"Are you alive?"

"Good morning to you too, Nino," Alya said, rolling her eyes as she walked into the classroom. She paused. "Wow, people really are here early."

Marinette giggled, poking her friend in the back. "I told you. Now get out of my way so I can come in too."

Alya stuck out her tongue but moved. Despite it being a good half hour before school started, half of the class was already in the room, all of whom had their bodies turned towards the doors, deceptively relaxed with their boba straws either lightly gripped in their hands or elsewhere nearby, although those whose table partners had already arrived also kept a wary eye on the person sitting next to them. Nino had even done an awkward turn in his seat, doing his best to keep both of the girls behind him in his sight as well as the nearest door. Luckily, neither Chloe nor Sabrina had arrived yet.

Since before Marinette started her first game of assassin at the school, arriving at school early had become somewhat of a well-established strategy for the games. It gave people time to run to their classrooms without the usual morning crowd. For the bolder students, it was a chance to scout the perfect place to lie in wait for an ambush, given that they knew their target's schedule. It was also a good indicator of who was still alive. Those who strolled into school at the usual time were usually already out so they had no one to fear.

To Marinette's disappointment, Adrien's seat was still empty. He wasn't out already, was he?

"Morning Alya, Marinette," Alix grinned at them from across the room. She sat on the very edge of her seat, her head propped up on her elbows. Her eyes flickered between them and Max who sat behind her.

"Hey Alix. You're still alive?" Alya greeted with a grin of her own.

"Uh-huh. Stayed alive until Wednesday last year. Trying to break that record. I'm surprised you're still alive though. Isn't this your first year?"

Alya laughed. "Please, it'll take a lot to get me out of the game so fast. Besides, I got Marinette teaching me how things work. Wouldn't have even thought about coming in early if it weren't for her."

Alix nodded. "Yeah, Marinette's good at this game. You know she's the one who got me out the first year, right?"

Marinette grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that." Alix waved the apology aside.

"No worries. I'm just happy I got to get Chloe out that year. That's probably the most satisfying thing ever. By the way Alya, who'd you have for your target?"

"My target? Just some g—" Marinette firmly clamped her hand over Alya's mouth.

"Nooo. The fewer who know who you have, the better," Marinette said disapprovingly. Alix grinned.

"Can't blame me for trying," the girl said, shrugging. Nino pouted.

"Man, I wanted to know too. It's not me is it?"

Alya pried Marinette's hand off her mouth. "Nino, I swear on all that is good, I do not have you as my target. Chill."

"What would you define as good?"

Alya threw up her hands in exasperation. "Fine. I swear on the Ladyblog that you aren't my target. Happy now?"

He grinned, his posture relaxing slightly. "Much better."

"Can't believe I had to swear on the Ladyblog for you to trust me," Alya muttered. "Where's Adrien, anyways? Is he out?"

"Nah. I told him to arrive early but the dude brushed it off and said that he'll be fine or something. Apparently, he values sleep more than his life. Which is relatable, but still. I dunno if he's gonna make it here alive. I'm gonna check on him," Nino said, scratching his head. He reached into his pocket before frowning and leaning down to pick up his bag.

Alya elbowed Marinette.

Before Nino could even fully straighten up again with his phone in hand, Marinette stabbed him between his shoulder blades with her straw, causing the boy to yelp and jump slightly as he instinctively reached back to touch where she'd poked him. He whipped around, his eyes wide.

"Did you just—"

Alya broke out in laughter, high-fiving a smiling Marinette. Behind them, a few other students had also erupted into laughter.

"Marinette?"

"You will be forever remembered, Nino," Marinette said solemnly. She held that face for another second before giggling.

"You stabbed me in the back?! Literally!" Nino said in disbelief. "I thought we were friends!"

"Hey, she spared you yesterday. If it was up to me, I would have just stabbed you in the back right then and there. It's kill or be killed," Alya laughed. "Now cough up your target."

Nino grumbled, but reached into his pocket and pulled out a small folded slip of paper. He handed it to Marinette. She took the piece of paper and like the first day, she slouched over and partially hid the paper from view with her free hand. With her other hand, she unfolded the paper briefly, just enough to see the contents before closing it again.

Alya looked at her expectantly.

"So?"

Marinette shook her head. She pulled out her phone, Alya doing the same.

Anyone from our class? Alya texted.

I wish. It's this girl from the class next to us. I think I'll have to ambush her. Marinette made a face at the thought. She wasn't really good at ambushing.

