Chapter Text
The worst part about all this chaos was that Marinette couldn’t say that she hadn't seen it coming. For a superhero in her final year of lycée, the way the end of this school year was going was nothing short of predictable.
In addition to regular end-of-year exams, the baccalauréat loomed ever nearer, easily making this the most difficult year of school Marinette had ever experienced. On top of that, her parents' bakery had been experiencing a deluge of new business since Jagged Stone had enthusiastically endorsed its pastries as the best in Paris a few months prior. If she added the increasing number of akuma that had seemed to appear during the last year—something Tikki had attributed to the heightened levels of stress her particularly akuma-prone class was currently experiencing due to the bac, this whole semester was, well...
“A dumpster fire.”
“What?” Marinette blinked up from her book, squinting at the harsh sunlight streaming through the windows of the library.
“That’s the only way I can describe this semester,” Alya groaned. “The Ladyblog has gone to shit, my grades have gone to shit, my relationship with Nino is hanging by a thread—that’s what this semester is. A dumpster fire.”
“Oh, Alya,” Marinette clucked sympathetically. Her best friend, who was normally so positive that it was at times exhausting, had been in an incurably foul mood for the last two weeks, ever since she'd been akumatized after getting into a stress-induced fight with Nino. “The Ladyblog is still thriving! You just can’t update as regularly as you’d like.”
“I’ve missed five akuma sightings in the last two weeks! That’s five out of seven times I’ve missed Ladybug and Chat Noir, all because we’ve been trapped in this godforsaken library!” Alya’s eyes were wide behind her glasses. She covered her face with her hands. Her hysterics would have been funny if Marinette didn’t feel like her friend were actually ready to burst into tears.
“To be fair, there shouldn’t have been five akuma sightings in the last two weeks, let alone seven,” Marinette said, chewing her lower lip. The stress from studying for the baccalauréat really was spinning things out of control. It felt like each person in her class had been akumatized three times over recently. She cursed Hawkmoth every chance she got.
Alya let out a muffled grunt from behind her hands.
“Also, your relationship with Nino is not hanging by a thread. He just dropped by an hour ago to bring you coffee!”
“That’s only the second time I’ve seen him all week, and it’s Thursday!” Alya nearly shrieked. The librarian lifted her head from her desk across the library and shot them a glare.
Marinette patted Alya’s arm and slid the cup of coffee in question closer to her friend. “C’mon. It’s hazelnut. It’s your favorite. You’re going to drink up and study for a couple more hours and then take a break, because you’ve earned it, and then you will pass all of our exams with flying colors.”
Alya sniffled and took the cup gratefully from Marinette. “I don’t know how you stay so positive,” she said with a watery smile.
“Someone’s got to do it,” Marinette said with a laugh. She glanced at her watch. “Shoot—I’ve gotta go. I told my parents I’d be at the bakery for the evening shift.”
“It’s two weeks out to the bac and you still have to work the bakery?”
Marinette shrugged. “You know it's just been too much for my parents to handle on their own,” she said, shouldering her backpack. “They’re interviewing new hires now. Will you be okay?”
“‘Course I will,” Alya said, smiling fully now and leaning over to give Marinette an air kiss. “Take care of yourself, Marinette.”
“You, too.”
---
“Miraculous Ladybug!”
A swath of pink light washed over the city of Paris for the third time that week.
“Pound it!”
It was Chat’s turn to briefly assist the akuma victim—Max, this time, who was despairing loudly over how much studying time being akumatized was taking up.
Ladybug struggled to take in a breath as she watched Chat walk Max to the edge of the park, which had served as the evening’s battle arena. Her chest had been tight all evening, distracting enough to affect her concentration and unnecessarily elongate the battle. Chat had taken some hard hits for her today that wouldn’t have been an issue if she’d just been on her game, and when Ladybug thought about how much pain her partner had gone through and how much time she’d wasted by being stressed and distracted, it made her even more stressed.
She squirmed as she breathed in again, trying to wriggle her torso around to take in more air. Chat was coming back now, and if she didn’t get this under control, he’d end up asking her a million questions, which would cut into even more of the study time she’d tried to block out after working at the bakery that night—
I’m going to be up so late and I’m going to be too exhausted to focus in class tomorrow and we have that project due by the end of this week and I haven’t even started on my piece and everyone is going to hate me—Adrien is going to hate me, he finished his part two weeks ago and what if someone gets akumatized tomorrow, what am I going to do—
“Ladybug?”
Ladybug had doubled over, leaning her left hand on her knee while her right was clutched to her chest. The tightness in her lungs had compounded, and no matter how much she gasped for air, she couldn’t seem to breathe in enough, and now there were spots crowding her vision.
