Marinette groans and blinks her eyes wearily as she wakes up. It's still dark outside so she turns to her clock to check the time. It's only 3:57 AM, so she lays her head down again and attempts to go back to sleep.
After a few minutes, she realizes that she's wide awake and huffs in annoyance. Marinette contemplates just laying there until the sun comes up, but ultimately decides to get up. When she rolls over to do just that, she realizes that she's holding onto something- no, someone.
She jumps and panics internally before she realizes that it's Adrien. I can't just leave him here. She wraps her arms around him again, but instead of feeling what should be fabric, her fingertips are resting on bare skin. This is made much worse by the fact that the blanket is tangled up by their feet. When she looks down to find it, she sees her arm wrapped around his bare chest. Her face turns red almost instantly and she moves off of him as quickly as possible before throwing the blanket over his entire body. She wonders why she didn't notice his lack of clothes before and scrambles out of the bed, tripping on the way down the ladder and landing with a soft thud.
"You're so coordinated, pigtails." Plagg gasps sarcastically, "How do you do it?"
"Not now, Plagg. I need to find him some clothes." She searches around her room for something he can wear and for the first time in her life, regrets that her crush on him had stopped being so… obsessive. Had this happened a couple of years ago, she would have tons of clothes for him but now, all of the clothes that she did have, were made to fit him when he was 14. Other than occasional small gifts, she hasn't made him anything since.
"Why don't you give him some of your clothes?" The black kwami suggests.
Marinette turns to glare at him.
"Just leave her alone, Plagg." Tikki says as she flies out from where she was sleeping.
"Oh, but sugarcube, it's too fun to stop." He sneers, "Plus, she deserves it for not telling Adrien who she is."
Marinette ignores Plagg's heckling, "Not that Adrien can't pull off anything he wears, but somehow I feel like 'way too small' isn't exactly his cup of tea." Marinette continues to search her room, when the group hears Adrien mumble something from the loft bed.
"I wanna be a cucumber." Everyone turns their heads towards Adrien in confusion as he mutters in his sleep. "Or a banana..." Plagg begins to laugh.
"I… think he's still confused from all of the blood loss." Marinette mutters, confused. "Or maybe he just has really weird dreams."
"Should we wake him up?" Plagg asks, still laughing at his holder.
"No, he needs the rest." Marinette replies as she turns back to her search for clothes.
Adrien begins to mumble again, "Marinette's such a good friend, she should be a fruit too… a cucamelon."
"What the-" Marinette furrows her eyebrows but she shakes it off and continues, "Anyways, I think I'm going to sneak into Adrien's room as Ladybug and get him some supplies. He needs a toothbrush and some other basic hygiene products in addition to a shirt…" Marinette blushes at the thought of a shirtless Adrien sleeping next to her, before snapping back into focus, "Besides, my parents would definitely be confused if I came home with a bunch of mens clothes and essentials I already have."
Tikki nods in agreement, "That's probably the smartest idea. As long as you sneak in as Ladybug, there shouldn't be an issue but you'll have to be fast so no one realizes you're gone."
Adrien starts to stir again and begins to utter, "Ladybug should be-"
"Aaaaand that's my queue to leave! Tikki, spots on!" Marinette says before diving head first through her window.
"...cheese." Adrien finishes with a small smile.
"Aww c'mon pigtails! This is getting good. Plus," Plagg calls out as he wipes a fake tear from his eyes, "He literally just called you cheese which is the sweetest love confession I've ever heard."
Ladybug contemplates how to get in from her perch on the building closest to Adrien's room. At a first glance, all of Adrien's windows appear to be closed, but she can't tell for sure without approaching the house. The closer she is, however, the higher the chance that she is caught. There's too many variables at play. I can fight off anything, but I need time to get what I came for first. She thinks about alternate entries for a few minutes before resolving to take her chances with Adrien's bedroom.
She quietly swings towards the windows and tries to remain unseen. The first window she looks at is fatefully cracked open. Slightly. Being the wielder of creation and luck really does pay off… Well, sometimes at least.
It takes a moment for her to get a grip on it, but she eventually pulls the window open and swings inside. Immediately, her eyes land on the open closet and she gets to work gathering clothes. A few seconds in, she realizes she forgot to bring something to carry his things in. I really didn't think this through. At first, Ladybug is worried she'll just have to carry what she can and hope that she doesn't lose anything on the way home. That's when she spots the fencing bag laying in the middle of the floor.
She walks over and dumps the contents onto the floor before grabbing whatever she can and stuffing it in the bag. By the time she's almost done, every drawer is opened and there are clothes strewn across the room. I really need to hurry. She looks at the clock to check the time and furrows her eyebrows. It reads 4:38, but she pauses, noticing the soft flash of a red light. Curious, she walks towards it, peering at the place that the light is coming from. Her eyes widen in disbelief when she realizes that the blinking is coming from a camera embedded in the clock.
