Adrien looked back down at his book, doing his best to avoid being seen.

Currently, their class was sent to the library for research work. He was working on it with Marinette, Alya and Nino. Tiana was sat further away with Nathaniel, every so often quiet laughter coming from their table.

He's been trying for a few days to figure out a way to talk to her about what she told Chat Noir, but it was a little harder to figure out a way without revealing who he was.

As Adrien, she usually talked with him on friendly terms all the time. But whenever family was mentioned, she'd change subject. He wanted to prove to her that they were there for her if she wanted to talk, like he told her weeks ago but apparently didn't set in.

There hasn't been an opportunity to get her alone yet though, as Nathaniel has either been around her or Marinette and Alya have been. So he has just been having to wait for the right moment while figuring out the right thing to say.

There was laughter from their table again as Marinette and Alya whispered to each other beside him. Vaguely, it sounded along the lines of someone having a crush. But he didn't want to eavesdrop on his friends.

Though, he couldn't deny he was a little curious about who it was of their friends that had a crush on someone.

"Are you two gossiping again?" Nino asked the girls as he finished with the one book they were using as reference material.

Marinette and Alya exchanged a look before Alya dragged Nino closer to her, whispering to him. What was so interesting that they didn't want even him hearing?

Nino's eyes lit up at whatever Alya said to him, so Adrien rolled his own eyes before getting up to grab another book from the shelves.

As he was looking through the various books on the shelves, Tiana walked down the same isle as him, offering him a warm smile as she began looking for a book off the shelves as well.

"You're looking less sleep deprived." Tiana commented quietly, a teasing smile now replacing the warm one as he laughed mockingly at the comment.

"I'm sleeping a bit better, don't worry your little head." Adrien replied as Tiana laughed at him this time, fighting off the Chat like smile he wanted to give her at knowing he made her laugh.

"Oh I haven't worried about you. I'm sure if you get tired enough you'll pass out eventually." Tiana said as he finally spotted the book he was looking for.

As he reached for it, another hand too reached for it. Their fingers ghosted against one another, an electric feeling racing down his fingers to his arm and beyond. He pulled his hand away just as she did, unsure of what the hell just happened.

It was like how he felt whenever Ladybug touched him, but this was different. This wasn't Ladybug, this was his friend Tiana. This didn't make his heart beat erratically, but did make it feel like his skin was tingling in the aftershock.

"Désolé, you can use the book." Tiana spoke first, and at looking at her it looked like he was the only one who just felt that. She still was smiling kindly, no sign that anything out of the ordinary had just happened when they touched.

What was that? He's touched Tiana before, they've sparred plenty of times and come into contact because of it. Not to mention that she frequently leans on him as he does to her. But THAT has never happened.

Why now?

"No, no it's fine. You use it." Adrien hard to force himself to talk, as he felt tongue tied when he retrieved the book and handed it to her.

Unfortunately, Tiana being the ever observant person she is must have sensed something was off as she cocked an eyebrow at him. "You good, Agreste?" Tiana asked as she took the book from him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Adrien assured her, glancing back in the direction of their friends that were still gossiping together at the table. "I have no idea what's going on with them, they've been whispering almost the whole time we've been in here." Adrien changed the subject in hopes Tiana would forget about it and move on.

Tiana barely gave a glance towards their other friends, laughing quietly. "What do you expect? It's basically a free period if you get the work done fast. Besides, Alya can't resist all the news and gossip." Tiana reminded him before he noticed that Alya and Marinette kept giving quick glances in their direction.

"Somehow I feel like they're planning something." Adrien muttered, as any time Alya and Marinette would whisper and glance occasionally at something then proceed to whisper more, it meant they were up to something.

"Probably." Tiana agreed with him with a shrug before walking away and back to her table with Nathaniel, noticing the way the shy red head smiled a little wider at Tiana as she sat back down.

A twinge in his chest made him look away from them, going to look for another book elsewhere.

He only got one row over when he heard Chloe laugh loudly, immediately knowing something was about to happen.

"Why don't you two just date already? You're already acting like a cute little couple."

Adrien bit his tongue as he came around the shelves to see Chloe had turned her chair to face Tiana and Nathaniel's table, the shyer of the two burying his face in a notebook.

Chloe glanced his way, and for a second he wondered if this was her attempt at trying to be nice. But instead Tiana scoffed at her words.

"We're friends, Chloe. Not everyone is looking to date, we're perfectly happy just as we are." Tiana replied to her without even looking up at her, just continuing to write in her own notebook.

