Chapter Eight: Heartbreak.

It wouldn't be the season of love in the City of Love if they didn't have to deal with an akuma caused by heartbreak.

Saturday 8th February 2020. 12.10 p.m. Collège Françoise-Dupont.

Marinette was trying to empty out her locker so she wouldn't forget anything at school and be unable to retrieve it during their two week holiday, but it was a difficult task to complete with her boyfriend draped over her shoulders and hugging her tightly from behind.

She didn't even think to tell him to let go, not even for a moment.

They'd been in close physical contact ever since M. Guérin had dropped Adrien off at school that morning, right on time for the start of the day with no time for socialising. His father and Nathalie really were cracking down on his time with his friends, not giving him even a minute more than was necessary. Fortunately, M. Guérin had deemed it "necessary" for Adrien to spend an extra half hour in school at the end of the day to ensure he wasn't leaving anything behind for the holiday.

Adrien had thrown his arms around her in the locker room and kissed her with enough passion that her head had been spinning for most of the the morning, he'd held her hand all the way to class, Alya had taken one look at them as deliberately sat next to Nino so that Adrien could sit next to Marinette and he had kept his arm around her waist for their morning lessons, he'd pulled her into his lap for morning récré and burrowed his face into her neck, and now that the day was ending and he was going to return home to his empty mansion he was pressed against her so tightly you couldn't have fit a sheet of paper between them.

For once no one had teased them about their sappy displays. The class grapevine was working as well as it ever had and they all knew about the restrictions Adrien was under and how he would have very little time with Marinette over the school holiday. No one begrudged them making the most of the little time they did have together.

Marinette finished placing the last of her books in her bag when the rest of the girls from their class walked up.

"Hey girl," Alya greeted, not even trying to hug her. She knew she couldn't pry Adrien off of her best friend.

Sabrina gave a small wave. "Are you sure you're okay to come tonight?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Marinette promised.

Sabrina was hosting her very first sleepover tonight. Sabrina's dad was ecstatic and had promised her whatever she wanted, films, games, food, anything the girls could want for their slumber party. Everyone was looking forward to it.

Marinette had briefly considered saying she couldn't attend so she could spend the night with her kitty but she didn't want to ditch her friends. Plus she and Adrien could see each other whenever they had a spare moment thanks to their miraculouses so there was no reason not to go.

She gave Sabrina a reassuring smile. "I'll be there as soon as I'm done in the bakery and I'll have plenty of goodies with me."

"Thanks Marinette!" Sabrina gushed. Her dad had put in a large order of snacks at the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie-Pâtisserie for Sabrina's sleepover and Marinette was going to bring them around with her after she did her Saturday shift. When Tom had heard what the order was for he had slashed the price in half and endured a long phone call from Officer Roger expressing his delighted gratitude. "Really, thank you. This is going to be the best sleepover ever!"

"Of course it will!" Alix smirked, hefting a bag up. "Because I'm helping you set up and I brought all the good games."

Alya and Mylène gave teasing groans while Rose and Juleka just giggled. Sabrina did her best to muffle her own laughter. "Thank you to you too, Alix. Now we'd better get going."

Alix, Mylène, and Rose nodded and grabbed their bags. They were helping Sabrina set everything up for later. Alya was babysitting the twins until her parents finished work, and Juleka had something going on, but they would be coming along later with Marinette.

"See you all later!" Alya waved them off. "Do you want me to help you carry the food, girl?"

"No, I got it. Thanks though."

"No problems. Enjoy your cuddles you two and I'll catch you later!"

Alya linked her arm with Juleka's and they both headed out of the school, waving goodbye to the lovebirds over their shoulders.

"And now I have you all to myself, my Marinette," Adrien teased. His voice was muffled by her coat as he still had his face buried in her shoulder and it lacked his normal enthusiasm. Her poor kitten. He sighed again. "Or at least I'll have you all to myself once you've delivered that."

There was one thing left in her locker and it was the card that the class had all signed for Mlle. Bustier. Since the school was keen for everyone to express their admiration for others this February, and since it was actually putting everyone in a good mood, the class had banded together and written a card for their teacher. Marinette was in charge of keeping the card safe in her locker and delivering it to her today.

Marinette turned her head to kiss his temple. "I'm all yours anyway, mon amour. Card delivery or not."

Adrien grinned but sighed again. "Let's get this over with. I want some Princess cuddles before I have to go."

Marinette nodded, grabbed the card, and shut her locker. She really wanted those cuddles too.

Adrien let go of her just long enough to change their positions slightly, since it would be pretty difficult for her to walk up all of those stairs with him draped over her back, but soon enough they were side by side, arms wrapped tightly around each other, and heading up to their classroom. Then all they had to do was drop the card on the desk and settle id for some serious snuggles until M. Guérin sent Adrien a text to let him know their time was up.

Or at least that was the plan.

The plan that went out of the window when they got to their classroom and found that someone was already sat inside. Alone, looking completely and utterly heartbroken, on the verge of hysterical tears, and staring forlornly at the very empty Non-Secret Admirer box open before her on her desk…

… was Chloé.

