Adrien woke up to the feeling of tiny paws kneading his cheek.
"Come on, sleepyhead!" Plagg groaned. "Wake up!"
Adrien swatted him, but his hand only passed through the Kwami's body. "Five more minutes," he muttered, turning over and snuggling closer to his pillow.
Plagg proceeded to slap his nose. It felt like a bee sting.
"Ow!" Adrien sat up, rubbing his nose. "What was that for?"
"Akuma!" Plagg said. "Come on, we need to go!"
"Oh, crud," Adrien said, rolling out of bed. He looked around the room that wasn't his in surprise before remembering how he'd spent his morning. "Since when did you care? Usually you're more into food."
Plagg paused. "Uh... I've always cared," he said, haltingly.
"You," Adrien said, poking his personal god in the tummy, "are a terrible liar." He threw open the door. "Come on, we need to go!"
He ran downstairs to find Mme. Dupain-Cheng at the bakery. "I need to borrow a jar," he said, breathless.
"Adrien?" she said, pausing her mixing—he assumed it was for cake batter or something equally delicious. "Why a jar?"
"Akuma," he said. "Ladybug's out of town today." The lie rolled off his tongue far more easily than he would have expected, but he didn't exactly have time to explain his hunch and Paris was in crisis. If he was wrong, she'd just assume he'd been misled. If he was right...
"Of course," Sabine said, grabbing a Mason jar from a nearby shelf. "Good luck out there."
"Thanks, mom," he said without thinking, as he raced up the stairs with the jar in hand.
"Did you just call her 'mom'?" Plagg asked from inside his jacket.
Adrien stopped and ground the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Ugh... yeah, I did. I'll apologize later." He held up his ring. "Claws out!"
Plagg, ever the overdramatic shit, shrieked as he was drawn into the ring and Adrien felt the comforting transformation wash over him.
*
Carrying the jar all the way across Paris had been difficult, but it looked—disappointingly—like it had paid off. He'd been fighting the Akuma for fifteen minutes, and no Ladybug to be found.
Of course, maybe his lie had been true and she actually WAS out of town, but now was not the time to think about that.
He ducked out of the way of the Akuma's giant fist, parrying with his baton and launching himself to the side with the impact. Finding the Akumatized object wasn't hard--the locket around the monster's neck was fairly easy to spot--but this particular Akuma was fairly difficult to get past. Too many arms. He needed a distraction.
Unfortunately, what he got was a distraction for him, not the Akuma.
Ladybug dropped out of the sky and landed on her butt. "Whoops," she giggled.
Chat stared at her for a moment, narrowly escaping a giant fist to the face. Oh, shit.
Ladybug unsteadily rose to her feet. "Surrender, Akuma!" she shouted, pointing at the multi-armed monstrosity. "Or... we... wow that's a lot of hands." She smiled. "High five!" she said, raising her arm.
Fuck fuck FUCK.
Chat dove into her as the Akuma swung, snatching her yoyo from her belt and flinging them both towards a nearby rooftop.
"Put me down, Kitty!" she shrieked, beating on his back with her tiny fists. "We have to stop the Akuma!"
Chat set her down on the rooftop. "What are you doing out of bed?" he said.
Ladybug rolled her eyes. "I'm fine," she groaned, though the hoarseness in her voice said otherwise.
Chat flattened his lips as his fingers tightened around her arms. "Oh?" he said. "How many kids do we have?"
She looked at him sideways, like he was the biggest idiot in the world. "Three, silly," she said.
Chat shook his head. "Ladybug, we don't have any kids."
She sniffled, staring up at him with wide, wet blue eyes. "Not even Emma?"
He shook his head. Fuck, those eyes... "Not even Emma." He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her in for a hug. "Look, just... stay here, okay? I'll get the Akuma, and you can catch it."
"Okay!" she chirped, before collapsing into a happy puddle on the ground.
Son of a...
He needed to make this quick.
*
Undignified as it was, it was much easier to carry Ladybug home over his shoulder than in the bridal carry he'd have preferred. He wasn't Superman; he couldn't fly. He needed at least one arm for parkour, and she really threw off his balance.