She processes the shock quickly as it morphs into a silent rage. "You little-" She snarls before stomping to Adrien's desk. She snaps the drawer open so hard that the handle breaks off and finds a pen and a stack of post-it notes. Ladybug scribbles furiously before trudging back to the camera. Thanks to her suit and her amplified Ladybug strength, she crushes the lens with no trouble and slaps the post-it note onto it.
Still seething, she marches around the room and begins to block his bedroom door with every object that isn't bolted to the ground. She then proceeds to grab a few more items off the floor and some toiletries from the bathroom. Ladybug takes one last look around the room and mutters as she extends her yoyo to leave, "I really need to talk to Tikki about how to ethically murder someone."
Ladybug is on her way back home when she remembers the stitches she gave Adrien. Although her makeshift ER likely saved Adrien's life, using the wrong kind of thread long term could result in complications and she needs to change it out soon. She grimaces at the thought of pulling the sewing thread out of him, but swallows her fear and changes her trajectory to the nearest hospital. After swinging and trying to push the thoughts of his injuries from her head for a few minutes, she lands in a nearby alleyway. She hides the bag behind a dumpster and is about to detransform and go in as Marinette, but she thinks better of it and walks towards the entrance.
"Ladybug? What are you doing here?" The receptionist looks around frantically, "Is there an akuma? I didn't get an alert."
Ladybug shakes her head, "No akuma. I'm here on a very urgent mission. I need some dissolvable stitching thread. Do you have any you can give me?"
The receptionist furrows his eyebrows, "I don't know if we can..."
"And the needles." she cuts him off before muttering under her breath, "sewing ones were not the way to go."
"Wait," He holds up his hands, "Who would be doing the sutures?"
She blinks, "The what?"
He looks at her in disbelief, "Young lady, I don't know what's going on but if someone needs stitches, you need to bring them here so they can be done properly."
"I wish it were that simple, but I can't!" She breathes deeply and tries to prevent the tears from overflowing, "Do you think that I want to do this on my own? That I asked for this? I save this city from peril nearly every damn day." She laughs bitterly, "All because someone deemed me worthy and dropped a pair of earrings in my bag when I was thirteen." She gestures wildly with her arms and shakes her head as she spirals, "Thirteen! I don't know what "sutures" are but I do know that my favorite person, my person, is literally being held together with sewing thread and he might die if I can't fix his stitches. Do you think I would be here asking for this if I could just bring him here?! I have been a hero for four years. How much have I done for you since then? For EVERYONE? And you can't give me a bit of string." She huffs and rolls her eyes, "This is ridiculous. I'm going to find somewhere else."
Ladybug turns and starts walking to the door, when a woman's voice stops her. "Wait, Ladybug!" She turns around and raises her eyebrow in question. "Can I help you with anything?" The doctor walks towards Ladybug calmly.
"I need supplies for stitches." The harshness had left her voice, but she was still annoyed.
The doctor's voice softens and she reaches out to put her hand on Ladybug's shoulder, "Of course." She turns to the man at the front desk, "Go tell Dr. Burnham to prepare a bag with lidocaine, absorbable sutures, needles, and wound wash."
Ladybug looks at her in confusion, "I think I understood two of those words."
The doctor pulls out a small notepad with one hand and removes the pen tucked in her red hair with the other. "Can you describe the wound to me?"
"Wounds." She corrects, "There's a lot."
Her face scrunches slightly in surprise and she scribbles down notes as Ladybug continues, "There are two big slashes across his stomach, they're not too deep, but they were bleeding a lot. There's another cut on his arm that's...to the bone." Ladybug gulps as she pictures Adrien's blood dripping from his arm onto her chaise. She collects herself and finishes, "I did my best to stitch those up the night before last and he does appear to be healing rather quickly, considering the severity of his wounds. There are also a lot of minor cuts and bruises, but I think those should be okay."
The doctor glances at Ladybug with sympathy, before replying, "Unfortunately, without seeing him myself, I can't prescribe any opioids, but from what you've told me, he shouldn't need more than over the counter pain meds at this point."
Another doctor appears at her side and hands Ladybug the bag of medical supplies. She thanks them before turning to leave, but pauses just before exiting when she hears the words, "Chad, you're fired."
Ladybug walks down the alley until she's sure she's hidden before whispering,"Tikki, spots off." When the glow of her de-transformation fades, she tosses Tikki a cookie. Marinette stares dejectedly at the wall, seemingly lost in her thoughts.
Tikki smiles comfortingly, "He's going to be okay, Marinette."
"You can't know that for sure." She whispers.
"Maybe not, but I do know that your lucky charm has never failed you. Why would it start now?"
"I know Tikki, I'm just…" Marinette pauses, once again fighting back her tears. Tikki flies up and hugs her cheek, "I can't lose him." Marinette begins to sob quietly.
"I think you should head back. Being with him might help." The kwami says, flying backwards just enough to meet her gaze.
"Yeah, you're probably right." She takes a deep breath in, wipes her eyes, and picks up the fencing bag before pausing, "Wait, I need to go as Ladybug so he doesn't think I just abandoned him."
She raises her eyebrow, "How would you explain why Marinette isn't there?"