"Hey Nino, is this your original target?" Alya asked curiously.

Nino snorted. "Of course not. I didn't spend the whole first day being paranoid. I took down my first target on the way out the building. He didn't even see me coming."

"You didn't see him either. I pointed him out to you," Adrien said, lightly jogging into the classroom as he threw a glance over his shoulder. He slipped into his seat, smiling.

"Morning Alya. Marinette." He gave a nod to each of them. Marinette ducked her head down, mumbling a greeting of her own.

"Hey, I would have gotten him one way or another. Probably," Nino said frowning. "You okay?"

Adrien grinned. "Got chased on the way here."

"Same girl?"

He shook his head, the corners of his mouth twitching up. "Different. Guy this time. My assassin must have changed. How about you? Did you figure out who's after you yet?"

Nino made a face. "Ask the traitors behind you."

"Huh?"

His friend jerked his head at the girls and Adrien turned, confused. Alya laughed.

"You missed the show. He's just mad cause Marinette literally stabbed him in the back a minute ago."

"I thought we were friends, Marinette," Nino complained.

Adrien turned, eyes wide. "You got Nino out? Really?"

Marinette blushed. "Y-Yeah."

He laughed. "Is that who you had yesterday? That explains a lot. Why didn't you just get him yesterday?"

She felt her cheeks color. "I, u-um, didn't feel like it?"

"Marinette's too nice," Alya said, shaking her head. "She felt bad killing Nino on the first day after his tragic story about last year."

"Small mercies," Adrien chuckled. "So I'm guessing you're still in the game, Alya?"

"You bet. I'm not going down that fast," Alya replied easily. "And, no offense, but I'm surprised you're still alive. Didn't think that you'd make it to today."

Adrien shrugged. "I'm quick on my feet."

"Still. You seem pretty relaxed compared to most people playing. Confident of your skills?"

Adrien grinned. "You can say that."

"Why'd you come so early, anyway?" Nino asked, glancing at the clock. "We still got like, what, twenty minutes before class. Thought you said you're not gonna bother coming in early?"

"Changed my mind," Adrien replied with a smile. "But I'm surprised you all got here so fast. I don't think I've ever seen Marinette arrive so early before."

"I-I don't always arrive late," Marinette replied, looking away. The tips of her ears were a bright red, she was certain of it. It was at times like these that she wished she never wore her hair up; it was much harder to hide your face with your hair tied up.

Alya laughed. "Yeah. You only arrive late half of the time. The other half is you arriving just as the bell rings. Girl, I love you but you gotta get your time management under control.

Marinette frowned. "I'm not late half the time. Just...sometimes."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say," Alya said humorously. She glanced at the clock. "Hey, you think I got enough time to look for my target? Since we're here early anyway."

"Who's your target?" Nino piped up. Alya narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?"

Nino scoffed. "I do have some loyalty to my friends, unlike you two."

"Can I see?" Adrien asked curiously.

"Sure. As soon as you're dead." Alya replied, tossing the paper slip to Nino. The boy easily caught it and, similar to how Marinette looked at her own paper, took a fleeting glance before folding it up again and passing it back to Alya. He shook his head.

"I pity the girl. She's a nice person, y'know. Doesn't deserve to die this way."

"You know her?" Alya asked in surprise. Nino shrugged.

"Kinda. Had a class with her last year. She's in the classroom further down the hall."

Alya eyes lit up. If Nino had really paid attention, he would have noticed a shining gleam of unhidden mischief. "Really?"

"Yeah. Great group member too. Never waited until the last minute, kept us all on track…"

"Great!" Alya stood up, a cheerful smile on her face. "You're going to help me kill her!"

"I'm going to wha—hey!" Nino yelped as Alya tugged him up and towards the door, a boba straw in her hand. "Al, hang on, what if your assassin's out—"

"Please, I'm Alya. No one can take me down that easy. Besides, that's for me to worry about. We're gonna kill someone today," Alya declared, dragging the poor boy out the door. Adrien stared after them. Marinette, already used to Alya's sometimes spontaneous behavior, barely even found her friend's impulsive leave even remotely surprising.

"How is she still alive in this game?" Adrien asked, almost incredulously. Although he hadn't known Alya any longer than Marinette had, the girl still sometimes took him by surprise. There was a thin line between recklessness and courage and Adrien wasn't always sure which side Alya was on.

