Two weeks had passed and Adrien still felt like an asshole for having ever thought that Luka of all people could be the person that had hurt Marinette to the point of crying. Even a blind man could tell that Luka adored Marinette. But perhaps Adrien was worse than a blind man when it came to well, most things apparently.

In fact, the pair seemed to get along so well that it made his relationship pale in comparison, or at least that's how he felt when he saw Luka place his hand on Marinette's lower back without even thinking it twice. Adrien couldn't even dream of brushing hands, before Kagami was the one making the move. It felt completely unbalanced and he couldn't really ask anyone what he could do.

He felt even more inadequate as he remembered the one time Kagami had said 'I like you' and he had found himself tongue-tied and unable to say it back. It shouldn't be hard to say that to one's girlfriend, but when you were still hung up on someone else it just left a bitter taste in one's mouth to even think of saying it back.

This new eye-opening thought made him realize just how he might have been a bit too quick to jump into a relationship with Kagami.

At least his bad luck hadn't sorted effect on Marinette, actually, he dared say that she was communicating just a tad more. Sometimes they would be talking, but then he'd catch her with a forlorn look on her face and she would avoid his gaze as she muttered lowly. This only seemed to happen around Adrien because around Chat she was all the same. It made him feel happy and at the same time forgotten.

He would like to say they had made progress. At least she accepted his presence around,

but in truth the biggest difference was that now when she escaped from him her cheeks were no longer red, but pale. Maybe in a year she'd be able to hold a minute-long conversation with him. The thought made him want to laugh both comically and in despair.

In comparison to how she was with Chat the difference was despairingly enormous. It was difficult to at times to keep acting under the pretense that he wasn't visiting her regularly in the nights, much more when all he wanted was to bridge that gap. Having her so close that he could hold her hand and hear her laugh whenever she beat him in videogames, was it too much to want one of his best friends as Adrien too? It wasn't fair, he thought, he knew all about her yet Adrien couldn't.

And now that he was on his wallowing, he had seen Ladybug a total of one time in the past weeks, it made things easier but at the same time it brought the saying 'absence grows the heart fonder' ring more true to his ears than ever before. He knew he should be getting over her, but what is one supposed to do when you've convinced your very soul that it's meant to be. Him and Ladybug against the world, always. It left a bittersweet taste in his mouth.

It didn't help that it felt like his friends were hiding something from him. Every time the friend group was together he could feel Alya's stare from the corner of his eye. A part of him wanted to ask, but the other, the more dominant one, knew that it'd be best to not acknowledge her stare.

He'd tried asking Nino about it, but is question was only met with an "Dude, I love you but I don't want to get in trouble." It didn't help at all, if anything it made it worse. His night visits to the Dupain-Cheng's bakery, specifically the very pink room of their daughter didn't let him know much either. Gosh, he wished he was brave enough to ask about her friends, dig around a little bit about what she thought of him while under the guise that was Chat.

It was around 8 p.m. when they left their controllers to the side for the first time in over an hour. His thumbs were aching to be stretched and his back pleaded for him to take a break. Was this what people called old age? He sure was feeling it a tad too early. After a particularly loud pop, Marinette turned towards him in surprise, worry etched unto her features.

"Ugh, your back cracks just like one of my friends'. I'm starting to worry for both of you."

"Which friend of yours?" She looked at him with a curious glance as she fiddled with her fingers. "Adrien Agreste, he's uhh part of my friend group." His eyebrow quirked at her choice of words.

"Agreste? As in the model?" She chuckled before a small smiled graced her lips. "Yeah, the model."

"What do you think of him? Is he a good friend?" She looked up at him slightly startled and surprised. "Why do you want to know?" He shrugged as he tried to be nonchalant, but he could feel the dread of knowing what she really thought of him fill him up exponentially.

"I'm just curious about your friends." She quirked a brow while she stared into his soul with those piercing cerulean blue eyes. "You know what they say how curiosity killed the cat."

"Oh, but they always leave out the best part."

"And what would that be?" He smirked in satisfaction. "Satisfaction brought it back." She rolled her eyes as she stood up to stretch her legs. "Where are you going?"

"To my chaise. You want to hear about my friends? It'll be a lot more comfortable to talk there. Unless you prefer we talk under the moonlight." She looked back at him in question.