“Ladybug!” Chat Noir rushed over, leaning down beside her, one hand pressed on her back, shielding her from the passersby who’d witnessed the fight and were now staring at them. “My Lady, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Ladybug shook her head, trying to get out some words between gasps. “Chat, I’m—” she shook her head again. “I don’t—I don’t know, I just can’t breathe—”
Chat’s hands fluttered nervously around her for a few more seconds before he paused, looking at her critically. Realization seemed to dawn on his face, although Ladybug had no idea what about.
“Buginette, hang on tight.”
Ladybug only had a moment to look up at Chat in surprise before he’d scooped her up into his arms and taken off into the sky, away from the park and the spectators. They were only in the air for a few seconds, and then Chat landed on a helipad high above the city, where they could see the evening sun setting all of Paris ablaze with light. Chat carried Ladybug over near an enclosed stairwell and set her down on the ground gently against the wall.
Between the breeze from being up so high and the cooling summer air as the sun began to fall, Ladybug felt herself starting to breathe a little bit easier.
“There we go,” Chat said soothingly, sitting down beside her, rubbing her back in slow circles. “Head between the knees. Envision your lungs filling up with air—yep, just like that, and then—” Chat exhaled with her—a long, exaggerated exhale, but somehow, it made Ladybug feel like she could breathe better, too. “That’s it, Bugaboo. You’re okay now.”
Much to her surprise and horror, Ladybug felt her eyes well up as the constriction in her chest eased. She kept her head between her knees to hide her tears. “Thanks, Kitty.”
“Anytime,” Chat said softly, his hand still warm on her back. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Ladybug shook her head, scrunching up her face and holding her breath so she wouldn’t let out a sob. “Just tired.”
“Well, I don’t doubt that,” Chat said, the exhaustion clear in his own voice. “I feel like we barely have time to go home before we have to come right back out to fight the next akuma these days. But you’re definitely not just tired. You were having a panic attack.”
Ladybug finally looked up at him, wiping away the tear tracks staining her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “I—I was?”
“Oh, Bug,” Chat said when he saw her face, and the tenderness in his eyes and his voice broke her.
Ladybug threw herself into his chest, and Chat’s arms encircled around her immediately, hard and warm like a shield against the rest of the world as she cried into his shoulder.
“It’s okay,” Chat whispered, one hand cradling the back of her head and the other disentangling some of the loose strands of hair at the base of her neck. “Whatever it is, it’ll be okay.”
Ladybug shook her head. “I’m just s-so tired, Chat, and everything hurts, and I have to stay up late tonight studying and if Hawkmoth strikes again tomorrow, I just don’t—I don’t know that I have it in me, Chat, I don't—”
“Breathe,” Chat reminded her gently, and he pulled her tighter against him.
Oddly enough, when the constriction came from him, it felt soothing. Ladybug breathed in a shuddering breath.
“I know,” he murmured soothingly. “It must be so hard to get up and keep fighting, whether you’re in the suit or not.”
Ladybug said nothing, but she felt warmth in her chest at how well he seemed to understand. Of course he did. He was going through these akuma attacks near daily now, the same as her, and although his civilian life remained shrouded in mystery—largely at her own insistence—she knew enough to know that the bac was looming on his horizon, as well.
“I don’t think anyone can get up and keep on knocking it out better than you can, Ladybug.” His breath ghosted over her hair. “But everyone—even Paris’s most beloved superhero—is allowed to take a break. So why don’t we sit up here and watch the sunset, and then you can go home and make sure you get some sleep?”
“But—” Ladybug pulled away slightly. “I haven’t studied at all since this afternoon—”
“The books will be there tomorrow. And you’ve got time before the exam.”
Ladybug was about to argue, but the tiredness in her bones and the sweetness in Chat’s smile made her stop. She laughed a little, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. “Thanks, Chaton. You’re weirdly good at this.”
“I’ve had practice. It’s not easy being this purrfect. Sometimes, I have to talk to a therapist about it.”
Ladybug’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Despite the pun, Chat nodded solemnly, all traces of joking gone from his eyes. “Here and there. Just to keep me sane. It’s a hard world inside my own head. Sometimes, it’s nice to get out.”
Ladybug chewed her lip, suddenly feeling riddled with guilt for all the times she’d rushed home after a battle when Chat had seemed so eager to stay behind and talk. How many times had she abandoned him in a time of need?
“I know where your head is going. Don’t,” Chat said firmly, before she could say anything. “Do not make yourself feel guilty about this. I’m all the better for it, and now, because I’m in a better place, I’m able to help you. So it all works out.”
“Oh, Chat,” Ladybug whispered, settling her head into his chest once more. “I’m sorry you’ve had to go through your own hardships alone.”
“It’s okay, My Lady,” he said brightly, leaning his head down against hers. “I haven’t felt alone since I’ve had you. Now we’ve got each other.”
Ladybug hummed her appreciation at his statement, and together, the two watched the sun continue to sink without another word.