"I, uh, dunno?" Marinette muttered, looking down at her hands. Adrien turned to face her. She noticed that despite his relaxed posture, he held his straw loosely in one hand and kept the doors in his sight.

He smiled. "You're still in the game, right? Did you really stab Nino in the back?"

She flushed. "I-It's not as bad as it sounds! I just...poked him in the back? Kinda."

Adrien grinned. "I wish I was here to see that."

"Y-Yeah…"

"How was yesterday after we left, anyway? Sorry we didn't leave with you guys," Adrien added apologetically. "We were sure that you two would be fine on your own but…"

Marinette quickly shook her head. "N-No, I'm—it's fine! I understand. We got, um, chased, but we escaped. Alya got her target too…"

"Who was it?"

She shrugged. "I, um, don't really know him…"

"Well, I'm glad you two made it home safe. Don't tell him I told you this, but Nino was a little worried that one of you would die the first day," Adrien chuckled.

She frowned. "But I always survive longer than him."

"Yeah, but he thought that Alya would drag you both down. Since she's sometimes impulse and all."

"I...can't deny that," she said slowly. Then she grimaced. "She wanted to race outside as soon as we got to my house. We were lucky most students ran home already."

"Did you win?" Adrien asked curiously.

"I—No," Marinette admitted.

Adrien raised his eyebrows. "Really? I always thought you were pretty athletic."

She quickly shook her head. "N-No…"

"I see…" His hand suddenly tightened around his straw and for a brief moment, Marinette panicked, thinking that he was going to attack her, but realized that he was looking past over her shoulder. She turned to see Nathaniel approaching timidly, his arms hugging his sketchbook close to his body with his boba straw nowhere in sight. She tensed a bit, her grip slightly tightening around her own straw.

"Hey Nathaniel," she greeted. The artist ducked his head, his bangs falling to partially cover his eyes. He mumbled something too low for either Adrien or Marinette to hear.

Marinette tilted her head. "Sorry, what?"

"Ivan and I need another pair to peer review our project for Ms. Bustier...I was wondering if you and Alya are done…?"

"Oh, the paper? Yeah, we're done. We haven't printed it yet though since it's due next Friday. I can print a copy of ours at lunch and then we can swap if you want?" Marinette offered. Nathaniel nodded gratefully.

"T-Thanks."

"No problem." She smiled. "Where's your straw, by the way? Are you out already?"

He made a face. "I'm...not very good at Assassin."

"Oh…" Now that she thought about it, Marinette did remember Nathaniel dying pretty early on in the game the past two years. She'd actually watched him die the first year they played the game. His assassin that year, Jean, simply strolled up to the artist and tapped him on the shoulder with the straw. The class teased him for a good week after that.

"Sorry…"

He shook his head. "It's not your fault. Should I meet you at the library during lunch…?"

"Ah, sure. We can go together when lunch starts if you want?"

He nodded, a small jerky movement.

"Okay, I'll see you then." She smiled brightly at him, causing him to flush once again as he muttered a thanks and hurried back to his seat.

"Are you and Alya done already?" Adrien asked in surprise. "I didn't think any other group was done so early since it's a month long project. Most groups just wait until the last week to start."

"Y-Yeah… Alya needed an excuse to stay in the library for a Ladybug stakeout last week so we just worked on it together…" Adrien perked up.

"Did Ladybug ever show up?" he asked curiously.

Marinette shook her head. "It was just a rumor. I mean, I tried telling Alya that but she was really, really determined…"

"Sounds like Alya," Adrien said, grinning. "Do you want to swap projects to review tomorrow then? Since we need two groups to review. Nino and I are almost done, we just have to look at it one last time. We can all go to my house tomorrow after school."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

He nodded. "I was supposed to have a shoot, but the photographer had to cancel and father just postponed the shoot. I'll just let Natalie know that some friends are coming over for a group project."

"What about your dad? Will he mind?" Marinette wondered, the words leaving her lips before she could stop them. She nearly comically held her hands to her mouth as soon as she realized what she'd said. Nearly everyone in the class had heard of why Nino had gotten akumatized.

Adrien's smile didn't falter, although she noticed a tightening at the corner of his eyes.

"Father won't mind."

"O-Oh. Okay." She changed topics. "I, uh, wonder how many students are left?"

He shrugged. "Most people are still in the game. It's only been a day."