"So romantic, it's a shame. Tonight is such a lovely night, would be great to be a loved one." His mind went directly to the thought of Ladybug, and it didn't take him long to wish she were there. It didn't take long for him to push the thoughts away; he was with his friend Marinette and

"Sad that you're stuck with me." She smirked before climbing up the way up to her balcony, him following soon after. The balcony was the same as always, the string lights that usually decorated it, while also brightening the ambience were turned off. Leaving the moon as their only guide.

Marinette settled unto the lounge chair as he stood next to her. With a quirked brow, she motioned for him to sit down. "Don't be a stranger."

"Could never be." Her soft giggles traveled through the open air as he settled down next to her, the space a bit tight but tolerable. "How could you? You practically live in my house in the nights."

"I do no such thing. I only visit like once or twice a week." She pushed at his shoulder making him turn to look at her. "Are we counting the days you don't come over or what?" Sneaky little thing.

He glared at her, "I know what you're trying to do." She looked at him, eyes full of mischief. "Oh, really? What am I doing?"

"You're procrastinating." She brought a hand to her chest in what he could describe best as mock offence. "Why would I ever do such a thing?"

"That's what I'd like to know, why are you avoiding talking about your friends?" A sigh escaped her as she leaned down on his shoulder. "Okay, I'll tell you about my friends, which I don't understand why you'd want to hear about them anyways."

"Marinette."

"Right, so you know Alya, right? Ladyblogger, always chasing after Ladybug and you." She smirked as she lifted her eyes. "Always having to save her ass because she doesn't have a single bone of self-preservation in her body." He chuckled at her words, because she had honestly described Alya exactly like the reckless single-minded person she could be.

"Yeah, how can I forget her? I think she's the civilian I see the most." His comment made her lift herself from his shoulder in a glare directed towards him. "You visit Alya?"

"No! I meant like, on the job, when I'm actually working. I don't spend my downtime with anyone else but you." She cleared her throat before continuing to speak. "Alya is my best friend, she's maddening sometimes but I wouldn't change her for anyone in the world. She's also the person that pushed me to start standing up for myself. If it weren't for her I'd probably still be taking crap from Chloe without saying anything back, or worse, Lila." She shuddered at the last girls mention as if to make her point clearer.

"Then there's Nino, he's cool, he's great. Can always count on him to try to make me feel better. I've known him for so long now, he's just an old friend that is still there for me, plus he's Alya's boyfriend so it's a package deal, a nice one at that." Her smile widened as she seemed to reminisce.

"There's also the girl from my class. They're all so nice, always supportive of my love for uhh…" He caught on pretty quickly on what she was trying to say so he finished the sentence for her, "mystery guy?"

"Yeah, and they're just nice, we're not super close but it's a nice friendship regardless." He felt anxiety as she went down the list of her friends, soon she had to talk about him, but why was she taking so long to mention him?

"There's also Luka, but I guess he's not considered just a friend now?" She laughed a little at her words as a blush bloomed her pale cheeks. "Oh, almost forgot to mention Kagami. Well, she's a good friend, we didn't get off on the right foot and honestly I wasn't nice when all she had been trying to do was be a friend to me. But I'm happy to have her as a friend." She finished with a forlorn look to her face that him think that there was more to that than what she was letting him know. Did his girlfriend and his most treasured friend not like each other? Or had they had a misunderstanding? He knew Kagami could be a tad too straightforward but she didn't mean anything bad by it, it was just the way she was raised. Should she be judged for such a thing?

However, his thoughts were pushed to the side as he remembered that this was Marinette they were speaking about. He couldn't imagine her judging someone before knowing them for real, it seemed uncharacteristic in all its entirety.

"Is that all?" He knew that wasn't the complete list of friends, but he couldn't understand why she was avoiding talking about him, well, Adrien. "Then there's Adrien, he's really nice, compassionate and kind. You'd think because of his father he'd be stuck-up, actually funny story we didn't really start on the right foot."

"How so?" He knew the story, but it made him die from curiosity the way she perceived the interaction. He bit his lip as she kept silent for a few more seconds. "Well, the first time I saw him he was at my desk, and guess what was on my seat?" Gum.

"What was there?"

"Gum, and obviously I thought he was the one that had put it there. I judged him so quickly, just because he was friend's with Chloe and because he was a model. I inferred he was stuck-up without even giving him a chance to explain himself. I misjudged him, but even then he could've just counted his losses and decided he didn't need someone like me to be his friend. But do you know what he did?" He explained himself, he knew that part very well.

