The sky was turning darker as the day went on and when the school bell rang again, rain drops were begging to stain the pavement. Some kids with umbrellas began to walk down the street, while others began running from shelter to shelter until they got home.

Adrien patiently waited with his umbrella outside the school for Marionette, but before he found her, Nino spotted him in the bustling crowd. Nino opened his own umbrella and called out above the people to try and get his friend's attention.

"Dude! Adrien!"

Adrien heard his name through the chattering chaos and noticed, coming towards him, Nino weaving his way through the noisy homebound students.

"Hey, Nino!"

"Bro, you usually don't stay this long after school. What's up?"

"Oh, well Mari dropped this drawing outside of school this morning and I wanted to return it to her."

Nino glanced at the design in Adrien's hand and made the connection in-between the model on the paper and the model in front of him. He couldn't help but smile mischievously as he looked anew at their situation in a whole different light.

"Oooh, Marionette. I didn't realize you two liked each other like that." Said Nino teasingly.

"Ah, what? No, no, Nino." Adrien began to flush at the idea that Nino planted in his mind. He quickly attempted to clarify the situation.

"I think you misunderstand. I am just trying to be friendly and besides, I don't think she sees me that way, let alone as a friend. She always runs away from me whenever we talk and I fear that she dislikes me. But I guess I can't please everyone, right?"

"Man, you're thinking too much. With Alya, I just go with the flow and let her do what she wants, you know. Just chillax and go with what the girls do, bro."

As the words left Nino's lips, he spotted the two girls over Adrien's shoulder, chatting and laughing as they straggled behind the crowd of kids.

"Speak of the Devil. Hey, babe!" Nino called once again over the dwindling crowd and waved at the girls to come over. Adrien turned to face Marionette and Alya as they made their way towards the other side of the threshold where Nino patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly. Alya opened up her umbrella and looked confident as she made her way to Nino's side, but Marionette gave off an anxious aura as she walked under Alya's umbrella and grew closer to Adrien.

"Hey, fellas. What are you two up to? I don't think I have ever seen you at school this late, Adrien. Is Nathalie late?" Alya asked over the patter of rain and the voices of the last few people leaving the campus. She smiled at Nino and laid her arm around him in silent greeting.

"Uh, no. I asked Nathalie to wait for me because I wanted to return this to Marionette. I ran into her before school this morning and she left behind one of the designs from of her book."

He playfully looked over at Marionette, expecting a response to his pun, but was met with her mortified countenance. She looked at the paper in his hand and knew that he had picked up the one (of many) that she had drawn of him as the model for her design.

Alya began to giggle at Adrien's play on words because she had heard the story of that morning from Marionette, but Nino was confused. Feeling awkward, Adrien tried to continue the conversation.

"Haha… Uh, well, anyway, I love your design. I thought you put a real creative touch on that boring suit I was wearing in the original. Maybe next time, if you were interested, I could wear something of your design?"

His sincerity was conspicuous and Marionette's embarrassment dissolved into disbelief at the concept of designing something for Adrien to wear. Her mind began to race through what she could put together and exploded into creative thought. The three friends watched her, waiting for her response, but it was apparent to Alya that she had checked out.

"Sounds awesome, Mari!" She said in an attempt to help her friend come back to reality.

"Oh! Yes! I would love to design something for you! Was it something particular about the design? Like the embroidery? Or maybe the colors?" It felt easier to talk to Adrien when she was talking about designing because she was confident about her knowledge and comfortable with the topic.

Nino and Alya detected the change in mood and decided that this was the perfect time to take their leave to let their friends have some alone time together. Alya had shipped Adrien and Marionette ever since she discovered her friend's crippling crush on him, but Nino only just started shipping them that afternoon. The couple wanted to support their friends and proceeded to pipe into the conversation blooming between Adrien and Marionette.

"Well, Alya and I have a date to get to so we will be heading out now, I think."

"You're leaving?" Marionette asked nervously.

"Ya, we have been planning this lunch date for a while, girl." Said Alya verbally, but her eyes said, 'Be strong, girl. you got this.'

The couple waved goodbye, taking their umbrellas with them. Marionette , who forgot an umbrella that day, awkwardly shifted out from under Alya's umbrella and under Adrien's. While Alya and Nino walked down the stairs towards the street, their deserted friends called their goodbyes after them. When the couple disappeared in the heavy rain, Marionette turned back towards Adrien and her anxiety began to cripple her once again.

"Well, Mari, I really liked the golden embroidery idea with this suit. It's still a simple suit, but you really added a special touch with the design you drew."

Adrien's comment drew her back into focus on the design and she began to speak easier without her anxiety choking her.

"Oh, uh, Thank you." She said as her cheeks began to get hot against the chill of the rain coming down around them.

