The sky was slowly turning a faded gold and red shade as the sun slowly descended from the vast sky. Paris was always the best at sunset. The streets were lightly scattered with small lights which made the street seem calm. The sweet smell of fresh bread could be smelt in the breeze, coming from the bakerys that had just shut for the night. If you looked out into the distance you could see the Eiffel Tower standing tall over the city, bringing life to the vast area surrounding it.

Marinette looked out over the side of her balcony, her soft black locks flowing in the summers wind. She leaned forward, resting her head on her arms. She had helped her parents in the bakery all afternoon and she felt as if she could sleep for an eternity. She let out a sigh stared at the house opposite. That was the house her crush Adrien lived in. It was much bigger than any of the houses nearby, it was almost like a mansion! Adrien was liked by almost everyone that he met which also meant that she wasn't the only one crushing on him, almost every girl in Paris was which gave her a lot of competition.

She saw the lights turn on in Adrien's room. Marinette ducked her head down so he couldn't see her. She was painfully shy around him which didn't help her in any way since she wanted to get to know him. She mentally cursed her bad luck.

She saw him move into his bathroom which gave Marinette a minute to compose herself. Her mind was currently going at one hundred miles per hour, asking herself questions like 'what if he sees me?' and 'what should I say if he starts talking to me?'

Her Bird Tikki chirped from her cage in Marinette's room. Whenever Tikki saw Adrien's cat Plagg nearby she chirps so loudly that Marinette has to shut the door so Tikki cannot see him. Sometimes Adrien would come to the bakery and ask her if she had seen Plagg. Plagg always seems to be in Marinette's room when she is on shift in the bakery. This might be her good luck making itself known but she will never be sure.

She went into her room and grabbed her sketch pad. Marinette was a budding fashion designer and aspired to be like the big names in fashion. She tapped her pencil on her chin, trying to think about what to add to her current design. So far it was a summer dress made from a thin light blue material and had little flower designs on it. There were shot sleeves made from a white material that was sewn on to intentionally have a wave affect. She was thinking about either adding a hat or bag to match the dress but she was still debating that possibility.

As soon as she put her pencil to the paper she heard Adrien walk out onto his balcony. She froze for a moment. He would surely see her and she would make a fool of herself in front of him (though it wouldn't be the first time.) She tried to stay hidden from sight but to no avail. Her eyes met with Adrien's. He had a soft smile on his features and he was waving at her from the side of his balcony. She awkwardly waved back at him with a shy smile on her face. "h-hi" Marinette stuttered. "Hi Marinette" he replied, a cheerful tone to his voice. He looked down at her sketchpad, which was fairly visible from where he was standing. "What are you drawing?" he asked. It took Marintte a moment to register the question that was asked. She jumped in her seat slightly and began to explain. "It's a new design I'm working on. I-it's for Alya. She wanted me to make her a summer dress for her family's barbeque." Adrien's smile seemed to get bigger at this point. "Well it's amazing so far" He leant on his balcony looking out at the city, the wind making itself known by blowing through Adrien's hair and making his golden strands float like a feather in the air.

His posture faltered and his expression dropped slightly. It was barely noticeable but after years of staring at him in class she was able to tell fairly easily. They both stood there for a moment, in a comfortable silence until Adrien let out a small sigh. At that point Marinette was taken from her daydream and back to reality. By this point Adrien had deflated like a balloon. Marinette finally got the guts to talk. "A-are you okay?" He looked up at Marinette's gaze and held it for a while, to say this made Marinette nervous would be a massive understatement. Adrien then seemed to realise that he was staring and broke the awkward moment that they had somehow created. "Yeah I'm fine" he shot her a reassuring smile but she could see he was lying, it was incredibly obvious. He saw that marinette didn't believe him. His head fell down for a moment only to come back up to look at marinette again. His look confirmed that he was not fine.

Adrien's gaze moved to nothing in particular but it looked like he was trying to avoid Marinette's eye contact. She hated seeing him like this. He was normally such a happy person. He also made everyone else happy, even the bullies in the class. Even with the strict bringing up he had he still managed to keep a smile on his face, though she wasn't sure if they were all genuine or not but she decided to not dwell on that.

She could see him take in a deep breath before beginning to speak. "Well, as you probably have heard already, my mum passed away from an unknown illness when I was very young and today marks 8 years since she dies and I just take this day each year to remember her. She was the person in my life that I looked up to the most. I went to her when I was upset and when I had just generally had a good day. She kept my family together. It may surprise you sli8ghtly but my father was actually around a lot more and spent time with us as a family, not putting work first. He definitely was lot happier when she was around and so was I to be quite honest." He paused for a moment, realising that he had be rambling. "I'm sorry I'm rambling aren't I? Sorry for boring you with-""No you weren't boring me Adrien. I'm happy that you chose to talk to me about it. It sounds like you've had an unhealthy amount of emotions and stress to hold in over the years and it's perfectly fine to talk to someone about it and I could tell you needed it." Marinette cut in before he could finish. Her sudden confidence surprised her. She saw his expression widen and tears began to form in his eyes. Marinette started to worry. Had she said something wrong? Then a smile made its way onto his face. She wanted to hug him, comfort him but since they were on separate balconies she couldn't and that killed her on the inside.

"Thank you Marinette…" Adrien said through tears. Marinette could now tell they were tears of relief. Now she understood. He had held in so many emotions for who knows how long and it has been making him stressed. Marinette never had to think about the things he did. She didn't have to worry about losing her parents, physically or mentally. She didn't have to hold in her emotions like he did, she could let them out to her parents who would reassure her that everything was ok. Adrien didn't have that. His mother was gone and his father was incredibly distant. From what she dad heard Adrien didn't see him more than a couple of times a week, each of those interactions only being a minute or so long.

By this point it was dark outside. Neither of them had noticed. The streets were now illuminated by the soft lights of the houses below and a sense of calmness had passed its way through the almost silent streets. The stars danced through the jet black sky, glowing proudly above. She looked back at her house. Her parents had gone to sleep by now. Marinette whipped out her phone and looked at the time. 10:30. Had they really talked for that long?

Adrien seemed to be the first one to talk. "I guess we should go to sleep now." He shrugged. "Yeah it's getting late" she laughed awkwardly. They stood there, in a comfortable silence, just being happy for each other's company at this moment in time. "See you in school tomorrow then" Adrien gave a small wave in Marinettes direction. She waved back at him and offered him a smile. She barely heard him but she was very certain he had whispered thank you to her. This made her heart swell.

Marinette watched him walk back into his room, his cat following him, she had barely noticed him throughout that whole conversation. She wondered back into her own room and got into bed.

That night she could barely sleep. Her mind was jumbled at this point although everything was about the same person. Adrien. She felt so sorry for him and wanted to help him. She wanted to be his friend and maybe something more.

Her mind finally decided to rest and she fell into a happy slumber and couldn't wait for tomorrow to start.