Chloe scrunched her nose in annoyance, obviously wanting to say something to Tiana as he walked over quickly in hopes of diffusing the situation.

"Obviously you don't see the way he looks at you then. It's like how he looks at Mari-trash." Chloe said before he could reach her, pinching the bridge of his nose as she once more assumed she was being treated like a witch and was acting the part.

"Hey!"

"Leave Marinette out of it!"

Adrien stepped up to Chloe's table as Marinette and Alya protested from their own, glancing around for a second as he wondered where the teachers had gone this time. "Chloe, enough." Adrien said as calmly as he could, trying to fight off the annoyance of his friends bickering.

"What? I didn't do anything! I just told them to date already since Nathaniel's always looking at her like a love-struck puppy." Chloe argued with him, clicking a nail on the table as she turned her back to the two.

A chair scraped obnoxiously across the floor, and looking back he watched as Nathaniel hurried out of the library.

Looking at Tiana, he saw her expression darken on Chloe. This will not end well...

"Tiana..."

"You really just cant help yourself, can you?" Tiana questioned Chloe as she stood from her table, glaring down Chloe who still had her back to her.

"Well sorry for trying to help." Chloe quipped back, earning scoffs from not only Tiana but Marinette and Alya as well as they too stood from their tables and moved towards Tiana.

"If this is your idea of helping, I feel real bad for anyone else you try to help." Tiana replied as she stuffed her stuff into her bag quickly. At that, Chloe whipped around to face her once again.

"Just because you like someone that's not him doesn't mean you can be mad at me for trying to help him." Chloe snapped at her, Adrien putting a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down but instead earning a glare. "You know I'm right! I told you at dinner that one of them has feelings for you, that's why she doesn't like the psycho artist back!" A collection of murmurs rose from the rest of the class at her words.

Looking back Tiana's way, he noticed she was no longer there. A slam from the doors a second later let him know that she had left as well with no other words.

"Chloe, this was NOT the way you try to be nice to others." Adrien reminded her, taking a deep breath to try to steady his want to be mad at her for upsetting all of his friends once again as well as spreading rumors about things that weren't her business anyways.

"I tried to help them." Chloe continued to argue with him, before the doors slammed once again. Looking back, Alya and Marinette were gone now too. A moment later their teacher finally showed back up with a confused expression about what the hell was happening.

Great, this was definitely the way he wanted Chloe to try to make nice with the others.

Marinette tried to her best to quell the pain flaring in her chest, she really did. But at knowing that Chloe had told Adrien that one of them had feelings for him, she couldn't stay there anymore. She couldn't be there to witness if she stole her chance to tell Adrien the truth.

But even less, she couldn't fight off the worry that Chloe might have a point. What if that's the reason Tiana seemingly doesn't like Nathaniel back? She was right, it was painfully obvious that Nathaniel's been developing a crush on their friend.

So if even Chloe can see that, can she see if Tiana actually has feelings for Adrien?

Alya followed after her, trying to remind her that Chloe was all talk. But all she could think of was all the talks with Adrien, the laughter. She wanted to be the one to share with him all her happiness and his own in turn. To hold his hand when she's feeling stressed or feel his arms wrap around her to fight off the worry.

But what if that's not what he wanted?

In these weeks of trying to get closer with him to ease her anxiety about telling him how she feels, she hadn't once thought if he might have feelings for someone else. Obviously it wasn't Chloe.

But what if it was Tiana?

They were close, and they teased each other a lot. They had big similarities, like their unfavorable home lives. What if Adrien had started developing feelings for Tiana like Nathaniel had?

At first glance, it didn't seem like it. But she had never actually asked him if he had feelings for anyone. They never got even close to that kind of discussion. She felt guilty a little in that most of their talks revolved around her, instead of if he had feelings for anyone. Yes, she hopes and prays its for her if he does.

But her nerves could only skyrocket at the idea of what if it wasn't her. What if it was Tiana, and she felt the same? Or what if she didn't, as she was brutally honest about how she felt about everyone. What if he had feelings for her but she didn't return them, and he ends up hurt?

Alyas hand clasped over her shoulder, stopping her at last as well as the downward spiral that was her thoughts. "Breathe." Alya reminded her first, taking a deep breath to get her to join in.

After a few deep breaths to steady her nerves and thoughts, she faintly heard talking nearby. Focusing a little more, she went to find them as she realized it was Tiana, hoping the other voice was Nathaniel.

