Hello guys! Here's chapter 2. I hope it's okay. I'm a really slow writer when it comes to plot, so sorry for that. I just really exploring the dynamics between the character. Anyways, Hope y'all like like it!

P.S. It makes me so incredibly happy that people are actually willing to read my fanfic haha, didn't expect it and it fills me with joy!

As soon as Adrien woke up, he felt elated despite the few hours of sleep he had managed to get. He had the opportunity of forming a friendship with Marinette thanks to his alter ego. Granted, he realized it wouldn't solve his friendship issue with Marinette as his civilian self, but he hoped that as the friendship bloomed she would open up to telling him more about what was bothering her, possibly even tell her what he had done wrong. With a new resolution in his life, he headed to school.

Adrien walked up the stairs with a bounce in his step, even the fact that he was one of the first to arrive didn't deter his mood. He settled himself in the classroom, waiting for his friends to arrive.

The first one to cross the door was Nino, who with a quick wave settled himself in his seat, and promptly initiated a leisure conversation. Soon after, Alya joined them and a conversation of the latest akuma ensued.

The bell rang and Marinette hadn't appeared yet, but it didn't take long as the bluenette burst through the door with only seconds to spare as she walked hurriedly towards her seat, pointedly avoiding Adrien's gaze that seemed to be drilling holes on the side of her head.

"Hey, Marinette." he turned towards his friend with a small smile. But Marinette seemed completely concentrated on her desk and with a dejected sigh, he turned around to pay attention to class. He felt defeated, he had been so focused on how fun it was to spend time with Marinette that he completely forgot that he hadn't figured out yet what he had done wrong, and now it felt so clear that something was wrong, but he had to fix it, no matter what.

"Girl, what was that?" Marinette really didn't want to have to deal with Alya's probing, especially not during class. "I don't want to talk about it" Maybe it wasn't the best thing to say if she wanted to appease her best friends' never-ending curiosity, but she didn't have the energy to deal with it.

"Fine, I'll let it go for now, and only because you look like you ten seconds away from dropping dead". With a small smile in gratitude towards her friend, Marinette turned her attention to the class.

The day was hellish, the hours seemed like years, and at times she felt like she was being stared at. When she arrived at her house, she felt relief wash over her.

Once classes were over, Adrien had tried to talk to Marinette, multiple times actually, but the bluenette had seemed fixed on only one goal, and that was avoiding him and getting home as quickly as possible.

Adrien's actions only caused Nino's curiosity to spike tenfold. "Dude, what's got your attention so fixed on Marinette?"

Adrien tensed at that, he had thought he had been sneaky, he hadn't expected someone to have uncovered his actions so soon, much less when he didn't have an answer to such questioning yet.

Thinking fast, Adrien said the first thing that came to his mind, "I don't know, don't you feel like Marinette's been looking a bit down lately?" He didn't want to say anything about Marinette ignoring him to Nino, remembering what had happened last time he had raised his suspicions of Marinette's dislike towards the blond.

"Nah, man. She's the same Marinette she always is." And Adrien knew because Marinette was acting differently only with him, of course, Nino wouldn't notice any difference in the bluenette's attitude.

"I guess it's just in my imagination". Nino looked at him strangely, unsure of what could truly be going through the blond's mind, but he decided not to push it. Adrien thought that maybe he was reading too much into it, or maybe he wasn't. Marinette had seemed affected by something, but she wasn't letting any of her friends know of said thing, but she had let Chat know at least that something was going on. He wasn't sure why she seemed to be comfortable around Chat, perhaps it was the whole deal of him being Paris' superheroes, and it didn't feel all that off.

Adrien got up from the seat at a little cafe that he had been inhabiting for the past half hour. Classes had ended just a bit earlier than usual and he had taken it upon himself to just relax a bit with his friend, without his father's knowledge, of course.

He didn't know if standing on a rooftop across the bakery's, Marinette's, the rooftop was the best idea, but seeing as the girl had yet to get anywhere near her room he had no choice. Except turn back and come back another day, which of course in his mind sounded preposterous.

However, his mind didn't drift off too long, as not too long after the light in Marinette's room turned on, indicating that she was finally back in her room.

Not wanting to seem like a creep (cause certainly he wasn't a creep either way), he waited a few minutes before approaching the trapdoor on her balcony, he was sure she had heard him as he had made sure to make enough noise when dropping unto the balcony, but wanting to make sure he didn't startle her, he tapped twice on the door, mustering his best model smile.

