MARINETTE

I fold the cold face towel in half before carefully placing it on his forehead. I brush some of his blonde locks away from his face before sighing in relief.

Adrien is starting to sweat.

Beads of sweat start to form on his face as he peacefully sleeps on one of the beds in the infirmary.

'Mari, your training is making him stressed. Are you progressing well?'

I shake my head, trying to erase what Alya whispered to me as we were walking beside Nino who was carrying Adrien to the infirmary.

"You can't rest well because of me?" I whisper while leaning on the bed. "I'm sorry...the only thing I am good at is bothering you all the time."

I look around the infirmary to check if we were the only ones inside at such a late hour. Everyone in the mutiny saw Adrien faint and now they have left him in my care. Seeing that no one is around anymore (they must have all gone to sleep) my hand inches closer to his and I gently hold it.

"Look at me," I whisper, "making a move at you only when you're not aware of it..." I softly giggle at myself. "I told you that you were not feeling well. But I didn't know that it was mostly my fault..."

And I can't believe that I'm going to betray you, Adrien, with such hands.

His hand starts to move and clench the sheets as he moves his head in his sleep. "No..." He mumbles in his sleep, "Don't shoot..."

"Adrien?" I utter softly. I shake his arms gently and try to wake him up. Is he having a nightmare right now?

"Don't shoot...Don't shoot her!" His eyes suddenly open and he shoots up sitting straight on his bed. Adrien's eyes open wide as he breathes heavily in cold sweat. And he starts to cough hard. I grab an empty bucket by his bed and I place it on his lap. He grabs it and brings it to his face before vomiting in it. He coughs out everything before returning the bucket to me.

I place the bucket on the floor. Then I grab a tissue to wipe his mouth. He lays his head on the pillow and starts to close his eyes again. "Adrien, you have to drink water first." I grab a bottle of water and bring it to his mouth.

He pushes my hand away but coughs again. "This is why you need to drink water, Adrien. Or else you might vomit again..." Finally, he gives in and allows me to help him drink water.

"You're still hot..." I mumble after touching his forehead. The cold towel isn't working.

"Haven't I always been?" He whispers while his eyes are closed but his lips are forming a weak grin.

"Are you really wasting your strength on trying to be cocky with me?"

"I'm not wasting my strength on you." He replies softly, his cockiness vanishing into thin air. "If it was another person, then I would be wasting my strength...but with you, I'm spending it wisely."

Even when you're sick and weak, you still know how to make me swoon.

I clear my throat and bring the blanket closer to him, wishing that my cheeks would stop burning red. "You should go back to sleep-"

"What time is it?"

"It's 10 minutes to three in the morning." I answer after looking at my wristwatch, "That's why you should go back to sleep." I feel his hot feverish hand on mine and I face him. "What is it now, Adrien?"

"You should also rest, Marinette. I was left in your care after the initiation, wasn't I?"

I don't say any word but my silence gives him a clear answer. He sighs and brings his hand back to his side. "I'm starting to worry over you, Mari-"

"Isn't that what I'm good at?" I interrupt him by asking the sudden question quietly. Daringly, I make eye contact with him. "I'm only good at making you worry all the time." I continue.

"That's not true." Adrien tries to go against my statements but I know the real truth he's hiding.

"The training you're giving me and my slow progress is making your body weak. In fact, you're going to miss another day of work later because your fever is not going down fast. So please, even if you are against it, let me take care of you."

He breaks his eye contact with me and looks down, deflated.

"This is why you should go back to sleep, Adrien. Before I continue to say more..."

"Will you be the first person I will see when I wake up again?" He whispers.

"I'll stay here. I won't let you worry." I tell him with all sincerity.

"Okay..." He says. "I'm counting on you." He continues after a while and he closes his eyes, falling into another deep sleep.

You're counting on me to do what? Take care of you for the day? Or expect me to fight alongside with you and the rebels?

Because the only thing that I am doing that's helping you is taking care of your sick self.

I'm sorry. I have to let you down.

---------

"May we see it?"

I shrug off the left part of my jacket and all of them huddle around to look at the fresh mark.

"Did it hurt?" Nath asks in concern.

Most of us, government soldiers, are in the shower room while those who volunteered to be on the look-out are outside.

I called for a meeting since I had to report something very important. Unfortunately, they were more interested with the new mark on me.

