Marinette watched the door close behind the nurse before hearing a slam outside the door. It sounded as though Alya had something to say to Adrien, something including her uncanny strength. What the hell had happened back at the mall? She was seriously missing some key information, and prayed someone wouldn't fill her in soon.
She could hear the muffled voices through the wall and wished her leg was working so she could eavesdrop on their conversation. It took a lot to anger Alya, yet it seemed Adrien was doing a fine job at it.
She looked down at the food the nurse had just delivered and screwed up her nose. Perhaps she could message her parents to bring her something later? It looked horrible. Wafer thin ham and plastic cheese, they were meant to be in France for crying out loud.
Picking up the croissant she nibbled the edge before throwing it back onto the plate. That was diabolical. She'd ask Adrien if he wanted it when he came back, he tended to eat anything, especially when it was baked goods. She desperately needed to get in contact with her parents to bring her something to eat.
As if the food Gods had heard her, a phone began to ring in the room, and whoever's phone it was had the voice announcement on.
Call from Tom Dupain
Who in the right mind uses a voice announcement? Well apart from her Grandpapa, but that's only because he was losing his eyesight. Marinette sat and looked at Adrien's jacket. She was positive that was where the noise was coming from. Scrunching her lips she wondered if she should just reach into his pocket and grab it. It wouldn't be the first time stealing his phone, plus it was her papa calling <em>and</em> he'd just left his phone there. She could tell him she was only grabbing it to bring it to him. Yeah, she could do that, except there was one major issue ... she couldn't walk. Crap.
The phone suddenly halted its tune. She breathed out a sigh of relief, she didn't need to do anything. It had stopped therefore his voicemail would pick it up, she just needed to tell him about it when he returned to her bedside. Adrien Agreste at her bedside, oh how she would have loved that in her younger teen years. But right now, it just felt a little uncomfortable. Adrien was here yet all she could think about was when Chat would be back. She was missing him already, it felt like he was so close yet so far away. Perhaps he was on guard outside, especially since he found out about Hawkmoth, Shadowmoth? The guy's name was getting too confusing, maybe she should stick with Gabriel Agreste.
The name made her flinch. Her fashion idol, her best friend's father ... her best friend's father. Oh no, she'd have to tell Adrien his father was trying to kill her. He wouldn't believe her though, who would believe that? She knew Adrien and his father had issues, but to think he was a villain, and that he wanted to kill a newly turned sixteen year old for her earrings? Yeah right, he'd have her in a white jacket in no time.
Her brain began to go through different scenarios of how she could tell Adrien, or whether she actually should when his phone began to ring again.
Call from Tom Dupain
Wow, her father was persistent. What could he possibly need to speak to Adrien about? Were they waiting to come up? Did they promise Adrien some alone time with her before they appeared. The thought was as equally nerve wracking as exciting. Adrien wanted to see her.
The phone stopped ringing again, and she could hear the pounding of shoes echoing down the hallway outside. Someone was leaving, moving away from her current room. She quickly brushed her hair through with her fingers, expecting Adrien to appear back in the room any moment after all he'd left his jacket here, and there was no way he'd leave without it.
Call from Tom Dupain
That was it, she was picking up the phone. If Adrien questioned it she'd just explain it was the lack of blood making her disoriented, and she thought it was her phone. After all, it was her father calling, an easy mistake to make really.
With her mind finally made up, she shuffled the best she could towards his chair,balancing on the edge of the bed. Stretching out, she managed to grab the jacket's arm and began to pull it over towards her. A little grunt left her mouth as the movement pulled on the stitching over her wound, she was Ladybug for crying out loud. This was but a mere flesh wound. She rolled her eyes at herself, sure, a gunshot was just a flesh wound. Sometimes her idiocy shocked herself.
The ringing stopped again. Now she had a decision to make. At the moment she was holding Adrien's jacket sleeve and the chair was only inches away from her. One pull and the jacket would be in her lap. She could continue with the plan, or give it up now and not face the wrath of an angry Agreste, after all if he was anything like his father, perhaps he'd shoot her in the other leg. She chuckled to herself, too soon for jokes like that.
Perhaps she should wait to see if her papa rings again? She looked at the clock opposite her bed and made a deal with herself. If the phone rings again in one minute and it's her papa then she'll complete the mission. If not, or if it was someone else calling, she would leave it be.
