In this chapter, Marinette is stuck being Adrien's partner during a school field trip to Montparnasse Tower! How's this going to turn out? And what's going to happen after the fact? Will more information about Adrien come out?

Song(s) Included, With/Without Modifications:

Dead Mom - Beetlejuice the Musical


After her encounter with him in the hallway, all was quiet. Aside from being forced to talk to Adrien due to her duties as class president, Marinette was able to make good on her goal to stay away from him. It didn't hurt that he didn't try to talk to anyone else. He also kept his hood up and kept to himself most of the time, too.

Every time they passed in the hallway, he made the effort to actively move to the opposite side of the hall. She didn't bother trying to engage in conversation with him, either.

It was fine by Marinette. There were already three toxic people too many in her class (Chloé, her lackey/servant Sabrina Raincomprix, and Lila Rossi, an unrepentant, pathological liar), and a nasty guy like Adrien was too much.

But she remembered the notes he gave her in her notebook, and how he thanked her for the macarons on the sneak.

Was there more to him, or was he just forcing himself to be nice for some reason? Either way, Marinette didn't want anything to do with him if she could help it.

Later that week...

"Okay, class," Mme. Bustier said. "Next week, we'll be taking a field trip to Montparnasse Tower. Each one of you will be assigned a partner for this."

"Can we choose our partners?" Alya asked, more for Marinette's sake than her own.

"Sorry, not this time around," Mme. Bustier said, her smile still there. "I'll be assigning the pairs."

Alya looked at Marinette, who seemed to mentally have her fingers crossed that she and Adrien wouldn't be paired up. Truthfully, she was ambivalent, because she knew she had to be professional with him, but she also was hoping that she didn't get paired up with him because of his surliness. It was a big turn off for her.

Marinette was hoping she'd get lucky and be paired with Alya or one of the other girls in their friend group for the trip. Unfortunately, the teacher told them they wouldn't know who their partner was until the day of.

When she got onto the school-chatered bus the following Monday, Marinette stepped on and saw that everyone was sitting in their assigned pairs (they had an odd number of students, so there was one group of three).

Ivan with Nathaniel; Juleka with Kim; Chloé with Lila and Sabrina; Max with Myléne; Nino with Rose; Alix with Alya. This could only mean one thing...

Marinette looked up at the back of the bus and saw Adrien was sitting alone. She sighed, annoyed. As she walked to the back, Alya looked at her in sympathy, as did Nino.

Marinette looked at him with an uncomfortable expression as she noticed him look up at her. The shadow that covered most of his face only showed a neutral line on his mouth. She wasn't sure exactly what his expression was, but as far as she was concerned, she didn't care. She took her seat on the other side of the aisle. She was really trying not to stir any drama pots, but now that she was stuck as his partner for the field trip? She wasn't looking forward to it.

"So... I guess we're a team, then?" Adrien said, with a vocal tone Marinette couldn't put her finger on.

"I guess," Marinette agreed with a shrug. "But I should count myself lucky that if I have to work with anyone that isn't Alya, it's you."

"What's that supposed to mean, Princess?" Adrien asked, his tone both joking and angry at the same time.

"Better you than Chloé, Lila, or Sabrina," Marinette explained, the "Princess" endearment still annoying her. "They're... Not the nicest to me."

"...Why would anyone want to be mean to you?" Adrien asked, and Marinette turned to look at him.

From what she could see, he looked... Confused? Surprised? She couldn't tell, but she turned away. She also wasn't sure the exact tone of voice he was using when emphasizing the last word. Was it condescension? She had no clue.

"...I don't know. Chloé's always had it out for me, and Sabrina follows her around like a little dog. Lila's just flat-out nasty and a sociopathic liar. The minute she's not the center of attention, she tries something." Marinette admitted before turning her face back to the front.

With a bitter scoff, he said, "Assholes."

Marinette had to give an agreeing nod.

The rest of the bus ride was quiet, minus Marinette hearing the chatter from her peers and the sound of the music from Super Penguino, being played by Chloé and Sabrina, oddly enough.