He threw open the trapdoor to her room and collapsed into her bed, flinging down alongside him with a gasp.
He took a moment to relax. It had been a difficult battle, especially with him trying to steer the Akuma away from Ladybug, lest she get back up and attempt to start helping again.
He felt Ladybug crawl to the edge of her bed. He looked up to see her waving down at her father, who was staring up at the two of them from her chaise. "Hello Papa," she said. "Kitty brought me home! Isn't that sweet of him?"
Tom's gaze crossed to Chat. "What happened?"
Chat groaned. "This little idiot thought it would be a good idea to come help instead of staying in bed like she was supposed to." He squeezed Ladybug's shoulder. "I kept her out of the fight, and brought her back as soon as I could."
"Did you know?"
Chat was surprised by the ice in the man's voice. "Sir?" he said.
"Did you know my little girl was risking her life?"
Chat shook his head. "Not until today."
"Papa's here, Kitty's here," Ladybug said, rolling into her back. "Everybody's here." Her eyes focused and looked up at Chat. "Where's Tikki?"
"You're still wearing her, Bugaboo," he murmured.
"Oh," she said. "Spots off!"
He'd known, of course--he'd figured it out a few hours ago. Her ramblings had clued him in, and her showing up sick to battle had been the last bit of proof he needed to be sure. But, for some reason, seeing it happen--seeing Ladybug disappear and turn into Marinette--something about it seemed more final. Like there was no more room for doubt.
Marinette was his Lady.
"Night, Kitty," she said, rolling over and going to sleep.
Chat met Tom's eyes. Oh God, he thought. Please don't kill me.
I’m going to be posting the entirety of “Notes to Self” starting at 2:30 EST up until 3:20, after which, for the first time ever, the entirety of “Delirious Ladybug” is going to be moved to Tumblr starting at 3:25!
"Shhhh, it's all right, dear," Sabine said, patting him on the back. "Have a croissant."
Tom guffawed, crumbs spraying out of his mouth before he hurriedly put his hand in front of his mouth with an sheepish grin. He swallowed, then met Chat's eyes. "Just like her, eh?" he said.
Chat crossed his arms, his eyes drifting downward. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"There are only so many blond boys in her class, you know," Sabine said, pouring herself a glass of milk. "And only one boy we know of who was around her earlier today."
Chat's eyes flicked between them, before he finally gave up. "Claws in," he said with a sigh. Green light ran down his body, and the inky form of the cat god of destruction spiraled out from the ring.
"Hey! You owe me a LOT of cheese for last night!" Plagg snapped. "You and your stupid human feelings."
Tom gasped. "That thing is so cute!"
Plagg spun in midair to meet Marinette's father's eyes. In shock, he lost his grip on the air and dropped straight to the table. "Adrien, did you just transform in front of people?"
"Yep." Adrien snatched a cheese croissant from a nearby plate and dropped it in front of Plagg. "Have some cheese."
"So," Sabine said, leaning forward and steepling her fingers. "How long have you and Marinette been dating?"
Adrien added his own crumbs to Tom's. "We--what?"
"How long have you and my daughter been together?"
Adrien shook his head. "Oh, no, we're not... we're not together. We're not dating or anything, she's just a friend," he said with a nervous laugh.
"Mm hmm," Tom replied through a mouth full of pancake. "I remember saying that about you, didn't I my little dumpling?"
Sabine giggled, putting on hand to her cheek and swatting her husband with the other. "Oh, you know how kids are," she said. "So much trouble with their feelings."
"I'm serious!" Adrien said. "I'm not..."
He trailed off as he saw Marinette stumble down the stairs, and before he even realize what he was doing, he'd crossed the room to her, catching her before she could hit the ground.
"Mmm... morning, Kitty," she yawned, her eyes half-closed.
"Princess, what are you doing up?" he murmured. "You should be in bed."
"M'fine," she mumbled back. "Gotta... gotta go... school."
"Marinette, it's Saturday," he said, pulling her back upright. "No school today."
"Mm." She draped herself over him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Why are you so big, Kitty?" she said. "You jumped in front of an Akuma again, didn't you." She flicked his nose with her finger. "Bad Kitty."
