So, I mentioned this on my Tumblr, but I guess some people didn't see it, and left some pretty rude comments on the last chapter. While the world is in quarantine, that doesn't mean I have tons of free time. I am working full-time remotely, and even more hours than normal. So don't demand more of me because 'I have nothing better to do'. Trust me, I'd love to write more.
For those of you who are always very patient and kind: Thank you, my little angels. I write for you and you only.
—
"How are you today, Adrien?" Dr. Boucher asked.
'Much better!' Past Adrien would have said, considering he was off the ventilator. But today's Adrien was much less enthused. He just laid there, staring at the doctor, before flicking his gaze to stare at the wall.
"The good news is, you can drink as much water as you'd like. We'd actually prefer if you drink as much as you can." The doctor set the styrofoam cup down on the side table.
To Gabriel's dismay, this also didn't get a response from the boy. Adrien was listless, hollow, and a dull husk of his old vibrant self.
"So, since we've got you off the ventilator, I'm going to check something. We'll sit you up, and then we're going to perform a Laryngoscopy on you."
Adrien at least looked at the doctor at this point.
"It's a pretty painless procedure. From what I observed from the stream, I believe you may have developed vocal nodules. They're little calluses that form on the vocal cords and cause the voice to became horse and raspy, as well as neck pain and exhaustion. Though I'm sure you're exhausted for other reasons too." He grinned. "So what we'll do is, we're going to fish a small camera in your nose down the back of your throat to look at the vocal cords. We'll keep you awake for it. If you do have vocal nodules, we can perform surgery on them, depending on how big they are. Does that sound okay?"
Adrien didn't answer. They were going to do whatever to him anyway, why would he have to consent to anything?
"Let's just take a look first and see what we can do."
Adrien really was a model patient. He did exactly as he was told during the exam, and even made some noise to move his vocal cords.
"Yep," said the doctor. "He's got a pair of matching ones. Big. These will have to be removed before he's able to talk normally again."
"Is that why he's not talking now?"
"Could be. They are painful. But it can also be a psychological problem. Only Adrien has the answer. I'm sure he'll communicate eventually, though patience is the best medicine for him right now."
Adrien rolled his eyes at the conversation. Gabriel was never known for his patience before, especially when it came to him. Why would he start now?
Dr. Boucher fished the endoscope out, and let Adrien relax. "Great job, Adrien. That didn't hurt too bad, did it?"
He shook his head.
"That's a good boy." He rubbed his hair.
The rest of the day passed slowly and in boredom. There was no TV in his room, and Gabriel hadn't let him have a phone or tablet to look online. So he spent his time passing in and out of restless sleep.
The clock on the wall showed it to be around seven when Gabriel stood and stretched. "Son," he stated, waking him a little more. "I'm going to go home tonight. I'm really happy with the progress you're making, and I'm confident enough I can leave you in the doctors care until I return in the morning."
He could have just left. Either way, Adrien didn't really care.
Gabriel held the ring up in front of him, pinching it between his fingers. "Now, I'm going to leave this with you. Because it rightfully belongs to you. But you have to promise me you won't use it."
Adrien reached for it.
But Gabriel pulled it away. "Promise me."
With a sigh, Adrien nodded, and held out his hand patiently.
Considering it good enough, Gabriel dropped the ring back into his hand.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Plagg stretched from where he had been sleeping on Adrien's stomach. "It's good to be back where I belong!"
"You can feel through the ring?" Gabriel asked, astonished.
"It's a spiritual thing," the cat drawled, nuzzling against Adrien's hand. "You wouldn't understand."
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "No, I suppose not. Adrien, I'll bring you some pajamas in the morning so you can change out of the gown."
Adrien didn't bother responding. Instead, he slid the ring on his finger, watching as it shrank to adapt to the weight loss.
He hadn't noticed how naked he felt without the ring on. But having it back felt like a piece of him was falling back into place.
Just right.
Gently, he rubbed his thumb over the band and just savored the feeling of having control back in his hands. He closed his eyes, and just reveled.
Plagg watched this with concern and a touch of curiosity as the hours passed. Adrien's eyes twitched, and his brow creased in concentration. He remained this way long after the nurse came and turned off the light to sleep.
He wasn't just admiring the feeling of the ring, he was thinking.
But the moment Plagg realized what he was thinking about, by then it was too late.
"Kid, you prom—!" Was all he could say before being sucked into the ring.
Like a drug addict finally getting a fix after being sober for days on end, the power rushed over Adrien and filled him with strength and adrenaline. The pain waned, and his focus sharped razor sharp. All his cords and tubes became disconnected and alarms started blaring.