Folding her arms across her chest she watched the minute hand tick around the clock. Second after second after second. A tune played again, and she wiggled herself on the bed in an excited dance, that was until she froze, ice cold blood filling her veins and her heart halting its normal synchronised rhythm.
Call from Shadowmoth.
Her breathing hitched. Shadowmoth? Did he work with his father? Why was that name in his phone? Why did Adrien have his father in his phone as Shadowmoth? Yanking the sleeve of his jacket, Marinette pulled it up and onto the bed, feeling around to try and find the phone. She wasn't completely sure what she was going to do when she found it. Answer it? Throw it out the window? Too many options. It continued to ring as she manically searched the pockets of his jacket.
"Come on," she coached herself, "where's the damn phone?"
Her hand suddenly clasped around something. Did Adrien have a furry case on his phone? There was something off about the texture and the shaping of it, and it felt a little squishy. She continued to squeeze it as a sharp pain went through her finger. It felt like something, or someone, had bit her.
"Ouch," she cried, drawing her hand out of Adrien's pocket. She'd fisted her hand around whatever had attacked her and pulled it from his jacket pocket.
Slowly, she turned her hand over and looked at the offending object ... or should she say, Kwami. The black bobbled headed creature lay in her palm, green eyes giving her the glare of one thousand daggers. Oh no, she knew this kwami. She knew this annoyance well. The God of ridicule and mischief, the God of destruction, the God that created Chat Noir.
"No." Marinette gasped, releasing Plagg pulling her hands away from the small creature's body, "no, no, no!"
"Oh yes, Marinette, yes, yes, yes! How are you doing, Guardian?" Plagg smirked at Marinette as she shrunk back into the pillows, hands clutching in her recently smoothed down hair.
"You've got to be kidding me, this cannot be happening!" Marinette covered her eyes and shrank back into her pillow. Plagg was here, in Adrien's pocket, which meant Adrien was ...
"Is he?" She quickly asked.
"Yep," Plagg responded.
"And he knows I'm?"
"Correct."
"But his father is?"
"Unfortunately so," Plagg sighed.
"And we're?"
"Soulmates? Yes, as most cat and bug holders are."
"This cannot be real. I must be dreaming again." She dragged her hands down her face with exhaustion. She remembered the days when she was just a normal girl, with a normal life and a secret. Unfortunately those days were in the past and life was starting to become a lot more complicated.
"Are you going to eat that cheese?" Plagg's nasally voice brought her back to the present situation. Plagg was sitting right here, oh how she wished she had Tikki. She needed her wonderful kwami there to help her out. To help her understand what the hell had happened in one day.
As if a bullet had hit her again, this time in her heart, she gasped.
"Does Adrien know about his father?" Her heart was beating erratically. All she could think about at the moment is how Adrien was, and if he knew about the despicable things his father had done, including trying to kill his soulmate. If Gabriel knew about them both, he knew about the link, and the worst of it was, he was still willing to kill Marinette. To kill his own son's soulmate.
"He needs a hug." She stated.
"Who? Gabe or Adrien?"
"Ew! Adrien, of course."
"I couldn't agree more," Plagg agreed, flying down to the breakfast platter and grabbing some cheese. Marinette watched as the black magical creature gulped down the cheese and belched. In that moment she knew she was lucky to have Tikki. How did Adrien cope so well with Plagg? "If you were wondering about why your papa was calling him, well, he and Adrien have kind of disgruntled grand old Gabe."
"Disgruntled? What do you mean, disgruntled?" She asked.
"They've kind of told him where to shove it."
Marinette let out a bark of a laugh before covering her mouth. She was sure Adrien was still out there, but right now having this conversation with Plagg was priceless. She knew as soon as Adrien stepped foot in that door everything would change, for now she could just imagine she was talking to Chat Noir's kwami, not Adrien Agreste's kwami. Yes she knew they were the same person, but at the moment she could pretend.
"Why? How?"
"Apparently Kagami and Adrien were meant to be somewhere, Adrien chose to come with you, grumpy guts didn't like it, Adrien refused to obey orders, your papa got involved and now he's living on the sofa in your apartment."
"What?" She screeched out, sitting bolt upright in the bed
"Shhh." Plagg flew forward and placed a paw on Marinette's mouth.
"What?" She said again, this time at a much lower volume level. "Adrien's living in my home. Chat Noir is living in my home."
