Tethered Souls | A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Watching

Adrien hopped onto the top of the slowing bus as it reached its destination. He cursed himself for not leaving when Ladybug did, he'd nearly forgotten he was supposed to be on a bus right now. He'd only hoped Marinette had been as distracted by the akumatized villain as everyone else had been, and not noticed that Adrien had never come back to his seat. He waited for the bus to come to a complete stop before jumping behind the vehicle and detransforming. He edged around to the front and caught up with his classmates as they came off. It didn't seem like anyone had noticed his absence, or his quick re-entry. He spotted Marinette with her suitcase coming off the bus, she seemed to be really lost in thought. Adrien walked over to her, "Hey, Marinette do you want me to walk you home?"

She seemed a bit stunned by the question, "What about your driver, isn't he waiting?" Marinette said without even looking to see if Adrien's car was awaiting him or not. 

Adrien peeked over his shoulder, the silver car was, in fact, parked on the opposite street, "Well, yes, but it's not a far walk,"

"You're right, it's not a far walk, I can manage," She said, continuing the path to her apartment.

Adrien noted her odd behavior, then put his hand on her shoulder to stop her, "Hey, is everything okay?"

She finally met his gaze, "Oh, yeah, I'm just thinking is all," she took a long pause before saying, "Do you think Ladybug and Chat Noir have all of this under control?"

Adrien stopped in his tracks, "What do you mean?"

"Just, what if they make a mistake?"

"They handled everything tonight didn't they?"

Marinette stared at Adrien, her expression never changing before she said, "You're right, nevermind what I said. I'll see you tomorrow Adrien,"

Adrien stopped her again and repeated, "Marinette, is everything okay?" Adrien studied her eyes as he awaited her response. They were dark and clouded over like fog on an autumn morning. He couldn't make out a single thing she was thinking about.

Finally, Marinette attempted a smile, "Yes, everything is fine. I had a great time this weekend Adrien. I'll see you tomorrow," she repeated, breaking his grip on her shoulder before proceeding to the bakery across the street.

Adrien stared at her as she walked away. After spending the entire weekend with Marinette as Adrien, he'd finally gotten her to open up a bit and show him the real her. The girl that he'd grown to love as Chat Noir. He'd realized his feelings were true when he'd seen Ladybug earlier that night and he hadn't felt positively love sick at the sight of her. Sure his heart still ached a little bit for his partner, but Marinette was real, she was tangible, she was right in front of him and she loved him too, he was sure of it. He wasn't sure what she was going through right now, but he knew that he wanted to help her. He just wasn't sure how yet.

Adrien tore himself away from Marinette's distant figure and made her a silent promise that he would be back to comfort her later. He turned his back on her and headed to the bus to grab his forgotten luggage.

~~~~

Adrien closed the door to his bedroom and walked to his desk to grab two pieces of camembert for his needy kwami. Plagg appeared out of Adrien's jacket pocket as soon as he smelled the cheese and grabbed it happily from his owner. Adrien watched as the cat-like creature practically swallowed the first slice whole. But instead of wolfing down the second slice just as quickly, Plagg eyed the boy suspiciously.

"What are you up to?"

"Me? Up to something? Why would you say a thing like that?" Adrien asked innocently.

Plagg popped the camembert in his mouth before replying, "Don't tell me this was some kind of bribe. I thought we were beyond such measures, Adrien,"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Plagg, this was merely a token of my appreciation. I don't technically need to ask your permission to transform you know," Adrien said slyly.

Plagg crossed his arms defiantly. "Maybe I've just never resisted," he said matter-of-factly.

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows. He really didn't like going against Plagg's wishes. He knew what it was like to have to obey blindly. He didn't like thinking Plagg felt that way too. "Plagg could we please transform so I can see why Marinette is upset?"

"I don't like you toying with that girl's emotions. She's nice to me. She doesn't starve me like you do, you know,"

Adrien rolled his eyes at the kwami's last comment, "I'm not toying with Marinette's emotions. I really like her Plagg. I want to make sure that she's okay. I don't think she would tell Adrien how she was feeling, otherwise she would have earlier! I need Chat Noir for this one,"

"What you need is to go to sleep. It's past 1:00 in the morning. Don't you think the girl is sleeping? I know I'd like to be sleeping. I don't think she needs a knight in shining cat ears right now, kid,"

Adrien sighed and shifted his tactics, "Plagg," he began, "If you agree to transform, I'll order you anything you want from your stupid cheese magazine tomorrow, is that a deal?"

Plagg perked up and eyed the magazine laying on Adrien's side table. He let out a defeated sigh and Adrien could have sworn he heard the kwami mumble something about connected souls before Adrien said, "Plagg, claws out!"

On the journey to Marinette's, however, Adrien just couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him. He ignored it the best he could and surveyed the area carefully before landing on Marinette's balcony.