Author's Note
...and take good care of yourself
the miller of the black mill
wants you as his wife tonight
Faun - Die wilde Jagd
And before anyone is confused when it shows up in the middle of this chapter:
The long s (ſ) is an archaic form of the lower case letter s. It replaced a single s, or the first in a double s, at the beginning or in the middle of a word.
Foxy Babe: hey girl
Marinette: have you changed your contact name on my phone again?
Foxy Babe: yeah ;p
you ready for TOMORROW?
Marinette: the caps make it sound ominous
and it's only the 12th
actual valentines day is sunday
Foxy Babe: not like you'll see Adrien then. Doesn't he have some event to go to?
Marinette: nope he doesn't
Foxy Babe: and how do you know that? [eyes emoji]
Marinette: I asked?
why?
Foxy Babe: ohoho you asked if he was free on Valentines day? [eyes emoji]
Marinette: NOT LIKE THAT
Félix and he had to go to some boring gala last year and I wanted to send my condolences if that was the case again
Foxy Babe: what a thorough explanation [eyes emoji]
Marinette: Alya no
I know what you're thinking but that's not it!
Foxy Babe: are you suuuuuure? ;D
Marinette: yes
Foxy Babe: oh come on! This is your chance girl!
Marinette: I dunno if that's a good idea
Foxy Babe: spare me. I've seen you stare at each other longingly
Marinette: ajsgshshzvshsh WE DO NOT!
Foxy Babe: AND I know you already have a present for him so don't try to wiggle your way out of this one!
Marinette: who says it has to be romantic?
Foxy Babe: GIRL! THIS IS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO CONFESS!
Marinette: I dunno. I don't feel like it is the right time
Foxy Babe: uh hello? Valentines Day? The day of love? When could be a more perfect time?
Marinette: Adrien and I are friends!
I can't just confess to him
just…let me find the perfect time for it myself okay? I just don't think this is it
Foxy Babe: fine
but then I don't want to hear any whining afterwards
and I reserve the right to tell you "I told you so"
Marinette: deal!
With a sigh, Marinette let herself fall back on her bed. Alya really was stubbornly persistent when it came to convincing her to confess her feelings to Adrien, but she just didn't get it. Or at least that's what Marinette told herself: Alya didn't understand her friendship with Adrien, thus she couldn't correctly judge the right approach.
Deep down Marinette knew that this wasn't the case. Or at least not fully. Procrastination and an immense fear of rejection were the real reasons she hadn't told Adrien anything about her crush yet and also didn't plan to do so in the near future. It just wasn't the time. Yet.
Asking Tikki for advice didn't help either, especially since her kwami seemed to have an odd dislike towards her best friend and crush. Marinette would say it was unfounded, but a being as old as the universe wouldn't just make unfounded accusations, would they?
Even though she really didn't want to admit it, Tikki's distrust was also a tiny reason why Marinette was hesitating. Not that she'd say Tikki was right in her assumptions that Adrien was somehow deceiving her—hello? They were talking about Adrien!—but the smallest speck of doubt was whispering cruel things in the back of her head anyways.
Her phone chimed and Marinette blindly fumbled around on her blanket for it, not wanting to go through the effort of sitting up or lifting her head. As she found it and held it over her face, however, to see the new message, she instantly dropped it.
"Ow! Is that thing secretly a brick?!" She exclaimed as she held her nose. It hurt much more than it had any right to!
"Marinette, is everything alright?" Tikki asked as she floated down from the shelf above.
"Yeah, phone just fell on my face," Marinette explained and picked the offending object back up. This confronted her once again with the reason she had dropped it in the first place: A message from Adrien.
She took a deep breath before unlocking her screen.
KitKat: Alya just texted me something very cryptic
Is tomorrow a special day I didn't know about?
Yes, tomorrow is the day I'm going to murder Alya.
Princess: don't listen to a word she says!
KitKat: Okay?
Princess: tomorrow is the unofficial valentines day if that helps
KitKat: Why does there need to be an unofficial one? Is the real one not good enough?
Princess: not when it falls on a weekend instead of a school day
KitKat: …I still don't get it
Bless his obliviousness.
Princess: for secret admirers it's easier to just leave a message or a gift on someone's desk than to have it delivered to their home. less effort and less expense
KitKat: Oooooh now I get it!
