Marinette walked beside Adrien. Halfway through their lunch break Luka had gotten a call from his mother that there were problems with the boat house. He had left and she had no idea when she was going to be able to give him his stuff back. When small snowflakes began to fall from the Parisian sky, Luka had also placed his black beanie onto her head. Now she had two of his things, important winter things, that she had to somehow make time to get back to him.

"It's okay girl, just go on a date and bring your own cot next time!" Alya winked at the girl then she turned to Nino and they continued their conversation about how Ladybug hadn't done many interviews lately.

A date? Marinette shook her head. That would be weird for Luka. And her. Considering the conversation they had. After the ice-cream get together, Luka had flat out asked Marinette on a date. Marinette froze and hadn't know how to respond. The heart break from letting Adrien go was still too fresh, and the though of her being the new guardian was really starting to sink in. She had tried her best not to break his heart, but she sat him down and kindly explained that she just wasn't ready yet. To be honest, though, she hadn't been ready for anything that was coming to her.

Marinette looked up at the sky, watching the snow that was coming down slowly. What was she going to do? This was her life now. This was the norm. She was probably going to be the guardian, and maybe Ladybug for the rest of her life. Master Fu hadn't had another career. He couldn't he had all of his research (which he so kindly bequeathed onto her) to do. So, she knew long ago to kiss fashion goodbye. Any actual designing she had tried to do hurt her heart.

"So are you going to be making any last minute snow-wear?" It was weird, to Marinette Adrien's vice sounded so hopeful,

"I'm not sure, it's kind of the end of the season, you know? I mean I'm sure your dad has already started preparing for his summer release."

Adrien smiled, she was right, bathing suits and shorts and tank tops galore, "yeah, I'm sure my dad would love to show you some of the collection! Ya know, if you'd want to come look at it?" He sounded almost shy. Alya had turned around at this, but Marinette didn't want to give her the satisfaction of acknowledging her pointed look,

"I'm not so sure…"

Marinette thought back to her most recent meeting with Gabriel, covering for Lila's sticky fingers. He hadn't given away much of how he felt about her, but Marinette was sure it wasn't any type of fondness.

Adrien gently grabbed her shoulder to stop her, "are you kidding? He loved your designs. I'm sure he'd love to have someone to actually talk shop with!"

Okay, so he was exaggerating a little. He had loved Marinette's designs and would sometimes ask if she had anything new during the rare occasions when they talked. But Adrien had saw it, for a brief second that spark was back in her eyes. She was in there. She really was.

Marinette let out a half-hearted laugh, "thanks Adrien but I'm sure he'd rather talk shop with actual designers, you know?"

Marinette began walking again and Adrien watched for a moment before joining her. Under his breath he let out a defeated, "but you are one…"

#

It had to have been hours. She had to have been sitting in this seat for decades. All of the lecturing and the questions. It had been a century. Marinette looked at the clock and groaned to herself—it had been fifteen minutes. She hated physics. She hated everything about it. The long explanations, the complicated math, all of the science. It was a combination of three subjects all presented at once in some complicated puff-pastry of confusion. She had become lost about ten minutes ago, and felt her brain shut down not long after that. The rest of the class was scribbling down notes obediently while hers was frozen after the first line. Even Alya's notes were detailed and neat and smart. They looked smart at least. And she made googly eyes at her boyfriend every ten seconds.

"Alright class, I'm going to go to the back to get the assignments, just in case the lecture goes long, I will be right back."

Marinette groaned and put her head down. More lecture? In case it gets longer. Could she quit now?

"Girl, what is wrong with you?" Alya whispered, "you've been bitching and whining since class started."

Marinette stuck her tongue out at the girl for her crude wording, but spoke, "I honestly just don't get it, I can see your notes?"

Alya nodded and slide them over, and Marinette blanched, "great they're in Greek!"

Alya smirked and chuckled, "no, Mari, that's plain French right there."

Marinette stuck her tongue out again, but began copying her notes, "but how did we get from here to here?"