Following their voices, they came to the locker room.

"-she's full of it. Don't let her get to you."

"Easy for you to say. You don't-"

Peeking in to the locker room, Marinette spotted Tiana sitting with her back to some of the lockers. Following Nathaniel's voice, it sounded like he was on the other side of the row of lockers. Out of sight probably from embarrassment.

Marinette suddenly remembered that Hawk Moth was still very much around. She couldn't risk letting Hawk Moth akumatize Nathaniel again.

Everything she's feeling is important, but making sure her friend stays free of an akuma is more important.

"Nathaniel, everyone knows not to believe her. No one is judging you, I'm not judging you. I already know who it is you really have feelings for." Tiana said as Marinette was about to walk in to try to help.

Alyas hand held her back, holding a finger over her lips to keep quiet. At what Tiana said, she felt like they probably shouldn't be here for what's being discussed. It wasn't their business, Nathaniel probably didn't want them to know.

"You really don't understand." Nathaniel replied to her quietly. Marinette's heart clenched at the tone of his voice, how broken he sounded. All she wanted to do was help, make sure he understood that they were there for him to talk and that how he feels about someone isn't something to be ashamed of.

"Nat-"

"Just leave me alone for a while. Please."

Nathaniel's plead was just as quiet as before, but the pain in his tone sounded more raw this time. Like even talking about it just hurt more and more.

Marinette was about to go in to try to help, but held back when she saw Tiana's eyes flicker to them in the doorway.

With a shake of her head at them, she stood up and walked around the lockers.

"Tiana-"

"Shush."

"Will you just-"

"Nope."

Marinette and Alya exchanged a look after a minute of silence. As they were about to walk in to make sure everything was okay, another hand brushed her shoulder.

Marinette had to cover her mouth as she almost squealed in surprise, whirling around to see it was Adrien who had snuck up on them. His eyes twinkled with a desire to laugh, but he held back from doing so.

Why do people get such a kick out of scaring others?!

Adrien opened his mouth to speak, but Alya covered his mouth quickly. Marinette struggled to hold back a laugh at the startled look that replaced his eyes over Alyas sudden action, before motioning to the both of them to follow.

They tiptoed into the locker room, Marinette listening carefully in case they were still talking. But it was dead silent now. So as they reached the edge of the lockers that blocked their view of Tiana and Nathaniel, she waited for a second.

With no other sounds, she peaked around the corner to see the two at last. Her heart nearly cried at the sight she saw.

With their backs to the lockers, Tiana had an arm wrapped around Nathaniel's waist, her head resting on his shoulder as he rested his own on hers. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder so tightly it was like he was afraid to let her go.

Both of their eyes were closed, obviously why they were so silent up until now. But even with the seeming peace of comforting that Tiana was providing, Nathaniel's body language still showed how hurt he was.

A loud bang suddenly startled all five of them, Marinette whipping around to see Adrien had stumbled past her into the lockers across from them. He sent a sheepish smile her way before leveling it in the direction of Tiana and Nathaniel.

Nathaniel pulled away from Tiana so quick it was like he thought she was fire, acting like he was about to escape but Tiana's hand caught his own.

"They're not going to mock or tease you, Nathaniel. You know that." Tiana spoke up before she could give her own apology for interrupting.

"We're really not. Chloe is just trying to get attention, we don't care what she says." Marinette reminded, frowning at the way Nathaniel couldn't even look at her in comparison to looking at the other three in the room.

Nathaniel groaned before ripping his hand out of Tiana's grip and turning his back to her. "I asked to be alone and you let them get in to this?" Nathaniel asked, directing the question at Tiana as she noticed the way Tiana's expression dropped a little at him yanking away from him.

"Tiana had nothing to do with us being here. We wanted to make sure you both were okay, we're your friend too Nathaniel." Marinette reminded him in hopes of him at last treating her fairly again after the three years since his feelings were ousted by Chloe the last time.

Nathaniel snorted indignantly before grabbing his bag from the floor where they had been sitting moments before. "You're like her. All you care about is who has feelings for who. It's no one's business but mine." Nathaniel hissed quietly without looking at any of them.

Marinette could already see the negative emotions getting the best of him. There was no doubt in her, if Hawk Moth was watching he would be sending an Akuma for Nathaniel if they didn't fix this quick.

