Author's note: A few hours late, but I'm here!

There isn't much to tell except to thank you for the wonderful response to this new fic of mine, and that includes all the comments, follows & faves as well as the hits I can see in my stats. I was anxious about posting, after the unexpected success of TOG - thought that you may not find this one interesting enough in comparison. So to know that you are interested, really means a lot to me.

I hope you'll find this new chapter enjoyable and will come back for more! My writing has been more than slow lately (okay, it's basically non-existent right now, but shhh), but since chapters 3 and 4 are already finished, you can be sure to receive those without delays.

For those wondering about my schedule: it's every second Saturday, evening, Warsaw time. I'll do my best to keep it up until the story is done!

That's enough from me. Please enjoy the new bit!

Love,
Bugaboo

Chapter 2
The Look in Your Eyes

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was months away from her sixteenth birthday and yet, she was hardly calmer than her blond friend that night.

Or on any other night in the preceding week, to be frank.

Now, if one knew Marinette a little bit, they were not at all surprised by the situation or the reasons behind it. Each and every one of her classmates – all except one – could easily notice her nervousness as well as answer the question of why she was like this in the first place. They didn't judge her or tease her (not too much, anyway); they just smiled a little pityingly and shook their heads at her, though again, most of them cheered for her silently with all their might at the same time.

Marinette knew it and even though the thought still made her blush, she couldn't feel anything but grateful for that.

Now however, was not the time to think of her friends, or her best friends, or even about the one most important boy in the whole world that had been the direct cause of her distress in these past few days; and the reason for it was simple.

She was, once again, horribly late to school.

"Come on, come on, come on!" she cried out with despair as she ran around her room, looking for the small parcel she had prepared last night but which for some reason could no longer be found in the morning. "It has to be here, somewhere! I made sure to get everything ready last evening so that this wouldn't happen. Ugh! For once I absolutely can't be late and of course, this happens!"

"Well, it's not like you can be late on other occasions, really," she heard Tikki's sweet, though slightly teasing voice coming from behind. "And it's not like it's the first time you are, either."

"Very funny," Marinette replied wryly. "But it's really not a good time for jokes. I need to find that gift, Tikki, or it's all ruined! Again!"

"Don't you think that 'ruined' is a rather strong word?"

"It's the only fitting one! It's Adrien's sixteenth birthday and you know how important it is for everyone, and especially for him, even though I know he's done all in his might to seem indifferent in front of us and... And if I fail to give him his present properly this year, I may never have another chance! For all I know, he will be spending all of his next birthdays with his perfect other half and it will be just weird for me to gift him with anything then, and even if he doesn't I will sure have lost all faith in myself by that time. I mean, if I can't do it for three years in a row, why should I expect it to happen on the fourth. And this is my third attempt, so -"

"Okay, okay, calm down silly," Tikki cut her off with a small laugh. "First of all, you gave him wonderful little gifts both on his last birthday and the one before that. The first time there was a misunderstanding you chose not to correct; on the second there was one of the toughest akuma attacks we've seen so far, so as much as I wish you hadn't forgotten to sign the gift, I'm not at all surprised that you did. And unlike last year, you'll actually have a chance to see him at school today."

"Yeah, unless Hawkmoth decides to use today for yet another ploy of his," Marinette mumbled angrily as she bent down to search for the lost package under her desk. "I don't know what it is he's got against Adrien, sending an akuma on his birthday each time. Or mine, for that matter."

"It's probably just a coincidence. Everything will be alright today, you'll see!"

"I'll believe it when I see it. Besides, it doesn't matter if Hawkmoth strikes today or not if I can't even find the gift in the first place!"

Tikki let out a long sigh. "Have you checked your backpack?"

Marinette straightened up abruptly at the question – or she would have, if not for the desk that happened to be right above her head.

"Ouch!" she groaned, annoyed, before turning towards Tikki again. "My backpack? Of course I have. It's the first place I looked into!"

"And you're sure it's not hidden in one of the many pockets it's got?" the kwami insisted. "Or maybe hidden under your sketchbook or tablet... Or that fabric sample you shove inside for Alya to see? That parcel really was tiny, it wouldn't have been difficult for you to miss it; especially in such a frantic search."

