Chapter Text
He stayed at her bedside for five days. The first two, she was in a medically induced coma. The next, she was taken off the drugs, but clearly not ready to wake up yet. The next, she was in and out of consciousness, nowhere near awake enough to be aware of anything but the pain, and in that, he wished she would go back to sleep.
On the fifth day, she woke up.
He put down the book he’d been reading — all of Shakespeare’s sonnets, as a way to brush up on his English, he told himself — when he saw her eyes crack open. But when they opened wide, he stood, and when she lifted her arm, he grabbed her hand.
“Shh,” Adrien said. “Don’t move. The nurses have to come, but you should stay still.”
“Adrien?” The word came out as a croak, and he eyed her IV, suddenly aware of how thirsty she must be. He could get her water; that, he could do.
“Ladybug,” he whispered instead. “You’re in the hospital.”
Her eyes went wide, but before she could say anything else, the nurse was walking up, and he left the room to give them space.
He didn’t get back until a few hours later. He brought balloons, and a stuffed bear that held a heart that read Get well soon. He’d had to pass up the ones that said I love you.
She was sitting up now, playing on her bug phone.
“Knock knock,” he said in the doorframe.
She looked at him and immediately threw her phone to the ground, shifting again. He jogged over to help her, supporting her underneath her shoulder so she could get a better position, straightening her back.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. This time, at least, her voice wasn’t so hoarse.
“Watching you. Making sure they don’t take off your Miraculous.”
“I’m aware, and I can fend for myself. So what are you still doing here?”
Though he hadn’t allowed them to take off her earrings, they’d insisted on putting her in a hospital gown. To cover her wound, he thought. The gash across her torso, so deep and wide, the blade sharp enough to cut her super suit... It was bandaged, now, but he couldn’t even see the bandage through the light blue cloth.
“I couldn’t leave until I knew you were alright.”
They stayed like that, for a moment more. Adrien standing at Ladybug’s bedside, Ladybug sitting there, still as a statue.
“Thank you,” she said.
He let out a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted, at this time, was to learn that he’d accidentally violated her boundaries, stayed when he didn’t want her —
“I didn’t let them take your Miraculous,” he said. “I have to be honest, I did threaten them. Some. I said that if they took off your Miraculous, and you decided to press charges for endangering your identity, you’d have the full support of the Agreste estate. I know —” he hesitated. “I know your kwami must be struggling, but I thought it was better than letting them know who you are.”
She stayed silent. Adrien pulled up the chair so he was right beside her, and he gently grabbed her hand, stroking his finger over the fleshy bit between her thumb and her palm.
“Chat visited,” he lied.
Immediately, and quickly, she looked at him before wincing. Still, she didn’t look away.
“I thought... I...”
“What?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I must have thought wrong.”
Adrien let out a breath and lowered his head between his legs, still grabbing onto her hand for dear life, as gentle as he could.