#toroom19

    Her heart beat eventually slowed down the longer she looked at his face, becoming so enamored in it that she didn’t realize Fu had started back to his healing chants. She could see it now, even with his face upside down in her lap. In Adrien’s peaceful but guarded features was the slight upturn of his mouth, Chat’s ever present smirk. His eyes, even closed, somehow looked more joyful and easy, not like ones that were weighed down by a neglectful father and childhood of depression. In these little ways, she pieced together Adrien and Chat until they weren’t one or the other. They were just this man that had spent the last eight years making her life better than it had ever been before.

    Her heart was staccato again and she could feel the rush of heat to her face. The tips of her ears felt like they were on fire and her hands tingled. Her breath felt like it was too much and not enough all at the same time and for the first time that night, even through all the pain she had felt, tears fell from her eyes. They graced her cheeks before her head collapsed, resting her forehead on Adrien’s as she continued to cry with a soft smile framing her tiny sobs.

    Adrien’s healing took much longer than Marinette’s. His multiple wounds especially but it seemed Plagg was also having a hard time as well. The hours ticked by and Master Fu jolted Marinette from her half-sleep at 4:00 am, who helped him get Adrien out of the bath. She had not moved from their foreheads resting together in many hours and felt so extremely sore and stiff that it was painful to move. Adrien seemed to be in another trance thanks to Fu and Mari was instructed to go and try to sleep some on the cot outside while Adrien was bandaged up and ehem…put in dry clothes. Marinette was so tired, having left her and Alya’s apartment almost 30 hours prior; she didn’t even blush at the thought. Her body sunk down onto the cot on the floor and her mind was gone, lulling her to sleep with the gentle humming in her ears that comes after crying too much.

    When a few minutes later, something deliciously warm and soft lay down next to her, she didn’t hesitate pulling herself as close as possible, breathing in the smell of sage and cocoa butter.

    Adrien’s chest hurt so much it woke him up. It had begun in his dreams, standing alone in an alleyway under a dark sky with this stabbing, awful pain getting worse until his eyes open and he was temporarily blinded by sunlight. That seemed so out of place—why was he sleeping during the day? What about his job? —He tried to sit up to figure out the situation but he was stopped by a weight across his stomach. His eyes drifted down to a single arm, draped across his bare front and then a leg so viciously intertwined with his own that he gave up all hope of regaining control. Things so were so hazy as he tried to remember how he got in this situation and the dark hair of a head so deeply nuzzled into his side that it was impossible to see their features didn’t help matters. He attempted to move again only to stop when a question dawned in his mind as he felt coldness in the gap he made between them.

    Do I really want to leave this?

    It was suggestive, yes. Adrien would categorize it under Chat’s Noir’s thoughts but it was excessively tempting. He knew his body was in a lot of pain--that at least registered in all the confusion--but this person next to him so intimately made it impossible for him to feel tense. He felt so starved for this kind of touch that even though he didn’t have a clue who the person was, he found himself unable to move.

    Then that person moved to close the gap between them and Adrien’s chest seized so hard that he couldn’t breath because of the pain.

    “Plagg…Oh my god, Plagg!” Adrien wheezed, gripping his chest in pain while simultaneously searching around the room frantically for his Kwami.  “PLAGG.”

    “Geez, I hear ya.” The little black Kwami surfaced from in between Adrien’s feet under the sheets. “What?” He looked as tired as Adrien felt but this couldn’t wait.

    “WHY am I in bed with Marinette??” Adrien whisper yelled, trying to get his breathing under control.

    The Kwami shrugged. “I don’t know, why do you think you’re in bed with her?” Adrien’s mind raced.

 The party, Marinette dancing around the kitchen, the margaritas! Alcohol! I got so drunk that I…

      Adrien shook his head rapidly. Plagg settled onto his chest to enjoy the show.

 No, that’s not it. Wasn’t there an Akuma?

      That sounded more in line with the flickers of memories Adrien was getting and when he landed back in the same alley he was dreaming about his thoughts stuttered. Had Marinette been there? It really was all a blur after running down an alley with Ladybug. His chest jumped again.

    “Is Ladybug okay?” He asked Plagg who nodded.

    “Of course she is. She saved your butt if you ask me. Probably should have picked her for my miraculous holder…” He trailed off and Adrien rolled his eyes, knowing that he was the only person Plagg tolerated now days.

    Then how did Marinette get involved? Adrien’s mind felt like a vat of syrup and he struggled to connect any logical thought. He continued to freak out at a suppressed level until Marinette moved again, stretching like a content cat and cracking her eyes open just barely enough to see the outline of Adrien’s face. It was a very enjoyable show, if you asked Plagg. Marinette squeaked in surprise and attempted to pull herself from the bed, away from Adrien who had definitely not been there when she had gone to bed early this morning. Unfortunately, Marinette forgot that the cot they were sleeping on was on top of a small platform, which she fell off of ungracefully, pulling all the blankets with her. It ended up with Adrien sitting up painfully in bed to watch Mari untangle herself from the blankets in a twisted mess on the floor below him, all blush between the two.

    “Are you okay?” Adrien finally asked.

    Marinette attempted to stand to get some distance from a shirtless Adrien but fell over awkwardly as her hurt leg gave out on her. Sometime in the night she had rubbed the bandage on her wound off so Adrien got a full look at the angry, red hole in her thigh.

