There were some technical difficulties with the update: thanks to Synsoflove for pointing it out! Sorry if you guys couldn't read the chapter before, but it's up and fixed now. Enjoy!

Adrien was in major pain.

His shoulder burned and there was blood all over him. It was kind of disgusting and sad at the same time. How did a tree manage to do this to him?

Adrien was still lying down were Ladybug had left him, listening to everyone exchanging relieved sighs and thanking Ladybug. No one really noticed that he was gone. He couldn't move without searing pain shooting through every nerve ending in his body, and Ladybug had told him to just wait. She would send someone.

Who was she sending? Would it be an ambulance, or someone they both knew? He really hoped it wasn't an ambulance, because how was he supposed to explain that his mask just wouldn't come off? He also didn't want it to be one of their friends, because how would he explain everything if they figured out who he was? The only person he was comfortable with while being Chat Noir was-

"Chat Noir?"

Marinette.

Adrien pushed his head up, blinking several times to focus his eyes. There she was, leaning her head around the corner of the building. Her eyes were wide with worry.

"I, uh... Ladybug told me to come here," she looked nervous. "Are you okay?"

Adrien wanted to reply with sarcasm, but he could barely even open his mouth. So he grunted out a no.

Marinette stepped toward him and he saw that she wasn't hurt. A rush of relief drowned the pain for a second. "I'll take you back to my place," she rubbed her hands against her jeans, bending to pick him up.

Adrien didn't exactly love being woman-handled like this, but he didn't exactly have a choice. She carefully slid her arms under him, pulling Adrien up. He was surprised at her strength: she picked him up like he weighed nothing at all. And when she walked with him in her arms, she didn't stumble or lose balance.

Despite himself, Adrien couldn't help how his head turned into her neck once he caught the scent of her skin. He breathed in a shallow breath, noticing how the muscles in her neck tensed.

"I'll have to carry you all the way back," Marinette swallowed. "Sorry it's so inconvenient."

Adrien didn't speak, he nodded into the crook of her neck, feeling the soft skin heat up. This was a different feeling. The Marinette he had now grown accustomed to as Chat Noir was seductive. She knew exactly what he wanted and how to make him go crazy with need. The Marinette he knew as Adrien was a jumpy bundle of nerves, but that was only when he was around her as Adrien. Marinette rarely had to feel embarrassed or nervous around Chat Noir; it was almost as if she pulled extra confidence out of nowhere.

Kind of like how Adrien was so different from Chat Noir. Right now, Marinette was silently freaking out, he could feel it in the way her heart beat against his arm even while she was just walking.

They passed streets where confused pedestrians stood, wondering what the heck it was that they just saw. Marinette made sure to stick to the darker paths, where the closest person was ten feet away and to them, Chat Noir looked like a black garbage bag. The entire silent walk back to Marinette's house had been detours through alleys and probably illegal trespassing across building courtyards.

Adrien was familiar with all of these paths, as he had taken all of them at least once before today.

"We'll go in through the back," Marinette shifted him in her arms, to pull a set of keys from under the pot of a hanging plant. She slid the key in the lock and the door opened with a click. Adrien felt the muscles tense and relax as she carried him silently up the ladder to her room. Adrien couldn't help but be amazed at how easily she carried him- where did she get this kind of strength from?

Once they were safely in Marinette's room, she set him on the floor by her table. "I don't want to get the bed dirty," she wouldn't look him in the eyes. "Just... Just sit still so I can clean out the wound."

Adrien wasn't exactly going to go anywhere, not with a possibly dislocated shoulder and several cuts, but he bit back the sarcastic response he had ready. Silently, Adrien watched Marinette search her room, coming back with bandages and some alcohol pads. This would sting a lot, he could already feel it.

"Close your eyes and think of something else," Marinette instructed, tearing open the first of the pads, moving his suit away from the cuts. "To distract yourself from how much this is going to hurt."

But what else would Adrien focus on when his distraction was right in front of him, so close that he could feel the heat from her hands? What else would Adrien even want to think about when the girl he spent his days and nights thinking of was here already? He was no stranger to pain, but Adrien didn't even feel the stinging of alcohol on torn skin. He was drawn in by her downcast eyes. Why wouldn't Marinette look at him?

Did he do something wrong?

Adrien's tongue felt less like a slab of lead and more like it was swollen. "Mari?"

Her head snapped up so quick, he thought she pulled a muscle. "What's wrong? Does it hurt too much?"

Concern filled her eyes and her hands hovered right over his shoulder. "You didn't even start," Adrien slowly tested the strength of his voice. "But are you okay?"

Marinette looked back down, nodding. "Yeah. I managed to find a place to hide. But you... You were a bit too careless, don't you think?"

Despite himself, Adrien snorted. "That's kind of my job. I'm mainly the distractor." The words came out bitter and Adrien didn't know if he meant them like that.

Once again, his friend stopped and glanced up from under furrowed brows. "What is that supposed to mean? You don't think you have a real job on the team?"

"No, no," Adrien started to shake his head but stopped as the motion caused spots to explode in his vision. "I didn't mean it like that, it's just- I'm the one who usually gets the bad guys ready for their ass whooping, y'know? I tire them out for Ladybug. It's just what I do."

Marinette pressed the swab onto his raw skin, eliciting a sharp hiss from the boy. "So you're saying Ladybug can't handle a bad guy on her own."

"No, of course not!" Adrien's eyes widened and he felt his skin grow warm. He would never even think of Ladybug as weak! "I didn't mean... You're not being serious, are you?"