Marinette pointed at the notes and looked to Alya. Alya sighed and pointed to the line above, "it's what the equation tells you to do right here."

Marinette cocked her head and sighed, "if you say so."

Alya chuckled again as Marinette copied everything down diligently. She looked back up only to see Adrien staring at Marinette with sad eyes. What had been up with that boy? He chose Kagami. If he wanted both then Alya had been dead wrong about the type of person Adrien was. She hadn't meant to put so much fire in her eyes, but, nonetheless, when Adrien looked over to her fear overtook his eyes and he faced the front quickly. Maybe that's why Marinette was acting so weird. Maybe all of these mixed signals from Adrien were hurting her. I mean it would hurt her. Alya bit her pencil as Marinette slid her paper back over to her,

"Thanks, Alya."

Alya smiled back at her, "no problem girl."

#

Tikki looked at Marinette with concern in her eyes. The girl had turned down Alya walking her home and a car ride with Adrien for Kaalki to get her home. Only for her to break out her physics homework and break down at her desk. She hadn't even taken off her coat or her hat. Tikki exchanged a look with Kaalki who had been looking at the girl the same way. Tikki had always loved Marinette, but now the other kwamis had become the same way. This was no ordinary human. Marinette had worn multiple miraculous at once and had not had an ounce of the power-hungry tendencies even some of the previous Ladybugs had shown. Marinette also took the protection of the kwamis very seriously. She ensured that each kwami was safe but that they also had time outside of the box if they had wanted it. Though Marinette was a newer guardian, she was already a good one.

Marinette even spent most nights rereading Fu's work, and continuing his research. The girl was stretched thin. She was doing more than her best and it was beginning to take a toll on her.

"Marinette, please can we help you?" Pollen whimpered to their new master.

Marinette shook her head tearfully, "no, it's okay, Pollen." She hiccupped, "I'll be alright. I just need to focus!"

Marinette wiped her tears and tore into her book with more vigor. Trying to decipher the equations, the math, anything.

"Maybe you should take a break and draw! You have that dance coming up!" Mullo rushed around Marinette excitedly.

Marinette sighed, but managed a smile for the mouse, "not today, Mullo, but thank you. We haven't chosen the theme for the dance, anyway."

Mullo nodded at the girl, then rejoined the ranks of the other kwamis on Marinette's bed.

Marinette sighed and stood from her desk, "a break sounds good. You know? Maybe no physics until later tonight…"

The other kwamis smiled excitedly, but Tikki knew her chosen. She watched in dismay as Marinette picked up the large book filled with ancient miraculous legends, and also picked up the two translation books she had. Ancient Chinese to Modern Mandarin, and Modern Mandarin to English. Marinette shrugged off Luka's coat and settled on the bed. The other kwamis sat on the bed next to Marinette and peeked over her shoulder as she began reading and translating.

One good thing to come out of all of the chaos, was that Marinette had begun to learn Chinese. It was slow and agonizing, and some days she had to give up due to a headache so bad the words were blurred. But she had learned. It helped that the Kwamis were fluent in man languages and loved to help her along. Some days she could only use one of the translations books and get away with it. Tikki was still worried about her chosen though. With school, homework, research, working in the bakery, and being Ladybug, all of Marinette's passions had been put on the backburner. Her hand had not touched a needle since before Christmas when she was finishing up some of the presents she had planned. With the thought of fashion, Tikki's mind took a turn,

"Adrien seemed really worried about you today, Marinette."

Marinette sighed and looked up at her kwami, "yeah, it was really stupid of me to forget my coat. I hadn't meant to worry anyone."

Tikki looked confused at the girl. How could she not have noticed that there was so much more than that? Watching Adrien 'choose' Kagami had really hurt Marinette, though Tikki had wasted no time telling Marinette she seemed to had made the choice for him. Marinette had gone on about how Adrien would never see her as more than a friend, and that had been it. The end of the conversation. But the boy now, boy was he interested. Tikki knew it was much more interest than just wondering what was wrong with her. Fu had admitted himself that these two were soul mates, and he didn't believe in love often.

