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Marinette came back into reality slowly, fighting her way through a seemingly endless sea of dragging, sludgy darkness. Finally, she managed to move her fingers, proving to herslef that she wasn’t dead or anything.
“Mari?” Alya’s nickname for her. Why was Alya in her room? Was she in her room? “You up?”
She didn’t want to be. But a few moments later, her brain finally processed the tone Alya was using, and it sent a wave of uneasiness through Marinette. Something was wrong. Something important.
Marinette gave a colossal effort, and her eyes cracked open.
She regretted it instantly– the light, though dim, was aggravating, and her head began to pound in a thick, sluggish movement. Nothing made sense. “Where…” Her voice was too raspy. She swallowed with difficulty, accepting the cup of water Alya handed her. It was heaven against her burning throat. “Where?” She tried again.
“You’re in the hotel base place– we really need a name for the superhero hangout spot.” Alya came into vision, pulling Marinette up into a seated position. Her friend rolled her eyes, giving Marinette a crooked smile. “Point is, you passed out. In the middle of the park.”
Marinette cursed, giving Alya an aplogetic look afterwards. Alya just arched an eyebrow, like, have you met my sister? “I didn’t think–”
Tikki flew up out of nowhere, angry pout cemented into her tiny face. “What were you thinking, Marinette?! I told you to go to sleep last night!”
“Juleka had a fight with her dad! She needed someone to talk to!” Marinette rolled her eyes, wincing. It felt like her whole face was swollen. Everything was still spinning, and she continued in a fainter voice. “I didn’t think I was that bad off.”
Tikki’s look softened and she handed Marinette a half of a peanut-butter-banana-sandwich and a cup of lemonade. (The physics of how her kwami could balance such large and delicate things, Marinette would never understand.) “Just get your strength back so you don’t scare me again.”
Sugar, iron, and magnesium, Marinette mused, taking a tentative bite. Smart. Her stomach felt… not empty, exactly, but shaky, like the rest of her. She really didn’t want to throw up, especially not when the rest of the team was somewhere in the building.
“Okay,” she breathed after a few moments. “I think I’m good.”
A hand whistled through the air; Marinette felt something sting her cheek. She careened back, almost hitting her head on the support pillar that led up to the top bunk above her bed. “ Alya !”
The girl stood over her, hands clenched. “What the hell were you thinking?! You can’t scare people like that!”
“I feel guilty enough already, Alya!” Marinette cried back, clutching at her head as her vision swam. This wasn’t fair, she just wanted to go back to–
“No!” Alya cried, and there was a shuffling from behind the door to the rest of their suite. “I don’t think you do feel guilty enough! Have you seen Adrien?!”
“Why would I have?!”
“He’s been sitting there for three hours , Mari! He hasn’t moved !” Alya’s voice was breaking, teeming with rage and fear and sorrow and a thousand other emotions. “Nino couldn’t even get him to eat ! He’s been–” She broke off, and Mariinette’s heart skipped a couple beats. “You know what happened to his mom, right?”
Marinette swallowed, tears pricked her eyes. She was still mad, but now it was directed inwards. In a small voice, she managed, “Y–yeah.”
“He’s terrified for you, Mari.” Alya’s voice had lost most of its venom, but she still gripped Marinette’s arm so hard it would probably bruise. “He deserves an apology, and a whole lot more.”
(You know what? No, I’m not okay.” He’d said, looking up at her with those doe eyes of his. The sun shone brightly, cascading in rays around them as they bent to gather their things. “Someone I love is really sick, and I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help them.”
Her heart had dropped out of her stomach. She’d memorized that look. The fear. The sorrow. Was he remembering his mother? Someone else? What mattered was that he was hurting . He was so vulnerable, in that moment. So weighed down.)
She’d done that to him again. She was the reason for that heartbroken face this time, not Nathalie.
Footsteps pounded towards them, and Alya gave Marinette a half-warning, half-comforting look, finally releasing Marinette and stepping back. Marinette rubbed her arm, opening her mouth to say something–
The door slammed open and there stood Adrien, jacket half-on, hair a mess, tear stains running down his face, panting like it was the end of the world. (Maybe it was, for him.) Nino appeared a moment later, hovering behind him, opening his mouth to blurt out a warning. But then Marinette met his eyes and he blinked, backing off.
