So this will probably be the last chapter I post for this week. I'm just posting what I've had in my documents for a while now and I'll update again as soon as I can write more. Thank you all for your attention and your favorites. I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I will see you next week!

Ps. For any one who is triggered by any cynical/depression jokes, there is one in this chapter. If that is the case skip the next three lines of dialogue after Adrien asks "so what are you going to do tonight?" I'll try to put trigger warnings onto the chapters where there are darker jokes, but I feel like I need to vocalize this, in this story Marinette is depressed/ And a lot of young people (me included) deal with their depression and anxiety with humor. I know it triggers some people and you are not the people I am talking about at ALL in this next statement, but do not make someone feel bad for their coping mechanisms that don't harm them. Every one deals differently. Please acknowledge that.

#

Adrien slid through his open window just as the sun had begun to rise. Although you couldn't really see it with all of the snow. He released his transformation, and held a piece of camembert up for Plagg to grab. And he did, in no time at all,

"wow, you were there for a long time," he said this quite loudly and with a mouth full of cheese, "I thought we were moving in!"

Adrien shook his head a gestured to the snow, "no it's this weather, you don't think it's an akuma do you?"

Plagg shook his head, "nope, just plain old climate change."

Adrien gave Plagg a look a spoke again, "she was so open with me, why doesn't she talk to Adrien like this?"

Plagg cackled, "what is the lover boy jealous of himself?"

Adrien turned quickly, "lover boy?! I-what- what are you even talking about?"

Plagg curled around what was left of his cheese, "you. Love. Marinette."

Adrien sat down on his bed and sighed, "no, I'm just worried about her. She's not-"

"-talking to you how she used to, laugh like she used to, yeah, yeah I heard." Plagg actually looked bothered by this. Adrien raised an eyebrow,

"Plagg, why were you so excited to see her?"

Plagg guffawed, "excited, I'm not excited to see no body! I was just-"

Adrien smirked, "-worried? Because you know she's different too?"

Plagg gritted his teeth, "fine, you want to play that way? What would Kagami think about your little trip?"

Adrien sighed. That's true, what would she think? He was so worried about Marinette he didn't think of how Kagami would feel at all. Sure, visually it was Chat Noir visiting Marinette, but he knew that it was him. He knew what he was doing wasn't great. Yes, he was coming from the right place; he was just worried about his friend. But Kagami had always been a little weird about Marinette, especially lately when he'd been telling her all of his concerns he had for her. But even Kagami agreed she was different and said she would try to talk to her. But that was months ago, and as far as he knew Kagami had done nothing. So, it was up to him, right?

Plagg smirked, "weeeeelllll?"

Adrien sighed again, "you're right, Plagg, it wasn't a great thing to do. I didn't mean anything romantically by it and, well, someone had to do something. She needs someone, Plagg. And you heard it yourself tonight, it's not Alya or Luka."

Plagg looked to the floor then scarfed down the last of his cheese, "listen, kid, I know you didn't mean anything by it, but you clearly have feelings for Marinette-" he held up his hand at Adrien to stop his arguing, "-and that's not fair to Kagami. But you're right making Marinette deal with all of the gua…. I mean, um, whatever she's dealing with, isn't fair to Marinette."

Adrien sighed, "so, what do I do?"

Plagg shrugged, "you work out your feelings. I mean do you love Kagami? If that's true then you need to be there for Marinette as, truly, just a friend. If you don't love Kagami… well, you have your answer."

Adrien choked on air, "love? We've only been dating for-"

Plagg raised an eyebrow, "months?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"You knew with Ladybug instantly."

Plagg knew he was starting to hit close to home, but Adrien needed to hear this.

"That was different, Plagg, that was…. Ladybug."

"So?"

"So… so I knew it was a longshot and maybe…"

"Kid, I've been alive for thousands of years. I feel your feelings when you're Chat Noir, that was love. And I felt some of that tonight too. But it has to be your choice."

"You felt that… tonight?" Adrien pulled his lucky charm out of his pocket and stared at it. Could Plagg be talking about the warmth? No, he couldn't be. He'd been feeling that since he first met Marinette it wasn't possible.

Plagg sighed again, "you need to try to get some sleep kid. You have to be up for school in an hour."

Adrien put the lucky charm on his bedside table. He spoke one last thing to Plagg before he fell asleep,

"I don't know what I felt tonight."

