Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Chat stumbled through his bathroom window, sweating and covered in blood. Marinette's limp body was pressed tightly against his chest. He hadn't let his grip loosen the whole time he ran, but now that he felt safe at home, he let his fingers slacken. He tossed his baton into the bone-dry sink, which sent it spinning in circles before stopping at the bottom of the bowl. Bowing his head in exhaustion, Adrien reached up to his face and took off his black mask. It was shredded on one side while the other half was stained with blood. Clutching it in his hand, he stumbled to the bathroom door and opened it.

Someone let out a surprised cry. Adrien's head shot up and he took a step back, his grasp tightening on Marinette. He was ready to fight again.

"Dude, what are you doing?!" Nino exclaimed, coming out of his hiding spot from behind the couch. It appeared as though he had jumped there when Adrien had opened the door. His eyes fell to Marinette's broken body. His face paled. "Oh no..."

"Nino, I need your help," Adrien said, his eyes pleading with his friend. "We need to get Marinette to a doctor." He turned away and walked directly over to his bed. With as much caution as possible, he set Ladybug down on her side and pressed his left hand against the wound on her back.

"But... but how did you get out of the arena without being seen?" Nino asked as he came over to the foot of the bed.

"We didn't. The Game Master discovered us as we were escaping, turned one of our friends against us, and disappeared before I could get to him." Adrien turned to look up at his friend. "Fetch some gauze, hydrogen peroxide, a knife, and as many towels as you can."

Nino nodded and immediately left to get the supplies. Once he was gone, Adrien looked back at Marinette. Her face was ghostly pale and it almost seemed as though her skin was transparent. After taking off his blood-stained gloves and tossing them onto his side table, Adrien knelt down beside his bed. He lovingly brushed his fingers across her cheek. He could feel her slight breath tickle his thumb, but other than that, he didn't receive any response from her.

"It'll be okay, My Lady," he whispered. "You're going to get better, don't you worry."

Marinette didn't make the slightest of movements, except for taking in a deep breath. Adrien's eyebrows raised in surprise and he leaned in.

"Mari, can you hear me? Can you move?"

She didn't respond. Just then, Nino walked in, his arms full of towels and a bag full of the other things Adrien had requested swung on his wrist.

"Is this enough?" he asked.

Adrien nodded and got to his feet. "Yes, this should be plenty." He turned back to look at Marinette. "I may not be a certified doctor, but this will be the best I can do for her, for now, at least." He bent down and carefully pulled her arms out of her sleeves. He then, with as much caution as possible, peeled her jacket off of her back. He tossed it aside and held out his hand.

"Knife," he ordered.

Nino dropped the towels on the other side of the bed and stuffed his hand into the bag that dangled on his arm. He pulled out the pocket knife and handed it to his friend. Adrien took it gratefully, then came around the side of the bed and grabbed the bottom of Marinette's shirt.

He closed his eyes and muttered, "I'm so sorry, My Lady."

Then, he gripped the knife tighter and cut the shirt from bottom to collar. It stuck to her body at first, but after Adrien requested help from Nino, the two were able to remove the cloth from around the wound.

"Hold it there," Adrien ordered. Nino did as he was told and held the shirt away from her skin. Adrien ignored the fact that he was staring at Marinette's bare back and got to work. Avoiding her bra strap as much as possible, he used some of the towels to wipe off the blood. Part of him felt bad for ruining his father's new white towels, but this was an emergency. They could buy new towels. Marinette only had one life.

Together, the two boys took care of Marinette. Adrien cleaned her wound with the hydrogen peroxide while Nino cleared away the bloody towels so they didn't make a bigger mess than they already had. As Adrien wiped away the bubbling peroxide, he realized something.

"Nino," he said, "you didn't seem at all surprised that I was Chat Noir."

His friend chuckled. "Bro, I discovered your secret literally minutes before you arrived. Call it my best friend instinct." His smile faded and he looked down. "Although, I was kinda upset that you didn't tell me about it. I've been your friend for a long time, man, and I thought you trusted me with your secret. Like, dude, I risked my job - maybe even my life - so you could eat."