“Beetle.” Adrien breathed, and her heart fractured. He rushed forward, a tsunami of blond and white and blinding green, and the scent of his cologne overwhelmed her. Him, was all her senses could tell her. His warmth, his body pressing desperately into hers, clenching her tight as if when he let go she’d be gone. The sound of his heavy breathing, the hitched little sobs he let out as he struggled not to cry, the drops of tears that bled into her tank top. The blurry sight of his ruffled overshirt and crazy hair, all slicked back like he’d run his hands through it a million times. The world spun sickeningly, and she could feel the strength in his arms as he tensed, guiding her in their stumbling way to the bed. They sat, him somehow not letting go, only curling around her tighter. She pressed her eyes closed.
“I’m so glad you’re okay…” He whispered, nuzzling his chin into your hair. Something soft and warm pressed itself to the top of her head. Had he kissed her? Heat flushed her.
He pulled back, eyes roving up and down her. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, sniffing. She wanted to reach out and wipe the tear tracks from his face; maybe she was a little too awake for that now. “You look flushed.”
Before she could respond, he brushed back the mess that was her hair, pressing a hand to her forehead. “You’re still warm.”
“I am a little hot,” she admitted– and instantly flushed. Her tired mind couldn’t put up with this. “No– I– warm – I mean–”
“Mhm.” He gave her a little, vague smile, standing. “Well, you are going back to bed.”
“What?” Marinette went to stand too fast and stumbled, the world spinning around her until Adrien steadied her. “I can’t–” She whispered, spent. “I have to…”
“You have to rest, beetle.” He insisted. Gently, his hands (how long had they been on her arms?) guided her back, setting her down on the bunk. “The world needs Ladybug.”
A hint of that terror that she hated so much glinted in his eyes, weighing his tone. “And so do I.”
He clapped his hands altogether too loud, trying to break the tension. “So! You are going to take a nice, looooooooong nap, m’lady, and I am going to take your Miraculous and do your job so you can relax!”
Marinette blinked, mind moving slow. “You can’t have my Miraculous and the cat.”
“Too late!” Adrien gave her a cheeky grin, flipping two very precious objects through the air as they glinted–
“You’re horrible.” She muttered, and instantly felt guilty. “No, no you’re not, you’re amazing, and I’m really sorry I scared you, and I didn’t mean to, and I’ll make it up–”
Adrien let out the fakest laugh of all time. It was too bright, too loud, too off. “It’s fine! I– I got worked up over nothing, it’s not like–”
“Shut up.”
He blinked.
Marinette was definitely exhausted now, but she let that be to her advantage. “You’re allowed to feel, you dumb cat. I know I scared you, and it’s my fault , and no, shut your big pie hole, it’s not okay. I sincerely apologize.” Speech finished, she drained the last of her water and thunked it down on the nightstand. A satisfying finish.
He paused.
She arched an eyebrow. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
It felt like an eternity passed, her surveying the eight stains on the carpet and the water stains on the ceiling tile (there were too many to count; did the tiny ones deserve a whole point? A half?), the dust on the windowsill she’d forgotten to clean off, the knot in the wood by her bunk, the particles floating in the light from the window, before he finally spoke. “It’s just… my mom.”
She hummed, knowing where this was going.
He sat next to her. Alya and Nino filed out, giving their friends the call me later sign. They closed the door behind them, and Adrien waited for the murmurs of the others who’d undoubtedly been waiting to fade. Marinette’s own mind had wandered again, trying to remember what had happened in the hour or so before she’d passed out. She’d felt fine, mostly. More tired than normal, but that barely made a difference. And she hadn’t eaten since… what? Yesterday morning? Hot chocolate and cookies at midnight didn’t count, that wasn’t real food. And then of course she hadn’t been able to sleep. That was probably–
Adrien’s breath hitched next to her and she snapped back into reality. “Adrien?” She whispered, turning.