Princess: glad to be of help c:
KitKat: In that case I should probably get ready to take cover and run around a lot. My fangirls can be crazy
Princess: I know. I was there last autumn remember?
I'll help hiding you again
KitKat: Thank you! You're a lifesaver! [sob emoji]❤️
You should go to bed btw. It's late!
Princess: I already am in bed you hypocrite
KitKat: Oh shit I didn't wake you up did I?! [screaming cat emoji]
Princess: nah you're good
was about to fall asleep though
night!
KitKat: Sweet dreams Princess! ❤️
Marinette spent the next hour wide-awake, contemplating the meaning behind the red heart emoji in that context.
"Morning," Marinette grumbled as she made her way downstairs. It annoyed her that she was well on her way to being late even though the sun had not even risen. Stupid winter.
"Good morning, sweetheart!" Her father said joyfully and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Take this with you, will you? I want to know which of these are best so I know which ones to make most of on Sunday."
She was handed three boxes which undoubtedly all contained pastries of some kind.
"Sure thing. I'll tell you the results at lunch," she said with a tired smile and then carefully walked out the door.
It was dark and cold; people were tired and the Parisian traffic was as busy as ever. Not the best conditions to be carrying three boxes with delicate goods around, which made Marinette endlessly thankful that she lived right by the school. The most dangerous thing she'd have to brave were quite a lot of stairs and those were luckily mastered without any incidents.
"Good morning," she said, the greeting being returned to her from all sides, as she entered the classroom just two minutes before the bell rang and set all three boxes down on Adrien's and Nino's desk.
"Samples?" Nino immediately asked and took the top box. Marinette nodded and repeated what her father had said when he had handed them to her. She couldn't help the warm feeling that filled her when she saw Adrien's eyes light up in delight at the news. It made her happy to see him happy. Was that love? Most likely. But that didn't mean it was the time to tell him.
"I just want to know who decided that the coldest month of the year would be the ideal time to have Valentine's day. It snowed just last week for goodness' sake!" Marinette ranted as she bit into a strawberry éclair.
"That would have been Pope Gelasius the first in 496," Max supplied.
"Isn't it cold in Rome too? He should've known better!" Nino threw in with his mouth full.
"Lucky people in the southern hemisphere," Alya said with a sigh. "They can just walk around in summer dresses right now."
"And they have barbecues on Christmas. Is that really the life you want to live?" Alix threw in, which made Alya seem to reconsider her standpoint.
Everyone hurried back to their seats as Mlle Bustier entered the classroom and Marinette pointed to the boxes with a questioning look. Her teacher, already familiar with the ritual, accepted a macaron with a thankful smile and laid it on a tissue on her desk.
"I don't get how Tom expects us to tell him which the best ones are. They're all perfect!" Adrien whispered while their teacher was preoccupied with the class register.
"Oh really?" Alya said with a grin before Marinette could get a word out. "If I remember correctly, then it was you who hoarded three whole passion fruit flavoured macarons."
"Yeah, dude. You totally missed out on the peppermint ones. They're the best!" Nino threw in.
"I think the toffee ones are even better," Marinette said with a shrug and watched as Adrien suddenly blushed.
"I mean…I know the others probably taste just as good, but I just prefer the passion fruit ones," he admitted shyly.
"It's okay, I know you don't like mint," Marinette said. It might be her still lingering tiredness that made her imagine it, but Adrien's eyes gleamed with joy all of a sudden. She had no idea what could have prompted this reaction from him though.
"Adrien, turn around please," Mlle Bustier said, an amused smile on her lips, as Adrien whirled around to her and nervously scratched the back of his head.
"Pardon Madame. And…uhm…present," he said quietly, making some of his classmates chuckle at his awkwardness.
Apart from the pastry sampling and it being unofficial Valentine's day, the school day went on like it usually did. In literature, Mlle Bustier actually talked about love stories and fairy tales, which some students like Rose or Mylène were very enthusiastic about.
About ten minutes into the lesson, Adrien started to write something in his notebook. Every so often he seemed to give up and turn a page to start anew.
What is he doing?
"In most fairy tales the prince breaks the spell by kissing the princess. Who can tell us why?" Mlle Bustier asked the class.