Marinette also saw the loving, affectionate looks that certain couples in her class like Ivan and Myléne were giving each other, as well as Nino and Alya. Marinette sighed before looking out the window, wistfully. Why couldn't she have what they had?

"You could always hurry up and work up the spine to ask out Luka." Alya's words echoed in her mind.

Marinette took out her phone and pulled up Luka's contact information. She couldn't hold back a smile at the sight of his handsome profile. But she felt eyes on her, and a wave of paranoia washed over her. She put her phone away.

When they got to Montparnasse Tower, Marinette was stuck walking beside Adrien around the floors of the building. Marinette was doing her best not to cause any beef between herself and her "partner", but she felt like talking to him was like trying to pet a grumpy cat.

The duo was lagging behind the rest of the class, and Marinette was refusing to look at Adrien. While his previous action of annotating her book was still in the back of her mind, she didn't want to agitate a porcupine, so to speak.

But she knew she had to engage with him for the trip, so she took a deep breath and said, "So... Um... Well..."

"Out with it." Adrien said with a heavy, impatient sigh.

Marinette got annoyed and said, "I was going to say "thank you" for the comments in my sketchbook, and tell you that I'm glad you enjoyed the macarons!"

Adrien went silent for a second. He cleared his throat and said, "Y-You're welcome. I... Um, well, those macarons were the only decent thing that day."

Marinette let out a huff and said, "Listen, we can't just be hostile to each other - we need to cooperate for this field trip."

"Agreed." He said unexpectedly.

Marinette looked at him in surprise before saying, "Really?"

"Yeah," Adrien said before chuckling. "I think it's just better for a peasant like me to follow the lead of a princess like you."

Marinette sighed before saying, "I have a name, you know!"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I know," He said with a laugh. "But what can I say? You are a princess."

Marinette growled before saying, "Stop calling me that!"

"Why not? It fits you." Adrien asked, his tone going from amused and teasing to a bit upset.

Marinette rolled her eyes before saying, "You know what? You're on your own!"

She turned on her heel and started to walk away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Adrien asked aloud as he started to chase after her.

He didn't notice the rest of the class noticed his outburst.

"Back to the bus," Marinette said as she burst her way through the doors to one of the stairwells. "We clearly can't get along with each other, so what's the point in trying to talk to you? Every time I try to be nice, you go and say something that gives the impression that you want to be left alone! How can I work with that?"

Again, Adrien went silent before letting out a light growl. He shook his head as he kept following her.

"It's not like I'm not trying to cooperate, but you're making it tricky!" Adrien argued.

"The feeling's mutu-" Marinette began, but she misstepped and started falling down the stairs, screaming.

Adrien reacted by grabbing her by the wrist, but the sudden pull on him caused both of them to fall down the stairs. They were crashing and tumbling down until they hit the bottom of the flight.

"Ow..." Marinette moaned, and she heard a pained grumble. Marinette opened her eyes to see Adrien was holding her, and her face was in his chest.

She scrambled out and sat up before asking, "Are you okay?!"

She noticed that Adrien's hood was down, but he put it back up before standing.

"I'm good. What about you?" He asked, genuine concern lacing his voice.

"I think I'll be fine," Marinette said as she lifted her arm. "I..."

"Crap, you're hurt!" Adrien said as he grabbed her hand - Marinette's heart thumped. "Look at this! Those are gonna be some nasty bruises."

Marinette looked at her arms and saw that the red patches on them.

Rapid footsteps were heard and they looked up to see that their entire class came to see what happened.

"Marinette!" Alya shouted. "Are you okay?!"

"I'll be fine," Marinette responded. "I just..."

"Well, well, well, looks like you decided to man up and push Dupain-Cheng down the stairs," Chloé sneered, a cruel smile on her face. "Well done!"

Everyone looked at the scene (or rather, Adrien) in distaste and grumpiness. Marinette, realizing everyone was going to get the wrong idea, opened her mouth.

"Hey, Adrien didn't-" Marinette began to defend, only for Adrien to yank Marinette back up.