Adrien reached under her to pick her up in a bridal carry. "Come on, Princess," he said. "Let's... get you back to bed, yeah?"
"Mmhmm." Her head lolled back in his arms. "Tell Adrien to bring me some cheese when he gets here... he always has some. Smelllllly cheese." Her body went limp in his arms, her breathing smoothing out as she fell asleep again.
Tom crept up behind Adrien. "So..." he said, a grin as wide as his mustache creeping across his face. "Princess?"
"Oh, leave the poor boy alone," Sabine said, poking her husband in the shoulder with a fork. She looked over at Adrien. "Isn't your family going to be worried that you're missing?"
Adrien shook his head. "No, Ma'am," he said. "My father and his assistant are out of town for the weekend, it's just me in the house."
Sabine gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "What sort of person does that to a child?"
Tom gathered up Marinette from Adrien's arms. "Tell you what, son—you can't have gotten much sleep last night. How about I take 'Princess' here back up to bed and you go have a nap in our room."
Adrien swallowed, trying to hide the smile that crept up his face. "Thank you, sir."
Tom laughed. "There's no need to call me 'sir,' young man."
Adrien gave a little half-bow (why did I do that?) and an embarrassed, lopsided grin/grimace. "I'll... try and remember that... Monsieur Dupain."
As he went off to bed, he heard Sabine laugh from the kitchen behind him. "Oh, I like this one!" she said. "Did you hear? He called me ma'am!"
Adrien had meant to wake up early the next morning so that he could head home before Marinette or her parents woke up. Meant to.
He woke up to find Sabine Cheng looming over him, having climbed up into Marinette's bed to check in on her daughter. For a moment, they simply stared at each other, and Chat Noir had never been more grateful that Ladybug had cleared his name after the Copycat incident. And he was very happy that neither one of them screamed.
"What are you doing in my daughter's bed?" Marinette's mother hissed.
"I swear I didn't mean to!" Chat whispered back. "I was just dropping by to check on her, and she... um..." He swallowed. "She invited me up. Which, I promise, sounds worse than it is!"
She glared at him for a moment. "My daughter is sick!" she said. "Is now really the best time for you to—"
"I know!" Chat hissed. "That's why I'm here! She seemed so out of it earlier, and I just wanted to make sure she was all right!"
Instantly, Sabine's expression softened. "Oh," she said. "You're trying to look after her, aren't you?"
Chat nodded, relieved. "Much as I can." He glanced down at the sleeping girl beside him. "She pulled me up, wouldn't take no for an answer."
Sabine laughed. "Yes, that's our Marinette," she said, reaching down to Chat Noir. "Why don't we get you some breakfast?"
He grasped her hand and let her pull him upright. "Oh, no, ma'am, that's all right, there's no need to—"
"I insist," she interrupted with a smile. "I was wondering why she'd slept so soundly last night."
She brought Chat down into the kitchen—the family kitchen, not the bakery—where they found the absolutely GIANT man that was Marinette's father. "How is she, dear?" he said, before turning and seeing Chat Noir and shooting to his feet. "What are you doing here?" he growled.
Sabine laid a hand on Tom's chest. "Gentle, dearest," she said. "He was looking after our daughter. Nothing untoward."
Tom narrowed his eyes down at the cat. "You're not lying to me, are you boy?"
Chat swallowed. "No sir," he said, saluting. "Cat's honor."
Sabine laid a hand on her husband's shoulder. "I invited him to stay for breakfast, since he took so much time out of his busy schedule to look after our Marinette." She looked at him. "How do you know her, anyway?"
"Oh, we're in the same class," Chat said, pulling out a chair for himself.
"And you said she seemed out of it earlier?"
"Yeah?"
"You must be Adrien, then," Sabine said. "Marinette's said so much about you."
By the time Marinette's parents managed to close the bakery and arrived at the Agreste Mansion, Adrien and Alya had been worrying themselves sick for at least an hour. Marinette hadn't woken up during that entire time, simply tossing and turning in Adrien's bed and mumbling the occasional incoherent phrase.
