Marinette could kick herself for saying she would be Adrien's partner.

Oh not because she didn't want to be Adrien's partner! In fact there was nothing more in the world that she wanted than to spend some more quality time with the love of her life! However it had meant that the moment she made this suggestion she had doomed herself from not being able to sneak off and hunt down the Akuma.

As soon as class had ended she had been prepared to dash off like a crazy person, find somewhere to transform, and then do her job as Ladybug and save the day.

Instead she barely left her desk when she suddenly tripped over her own two feet and barrelled right into Adrien's chest as he turned to talk to her.

"Whoa!" Adrien cried out startled as he helped steady Marinette back onto her feet. "Are you all right?"

"Y-y-y-yes!" Marinette stammered and squeaked simultaneously. "I-I-I-I'm, ah, erm, guh, fine! You?"

"I'm fine too," Adrien smiled warmly, and though his teeth were so horribly rotten Marinette couldn't help but be taken in how his whole face lit up and his eyes sparkled with genuine joy, "thanks to you. Thank you for saying you'll be my partner."

"Anytime!" Marinette said breathlessly. She then shook her head when she realised how desperately creepy that must have sound. "I, erm, mean it's not problem at all," she said in a much deeper and normal voice.

(She hopes…)

"I just…." Hs smile wavered as a look of hurt flashed into his eyes, "not even Nino would be my partner, you know?" he murmured sadly.

"Well they're all being stupid!" Marinette said fiercely. Her irritation with how everyone else was behaving trumping her usual nerves when talking to Adrien. "I will always be your partner no matter what, okay?"

The joyful sparkle was back in Adrien's eyes and Marinette's heart fluttered at the sight of it as she struggled to bite back a dreamy sigh. "Okay," Adrien said cheerfully, "so because of….well this," he gestured to his face, "the rest of my photoshoots today have been cancelled and I don't have anything else on for once, so, erm, shall we start working on our presentation after school?"

"Yes!" Marinette squeaked happily. "I, erm, would like that," she added less shrilly and desperately.

(God, she really hopes…)

"Excellent," Adrien beamed, "so I'll meet you after school at the school library, yeah?"

"It's a date!" Marinette agreed. "I mean, not a date date, a st-stu-study date! Yeah just two friends studying together, no dating, nope, erm," she rambled nervously, "we're going to be late for class!" she cried out.

And so she ended up being walked to class by Adrien which was heaven but at the same time gave her no chance to escape in order to fight the Akuma. She could, she supposed, have escaped to the bathroom but she couldn't bring herself to abandon Adrien to all of the sneers or gasps in the hallway.

She then planned to leave after the next class but when Adrien had offered Nino's hat back, Nino shook his head hastily. "Nah Dude," he said, "keep it for the day." And she saw Adrien slump down sadly over his desk and her temper flared up that she forgot all about leaving school as she marched up behind Nino on the way to the next class for a confrontation.

"YOU!" Marinette grabbed Nino by the collar of his t-shirt and suddenly pinned him against the side of a locker. It kept them hidden from any teacher or nosey hall monitor's view which allowed her to give Nino all sorts of hell. "What do you have to say for yourself?!" she hissed.

"Jesus Christ, Marinette!" Nino yelped, looking mildly terrified. "What the hell?!"

"I should be asking you that!" Marinette snarled. "What the hell, Nino? Seriously, what the hell?!"

"What?" Nino wailed bewilderedly. "What did I do?!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Marinette yelled. "First you shove your hat on Adrien and said that really insensitive comment about him giving you the creeps!"

"He was giving me the creeps!" Nino protested. "It was fine once I covered the balding head."

"Urgh!" Marinette groaned in frustration. She knew Nino could be clueless but he was seriously taking it to new freaking levels today. "How do you think someone as sensitive and wonderful as Adrien was going to take a comment like that?!" she shook Nino hard at that. "You really hurt his feelings you know!"

"I didn't mean it nastily!"

"It doesn't matter how you meant it, it sounded nasty!" Marinette snapped she pushed Nino away and threw her hands up in the air despairingly. Honestly! Boys! "And then you leaped away from him as if he had leprosery or something and refused to be his partner for this presentation."

"No, I jumped in for the chance to have some one on one time with my girl!" Nino corrected. "I have to move quickly or she would have asked you to be her partner." Marinette didn't waver once in her glaring at that though admittedly it did make his actions a little more understandable. Not excusable, but she could understand a little. "Don't worry though," Nino muttered sulkily, "I'm regretting it already she wants to talk about gender inequality in Snow White or Cinderella, or whatever. The research is going to be hell"

Marinette grimaced at that. Seeing how these were presentations for little children to encourage them to read she had a feeling that gender inequality was a far too heavy subject to talk about especially when you consider how passionate Alya could be about these sort of things.

