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While a shadow slinked through his bathroom window, Adrien Agreste was busy being a cliché.
Seventeen years old and sulking in the dark, lying on his bed, listening to somber music, with a storm raging outside. What could be more stereotypical? Granted, he had reason enough to be in a somber mood. The argument with his father still tasted bitter on the back of his tongue. Words had been said, decisions had been made, and, as usual, Adrien was left feeling trapped in a tower, all alone.
Rain streaked across the windows in waves. It was really coming down. Adrien switched between songs, not satisfied with any of them until he gave up and took off his headphones. He stared up at the ceiling. To think, he could be with his friends right now. They were off probably having fun, without him.
He wished he could transform into Chat Noir and just go somewhere, anywhere, but he was out of luck. Plagg snored loudly from his shoebox on Adrien’s desk. His kwami still needed to recharge after a long day on patrol, even though he practically ate half of Adrien’s supply of cheese for the week. Adrien contemplated climbing under the covers and going to sleep but then he heard the noise.
It sounded like a window opening.
And it was coming from his bathroom.
He sat up and looked towards the darkened doorway. It could have been the wind pushing the window loose, but it opened too slowly, too intentionally for it to be the wind. His senses were on full-alert.
More noise. The shuffling of limbs, followed by movement, footsteps.
His stomach dropped like he’d missed the last step on some stairs.
A lump of fear lodged itself in his throat. Was it an intruder? A robber? Akumatized villain?
The latter thought made his skin crawl. Facing off against an akumatized enemy was one thing as Chat Noir, but as Adrien? Not a chance. If anything were to happen to him, Ladybug would be all on her own. He couldn’t bear to think about that. He wished he could wake up Plagg but it would cause too much noise. Maybe the person, the thing, whatever it was didn’t know he was here. Perhaps this was an advantage.
Silently, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and pressed his back up against the wall. He dared to peek around the corner to see inside the bathroom but it was too dark.
The rain pattering on the window muted his footsteps as he took a few strides toward his desk to grab one of his fencing trophies as protection. He would have preferred his fencing foil but it was too far away. The trophy was heftier and could do more damage if need be. Iron dripped down the back of his throat, the literal taste of fear.
He returned to his hiding place at the wall and listened.
The movement in the bathroom was definitely a person. By the sound of it, they were walking around, stumbling, taking erratic steps. He peeked around the corner again and - feeling a bolt of adrenaline straight to his heart - saw a shadow. The figure suddenly slumped against the wall and stayed that way.
He couldn’t just stand there and wait for the shadow to make the first move. He had the upper hand, he had to utilize it.
Adrien’s heartbeat echoed in his ears as he mustered his courage. The window swung on its hinges. Storm winds whipped into the room. Thunder crashed overhead. And Adrien yelled and leaped from his hiding place, brandishing the trophy.
Lightning flashed. Adrien froze. The trophy clattered as it hit the floor. The bathroom lit up for a fraction of a second but that was all he needed to see: “Ladybug,” he gasped.
He flipped on the lights. She was absolutely drenched and shivering. Her lips were blue, her teeth chattered, and her skin was almost translucent. She clutched her side and looked at him with distant, glassy eyes. Pain had pulled her whole face tight.
“Adrien....” Her voice was small, barely there. Then her knees buckled and Adrien leaped forward. He caught her just before she hit the bathroom tile and cradled her head against his chest. Freezing rain and howling wind whipped through an open window from where she crept in.
“What happened?” he asked, breathless.
“It got me...” That much was obvious. But why hadn’t she called for Chat Noir’s help?
Her hand kept covering her side but he could see something was terribly wrong. A darker red was seeping through her already red suit. Blood.
“I need to look,” he said, his voice trembling. She didn’t fight him.
Gently, he moved her hand. She’d been slashed with something. The suit had peeled away and revealed her skin beneath. Blood flowed from the wound and soaked into her suit.
