Sadly, nobody gifted me with the rights to Miraculous Ladybug over the weekend. *sigh*

Here is Chapter 2... in which Adrien has a pity party, and Alya crashes it.

Adrien opened his eyes and looked around the unfamiliar room. The only thing he recognized was Nathalie who leaned forward and patted his hand, uncomfortably.

"My father?"

"He already left. He did come by and talk to the doctor, which threw his schedule off, and he is now unable to leave on his trip to Milan until tomorrow." Nathalie sighed as Adrien's shoulders slumped. "However, your friends are waiting for you outside. I will send them in shortly. As far as your medical issues, you have a broken arm, several cracked ribs and a pulmonary contusion. Obviously fencing is out for the foreseeable future, and any photoshoots have been cancelled until your body is no longer marred. Your father is less than pleased about having to rearrange those, and will discuss tightened security with you going forward."

"Of course. Thank you, Nathalie."

Nathalie almost smiled as she gave his hand a final pat. "I will send your friends in to see you. Please don't let them tire you out."

Adrien smiled wanly. "I won't. Thank you, Nathalie."

Out in the waiting room, Nino and Alya were speaking softly to each other. Nathalie entered and approached them. "He is awake. One visitor at a time, and don't tire him out." She looks at the two of them. "Where's his designer friend?" Alya smiled. "She's working at her parent's bakery today, and will be by later, when she can."

Nathalie nodded once and left. Alya and Nino looked at each other. "Babe, I'm going in first," said Nino. "There are some things I want to talk about with my bro." With that, he hurried off to Adrien's room.

"Hey dude. How are you doing?" Nino asked, tentatively.

"Sore", muttered Adrien. "Everything hurts."

"I'll bet" Nino shuffled nervously. "Bro. Oh man. How to... Dude… what's the last thing that you remember?"

It was Adrien's turn to look nervous. The last thing he remembered was being Chat Noir, and Ladybug walking towards him, fist extended, but he couldn't exactly explain that to Nino, so he hedged a bit. "Well, uh, there was the Akuma, and some bricks were falling, and, uh, I must have been too close." He trailed off.

Nino gave him a considering look, then decided to help him out. "Well, let me tell you what I know, and that might help you a bit, Bro. I'm also going to tell you some stuff I shouldn't, but I really kinda need to do it now, so I'm going to say it anyway. I'll tell her and she can be mad at me later." He took a deep breath, and in one exhalation said, "Ladybug brought an unconscious Chat Noir to house, as they were both about change back to their civilian selves, and I live close to the Akuma attack area and could have come across an "unconscious civilian" afterwards."

Nino held up both his hands because he could tell that Adrien was about to interrupt. "Just listen, OK. Ladybug trusts me because, well, because I'm Carapace. She knows who I am, but I don't know who she is. And I'm good with that. I feel better that you know, too."

Adrien gasped as his eyes shot up to meet his best friend's.

Nino chuckled. "Yeah, surprised me, too, when Ladybug asked me. She gave me the miraculous when I was trying to save Alya and Chat Noir…you, I guess… from Ananzi." He grinned. "Rena's here for you, too… but that's for her to tell. She only knows that it's you, Adrien, not you, Chat, that was hurt. Man, that's cool to say. UH… that you're Chat Noir… not that you're hurt."

"Does Ladybug know who I am?" Asked Adrien. "I mean that Chat is Adrien?"

"No, Dude. She left before you turned into, uh, you. She was going detransform as well, and man, I've never seen Ladybug look scared before. She said she would contact me later. Then she jumped out the window and swung off. It was right after she left that Chat Noir became Adrien Agreste on my couch. I don't think she made it very far, herself." Nino adjusted his hat, nervously.

"So she dumped me with you, and ran off without a backwards glance?" Adrien asked, hurt.

A new voice cut across his pity party. "No, you idiot. Ladybug couldn't just waltz into the hospital carrying you. If anyone had video of Chat Noir getting hurt, it would have completely obvious who she was walking in with. She's too smart for that. The same reason that she can't just come and sit with you right now. She'd kinda stand out, and she wouldn't want to jeopardize your friends and family's safety like that. She cares about you, so she ISN'T here. She left you with a someone she could trust; someone that obvious wasn't Ladybug… sorry, babe" breaking off her rant to look at Nino, she then turned her attention back to Adrien, "She obviously cares about you, and your identity."

Alya took a breath. "Yeah, sorry, I was totally listening at the door. And, yeah, I'm Rena Rouge, so, no, Chat Noir's identity will NOT be showing up on the Ladyblog. And so far, nobody has sent in pictures of you being injured, so we may be in the clear."

With that, she flopped into one of the chairs at the side of Adrien's bed.

Adrien just blinked at her.

Adrien's emotions were swirling; his thoughts caught up in a massive information overload. He was upset and hurt that Ladybug had trusted Alya and Nino with each other's identities, but not him. And WHY had she not shared that information with him? They were two of his best friends! Did Ladybug know that? Did she actually know who he was before this? Is that why she'd dumped him with Nino? Despite Alya's pretty speech, that's still how it felt. Why couldn't she trust him? He always had to beg her for information. He made up his mind to ask her when she visited… IF she visited. He guessed if she knew who he was, she'd visit in her civilian form, and he'd never even know. Alya was right, though. She couldn't just show up as Ladybug. Or could she? They were supposed to be visiting sick kids in a hospital tomorrow. Which one? For that matter… which hospital was he even in? ARGH! He hated not having all the information. What if she…

His thought were cut off by an inhuman sound coming from his pile of personal belongings over in the corner. "Well, now that you have let that cat out of the bag… who is going to get me some cheese?" whined Plagg.