Adrien awoke with a gasp, his lungs drawing deep pulls of air. He looked around startled before he realized he was in his bed at home and try as he might he had no idea how he got there.
"Your bodyguard found you and brought you home," Plagg said from where he floated nearby, his tone the most subdued he'd ever heard from the normally acerbic Kwami.
"The Gorilla? How?" Adrien managed to ask as his brain tried to process this information.
Plagg shrugged before floating closer and hugging his chosen's face.
"From what I can tell since it was near the school, he drove around trying to find you after the attack. He was supposed to pick you up today after all. He found you in the alley and brought you home and put you in bed. Thankfully no one else was home at the time."
Adrien sighed as he leaned back against his pillow, his hand cupping Plagg gently as he held him against him.
"I died, didn't I?" Adrien asked a few minutes later, his eyes staring out the window at the cloudy Parisian early evening, the faint hue on the horizon told him it wasn't very late yet.
"Yeah," Plagg replied as he floated to sit on Adrien's bed. "You were dead for a few minutes; I wasn't sure whether you'd wake up after the Cure or not. Death is tricky that way, I never know whether my kitten will be revived or not. The Cure will always heal you, but not always bring you back to life. I'm glad you were, I …" Plagg trailed off for a moment to wipe a tear from his eye, "I meant it when I said you were the best kitten I've had in a long time."
Adrien smiled at his friend and leaned his head back, eyes closing as he tried to rationalize what had happened to him that day.
He and Ladybug had been fighting an Akuma, he still couldn't remember their name. The battle had been going on for a few hours already and he had just used his Cataclysm to destroy a rock prison he and his Lady had been trapped in.
After breaking free he rushed the Akuma, trying to distract it enough for his partner to figure out a way to defeat it. He'd managed to avoid most of the sharp lances of stone that the Akuma was throwing at him, but not all.
Adrien remembered the searing pain as a large fragment of stone ripped across his stomach and knocked him out of the air. He gasped in shock and pain as his back hit the ground hard, the breath being forced out. Breathless, he tried to stand on his feet, managing it a moment later, his hand on his stomach, holding the large gash that spread across it. He'd looked at his hand and the blood that covered it and made a decision, he had to protect his lady and keep her from getting hurt as he did, no matter the cost to him,
Mustering his strength he'd leaped back into the fight, managing to distract the Akuma even as he was bleeding out. In the end, he'd only been able to last a few minutes before several shards had once again knocked him out of the air and into the alley he'd woken up in as he was dying.
He hadn't known it at the time, he was too busy passing out from shock and blood loss, but one of the shards had punctured his chest and into his lung. The entire time he'd been unconscious he'd been bleeding out, his life slowly fading away even as his mind tried to make it as easy a transition into death as possible.
His mind knew he was dying, it knew it and had accepted it. In the end, his subconscious tried to give him a few moments of happiness even as he died. Some people say that their entire life flashed before their eyes as they lay dying, but for Adrien, it wasn't his life, it was his most secret desire and dream.
He smiled as he thought of the bluebell eyes and pink lips. He knew of only two girls who had them, his Lady and his first true human friend: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
Unbidden, thoughts of his friend flooded his mind as he remembered his words to Plagg regarding her. Care for Marinette more than his Lady. Did he though, did he truly care more for his everyday Ladybug than his partner?
Just as quickly as he'd asked it, he knew the answer, yes.
While he loved his lady, she'd rebuffed his affections time and again, pushing him away and keeping him at arm's length. Adrien wasn't stupid, he knew he was wasting his time, but he couldn't bring himself to give up on her, at least not entirely. He would always love his Lady, but he had to do what was right for his heart. Yet, his heart and brain were both in agreement, he cared more for Marinette than he did his Lady, and the funny thing is that he didn't feel upset about it.
With a soft chuckle he thought about his friend's stuttering and bumbling, Alya thought him dense and clueless, an image he did nothing to dispel, but Adrien had seen fangirls and fanboys doing the same thing to him before when they professed their love to him.
He may not be socially adept, having been confined to homeschooling for far too long, but he was not stupid when it came to life.
He knew Marinette was in love with him, the only thing he didn't know was how deep that love was and whether it was true or just a superficial love like his fans. He didn't even know if he cared about what kind of love she held for him, so long as she loved him. Even though he was aware of her feelings, he always made sure to give her the time she needed to compose herself around him. He wanted her to be comfortable around him, he also wanted her to be the one to make the first move. He knew it was important to her, he'd made it a hobby to study people after all. However, Adrien also knew that Marinette was unlikely to make that first move, her stuttering, and heightened clumsiness proved that. He'd have to take the initiative and make the first move despite any desire for Marinette to overcome her shyness and do it herself.