He flung the sheets off of him, and rolled onto the floor, lacking the finesse to slide and stand. The police standing guard were already coming in the room, begging him to drop his transformation.
But Chat Noir refused, withdrawing his baton from behind his back. He let the staff do the work, extending it to hit one man in the balls, and the other in the jaw. Then, with a little work, he was up on his feet and staggering passed the guards.
Though gifted with superhuman strength, his body wasn't used to moving. He shuffled and wobbled down the hall, frustrated with his own body for not working properly.
"Chat Noir?" A nurse asked in horror.
He hissed at her.
"Chat Noir!" She shrieked. "Wait!" Then she bit her tongue as she remembered training. She held her hands out at her sides, palm up. "Hey, it's okay. Relax. What do you need? What can I do to help you?"
He shrieked at her, his voice cracking painfully.
"My name is Sam, okay Adrien?" She took a careful step forward as several staff members approached quietly from behind, intent on subduing him. "Do you want to see Ladybug? We can make that happen, okay? Let's just get you a wheelchair, and you can transform—"
He shook his head violently. He was done waiting. 'Oh you'll see her soon' they said 'just wait a little longer' they said. Well, he waited. And no one was letting him see her. He was sick of it. He extended the baton to knock her in the stomach.
"Move!" Someone shouted from behind, before a pair of arms hooked under his arms and pulled backwards. He was pulled off balance, but managed to stomp the person's toes to let him go.
"Someone prepare 2 mg of lorazepam, we're going to need to administer it the second we subdue him!"
But Chat wasn't about to let that happen. He broke into a run, the best he could, and took off down the hall.
He had no idea where he was going, but looked into every room he passed, catching the attention of a lot of staff members.
It became a hospital wide game of tag.
Chat really didn't want to hurt anyone, but if they were standing in his way, he was using force. At one point, he had gotten pinned by two robust men while a female nurse prepared to administer the sedative. He thrashed wildly, getting one arm free to scratch the woman in the face. One of the men attempted to recover the dropped syringe, only to loosen his hold on Chat, who then wriggled himself free and threw the other man off of him.
"Someone get John! He plays flag football on the weekends!"
"John's off today!"
"Son of a bitch!"
As the chase went on, Chat grew more and more frantic and feral. He hissed at patients and staff alike, his eyes darting out and around, trying desperately to find a clue to his lady.
Then a little mousey nurse stood in front of him at the end of the hall. She looked shocked to see him barreling towards her, and froze like a deer in the headlights.
If Chat had to run her over, so be it. He wasn't stopping.
Coming out of her shock, the little nurse held up her hands and shouted at him. "Third floor, room 308!"
As he came upon her, he grasped her by the shoulders and spun her out of the way, unharmed.
Just beyond her were the elevators, and he sprinted in one as the door was closing.
Inside, there was already a passenger, an old man with a bouquet of flowers. "Would you mind hitting the button for the fifth floor? My eyes aren't what they used to be."
As Chat heaved a breath from his sprint, he looked curiously at the man, and then hit the button as the man asked, as well as his own.
At the third floor, he was off in a sprint again. Counting down the room numbers until he reached the end of the hall. The police officers standing guard should have been a clear sign.
"Chat Noir, we can't let you in." One said firmly.
He hissed in response.
"Did you say Chat Noir?" Marinette's sweet voice called from inside the room.
His ears dropped and his eyes dilated. Chat trembled and walked forward, ignoring the protests of the officers. Vaguely, he heard Tom talking to them, reasoning with them to leave him be.
But none of that mattered now, because she was here. His lady.
Like seeing the sun finally rise, or taking the first breath of clean air, Chat felt goosebumps settle down his spine as his body relaxed. A hand settled on his back to keep him steady, but his legs still wobbled.
She was so beautiful. Unbathed, bruised, and crusty, but still so beautiful. Those bluebell eyes that remained unchanged, and bored into him with a passion. It set the tips of his fingers tingling with the ache to have her, to touch her.
It was only a second as Marinette digested what she was seeing as real, before she flung her sheets off and hurried to him.
Her steps were weak and wobbly, and she almost fell. But she reached him, just as he started to slide to the floor. Her arms hooked under his and they dropped to the ground.
"Kitty…" she breathed.
In a voice so quiet it was barely audible, Adrien released his transformation. Once the strength was gone, he hissed in pain, and curled closer to her.
"Rebuke him," Plagg huffed. "He promised he wouldn't transform, and the second he was clear, he went ahead and did it."
