Chapter Two – Fifth Wheel

"Why are you so tired?" Nino says instead of 'hello' the next morning, dropping into his seat.

Adrien groans something and turns his head to look at his friend, but makes no move to lift it from his folded arms on his desk. "I couldn't sleep last night, and then I had an early morning photoshoot."

Nino grimaces on his behalf. "Shit. What time did you have to wake up for that?"

Adrien says 'five' through a yawn and sits up, leaning back against his seat. "If I'd gone to bed at a reasonable time, I'd have been fine."

"Still . . ." Nino shakes his head and pulls his things out of his bag. "Doesn't your dad worry about you looking tired in the photos, or something?"

Adrien shrugs, going so far as to pull his bag onto his lap, but he can't find the energy in him to actually take anything out. "My dad's usually working in his office by six in the morning; I have no idea what time he goes to bed."

"If he goes to bed." Nino says, grinning at him. "You never know, dude, your dad could secretly be a zombie."

"Or a cyborg."

"Or an alien."

"Or–"

"Morning babe!"

Nino grins at Alya and leans forward to meet her halfway for a kiss over the desk. "Morning."

Alya grins at him before shifting her gaze to Adrien. "Hey."

"Hi." He lifts his hand in a wave and looks past her, hoping to see Marinette walk through the door. Alas, she is not there.

Alya moves to her seat and Nino turns around to continue talking to her, although Adrien has no idea what about. He fiddles with the zipper on his bag and glances at the door every few seconds, hoping Marinette will arrive soon.

He still doesn't understand why she can talk to him – and even tease him – as Cat Noir, but she's so uncomfortable around Adrien. She has definitely gotten better since when they first met, but it still doesn't take much to fluster her and make her close up. At least usually. He's noticed over the past couple of months that she's closed herself off more, and whereas before she wouldn't meet his eye, but would still glance at him from under her lashes, now she either stares at him blankly or doesn't look at him at all. He tried asking Nino about it, but he just said she's 'shy', and when he asked Alya she just shrugged it off as 'Mari being Mari'.

The thing is, he knows there's 'shy', and he knows there's whatever is happening to Marinette. And it doesn't appear to be good.

"Hey girl!" Alya calls and Adrien lifts his head from staring at his bag. Marinette smiles tiredly at her friend and walks up the stairs to her desk, collapsing into her seat with an exhausted sigh. Adrien turns around to start a conversation with her – even if it's just to ask what he already knows, which is why she's so tired – but Alya beats him to it. "Up late sewing?" She asks, nudging Marinette's arm. "I told you not to do that anymore, it's not good for your brain."

Marinette smiles at Alya again, but Adrien notices it's a little too forced, a little too fake. "Actually I was doing the physics homework."

Alya shakes her head fondly. "You need to stop leaving that until the last minute, girl. One day you won't be able to finish it on time." She turns back to her conversation with Nino, missing the way Marinette's smile drops off her face instantly. She somehow manages to look even more tired than before.

Adrien frowns, concerned, and Marinette startles slightly when her eyes meet his. He gives her his best Cat Noir smile, but all she manages is a ghost of a smile before she's pulling her things out of her bag and sitting them on her desk. He uses her distraction to check her out, try and see if she's feeling sick. Perhaps that's why she's been acting so different lately, and been so tired, even when they haven't had homework?

While she's more pale than usual, he knows that's just because she's tired. In fact, he can see that she's used makeup to hide the bags under her eyes. She's done a good job of it too, he only notices from years of being around models. He's not sure if her appetite has changed at all – she hardly eats lunch at school nowadays, most of the time she mumbles something about helping out at the bakery and escapes home – but she appears to be thinner than usual, although that could be because she's started wearing full–length jeans and an oversized jumper rather than her usual shirt and blazer.

He also can't help but notice that neither include her own designs. He'd gotten so used to seeing that flower pattern on all of her designs; it's become his identifier for her, the same way Ladybug's suit is hers. Ladybug herself has been dealing with her own issues. He understands that she's under a lot of pressure, what with losing Master Fu – who she was a lot closer to than Adrien was – and becoming the guardian, but whenever he asks how she's doing, she responds with a terse 'I'm fine' before instructing him to focus on the battle. He tries to not let it go to his heart, he knows that she's hurting and the last thing she needs is him complaining about her being a little short–tempered and closed off with him, but he can't help but feel angry with her. If she would just let him in, let him help, then surly it would get better for her? She can't keep him shut out forever, can she?

