All The Bright Places

Doubts

Marinette froze in place, seeing the piercing green eyes. She wasn't sure why, but she was kinda surprised that he was here. Especially this late.

"Marinette..." He finally broke the silence but not the eye contact.

"Chat Noir." She whispered his name back, trying to hide the pain. She didn't want him to know what happened. That was the difference between him and Luka. Luka never pressed her to explain things or tell him things but Chat Noir did.

"Isn't it kind of... late to be out? Where were you?"
She could hear the worry in his voice as he spoke.

"I was... visiting someone." She reached for the light switch and flipped it up as her room lit up, making her and the cat man squint their eyes.

"And who might that be?"
Chat was sitting on top of Marinette's desk with his legs crossed in front of him.

"Does it matter?" She pulled the sweater off and laid it on a chair as Chat's face fell and his ears drooped down.

"Luka?" He stared at the over sized shirt that she was wearing. She'd forgotten that she'd had it on. He knew it was Luka's because he'd seen him wearing it the day of the party.

"Does it matter?"  She repeated her words and crossed her arms, feeling annoyed.

"Wait... are you guys... back together?"

"No! Chaton! We're just friends!" She grumbled.

"Then why are you wearing that? Wait... are you guys... friends with benefits?!"

"Ew! Chat, no! Why would you even think that?"

He pointed down to the shirt and frowned.
"Because of the shirt"

Marinette rolled her eyes and sat down on the chair that was by her desk. She looked up at the hero's green eyes and stared for a moment, making a small blush form across his cheeks.

"Chaton, even if we were, why would something like that matter to you? It has nothing to do with you."

Exactly. It has nothing to do with me. That's why it matters to me.
He wanted to say those words so bad but couldn't.

"I-It wouldn't matter! I'm just curious."

Marinette shook her head and finally looked away. "Just because you're dressed up as a cat man, doesn't give you the right to act like one." She muttered under her breath.

He tilted his head to the side as he looked at her confused even though he heard her. "What did you say?"

"I said, haven't you ever heard of the saying, curiosity killed the cat?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"If you keep asking questions, you're going to get yourself into trouble. Why are you here anyways?"

"I... I don't know. I didn't have anything else to do. I can leave if you want me to."

Marinette just shrugged her shoulders and pulled her knees to her chest. The heels of her feet balanced against the edge of the chair.

"I don't care what you do, Kitty. I'm just tired." She closed her eyes and leaned her head forward until it rested on her knees.

Chat Noir looked down at the girl, his eyes widening.

"Is that... blood?" He pointed to a small stain on her pants as she jerked her head up, putting her legs back down.

"B-Blood? I don't see any blood" She tried to cover it up but he saw through her lies.

"What did he do to you, Marinette?" She'd never seen this look that plastered across his face before. It was a disgusted and angry look with hints of worry.
It scared her as he hopped down from the desk and stood over her, but she didn't want him to know that she was afraid. His tall body towered over hers as he leaned down, placing both hands on the back of the chair behind her head. He was only inches away from her face.

"N-Nothing! H-He didn't d-do a-anything! She shrunk down in her chair, staring up into Chat's now darkened eyes. A shiver ran down her spine. She didn't like this side of him.

"Don't lie to me Marinette! I'll kill that son of a..." his voice trailed off as he finally saw the fear in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, Princess. It's... been a long day. I shouldn't have acted like that."

He finally broke the eye contact as he moved away from her.

"I'm... I'm going to go. I'm glad you're safe. Bye, Princess."
And in a flash, he was gone.

Marinette stared at the open balcony door where he'd disappeared to for a few minutes, in shock. She closed her eyes tightly, regretting that she'd ever went to Luka's place.

You knew you shouldn't have went. Now Chaton is upset because of your stupid decisions!
It's always because of you.

The thoughts filled her mind. It was as if a voice was in her head telling her these things. She slammed her hands down on the arm rest of the chair and stood up.

You can't do anything right.
You're better off dead.

"Shut up!" She pushed her fingers through her hair, grabbing it at the sides by her ears. She fell to her knees before another thought came to mind.

Remember what Lila said? Everyone would be happier if you weren't here.

Marinette finally pulled herself up, having enough. She cracked her trapdoor open to see if her parents were still awake. When she didn't hear or see anything, she climbed down the ladder and headed towards the kitchen part of the bakery.

Pulling out a piece of paper and a pen, she wrote a small note to her parents and left.
She didn't even bother getting a jacket or sweater.
She was too numb to care about anything.