How long had it been since she sat down at the small round table and looked at the thick folder that rested in the center of it? How many seconds, minutes, hours had passed since her parents had told her that they needed to talk? How many times had the ticking of their kitchen clock rung out in the otherwise dead silence of the room? She couldn't tell how long it had been since her father uttered the earth shattering words that kept repeating over and over in her mind like a broken record or an old cd that continuously skipped. Just two words were all it took to shatter her world around her;

Bankruptcy

Foreclosure

Business had not been going well for her family and she had been too busy (fighting Akumas), or distracted (obsessing over a certain blonde boy) to notice this fact. Her father explained that a new bakery and café had opened less than a block away from them nearly three months before and they simply could not compete with the large verity and low prices of the new establishment. On top of this, as if to add insult to injury, the place was open 24/7. She knew but did not want to believe that they had lost their bakery, their HOME, due to this fact.

"Where," her voice cracked as she finally found the strength to speak, "w-where are we going to go?"

"For now we are going to stay here for the week, pack our things and move them to storage. After that your father and I have decided to stay in a hotel until we can find a new place. I have already put my application in a few places around the neighborhood." Her mother stated in a smooth comforting voice as she covered her hand with her own, "Mari we will be okay, everything will work out. We just need to tough it out through the hard times. Alright baby." She tried and failed to stop her bottom lip from quivering as she gave her mother a soft nod in response.

"I-I think I should go lay down." She stated softly as she stood and looked away from her parents sad faces.

"Of course dear, you should rest." Her father smiled sadly as he watched her shuffle slowly up the stairs and open the trapdoor that lead up into her room.

Once she was inside the sting of tears caused her to shut her eyes tightly she felt sick to her stomach as flashes of hot and cold rocked her body. The world was spinning around her as she stumbled forward to land face down on her small day bed and let out a small strangled cry. A small red and black blue flew out of her purse and rushed to her cheek when this happened, causing her to turn her face towards the tiny Kwami and pinch her eyebrows together as she attempted to hold back the tears that spilled from her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Tikis small voice was enough to release the torrents of emotions running through her. They had to leave their home, the place where she grew up and the place that she felt safest in the world. It was all her fault, if she had just paid a bit more attention to what was going on here rather than the rest of Paris she would have realized and she could have helped out in even a small way. Who knows maybe she could have helped her parents keep their small bakery up and running.

"You need to stop beating yourself up over this. It's not your fault okay?" The tiny voice of her small red and black dotted friend caused her to open her eyes and look down at the little god who was currently sitting on her crossed arms.

"I should have paid better attention. I should have helped out around here." She stated in a horse voice that cracked after every few words, clearly she was nowhere near done with her crying session.

Tiki didn't know how to respond to her clearly hurting charge. No scenario that popped into her mind seemed to end right for her. She could tell her it wasn't her fault but she knew the Blackett wouldn't listen to that. She could suggest helpful ways she could go about packing for her parents but that seemed too cold hearted and nothing like what the young girl needed in that moment.

"I-" the audible hiccup following the word caused the small red Kwamis eyes to lower in pain for her dear charges suffering, "I n-need to sleep. It's, it's just a bad dream." With that Marinette Dupain-Chang stumbled her way across the room and up the short flight of stairs to land face down on her bed. It wasn't long until her soft sobs died away and she gave in to inevitable sleep.

School, it seemed so unimportant considering what she had discovered the night before but now as she stood outside the large gates that lead to her place of learning an overwhelming sense of fear and dread filled her body. What if someone found out that her family was being forced from their home? Chloe would use it as another way to torture her and her friends would pity her so much that she wouldn't be able to stand looking them in the eye. She clutched her purses strap in one hand as she closed her eyes and took in a steadying breath.

"Hey Marinette." She jumped as a warm hand landed gently on her shoulder and turned with wide shocked eyes to see a blonde haired green eyed and slightly taken aback model staring at her with concern swimming around his emerald depths, "hey, are you okay?" He asked as he furrowed his brow.