"Let's go." He said quietly as he started leading Marinette down the stairs.

"Where are-?" Marinette began.

"The bus. There should be a first aid kit in there. I'll tend your bruises." Adrien said aloud, ignoring any looks coming from the rest of the group.

On the bus, Adrien and Marinette had gone to the back. He found the cold compresses and some bandages and started treating Marinette's bruises by wrapping the ice packs around her arms.

"There. That should do it." Adrien said.

"Thank you," Marinette thanked as she looked over the work. She looked back up at Adrien, who seemed to be looking away from her. "...Are you okay? Any injuries I should treat?"

He stiffened up and he stammered out, "N-No! I-I'm fine! No wounds! Just a bit of soreness, nothing to worry about!"

Marinette narrowed her eyes slightly at this, but she said, "If you're sure."

He seemed relieved before telling her, "I..."

"Adrien, I-" Marinette began.

"Ladies first." Adrien cut her off, giving her the right to talk.

Marinette sighed before saying, "I'm sorry..."

"What for?" Adrien asked, an annoyed tone. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"You got hurt because of me," Marinette told him. "And I don't just mean physically."

"Excuse me?" Adrien questioned.

"Chloé just assumed that whole thing about you pushing me down the stairs. I'm just clumsy by nature," Marinette elaborated, and Adrien held back a surprised gasp. "I was about to tell them the truth, so why did you..."

Adrien put a hand up and said, "Stop right there. I didn't deny it because I know I'm an ass. It's better my reputation suffers than yours."

"What do you mean by that?" Marinette asked, a bit angry. "You tried to help me! I can't let you take the heat for something that didn't-"

"It's not like I have people that care about me anyway!" Adrien roared.

Marinette recoiled in fear and she looked at him, frightened. Adrien saw the scared look on her face before backing off and grumbling, "Nothing. Just forget it."

He stood up and walked to the front of the bus and sat down. Marinette looked on, thinking that maybe her earlier instinct that there was more to him wasn't that far off.

Instead of needling him about it, she just sat in her chair, pulled out her sketchbook and continued to sketch out designs as a distraction.

She didn't notice Adrien craning his head around to look at her for a second.


Unfortunately, after the trip, there was gossip fueling the halls that Adrien pushed her down the stairs on purpose. And complicating matters, Marinette could swear Adrien was actively avoiding her. She had half a mind to call them out on it, but she knew it wasn't likely to change the opinions of anyone outside her group. She never got the chance to clear the situation up before fate threw her another curveball.

"Okay, everyone," Mme. Bustier said. "Today I'll be assigning the pairs for your upcoming history project that will count for about 20% of your final grade. Since we have an odd number of students, there will be one group of three."

Everyone let out a groan. Marinette was a bit anxious about this, because while she had good grades in general, she didn't want to end up with any of the members of "The Terrible Trio" as she'd dubbed them.

"Okay, so the groups are the following: Ivan and Alya; Rose and Nino; Myléne and Juleka; Alix, Max, and Kim; Lila with Nathaniel; Chloé and Sabrina; finally, Marinette with Adrien."

Marinette resisted the urge to slam her forehead on the table. Paired with Adrien again?!

"Um, Mme. Bustier, are you sure that's a good idea?" Marinette asked. "Adrien and I already had a bit of an... Incident during the field trip. I don't want a repeat performance."

She didn't dare look at Adrien and try and gauge his reaction.

"Marinette, I know you and Adrien aren't exactly friends," Mme. Bustier began. "But I want the two of you to at least try to get along and help Adrien feel more comfortable in the class. Think of this as one of your class representative duties."

Marinette moaned and said, "Yes, Mme. Bustier."

"Now, you have until the end of the week to decide your topic, and that topic will be yours to choose, but remember: when researching, do NOT use Wikipedia, and make sure to use at least two sources from the school library, including proper citations..." Mme. Bustier continued.

Marinette tuned out after that. She knew that after what happened on the field trip, her teacher would try forcing her and Adrien to get along. But with Adrien actively avoiding her, she wasn't sure what she was going to do.

