Ladybug, after returning the Fox miraculous, made her way back to Le Grand Paris so as not to be rude or suspicious.

"Tikki, spots off," she said after landing on the roof.

"There you are, M'lady," Adrien spoke, a smile on his face as he took Marinette into his arms for an embrace.

"Where'd you come from, Kitty?" she replied, leaning back in his hold as she lightly tapped his nose.

"That was pretty impressive back there, Marinette. I'm so lucky to be in love with you."

Adrien caressed her cheek with his finger, love and admiration shining in his eyes under the stars.

"Come on; it's cold out here and Father and his associates are waiting downstairs."

He gently grabbed her hand, leading the way back to the elevator that he had taken up only a moment ago.

Adrien escorted Marinette up to the door of the bakery, going inside with her on the promise to his Father that it would only be for a moment.

"Marinette! Adrien!"

"We heard about the akuma attack, but neither of you were answering your phones!" Tom exclaimed, putting his hands on his daughter's shoulders.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng."

"Adrien kept me safe, so don't worry!" Marinette explained, stepping around just how he had protected her, "We turned our phones off so that the akuma wouldn't be able to find us if it rang. It was still kind of hectic afterwards, so I guess we forgot to turn them back on. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course, darling. Your mother and I are just glad that both of you are safe."

"Thank you, Adrien, for taking care of Marinette. Did you have dessert already? We have some special passion fruit macarons left! Marinette said they were your favorite."

"Thank you, Mrs. Cheng, but I simply couldn't accept. Even if there was a punishment rather than a reward, I would always protect Marinette," Adrien said, looking over at the love of his life as he took her hand gently.

He smiled at her in a way that made her heart melt, and she could feel her cheeks warm up slightly. Tom and Sabine both gazed on in awe at the boy's romantic declaration.

"Still, you should take some for the road; just in case you need a midnight snack or two," Mrs. Cheng insisted, handing Adrien a small bag of the desserts with a wink.

"Thank you, ma'am."

Adrien kisses Marinette on the cheek before waving to all three and turning around, walking back out the door to his family car.

"So, how'd it go?" Tom asked, already gushing.

"Hm?"

"Tell us about your date!" Sabine continues.

"Mama! Papa! That's embarrassing. Besides, it wasn't a date; it was a dinner with his father and some other people in the industry."

"Really? Did you show them your designs?"

"No," Marinette began, leaning against a wall as she took off her shoes, "I didn't know it wouldn't be just the three of us, so I didn't bring it."

Mrs. Cheng walked over to the door, flipping the sign to read "CLOSED" from the outside.

"Did you at least have fun?"

"Mhm! I'm really tired now after the stress of both the dinner and akuma. May I go to bed?"

"Of course, dear. We love you."

"I love you guys, too."

Marinette walked up the stairs to her apartment and then to her bedroom. Walking into her closet, she first placed her shoes in the small cubby that she had made herself before she takes off her dress and slips on fuzzy pyjamas.

"I'm really proud of you, Marinette. You handled that akuma really well," Tikki said, fluttering around the girl's head.

"Thanks, Tikki."

Marinette walked back out of her closet, undoing her bun and letting it fall freely. Grabbing a brush, she began running it through her hair, detangling and smoothing it out. It still wasn't ideally straight, so she opted to return to her typical pigtails.

"Is something wrong, Marinette?"

"Not at all! I really am just tired."

She climbed up into her bed as the kwami turned off the lights. They both closed their eyes, sighing peacefully before Marinette's phone went off.

"Who's texting me? I thought Alya was grounded again for sneaking out to get footage for the LadyBlog."

Opening her phone, Marinette saw that she had a message from Adrien.

'Goodnight, Princess.'

She smiled, sending a reply. Putting her phone back down and cuddled into her pillow.

Multiple times throughout the night, Marinette stirred slightly, unable to shake away a feeling she couldn't place.

When the morning came, she didn't even have enough energy to jolt when her alarm went off. Dragging herself out of bed, she gets dressed and heads downstairs.

"Marinette? Are you alright? You're looking a little pale, dear," Sabine said, feeling her daughter's forehead.

"Mm...yes, Mama; just tired is all."

"Alright, take it easy today. Let Alya take you home if you're not feeling better by lunch."

Marinette kisses her mother's cheek before grabbing her backpack and heading downstairs into the bakery.

"Off to school, Marinette? I packed you some croissants for breakfast! Warm and fluffy, just the way you like them."

"Thanks, Dad. Love you," Marinette replies, taking the paper bag Tom had been holding out.

She walks out of the door, not in a rush since she didn't oversleep. In fact, she's one of the first people there.

"Maybe I could get some extra sleep before class starts," she mumbled to Tikki, whom stayed hidden inside Marinette's purse.

Walking up the stairs to her classroom, she made her way to her desk, sitting and putting her head down next to her backpack, falling asleep almost instantly.

However, it is short-lived by the slamming of the door. Marinette jumps, and looks up to see Lila, glaring at her. However, the brunette faked a smile upon making eye-contact.

"Oh, I didn't mean to wake you, Marinette! I'm just in such a bad mood! But I'm sure you won't want to hear about it."

"You're right; I don't."

"It's just that, well, I'm really tired because I was so busy last night helping Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat that akuma, Coal King!"

"King Coal."

"Right! Silly me! I was just so busy, you know? I'm sure you saw me there! What, with you pretending to be a part of a fashion designer dinner."

Marinette sighed, tilting her head so that she could look at Lila, who was standing in the aisle now.

"I didn't even know that they would be there, Lila. I thought I was just having dinner with Adrien and Mr. Agreste."

"Well, I'm sure that he absolutely loves you now."

Marinette glares up at Lila, feeling the bags under her eyes deepening.

"While it hasn't exactly been smooth-sailing from the start, everything will be fine. Adrien will help me win over Mr. Agreste," Marinette replies with a smug smile.

Rossi glowers, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back against the parallel desk.

"I still haven't gotten back at you for that little stunt you pulled with the audio recording. So you better watch your back."

"Are you done?"

Lila looks genuinely surprised by Marinette's response, and doesn't know what to say in return. Dupain-Cheng takes that as her cue to continue.

"Because I'm really tired, and I'd like it if I could get a few more minutes of sleep before class starts."

With that, Marinette turns her head away from Lila, closing her eyes once more. And, because of that, she doesn't see when the vile girl slips Ms. Bustier's present from Chloé into the heroine's backpack sleeve. Lila sneers before turning around and walking up the steps to sit in her seat.

Upon hearing Lila put her stuff down, Marinette sits up and grabs the old birthday present before standing and putting it on their teacher's desk. As she returned to her seat, she looked up at Lila and smiled.

"Evil is loudest when the good are quiet."

Marinette sat down, placing her backpack on the bench beside her. Feeling awake, she took her phone out and texted Adrien to tell him good morning and that she was suddenly in a very good mood.