"I think I have an idea. Are you ready?" The kwami nods, "Tikki, spots on."
Minutes later, Ladybug is attempting to climb through her bathroom window, which is proving difficult considering the bag of medical supplies and the duffel of Adrien's things. She eventually opts to lower them to the ground with her yoyo before hoisting herself inside. She then pulls the fox miraculous from her yoyo, puts it on, and whispers "Tikki, Trixx, unify!"
An illusion of Marinette appears in her room, as an illusion Ladybug knocks on the trap door. Adrien begins to stir at the noise, but doesn't say anything as Illusion Marinette climbs up the ladder and opens it.
"Hey, I need to talk to Chat," Illusion Ladybug says as she peeks her head through the trap door.
"Okay, this is great timing! I have to make a macaron delivery to Chloe Bourgeois and I didn't want to leave Adrien by himself. Do you need anything before I go?" Illusion Marinette replies.
"Yes actually, where is your bathroom?" She asks.
Her doppleganger waves her back over to the door. "Just follow me and I'll show you on my way out."
The two illusions climb down the ladder and leave the room, closing the hatch behind them.
Ladybug divides Trixx and Tikki and feeds the fox kwami before leaving the bathroom and walking back into Marinette's room. She drops the clothes and medical supplies on the floor, grabs a shirt from the duffel and climbs up the ladder onto the end of her bed, "Chat, are you awake?" She calls softly.
"Yeah," He tries to move before giving up, "Can you help me up?"
"Oh, yeah." She carefully moves up towards Adrien and smiles at him before adjusting the pillow and helping him to sit up.
"Here, I have a clean shirt for you. Marinette updated me on everything, so I snuck into your room and got supplies."
Adrien grimaces as he carefully puts on the shirt. Ladybug looks at him sympathetically and asks "How are you feeling? Are you okay?" Tears begin to run down her face as she takes in Adrien's injured state again.
Adrien winces as he lifts an arm to put a hand on her shoulder and replies, "I've been better, m'lady."
"You really scared me," she whispers through her tears.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, I'll be okay." Adrien pulls Ladybug into an embrace, which seems to calm her down.
"I figured out how your father found out." Ladybug pulls back and collects herself. "He put a camera in your clock, he must have seen you transform in your room."
Adrien looks surprised for a moment, but his shock quickly dissolves to anger. "I can't believe my father would spy on me like that."
"I know! It's a complete violation of your privacy, it made me so mad and well...I might have left him a note." Ladybug replies, getting angry again.
"You left him a note? What did it say?" Adrien tilts his head and Ladybug pushes away a thought about how he reminds her of a curious kitten. She pauses, not sure if she should answer him.
"Bugaboo?" Adrien says with a sly smile.
Ladybug meets his eyes and grows flustered. Through her embarrassment she mutters "hahathitsuhfehluny."
"What?" He blinks.
At a nearly inaudible volume, Ladybug says, "I wrote 'ha ha that's a felony."
There's a short pause, before Adrien doubles over laughing. She blushes even harder as she continues, "I also may have moved all of your furniture to make it completely impossible to open your door."
That plunges Adrien into an outright fit. She tries to maintain a straight face, but his laughter is so contagious it forces her to laugh with him. Adrien goes to wipe tears from his eyes, still struggling to catch his breath as involuntary giggles continue to fall from his mouth. Ladybug nearly falls from where she's seated at the foot of the bed, but luckily she catches herself on the railing. Adrien reaches a hand out to steady her, wincing in pain.
"Are you okay?" They ask simultaneously. That's all it takes to draw out another round of cackles. This time, it takes even longer for the pair to calm down. Several deep breaths later, they're finally ready to continue their conversation.
Adrien speaks first. "So, do we have a plan?"
"A plan?" Ladybug asks, still collecting herself. She wills herself not to break again.
"For how we're going to take down my fa- Hawkmoth." Adrien says, his face dropping as he's pulled back into his severe reality.
"Not yet… Just getting you back in shape to fight…" Her eyes trail down to the bandages on his arm.
Adrien places a hand on her chin, directing her gaze back to his eyes. "We need to make one… he went too far this time." I wish she gave me a long sleeved shirt. I can't stand the way she's looking at my bandages. It's already bad enough that Marinette had to see them.
"Agreed," Ladybug replies, gently removing his hand, "We've been letting him call the shots for too long. It's time we stop playing defense."
The two begin to discuss how they're going to defeat hawkmoth, comparing strategies and breaking for little jokes. Things feel almost normal again between them. Eventually, they agree on a strategy.
"This is why we're a power couple. We put our heads together and suddenly we have the purrr-fect plan."
"I'm going to ignore everything you just said…" She starts, somehow holding back the nervous laughter that so desperately wants to escape her lips, before reluctantly continuing, "I should probably get going." As much as she wants to stay like this with Adrien, She knows that Marinette should be back by now.
"Okay m'lady, but promise you'll visit again soon." Adrien responds with a soft smile.
She returns his soft smile with a reassuring nod. "I promise kitty."