Adrien sat by her the entire time. He'd moved a chair over to her bedside, where he watched her for any sign of recovery or further distress. Alya bustled about the house, raiding the Agrestes' medicine cabinet and bringing Marinette—and Adrien—ice packs, drinks, anything she thought could help them both. But Adrien couldn't move. He just kept watching Marinette, watching the slow rise and fall of the covers that signified that she was still breathing, the soft flutter of her eyelids as she mumbled something in her sleep. The freckles dusted lightly across her nose. She looked so fragile, like this, but so peaceful as well.
The speaker in the wall buzzed, and Alya stood to receive the call. "Hello?" she said into the speaker grille.
"Um, hello, this is Sabine Cheng?" a bright, tinny voice replied. "My husband and I are here for our daughter."
"Sure, I'll buzz you right up," Alya said, pressing the button that opened the gate. She turned to Adrien. "Dude, are you okay? You haven't moved in, like, an hour."
"She seems so weak," Adrien murmured.
Alya laid a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be okay," she said. "I'm going to go get her parents, okay?"
Adrien barely nodded, but she took that as an assent and left.
Adrien sat, and did nothing.
Suddenly, Marinette opened her eyes and tilted her head to meet his gaze. He'd never seen her eyes this close before, never realized how blue they were. Never realized exactly what it would feel like to have that flame-blue gaze LOCKED on his own.
"Adrien, honey," she croaked, "did you remember to pick Emma up from school?"
"Who's Emma?"
Marinette smiled. "Our daughter, silly."
Adrien clasped his hand around Marinette's. "Marinette... we don't have a daughter."
"Oh." Mercifully, she finally broke his gaze, turning away. "Who'll play with Hugo?"
"Marinette?" he said, squeezing her hand.
"Mmm?" She turned back to look at him.
"How are you feeling?"
"Tired," she said. "Scratchy. Snotty." She giggled. "Fulllll of snot."
"We've got some decongestants for you?" Adrien said, pulling his hand away from hers to reach for the medicine tray that Alya had brought.
But, before he could escape her reach, she'd gripped his hand and yanked it back towards her again. "Adrien," she gasped. "I need... I need..."
"What is it, Marinette?" he asked, leaning in close. She seemed so desperate, and for a moment, all Adrien could think was Help her.
"Tell Chat Noir I'm sorry. For... for not finishing patrol."
"You... what?"
But she was already asleep again, leaving him in flabbergasted silence.
It had been a long day, and Adrien was glad to be done with it.
He threw his custom Agreste blazer over the back of his chair, too tired to even bother to hang it up. He’d gone straight to a modeling shoot after school and spent the whole evening there; he’d even had to call Ladybug and cancel patrol for that night, ask if she could cover for him, which he really hated doing. He never passed up a chance to be Chat Noir if he could avoid it, but he’d just been SO TIRED.
“Hey, kid,” Plagg called, zipping out of the jacket pocket. “Careful where you throw me!”
“Sorry, Plagg,” Adrien said sheepishly. “Long day.”
“No kidding,” Plagg said, settling down on Adrien’s desk. “You gonna get me some cheese, or…” His gaze drifted to Adrien’s bed. “Oh.”
“Oh what?” Adrien said, turning to follow his Kwami’s eyes. And realized that his bed wasn’t empty. Someone was IN it.
He frantically gestured for Plagg to hide, then crept up to his bed as quietly as he could. Whoever was in it seemed not to notice his approach, simply turning over and mumbling in her - definitely her - sleep. And then Adrien saw her face, and froze.
It was Marinette. Marinette, who’d missed school today because she was too sick to come in. Marinette, whose absence seemed to literally darken the entire classroom. Marinette, who should SERIOUSLY NOT BE IN HIS BED RIGHT NOW.
He felt her forehead. She was feverish, burning up. She should have been in her own house, her own bed… how had she ended up here? How had she gotten past his father’s security?
“Adrien, sweetie,” she mumbled, “come back to bed.”
He stared at her. Did she know where she was? Did she realize he was here? Had she called him “Sweetie”?