Suddenly a smell hit her nose. Familiar and…. Mangy. Tikki's eyes widened, "everybody hide! Marinette! The books!"

It all happened so suddenly. Every kwami, either behind a book or in the box, and Marinette's books thrown under the bed in the blink of an eye. All before the giant thud on her patio. Marinette squinted the snow that was now coming down much harder than it was before, and the darkening sky offered no help. Marinette opened the door and stepped out. The cold wind shaking her to her vary bones. A voice cut through the snow suddenly,

"Marinette! Get back inside it's freezing out here."

Marinette knew that voice anywhere, "Chat Noir?"

His green eyes suddenly appeared in front of her gesturing for her to go back inside. She slid backed away from the door and gestured for him to follow, "what are you doing here?"
The last time Chat Noir had come, Marinette had been way too distracted and spoke to him how Ladybug would have, how she normally would have. All of the pretending had caught up to her, and talking to him like that had felt so normal, so warm. She called him things like 'kitty' and 'silly cat'. It was dumb on her part. She broke the illusion of a lovestruck fan in an instant. He hadn't seemed suspicious, so Marinette was happy she could have something normal.

Chat Noir shook snow off of his hair and all over Marinette's bed, much to her dismay, "sorry, Marinette," he chuckled at the sight of her face, "just came for a talk."

Marinette crossed her arms, "more like a stray came for croissants."

Chat Noir smiled at the return of some of the bite in her and put his hand over his heart in fake pain, "oh! You wound me! Never I just came to see you! Do… you do have some though right?"

Marinette rolled her eyes and held up a finger, gesturing for him to wait a moment and she retreated down her trap door. Chat Noir shook off the last little bit of snow, and explored the room. It was messier since the last time he was here. Lots of papers with messy scribbles were all about the room, books, lots of books everywhere. He picked one up, it was in Chinese. He quirked a brow, but realized it was best not to snoop. He walked to her desk to sit on the chair, only to see the open physics book. He had heard her struggling with it at school. She had seemed so frustrated at first but then just seemed to give up. So unlike Marinette. He sighed. That was why he was here today. To find out what was going on.

He heard her footsteps approaching and smiled as the trapdoor opened again. Something smelled amazing. She handed him a plate of the flaky bread and he smiled,

"thank you. They smell delicious."

Marinette smiled, "no problem, sorry though, they what didn't get sold today. I hope they're not stale."

They weren't. They were the best things to cross Adrien's lips for months.

Marinette smirked at the cat hero savoring his treat, "so. You said you wanted to talk?"

Chat Noir nodded, "yeah, it's really important."

Marinette nodded for him to go on with a confused look on her face. He sighed, "are you okay, Marinette?"

Marinette looked taken aback, "y-yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay? Did you hit your head before you came here?"

Chat Noir laughed half-heartedly and shook his head, "I'm fine, and I have no head injuries that I know of. I just… you've seemed, different.. sadder." He caught the look of suspicion in her eyes and tried desperately to cover, "even from the last time I saw you."

Marinette crossed her arms, "has the great Chat Noir been spying on me?"

Chat Noir chuckled nervously, "no?"

Marinette shook her head, "I'm fine, cat. I've just been up late designing a lot, and really late too."

Something flashed in Chat Noir's and he lifted up a dusty sketchbook from the corner of the desk, "ah yes, I see. Just over brewing with ideas."

Marinette's cheeks got hot at being caught in her lie, "I could have another sketchbook!"
Chat Noir deadpanned at her, "yeah? Other than the one you always use exclusively?"

Marinette stuck her tongue out at him, "so let me get this straight. Chat Noir has come into my room to criticize me?"

Chat Noir widened his eyes, "n-no! I'm sorry that's not what I meant to do at all… I just…" He ran his han through his hair, "I'm really worried, that's all. I… I don't want you to get akumaized."

