Okay, sooooooo
This is gonna be a speed upload since I don't wanna force 12740 words into one single chapter xD
(And to make the time jumps more logical)
It's just... I mean, I went through my documents folder and I found this super old work that I wrote 2 years and 4 months ago. This was during the beginnings of me writing in English and not my motherlanguage anymore. So uh, don't be too hard with 17 year old me xD
I intentionally left it in its original state for the fun of it x)
First chapter now, the rest later x)

Nino called after her, terrified. But she was not going to listen.

"Wait! Alya, no, do not go the-…"

"I've got to! I gotta record this! Be back in no time!"

"Alya, damnit! It's dangerous!"

Nino was on the verge of tears as he saw her back turning to him and he knew he had lost her.

"ALYA, NO!"

Out of a sudden burst of adrenaline he took off after her, following her through the schoolyard outside after the akumatized chemist student and the two beloved heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir.

The boy in the blue shirt rapidly blinked away his tears, trying to regain his vision. Alya was already down the stairs, her phone out and recording, running to the side to take cover behind the railing of the stairs. Nino followed her suit, as Chat Noir cried out.

"Nino, stop right there!"

He stubbornly continued to run in order to get Alya and yank her back into the cover of the school. He had to get her to safety. Chat Noir appeared in front of him, feline green eyes flashing with anger.

"I said stop! Get right back into the school, now!"

Nino gulped but didn't back away.

"I have to get to her! Alya!"

Chat shook his head and shoved him back up the stairs, trusting Ladybug to deal with the akuma at the moment.

"Get back there! I'm gonna get your friend! Now go!"

Before Nino could answer, or even turn to the school to get back in, he heard an explosion. Next to Chat Noir's body fire and smoke engulfed the stairs.

Right… Right where Alya had been, as Nino had last seen her.

"No! NO! FUCK NO!"

Chat held back Nino as he turned, shock written over his masked face. Ladybug, jumping out of the smoke, coughing heavily, turned to Chat, immediately realizing something terrible must've happened.

The akuma yelled in frustration as she yet again mixed together some ingredients from her belt, throwing them at Ladybug as she yet again jumped away. Nino couldn't move.

Alya, his friend, his crush, was nowhere to be seen.

Chat once again engaged into the fight, determined to find the akumatized object and destroy it. Nino had reached the still heavily fogged area at the bottom of the stairs as Ladybug purified the little purple butterfly, leaving a white little bug to fly away innocently.

He heard her muttering her signature words, "Bye bye, little butterfly", before turning to Nino.

Almost with a whisper, she threw her lucky charm in the air, letting the cleansing light fix the stairs and the schoolyard, leaving behind a clear day, without any trace that there had been a fight.

But one.

One remained, now visible where it had been hidden under the smoke from before.

Alya.

While Chat went to get the exhausted student who had been the victim of Hawkmoths rage, Ladybug and Nino froze in place as they saw the girl lying there, next to the stairs, motionless. He didn't care that Ladybug turned on her heel, escaping with shaking shoulders.

As the boy stood next to her, he realized there was blood.

Alyas head was covered in blood and dust, same went with her body. He kneeled down to her and carefully took her limp body in his arms. Her head rolled around until he steadied her against his shoulder, not being able to hold back his tears anymore.

Marinette was suddenly kneeling in front of him, hugging him and Alya tightly while sobbing hard, her words trembling, her tears leaving wet marks on Alyas ripped blouse.

Adrien had a hand on his shoulder and was calling the ambulance.

But Nino didn't care. Nothing could draw away his attention from his girl, from his Alya.

As the ambulance arrived, Nino didn't let go. He held her hand as they lifted her onto the litter, getting her to the car as fast as they could.

They even let him and Marinette come with them, being her closest friends. But he guessed they needed them more for contacting Alyas mum.

Nino noticed Adrien softly taking Marinette's hand right before they climbed into the car, assuring her that he would be at the hospital as soon as he could. She nodded, not turning red or stuttering for once, just being grateful that he wanted to be a supportive friend.

Marinette held Nino's gaze the whole time while they were getting to the hospital. He touched his cheeks, knowing they were as wet as Marinette's and Adrien's from tears. The emergency doctors around them spoke fast, nervous, tense. The friends knew, this was bad.

What happened to Alya was bad.

As they reached the hospital they were forced to wait in the hall while Alya was rushed to the operation room.

Exhausted and scared, Marinette slumped into one seat of the waiting room, Nino falling into the next.

"Nino, I-…"

"Don't. It's not your fault. You were probably hiding somewhere, staying safe."