Her eyelids fluttered and her head dropped. Adrien’s heart froze.
“Ladybug?” Adrien cried and put his hand on her cheek. The rain was cold against her face but her skin was blazing. She was burning up. A fever had begun. Why? “Stay with me.”
Her eyes slit open and she looked at him and smiled, sleepily. “Adrien.” Her voice sounded far away. She barely had enough strength to speak. She was always so strong, and seeing her like this, it made Adrien felt sick. He had to help her. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to his bed. As gently as he could, he laid her down and cupped her head into the pillow.
“Stay here,” he said. “I’m calling an ambulance.”
He made for the bathroom again but with surprising speed and lucidity, Ladybug grabbed his wrist before he could go.
“No. My powers… I’m running out of time. I’m going to change back.” Her earrings were already flashing and her eyes had trouble focusing.
Adrien paused. An ugly thought occurred to him. If he waited a few more minutes, he could see her face underneath that mask. Finally. His heart skipped a beat. Since the first day they’d met, he had fallen in love with her… everything. Even the firm grip on his wrist sent a shockwave through his body.
“Please,” she said, more forcefully. Her gaze finally locked into his. “Don’t look.”
They’d promised each other that they would maintain each other’s secret identities a long time ago. It was the natural thing to do, the smart thing to do. But it killed him not knowing. His feelings for her had only grown stronger over the years. Working side by side with her and still her identity was a mystery, a mystery he couldn’t solve.
But this was Adrien she was talking to, not Chat Noir. She couldn’t reveal herself, even to him, her friend. His heart might have shattered. But what if she were to know who he was? What if he could show her that he was Chat Noir all along? Would it change anything?
Plagg remained quiet in his shoebox on Adrien’s desk...
No. No! He shook the thought out of his head. He would never - could never - betray her trust.
He looked around his room for something, anything, that could help. Her earrings were beeping and flashing faster now - there were only seconds left. On his bedside was a black sleeping mask - it got awful bright in the mornings thanks to his floor-to-ceiling windows. He gave it to her and threw some blankets on top of her, covering her body entirely.
“Put on the mask. I’m going to get my medicine kit.”
He turned and heard the tell-tale chime of her powers deactivating. She had returned to her civilian form. Adrien knew that he had done the right thing, even though his heart begged to differ.
He returned to the bathroom and located his medicine kit from under the sink. There were some bandages and medical tape and alcohol to clean the wound. When he came back to his room, he found Ladybug still in bed. She shivered visibly underneath the blankets.
“Adrien?” she asked, her voice bouncing with the shakes. The black sleeping mask covered her eyes entirely. She couldn’t see him at all.
“I’m here,” he said softly as he pulled his desk chair to the side of the bed. “Are you okay?” He was worried she was going to faint again.
“I’m leaking…”
That was a funny way to put it. “You’re still bleeding. But I’ve got some things here that might make you feel better. It’s not much - I’m not exactly equipped for patching up a superhero. But I want to help.”
Ladybug either grimaced or grinned, maybe both.
“I’m going to have to lift the blanket, just a little,” he said.
Her fingers curled over the edges of the blanket. She was clearly nervous but, eventually, she relaxed. “Okay,” she said.
Adrien talked her through everything he was doing. “Okay, here we go. I’m moving the blanket now. That’s the med kit next to you, careful. Okay, there’s not that much blood. But I’m going to have to lift your shirt a little bit.”
Ladybug - lips pressed into a fine line - nodded. Sweat had pooled on her brow, further dampening her black hair. Slowly, Adrien lift Ladybug’s white shirt up. Ladybug gasped when Adrien’s fingers brushed against her bare skin.
“Cold,” she whispered.
“Sorry.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them vigorously before continuing. The wound was angry-looking and warm - he could feel the heat radiating - but it definitely looked like the result of some kind of blade, maybe a sword. A clean cut though.