She then shook her head rapidly and reminded herself that she needed to still scold Nino. "Good!" she said satisfactorily. "Suffer! Because Adrien was devastated. You know that he thought you were rejecting him because he looks ugly now, right?"

"Aw crap!" Nino cursed. "I totally didn't mean to make him think that!"

"Well then go and tell him that and then apologise!" Marinette ordered. Nino nodded dumbly and stood there silently for several, painfully dragged out, moments that irritated Marinette to no end. "NOW!" she shouted as she pointed to the hallway.

Nino jumped to attention at that. "Yes Ma'am!" he saluted her.

As soon as Nino marched down the corridor, Marinette was just about to turn and run down in the opposite direction so she could transform when she immediately collided into the maths teacher.

"Don't you have somewhere to be, Marinette?" he asked unimpressed. "You're not trying to skive again, are you?"

"No Sir!"

And with that Marinette hastily went into class and delayed her heroes duties another hour. She had tried to sneak away at lunch but apparently the teachers and her parents had been conspiring against her and she was instantly turned back into the school building by the teacher guarding the gate as she was informed that her parents said she was to eat at school this week.

She had no such luck for escape during her afternoon classes and so as soon as the bell rang for the end of the day, she zoomed into the nearest bathroom and dived into a cubicle.

"Tiki!" she called out as she undid her pink purse. "Trans…." She then trailed off dumbly as realisation hit her like a ton of bricks.

"What is it, Marinette?" Tiki asked worriedly. "Is something the matter?"

"….Adrien," Marinette murmured, "I'm supposed to meet Adrien at the library, like, as in now."

"I'm sure Adrien will understand," Tiki said softly, "he wouldn't hold it against you for having to miss out on your study session."

"I know, he's so good like that," Marinette said, "but the thing is….he's already been abandoned by so many people because of how he looks. I don't want him to add my name on that list as well. I don't want him to think I've abandoned him too."

"Well," Tiki said thoughtfully, "they do say charity starts at home."

"Huh?" Marinette blinked bewilderedly.

"How can you expect yourself to be a hero for all of Paris when you can't be a hero for your friends?" Tiki explained. "You should stay with Adrien and work on your project together."

"But what about the Akuma?" Marinette asked "What about all the other innocent people he's probably attacking? Shouldn't I go out there and stop him before he attacks every model?"

"If the Akuma was actually physically hurting people I would say yes without a single doubt," Tiki replied, "but so far we haven't heard anything to suggest he's doing anything other than changing their appearance. I see no reason why you can't focus on being a good friend to Adrien and then going after the Akuma later on tonight."

"Okay!" Marinette said, shamefully easily persuaded at that. "But what about Chat?" she asked abruptly when the thought suddenly slapped her in the face. "I can't leave him alone to deal with the Akuma? That's not fair on him!"

"I think you'll find," Tiki said mildly, "that Chat might be busy too."

Not for the first time Marinette suspected that Tiki knew who was behind that black leather mask but like all the other times before, Tiki remained opaque and ambiguous on the subject. Marinette decided to end the conversation and go and meet Adrien before he actually did think she was standing him up.

But, even though Tiki said it was all right, Marinette couldn't help but inwardly squirm the whole walk to the Library about the thought of putting her personal life in front of her superhero duties.

She was really crap at this whole double life thing.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Adrien's day improved vastly after Marinette sweetly offered to be his partner.

People were still being awfully rude from their stares, pointing, whispering, name-calling, and bumping into him but he suddenly found it didn't bother him as much as did it earlier this morning. These people could be as rude as they liked, he had Marinette Dupain-Cheng in his corner!

The very thought kept a warm glow within Adrien that comforted him throughout the day.

Also for the first time since he started school, Chloe hasn't tackled him into a smothering hug or dragged him away from a conversation.

It was rather peaceful.

And then Nino approached him a lunchtime with a rather sheepish expression on his face as he shuffled nervously from foot to foot. Adrien hadn't paid much attention to Nino after their first class together. The events in that class had upset Adrien a bit and he didn't want to seem like an oversensitive cry baby or anything. So he found it best to keep his head down and focus on his work and on good things like Marinette to get through the day to let anyone really approach him.

"Hey Dude," Nino said softly, "how are you doing?"

"All right," Adrien shrugged, "it's been a….interesting day."

