Marinette could appreciate a lot of things in life. Like the way the air smelled after it rained, freshly baked cookies, the way Alya's face pinched in concentration when she was working on the Ladyblog, or the rush she got when zipping through Paris as Ladybug. But this, she could never appreciate.

Physics homework.

Nope. Never.

She groaned and sank further in her chair giving her worksheet a final look. It was a mess of writing, scribbles, and eraser marks, but it would do. She was just glad it was done, now she could focus on getting ready for patrol. Marinette glanced at the clock.

"Tikki!" Marinette gasped. "I'm late for patrol!"

"Don't worry Marinette," the spotted kwami sat on her desk watching her as she shoved her papers and books into her pack for tomorrow, "Chat can handle patrol alone."

"I know, but I feel bad. I completely lost track of time." She rushed around the little room, gathering her things for tomorrow so she would have less to do for the morning. "Okay! Spots on!" Once she donned her signature red and black suit she opened her window and leapt.

Running as fast as she could, she hoped that Chat would still be at today's meeting spot atop the Arc de Triomphe. Jumping from one roof to the next, Marinette looked down at her yoyo, but there weren't any missed messages from her partner. Slinging it out to the side of herself, she caught onto a balcony and swung up to the higher roof tops, giving her a view of her destination. A few more well-placed swings and leaps had her on the monument, catching her breath. Spinning in a quick circle she scanned for Chat. He wasn't there anymore. A quick look over the sides ruled out a possible sneak attack, which her partner was fond of.

"Great, tonight is just not my night." She sighed, perking her ears to hear any form of witty response, just in case.

Chat liked to play games and could be very good at hiding. No response. She flipped her yoyo to the call screen and waited for her partners answer, but there wasn't one.

"Of course not. Why would you pick up? You love a game of cat and mouse." Snapping it shut she was off again, deciding to run the regular route from the beginning, rather than trying to guess wherever her silly kitty would be.

She had no doubt that she would meet him along the way, his hearing was exceptional, once he heard her coming he'd wait for her to catch up.

Half way through the route she stopped to call again, only to be left with similar results. She frowned. She should have caught up by now, and he should be answering his calls. Unless he was caught up in something, stopping a mugging maybe. Continuing with her surveillance of Paris and her search for her partner, Ladybug couldn't help but let her thoughts get the best of her.

Could he have taken a different route than usual? Maybe he went looking for her when she didn't show. Another half hour with no sign of Chat, she tried reaching him again, when her third attempt of contact was met with no response her thoughts took a darker turn.

Maybe he had gotten hurt while patrolling. Or an akuma did show up before she got there and had taken him.

No! Don't be ridiculous Marinette. You would have noticed an akuma by now. She shook her head and tried to go back to less serious thoughts. However, when she made it to the end of their route with no sign of Chat Noir anywhere, she couldn't help but be antsy.

It was Wednesday, they were supposed to meet up on Wednesdays, or at least that's what they had agreed upon. She made her way back through the area she came from, dodging off to the sides here and there to check out little spots they liked to frequent. By the time she made it back to the Arc de Triomphe there was still nothing and she had been out for an extra two hours.

Don't worry, she took a deep breath, if he was out tonight he is definitely at home now. It's late Marinette, go home and sleep. That's what Chat is probably doing right now. Exhale.

She didn't release her transformation until she was back on her balcony. Slipping into her room she grabbed a cookie for her kwami. Tikki hummed appreciatively before she munched happily on the treat, keeping a close eye on her chosen. She looked too tense.

Once Tikki had finished her cookie she floated up to Marinette, who was slipping under the covers.

"Why so quiet Marinette?" She took up her spot upon the teenager's stomach settling for sleep as well.

"Chat wasn't there tonight. I know I was late, but I thought I would have run into him at the very least." She squirmed around trying to get comfortable. "I can't stop thinking that something might have happened to him." She admitted.

