Co-Pilot

Chapter 12

                Marinette straightened up, taking in the view of her husband beneath her. His disheveled blonde hair in disarray on the pillow. How she could even see him there was a mystery to her with the amount of water seeping from her eyes. Slowly, she leaned forward her eyes drifting closed. He met her halfway, the two sharing in a soft kiss. Neither one wanted to let go, afraid of losing the moment. A split second of peace and quiet after all the drama of the past forty-eight hours. As Marinette leaned down some more to further engage in the kiss, Adrien pulled back. Opening her eyes again, Mari saw Adrien drop his head back down on the pillow. Had she done something wrong? If he didn't want it to go that far today, that was fine. She wasn't intending for it to go that far either.

"Princess, you're on my ribs." Adrien wheezed, his voice a bit strained. Sugar and cookies! Marinette immediately adjusted herself, flopping over into the space on the bed beside him.

"Sorry." Mari apologized, bringing her finger to her lip.

"You're fine." Adrien reassured her, as he flipped onto his side to face her. His hand reached out and settled on her cheek. The soft gentle touch, warm and pleasing on her cold damp skin. As his thumb began to rub along her cheekbone, Mari covered his hand with one of her own. Her eyes closing with contentment. How had she been so lucky to have him? The fact that he had been her partner since high school itself was incredibly lucky. From day one he had always had her back. Why hadn't she watched out for his? Adrien already stated that it was fine and that he had forgiven her for it, but she couldn't help but feel that an apology would never make up for her years of blindness and lack of care. "Marinette." Mari opened her eyes when her husband spoke. His green eyes shimmering with a look of concern. "I can tell your still unsure. I told you it's fine."

"But..."

"In order to fix a problem you have to identify it. Just because it took you years to identify it doesn't mean that you can't fix it. Think of this as breaking a bad habit." Mari raised a brow at the statement. There was no way he felt this way about her ignorance of looking out for him. "Okay, a really bad habit." Still not convinced that is what he's thinking but it's better. With a slight roll of her eyes, Mari hoisted herself up into a sitting position. The sheets shifted beside her before Adrien's hand again reached for her and was gently placed on her thigh comfortingly."Look, I know you're struggling to believe that I'm alright and I also know that you're blaming yourself for most of this, but please listen to me." Marinette turned her eyes to her husband. Listening was something that she needed to work on with her spouse, so she gave him her attention. It was his turn to let some things off his chest, and Mari really hoped that he would. What was he thinking in this moment? What was he going through? Seemingly, Adrien knew what Mari was asking for with a simple glance into her eyes, as they conveyed her thoughts to him. Adrien had always done a fairly decent job at reading her, whether or not he showed it. The blonde turned away, his gaze shifting to the other side of the room. "To be completely honest, I know your struggling. I want to help you, I want us to succeed because I know that you're trying your hardest for us to succeed. Except, I'm scared." Scared? That wasn't the word Mari expected to hear from her spouse. Then again she didn't know what she expected to hear from him.

"Adrien..."

"I know, it's kinda stupid and it doesn't make sense, but you mean everything to me." That's what this was about. His desire to protect her. It must have been stronger than he initially described or that she cared to realize.

"It makes perfect sense Kitty. Don't think that that's a stupid concern or unjustified fear. As you said last night, there's no Ladybug without Chat Noir. No Chat Noir without Ladybug."

"I just, I don't like risking it. I realize that I need to man up a bit and that I can't smother you, but that doesn't ease the fear." Adrien paused, the silence enveloping them. "I can't lose you. I've already lost so much. I can't lose you." Slowly, Adrien's voice began to break and crack. He was trying to hold it back, but Mari knew he couldn't. As his tears began to spill quietly, Mari leaned over and wrapped her arms around him in a motherly manner.