hey, I know you're probably processing a lot right now, but my owner is kind of bleeding to death!" Plagg flew over to Marinette.

"Right, right. Bleeding." She shook her head. "Fix now, process later." Marinette made her way over to Adrien, to see the blood now soaking his shirt. "That does not look good."

"M-Marinette?" Adrien opened his eyes slightly.

"Hi, Adrien."

"I'm-"

"Don't talk, we'll discuss all of this later. Right now, I need to check your 'graze,'" Marinette said and pulled his shirt up slightly. He winced as she peeled back the bloody cloth and her eyes widened. "Adrien, this is bad."

"It's just my love bleeding out for you." He gave her a goofy grin. The pain killers she had given him earlier had obviously set in. Strong medicine she had received from Master Fu after they decided that if she was ever injured to where the Miraculous Ladybugs couldn't heal them all, she'd have to do it herself. Which had happened... a couple of times...

She blushed and then frowned. "Stop it."

"What?"

"You don't like me like that."

"Yes, I do. I'm pretty sure I love you."

"No, it's the medicine. You don't know what you're saying."

"Mari-" Marinette quickly pressed a warm washcloth against his wound, making him hiss.

"We need to get this stitched up," she said and pulled a needle from her sewing kit before sterilizing it with alcohol. "Try not to scream, okay?"

"Anything for you, Princess." Adrien gave a flirty wink. Yup, definitely Cat Noir. Marinette rolled her eyes and threaded some string through the needle. She then proceeded to sew Adrien's wound closed, hoping her parents didn't hear the whimpering coming from the model.

Once she was finished, Marinette placed a gauze pad on the closed wound and wrapped more gauze around his stomach, tying it in a taut knot right above the cut. He winced again and then looked down. "Doctor Marinette! You fixed me! I LOOOOOVE YOU!" The bluenette covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shhh!" She shushed him. "Don't do that! You'll wake up my parents!"

Adrien's smile turned into a frown and tears gathered in his eyes. "I'm sorry! I'm such a bad person! No one will ever love me!"

Marinette's eyes widened and she looked at Plagg, who shrugged, "He's got issues," was all the kwami said.

"It's okay, Adrien, it's okay. I love you," she tried to soothe him.

"Y-You do?" He wiped his eyes and glanced up at Marinette.

"Mhmm. But it's a secret, you can't tell anybody."

"But I'm not good at keeping secrets!" He wailed. Marinette groaned and pulled her covers up to his chest.

"Hush, now, minou, you can sleep here for the night." She gave him a kiss on the head. "Tomorrow we'll talk, okay?"

The model quieted down and nodded, pulling the covers closer to himself. The designer watched as he drifted off to sleep, exhaustion finally taking over. She then went to the bathroom and washed her hands before grabbing a sleeping bag and pillow, settling on the ground for the night. "Goodnight Tikki, Plagg," she said.

"Goodnight," the kwamis responded and the house fell silent.