"I -"

"Marinette!" she was once again interrupted, this time by her mother calling from downstairs.

Still massaging her head, the girl sighed impatiently.

"I'm coming!" she called back; then she turned towards Tikki once more and said, "Fine, I'll check the backpack. Can you please pass me my phone while I do?"

Too much in a hurry to wait for the confirmation, Marinette took her backpack in her hands and rummaged through it, hoping against hope that Tikki's advice wouldn't prove as useless as it had seemed to her at first. To her surprise, her quiet prayer was answered, as her fingers soon brushed against the slick wrapping paper. She grabbed the item and pulled it out, just to make sure it was what she was looking for – and sighed again, relieved, when her assumption turned out to be correct.

"Okay, you win this time," she grumbled playfully and put both the package and her phone into her backpack before reaching out to scratch Tikki under her chin. "Though I am a little suspicious. Are you sure you didn't put it inside when I wasn't looking?"

"I wouldn't dare," Tikki responded with mock seriousness, but chuckled right after. Marinette joined her readily...

...and then she remembered how late it really was.

She was out of her room and house in no time, sprinting towards her school as if her life had depended on it. Not for the first time, she thanked the fate for living so close to the old building; and as she looked at her phone now, her gratitude grew even more.

"Five full minutes before the class? Now that's something I did not see coming today!"

Marinette turned around abruptly and saw her best friend of three years laughing good-heartedly at her. She rolled her eyes at the display but smiled fondly all the same.

"I see I'm going to be an object of jokes all day today," she replied with a feigned offence. "Now that's exactly what I need to keep me going."

"Oh, come on, you know I'm kidding," Alya responded with a playful nudge. "Also, you know my assumption was well-grounded at least. After all..."

"It wouldn't have been the first time I was late. Yeah, I know."

"And today is important."

"Yeah. I guess."

"You guess?" Alya's warm smile turned derisive. "Girl, it's Adrien's birthday. Don't even try to pretend that you're anywhere close to being cool about this. I know that you're not."

She was shoved away by her blushing friend before she'd finished talking, but only laughed at the display, making her companion roll her eyes at her. Although unable to restrain from smiling herself, Marinette could do nothing but roll her eyes at Alya's childishness while simultaneously wishing to respond with a just as childish gesture of sticking out her tongue on her part.

Tempting as it was, she limited herself to the former.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, you traitor," she replied, feigning offence. "At least I won't feel obliged to tell you anything about how it went when I have talked to Adrien and given him what I have prepared. Which is really good, as it's one thing fewer to worry about today..."

With a smug expression reflecting on her face she turned away from the other girl and began to ascend the wide stairs the led towards the entrance of her school. She had not made two steps however, when she was pulled back by the arm again and swirled around to face her friend, who had somehow managed to get herself more pumped about all this than Marinette was.

Or at least, more than Marinette seemed to be, anyway.

Heavens knew how much of a mess Marinette really was inside.

She needed to keep appearances up, however, or all of her hard work would go down the drain, again. It wasn't because it would change the way Adrien perceived her when she finally did talk to him – she knew for a fact that no matter how much of a crazy, stuttering disaster she was, he was still going to act with the same kind understanding towards her.

Here was the thing though: she didn't want to be a disaster anymore. She was perfectly aware that it was hardly possible for her to act all cool and confident around him of course, and certainly not at the time so critical as this; but that was something she was okay with. Still, she hoped she could find her place somewhere in between those two extremes, and since keeping up a slightly fake image seemed to be working just fine, she certainly wasn't going to change her strategy in that regard.

And if it meant seeing Alya freak out in her stead, then it was not an unwelcome benefit.

"Oh, no, you won't," she heard Alya shout a moment after, her friend's hand still grasping her arms tightly. "I'm not letting you out of my sight today, not for one darn second. And surely not until you explain you current behaviour, Miss Suddenly-I'm-confident-for-no-reason-at-all!"

"Right, because having you hover over me while I talk to Adrien is exactly what I was hoping for today," Marinette retorted with a grin. "Now, wouldn't that be romantic. Also, I believe you can let go of me now. I'm not going to run away, you know."

Alya snorted and shook her head at this.

