She was so warm. It felt like she was swaddled in cotton balls inside of a fluffy cloud surrounded by space heaters. She didn't feel hot or uncomfortable, just warm.
"Marinette?" Adrien gently shook her shoulder, "Don't fall asleep, the doctor said you have a minor concussion and you need to stay awake for now." He watched her sleepily blink and look at him, and then turn crimson when she realized she had been resting her head on his shoulder. For a moment, they were barely inches apart, and then she practically teleported to the other end if the backseat of the car, cramming herself as close to the door as possible. "We're almost to your house, would you like me to help you inside?"
"I'm wine- Fine!" she opened the door and slowly eased herself out of the car, then turned back to get her newly-acquired crutches.
Adrien scooted towards her side of the car and picked the crutches up, holding them out for her. "Are you sure?"
Marinette bowed her head a little and nodded, "Thank you, Adrien," she said softly, not looking at him as she reached and felt her hand graze across his. She glanced at him through her eyelashes and blushed, trying her hardest not to smile like a lovesick crazy person.
Adrien placed one hand over hers and smiled, "Of course, Marinette," he patted her hand softly, "I'd do anything for my good friends."
Marinette felt her heart sink but didn't let it show on her face as she positioned her crutches and turned away from him. She heard the car door get pulled closed behind her, but didn't turn back to wave as she tried to focus on walking with the crutches without tipping over like one of those drinking bird toys. As she reached the door, she reached into her bag for her keys - the bakery was currently closed since her parents were out of town for a sort of baking convention.
She struggled to balance on her crutches as she juggled the keys from one hand to the other, eventually resolving to lean on the wall as she tried to keep herself upright. Halfway to opening the door, she dropped the keys and let out a frustrated groan, trying to figure out how to approach picking them up once more.
"I've got it."
Marinette jumped when she felt a hand press against her hip, pulling her upright as she wobbled on her crutches. She watched as Adrien picked up the keys and reached past her to unlock the door. He held the door for her, allowing her to hobble inside and then meet up with her at the foot of the stairs, taking her crutches and supporting her so that they could walk up slowly in tandem. When they reached the living room, he helped her to the couch and released her so that she could perch at the edge of the cushions.
"I didn't think those would be so hard to master," she said sheepishly, Adrien smiled a little at her attitude towards the crutches as he watched her give them an annoyed scowl. "Thank you, you know, again," she looked down at the big blue boot on her foot.
Adrien walked over and leaned the crutches against the couch, looking around, frowning, "Where are your parents?"
"Oh, they went out of town, some work thing. It's just me for a little while," she shrugged, "It's fine, I kind of like the quiet." She stretched, then flinched as she did, "Ow…" she clutched her shoulder and rubbed at it a little.
"You probably got some scrapes from the ice," Adrien commented, walking up behind her, "May I?"
Marinette nodded nervously, turning away from him as he gently placed a hand on the back of her shirt and pulled it down enough to see her shoulder, she felt her ears go red with her cheeks as he inspected her.
"Yeah, you should probably at least put something on those," he ran a finger gently along one of the scratches, then another, tracing his eyes down beyond the edge of the shirt and down her back. She had scrapes and scratches running the length of her entire upper back, stopping where her body naturally curved inwards a little. Feeling his cheeks growing warm, Adrien quickly released his grip on the shirt and cleared his throat, "Maybe Alya could come over and," he had to pause to clear his throat again, "Help you patch those up so that they don't cause you any discomfort."
Marinette refused to look at him, she could feel her entire face glowing a bright red and didn't want him to see it. "Y-yeah I c-can tall bather-call later a-and see if she's free…"
The room grew quiet for a moment, interrupted only when a horn honked just outside the building.
"Oh," Adrien said softly, "That's my,"
"Your bodyguard- yeah you should go, your father is probably worried about you. That hospital trip took awhile." Marinette continued facing the opposite direction, idly picking at loose threads on the holes of her jeans, "S-so…"
Adrien cleared his throat for a third time, then gently patted Marinette on the arm, "I'll see you later," he waved, although she still wasn't looking at him, and walked out, closing the door firmly behind himself.
Marinette collapsed backwards against the sofa, groaning and covering her face, "That was so…!" She sighed in frustration at herself, then stopped when she heard a soft giggling. She opened her purse and looked down at her kwami with a frown, "It's not funny, Tikki," she sighed.
"You're right," Tikki zipped out of her bag and up to her face, nuzzling her cheek, "It's also not funny that now we have this," she gestured at Marinette's foot, "Which means you can't be Ladybug. What if someone gets akumatized while you're healing?"
"I think we'll have to approach that when we get to that point, Tikki," Marinette scowled at her foot, "I can't believe I tripped over my own-" she paused in her self-loathing, "No wait, I tried to stop because…" the memory flashed through her head, "Someone was trying to get me hurt. You don't think that-"
Tikki shook her head before Marinette could even finish, "If it was someone that knew you were Ladybug they wouldn't just hurt you, they'd try to take your earrings, but no one even made an attempt. They just wanted to see you fall." Tikki flew around behind Marinette and tugged on her shirt, "Do you want me to help with these?"
"Maybe later, Tikki, right now I'm… I'm kind of tired. I should probably just go upstairs and lay down for awhile until everything stops hurting," she stretched, ignoring the sting of the scratches on her back and teetered to her feet, using the couch for support as she hopped on one leg around it.
She got to the stairs and gazed up them, hesitating as she laid a hand on the railing, "You know what," she said, "Maybe I'll hang out down here for awhile instead."
"If you used the crutches-"
"I couldn't use the crutches standing still, I think I'm better off not trying to use them to climb stairs." She made her way back to the couch and flopped down, propping her foot up on a pillow at one end. "I'm just going to take a nap here and then I'll try the stairs again later when I'm feeling better," she yawned and curled up halfway, tucking her arms under her head and falling into a restless sleep.
Adrien leaned against the bakery door, his hand pressed against his chest. He could feel his heart pounding for some reason as he stood there taking slow breaths to calm himself down. He glanced back at the door before pushing off of it and stepping into the waiting car. The drive home was silent, as usual, and Adrien stared down at his gloved hands and sighed softly, pulling the gloves off and laying them in the seat beside him as they approached his house.
Stepping out of the car, he half-heartedly waved to Nathalie before making his way up to his room and flopping down on his bed as Plagg flew out from within his shirt.
"What's wrong with you?" the little black kwami questioned as he hovered around a dish of camembert that had been left out for him.
"I don't know," Adrien sighed, rattlin his head around against the pillows, "Something keeps nagging me in the back of my head."
"About Marinette?"
"Yes. No. I don't know. I'm not sure."
"Well, you did get real handsy with her back there." Plagg shrugged as he shoved an entire wedge of camembert in his mouth. He continued to speak as he chewed, "But you're a teenage boy it's only natural, I guess."
Adrien groaned and threw a pillow over his face, muffling himself as he felt his face burn with a blush. He continued to groan into the pillow for a minute or so before he sat up, furrowing his brow, "She's home alone."
"What-"
"Plagg, claws out!"
"No no no wait-"
Abrupt endings are apparently my cup of tea. Sorry about that :) When I write a scene jump I tend to do the little - between the scenes and it just makes sense to end after one, although Adrien's part here was short enough to include with the rest of it. So... yeah.
Still didn't proofread - apologies for issues!