"That's not true. Its like you say, it's between you and the girl you have feelings for." Adrien intervened now, always the mediator. "There's nothing wrong with you having feelings for her, it's natural. Its up to you if you want to tell her, and I doubt she'd believe it coming from Chloe. Yes, in her own awful way she was trying to help, but the final choice is up to you if you tell her." Adrien spoke with such honesty in his voice that Marinette couldn't keep her gaze away from him.

How he talked about having feelings for another girl, it was like he's had a lot of time to think about this subject. Does he have feelings for someone too?

She felt her heart thump as she hoped to everything that it was for her.

Nathaniel was quiet for a moment, before sighing as his ridged posture of annoyance with them slowly relaxed.

As Marinette was about to tell him they were there for him to talk to, she noticed the black butterfly that flew in the window.

Marinette's mouth dropped open, seconds from warning him when he was yanked backwards away from the butterfly.

Nathaniel fell to the floor with Tiana at his side as she blocked the butterfly from reaching its target. It was like time stopped as they watched with hesitant breaths as the butterfly fluttered around them.

She needed to get out of here, she needed to transform and purify the Akuma.

Nathaniel stared up at the fluttering butterfly as it inched closer, before suddenly Tiana jumped up.

"Don't touch it!"

Tiana clapped her hands over the butterfly, and Marinette felt the air leave her lungs as she waited for the inky substance to take her like it would have Nathaniel.

But after a minute of holding their breaths in horror of what was about to happen, nothing did.

Tiana's legs collapsed beneath her, Nathaniel catching her as she fell to the ground with the butterfly still secured in her hands.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Tiana asked as Marinette turned away from them. She needed to slip away and transform.

When Alya and Adrien raced over to try to help her, Marinette took the chance and fled the locker room.

Ladybug raced back to the locker room as she heard a yell. Bursting into the room, she dodged just in time to avoid Alya and Adrien as they dragged Nathaniel backward.

"It's my fault!"

Coming around the corner, Ladybug gasped as she saw the Akuma duplicating itself atop a now frozen Evillustrator copy. The Akuma had duplicated and possessed Tiana!

"Ladybug!" Ladybug flashed her gaze to Adrien to see him now staring her down. Her face warmed as the tell tale she was blushing, but she had to fight off her nerves about his excitement over seeing her. Now wasn't the time.

"All three of you, get somewhere safe. I'll help your friend there." Ladybug assured them but Nathaniel still continued struggling in Alya and Adrien's hold.

"It's my fault this happened, she stopped it from touching me." Nathaniel pointed out as Ladybug felt her heart throb at the anguish he was feeling at what has happened.

"It's not your fault, Nathaniel. Trust me, I'll help her. But I need you all to get to safety. She protected you, I'm sure she'd be hurt if it actually reaches you after doing what she did." Ladybug said as calmly as she could in hopes that Nathaniel would get a control over his emotions.

Without another word, she turned around to the rapidly duplicating Akuma, pulling her yo-yo from her waist. She just hoped that it didn't start possessing other innocent people.

"Wait!"

Just as Ladybug went to throw her yo-yo, Nathaniel raced forward. Changing tactics, she threw her yo-yo and it wrapped around his waist before she yanked him backwards.

Nathaniel stumbled backwards and into Alyas grasp once again, whimpering about wanting to be the one to help Tiana. But right now she couldn't deal with the conscience of her friend.

"Please, get him somewhere safe." Ladybug said to Alya before he was whisked away by her. She was vaguely aware of the fact that Adrien was no longer there, but that wasn't the most important thing at the moment.

Turning back to the Akumas, she spun her yo-yo in a quick circle before beginning to start capturing some of the duplicates.

The actual Akuma continued duplicating even as she got rid of some of the others, realizing that she'd need to get to the real one in order to stop the chain reaction.

The multitude of Akumas started fluttering towards her and the window, spinning her yo-yo quickly to protect herself from being touched by any of them.

As one got past her defense, it was suddenly smacked away by a metal staff, Chat Noir appearing at her side with a sideways smile as he began spinning his staff in front of them.

"Good to see you, Chat Noir." Ladybug said before beginning to thin the herd in search of the real Akuma among the fakes.

"Looks like I got here in time for the party. Where's the victim?" Chat asked as he covered her from being touched by any of the duplicates, noticing the way he kept glancing at the frozen copy of the Evillustrator.

"Hopefully somewhere safe this time, we just need to capture that Akuma." Ladybug revealed before noticing the one stray Akuma that was heading for the door. It was probably looking for Nathaniel, that has to be the one!