The one thing that churned his belly though was what was happening outside of the wound. Black, inky veins snaked under her skin, running from the cut. This wasn’t an average blade wound, she’d been poisoned. The blade could have been coated with something - he didn’t want to think it but - deadly.
“It doesn’t look deep so that’s good,” he said, masking his worry.
Adrien realized he was trembling, partly because he was closer to Ladybug than ever before but mostly because he wasn’t sure what to do. He’d never seen anything this bad. Broken bones, a couple of scrapes, even a dislocated shoulder couldn’t compare. This was beyond his level of expertise. He’d never seen anything like it. He doubted a Band-Aid would help.
“I don’t feel so good…” Ladybug said. Her strength was leaving her once more and she went limp.
“M’lady!” Adrien cried.
Then a red creature emerged from beneath the blankets and flew to him. She was polka-dotted and had small antennae on her head. Immediately, Adrien recognized it as a kwami - Ladybug’s kwami.
“Adrien! There’s no time to lose!” it squeaked.
“How do you know my na-”
“I must recharge! Do you have anything for me to eat?”
Adrien had never seen another kwami before, but he didn’t have time to ask questions. “Uh, yeah. I have some cheese - camembert.”
“That’ll do. Hurry!”
Adrien rushed to his desk and retrieved what was left of some camembert Plagg had been eating before his nap. Before he turned back, he managed to see that the shoebox lid had gone askew and tiny green eyes peered out from within. Adrien slipped the lid back into place and gave the cheese to the new kwami.
“How did this happen?” Adrien asked while the kwami ate. And why wasn’t I there to protect her? he thought.
“An akuma possessed a flower shop keeper,” the kwami said around a big bite of cheese. “She called herself Belladonna. She used a scythe to reap ‘bad seeds.’”
“Belladonna…” Adrien repeated. He’d heard that word before, or rather he’d read about it. It was a notorious poison. But he needed more information. He dashed up the spiral staircase to the library in the loft and scanned through the thousands of books, all of which he’d read while spending long, lonely nights alone in his room. By sheer luck, he found the book he was looking for, one aptly named Plants, Flowers, and Herbs: A History.
He flipped through pages after pages of text, scanning for something familiar while he went down the stairs and took his place beside Ladybug once more.
“A-ha!” he jammed his finger on the page. “Belladonna, also called -” he swallowed thickly “ - deadly nightshade.” He skimmed the page and read aloud: “Symptoms of belladonna poisoning includes flushed skin and delirium.” That explained the fever and the way she said his name earlier on the bathroom floor. She said it like she was in a dream. Now that they knew what was poisoning her, they could stop it. For the first time all night, he felt hopeful. And then his hope was dashed like a ship on the rocks. “Treatment includes… activated charcoal.” Where was he supposed to find activated charcoal at this hour? And what even was activated charcoal?
“You’ll need more than that if you want to stop the poison,” the kwami said. “It was caused by magic, you’ll need magic to stop it.”
“But I can’t do magic.”
“No, but I can,” the kwami said as it finished the last bite of cheese.
Plagg couldn’t do magic, at least he’d never hinted at it. But as Adrien thought about it, it made sense. Chat Noir’s abilities were based on destruction, Ladybug’s on creation. Of course healing would fall into that kwami’s category.
The kwami floated above her unconscious body and began to glow. “Okay Ma - I mean, my Ladybug. It’s going to be all right,” it said.
Adrien’s stomach twisted into knots and he steeled his jaw. He hoped this would work. But he trusted the bond between a kwami and its hero. It would know what to do. He looked upon Ladybug’s face, her soft lips, her pale neck, and wanted to do nothing else but hold her.
Ladybug’s kwami glowed brighter and brighter and sank through the air until it was low enough to touch the wound. It glowed magnesium-bright and Adrien shielded his eyes. He blinked, spots danced in his vision, and as they faded he found the kwami resting on the bed beside Ladybug, spent.
He rushed to the kwami and held it in his palm.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
It looked up at him with sleepy eyes. “Is she…?”