"Yeah," Nino agreed as he rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously, "hey listen," he spoke up after a few moments of silence, "it's been pointed out to me that I've been an insensitive prat."

"Really?" Adrien said dryly. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Well, having Marinette pin me to the lockers and yell in my face was a pretty big indication," Nino grinned wryly. Adrien felt a happy wiggle at that. He had always seen Marinette stand up for other people and be brave and bold for the rights of other people. She was always so awkward and nervous around him that it never occurred to him that she would extend the same protective care to him. "Adrien," Nino said gently, "you know I don't care about how you look, right? I know in hindsight the hat thing was a dick move but I really was just creeped out by the balding head. You could have as many zits, scars, and whatever on your face and I don't care."

"Thanks," Adrien mumbled. He wasn't entirely whether or not he should believe this. It's amazing how one crappy morning of people changing their attitude towards him has made him so cynical all of a sudden. "But if you don't care about this," he gestured at his face, "then why didn't you partner up with me for the presentation?"

"Dude," Nino cried out, "six words; time with Alya without the Akumas."

"Ah," Adrien said understandingly as a heavy weight on his shoulders suddenly eased up and a small, real, smile flickered on his face. He can get wanting time with the person you loved. In all honesty he would probably throw Nino under a bus for just a few minutes with Ladybug. "Fair enough then."

"So," Nino offered up his fist, "we're cool."

"We're cool," Adrien bumped his fist lightly against Nino's. It still felt odd fist bumping anyone other than Ladybug (it was always their thing!) but he was too chuffed that he hadn't lost a friend to be too bothered by it. Though he was definitely going to torment Nino later about his balding issues. "I'm keeping your hat though."

"All right," Nino chuckled, "so did you listen to that remix I sent you last night?"

Lunch and the afternoon classes slipped away quickly in contentment. When the bell rang he hastily ducked into the boy's bathroom and as soon as he was in a cubicle he ripped open his school bag.

"Plagg!" he said firmly. "Trans…." He trailed off pathetically as realisation sank into him.

Plagg, however, lazily blinked his big, unimpressed, neon green eyes. "Yes?" he drawled. "You wanted something?"

"Marinette," Adrien murmured softly.

"Look, Kid," Plagg said in full snark, "I know I'm magic and everything but I don't have the ability to physically give you a girlfriend. You have to do that one on your own."

"What?" Adrien yelped. "No!" he flushed. "I didn't mean that! I just meant that that I can't transform and hunt down the Akuma because I have to meet Marinette at the library, like now."

"Does that mean I get the afternoon off?" Plagg asked hopefully. "Because I was in the middle of a really good dream about-"

"Hang on!" Adrien frowned. "Aren't you supposed to tell me that I need to do my heroic duty and hunt down this Akuma before he does any more harm to the citizens of Paris?"

"First thing," Plagg yawned, "you're like eight hours too late on that one." Oops? Adrien had totally forgotten about that what with being dragged home by Nathalie, personally escorted to school by the Gorilla, and then everything he went through during the day. "secondly the Akuma is only changing how one looks, so far he's not actively hurting anyone so I think you're all right on that account, and thirdly, you don't want to upset your precious Princess after she so gallantly stood up for you, now do you?"

And with that Adrien found himself easily persuaded to abandon his duties as Chat Noir (May Ladybug forgive him) and met Marinette in the library.

Because if there was one thing he couldn't bear more than anything in the world is giving Marinette a reason to think her wariness and previous (perhaps even present?) dislike of him was justified.

They met at the door as they simultaneously dashed down the corridor from opposite ends. Marinette had almost collided into him when she suddenly tripped over nothing and he barely caught her in time.

"Hey," he grinned.

"H-h-h-hi!" Marinette squeaked. Her cheeks were bright pink almost bordering red and her eyes were bright with what Adrien desperately hoped was joy. "You are how?" she asked. There was a quick, hasty, silence that lasted two seconds in which Marinette abruptly realised what she said. "I-I-I-I mean are how you? Gah! No!" she cried out as she shook her head. "I mean how are you?!"

"I'm fine," Adrien said, unable to resist the urge to chuckle slightly, "as good as I can be considering. "

Marinette frowned worriedly at that. "No one has been giving you a hard time have they?" she asked.

"No more than they give anyone else a hard time," he said soothingly as possible, "apart from Chloe's outburst, and you know, almost everyone else's refusal to be my partner on this project. It's been okay."

"Hmm," Marinette hummed disapprovingly. "As long as you're all right."

"I'm fine," he reassured her as he rubbed soothing circles on her hips with his thumbs. There is a long, terribly dragged out, silent moment as Marinette's cheeks deepened into a dark red. Realisation slapped Adrien in the face as he hastily yanked his hands away. "I, erm, ah, so have you any idea what Fairy Tale we should do?"

