When Jeanne had woken up that morning, she'd expected the day to be boring beyond belief. Adrien's school was holding a design contest and since Gabriel couldn't be bothered to actually get his ass out of the house, Jeanne and Nathalie had to go and hold his tablet so he could judge the competition from home. She'd been instructed on what to wear, say, and do while completing the aforementioned task, just like every other day of her life. She had been finishing her makeup when the beating of wings startled her. True, it wasn't an uncommon occurrence to have pigeons nesting outside her window, but this sounded like a lot more than usual. She opened the drapes and was greeted by the sight of thousands of pigeons flying past her floor to ceiling windows.

"N-Nathalie? You see them too, right?"

"The birds? Yes. We all see them." Nathalie's voice echoed from the hallway. "What kind of supervillain controls pigeons for Heaven's sake?" Jeanne snickered. It did seem like a bit of a lame power. Then she realized something.

"Nathalie? Did Adrien leave the house with his allergy medication?"

There was silence.

"You should take it to him." Nathalie finally said. Jeanne nodded, going into Adrien's room to grab the medicine. She noted he'd borrowed some of her clothes again, judging from the shirts and skirts strewn on the floor, and rolled her eyes. She kept telling him not to do that. But those particular items were getting too small for her. Maybe she'd let him have them. She made it halfway to the door before Gabriel caught her.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked. "We have a contest to prepare for."

"I just wanted to bring Adrien his meds." She said, immediately adopting a smaller posture. "I got worried because there are birds everywhere."

"We're going to see him soon enough. Go back to your room and finish getting ready." Gabriel waved a hand dismissively and turned away. "Adrien's allergy isn't that severe."

"But with so many birds, it could end up like that petting zoo." Jeanne was willing to plead if she had to. She was being unreasonable, she knew that, but she didn't want to risk the possibility that this could end up being deadly to her little brother.

"It won't take long, will it?" Gabriel asked, refusing to turn around.

"It won't, I promise."

"Go then."

"Thank you, father." She slipped out the door.

Actually locating her brother turned out to be more difficult than she'd anticipated. He, of course, wasn't at school due to having to go deal with the akuma attack. To find him, she needed to find the villain first. The problem was that she didn't know where the villain could possibly be. Her first instinct was to go to where the highest volume of pigeons was, but that was hard to figure out just by looking at them, and the damned things were literally everywhere! Never before had Jeanne Agreste had a stronger desire to begin murdering pigeons. Maybe this was how cats felt. She stopped, wiping her forehead. A great deal of concealer came off with the sweat. Well, the contest wasn't for another few hours. She'd have time to clean herself up by then. Just a minor setback, she assured herself. It was then that she caught sight of a familiar cat-suited boy.

"About fucking time." She muttered, heading in that direction. The Grand Palais laid before her, and she was certain her brother would be inside with Ladybug and that damn pigeon man. Looking around, Jeanne made sure no one else was there before she entered. However, the second she stepped foot inside the building, all Hell broke loose. A sneeze from Chat had alerted the pigeon villain to their presence and he was currently unleashing the full force of his feathered minions on the superhero team. For a brief moment, Jeanne panicked, before ducking off to the side close to where Chat was fighting.

"Pst! Adrien!" She said in a loud whisper. Chat looked around, trying to locate the sound of the unfamiliar voice. It only took him a minute before he spotted his sister hiding behind the vending machines.

"What are you doing here?!" He hissed, shielding her as he drove off the birds with his staff.

"You left the house without your meds." She held out the bottle. "The city's covered in birds. I got worried."

"You need to leave, Jeanne."

"I ran halfway across Paris to give you these so you better take your goddamn medicine!" She shoved them toward him.

"I'm in the middle of something here!" He jerked his head in the direction of the birds and Ladybug.

"Just take them and I'll leave!"

"Jeanne, I don't have time for this!"

"Take the medicine then!"

"My allergy isn't even that bad."

"Uh huh. Remember that time at the petting zoo when your throat swelled up so much you could barely breathe?" She pursed her lips and cocked an eyebrow.

"I was six! Are you never going to let me live that down?!"

"I want to keep you safe!"

"God, you're as bad as Dad!" The second the words left his lips, he knew he'd crossed a line. Whatever Jeanne had been preparing to say died in her throat. She just stared at him, mouth open just enough that he could see the tips of her front teeth. Then her face was set in stony resignation.

"I'll be going then." She said, voice soft. "Have fun saving the world." Every fibre of his being was screaming that he needed to apologize, but he didn't. He was still too angry. So he turned away and went back to fighting.

Jeanne ran home in tears. Halfway up the driveway, her heel broke and she plummeted onto the concrete path. Skin flaked off her hands, knees, cheeks, blood welling up where the skin had been broken. She yanked off her heels and stormed inside. Nathalie didn't ask, and neither did her father. For once she was glad for the lack of attention. Jeanne threw off her clothes and took a shower, washing away the blood and first layer of makeup. She pounded at the shower walls until her hands hurt too much to continue. She got out, got dressed again, then put on her smile. She wore gloves to conceal the scratches on her hands, thick tights to cover her skinned knees, concealer to hide blotchy skin and bloodied cheek.

"Jeanne? Are you ready?" Nathalie knocked tentatively on the door.

"Yes. Just give me a moment." The eldest Agreste child put on a new pair of pumps and followed Nathalie out to the car. The ride to Collège Françoise Dupont wasn't a long one. Nathalie and Jeanne sat in silence during this time, both avoiding eye contact.

