Marinette parted from Alya in the park before sunset, trotting across the street and into her parent's bakery. A quick kiss to the cheek of maman and one to papa and she was headed upstairs.

She had a small habit of putting off her homework until the last minute – procrastination had become a close friend over the years between busy moments of fighting evil alongside Chat Noir and struggling to keep her cool around certain people (though one slightly-less-than-satisfactory grade was worth taking a moment to stare at Adrien during a lecture, she decided), and now she was bogged down with a project on Ancient Greece, a pack of Chemistry equations (of which she had absolutely no idea how to do), and she didn't even want to think about all of the chapters she had to read in her French Lit book.

She sat down at her desk and placed her materials in front of her. Her history textbook, her French Literature book, and the Chemistry worksheets she dreaded. She decided to go with history first – it was, after all, her best subject – and tackle the Chemistry last.

And so she began.

An hour later she'd found herself distracted with a link Alya had texted her from her Ladyblog – Chat Noir saving a child's crêpe during a recent akuma attack – and then found herself watching another video, reading another blog post – "Marinette!" her mother called, and she sat the phone down and jogged downstairs.

After supper, she found herself in front of her desk once more. She had made no progress. And then – a text.

Hey, Marinette – have you started on the math homework? I can't figure out problem six. From Adrien, which made her heart nearly burst. She tugged her homework out of her backpack and set it on the desk, scrambling to send him a text back.

Yep! Already done. Want some help? She asked. Breathless, she stared at her phone and waited for a reply.

Please! Can I video call you? He asked, and she felt her fingers go numb. Nearly dropping her phone, she replied a quick 'yes' and a moment later, her phone was ringing. She smoothed out her hair and answered the phone with shaky hands, propping it up against her wall.

"Marinette!" Adrien smiled, waving at her as soon as his image appeared, "I've been trying to figure out this problem for half an hour now – it's impossible, I swear." He said, and she rested her chin in her palm, elbow against her desk as she stared at him.

"It's not – impossible - really, it was just – um, it was a hard problem! But I'm sure I can help you figure it out." She grinned, fumbling with her pencil and looking down at her work, "Okay, what was your first step?"

"I divided sixteen by thirty-six –" He began, and she bit down on her lower lip. He was supposed to divide it by thirty-four, but she didn't have the heart to stop him as he continued to explain the steps he'd taken to solving the problem – to which he'd come out with a negative solution.

"You're actually – you're really supposed to divide by thirty-four," she replied, and he nodded quickly, erasing something on his paper, "try and see if that fixes it But it's a really common mistake! Really."

"Alright – hold on." He said, working silently for a moment. She tried not to stare at him – she tried to stare at anything but him, but he was there and not really there but he was there and whenever he was around she just couldn't focus. "Is it two-point-six-five?"

"Hm? Y-Yes! It is! Good job, Adrien." Marinette said, relishing in the way his face lit up.

"Thanks. Did you need help on any homework?" He asked her, and she glanced at the chemistry worksheets sitting at the corner of her desk. They glared at her, and she glared back at them for just a moment.

"Are you any good at Chem?" She asked him, and he paused for a moment before holding up his hand, tilting it.

"I'm pretty alright. What do you need help with?"

"That huge packet of worksheets –"

"Oh, shoot!" He gasped, pressing a hand over his mouth, "I completely forgot –"

"I did, too! Until today, anyways. I – I can't really tell if I forgot or if I just – er, choose to forget, you know?" She shrugged, and he chuckled at her.

"I know exactly what you mean – you are looking at the Prince of Procrastination." Adrien sighed, and Marinette smiled slightly. "I try to do most of my work on time – I just get distracted by other things."

"Like?" She asked, and then winced. "Sorry, not to be – nosy, or anything."

"No, no, it's fine! I fence a lot. More than usual." He lied, but Marinette nodded – between saving crêpes and fighting evil, and fencing practice (and having to entertain Chloe after school some days), he found his window of alone-time getting smaller and smaller.

"Ah. Well – we can work on them together." She suggested, biting down on the inside of her cheek, "N-Now. If you want. If that's okay." She said, and he shrugged before nodding.

"Sure. Let me get my chemistry book and the problems and we'll get started." Adrien smiled. Marinette pulled her worksheets in front of her, fumbled with her pencil. She glanced up at him as he shuffled through some papers on his desk.

"Marinette? Would you like a chouquette?" Her mother asked through the door, knocking on it. Adrien looked up as Marinette scrambled to the door, opening it quickly.

"Maman, I'm on the phone!"

"Oh? Is it Alya?" Her mother asked, peeping through the door, "Oh, hello Adrien!"

"Hello, Mrs. Dupein-Chang." He smiled, waving at her through the screen.

"Maman! Please!" Marinette sighed, taking the small chouquette from her mother and closing the door. Marinette walked back to the desk and set the napkin-wrapped pastry puff on top of her homework. "Sorry, Adrien."

"Your mother is sweet." Adrien replied, smiling at her, "What did she bring you?"

"A chouquette. My papa makes them and they are the best in all of Paris." She sighed, inhaling the sweet scent of pastry before popping it into her mouth. She sighed once more, this time in bliss.

"I love chouquettes! I don't get them often." Adrien said, pulling out his homework.

"I can bring you one tomorrow." Marinette offered quickly, mouth still full of pastry. She quickly chewed and swallowed, "Sorry – I – yeah." She yawned and stretched a bit.

"That'd be great." Adrien grinned at her, "It's more of an incentive for us to get this done."

"Oh, right. The chemistry sheets! Ready?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Yep! Okay, first problem – determine the molarity of a solution made by dissolving twenty grams of NaOH in sufficient water to yield…" Adrien began, and Marinette found her chin resting in her palm, elbow on her desk once again. This time she found herself drifting to sleep, soothed by the sound of Adrien's voice in the background – "Marinette?" Adrien said, staring at her sleeping figure. He couldn't help but chuckle as he stared at her.

He paused for a moment before ending the video call. He finished the worksheets by himself and sent her pictures of his work, along with a text. Try to get more sleep tonight – you owe me a chouquette!