Lynette flushed the toilet and watched the window indicators on the test stick. She found it so odd that this small piece of plastic was about to determine something so life changing. She saw the one line appear brightly without issue, she checked the box and saw that the line that appeared was verifying that the test had been done correctly. She bit her lip a little and grabbed some toilet paper, cleaning off the test as best as she could, she thought she saw something else but she didn't want to look, not right now.
She stood taking slow, steady, deep breaths. A relaxation technique she'd learned from both Adrien and Kim, but it wasn't helping.
Fighting hysteria and fighting against looking at the test she grabbed fresh toilet paper and grabbed the test, she then grabbed the box and walked out towards Kim and Marinette.
Kim sat on the chaise in Marinette's room he saw her expression and held his hand out with an offer, "I'll read it."
Marinette turned off the music on her phone and sat in her computer chair, Tikki was sitting next to Mari, but the pug's attention was grabbed by Lynette.
As if she could smell the brunette teenager's distress she stood from her spot by her owner and rushed over to Lynette who sat next to Kim. Placing her front paws up on the chaise, Tikki looked up at Lynette and gave a small whine.
Lynette smiled as she scooped Tikki up and cuddled her. The pug nuzzled into Lynette, licking her cheek in a comforting gesture.
Marinette smiled at the sight commenting, "She likes you."
"That or she knows I'm worried," Lynette replied.
"Maybe it's both," Kim suggested as he held the test up to the display on the box.
Marinette watched Kim's expression as she inquired, "Well?"
Lynette bit her lip, "I'm afraid to ask."
Kim's shoulders sagged a little. Marinette couldn't decipher his facial expression until he opened his mouth and announced, "It's positive."
Lynette was instantly in tears, Tikki lapping away at the salty water furiously while Kim held his girlfriend in his arms. Marinette rushed downstairs.
For what seemed like hours Lynette sat with Kim and Tikki crying, but in reality it was only a few minutes before Sabine appeared and knelt in front of the distraught girl.
Words failed the grown woman, so she did what she always did instinctively and played with Lynette's hair, very gently. All the while Kim kept shushing Lynette in a soothing tone and gently rocking her. When she wasn't calming down Sabine took Tikki from Lynette's lap and Kim pulled Lynette onto his lap, her legs drapped across his own. He held her close to himself as he rocked with her, still she wasn't calming after a few more minutes.
He looked to Sabine and pleaded, "help me get my coat off?"
Sabine nodded and unfastened his coat's zipper, allowing Kim to keep holding Lynette, without breaking contact. Once the zipper was undone Kim scooped Lyn up in his arms and carefully laid down on the floor with her, resting her ear right above his heart.
It was a far-fetched attempt. He'd only seen her soothed by this gesture once when she was very sick and it had been her father's heart that she was listening to. After a few moments the body wracking sobs turned into small whimpers, then she was crying silently, listening to the beat of her boyfriend's heart through his hoodie.
Kim kissed her cheek as he rubbed her back, "I'm staying with you. Whatever you decide, it's your choice. I'm behind you all the way."
Lynette nodded silently before her eyes closed and she fell asleep listening to his heart. Kim noticed that Sabine looked ready to cry as well and decided to try to distract her with a joke, "hey, don't you start. I don't think my heart's big enough to soothe two ladies."
Sabine gave a small smile before heading back downstairs with Tikki, Marinette came back up shortly after Sabine left. Seeing Lynette, her heart broke. The poor girl who was always in her mind as being strong, independent, and ridiculously secure about her abilities looked as frightened as a young child. This wasn't the Lynette that Marinette knew. Her parents had actually done it, they broke her.
Marinette opened up one of the drawers to her dresser and pulled out a warm looking quilt, she wordlessly used it to cover Lynette and Kim.
"Thanks Marinette," Kim said with a smile.
Marinette nodded, "Unfortunately I can't do much for your back, however—"
She climbed the ladder to where her bed was and returned back down with a spare pillow, "at the very least your head and neck can be comfortable."
Kim lifted his head for Marinette to place the pillow underneath thanking her again.
"I don't know how anyone could ever let them walk. I mean she's just so—"
"I know. Not like Lynette right now, at least not the Lynette she lets everyone else see," Kim finished.
Marinette looked to Kim with a quizzical look about her. He smiled as he added, "She's always been like that. Tough on the outside, soft on the inside. She puts a confident front on for everyone but in reality, she's got insecurities like everyone else. She doesn't like to show it though. Did you know she's afraid of cream based sauces? I used to tease her about it whenever she got on my nerves. 'Knock it off or I'll cover you with alfredo,'"
Marinette's face contorted in confusion as she asked, "Cream based sauces? Why? What's so scary about them?"
Kim gave a half shrug so he wouldn't disturb the sleeping girl on his chest, "I don't know. She's terrified of them. Won't eat them, can't even stand looking at them. Cream cheese? Fine. Milk? Fine, Coffee cream? That's fine too. But alfredo sauces she can't stand seeing. Oh and mayonnaise. The girl is terrified of mayonnaise."
Marinette shook her head vigorously. Lynette was definitely a strange girl, no denying it. She quietly stated, "I don't know Kim. She's an odd one."
Kim smiled and glanced at Lynette, his expression softening as she gazed at her, "Yeah, isn't she something else?"
Marinette shook her head, smiling, this was too much. Ever since Lynette came back to school, she'd seen a side of Kim she didn't know existed, but she guessed he was like this routinely with Lynette. Something told her, drawing from that conclusion, that the rude, over confident, daring, braggart boy everyone knew Kim to be was really just for show. He'd said that Lynette put on a display of bravado to hide her insecurities, now she wondered if maybe Kim had the same defense mechanism. She never would've thought Lynette to be afraid of anything, much less white sauces and mayonnaise! She knew Kim was afraid of spiders, but so were a lot of people. It's called arachnophobia, so what?
So Kim couldn't have anyone thinking the track and field star was a big wuss, that's what. That's why he was always trying to prove himself to be the alpha male of the school. What about Lynette though? Marinette thought about it and it suddenly hit her. Lynette was trying to prove that she didn't need anyone. It took them seeing her forced out of the car in an outfit she really didn't want to wear for her to actually let them in and try to help her.
That made sense. She was trying to prove to everyone that she didn't need any help, but that's silly! Everyone needs help sometimes, even fully grown adults. She glanced over at the new couple, only to find that Kim had fallen asleep, still holding Lynette.