"I guess…" She trailed off, unsure of what to say next. It was then that Ms. Bustier strolled in, looking a little frazzled with her bag clutched to her chest in an almost protective way. Most of the students who were there chirped a greeting to her, to which she smiled and greeted back.

"I see many of you are here early today," she said, nodding in approval. "I take it that most of you survived?"

"I'm dead!" Rose said happily from the back. She'd just walked in herself and had just sat down in her normal seat, her pink notebook already open in front of her. "But my assassin was soooooo nice! She said that her little sister has a contagious viral upper respiratory tract infection and was cheering her on and that her one wish to get better is to see my assassin win the game so of course I let her poke me! Isn't it just sad?"

"Ah, um, yes. Rose, do you know what a contagious viral upper respiratory tract infection is?" Ms. Bustier asked politely. Rose shook her head.

"Nope! But she said that her sister has to stay home because of it! Isn't that just awful?"

"I—Yes, yes. Of course," their teacher shook her head. "Rose, would you mind helping me pass these papers out while we wait until everyone shows up?"

"Yes, Ms. Bustier!"

"She used me as bait," Nino complained the second the lunch bell rang. He shoved his books into his bag. At the same time, Alya, Marinette, and Adrien each pulled out their boba straws. "Her target was already inside and she had me lure her out! I felt like a monster luring her out like that; she trusted me, man. She trusted me."

"I'll apologize to her again for you after this," Alya said, rolling her eyes as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"I can't believe you actually got her," Adrien remarked. Marinette couldn't help but silently agree. Both Nino and Alya had barely made it back to the classroom on time; for the minutes leading up to the bell signaling the start of school, she was worried that Alya had gotten caught in a chase with her assassin until Alya triumphantly walked in at the last second with the biggest smile on her face.

"Oh, I just had to get Nino to help. That took the most time, honestly," Alya replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"I saw betrayal in her eyes."

"Oh shush. She laughed and said it was fine. You ready, Marinette?" she asked. She had already taken a step towards the door. "I can show you my new target too! Nino doesn't know her but thanks to my incredible network of friends, I already have her whole schedule so I want to try ambushing her at lunch before she realizes I'm her new assassin. Wanna see if I can take her down by the end of the day…?" Alya trailed off, her eyes suddenly wary as she looked past Marinette.

Marinette turned, automatically reaching for her straw. She relaxed as she saw that it was only Nathaniel slowly walking towards them, his head slightly ducked down apologetically for interrupting. In his arms was his usual sketchbook behind which were the pages of his and Ivan's group project.

"Oh!" She turned again to face Alya. "I forgot to tell you, Nathaniel and Ivan finished their project early too and wanted to swap papers for the peer review so I was gonna go to the library to print out a copy for them."

Alya raised an eyebrow. "Alone? Isn't that a bit...risky?"

"Nathaniel's really bad at Assassin," Marinette reassured. "He's not in the game anymore. He's usually one of the first ones to die every year."

"He was actually the first one to die two years ago," Nino piped up from the doorway. He stuck his head out before giving the thumbs up to Adrien. "Alright, the coast is clear. For now. Let's go, Adrien. Alya, wanna come?"

"I dunno, I kinda want to stay with Marinette," Alya said uncertainty. Marinette smiled.

"I'll be fine. I can catch up with you guys after I print the project. Besides, you know I can protect myself."

"Girl, I love you but you're clumsier than a drunk one-legged chicken sometimes. Not to mention a bit of an airhead," Alya said, making a face.

"I'm not that much of an airhead!"

"Uh-huh. Sure." Alya shook her head. "Seriously though, are you positive that you'll be okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. Go do your ambush, I'll meet you at our usual spot when I'm done."

"If you say so…" Alya shook a threatening finger at Nathaniel. "If she comes back dead, you're dead, got it?"

Nathaniel nodded quickly, his grip on his book tightening.

"Al, are you coming or not?" Nino asked impatiently. Alya looked at Marinette again, chewing on the inside of her cheek, seemingly weighing how much she actually trusted Marinette to come back alive. Marinette made a playful shooing motion at her friend. Finally, she sighed.

"Yeah, I'm coming, Nino. I'll text you as soon as I kill off my new target. See you later, girl."

"See you," Marinette replied, grinning.

As soon as they left, she looked to Nathaniel with a smile. "Ready?"

The artist nodded quickly, his bangs falling forward to cover half his face. "Y-Yeah."