"Oh, and your parents have pieced it together and know he's Chat Noir."
Covering her face and squealing, Marinette replayed her entire Miraculous existence. How could one day make a colossal impact on her life?
"This is a disaster! A complete disaster!"
"How? You two know each other now. Isn't this what you wanted? To be with Adrien?" Plagg questioned. He thought she'd be happy, didn't she love Adrien? She seemed obsessed with the guy, as much as he did her.
"I did, until I wanted to be with Chat?"
Plagg pulled himself away from her and head neck to the cheese, popping a piece in his mouth and glaring at her. She was joking right?
"So, let me get this right. You want to be with Chat?"
"Yes."
"But you don't want to be with Adrien?" He raised one of his eyebrows.
"I don't know."
"Well," Plagg began, "I'm sorry to inform you, pigtails but they're kind of a package deal."
"Argh! I wish Tikki was here, she'd know what I meant." Marinette responded.
"Not going to lie, I don't think even Tikki would have a clue." Plagg settled back down and began to eat some more of the cheese. Marinette watched as his face grimaced with each bite, she couldn't blame him. It looked disgusting.
As they sat in silence her thoughts began to wander. This was a lot to process, and she had no idea where to start. Chat was Adrien, who was her old crush, who she still loved. His father was Shadowmoth, and Shadowmoth was trying to injure her, or even kill her. She didn't quite know. Adrien had finally stood up to his father and was currently hiding away at her home with her parents. Her parents knew she was Ladybug and that her soulmate was Adrien, who was Chat Noir. She'd done a photoshoot yesterday and Chat/Adrien had saved her life, oh, and Adrien was Chat Noir.
A soft smile graced her lips. How could she be angry at someone so wonderful? He lied to Kagami, and there it was, the reason to be angry. She hated the lies he was telling, even though she understood it more after their talk on the way to the shoot, she still couldn't comprehend how long he'd kept the lie for. It had hurt her friend and ultimately made more issues for herself and him.
"Plagg?" Marinette called the kwami's attention, "why did Adrien lie to Kagami?"
"He told you. In the car. On the way to the shoot. The kid is petrified about being alone."
"But he'll never be alone, I'll always be there." She replied.
"When have you ever told him that?" Plagg had suddenly turned serious. The overwhelming love for Adrien, for Chat, shining through.
"I - um - I've tried?" Her voice was questioning her own past motives. Has she ever told him? Yes, she'd told him that he was irreplaceable and that they were the greatest team, but had she ever just said Chat I'm here for you? Or Adrien? Do you want to talk? In all truth, she hadn't understood Adrien until a day ago. A day. That's all it had been.
"Thinking about it, aren't you?" Plagg stated, causing Marinette to shy away.
"Your right," she whispered, Adrien had no right to believe anything coming from her mouth. She'd been lying to him for years.
"Don't beat yourself up about it. He loves you. I'm quite sure he'll come in here and drop down on one knee gushing mushy stuff at you."
Marinette laughed, it felt like the first time in forever that she'd allowed herself to loosen up and laugh. When had her life gotten so serious? She was young, this is how she should be living.
"I'm going to try and use the bathroom. Don't eat all my food."
Slowly, Marinette maneuvered herself out the bed, remembering how the nurses instructed her to do it without ripping her stitches. One foot hit the floor followed by the other and she grabbed onto her walking frame.
"You know, once you transform, Tikki can heal you."
"I just need to get her back. I'm guessing Adrien's got my earrings?" She said, making her way over to her private en-suite. Plagg grunted his yes and began to tuck into the food. Seriously, the cheese sucked.
As Marinette was gone, Plagg looked around the room. Poor Pigtails, being stuck in a place like this. He couldn't wait for Tikki to appear and do her Miraculous magic.
Adrien's phone began to ring again.
Call from Shadowmoth.
It had been Plagg's idea to rename his fathers contact. He wanted to make sure Adrien didn't pick up the call, and seeing his arch nemesis name would definitely be a big deterrent. It seemed to be working so far, but Plagg couldn't deny that he was worried about the 'in-laws'. Both Tom and Sabine had taken Adrien in with no thought. They doted on the kid; making sure he was well looked after. Nothing was too big or too small of a request and Plagg was sure Adrien was just being far too nice. After all, he hadn't asked for the specific Camembert Plagg ate yet, he was letting him just have whatever cheese was lying around. The disgrace.
