Last time...
'Ne me quitte pas.'
Don't leave me.
He took a shaky breath, letting out a little groan. He wasn't going to give out. He couldn't. No matter how badly he wanted to.
She deserved to live.
"Je ne vais plus pleurer," she continued on her own. "Je ne vais plus parler, je me cacherai là, à te regarder, danser et sourire, et à t'écouter, chanter et puis rire, laisse-moi devenir."
He wanted to sing, but the breath was stolen from his lungs. It took everything in him not to succumb to the pain, to sink into the nothingness and let blessed peace take him somewhere where the mere act of breathing wasn't impossible agony. Her eyes shone with tears, clogging her throat, but she'd never sounded more beautiful.
"L'ombre de ton ombre, l'ombre de ta main, l'ombre de ton coeur, mais…" She choked on the last few lines as he blinked fast, forcing his eyes open. He had to stay. For her. For his lady. His other half.
"Ne me quitte pas, s'il vous plait." She whispered, letting out a little sob. Adrien felt his whole body go rigid, the world spinning around him. "I'm sorry, m'lady." He whispered, somehow. "I–" He coughed. "I don't think I can do that."
"Je t'aime, mon amour." Marinette whispered. "You've done the best you can."
"I should be able to save you." He moaned, closing his eyes as a massive tremor ran through his whole body. The floor tilted underneath him.
"Let go." She said simply, tears making dirty streaks on her face. "It's okay."
He couldn't. He wanted to. He wanted it to be over. But his body wouldn't obey him, his very soul rebelling even as black crowded in on his vision.
He couldn't fail her again.
"I'm sorry…" He whispered, coughing.
For a while, the only sound was her crying and his labored breathing.
Then he screamed. Screamed, white flashing in his vision as he almost collapsed against her. The building on top of him was shifting, the load getting… lighter?
Her voice sounded far away, but the joy warmed him to the core. "They found us! We're getting out of here, chaton, we're going to be okay! Chat Noir? Adrien? Adrien!"
And then he was gone.
—-
"Chat Noir, please…"
Pink washed over his vision.
He opened his eyes.
—
A/N: Okay, so, I wasn't going to write a second chapter. I like it how it is. But a lot of people: (read, literally two lol) asked me to make a second chapter so I'm going to do my absolute darndest best even though I should be sleeping.
Here goes nothing.
—
This time...
Adrien was shaking. It was that feeling that you get, when you're sick and you've heaved your guts up and now you have nothing left in your system and everything feels vaguely hopeless and empty? Yeah. That.
But Marinette kept him going. My lady, he thought. She was helping him climb the seemingly endless fire escape that reached up to her balcony, lithe arms wrapped around his midsection. They were the only thing keeping him from collapsing on the steps and sleeping for the next few centuries right there.
She climbed over the rail, and he stood, swaying in the cold wind. Hang on, he begged his numb fingers, fighting back vertigo. It wouldn't do to fall two stories now.
Marinette's hands overlapped his, and she pulled him up, helping him over and onto the balcony. The two of them crawled inside, taking shelter from the oncoming storm. Adrien collapsed into the bed, trying in vain to bring himself to care that this was Marinette's bed and this should probably be awkward.
He heard a rustling. "Mari, what…" He groaned. He was being selfish, he knew, but he really just wanted the two of them to hide under the covers until the storm was over and everything was back to the way it was.
Well, not back to the way it was. That could never happen. His world had been changed forever. But at least whatever she was doing could wait until his body had stopped actively disintegrating.
Bracing himself against a swirl of dizziness, he peeked out over the edge of the bed. Marinette was setting out an array of textbooks, and as he watched, she crawled back up, two in hand. "Here." One thumped into his lap. "If my parents come up, we're studying."
"Got it." Adrien groaned.
Marinette blinked, blushed, and then hit a hard reset. "Okay. I need you to tell me everything you feel right now."
"Emotionally or physically?"
Marinette rolled her eyes— all in good nature, of course. "Let's start with physically."
Adrien shrugged. "I'm okay."
"I'm calling cap."
"What?"
"Don't make me cuss at you, Agreste." His lady snipped, and oh his name coming out of her mouth felt a whole lot different now. "I have not slept in two days and I will happily do whatever it takes to make sure my partner does not pass out in my literal room. Don't test me."
