Heels Over Head

Chapter Seven - "Bandaids and Excuses"

Adrien's transformation wears off two blocks away from his house. Why he chose to walk the whole way is a mystery both to him and Plagg. Maybe something about the wind hitting his cheek while he's vaulting through the air, dropping little red dots onto innocent bystanders, didn't sound appealing.

Either way, Adrien walks the two more blocks with a bloody cheek and no way to easily sneak back into his room.

Thankfully, when he finally walks through the front door, the mansion is quiet as a tomb and he's able to make it upstairs without a hitch.

"Gosh dang," Adrien hisses while closing his bedroom door, "This one really stings."

He gingerly touches the wound with his fingertips, only to hiss again and pull away.

"I'll go get the gauze and antibiotic ointment," Plagg sighs, flying into the bathroom, collecting both items (plus some cheese he had stashed away.) Their actions are well rehearsed, having done this routine before.

"I might just need paper towel for right now to mop up some of the blood from my face," Adrien walks over to his bathroom mirror and inspects his injury. The gashes left under his cheekbone form a perfectly drawn butterfly symbol, much like the one Hawk Moth is known for.

"Plagg," He says, wetting down a paper towel, "What am I supposed to do if this scars?"

The kwami taps his chin thoughtfully, "Wear a scarf around your face for the rest of your life?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Adrien inhales quickly as he touches the towel to his face, "I mean that when I'm in civilian form, Hawk Moth could recognize the scar."

"I'm beginning to think that was the point."

"What do you mean?"

"You and Ladybug are easy prey when you're not transformed. Maybe the symbol is to make your civilian forms easily recognizable?"

"They couldn't have put a fucking tracker on us or something?" He pulls off both his over shirt and t-shirt and throws them on the floor to get the blood stains out of later and returns to dabbing the cuts, "Noooo, just had to use a knife!"

"Looks like the bleeding has gone down a bit," Plagg says, pulling out another block of cheese hidden in the medicine cabinet.

"Yeah, but it's still gonna swell like a
motherfu—"

"Someone's tired, I see. Using all your human curse words in one sentence," He swallows his cheese in a single bite.

Adrien sighs and rubs some ointment on his wound, "I'm not just tired: I'm angry too. Ladybug and I get pushed around by Hawk Moth and his akumas constantly, and this time is gonna leave more lasting damage than just a black eye."
Plagg's about to respond but Adrien continues, "Plus, I hate being cornered and not being able to do anything about it. When that happened I just froze. They could've done whatever they wanted to me or to Ladybug and I couldn't even move. The pain... the blood... I can handle. What I can't handle is being trapped. I think that's why I passed out."

"You sure it wasn't the lack of oxygen to your brain?"

Adrien gives his kwami a 'be serious' look.

"So we're just talking through our feelings now, huh?"

"Unfortunately, you're kind of the only one I can talk to, so you're just gonna have to deal with it," Adrien pats his kwami on the head.

"Well, that being said, if the cut does scar, you probably won't have to model anymore."

Adrien nearly drops the roll of gauze in his hand, "Shiiiiit. How am I gonna hide this from my father?"

"Bandaids and excuses. Lots of bandaids and excuses."