However, as he sat and contemplated the girl he cared about, he realized that he didn't care about the depth of her love. If her love was superficial then he'd still be happy with her because he knew that she'd learn to love him for who he was eventually, the goofy punster who loved anime and video games that his Chat persona allowed to come out. All that mattered in the long run was that she did love him and that she was his, and his alone.
He sat up straight as realization dawned on him.
He didn't have to be the perfect image his father wanted him to be, he could still be Chat and Adrien at the same time. He could be free to be himself.
Even as he realized this, he also realized that it was time he let more of his façade slip away and let the man he was out. With a smirk, he knew just how to do that, a change of wardrobe and a change of power.
With thoughts of how he could express himself and keep his father happy… wait, why did he even want his father to be happy? If he was to be free, he had to set his own course and destiny and not let his father control it anymore. With this new realization, his mind wandered back to the bluenette that had stolen his heart away from his Lady.
He knew he'd see her at school again tomorrow, but there was a nagging thought in the back of his head that there was something wrong with Marinette, something that he could start fixing now that he was going to be himself, no more taking the high road.
That's when it hit him like a ton of bricks, Lila. He'd once told Marinette that she needed to take the high road and ignore all the hurtful things the Italian was saying to her. Now that he realized his feelings for the bluenette he knew how stupid he'd been, something he should have realized earlier. Adrien had always tried to see the good in people, he'd tried to see the good in Lila, but he realized that some people were rotten to the core. Lila was such a person. Despite the deal he'd made to 'be her friend,' she still went out of her way to lie about Marinette… no, she wasn't Marinette, she was too important to him, she was Mari from now on, his Mari. The lies had gotten bigger and bigger, and Adrien was done with it.
Lila had broken her end of their bargain and now the kid gloves were off, and the claws were coming out. Adrien protected what was his, he always had, and with the realization of his feelings for Mari, she was his now and he would die to protect her.
Cats were very territorial, and Chat Noir was the most territorial of them all.
With a feline grin, he turned to his Kwami.
"Plagg, I think it's time for a shopping trip, your kitten needs to change his fur and sharpen his claws."
"Adrien?" Plagg asked.
"I've come to a realization, Plagg, it is time I started acting like myself, not the person my father wants me to be. The first thing is a change in clothes, the second is to protect what's mine, and the third is to get some freedom to be me."
"Pigtails?" The Kwami asked as his eyes lit up, he was so happy his kitten had figured out the baker's daughter had a massive crush on him, and he was even happier to see that it was returned.
Adrien nodded as a very Chat-like grin broke across his face.
"Come on, Plagg, we have some shopping to do tonight, got to look our best for school tomorrow, and I need to do a bit of research and make some calls too. Might even have to knock on a few doors as well."
Plagg just laughed as he flew into Adrien's shirt pocket, enjoying the happiness his kitten was exuding now that he was going to start being true to himself. He knew the chaos that Adrien was creating would be delicious.
.o.0.o.
Marinette collapsed into the chair and all but fell onto the desk, her arms barely coming up to cushion her head in time.
Alya just looked at her best friend with a smirk.
"Long night?" she asked the bluenette. Marinette only mumbled a reply as she tried to get a few more minutes of sleep. She had, surprisingly, been early to class and had taken the seat next to her best friend, at least until Lila showed up to reclaim the spot. Marinette chose her old seat for two reasons; first, it was the closest to the door and she didn't want to walk any further. Second, she wanted to spend some time with her best friend, at least while that title was still accurate. Lila had been slowly turning most of the class against Marinette with her lies, many had fully converted, but a few were still friendly to Marinette. The keyword was friendly, something completely different than being a friend.
Of course, Alya didn't need to know that she was up late because she had hardly slept at all last night. What no one else knew is that sweet, shy, clumsy Marinette was one of the superheroes of Paris, Ladybug. She'd been up all-night worried sick about Chat Noir, especially after she'd seen him knocked out of the sky and bleeding. Her worry only grew when she couldn't find him once the Akuma was defeated, and she had even tried calling his communicator all night, in return, she got the same thing every time, no answer.
All she could do now was wait, wait, and hope he transforms and gets her messages.
However, for the time being, it might not be a bad idea to tune in to what her friend was saying, or rather asking.
"Hmm?" Marinette asked elegantly as she raised her head a few inches to stare at Alya, her eyes refusing to focus on the girl.
Alya laughed before she repeated the question.
"Girl, did you get any sleep? Were you working on another project all night?"
