miraculous minibug 🐞

Communication Barriers

Marinette stiffened.

The indent of his fingertip pressed into the wall.

Quiet. Don't move.
She demanded of herself.
Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no, no, no.
He could be upset with her. He probably was upset with her. That was the last thing they needed. She bit her lip and stayed completely still.

Adrien was...shaken, to say the least. It just wasn't...no. But she could be dead, for all he knew. If this was happening, it'd mean that he could've killed her. He had to at least confirm it.
He stood up, then. "Hey, Marinette? I could just be talking to myself here, but....can you hear me?"

His voice was so...present. So...rich. She gave a small squeak against her will, mentally cursed herself, and backed into the surface behind her.

Okay, so there was something inside. If it wasn't Marinette, that was its own problem. Regardless, he'd managed to lose her. And he'd possibly swallowed her. It'd at least make some sense...and was that her voice? He sincerely hoped it wasn't her. If it was, she could be a literal puddle of chyme, and he'd never know.
"Marinette, if you are there, are you okay?" He probed himself a bit more. That would have to cause a reaction.

He sounded so...worried about her. It was touching, really. Bliss filled her, and so did a pleased sigh. Wait, what if he thought he'd hurt her?
Adrien...worried about me...
"A-Adrien..."

"Marinette?!" That was no hallucination. It was unquestionably her. The color drained from his face.
He knew his luck was far from decent, but this was rock bottom.

His friend, the one he was supposed to be protecting, was in his stomach.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was in his stomach.

He didn't know why, when, or even how...but then again, her size probably contributed.

"Marinette! I am so, so sorry! Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?" He pulled at his shirt. If he'd killed her or...partially digested her, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.
She could die, and it'd be entirely his fault. She'd just....go missing. Without a trace. They'd never find a body. No one would know what happened to her, and the guilt would kill him. She couldn't be dead. Especially not like this. Not only would she be dead, he would have murdered her.

"N-no! I'm actually okay! Don't worry about it!"

Good. That crisis was averted. Still, it didn't help the situation. Maybe it was a good thing that the supplements had ruined him, combined with the extra stimulation of being Chat Noir.

What mattered was not being responsible for Marinette's death.

"So, then, you can hear me?" He broke the tension.

"Yeah, I-I can hear your voice just fine..almost as well as everything else!"

Everything else? "Hang on, what..?" That needed rephrasing. But she was considerably harder to hear.

Another thought assaulted him then. "Wait, can you breathe?"

"Um, y-yeah! I can breathe! I'm alright!"

That could become more difficult for her, but for the time being, she was okay.

"As long as you're okay." He used two fingers and gently rubbed his stomach.

He considered waking Plagg, but Marinette could hear everything he said. Perhaps it'd be harder for her to hear the outside?

"Marinette? Quick question, can you hear anything that's not me?"

"N-no, I don't think so....it's actually kind of loud as it is." She didn't want to sound rude.

Okay. That made things a bit easier. He just had to be as vague as possible.
He made his decision and nudged the spectral cat.

"I...found Marinette.." He gestured toward his stomach with an awkward hybrid between a smile and a cringe.