"Okay, I gave you the chance to see the mark but now you should stop looking at it." I hide it under my clothes and some of them quietly whined in dismay because of it. "Oh, don't you worry!" I exclaim, "You are getting your own mark too!"

They all gave me puzzled looks except Sabrina, a girl with blonde hair and big, curious eyes standing at the back. "We're joining the mutiny too?" She inquires.

Nath's eyes widen in realization and abruptly rests a hand on my shoulder. "Marinette. You can't be seriou-"

"How can we fight against them if we even don't know what they are preparing?" I nudge my shoulder away from him. "Yes, I'm serious. I told Lieutenant Agreste that I know people who would fit the mutiny as well as me. And those people will be most of you here." I stand straight with authority as I talk amongst them.

"And who will be those people? Who among us is the next to join?" One of the soldiers at the back asks.

"I gave a list to the Lieutenant already." I inform them. I grab a piece of folded paper from my pocket and hand it to Nath. "Here is the same list. Please be aware that we are doing this for the welfare of the government and for our nation's citizens. And please, be clueless if ever a member of the mutiny approaches you. Don't give your answer to them immediately, in short play hard to get."

All of them quietly nod in understanding but their faces show a different story. Most of them look scared.

"Trust me on this." I say slowly. "I know what I'm doing. And we'll guide each other along the way."

I look out from the only window that's very small in the shower room and notice that the other soldiers and nurses haven't exited the canteen yet. "Now go please. Before we get caught."

All of them exit in groups, talking amongst themselves. I know that they think I'm too ambitious. But nothing can work without ambition. Someone has to step up...and that person is me.

"We would have to tell Monarch about this." Nath utters beside me.

"I know. I will be the one to talk to him-"

"You are aware that people will get hurt, right?" He interrupts me with his bold question. "We are going to betray people we have become close with."

"I know." I say again. "Why are you worrying about this? Maybe you have forgotten that our main job is to help the government and to keep our enemies closer." I turn away from him and breathe heavily. "I'm being professional here."

"We're not stupid." He suddenly says quietly and I am taken aback by his statement.

"Yes, we aren't."

"I'm not including you in this, Marinette."

I turn back to look at with pure shock on my face. "Excuse me-"

"We all know how close you are with Lieutenant Agreste. I, with the other soldiers, have noticed it ever since it started."

"Adrien and I are not close." My eyes widen in realization because of my mistake.

"Did you hear yourself? Since when can you call your superior by his first name?"

"W-well, why do you care?" I sputter, "I'm not asking for your opinion-"

"Because I've seen you hurt already!" Nath suddenly exclaims and I am left shock with his outburst. "We've seen you hurt already." He continues after a while. "We've all seen how you changed when Monarch-"

"Don't bring that up." I spit out. "We are working with him right now and I'm doing my best to set aside my feelings of hatred for him. I'm being professional here."

"I hope you are." He says and dismisses the topic with a shake of his head. "You are our leader right now. We are all depending on you."

"And I'm depending on you too." I shoot back at him, "I didn't include your name in that list for no reason." I continue, now talking sternly. Nath responds by just smiling at me. "Wipe that stupid grin off your face."

"There's the leader we are looking for." He utters before giving me a slight bow of his head. "I shall go ahead. I'll see you, madam." He shows me a hand salute before exiting through the door.

Seeing him disappear through the door, I release an exasperated breath that I have been holding in for a long time.

"They think that I'm incapable of leading them well?" I scoff in anger, "Of course, my service to the government is my first priority!" I march to the door to catch up with my fellow soldiers. But a sudden thought makes me pause, my hand hovering over the door knob.

But my heart says otherwise.

My heart aches just by the mere thought of betraying my uncle...especially Adrien.

It's been years since the last time I have fallen hard for a man. And from all men that can make my heart race, it had to be an enemy of mine.

"What a great time to fall for a person with different beliefs."

Suddenly the door opens and I come face-to-face with Aurore taking a step back in surprise. "Oh, Private Marinette! What a surprise-"

"I-I just came from using the toilet." I stutter but in my head, I'm slapping and calling myself stupid.

"Well, you gotta do it when you gotta do it!" Aurore exclaims, taking the issue lightly. Thank God.