"N-n-n-n-no!" Marinette stammered out. "Y-y-you?"

"I thought maybe, erm, that we would read a book together and pick one out together?" he asked anxiously. "Is that all right?"

"Y-Y-Yeah!"

So they settled down together at a table in the library with a big book of Fairy Tales between them as they read in silence. Every so often their fingers accidentally brushed against one another as they fumbled to turn a page and they mumbled awkward, stuttered, apologies to one another.

It was very familiar and comforting and yet, for some reason, Adrien couldn't help but question it.

"Hey Marinette," he said nervously, "I, erm, wanted to know…it's just that….well…everyone has been different, because you know," he waved awkwardly at his face, "but you…you're still the same…so, I wanted to know, well….why?"

"Oh!" Marinette flushed. "I, well, you see…you know how they say that your eyes are the windows to your soul?!" Adrien nodded dumbly as Marinette ducked her head, her cheeks so red that they were almost purple, "Well you're nice, and friendly, and sweet, and kind, and honest, and brave, and I really like all that about you, and I when I used to look in your eyes before that I saw it all, and now when I look in your eyes, I still see it all because the important things haven't changed. You might look ugly according to the rest of the world but to me…." She faltered a little as she self-consciously tucked some hair behind her ears and smiled sweetly to herself as she kept her eyes trained onto the book, "well to me," she said quietly and sincerely, "you're still the most beautiful person I know."

"…Marinette…" Adrien murmured stupefied as he was unable to keep himself from gazing at her wonderingly. A thought prickled at him as he took in Marinette shy body language, bright red cheeks, and the way she has always stammered around him. "Do you…I mean…well…do you….li-li-like m-"

"Unbelievable," a voice drawled from behind them. Adrien and Marinette whipped round to find the Akuma leaning against the bookcase with, what Adrien assumed was, a disdainful glare on its twisted face. "I make you the ugliest thing in this school and you still have pretty girls throwing themselves at you?!"

"Meep!"

Marinette let out an embarrassed, strangled, squeak as she jumped out of her seat. Adrien also leaped out of his chair as an indignant protest was on the tip of his tongue but before either he or Marinette could defend themselves the Akuma lifted up his mirror as a beam of light shot out towards them.

Without even thinking about it, Adrien tackled Marinette down onto the floor and rolled them both out of the way.

"YOU!" the Akuma bellowed furiously. "I will make you understand! One way or another you will suffer the burdens of being picked on for your appearance like the rest of us mere mortals!"

He held up his mirror for another attack but Adrien hastily swiped the library book off of the table and threw it at the Akuma. It smacked into the Akuma's stomach with a satisfying thump and distracted the Akuma long enough for Adrien to haul Marinette back into her feet and start a mad dash out of the Library.

They race down the corridor hand in hand as Adrien frantically tried to figure out a plan of action. He obviously had to ditch Marinette so he could transform and preferably he would rather leave her somewhere safe where she was unlikely to be attacked merely for her association with him.

She didn't deserve to make into a target for a bitter monster simply because she was being a good friend to Adrien.

So as soon as he spotted an empty classroom he promptly shoved Marinette through the door. He grimaced as he sent the girl flying across the floor and land on her knees roughly but he refused to feel too guilty about it if it meant he kept her safe from any harm.

"Sorry!" he yelled as he slammed the door shut. "But it's for your own good! The Akuma is after me, not you!"

And with that he hastily ducked into his own private spot between a locker and another classroom door before he flung open his schoolbag.

"Urgh!" Plagg groaned grumpily. "What is it this time?"

"Plagg!" Adrien said firmly, "Transform Me!"

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Marinette felt like she was going to be sick.

She hadn't gone after the Akuma like she knew she should have done and now Adrien was in grave danger. She had chosen to be selfish and now Adrien was going to pay the consequences. She had made the wrong choice.

"Marinette!" Tiki cried out. "Marinette! Breathe! You need to breathe!"

"Tiki!" Marinette gasped. "Tiki! Adrien! He's in danger and it's all my fault!"

"No it isn't," Tiki said firmly, "the Akuma wasn't hurting anyone before this. He was quite happy just changing people's appearance. This is obviously Hawk Moth's fault, pushing the Akuma to do more so you and Chat Noir will make an appearance."

This didn't reassure Marinette at all because now it was even more her fault. The Akuma wasn't hurting people until it was clear that she wasn't going to show up.

She was a total failure at this superhero thing.

