"Dude, you look terrible still," Nino commented when Adrien came in to class. The blond sniffled and sat down, leaning on his fist as he started to doze off. "Adrien, bro, wake up," Nino called, smacking him on the arm. Adrien groaned and dropped his head to the desk to face the other direction.
Marinette came in and spotted him, a look of concern washing over her. She'd told the dummy to stay in bed after the akuma attack the night before, why was he there?
"Nino, is he alright?" she asked. Nino shrugged and again tapped Adrien on the arm to get any sort of reaction from him.
" 'M fine..." Adrien groaned. Marinette rolled her eyes and stooped down at his side, checking the boy's temperature with the back of her hand. "Marinette, it's OK," Adrien grumbled, moving his arm out from under his head to smack at the girl.
"Sure it is," Marinette fussed, smacking the back of his head. "You dummy."
She plopped down in her seat, glaring daggers at the back of Adrien's head. The idiot was going to make himself sicker by being in school! Alya sat down beside Marinette and noticed the drained and flushed look on the girl's pale face. "Marinette, are you alright? You don't look so hot."
"I'm fine, Alya," Marinette said through a sigh. As class began, it seemed that the lecture went on longer and longer than normal. Marinette found herself growing very tired throughout the lesson, barely able to keep her eyes open. But, she laid blame on the late night akuma rather than the burning at the back of her throat or the pounding in her head. Then, she felt her glare on Adrien start to waiver. A sudden wave a nausea washed over Marinette, and next thing she knew she was on the floor shaking.
"Marinette!" one kid yelled as nearly everyone crowded around her. The entire room felt like an ice box, though Marinette could feel heat pouring off her face. Tears sprang into her eyes and her glasses were lost somewhere across the room, probably smashed not that she really cared.
When she woke up, Marinette was in the nurse's office. The bright lights hurt her eyes but any movement made her muscles collectively ache. Her jacket was off, laying on the back of a chair, and her shoes and socks were on the floor.
"Hey, you're awake..." Adrien's voice came through, followed by a hoarse cough. "Took you long enough..."
Marinette groaned, raising one noodle-arm to her face to rub her eyes. She turned onto her side to see the boy along with Alya and Nino, all three looking quite concerned. "How long...?" she tried to ask how long she'd been out, but words failed her and her throat closed up dryly.
"You've been out of it for half an hour, but the nurse said you were just asleep, so they didn't call your parents..." Alya explained. Marinette nodded slightly and tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down by Nino.
"You should just rest, Marinette," the boy fussed.
"If you were sick, you should have told someone!" Alya was sure to add. Marinette tried to scoff, but the noise came out too choked to pass as anything more than a strangled cough. She felt a hand on her forehead and opened her eyes to see Alya trying to judge her temperature. "Jeez, Marinette..."
"I'm fine," Marinette whispered. "Stop worrying."
"Hey, guys, why don't we give her some space..." Adrien suggested. He ended up having to herd Nino and Alya out the door, nearly sneezing down their backs. Once the two were left by themselves, Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse and landed right on the girl's face.
"Marinette, you scared me!" the kwami fussed. She had tears in her eyes as she tried to cuddle her human closer. "Don't do that ever again!"
"Jeez, Tikki, you sound like Plagg..." Marinette joked. She sat up, glad that Adrien didn't push her back down. She refused to meet his gaze, already feeling it baring down on her. "I was just fine this...this morning..." she explained and hugged her legs.
"Marinette, you passed out," Adrien recounted.
"And so did you last night, but you're still here!" Marinette fussed in the hushed tone her vocal chords restricted her to. Adrien just nodded, then moved to sit beside her. She moved to rest her head on his shoulder, stealing one of his hands to play with the fingers. It drained her more than anything to have the constant motion, but if she didn't distract herself somehow, she was going to cry.
"It's my fault, isn't it?" Adrien asked, his breathing heavy on each word.
"No," Marinette said as sternly as she could manage.
"Yes it is," Adrien said. "If you didn't stay with me yesterday then you...you wouldn't have gotten sick," he explained, "And if I hadn't messed up during the fight, then you wouldn't be so tired."
Marinette whined into his shoulder and shook her head. "It was my choice to stay with you, you can't blame yourself."
They stayed silent after that for several minutes, both just trying to stay awake or come up with a snappy joke to make the other feel any sort of better. Adrien felt Marinette become heavier, and when he looked down he saw that she had fallen back asleep. He smiled and shifted to lean against the cold wall and rested her head on his chest. Marinette cuddled against him, her arm going around his middle and her ear pressed to his chest.
Adrien rubbed her back gently, feeling himself start to give in to sleep. Plagg and Tikki made their way over to the two teens, curling up in the tiny gap between them. "She'll be OK, Tikki," Adrien whispered, rubbing the top of the kwami's head. She nodded, peering up at the girl and smiling. "She's a tough girl..."
Adrien kissed the top of Marinette's head and the girl smiled, making his heart flutter. Being sick had its perks, especially when you shared the sick with your love.