Marinette could only blink owlishly as she processed the words. A moment later she nodded and mumbled some kind of affirmation before sinking back into her arms.
Alya sighed and turned her attention to her boyfriend who had just walked in, a confused look on his face as he looked at his phone.
"Hey Nino," the girl greeted as the boy took the seat in front of her, his attention still on his phone as he scrolled through the message on the screen.
Alya raised a finger and poked him in the cheek, his attention snapped to the girl behind him, and a small smile broke across his face.
"Hey babe," he said as he leaned forward to give her a small kiss, his attention still on the screen. He pulled away from Alya and raised his screen so she could see it.
"Got a strange text from Adrien this morning," he said as he handed her the phone. His attention was momentarily diverted to Marinette who gave a small snore from within the cradle of her arms. Nino gave a small smile at his oldest friend before returning his attention to Alya.
Adrien: Going to be a little late. Nothing bad, just take notes for me.
Alya read the message but didn't see what had captured Nino's attention.
"So? Why is that a big deal, he might be too busy to send more."
"He never sends a message as cryptic as that", Nino explained as he took his phone back. "He's always very upfront with what he's doing and why he's late."
Alya shrugged, she honestly had no idea why Nino was so worked up over the message, it wasn't as detailed as usual, so what?
"Who knows, all we can do is wait and see," she told him, despite her desire to tell him what she truly thought.
She glanced at her watch and sighed, the class was going to start in a few minutes, and now would probably be a good time to start waking Marinette up, she was sitting in Lila's seat and would need to move. Alya knew from sleepovers that the other girl was notoriously hard to wake up, which was usually why she was late to class so often. Which, when Alya thought about it, was rather hilarious as her family's bakery/apartment was just across the street from the school.
With a little prodding, Alya was finally able to get Marinette awake just as the teacher walked in the door. Reluctantly she rose from her spot and made her way to her seat in the back, all alone. Lila strode in with a smirk on her face and an excuse that her arthritis had been acting up which made her late, of course, the rest of the class ate it up and began doting on her.
An hour later the door opened, and Adrien strode in, a smile on his face as he removed his black sunglasses and placed them into his pocket.
"I apologize for being late," he said to the teacher as he walked to his seat, appearing as though he didn't have a care in the world. He sat down in the seat in front of Lila, ignoring the annoying Italian, his eyes moving to the back of the class to a now-awake Marinette before he turned to face the front and smiled at the teacher.
"Just don't make it a habit," Ms. Bustier replied with a sigh before returning to the lesson.
Adrien kept smiling as he pulled his materials out of his black backpack and spread them on his desk. He'd make sure to get the notes he missed from Nino later.
As he gathered his pencils from his bag on the floor next to him, he shot Marinette a brilliant smile over Lila's head, much to the annoyance of the brunette, before turning back to the front. He grinned even bigger as he knew the half-Chinese, half-French girl was starting to blush.
"Dude," Nino whispered as he continued to take notes, "what happened to you?"
"I grew up Nino," Adrien whispered back as he copied the notes on the board, a smile on his face as he thought about the girl in the back of the room.
"Overnight?"
"I had an eye-opening revelation last night, let's just say it was life-changing," was the only reply Nino got before Adrien ignored him for the rest of the lesson.
For his part, Nino could only sneak glances at his best friend, his mind trying to process the changes in the boy next to him.
Adrien had walked into the room wearing black pants, a black t-shirt, and a black button-up shirt that was hanging open, a much different look than he normally wore. His hair was neat but untamed, and Nino didn't see a spot of gel anywhere near it. If he had to be honest, he'd have to compare Adrien's hair to that of the other Parisian superhero, Chat Noir. Not only did he share the same hair as the hero, but Adrien was also acting a lot like him with a swagger and carefree attitude. Nino was one of the few people who knew the true nature of the boy next to him, that Adrien was a goofy, pun-loving, video game and anime otaku, and that all he wanted was a chance to be who he truly was. As much as he was afraid to think it, Adrien was acting more like Chat Noir than he cared to think. But if he started to act like the superhero then who knows what could happen.
With a sigh Nino let his eyes drift back to his friend, his eyes taking in the new clothing choices.
Nino managed to hide a smirk when he noticed the brand mark on the clothes, Gabriel. Of course, Adrien would still try to rebel by wearing his father's clothing line. The funny thing is that only Adrien could get away with it. He was still modeling the line after all, even if it wasn't what his father would have picked for him.
With a sigh he tuned back into the lesson, he knew how stubborn Adrien could be and knew he would only tell Nino what happened if and when he wanted to.