    “Oh my God, Marinette! What happened?” He looked horrified and Marinette tried not to imagine what he was going to think when he looked in the mirror himself. Black veins were webbed underneath the skin around his chest wound, which was right underneath his collarbone. The wound itself wasn’t as deep as Marinette’s was, probably due to Master Fu putting more effort into healing something so life threatening.

    “It was the Akuma.” Marinette finally spoke, “it attacked us last night, remember?”

    Adrien’s eyebrows knitted together in concentration. He looked so lost, and somewhat still asleep. Mari took a deep breath and slowly stood up this time. She made her way back over to the cot and gently sat down in front of Adrien. He was looking at her so strangely, like he was afraid.

    “Do you remember that you got hurt?” Marinette asked. Adrien shook his head slightly. “It was really bad, Adrien…I don’t know if I’ve ever been so scared that you were going to die.”

    “But you were hurt to? How? And where are we? How did we get here? Where’s Ladybug?” Adrien asked in rapid fire, making Marinette stutter. Looking into his green eyes, which had lost some of Chat’s freedom, Marinette made a decision she wasn’t one hundred percent sure on.

    “I was walking by the Akuma attack that night. I thought maybe Alya would be there and wanted to make sure she was okay. There were a lot of screams and I ran down this alley, you were on the pavement, all bloody and out cold. Something got me then and I woke up a little awhile later with this stupid hole in my leg. Ladybug helped us to this old Chinese guy’s place and he helped you get better. I don’t know who he really is.” Inside she was cringing. It didn’t sound very believable but she couldn’t tell Adrien that she knew he was Chat. If the roles were reversed it would be such a shock. Ladybug and Chat Noir were their chances to let parts of themselves shine that would have otherwise never seen the light. She didn’t want to take that away from him.

    “Oh.” He said blandly. He didn’t seem to be quite with it until he looked up into Marinette’s eyes. “You’re okay though, right?”

    Marinette smiled so warmly even her eyes were bright and Adrien’s breath hitched again. This was his friend. One of three people he could really and truly say that without a well.. or but… He never dreamed that the girl who completely hated him the first day they met would stay up until two in the morning listening him go on and on about why he hated modeling and his father and eventually how much he missed his mother. Even Nino, who Adrien considered his best and first friend, hadn’t heard everything that Marinette had. The girl who sent him goofy pictures of her fellow fashion students and her to make him laugh and was definitely responsible for the secret stash of bakery goods he had at his flat. She had almost died and here she was smiling like they were having afternoon tea together, smiling like the sun had said hello, smiling like she did every time she saw him, and it nearly drove him mad. He wanted to be Chat in this moment, run his hand across her cheek and into her midnight hair. Tell her how dazzling she was with every fiber of his being and have her understand it because Chat could say anything. Adrien just smiled back, shrugging his shoulders awkwardly and chuckling when Marinette let a giggle loose.

    “I don’t even know what day it is.” He admitted, apologetically, as if that made up for his weird behavior. It didn’t seem like from her story that she knew anything about Chat Noir, which made things easier for him.

    “I think it’s Sunday at this point? I’m not sure though…” Marinette was looking really hard at the wall behind Adrien to avoid looking at his bare chest throughout their whole conversation.

    “It is in fact, almost Sunday afternoon.” Master Fu said as he opened the screen door behind the pair. “I’m glad to see you are feeling better, Mr. Agreste.”

    “Ah, yes!” Adrien sputtered, looking around for Plagg a little too late. The Kwami had hid the moment Marinette had awoken but Adrien was mentally slapping himself that he didn’t think of it sooner. He was way to comfortable around Mari for his own good. “Thank you so much for helping me and my friend.”

    Master Fu was all smoothness and hospitality, wrapped up in what could have been a experienced acting career. Adrien didn’t suspect a thing through the rest of the afternoon that it took to re-bandage and clean the pair’s wounds. By the time they were walking out the door the two were practically married but Adrien had no idea that they had met before.

    “I can’t believe you just spent an hour talking in Chinese to a random old guy.” Marinette grumbled as they very slowly made their way down the sidewalk. The both had been even a very bitter, green tasting juice before leaving which lit a fire down their throats and in their steps. It should give you enough energy to make it home but make sure you rest for the next couple of days to promote healing, Fu sounded like he was giving ancient wisdom over a glass of pulverized grass.

    “I don’t have many opportunities! If only you would learn…” Adrien raised his eyebrows suggestively at Marinette, who only saw the Chat-ness of this and had to look down. To anyone walking down the street, they looked like any other couple, Adrien’s arm draped over her shoulders, holding her closely with her warm arm attached around his hip. What the random onlooker didn’t realize was that they were each other’s own incognito crutch. This was why Marinette couldn’t get the space she needed when Adrien pulled a Chat and was left a red tomato for the rest of the walk to Adrien’s flat. When they finally made it, Adrien immediately called a car for Marinette to be taken across town to her own flat.

     “Wait, why didn’t we just take one to…”

     “It was just down the street.” Adrien explained, “plus I…I like walking with you.”

    Marinette had to get into the car another shade of red darker but Adrien was smiling as he waved her goodbye. She blushed which meant he at least got something through with his horrible communication skills. Mari threw he head back against the leather seat and sighed. At least now she had time to herself for the rest of the day to think about everything that had happened. But then she remembered,

    “Alya’s going to kill me!”

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