"Miraculous Ladybug!" Marinette shouted, tossing the red-and-black-spotted fire hose up into the air, where it broke apart into a dozen swarms of sparkly magic ladybugs.

Cat Noir let out a purr of relief as one of them surrounded him. Their Miraculous suits had proven as effective at protecting them from boiling coffee as from anything else, but Caffeinator had gotten both of them in the face more than once. The ladybug swarm flowed over him, painful blisters and burns fading to cool relief in their wake, and then they were gone again to join their fellows, lapping up the steaming lakes of coffee all over the streets like a cat lapping up a saucer of cream.

Cat Noir turned to face his Lady, fist already coming up to meet hers.

"Pound it!" they chorused. Then Ladybug's earrings chimed their second warning, and she winced as she flipped open her yo-yo to glance at the screen.

"We're going to be late for school, again," she said ruefully.

Cat Noir smirked. "I have a feline that was a foregone conclusion, Milady," he said cheerfully. "When an akuma shows up barely ten minutes before school starts, it's almost im-paw-sible for us to beat it fast enough to make the deadline."

Ladybug groaned, but before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a shout of "Ladybug!"

Marinette let out a faint sigh and turned to face Alya. "Sorry," she said, "no time for interviews today. Bug out!" She turned and leapt up onto the nearest roof.

"Where my Lady goes, I must follow," said Cat Noir with an overly elaborate bow. "Until we meet again, Madam Ladyblogger." And suiting action to word, he leapt up after Marinette.

"I must say," he commented as he caught up to her, "this does make a nice change from before. No need to split up to detransform, or hide which way we're going from each other."

She smiled at him. "I certainly agree," she said. "Though I suspect the new status quo is going to have its own set of problems. You know what the class is going to think when we come in together."

"Of course I do," he shot back. "Which might be no bad thing. At least if they think we got delayed because we were purr-essing lips, they'll be less likely to suspect what we were actually doing together."

To his side, his Lady blushed red. He grinned cheese-ily, but then felt his face fall as a new thought flashed across his mind. "On second thought, we might have a problem there. I don't know if Chloe's quite got used to the idea that you and I are together now. I'll do my best not to push her too hard this time, but she may snap again anyway. Do you have anything on you for your kwami? I've got some camembert I can sneak mine before we go in."

Ladybug winced. "No, I don't. I try to bring cookies to school nowadays, for that exact reason, but I was in such a hurry this time I forgot to grab them. I suppose I'm lucky I remembered to grab my schoolwork before running out."

"Ok," he said. "If Chloe gets akumatized again, I'll transform and stall her while you go cookie-hunting. There might be some in the cafeteria someplace, or you can sneak back to your parents' if necessary."

"Sounds like a plan," she said, shooting him a quick smile. The two of them leapt from the last building into the park and dove into the shrubbery. A few moments later, a slightly mussed-looking Adrien and Marinette emerged from the bushes and made a dash for the school across the road. In the pocket of Adrien's shirt, a tiny deity curled up, savoring the Camembert wedge in his belly.

Here we go…

Marinette cracked open the door and slipped into the room, nerves as tense as if she were Ladybug facing a new akuma.

In fact, I think I'd prefer a new akuma. Akumas I can do something about.

Miss Bustier paused in the middle of what must have been her lecture as Marinette and Adrien entered the room. Her mouth opened as if to say something, but then she paused, shook her head, and resumed her lecture. Marinette blushed, ducked her head, and slipped quietly into her seat.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and Alya slipped in. Miss Bustier didn't even pause her lecture, merely shooting Alya a glance as the latter quietly slipped into her seat.

"What'd I miss?" Alya whispered to Marinette.

"Not too much," replied Marinette. "She's just getting started on the symbolism of The One Ring."

Alya nodded and dug out her textbook.

"Where were you?" Marinette added. She knew perfectly well where Alya had been, of course, but Marinette would have no way of knowing that Alya had been covering an akuma attack.

"Akuma attack," Alya whispered back. "I'll tell you more at the break."

Marinette let out an inner breath of relief and took the opportunity to survey the room.

Ok, Chloe seems to be back to normal. Proud, disdainful, and self-centered, but not furious or distraught that Adrien and I are… Oh dear Lord. Is that… yep, that's a new ring on her hand. Set with an emerald. And she's wearing it on the same finger I'm wearing mine on.

Well, that's not good. Clearly, she's going to try and make another play for Adrien. Lord, please help me to be firm but gentle with her when she does. I don't want to push her back into akumatization, but I'm not giving up Adrien now that I have him.

"Adrikins!"

Adrien winced internally at the sound of Chloe's voice. He'd noticed the ring on her finger, and he was fairly sure he knew what it meant.

"Hello, Chloe," he said, selecting a friendly-but-not-too-friendly smile.

"Look, Adrien!" she squealed, shoving her new ring in his face and grabbing for his ring hand. "See, you got a ring that matches my eyes, and now I've got a ring that matches your eyes! Isn't it just perfect!"

Adrien disengaged his hand from Chloe's grasp, and added a bit of regret and a dash of reluctance to his expression.