##

Marinette woke up with a headache. So, she woke up like any other morning. Last night truly hadn't felt real. She had to confirm with Tikki a few times that it wasn't some stress dream. Xuppu had, in fact, been scolded for his antics (no matter how funny he thought they were) and the rest of the kwamis were almost uncontrollable with the excitement of meeting Chat Noir.

She got up to change and Wayzz approached her with his Miraculous, "can I come with you today, master?"

His face lit up at Marinette's "of course you can!" And lit up even more at the, "please call me Marinette!"

She slid on his bracelet and opened her closet. Noting to herself that it was another long-sleeved turtle neck day. She grabbed her dark green turtleneck and another pair of her looser fitting high-waisted jeans. She looked outside and grabbed her lace-up brown boots in order to brave the snow. She dabbed some brightening concealer under her eyes and stepped from the mirror. She threw on Kaalki's glasses and left her hair down. She slipped on her own black coat and made sure to grab Luka's, on the off chance she would see him today. She put snacks for her three tag-a-longs into her brown bag and slung it over her shoulder along with her backpack, now loaded with her homework. With her parents gone, and her homework from the night done, she realized she could run downstairs and make a quick coffee. She put it quickly together before she nodded at Kaalki.

There was an icy breeze, the sensation of falling, then the feeling of solid ground beneath her feet again. She stepped out of the janitor's closet on the first floor, and headed to the locker room. Sipping on her coffee absentmindedly. She opened the door only to hear another one of Lila's incredible stories gracing the ears of Kim and Max. Something about her saving Jagged Stone himself this time, and him complimenting her modeling prowess. She laughed to herself and placed both coats in her locker. She grabbed what she needed for English and closed her locker.

"Marinette? Don't you want to apologize to Max for what you said at lunch yesterday?"

Marinette looked up with tired eyes, "and what did I say?"

Lila put on a disappointed face and shook her head, "what you told me in the bathroom, about Max's new hair, it wasn't very nice."

Marinette brought all the kindness she had into her eyes, "Lila, I went a café with Alya, Nino, Adrien, and Luka yesterday. I wasn't here. I think maybe it could be…"

Lila's eyes held anger but she feigned guilt, knowing her mistake, "Oh! My condition! You must be right! I'm so sorry Marinette! I'm so sorry Max!"

Max smiled at Marinette, they were okay for now, and went to comfort Lila. Marinette left when she began to hear, "it's not your fault, Lila! You can't control it!"

Marinette took another sip of coffee. She was on borrowed energy today and she wasn't going to waste any of it on Lila.

She headed to Mme. Bustier's classroom to settle in early. Chloe was there early with Sabrina. Neither made eye contact with Marinette.

Things had been tense for Chloe lately. Once the story of what happened somehow leaked (Marinette bet on Lila), many people were angry at Chloe. So was Marinette to be honest, but that wasn't something she cared about as much now, to be honest. She was in charge of the miraculous, and there would be many now who were chosens no more. Chloe was just another one of those un-chosen. It was just the way it had to be now.

Marinette sat down in her seat quietly, trying to make sure she didn't interrupt their conversation with any unnecessary noise. Chloe needed Sabrina more than ever now. Marinette wouldn't get in the way of that.

"Trying to eavesdrop, Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette looked up at the blonde staring at her and sighed, "no, sorry, I'm just really tired this morning and don't really feel like talking."

Chloe looked confused at her for a moment, "o-oh. Okay then. Carry on."

Chloe wasn't going to lie. A part of her desperately wanted Marinette to bite back, just for an ounce of normality. She should have known though. Dupain-Cheng hadn't fought back with anyone, her or that annoying Lila, in forever. It scared Chloe a little bit. Or it would if she cared about Marinette at all. Even a little bit. But Chloe didn't, nope not at all. She stole another look at the girl. Even her friend Adrien had expressed concern for Marinette, which Chloe had to admit that once he pointed it out it became so obvious. She would pick fights with Marinette only to get okays, and I'm sorrys in return. What bothered her even more, a lot of Marinette's friends didn't seem to notice… or care. She had heard Alya and Nino talking about Marinette one day saying this was all probably due to heartbreak over losing Adrien, but even Chloe could see it was a lot more than that. Chloe knew that Marinette's friends were being poisoned against her by Lila. Though Marinette hadn't lost her kindness, she wasn't getting much back in return. Chloe knew she had done a lot wrong in her life, and put herself before others many times. But just full on betraying or ignoring Sabrina if she was in a time of need, like Marinette was, was something she would never do.