"But I could've looked out for her. I could've prevented her from going out-…"

He sighed, looking rather sleepy but he knew, he could never close an eye now while Alya's life was still in danger.

"Marinette, you did the right thing. You stayed safe, as Ladybug instructed us to do. But that stupid girl-…"

"Stupid?"

"She's old enough to decide that it's too dangerous. At least I am, everyone else was. But no, she had to run outside-…"

She understood why he was saying these things. He felt like he was guilty but also wanted to make himself feel better by scolding her. While he still could, she figured.

Quickly she found herself trembling again, biting back hot tears.

"W-We need to contact her parents. And ours."

Nino nodded, standing up and going to another corner of the room, to talk privately and to give her some privacy too.

As she looked on her phone she swallowed hard. Two unread messages of Alya. And six of Adrien. She blinked away the tears forming in her eyes for the thousandth time today. She decided to ignore the text messages first to contact Alyas parents. Nino had left that to her, she assumed, because he apparently spoke to his dad right now.

When Marinette dialed the number she felt Tikki pressing at her leg through the purse, giving her support. Thankfully she laid a hand over her purse, knowing that Tikki would feel it too.

As the voice of Alyas mum echoed through her phone, Marinette's voice broke into a sob. Of course, the woman on the other end was alerted and kept showering her with questions. Why did she call? Was it something that happened to Alya? To her younger sisters? Had there been an emergency?

"Mrs. Césaire, th-there was an akuma attack at our school. A-And Alya-…"

"Which hospital?"

Marinette only remembered vaguely as she told Mrs. Césaire where Alya had been taken, only remembered half of her conversation with her parents on the phone. Her Mum would be coming over, but only in an hour because the bakery couldn't be left alone. Marinette had calmed her Mum, saying she was taken care of and physically fine, she wouldn't have to worry.

Tikki opened the purse that was still hanging around Marinette's shoulders, giving her a sympathetic look. The bluenette smiled forcefully and softly nodded, patting Tikkis head. The little Kwami smiled back, closing the purse again, in order to not be seen.

Nino had talked to his parents now and sat beside her again, running a soothing hand over her back as she read Alyas messages. She had written that she couldn't find her but was with Nino. It had become a habit of Alya to always write Marinette where she was when an akuma attack took place. She had also written her that she was trying to get some recording material too. That was two minutes before the explosion, at 16:07.

Marinette let her tears flow freely now as she checked Adrien's messages.

He had informed her that he would take care of the situation in school and come to the hospital as fast as he could. He had kept texting her about school and the message before his last text was that he was being picked up at school by his driver to come by. The last one had just been two words.

Adrien: Stay strong.

Marinette let out a sob and leaned back against Nino's arm to support her. Quickly she showed him the messages of his best friend and Nino nodded. That's the Adrien he knew. She didn't wait long for her answer and it was even shorter than his.

Marinette: Hurry.

Adrien's stomach turned as she finally responded to his texts. Seeing this single word made him want to throw up. The last time he had seen her she had been crying. Crying wasn't even the right word. She had looked frantic. Her body shaking with silent but powerful and probably painful sobs.

In that moment, right before the doors of the car closed right before him, he knew, she was something else.

She was someone special, not like Ladybug to him, but-… Somehow different but also the same.

Plagg peeked out of his jacket, for the first time not asking for cheese after a transformation. He made sure Adrien's driver was oblivious to the two of them and flew up to Adrien's cheek, giving him a little hug. Adrien smiled a little, laying his hand over the little Kwami.

Without another word but with a last encouraging look Plagg hid in his jacket again, because the car was pulling over at the hospital.

He was confused about Ladybug and Marinette, to say the least, but nothing of that mattered as he climbed out the car and ran into the big building. He already heard her sobs, making his heart race.

Nino must've heard Adrien's footsteps because he came running out of the waiting area, hugging him tightly. Adrien hugged him back, loosening his grip after a few seconds because he felt Nino wanting to part. He looked in his best friend's face knowing he found the right one to be his bro.

Adrien placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, smiling slightly. The message was clear.

We're going through this together, bro.

Marinette was another situation though. As soon as Nino led him to her seat, she stood up and threw herself in his opened arms, sobbing violently.

He bowed down a bit so she could stand on her feet and didn't need to be uncomfortably stretching to hug him. He simply let her bury her wet face in the crook of his neck and held her tight, rocking her ever so softly as quiet words came out of his mouth, trying to calm her.

"Everything will be alright.", he said, "Alya's strong."

She sobbed against him but he didn't care, as long as she felt comfortable.

Finally, after a few minutes, as his back began to ache, he lifted her slightly, sitting down with her in his lap, the bluenette still clinging to his neck.