"He cleared everything up, he was so nice and he tried his hardest to make sure to clear the misunderstanding. It was raining and it was so…amazing. He even gave me his umbrella even though I live so near to the school," she lifted up a finger up to her temple, as if coming to a realization, "although now that I'm thinking about it he couldn't have known that." At that she burst into a series of giggles that were so contagious that it made him also laugh.

It was true he had given her the umbrella without knowing whether she lived far or not, but even while knowing how near she lived he knew he'd do it again. Wait, she never gave me that umbrella back, he thought and the thought of her still having that umbrella made him happy. Of course, it was more than likely she had thrown it away, considering that it had closed right on her face.

It didn't pass unnoticed to him however that when she was talking about Adrien it seemed as though she had a spark, a glint in her eye of admiration. "But of course, I can barely speak to him." Could that admiration be the reason she couldn't speak to him? Did she have him on some kind of pedestal that she was unable to see him as the friend he wanted to be?

"Just talk to him like you do with me." She looked up at him with a sad smile. "That's impossible kitty."

"How so?" How different could it be? What would be harder? Talking with a classmate, that happened to be a model, or talking with a superhero whose identity you didn't even know? If he had to guess most people would say the latter was more difficult to talk to, claws and all.

"Well, you two couldn't be more different," That certainly couldn't be true, right? At least not that much. "What about us that's different?"

"Well, you like puns to the point it's a bit annoying," he cried out a tiny protest, his puns were great! "you're so comfortable to talk with, I can do things without having to mull over it about a million times. I can actually talk, and" She looked up at him with a look in her eyes that could only be described as warmth, "you always somehow know when I need someone, you're always there for me. You're like the annoying brother I never had, and I'm sorry to say but I'm actually glad you're not my brother because I probably would have killed you already." She chuckled lightly as she leaned against him, bringing an arm behind his back encircling him in a side hug, her face pressed up against his bicep.

"And well he's…" she shook her head as she looked away from him. "He what? What has he done? Has he done something to you?" his voice came out worried, what if he had hurt her and he didn't even know about it?

"No, it's nothing like that." Her voice sounded hesitant, he hated it.

"Princess, please tell me. I need to know." Chat knew his voice had broken a bit at the last of his sentence, but that was the last thing he could think about at the moment. Not when he was this close, just a bit more.

"Why do you need to know?" She glanced back at him with, her eyes asking all the question she didn't dare say. He needed to step back if he didn't want his identity compromised, but should he? When he was so close.

He sighed, resigned that the bigger picture was more important than what he wanted. Ladybug would skin him alive if she ever found out he had revealed his identity in such a foolish display of selfishness. "No reason, I just don't like seeing you like this." Her nose wrinkled as she seemed to take his words into account. "He's a great friend, you know? He's never done anything to hurt me."

"But has he hurt you? Maybe without even noticing or meaning to." He looked down at her face, searching for an answer, probing for clarity. Breathing deeply, he steeled himself for her answer. Meeting his gaze, she pronounced the words that left him with absolutely no resolution, "No."

The purpose of his visits crumbled down in his hands, leaving only dust behind. What was it all for?

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Once Chat had left for the night thunderclouds reigned over the sky, threatening to spill its fury over the Parisians. Marinette entered her room, making sure that there was no one with her, Tikki long gone in her private area. Leaning down inside the chest that had been full to the brim with gifts for Adrien, which she didn't have the heart to throw away so she's decided to change the receiver, although she would probably still gift Adrien on his birthday, but not this one's, the memory of the hope far too much for her. Pushing gift #13 she found what she couldn't get out of her mind since she had mentioned it to Chat.

She twirled the black umbrella, the handle felt smooth and the metal felt cold against her skin. She turned it on her hands, before opening it as she relished in the memory of receiving it. The melancholy was far too much and tears threatened to spill as her lost hopes crashed back down on her. She had hoped and wanted and planned, for it all to be down the drain. A love this painful shouldn't even exist.

Staring at the umbrella that she had kept for so long made her feel forlorn, it was one of the most important memoires that she had of Adrien. She pondered whether she should give it back or just throw it away. It didn't work properly anymore and surely Adrien had many more in his possession, ones that didn't slam shut on people's faces.

