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What the hell was Hawkmoth doing here?!
Adrienne groaned as she dodged another swing of his sword (seriously, his cane had a sword in it?) and his swipe at her Miraculous. This is only the second time they had ever seen Hawkmoth in person; why was he suddenly here now? Fighting beside his-admittedly low-rate-Akuma. So low that she and Ladybug had split up, her focus on the Akuma while Adrienne distracted Hawkass.
“Give me your miraculous!” He roared, leaping at her again.
“My answer hasn’t changed from the past 50 times!” She yelled right back, scoring a hit on his leg with her staff, making him stumble. “No!”
A quick glance at Ladybug showed that she was handling it. Like always. She thought, a bit dreamily, paying for it as Hawkmoth landed a punch to her gut. All of the breath whooshed out of her but she was already using the momentum to kick away from him, doing a handspring to put some distance between them.
“Time to de-evilize!” Ladybug yelled, and Adrienne turned just in time to see her catch the butterfly, purifying it and sending it on its way.
She paid for that too.
She caught the glint of silver coming at her a bit too late, jumping back to dodge but the edge still caught her, slicing into her side and sending an arc of blood on the pavement of the Champ de Mars. The onlookers (who always turned up, despite their numerous warnings that it was too dangerous) screamed at the sight. She gritted her teeth, ignoring the burning in her side as she pivoted and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying away.
Her ring gave its 3-minute warning.
She pressed a hand hard to her side, trying to ignore the way it immediately became slick with blood. Ladybug landed next to her just as Hawkmoth was climbing to his feet. He took one look at the two of them, and the crowds with cameras around them, before leaping away. Ladybug was poised to follow before her earrings beeped their 4-minute warning. She sighed angrily, turning back to her.
“Looks like he-did he get you?” She became a bit panicked at the end, noticing the way Adrienne was clutching her side. “Yeah, justdo your thing.” She bit out, giving her partner a tight smile. Ladybug chewed her lip, giving her one more worried look before throwing her Lucky Charm, a picture frame, into the air with a cry of “Miraculous Ladybug!” The Ladybugs washed over the various debris, but not her. She was left still bleeding, and after taking a quick glance at the slice (more like a gash) it didn’t show signs of stopping any time soon.
“Chaton?” Ladybug asked, suddenly in front of her with a hand on her shoulder. “It didn’t work?!”
“Guess it only works on Akuma damage.” She chuckled. Her ring beeped its two-minute warning. “Chat-” Ladybug was visibly concerned, and Adrienne tried her hardest not to let any more blood drip and scare her Lady and the Parisians watching. She gave her a roguish smile. “I’m sure the suit will fix me up!” She held up her free hand. “Pound it?”
She still looked worried but returned the fist bump as her earrings beeped again. “Chat out.” She quickly saluted Ladybug and the civilians, turning and vaulting over a nearby building before anyone could catch sight of her wound. The suit would heal her; it always did. She just kept repeating that in her mind, using the sunset to distract her as she swung home. They’d have to remember that the cleanse didn’t heal injuries from Hawkmoth from now on.
By the time she finally swooped through her open window, it was almost dark, and she was much dizzier than she had been a few minutes ago. She landed just in time for her transformation to drop, thanking whatever Gods were listening that the fight was near her house. Plagg let out a soft ‘oomph’ as he tumbled to the ground, breathing heavily from the fight and probably starving. She tried to reach into her pocket for some camembert but the room spun, and she barely caught the edge of the couch as she fell to her knees.
“Kit? You alright?” He panted, dragging himself across to where she was kneeling on the floor. She brought her hand away from her side, and her vision swam as she saw the thick coating of blood on it. “Adrienne! You need to go to the hospital!” Plagg hissed, crawling up her thigh and swatting her arm. She took a ragged breath before peering down at him.
“The entire city saw him slice me. If I went to the hospital, he’d find me in minutes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was looking for me right now.” She gripped the couch with her clean hand, careful not to stain the pristine whiteness, and used it to haul herself to her feet. She tossed a chunk of camembert in Plagg’s general direction before stumbling off to the bathroom.
It took her much more fumbling than she’d like to admit to find her first aid kit, and she checked it quickly for everything she needed. “Peroxide, needle….merde!” She didn’t have any thread. She hung her head, using one arm to lean against the sink and the other to press against the gash. “Plagg!” She called.
He floated in with all his energy, still wiping cheese crumbs off of his face. “Thread. I need thread.” She groaned, pressing tighter against her side as it throbbed. “Check my father’s workshop. He’s gotta have some there.” Plagg spluttered in a way she had never heard before, zipping over until he was floating under her head so she was forced to look at him.
“Are you seriously going to try to stitch yourself up?!” He flailed his tiny arms around in a way that would’ve been funny if her vision wasn’t swimming.
