"Good morning, Kitty Cat," Marinette cooed, scooping her newly adopted kitten up into her arms. His large green eyes blinked at Marinette twice, before he shook his head and mewed. Marinette pressed a kiss to the kitten's head and carried him over to her sewing station, where she threw herself in her pink swivel chair.

"Good morning, Master Marinette," Wayzz greeted, "I hope you slept well last night?"

"It's getting better," Marinette replied, "And please, Wayzz, you just can call me Marinette."

She wasn't anywhere near ready for someone to refer to her as Master. It was still difficult to wrap her head around being a guardian.

Last night wasn't too bad for Marinette, save for the fact that she had her worst moments broadcasted live for Chat Noir to see, which ended up in a shouting match. Her head throbbed, no doubt due to all the crying she'd been doing.

The Miracle box was well hidden in Marinette's bedroom, locked away in her bedside table. She cursed the fact that it was so noticeable, but until she came up with an alternative, the bedside table would have to do. She hadn't touched the box since she first received it, only using it once to release Wayzz from his miraculous.

His bracelet took the form of a woven pink band wrapped around Marinette's wrist.

Until she was more comfortable with the role of guardian, Wayzz would be sticking around, though Tikki was thrilled at the additional company.

"Wayzz," Marinette began, "Do you think the Order of the Guardians are going to come for the Miracle box?"

It'd been a question that had weighed heavily on her mind.

"Why would you think that, Marinette?" Tikki asked.

"My cure revived the temple," Marinette explained, "Those guardians are back. The grimoire's gone, the translations are gone, and I don't have a teacher. I'm pretty much a magical sitting duck."

"Nonsense!" Tikki dismissed, "You're Ladybug."

"And I still don't have a teacher," Marinette added, "I can't make a mistake and risk losing the box to Hawkmoth again."

Ladybug and Chat Noir were all the world had. If they had a repeat of last time…Marinette didn't even want to think about the outcome. The kitten seemed to take note of Marinette's mood, and leaned down to lick her fingers. He meowed at her, and Marinette smiled softly down at him.

"He seems to have faith in you," Wayzz pointed out.

"He's a cat," Marinette replied, "I'm his maman, he's supposed to behave this way."

"Well, either way, we'll figure it out," Wayzz said, "I think you'll do a great job. You and Chat Noir have been doing excellent, so I have no doubts that you will continue to grow."

Marinette rocked her little black kitten in her arms and thought about another black cat in her life. She shouldn't have yelled at him like that, even if she didn't think she was wrong. Marinette sighed and pressed her face into the kitten's soft fur.

"Are you going to talk to Chat?" Tikki asked softly.

"I should…"

She didn't know what to say to him. He can't sacrifice himself anymore than she can because if he is taken by Hawkmoth, then the world will cease to exist. She'd seen it happen herself. A white cat with pained icy blue eyes flashed across her memories, and Marinette bit her lip. She knew Chat deserved the truth.

"Chat…he deserves the truth," Marinette said slowly, "But I don't even know where to begin! There's so much…"

Marinette wondered exactly what Master Fu's thought process was when he decided to keep Chat in the dark about most of this Miraculous business.

The longer she spent as guardian, the less sense it made to her.

She wanted to just let Chat in, but it was just so hard for her to take that first step.

Tikki, recognizing Marinette's facial expressions at this point, floated up towards her charge. She patted Marinette's head and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"You can start by apologizing for yelling at him," Tikki suggested, "I know you didn't mean to shout."

Marinette nodded.

"It's a start, and Chat deserves to hear it."

Though Marinette was in fact feeling better, that didn't negate the fact that a.) she was perpetually exhausted, b.) her eyes were most likely swollen from all the crying she's done and c.) she didn't have the mental capacity to deal with school. She thought to take a mental health day, but decided against it in the end, as her calendar indicated that Miss Bustier was assigning a big project today.

She didn't want to play catch up when the project was worth 65% of her grade that semester.

Marinette thanked the universe that she literally lived across the street from school, as she could just trudge over the crosswalk and into the building within two minutes. Alya was waiting for Marinette at the entrance.

"Hey, girl," Alya greeted softly, wrapping her arms around Marinette's shoulders. "Did you get any sleep? You look so tired!"

"Only a few hours," Marinette answered honestly, "But I'll be okay. This isn't the first time I've pulled an all-nighter."

Both girls knew Marinette's implication. She reminded herself to donate the chest of gifts she'd painstakingly made for Adrien later on.

Alya had been Marinette's rock since Miracle Queen, flying to her house at once after hearing the news of Kagami and Adrien.

Marinette had been holed up in her bed, tears streaming down her face, but not for any reason that Alya was aware of.