Maybe it was a little out there to just get rid of everything that connected her to Adrien, he was her friend after all. And maybe it was the rainy evening or the sound of thunder as she stared down on the object that she felt like she had to get rid of it. It wasn't just anything, it was a reminder of the gesture that made her fall in love with Adrien. It was the starting point of all she had ever wanted with the blond. But perhaps it was because it felt too final to just throw it away even if was broken, she decided that she'd give it away to anyone crazy enough that would take a faulty umbrella. She smiled as she left out the umbrella out of its safe place, ready to be on someone else's hands.

"Perhaps it's for the best, right Tikki?" Her words were answered only by the rumbling thunder. The image of timid fingers reaching for an extended hand in invitation, the shy brush and hesitation. His bright laugh as she looked up at him from under an umbrella, he turned into the sun in such a bleak day. How sour the night had turned just by the memory of Adrien. She decided then that she hated thunder.

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After leaving Marinette's house Adrien felt at a crossroads. Of course, he hadn't been wasting his time, because he absolutely enjoyed spending time with Marinette as Chat, but tonight made him feel like he couldn't do anything when it came to Adrien.

What was he meant to do? Plagg never gave him any answer when asked. The rumble of thunder left him reminiscing of that day he and Marinette became friends. She had spoken about him with such a voice that left him warm still, she genuinely thought of him as a friend. The warmth however was soon replaced with uncertainty as he remembered how small Marinette had looked as she dug into his side while trying to avoid talking about whatever it was that had given that sad look that seemed to reign over her features up until he left.

Preoccupied in his thoughts he fell asleep without even realizing that his eyes had closed leaving way for his exhaustion to overpower him.

It felt only like a blink the moment he heard his alarm, followed by a groan from the tiny god on his side that seemed to lift his hand prepared to cataclysm his phone which was the source of the aggravating noise. The dawn of a new school day didn't offer its usual possibilities, perhaps if he didn't feel so aggravated by being so in the dark. It didn't take him long to get ready as he dragged his feet towards the car that would take him to the school.

As soon as it parked in front of the school building he caught glimpse of Nino, automatically brightening his mood. "Hey, dude. Ready for another week at school central?"

"You know I always am." Nino just shook his head in disbelief, "I still don't know how you can like school so much."

"Well, recently I haven't been enjoying it as much." He shrugged at the quirked eyebrow from the brunet. "Want to talk about it?" Adrien turned his head to look properly at his friend. "What do you mean?

"Whatever's bothering you enough that you're not enjoying going to school as usual." Could he really tell Nino? He had always been understanding, but there was the added risk of him accidentally telling Alya. Was it really that bad for her to know though? No, word of mouth could perhaps help him in the long run.

"Tell you what, I'll let you know during lunch recess, you and me like old times. How about that?" A hand landed on his shoulder, reassuringly.

"Sounds great, Adrien. I'll let the girls know we're having a boy's only lunch, okay?" He nodded as they continued to walk towards their classroom. He took out his phone to let his driver know not to pick him up during lunch.

Class itself wasn't as bad as Ms. Bustier talked over subjects he had already gone over while he was homeschooled, leaving him space to comfortably drift off in his thoughts. It wasn't until he felt a tap on his shoulder that he noticed classes had given way to recess.

"Come on Adrien, I know a little café just down the block that's pretty private, we can go there." In that moment Adrien felt an appreciation for his best friend, he showed that he cared for him and his wellbeing.

The pair walked in comfortable silence, quickly arriving at the café. Once they had placed their orders they walked to a booth to wait for getting called.

"So, what's been on your mind?" Nino had his full attention on him now and he knew that there was no backing out now. "I know you've said it's not the case, but does Marinette not like me? Or have I done something that hurt her and she just won't let me know?" Nino listened to him intently, his face contorting as he thought out the way he should answer the question.

It made Adrien's anxiety heighten at the sudden shift in the air. "Well, I can assure you that Marinette doesn't hate you, I don't think anything you've done could ever lead her to hate you."

"Do you know why she's been avoiding me?"

"What do you mean? She totally greeted you this morning." His brows knitted closer at Nino's avoidance to his question. So, there was something going on, and he was the one being left in the dark.

"Yeah, she greeted me today, but you can't deny that she treats me completely different to others. And don't you dare deny that three weeks ago she wouldn't even look at me. Nino, you're Alya's boyfriend, I hate to abuse best friend privileges but I seriously need to know, please." Nino stared at him throughout his rant as though Adrien was hitting him with a brick. The frown between his brows getting deeper.

