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Marinette nudges the model sleeping on her chaise. “Kitty, I’m sorry to wake you-”
“There’s a ‘kuma?” He guesses.
“There ain’t no rest for the wicked, unfortunately.” She smiles at him softly as he sits up from his nap, stretching.
“What’s he got for us today?”
“Soap.”
“Ooh, well that’s new at least.”
Marinette shrugs, heading for the balcony. “Maybe, unless he focuses on the bubble aspect.”
“Is it too much to ask for him to just shake things up a bit?” Adrien groans.
Marinette giggles as she transforms. Ladybug shakes her head at her partner. “Silly kitty, you know that old geezer doesn’t have an ounce of creativity in him. It’s too much effort.”
Chat winks. “Not to play devil’s advocate, but some of the akuma designs are rather creative…”
She shudders. “Ugh, if that’s what you call it, then I don’t think I can associate with you anymore.”
He doesn’t focus on the bubble aspect, as it would seem, so there’s that. The fight mostly consists of them getting sprayed with a high pressured hose of soapy water. Poor Ladybug looks exhausted, and given how many times each of them has been slammed into a wall, Chat can’t blame her. She does have less armor after all.
Not that it makes much of a difference. The suits protect them nonetheless, the armor is mostly for show.
He wonders if she changed her suit recently, because something about it seems a little off, though he can’t quite put his finger on it.
That said, she’s always been more susceptible to the cold, and being sprayed with water can’t be helping things, especially with how shaky she seems. Kind of pale, and moving slower.
She’s shivering, poor bug.
Eventually, they swipe the akumatized object and Ladybug breaks it. It could be his imagination, but he’s fairly certain she has a little more trouble with it than she should. Cure or no cure, Chat will definitely be making her take a nap when they get back. She needs a break.
The second the magical beetles finish their clean-up around the city, she turns to him. Before either of them can speak, a light overtakes her. Tikki is forcing a detransformation, no warning beeps at all.
Something is very wrong.
Marinette stumbles over to him, collapsing against him. He catches Tikki, who barely lasted any amount of time in the air before she just gave out.
What’s going on?
“Mari? What’s wrong? What’s happening?” He holds her securely, but shifts the girl so he can see her face. She’s pale, and she can barely keep her eyes open. What he’d assumed was shivering is more along the lines of trembling, her body shaking weakly.
Marinette only frowns, leaning against him. He can feel Plagg in his ring growing anxious. It’s time to get home.
“Hold on Bug, we’re heading back.” He clutches her against his chest and propels himself back toward the bakery.
When he arrives, he wastes no time slipping inside. Plagg detransforms on his own, rushing to Tikki who hasn’t moved from where Chat placed her on Marinette’s chest.
“Plagg, what’s going on?” Adrien can’t keep the tremor from his voice, doing his best to look after Marinette, but unsure what caused this.
The God has wrapped himself around his other half, holding her close. Adrien can tell he’s trying to sense it, so he just turns to his Bug.
Now that she’s laying down, he can see some bruises. While a fight like that would definitely cause damage (worse damage than just some bruises), the cure should have healed it, and her suit should have protected her to begin with.
She groans, rolling around on the bed slightly. Marinette isn’t asleep, but she hasn’t been fully awake since she cast the cure. She’s just in a halfway state between consciousness and unconsciousness. She’s so clearly in pain and it hurts him that he doesn’t know what caused this.
“It’s got to be a tendency,” Plagg guesses, “It’s got that signature feeling of damage around it. It’s not one I recognize though.”
Adrien stares at him. “What do you mean you don’t recognize it?”
Plagg shrugs. “I can’t think of anything that we’ve dealt with before that’s caused this. This is new.” Plagg’s tail lashes out behind him, and he only holds Tikki closer. Adrien didn’t know that Kwami’s could look pale.
If it’s a tendency, there’s not much they can do. Normally they’d have Tikki or Marinette heal something - at least partially - but well…
They’re indisposed.
If it gets bad enough, Wayzz might be able to do something, but not much. He’s more for preventing injuries, and of the Kwamis bound to a miraculous, Tikki is the healer.
Adrien doesn’t know when he fell asleep, but he wakes up to Marinette groaning softly in her sleep. She’s curled up into herself slightly, and her face is flushed. He reaches out, putting a hand to her forehead.
She leans into his cool touch, and he frowns at her clear fever.
She hasn’t gotten any better.
“We need to take them to Fu.” Plagg’s acid eyes glow in the dim room. Adrien nods, giving Plagg a moment to situate Tikki on her chosen before transforming. Even with Mari’s parents away, it’s not like he can carry some unconscious girl around the streets of Paris.
Chat Noir tenderly scoops the designer off of her bed, holding her tightly, but mindful of her bruises. Taking off across the rooftops, he takes the quickest route he can to the massage parlor.
He knocks, his tail thrashing anxiously. It isn’t Fu who answers, but rather Wayzz. The Kwami takes in the sight and gestures for them to enter. “I will get Master Fu.”
