remember seeing her after i woke up.

everything was... blurry. misty. like a cloud had settled in front of my eyes and refused to move. then, in this mist, i could see colours. flashes of pink, grey, but what i remember most was blue. and someone, a girl, calling, calling out, "adrien, adrien, are you okay?"

who's adrien, i asked, my words rough and my throat dry as if i hadn't spoken in a decade.

and that was when i heard her breath catch and felt her grip on my hand weaken.

and then i fell asleep again.

~*~

i remember seeing a white ceiling after i woke up.

my vision cleared, at least. i could see corners and lines and where edges met. i also felt a weight next to me.

i tried to lift myself up, but faltered when i found how weak i was, like i hadn't moved a muscle against gravity in a century. the groan that echoed in the room was mine, i think. the weight shifted, suddenly disappearing as she jerked up.

"I'm awake!" she slapped a hand over her mouth, the sound resounding with a painful smack. "Sorry, you know how I fall asleep in class a lot," she said, giggling nervously before drifting off, eyes locked on me. "Oh... sorry, I forget you've forgotten."

her eyes, that's what i saw when i first woke up. eyes of impossibly bright blue, as blue as... as... as who's?

"f...forgotten?" i coughed, my throat not much better than when i had woken up earlier.

"Oh! Here, drink this." she handed me a glass, water probably. as i drank, she continued, and in her nervousness, her hands flipped around and twisted around her shirt and my eyes were drawn to the fidgety movement. "I'm Marinette, you're Adrien Agreste. You're 16 years old, and attend school with me. You were in this big... accident, involving an akuma-"

"what's an akuma?" i had to interrupt, the word was so unfamiliar. it was probably impolite, especially because she was probably the one who watched over me, but i had to know.

"U-uhm... they're kinda hard to explain. I'll get to them, okay?" she smiled, her lips stretching and pushing out her pink cheeks even more. it was cute, like a chipmunk, almost. without the fur. or the nuts. and her smile was full of compassion and empathy, absolutely no pity. he liked that. though, he didn't quite know why. "Anyway, you were knocked on the head pretty badly, and ended up with a broken leg and you got a couple of fractured ribs. So, you're in the hospital." she smiled again, but blushed bright before hurriedly adding, "In Paris, the capital of France, a country in Europe."

"i think i know about Paris." i laughed, letting the sound ripple from my chest... until it hurt. then i coughed again, which only made it hurt more.

"Here, drink some more water while I get the nurse." she pushed the glass towards me again before getting up out of her seat and moving towards the door.

"wait!" she turned towards me, expectantly. "umh... promise you'll come back?"

to my own ears, i sounded so pathetic, such like a lost little child in a huge world. i suppose, in a way, i was. but she just smiled, and damn if that smile wasn't so infuriatingly familiar, and she came back over and pressed her lips to my forehead. "I promise." she whispered, smiling into her red cheeks before she hurried out the door.

marinette.

m... Marinette. "Marinette." so familiar in the way it rolled off his tongue.

Marinette.

she had a nice name.

~*~ using capital letters to signify remembering stuff k guys so u don't get confused~*~

(reason why mar's words have capital letters is because he remembers her voice from when he first woke up)

"Okay, so. Remember when I talked to you about Nino and Alya?" Marinette bounced excitedly, grinning at me from where she stood in the doorway.

"yeah. my friends, right?" i sat up a little straighter, trying to stretch without pulling on my ribs.

"Well... I thought since you've run out of questions to ask about me, I'd bring them!" she stepped outside a moment and pulled in two people, a boy and a girl. "Adrien, this is Nino and Alya, the bespectacled dorks we love!"

"'scuse you, missy, but we are the cool ones, you two are the dorks." the girl moved a hand to her hip, flipping her soft curls over her shoulder as she smirked at Marinette. "don't let the glasses fool you!"

"yeah, dudinette. glasses so do not equal dork." the boy smiled lazily, adjusting his cap atop his head. "sup, dude. i'm nino, i'm your best friend who sits next to you in class."

i didn't really notice it, but they all used present tense when discussing me and what used to be. as if things were still that way. what if they weren't anymore? what if they couldn't be anymore?

adrien agreste might've been his best friend once, but i don't know if i can be.

"have you talked to him about ladybug and chat noir and akumas yet?" alya asked Marinette, pulling my interest. Marinette had mentioned the three topics before and had brushed off my questions, always promising she'd tell me later.

Marinette shook her head, still smiling brightly, but i saw how her smile was painted over with shiny fakeness, like a crystal cut like a diamond or a metal chain painted gold. it made me wonder, what was it about that topic that she so desperately wanted to avoid?

"wonderful! now i get to talk his ear off!" alya clapped her hands with an excited grin while nino shook his head in amusement.