Nevertheless, she welcomed Alya's comfort, wrapping her arms around her best friend as if she were trying to squeeze the pain into nonexistence. Alya had become rather protective of Marinette, always making sure to distract her if Adrien walked in.

Alya frowned, and Marinette could see sympathy in her friend's hazel eyes.

"What's wrong, Alya?" Marinette asked.

Alya shook her head, and leaned in to hug Marinette.

"You're just really awesome, M."

Over Alya's shoulder, Marinette noticed Adrien entering the school building, accompanied by Kagami. The pair were conversing, all smiles and sunshine. She wondered what it'd be like to just live in your own bubble, completely wrapped up in your own happiness without a care in the world.

Above everything else that she was feeling, Marinette was envious of the normalcy of the situation.

They were just two people who liked each other.

The throbbing in her heart had dulled considerably over the past few weeks, but Marinette knew very well that it was in part due to her own exhaustion.

The Marinette of today still loved Adrien as much as she did yesterday and the day before and the day before, but he was happy with Kagami. And Kagami was her friend too.

Even if the girl hadn't so much as spoken a word to Marinette since she and Adrien began hanging out. Marinette didn't want to pretend that it didn't bother her, especially because Kagami was always talking to her about confessing to Adrien.

A smaller, more bitter part of Marinette remembered Kagami's words to Ladybug, sharing that if being with Adrien meant losing Marinette's friendship, then she'd do it. Kagami's admission had hurt Marinette, though Marinette was in no position to confront Kagami on it.

What could she possibly say?

Marinette was her first friend and Adrien was most likely her first love. She could hardly fault Kagami for feeling the way she did.

Marinette shook her head.

'It's not like I can afford to sort out these feelings,' Marinette thought, 'I still have to deal with Chat Noir later today…we're doing baby steps.'

"Marinette?" Alya called.

Alya glanced over towards Adrien and Kagami, her brow furrowed. Marinette wasn't sure what Alya was thinking because as quickly as the expression came, it left. She turned towards her best friend, determination blazing in her eyes.

"Alya?" Marinette asked.

"Let's go to class," Alya grabbed Marinette's arm and pulled her towards homeroom, passing by Adrien and Kagami as she did so.

"Oh, and you still haven't dished on your kitten!" Alya cried, "I want details! What's their name and when can I see them?" Marinette stumbled over her feet, barely noticing Adrien happily greeting her as she passed. Kagami didn't say anything, pointedly turning away from Marinette as she approached.

The classroom had resumed some sort of normalcy in the weeks following Fu's departure. The only person really missing was Chloe, who had decided to take refuge in New York. Miss Bustier didn't mention when she would be returning, though everyone in the classroom was well aware of the news.

It was hard to not see the headlines.

Andre Bourgeois was in legal trouble, not just with the French government, but also the United Nations. He was primarily criticized for failing to bring Hawkmoth to justice, as well as raising a 14-year-old so spoiled that she willingly worked for a terrorist.

Even Marinette's classmates were quite harsh weighing in on the issue.

As for Marinette, she still couldn't understand why Chloe did what she did. After all, there was a stark difference between being a spoiled brat and working for a terrorist. And as awful as Chloe was sometimes, Marinette knew that she was no criminal.

She slid into her seat and rested her chin on her hands, waiting for class to begin.

Nino and Adrien entered the classroom together, noisily chattering all the way to their seats. They turned towards the girls, and Nino looked at Alya.

"Alya, you wanna try the double date after school today?" he asked excitedly, "We were thinking since an akuma attacked last time—" Marinette shuddered at the memory of the akuma's sharp fingertips grazing her cheek "—we could make it up or something. Kagami's already said yes!"

Adrien smiled widely and nodded enthusiastically, "She really wanted to go to Andre's again!"

Feeling like a fifth wheel, Marinette turned her head to the side, laying it on the desk away from Alya. She didn't want to pressure her best friend into not going on a double date with Adrien and Kagami, though she had a feeling that Alya would most likely make up some excuse as to not hurt Adrien's feelings.

"No."

Marinette thought she misheard Alya; she sat up slowly and turned to look at Alya.

She'd certainly seen her best friend angry quite a few times since they've known each other, but she'd never seen Alya looking downright furious. Alya's eyes blazed, and she looked at Adrien and Nino as if they were the two biggest idiots in the world.

"What?" Nino asked.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" she hissed. Nino shrugged and allowed Alya to drag him out of the classroom, leaving Adrien and Marinette alone. Marinette glanced at Adrien, who surprised her by looking straight at her. He looked at if he wanted to say something.

Marinette tilted her head.

Adrien opened his mouth, paused, and snapped it shut. His cheeks warmed and he lifted his hand to his golden locks, running his fingers through his hair. It was a gesture he did often whenever he was nervous, though Marinette didn't know why he was nervous.

