If you recognise it, it's not mine.

"You know," Tikki said once Alya had left, "if you managed to persuade Alya and Nino to admit their feelings for one another, and then did the same thing with Adrien, you could probably pretend that was a double date."

"Oh, believe me, Tikki," Marinette said, flopping back on her bed, "I already am." She closed her eyes and smiled. "He said he wanted to do it again sometime, right? Do you think that means he'd want to meet up without Alya and Nino around? Maybe next time we have a group project Alya would go with Nino, so I could go with him, and then-"

Tikki laughed, flying down to bop her on the nose lightly. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself, Marinette. Stick to being a good friend to Adrien, and we can see how things go from there."

Marinette sighed. "He does need a friend at the moment, I think," she said. "I mean, other than Nino. Best friends are good, but you need more than that. Especially if he's going to start standing up to his dad more."

"I think you mean Alya's going to start standing up to his dad for him," Tikki said. "She seems pretty protective of him at the moment."

"She gets like that sometimes. I think that if I wasn't Ladybug and she didn't have the Ladyblog to run, she'd probably march up to Hawkmoth and take him down herself. She doesn't like sitting back and doing nothing in a situation she could be helping with." Marinette shook her head. "It's going to get her into trouble one of these days."

Tikki shrugged. "At least she'll have you there to get her out of it again," she said. "Marinette, saviour of Paris and Alya!"

Marinette laughed. "She rescues me way more than I save Paris," she said. "Can you imagine how bad it would have been if she hadn't been there to take all the pictures of Adrien off my wall? My life would be a disaster without her."

"Friends are good," Tikki said happily, wriggling between Marinette's shoulder and the bed. Marinette hummed in agreement, then her eyes opened as she though of something.

"Tikki, do you have any friends? Not just me," she added as the kwami opened her mouth. "I mean, other kwamis, or I don't know, previous Ladybugs?"

Tikki went quiet. "The last Ladybug was nearly eighty or ninety years ago, and that didn't end well. I haven't seen any other kwamis in a very long time, Marinette. Sometimes me and Plagg- that's the Chat Noir kwami- have had charges who know each other well enough that they feel comfortable telling each other who they really are, and then we can talk to each other, but for the most part we don't really see much of each other at all."

"Oh," Marinette said, sitting up and reaching out to cup Tikki in her hands. "Don't you get lonely?"

"Not really," Tikki said. "The time we spend without a Ladybug or whoever is just like we're taking a very long nap, and I love watching humans, so I don't mind not having anyone to talk to for most of the day. And you are my best friend, Marinette. Don't worry about me, honestly. It's not like I could change anything, even if I wanted to."

Marinette frowned. "Well, if Chat and I ever end up sharing our identities, you'll be the first to know," she said. "Anyway, I'd better get on with mom's dress. There's only a few days left before the party."

"Marinette!" Something was whispering in her ear, the words interspersed by a steady beeping sound. "Marinette, wake up, you're going to be late!"

Marinette fell out of bed, barely managing to check the time as she reached for her clothes. "Oh no! We've got the presentation first thing, too!" She scrambled through her morning routine, and Tikki was still bobbing after her with her hair ties as she sprinted through the bakery, grabbing a croissant on her way through. "Thanks, Tikki," she said once they were out on the street, taking the ties from the kwami before she hid away in her purse. "I'll need to run if I'm going to be there on time, though."

She made it into the room halfway through her name being called in registration, managed to get to her seat without falling, and gasped "present" before she noticed the seat in front of her was empty.

"Hey, where's Adrien?" she asked Alya, prodding her in the arm.

"I don't know," Alya said. "Nobody's seen him all morning. Should we be worried?"

"It's not like Adrien to miss something like this," Nino chipped in, turning round in his seat. "I mean, I know the dude's not the best at being on time, but he wouldn't want to let us all down on the presentation."

Marinette frowned, but Chloe interrupted them before she could say anything. "Are you talking about Adrien?" she simpered, smirking at them from across the room. "I suppose you don't know. Unsurprising really, considering his closest friend is yours truly."

"Go on then, tell us," Marinette said, in no mood to deal with her games today. "Where's Adrien?"

"Adrikins is in the hospital," Chloe said, loud enough for the rest of the class to hear. "He got hit by a car yesterday afternoon."

"What?" Nino stood up, and he wasn't the only one in the class to do so. "Is he okay?"

"Of course not, he's in the hospital, idiot," Chloe snapped. "Look, I don't know. The only reason I know anything is because-"

"Yeah, yeah, because your dad's the mayor," Alya muttered.

"Actually, I know because I was contacted specifically by Adrien's father, or at least by his assistant. Apparently he was asking for his friend, so clearly I was the one they called. I'm going to visit him after school today."

Marinette and Alya exchanged glances as Madame Bustier tried to calm the class down so she could begin the lesson. "A visit from Chloe?" Alya muttered, casting a dark look at the blonde. "That's enough to put anyone into hospital in the first place."

"Poor Adrien," Marinette said. "He really doesn't need this right now."

Nino shook his head, turning round. "We can't do our presentation, either," he said. "I mean, we could, but..." He glanced at the empty seat beside him, adjusting his headphones around his neck. "I think Adrien really liked, you know, being part of our group, even if it was just for a little bit. It wouldn't be fair to go ahead and finish it all without him."

"That's understandable, Nino," Madame Bustier said, evidently overhearing him. "If Adrien's back before the end of the week, you can do it then, but if it turns out he's going to be off any longer, I suggest you rework your presentation for three people. We need to move on with the course- and that's why we're going to start the rest of the projects today. Nathanael, Rose and Juleka, you three are up first."

Marinette could barely focus for the rest of the lesson; she was too busy worrying. Alya had to keep prodding her so she'd applaud as each group finished. By the time the bell rang, Alya almost had to pull her out of her chair. "Marinette, there's no point stressing about it right now," she said. "There's no way they'll let us in to see him-"

"We don't even know how badly he's hurt," Nino chipped in. "They might not even let Chloe in, if he's really bad."

Marinette gasped, eyes widening, and Alya sent Nino a swift glare. "Chloe's been invited, you idiot," she said. "They wouldn't do that unless he was able to see her. But knowing Chloe, she won't tell anyone about it unless she can get something out of it, which she will, because she knows everyone cares about Adrien." She sighed and glanced at her friend, who was pacing back and forth along the corridor, frowning in concentration. "And knowing Marinette, she's going to come up with a bad plan to get into the hospital right about..."

Marinette looked up suddenly, eyes glinting. "What if we follow Chloe to the hospital, and then go in a minute after her? We could say we're with her, and we just turned up a bit late? They might believe us."

Alya placed a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "Girl, that's a good idea, but what's Chloe going to do if we turn up at the same time as her? She'd lose it for sure."

"I guess," Marinette said sadly, leaning against the wall. "I just wish there was something we could do."

"You know what I think?" Nino said, looking between Marinette and Alya challengingly. "I don't think Adrien asked for Chloe. I think he asked for us, or at least one of us, but his father or whoever dealt with it must have misunderstood when he asked for a friend. I guess the friend Adrien's household knows best is Chloe, so that's who they called." He shook his head in disgust, then looked at them hopefully. "They'll listen to him soon. They'll have to."

"I hope you're right, Nino," Alya said. Marinette nodded, but she'd stopped paying attention several minutes ago. A new idea had struck her- one which she couldn't suggest to Alya or Nino.

She couldn't get into the hospital without permission, and neither could Alya or Nino- but Ladybug could.