"That was harder than I thought." Marinette came out of the bathroom with a little less grace than she entered it. It seemed the journey had worn her out.
Plagg went to respond with his usual sarcastic tones when the door opened and revealed a rather disheveled blonde boy.
"You know kid, this hospital cheese sucks. Don't you agree, pigtails?" Plagg looked between Adrien and Marinette, an evil smirk plastered over his face. The kwami knew full well what he was doing.
Adrien squeaked and moved back towards the door as his eyes met Marinette's, before rushing forward to guide her back to the bed. Soulmate instincts you could call it.
"You shouldn't be up and about by yourself yet." He exclaimed, attempting to pick her up off the floor.
"Pick me up and I'll punch you." She sneered back. Obviously she was a lot angrier than she thought she was, either that or it was the pain. Adrien moved back a step, taking his hands off her.
"Where did that come from Marinette?" Suddenly Tikki was in the room with them.
"Oh, thank God." Marinette held her hands out for Tikki. The small red creature hurried into them and Marinette pulled her to her cheek in an embrace. She turned her head to Adrien and positioned one hand out in front.
"Earrings?"
Adrien looked between Marinette and the two kwami's, before reaching into his jeans pocket and pulling them out.
"Look, Marinette."
She shh'd him mid sentence, and reached for the earrings in his palm. As soon as her skin connected with his, the electric spark shot through her, again. Her eyes closed involuntarily and an image played through her mind.
She was wrapped around Adrien as they both sobbed, nothing more than a broken heap of bodies on the floor, clinging onto the last hope. The feelings circulating through her body make her bones quiver. It was a grief she'd never known existed. Pulling her hand away, she looked at Adrien. He was ashen.
"Did you? Did you see that too? I was - it was -"
He nodded towards her as she placed her earrings back into her ears.
"Have you had many of those?" Marinette asked him.
"A few. There was one where I thought we were cosplaying Ladybug and Chat Noir?"
"Really?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Obviously we weren't, we were just being us." He answered.
"Obviously," she repeated.
"Marinette, transform so I can heal you." Tikki interrupted, flying over from where she'd been greeting Plagg.
"What will I do about the doctors? They want to keep me here for a couple of weeks."
"I can heal you but keep the wound?" Marinette looked at Tikki. There was no way she could just come dancing out of the hospital. She was quite sure the news broadcasters would be all over this story.
"Ok. Tikki, spots on."
Adrien watched in awe as his beloved Ladybug appeared in front of him. He was an idiot to think anyone could reach the grandeur of the girl currently scowling at him.
"Wow!" He called as she dropped her transformation to become Marinette. "That's ... wow!"
"Pick up your jaw, we need to figure out what we're going to do now." Marinette stretched her leg, happy with the feeling. It felt almost new. She walked back to her bed and hopped on.
"I don't know if you want to start dating right away, I mean, I still need to speak to Kagami," as Adrien rambled away, Marinette's eyes widened. For once, they definitely were not on the same page.
Adrien's phone began to ring again.
Call from Shadowmoth
"Not us, dummy," she said before pointing to his phone, "that."
The object continued to blurt out its tone as they both, plus their kwami's, stared at it.
"Oh, yeah, sure, of course." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Of course she didn't want to talk about 'them' he'd messed it up good and proper. He would probably be alone forever now, and who would blame her.
"Listen, Adrien, we do need to talk about it, and believe me it's going to be a big talk. But right now I'm more bothered about stopping your father from killing me."
The phone stopped, before starting straight up again.
Call from Tom Dupain.
"Answer it." Marinette demanded Adrien. He reached down and picked it up.
"Hello?" His voice was shaky. Nervous.
"Your fathers been at the bakery this morning. The protection spell seems to be working, but Adrien, he's really not happy. He seems to be multiplying akumas."
Adrien rushed to Marinette's bedside table and grabbed the remote control. Pointing it at the television, he changed the channel to the live news broadcast and froze. There on top of the Eiffel Tower was Shadowmoth, in all his chrome glory.
"Oh look, he's making new friends," Plagg said, as akuma after akuma hit people.
"Looks like we need to plan, and quickly." Adrien said.
"Tikki, check the windows are locked. We don't want butterflies getting in here, and Adrien," Marinette turned to face her partner, "it looks like you'll be speaking to Kagami sooner rather than later."