Switching her straw to her right hand, she adjusted her bag and they stepped out of the room together.

"What kind of school raises the price for printing halfway into the year?" Marinette grumbled, digging into her pocket for more change. Nathaniel stood to the side, still clutching to his sketchbook to his chest. In front of them was the library's front desk where the librarian sat typing away next to the library's only printer which noisily spat out page after page of Marinette's group project.

The walk to the library had been...uneventful. Relatively uneventful, anyway. The hallways were still filled with occasional terrified screams from all over campus, but it wasn't as bad as the chaos of the first day. They'd passed dozens of ambushers on the way to the library and had even seen one ambusher get ambushed himself as another guy stabbed him from behind, resulting in a storm of swearing that only stopped once a nearby teacher overheard and intervened.

Although Marinette was almost certain that she would be attacked at some point on the way to the library and kept her straw ready the whole way there, she hadn't once even noticed anyone try to approach her, or even pay her any attention for that matter. Most people were too busy keeping an eye out for their own assassins or, if they were out already, just sat around watching the show.

On the contrary, Nathaniel followed her without any sign of wariness. Aside from his usual downcast gaze and slightly slumped shoulders, he didn't have any sign of tenseness at all. That was to be expected of course, with already being out of the game, but Marinette couldn't help but feel relief. If Nathaniel had actually been lying to her, there was no way that he would be so confident walking through the halls with no straw in sight.

"Do you need some change…?" he offered.

Marinette frowned and switched her straw to her left hand as she dug into her other pocket. Already, her emergency printing money sat on the desk in front of them, only a couple page worth's short. "Um…maybe," she admitted.

Wordlessly, Nathaniel pulled out two coins from his jacket pocket. She noticed that he kept his right arm wrapped tightly around his sketchbook as he reached out and placed the last of the required change on the desk.

"Thanks," she said, dipping her head gratefully. "Sorry, I didn't know they changed the price until now…I'll pay you back tomorrow."

He flushed and shook his head quickly. "N-No, it's fine, really. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" she asked doubtfully. He nodded again.

"It's fine. It wasn't much..."

"If you say so." She made a mental note to bring the change to school tomorrow anyway. Her dad had always made it a point to teach her to never owe anyone money, no matter how small. She had always kept by this rule and wasn't going to start breaking it now.

The printing came to a stop. The librarian, without looking, reached over and grabbed the newly printed pages. Leafing through the small stack, she counted the pages under her breath before reaching for the small stack of change. She deposited the coins into a drawer in the desk before nodding and passing the warm stack of papers to Marinette.

She stapled the papers with the library stapler. After two failed attempts and one staple barely managing to pierce the whole stack, she handed the stack to Nathaniel with a smile.

"Here."

Nathaniel hesitated. For a second, her grip on her straw tensed, but he only reached out to take the stack before awkwardly shifting his book his arms to cram it between his own project and his sketchbook before carefully slipping his project out and offering it to Marinette. Throughout all this, he was careful to keep his sketchbook upright between the both of them.

She pretended to not notice this.

"Thanks...When do you want it back by?"

"Is tomorrow okay or is that too much trouble…?"

He shook his head. "We can finish it by the end of tomorrow."

"Alright. I'll give yours back by tomorrow then. I'll let Alya know," she said. "I'm going to stay in the library a little bit longer to see if they have a book I'm looking for. I'll see you later?"

He nodded again. "Yeah, see you," he mumbled, his bangs falling to cover his eyes. He turned and quickly made his way out of the library. Marinette waited until she was sure that he had made it at least halfway down the hallway at least before following.

Once in the hallway, she looked around before catching a glimpse of Nathaniel's retreating back turning on her right. Dodging a pair of straw-wielding students, she briskly followed the artist while warily keeping an eye out for someone who may be following her as well.

Nathaniel walked quickly, faster than his normal pace. But this wasn't uncommon, even those who were out of the game already had to be quick on their feet the first couple days to avoid any accidental collisions with anyone fleeting from their assassin. Last year, Kim had barrelled straight into one of the smaller teachers in the hallway. Marinette hadn't even known that it was possible for people to literally go flying after being crashed into outside of cartoons until then. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but by the end of the week, rumors had it that Kim sent her flying out a window and into the streets from the second floor.

Just as Marinette was about to give up on following Nathaniel, the artist stopped at his locker. Marinette barely ducked behind a row of lockers in time to avoid walking straight past him as he spun the correct combination into his lock. As his locker swung open, he finally loosened his hold on his sketchbook, allowing a gap between his book and his chest. Unfortunately, due to the angle, she still couldn't quite see if there was anything there.