She rolled over, waving at something invisible like she was trying to swat a bug. “Mmm, no, Tikki, go away. I don’t want to work in the bakery right now.”
…Shit. This was not good.
*
Alya had not been expecting her phone to ring at that particular time of night. Nor had she been expecting “Adrien Agreste (Sunshine Child)” to show up on her caller ID for that call. But, nonetheless, he was calling, so she picked up.
“Nyello?”
“Hey, Alya, it’s Adrien,” he said from the other line. He sounded breathless, almost panicky. “Do you know Marinette’s parents’ number?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why? What’s up, loverboy?”
“Uhh… okay so this is kind of weird, but… I found Marinette in my bed? And I have no idea how she got here but she seems delirious, and I don’t know if her parents know where she is.”
Alya shot to her feet. “Oh, shit. I’ll be right over.” She snatched her jacket from the back of her chair and bolted for the front door. “I’ll text you their number on the way!”
Marinette's parents had taken her home hours ago, and Alya had left after making sure Adrien was all right in his house alone—which he was, with Nathalie and his father out of town. He'd assured her that he was all right by himself, and besides, he had the Gorilla—but he hadn't told her what he was planning to do.
Chat Noir perched on the railing on Marinette's balcony, staring down through the skylight while her parents doted on their sick daughter, making sure she was comfortable and she had everything she needed, tucking her in, brushing the hair out of her face, kissing her goodnight... Chat began to cry as he watched them. Was this what a real family looked like? A family that cared about their child?
It wasn't long before Marinette's parents left to go to bed, turning out the lights as they went. He waited a few more minutes, still as a gargoyle, to make sure they weren't coming back, before he quietly opened the skylight and slinked into the room.
Despite his heavy boots, he walked as quietly as his namesake as he padded across the shadowed floor towards Marinette's bed. Then, thinking better of it, he turned and lay himself out on her chaise lounge. He was determined to be there for her if she woke up tonight, but he didn't want to invite himself into her bed. He just needed to be where he could help.
He'd barely closed his eyes when he heard her speak. "Kitty?" she croaked. "What are you doing down there?"
He boggled for a moment at how she'd realized he was there before clearing his throat. "I... came in to check on you," he said. "Just... wanted to make sure you were all right."
"You're here to look after me, aren't you," she sighed. "How romantic." She hummed, a satisfied sound that send shivers through his body all the way to the tips of his cat ears.
"Uh... yeah, Princess. Is it okay if I... stay here tonight?"
There was a moment of silence while he waited for her response. "No," her voice finally floated down from her lofted bed, and his heart fell--before she continued, "Kitty needs to come up here for cuddles."
Thoroughly blushing now from his head to the tips of his toes, he got up from her chaise and scampered towards the ladder of her bed. "Are you sure, Princess?" he said, looking up at her.
She snorted. "Get up here, Minou," she said.
He clambered up the ladder and onto the bed, only for her to grab his wrist and yank her down next to him, wrapping him in an embrace so strong that even with his enhanced strength he didn't think he could break it of it. "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur," she crooned with her eyes closed, then coughed.
"Princess, are you all right?"
"Shhhhh." She patted him on the head, still not opening her eyes. "Silly Kitty. Teddy bears don't talk."
God, she was so beautiful. How had he never noticed it before? How had he never turned in his seat just to look at this girl who had such fire in her, such warmth and joy, such absolute beauty?
She groaned. "F'rgot to say sorry."
"What for?"
"Couldn't..." She coughed. "Couldn't finish patrol. Fell asleep in someone's bed."
"Whose?" He already knew the answer, but... she might expect him to ask.
"Adrien's I think. He's so pretty." She smiled and booped him on the nose. "Pretty Kitty. Pretty like you."
Oh god, he was thoroughly red now. Red everywhere. She thought he was pretty? She thought both of him were pretty?
"Mmm." She turned over. "Make room for Adrien when he gets back, okay Kitty? Don't want to make him jealous." She buried herself deeper in her blankets. "Got my boys... My pretty boys..."
Then she started snoring like a rusty chainsaw, leaving a VERY confused Chat Noir to spend the rest of the night lying awake, wondering what she'd meant.