She hadn't noticed them in the doorway just yet. It seemed like she was oblivious to everything as she sat there trying to control her emotions.

Marinette shared a concerned look with Adrien and then nodded, both of them pulling their phones out and sending out a few texts. Marinette sent one to her parents, letting them know there was an issue in school that she needed to see to as class rep and that she could be quite late for her bakery shift. Adrien's was to M. Guérin telling him much the same, but adding that it was Chloé and he was really worried about her mental state.

They both received positive and concerned replies and tucked their phones away again. There hadn't been an akuma yet in February, and they were hoping that today wouldn't be the first.

Chloé was utterly heartbroken though.

Adrien was the first to step forward, but he kept his arm around Marinette should they need to make a fast getaway to transform. He couldn't help but feel a little torn. He couldn't stand to see Chloé looking so hurt, she was his first friend, his oldest friend, but he also remembered the night of the gala and her comments about Marinette all too well.

"Chloé? You okay?"

She startled then, looking up at them with wide eyes before looking away quickly, furiously blinking back the beginnings of tears. She hid her clenched hands under the desk but every inch of her was as tense as a bowstring as she tried to get herself under control. Adrien had never seen her this out of sorts before, this affected by her emotions. They had both learned far too young how to put on airs.

"I…" she sniffled and tensed again. Chloé took a moment to gather herself, then wet her lips and tried again. "I really messed up, didn't I?"

The way she was staring at the box left them in no doubt as to what she was referring to.

Adrien was surprised and yet not to see that no one had written Chloé a note of admiration. He wasn't surprised that none of their classmates had sent her a note, she'd been their bully for so long that there were few if any things they would admire about her, but he was very surprised to see that head had himself forgotten about her.

In hindsight though, maybe it wasn't that surprising. She had faded into the background so much since her very public tantrum at the New Year's gala, and her father's subsequent punishment of her behaviour, that it was easy to forget that he was in the same class as her sometimes. It was a far cry from the loud and brash Chloé of before. No one could have forgotten they shared a class with her then. Adrien hadn't deliberately singled her out when he had been writing his notes, he'd never be that cruel, he just hadn't thought of her.

Adrien knew that the rest of their class had probably done the same thing. It wasn't a malicious act on their part, there would have been more snide looks and snappy remarks towards Chloé if that had been the case. Everyone had probably just overlooked her unintentionally. He was sure Chloé knew that too. It had to be why she was so upset.

Chloé scoffed then and Adrien realised that he and Marinette had been too quiet for too long. "Don't try to come up with any platitudes or say it isn't as bad as I think," she sniffled. "I know it's bad. I've had nothing to do but think for the last six weeks. Self-reflection is a bitch. And so was I."

"You can change though. If you want to."

"How?"

Chloé looked at them then, letting them see the pain in her bloodshot eyes. Adrien could feel guilt lying heavily in his stomach and by the tensing of Marinette's arm around him he could tell she was feeling the same. Chloé was really hurt by this, but he took comfort in the fact that she wasn't lashing out or blaming anyone but herself. She could move on from this.

"How can I change?" she repeated, looking away with another sniffle. "This is all I've ever known. Politics. Trading favours. Connections. Using people. The one person who wanted to be my friend I hurt so badly she can't even look at me. She wouldn't even be in the same room with me if we didn't share classes. I don't have any friends to help me with this."

"That's true," Marinette said.

Adrien startled. He didn't expect her to say that. Judging by the shock on Chloé's face she hadn't expected it either. She'd probably expected the meaningless platitude she had cautioned them not to give, not confirmation.

Marinette gave him a small squeeze before stepping away from him. She placed the card on Mlle. Bustier's desk and then perched on the edge of Adrien's desk, legs dangling over the aisle as she stared at Chloé. Adrien debated joining her but he could tell that she was building up to something here and he didn't want to knock her off her stride.

"It's true. Right now, as you are, you can't honestly say that you have any friends. But I know you did have two real friends before-" she smiled over at Adrien who was starting to see her plan "-and I'm certain that you will have some real friends again."

Chloé blinked, stunned. "Are you offering?"

Marinette cocked her head to one side in thought but then shook her head. "Probably not. I'm not saying never, but I think the best we can hope for is amicably tolerant. A lot has happened between us and I don't know if we can move on from that."

"That's fair." Chloé nodded.

Adrien could see a little bit of shame on her face and, not for the first time, he wished he had joined Collège Françoise-Dupont sooner. He wished he knew exactly what had gone on before he came to join their class. What he had seen of Chloe's behaviour in person had been bad enough, but he also knew she had been deliberately toning things down in his presence.

Chloé sighed then, having been lost in her own thoughts. "I guess the same is true of everyone else in our class." She looked resigned and Marinette nodded sympathetically. "Everyone but Sabrina, that is."

"Definitely not," Marinette agreed firmly. "You both need to step back from that otherwise you'll both fall back into bad habits. You want to change yourself now. Don't put yourself in a place where you won't grow. Maybe later, much, much later when you've both done some growing, you can work on being amicably tolerant."