She began to lean forward in an attempt to peek to see if he really was hiding something or if she was imagining it when her phone chimed twice at her.

Surprised, she let out a squeak and took a step back, her hands automatically reaching for her phone. Nathaniel whipped around at the sound, clutching his sketchbook to his chest once more. His eyes were wide, darting around before realizing that it was just her. He raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Marinette…?"

"Oh...hi, Nathaniel." She forced out an awkward laugh. "Nice meeting you here. How was your day?"

"Were you following me?"

"Me? Pfft, nah. Just...y'know, taking a walk around the school?" She cursed her inability to lie well. Why on earth was she so bad at this?

He didn't look even remotely convinced. "You said you were going to stay in the library."

"They didn't have the book I wanted?" The look he gave her was so dubious, she was surprised he didn't call her out right then and there. She sighed. "Okay, fine. I was following you."

He frowned. "Why?"

"I just...I dunno. It looked like you were hiding something since you were holding your sketchbook so close to you the whole time. I was a little suspicious," she admitted. "I thought you were hiding your straw or something there and you were somehow lying about being out so I, um, followed you."

"I-I see…" His ears turned red. "You could have asked...:"

"I know. Sorry." She pursed her lips. "But you aren't hiding your straw or something, are you?"

Nathaniel quickly shook his head. "No! I just….here."

He tilted his sketchbook forward, lifting her project out of the way. Taped to the cover of his sketchbook were various pictures of Ladybug, each clearly printed off either the Ladyblog or a news source. After a couple seconds, he let her project cover it up again, hiding it from view before pressing it to his chest once more.

"I use...references. For my drawings," he explained quietly. He was as red as a tomato at this point and didn't meet her eyes. "I didn't want anyone to see since the last time the class saw my drawings, it...you remember what happened. So I was hiding it."

"You draw Ladybug?" Marinette asked in surprise. He blushed again but nodded.

"Oh." She couldn't help but feel a bit flattered. She'd known, along with the rest of the class, that he had originally drawn her, but it was something that had never bothered her. Crushes happened all the time in middle school, and it certainly wasn't the first time someone liked her. Besides, she'd assumed that his crush on her died quickly after what happened that day, but she'd never imagined that it would just move from her to her other identity. "Sorry."

He couldn't help but let out a small smile. "Why are you apologizing?"

"I just...I should have trusted you earlier," she said apologetically.

"It's okay," he muttered. "I understand."

"Still, I shouldn't have—" Her phone chimed again. She glanced down.

"I have to go...Alya's wondering where I am," Marinette said, frowning as she noticed the time for the first time. There was only half an hour of lunch left. "I'll see you back in class. For real this time," she added.

He smiled. "Okay. See you later."

"Yeah, see you," she said, smiling as she turned and began texting Alya back before jogging to the courtyard.

"Who eats lunch in their classroom like that?!" Alya complained. Marinette winced and changed the phone to speakers before unplugging the device and placing it on her desk. She'd left her phone to charge by her bed before dinner and now, a couple hours later, it was fully charged.

"Our targets do, apparently," Marinette replied, smiling. After Marinette had returned, Alya had immediately dragged her off to look for her target, nevermind lunch. As a self-proclaimed professional blogger, Alya had also taken the liberty of looking up Marinette's target as well and as luck would have it, both of their targets were in the same homeroom. Unluckily for them, however, both targets were also apparently best friends and had taken shelter in their classroom together, each keeping an eye on the doors.

Alya huffed. "Fine, eating lunch in the classroom I can understand, but sprinting out their classrooms the second the bell rang like a desperately eloping couple? They're taking it way too seriously!"

"And you're not?" Marinette chuckled. She opened the cookie tin that she kept in her room and passed a cookie to Tikki who sat in her usual spot on her shoulder. The kwami nibbled on the treat happily.

"Girl, I'm taking this the right amount of serious. And the right amount of serious demands that I win this game," Alya declared.

"Mhm. Not too serious, huh," Marinette said amusedly.

"Oh shush. I know what I'm doing." She could almost see Alya's eye roll. "It's you who I'm worried about."

"Me? I'll be fine. My new assassin hasn't even shown up yet," Marinette said dismissively.