"Tiki!" she moaned. "I have to save him!"

"Well," Tiki said patiently, "you know what to do."

"Tiki!" Marinette cried out. "Transform Me!"

Within seconds Ladybug burst out of the classroom and darted down the corridor. She fortunately didn't have far to go as she found the Akuma screeching just round the corner for Adrien.

She let out soft sigh of relief that Adrien had managed to escape before she took a deep breath, straightened up so that her chest pushed up heroically, and set her best, determined, fighting face on.

She then flung her yoyo out and smacked the Akuma in the back of his head. He whirled round as he howled furiously. "Hey you!" she shouted crossly. "Pick on someone else!"

"Gladly!" the Akuma snarled as a purple, glowing, outline of a butterfly appeared on his twisted face, "Let's see how long Chat Noir will hang around when you no longer have your looks."

And with that the Akuma raised his mirror and sent out a blast that Ladybug barely dodged. He sent several more blasts which Ladybug either dodged or deflected them with her yoyo. She had just deflected one when a surprise second one blinded her as it hastily approached her….

…and then she felt a slight burn graze her cheek as two, warm, strong arms pulled hr out of the way.

"Careful Bugaboo," Chat Noir smirked, she knew he did because she could hear it in his voice, the smug, self-satisfied, stupid cat! "It would be a tragedy if we lost the beauty of your face, My Lady."

"You flatter Kitty," Ladybug shrugged herself out of his embrace, "but I very much doubt that it wou- Oh my God!" she interrupted herself. Shock, guilt, and dread filled her up as she took in the change in her Kitty. His slim, hard, muscled body had vanished entirely into rolls of fat, he looked like a middle-aged, washed out, actor trying to squeeze into a superhero suit from his heyday. "D-d-did you just take that hit for me?"

"As much as I would be honoured to take the hit for you," Chat said sweetly, "I did not. This," he waved at himself, "happened earlier today. I told you before, My Lady," he took her hand and pressed the lightest of kisses on her knuckles, "beneath the mask I am a breathtakingly gorgeous model."

"I fully believe," Ladybug smiled, "that you have the arrogance of a breathtakingly gorgeous model."

"Meow-ch!" Chat clutched his chest melodramatically. "That hurt, right there," he said as he gave it a thump.

"I suspect you'll live," Ladybug rolled her eyes, "now let's deal with this Akuma."

Chat gave a mock courtly bow. "Ladies first," he purred.

They spent far too much time having to dodge and deflect the Akuma's attacks while trying to get their own punches and kicks in. what felt like years of fighting and getting nowhere, Chat suddenly cried out;

"The mirror! I think the Akuma is in the mirror!"

"Right!" Ladybug said determinedly as she flung her yoyo up in the air, "Lucky Charm!" Something light and papery fluttered back down into her hands. "Huh?!" Ladybug yelped bewilderedly as she held up the Lucky Charm. "An Adrien Agreste mask?" she squeaked. "What do I do with this?!"

"I believe I can be of service there," Chat plucked the mask out of her fingers, "I'll be the distraction and you take out the Akuma."

Ladybug spluttered as Chat slipped the paper mask over his face. "Hey Ugly!" he hollered out. "U.G.L.Y, you got not alibi," Chat sang out tauntingly as Ladybug face palmed exasperatedly, "Hey! You ugly!"

The Akuma let out an enraged screech.

"Hey!" Chat sang out. "You ugly!"

The Akuma dived for an attack.

"Hey!" Chat dodged it. "You ugly!"

Ladybug threw out her yoyo and it wrapped round the mirror. She quickly yanked it out of the Akuma's hand and flung it against the wall, shattering the glass and sending out a dark, purple, butterfly fluttering away to freedom.

"Oh no you don't!" Ladybug growled as she threw out her yoyo again. The yoyo opened up and captured the butterfly with ease. "No more evil doing for you little Akuma. Time to de-evilize." Her compact opened up released a pure, white, butterfly to freedom. "Bye, bye, little butterfly" she called out sweetly as she waved after it. She then tossed her yoyo up in the air one last time. "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"

There is a burst of little red ladybugs that raced across the school and throughout the city as the cure worked its magic.

Th Akuma faded away into a scrawny, pimply, greasy-haired teenager who looked down at his hands in a mix of bewilderment and despair.

Ladybug turned to face Chat triumphantly as she held up her fist for their customary fist bump. She faltered as her arm dropped down to her side and horror welled up within her.

For the first time since….well the first time, she had failed her duty as Ladybug.

She failed to do her job.

She was a complete, utter, failure.

….Chat Noir had not been cured.