She felt the soft pressure of Tikki leave her stomach as she flew up and nuzzled her cheek, settling into the crook of her neck.

"Don't worry Marinette. I'm sure he's fine."

"I know. I'm just being silly, he's my age, right? He was probably caught up in homework like I was, and never got out." That was solid reasoning.

Yeah. Homework.

She just needed to go to sleep and then tomorrow would be a new day. If she was lucky she'd see him before their next patrol and she'd feel like a complete loser worrying so much. Wait no, if she saw him before next patrol that would mean an akuma attack. She didn't want that for the people of Paris.

Since when did she care so much about her partner's whereabouts anyway. Sure, she cared about him, she couldn't do this without him, but there were other times when he didn't show for patrol without warning. He always claimed his civilian life simply got in the way, and he was sorry. She always forgave him too, because nothing ever happened when he was gone, and he always showed up when it was important. There was no reason for her to be fretting over this so much. She was going to give her kitty the lecture of lifetime the next time she saw him though.

Her kitty? She gave a frustrated groan and swore she heard Tikki giggle beside her.

She took it back. Next time she saw Chat, she was going to murder him. Served him right for doing this to her.

Sleep would help her stop thinking about it.

Too bad she never got to get any, as her alarm went off a few hours later, thoughts running unleashed and rampant through her head.

She walked to school as rumpled as ever, thankful for laying out her things last night so she didn't have to do it this morning. A smile only found its way to her face when she saw Alya waiting by the stairs of the school waving to her.

Alya would certainly keep her mind off a certain feline.

"Hey girl! What's up, you're looking a little rough today."

"I didn't get any sleep," Marinette admitted as they made their way into their class room and sat at their desk.

"Bad dream?"

"No. Just had a lot on my mind."

"Adrien related stuff?" Alya smirked as Marinette's face flushed.

"NO!" Marinette looked around to make sure no one had been listening and hunched closer to her best friend, who leaned in as she whispered, "not so loud. What if someone heard you?" Alya rolled her eyes at her best friend's antics. As if anyone in their class didn't know about her feelings for the blond boy, in fact the only one who couldn't seem to catch on is the boy himself. She was going to have to talk to Nino about that. Honestly, there was no way Adrien could be that clueless, he was a smart guy. Straight A's across the board, she supposed the many tutors his father got him helped that though.

Speaking of the two boys, Alya waved hello to them as she saw them enter through the door. She didn't get much of a reaction however, as Nino and Adrien were hunched close together, focusing only on what they were saying to each other. Adrien looked just as bad as Marinette. Rumpled, exhausted, maybe even a little frustrated? As they got closer to the two girls he shushed Nino, affectively ending whatever conversation they had been having, and took their seats in front of them. It was all very suspicious and Alya was never one to let a fresh scoop die.

"Hey guys, what's all the hush-hush about, huh?" Adrien was quick to respond with a muffled 'nothing, don't worry about it' as he buried his head in his arms folded on top of the desk. Both girls exchanged a look of concern before turning to Nino. Alya raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend and gestured to the blond in a silent question. Nino shrugged and typed a short message on his phone as Mrs. Bustier greeted the class. Alya tilted her phone so Marinette could read the text.

Talk lunch, it read.

Marinette couldn't focus in class. School and her friends were supposed to help keep her from worrying about her partner, and they did, by making her worry about Adrien instead. Sitting right behind him gave her a good vantage point to keep an eye on his odd behavior. She hadn't seen him look so…messy before. He had picked himself up to take notes as their teacher began her lesson, but they were short and mostly resembled incoherent scribbles that didn't amount to much, until he stopped taking notes all together and seemed to just zone out. He was slouched in his seat, keeping his head propped up in his palm. He was wearing a pair of black tapered joggers and a grey hoodie a size too big for him. It looked just as fashionable as anything else he wore, no doubt designer. It wasn't his typical style though, this was completely different.

