Her. Jaw. Dropped. As if he'd just asked the unthinkable. In her defense, it almost was. He wasn't exactly a stranger but, even though they called each other friends, they hadn't actually acted like friends in a long time. There wasn't much closeness left between them and now that he was outside his jolly little world, he saw that. Personally. And it hurt.

"I-I'm sorry, what did you just say?" she asked—more of a statement than a question.

He nervously tapped a finger on the table. No matter how much he'd pictured this in his head, he could never quite nail Marinette's reaction. So this part of the plan was actually being played by ear now, going along with any reaction she had but steering her in the direction he wanted when and if possible.

"I know it's bold—"

"Yes, it's bold! And no, I can't just move in with you! I'm still wondering why you came by after all these years! I know I ghosted everyone a lot and I'm sure that didn't help matters, but if you were that worried about me then why didn't you ever come to see for yourself? And, no, I never really asked how you were doing either, but at least I kept up with you in every magazine and every TV show, and I kept up with Alya and Nino through the Ladyblog and social media posts!"

"I can probably argue that you never came to visit any of us either and you never even gave us a reason why, or an excuse or anything, even if it was a lie."

"I don't know where you guys live, I couldn't drop by or send mail or anything! At least I sent you my address so you could reach me! I never got any letters, I—"

"You got texts, calls, and emails, and we didn't know if you would respond let alone when. We were the first ones to reach out, always, and you never sent some random text saying hi even though we made a group chat just for you."

Her jaw set and her lips tightened. She was out of words. A lot of what she said was true, nobody ever gave her their address but that was because she was the first to move out and getting her address was one thing, but in the hectic stress of moving and adjusting to new lifestyles, nobody ever gave her their new addresses. It had slipped all their minds. Even he hadn't realized it until Marinette pointed it out.

"Listen…" he sighed. "We haven't been super close in a really long time but that doesn't mean I never stopped caring about you. I don't want to push you away and I'm hoping you don't want to push me away. I really want to take care of you, Marinette."

"Well thank you for the offer but I can take care of myself."

"Okay, rephrase, I want you to be taken care of," he corrected. "I have a nice place. Everything's arranged. If there's ever something you need but don't want me around for, I can hire a nurse. I'm sure you can do everything by yourself right now, I'm not saying you can't, but I can make you more comfortable."

"I have a life here, Adrien, I can't pack up and go just because of something you want," she countered. "I appreciate that you want to take care of me and make me comfortable but this is my home. I work here, I live here. My parents aren't far away so I can help them when they need me."

"What about when you need help?"

"I don't need help."

"Not at this exact moment, I just mean later on when—if—you need help with anything."

She ran a pair of frustrated hands through her hair and drank more gatorade, he presumed in an effort to stall the conversation. He couldn't help but wonder if this was all an act by her or if it was genuine—admittedly he didn't even know how well she'd been taking care of herself. Maybe she really was perfectly capable of it for now, despite feeling unwell. On the other hand she could just be trying to dismiss the idea that she couldn't take care of herself, or only could to some extent. Her stubbornness was becoming clearer with every passing minute. A minute, he thought, that she might not have.

Although upon seeing her like this, with energy in her to get worked up over a question, she probably did still have some time left. He took into account what the doctor said though, about her ending up in a hospital almost routinely. He still didn't know what she had and he wasn't about to cross another potentially sensitive line, but what if this was a norm for her? What if she really did have as much energy as she appeared to have? Perhaps on some days, when her condition worsened, her bouts of energy would leave her and that was when she would be put back in a hospital.

At least for now she had some rigor. He supposed it was better than seeing her collapse or lean over and vomit. Something a dying person might do.

He tried to envision himself in such a situation. Being right here when something bad happened to Marinette and he had to witness firsthand a sign of impending death demonstrated in her, of all people. His inner Chat Noir wouldn't be able to, as Plagg said, "stop the inevitable." But what exactly did the inevitable entail? He wasn't so certain of his readiness for that. Still. She needed help.

"Adrien, it's really nice of you to come see how I'm doing," Marinette said, a drastic change from her earlier reaction. "I don't need your help though. I don't need your money—"

"I never said anything about my money," he interrupted.

Unless something had changed, money had never appealed to her unless she herself earned it.

"You were just talking about nice things and hiring nurses, that's money. I don't need your money. I'm doing fine on my own and if you think I don't know my own situation, you're wrong. I'm fully aware of what's going on with me and I've been handling it by myself for years. What makes you think I suddenly need someone to look after me?"

He could tell this conversation was going nowhere. He could say anything in the world to convince her to stay with him until she…passed away. But she would only keep fighting him on the subject until she finally shut him down. If he left now, though, she could easily turn back into his designer rather than his friend and their relationship would continue to be strictly professional.

And it wasn't like he could turn to Ladybug for comfort and support anymore. It wasn't like he could tell her about what was going on with Marinette and get advice even if Ladybug was dying too. This was the ultimate punch to the gut…losing two very important women in his life for so many years only to reunite briefly and find out they were going to die. Both. Of. Them. And he didn't even know when, where, or how. He hoped that it would be painless, in their sleep.

He knew that meant if Marinette stayed with him, one day he would wake up and wonder why she was sleeping in so late… He doubted he would ever be prepared for it, no matter if it happened at his place or hers.

"I won't try to force you to move in with someone you haven't been very close to in years," he relented. "I just hope you'll at least consider it."

Meanwhile he planned to salvage whatever was left of their former friendship. He would send her a text or an email regularly and visit just enough to show her he really did care and wanted to be her friend again, but not enough to suffocate or overwhelm her. Maybe just act towards her the same way he acted towards Nino and Alya—

And Marinette did have another friend…if she still viewed Chat Noir as a friend. Unlike with Adrien, she didn't work with Chat. And it was Chat who rescued her and Chat who visited her first. So…maybe she would be a bit friendlier towards Chat than Adrien. And maybe Chat could succeed where Adrien failed, managing to convince Marinette that it was a good idea to take up Adrien's offer. He didn't exactly know how to do that and even if he did, he didn't know how it would play out. It was worth a shot though. Then, if she was still this adamant about staying here, he could at least say he tried.

But Chat and Adrien conveniently appearing in the same day at the same place with the same topic in mind would probably rouse too much suspicion from her. Chat would have to wait. Maybe he could send Plagg to keep an eye on her…? Unless she saw a small black cat floating around her house, most likely helping himself to any cheese she had. That would freak her out and she would probably abandon her house for a while, maybe stay at her parents' bakery until an exterminator or exorcist came along. He could also be going overboard with that but still, she'd never seen a kwami before, to his knowledge. She might not react the way he had when he first met Plagg.

"I'll think about it," she said.

The lie couldn't have been more obvious but calling her out on it wouldn't do him any good.

"Glad to hear it. I guess…just send me your answer any way you want?"

She nodded. "Sure."

He knew better than to actually expect any kind of answer from her, in any form—text, email, etc. He could ask her for an answer after a few days in the group chat. Nino and Alya had no idea about this little arrangement though. He wasn't sure if it was even worth mentioning if Marinette's answer was still no after a dreaded visit from Chat Noir.

He really didn't know if she wanted to see Chat after being put right back in a hospital because of him. Chat saved her but she was more or less one of his messes he was cleaning up, and he could've visited her under much better circumstances anyway. At any time.

A/N

It's been a wait, I'm sorry, but between going back to school and being sick, I haven't had much time to write.

Will Marinette end up saying yes? Will a visit from Chat convince her? Does she still want to see Chat?