"Do you need to know so badly?" Was that a real question? Couldn't he tell how desperate he felt about this? He hated the thought of one of his first friends hating him over something he had no idea about!

"Of course, I need to know."

"Why?" Why indeed. He wished he could come up with an answer, but even his racing thoughts came up empty with one. "I-I don't know, okay? She's one of my first friends that I made on my own. She's important to me, like you are. I'd hate upsetting her or you without even being able to fix it because I just don't know. I can't do anything if I'm kept in the dark!" Nino sighed as he leaned back on his seat, relaxing his shoulders as he brought a hand up to his hat, moving it aside as he mussed at his short hair, showing his frustration with the situation.

"I don't know man. If I have noticed something it's that it started around the time you and Kagami started dating, but I can only guess the reason why." And Adrien too could only come up with a reason too. I was clear that Marinette felt left out at the time about her friends all being in a relationship and she felt like the odd one out.

"Oh, I totally get it now. Thanks, Nino, I think I know something that will perhaps help." Adrien felt his body relax finally as the idea of fixing things with Marinette was in a foreseeable future. However, he saw from the corner of his eye how Nino tensed ever so slightly. "You get it?" He looked at him so cautiously that Adrien didn't understand where he was getting at.

"Yeah, I think so. I'll think about it a bit more but I'll let you know what I'll do."

"Oh, shit, man. I don't know what to think, but think about it, okay? Let me know anything else, alright? I'm always on your side."

The rest of the day passed like a blur as he thought of ways that he could make the more recently formed couple more comfortable.

He had been in fencing class, sparring against Kagami when he had an epiphany. He had to talk about it with Kagami, his thought was interrupted by the point of Kagami's sabre hitting on his chest. "You're distracted again today, what's on your mind?"

"I have an idea that I need to talk to you about, can we talk it over after class?" She lifted her mask, showing her quirked up eyebrow. "Will that make you more of an opponent today? If so, then yes, we can talk later, but concentrate now on the match." A smile graced her lips when he nodded, quickly going into 'en garde'.

By the time class was over Adrien was feeling so sweaty he could feel drops of sweat roll down his back. He was sure he was far from a pleasant sight at the moment. He walked his way to the lockers, opening his before turning around the moment he heard steps stop beside him.

"What was it you needed to speak to me about?" Taking his bag from the locker, while making sure Plagg stayed hidden, before shutting the locker closed.

"I've realized that you and Marinette haven't been able to hang out lately, and she has been having a hard time talking to me as well. I was thinking that it'd be good for us to go on a double date." Her brows knitted closer in confusion. "You know, Luka, Marinette, you and me; like that one time we went ice skating. Although now you and Marinette are friends so it'll be even better, and we're all in our respective relationships. I think it'll be good, what do you think?" She faltered as she tried to find the words to say.

"I don't know, Adrien. Do you really think that's the best idea?" He shrugged as he ponded over it. "I think it'll be pretty nice, we all get along quite well." She avoided his gaze which only confused him all the more. "Is there anything wrong with it?"

"No, but we should ask them, you know? Should ask what they think about it."

"Right, that's why I wanted to talk about it with you first, then I'll ask Marinette tomorrow." Her eyes widened before she shook her head. "No, I'll do it. I'll ask her."

"Why can't I do it?" She faltered with her response before shrugging. "I haven't seen her with just us two in so long, it'll be an excuse to hang out with her." Adrien thought that she didn't need an excuse to hang out with Marinette, but if she felt like she did then it was her choice.

"Okay, let me know what she says, please." With that the two said their goodbyes.

Adrien was giddy over the thought of going on a double date, he had never imagined he would ever do it, perhaps if it went well he'd have one with Nino and Alya next time.

This chapter was weirdly difficult to write, maybe because it felt so much like a transitioning chapter. A lot of thinking back from Marinette as she's finally ready to let go of Adrien. Ft. Adrien being a dumbass not figuring out that if Marinette had felt left out she would've acted like this with everyone, not just him xD

And yeah, Nino totally thought Adrien meant that he realized Marinette's feelings for him, shame.

Also, double date trouble? What do you guys think will go down?

I'm so happy people are enjoying the story so far! I could die from happiness from all of your reviews!