NOTE: There are only so many ways I can write "There is an Akuma but not nearby" before I want to yank my hair out; apologies if it seems a bit repetitive at points.

"WOOOooo… WOOOooo… WOOOooo" Distantly, Miss Bustier could hear the Akuma alarm blaring and warning citizens of Paris that an Akuma was on the loose. Luckily for her - and her lesson plan - this particular Akuma was not nearby so her class wouldn't have to evacuate (and have the lesson disrupted… again).

"Uh, Miss Bustier?" called out Marinette while raising her hand in the air. "Can I please go to the restroom?"

"Of course Marinette. Please make it quick."

"Thank you!"

But Marinette didn't return until a good hour after the lesson was over.

"WOOOooo… WOOOooo… WOOOooo" Yet again Miss Bustier could hear the Akuma alarm blaring, but the distant sound was clearly too far away to call for an evacuation, so she just continued teaching.

"Yes Adrien?" She asked when she saw that his handed was raised.

"Can I please be excused? I need to call Natalie about something."

"Alright, but don't take too long."

Yet Adrien was gone for the rest of the school day.

"WOOOooo… WOOOooo… WOOOooo" over the bustling noise of the hallway Miss Bustier could just barely hear the Akuma alarm in the distance. Thankfully it seemed to be far enough away that they would not have to cancel class and evacuate the school.

As distracting as the thought of an Akuma on the loose was, she still noticed one of her students sneaking out the front door of the school.

"Marinette where do you think you're going?" She called out before the young girl could get any further.

"I left my physics book at home and was just going to go grab it really fast."

"Okay, but don't be too late."

"I won't! Thanks Miss Bustier!"

But from what she overheard her fellow teachers saying later that day, it seemed that Marinette never made it to any of her other classes, much less physics.

"And once again an Akuma is on the loose in Paris. From the map here you can see the evacuation zone where citizens-"

Ignoring the newscaster's incessant chatter Miss Bustier quickly looked over the map to make sure, but it looked like this Akuma was on the other side of Paris and nowhere near either her apartment, or the school.

Bored now (the newscaster didn't really have any facts about the Akuma besides the fact that it was one), Miss Bustier glanced outside of the break room to watch the students eating their own lunches in the cafeteria, and noticed one student leaving without the lunchroom supervisor noticing.

"That Adrien Agreste! I swear-!" Not even bothering to finish her sentence, Miss Bustier quickly jumped up from her seat to chase him down. "If he misses even one more of my classes this weak I'm going to put him in detention! I don't care who his father is or what extracurricular activities he has! Missing so many classes is terrible for his education!"

"ADRIEN AGRESTE!" She called out as she entered the courtyard.

But instead of stopping, the young teen broke into a sprint and dashed out the doors.

Growling now, she chased after him but, by the time she got to the entrance of the school, the boy was long gone. Based on her experience in the last several months, she would be very lucky if she saw him in class next period.

What was she going to do with him?

"Marinette, do you know why I asked you to stay after class?"

"No Miss Bustier."

"Right. Well then." The awkward cough and shuffling of some papers didn't succeed in making what she was about to say any less awkward. "Right. Well, there really is no easy way to say this... Marinette, you have missed at least a quarter of my classes this semester and as a result you have… well… you aren't getting good grades; Grades that your previous teachers have assured me you are capable of. I just… I just want to make sure that you're okay. That you aren't..." she swallowed around the lump in her throat. "aren't being threatened, or bullied, or coerced in any way either inside or outside of school."

"What?! No! Of course not!" cried the young teen as she waved her arms in a way that was, probably, meant to be a confirmation of her denial (but actually just made her look overly enthusiastic).

"Okay." Miss Bustier took a deep breath. She knew that perusing this wouldn't work; either Marinette trusted her enough to talk about it or she didn't. Asking more about what the teen was going through wouldn't help, but at least now Marinette knew that Miss Bustier was here for her. "Then is there anything I can do as your teacher to help you with class? Tutoring or something?"

AN: A rather long chapter where Miss Bustier tries to be a good teacher and, unfortunately, kinda fails. From here you can see an evolution over time where she starts off trusting her two students to come back to class, to her not believing they would and trying to stop them, to her eventually accepting that something is going on (she doesn't know what) and that while she cannot stop them from missing class, she will do all she can to help them succeed.

Normally a teacher waits for the student to reach out (prevents them from wasting time on students that don't care) but I have Miss Bustier being the one to reach out first and here is why; Marinette has been attending public school for a while (like, her whole life). That means she has a record with previous teachers that Miss Bustier can go back to and talk (*cough*gossip*cough*) with about Marinette and her attendance. Miss Bustier can ask 'is this normal?' and get the answer 'no.' Now, if I had two flight-risk students and I know for sure that, for at least one of them, this is very abnormal behavior, I would be concerned. Clearly something has happened to change their behavior. Seeing as both students go missing at the same time (yes, she probably noticed that), the problem might be related (and she knows they aren't dating). Hence Miss Bustier reaching out. And while Marinette (and Adrien) do not go to Miss Bustier for help with their problem, at least the teacher can feel better knowing that the two students are aware that she is there if they need her.

A big thank you to Ladybug fan Renee for this idea! I know in our chats that I talked about having Miss Bustier keep the two of them in class during an attack, so this… really isn't what we talked about but you deserve credit for getting me to start writing. Hopefully my muse will cooperate next chapter and stick to the plan *glares pointedly at muse* *muse rolls eyes*