Os Tincoãs - Deixa a Gira Girar

Plagg and Adrien talk. Émilie and Adrien also talk.

As soon as he materialized, Plagg crashed against his chosen's cheek, his small paws hugging Adrien's face in what would be a crushing embrace if Plagg wasn't such a small being.

"Adrien! Oh, kid, he renounced me! That man had the nerve to steal me from you! Oh, when I get him, I…" the words got stuck in his throat as Plagg took a good look at his charge. Adrien was different. His bright green eyes were now dulled. His thin form was now even frailer, there were countless cables and tubes connecting Adrien to dozen machines. Plagg had lived multiple millennia, but he had also been dormant for a long time, so the only glimpse he got of modern medicine was through TV shows and the animes Adrien had made him watch, and those TV shows were always sad. Adrien would always end up crying, and Plagg would always mess with him for it. All Plagg wanted to do right now was cry.

The silence that fell in the room was starting to get too heavy, but what could Plagg say in these circumstances? As soon as his eyes fell on his chosen's form, the words in his mouth had died off, and his tongue felt like lead. Adrien, it seemed, was also starting to feel uncomfortable, as he shifted his gaze from the kwami to the bed sheets resting on his thin form.

"I'm sorry, Adrien…" Was all Plagg could say, even if it didn't exactly fit in their current predicament.

"Plagg… It's…" Adrien didn't finish what he was trying to say, although Plagg knew exactly what that was, 'It's okay'. Adrien had never lied to him, and it seemed that even now, even after the people who should be looking after his well-being had betrayed him, he still couldn't lie to Plagg. Things were not okay, it would be foolish to deny that, and Plagg was never a fool.

The silence was there again.

Why was this happening now? Adrien and Plagg were never awkward toward each other. Why was his brain such a jumbled mess right now?

Plagg looked to Master Fu for guidance, but even the old man seemed a bit lost for words.

Suddenly, like a lamp lighting inside his brain, Plagg knew exactly how to help his kitten! It was so obvious! Adrien and Plagg had never been awkward towards each other, so, why should they be now?

"I'm so hungry right now! I can't even remember the last time I had my precious camembert!"

Adrien could only stare deadpanned at him. 'Maybe this was a bad idea', Plagg thought. Suddenly, as if the gears inside his chosen's head shifted, Adrien burst out laughing and Plagg released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Adrien's laughter had always sounded like music to Plagg's ears. It only came in rare circumstances, the boy almost always opting to flash shy smiles, but when he laughed, when he really laughed, it felt like the sound of his joy could light the entire world. And hearing it now, it didn't just light the world, it lighted the entire universe!

"Why are you laughing? I'm suffering from a terrible hunger, and you're laughing at my misery!" He dropped to the bed with a paw resting against his forehead dramatically.

Adrien could only laugh harder, tears were already cheerfully falling down his cheeks until suddenly, the laughter was replaced by gasps of breath and coughs, and he moaned in pain. "Ohhh, Plagg…" He whined with a smile on his lips.

Master Fu rushed to aid Adrien, adjusting the oxygen mask to his face, "Plagg. Adrien is very fragile right now; you have to be careful." He softly reprimanded.

"It's okay, Master. I actually missed this…" Adrien breathed, "The only person who could… who could make me laugh like this was… my mum… thank you, Plagg…" His misty eyes drifted towards his kwami.

"Kid, I…" Plagg took a deep breath, "I missed you so much!"

Adrien's upper lip trembled beneath the oxygen mask. "I missed you too, Plagg!" His hand slowly opened, and Plagg nuzzled his head against it.

"Everything is going to be okay, Adrien."

Three weeks had passed, and Adrien was feeling a bit stronger every day. He was already eating food! Yes, he needed help to lift the spoon towards his mouth, since his hand was still too shaky, and he still hadn't managed to eat an entire bowl of soup without feeling like throwing up, but there was no more feeding tube, and so he considered that progress!

The angry marks on his neck and wrists were now starting to turn yellow, and even if the look of them was a constant reminder of what his fath-, Hawkmoth had done to him, Adrien didn't cry anymore when he stared at them for too long. Bouts of pain still flashed through his body sometimes, and the doctors said that they still didn't know when he would be released from the hospital since there were some things that needed to be fixed.

