Love is a Sickness: A Miraculous Ladybug FanFiction

Part 5: Concern

Adrien's POV

I walk into school and see Marinette chatting it up with Alya in the courtyard. I have to get past a few students before reaching them, but when I do, Alya is facing me, and Marinette is facing Alya, so she doesn't see me.

Alya spots me almost instantly but continues talking to Marinette about whatever she was saying before. Probably something about the LadyBlog. I quickly put my index finger up to my mouth and pucker my lips, telling Alya not to warn Marinette I was coming up behind her.

I slowly inch my way towards Marinette and when I'm right behind her, I put my hands on her eyes and whisper in her right ear, "Guess whoooo."

She smiles and lets out a raspy giggle, "Hmmm, Jagged Stone?"

Normally, I'd play along and say something like 'Noooo someone even better,' but not today. Marinette is burning up. I felt it almost as soon as I put my hands on her.

I take my hands off her eyes, turn her around to face me and look at her, placing the back of my hand against her forehead. She looks paler than usual and even a little green.

"Are you feeling okay, Mari? You're like burning up right now." I shoot a look at Alya to see if she knows anything, but she stares back just as confused as I am.

Her eyes widen for a fraction of a second before returning to normal, almost like I found out something she didn't want me to know but had to act cool. Someone else may not have noticed it, but I did. I know my girlfriend.

"Oh uh, yeah," she says unconvincingly to me, "I was just telling Alya, I feel fine."

She smiles widely, a little too wide for my liking, but I decide to play along.

"Ok... but your temp is still a little concerning to me. Do you want to go to the nurse quick before class just to check and make sure everything is alright?" I look at my phone and see that class doesn't start for another fifteen minutes, "We still have a good amount of time before class starts," I plead to her.

She cups my cheek in the palm of one hand and holds her books close to her chest with the other. Her hand is extremely warm, if not hot, against my skin. I remember when Chloe and I were younger, she would tell me that when she was sick, her hand also got warm, like her forehead, when she had a fever. It's in moments like these that I have to remind myself I haven't known Marinette all that long. Maybe she's like Chloe in that way?

"I'm fine Adrien," she smiles at me without moving her hand, "I promise, if I'm not okay, I'll get checked out, but I'm fine."

She sounds a bit congested, so I'm going to take a wild guess and say she's not fine, but before I could protest, she takes back her hand, turns to a position where she can talk to both Alya and I, and continues.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick bef-," she stops covers her mouth with a fist and suppresses a cough.

"Oh sorry. Allergies" she laughs, "I'll be in the bathroom, but I'll meet you guys in a few for class," she waves Alya and I goodbye and walks away.

Nino approaches us as she walks away, "Hey, dudes," he gives Alya a kiss on the cheek before placing an arm around her shoulders, "Where's Marinette off to? And why is she here so early?" He begins to laugh but stops when he notices that Alya and I aren't.

"Yeah, she went to sleep like super early last night, so she woke up a bit earlier. She said that she's going to the bathroom and she'll meet us in class," I respond somberly.

Nino looks at me intensely and then turns to look at Alya.

"Anddd..." Nino presses.

"What?" I act clueless.

"What else is going on with her. I can see it on both of your faces," his head darts back and forth between the two of us.

Alya and I look at each other hesitantly. I don't know why we didn't just tell Nino what we thought was wrong with Mari when he asked. Maybe we were trying to keep her secret too, in a weird way, even though she didn't even tell us.

After a few moments of continued silence from both Alya and I, Nino starts to get a little frustrated and takes his arm off from Alya's shoulder.

"Don't forget you two," he points to both of us, "I have known Marinette the longest. Before either of you came into our class and became her boyfriend and best friend, I was here. We were the closest things each other had to real friends here." I can tell that Nino deeply cares about Marinette and I really appreciate that.

"If there's something going on with her, I might be able to help," he implores.

I give one more quick glance to Alya and wait for her to nod in agreement before I give Nino what he wants. Once I have Alya's approval, I tell Nino everything we know and suspect.

"Well, when I got to school, I played that little 'Guess who?' game with Marinette," Nino nods in understanding, "and when I put my hands on her, she felt super hot. Like she had a fever."

"What was even stranger," I continue, "was that she put her hand on my face and her hand was hot, too."

"And when I was talking to her earlier," Alya jumps in, "she kept sniffling and coughing, but she just kept saying that it was her allergies. I didn't even know she had allergies," she admits.

"Neither did I!" Even though Alya hadn't really spoken since I came to school, it was apparent we were thinking the same thing the entire time.

"Well, that's because she doesn't." The shock of Nino's words is evident on both my and Alya's faces. "I've known Marinette for nearly ten years now and she has never once had allergies. Plus, allergies wouldn't really explain why she was warm to the touch."

So, she was lying. The realization seems to hit both Alya and I at the same time. Her shocked face quickly shifts to one of anger.

Nino gives me a serious look, "Dude, did you say that her hands were hot in addition to her head and face?"

"Yeah, they were. Why?"

"When Marinette has a fever, her hands get warm too. She told me once that when she was little, her mom would check to see if she had a fever by putting the palm of Marinette's hand against her face. If it was too warm, she knew Marinette was sick," Nino informed us.

"Okay...," I think out loud, "so what you're saying is that she is sick."

Nino scrunches up his face, signaling that I'm not quite getting what he's saying.

"What I'm saying is that something is wrong. So, let's just watch her throughout the day to make sure she doesn't get any worse," he looks between Alya and I for approval of this plan.

"Sounds good to me," Alya responds and kisses Nino on the cheek.

Nino faces me, "Adrien? You on board, dude?"

I guess if Marinette won't just tell us what'sgoing on, the best we can do is look out for her. I shrug and reluctantly agree,"Yeah, yeah, sure. Let's do it."

***Sorry for the short chapter! I think to give myself and y'all as readers a bit of consistency, I'm going to update every Tuesday and Thursday. That way, I have time to write the chapters and you guys know when to expect them! I lowkey feel bad when I randomly update at like 4am 😅 Also follow me on insta! My user is the same as on here: tikkilover1234 😁 Anyway hope y'all enjoy!***