Work Text:
Alya knew it would happen eventually. With all the hits he took, one of them was bound to turn into a disaster. The party-turned-street-festival in honour of him a few weeks ago had made Chat slightly less prone to jumping in front of akumas, but he was still their main brawler and distraction.
Now he was collapsing into an enchanted sleep, with less than two minutes left on his timer, and she was the only one who could do anything about it.
Rena Furtive wasn’t supposed to intervene, but Ladybug was nowhere in sight, and the akuma was getting closer to where he had fallen. “Illusion!” She hissed.
An illusory Chat Noir went racing out of the alley, jumping past the akuma with a cheeky grin. The akuma roared and followed.
Leaving the two of them to their cat-and-mouse game, at least until her own timer ran out, she dropped into the alley.
Chat Noir hadn’t moved.
She shuddered. This enchanted sleep was creepy. He barely looked like he was breathing.
Suddenly concerned, Alya leaned down and held two fingers beneath his nose. She felt a puff of air, and sighed in relief. As creepy as it was, it was just sleep.
She picked him up, marvelling at how easy her superhuman strength made it, and bounded up to the roof. She needed somewhere safe to leave him, somewhere Hawkmoth couldn’t find him, but he wouldn’t be defenceless.
Her eyes narrowed on a familiar roof.
She needed someone she trusted to defend him, but not peek.
Decision made, she jumped from roof to roof, Chat slung over her shoulder. She landed, crouching, on a thin window ledge on the fifth floor of the building, and knocked.
And knocked again.
Chat’s ring beeped its final warning.
She rolled her eyes, did what she should have done in the first place, and shoved the window up with all the force of her enhanced strength. It slammed open, and she ducked inside.
Nino whirled around, headphones slipping from his ears to his neck. “Alya?” He choked.
“Chat Noir was hit and he’s about to transform back, lift your blanket!”
Nino hastily followed her orders, nearly tripping over his chair in his hurry, and she shoved Chat under the sheets, pulling them over him just in time for the flash of green light.
They both breathed a sight of relief.
Then Nino looked at her. “Nice costume change, babe.”
“It’s great, isn’t it?” She posed for him, and he whistled appreciatively. “I can’t talk about it now, there’s an akuma, but I’ll come back after. Love you!” She blew a kiss at him and jumped out the window.
***
“Don’t freak out.”
Alya barely made it through the window again before Nino’s hands were on her shoulders, his pleading eyes meeting hers. “What did you do?”
“I swear, I didn’t do anything, he just woke up and panicked. You know how Adrien doesn’t like being trapped-“ Nino’s hands clapped over his mouth, but it was too late. Alya had already made the connection.
“Adrien is Chat Noir?!” she hissed.
An equally shocked voice came from behind Nino. “Rena Rouge is Alya?!”
Nino’s shoulders slumped. He stepped aside, revealing Adrien sitting up in his bed, hair adorably mussed. “Okay, so all the secrets are out. Just don’t tell Ladybug I gave up everyone’s identities, she’ll kill me!”
“If Rena…” Adrien’s gaze drifted to Nino. “You’re Carapace?”
“Alright, now all the secrets are out!”
Alya didn’t say a word. There’s one more secret she was keeping, but it wasn’t hers to share. Besides, if Marinette wanted Chat Noir to know she’d told someone her identity, she’d tell him herself - Alya wasn’t going to betray her best friend by doing it for her.
Then Alya remembered why Adrien was here at all, and she scowled at him. “Now I know who you are, I can yell at you for scaring me all the time! Stop jumping in front of akumas! You have died way too many times, you’re not doing it again!” What she’d just said hit her, and she staggered forward, grabbing Adrien into a hug as both boys looked at her worriedly. “Adrien, you’ve died. You died, and we didn’t even know. Why do you keep dying?”
Adrien’s head rested against her, his arms squeezing her tight. “I’m sorry, Alya.”
“He thinks Ladybug doesn’t want him anymore,” a nasally voice came from somewhere far too close to her face.
She jerked back, searching for the source. There was a little black cat sitting on Adrien’s head, buried in his hair. “Who are you?”
Nino sighed deeply. “That’s Plagg. He’s Adrien’s kwami dude.”
“He doesn’t need more camembert, he’s had enough,” Adrien muttered.
“There’s never enough camembert, my gooey stinky goodness!” Plagg objected, rolling around in Adrien’s hair in apparent ecstasy. “You should give up on Ladybug and love camembert instead! I’ll even let you have some of mine…” He flew towards Adrien’s face, holding a little bit of something yellowish.
“Eww, gross!” Adrien made a face of disgust, swatting him away. Plagg phased through his hand, cackling.
Alya snickered, but didn’t let herself get distracted. “Why would Ladybug not want you? You’re her partner, Ladybug and Chat Noir!’
Adrien looked at her like she’d just told him she wanted to marry Hawkmoth. “She doesn’t need me. She’s got you.”
Every one of Alya’s worries about both Chat Noir and Adrien over the last few weeks suddenly slotted together in her mind. Adrien had a ‘role-play partner’ who he was in love with, who suddenly took on a new partner, who he shared an important responsibility with. Adrien and Nino had spent a week’s worth of nights gaming together to distract Adrien from his broken heart. In that same week, Chat Noir hadn’t shown up for patrol. Even after that week, he’d been much more downcast than usual.
Alya had told Adrien to give up on the girl who was making him miserable.
She’d told Adrien, Chat Noir, to give up on Ladybug, who was making her partner miserable because she got a new partner: Rena, aka Alya.
“This is all my fault.”