"I was thinking that they could make the gold match the shade of your hair and then your tie, and other accessories, could be green hues to match the color of your eyes."

When the words left her lips, Marionette was embarrassed by the thought that she was just fantasizing to him, about him. She didn't want Adrien to know how weird she really was when it came to him and tried to explain herself.

"When I saw the magazine, I couldn't help but feel the suit that they put you in didn't really have any emphasis on the way you looked necessarily, but it instead they just used you're face to get people to buy the magazine, you know? So, I made a design that I thought brought out your best qualities instead of just using your face"

Marionette and Adrien were both shocked that she said all of those words to him without stuttering, or saying something awkward.

"Wow, I didn't know that you felt that way. I feel the same way though. All the people that hire me don't actually care about how their plans make me look, but how I make their product look. I guess that's a models job, but It makes me happy that you noticed that too."

Adrien was practically beaming at Marionette. He started to think that she was warming up to him and that she liked him after all. Marionette was awkward, but she always made him smile and that meant a lot to him especially on bad days like these.

*HONK, HONK*

Marionette jumped at the sound and Adrien looked up and noticed the black car looming outside in the rain. The smile dropped from his face when he saw that it was time to go back to the house. Marionette watched his demeanor change and turned to see what caused his smile to fade so fast. She immediately recognized the car waiting outside and remembered the heavy home life he had to go home to every day. Her heart broke whenever she thought about it and she wanted to stay there with him and talk for the rest of her life, but it was time to go.

"Well, just let me know before you're next shoot and I'll try to get something together for you."

"Yes, of course. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep, I'll be right here."

*HONK, HONK*

She smiled and looked up into his eyes for the first time in months and their gaze locked onto each other immediately. She was caught off guard by his sad green eyes that glittered familiarly when he smiled down at her. The car waited impatiently but Adrien was also held captive by the rich pools of sapphire that triggered a powerful bout of deja vu. They stood there for a moment staring at each other curiously while the patter of the rain filled the silence between them. The sounds of rain surrounded them but suddenly they could hear splashing of heavy foot steps too. As it drew closer, people could be heard ripping down the street towards the school.

Adrien and Marionette broke their gaze to turn and see who was running down the street in the rain and found, what looked like, Nino and Alya. They were running with urgency, but neither Marionette nor Adrien could understand why until they saw a shadow looming behind them in the distance. Something big, Something inhuman.

"Run, Adrien! It's an acuma!" Nino shouted, who could now be seen dragging Alya by the hand away from the rampaging beast behind them.

The window of the black car rolled down to reveal Adrien's body guard bellowing out at Adrien.

*HONK, HONK, HONK*

"Adrien! Get in the car! Nathalie has been acumatized and she's looking for you!"

Slowly Adrien could make out the features of a giant black bear running on all fours through the pouring rain after his two friends. Its eyes were glowing fiery pink in the rainy haze and left a trail of fading fuchsia light down the street. Nino dragged Alya up the stairs to where Adrien and Marionette stood facing the beast.

"She started recording the bear thing and pissed it off. Now it keeps asking where you are, man. I would get in the car and leave now."

Nino towed Alya, who was still recording, into the school to find a classroom before Mama Bear caught up to them. Marionette was happy that there was someone else taking care of Alya at times like this so that she could do transform and her job. But just as she thought that, Adrien dropped the umbrella, grabbed Marionettes hand and to began to run towards the waiting car.

"I don't want you getting left out here alone!" Adrien called back to her as he pulled her down the wet stairs.

"No it's ok, I can got with Nino and Alya!" Marionette yelled back and pulled against him, turning him around to face her.

"They are already gone, the car is closer lets go! Hurry she's almost her- "

"Adrien!" Warned the bodyguard.

Before Adrien could turn around, Mama Bear stood a foot behind him and seven feet above him breathing heavily. Its face and fir were dark black, but its eyes were blinding neon pink. Its claws were as sharp as razor blades at its sides and the two teens stood motionless, petrified by the beasts deadly appearance and close circumference.

"Adrien!" Mama Bear boomed.

"Where have you been! You were supposed to be home an hour ago and now you're standing outside in the rain catching a cold!"

Mama bear scooped Adrien up in a second, lifting him almost a story high off the ground, breaking his hold on Marionette. She took the opportunity to run back up the slippery stairs and into the silent school, now dark and uninhabited.

"Wait for me, I'm coming… Tikki! Spots on!"

The red, spotted, kwami burst from the purse at Marionette's side and absorbed into the earrings decorating her face. Within seconds Marionette was transformed into the beautiful fighting heroine, Ladybug. She zipped back out of the building and onto the now empty street corner.

The black car, Mama Bear and Adrien were all gone without a trace.