Adrien walked through the door then, he smiled at Chloe, who offered a timid one back, and took his seat. He turned to Marinette, happy to see her free of any leftover homework,

"hey Marinette! How was your night?" He couldn't help it, he had to ask her, he had to know.

"It was good, how was yours?"

Okay not as much enthusiasm as he would have hoped, but it was good. He got a good instead of a 'fine', 'okay', or 'uneventful.' It was a large step up to be good. Marinette let out that cute little yawn again and took another sip of her coffee.

"Mine was good too, though, I'm jealous of you for having that." He nodded his head at her coffee.

"Oh, you can have some, here." She handed him her coffee without a second thought. He smiled at her and took a sip.

Three words came to mind as soon as he took a sip; bitter, hot, and ew. Fine, that last one wasn't a word but it was a good title for that experience. For a moment he forgot that she had switched her usually vanilla-hazelnut order for this espresso death trap she called coffee. Marinette's extreme coffee change had been more recent. For a few months it had been her usual with just an extra shot, which Adrien had still enjoyed. He choked this sip down and smiled at her, "thanks, that should keep me going until summer vacation."

Marinette smiled and let out a laugh, though it wasn't that genuine Marinette laugh he had gotten last night, "yeah, sorry, Adrien. I forgot; I like it a little stronger now."

He managed a smile, "no it's totally okay, I forgot too. I'm surprised that doesn't eat through the cup."

Marinette shrugged her shoulders, "eh, maybe if I added one more shot."

Adrien's eyes widened, "don't you dare."

She let out another breathy laugh and took a sip again. Adrien bit his lip as he thought of what to say next. This was definitely the most Adrien had gotten her to laugh, and he wasn't ready for it to be over so soon.

"So, what theme are you hoping the dance is going to be?" He was digging, that's for sure but that's all he had.

Without missing a beat, she replied, "minimalistic."

It took Adrien a second, but then he laughed. He laughed so hard his sides hurt. He was pretty sure he even heard Chloe let out a snort. He looked up at her, her eyes seemed to hold something at his laugh. It was happiness, even the smallest spark. There it was. He stared at her for a second, and remembered that first time he'd seen her hair down. She had been laughing that Marinette laugh and everything was warm and seemed to be sparkling. It was one of his fondest memories of the girl. He finally came too and he realized she was looking strangely at him. Oh, he had been staring for too long. She put a hand to her cheek, "do I have something on my face?"

Adrien shook his head, "no, sorry, I just hadn't laughed like that in a long time."

She smiled at him, "while I'm glad I could help."

Marinette began to look into her bag, so Adrien's eyes wandered about the room. He made eye contact with Chloe who was giving him a knowing look. He mouthed the word 'what' at her but she just smiled and looked away. It took him a second but he got it, great, another person who thought he was in love with Marinette. That was just what he needed. He was going to be bombarded with texts from Chloe tonight about this no doubt. He turned again to Marinette, Chloe be damned, she wasn't going to let this go anyway,

"so what are you going to do tonight?"

Marinette looked up from her phone at him, "it depends what the dance theme is."

Adrien cocked an eyebrow, "what does that mean?"

She looked up at him, "I can't legally tell you."

It must have been a joke, because Chloe burst out laughing, but he didn't get it. He looked at her and chuckled anyway. She smiled back at him,

"what about you, what are you doing tonight?"

Adrien knew what the real answer was, 'visiting you again as Chat Noir,' but he shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not sure yet. It all kind of depends how this weather goes."

Marinette nodded, "yeah this is weird, right, damn climate change. Bourgeois?"

Chloe looked up, "what, Dupain-Cheng?"

"please tell your father to fix climate change."

"I've been telling him for years, Dupain-Cheng."

"Good girl."

It was the strangest exchange Adrien had seen between the two. But he looked at Chloe and she was holding back laughter. He chuckled too,

"you're in a happy mood today, Marinette."

Chloe whispered to herself, but it was loud enough to be hear by the two, "woooow, he really didn't get that last joke, did he?"

Marinette closed her eyes for a second, composing herself, then opened them to reply, "I had a good night last night. That's all."