"A-A-Adrien." She stammered as she shuffled backwards to put some distance between them before he could feel the heat of the feverish blush that was threatening her cheeks, "I-I'm fine, just f-fine. Not as fine as you are, I-I mean you don't need to b-be told you're fine. I mean ah," she hid her face in her hands before she could dig herself any deeper into the pit of embarrassing despair she could feel herself getting lost in.

"Mari! Hey!" She turned to see her savior in the form of a brunette dark skinned girl in round rimmed glasses wearing a large smile that stretched across her face, "hey girl guess what!" She commanded as she draped one arm across Marinettes shoulders and turned her away from Adrien who was simply staring at them in a dumbfounded manner.

"What's up?" Mari croaked as she glanced over her shoulder to see the boy of her dreams waving her best friends boyfriend over to greet him. She was ushered a bit further away from him as her friend pulled out two pieces of laminated paper that was decorated with a red background and black cat paw prints to dot them. In bold white letters she could easily read:

Meet Ladybug and Chat Noir live in person at the annual Mayoral Ball!

She almost groaned outwardly at this. The last thing on her mind was the silly promise she had made to the mayor and Chat the last time they had rescued him from an Akuma attack. She knew without the taller girl saying anything that she was being invited to help out with her Ladyblog, a website that had become delicates to her other persona over the last three years.

"So?" Alya wasn't one to wait patiently for very long for an answer, especially about something like this.

"Are you taking Nino?" She asked in a soft voice as she looked down at her feet rather than stare at the tickets any longer.

"Well yeah, but," with that Alya pulled two more tickets from her back pocket and her smiled broadened even more, "I was hoping to help you make it a double date thing." As she spoke she. It her eyes towards the blonde that Marinette was trying so hard to avoid look at.

"I-" she glanced at him for only a second before looking down at her feet once again. She really didn't want to tell anyone about her newfound predicament but Alya was her closest and most trusted friend. She had always been someone she could trust with her civilian issues before, and she really needed a good excuse to get out of it this time, "I have to talk to you about something very important but not here where anyone can hear us. Meet me at the park after school okay?" She whispered quickly as she uses red the taller girl towards their classroom.

The rest of the day dragged by as slow as margarine on a cool tabletop. She couldn't focus on the lesson that their teacher drowned on and on about and she couldn't bring herself to look at anyone in the room or even to distract herself with sketching as she usually did. To all of her friends she looked like a hollow shell of the usually cheerful girl they knew . To herself she felt as if she was apart from her body; watching herself shamble around like a zombie but powerless to stop it. She barely even noticed when Adrien gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as he moved past her after the last bell of the day sounded. This fact caused her best friend to be practically shaking with worry as she stepped up to the park bench where Marinette sat mindlessly chewing on a scone and watching the clouds drifting across the sky.

She quickly pulled out her phone and twirled the ladybug charm around her finger nervously as she pulled up her text screen and began to type quickly:

Alya (4:37pm): you model boy I really need a favor from you man.

She sent the text quickly as she studied Marinette from afar, the poor girl had yet to take her eyes off the sky, or notice her best friend for that matter. She nearly didn't notice her phone buzzing in her hands as she studied the girl with a sad frown pasted to her lips.

A-dog (4:39pm): what's up? Need help with Nino? Cause if so I have to take his side. Bro honor.

She smirked at the message and shook her head.

Alya (4:40pm): not a Nino thing thank you very much. I got a little lost kitten here that could use some cheering up.

It didn't take long for him to answer.

A-dog (4:41pm): Lost kitten? What are you talking about?

She was ready for this response and snapped a quick picture of her friend before returning to her text.

Alya (4:41pm): [click to load image attachment] doesn't it just look pitiful? Come down to the park asap and help me get her back to normal.

Once again his text was almost instantaneous.

A-dog (4:42pm): I'm on my way.

She couldn't help the smirk that danced across her lips at his reply. The boy was obviously obsessed with her dear sweet Mari in one way or another and all he needed was a tiny little nudge to see that he was absolutely head over heels for the shy and caring future designer.

"Maricakes!" She called out cheerily as she tucked her phone in her pocket and practically skipped over to the petite girl on the bench.

Marinette looked up at Alya just in time for the girl to flop down on the bench and break off a piece of the scone that she had been taking the smallest bites of as she thought over the recent events in her life. She gave the dark skinned girl a half hearted smile as she received an energetic one in return.