“I don’t have a choice!” She hissed. “I can’t go to the hospital, my identity would be front-page news in an hour!”
“But-”
“Plagg.” She whimpered, trying to sound authoritative but failing as the pain took her breath away. “Thread. Please. Hurry.” He looked like he wanted to argue more, but his worry must have won out as he zoomed away, phasing through her mirror directly. She sucked in a breath to steady herself, before taking off her white button-up (which was amazingly free of blood) and following with her black shirt (that she’d definitely need to burn) leaving her in a plain black bra. The effort left her even dizzier, and she swayed before sliding down against the cabinet, leaning back onto and resting her eyes until Plagg came back. She didn’t have the energy for much else at this point.
“-it! Kit! ADRIENNE!”
She jerked into consciousness, not realizing she had fallen asleep or how much time she’d lost. The first thing she saw was Plagg’s worried face an inch from her eyes. He was holding a spool of black thread and the sight sent a shiver through her because she knew this next part was going to be astronomically harder. With another groan, she hauled herself to her feet. Shakily, she let her hair down and tied it into a bun.
She grabbed the peroxide first, sacrificing one of her white washcloths to a bloody fate. “Adrienne-how can I-” Plagg seemed lost for words for the first time since she’d known him. She could see the fear written on his face and couldn’t help the affectionate smile curling across her own. “Just. Just be here. I don’t want to be alone.” He set his face determinedly, floating up near her shoulder and silently encouraging her.
She wet the rag with peroxide and pressed it against her side.
She had to bring up her free arm and sink her teeth into it to muffle the scream she let out, trying not to break the skin even as the pain overwhelmed her. The last thing she needed was another injury. She rolled her head toward the ceiling, screwing her eyes shut as they overflowed with tears. The pain was excruciating, but she knew the worst was yet to come.
As quickly as she could she finished cleaning it out with an unsteady hand, dropping the ruined rag on top of her bloody shirt, sucking in a breath once it was done. Plagg was patting her shoulder, featherlight, and she knew he didn’t know any other way to comfort her. It was okay though; she meant what she said. Just having him here with her was enough. His presence was what was giving her the strength to do this. It reminded her of why she was doing it: her duty to Paris.
She looked up and caught a glance of herself in the mirror. Her normally tan skin was pale with blood loss, strands of hair slipping from her bun and only making the bags beneath her eyes more pronounced. Her ribs were nearing the point of sticking out and the skin around the gash was still smeared with some blood. The gash itself sat between her bottom rib and her hip, and she was really hoping it wasn’t as bad as it looked. She wanted to laugh at the picture she made. How the hell is this skinny 16 year old supposed to defeat a terrorist?
She looked down at the needle and thread, Plagg landing on her shoulder to stare with her.
If she thought cleaning it was painful, this was an entirely new level.
She could only stitch herself so quickly, so the drag of needle and thread through her skin, with no painkillers to speak of, was probably the worst thing she’d ever felt in her life. Plagg had to shove a rag in her mouth to muffle her pained yells. At some point she’d started crying, the exhaustion and stress and frustration of the day finally catching her when she least expected it to. She wanted to stop and just sob into the sink, but she had to get the stitches done.
After what felt like hours, she finally tied the thread off and taped a bandage over the whole mess. They certainly weren’t pretty, but they should do the job until patrol tomorrow. As if he were reading her mind, Plagg chimed in, “A few hours in the suit will heal it up nicely.” He was being unusually upbeat, and she knew it was for her benefit. She chuckled tiredly, pulling him into a quick nuzzle against her cheek.
“Thanks, Plagg.” She sighed.
“No problem, kit.”
___________________________
She got up the next day as if nothing ever happened, and only a truly trained eye would notice how her movements were careful enough to not tear her stitches. Plagg managed to swipe some weak painkillers from her father’s bathroom, and she took a couple before heading off to school. It took the edge off, but only just. She would just have to take it easy today; luckily, she didn’t have fencing.
She tried to act as normal as she possibly could in school, laughing and joking with her friends. Nobody really noticed the way she didn’t get up from her chair unless she absolutely had to or the way she walked more slowly than normal. Nino made a passing comment that she looked more tired than usual, but her deflection seemed to satisfy him for the moment.
Just until tonight. You just have to make it to tonight.
She repeated that in her head more than once throughout the day. All of her classmates seemed occupied with each other today and even Lila was going easy on her, thankfully. She didn’t know if she’d be able to deal with Lila digging her nails into her arm along with the fucking gash in her side. She did notice that Marinette seemed distracted by something (she gets that little furrow in her eyebrows when she’s worried about something. She asked Alya about it once but the journalist just looked at her like she was an idiot before sighing and walking away, not even answering her question.)