"Because only love can conquer hate," Rose immediately said dreamily.
"That's right, Rose."
"Technically this is only true in 87% of all fairy tales—"
"Thank you, Max," Mlle Bustier interrupted before Max could fall into a speech about statistics.
"Adrien, I hope what you're writing are notes about the lesson. Can you repeat what I just said?"
Oh no, he didn't pay attention! Marinette panicked, but he surprised her by repeating perfectly what has just been said.
"The Prince breaks the spell by kissing the princess because love conquers hate."
"Very good, Adrien."
She let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding.
At that moment, the bell rang. While everyone scrambled to pack up their things and shrug on their coats, Mlle Bustier raised her voice to let the homework assignment be heard over the sound.
"Are you incognito or are you just cold, dude?" Nino asked when Adrien wrapped his blue scarf—the one she had given him for his birthday!—around the lower half of his face and put on the black hat with cat ears—the one she had given him on their first Christmas together!
Adrien sighed. "The former. Better safe than sorry when it comes to the fangirls."
"Ah yes, the fangirls," Nino said, his voice suddenly gravely serious. He threw a look at Félix who just descended the stairs and shuddered a little. He had probably just re-lived what they all had dubbed "The Fangirl Mob Incident" from last autumn where Félix and Nino had been chased around by crazy fans for hours until they had been able to escape them.
"Meaningless sentimentalities," Chloé sneered from behind them, making them all turn around. "They don't even know who it is they're supposedly in love with."
There must have been some hidden meaning in her words, because Adrien and Félix immediately tensed and sent Chloé warning looks in return. The class bully just rolled her eyes, threw her head back and walked out of the classroom with Sabrina stumbling after her.
"Anyway," Alya said as if nothing had happened. "We all agree that we're going to Marinette's now, right?"
"Yes! More samples!" Nino celebrated and pumped his fist.
"If you feed Adrien any more of those, our nutritionist is going to throw a fit," Félix pointed out, the grin he wore standing in contrast to his serious tone.
"It's not like I'm gonna gain weight," Adrien shrugged. This was a train wreck waiting to happen and Marinette needed to prevent it. After all, she didn't want her parents or her to be blamed if Adrien would actually gain weight, which could end his modelling career and—
A nudge from her purse kept her from spiraling further.
"I think you already had enough samples for today."
And thus, she encountered the puppy eyes of betrayal!
She tried very hard to not be influenced by the cutest display in the universe. She failed horrendously and ended up having to look away with what she suspected to be a furious blush.
"Oh, come on! You know fully well that Mama is gonna shove real lunch your way and you'll still somehow end up with a full plate of samples," she said.
"More samples!" Nino repeated enthusiastically, efficiently breaking the moment but also using the opportunity to poke her in the side. She fixed him with a soft glare which morphed into a mischievous smile as she got an idea.
With newfound courage, she grabbed Adrien's arm and pulled him out of the classroom. "Let's go then!" She said, which was a good idea since the winter clothes were starting to get a little too warm for the heated classroom. At least Adrien's face was all red already.
"Listen, I got a plan," she said when the two of them hung far enough back to be out of Nino's and especially Alya's earshot.
"A plan?" Adrien squeaked and she did a double-take. Maybe he had caught a cold from their snowball fight the past week.
"You know how Nino and Félix have been teasing us with projectiles and pokes since summer?"
Adrien's eyes brightened as he seemed to catch on to her string of thought. "And how we're been paying Nino back for it since November?" The scarf covered his mouth but she was pretty sure that he was grinning.
"Let's use the real Valentine's day on Sunday to retaliate mercilessly!"
Adrien snickered. "An excellent plan, Princess."
It was unfair how much faster her heart started to beat every time he called her that. Though the origins of the nickname were absolutely harmless, she couldn't just overlook how much potential for a pet name it had. Or how easily misunderstood it was without context.
"You're aware that you two will have to follow Nino and Alya around all day to get any sort of retaliation, right?" Félix piped in and Marinette jumped. She hadn't noticed him falling back to them.
"That's kind of the idea, Fé," Adrien said.
Félix shrugged. "I'm merely trying to point out that it's not a good idea to have Adrien run around in public accompanied by a girl on Valentine's Day."