"I've known you long enough not to be at all sure about that," she parried easily." As for your chitchat, I'd rather have you talk to him unromantically than not talk to him at all. Come on, Mari: we both know that my being there is the only guarantee that you won't flee as soon as your eyes meet."

"I won't. I promise," Marinette responded with as much ease as she could muster. "Now, can you please stop squeezing my arm? You're gonna give me bruises."

Albeit unwillingly, Alya submitted to her request.

"Thanks a lot," Marinette said, smilingly. "Now let's go before all of that extra time I've got melts away, shall we? The last thing I want is to start the day with yet another walk of shame as I enter Miss Mendeleyev's class. I do not wish to get on her bad side today."

"Even if it's because of a very romantic, very life-changing and very undisturbed soulmate-birthday conversation with your the love of your life?"

"What does that even mean?"

"On your left, honey."

Refraining from another roll of her bluebell eyes, Marinette followed her best friend's advice and shifted her gaze towards were Alya was nodding. Her eyes widened in panic when she saw the all too familiar silver car pulling up and the blonde-haired boy of her dreams stepping out of it a moment later – and suddenly saw all of her plans go right out of the window, regardless of the thought and care she'd put into it before.

Gosh, it really was getting worse by the year.

"I think I gotta... go," she stammered, her eyes still fixed on Adrien who, for some strange reason, had not raised his own eyes at them yet. "Yeah, I definitely gotta go. Miss Mendeleyev is waiting and we sure don't want to get on her nerves so early in the morning, right? I can always talk to Adrien during lunch break, so we'd better -"

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Alya exclaimed wearily, successfully making her feel even more at loss. Next she knew, Marinette was being grabbed by both of her shoulders and then pushed down the stairs by who was supposed to be her most loyal friend...

...and right into the arms of the poor and unsuspecting Adrien.

One of these days, I'm gonna do something to her, Marinette thought automatically, while at the same time she tried not to think too much about how close Adrien was to her. His long neck right about the level of her eyes; his collarbones millimetres away from her nose and cheeks; his fingers, tightened around her arms as he steadied her after he'd saved her from her fall.

In any other circumstances, she might think of it as romantic, their bodies close and their breaths intermingling; instead, she felt nothing but utter, infinite embarrassment.

She could swear she could feel her blood run cold and then boil simultaneously, her knees buckling while her feet itched to run as far away as she could.

Damn, could it really not have gone well this one, freaking time?

"I'm – I'm sorry," she choked out when she had finally – miraculously – found her balance and managed to stand up straight again. "I didn't see you coming – I mean, I did, I just didn't think you were this close – and then I fell for – ON you! - and sweet macaron, I'm rambling, so basically I just -"

She trailed off upon meeting his eyes, taken aback by the hollowness and uncertainty she spotted in them. It was not a look she was used to; not the bright, cheerful gaze he usually welcomed her with. There was no sign of amusement or shock or even concern – nothing she might expect after her undoubtedly unexpected (albeit unintentional) assault.

For the first time in forever the look he was giving her was bleak.

"I just wanted to say hi," she concluded in a much quieter, yet also much less faltering tone, and then added. "It's good to see you again."

He gave her the tiniest of smiles but said nothing, his green eyes still boring into her face as if he'd been searching for answers hidden in it. Marinette felt her cheeks flush under his stare and gulped nervously, her agitation only growing as she remembered that, most likely, Alya was still standing right behind her – however, Adrien didn't seem to care.

Then again, he didn't appear to care much about anything at all.

"Um... You can let go of me now, you know. I'm not going to collapse if you do," she tried again, forcing herself to smile lopsidedly at him.

She saw his eyes widen in realisation and felt his grip on her loosen immediately after. It was Adrien who was sheepish now, taking a step back and letting his arms drop down as if he'd been burnt, or perhaps feared that it was him who might burn her. He raised his hand to rub his neck next and then let it fall again, hesitant, perturbed, confused.

It was as someone had decided to swap their personalities for the day, or maybe just allowed her usual awkwardness to infect him as well.

It was so unlike him that Marinette nearly forgot about her own massive turbulence.

"Adrien? Are you alright?" she asked almost automatically. "You seem rather... pale. Have you got enough sleep tonight?"