She knew her luck couldn’t last forever, but at least it lasted until the end of their last class. Their teacher finished early and gave them the last 10 minutes to chat until the bell rang. She was standing now, gearing up to leave in, she checked the clock, 7 minutes. She wanted to get out of the door as quickly as possible. The sooner she finished all her lessons today, the sooner she could transform and start healing up.
She was so preoccupied with planning her afternoon that she didn’t notice Lila until she had already attached herself to her, plastering herself to her (thankfully uninjured) side. She was babbling on something about their last photoshoot together that Adrienne couldn’t be bothered to even pretend to listen to. She was starting to feel slightly dizzy, and she checked the clock again. 5 minutes. When she was looking away from the clock she caught a glance of Marinette’s face. She was aiming an absolutely frosty glare in Lila’s direction, so Adrienne assumed the other girl must be lying about something.
She’d really have to do something about her soon. Marinette didn’t deserve having to live with-
She was pretty sure Alix or Kim had tripped just as Lila stepped in front of her. She couldn’t remember the exact details, but it was probably an accident. Someone had knocked into Lila, who had been sent (basically swooning) back into Adrienne, which wouldn’t have been a problem with how she was braced against her desk, except that, by some confluence of bad luck, her elbow had come back to hit her directly on her stitches.
The next couple seconds were blank because all she could remember was pain. Her vision whited out and the next thing she knew she was on the floor, knees cracking against the wood as she barely held herself up with one hand as the other grabbed at her side. It was growing wet.
Because of course that ripped her stitches.
Whatever sound she had let out must have been concerning, because in half a second the entire class was surrounding her. “Dude! You okay?” Nino had a hand on her shoulder, kneeling in front of her, Alya and Marinette peering over his shoulder with equally worried expressions. She had about a couple of seconds before the blood would be noticeable. She winced.
“Stomach cramp.” She groaned, dragging herself to her feet. “Bathroom.”
Hopefully, that embarrassing excuse would be enough to keep anyone from following her. If only the public bathrooms had locks on the entrances, but no such luck. “How are you going to fix that?” Plagg hissed from her shirt pocket. “I’ll just,” She peeled her shirt away from the gash slowly, carefully. “Wipe it and pad it until I get home.” It looked like only a few had torn, but she’d have to redo the whole thing. She whimpered at the thought, unsteady on her feet.
“A-adrienne?” The door creaked open and she shoved her shirt down fast enough that she grazed the gash, and had to bite her lip hard enough to draw blood to keep from making any noise. Marinette peeked her head around the door, and she plastered on a smile quick enough that Mari didn’t catch the wince.
“Hey, Marinette.” She tried to make the smile as genuine as possible. Of course, Mari had come after her; she was the kindest person Adrienne had ever met. Anyone who would forgive her so easily after thinking she was bullying her with gum on her seat was kinder than anyone deserved. Especially with how nervous the designer seemed to get around her. Another reason she hated being famous; she’d love to get closer to Marinette, but she obviously intimidated her.
“Are you okay?” She asked. Adrienne turned until her back was leaning against the sink, trying her hardest to look casual by crossing her arms across her stomach. “Yeah, it was probably something I ate.” She gave an embarrassed shrug. Marinette returned with a flustered smile, and an awkward silence descended over them. Adrienne really liked Marinette but at the moment she wanted nothing more than for her to leave so she could groan in peace.
The bell rang. The designer looked at the door, and then worriedly back at her. She tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Go on, I’ll be fine.” She waved her toward the door. She took a step back slowly as if she would’ve rather stayed with her, and the sight made her heart warm. They truly didn’t deserve Marinette.
“Alright, I-” She cut herself off, staring down at Adrienne’s outstretched hand, and she pulled back just a second too late. “Is that blood?!” She crossed the distance quickly, snatching Adrienne’s hand with surprising strength. “No, I mean-it’s fine.” She was the one stammering now, trying to back away but Mari all but pinned her between herself and the sink.
Marinette almost had her hand in a death grip, staring down at the fingertips that definitely had blood on them, no denying it this close. Adrienne’s breath was picking up, which definitely wasn’t good for her injury, but she knew Marinette was smart. If she saw the cut, it’d take her barely any time to put the pieces together, and just like that she would endanger one of her closest friends with her secret identity. How could she be so careless? She should’ve just gone straight home!
She was prepared to pull away if the other girl suddenly reached for her side, surely knowing exactly where the injury was unless she somehow hadn’t checked her phone or turned on her TV since last night. But Mari was frozen staring down at her hand, or more specifically-
Her ring.
Fuck.
It took her a minute to realize she was holding her breath, but this was it. There was no way Mari wouldn’t figure it out now.
She was completely still, before reaching a finger to skate across the unassuming silver ring. Adrienne was frozen too, staring at Mari’s face that was only an inch from her’s now. It was blank, as far as she could see, before she suddenly jerked her head to look back at her. Had Marinette’s eyes always been that blue? A blue that was so familiar, just like the dusting of almost invisible freckles across her nose. She’d never been this close to her before. Had she?