He was right. If they got caught, they'd be in a lot of trouble, especially with Gabriel Agreste. Maybe he would even pull Adrien and Félix out of school! No, they really couldn't risk that.
"Maybe you're—" she started, but couldn't finish because at the same time Adrien said.
"We won't get caught, trust me."
There it was again, that conspiring wink and she'd bet also a grin. It was a familiar gesture Adrien threw Félix once in a while, which his brother always answered with the same judging frown. She had no idea what this really was about, but it always seemed to have something to do with taking risks. Marinette didn't know how to feel about that.
Ladybug had been expecting an Akuma on Valentine's day—it was as much the day of heartbreak that it was the day of love after all. The problem was that it technically wasn't Valentine's day yet and that really made her dread what her Sunday would look like when her Friday afternoon plans had already gotten wrecked.
Dark Cupid targeted Chloé, which really wasn't a surprise. Since the last Akuma had already targeted her though, Ladybug had really thought she had learned her lesson.
"You really should know better," Chat Noir said, pretty much voicing her thoughts, while he carried Chloé and dodged arrows.
"What do you expect?! I can't go out with someone like him! That's beneath me!" Chloé screeched and Ladybug rolled her eyes.
"And who would he be?" Chat Noir asked, which for some reason seemed to startle Chloé.
"What do you need his name for?!"
"Nevermind," Chat Noir muttered and set Chloé down in an alley. "Just hide for a bit and don't get in our way."
"You think she's gonna listen to that?" Ladybug asked as she spun her yo-yo like a shield to block another incoming arrow.
"Who knows?" Her partner said when he rejoined her on the rooftop.
As she dodged another arrow, her usual clumsiness kicked in, making her trip on a shingle and fall forward. Only at the last second did she manage to catch herself with her yo-yo, hanging from nothing but a rain gutter. She would have been glad about that if she had seen Dark Cupid fly by overhead like she thought he would, passing them by. He, in fact, didn't do so though. Instead, she heard a startled yelp by none other than Chat Noir and her stomach instantly dropped with fear. She didn't dare pull herself back up to check, fearing the Akuma would count on it and get her (as well?).
"You ſhouldn't have done this."
The voice that said it made an icy shudder run down her spine but at the same time it held a hauntingly familiar sound. It was Chat Noir, but gone was the warmth and any speck of friendliness.
"Y-you can help me bring Ladybug down," she heard the Akuma stutter, suddenly not sounding so confident anymore.
"Hmm? And why would I do that?" Chat Noir asked. While he sounded casual, there was something undeniably dangerous underlying his tone. Was it still Chat Noir? From what she could tell, Dark Cupid had hit him so his mind had probably been warped.
"Because you hate her?" Dark Cupid sounded meek at best now.
There was a deafening silence that was only filled with the sounds of steps. "An interesting concept, but no. Maybe regard this as a foretaste of what's to come, Hawkmoth. The Court is very ireful and I'm willing to be gracious for my lady's ſake."
Ladybug was honestly a little frightened herself. She had no idea what Court Chat Noir talked about and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to know. For the moment, all of her senses screamed at her to run away.
And that's what she did. She didn't even look back as she let herself fall down half the height of the building, snatched the yo-yo on a street lamp and then let herself down gently. Darting into an alleyway a few buildings over and up to the nearest roof, she started a mad sprint.
Her partner had been hit and even though the arrow seemed to affect him differently than it did affect other victims, it was still terrifying. And she had only heard his voice! What she needed now was to get away from both Chat Noir and the Akuma to rethink her strategy. If she wouldn't be able to think of anything, she'd detransform and ask Tikki for help. After all, this was the first time she had to cope without her partner.
Ladybug had already reached a completely different arrondissement when she finally slowed down and stopped on a rooftop. She leaned against the wall separating two buildings from each other and allowed herself to take a small breather. To think that just an hour ago she had been happily at home, trying to keep Adrien from eating all of the sample pastries. It felt like it happened days ago at this point.
"Run, luv, run. Take good care of yourself. The master of the black mill wants you as his wife tonight."