"I figured as much. She…" Chloé trailed off uncertainly, like she wasn't sure she should carry on. "The last time we talked… argued, is more like it… she mentioned some books that had helped her. I bought a copy and read them. It helped some. I don't want to be like that again."

"We can help, if you want?"

"Adrien I could understand, but you actually want to help me?"

"I'm the class rep and last time I checked you're in this class too. With a bit of effort, you can be amicable with the class, and eventually get real friends of your own."

Chloé didn't bother to hide her surprise, or that she was genuinely moved by the offer of help. "Thanks."

Adrien moved forward to sit next to his girlfriend, offering his support to Chloé too. "You have it in you to be a great friend Chloé. Remember how we were as kids?"

That brought a small smile to her face, very small but very real, and he grinned back at her. They had been friends since they were born, the Bourgeois and Agreste families had always been close, and in those early years they had truly been great friends. It was the main reason he had clung to their friendship for so long. He knew she had it in her to go back to that, even if being her father's daughter had forced most of the kindness out of her. She wasn't lying about the life of a politician's daughter.

Chloé's smile faded. "It was easier then."

"I might not be that easy now, but it's not impossible. You can have friends again. I'd be willing to be your friend again if you promise not to try and come between me and Marinette."

Chloé blushed beetroot then and Adrien found himself staring. He had never seen that shade of red on her face before. "Uh, yeah, about that… you do know that I don't like you like that, don't you? It's just…" she trailed off with a huff and reached up to mess with her ponytail, refusing to look at either of them. "You were the one good thing from my childhood and I just wanted a way to keep you with me forever. Plus we joked about it all the time when we were six so, yeah, I just went with the whole marriage idea, I'm definitely not into you."

Adrien blinked. "Thanks?"

What the heck did you tell someone when they said they didn't like you? Was there a guide for this? At least it got both girls to giggle at him. Marinette linked her fingers with his on the desk and gave them a small squeeze, silently telling him how proud she was.

He smiled at her before turning to Chloé. "I get that. I wanted to hold onto our friendship for the same reasons. But the thing is, we both had unusual childhoods, with a lot of the same pressures and expectations and stuff… and I came out of that still willing to make friends. You can too. I'll help you get used to that."

"Thanks. Really, I-"

All three of their phones blared loudly then and they dove for them. It was the city's akuma alert notification, warning everyone that an akuma had been sighted. It was fairly close, a few streets over in the next arrondissement, and Adrien and Marinette shared a worried look.

Chloé's phone beeped again and she sighed, stood up, and grabbed her bad. "Daddy's sent someone to get me to the hotel safely. I'll see you two after the holiday." She left without waiting for a goodbye, hurrying to the secure car outside.

Adrien's phone chimed next, followed moments later by Marinette's. Both were texts telling them to stay in the school where it was safe and to wait out the attack.

Marinette sighed. "I guess I'm going to be a little late to the sleepover then."

"Quite likely," Adrien agreed, already skimming through the news feeds for any information about this akuma. He sighed then. "You won't be the only one late though. The Ladyblog just went live."

"Damnit Alya. Run away from the danger for once, will you?" she hopped off the desk and grabbed her bag. "At least we stopped one akuma today."

"I just hope we helped her."

Marinette came up to him and took his hands in hers, kissing his cheek. "I think we have, kitten. She's really thinking about this and wants to change this time. That's huge. She even knows not to expect too much too soon from our friends so there won't be any false hope to hurt her there. Maybe we could suggest she find someone to talk to, professionally, if she hasn't already?"

Adrien slipped off the desk too. "You're amazing, my love." He leaned in for a kiss. "Now let's go stop our second akuma of the day."

"Having a week long break from akumas was really nice. A pity it didn't last."

Plagg stuck his head out of Adrien's jacket. "Yeah! Hawkbutt should be more considerate of others. I'm not going to be able to nap this afternoon now!"

"Plagg!"

Author's notes: well, the wifi held up tonight (amazing considering the weather) so you get chapter eight on time. Yay. I really hope our new router comes soon. I'm starting to think the sproglet might have damaged this one not long after we moved house. I did catch him messing in the cupboard it was locked in.

Here we have the start of a Chloé redemption. Will it work? Who knows. She can't expect instant forgiveness from the people she bullied and nor are they obligated to give it. No false hope here Chloé, you've got a lot of work to do. I have seen Despair Bear and honestly I didn't like how they returned everything to status quo at the end of the episode, but there are plenty more episodes to come so who knows what canon will do? This is just my version of it. Also, I headcanon her as completely uninterested romantically in Adrien, they have more of a sibling bond between them, but that doesn't stop her from being territorial over him.

Replies to reviews:

yellow 14 - yep. Way too cold. I used to wear thermals in the middle of summer and it was still too cold. The posting issue seems to have sorted itself out. Glad you liked the chapter - there will be more to come of the class rallying behind Adrien and Marinette. And who wouldn't be disappointed not to get a punch in against Gabriel?