Once the bell rang, Marinette stood up and gathered her things. She turned around to Adrien's desk and began, "Adrien, we should probably talk about..."

Instead of listening, though, Adrien walked past Marinette without a word, leaving the classroom. Marinette face-palmed and groaned in annoyance. She didn't have his phone number, so how would she get in touch with him outside of class?

Her eyes briefly flickered to Chloé and considered asking her for some intel, but she immediately swallowed that plan.

Marinette took action and started writing down some ideas for topics for the project, since it seemed like she was going to be the one doing most of the heavy lifting.

In the hallways, Marinette was actively looking around for Adrien. She checked the locker area, only to see that it was deserted, and she didn't know which locker was his. Reminding herself she had no business knowing that, she sighed before leaving the lockers.

She caught sight of Adrien walking up the school stairs.

"Adrien!" Marinette called, but he either didn't hear her or flat-out ignored her.

Marinette chased him up the stairs to follow him. She saw him from behind, and his shoulders were a big sagged while his movements were a little slow. Her gut told her to follow him.

Adrien walked further down the hallways on the top floor, looking around as if trying to find something. His eyes landed on a door at the end of the hall and he quickly ran into it.

Some ways behind him, Marinette, trying her best to go unnoticed, watched as Adrien walked into that room. While her head was telling her to leave him be, lest he snip at her again, her heart and instincts were telling her to check up on him.

She tiptoed to the classroom and she peeked in. She saw Adrien releasing a sigh of relief. While his back was to her, he took out his phone, opened it and opened WeSing. Marinette couldn't see what song he put on, but he turned up the volume, put the phone on a nearby table, and he sighed as he took out one of the pictures of a woman who was his spitting image. She recognized her as the famed actress Emilie Agreste, his mother.

Marinette moved away from the window so she couldn't see him, nor he her.

"Hey Mom. Dead Mom, I need a little help here," He sang as he gave the picture a sad expression. "I'm prob'ly talking to myself here, but Dead Mom, I gotta ask: are you really in the ground?"

He spun around a little bit while singing, "Cause I feel you all around me. Are you here? Dead Mom, Dead Mom."

He sighed a little bit before sitting down at the desk. Marinette tried to peek in through the door's window again, only to see for a split-second that he'd actually put his hood down. Instead of chancing a look, she hid away and continued to listen. She knew he had his hood up for a reason.

"Dead Mom, I'm tired of tryin' to iron out my creases. I'm a bunch of broken pieces, it was YOU who made me whole!" He sang, and it sounded like he was really broken up about it.

He shifted his eyes to the magazine, and he saw a picture of his father, Gabriel Agreste, up on the corner. He sneered at it, angry.

"Each day father's starin' at me, like all "Hurry up, get happy. Move along. Forget about your mom"." He sang as he smacked the magazine away. Marinette heard the rustling of paper and the movement of chair legs.

"'Cause father's in denial! Father doesn't wanna feel! He wants me to smile and clap like a performing seal!" Adrien sang while miming the behaviors he sang out.

"Ignored it for a while, but father's lost his mind for real!" Adrien spat, clutching his head for a second before slumping his shoulders and hanging his head. "You won't believe the mess that we've become!"

He raised himself back up, looked at his mother's picture again and gave it a wistful, loving smile. He sang, "You're my home. My destination. And I'm your clone - your strange creation."

He held it closer to his chest as he thought over his loving mother, and he sang, "You held my hand and life came easy."

His smile turned into a scowl as he bunched the photo in his hand and looked up a bit before singing, "Now jokes don't land and no one sees me!"

He leaned on the wall and looked down at his feet, letting a tear fall from his face and onto the floor.

"Nothing seems to fit," He sang before looking up and continuing to cry. "Maman, is this it?! Are you receiving?! I want something to believe in or I'm DONE!"

He punched the wall, causing Marinette to jump a bit, but she refused to make any noise.

"Take me where my soul can run!" He cried in song as he raised his head. "Or I'll stay in my bedroom! Wake me when my 18th's done!"