"I wouldn't dream of it." Adrien sighed. "It's just…"
"Let me guess." Marinette sat forward, a smile on her lips and murder in her eyes. "Your dad systematically manipulated your emotions to the point where you feel like asking for help is attention seeking and therefore refuse to ask for help even though you literally died less than half an hour ago."
Adrien's mouth opened and closed.
"That's what I thought." Marinette slammed her own algebra textbook closed. "Remind me to punch him in the face later. For now, I am going to sit here and forcibly pull every answer I need from you, because you are worth the amount of time and annoyance this is most likely going to cause me."
Adrien found the strength to smirk. "You treat me so well."
Marinette scrunched her nose. "Fever?"
Adrien shrugged. "Don't think so." Her hand landed on the back of his forehead and he leaned into the touch, relishing it. She pulled away far too soon. "Okay. No fever. Are you gonna throw up any time soon?"
Adrien thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"Good. Shaking, obviously," she muttered, grabbing one of his hands. Neither of them missed the electricity that leapt between them, like they were the opposite poles of a battery, but she barreled on. "Let's see… you generally feel like crap?"
"Pretty much." Adrien admitted. "Just… empty."
"Fair. You lost a lot of blood." Marinette opened her computer— had that been hiding in the crumpled bedspread this whole time?— and started furiously typing. "Okay, you're taking a shower while I make you food. You can manage that, right— be honest?"
Adrien swallowed. "Mhm."
Even though all he really wanted to do was fall asleep in her arms. It'll be nice to get all this grime off, he figured. But there was just one problem. "Bugaboo?"
"Hm?" She clicked on an article, muttering something unintelligible and opening a new tab.
"I don't have a spare set of clothes."
"I do." Marinette shot back. "I made you some and then realized that giving them to you risked revealing your identity, so they've been sitting in my closet. I'll put them outside the shower door."
"Okay." Adrien groaned, forcing his aching, trembling muscles to be of some use. He perched precariously on the edge of the ladder down to the main floor of her room for a moment. "Thanks."
"No problem. Now go. You smell like cat litter."
Adrien chuckled, descending. It was amazing how different Marinette acted around him now. It was the confidence she showed when standing up to Lila, or winning the video game championship, or saving Paris. It was the confidence he'd fallen for.
It was positively addictive.
Adrien locked himself in the bathroom and stripped, fiddling with the shower controls as he did so. Her bathroom was a lot smaller than his—
He stopped. His voice rang out through the room and hopefully into the rest of her bedroom. "Bug?"
"What?" Her distant voice replied.
"Why do you have three different bottles of shampoo?"
"They were on sale!"
Maybe it was just a rich kid thing, but that logic made no sense to him. Still, he stepped under the spray, a full lungful of air escaping him at the warmth. The extra white noise from the cheaper shower head was honestly comforting as he lathered up, trying to use as little product as possible. (Was the ceiling light flickering or was that just his own vision?) He forgot what he was doing probably a dozen times, but finally he emerged, dripping wet, and folded his dirty clothes on the floor next to the two used towels. Then he donned a black tee with a neon green paw print that said Cat-Aclysm (it was awesome) and a pair of sweatpants.
He cracked open the bathroom door. Marinette whipped around from where she'd taken up residence on the floor, going beet red— but then she saw him and relaxed. "You done?"
"Yep." He closed the door behind him, sitting cross-legged next to her. Plagg nestled in his lap, just as exhausted as he felt. "Thanks for letting me use your stuff."
Marinette hummed. "Thanks for saving my life a million times."
"Guess we're even."
A beat.
Adrien let his Chat Noir side take over. Giving a little mischievous grin, he leaned over and headbutted her arm, getting her freshly donned pajamas soaked. Marinette let out a little indignant squeal, batting him away, and Adrien laughed, shaking his head as hard as he could and spraying water from his blond locks like a wet dog. Forget the headache that pounded at his skull. "Stop it, you!" Marinette shrieked, grinning. "Don't make me pull out the middle names! I actually know all of them now!"
Adrien smirked. "Wow, it's almost like you have a crush on me or something."
"Says the guy who fell in love with me twice."
"You're just that cool!" Adrien protested, bumping into Marinette again. He settled there, depending on the blue light from the laptop swimming in his vision to keep him awake as he melted into his lady's side. Where I belong.
"So are we dating?"
For once, Adrien was the one spluttering instead of Marinette. Heat flooded him, and he vaguely realized that he had to be blushing. "Excuse me?"