Adrien smiled to himself, "are you going to have a good night again tonight?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I hope so. "

So, she was hoping for him to visit again. That familiar warmth spread through his chest. Maybe she had felt even an ounce of what he had felt last night. He bit his lip and thought about Kagami. Plagg was right. This feeling had here. He just didn't have with Kagami, which was horrible because Kagami was intelligent, skilled, amazing, and beautiful. He really had wanted to love her. But he hadn't even felt comfortable enough to kiss her yet, though she totally respected that. It sort of felt like a friendship with a different title. And he was more than happy with that; a friendship. But with Marinette… it was hard to pin-point exactly when his feelings began to form. He has always thought she was kind and smart, and she has always been beautiful. He'd always felt that warmth. But it seemed that as he began to let Ladybug go, the everyday Ladybug took her place. Did he still love Ladybug? He-He didn't know. He hadn't seen her for a while (as Hawkmoth hadn't been as active), they'd been patrolling separately for some reason. Adrien had really been hoping to ask her to go back to normal patrols.

But, in love with Marinette? It just seemed so… so…

"Wow, you really are spacey today… Do you want to go get coffee again today?"

So wonderful. Adrien nodded, "yeah, that would really be great."

Marinette dropped her eye contact, "maybe Kagami would want to come today."

Adrien bit his lip, "are you inviting Luka?"

Marinette shrugged, "I can if you want me too, I do need to give his jacket back. We can invite Nino, Alya, Jeluka and Rose this time too."

Okay, so she was inviting more people. She didn't want it to be a double date. She wasn't dating Luka anyway. He needed to make that clear; she wasn't dating Luka.

"Okay, do you want to invite them or should I?"

Marinette considered him, "I'll text Luka, Juleka and Rose if you want to take the other three."

He should've known that she'd want the one with the least face to face interaction, "I can do that no problem."

He sent the text to Kagami;

Hey! I was just talking to Marinette and she had the great idea that we should all go and get some coffee for lunch! Would you like to come?

He hit send, and waited for Alya and Nino to come in. It was still pretty early. He was sure they would still be a while.

His phone buzzed sooner than he expected it to.

Marinette suggested that you ask me out for coffee? I mean I'd love to. What time are we meeting and where?

Adrien wasn't sure what she meant by her first question, but her answered her others. Ensuring that he was giving out the right information. I mean a large group outing wouldn't be a great place to talk to Kagami at all. But it would be a good idea to have everyone go out and be friendly around one other, while except for the actual two sets of couples. Rose and Juleka weren't super lovey-dovey but they radiated that they were a couple.

"Rose, Juleka, and Luka are all in."

Adrien smiled at Marinette and gave her a thumbs-up.

Alya and Nino entered then with Lila. They were laughing and smiling. Alya turned to Marinette,

"girl! Lila has a great idea for the dance; Russian Ball!"

Marinette nodded, "that would be really pretty!"

Lila laughed, "yeah! I've been to several Russian balls! They're always so beautiful, and ornate. One time a prince even asked me to dance at one! I hope Mme. Bustier likes it!"

Alya cocked her brow, "oh, actually Lila, all the ideas go to Marinette. As class president, she picks the top two and we vote between them as a class."

Lila's face paled, "Marinette picks them?"

Marinette nodded and took another sip of her coffee, "yeah, that's why I'm not submitting a theme. Yours sounds really cool though. If it's one of the best two I get, I'll pick it."

Lila chewed on her lip for a second, but Adrien saw a devious look overtake her eyes, "o-oh… okay then. I bet the two you pick will be great." Lila walked away slowly and sadly at this. Marinette didn't miss the way Lila dramatically made her voice tiny.

She mumbled under her breath and Adrien could barley make it out, "oh dear kwami what fresh hell is coming?"

Adrien bit back a laugh at her tone but it was obvious that Lila was planning something now. He could only Lila didn't make a huge deal out of a dance theme.

Adrien turned to Nino in the hopes of getting them to ignore Lila's act, "oh do you guys want to get coffee with us again at lunch today? Rose, Juleka, Luka, and Kagami are coming."

Alya chewed on her lip, "maybe we should stay and hangout with Lila, she seems pretty down."

Adrien saw the hopelessness in Marinette's eyes and spoke again, "I'm just dying for a coffee though, to the point I drank some of Marinette's."

Nino looked at Alya, "I don't know, babe, that is pretty desperate. "

Alya chewed on her lip some more, "yeah, maybe. Maybe I should ask if she wants to come along?"