"I'll take care of these little mice, you get the rat." Chat assured her with a smile before she took off after the real Akuma.

Ladybug skidded into the hallway to see the black butterfly fluttering towards the main entrance, launching her yo-yo forward and capturing it.

Only for it to poof as soon as it entered her yo-yo. Dang it, wrong one!

A butterfly fluttered past her face suddenly, startling her before she yanked her yo-yo back and caught it. With another poof, she looked around to see that there were few other butterflies in the hallway.

Taking a deep breath, Ladybug began capturing them all quickly in hopes that one would be the real one.

As she got down to the last one that was hovering on a dropped notebook mysteriously, she caught it and sighed as it didn't disappear. Purifying it with a sigh of relief, she activated her Miraculous Ladybug effect to get rid of the stray butterflies.

With that done, she stooped down to pick up the notebook that had lain forgotten on the floor, wondering why it was interested in that. Upon seeing the name scribbled haphazardly at the bottom of the cover, she realized Nathaniel must have forgotten it in the rush of the moment.

Ladybug knew it was an invasion of privacy, but she couldn't help her peaking curiosity as she opened the little book. Each page was littered with drawings of varying topics, a reoccurring theme being super heroes and hilarious pictures of Chloe with animal appendages.

As she got further into the pages, she felt her heart stutter in her chest as she stumbled upon one page that was a portrait of her. Well, of her as Marinette. She had seen the ones he had done years ago in his comics where he would rescue her, but this one was so much more detailed. It looked like he took a long time just trying to get it right from all the eraser marks.

Flipping a few more pages, her eyes widened upon realizing that there were a few pages dedicated just to her. But then suddenly, Tiana started making an appearance in the pages.

The first one was of a side profile of her at her desk, a pen hanging from between her lips as she looked down at the book on the desk. It was as well done as the ones of herself, but it looked a little more rushed.

Like he was afraid of being caught for drawing it.

The next one of Tiana was of her face staring back at her, nose scrunched up a little as she appeared to be laughing. Her blue eyes twinkling with delight as they seemed to pop out of the page.

Ladybug suddenly slammed the notebook shut as Nathaniel skidded around the corner, mechanically handing the notebook back to him as he blushed red to match his hair at seeing it in her hands.

"Where's Tiana?" Nathaniel asked after slamming the book shut, Ladybug then realizing she had forgotten in the moment that Tiana had been frozen by the Akuma.

Turning and running back to the locker room, she threw the doors open to see a still somewhat dazed Tiana sitting beside Chat Noir, her partner smiling down at Tiana with a few quiet words she couldn't quiet understand.

But the way he smiled at her, it made her heart twinge oddly. It was a look she usually saw him send her own way, but now it was being sent elsewhere. What is this?

Ladybug was pushed aside as Nathaniel rushed forward, looking down at Tiana as her daze began to lift before suddenly engulfing her in a hug.

Chat came to stand beside her as she felt that they should just let these two talk alone, heart hurting a little at the quiet sniffles coming from Nathaniel as his face was buried in Tiana's shoulder.

"Nice job, my lady." Chat praised her, but his gaze didn't meet her fully as he kept switching between her and her friends. Ladybug really just wanted to get out of there.

"Let's let them talk in peace, Chat Noir." Ladybug said before turning around and leaving, barely getting out of the door when Chat's claw caught her hand.

"Ladybug-"

"I need to go change back, Chat Noir." Ladybug reminded him, noticing the way he glanced to her earings with a sigh before letting her go.

"I-I'm glad those butterflies didn't get you." Chat said before turning and walking away himself, leaving her to stare after him for a second before turning to go find somewhere to de-transform.

What is going on with him? First, he's stealing odd glances at her friend, and now he's back to his bouts of affection for her?

But what she had to worry about more, was why it bothered her to see the way he looked at another girl with the curiosity he usually had for her.

I'm posting earlier than usual today, I know. I have errands I need to run at the usual time when I post though, so I hope you guys don't mind the change in schedule for today!

Well look at that, it seems something might be stirring with Nathaniel when it comes to Tiana. Not only that, but Adrien as well. I wonder where this will lead us to?

Sadly, I'm behind on writing due to being busy, so I only have next chapter written and nothing of the one after that yet. My schedule's been conflicting with my writing, sorry guys!

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading! We're at over 2000 views at this point, and that's just amazing! I didn't think this story would get that many hits so fast, but you guys proved me wrong! Thank you so, so much. I gotta go run these errands though, so I'll see you all next chapter!