Marinette's eyes softened and she walked over to her friend and kneeled by him, "Kitty, I'm not going to get akumaized. Quite frankly I would love to see Hawkmoth try to decipher some of the crazy that is going on up here," she gestured to her head, "I promise I'm al-"

Chat Noir suddenly took her hand, "can you talk to me about it?"

Marinette looked up at him, confused, "w-what?"

He looked at her hopeful, "some of that 'crazy'?"

Marinette looked up at him and bit her lip, "I don't know Chat… I mean you're a superhero… you can't just-"

Chat Noir looked at her with pleading eyes, "please? Please Marinette I want to help."

Marinette sighed, "you can't really fix it Chat."

Chat Noir squeezed her hand and whispered desperately, "please let me try."

Marinette let out a shaky breath. This was hard. Why did he care so much about her? It didn't make sense. But here he was, desperate to talk to her. She sighed and came up with something true she could tell him, she didn't want to lie to him, "school. School has really been a lot."
Chat Noir looked at her incredulously, "school?"

She let go of his hand and stood. Pointing at her physics textbook, "that. I hate that."

It was true. She didn't understand physics. It sucked. It was her lowest grade and the biggest pain in her ass sometimes.

Chat Noir let out a laugh, "what?"

"Cataclysm it." She whispered without mercy.

Now his laugh was whole hearted, "I'm not going to do that. You need that."

Her bottom lip popped out, creating a perfect pout on her face. He put his hands up, "okay, okay, what don't you get?"

Marinette looked at him confused, "what?"

He smiled, "I'm serious, what don't you get? I'm a sort of physics master, so let me help you."

Marinette rubbed her lips together and pointed at one of the problems on the assignment, "I can't figure this one out for the life of me."

Adrien read the problem over, "yeah, this is a hard one, but I can help. Here." He picked up her book and they moved to the chaise. He pointed at an equation in the book, "this is the equation we want. Do you know why?"

Marinette shook her head and bit her lip. Chat smiled, "that's okay. See in this problem we want to know how fast the rock has to go to get into space right?"

Marinette nodded. Chat continued, "so we have the distance, the size of the rock, and we just need to know the speed, or velocity. V right?"
Marinette nodded quickly, "and that equation has all the variables we need right?"

Chat Noir nodded enthusiastically, "exactly! Can you plug these numbers in for me?"

She nodded and began to work.

Adrien smiled. She was talking to him… well not him, Chat Noir. But he was still here with her, talking. He knew that physics wasn't everything she was dealing with. But she hadn't lied to him again. She was honest. He watched her work intently… then he noticed something. She wasn't wearing her glasses. Here she was, working very hard not squinting at anything. Not only that but… he looked around the room… they were no where to be found at all. Come to think of it…. She wasn't wearing them the last time he visited either. Why would she possibly lie about needing glasses? He tried hard to think what she had told people about them. As far as he could remember, she hadn't said anything. Alya had said something about being 'bad eyesight twins' and Nino had said something about being left out… but Marinette just hadn't said anything. She just wore them…

Marinette looked up at Chat and smiled large. Showing him her work. He smiled back nervously. Her work was perfect. He gave her a thumbs up and had her start the next problem. He looked around the rooms at the notes. Trying to decipher the scribbles without making it obvious that he was reading them. It was Chinese alright. When had Marinette learned Mandarin?

One of the greatest days of his young life was when Marinette asked her to come with her and translate for her to her uncle. It was fun, and he got to know her a lot better. It was one of the few times he got to hang out with just her… And now, as far as he knew, she wasn't hanging out with anyone. And her reaction when Alya suggested she go on a date with Luka was…. Strange.

A large collection of snow fell onto Marinette's patio and she jumped up. Book and papers all over the floor, hands in fists and eyes towards the window. It was as if she was expecting someone… nefarious to come in.

Chat Noir looked at the falling snow out of her window as his worst fears were confirmed; something horrible was happening to Marinette.