Marinette quietly screamed to herself and begged Adrien to handle this, "I mean, everyone that's coming is a couple, will she be okay with that?"

Alya sighed, "probably not. That wouldn't be much fun for her."

Marinette fought not to jump out of her seat to celebrate. She nodded her thanks to Adrien who smiled back at her. Though she wasn't sure why everyone thought she and Luka were dating. She had even told Alya she turned him down.

Mme. Bustier walked in, "okay everyone, English assignments to the front please. Also, I'll be passing around some paper squares, please write your ideas down for our spring dance theme!"

It was just then that Lila decided to let out a desperate sob. Most of the class turned to look at her, while Marinette just stared at the ceiling to watch the shit hit the fan.

"What's wrong, Lila, are you okay?"

She wiped convincing, though still fake tears from her eyes, "it, i-it's just, I heard Marinette talking that she would never even consider my idea."

Alya looked quickly at Marinette, "why would you do that?!"

Marinette turned quickly at her, "you literally just heard her find out I even handle this damn thing! When would I have said that I wasn't picking it? I heard her idea maybe thirty seconds ago"

Alya looked back to Lila, and shook her head, "she seems pretty hurt, Marinette."

Lila continued, "and I just don't think refusing to hear other ideas is very indicative of a good class president."

Mme. Bustier looked to Marinette, "Marinette is this true?"

Marinette composed herself, "I'm going to look at every options and pick the two best, most creative ones. If Lila's theme is one of those two, you will see it on the board later today to vote on."

Marinette's voice was somehow still even despite the lies spewing from the other girl's mouth, "but you're just not going to even look at it! It's just not fair!"

Marinette brought as much kindness into her eyes as she could, "Lila, I promise I will."

Lila shook her head, "you're lying! You shouldn't be class president!"

There was a collective silence in the room. Adrien gritted his teeth, was no one going to stop this bull shit? Even Alya, who had heard the complete exchange didn't believe Marinette.

Marinette's voice was even, "if you would like me to step down I will."

This was met with even more silence. To be honest, losing the class presidency title would not be the worst thing. Marinette wouldn't have to put together the stupid dance, or organize the end of the year party. Though it hurt to hear how many people didn't support her, it could be the best in the long run, maybe.

Chloe stood, "if she steps down, I become president, and I, for sure, won't even consider your ridiculous Russian ball idea!"

Lila was too shocked to keep up her fake tears.

Mme. Bustier spoke up, "Marinette swore to serve a term, and I will not be asking her to step down unless completely necessary. She has served this class well and has been fair and just."

Marinette nodded at her teacher, "Lila, if you would like to be class president, please run in the election at the end of the year. You could serve next year."

Lila huffed, "I just know you won't be fair because you just don't like me. For no reason."

Marinette could name a thousand reasons right this very second. She sighed, "Lila, I am going to be fair in this theme picking. If your idea is the best, it will show. If you want to announce your idea to the class now for everyone to consider you can one hundred percent do that now."

Lila huffed again, "well, Chloe kind of did it for me."

Marinette gestured to her, "you still can, officially, if you'd like."

Lila shook her head, "no, I'll submit it with everyone else's."

Marinette nodded, "okay, when you're done please raise your hand. You can put your name on your idea if you'd like, that just means if you get picked you will get the credit for it."

Marinette had spent all of that borrowed energy just from dealing with that situation. She began to collect the papers from people who raised their hands. Marinette watched Lila get up to 'sharpen her pencil out of the corner of her eye. She sighed. She knew what was going on.

She went back to the front, "okay, did I get everyone's them idea?"

Everyone nodded, even Lila. Marinette made eye contact with the girl, "now everyone is sure?" Lila nodded again.

As Marinette turned to grab her folder Lila let out another sob, "I just know she won't consider mine."

Okay, Lila wanted to play.

Marinette faked a gasp, "oh no, guys! Which one of you threw yours away?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lila stiffen.

Marinette put on a show, "Russian ball! Oh no! Lila, that was almost so bad. Don't worry, now yours will go right on top!"

The rest of the class sent smiles to Lila and words of encouragement to Lila.

Adrien watched Marinette take her seat. He eyes looked empty again, like they had yesterday. He sighed, "are you okay?"

Marinette nodded, "yeah, I'm just really going to need that other coffee."