He looked at his phone and saw more advertisements for his father's brand. Tears streaming down his face, and a scowl upon his lips, he snarled, "Father's moving forward! Father didn't lose a mom!"

He started moving around the room, as if trying to find Emilie's spirit and talk to her.

"Maman, won't you send a sign? I'm running out of hope and time!" He sang while looking up at the ceiling again, this time with desperation on his face as he grew more sad and scared rather than angry.

"A plague of mice, a lightning strike, or drop a nuclear bomb!" He crooned - on the last part of the line, he hunched down and gripped his hair with his hands as the camera seemed to do a 360 dolly shot on him (though his face wasn't shown).

He took up the magazine and gripped it in his hand, an angry scowl marring his mouth. He sang, "No more playing father's game! I'll go insane if things don't change!"

He started tearing up the magazine while letting all the shreds fall to the floor, singing, "Whatever it takes to make him say your name, Dead Mom!"

After the last piece fell to the floor, he stomped on it, let more tears fall from his face, and he put his hood up. He turned off his phone and made to leave the classroom.

Marinette quickly wiped away her own tears and tried to make herself scarce. But as she was about to leave, the door opened and it slammed her in the face.

"OW!" She screamed.

"Fuck, what's-?!" Adrien began, only to see Marinette covering her face in pain. He breathed a sigh. "Oh, Marinette, it's just you."

"Yeah, just me." Marinette said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, all while holding her head forward.

"...What'd you hear or see?" He asked, his tone suspicious as his eyes narrowed a bit.

"What makes you think I heard or saw anything?" Marinette asked, taking out a napkin and holding her nose. "Ugh, I've got a nosebleed. Better go to the nurse."

"I can bring you the-" Adrien began to offer, but she put her hand up.

"No, no, I'm fine alone, but you'd better leave some time for us to talk about our project!" She said as she immediately turned on her heel and left, leaving Adrien behind... Unaware he had a guilty, depressed look on his face.

When she got into the nurse's office, she treated herself by holding her head forward, sitting down, pinching her nose above her nostrils, and breathing through her mouth. While trying to focus on treating herself, her thoughts were occupied by Adrien and his earlier rant. She had no idea that Emilie Agreste had recently passed away. In fact, nothing about her had been in the news lately, though she didn't think much of it at the time. After hearing Adrien, she was beginning to get an idea of what was happening with him, and judging by what she heard, it seemed like the situation caused a rift between him and his father.

There was definitely more to him than met the eye.

Later at lunch, Marinette was picking at her food, preoccupied with what she heard earlier.

"Marinette? Earth to Marinette!" Alya shouted.

Marinette blinked and looked up before saying, "What?! What's going on?"

"That's what we wanna know, girl," Alya said. "You've had your head in the clouds during the whole lunch period."

Marinette sighed before saying, "Sorry, I was... Distracted."

"Thinking about Adrien?" Alya asked, a knowing, mischievous smile on her face.

Marinette paused, her face red, before stammering and saying, "Um... What makes you think it's about him?!"

"Because recently, our conversations are almost always just you venting to us about how he drives you nuts, dude." Nino pointed out.

Marinette sighed before saying, "W... I... I just do NOT want to talk about him again, since he's all we've been talking about lately. Bad enough we're paired up for the history project and that he's been staying away from me."

"Okay, girl," Alya said with a smile before it became a more serious look. "But seriously, you can't still be upset with him over making you fall down the stairs the other day, can you?"

"He didn't do anything like that," Marinette stated, defensiveness in her tone. "I was just being clumsy as usual, and I fell down on my own. He just happened to try and grab me and pull me back up only to end up falling down himself."

"So that's what happened," Alya said in realization. "I should've known it was just Chloé being Chloé."

"Changing the subject," Marinette said, actively trying to divert the conversation. "Nino, you and Alya are gonna to be going together for Halloween, right?"

"Yeah, dude," Nino said. "I hear you're making Alya's outfit?"