Chat knows he should thank him, but he can’t find any words at the moment. Something has settled in his gut and he can’t shake the sense of wrongness. This is bad, this is bad, this is bad-
He doesn’t even realize Plagg has detransformed to hold Tikki until the Guardian enters. “Adrien. This is a rather odd time of night for a visit, but I can see why you came. What happened?”
Both Wayzz and Fu seem extra concerned that Tikki is just as bad as Marinette.
“We don’t know. Plagg says it’s a tendency, but it’s a new one.”
“A new tendency? Even for Tikki?” Wayzz parrots. “That’s…”
Fu nods solemnly. “That is indeed concerning.”
“She was fine before the attack. I noticed that she seemed off slightly during the fight, and then afterwards she just fell over onto me. Tikki couldn’t even fly, she just dropped out of the air,” Adrien reports.
Fu’s eyes are closed, though he nods to show he’s listening. The man’s hands hover over the girl on the mat, likely trying to detect what’s wrong.
After a moment, he folds his hands in his laps and looks at Adrien. “If it is a tendency-”
“And it is,” Plagg cuts in.
“-then there’s not much I can do. You are already aware it would be for the best to stay close to her, so I do not need to tell you that. That said, we can heal the more minor things, the bruises mostly, and possibly assist in the fever, but given that we do not even know the root of the issue, I am sorry to say I cannot help much beyond that.”
Adrien nods.
Wayzz pipes in, “If they do not begin to improve after a few days, it would be for the best to return here.”
He nods again as Fu begins the healing ritual. It feels like an eternity, but Adrien can see the bruises fade and Marinette’s face seems a little less colored.
Her big eyes crack open slightly, staring around her, but not truly taking anything in. She babbles incoherently, and Adrien grips her hand.
She mumbles some more, and this time he can recognize the word ‘kitty’. He squeezes her hand, and she at least manages to turn in his general direction.
“I’m right here.”
She hums, her eyes slipping closed again. She’s not quite sleeping, but at least she’s made this very slight progress. He slips his arms underneath her to pick her up once more.
As he heads toward the door, he hears Fu call after him quietly, “Regardless of anything, please do let us know how she’s doing.”
Adrien nods, then whispers, “Claws Out.”
He can tell Marinette is still awake as he goes across the roofs. She’s whimpering at the cool air and squirming slightly.
“My Lady, I know you aren’t doing so great, but please stay still, at least until you’re back in bed.”
She doesn’t respond, but at least the bakery is in sight.
He places her down on the bed, detransforming so Plagg can care for Tikki.
“Okay, Bugaboo, it’s time to rest now, alright?”
She doesn't let go of him, and honestly, he doesn’t want to let go of her either.
Marinette squints as she wakes up, the light from her balcony shining in her eyes. She moves her hand to cover her face, grumbling to herself. At her movement, the boy beside her begins to stir.
When did they fall asleep? What happened?
She knows that there’d been an akuma attack, but for whatever reason she can’t remember what happened afterwards very clearly.
Adrien sits up, turning to her. He exhales when he sees her eyes are awake, smiling at her. “How you feelin’?”
“...sore? I guess? Tired?”
“What happened? Do you know when you noticed feeling off?”
She sits as well, frowning in thought.
Tikki pipes up, “The soap. It… weakened the suit.” Marinette nods.
Adrien’s eyes widen. “How? It shouldn’t have been able to do that.”
“I don’t think it was normal soap, it kind of stung,” Marinette adds.
“You could have told me! I don’t want you to suffer in silence.”
She shrugs. “I figured it was just part of his powers. In hindsight, when I really started to feel those impacts against a wall I should have known something was wrong. You were fine? How did the soap not bother you?”
“It’s a new tendency,” Plagg says.
“With the soap?”
“We don’t really know?” Adrien admits. “I probably could have looked something up, but I was kind of panicking…”
Marinette frowns, looking around for her phone. She grabs it, and types into it quickly.
“ ‘Harsh soapy solutions may injure ladybugs at all life stages, but even gentle, common soap products kill beneficial ladybug larvae as surely as they kill harmful soft-bodied pests’” Marinette reads. “There’s such thing as insecticidal soap apparently… oh gosh it dissolves their cell membranes.”
“So it damaged the suit first.” Tikki realized. “Especially since you aren’t entirely a bug, it just weakened you in general.”
Adrien sighs in relief. He’d been worried it’d be so much worse. He could handle her being a little weaker for a little bit. He hugs her tightly.
She returns the hug, but he can feel her going limp after a little bit. He pulls away to look at her, and she smiles sheepishly. “‘m still tired, and you’re warm…”
“Then I’m going to have to order you to rest.” He teases.
“Wow. The cat wants to take a nap.” She rolls her eyes. “Who could have guessed it?”
“Hush.”
She harrumphs, but doesn’t attempt to escape the hug. She’s asleep again within a minute.