Marinette kept glancing at the clock throughout class, trying to count down the time until lunch, where she could get some answers. Alya elbowed her twice already, trying to refocus her on class. Her lack of sleep certainly wasn't helping anything.

Once they were dismissed for lunch the raven-haired girl practically flung herself from her seat and out the room, dragging Alya with her. They made a hasty stop at their lockers and grabbed food before finding a nice spot with plenty of sun to eat and chat. A couple minutes passed before Nino was collapsing next to Alya, rummaging in his lunch box with a pinched look on his face.

"Chloe dragged my man away before I could." He shrugged. "She said she was going to cheer him up, but I don't think she knows what's up with him, you know," another shrug. "At least she noticed I guess." Alya poked him in his side.

"What IS up?"

"I'm not really sure. He wouldn't talk to me about it. Like, I noticed right away something was wrong, it's kind of obvious," he took the girl's nods as a sign to continue, "but he was getting all annoyed when I kept trying to press the matter. If he hasn't told me, I doubt he told Chloe, of all people, what's going on." The last part was said more as an afterthought.

"Really, nothing?"

"Yeah! I totally told him he could tell me anything, and he already knows that, but he basically told me to drop it!"

"Do you think he's okay?" Marinette wondered aloud, drawing the attention of her friends.

"I don't know. He totally blew me off this morning which is so unlike him. Not to mention he was zoning in class. I've never seen him do that before! He's definitely not himself, that's for sure."

"Don't worry guys," Alya placated, "Adrien knows that we're here for him if he wants to talk. I'm sure he's fine. Probably just over worked and the stress of it all is just catching up to him. I mean, you guys have seen his schedules. He barely has anytime to himself to relax." She had a point. But Marinette couldn't help but feel like there wasn't something quite right about all of this. Yeah, he was overworked like Alya said, but that was nothing new. He was always busy. And since as long as she has known him, he's always faced it with acceptance and a good attitude. To suddenly react so strongly would be odd. Nino seemed to be having similar thoughts, as the pinched and thoughtful look appeared back on his face. Even Alya didn't sound super convinced at her own words, but there wasn't much else that could be said on the matter until Adrien decided to open up more on the subject.

The second part of the day didn't get any better for Marinette as her focus kept coming back to the boy sitting in front of her. She noticed that he seemed more agitated after lunch, unable to stop fidgeting in his seat. Chloe's doing most likely. She probably pressed the matter like Nino had, but unlike Nino didn't know when to stop. She caught both Nino and Alya casting more glances toward Adrien in the second part of the day as well. She thought she even saw Mrs. Bustier shoot him a concerned look too, but she could have imagined that. At one point, during the last half hour of class, Adrien started to bounce his leg repeatedly and rapidly, no one else but the three of them would have noticed from where they were sat in the class. After a couple minutes Marinette watched Nino reach out under their table and put a steadying hand on his knee. The bouncing stopped, Nino didn't remove his hand, and Adrien didn't make any motions to knock him away.

The last bell had him out of the class before any of them could stop to talk to him.

Marinette fell back on her bed hard after getting home. She needed sleep, now, or she was going to stop functioning altogether. Tikki pet her hair in a soothing motion.

"Once you get some rest you'll feel better Marinette." The girl in question made a rather pathetic whining sound.

"I don't think I can. I'm so tired, but all of Adrien's weirdness today has me worried." Oh my god, did she just call Adrien weird? She groaned at her ceiling. "First Chat, now Adrien. Why can't I have friends that cause me less worry, Tikki? Next thing I know Alya will be doing concerning things too, like deleting the Ladyblog!" The kwami gave her a warm smile.

"Oh, I don't think you ever have to worry about that happening." The little kwami joked. "Sleep, Marinette. It's nice that you care about your friends like you do, but you'll never be able to help them if you can't even function." Sage advice. Marinette kicked off her shoes and crawled under her covers, Tikki sat beside her humming a soft tone. Her mom would wake her when dinner was ready. She slept fitfully, her dreams plagued with blond haired boys with green eyes.