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If he was being honest, Adrien was worried. He was always worried, in fact. Ever since he had begun to hang around Marinette as Chat Noir, he paid more attention to her in school. And on the street. And basically whenever they were in the same place.
She was incredibly reckless, he found. She was brave, yes, but stupidly so. She had run headfirst into an akuma attack like it was nothing countless times before, and Adrien guessed that she could’ve died one of those times if he didn’t continuously swoop in to save her, and bring her to a safe location.
Not to mention, she was never there when he came back to get her after the battle was over, but he always saw her in school the next day, so assumed she was fine getting back by herself.
So, yes, he was worried. Extremely worried, when he saw Marinette running, sprinting, down the street, not even fazed when she passed him at the speed of light. He was debating whether or not he should follow her when another blur of a person rushed by him as well, a blur that seemed to be in the shape of his other classmate, Alya.
Alya, who had her phone out, which was recording. Alya, who ran the Ladyblog. Alya, who ran straight into akuma battles, just like Marinette. (At least she didn’t try to fight them.)
All of these things Adrien realized in one overwhelming moment, before he took off towards the nearest isolated alley to transform. He was even more worried now than before.
He could hear screaming from where Mari and Alya were headed, and he could only hope that it wasn’t either of them. They were usually safe, but both of them had a knack for attracting trouble, and Mari didn’t exactly back down easily from it.
Rushing towards the scene, Adrien took in what was before him. Upside cars littered the streets, lampposts hung broken from the damage the akuma was causing, but only one thing made his heart stop in his chest.
Marinette was crouched over an unconscious Alya, back turned on the akuma that was dangerously advancing on her, like a predator stalking its prey. Mari had either no clue how much danger she was in, or was ignoring it in favor of reviving her friend. Either way, Adrien was not about to let her get hurt just for trying to help.
He surged forward, knocking the various trash and other objects out of the way as he went, and grabbed onto Mari’s waist, not stopping once. He could feel her resisting, trying to return to her friend, but Adrien was confident that Ladybug would arrive soon. She could help Alya, while he got Marinette to safety.
Marinette, at this point, was practically spitting with fury. Adrien could feel her hostility through his thick leather suit and her clothing. He didn’t understand why she was so upset; he was just doing his job as a superhero, so what if he just happened to want to protect her over anybody else?
Clearly Mari did not feel the same way, as she clawed at her “savior’s” arms. If it wasn’t for the speed at which they were travelling, he assumed she’d be screeching too. Rude.
Having reached what Adrien deemed to be a far enough distance away from the akuma battle, he set Marinette down rather gently when considering the anger he had bubbling up inside at her recklessness.
“Never do tha-” He tried to speak, tried to scold her-,m--, but was interrupted by a hard shove to his chest, by the petite girl in front of him.
“How. Dare. You.” Marinette said through gritted teeth. Adrien stumbled back a few steps, understanding that she was upset but a bit confused as to why she was attacking him. He had just saved her for pete’s sake!
“How dare I? You’re the one running straight into danger!” He shouted back. She might be angry, but she couldn’t possibly comprehend just how worried he was for her. She couldn’t keep doing this, or he might just have a heart attack.
“So? I can handle myself, and you just left my best friend all alone!” Marinette’s eyes burned with a fury he rarely saw directed at him. Adrien opened his mouth to defend himself, but Marinette was quicker. “I thought you were supposed to be a superhero, but here you are, not protecting anyone!”
Adrien gaped at her. Was she really so dense? “Princess, I might be a superhero, but I’m also human.” Marinette seemed unfazed by his sentence, so he continued. “I can’t protect anyone when I’m trying to protect the only one that matters to me.”
Marinette blinked up at him. It seemed to take her a second or two before she realized what exactly he had said, pink rising rapidly on her cheeks after doing so. She moved her hands down to her sides, as they had been up in the air due to her discontent, then behind her back where she scratched nervously at her arms. “You...you...what?” She stuttered out, in such a way that made Adrien almost forget he was supposed to be angry with her.
“I...um…” He almost regretted saying that, knowing that their relationship would never be the same. But there was a tiny part of him that didn’t regret it, because hopefully things would only get better. He refused to acknowledge the fact that there was a chance she didn’t feel the same way. (Hint: She did.)
“I just...I get really worried, ya know?” He quietly asked her, putting his hands on her shoulders. He pretended not to notice the way she shuddered at his touch. “I-”
Again, Adrien was interrupted, but this time it was by screams, most likely because of the akuma. Adrien sighed at shook his head. “Mari...I’ve got to go.” He didn’t want to look her in the eye, but he could see that she was nodding along as he spoke. “We’ll talk later, yeah?”
Marinette mumbled out a shy “ok” before he took off back towards the destruction. He turned around one last time to glance at her, and they made eye contact. He swung around again, and continued on, only thinking of how unlucky this akuma was to even think of hurting his Marinette.
And if he thought it was weird how late Ladybug showed up to the battle, or how she skirted around him, Adrien didn’t think much of it. He had more important things to worry about now.