Ladybug froze and instinctually pressed herself closer to the wall, as if it could hide her. It was just a song, a very creepy one, but a few lyrics couldn't hurt her. She wasn't so sure about the one who had sung them though. Slowly she raised her head and looked back to the top of the dividing wall.
There, perched on that very wall and with the most unsettling grin she had ever seen on anyone's face, was Chat Noir.
"Gotcha," he whispered when they made eye contact and he started cackling as if her fear was a great source of amusement to him.
Ladybug jumped back and instinctively grabbed her yo-yo. She hated having to be wary of her own partner. Chat Noir meanwhile calmed his laughter and kept grinning at her, all fangs, and in a very unnerving fashion. The display was only made more frightening by the black lipstick. He really had been hit. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was that made his behaviour so distressing to her, since she could still tell that it was him, but…something was missing. She took a few more steps back and Chat Noir's grin promptly dropped.
"What's the matter? It's just me, my lady."
Wrong.
She took another step back and clenched her fist tighter around her yo-yo.
This isn't my Chaton.
He always called her 'his lady', but it had never been more than a fun nickname and a platonic endearment. The way he had said it now though made it sound possessive. As if she belonged to him.
Danger. Run!
She didn't know if it were ancient survival instincts that made her move or some instinct the Ladybug Miraculous gave her. Maybe it also was Tikki who subconsciously was screaming at her to get away. With how she had always evaded questions about Chat Noir and not talked much about her partner as a whole, she was pretty sure that the kwami was willing to adapt the same protectiveness that she executed when it came to Adrien.
Ladybug didn't get far as Chat Noir was suddenly in front of her. With no time to stop, she had no choice but to run into him. Contrary to her expectations, he didn't forcefully grab her by the arms to keep her in place like an Akuma would have done. He also didn't make a grab for her earrings or anything like that. Instead he ran a claw down the side of her face, which might have even been worse. He tutted at her.
"It's quite rude to run away when ſomeone is talking to you, bugaboo."
She swallowed audibly, trying desperately to calm her nerves.
"Y-you got hit by the arrow," she eventually stuttered silently.
"Mhmm." He didn't stop looking at her with no real expression whatsoever and kept stroking her cheek. Under other circumstances she would have described the gesture as 'lovingly' but she knew that this wasn't what it was. The problem was…she didn't know what else it could be either. She couldn't read him and that was probably the most distressing part of it all.
"You should hate me now," she said.
"Oh, part of me does. The weaker part that is, held back by emotions and morals." He was grinning again. "But let me tell you a ſecret." His face was suddenly very close and his voice had dropped to a whisper. "That's not all there is to me." He chuckled. "But I gotta be careful. If they find out, they might ſteal you away from me and we can't have that."
Ladybug felt very much like a mouse that had been cornered by a cat. But that wasn't right. First of all, she wasn't a helpless damsel, but a superheroine. Secondly, they were partners and this was very much not the dynamic they were supposed to have.
Wait a second…we are partners! No one knows Chat Noir better than me!
And when there was one thing she knew her Chaton loved, then it was a challenge.
"Alright," she said at length, ignoring her nervously fast beating heart she was sure he could hear, "Can this other side of you defeat an Akuma as well when it's supposedly stronger?"
There was an odd glimmer in his eyes that seemed familiar but also so foreign at the same time.
"Watch out. I might just ſet a record today," he said.
Chat Noir didn't stop being a terrifying presence. In fact, he got worse. If Ladybug had thought that she had been his prey before, then she had been sorely mistaken. What he had done before, grinning eerily and claiming her to be his, had been nothing but an idle game. This was a hunt and it had come to the point where Ladybug was tempted to tie her feral partner down with the yo-yo and finish the fight herself. There honestly wouldn't be much left until Dark Cupid would surrender his akumatised object willingly.
"You think this is all fun and games, don't you?" Chat Noir just said while Ladybug regarded her yo-yo contemplatively.
"N-no," the Akuma said and backed up against a fountain. His arrows lay uselessly scattered one block away and one of his wings was broken.
"Well, it's certainly fun and games for ſome folks out there, I bet. But you will certainly pay for the exposure."
She had heard Chat Noir hiss before, but never like this. It sounded like a broken wing would not be the only injury the Akuma would have to endure today if she didn't do something.
"Lucky Charm," she said with a desperate edge to her voice and threw her yo-yo in the air.