"Yep. Yours too," Marinette offered. "I was thinking you'd look great in something akin to that of a turtle."

"A turtle, huh?" Nino laughed. "I can see that."

"Yeah. A fox and a turtle couple, huh? Sounds interesting." Alya said with a sly smile.

Marinette stifled a laugh at the topic change, and she soon got her sketchbook out to talk about designs for Nino's outfit.


Once school got out for the day, Marinette had her backpack on and she was walking down the stairs to the building. She was muttering over what she was going to say to Adrien about the project once she got the chance.

"Hey! Marinette!" A voice shouted from up ahead.

She looked up to see Adrien and he was walking towards her. For some reason, she felt her heart pound.

Marinette sighed, shook her head to get her thoughts cleared, and as he got closer, she asked him, "What's up?"

"Um, like you said, we gotta talk about the project," Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "So... Um... Any ideas?"

"I have a few," Marinette said as she pulled up a list. "There's Marie Curie, Voltaire, we can do Victor Hugo-"

"Wait, Victor Hugo? As in the author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame?" Adrien cut in.

"Yes," Marinette said. "He also wrote Les Misérables and-"

"I know, I know," Adrien interrupted, sighing. "I just... Can we avoid that topic, please? I get a little... Uncomfortable reading that book. Same goes for The Phantom of the Opera."

"Okay," Marinette conceded, her gut telling her not to push the issue for some reason. "There's always Coco Chanel, or maybe Joan of Arc?"

"Coco Chanel, for me, is a little blasé. Joan of Arc sounds like a viable option, though... Anything else?" Adrien asked, still being awkward with her.

"Well, Mme. Bustier never said we had to stick to French history," Marinette admitted. "We could try American history? Do you like the idea of staying out of the Founding Fathers in that respect? We could do our project on Susan B. Anthony or Ida B. Wells?"

"Those are some good ideas. But what about Temple Grandin? Jane Goodall or maybe Mary Anning?" Adrien suggested as the two of them continued to talk.

"Hmm, those work, too," Marinette said as she held her chin in thought. "...I feel like that since she was only around our age when she died, I can relate to her."

"...You do, huh?" Adrien asked, his voice soft and tender.

"Y-Yeah, I do." Marinette replied, her heart throbbing at the sweetness of his voice.

"Great, then Joan of Arc it is," Adrien said hastily as a car pulled up to the school. "Um, I gotta go..."

As he turned away to leave, Marinette grabbed him by his arm, saying, "Wait, we gotta-"

"Hands off!" He shouted, sounding scared and pulling his arm away.

Marinette looked at him in surprise, watching his breathing become more rapid and anxious. But after a few deep breaths, he said, "...Sorry. You were saying?"

"We really need to discuss where and when for this." Marinette told him.

"Oh, right, good point. Let me look at my schedule," Adrien said as he took out his phone and looked at his calendar app, scrolling through it. "Let's see... Chinese class... Fencing... Piano lessons..."

"Wow, your father keeps you that busy?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah... Aha, here we go," Adrien said as he saw something. "I have an opening for about eleven this Saturday."

"Great! So... My place or yours?" Marinette questioned.

"Yours," Adrien answered quickly. "You live at the Dupain-Cheng bakery across the way, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Marinette said. "Um, shouldn't we-"

*HONK/BEEP!*

Adrien looked behind him to see the grumpy look on his chauffeur's face. He grumbled before telling Marinette, "Fine. See you Saturday."

He got in the back seat of the car, shut the door, and it drove off. Marinette sighed as she started walking home. Feeling like she made progress with her classmate, she felt a lot lighter, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.


That weekend, Marinette was up in her room, working on some designs while on video chat with Alya.

"So you finally got to talk to that bastard, huh?" Alya said, a smile on her face and in her tone.

"Well, yes, and I admit he needs an attitude adjustment, but... I just get this feeling that there's more in him, you know?" Marinette said as she hemmed a skirt.

"Are you sure?" Alya asked as her face went from amused to worried/annoyed. "He's been nothing but rude since day one."