Marinette shrugged, ignoring the blush that was rising to her own cheeks. "We literally just almost died. I'm not beating around the bush anymore. Also, it felt really nice to just say whatever came to my mind, so can we just keep doing that?"
"Whatever you say, m'lady." Adrien purred, scooting impossibly closer. "Your wish is my command."
Marinette huffed. "How do you keep a straight face when you say stuff like that?"
"You said I could say whatever I wanted!" Adrien complained.
A beat.
"M'lady?"
"I'm gonna make you some soup." She choked out, climbing to her feet and leaving him swaying. He waited, in the dark, as her receding footsteps left him more alone and more cold than he'd felt in the past day.
Plagg peered up at him through half-lidded eyes. "Seriously?" He snapped.
Adrien glanced down, blinking. "What?"
"She asked if you wanted to date her, you idiot. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Oh."
Oh.
OH, SHOOT NO—
Adrien lurched to his feet, losing the blanket she'd wrapped around his shoulders in the process. "Marinette!" He called as Plagg climbed his way into the hoodie pocket. "Wait! I'm sorry!"
"You idiot, no—" Whatever Plagg was trying to say, Adrien didn't listen. MY LADY JUST ASKED IF I WANTED TO DATE HER AND I SAID NO—
"MARINETTE!" Adrien practically screamed, throwing himself down the stairs. There was no way he was missing the opportunity he'd been waiting for his whole life! His lady loved him back! And he'd sat there like a dolt while she practically confessed her love—
"MARINETTE, HANG ON!" He cried one last time, barreling into the kitchen. Marinette whipped around, slamming the bowl of soup on the counter so hard it cracked. Her eyes were wet with tears, and he belatedly realized she'd probably been talking to Tikki. He'd heard her talking to someone on the way down, hadn't he?
"Marinette, I do want to date you!" He cried, ignoring Plagg's sigh. "I want to date you, and I want to take you everywhere with me and rival Alya and Nino with our gross goofy romantic stuff and spend every patrol under the stars from here until eternity with you, m'lady! I— I swear it on the ancients! Now that we know who we are, nothing in this world, Monarch or my dad or the freaking Grim Reaper himself are gonna rip us apart. Do you understand me?"
She stared at him, unblinking.
I screwed up. Adrien took a shaking step forward, energy gone. His hands found their way to her shoulders. "Ladybug…" he whispered. "Please…"
A choked squeak sounded from their left and Adrien turned to see—
Oh my freaking—
Marinette's parents. Were right. There.
"I screwed up." The words burst out of his mouth then, and his head thumped to Marinette's shoulder. "I am so sorry."
He suddenly didn't have the energy to reason himself out of this mess. All he knew was that he needed her. Right now, and forever.
"You're my everything, m'lady." He breathed, fully expecting her to kick him out like the mangy alley cat he was and yell at him. She'd hopefully be mad. Mad was less painful than disappointed.
Marinette finally locked watery eyes with him, and the sheer love in them took his breath away. "No." She decided. "It's okay."
"No, it's not…" he mumbled, dizzy.
She held him up. "Yes, it is. It's about time I told my parents the truth. And we're going to tell everyone."
"Is that a good idea, m'lady?" He asked, feeling the way her chest shuddered as she spoke those life-changing words.
She flashed him a tired smile. "Bunnyx hasn't come to stop us yet, has she?"
"True." Chat Noir sighed. "Will you help me tell my dad?"
"Always, kitty." Marinette promised. And good thing, because just then that dizziness finally overtook Adrien's senses. He slumped to the ground, groaning, and Marinette went with him. "Mom?" He heard her ask. "I swear I'll explain everything, but… can Adrien spend the night? He's still recovering from dying, and…"
Oh, this was going to be hard, that was for sure. Adrien knew his father wasn't going to be happy about his superhero status. (Oh, Adrien didn't know the half of it.) And Nino would probably have some things to say about his sacrificial tendencies. Now, Chat Noir wouldn't be a release for him. Everyone would know who was behind the mask. It was vulnerable, in a way. But it was also nice.
Because he had his lady. And together, they could do anything.
—
A/N: it is three in the morning and I have to get up at seven so there is no way in the Miracle Box I'm editing this rn I'll see y'all tomorrow lol
Edit: i did proofread it lol just not the same night sorry I pretty much forgot about the kwamis adrienette being ladynoir was just too cute