"No need for that, bugaboo. I got this," her partner said and mumbled "Cataclysm" at the same time as a horseshoe fell into her hand.
A horseshoe?! Really, Tikki?!
When she looked around though, the solution seemed pretty straight-forward.
Alright, here goes nothing, she thought, drew her arm back and threw the horseshoe at Chat Noir. It hit his face with an ugly sizzling noise as if the metal had been searingly hot.
There was one downside to the Lucky Charms: they didn't always lead to the immediate end of the battle. Her goal had been to get Chat Noir away from Dark Cupid but after that, she was forced to improvise. And improvising was a little difficult when there was a very frightening superpowered cat boy staring at her with eyes that screamed murder. And with an active Cataclysm no less.
Ladybug barely had time to blink, much less to throw her yo-yo and dart away when he was already throwing her to the ground, his right hand with the active Cataclysm hovering threateningly above her face. An ugly snarl contorted his features into absolute rage and the very thin slits that were his pupils pierced her with a murderous glare.
"How DARE you!" He roared and suddenly Ladybug was very sure that this was nothing like the game he had played before. The lingering imprint—it looked like a burn—of the horseshoe on his face should be indication enough that playtime was long over. Now she had really become the prey. "Iron," he hissed. "You will pay for this, Danu!"
There were a million things that should go through her head at that moment. First and foremost, escape plans. Still, her thoughts grabbed onto one insignificant question: Who is Danu?
"Hey, hypocrite!" An annoyingly familiar voice suddenly yelled from their right.
What is Chloé doing here?!
What her shout did, though, was to distract Chat Noir. Ladybug went through plans in rapid speed in that short moment.
She couldn't get to the Akuma, her yo-yo was useless in this position and her earrings were counting down. Chat Noir had an activated Cataclysm and was behaving very much not like himself.
Her eyes shot open with a sudden realisation. When she had asked him if he hated her earlier, he had said that a part of him—the weaker one, whatever that meant—did hate her, so the Akuma's powers did actually work on him.
"You have some nerve telling me to not bring up the Court and then you're acting like this," Chloé huffed disdainfully, but Ladybug had another realisation. Her bully's disdainful voice reminded her about what she had said in school earlier, which in turn reminded her of the lesson which had concluded with: only love can conquer hate, usually through a kiss.
Alright, that plan might be a very long shot, but if the affected part of Chat Noir was the one that was her partner, then by curing the hate she'd be able to bring him back to normal.
"Quite forward of you, Court Pr-"
Chat Noir didn't get further because in that moment she pulled his head down and kissed him on the lips. She had never kissed anyone like this before and she also felt a little guilty for her first real kiss to not be with Adrien, but if this would give her her partner back, then she gladly did it.
When Ladybug ended the kiss, she wasn't sure how much time had passed, but what she saw was a furiously blushing Chat Noir without black lipstick. Her absolute relief at that sight almost overshadowed her screaming mind that was very insistent on reminding her just what she had just done. Her partner, meanwhile, was gaping at her like he couldn't believe what had just happened. To be honest, she couldn't quite believe it herself.
"Chaton?" She still couldn't help but ask.
He squeaked and stumbled backwards.
Yes, definitely my partner.
She looked to where the Akuma was, who stared at Chat Noir warily, apparently confused as to what was going on.
You and me both.
"Chat Noir, the brooch!" Ladybug said and breathed a sigh of relief when he sprang to attention and destroyed the akumatised object.
She didn't waste a second purifying the butterfly, glad that this nightmare was over. She walked over to where the horseshoe lay and picked it up. When she turned around to where Chloé was, to finally ask her why she had followed them after all, she was gone. Odd. Wouldn't she usually drink up an act of fame like this and boast with it?
"Ladybug?" Chat Noir asked and his tone of voice immediately made her turn around to him. His dejected state was accompanied by a drooping tail and ears. "I…about what…" He looked away and bit his lip.
"Look, I'm sorry about the kiss. It was the only thing I could think of," she said and didn't bring up the courage to look him in the eye. Instead her eyes fell on the Lucky Charm in her hand. "And I'm sorry for throwing this at you."