"Not all the time, Alya," Marinette insisted. "He brought me to the bus to treat my bruises during the trip, and he was nice enough to give me some notes in my sketchbook."

"Seriously? He did that?" Alya questioned in skeptical disbelief.

"He sure did. Look." Marinette said as she took up her sketchbook and showed Alya through the screen.

Alya read the page about the pillbox hat Marinette made for Juleka, and some of the comments on Alya's Halloween costume.

"Wow," Alya said, nearly wolf-whistling in surprise. "But are you sure that wasn't just him being professional because you're a designer?"

"Who knows?" Marinette asked as she turned the sketchbook page to the part where Adrien wrote down a thanks for the macarons. "There's this to look at, too."

Alya looked it over again and she said, "Well, I'm not surprised he liked the macarons. Anyone who doesn't like your parents' goods has to have something wrong with them."

Marinette laughed as she said, "You got that right!"

She noticed the time on the screen of her computer and she said, "Uh-oh! I'd better get going! He should be here soon."

"Don't hesitate to let me or Nino kick his ass if he does anything to you." Alya said to her.

"Thanks, Alya, but I'm sure my parents will do that. I'll let you know how it goes." Marinette laughed as she hung up the call.

She took out some of the books on Joan of Arc she'd checked out from the school library and brought them downstairs into the living room. Her parents were waiting in there, too.

"So, Marinette, when is this young man arriving?" Tom asked.

"He should be here in a few minutes," Marinette said. "I don't have his number, so I can't text him or anything like that."

"This is the same guy who's been so mean to you and your peers, right?" Sabine asked.

"Well, yes, but... I can't explain it, but I feel like his behavior... I think there's more going on." Marinette said as she looked over the book, ignoring the worried/curious glances of her parents.

She couldn't lie to herself. Adrien had been occupying her thoughts since he first arrived, and now that she knew he was mourning over the loss of his mother, his nastiness made more sense. She didn't tell anyone about what she heard or saw, not even Adrien. She felt like she'd stumbled onto something she shouldn't have, and needed to respect his feelings.

*DING-DONG!*

Marinette looked up and watched her dad go to the door. He opened it and he said, "Ah, Adrien! Welcome!"

Marinette watched Adrien hang his head, pulling his hood down, and he said, "G-Good morning, sir."

"Please, call me Tom," Tom said before ushering him inside. "Now, I'm sure you and Marinette have a lot of work to do with this project, so why don't you two go up to her room and get started?"

Marinette's face went red. Oh, what would Adrien think if he saw all her magazine clippings and flyers in her room?!

"Sounds good." Adrien said, a neutral tone to his voice.

Marinette quickly stood up, the book in hand, and she felt nervous about showing him her room, but she swallowed that anxiety and led him up the stairs to the trap door.

"Attic bedroom, huh?" Adrien asked, teasing.

"Believe me, it's more glamorous than it sounds," Marinette responded as she pushed the door open and led Adrien inside. "Here it is."

Adrien looked around, and he saw that she was right. Marinette's room was mostly pink with some other accents. There was an L-shaped desk that had a sewing machine and a PC computer on it, a chaise lounge, a mannequin, and there was even a little vanity setup.

"Pretty cute," He said, and he looked up. "Is that a loft bed?! Awesome!"

"I know," Marinette laughed. "Now, let's get to work. I already did some reading up on Joan of Arc, and all I really know is that she was burned at the stake for heresy when she was only nineteen. We should start there and work backwards, then go from there. What do you think?"

"Whatever." Adrien said with a shrug, his eyes looking around her room instead of at his partner.

Noticing he was distracted, Marinette sighed in resignation and said, "Adrien, I really need you to focus and work with me on this. It's a team effort and it's gonna take both of us to get this done. Can we please just put any bad blood between us aside?"

"...Okay, fine," Adrien conceded. "What else do you know about Joan of Arc?"

"She was very devout in her faith," Marinette began as she wrote down her notes. "She also led an army on a seige of Orléans, without any military training!"

"That's incredible." Adrien said, surprised.

