Marinette's POV

Something felt off the moment I stepped into the classroom. I clutched the strap of my bag tighter and sneezed as I looked around. The room was empty, as expected. It was lunchtime and everyone was either at the lunchroom or at their house eating. The only reason I was here was because I had left my-

"Is this yours?" a familiar voice came from behind me. I squeaked and turned around quickly.

"A-Adrien?! W-what are y-you doing here?" He was holding out my sketchbook. I blushed a bright red, flustered.

"I saw you left this so I picked it up. I was going to return it during lunch but Alya said you came here to find it," his voice sounded horrible. Looking closer, I saw that he had dark circles under his eyes and his nose was red. Most of my nervousness vanished and concern took it's place.

"Are you okay? You look sick," I asked him, forgetting the sketchbook he was still holding out. He winced slightly.

"I'm fine," he obviously lied. God, he sounded awful. I shook my head and took his elbow.

"No you aren't. C'mon, you're going to the nurse," I told him firmly as I pulled him out the door. I felt my nerves come back as I realized- oh god I was touching him physical contact oh god he's warm oh god oh god- but Tikki gave a push of Ladybug from my clutch and I only turned bright red instead of completely losing it.

I pulled him down the hallway, but I let him go when he stopped protesting. We traveled in awkward silence. Adrien and I were kind of friends since we were assigned to work on a project together, and we even talked about non-project things. It's been hard for me, though, because whenever I talk to him, I freeze up and get really nervous because I have this HUGE crush on him and he's really cute and nice and cute and he's really smart and cute and polite and cute and-

"Marinette?" his voice rasped next to me and I jumped, my face probably redder than my Ladybug suit.

"Y-yes?" I squeaked, hands flying up to clutch each other.

"Are you feeling okay? Your face is really red," he asked. His voice was getting worse by the minute.

"I'm f-fine!" I yelped, covering my face with my hands. And then he sneezed. It was the most adorable thing I've ever heard IN. MY. LIFE.

"B-bless you," I whispered from behind my hands. He rubbed his adorable nose and nodded.

"Thanks," he breathed.

After what seemed like seconds, we reached the Nurse's office. I opened the door and held it for him, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shiver slightly. The nurse, Mrs. Chauve, immediately got up from her desk and hurried over.

"Both of you?" she asked with an accent.

"N-" I started.

"Yes," Adrien talked over me and I looked to him in surprise. Mrs. Chauve glanced at me and nodded to herself.

"The both of you have a cold," she declared. She went over to her records and asked me for my name. I gave it to her and she pulled out a card.

Going back to her desk, she dialed a number on her telephone. "Hello, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng? This is the nurse from your daughter Marinette's school. Yes, she seems to have a cold, so I'm releasing her from school. She can go home by herself? Yes, okay."

The nurse turned back to the pair. "Get your stuff together sweetie. And you, son?"

Adrien gave her his name and she dialed up his father. "This is the nurse from…"

I picked up my bag and sneezed quietly. I was about to leave when someone tapped on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder to see-eep!- Adrien. He gave me a wait-for-me look, and I nodded, my face red again.

Hand on the doorknob, I waited for Adrien's phone call to end. When Mrs. Chauve gave him the all clear, he picked up his own bag and my sketchbook. I opened the door and tried not to blush or stutter.

It was a simple matter to go to the locker room and grab my backpack, along with my phone. The only thing that made it harder was when Adrien sneezed again, and I hit my head on my locker door. His was on the other side of the room, so he couldn't see me, thank god. Clasping my bag shut, I closed the locker and slung my bag over my shoulder.

You can do this Marinette! You can talk to him. Just casually ask- my thoughts were interrupted when I heard another locker slam shut. Adrien appeared from behind the partition, sketchbook in hand.

"I believe this is yours," he said, flourishing the sketchbook and bowing slightly. I felt a twinge of deja vu. I don't think I've seen him do that before, so why did it look so familiar?

"T-thank you," I accepted the offered book and looked down. For a moment, we both stood there silently.

"Can I walk with you?" he asked as I sneezed again.

"Don't you have a driver?" his request was so surprising that I didn't even stutter. My eyes widened with surprise, and he shrugged.

"He went with my father on a business trip," he clarified, turning as if to walk to the door. I took a step with him, and just like that, we were walking. Together. Really close together, actually.

His arm brushed against mine and I turned an even brighter red, my eyes trained on the floor. I was in full panic mode. We hadn't had a conversation this long since the project, and I don't think I could handle much more. "Well don't y-you have anyone else to drive you? I-It's not like your h-house is empty r-right?"

"Well, Natalie would if she wasn't with my father," he mused. He glanced down at my confused face. "Natalie is his secretary."

"Oh," I nodded. "My parents are really busy running the bakery, there was a huge order for cupcakes. It's making them really stressed."

"How big was the order?" Adrien croaked. It brought me back to the fact that he really shouldn't be talking. I frowned at him.