Adrien paused, his hand stopping a few inches above Marinette's back. Guiltily, he dropped his head. "I'm sorry, Nino. I didn't want to put you in danger, and I thought I could handle things all by myself. Now I realize..." His gaze drifted to Marinette. "I... I can't do this on my own."

Nino put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's okay, buddy. I don't blame you. It was hard, and I can understand."

Adrien nodded, grateful that Nino was able to sympathize with him, no matter how small it was. As the two friends were bonding, however, Marinette groaned quietly. Adrien's attention immediately switched back to her. She moved, her arm shifting on the bed.

"C...chat..?" she called out.

Adrien and Nino met gazes, frozen on the spot. Nino motioned with his gaze like, Dude, say something. Tell her the truth.

Adrien bit his lip. After taking a deep breath, he came around the bed and knelt down next to his partner. He gave her a compassionate smile.

"Hi, Marinette."

Her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. Her cheeks went bright red.

"A-Adrien!" she exclaimed. She attempted to scramble away from him, but as she sat up, she let out a cry of pain and crumbled back down onto his bed. Adrien rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't push yourself too hard, okay? You're really hurt."

"But w-where..." Marinette's gaze landed on his chest, just realizing that he was wearing a familiar leather jacket and dark wash jeans. They were stained with blood. She flicked her gaze up to Adrien's hair. One high-tech ear sat on his head, lopsided and sparking.

"Y-you're..."

He nodded, dropping his chin. "Yes, I'm Chat Noir... I just... I couldn't stand back and watch you fight for me and... well..." He rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know how to say this without sounding creepy, but I fell in love with you. I couldn't stand the idea that I would be forced to marry someone else when, well... you were the person I wanted to win."

Nino came around to Adrien's side and put a hand on his shoulder. "I think you should explain what happened to her and then you can spill your heart, buddy."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He looked back at Marinette and smiled. "Everything's going to be okay. You're in my room. Nino and I were just patching you up after I got you out of the games."

Wincing, Marinette shifted into a sitting position and she looked around. "But... w-where's Fox?"

Adrien's smile faded and he glanced at Nino. His friend was looking at him too. Sighing, Chat dropped his gaze to the floor. "He didn't make it..."

Marinette whirled to face him. "What?"

"He's gone, Ladybug..." Adrien flicked his gaze up to meet hers. "The Game Master found us and turned Nathanael against us. I don't know how he did it, but... I had to fight him." Marinette turned to face him completely as he continued. "You were out cold, dying on the floor, and I just... I couldn't do anything else. I fought him. I was able to bring him around for a few minutes and in that time... he..." Adrien bit his lip, trying to hold back his tears. "I... I was horrible to him... In the arena, we were always fighting and I just... I feel so bad now that he's... he's..."

Marinette moved forward off the bed and dropped to her knees. Adrien was confused, but she threw her arms around him. She squeezed him in a tight hug, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're okay."

Adrien blinked, but his expression softened and he melted into the hug. He wrapped his arms around her and the two shared a teary embrace. Adrien lifted his hand and ran his fingers through her short hair. He started to cry.

Click.

He looked up through his blurry vision to see Nino snapping a picture of their hug on his phone. His friend spread his hands.

"What? It was a cute moment, okay? Besides, we don't have a lot of time to be all lovey-dovey. Thought I would save this for you later."

Adrien rolled his eyes, then pulled away just enough to look into Marinette's eyes. "I have to admit, Nino's right about one thing; we don't have time to spare. We need to get you to a doctor."

She nodded, then dropped her head onto his shoulder for support. It appeared as though she was having a seriously hard time trying to process what was going on. Adrien wrapped an arm around her then looked up at Nino.

"How much has happened since I left?" he inquired.

His friend rubbed the back of his head. "Well... to be honest, bro, I'm not sure you're going to like it." Adrien waited, staring at his friend until he continued. Nino sighed. "They announced the winner of the Miraculous Games."

