"Enjoying game night?" Myléne asked as she snagged a cracker from the snack table.

"Of course." Marinette supplied little extra information, watching with slight amusement as the kwamis devoured bite after bite from the overloaded table.

"I noticed you came in with Adrien. Any progress there?" Myléne turned to pour herself a drink and Marinette shook her head.

"It's game night, Myléne. You're not my therapist right now." Marinette picked absentmindedly at a cupcake and Myléne snorted.

"According to the books, I'm not your therapist at all." Myléne turned to her kwami with a disapproving stare as the mouse kwami snuck towards a plate of Camembert. "Eat your own, squeaks." Myléne pushed the plate of Swiss closer to the kwami who just rolled their eyes with a groan. "How was the ride over? Any conversations I should know about?"

"No. Adrien and I didn't even talk until we got here. It doesn't matter. Like I said earlier. I am fine with the relationship we have now."

Myléne glanced across the room to Adrien who was trying not to be caught eyeing them.

"But is he?" Myléne nearly laughed aloud when Adrien hurried to hide his gaze, turning back to a random cup on one of the end tables. "Adrien deserves closure too. And I don't think either of you will get it until you talk it through."

"Myléne can we..can we not do this now?" Marinette hands had began to shake and Myléne quickly nodded.

"Of course. I'm sorry for pushing you, Marinette. I only want to see you happy."

"I appreciate it, Myléne. I do. But Adrien's just..not a part of that happiness anymore."

"And if that's a choice you're making because you truly feel that way, that's okay. But if this is a choice you're making because you're afraid of Adrien's judgment, or because you're feeling guilty…please, Marinette. Reconsider." Myléne turned, leaving Marinette alone with her thoughts as Alya sidled up to her best friend.

"Stop looking all pouty. It's almost my wedding." Alya bounced a cheese puff off Marinette's cheek and almost instantly the bluenette began to giggle.

"Okay, okay. I'm done pouting. Are you excited? Just a few more days. I was on the phone with Luka today, Kitty Section is flying in tomorrow afternoon. Should be here with plenty of time to set up for the rehearsal dinner and get a sound check in."

"Great!" Alya smiled, checking that off her mental list of wedding to-dos. "That's like an eleven hour flight so they'll probably be super jet lagged for the dinner, but we'll try to keep it short. Any news on Luka and Zoé?"

"Oh you should have seen him!" Marinette laughed, thinking back to Luka's love struck face as he talked about Zoé's duet with Jagged. "He looked like a little lovesick puppy. I give it two months before he's proposed."

"Eh, Luka puts his heart into everything. I give it two weeks."

"Bet?" Marinette asked, grabbing a drink and popping the tab.

"Deal. So..I saw you and Adrien arrived together tonight."

"Don't even start." Marinette rolled her eyes. "How's work going?"

"Great!" Alya whipped out her phone and pulled up her blog. "Check that out." Marinette squinted at the screen for a moment before letting out a quick cheer.

"You were sponsored by TVi? Alya! You're their competition! How did you manage-"

"They're really impressed with my work documenting the heroes lately. Without Monarch around, practically all of our hero pieces are public interest stories; like when King Monkey and Carapace showed up at that 6 year old's birthday party last month? Blew up my phone with all the traffic. TVi asked to partner with me. I'll be doing a segment on their show every week. It's a hero recap kinda thing, going over everything we've done the past week. I seriously can't wait for Max to finish my bot, I'm considering asking if he'll get some work in on Saturday before-"

"Max is not working the day of our wedding." Nino chimed in from behind his fiancé, resting his head on her shoulder. "The Bug Bot is cool, it really is. Catches real nice footage for you so you can fight at the same time. But there will be no fighting at our wedding. So you will not need the Bug Bot. Right?"

"Right. Because crime will take the day off for our wedding." Alya rolled her eyes and gave her fiancé a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm just hoping the bots done by the time we get back from our honeymoon, lovey. Not for the day of. And speaking of honeymoon.."

"Still not telling." Nino gave a cheeky grin then turned to Marinette. "Still coming to the rehearsal dinner?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

"You're sure?" Nino clarified. "I know you don't like coming to the club because of the location. If you don't want to come-"

"Nino." Marinette stopped her friend, mind going all sorts of places she didn't want it to go. "Please, don't remind me. The..the club is on the main level. I can handle it." Marinette let her mind wander to the night club that now occupied the main floor of what used to be the Agreste Manor. Adrien had been unwilling to live in the house after Gabriel had been forced to turn over his assets and had subsequently given the property to Nino who, as one would expect, turned it into a place for Nino to expand his career as a DJ. Between Nino's mixes and the superhero theme, Club Miraculous had quickly become the most popular hang out spot for young adults in Paris. And, with the extra room on the top floor, Nino and Alya had worked together to create a headquarters of sorts for the actual superheroes. Which Max very happily outfitted with only the best tech known to man kind, and Kim, the best workout equipment. Marinette had only visited a couple of times for team meetings, but even going near the property made her sick to her stomach. Still, for her friends she could bear it.

———

"Hey, I'm heading home. Want a ride back?" Adrien stood, watching Marinette carefully as the girl's face flew through a million emotions at once. Come on, Marinette. Why are you so uncomfortable with me? What did I do?

"No thanks." Marinette finally answered, swinging her purse up onto her shoulder. "I think I'd prefer a run tonight." Marinette headed for Alya and Nino's balcony and Adrien wanted to bang his head against a wall when out of nowhere he proclaimed, way too loudly.