"That's… very nice of you, Chloe," he said carefully. He swiftly decided not to remind Chloe that the ring was actually picked to match Marinette's eyes. This was the first time this morning he'd looked Chloe full in the face, and there was something in her eyes that made him very nervous.

"I know, right?" said Chloe. "I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier."

"Seriously, Chloe, didn't you hear Adrien yesterday?" Alya said from behind him. "That ring's to match Marinette's eyes, not yours!"

Uh oh, thought Adrien. He wasn't sure, but he thought that he'd seen that odd look in Chloe's eyes grow briefly stronger.

"So anyway," said Chloe, "I know you don't have any photoshoots this evening, so you and I are going to the Imagine Dragons concert." She produced a pair of tickets from her purse. "Daddy got the two of us front row seats!"

Ooh Kay, thought Adrien, Now how do I get out of this one? Let's see… I can't just let Chloe think I'm coming and not show up, that would be the worst option. I could claim to have some other engagement, but that… Ok, maybe if I cite needing to get my schoolwork done? It shouldn't push any of Chloe's buttons further, and it's close enough to true that she probably won't realize I'm shading the truth.

"Sorry, Chloe," he said out loud, meeting her gaze full-on. "I'm going to be busy tonight. I have a lot of physics homework that needs doing, and I need to get started on the history paper. Maybe you could go with Kim instead, or I think Ferdinand mentioned he was looking for a date."

All technically true, he thought, even if I'll probably be busy with more than just my homework tonight.

Behind Chloe's blue eyes, Adrien saw something shift. "Wonderful!" she said with a just-slightly-too-large grin, dropping one of the tickets on the desk in front of him. "See you tonight!" She leaned over the desk, puckering her lips for a kiss. Adrien twisted out of the way and Chloe overbalanced and ended up sprawled across Adrien's desk.

Adrien quickly scooted sideways off the seat and jumped to his feet. Oh no oh no oh no, he thought frantically. Oh Lord Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, pleaselet me not have just seen what I thought I just saw.

"Adrien, you tease!" said Chloe with that same just-slightly-exaggerated grin, as she levered herself to her feet and lunged towards Adrien. He turned and bolted up the stairs, Chloe in hot pursuit. As he dashed past Marinette, he saw a blur out of the corner of his eye, and then there was a tremendous crash. He froze and spun around to see Marinette lying sprawled on the stairs, with Chloe apparently trying to climb over her.

Adrien felt a stab of sheer terror, such as when he'd seen his Lady leap into the mouth of a T-rex. He leapt down the stairs, shoving Chloe off Marinette and dropping to his knees next to her.

"Marinette!" he blurted out. "Are you ok? Please be ok. Can you hear me?" His fingers slipped into her hair, feeling for blood or soft spots in her head, but then yellow-clad arms wrapped around him from behind and tried to pull him off his Lady. Cat Noir's instincts kicked in before he remembered that this wasn't an akuma battle, and he drove an elbow backward into Chloe's stomach, hard. There was a squawking noise in his ear, and Chloe's arms tightened around him.

"Careful, Adrikins," she scolded, "you could hurt somebody that way."

"Chloe, get off me," snarled Adrien as Marinette groaned and sat up, rubbing her head.

"Aw, you say the sweetest things," Chloe whispered as she tried to twist his head around.

"Marinette, are you ok?" asked Adrien as he managed to wedge an arm between Chloe and himself. He tried to shove Chloe away, but she was clinging on as if for dear life. "Are you bleeding anywhere? Any dizzy spells or double vision?" He managed to get his other hand into play, pushing Chloe out to arm's length.

"Chloe!" said Sabrina worriedly. She'd gotten out of her seat and was leaning on the other side of the desk, in the center aisle. "Chloe, you need to let go of Adrien. It's almost time for class to start again."

"Oh, fine," muttered Chloe. And to everyone's surprise (including Sabrina's, judging by her expression), she promptly let go of Adrien. He almost fell over backwards, but managed to catch himself, scrambled back and jumped to his feet. Next to him, Marinette pulled herself up to her feet. And Chloe simply walked back to her seat as if nothing had happened.

Adrien quickly pulled Marinette into a tight hug. "Are you ok, Milady?" he murmured in her ear.

"Fine," she whispered back. "Just a bump on the head, nothing broken or leaking."

"Want me to kiss it all better?" he asked, allowing his relief to break out in a huge grin.

Marinette buried her face in his chest, only partially muffling a sudden spurt of giggles. This also happened to leave her head perfectly positioned for Adrien to lean down and kiss the top of her head. Which he did.

"Psst!" Alya hissed. "Eacher-Tay incoming-ay!"

Adrien gave his Lady one last squeeze before reluctantly forcing himself to let her go and dash back to his seat. He spotted the concert ticket still lying on the desk in front of him and twisted around in his seat to pass it back to Marinette.

"Would you please pass that on to Kim?" he asked. "I figured he might enjoy a date with Chloe."

Marinette shot him a quick smile before turning to pass the ticket on in her turn.