Both Adrien and Marinette froze. They glanced at each other, then turned their shocked gazes to Nino.

"What...?" Ladybug asked.

"I'm with her on this one," Adrien admitted, completely dumbfounded. "How is that even possible? We were the last ones in the arena after Fox and I took out Panther."

Nino shook his head sadly. "There was one Charm left when the connection came back on. It was Queen Bee, Chloe."

Marinette's fists clenched Adrien's leather jacket. He looked down at her only to find her glaring at the floor.

"That demonic p-pest..." she muttered. "She d-didn't even fight."

"I think we can deal with that later," Adrien stated, trying to sort out their priorities. "What about the Game Master? Has there been any news about him?"

Nino shook his head. "Not that I've heard."

"What about the P-President?" Marinette inquired. "If he figures out that w-we escaped, he'll send the G-Game Master after us."

"We need somewhere to hide," Adrien agreed.

"But where?" Nino asked. "Bro, the entire country is still on the lookout for you. It's not like you can stroll out in public like it's no big deal, man."

Marinette furrowed her brow. "Then we need some help too..."

Nino smirked and folded his arms. "I think I already got that covered."

Adrien looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

His friend smiled and leaned against Adrien's bedside table. "When I figured out that you were Chat Noir, I made an immediate phone call. I figured that since you were trying to protect Marinette, she was hurt somehow, and if things went really far south, I wanted to contact someone for help." He reached into his pocket and brought out his cellphone. He held it up proudly. "I called Marinette's parents. They should be on their way, along with one of her friends."

"Alya," Marinette immediately said.

Nino shot her a finger gun. "Got that right, dudette. They should be here in a few hours."

"But we're going to need more help than that," Ladybug insisted.

"Who else out there would be willing to help us?" Nino asked.

Adrien snapped his fingers. "I've got it. Marinette," he looked at her, "I'm going to take us to the training center for the Charms. Nino," he turned his attention to his friend, "I need you to stay here and make this room look like, well, like someone murdered me."

His friend raised an eyebrow. "You want what?"

"Make his room look like a crime scene." Marinette pointed to the bloody towels. "Use those to your advantage and the knife. It should be enough to convince the President and the media that Adrien's dead. Then, not so many eyes will be on the lookout for him."

Nino shrugged as if the whole explanation had just gone over his head. "I dunno what the heck that will do to help us, but whatever, dudette."

Adrien carefully helped Marinette to her feet. "Do you think you'll be okay if I carried you?"

She smiled then kissed his cheek. "Only if you don't do anything reckless."

His cheeks flushed a bright pink. For a moment, he wished he had his mask on to hide the blushing, but when he saw that her cheeks were touched with pink, he couldn't help but smile.

They had survived. Now, they needed to conquer.

---

*shoves fluff in your face* 

There you go. There's my Christmas present to you guys. 

Speaking of that, Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Whatever-You're-Celebrating everyone! I hope you guys are a having a wonderful weekend spending time with family. 

I thought I would drop this update today, Christmas Eve, before I went off and drowned myself in family/food/presents. 

Updates will be a little delayed, since I will be off socializing, but don't worry! I have the next few chapters planned out and I can't wait to give 'em to ya.  (Can you tell I was so excited to write some really cute fluff in this? Can you? Can yOU? CAN YOU?!)

And yes. You're welcome. The reveal has happened. I just hope it was good enough to reach your expectations of the sacred event, haha. 

Now, onto my favorite comments.

Favorite Comment(s):

By: keverbloom

clover, no amount of finger guns will fix my emotions.

And

I LET YOU INTO MY HOME AND THIS IS WHAT I RECIEVE???

For those of you who are confused, this is my best friend. We were hanging out yesterday, and while I was writing, she was commenting. And I was dying as I read her comments. Anyway, go give her some love. She's an amazing person and I love her so much. 

And, as always, have a Miraculous (holi-)day!