"Where are you going to go?"

"It's too late tonight, I'm going to transform and find a rooftop to sit on or something."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Are you going to go to sleep?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well I am! And I don't want to be sucked int-"

"Claws out!"

Chat took one look at his bedroom, and ran off into the night. Man I'm sure acting like an alley cat now. All he had to do now was to figure out what to do with the time before school. He ran across the rooftops until he found one that was deserted. He wanted to sleep but he couldn't. Instead he just sat there under the moonlight, trying to forget everything that just happened. Eventually the city of Paris woke up and so did the sky, Adrien knew that in a couple of hours school would be starting and he would have to pretend that nothing had happened. Normally, he would've been worried about how everyone will view him after rejecting Marinette, but that incident had slipped his mind.

"Claws in!"

Plagg shot out of the ring.

"Adrien? What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, I really don't know. I'm going to go to school in a couple hours and… well I'll figure it out from there."

"I think you should go home."

"I-I can't do that, Plagg."

"You have to tell me what happened... Or at least give me some camembert."

"Oh my god Plagg, camembert."

"Did you leave it at the house?"

"That and EVERYTHING! What am I going to do?!"

"Relax, we could probably break in at some point once we figure out where you'll go. Or you could just go back home."

"I told you, I can't do that." The rest was a whisper, "I can't believe him."

Plagg was pretty concerned about a lot of what Adrien had said, but he was mostly concerned about his cheese (as usual). Adrien wondered if his father was even going to akumitize anyone that day, he didn't know Adrien's secret identity and Hawkmoth rarely takes a day off.

Marinette woke up to the start of the day, she really didn't know what to do with herself. She confessed her love to Adrien, he didn't love her back, she couldn't keep chasing after him, even though she was still going to love him. She might have more time to help her parents, or design clothes, or just focus on being a superhero. Being a superhero.

"Ugh, Tikki."

"What?"

"I need to apologize to Chat Noir today."

"Yeah you were really harsh yesterday."

"Man, I hope nobody gets akumatized today, I wonder if he'll even show up, he's probably super angry at me. He probably hates me now."

Adrien was mad, but Ladybug wasn't the first thing on his mind at the moment. And she definitely wasn't the main source of his anger.

"Why wouldn't he show up? He's still going to want to save Paris."

"Yeah, I'm just worried I really hurt him this time, I can't believe I blew up like that. And I can't explain my situation to him because I can't say anything about my identity!"

"Hey, you'll figure it out, he'll understand enough of whatever you tell him not to hate you! Nobody can hate Ladybug!"

"Thanks, Tikki!"

They both giggled.

"Alright it's really time to go to school. C'mon get in my purse."

Marinette left to go to school, terrified to see Adrien post-rejection. But she had to do it, she had no choice. She didn't want to be angry with him for not wanting to be in a relationship with her, but she still was a bit. Mainly she was upset with herself because she blew up at Chat.

That morning Adrien didn't look very good, and for good reason. Of course he didn't look bad, but he didn't look as he normally did. He hadn't slept all night plus he cried a bit too. Both Adrien and Marinette arrived at school at the same time. They were about to start talking to each other, which would most definitely be awkward. Before they had the chance, Nino and Alya arrived at the same time as well. Adrien needed to talk to Nino, he wanted to ask him if he could stay with him. He hadn't figured out what he'd tell Nino to explain why he wanted to stay with him, but Adrien decided just to wing it. Alya left Nino's side and started talking to Marinette. Adrien took that as an opportunity to ask Nino, but before he could Nino started talking.

"Dude! What's up? My grandparents are staying with me right now and my house is so crowded."

Well, obviously, that plan was out the window.

"Y'know… nothing much I guess."

"You look pretty tired, bro."

"Yeah… didn't sleep well."

"… Alright. What are you gonna do about Marinette, do you think things are gonna be awkward with her?"

"Hm? I hope not. She's an amazing girl and I wouldn't want to lose a friend over something like this."

The starting bell for class rang and all the students filed into the classroom. Adrien was trying to decide who he was going to stay with, he didn't want to bother Nino if his house was really crowded. Who else am I really friends with? I could never stay with Chloe, too much public attention, I don't want people knowing. The only other person I'm sort of close with is... Marinette. He really didn't want to ask her, it would be so awkward. But living on the rooftops would raise suspicion, plus Adrien really needed something stable. You don't always get what you need, running away pushed away his chance of having something truly stable in the near future. He was going to ask her at the end of the day, or at the next convenient time. Class ended, the time had come and Marinette always took a second to pack up her stuff, Adrien stayed back.

"Marinette."

She was surprised he was talking to her. Embarrassed, from events from the day before.

