. “Of all the people I could’ve gotten stuck in an elevator with and it just had to be you.”
Marinette uttered the words without thinking. In the corner of her eye, she could see Adrien flinch, tearing his eyes away from the spiral of fire heading down the elevator shaft.
He looked surprised and… hurt.
Marinette bit her lip. She could understand why Adrien would feel that way. After being stuck together in the glass elevator of the Eiffel Tower for almost an hour, he’d opened up to her, like he did on the day she fell for him. Adrien told her about his childhood, his mother… he trusted her with his precious memories.
Right now, Marinette must seem like she hated him. And she didn’t have time to explain to him that the exact opposite was true.
Marinette loved Adrien and hated herself.
Because a fire-based akuma appeared without warning and put her in this no-win situation. Because there was only one way she could get them out of this alive.
Marinette opened her purse, her kwami peering up at her from the depths.
Because she was about to save Adrien… only to put him in even more danger in the future.
She wished it was anyone but him.
“Tikki!” she shouted, unable to stop her self-conscious blush as Adrien stared at her. “Spots on!”
Marinette heard Adrien’s shocked “What?!” as she transformed into Ladybug.
She didn’t have the luxury of gauging his reaction. Ladybug wasted no time scooping Adrien up into her arms. He yelped, his hands instinctively circling around her neck, and she ran at the elevator wall. Jumping into a flying kick, she broke through the glass with her suit-enhanced strength.
Shards rained down as Ladybug landed on one of the iron beams, crouching as fire flared out above them. A few seconds longer and they would have been toast.
Ladybug glanced up, wanting to ask Adrien if he was okay, but the words died in her throat.
Adrien’s green eyes glowed in the light of the akuma’s fire, impossibly wide and beautiful. There was a thin scratch on his flushed cheeks and his hair was a windswept mess. His lips, so close (too close), slowly spread into a wild grin.
“It’s you,” he breathed. Ladybug had never heard two words spoken with that much awe, that much admiration, that much raw and unfiltered joy.
She could really, really get used to it.
blakekathryn
snowghoul
dailybridgerton
theartofmadeline
baratheonpilled
izzy806
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon
romaincrisis