The flash of pain reflected in his eyes, taking her completely by surprise. She had no idea why such an innocent question should have caused such a violent and very unpleasant reaction on his part, however, before she'd managed to inquire about it, Adrien shook his head decidedly and summoned his own constrained smile.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he assured her hastily; Marinette heard the false notes ringing in his voice easily, but decided to ignore them and just let him speak this time. "Don't worry about me. And it's good to see you, too."

"Oh. Yes. I mean, if you say so," she replied a little too quickly and immediately wished to slap herself. "It's good to see you – oh, wait, I've already said that. I'm sorry, I hoped it would be a little better today, but it looks like I'm my own usual mess. Not that it's anything new."

Adrien's smile grew a little warmer at that. "Well, that makes the two of us. Being a mess, that is."

"Does it?"

"Yeah."

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

"Marinette, I think you're too smart to fall for something like that."

"I beg to differ," she murmured under her breath. "Hold on, but that would mean..."

"What?"

"That you lied!" she exclaimed before she could think better of it. "You're not fine at all. That's what being a mess means – it's like the opposite of alright. Unless it's me I guess, since that's a natural state for me so it would make no sense to complain about it, but that is not the point!"

She was staring him straight in the eye, waiting for a response to her unexpected little speech. Her sudden confidence dissolved into nothing as soon as she'd realised what she'd just done, of course, and yet, something in her just kept her from giving in to her usual instincts that were currently screaming at her to spin on her heel and disappear from the scene.

She might've been bad at acting around him; but she would not let her cowardice stop him from helping him if he needed it.

"I... I suppose you've caught me then," she heard him speak at last, his hand once again raised to rub the back of his neck. "So yes, I am a mess. It's... it's been a pretty tough night for me, plus it looks like I've skipped breakfast today as well, so I'm hardly in my best shape."

His eyes were cast down now and the longer he spoke, the more certain Marinette was that whatever he was dealing with was much bigger than he was willing to admit.

She fought the urge to turn around and check if Alya was, in fact, still observing her and was rewarded when she heard her being dragged away by Nino a moment later. She couldn't help the grin that sprung onto her lips at the sound of his suggestions and then some protests on Alya's part, all concluded by Alix's (when had she got there?) loud exclamation about giving 'that hopeless girl of theirs' some privacy. Subconsciously, Marinette held her breath for as long as she could hear their voices behind her back – and sighed with relief when they'd finally faded away.

Her eyes were back to Adrien next and suddenly, all of her worries were there again.

It's not the time for you to feel sorry for yourself, though, she chided herself in her thoughts. For whatever reason, Adrien is looking miserable at best and as his friend – you are friends – it's your duty to think of that first.

She took a deep breath.

Here comes nothing, I guess.

"Hey, look at me, will you?" she encouraged him gently and was pleasantly surprised to see that the simple words were enough. "It's okay not to be okay. And I'm here if you need – or just want – to talk. But if you don't... that's fine, too. I sure don't want to bother you even more if you are feeling bad."

"You're not bothering me," Adrien replied immediately and with confidence that nearly made Marinette blush again. "You couldn't be. Not ever."

She chuckled nervously. "Well, that's good to know."

"Come on, it's not like you could really think -"

He was cut off by the sound of the school bell going off. Focused on their little conversation, they both jumped, startled and just this time, Marinette was not at all convinced that she had been the one more taken aback. In a natural reflex, she turned towards the school door; now, slightly calmer, she turned back to Adrien with a chuckle, ready to comment on their shared inattentiveness and then suggest going inside after all, before Miss Mendeleyev saw they were missing.

As she did, however, she was met with a pair of big green eyes so full of anxiety that it made her stupid giggles die away instantly.

"Adrien...?"

"I do need to talk to you," he announced unexpectedly. "As soon as possible."

Marinette eyed him carefully, once again amazed by the change in his attitude. "Of course. We can find a spot after this class or if it's a longer talk you need, we can go somewhere during the lunch break and -"

She stopped abruptly when she saw the plea in his gaze, soft, wounded and helpless. He didn't say a word and yet, she understood it all.

"Alright," she agreed. "Is the library good enough for you?"