Adrinette April 2020

Day 16 - Rejected Heroes

Marinette was pushing as hard as she could on the door, trying not to panic. It was dim, but as she looked back at Adrien, she could see that he was worried too. She couldn't kid herself anymore. She wanted to scream.

An Akuma had forced them into a closet together and then barricaded the door. She couldn't believe it was happening. She was stuck in a closet with her crush, and she desperately needed to transform. To call Chat Noir, to unstick the barricade herself, to do something. People were getting hurt out there, and there was nothing she could do, not with Adrien in there with her. All she could do was hope that Chat Noir would come save her. She believed in him.

"Marinette?" Adrien spoke up, and she realized how quickly she was breathing. He walked over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "We're gonna get out of here, okay? Try to calm down," he told her soothingly, but she couldn't calm herself, no matter how much the honey in his voice made her want to.

"I know, I'm just," she sighed, shaking her head. She couldn't even feel nervous at the fact that he was touching her shoulders. If she could just transform!

"What?" Adrien asked, his eyes wide. When Marinette realized she'd said that last thought out loud, her knotted stomach dropped down to her feet. She felt sick, staring up at him.

"Transform?" he prompted, his green eyes wide with something akin to fear.

"I-I'm..." she trailed off, feeling everything come crashing down on her all at once. Then the thought popped into her mind. Of course.

"I was Multimouse," she got out shakily, looking down. His grip on her shoulders stayed the same, her heart still pounding.

"Multimouse?" he asked, and she looked back up at him, seeing that his eyes were a little less fearful. She was a little surprised that he hadn't looked more shocked.

"I helped Ladybug defeat Kwamibuster, but because I accidentally revealed my identity to Chat Noir, I can't use that Miraculous again. I wish I could, in this situation," she told him, wanting to hit herself for letting a thought like that slip out. If she'd never become Multimouse, how would she have explained that to Adrien?

"I have a secret too," he breathed out, stepping away from her. She blinked at him, seeing the guilt in his eyes and worrying a little, but she knew what he was going to say.

"I helped out Ladybug once too," he told her, and she gasped, trying to feign surprise. "Well, I tried. I never succeeded, so I don't want to use that Miraculous again. I can't," he sighed out, not meeting her eyes. "But to save us here and now, I would use it," he admitted, finally looking up at her. Marinette remembered the pain in Aspik's eyes, her heart longing to tell Adrien how much it had meant to her. But she couldn't. Not as Marinette.

"We both gave it a shot, I suppose," Marinette said, trying to make him feel a little better if she could. He gave her a small smile, nodding.

"I won't tell anyone," he assured her, and she nodded in return, smiling to herself. She hadn't been wrong to entrust him with a Miraculous. She'd always known that.

"Me neither," she promised, and he smiled softly, staring at her for a moment.

"Multimouse, huh? Is that kinda like Mickey Mouse?" he teased her, and it took her a few seconds to react, still stuck in the heaviness of the situation at hand. She laughed, shrugging.

"Well, I did have two buns," she giggled, gesturing to where they'd been on her head.

"That sounds so cute!" he laughed, and she blushed, hoping he couldn't see it in the darkness of the room.

"Did you get space buns too?" she teased, attempting to keep distracting herself. She heard him snort a little, making her laugh harder.

"You couldn't even see my hair," he told her, snickering at himself. She laughed at his laugh, all the emotion of the past few minutes making her easily susceptible to a laugh attack.

A sudden loud sound at the door stopped them dead in their tracks, both of them holding their breath and subconsciously getting into defensive positions. After half a minute, there was another loud noise, and then the door swung open. Ivan, Kim, and Alya were at the door, breathing in exertion. Marinette rushed to hug her best friend, a sigh of relief on her lips.

"Are you two okay?" Kim asked, and Adrien nodded.

"Thanks to you all," he smiled, and Marinette saw his eyes with a fierce look of determination in them. She was glad the guilt and pain had been replaced.

She had broken her own rule of secret identities, even if she hadn't revealed her most important secret. But if it could help Adrien know that he wasn't alone, she'd do it a thousand times more.

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thank you all for reading! I'd love to know what you thought!

mel x