Summer always brought the hottest winds into Paris. At the ground level, people were dying under the Sunday sun's relentless heat and suffocating on the lack of moisture in the air. Marinette was pleased her room was high above the ground, at least the air filtering in from her rooftop balcony above her parents' boulangerie patisserie was cooler. Not by much. But the blue-eyed girl was thankful for the respite. And when the slightly cooler air wasn't enough, she had a cup of ice to suck on.

She was gathering her many designs from over the past 5 years. Every single clothing idea from when she was 13 to now. Which meant sketchbooks upon sketchbooks, folders jam-packed with sketches on napkins and loose pieces of paper some SD cards filled to the brim with her digital ideas.

"Why didn't I go digital earlier?" she bemoaned.

"Because you liked the control of a pencil and paper more, Marinette" Tiki giggled as she flew one of the SD cards in its cases.

It was true. While she could draw digitally and it made more sense to do so, environmentally and cost-effectiveness, but she just preferred the feel of pen and paper in her hands.

She didn't necessarily need for all these designs, but she didn't want to leave anything up to chance. She was starting her internship directly under the one and only Gabriel freaking Agreste after all. At age 18 she had a shot of becoming an actual designer just like her idol.

And it was all thanks to her closest friend and long-time crush, Adrien Agreste, aka her idol's son. Ever since they graduated a year ago and started university, her for fashion and him for business with a minor in fashion, he had been pushing her towards his father for an internship. His father had finally offered it a month prior after seeing some of her work at the University.

And while the was overjoyed by her opportunity to learn fashion under one of the greats, her mind just kept returning to Adrien.

The blond-haired model had been a close friend for the past 4 years. And for the past 4 years, they shared an... unconventional friendship. It was a very intimate platonic relationship. It wasn't a friends-with-benefits sort of situation. It was just light kissing.

Kissing your crush for the past 4 years. Every time she met him, they kissed. Every time she left him, they kissed. Every celebration, they kissed. Every time the other needed a boost, they kissed.

Needless to say, they kissed a lot.

But it was platonic, only platonic. It's not like they had wild make-out sessions. It was always just pecks on the cheeks, or the nose or her favourite: the forehead. Kisses on the lips were plentiful at the beginning to quickly get her accustomed to him and slowed down over the years. Now it was reserved for extended periods of time away from each other and special occasions.

Which meant she was in for a kiss on the lips when he arrived from his shoot. He was going to wait there at the patisserie with her for the Gorilla to pick them both up and drive them to Agreste mansion. He promised.

She sighed.

"What's wrong Marinette?" Tiki asked flying above her face.

She flopped on the bed, the pink cotton of her skirt fanning around her. She forewent the jeans to instead go for a lighter fabric in the stifling heat. Her bare stomach was tickled by the wind.

"It's nothing, Tiki. It's just that Adrian's coming over and..."

Tiki looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

"He just makes it so hard for me to get over him"

"Marinette, you have. Remember Luka? You were together for a while and you really did like him"

"I don't want to think about that"

A knock sounded from above. Tiki dove beneath the pillows before being spotted. Blond hair and green eyes looked down at her upside down.

"Purrincess" he purred.

"Salut, Chaton," she said.

She heaved herself off her bed, flipping one of her long pigtails behind her. She got back to finishing packing.

"What brings you here, Chaton? I thought you had the day off?"

"I did. It's just that..." His words seem to slur before he fully dropped down bodily in her room.

"Chaton?!" She said dropping what she was doing and rushing to his side. That's when she noticed the large amount of blood flowing from his temple down the side of his face. She didn't know how she missed the out of place crimson on his tan face. It was the only outward indicator of something being wrong. She saw the laboured breath fighting to flow through his chest.

"My civilian form was attacked. I think they hit me in the head with a metal bar or something... but they did a number on me." His voice came out with pained measurements

"Why not go home or the hospital?" She cried. She felt the tears prick her eyes, but she blinked it away. She had to be strong, for him. They can't both be put out.

"I promised you I'd be here"

A sharp beeping tore her mind from thinking too hard about his so-called promise. She picked up his right hand and turned it to his ring. A little green circle was all that was left on his black ring.

Crap!

"You're about to turn back! Your identity!"

It seemed that he was in too much pain to keep his transformation

"I promised you I'd be here" he repeated through pained gasps like some type of mantra to keep him somewhat lucid.

