Lol fuck me I just read an intense chapter of "You Don't Know Me" and I was very much crying and so I decided that I wanted to write a different kind of thingy (Seriously go read that story if you haven't already it's the fucking greatest thing in the world I love it)

I don't own Miraculous Ladybug.

GENERAL POV

"NO!"

Chat flew to the wreckage of the school building, ignoring the gathering classmates behind him as he began frantically pulling away the wood and metal that covered the prone body on the floor.

Fire flickered around him and singed his hair, and the smoke that filtered through the air was enough to push bystanders back, but Chat continued to dig, his claws scrabbling at the remains of the building.

"Come on, come on, come on," he gasped, tears prickling at his eyes. "You can't…"

His voice cracked and he heaved the last support beam off of the body, jumping into the cavity and crouching down next to it.

"Chat!" Ladybug shrieked from outside. "I need your help!"

He barely heard her, his trembling fingers gently running down the length of Nino's face, covered with cuts and bruises. "You stupid idiot," he choked out, gathering his best friend into his arms as carefully as possible. "I would have been fine."

Nino groaned and twisted in his arms, fingers clutching at Chat's leather suit. He swallowed his tears and clambered up to the surface, scanning the area until his eyes landed on Alya, who had dropped her phone to the pavement and was now sprinting for him, her face filled with horror as she locked her gaze on her injured boyfriend.

"Take him," Chat whispered as she approached. "Get him help. Please, Alya."

The pleading note in his voice made the girl hesitate, but she didn't say anything, merely helped Chat to shift Nino into her arms. He was heavier than she expected, but it wasn't anything the reporter couldn't handle. She pressed Nino's bleeding head to her shoulder and swallowed, nodding to the hero and watching as he reluctantly turned to help Ladybug with the akuma.

"Come on Nino," she whispered, turning and stumbling towards the edge of the crowd, searching for an ambulance. "You gotta stay with me. You have to stay with us."

His breathing hitched and stuttered and Alya stumbled, falling to one knee as the boy in her arms began coughing, body shuddering against her and spasming violently.

"Someone get me a medic!" Alya shrieked at the utterly useless bystanders as she settled Nino on the ground, keeping a blood covered hand under his head so that it didn't hit the pavement. In a lower voice, leaning over him, she managed to choke out encouragement. "Please Nino. You moron, you need to live, okay? Okay? For me, and for Chat, and Adrien and Marinette and your mom and…and me. Please. I can't…"

She trailed off, tears streaming down her cheeks as his coughing slowed, and she reached out and grabbed his hand, wrapping her fingers around it and drawing it to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to the back of his knuckles.

His glasses were shattered and his headphones that were so commonly around his neck were gone, his clothing torn and shredded and burnt. His head was bleeding far more than Alya thought was good for him and the skin over his ribs were turning an ugly black color that she didn't like.

Cheering rang out from behind her and seconds later Chat was on the other side of Nino, a palm settled on the boy's forehead and his eyes flickering with fear. "I need to get him to a hospital. The medics are all busy with other injuries," he informed Alya, his voice shaking.

"Adrien," she whispered, lifting her gaze to meet his startled eyes. "Just go, okay?"

He opened his mouth and then shut it again, pursing his lips together and nodding. "Okay. Okay. Thank you Alya."

"Bring him back to me," she whispered, swiping at the tears on her cheeks and leaving behind a trail of blood. "Bring him back to both of us."

Chat- Adrien- smiled sadly at her as he gathered Nino back into his arms. "I will," he promised.

He clutched Nino to him tightly and stood, using his pole to fling himself into the air and go flying over the heads of the people in the crowd. He had less than four minutes to get to the hospital two blocks away and get Nino inside before his transformation wore off, but he honestly didn't care.

Nino spasmed against him again and Adrien was forced to land so that he didn't drop him, breaking into a full on sprint, his tail flapping wildly behind him as he veered around the people on the sidewalk.

"Hang on, Nino."

The teen choked in his arms, blood coating his lips, and Adrien bit back a cry, speeding up. "Come on, buddy. You got this. You need to stay here because I am so killing you for pushing me out of the way."

A ghost of a smile flickered on Nino's cheeks and he coughed again. "Don't matter," he whispered against Chat's arm, voice hoarse. "You do."

"Fuck off with that," Adrien snapped, startling even himself at the anger in his voice. "You matter, Nino. Especially to me, especially to Alya. You're my best friend so don't you dare tell me you don't matter."

Nino clutched at Chat's suit and his eyes peeled open for a moment. Adrien almost sobbed when he saw the tinges of red at the corners and he swung around the corner faster than he should have, nearly slamming into a pedestrian and having to stop for one precious moment to regain his balance and direction.