He turned the kwami to Ladybug’s injury. The black, inky veins had disappeared. Only a fresh slice in her pale skin remained. The poison was gone.
“Thank goodness,” it whispered before it passed out.
He laid the kwami down on the pillow next to Ladybug’s head and Ladybug stirred. If he could see her eyes, he would know they were open.
Adrien’s heart melted with relief. “Ladybug!” he cried.
She reached for her eye mask quizzically. “Where am I?” she asked. She moved to take off the mask but Adrien stopped her.
“Wait!”
She jerked her hand away. The realization settled in. “Did - Did you see my face?”
“No. Your identity is still a secret.”
She looked relieved. “Who are you? Where am I?” she asked again.
Had she not remembered? Adrien raked his hands through his hair. “Um, it’s Adrien. And you’re in my bed.”
“Adri - ADRIEN? In your WHAT?!” Ladybug shrieked and pulled the blankets all the way up to her neck.
Adrien laughed. “You were pretty out of it but you’re safe now.”
She continued shivering. Her hair was damp, a mixture of sweat and rain.
“Your little friend saved you.”
“Tikki! Where is she?”
“Right next to you. Unconscious but okay.”
Ladybug’s shoulders relaxed and she sank deeper into the bed. She put her hand to her forehead. “This is terrible. The last thing I remember, I was fighting Belladonna and I got cut - ” She winced when she shifted.
“Where’s Belladonna now?”
“De-evilized. Back to normal.”
Adrien felt a little twinge of regret. He should have been there. Also, a little thing to think about, but he missed their compulsory fistbump after every job well done.
Ladybug moved to get up but the pain in her side was too much and she collapsed back into bed. She sighed exasperatedly. He could tell she was frustrated.
“Don’t move, please,” Adrien said, hovering his hands over her shoulders, noticeably not touching her. “You’re in no position to help anyone right now. Please, relax.”
“What happened to me?”
“You were poisoned. It’s gone though. Tikki got it out. But you’re still injured. I always thought when you beat a supervillain, you could erase whatever damage they’d done.”
It was a legitimate question. Why had the injury remained, even after the threat was neutralized?
“I don’t know,” she said.
“We should get you to a hospital.”
“No!” she exclaimed. “I can’t. They’d ask too many questions and call my parents and I’d be in so much trouble.”
“What can I do to help you?”
“Do you know how to sew?” Ladybug asked.
He did, in fact. On photoshoots, accidents happened - torn seams, tears, missing buttons. In a pinch, he’d sew it back up himself. He was self-taught and to a trained eye perhaps not very good but it did the job.
“Yeah, but -”
“Then you can do stitches.”
For once, his modeling career would be useful.
Adrien blanched. The last thing he wanted to do was stitch her up, he’d rather leave that to the professionals. And the thought of causing Ladybug any more pain made his insides churn. But he was weak; he’d do anything for her. He fetched his sewing kit from his desk drawer, grabbed some tooth floss from the bathroom sink, and sterilized the needles as best he could with rubbing alcohol from the medicine kit. He glanced at Ladybug all the while, watching her as she waited for him to come back. He could tell she was listening to his every move, tracking him across the room by sound alone. Her shoulders were stiff, and her breathing level. What was she thinking? He hoped she wasn’t too mad at Chat Noir.
He took his seat next to the bed again and pulled on some latex gloves from the kit. She helped move the blankets away just enough for him to get a look at the injury. It was a straight line, no rough edges. At least he wouldn’t have to piece her together. It still made him nervous.
He focused on one thing at a time. First, he guided the floss through the needle’s eye hole and tied it off. He was thankful the floss wasn’t mint flavored. Then he burned the needle with a lighter he usually used for candles. The metal glowed orange, as sterile as he could get it. Meanwhile, Ladybug took deep, slow breaths, preparing herself for what was to come. While the needle cooled, Adrien wiped away the fresh blood and cleared away any dried blood was left over with a wet cloth. When he dabbed the area with an alcohol swab, it made Ladybug groan. Adrien paused to give her a moment but she nodded again, signaling that she was okay.