When she dared to look up to him again, he looked even more miserable, if that was even possible. More importantly though was the burn she noticed again on his cheek. She tentatively held the horseshoe to her own face. Nothing. It was neither warm nor cold and even if he somehow had an allergic reaction to iron—which she was pretty sure didn't exist—it wouldn't look like she would have thrown a burning iron at his face.
Without even thinking, she reached out to examine the injury, but Chat Noir shied back and covered it with his hand.
"You have nothing to apologize for," he eventually whimpered so quietly that Ladybug almost didn't catch it. "I'm sorry. This was never supposed to happen."
A few moments of tense silence passed.
"Chaton, I—"
"You should use the Cure," he interrupted and nodded to the horseshoe.
She sighed and threw the Lucky Charm in the air, watching it explode into a swarm of ladybugs.
"But we really…" She trailed off. Chat Noir was gone.
Saturday was a lonely day. Tikki refused to answer any of her questions regarding what had happened to Chat Noir, which didn't leave her with any other choice but to spin wild theories in her head she drove herself crazy with. As if that wouldn't be bad enough already, Nino and Alya were on a date since the forecast for Sunday promised rain. Well, it wasn't bad that they were on a date, but her original plan to follow them with Adrien fell flat because he just didn't pick up his phone nor answered any messages. Even texting Félix only ended in unhelpfully vague replies.
Marinette: hey Adrien doesn't reply. is he alright?
Félix: Can't really say.
Marinette: okay? you don't have anything scheduled today, have you?
Félix: No. But today isn't a good day.
Marinette: do I need to worry?
Félix: Not really. He'll figure this out.
Marinette: tell him I'm worried, okay?
Félix: I will.
In the end, it had only added to her worries instead of clearing them.
Marinette looked to the neatly wrapped gift on her desk. Maybe it was a bad idea after all to want to give Adrien something on Valentine's day. Even if it was something platonic, she didn't want to needlessly stress him out when he obviously wasn't doing well.
Just as predicted, it was raining buckets on Valentine's Day. And sleet definitely wasn't the comfy kind you could relax to inside with a hot chocolate to either. Just cold, grey weather which was honestly a little depressing, especially for the day of love. Marinette just hoped that Hawkmoth didn't get the brilliant idea to akumatise someone since the last thing she wanted to do was to go outside.
She was in the kitchen, cooking some soup when she suddenly heard someone come upstairs. Just to be sure, she checked the clock, but no, it wasn't either of her parents' breaks yet. Then again, business was probably slow due to the weather.
"Oh sweetie, what were you thinking going outside without an umbrella?" She heard her mother say. Wait, hadn't she said that she was running an errand? There was no time to think about it further, as she suddenly called upstairs: "Marinette, get some towels please!"
Marinette put the soup on a cold spot of the cooktop, turned off the hot one and swiftly jogged to the bathroom. Whoever had gone outside in this weather without an umbrella had either gone outside when it wasn't raining yet hours ago, or was plainly insane.
When she returned to the living room, she was greeted by the sight of one absolutely drenched and shivering Adrien Agreste. She froze for a second and then mechanically handed him the towels. The odd thing wasn't that he was at her place—he practically lived at the bakery after all—but that he wasn't looking at her. Even the towels were only accepted with a silent nod.
"No, that won't do," her mother suddenly said and shook her head. "Take a shower while I put your clothes in the dryer. You can have some of Tom's old clothes until then."
"I really don't—" Adrien started to say and his voice was oddly raspy and silent, as if he'd been screaming for hours.
"No buts, young man," Sabine insisted and before Marinette could fully comprehend what was happening, Adrien had already been shoved into the bathroom and given a stack of her father's old but not smaller clothes. In fact, she was unable to do anything but stand stranded in the middle of the living room while trying to comprehend the situation until her mother returned.
"What happened?" Marinette asked and Sabine sighed.
"He didn't say. I just found him outside the bakery when I went to deliver something and he looked like he has been standing there for a while. No umbrella and not even a jacket! The poor boy will probably catch a nasty cold."
She kissed Marinette on the forehead. "I really have to go do the delivery now so take care of him, alright? I'll tell your Papa so he can bring up some warm croissants."
And with that she was gone.
"Marinette?" Tikki asked as she peeked out from the ajar pantry door she had been hiding behind.