Oh, dieu, he was crying.
Marinette looped an arm around his waist, shivering at the contact, and leaned in. (She told herself it was for his sake, a little bit of comfort, but it was nice to be able to rest her head on something and close her eyes.) “ Mon chaton, ” she whispered. “Everything’s okay.”
But it’s not.
“I just…” Adrien fought for control, casting an arm over his eyes. “You were fine, totally fine, but I had this nagging feeling something was going to go wrong all day, and I was ignoring it–”
“And then I passed out on you.”
He nodded, hand squeezing her shoulder as if to make sure she was still there. “I know it’s stupid, completely illogical, but… I guess…” He took another moment, collecting his thoughts before surging forward. “You went pale all of a sudden, by the fountain. I asked if you were okay, and I kept going . All I was thinking about was getting to our spot and relaxing in the shade! But then you started breathing weird and I– I whipped back around and you just tipped back …”
Another breath.
“I was so scared. It doesn’t make sense why, if I think about it. But when I saw you weren’t moving, and you were a centimeter away from bashing your head on the marble, and it just– it felt like I was eight years old again, watching my mom collapse for the first time, wondering what the hell was happening or if you were dead or dying and I–” He took a ragged breath, carding his free hand through his hair. Marinette pulled him even closer, guilt piercing her heart like the edge of his claws. I did this to him.
“So, I overreacted.” He whispered, fight gone. “I couldn’t be okay until I knew something horrible wasn’t happening to you.” He turned then, a watery, hollow semblance of a smile on his face. “Isn’t it dumb? You were laying there, passed out, and I was frozen, thinking ‘the universe wouldn’t do this to all the good women in my life, would it? Heck, of course it would.’”
“All?” Marinette asked in a small voice, heart at once swelling with tenderness and dropping through her stomach. It was going to be sorely bruised before this was over.
“Nathalie’s sick, too, remember?” Adrien whispered. “Same as my mom. She… that hasn’t happened to her yet, I think, but I feel like I’m walking on eggshells waiting for the blow to come. And–” His voice rose in volume and pitch, and he carded his hand through his hair again. “--and what if it happens while I’m gone? I could never forgive myself, but I know I have to be here, and this is way more important and also much more fun, but my father wouldn’t care if she started coughing up blood in front of him! Someone has to take care of her.”
Marinette waited a moment, feeling his lungs heave with each breath. “We could bring her here.”
“Too dangerous. Felix told me she might be a traitor.”
Marinette’s heart was breaking for her partner. First his mother, then his father (not literally, but close enough) then his uncle, now Nathalie. He couldn’t keep living like this.
She could see why he’d been so worried.
She slipped her hand into his, ignoring the way hers were still trembling. “Hey,” she whispered through the fog. “I’m here no matter what, okay? We all are.” A smirk. “It takes more than a little sleep deprivation to finish me.”
He tilted his head, staring at her with that wonderful star-struck look of his that always made her blush. “Oh, I know m’lady can take care of herself. I just think a little cat nap is in order.”
“You have, what–” Marinette pulled her (even more cracked, now) phone out of her pocket and checked the time, squinting her eyes against the abrasive light. “--thirty minutes until patrol?”
“Twenty, so I’m ready. Can I give Plagg to Alix?”
“Awesome, and yes.” Marinette scooted over, leaning back as slow as she could so she didn’t jostle herself. Who knew passing out could make a person so sore ? “C’mere, kitty.”
He gave a poor imitation of a mrrow? , flopping down next to her. She finally, finally let her eyes slip shut. “Catnap it is.”
“May–”
“No lullabies.”
She didn’t need to have her eyes open to see his pout. “Get over it,” she teased. “You can serenade me after dinner.”
“If you insist.” Adrien scooted closer, hand brushing her arm just the lightest. Making sure she wasn’t going to leave. “Love you, m’lady.”
She still didn’t understand how he managed to say such dangerous things with such ease, but she smiled back. “Love you too, kitty.”
It was the best nap she’d ever had.
(She still woke up with a killer headache, though. Also apparently one of them was a cuddler. Alix now has blackmail pictures.)
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