"Did you find Adrien?" Nathalie asked after a few minutes.

"He was busy." Jeanne answered. "Schoolwork and all that. I didn't want to disturb him." Nathalie nodded. She was certain there had been some kind of argument, but she knew better than to press the conversation. The car arrived shortly after, the two women exiting and ascending the steps into the school. Nathalie did the introductions, Jeanne standing directly beside her, looking just as perfect as she was supposed to as she turned on the tablet. Adrien had appeared from a side entrance. Jeanne didn't make eye contact with him.

"Hello, Mr. Damocles," Nathalie said, hands folded behind her back. "I'm Mr Agreste's executive assistant Nathalie, and I'm sure you know his daughter Jeanne."

"Hello, ladies." The principal replied, glancing over their shoulders and fidgeting a bit. "Pardon me, but where is Mr Agreste?"

"I'm here." Jeanne turned the tablet so her father's face was clearly visible.

Damocles smiled. "Ah, uh, hello Mr Agreste. Welcome to our school."

Gabriel nodded curtly. "Adrien, take your sister and Nathalie around."

"Yes, Father." Adrien began to walk, Nathalie and Jeanne falling into step behind him. They were the perfect pictures of dutiful children, Adrien leading the way and Jeanne holding the tablet and obeying her father's instructions perfectly. The whole contest was going smoothly. Until that is, the group got to Chloé and Marinette's hats. Jeanne's shoulders slumped. Every day she became more and more disappointed with that girl. Chloé was better than this.

"Um, hi Mr Agreste." Chloé said, batting her eyelashes. "I'm Chloé Bourgeois. You know my father, André Bourgeois, the mayor?"

"Yes, we remember you Chloé." Jeanne forced a weak smile before moving on. As soon as Gabriel was shown Marinette's hat, he knew something was amiss.

"Jeanne, turn the tablet back to Miss Bourgeois' hat." He instructed. His daughter did as she was told.

"Is this a joke?" His tone turned even colder.

"No fair! Marinette copied my design! It's scandalous, how could you do that?" Chloé began to sob in a way that Jeanne was certain was fake. She had seen the younger girl do it enough times to be able to distinguish the difference.

"Adrien, hold this." She passed the tablet off to Adrien.

"I apologize for the situation Mr Agreste, but I can prove that this derby hat is MY original design." Marinette said, the perfect picture of calm.

"Go ahead." Gabriel was only slightly distracted by the fact that his daughter was picking up and examining the hat Chloé had submitted.

"Um, everything on my derby hat is handmade." Even while distracted, Gabriel's stare was intimidating as ever, causing Marinette to stutter just a bit. "From the embroidery to the weaving of the band, to the stitching of the brim. All done by myself. And last, there's a special design element, that only the true designer knows about. I signed mine." Jeanne turned over the hat, revealing Marinette's name stitched into the brim. Knowing she had been caught, Chloé fled the scene, crying for her father.

"I need to have a talk with her." Jeanne muttered.

"But not today?" Adrien whispered.

"No, not today." It had been a long day. She didn't need to have to deal with the reaction she was certain Chloé would have. Instead, she watched and listened as her father praised Marinette for her design.

"Congratulations on your demonstration, Miss Marinette." Gabriel said. "You're the winner."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Marinette squealed.

"Adrien will wear your derby hat in our next advertising campaign."

"Awesome job, Marinette." Adrien said as he began to put on the hat. However, he erupted into a sneezing fit.

"He's allergic to feathers." Jeanne said, producing the bottle of medication. Adrien sneezed again as he took it from her.

"Gesundheit." Marinette couldn't help but giggle a little.

"Thanks." Adrien smiled sheepishly.

.

The ride home was quiet, the siblings slumped over each other, completely worn out. Jeanne went straight to her room to wash off her makeup and change into more comfortable clothes.

"Hey..." Adrien knocked tentatively on her door frame. "I'm really sorry about what I said."

"Don't worry about it." Jeanne pulled on a sweatshirt. "You were busy."

"You don't have to make excuses."

"I'm not."

"Then accept my apology." He folded his arms.

She laughed and turned around, flopping down on her bed. "Fine. Apology accepted, little brother."

"So...Did something happen after you left?" He walked in and sat down next to her. "Nathalie said you came home crying, and you've got scratches all over." When Nathalie had told him, he'd feared the worst. He'd crossed a line and it was possible his sister had tried to repeat the action that had brought on her imposed isolation.

"You know those awful Gucci stilettos Father insisted I buy?" She asked. "The yellow ones. The heel broke and I fell onto the driveway. It was nothing big."

"Oh." He smiled nervously. "I thought you'd...I don't know."

"You thought I'd tried to kill myself again." Right to the point.

"...Yeah."

"I'm not going to do that." She pulled him close with one arm. "I can't just leave you alone. Not with everything you're going through." He closed his eyes and breathed in her perfume. It was flowery today, with hints of strawberry.

"Thanks." He whispered.

"I just...It feels like everything is out of my control." She said, sighing deeply. "I want to keep you safe, but I know you need to keep Paris safe. And being cooped up here is driving me crazy! This is not helping me. I need to go out. I need to live my life."

"I understand."

"I know you do."

"I love you."

"I love you too, sis."

They fell asleep lying on her bed, hugging one another.