Work Text:
“Bien joué!” they chimed together, bumping fists, Chat perhaps a little less enthusiastic. Even through the euphoria of victory, Ladybug noticed anyways.
“Chat?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
“Is your arm okay?” he asked, looking pointedly at the spot where the akumatized victim had slammed her shoulder up against a brick wall. He felt like he could still hear the sickening crunch of bones echoing in his ears.
“Yes, I’m fine now.” she smiled. It seemed that lucky charm had done its job as always. Still, Chat couldn’t help but feel something was deeply wrong. A fear from somewhere so far within himself that he wasn’t even sure it was his. “Don’t worry so much, kitty. I’d better get going.”
“Wait!” Chat reached out and grabbed her hand before she could fly off. The feeling of dread was not fading. It was only getting worse. “Something’s wr—” and then, as if struck by a bolt of lightning, he knew exactly what was wrong.
When Plagg had first come to him, Adrien was more than thrilled to become Chat Noir. The only trepidation he’d had was the fear of seizing during a mission. But Plagg, while not the most helpful of creatures, had assured him that he would never have a seizure while transformed. Adrien’s seizures didn’t come with a warning, but now he could feel that that’s exactly what this was. Plagg was warning him that when he detransformed, Plagg would no longer be able to suppress the electrical storm in his brain and he was going to seize.
“Chat?”
Adrien was afraid. He hadn’t had a seizure in months. Not since becoming Chat Noir. It had been great. He hated the idea of having one now. This was the longest amount of time in his life that he’d gone without seizing. He hated the idea of going home now and being alone. Plagg would be there, but he was sure that there was little comfort that the kwami could offer to him. He did all he could regulating Adrien’s brain activity when he was suited up.
“Chat, what’s wrong?”
Chat Noir swallowed painfully around the dryness in his mouth. “Ladybug, do… do you have a couple minutes?” he asked.
“Um, yeah, I guess.” Ladybug.
“Can… would you… Look, I know you don’t want to know my identity—”
“Chat—” Ladybug had a warning tone to her voice.
“No, I know, that’s not what… I don’t, you don’t have to look, but just…” he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “I need you to stay with me for a couple minutes after I detransform. Please?” he looked into Ladybug’s eyes, as awestruck as always at the clear sky-blue of them, and the unveiled emotion they displayed.
“Okay.” she nodded.
Chat wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her. He took a shaky breath and released his transformation. The lights of his detransformation seemed to split and lose their colour. He tried to focus on the feeling of Ladybug’s arms around his waist and her shoulder pressing hard into his face, but it was so difficult as dizziness overwhelmed him and light and clanging sound assaulted his senses. It was almost completely overwhelming. He could barely stand as everything seemed to spin and blur around him. He closed his eyes tight and leaned all of his weight onto his Lady. Her hand moved to pet the back of his head gently. She had been speaking to him. She was worried, he could hear that, even if he couldn’t make out every word. He tried to focus on her. The reality of her embrace, though it seemed like a dream, and the sound of her voice under the klaxons of his mind.
“I’ll be okay in a minute.” he groaned.
Ladybug, her arms still tight but gentle around him, guided them both down until they were sitting on the ground, which was where Adrien would rather have been anyways. He always found it torture to have to remain standing during a seizure.
It passed as quickly as ever. After another minute, the lights and sounds he’d been hallucinating vanished and his dizziness was gone. He took a deep breath. He felt fine. Better than fine, really. The relief after a seizure ended was phenomenal.
“Plagg, transformez moi.” he reluctantly drew back from Ladybug’s embrace as soon as the electric green magic dissipated.
“Chat, what was that?!”
“I’m sorry.” were the first words out of his mouth. “It’ll never affect the mission—”
“What was that?” she repeated.
Chat swallowed hard. “I’m… It was…” he took a shaky breath. He tried to gather his thoughts, tried to think of the best way to phrase it without worrying her. In the silence Ladybug reached out and grabbed his hand. Chat looked into her eyes and found them glistening with tears. She was already worried. And it was his fault.
“It was a simple partial seizure.” he answered. “I have epilepsy.” Tears did not spill over the edge of Ladybug’s mask, and it made him happy. “I don’t have seizures very often, in fact, I haven’t had one in months, and I’m not really in danger while I’m having one. They’re just… distracting and loud… They leave me feeling very dizzy, so it’s ha-hard to stand up.” he had to clear his throat. “I take Dilantin, er, medication, for it. And I know that I can’t have seizures while I’m transformed, so I’m okay, really, I-I promise.”
Ladybug sighed and nodded. She let go of his hand to pull him into a hug. “Okay, good. Warn me next time, okay?”
Chat nodded vehemently. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, kitty. You just scared me, that’s all.”
“I’m sorry.” Chat tensed, and Ladybug rubbed a gloved hand on his back. Her earrings beeped. He wasn’t sure if it was for the first time or not.
“Will you be okay going home?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Ladybug nodded. “I gotta go.”
“I know, sorry.” Chat drew back from the hug.
“Don’t be.” Ladybug told him. “I’m glad you told me. We’re partners. I’ve got your back, Chat Noir.” she smiled at him, as bright as every star in the sky. “And you’ve got mine, right?”
“Absolutely.”
Ladybug nodded. “Well then.” she raised a gloved hand and zipped away via yoyo.
Adrien felt his heart, full of joy and pounding with love. He wasn’t alone. Ladybug had seen him at his best and worst and cared for both and everything in between. His knew that his epilepsy wasn’t going to go away, of course, he’d known that since infancy. There would always be stress, there would always be strobe lights at fashion shows, but it didn’t matter.
His Lady had his back.