Alya laughed. "I know you'll be fine. That's not what I mean though. I still can't believe you didn't tell me about going to Adrien's house tomorrow! I should really leave you two alone more often if things like this happen when I'm not around. And did you tell him that I beat you in that race? We both know you were holding back. We're having another race tomorrow after your date with Adrien. You owe me after not telling me all this earlier."

"It's not a date. You and Nino will be there," Marinette mumbled, turning bright pink. "And I told you during lunch, didn't I?"

"Girl, you should have told me during class. That's what note passing is for," Alya scolded playfully. "Besides—" A loud crash from Alya's end interrupted her.

Marinette frowned. "Alya?"

"Ella! Put that away this instant! Etta, don't encourage her!" Alya's stern voice rang out faintly from the phone. "Ella, I'm warning you…"

Marinette waited patiently. After about a minute, shuffling could be heard from the phone.

Alya huffed. "Sorry about that. I think I got to go, Ella got her hands on some candy from school and now I gotta go tackle them into bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Sure. I have to get off soon anyway. Nights."

"Night, Marinette—Ella!" The call ended abruptly.

"Sounds like Alya won't be going to sleep anytime soon," Tikki commented, swallowing the last of the cookie. Marinette smiled.

"We won't be either. Are you ready?"

Tikki nodded.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Chat landed on the rooftop with a barely audible thud, his baton retracting back into its compact size as he put it away. Ladybug was already waiting for him, having finished patrolling her section of the city first as usual. She sat at the edge of the roof with her back to him, her feet dangling off as she cradled a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. Grinning mischievously, he rose onto his tiptoes and slowly crept up towards her.

"Don't even think about it, kitty."

He pouted. "Oh c'mon. How'd you even know I was there?"

"Moon's behind you. I can see your shadow," she replied, pulling out a thermos from the bag next to her. She filled his usual cup with the drink as he plopped down next to her.

"Is that why you always sit on this side of the roof? So you can see my shadow every time we have patrol at this hour?" he asked, frowning as he took his mug from her. "But purrincess, where's the fun in that?"

"I can hear you too. For a cat, you're not very graceful sometimes," she said, smiling.

"I'm wounded, bugaboo. I'll have you know that I'm the most graceful cat superhero in Paris."

"You're the only cat superhero in Paris."

"Exactly."

She rolled her eyes. "Hurry up with your hot chocolate. I wanna go to sleep early tonight."

"Why, got plans tomorrow?" He asked. Nonetheless, he began chugging his drink down, slightly burning his tongue as he did so. She shrugged.

"No. I just have school."

"Isn't exam season over?" He asked, licking his lips. He handed her the empty mug, which she wiped dry with a napkin before shoving it into her bag with the thermos and her own empty mug.

"Yeah. But there's just something...tiring going on."

"Tiring?"

She nodded. "Yeah. So I want to go to sleep early to prepare for it."

"Would this something be a game?" Chat asked curiously. Ladybug paused.

"...No."

She wouldn't look at him directly. He grinned. She could meet his eyes when she lied.

"Really?"

"Really." She gave him a light smack on the arm. "And you're not supposed to pry into my personal life, remember?"

He held his hands up innocently. "That wasn't prying, I was just asking a simple question, my lady. Am I not allowed to do that?"

"No."

"Ruuuuuude."

"Yep." She stood up, stretching as she did so. She held her hand out to him and he took it, allowing her to pull him up. It was a habit of hers now, helping him up after patrols now. A couple months ago, he had sprained his ankle after an akuma attack and had nearly slipped off the roof afterward after patrol. Of course, he may have slightly exaggerated how handicapped he was from that injury, but after a week of making sure he was alright, this one habit of hers stayed.

He let go of her hand almost reluctantly as he straightened. She didn't notice this as she tied the bag close and firmly wound it around her hand before taking out her yo-yo.

She nodded. "Until tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Goodnight, my lady." He gave an exaggerated bow.

"Night, kitty. See you tomorrow." After making sure the bag was secure one last time, she gave him one last smile before swinging away into the night. He didn't move and instead watched as her figure disappeared. Then he smiled.

"Goodnight, Ladybug."

Author's Note:

Wow. It's not even 1Am yet and I'm falling asleep. I usually go to sleep at like 10 nowadays so I'm dead. I'll look over for any huge grammar mistakes in this chapter tomorrow. Yeah. Don't get old y'all, you'll start having the bedtime of an old man

Thank you for reading!

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