She looks around, checking if the coast is clear before leaning towards my ear. "Welcome to the mutiny, by the way." She whispers then points to the infirmary. "Adrien is awake now and he has been looking for you. It's good that I got to see you first. You should go to him." She suggests with that perky smile of hers. I smile back at her before moving out of the doorway for her to enter the room. I step out of the room and wave at Aurore.

"Thank you." I say.

"No problem. Now go! He's waiting for you!"

-------

I slowly and carefully open the door leading to the infirmary. I can't just barge in and notice that there are a lot of soldiers by Adrien's bed.

Thankfully, from afar I only see Adrien alone sitting up and eating his breakfast on bed.

"It's about time you came to see me." He says looking at his food while bringing a spoonful of rice porridge to his mouth. Suddenly, he drops his spoon on the bowl as he covers his mouth to violently cough into his hand.

I take long strides to grab the (now clean) bucket by his bed and place it under him. The bottle of water by his bed is left open, so I grab it and hover it near him just in case he needed it.

Instead of vomiting into the bucket, his coughs die down and he drinks water to clear his throat. I look at him worriedly the whole time he drinks water.

Not only am I worried over his condition right now, but I am worried over everything that is going on between me and Adrien. I know that I have to avoid him for my duty as a government officer but I like him so much...I don't want to leave his side.

And you know what is worse?

That like can turn into love in just a few weeks.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Adrien's voice laced with concern wakes me up from my daze.

"S-Sorry-"

"You must be thinking that I'm acting weird again, right?"

"What are you trying to say?"

He takes another swig from his bottle of water then places it on the tray in front of him. "The last time you tried to take care of me was when I scolded you and left you all alone in the bunker..." He looks down in shame, "I didn't even thank you."

"That's all over now, Adrien." I say as I grab the tray and bring it to a nearby faucet.

"No. It's not over for me. That was why I wanted you to be the only face I would see when I woke up this morning." He continues. "I wanted to apologize for what happened that day."

I turn away from my faucet to face him, "I told you that it's all over now, Adrien. It doesn't really matter any-"

"But it still matters to me." He interrupts and I stop because in his eyes, I see how much he cares about this topic. His eyes are pleading me to listen to him. "You are the only person I am willing to lower down my pride for. Because you have seen me at weakest points and I have been doing the stupid thing by pushing you away when in fact, I needed you every time. You knew how to make me feel worthwhile."

I go to him in an instant and wrap my arms around him. I sit beside him on the bed as he wraps his arms around my waist and we stay in that intimate position for some time. Then I pull away but our arms are still loosely around each other. I don't hesitate to run the back of my hand down his cheek. "It does not matter to me anymore because I have forgiven you ever since..."

"Is it weird to like you so much?" He suddenly whispers. My heart started to beat fast as he peers into my eyes. His arms tighten around me and his cheeks start to flush. "Or...is it wrong?" He gives me a look of longing and I cannot dare to speak at this moment. My heart longs for him also but...

But I do not know my priorities anymore.

"Tell me, Marinette." He continues, "Do you feel the same for me?"

------------

"Monarch, forgive me for saying this, but I am now part of the mutiny."

I hear nothing from the other side of the phone and I start to worry.

"Okay." The only word I hear from him.

"Just 'okay'?" I say on the phone, my voice skeptical. "I was expecting a more violent reaction from you...maybe a scolding or something."

"I'm not that strict, Mari. Plus, your initiation is done already. You've been marked, and now I am waiting for you to infiltrate their systems...unless you go against us."

"Unless I go against you? W-what do you mean? Are you testing my trust?"

What the hell is going on, Monarch?

"I know that you are calling me to tell about the list of names you gave to Lieutenant Agreste...but I have to tell you, the others told me about-"

"I know what they told you about." I sigh in annoyance and pinch the bridge of my nose. "Monarch, take note. I know my priorities. And I only have one."

Marinette, do you feel the same for me?

I shake my head to erase what happened earlier. Marinette, duties first. "All my hard work will be for the government only. My loyalty is for the government."

I hear Monarch hum on the phone, "We're counting on you." He says before hanging up.

The phone slips from my hand and lands on the floor. I feel uneasy as I lean on the wall behind me.

"Marinette, what are you doing to yourself?" I whisper and look up as the tears start to fall from my eyes. I close my eyes.

"Why must you want to be selfish now?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the most patient people on Earth, here is a new chapter for you! ❤️
And I hope you liked it!

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