He suddenly felt unsure of his presence there, he was aware that Marinette had welcomed Chat into her room, she had even told him she had enjoyed his presence.

But surely that didn't mean he could swing right away, right?! Suddenly the trapdoor opened, snapping him out of his trance.

"Chat?" He grinned widely.

"Hello, purr-incess" She rolled her eyes at this, "Aren't you going to let me in?" Again, he felt that gnawing telling him that she probably didn't want him there, only pushing it out when he caught sight of her wide smile.

"Of course Kitty, sorry. You just surprised me, I wasn't expecting you to come back so soon, I was actually working on some homework". He remembered exactly what homework she was talking about because he too had finished it not too long before visiting her. "What is it about? Maybe I can help you."

"It's physics, I swear I can't seem to get it.". Chat knew that it had to be hard for her, he too had found it difficult when he had learned it years ago in homeschooling, but now it was a walk in the park for him.

"Well, you're lucky today purr-incess, cause this chaton is great at physics.". Marinette giggled at that, "oh, really? Is that how you're able to always land on your feet? Oh wait, you rarely land on your feet Kitty, should I really trust you with my physics homework then?" Her smirk was wide, and her eyes held a playful glint in them. This was the Marinette everyone knew except him, well civilian him at least. And he wanted to experience this as Adrien too, he really wanted to be friends with her.

"Princess, there's a difference between theory and application, and sadly this chat is mostly human, so the application is a little off" He liked their banter, their back and forth was something so natural and comfortable that he wondered why she felt so comfortable with him despite barely knowing him.

"Fine, I'll trust you, it's not like I have anything to lose" At that he grinned widely, situating himself on the floor, lotus style.

She glanced down at him, "do you want anything? We have orange juice, a few teas, and coffee, plus a few leftovers from the bakery".

"A black coffee would be nice, I'm a bit tired from having so much to do between my civilian life and my superhero duties, and it could help me wake up a bit". And he was telling the truth, he normally barely got any sleep, and now on top of that add his visits to Marinette as Chat Noir, he could tell that his sleep schedule was going to get affected gravely. This week his father had had no mercy scheduling photoshoots and doubling his workload, plus Hawkmoth had been relentless lately. There was no break, but school and now hopefully his time with Marinette would help lessen the stress in his life.

Marinette kneeled in front of her partner, he looked startled for a second before calming back down. She looked at his face closely, she couldn't see dark circles under his eyes, but that was because of the mask, but she could see how his eyes drooped slightly, and how his head would bob without him noticing it. She could tell how physically exhausted he actually was.

It only made her wonder just how busy his civilian life was but pushed it aside aware that any questions about his civilian life were out of the picture. Only then an idea came to her. "Sleep here for a bit."

A startled Chat looked up at her, eyes wide with confusion, "What?".

"Only for an hour or two, Chat, you look really tired, and I don't feel confident sending you out in the night later with you looking like this".

"Marinette, I'm a superhero, I think I can handle a bit of exhaustion." But Marinette wasn't having it. She stood up, pulling the hero up with her, "I'm not letting you, you should sleep, I'll wake you up" Chat could see in her eyes that she wasn't letting up. He really didn't know why she trusted his hero persona so much, for all she knew he could be a thirty-year-old creep, and she was telling him to sleep in her room!

He didn't know if to accept her offer or just leave for the night, but with a look at her face, he knew the battle was lost. He moved towards her chaise until a pull stopped him in his tracks.

"Not there silly, it'll be too uncomfortable, go up to my bed, it'll be better." Suddenly he felt uncomfortable, he shouldn't be here, much less should he sleep on his friend's bed.

"It's okay Marinette, it's already too much, I promised to do your homework first and now I won't because you want me to sleep. I'm already imposing myself far more than necessary." Marinette wondered what it was that had her partner being so polite and careful around her.

Surely he had been comfortable around her before when they fought Evillustrator and Glaciator. Then it hit her; she, Marinette, had confessed to him, and although they had settled on being friends maybe he thought she still liked him. It couldn't be helped though.

"Chat, it's not a bother, just make sure your boots don't touch my bed. I'll be down here finishing my homework, I won't bother you." Chat looked into her eyes, searching that told him that she was uncomfortable. But all that he could see was that she trusted him, trusted Chat enough. And so, he let himself be guided towards her bed, and let himself drift off into a lulled sleep, surrounded by the smell of vanilla, bread, and all things sweet.