"Hi Alya." She sighed as she rested the scone on the napkin in her lap and tore at the nibbled on corner with her fingers, "I'm glad you made it. I really needed to talk to someone about this." She stated with her head down, focusing on ripping the pastry to shreds.

"So what's the big important news Hun, whatever it is had you fazed out all day."Alya pressured her as she chewed on her part of it. Marinette looked back up at the sky and closed her eyes as she thought of how to put her troubles into words. Alya was a budding reporter at heart but she had also known her dear friend long enough to know that she couldn't push her into saying anything if she wasn't ready. It was no surprise to the brunette that her friend was still quiet as a stone when she caught sight of Adrien's signature blonde locks in a crowd that was positioned on the opposite side of the park from them.

"You keep thinking it over, I'll be right back." She said calmly as she stood and made her way as steadily as she could across the wide expanse of park that separated them. Mari for her part didn't respond or even open her eyes as her friend moved away from her, she nearly thought that the poor girl was sleeping off whatever had her looking so heartbroken.

"Sorry for making you rush over but I think that there really is something big going on with Mari, and well she seemed to be nearly herself when she was talking to you this morning and I thought maybe with you nearby she may be herself enough to talk to me." She spoke quickly as she grabbed him by the arm and yanked his body back to where she had come from. She didn't even look to see the astonished look on his face as he was led like a dog on a leash towards the sad girl. He was equally shocked when she stopped behind a tree that was a good three meters from the girl and turned to look at him sternly.

"She doesn't want anyone to know what's going on so I'll try to get her talking. If she looks like she's about to break down I need you to step in and cheer her up." She stated in a very professional voice that had him standing stiffly as if she was folding him.

"Okay but," he scratched the back of his neck as he glanced around the tree to the one they were discussing, "do you even know what's wrong with her?"

"No but, I think it has something to do with her parents." Alya stated flatly.

"Why would you think that?" He asked as he lowered his hand.

"Well, see that scone that she's shredding? I took a bite of it and it's not one of theirs." She replied with a small shrug.

"And?" He asked as he raised his eyebrows.

"If you lived in a bakery where you could get them anytime you wanted would you go around buying some poor knockoff version of them?" Alya asked.

"I, I guess not." He returned her shrug with one of his own.

"Exactly." With that she left him there, hiding behind the tree as she skipped back over to Mari.

"Ready to talk?" Marinette looked up as Alya stood before her asking the question a bit too loudly for her taste. This was it, she had to tell her at some point so she may as well get it over with.

"I-" she began as her voice hitched, "I am going to be moving soon and I'm not sure where."

"What?" The question shocked her enough to knock her back into reality from the dark void she could feel herself slipping into.

"I- I mean my parents. A new bakery's opened nearby. They can't keep up with it and," she burst into tears then and covered her face with her hands. Alya must have moved around to hug her from behind because she could feel a warmth there as two arms wrapped around her, pinning her hands to her eyes as they did so.

"We are losing the house." She sobbed, "the bakery, we are losing everything."

"We will figure something out. Right Alya?" The voice that was so close to her ear that the breath that carried it warmed the back of her neck caused her body to stiffen like a stone. It was masculine yet sweet and carried with it a sense of profound sorrow that clearly came from hearing her words. It was a voice that she would instantly recognize no matter what.

It was Adrien.

Okay so this is my first time writing for this fandom but I got really into it after finding it for my daughter and inspiration struck. I apologize in advance if I got anything wrong in this chapter but I wrote it so fast I just needed to get it out.

Have you ever heard of Mischievous Kiss? Or maybe Playful Kiss? Well I'm kinda drawing inspiration from them as well (they are practically the same thing other than their countries of origin so I am counting them as one) basically I plan on mixing both plots and adding a few things here or there for my own pleasure.

Please review and let me know what you think of it be it good or bad. Honestly I am very nervous about posting this just like I'm always nervous about posting new fandom based fics.

Much love to you all and I hope to hear from you soon;

Ad

P.s: Thank you to the guest who left the review reminding me of his name, I just cant seem to remember it when I'm writing. Sorry for the mix up and it has been fixed.