First of all thank you so much for the favourite and following, as well as reviews. I love those and reading your opinion.

Second, sorry for the delay, long story short I got sick real bad and that left me ko'd 2 days.

Third, this chapter was so hard to pull through, but I will jump back to Marinette afterwards, sooo enjoy!

Chapter 5: On the other side of the river

Adrien felt a shiver ran down his spine so fast he almost tripped on his feet and fell face first into the concrete. Luckily for him, he had just stumbled a few steps and regained enough balance to compose himself, not without smiling a little embarrassed at the little girl on the other side of the street that had seen him and had giggled as if he had done it on purpose.

"What was that?" Adrien looked around him once the coast was clear, thinking something was about to attack him, but the only presence he could feel was him and Plagg's "what is going on?"

Plagg didn't answer right away, savouring the piece of cheese in his paws as he looked up from his hideout in Adrien's shirt. Adrien frowned and kept walking towards the Dupain-Cheng bakery. He had been a little worried over Marinette, and now that he had felt that strange feeling four times? Well, he was allowed to say his nerves were getting the best of him.

And it had all begun that Friday morning.

He had arrived at school like any other day, glad that Lila was nowhere near the entrance as he went inside when something felt like washing over him, followed by a strange scent of burning paper.

"Was that my imagination?" Adrien asked Plagg once he had secured their privacy in the lockers room "or is there something wrong?"

"I don't know what you are talking about kid" Plagg shook his head, trying to ignore Adrien's frown. The kid could be perceptive when he really focused but out of that? Plagg was beyond surprised how dense Adrien was.

"Are you sure? Because I could have-" he heard the door open and urged Plagg to hide in his shirt, just as Alya entered.

"Hey Adrien, thought you were in the classroom by now" she waved as she went to her locker "are you trying to hide behind a locker to surprise Marinette?"

"What?" Adrien held the strap of his bag before it fell out of his shoulder "that was one time I promise."

"Hmhm" she turned to him "well, it would be a lot of waiting, you know her already."

"Yeah, I mean, wait," Adrien knew he was not going to get a chance to speak with Plagg until lunch at that point, so might as well tag along with Alya to the classroom "we don't know why she's usually late,"

"Probably overslept from working all night on a design" Alya waved her hand dismissively "which I understand, I have skipped hours of sleep to update the Lady blog."

"Right," Adrien nodded, walking with Alya through the courtyard, but he couldn't get a chance to sneak up to the classroom when someone held his arm and sneaked arms around his.

"Oh, Adrien!" Lila's saccharine voice reached his ears and he almost broke his face to show a wince "I thought I wasn't going to see you before class."

"Oh, hey Lila," Adrien tried to keep his tone calm, looking at Alya for help but the blogger had turned in that time to look at Nino who was waving at them "we are just going to class."

He tried to emphasize the 'we' in the sentence but Lila paid no mind, giggling as she walked with Adrien to the stairs. They were the last two to arrive and Adrien could feel everyone staring at the two of them, even Chloé who, surprisingly to him, didn't stand up to throw a fit at him.

Oh, everything he would give for that to happen right now if it meant to be free from Lila's grasp.

Adrien had spared a glance at Marinette, but her face was unreadable to him. She kept a blank stare and a thin line for a mouth he wanted to say something, greet her to show he wanted to hear her when Mme. Bustier called for them to go to their seats.

Adrien wanted to rub his arm, finally free from Lila's grasp, earning a glance from Nino who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow as he tossed him a folded paper.

'Dude, you two dating?'

Adrien almost lost his composure at that moment. He took Nino's pen to write a big marked 'no!' on it, adding 'we are NOT dating.'

He made sure to underline it to emphasize it as he passed it to him, his friend humming as he moved to write something to reply, but the arrival of the principal caused both of them to look up. He had not paid attention at all to anything that had been said.

Just then, a boy arrived at the class and Adrien felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as the same feeling washed over him. He turned to look at the class and grinned, but Adrien knew somehow the smile was not at them. In fact, it was directed towards someone behind him…

"If you need anything, our class representative Marinette can assist you."

Adrien turned to look at Marinette but she was focused on the new guy, her expression unfaltering as he moved up the stairs and to the back of the class. She didn't turn to look at Adrien when he noticed her looking at her phone instead and he frowned.

Maybe it had been a coincidence, but as he turned back to listen to the class, twice was a coincidence, if it happened a third time in such a short time? He'd have reasons to be suspicious.

"Dude, you ok?" Nino bumped his shoulder and Adrien nodded at him with a small smile. He couldn't just throw his concern like that after all.

