The Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Deathly

Adrien had seen it all.

She was angry at her boyfriend, Nathanael. No, he was angry at her. She was crying, trying to hold it together. Nathanael had pushed her, and being the clumsy person she is, she stumbled onto the road and a truck was coming around the corner and he saw a flash of headlights and heard a bloodcurdling scream-

He hadn't left her side. Not when her mother and father came into the emergency room and cried their eyes out, not when Alya and Nino had come with tears in their eyes and brought the multitude of letters and flowers from classmates, not when Nathalie and his father had called for him to go home. He stayed, holding her cold hand in his, a blank, tired look in his eyes as he stared at her face, trying to somehow make her wake up.

He had realised too late that he loved her, and now, here he was, staring at Marinette's deathly white face. He missed that rosy blush, that pink tint to her skin, that warmth that radiated off her. He missed the way her lips would curl into a shy smile. He missed the way her brow furrowed when she was concentrating on her designs, or the way her tongue would stick out of the corner of her mouth just the slightest and in the cutest way. But most of all, he missed her eyes. Her eyes that were as blue as the heavens. Her eyes that were swirling pools of emotion that he would love to drown in.

He missed looking into those eyes.

He hadn't eaten. When he wasn't watching her, wishing for her to wake up, he was asleep. All the while, her hand was still clutched in his. He himself was almost as pale as she was, his hair messy and his green eyes tinted with red. 

It went on like this for a week. His friends told him he looked like death, but he would always shrug and continue to stare at her. Nino tried to get him to eat, but he wouldn't remove his hands from hers. Alya had sat by his side and sniffled, talking to the girl who lay still sometimes. She would say how Ladybug and Chat Noir were nowhere to be seen - she would talk about how worried everyone was - she would give a halfhearted laugh when she described the hell she and Nino had put Nathanael through. Adrien would smile at that story.

On the seventh day of nothing, he licked his dry lips and spoke.

"Y-you really have no idea of what you've put everyone through, have you?" His voice was hoarse from disuse, and he coughed. "Everyone's worried. Alya's terrified you won't come back. Your parents are messes. I'm a mess." He gave a dry chuckle, tightening his grip on her hand. "You've always been so unobservant, Princess. To not find out who I am. To not notice how Nathanael changed. To not see I-" His words cut off with a sob. Damn it, he thought he was past crying. "I-I love you, Marinette, how could you not see? I was so love-sick, that's for sure. I don't care if you don't love me back j-just..." He laid his head down next to her, tears falling freely. "Just wake up, okay? D-don't leave me j-just yet..."

Just wake up, okay? Don't leave me just yet.

Eyelashes fluttered, fingers twitched, a groan escaped a pair of perfectly pink lips. Adrien's head jolted up to stare into the eyes he so missed. Marinette was awake. Marinette was alive.

"A...Adrien?" Her voice cracked and she coughed, disuse and dehydration working against her. Adrien jumped up and got a glass of water as quick as he could, bringing it to her lips. She smiled gratefully before fulling taking in his appearance. "Are... are you okay?"

He laughed, and it wasn't dry, it was happy. "She wakes up after a week unconscious and asks me if I'm okay." Her bluebell eyes widen and she opens her mouth, but he cuts her off. "I'm okay now, Marinette! You're awake, you're alive, you didn't leave me, oh my god, you're okay!" He laughs again, the joyous sound ringing through the hospital room. "I didn't leave. The whole time, the whole week, I had to make sure you were okay, and you are! God, Marinette, never do that to me again." 

If she was shocked at how disheveled he looked, then this was ten times that. She saw real, true happiness in his eyes, and it was because she was awake. He had stayed with her the whole time. He didn't leave. 

"Adrien, I... why would you..." She stammered out, trying to wrap her head around everything. Literally every bone in her body hurt, but she had to hear him. She had to know why he stayed.

"You're so ignorant sometimes, Mari." He chuckled before leaning forwards and pressing his lips to hers.

Two months later

"Are you sure about this, Adrien?" Marinette looked worriedly at her boyfriend, who was holding her hand tightly and sitting in his limousine with her beside him. "I mean, won't Chloe freak out? And Alya and Nino?"

Adrien hummed thoughtfully, absently tracing circles on the back of her hand. "Yeah. But it's worth it if I get to  kiss you in front of Nathanael." He sent his girlfriend a sparkling smile, to which she returned with a roll of her eyes and an amused huff.

"At least you didn't hurt him." She said, a playful tone to her voice. It was Adrien's turn to roll his eyes.

"Yeah. Much as I wanted to, I can't say no to my beautiful princess." He kissed her cheek and pulled her out of the car to see Chloe, Alya and Nino all staring at them. With satisfaction, he noticed Nathanael was also by the door, staring at their intertwined hands with a scowl. 

Adrien grinned and slid an arm around Marinette, kissing the side of her head before making their way up to their two friends. Alya and Nino's mouths had dropped, and Chloe was just shocked still. Nathanael... well, Adrien was glad to see him stalk off with an angry frown on his face.

Because he made his princess's face deathly pale. And he was so close to losing her. Nathanael was lucky not to be in the hospital.

Because Adrien loved Marinette, and unlike Nathanael, he planned to never hurt her, or let her go.

Here, as an apology for the author's note just now. I planned for this to be much longer, but I felt bad and I couldn't take it anywhere. Eh voila, peace out peeps.