"Are you okay, Adrien?" she asked quietly. The sentence left her mouth in one coherent piece, something that would've been a milestone for Marinette nearly a month ago.

"Yeah!" Adrien answered quickly, "I just realized I haven't seen much of you in a while…" his eyes shifted downwards towards his hands, "When we're here together, it's so glaringly obvious."

"Oh…" Marinette didn't know what to say to that.

She didn't want Adrien to give her hope, but it also didn't help that he spoke about her reverently or treated her as if she was a missing piece to his life. Contrary to what was said, she and Adrien weren't close friends.

It pained her to admit it, but it was true.

How could they be close friends, when he was rarely around her? His father made sure that his schedule was booked up, and he often had to cancel meet ups because of it. Adrien was the sweetest person Marinette knew, but he was also unreachable to her.

She could barely talk with him.

She never really had time to spend alone with him.

All of their scheduled meetings were cancelled or postponed.

So, how could he tell her this? Marinette was puzzled.

Luckily, she didn't have to give a reply, as Alya and Nino entered the classroom again. As they sat down, Nino gave Marinette an apologetic smile, and Alya shook her head at her boyfriend. He reached over and pat her wrist before turning to Adrien, and launching into a separate conversation.

Marinette looked at Alya, "What did you do?"

Alya was smug, "Nothing that you wouldn't do for me."

"You're crazy," Marinette huffed, "But, thanks for sticking up for me."

"We're best friends," Alya replied, "it's what we're supposed to do," she lowered her voice, "just between the two of us, I was about to fight both of them. I don't understand guys."

"Me neither."

Miss Bustier entered the classroom, ending all classroom chatter. She came in with a stack of papers that she dropped onto her desk, and happily greeted her students.

"Good morning, everybody."

"Good morning, Miss Bustier!"

"Today, I have wonderful news," she began, "In one month, our school will be hosting its own multicultural festival!"

She grabbed the stack of papers and began to pass them out, "Our students, faculty and staff come from many different places from around the globe, and we will be recognizing it on this day. The headmaster has requested our participation, and the staff agreed it'd be a wonderful idea to incorporate the festival in the classroom!"

She held up the paper.

"I will be pairing you all up, and you will be allowed to pick a country that you want to represent during the festival," she explained, "Pick an aspect of the culture that you like, whether it's the food, the music, the traditions, and create a presentation on it. We'll present during the festival, since it's during school hours. You can start your research for homework, and we'll begin preparations tomorrow."

The entire class burst in excitement, chatting among each other while Miss Bustier produced her clipboard.

"Now for the assignments," she announced.

"Ivan and Kim will be our first pair."

"Alya and Nathaniel."

"Max and Rose."

Miss Bustier continued to name the pairs, easily breezing through her list. Naturally, Marinette thought would be a good idea to conduct research on China, though she'd have to wait to see who her partner was first.

"And last but not least, Marinette and Adrien."

Oh.

Adrien spun around in his seat to grin widely at Marinette, prompting her to give him a nervous smile. She barely registered the warmth of Alya's hand as she patted her friend on the back.

"You gonna be okay?" Alya asked.

"It'll be fine," Marinette replied, "We're just friends, anyway."

Maybe not super close friends, but they were still friends nonetheless.

This time around, it hurt a little less to say it.

When school let out for the day, Marinette made a beeline to her locker, feeling the day's stress weigh heavily on her eyes. She'd been thankful that Hawkmoth hadn't unleashed another akuma since yesterday, but also cursed the fact that she still had to talk to Chat.

It was days like this that she wished she had his phone number or something that she could track him down with. Marinette sighed and slammed her door shut, revealing a smiling Adrien. She yelped, jumping back a few steps.

"Hey Marinette!" Adrien chirped, "Did you want to start on the project today?"

Marinette blinked, suddenly remembering the assignment they'd received that morning.

"Oh!" Marinette gasped, "The project! Um, yeah we can do that," she took out her phone to shoot a quick text to her parents, "did you want to come to my house to do the research?"

Adrien nodded, "If you think we'd be more productive there. It's not too far from school, so I doubt my bodyguard or Nathalie will mind."

"Right," she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, "Did you have a country that you wanted to research?" they began to walk towards the school doors.

"I don't have any in particular," Adrien admitted, opening the locker room door for Marinette, "what about you?"

Marinette shrugged, "I thought China would be cool. I never really had a chance to learn a lot about it from my mom, so I guess I'd have the opportunity. That is, if you want?" she tilted her head at Adrien.

He smiled, "That sounds like an awesome idea, Marinette!"

Her cheeks warmed, "I'm glad you feel that way. Should we get going now?"

In a move that was shockingly not unfamiliar to Marinette, Adrien bowed at the waist, "After you, my lady."

She hated the way her heart sped up at the familiar nickname.