It was time. He let out a slow, calming breath to try to stop his heart from jackhammering out of his chest and picked up the cool needle.
“Ready?” he asked. To Ladybug, but also to himself.
Ladybug nodded somewhat stiffly.
He sucked in a breath and touched the needle to her skin and paused. Last chance to back out… But he pushed it through and Ladybug yelped and winced.
Adrien winced with her. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
He pulled the needle through and pushed it through the other side. Ladybug tried to stay as still as possible, and she did a marvelous job despite her continuous shivering, but Adrien was also nervous and shaking. To help calm himself and calm her, he started talking. It was a welcome distraction.
“Why did you come here anyway?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” Ladybug said, through gasps. “Maybe I thought you were the closest or… I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You were in bad shape.”
“I was lucky you were here.”
Adrien’s cheeks flushed a little. “I wasn’t supposed to be. My plans got cancelled because my father wanted to talk…” Talk was putting it mildly. It was more of a scream than anything. His father always had a knack for making things worse. “I guess everything happens for a reason though,” he added.
If he’d been out with Nino like he had wanted to, he might have seen a news report and would have been able to help Ladybug in the first place. But he was glad he was home when he was. Who knows what would have happened to her if he hadn’t been around.
Adrien tied off the first stitch. There was a lot more to go.
“What did your father want to talk about?” Ladybug asked.
“My future. He wants me apply to Grandes Écoles, study hard and become a successful… whatever, it doesn’t matter to him; but I want to take a year off and go abroad, see the world, take photographs - be behind the camera for once. He was not happy about that. He doesn’t care what I think. He’s not what you’d call open-minded.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, clenching her teeth as Adrien started a new stitch.
“Thanks. But I don’t want to talk about my father anymore. Let’s talk about something different, like… Chat Noir?”
He hoped he sounded casual and not at all fishing for lateral complements.
Ladybug actually chuckled. “What about him?”
Adrien shrugged a shoulder and tied off another stitch. He also wiped away some fresh blood that leaked out. “He wasn’t there to help you tonight?”
“Sometimes things happen. I’m sure whatever he was doing tonight, it was important.”
“Is he just as cool in real life as he looks on TV?”
Ladybug laughed. “He’s my partner,” she said. Her lips twisted in thought. “He’s…” Cunning? Genius? Devastatingly handsome? “One of a kind.”
“Is that all?” He tried to keep his tone casual and tied off another stitch.
“We’re too busy saving Paris. It would make things… complicated.”
Adrien was glad she couldn’t see his disappointment. It was clear, all over his face, as easy to read as an open book.
“Well, I’m sure wherever he is, he’s really worried about you,” he said, softly.
“I hope he’s okay,” she said, but her jaw had gone tight. He must have hit a particularly tender spot. “Almost done,” he said, softly. He worked quietly and quickly, doing his best to be fast but also doing it right. It was a fine tightrope to walk.
Before long, he finished tying the last of the floss stitches and wiped the wound clean once more with alcohol. She didn’t wince as much that time. Finally, he covered it with gauze, took off his gloves, and pulled the blanket back over her, tucking her in.
“Thank you,” she said.
Adrien poured out a couple of painkillers from a bottle and gave them to her with a glass of water. “That should help,” he said. “Please don’t move too much. The stitches might come out.”
Ladybug did as she was told but still shivered. Adrien sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled a comforter on top of her.
“Do you need more blankets?” he asked.
“I don’t think blankets will do much more.”
How long had she been out in the cold rain? Hypothermia was a very real possibility. “There’s a heated blanket around here somewhere…” Adrien scanned the room.
“Your body heat is helping,” she said.
He stared at Ladybug. The back of Adrien’s neck flared white hot.
“I can… get closer if you want,” he said.
