Safe House • Marichat

Chapter Nineteen

IMPORTANT: Stitches, the third book to the Red String Trilogy, is now out! Please go check it out on my profile!

"So how do you know if you're poisoned?" Alya asked out of the blue. They were all three- well four if you included Plagg -inside the rusted over mustang, silently as the snow passed them in white blurs.

"What?" Adrien took his eyes off the road for a second to glance back at the curious blogger before immediately training them back on the icy street. Marinette looked up as well, holding Plagg close to her chest as she stared at her best friend in confusion.

"Well, you said that their name was Proietille Velenoso right? I know that's Italian for Poison Bullet, so I'm assuming they use poison right? On their bullets? So how do you know if you're poisoned? Does it act fast? What are the side affects? What about-" Alya's voice trailed off as she noticed the wide eyed expressions her two friends were wearing as they stared at her in shock. "What? I'm a blogger! You tend to pick up a few things! I can't help it if I'm curious!"

"I'm just surprised she knew Italian." Adrien snickered before receiving a smack on the side of his head from one other than Alya herself. "Don't hit the driver! I might crash and kill you!"

"Kill me? What about Marinette?"

"Nah. I actually like her, so I think I'll let her live."

"Rude! Just for that, you have to answer all of my questions, right Mari?" Marinette nodded her head in agreement as Chat scowled at the two teens and Plagg, who was nodding his head in agreement.

"Really Plagg?! You're betraying me for Alya?!"

"No. I'm betraying you for Marinette. I could care less about Alya." Plagg scoffed as if he were offended at the assumption he had made. His scoff elicited a heart filled laugh from Marinette to which both he and Chat smiled proudly at.

"Rude!" Plagg sniggered at Alya's response before she sighed and settled for smacking the back of Chat's head once more.

"Oi! What was that for? Plagg was the one who said it!" Chat complained as he took one hand off the steering wheel to rub the back of his now sore head.

"Alya, your questions." Marinette reminded her as she shoved Chat's hand away and back onto the wheel, her smaller one taking its place as she soothingly curled his blond locks around her fingers as she softly made circling motions.

"Yuck." Alya spat as she watched the public display of obvious affection before she continued. "Anyways, what are the symptoms if you get poisoned? Is it immediate or does it take time?"

"Well, I guess you could say it's both. It usually starts a day or so after you get wounded from it. When you get hurt it gets hard to breathe or speak, vomiting, and stomach pain. Worst case scenario, leads to paralysis of the lungs and then death. It's a painful and torturous poison."

"Geez, that's bad. Is there any cure?"

"If we figure it out early on, there are antitoxins which can stop it, but those are only held by the US military and FEMA. And if at a wound, they have surgery and remove the wounded area, which is hard to do if it's near the chest."

"That's really bad."

"Of course it's bad, stupid! It's considered as a potential biological weapon!" Adrien yelled angrily, clutching the steering wheel tightly enough to make the blood retreat from the pressure, his skin turning white over his knuckles.

The two girls stared at him in shock at his sudden outburst of anger as Plagg wore a solemn face. "Kid, they didn't know. You don't need to get angry with them. You're being rude."

Adrien took a deep breath before he had succumbed to the sadness that had dwelled deep in his heart, swelling up and ready to burst out like an angry flame.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be a dick." He apologized, running his fingers through his oily hair. If his father had seen him now, he'd be pissed to see Adrien hadn't been keeping his appearance and hygiene up to the highest standards possible.

Speaking of my father, does he even know I'm missing? Of course he does- he has to know if his top model is missing. But that doesn't mean he has to miss me...

Adrien was going to continue on with the battle inside his mind until Marinette's hand laced through his in his golden hair, gently pulling them down until their intertwined fingers were resting gently in between the seats.

"It's gonna be okay Chat. We're gonna capture Proietille Velenoso in no time, and then you and I-"

"And me!"

"-and Alya can go home safe and sound."

"But will it be safe and sound?" He spat, upset with himself for using that tone with her. She was just trying to help him, and yet here he was trying to shut her out and keep all these vaulting emotions and haunting memories inside and dark pit. Why do I do this to myself?

"I mean," he continued bitterly, "You have two parents to go home to right? Both of you. And you have friends who all miss you and need you, but nobody needs me home. Nobody misses me. When I go back, I go back to a motherless family with a father who only talks to me if it's absolutely impossible to avoid, such as work."

"You also get to go back with me, and Alya. You'll always have us, including Plagg. And I won't leave you, even if something terrible were to happen to me for being with you, I'd never regret it, nor would I leave. So trust us, Chat. I know it's hard, especially with everything you've been through, but trust us. Trust me."

Trust. That was a term people always threw around loosely, as if the word had no real meaning behind it. The only people he's trusted in his life was his mother and Ladybug, and his mother is gone.

And yet, here was Marinette, his girlfriend (Maybe. He wasn't quite sure about that.), his everything (Now that he was sure of), was asking him to trust her. Trust her like she trusted him. To trust the girl behind them and to trust his partner in crime Plagg.

He didn't want to, he didn't want to lose anybody he trusted again, but he felt compelled to. Like if he didn't, he would bubble over and be taken over completely by the madness that was building up in his heart.

Slowly, almost unsurely, he nodded, his grip on Marinette's hand tightening. "Ill trust you... All I ask is that you all don't leave me."

He didn't need them to speak to know the answer. Lifting up Marinette's hand carefully as if she were made of porcelain, he pressed his lips firmly against the skin in the back of her hand.

His lips were chapped and rough, but the kiss felt sensual against her delicate hand. A fire was igniting from where his kiss was placed, spreading up her arm and warming up her heart, making the organ race in excitement as butterflies fluttered wildly in her stomach.

A dark blush erupted over Marinette's cheeks as he lowered the conjoined limbs. The touch of his lips lingered on the back of her hand, leaving a tingling sensation behind with it.

I'm going to trust them, and I'm going to protect them with my life.

Yay! New chapter! Sorry that it's late. But tell me what you think of it, okay?

Until next time, peace!