Marinette raised a hand to his head and brushed back his bangs back to kiss him. "My sweet, reckless kitty."
He closed his eyes, exhausted from his excursion. But now he could rest, because he was with her.
Marinette leaned her forehead against his, soaking in his warmth. Oh how she missed him. His touch filled her soul with a quiet calmness she hadn't felt since that final night in the catacombs. Back then, she was holding him as he was dying, but now?
Now he was living. And it felt so right.
There was a clamor at the door as several staff members finally caught up to him.
"He just wants to be with Marinette," Tom explained. "We can't separate them."
"Did someone tell Dr. Boucher Adrien escaped?"
"He went home for the night, but I'll call him."
Now that no one was trying to tackle him and tranquilize him, Adrien actually allowed a smile to grace his face.
"That can't be comfortable down there," said Tom, knelling. "Let's get you kiddos on the bed, hm?"
Adrien didn't fight the man. He was right, it was extremely uncomfortable on the floor.
Tom and another nurse helped them stand, and then sit on the bed, only for Adrien to lean on Marinette. In turn, she raked her nails over his scalp, eliciting a purr from his chest.
The doctor who had left to make the call to Dr. Boucher returned. "Dr. Boucher will be back in a little bit. But he said it's best if we move Adrien's bed up here."
"Is he stable enough for that?"
"Doesn't matter if he's going to run away every chance he gets. Dr. Boucher says it'll be alright since he's off of a ventilator now. He and Marinette have a team assigned to them specifically anyways." The doctor came to Adrien and touched his knee. "Alright, you got what you wanted. You get to stay with Ladybug. But please, on behalf of the staff here, Don't. Do that. Again."
He rolled his eyes, but understood.
"Seriously Mr. Agreste," The doctor continued. "Protocol demands that if patients show excessive violence towards staff, we are to put them in seclusion. I don't want to do that to you. Especially after everything you've been through. So this is the only warning I'm giving you."
Oh, seclusion didn't sound fun. So he nodded in agreement.
"Good. I have to get back to my patients, but your team will be bringing the bed and equipment up soon. Please try not to move." He sighed, and left the room.
Tom rubbed Adrien's head. "You crazy kid." There was no rebuking, no scolding or judgement, though he deserved it. Tom just didn't see the point in it.
Before too long, a pair of nurses moved his bed into the room, moving Marinette over to make room. Then they moved Adrien into bed. "Don't get too comfortable," said one. "Dr. Boucher is going to need to examine you, and you'll probably have your drains and catheter replaced."
Adrien grunted in protest.
They had him lean on his side to check his stitches all the way down his back to his calves. "Despite your little stunt, your sutures look to be in good shape. I don't see any pulls or tears."
Finally, Dr. Boucher arrived, dressed in casual clothes. "Adrien, you teleported!"
Adrien hunched his shoulders slightly in shame.
"Dr. Kranken told me he gave you a thorough scolding, so I'll skip that part. Instead, I'll just check your wounds and make sure you didn't add any time to your recovery."
"His stitches look good," said a nurse.
"Good, good. That's the thing we are most concerned about." He studied the labyrinth of stitches that made up Adrien's back, prodding and poking as he went. "Sorry, I know this is so uncomfortable. But loose stitches can mean infection and infection with a skin graft like this can lead to necrosis or MRSA."
"What's that?" Asked Marinette.
"Necrosis is dead flesh. When the graft has poor blood supply, the skin will turn black and fall off. MRSA is a flesh eating bacteria, which can then lead to necrosis. So it's very very important that you both follow our instructions." Then he said a little quieter. "And stop freaking transforming into superheroes."
Okay, the threat of turning into a zombie with flesh eating bacteria was a little more persuading than just "it's not good for you."
"Let's see here...when you transformed, you forced your drains out, so that has to all be redone. And..." he held his arm out, inspecting the inside of his elbow. "And removing the IV the way you did blew out the vein. So we'll have to wait until it heals before we can insert another one in this arm." He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and a little in exhaustion. "Alright, we're going to get you settled in here. Please promise me you're not going to pull anymore stunts, huh? At least not tonight. My wife and son had to pause the movie."
Adrien looked over to Marinette meaningfully, and then back to the doctor.
"I'll make sure everyone knows not to move you from this room." Then he looked at Marinette. "How are you feeling, darling? Anything new? Any symptoms that we talked about?"
"I have another headache. It's not that bad though."
"The nurse gave her some ibuprofen at 6:00." Sabine added.
Dr. Boucher checked his watch. "I'll let them know you can have some more in an hour. Think you can last that long?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Good," he breathed. "Then Adrien, let's get you some tubes."