"You r-really shouldn't be talking, you k-know," I told him.

"I'm fine," he protested. He coughed harshly, and I glanced at him in concern as we reached the front of the school.

"You're o-obviously not. From now on, you don't get to talk," I ordered firmly. I held open the door again, and he sneezed. As I followed him, I noticed it was cold outside with a frown. The sky was a dark grey color, and it looked like it would rain any minute.

"Fine," he sighed. I sneezed into my sleeve and shivered. A cold wind blew past us, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Adrien sway slightly with it. Alarm shot through me. Was he okay? Did he have a headache? Is he going to be alright?

"You know once, my dad had to bake a cake that looked like the Eiffel Tower," I mused. I glanced at Adrien and saw he had an eyebrow raised.

I rambled on, talking about nothing and everything. Sometimes he laughed, other times he shook his head at me. But mostly he just listened. By the time we reached his house, since it was on my way to school, I had practically told him my life story.

"Are you sure there are people home? You look worse," I had gotten more comfortable talking to him, and it was true. He looked just about ready to collapse. I was shivering, but he was swaying in the freezing wind.

"Yes..?" he really was a terrible liar. I whipped out my phone and shot a text to my mom.

Before I could lose my nerve, I walked past him to the front gates and said, "Then let me stay with you."

oOo

It didn't take much to convince Adrien in his current weakened state, and soon we were inside the cold, empty house. He went up to his bedroom to get in bed, and I split off into the kitchen.

It was massive, at least the size of the bakery's kitchen. And bakeries are pretty large. But at least I could recognize everything. Setting my bag down on the counter, I got to work, locating the fridge and finding everything I needed in the numerous cabinets.

"When I see your face (face, face...)

There's not a thing that I would change

'Cause you're amazing (amazing)

Just the way you are (are)

And when you smile (smile, smile...)

The whole world stops and stares for a while

'Cause, boy, you're amazing (amazing)

Just the way you are (are).

Yeah," I sang to myself as I worked.

And finally they were done. Two mugs of hot chocolate and a grilled cheese. Finding a bed tray, I loaded the small meal onto it and carried it up. Before we split up, Adrien had given me instruction on how to get to his room. It seemed my luck powers were still working, because I soon found a door with a name hanging from it. Adrien.

I took a deep breath and knocked. I wasn't nervous. Not at all. I heard him call,"Come in."

I opened the door slowly, balancing the tray with one hand. I walked into the huge room with my eyes wide and my face scarlet. I. Was. In. Adrien's. Room!

"Uh, I brought you, um, something to eat," I sputtered, taking the entire room in. There were windows all across one side, and rain pattered lightly against it. He had set up computer monitors in the corner, with the screens covering a good eight square feet. There was a second floor, with a fireman's pole connecting it, along with a spiral staircase. There were only books on the second floor. I stepped farther in and saw his bed behind the computer. There was a lounge, a foosball table, arcade games, two orange skateboard ramps, a rock wall, and half a basketball court.

"Thanks," I heard him rasp from the direction of the bed. Making my way around the computer, I slowly walked over to his bed. He was laying under the covers and was looking over in my direction. I turned an even deeper shade of red as I sat on the very edge of his bed.

"I-I thought I said n-no more talking," I tried to tease as I used the "legs" of the bed tray to balance it over his lap. He sat up, eyeing the grilled cheese hungrily. "You're room is… wow."

He chuckled weakly as he picked up the sandwich. "Thanks, I guess it is."

I picked up my hot chocolate in an effort not to stare at him. "I thought I said no talking."

"Okay, okay," he sighed as he bit into the grilled cheese. "But this is really good."

"T-thanks," I took a sip of my hot chocolate, relishing the way it warmed my entire body and soothed my throat. "Now be quiet."

I looked around and spotted a laptop on the coffee table in the lounge. Setting my hot chocolate down on the tray, I stood up and walked over to it. I glanced back at Adrien and saw him watching me curiously. I flushed and, gesturing to the laptop, asked, "May I?"

He nodded affirmative and I opened the lid. It woke up, logged in already. The desktop appeared and I giggled. It was a picture of Ladybug (aka myself) jumping over a gap in two roofs. I opened Chrome and logged in as myself. I brought the laptop back over to his bed. He looked on curiously as I went to my Google Drive, and then to a folder labeled "Movies".

"I have a couple of movies and stuff if you want to…" I trailed off as he chuckled. When I said 'few', I meant movies that weren't sappy romantic dramas.

"Do you have 'The Princess Bride'?" his voice seemed to be getting a little better, but it was still raspy.

"'The Princess Bride'? Let me see," I scrolled through the many videos that I had downloaded onto Drive. "'The Princess Bride' is an odd choice."

I felt him shrug next to me and I stiffened. While I was looking for the movie he had leaned closer to peer over my shoulder. "I like Westley."