“Okay. I need to close my eyes for a minute. Just for a while.”
Adrien’s pulse quickened. He could barely breathe. “Sure,” he managed to say.
He stretched himself out, laying as far away as possible from her without falling off the edge of the bed. He wasn’t sure where a comfortable line had been drawn. He’d been close to her so many times before, mostly in the heat of a fight, and this time it was different. It was more than anything he could have wished for.
Ladybug murmured, “Can you come closer?” She was drifting off, he could hear the lightness in her voice.
Adrien inched his way towards her and just barely rested his head on the pillow. Her lips were soft, slightly open. He was so close he could see almost every detail of her face, at least the parts uncovered by the mask. Her kwami slept in the crook of her neck, the pair’s slow rhythmic breathing the only thing heard over the sound of Adrien’s roaring heartbeat. His senses were heightened, his thoughts swirled like a whirlpool. His entire body felt prickly, like his veins were juiced with electricity.
Ladybug then shifted and threw one of the blankets over his waist, including him into her nest of comfort. He was sure he was going to explode with joy if he even blinked. Cinnamon, he thought. She smells like cinnamon.
They stayed like that cocooned together for a minute, an hour, an eternity - at least to Adrien. He didn’t care, he could stay like this, with her, forever.
“Ladybug?” he whispered.
“Mm?” She was almost gone.
She was so close he could feel her breath on his cheek. She looked so peaceful. She must have been exhausted. Of course, he didn’t blame her. Everything she’d done, everything she could do, would do - she worked so hard, did so much without asking for anything in return. He loved her all the more for it. She was beautiful in every way imaginable and his heart yearned to be with her.
The words bubbled up from deep within, as if forced out by some unknowable force. If he didn’t say it, he’d regret it for the rest of his days:
“I love you.”
She didn’t say anything. She was fast asleep. Adrien wasn’t sure what to expect but somehow he was okay with her not knowing, at least consciously. Maybe somewhere deep down she could feel it. He was tempted to reach out and brush her dark bangs from her forehead but clutched his hand tighter to his chest. She was too peaceful, he wanted her to stay like that.
And pretty soon, Adrien’s eyes grew wary. He had been watching her for so long, they burned with fatigue. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but his lids were so heavy, as heavy as lead. He could spare a minute to close them, just a minute.
Good night, my Lady…
Adrien woke to the sound of his alarm blaring and sat bolt upright.
He was alone, in his bed. The bright morning sunlight streamed through the windows. The skies had cleared, the storm had passed.
What a dream… But reality took hold and Adrien remembered it all.
“Ladybug?” he called out.
Ladybug was nowhere to be seen. His room was empty. She was gone, vanished as she did best.
Sadness enveloped him. He didn’t even get to say goodbye.
He shut off his alarm and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. All of the tools he’d used last night were scattered about the floor, some bloody others not. That was all that was left of her, the only proof she had been there.
“Morning, Romeo,” Plagg said, smug as ever, as he floated over.
“Thanks for hiding all night,” Adrien said as he carried his trash can closer to the mess he’d made. “I’ll get you some extra Camembert after school.”
“Why so glum, sugar plum?”
Adrien sighed. “I probably missed my only chance to talk with her last night. I doubt she’ll ever want to see me again after all she’s been through.”
“Let’s turn that frown upside down!”
Adrien gave him a withering look as he tore off the bloody sheets from his bed. “Stop. Please. It’s too early for this.”
“Didn’t you miss something?”
Plagg glanced toward the bedside table where a folded piece of paper perched on its end.
Adrien dropped the sheets and picked it up.
It was in elegant, curvy handwriting and signed with blue pen.
Thanks for all your help, hero! ❤ LB
Adrien read it and then read it again, and then read it about fifty more times.
“You okay?” Plagg asked, floating over his shoulder.
Adrien clutched the note to his chest, fell backward onto his bed and sighed with the widest grin ever. He was so, hopelessly, in love.