"Anyway, I've already started working on an outline for the project, and how we can use that for the presentation piece." Marinette said as she got on her computer and brought up her slideshow program.

While she was distracted, Adrien looked around and saw some of the magazine clippings Marinette had on her walls. He saw that the models were very... Cookie-cutter, but none of their faces were shown. They were either covered up or cut out of the picture. He noticed there were a few of his ads, but like the others, his face wasn't shown.

"So... You're a fan of my father, huh?" Adrien asked with a bit of a sardonic tone.

"Yeah, he's my favorite designer," Marinette explained as she got out one of the books. "Though I will admit, he could afford some diversity in his model choices."

"What do you mean?" Adrien questioned.

"Well, they're all stick-thin, white-skinned people!" Marinette griped, crossing her arms. "I have half a mind to believe they're all anorexic to some degree! That's dangerous! I wouldn't have models like that!"

Adrien gave a smile and said, "Well, what kind of models would you like to have?"

"Healthy ones to start with. All types of models! People from all walks of life!" Marinette said with a dreamy tone before going into a rant. "I mean, where are the people of color?! The Asian community, with me being half-Chinese and all, I'd like to see that! And don't even get me started on the lack of body type diversity! Look at Myléne! You should see her in some of my pictures - she's be a great model! Also, how many models with prosthetics, wheelchairs, or even certain forms of IDD have you seen?! Not many, I assume. And let's not forget the LGBTQ+ community!"

A quiet snicker was heard, but Marinette tuned out and said, "Well, when I start my own fashion line, all of my models will be as diverse as the world! No anorexic or bulimic people, no excluding people with physical and neurological forms of diversity, nothing! Besides, anyone in the modeling industry knows that a lot of those photos get altered before they're posted! No wonder the beauty ideal is so distorted! I will NOT let that happen on my watch! And an-"

Before she could continue, she heard near-hysterical laughter from behind her. She turned around and saw Adrien hugging his stomach, his body hunched over a bit, and laughing his head off.

To Marinette, it sounded like beautiful wind chimes, and it was a side of him that she wasn't expecting. She started giggling, too. As she began to come down from her laughter high, she asked, "What's so funny?"

Adrien calmed down from his laughter before turning to Marinette and saying, "I've never heard someone openly criticize the modeling and fashion world like that before. And the fact that you're a fan of my father's work? That's priceless."

Marinette blushed and asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," Adrien said as he stood up and gave her a tender smile. "I couldn't help it. I... I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages."

Marinette blushed. While she couldn't see the top half of his face because of the shadow the hood cast, she could tell he was genuinely in a good mood.

"And, I... Well... I'm so sorry!" He said to her, but he sounded like he was forcing it.

"What?" Marinette asked. "What for?"

"For avoiding you like COVID-19," Adrien elaborated. "After what happened at the field trip, I thought you didn't want to... You know... Talk to me or anything like that."

"Wait, you were doing that for my sake?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah," Adrien confirmed with a nod. "...Besides, you said you didn't want a repeat performance of the trip."

"Oh, that," Marinette said with a sigh. "I just didn't want us to get into an argument again. You seem so... Angry, and your hostility towards everyone doesn't help."

He stiffened up. Had she touched a nerve, or was it something else? He went back to his grouchy state and said, "Yeah, I get it. I've got issues. Lots of them. Let's just get to work, Princess."

Marinette narrowed her eyes at the term again, but merely sighed and looked back in the book, watching as Adrien sat himself on her lounge sofa and cracked open another.

"So, Jeanne D'Arc, as she was known, was born to a tenant farmer father in Domrémy..." Marinette began as she wrote down her research.

She wasn't aware that Adrien was stealing glances at her.


Okay, that's a wrap for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed it. Keep the comments coming, everyone!

Coming up, Marinette and Adrien continue working together, and while he's softening up, his surliness is still there. Everyone else is still skeptical of him, but can Marinette shed some more light on his problems?

Also, Joan of Arc was actually a past Ladybug Miraculous user according to canon.