The story below is based on the characters from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. I own nothing of the show. This is purely fictitious and written for the enjoyment of my readers and myself. All rights go to the proper parties.
Here's chapter 4. I'm writing a lot faster than I planned for this story. I can't promise these updates will continue to upload this often, but I do still plan to update at least once daily. Thank you for the reviews and feedback so far. I'm enjoying writing this and I hope you all continue to enjoy reading it!
Cat Noir climbs through his bedroom window and releases his transformation. He trudges to his bed and flops on his stomach. Plagg flies to his hidden cheese stash and swallows a piece of camembert before flying to his chosen holder.
"You alright, kid?" Plagg asks.
Adrien groans as he turns to face his kwami, "Did you know about this, Plagg?" He asks with an eyebrow raised.
Plagg flies back to his cheese stash as he answers, "I knew that wearing too many miraculous can be dangerous and Pigtails wore nearly every miraculous during Kwamibuster. Even without transforming, or using their powers, the miraculous can drain a user both mentally and physically."
Adrien sighs, "I feel awful, Plagg. I pretty much begged Ladybug to put Marinette at risk. I wanted Marinette to be a part of our team so bad." Adrien rolls to his back and looks towards Plagg. Watching him stuff his mouth with cheese before asking, "how long will this effect her, Plagg? She said she's okay, but do you think it's still taking a toll on her?"
Plagg stops eating long enough to answer his question, "I'm not sure, kid. I've never seen someone use so many miraculous before. There's no telling how it may have effected her or how it may continue to effect her in the future. She says she's okay though, so you should let it go and believe her. Just accept that Pigtails can't get another miraculous." Plagg mumbles under his breath, "especially since she's already Ladybug."
Adrien ponders what Plagg said, unaware of Plagg's mumbled afterword. "What if she's not okay, Plagg? Should I keep and eye on her? Visit her and make sure she's okay?" Adrien asks.
"What? No, why would you need to keep an eye on her?" Plagg questions, startled at Adrien's suggestion to watch over Marinette.
"Just in case she's still being effected by the miraculous. She needs someone that can contact Ladybug if something goes wrong." Adrien explains.
"I'm sure Ladybug is monitoring her already." Plagg tries.
"Ladybug doesn't have the time, Plagg. She's busy being the guardian. I can do this for Marinette. I'll keep an eye on her at school and check in on her as Cat Noir." Adrien says.
"But kid, Marinette is fine." Plagg cries.
"We don't know that. It's settled. We are going to keep an eye on Marinette. As her knight in shining black leather, it's my job to protect my Princess." Adrien declares.
With that declaration Plagg grumbles but continues to eat. Adrien gets out of bed and begins to get ready for the night. He needs to get some sleep so he's ready to protect his princess at school in the morning.
~The Next Day~
As Marinette runs to school, late as always, she startles at the sight of a familiar blonde sitting on the front steps. Adrien is looking down at his phone aimlessly scrolling before looking up to see Marinette. He smiles and waves at her as she comes closer to him.
"Good morning, Marinette." He says smiling warmly.
"Um, m-morning good, Adrien." She stutters, "uhhh, I m-mean, good m-morning, A-Adrien." She finishes.
He reaches for her arm and guides her into the school while saying, "I thought I would wait for you to arrive this morning. We're a little late though, so we should hurry."
"O-oh." She says lamely while following his lead. Her cheeks are as red as her Ladybug suit and her skin feels like it's burning where Adrien is holding her arm. They're quiet on the way to Ms. Bustier's class. Too busy hurrying to class to hold a conversation. They arrive right as Ms. Bustier walks into the classroom. They're able to sit down without getting into any trouble for being late.
Marinette sits next to Alya and attempts to get her breathing under control. Alya nudges her with her elbow and gives her a knowing smirk. "So, Adrien walked you to class today, huh?" She whispers with a teasing lilt to her voice.
Marinette nods before responding, "He says he waited for me."
"He did. He was sitting on those steps for a long time. He was there before even I arrived at school." Alya states, smiling at Marinette's flushed face.
"H-he was?" Marinette asks.
"Yep." Alya confirms, popping the p, "I think someone has feelings for a certain pigtailed girl." Alya teases.
Marinette blushes even more, if that's even possible, and sinks further into her seat. There's no way she's going to make it through the day with Alya's teasing.
As Marinette and Alya talk, they don't notice the conversation being held in front of them.
"Dude, what's going on with you and Marinette?" Nino whispers to Adrien as he sits down.
"What do you mean?" Adrien asks, genuinely confused. What's so weird about walking to class with a friend? I walk to class with Nino all the time. Adrien ponders.
"You don't usually wait for Marinette on the front steps of the school." Nino comments, still keeping his voice low.
"I just thought it would be nice to wait for her this morning." Adrien reasons. "She's almost always late, so I thought she may like to have someone to walk to class with." Adrien continues to help add reason to his excuse and hopefully get Nino to stop asking questions. He can't really explain that he's wanting to keep an eye on Marinette to ensure she's not suffering from the effects of using too many miraculous at the same time.
Nino seems to accept this response and nods. Adrien takes this as an opportunity to peak at Marinette. He turns ever so slightly in his seat and looks back at her. Her skin is flushed and she's hiding her face in her hands, but she seems alright. He peaks over at Alya and catches her line of sight. She smiles wide and gives him a strange, almost knowing, look before Adrien turns back around to see what Ms. Bustier is teaching the class. He'll have to continue to keep an eye on Marinette while still paying attention to the lessons being taught. He has a long day ahead of him.
~Later that Night~
Marinette had a weird day at school. Adrien seemed to be more interested in her today. He talked to her during lulls in class and walked with her to their next classes. He even ate lunch with her. She didn't even know he could do that. His father usually made him go home for lunch. Adrien said he was able to convince his father to let him eat at school from now on though. He apparently pleaded to Nathalie saying he didn't want to eat alone at home anymore. She somehow convinced Gabriel to allow it.
Marinette doesn't know how to feel about the increase in attention from Adrien. On one hand, she's elated. The boy she likes is giving her special attention, waiting for her at school, walking her to class, and even eating lunch with her. How can she not be excited? But on the other hand, she's weary. How long will it take Adrien to realize she's a total ditz and stop talking to her altogether? What if she gets used to his attention and then it suddenly stops? What if Adrien begins to like her back? How would she handle that? She doesn't have time to be in a relationship. She's not able to be with Adrien, even if by some miracle he wants to be with her just as much as she wants to be with him. She would have to break both their hearts just to keep Adrien and the rest of Paris safe. She's the guardian now, and that comes with a lot of responsibilities. Hopefully Adrien will continue to see her as a friend so she won't have to break both their hearts just like she did with Luka. She will forever be Marinette "Just a Friend" Dupain-Cheng.
~Meanwhile~
Adrien had a great day at school. He spent most of the day with Marinette and even got to eat lunch with her! He was surprised when Nathalie managed to convince his father on his behalf. Adrien couldn't be happier with how his day turned out. Marinette seemed to be doing well today. She seemed healthy and not at all groggy or weak, she did seem to be flushed all day though. Hopefully she wasn't catching a fever or something worse.
"Maybe I should go visit her," Adrien says aloud.
"But we just got home," Plagg complained as he lounged about picking at a slice of camembert. It's true that they only just arrived at home. Adrien had fencing and a photo shoot after school. He was used to long days of school then activities or work.
"The sun's already setting though. I don't want to keep her up too late. We can visit her just to see how she's doing and then come straight back home." Adrien reasoned.
Plagg grumbled but accepted his fate as Adrien called his transformation and bounced out his window as Cat Noir. The Knight needed to check on his Princess.