She was searching for something in her friend's face before her eyes ran over the black studs Mari always wore. At first glance, they just looked like plain black earrings, but on second glance, she could almost see it. She could easily see them turning red, dotted with little black spots. She felt all the breath leave her lungs. It felt like a puzzle she had been trying to solve for years was falling into place all at once.
Marinette was somehow always absent during Akuma attacks. Marinette had never been akumatized. They had the same eyes. The same hair. The same freckles she had seen dozens of times while Ladybug was carrying her or vice versa. Adrienne herself called her their everyday Ladybug. And the earrings she always wore. The only time she could think of Mari having taken them off was when-
Their Miraculous were switched.
She didn’t think anything of it at the time when she was Miss Bug, but now it made sense. They had both taken off their Miraculous for the photoshoot, that’s why Tikki had been nearby!
Adrienne brought up her free hand, shakily brushing Marinette’s bangs away from her ears. Those were definitely Ladybug’s earrings.
Marinette was Ladybug.
She couldn’t think of anything to say, and it looked like Mari-Ladybug-her Lady was in the same boat. She dropped the hand she was holding and slowly, carefully, pulled the bottom of Adrienne’s shirt up. Her injury was still bleeding sluggishly, and Marinette sucked in a breath at the sight of it.
“Oh, chaton.”
A slightly hysterical laugh left her throat, and she felt her eyes inexplicably fill with tears. “Milady?” She whispered. Please tell her she wasn’t about to cry in front of the love of her life. Marinette looked up with eyes that were so concerned and loving that she wanted to fall to her knees right then and there, the relief of finally finding her Lady overwhelming everything else.
“I think you broke her, Pigtails.”
“Plagg! They’re having a moment!”
Which was broken by the appearance of their Kawmis, suddenly floating next to them as if it was just another thing they did every day. Adrienne laughed wetly, scrubbing at her eyes to keep from making an even bigger fool of herself. “Tikki. Good to see you again.” Tikki smiled at her, and she could immediately see how she and Plagg were Yin and Yang.
“Minou…” She was looking at her wound again. “I thought the suit would heal it!”
Plagg answered for her. “We didn’t have enough time and I was too tired to fix it last night.”
“I just have to wait until patrol tonight. I’ll be fine, bugaboo.” She sent her best reassuring smile to Marinette. Her Marinette. Her Lady, who was currently saying something to her, but she was too distracted by the butterflies engulfing her. Hawkmoth himself could burst through the window right now and she still wouldn’t be able to tear her eyes away from Marinette.
“-should be able to fix this for you. Adrienne? Are you okay?” Those worried blue eyes were turned back on her, and she had definitely lost more blood than she thought because she could feel her face curling in a dopey grin.
“Okay? Am I okay? I’m fantastic!” She reached down to take both of Mari’s hands in hers. “It’s not every day you find out one of your best friends and the girl you love is the same person.”
Marinette squeaked, her facing turning almost as red as her suit as she looked away. Adrienne sighed, dropping the other girl’s hands. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve made it clear you have feelings for another girl, and I don’t-”
“You!”
Marinette nearly yelled it in the deserted bathroom, the sound echoing off the walls and back at them. “W-what?”
She turned even redder, if that was possible, but got that steely look in her eyes whenever she was about to do something really reckless, or something really brave. “You’re the other girl I have feelings for.” Her face was still burning but she wasn’t hesitating to meet her eyes and suddenly, Marinette was the confident one, and Adrienne was speechless.
I passed out from blood loss. There’s no way I’m this lucky.
Marinette started giggling. Oh. She must’ve said that out loud.
“You did.”
Fuck.
Suddenly, she started laughing. Mari was looking at her like she was crazy, and she looked a bit hurt, so she hurried to explain. “Sorry, it’s just-” She chuckled again. “We’ve been in love with each other this entire time and we didn’t know it!”
She joined her in her giggling, and for a moment they could forget about being superheroes.
For a moment.
An explosion rocked the building, and she could hear the screams of all of the students left in the building, overshadowed by a deep voice. “I am Star Student, and you will never give me a failing grade again!” Adrienne sighed. “He can never just take a day off, can he?” She griped as their Kawmis floated back over to them where they had been chatting by the window.
Marinette reached out like she wanted to touch her wound again. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
She smiled at her Lady worrying about her, her injury the last thing on her mind. She took her hands again, stepping closer and softly kissing her on the cheek. “I’ll be fine, princess.”
Mari touched her cheek, looking somehow flustered and argumentative at the same time, but eventually, she nodded, pulling away. “Let’s get to it, kitty.”
“Tikki, spots on!”
“Plagg, claws out!”