"Oh! H-hi Adrien. About yesterday…"

"Hey, its ok you're be fine. I'm just glad you're not mad at me!"

"Mad? At you?! No! No way! I was afraid you would think I'm a creep or something."

"Oh you're not a creep at all! You're an amazing person! I… well, I just never thought about you in that way before."

That was a bit of a lie, the way Adrien looks at her, he has definitely thought about her in that way. Marinette blushed, how can be be so charming?

"Thank you!"

"Hey… So I know this sounds super weird, and I feel horrible that I can't explain why to you. But, do you think your parents would be ok with… Well do you think they would let me stay at your house for a while? God, I know its so uncalled for. I- well, I just don't know what to do." Don't cry, she'd be so weirded out.

"Uh… Wow." She had no idea that he would be asking her a question like that. Something really bad must have happened for him to need to stay with her. "Can I ask what happened? Can you tell me why, like at least a vague explanation or something."

"My father and I got into an argument. And… I found something. I can't tell you though." He really wanted to tell her, but he was terrified. Marinette looked at Adrien fully, he didn't look as stunning as normal, he looked exhausted, terrified, and his eyes were watery and a bit puffy. What happened? She really felt bad for him, and Adrien staying at her house! That would practically be a dream come true. She was just so worried that it would be awkward, that she would say the wrong thing. But Adrien coming over could help her get over his rejection, and bond them closer as friends. Or maybe spark a newfound romance.

"W-well you could come to my house after school and we can ask my parents, I'm sure that they'll you stay at our house, they're pretty understanding."

I wish my dad was understanding. Adrien felt incredibly lonely.

Adrien followed Marinette to the door to her house, he was a lot more nervous than he thought he would be. He realized the weight of his situation, what would happen if he couldn't stay there, what would happen if he did. If he couldn't stay with Marinette then he would really have nowhere to go unless he decided to go back to his father. He wouldn't have to wait long to figure out what would happen because Marinette's parents had just came to the door.

"Marinette? What is Adrien Agreste doing here?"

"W-Well uh so I, we need to… can we talk about, well you see-"

Adrien couldn't take Marinette's nervous blabbering, it would take them forever to get an answer at that rate.

"I need a place to stay for a little while…. And I was wondering if you guys are open to letting me stay here?"

Marinette was embarrassed of her inability to speak properly and ask her parents a question. She admired Adrien for picking up the slack and finishing, but then again she admired him for everything that he did.

"Well… we might be able to figure something out to help you out Adrien."

"But boy, why would you need to stay here, with us?"

"Uh… it's kind of a long story. I-I don't want to talk about that right now, if that's ok with you."

"If you don't want to talk about it that's fine. You can stay as long as you need to."

"You can stay on the couch in Marinette's room, or the one down here if you want."

"Wow, thank you so much. I don't know how to repay you."

"No worries, you're welcome here."

"I can take you to my room!" Oh jeez he's going to see my room, he's going to stay here. OH MY GOD! ADRIEN IS GOING TO STAY HERE!

"I'm sorry that I have to impose myself on you like this."

"No! No no no no! Its fine, it'll be fun having you here for a little while! But… do you know how long you want to stay here?"

"Woah, sick of me already?" He laughed, but he did realize this situation was incredibly strange. Marinette laughed nervously,

"No! I-"

"Relax, I'm kidding."

Marinette wished that she could've said something romantic, but she was definitely not confident enough to respond to Adrien like that. She also remembered that she was supposed to be getting over him, which she was very much not doing.

"Do you want to see the roof? I think the city looks nice from up there."

Adrien realized that he had to pretend that he had never seen the roof, because he did once when he visited as Chat.

"Of course."

They went up to the roof,

"Man I'll have to climb up on your bed whenever I want to go up there? I might have to climb over you."

Both Adrien and Marinette giggled.

"You better not step on me at some ungodly hour of the night, like 2 am or something."

Adrien was about to respond, but he remembered last night, the 2:36 am last night. The events started to replay in his head, he tried to ignore them. He couldn't formulate any response to Marinette other than,

"Why 2?"

"What? I was just thinking about a random late hour."

She didn't understand what she did wrong, but she knew something wasn't right. This is why I don't try to be funny.

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're fine."

Now it was awkward. Fortunately, mother nature cleared the air with the beginning of a beautiful sunset. Paris was surrounded with an orange glow as the sun dipped into the horizon.

"Wow, you're right, the view from up here is beautiful."

Marinette looked at Adrien, his eyes wide. The only thing that she could think, which she whispered,

"Just like you are."

"What?"

"NOTHING! I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!"

Marinette was absolutely mortified. Adrien heard what she said, he thought it was sweet. He was happy to be spending more time with this amazing girl.