There were nights, almost all nights, when Adrien would wake up in a cold sweat, gasping for air, the pressure on his neck lingering where Hawkmoth's hands had pressed in his nightmares. But he was never alone, not anymore. His mother would immediately hug him and kiss his hair while whispering that he was alright. Other nights, mainly on weekends, Marinette would keep him company, and they would talk almost all night, only stopping when Adrien's eyes were too heavy to open, and those times gave him the most peaceful rest. Her presence calmed his mind, it was like a fresh wave of water enveloping him on a hot summer afternoon.

During the day, Nino, Alya and Chloé would come, and kept him updated on everything that was happening in school, and how everyone missed him. They were still mindful of their words, afraid that Adrien would shatter like glass at the slightest upset.

Master Fu would also visit him sometimes, and more than once, he insisted for Adrien to talk to Nooroo and Duusu, but he still didn't feel ready for it.

So, everyone kept him updated on everything that was happening outside the four walls of his hospital room, although no one had mentioned even once what had happened to Hawkmoth, or mentioned Nathalie whatsoever, and he didn't ask.

Right now, his mother was silently pushing his wheelchair, while they were taking a stroll in the hospital's small garden. It was the first time Adrien got to breathe fresh air, ever since that fatidic day his father had decided to… Well, it was better not to dwell on such grim memories. What mattered was that he was getting better, and his mother was finally with him. Of course, he would rather share this moment with Marinette. Things with his mother were still pretty weird… don't get him wrong, he still loved her, but he wasn't the same Adrien she used to coddle with kisses. Besides, Marinette was at school. God, how he missed school!

Suddenly she stopped, breaking Adrien out of his thoughts. Émilie walked right in front of him, kneeling so she could match his sitting height, and softly rested her hands on the fluffy blanket that was protecting his legs from the chilling morning.

Her green eyes were staring intently at him, trying to establish eye contact with his own gaze. Émilie opened her mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out of it. She took a deep breath, "Adrien…", she started.

He still couldn't manage to look in his mother's eyes for long.

"Adrien, I wanted to apologize for how I treated you. I was too overbearing, I kept you in that cage of a mansion when I should have been showing you the world. You never deserved to have such poor excuses for parents."

"Mum, it's-"

"Don't say it's fine, because I know that isn't true. I now see how badly I hurt you by keeping you locked in that damn house." Her eyes got misty, "I was so scared of losing you, that I couldn't see how much you were missing in life, and I know that no amount of apologies is enough to remedy that, but, well I guess it's a start, so, I'm sorry…"

"Mum, I never blamed you or father for that, I know you were only trying to protect me." He fiddled with the IV tube connected to the back of his hand.

"And we hurt you anyway…"

"You did…" Adrien couldn't speak anymore, not while the lump in his throat was blocking any sound he tried to make. He knew that if he kept discussing this, he would end up sobbing, and he had done plenty of that ever since he woke up in his hospital bed.

Émilie sat on a bench next to him, and Adrien closed his eyes, trying to keep his mind of everything that had happened in his chaotic life. The fresh breeze blistering on his cheeks and the sound of the birds chirping were helping. His mind, however, seemed to be having a hard time tunning off his worries.

"Mum?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Do you know" He gulped, his eyes were shut, "Do you know what happened to father?"

"Adrien, your father is in jail, I haven't seen him since…" He heard her sniffling, "His trial is scheduled for the next month."

He hummed in response. A tear was leaving a thin trail down his face.

"Mum?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Are you planning on visiting him?"

Émilie sighed. "I don't know. I don't think I can. He was the love of my life. He still is." She smiled sadly. "But what he did, what he did to Paris, to you, I can never forgive him for that." Her thumb was now caressing his face, wiping the tears on his cheeks. "Ade, you are the best thing I've done with my life. I am so proud and so lucky for being your mother."

Adrien lifted his weak arms, and mother and son hugged each other, occasional sniffs would escape both their trembling breaths.

Yey! Finally updated!

Next chapter: Adrien and Marinette fluffiness. "Maybe everything would really be alright"

As always thank you for your comments, and the kudos. It really was the comments that prompted me to update. This year has been incredibly difficult, and with this pandemic and everything, let's just say that a lot has happened. Nothing bad, don't worry, but they demanded my time, so, yeah...

Anyway, see you next chapter!