Adrien growled.
—
In the morning, Gabriel Agreste arrived at the hospital with a duffel bag over his arm. As he went on his way to ICU, he was stopped by a receptionist.
"Oh, Mr. Agreste?"
He halted, "yes?"
"Adrien was moved to Marinette's room last night."
"Last night? I thought he was still a few days away from being moved?"
"He was, but there was...an incident last night."
Gabriel heaved a disappointed sigh, knowing exactly what happened. "Thank you," he muttered out as he passed.
Upstairs, Gabriel stormed into the room, to find his son half awake, and looking at Marinette.
Then his gaze shifted to his father.
He had the gaul to look sheepish.
"I'm disappointed in you." Gabriel shook his head. "You promised me."
Adrien looked away, towards Marinette. Perhaps for reassurance.
"How am I suppose to trust you, if the first thing you do is disobey me?"
"Gabriel," Sabine snapped. "He's already been chastised. He knows what he did was wrong."
"Does he? Does he know that he was being selfish and stupid?"
"You can't get mad at him for being irrational." Sabine stated, calm as she could.
"Irrational? My son doesn't do irrational! Dramatic, yes. Emotional, yes. But not irrational. He knows better. And he knows how his behavior reflects on me."
Sabine balled up a fist. "Have you ever seen Bambi?"
"What? What does that have to do with this?"
"Have you seen it?" Her voice took an edge.
"Yes?"
"Do you remember the little bunny? Thumper?"
"What about him?"
"He has this line: 'If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.'"
He huffed. "Excuse me? Are you trying to use the philosophy of a child's movie on me?"
"If you insist on acting like a child, then yes. I will."
Adrien and Marinette watched with concern as the argument escalated, the insults being tossed back and forth like a volley at a tennis match.
"Childish? Trying to raise my child is childish?! Sabine, he's dangerous! To himself and other people!"
"That's a real joke coming from you."
"As if I had anything to do with this!"
"Keep running your mouth, and I'll tell them what you did!" Her voice escalated. "And trust!? Really?! You can't trust him, but you expect him to trust you!?"
He sneered at her. "Sabine, I didn't say a word when your child recklessly transformed. I'm not trying to tell you how to raise your child, so don't try to tell me how to raise mine!"
Tom stood from where he was sitting. Not a man to be prone to a temper unless it had to do with his daughter, he had let his wife duke it out with Gabriel. But this left him alone to notice the first of the tears.
He hurried over to Adrien, and very carefully embraced him into a hug.
"What are you doing?! Don't touch him!"
Tom ignored him and petted the top of Adrien's head. "Hey son, it's okay. It's okay, he's just scared. It's okay."
Son.
Adrien relaxed into Tom's hold, feeling safe and secure.
"Don't coddle him! This behavior is appalling!"
"That's enough." Plagg's voice boomed, shaking the room with a slight tremor. Everyone went silent as the kwami approached Gabriel. "You took five steps forward and six steps back, you low life."
"Now you're going to lecture me too?"
"No, Gabriel. I don't lecture. I threaten. I will constantly give you second chances, only for Adrien's benefit. But if you keep treating him like this, getting rid of you will be to his benefit. Do I make myself clear?"
Gabriel breathed slowly. "I understand."
"Gabriel," Sabine spoke firmly, but more gentle than she just had. "Don't you remember what Dr. Boucher said? We won't recognize our children. Maybe irrational is what Adrien is now. You need to learn that, and accept it. The sooner you do, the sooner that will stop."
"Salo talked to him like that," Marinette spoke. Her hands fisted the blankets. "She belittled us. Told us we were a disappointment. That we were wrong. We were bad."
She swallowed harshly, tears pricking at her eyes. "If…if the first decisions we were able to make for ourselves were bad…maybe she was right."
"Oh honey no…" Sabine breathed.
"Gabriel, you shit-stain, you tell them right this instant that didn't mean it!" Plagg yowled.
Gabriel shook his head and came to stand between the two beds. He reached out both hands to touch them. "I'm sorry."
Plagg was kind of speechless. He didn't think that would actually work.
"I gave Adrien his ring back. I knew he wouldn't be able to handle the temptation…I'm more disappointed in myself for being optimistic."
Marinette snapped her hand away from him. "Only you could make an apology sound so condescending."
He pinched his nose. "You know what? I think I'm just going to leave. I'll listen to that rabbit and keep my mouth shut. Apparently, I'm the bad guy here."
"You are." Sabine reminded. "So get it together."
Gabriel dropped the duffle bag onto a chair and left, taking the coldness of the room with him.