"Yeah, just, a little tired," he said just as many of the students stood up at once, all calling out to Lila "what the,"

"I think it is for a group project" Nino shrugged "but you know we can always work on it together man,"

Adrien smiled with relief, only for his shoulders to sag at Lila's words about him being such a good candidate to help her out. He wanted to refuse right there, he really did, but with everyone's attention going from her to him, it was proving to be more difficult than he thought.

But between the chatter, he caught the voice of someone new talking behind him, and he turned just enough to catch a glimpse of the new guy, Mauro, speaking with Marinette.

"I again, apologize for that," Adrien heard him say and the rest was drowned out form the noise, but he saw Marinette's face frowning and nodding and that was his cue to turn back his attention to the front to avoid being caught.

Did they already know each other? Adrien hadn't heard of the guy up until today and Marinette hadn't mentioned about a friend of hers coming to the school. And didn't the principal say he wasn't even from France?

Mme. Bustier called their attention, and Adrien sighed as Lila again asked for him to be his partner, right in front of everyone. He had agreed to after looking at his teacher, giving Nino what could almost pass as a covered up pout.

What caught him by surprise, again, was when Marinette said she would work with the new guy. He could hear Alya's muttering and Marinette so calm but was cut short when Nino offered to work with Alya, resuming to pair up the rest of the class.

Adrien's curiosity was increasing at that point. It didn't help that he could practically feel a sort of tension from behind him. Between Lila's staring at him and the unusual silence from the girls, he could feel it was not going to be a good day.

He almost sagged when the bell announcing lunch rang, smiling at Nino who turned to see Alya and Marinette.

"How about we all go to the library? That way we can start as a group and help each other out?"

Adrien could hug his bro right there. That way he was not going to be stuck with Lila, have back up if needed and maybe set a barrier between them to actually work on it. He was about to act as third in agreeing to it when his phone beeped, a message from Nathalie for him to come home for lunch.

But… hadn't he been told he could spend it at school so he could get a head start on his assignments?

He apologized as he grabbed his things, knowing it was best to just go than ask for a reason. Adrien could hear Lila's voice calling after him, which just made him hurry his steps towards the car that was really waiting for him, dropping his bag as he finally leaned on the seat.

"This is too exhausting" Adrien rubbed his eyes "how am I going to deal with Lila for a whole month?"

"You got yourself in this mess" Plagg muttered from inside his shirt "you can get yourself out of it."

Adrien frowned, even more, when he arrived home to realize there had been a mix up in his schedule and he wasn't supposed to come back that day, leaving him both relieved from avoiding Lila to upset from leaving his friends behind.

It hadn't helped that when he had just finished eating something, the same weird feeling washed over him as the water from his cup started to taste like seawater, making him spill it out and forcing him to get a different shirt.

"If I were you I would focus on more important things," Plagg said after his third piece of Camembert while looking at Adrien frowning at his computer "like the short stack of cheese we are having."

"You still have the full cabinet Plagg" Adrien sighed, "I think that should do."

"Fine then, worry about the new kid instead."

Adrien looked at the kwami and moved closer to him.

"So there IS something weird going on."

"Well duh," Plagg frowned, "I thought you would have picked up on it,"

"I uh, no?" Adrien frowned "I just had a weird feeling in the morning and then when he showed up."

"Like magic washed over you?"

"But I've felt that before, when Ladybug uses her Miraculous cure," Adrien crossed his arms "this felt different, as uhm, well it just had a weird feeling."

"Kid, your observation skills seriously need an upgrade."

Adrien frowned and grabbed his bag, as it was time to head back to school.

He tried to find the new kid around but he was already in the classroom, smiling as he read an old book, with Marinette sketching something on her desk, but Adrien could tell her expression had changed a little like she was a little more relieved. Maybe he could ask her about it at the end of the day.

And yet, the opportunity didn't happen, since the new guy had arrived to take her away.

"That guy…" Adrien muttered, almost letting Nino hear him.

His day had not gone at all like he had hoped it to be, and even on his way home, he has washed yet again with a wave of that magical feeling, only that it was even stronger. It felt as if someone had just crushed his heart, his eyes watering without a reason.

"What…" Adrien was beyond perplexed at this point. He figured if it was the work of an akuma, then Ladybug would have been on action already. But the night sky was clear of his red and black partner, which only cause his frustration to grow.

"Plagg, claws out!" he called and as soon as the green magic engulfed him, he was out of his room and jumping across the rooftops, searching for anything that looked out of the ordinary. Any person, situation, any mark or something that would give him a hint, but things were all looking like a regular Parisian night.

Chat Noir grumbled as he jumped to another roof, frustrated he hadn't found a single thing out of the ordinary.

Which left him to the next day, as he walked towards the Dupain-Cheng bakery after spending most of the morning in a photoshoot. But just as he had crossed the bridge, just a few blocks away from his destination, an explosion from behind made him turn around.