"Me too," I admitted. "Here it is."

The movie loaded on the screen and began.

oOo

I reached out and tapped the spacebar, pausing the movie on the picture of Westley tackling the giant. Adrien shot me a confused look and raised an eyebrow.

"Where is the bathroom?" I was red asking him that. He pointed upstairs.

"The door has a bear on it," his voice sounded close to normal. The hot chocolate must have helped.

"Thanks," I was used to his company. I stopped stuttering around the part where Buttercup was kidnapped. I was still flustered though. At one point, I had unconsciously moved so that we were sitting about an inch apart.

I headed across the large space toward the spiral staircase. Adrien had long since turned off the lights, so the only light came from the windows. The storm was still going strong, and whenever it thundered, Adrien would wince under the blanket.

Heading up the stairs, I turned in the direction Adrien had pointed and saw it. It was a door with a yellow sign that had a black bear on it, for some odd reason. Inside, I let Tikki out of my over shirt for a breather.

"When I open the door again, you can fly out behind me, since it's dark," I told the kwami.

"Right! Are you okay? You've been red in the face since he first talked to you!" Tikki flew around to look at my face as I put my hands on the edge of the modern looking sink to stare at my reflection.

"I know. I wish Alya were here," I sighed, wishing I had brought my phone with me into the bathroom.

"Well you have to get back out there, Marinette. Adrien is waiting for you!" My little friend encouraged me further by sending a small push of magic.

"Right! I can do this," I straightened up and pumped my fists. Giving my appearance one last once over, I opened the bathroom door and peeked out. I could see the faint glow coming from the direction of Adrien.

"I'm back," I announced quietly as I sat back down on the edge of Adrien's bed. I turned to glance at him, but he was staring at the window with an agitated look on his face. An akuma?

My head whipped towards the large windows, but all I saw was the rain. It had gotten much worse, the rain practically beating down the window. Thunder boomed and lightning briefly lit up the room.

I felt a sudden pressure on my back and stiffened. I slowly turned down to look and my mouth parted in shock. Adrien had his face buried in my side, with his hands over his ears like a cat. He even whimpered softly.

"Are you okay, kitty?" My mouth moved by itself. I remember saying the same thing to Chat Noir when it had started raining on patrol. He had told me it was a cat thing and he hadn't been agitated by rain before he got his Miraculous and to please stop laughing, Ladybug. I felt Adrien recoil and looked down to see him blushing slightly.

"K-kitty?" he looked slightly scared. I blinked, I really hadn't meant to call him that. Seeing him like that made me think of Chat's nickname. I flushed even more.

"S-sorry! You j-just made me think o-of s-someone I k-know. S-sorry!" I apologized, looking away. "And it-it looked like something a cat would do."

"No, it's okay it's just you surprised me is all," he clarified, and pointed to the laptop balanced on his lap. "Movie?"

I nodded and sat back against Adrien's soft pillows, careful to stay at least two inches away from him. The movie started back up, and Westley and the giant, Fezzik, started fighting again.

oOo

Adrien's POV

She was asleep. Marinette was fast asleep on his bed, laying on her stomach with her face turned away from him, and she looked really peaceful. He envied that she was able to sleep in this weather. Everytime it rained badly like this, his Chat Noir side would flair up and make him act like a cat. When he had hid behind Marinette, she had looked down with a flash of recognition.

"Are you okay, kitty?"

That was a Ladybug line, he was sure that Ladybug had said the exact same thing when he had been hiding under a car from the rain. But surely Marinette wasn't Ladybug. They were too different from each other, Ladybug was confident and unshakeable, while Marinette was… less so, but still dependable.

Thunder boomed again, and Adrien drew himself into fetal position under his blanket, unconsciously curling closer to the sleeping girl next to him. The movie had ended a few minutes ago, but Marinette had slept through the last few scenes, he would tell her his thoughts about it when she woke up.

He liked to consider her a friend, and now they were even closer. Adrien gave a brutal sneeze, curling up even tighter. He closed his eyes. But what would happen tomorrow? Would they just go back to being acquaintances? Would she talk to him more? The boy knew she only acted like a nervous wreck around him, did he intimidate her? What had he done wrong?

He felt a shift on the bed. Opening his eyes, he turned to look over his shoulder at Marinette. She had also curled in on herself, and as Adrien watched, shivered. Feeling suddenly protective, he sat up and pulled the blanket out from under her, drawing it up to cover her shivering form. As he watched, a gentle smile graced her face, and, just briefly, Adrien could see her resemblance to Ladybug.

And then it was gone, replaced by the her peaceful expression. The secret superhero shook his head and laid back down, feeling Marinette's back against his own. The fever he had noticed before seemed to have stayed the same, and Adrien was feeling even worse because of the brutal rain outside. Abandoning his thoughts, he only closed his eyes once more, letting the dreamscape replace everything rational.