"And Alya," said Adrien, "Could you please not stream or post anything about this just yet? There's something I need to talk to you and Marinette about first."

"Ok," said Alya skeptically. "But you'd better have a pretty good reason. I know Chloe is your friend, but she is really getting close to crossing the line."

Before Adrien could respond, the door opened and Miss Bustier entered. Adrien twisted around and called up an attentive expression, but his mind was elsewhere.

This is very definitely not good. If I'm right about what just happened, then Chloe is going to need help. Serious help. And I have very little idea how to get her that help, and even less on how to get her father to agree with it. At least she seems to be stable for the moment.

Right, "for the moment". But you'll need more than "for the moment", won't you? If you're going to explain your suspicions to Marinette and Alya, you're going to need at least a few minutes alone with them. And if Chloe is as far gone as I suspect, she'll probably try and jump me again the instant class is over.

Still, nothing to do but risk it. She might leave me alone, there's no telling. And I may not be Lady Luck, but I'm her boyfriend. That should be good for something. Speaking of which, I wonder if Ladybug's Miracle could fix Chloe? I know it purges the negative emotions from the akuma victims, at least in the short term. Something to discuss with Marinette later.

For now, I have to compare notes with Marinette and Alya, and figure out how to get Chloe's father to accept the situation. And of course this is happening now, right when I have just managed to gain the favor of the love of my life. I know Plagg says I don't attract bad luck, I inflict it, but there are still times when I wonder.

After class, Marinette, Adrien, and Alya quickly made their way outside. To Adrien's relief, Chloe didn't follow.

"So, Adrien," asked Alya once they had gotten some distance from the rest of the class. "What's the deal with Chloe? Why didn't you want me to post her attacking Marinette?"

"Just for the record," said Marinette quickly, "I don't think that would be a good idea either. I don't want to be on the mayor's shit list, and I'm pretty sure that's where I'd end up if you posted that video. All he'd see was that I was making his princess look bad. And for that matter, he wouldn't be any too happy with you either."

Adrien quickly glanced around. Nobody in earshot except the two he wanted to talk to. "There's a much bigger reason than that," he said in a low voice. "I don't think Chloe actually knew what she was doing. The way she behaved… I think she might need psychological help."

"Wait, what?" said Alya in a low voice. "You're saying that wasn't just Chloe being a bitch like usual?"

"Think about it," said Adrien. "When I told Chloe that I couldn't make the concert, what would you have expected her to do?"

"I'd have expected her to scold you about spending time on your schoolwork rather than… with… her," said Marinette. Her eyes suddenly went wide. "I… see what you mean. She didn't flip out, or lecture you, or anything. She just acted like you'd agreed to the concert, and you hadn't."

"And it's not just that," said Adrien. "The rings, for example. I told her yesterday that I didn't pick my ring to match her eyes, but she talked as though she thought I had this morning. She didn't make any comment, snide or otherwise, about Marinette and I coming in together. And when we were fighting earlier, she acted as though she hadn't realized we were fighting."

Alya's mouth dropped open. "Oh. My. God," she breathed, her tone equal parts horror and awe. "She's lost it. Chole has completely lost her mind. Do you have any idea what a story that will make?" Her eyes went out of focus. "I can see the story now." Her hands came up as if she were measuring out an article leader. "'Mayor Bourgeoise's daughter, driven to distraction by the pain of seeing the boy she wanted for herself choose another, finally loses her mind completely. Consumed by delusion, she…' and so on from there."

"Don't say anything about this to anyone else just yet," cautioned Adrien. "I think something's wrong with Chloe, but I'm not sure. And even if I am right, we'll need a lot more proof if we're going to convince her father."

"You can say that again," said Alya with a snort. "So what's the plan?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Adrien. "I think tonight's going to be important, though. If I'm right, then when Kim shows up instead of me to the concert tonight, something pretty spectacular is going to happen. Chloe might think that Kim is me, or she might accuse him of stealing my ticket… granted, she might do that anyway… point is, she may do something that will give us more evidence, and another witness."

"Or she may do something even more spectacular before the day's out," said Alya. "And Adrien, I can appreciate you not wanting to drag Chloe's name through the mud under these circumstances, but it's not going to work. The entire class saw what just happened. Even if I don't post about it, the word's going to get out soon."

"True," replied Adrien, "but you're the Ladyblogger. You're the one with the adult audience, not to mention I'm betting you're the only one who got video footage. As long as you don't post about it, it will just be kids gossiping. That won't be too bad."

Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien saw his father's limo pull up. "In the meantime," he said, "I can go home for lunch, which should keep Chloe from doing anything until I get back. And then we'll be in class, and so far she seems able to understand that. That will get us through to this evening, which will hopefully give us further evidence."

"I think I'd better go home for lunch too," said Marinette. "We can't be sure that I won't set Chloe off, and I need to tell my parents at some point." She winced slightly. "That'll be an interesting conversation."

"Good luck," said Adrien. He gave Marinette a quick goodbye kiss, and then grabbed his backpack and headed off for the limo.