"Right," Marinette said and shook her head. When Adrien was cold, then he needed something warm. Good thing she had been cooking soup anyways. It might not be chicken soup, but it would hopefully do the trick in preventing the worst anyway.
While cooking, Tikki settled down on her shoulder and stayed mostly quiet. At least until she stated the obvious.
"You're worried."
Marinette snorted. "Yeah, no kidding. First he goes radio-silent for almost two days and then he shows up here after getting drenched in sleet."
Tikki hummed and then flitted back to the pantry when the bathroom door opened. When Marinette turned around, she saw Adrien in the comically large shirt that almost swallowed him whole. He still wasn't looking at her.
A few tense moments of silence passed.
"I made soup," she eventually said. He acknowledged the statement with a nod and sat down at the kitchen table. That he didn't speak a word worried her even more than the fact that he didn't look at her. Something was definitely very wrong.
Adrien had only taken a few spoonfuls of soup in the time she had eaten her entire bowl. It was about the same amount of time it took her to build up the courage to actually ask him the question that had been on her mind since he entered the bakery.
"What's wrong?"
Adrien set the spoon down and bit his lip, followed by another moment of tense silence.
"I'm sorry," he eventually said to his soup bowl, his voice as hoarse as before but also with a note as if he was about to start crying.
"About what?" Marinette asked, regardless if she felt addressed or not.
"About worrying you yesterday. I was a real jerk for just ignoring your texts like that," he said and finally looked up at her.
"Apology accepted, jerk." She ruffled his still wet hair fondly. "Can you tell me now what was going on or is that one of these hush hush things again?"
Adrien sighed. "The latter. I'm sorry, I really hate that I can't tell you, but…you know, family stuff."
She nodded. It usually was 'family stuff' when something happened that he couldn't tell her about. Though with Gabriel Agreste as their father she wasn't really surprised that there were some things he and Félix would rather not want her to know.
"Okay," she said. "That doesn't explain what you did outside in the rain though."
Adrien visibly cringed.
"That…i-it's kinda hard to explain."
Marinette leaned back and crossed her arms. "I have time."
He looked at his soup and took another spoonful of it instead of answering her. She frowned. Apparently, she needed to try a different approach.
"Adrien, imagine things were reversed and you would have found me drenched outside of your house in the middle of winter. What would you do?"
He lifted his head and threw her a weak smile. "I'd do the same thing you're doing right now. Probably with a lot more panicking though."
Another silence fell upon them, just that this one was much more comfortable as Adrien looked deep in thought. Eventually, he huffed out a humourless laugh.
"Guess I'm just at a loss for what to do."
And just like that, she could suddenly see the weight behind his gaze. As if he was Atlas, carrying the burden of the entire world.
Screw customs and symbolism!
"Eat up your soup! I'll be right back!" She said and jumped up from her chair to run upstairs to her room. The present she had originally intended as just something fun and cute could maybe actually help the situation. It didn't matter that her original intention had been to just get a laugh out of him. That boy desperately needed a hug and she couldn't always be there to give him one.
Only seconds later she stormed back downstairs into the kitchen where Adrien was watching her with a mixture of shock and curiosity. Before he could ask questions, she practically shoved the blue-wrapped present into his face.
"I actually wanted to finish it for Christmas but it took longer than I thought and to give you a belated Christmas gift at the end of January seemed kinda dumb, so I wanted to wait for the next best occasion and I think this is it. You know, since it's Valentine's day and people give each other presents then. It doesn't have to be romantic! J-just something platonic I wanted to give to a friend!" She bit her lip to stop rambling while Adrien looked back and forth between her and the present before finally taking it.
Marinette fidgeted nervously as he carefully tore open the wrapping paper and then let out a gasp. He stared at the contents of the present for a moment in frozen awe before he ever so gently pulled the snow leopard plushie out of it.
"You always went on about wanting to cuddle a snow leopard so I wanted to give you the opportunity to. I didn't like the ones I found in shops though, so I tried to make one myself. It's my first try ever at making a plushie so it isn't very good and the eyes took so long to find and—"
She was cut off by a smothering hug.
"I don't deserve you," Adrien mumbled into her hair.
Her voice softened. "You deserve the world."