There was a pause and Marinette's face broke out into a wide grin as she burst out into laughter, the kind that shakes your entire body and has you gasping for breath. She dropped the swabs and had to grip the edge of her table for support. "Of course I'm not! Oh, you should see your face- it's as red as Ladybug's suit!"

Adrien stared at her in disbelief, watching as she tried to collect herself, bringing in all the giggles and hiccups of laughter. It was a simple joke, but the way she laughed at it like it was the funniest thing in the world made something warm bubble up in Adrien's stomach. The way her ears turned bright pink, the way dimples formed on her cheeks, and the way her eyes turned into little, dark, curved lines sent waves of happiness through him. Suddenly, he realized something.

He wanted to keep her smiling like this, for as long as he could.

But just as soon as the thought crossed his mind, another took its place. What about Ladybug? Did this mean he was over his little crush on her, if that's all it was? Did this mean he was ready to be seen by her as just a friend? After all, Ladybug never seemed to return his feelings for her, so what was the point of dragging it on for so long? In all honesty, Adrien didn't know what Marinette thought of him. Friend? Mattress-hopper? Charity case?

"Chaton, stop pouting," Marinette playfully tapped him on the leg with a roll of bandage. "I was only joking. Don't take it seriously."

Adrien hadn't noticed, but while she was laughing, Marinette had also cleaned the blood off his chest and face. His nosebleed was gone, replaced by a throbbing in his heart. "No, I get it. It's okay."

His friend looked at him for a second longer, and he didn't know why. Then she turned away to put the supplies back into a box. "See if you can get up and move a bit."

Marinette got up and busied herself with replacing everything to where they were. Adrien didn't want to move, he wanted to stay where he was with her close again. He wanted to be able to touch her skin, even out of uniform. He wanted to run his fingers through the fine strands of her hair, even if they weren't lying side by side on a mattress. He wanted to feel her heart beat through his chest, not only in the dead of night but also when the sun rose high above the horizon.

Adrien pushed himself up, testing his weight on his legs. They felt fine. He moved around, using the walls for balance. Through it all, he wanted and he wanted and he wanted. And usually, Chat Noir had no problem getting what he wanted.

But the real question was, what about Adrien Agreste?

"Is everything good?" Marinette called from the other side of the room.

"Oui," Adrien mumbled, caught up in his mental pacing. He didn't realize that his suit was hanging off his body at the waist, he just stared at a spot on the wall, burning a hole in it in his mind.

"Are you tired?" she finished stacking boxes and turned around, leaning against the table. "Do you want anything to eat?"

It sounded a bit silly, but the first thought that popped into Adrien's mind was that of the bakery's croissants. But he didn't feel it was right to just ask her for them. "No, I'm fine."

Which, really, was a lie because the last meal Adrien remembered eating was dinner the night before, which consisted of a mostly leafy salad and water. According to his father, Adrien had been gaining some weight as of late and he was put on an even stricter diet. Adrien hadn't even eaten his meager lunch of another salad, except this time with added cucumbers. Just thinking about food made his stomach threaten to protest starvation.

Marinette nodded and for a second, her eyes lingered on her bed, but they darted back to Adrien's, as if she didn't want him to catch her looking. Images flashed through his mind like scenes from a movie. Scenes of the both of them sharing that bed, tangled in each others arms, listening to each other's soft breathing. Adrien wanted that now, not as Chat Noir and not as part of the agreement, but as daily occurrences. He didn't know if she felt the same way, and it gnawed away at him from the inside.

She was all he ever thought about, the focus of his attention. As Chat Noir, he could get away with that. He could get away with visiting her at the most indecent of hours during the night. He could get away with touching her, feeling her, breathing her in and not letting her go. Chat Noir could get away with loving Marinette in the way Adrien never could. Not until he becomes sure of her real feelings toward him.

And from one look at her pink cheeks, Adrien understood that he wanted the same thing that ran through her thoughts a this moment. But he shouldn't, and he couldn't, so he just shook his head and turned his attention to the balcony door. "I should get going. Gotta... recharge."

In the reflection on the glass door, he saw her nod slowly, even though she looked unsure of letting him go so soon. But he knew that they both understood why this wouldn't be the best time to stay. Her hands were clasped in front of her, a sign that she was nervous. For a moment Adrien lingered, gloved hand hovering over the doorknob. What was he waiting for? For Marinette to call him back? For her to lead him to where he so desperately wanted to be, for her to hold him?

Mentally chiding himself when several moments passed in silence, Adrien gripped the knob and opened the door, slipping away into the afternoon and deciding to leave this episode behind him. The door closed shut behind him with a soft click.

It wasn't that he wanted to forget what just happened- Adrien was very grateful that Marinette found him in time. He was just caught off guard by the intensity of the emotions she made him feel. His realization was so sudden, it kind of spooked him.

Adrien didn't get it. How was it even possible for someone to make him feel this way? How can someone turn his mind against itself like this? Inside, Adrien knew what he was doing with Marinette was wrong, and he felt guilty about it all. But at the same time, Adrien wanted more. He didn't want to stop, and it felt good. Their late nights were like a drug to him now, a way to wash away all the stress and anxiety being at home brought him. At first he had limited himself to visits only when he felt like he just really needed to let go.

But because he felt like that so often, Adrien found himself always coming back for more. He couldn't stop, and heaven knows he's tried. Its like withdrawal.

At this point, he needed her. So in a situation like this, the best option for Adrien would be going home and resting. Plagg would need some time to recuperate as well.

And right now, both of them needed some good food.