"–drien?"

"Hmm?" He asks, jolting out of his thoughts. Both Nino – the one who called his name – and Alya are looking at him with worry etched into their expressions. Marinette's doodling on the back page of her notebook, oblivious to the way he'd been staring at her while his mind was elsewhere. "Sorry, pardon?"

Nino raises an eyebrow, sharing a look with Alya. "Are you okay?"

He nods quickly and forces a smile. "Yep. Fine. I was zoned out."

"You don't say." Alya says, giving him a funny smile. Her gaze flicks between him and the still oblivious Marinette. "What's so interesting about our girl that had you staring at her for five whole minutes?"

Shit, was he? "I wasn't staring at her." He feels a blush bloom on his cheeks and he uses all the willpower he has to force it away. "I was just . . . facing her direction and thinking to myself." Alya raises an eyebrow doubtfully, but thankfully doesn't press the matter. Adrien clears his throat and turns in his seat slightly so he's not looking so directly at Marinette. "What were you saying?"

"Als and I were wondering if you and Kagami wanted to come to lunch in that café on the other side of the park with us?"

"The one with the 'take a book, leave a book' bookshelf?"

"Yeah." Nino nods excitedly and pulls a novel out of his bag. "I bought this to trade. Last time I was there they had the screenplay for The Cursed Child, and I really want to read it."

"That's a Harry Potter book, right?" He asks, finally taking his things out of his bag when he realises the bell is going to go in a few minutes.

"Yeah. It's the same universe, but I don't think Harry or Ron or Hermione are actually in it. I'm pretty sure it's their kids." He flicks through the novel he's trading and Adrien pulls his phone out of his pocket to text Kagami, but pauses.

"What about Marinette?"

"Hmm?" Nino glances up from the book to look at him questionably. "What about her?"

"Is she coming?" He glances back at her, but she's still engrossed in her doodles. That, or she's just really good at pretending.

Nino shrugs slightly. "Well, it's kind of a double date." He bites his lip nervously and glances at Marinette, before sighing. He leans a little closer to Adrien so she won't hear if she actually is listening. "We don't want her to feel like a fifth wheel or anything."

Adrien frowns. "Fifth wheel? Isn't it third wheel?"

Nino shrugs again and leans back in his seat. "Yeah, but when it's a double date and there's an extra person, there's, like, two sets of wheels, plus an extra one, so, like, five." He frowns, confused. "Wait, no, um . . ."

"That makes sense." Adrien says before Nino can keep confusing himself. "But shouldn't we at least ask her? I don't want her to feel left out."

Nino bites his lip and adjusts his glasses nervously, glancing up at his childhood friend. "Yeah, but I don't want her to be there alone."

"What about Luka?" Adrien asks, although as he says his name, he realises that Marinette hasn't really mentioned him lately. Perhaps they've had a fight or something?

"Um . . ." Nino glances at Alya, who has been listening in on their conversation silently, begging her for help with his eyes.

"That isn't actually a bad idea." She says, but Adrien can't help but notice from Nino's wide eyes that that wasn't the response he was looking for. She turns to Marinette and shakes her shoulder, drawing her out of her own little world with a jolt.

"Is class starting?" Marinette asks, and, as if on command, the bell rings.

"Yeah, but that's not what I wanted to say." Alya pushes Marinette's notebook away from her slightly, closer to Adrien, so she can't get absorbed in it so quickly. "We're going to a café for lunch, do you want to come?"

"Um . . ." She fiddles with her pen and glances between Alya, Nino and Adrien, before her gaze goes back to her notebook. Adrien follows her gaze and tilts his head at the seemingly pointless doodles there, many of which appear to be weird symbols that he's never seen before. She must catch him looking and get embarrassed, because she flicks the book shut. "Who's 'we'?"

"Me, Nino, Adrien and Kagami." Alya says, before nudging Marinette again. "Luka should come too, though. You should text him."

"Um . . ." She tugs on her pigtail nervously before nodding slightly, although Adrien can't help but notice it looks more like she's giving in to Alya's wants more so then simply agreeing. "Okay."

"Great!"