He felt one hand of hers slip into his hair and he smiled softly, remembering that he did the same when he had been hurt and his father was hugging him close while his mother had nursed his injured knee or elbow, whatever it had been. In fact, it felt calming for him just as much as for her, having her run one hand through his hair. Maybe it was the cat in him that needed this kind of affection, maybe it was just a warm memory of a once loving family living up in him that made him smile a bit in relaxation.

Carefully he took the string of her purse, removing it from her shoulder and laying it down gently on the seat next to him. Neither of the three teenagers noticed a black Kwami sneaking out of Adrien's jacket, flying to the purse. They also didn't notice another red and black spotted Kwami opening the purse, letting the black one inside quietly.

Later, a slightly different and older version of Marinette rushed through the doors, quickly followed by Nino's parents. Adrien assumed it was her mother, because as soon as she saw her daughter cradled against him, she sprinted towards them, sitting down next to him, soothing Marinette's hair.

She spoke French with a little Chinese accent, he noticed, as she thanked him for taking care of her daughter. He shrugged it off, making tiny movements, to not startle awake Marinette, who had promptly fallen asleep of exhaustion on his lap. Her mother kissed her daughter's cheek and mumbled calming, soothing words into her ear. As she leaned in that close, Adrien smelled bakery and warmth. Maybe a bit more of lemon. Marinette smelled, as her mother, like bakery, but had more of a strawberry scent to it. Maybe it was different shampoos they used.

His mind began wandering around because of sleepiness, dizziness and exhaustion.

He tried to stay awake, but when Marinette began to smile in her sleep and stroke his hair again, Adrien was already fast asleep.

He couldn't recall Alya's mum nor Alya's younger sisters joining them. He also did not remember Marinette's Father coming here. Or someone falling asleep leaned against him.

As he awoke again it dawned to him that he must've slept nearly two hours by now. Marinette was still on his lap, but his legs were propped up on another chair so that he leant back a bit more. He also had a pillow behind his back now, something he also couldn't quite recall someone putting there. With a quick glance, he made sure that Marinette still slept.

He felt another head against his. Soon he recognized Nino, by carefully letting his gaze wander next to him in order to find something familiar (which had been the blue shirt). But he also noticed Nino holding Marinette's waist with his arm. He shouldn't feel jealous, he knew it.

But Nino's hand there, his best friend's hand on his princess' hips, was unsettling.

Still sleepily he held Marinette closer to him, closer than she already was. And slowly he made sure his arm was between Nino's and Marinette.

Satisfied, he felt her snuggle up against him and he once again laid his cheek on her head, balancing Nino's head against his while doing so. And just like this, his eyes shut close once again.

Adrien blinked once, twice, before letting out a groan and holding Marinette tighter again.

"Don't you worry, lad.", he heard someone say, "Nobody's gonna steal her from you."

Startled but still groggy he tried to make out who said that. A really big man stood right in front of him, gazing down at the young model with warm, amused, brown eyes.

"Hello, lad. Name's Tom Dupain. Baker. Father of the young beauty in your arms."

Adrien blushed and lowered his head, not meeting the elder's gaze.

"I-… I'm sorry I'm keeping your daughter from you, s-sir…", he felt like the words were glue that came dripping out of his mouth. Carefully he checked, if they were alone in the waiting room and thankfully they were because that could've been awkward.

Mr. Dupain grinned down at him, shaking his head.

"It's alright. She's going to be fine.", he seemed to have noticed Adrien's gaze, "Don't worry, the parents of the young lad next to you have taken the three girls of Mrs. Césaire to their home and are babysitting them. Said, Nino could stay here, after all, they know how he's feeling for Alya."

Adrien nodded.

"And-… Mrs. Cheng and Mrs. Césaire?"

"They have gone off with one of the doctors. Sabine's supporting Marlena. They left to see Alya."

"A-Alya-…", Adrien croaked surprised, trying to sit up but he was stopped by not only Marinette still sleeping in his arms but also Nino's head which was still leaned against his.

"Easy there, lad. Alya's-… Well, fine wouldn't be exactly the right word. She's resting right now. Doctor said something about an artificial coma."

"H-how is she-… Doing?"

"She's outta danger. She'll – hopefully – be okay again sometime soon. Had a pretty threatening injury in her brain but the doctors managed, they said."

"How much-… How much did we miss?"

"Just about nothing. Only the mother, Marlena, was allowed to be with Alya, Sabine's still not allowed into the room. I slept here for a bit too. And well, it's 23:46 now."

"J-Just waiting?"

"Yeah. Pretty boring. Nobody's allowed to get to the girl but her mother so you didn't miss a single thing."

