*Spoilers for season 5. Set after the events of 'Destruction.'

Adrienette April 2023

Day #15: Protective

Marinette and Alya walked out of the Boulangerie Patisserie, heading across the street for school.

"Croissant? Papa was up half the night baking croissants," Marinette said, holding the bakery bag in her hands out for Alya to reach in.

"Don't mind if I do," her blogger friend said, happily taking a croissant and started eating it. "So, you still good after…you know…yesterday?" she asked Marinette carefully. They talked a lot about it last night right after she came back but it couldn't hurt to ask again after getting some sleep.

"Yeah. I'm fine," Marinette answered honestly. She wasn't spectacular, still down that she couldn't get back even one miraculous with Monarch tided up at her feet, but there was no point in beating herself up for what had past. All she could do now was move forward. "We'll get another chance. Hopefully," she said optimistically. "When are you getting a new phone?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Today after school…hopefully," she said, making them both giggle. Hopefully she could make it through one school day without her phone.

"Marinette!"

Someone shouted close by. The girls barely had seconds before a body with bright blonde hair collided with Marinette.

Alya quickly snatched the bag of croissants from her bestie so they wouldn't get crushed or dropped. There she stood, watching in awe as Adrien held Marinette in a bone-crushing hug.

Marinette was shocked to say the least, with a deep blush all over her face. "Adri-" she was able to utter before the blonde boy pulled away from the hug, but still held onto her arms.

"Marinette, are you alright? Did he hurt you?!" he asked her while frantically looking her over. Searching her body for any injuries. Quickly, his expression became rageful. "If-if he hurt you, I swear-"

"Adrien, she's fine. We're both fine," Alya interjected before the poor guy blew a fuse.

Adrien looked back and forth between the two of them. They both appeared to be alright.

"I…I just…I saw the stream on the Ladyblog last night. Monarch was in your room," he said, fearfully, then turned to Alya. "And then he took your phone and the stream stopped, and I… I didn't know what to think." Still frazzled, Adrien looked back at Marinette.

"We're fine," she smiled at him. "Monarch came to my house looking for Ladybug. A while back, she gave me a little gift to act as a clue for a scavenger hunt for the mouse kwami to find where she lives encase I couldn't give her back to her," she said, trying to be vague on the details but still give him an explanation that made sense and was mostly true. "It's kind of hard to explain. She wasn't big on the details, but I trust her so I did as she said," she added.

"So he didn't hurt you?" he asked again.

"No. The worse he did was break Alya's phone."

Adrien sighed and finally removed his hands from her arms. "Good," he said, lowering his head and taking a few calming breathes. But then he looked up at her again, another startled look on his face. "You don't think he'll do that again, do you? Go back to your room and try to get more clues out of you?" he asked, worried again.

If that mad man thinks he can just break into his princess's room again and threaten her for more clues on his lady's identity, then—

"I don't think so. The point of the clue was to help the kwami if they needed to find their way back to her. But without any miraculouses for Ladybug to lend out, there's no need for any more scavenger hunts," Marinette explained, calm and reassuring at first but then her voice became sad when mentioning the lost miraculouses.

Adrien was reassured, but he was sad too. He had been right there, with Ladybug last night. They had Monarch tided up at their feet and he still got away with all of the miraculouses he first stole. Not only that, he had touched him with his powers. He has never cataclysmed anything living before. He wasn't sure what it was going to do to him. If he was dying or was just in tremendous pain, or might even lose his arm. Either way—even if it was a monster like Monarch—he still felt enormous regret.

Seeing the sad look on Marinette's face, he didn't just see that she too was still upset about the super heroes lose of magical jewels to their enemy, but also—regardless of not being hurt—was still frightened and possibly traumatized by the experience of that psycho coming into her room and basically threatening her.

Once again, Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette. This time, not in a worried, suffocating hug. But a gentle, comforting hug. "I'm just glad you're alright," he whispered close to her ear.

Marinette was surprised again, but less so. She smiled and this time, she hugged him back. Touched that he cared so much.

Meanwhile, Alya continued to watch from the side, nibbling on her second croissant, totally captivated like this was a big scene from a nail-biting flick.

Sadly, school awaited them all. Reluctantly, Alya cleared her throat. "Okay," she said, snapping the two cutie-pies out of their embrace. "I hate to cut into this tender moment but we gotta get to class," she said, gesturing back toward the school steps.

"Oh, right," Adrien said bashfully before stepping away and started walking to the entrance.

Marinette and Alya followed directly behind.

"Fair warning, everyone else probably also saw my live stream, so they're all gonna ask questions and be concerned too," Alya whispered to Marinette. The bluenette sighed.

If their reactions were anything like Adrien's, she was going to be in for it.

Despite Marinette swearing that she was fine, Adrien's palms were still twitching.

Monarch had been in Marinette's room.

He could have done anything to her and he wouldn't have been there to shop him. The thought alone had his stomach in knots and his temper boiling with rage.

Well, Monarch wasn't breaking or teleporting into Marinette's home again and expect little to no resistance.

And even if he did, Chat Noir would be there to protect her.

And that's the full week! This concludes Adrinette April 2023...

...

...here at least.

Curious? Keep an eye on my profile for another posting on the 28th.

Fair warning/spoiler: M-rating.

If no, see u all again in Marichat May (if the calendar finally gets posted before I run out of time!)