"I could join you!"

"Um..well, see I…I was just-"

"No problem, Mari. I got it." Adrien huffed in defeat as Marinette transformed and disappeared into the night sky, leaving Adrien to wonder, once again, what was going through her mind when she stuttered at him like that. "She hates me. She has to hate me."

"Come on, lover boy." Chloé held out a hand and Adrien took it with a sigh. "Give her some more time. She'll come around." Chloé turned to Alya and mouthed, need anything before we go? Alya quickly shook her head and Chloé dragged Adrien towards the front door. "Sabrina and I need a ride home. You mind, Adrien?"

"Huh?" Adrien looked up at them and then shook his head once more, nodding quickly. "Yeah sure. No problem."

Fifteen minutes later, it was silent as Adrien and Chloé watched Sabrina disappear into her apartment building. When her head finally disappeared through the double doors, Chloé turned to her childhood friend with a sigh.

"Come on, tell me all about it."

"Chloe, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I don't care if Marinette never loves me the way I love her, I really don't. That's her right to decide who she loves. But why..why doesn't she like me? What did I do? I thought we were getting better and then-and then-" Adrien burst into choking sobs and Chloé did her best to comfort him.

"I'm sorry, Adrien. I really am. But I don't think Mari's behavior has anything to do with you, okay? I think she just feels guilty."

"But it wasn't her fault. She saved my life, she-"

"I know that. You know that. Our whole team knows that. But Marinette's always been a little sensitive, yeah? And I'm sure you're seen the Anti-Bugs' protesting lately.."

Adrien nodded, mouth curving into a frown at the thought of them. Lila had always been a bad person, but now with her goons..

"Ugh. I don't know what Lila was thinking starting that group. She's hated Ladybug ever since that day in the park, but I never would have imagined she'd go this far."

The Anti-Bugs had formed slowly after Emelie, Natalie and Amelie's deaths. Adrien was pretty sure Lila had been the one to start the rumors, even if he had no proof. She had become their leader after all. The Anti-Bugs believed that Ladybug had killed all three women and wanted her arrested and stripped of her power. They commonly showed up to protest whenever Ladybug assisted in any case around Paris, whether it be a child's birthday party, a petty theft or a hit and run..there the Anti-Bugs would be, handmade signs of hate at the ready. Lately they'd even taken to tagging the city, acts of graffiti proclaiming Ladybug's supposed guilt could be found all over important buildings and city vehicles. Every so often one of them would get violent, whether it was a bit of mace to the face of a hero or a rock thrown at them when they weren't looking, taking any member of the Anti-Bugs to jail or punishing them in any way only seemed to aggravate the problem and Marinette had intructed the team to leave them be, to let them protest so long as they didn't put civilians in danger. Marinette said she could take it. He wished she didn't have to.

"It's a shame Marc and Nathaniel have to put up with her." Chloé said with disgusted tone. Adrien agreed. Marc and Nathaniel were in the middle of producing the fifth season of their hit animated show, "Preternatural: Stories of Scarlett Aphid and Inky Feline" but were having trouble getting the episodes out on time due to Lila's temper tantrums. Adrien had been more than wary when he learned that Lila had been chosen to voice the main female character, Scarlett, but it had been out of Marc and Nathaniel's control so he had kept his mouth shut. He wished he hadn't, especially after the way they had talked about her tantrums at game night that evening.

"She wants a live action appearance in the show! A live action appearance in an animated show, can you believe it? And don't even get me started on her demands for her booth-"

"It's a disaster, for sure." Chloé agreed as Adrien pulled up to Le Grand Paris. "See you at the rehearsal tomorrow, right?"

"Would miss it." Adrien nodded as Chloé gathered her things and headed inside. She waved once more as Adrien pulled his car away from the sidewalk, only allowing himself to think once the car was safely parked in his apartment building's garage. Unlocking the front door, Adrien sighed in relief as he threw his keys, watching as they hit the counter top. He kicked off his shoes and collapsed on the couch as Plagg pulled himself out of his holder's pocket.

"You gonna finish this mess tonight?" Plagg motioned to the boxes scattered around Adrien's coffee table and the young man groaned, picking himself up off the sofa with a pop of his back.

"I am now. Thanks for reminding me, Plagg." Adrien grumbled sarcastically as he started in on the first box. Plagg rolled his eyes.

"Call me if you need me, kid. I'm getting some cheese."

"You literally just had cheese. Like a whole plate of cheese at Nino and Alya's."

"That was then. This is now." Plagg flew off toward the kitchen as Adrien sorted through the items in the white box in front of him. He'd been going through his mom and dad's things for over a year now and he still couldn't seem to get to the end of them. Why had his parents had so much stuff? Sure, they had money, Adrien did too, but he couldn't comprehend living in clutter just because one could. Glancing around his apartment, Adrien decided that maybe he wasn't the best one to talk. The boxes had certainly piled up over the past few years, but he just couldn't seem to get rid of it all. It would seem so final. Like it was the end. And if it was the end..Placing the sculpture he held in his hands back into the box, Adrien allowed his shoulders to sag as he cupped his face in his palms, shoulders shaking with the power of his tears.

"What am I doing with my life?" He cried, pushing the box away with his foot. "If this is the end..if things don't change.."

His mind went once again to that memory of Marinette, the way she had practically swayed to the edge of the roof. And then suddenly he was reminded of the way she had looked at him after everything had happened with his mother..the look of fear and regret in her eyes.

The eyes of the girl he loved had never looked at him with any less than pure terror since.