"We've slept for almost five hours now?"

"You did. Mari and Nino are still out cold."

Protectively he moved his hand that had been resting on her hip to her shoulder, slightly squeezing her.

"As I said before, lad, nobody's gonna steal her from you. Although one could almost assume you feared just that, as tightly as you had been holding her in your sleep.", Adrien could see the amused smirk in his eyes, the same one he once had seen in his father's, many years ago.

Adrien smiled, running a thumb across her cheek.

"She's truly something special, sir."

"Oh yes, she is alright.", her father gave him a nod, "Just you go and try to hurt her."

Adrien felt his little grin fade and looked at her father with all honesty and seriousness his tired face could possibly hold.

"I would never."

Half an hour later Nino woke up. Adrien had never seen his friend this tense, ready to jump at anything to either kill or hug it every second, even though his friend looked about as tired as he had been when he had DJ'd three whole days.

Adrien tried not to look as satisfied as he felt, when Nino removed his arm from Marinette's hip.

"Hey bro, you okay? You look horrible."

Nino snickered but it was no amusement in it.

"I'm alright, thanks bro. How's-… How's Alya?"

Tom answered instead of Adrien, so he took the opportunity and moved his hand on Marinette's shoulder to her hair, stroking it gently. He felt her letting out a relaxed breath and slightly smiled at this. She was just too adorable.

As he looked up at the clock he was mildly surprised. It was almost half past midnight. That meant they were here now for round about five and a half hours, five of which he had slept.

He had desperately needed the sleep because he had been awake the whole night before, trying to finish the homework he couldn't do while he was Chat Noir, keeping Paris save doing patrols with his lady. He had gotten only four and a half hours of sleep that night, then he had to go to school and he stayed there because of a project in their class, until the akuma attacked.

Marinette hadn't looked anymore awake than he had been.

He assumed she had to work on the homework as well, not getting much sleep either.

The girl in his arms shivered lightly as a door opened and sent a blow of cold night air through the room. A new patient was carried through the front doors but Adrien didn't care. He lowered his head, pressing his cheek against her forehead, trying to protect her from the cold air. The doors closed and he relaxed again as she did too. Marinette pulled her knees a little closer and he kissed her head before he even realized what he was doing.

He smiled down at her, not noticing Mr. Dupain's glare and Nino's smirk.

Marinette smiled, burying her face further in the crook of his neck. A few moments later he felt her eyelashes brush against his skin.

"Hey Marinette. You awake?", he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear but Nino and Mr. Dupain were oblivious to the two of them anyways.

He felt her growing stiff in his embrace but quickly brushed her hair with a soft hand again, hoping to calm her down. He knew she felt uneasy around him, always blushing and stuttering, even though he didn't know why. So, he enjoyed her relaxing in his presence for once. He didn't want to scare her so she would jump right off his lap. Besides, he felt it would be pretty cold when she stood up after having her on top of him for hours now.

"A-A-Adrien-…?!"

"Yeah.", he breathed back, "But don't freak out, alright?"

She leaned back a bit, her eyes searching for his. Green met Blue and she gasped.

"Y-You-… M-Me-… Oh my g-gosh, I'm s-so sorry, I-… I didn't k-know what c-came over me a-as I-…"

"No, it's alright.", he smiled, "Just don't stand up, please. It's warm and comfortable and-…", his voice trailed off, leaving him behind with a red mark of embarrassment over his cheek.

She laughed quietly, obviously embarrassed herself, but laid back on his chest again.

"Th-thank you f-for holding m-m-me…", she muttered under her breath and he grinned.

"I quite enjoyed it, actually…"

"J-Just don't let Chloé see us like th-that.", Marinette laughed once again, blushing furiously.

"I won't, don't worry.", he rested his cheek against her forehead, closing his eyes. Suddenly he felt her shifting and straightening up, catching his gaze once again. She looked terrified.

"What about Alya?! O-Oh my god I-I totally-…"

"She's… Resting right now."

Eventually her father and Nino looked over to them and realized that Marinette was finally awake so they joined them in the conversation.

"D-Dad? How is she-…?"

Her dad softly stroked her cheek, smiling.

"They said she'll be fine. She's in an artificial coma right now but they said she'll be okay when she wakes up."

"What?! A-Alya is in an-…?!", Adrien felt her tightening her grip around his neck and her other hand clutching on his shirt. He saw tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's okay, it's alright…", he instantly whispered in her ear, gently caressing her shoulder, "Alya's alive and that's all that matters now. She'll be alright, she'll live. That's good news."

Marinette leaned her head on his chin, asking for support he was more than willing to give.