Ladybug?"
His only response was Ladybug’s panting. Adrien's legs bounced up and down as she clutched him close in a princess carry, sprinting across the lawn and towards the gardens with wild, single-minded abandon.
“Ladybug,” he tried again. “Why are we running away from the akuma?”
“Shut up," she gasped.
“We have to go back, my lady. Volpina wants me, but that doesn’t mean she won’t hurt anyone else.”
“I'll deal with Lila after you’re safe.” Ladybug shifted the arm at his back, pressing him closer against her chest. “If you know who I am, then you know I'm the reason she hates you so much."
“Marinette, you don't have to clean up my messes, okay?” His arms tightened around her neck. “I just need to find someplace to transform, and then—”
Ladybug ground to a stop mid-stride. Her eyes found his, bright with terror, and Adrien’s stomach lurched with sympathy.
“You really don’t get it, do you, Chat? When you were just Adrien, I could protect you. I could toss you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and whisk you away from danger before anything worse happened to you.” She held him so tightly he could barely breathe. “But Chat? Chat is always taking hits. Always between me and anyone who could hurt me. And I can’t keep him safe if—I can’t keep you safe if you're not gonna let me!”
Adrien’s mouth flapped open, then shut.
At once, Ladybug’s grip on him gentled. Slowly—carefully—she set him on his feet, sheltered by a bank of flowering bushes.
“I don’t know how you figured me out, and I don’t know why you didn’t tell me, but I swear to God I will lose my shit if you make me watch you get hurt again. So sit yourself down on your cute, idiot ass, because you're staying put until I come up with a plan.”
“Hold on," he said blankly. "You think it's cute?"
Ladybug's face turned fire hydrant red, and he grimaced, fidgeting with the cuffs of his suit.
“You also think I'm an idiot, and you're probably right."
With a sound like a bagpipe being stepped on, she dropped to the ground in a fetal crouch. "All of you is cute," she said despairingly. "Now will you please get behind these bushes and hide?”
Heart still racing, Adrien obliged her, ducking out of sight behind the fragrant foliage.
“Please, Ladybug, just hear me out. I should've had a plan for if Lila got akumatized. I probably should have come up with a better plan period, but I wasn’t being reckless or irresponsible or—or stupid, I promise.”
Ladybug’s face fell. “That isn't what I meant.”
“No, I really am sorry, my lady. You always have to fix what everyone else screws up."
His partner—his best friend—reached out and touched his shoulder, kneading her fingers into the tension she found there. At once, he curled himself into her touch. She froze for an instant, her blush deepening, before the soothing rhythm of her hands resumed.
"God," she muttered. "I'm going to have to get used to this."
“I'm sorry," Adrien mumbled again.
“Chat, I'm the last person who wants you to apologize for putting Lila through her paces. Your plan was perfect. I couldn't have done better. I just wish I'd been able to have your back."
"Well, I wish that I'd made it to two dates without best laid plans blowing up in my face." Flattening himself against Ladybug's side, Adrien hugged his knees to his chest. "I wish I could do something to make being with me easier for you."