What promise? She didn't remember making Chat Noir promise to see her today.

He was still bleeding. She had to stop it. Her eyes flashed towards her cup of ice and then a random scrap of cloth in her room. She didn't need her Lucky charm vision to tell her what you do.

She pressed the ice-cold fabric to his temple. His breath hitched in discomfort. His ring beeped more insistently. She wished that she could talk to Tiki and asked what the heck she was supposed to do in this situation. She didn't want to see him transform. He was delirious with pain and most likely did not understand what he did.

"Everything's going to be fine" she lightly squeezed his hand as if to reassure that fact

He groaned in pain. And then a flash started at his feet carrying up his body. It happened quickly but to her, it seemed as though it happened slowly. Green light gave way to black suede leather oxfords, acid-washed ripped jeans, a white t-shirt lay under a black cardigan pushed up to the elbows and a blue scarf.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she commented on how the clothes were not suited for the weather at hand. To the front of her mind, she only focused on the blue scarf. She didn't need to look up at his face to see who it was: the blue scarf stained with droplets of his blood was all she needed. After all, an artist knows their work.

The name fell unbidden from her lips.

He gave her a lopsided grin that was more of a grimace. "Surprise..."

In his civilian form, the pain seemed to worsen. For the moment she could forget that he revealed his identity to her. Right now, this wasn't the hero Chat Noir, this was Adrien Agreste, her friend, and she had to get him to the hospital.

She quickly ran to the trapdoor leading to the rest of the house. Luckily, her father was right there by the start of the stairs, digging around in the fridge.

"Papa come quick! Its Adrien! He's hurt!"

He looked up from the fridge confused and concerned.

"Mari-"

"S'il te plaît, Papa ! " her breath cracked on the title as she tried to hold back a sob.

That was all the man needed to hear to run up the stairs. His confused took on one of shock as he barrelled his way into her room. He asked no questions. He picked up the boy and rushed down the stairs, past the living room all the way down to the shop where Sabine was waiting on potential customers.

"Sabine call Nathalie"

She took one look at the limp boy in her husband's arms, and the tears brimming in her daughter's eyes. She pulled out her phone.

"Nathalie, there's a situation. How far away are you? Its Adrien, he's hurt."

Marinette couldn't loosen her hold on Adrien's hand, her thumb playing across the ring unconsciously. The same way Adrien seemed to continue to look at her. He looked so small and fragile held in her father's hands, the makeshift ice pack was pressed against his head by her father's chest. Her mother kept speaking but she couldn't hear what was being said.

How much time passed before Natalie and Gorilla showed up, she didn't notice. Why would she care about the concept of time when her friend was bleeding and she was seeing other bruises on his skin? It actually was just a few minutes that had passed.

"Put him in the car." She said to Tom. He hurried out the shop, Marinette gripping his hand followed her father.

"What happened?" Natalie asked with a straight face. Her face betrayed not the anxiety and concern she felt within herself.

"Chat Noir dropped him in my room. He said that Adrien was attacked, and he rescued him." She lied quickly on her feet. She couldn't say exactly what happened, he trusted his identity to her, and she wouldn't betray him.

"He said that Adrien asked to come here" she supplied before Natalie could ask more.

Her father situated him comfortably in the back seat of the limo. He handed her the "ice pack"

"We'll take care of it from here. Get in, Ms. Dupain-Cheng. We will need you to make a statement"

"Of course,"

She got into the back seat next to Adrien. She reached for his hand once again as the limo started. She lurched forward with the speed they take off with it. She tightened her hand around him. She offered him a weak smile. A harsh turn around a corner had Adrien's head falling into her lap.

"Be careful!" she shouted at Gorilla.

She looked down at him worriedly. He looked up at her with a woozy smile. With an effort, he raised himself up enough to kiss. It was a longer one that she was used to, and it sucked some of the anxiety out of her. He laid back down looking at her with a smirk reminiscent to her of his Chat alter ego.

"Relax, princess. Everything is going to be okay"

Marinette couldn't help but laugh softly as she pushed some of his hair away from his face. She pressed the "ice pack" too his temple causing him to groan slightly.

"I thought I was supposed to be the one reassuring you?"

Bet you didn't expect the story to start like this. Thoughts?