"Adrien?"

He gave Nino a shaky smile and a nod and glanced up at the hospital doors, so close but too far for his liking. "Yeah. I'm sorry, Nino."

Adrien poured every ounce of meaning into his words, his breath short from running for so long, and Nino nodded slowly against him, pressing his forehead to Chat's suit.

"It's okay, man. It's okay."

Chat burst through the hospital doors as fast as he could, considering they were automatic, and the nurse at the front station scrambled upon seeing him. His ring beeped again, the paw print down to one toe, and he ignored it, instead settling Nino on the gurney they brought out and running alongside the doctors.

"You can't be back here, Chat," one of them snapped as they ducked into a back room.

He faltered, ears drooping on his head and chest heaving as the doors swung shut, cutting Nino off from his sight.

His ring beeped once more and Adrien barely managed to duck into a bathroom before his transformation wore off. He caught an exhausted Plagg in his fingers, which had specks of dried blood on them, and then sank to the floor in heap.

Plagg remained silent, settling on the boy's shoulder and leaning his head comfortingly against Adrien's neck, blinking sleepily and struggling to stay awake.

"This is all my fault," Adrien whispered, tugging at his hair angrily. "If I had gotten him out first with Alya, or if I had just been faster -"

"This isn't your fault," Plagg murmured into his ear. "Nino chose to save you. He wanted to. He's a good kid. A brave kid. Should've had a miraculous."

Adrien swallowed hard and brought a hand up to cup Plagg in his fingers and press him to his bowed head. "What if he isn't okay, Plagg?"

"He forgave you, Adrien," the cat reminded him, lifting a paw and swiping at a tear. "He's not mad. He did it out of love. He'll be okay."

Adrien sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks, and Plagg could do no more than press a tender hug against the palm of his hand. After a few minutes, his whiskers twitched and he glanced towards the door. "Ladybug," he muttered. "She's nearby. Probably in civilian form. I'm only saying so that-"

"Yeah," Adrien choked. "I know. I don't care anymore."

Plagg nodded once and flew into Adrien's shirt, and the boy shoved himself to his feet, washed his hands and face, and exited the bathroom to find Alya and Marinette talking to one of the nurses behind the desk anxiously.

Alya looked up and spotted him and her face crumbled as she ran around the desk and buried her head in his shoulder. Adrien brought his arms up around her and tugged her in close, resting his cheek on the top of her head and looking at Marinette, who was watching them with a sad gaze.

He smiled at her, eyes watering, and then rubbed Alya's back soothingly. Marinette moved to join them but stopped at their sides, offering her silent support. She cared about Nino, Adrien knew that. But she seemed to think the two of them needed each other more than they needed her. Which wasn't entirely true.

Adrien tugged a hand away from Alya and pulled open his shirt carefully, glancing around for cameras. "Marinette? Can you-?"

Plagg hovered there, his eyes sleepy and his body heavy, and Marinette's breath caught, her earrings glinting in the harsh hospital lighting as her hair swung. "Yeah," she murmured. "Yeah."

She clicked open her purse, revealing a bright red kwami, and they left after a moment, heading for a vending machine they had seen in the lobby.

"I'm sorry, Alya," he managed, shutting his eyes. "I shouldn't have-"

"Shut up," the reporter whispered, her arms tightening around him. "He's a dumb idiot who wanted to be a stupid hero and save the one guy he idolized. I probably would have done the same thing."

"You shouldn't," he spat out, shifting his hair out of his eyes. "I'm…stronger, in that suit. You guys aren't."

Alya shook her head against him and pulled away, her fingers clenching around his shoulders as she studied him. "Doesn't matter," she protested quietly. "When we can do something to help…we do something. He did. Don't be mad at him for it, Adrien."

Adrien shook his head. "I'm not," he said, his eyes flickering to the hallway where they had taken Nino. "He's my best friend, Alya. And if…something happens to him because of me…how can I-?"

"Because," Alya snapped, her eyes flashing with something akin to anger. "He did it for you, Adrien. You don't feel guilty about it. You fight back for him instead; you fight for him like he fought for you. That's how it goes."

He gazed at her for a long minute and then nodded, leaning down and pressing a brotherly kiss to her forehead. "You're right."

"Always am," she chuckled harshly, leaning back into the hug.

They stood there for a long time, and when the doctor finally came out of the back covered in blood with that look on his face, the one that made families sob and curse and threaten the doctors, Alya and Adrien clutched at one another like their lives depended on each other.

And in a way, Adrien guessed, they kind of did.

:)))))))