Marinette couldn't stop fidgeting. Her foot bounced up and down, her hand fumbled with her pen and her eyebrow twitched.

"That should be your last cup," Alya told her earlier that morning.

Marinette didn't listen instead she continued on drinking caffeine. Her fifth cup rested on the edge of her desk. She breathed in shakily.

A whole bubble of anxiety surrounded her. If you got too close, you instantly felt what she felt. Which was paranoia. The whole week she was getting more restless. Marinette barely got any sleep, each time she closed her eyes she saw another akuma of her past. From the most dangerous ones to the petty ones who had a crappy morning.

After she walked down memory lane there were no more enemies to remember. Only one stuck with her. The Commander, her worst battle she ever fought, was always in her head. Every thump she heard, she thought it was an explosion. Every click, a gun and every shout, a cry for help.

She twitched and grabbed her bag everytime she thought he was back.

"Okay, what happened in class?" Alya asked. Marinette shot her eyes to Alya.

"What?"

"Something happened?" Alya stated. "You're all jumpy and stuff. Relax." Marinette nodded with tight lips.

"Yep."

"Boo!" Adrien grabbed Marinette's shoulders from behind. The smaller girl turned with her elbow ready to hit him in the chin but he grabbed her elbow before she could even hit him.

"Marinette?" He asked in a worried toned. She gasped and slowly lowered her arm.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Ya-yeah...Um, I think we have drama." Marinette walked past him, leaving him behind.

"Is she okay?" Adrien asked Alya. She plooped herself on the bench behind them.

"To be honest, no." Adrien took a seat next to her, he had a feeling that it was going to be a long talk. "She's barely sleeping or eating... I think she has nightmare, I hear her screaming sometimes." She sighed. "And she's always jumpy." Alya told him.

"Well, lack of sleep can do that to 'ya." Adrien shrugged. But he didn't think that it was the only reason.

"Remember last weekend? We went to that diner and she was acting weird?"

"Yeah?" Adrien asked. Alya paused.

"...I don't think it's a sleeping thing." Alya licked her lips.

She didn't believe her friend was just sleep deprived. Alya was scared for her friend, Marinette's been through a lot. It took her a while to get over Adrien and then her grandma died. Grief counselling helped a bit but she recovered all by herself. And now Alya was scared the blue-haired girl was going down the rabbit hole again. Maybe Marinette was finally breaking, slowly but surely.

Adrien patted her on the back.

"She'll be fine." Alya looked at him and the blonde boy offered her a smile. "She's Marinette."

Despite Marinette's jumpy behaviour rehearsal wasn't what Adrien expected. Marinette could recite the lines perfectly, never forgot her parts and did everything right.

Of course, rehearsal went well, it was Marinette. But after going over the lines, after class, after school. She was back to that behaviour.

The one with the scared looks and the constantly moving limbs. The behaviour that had Marinette's friends worried for her.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien called from behind her. She slowly turned around but glanced side to side, like someone was following them. Adrien re-gained her focus by putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Where are you heading?"

"The bakery," Marinette said with a smile.

"Wow. I haven't been there in ages. How's it going there?"

"Good actually, still open and selling."

"That's good." Adrien hummed. Maybe he could visit the small home-like place and keep an eye on Marinette at the same time. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Sure." Marinette gave him a hesitant smile.

The two walked to the bakery in silence, Adrien's arm wrapped around Marinette's shoulders. She never told him to remove his arm so he kept it there.

The smell of sugar and vanilla swept the bakery. Adrien inhaled the sweet smell as he walked in, he loved it, it was so comforting.

"Adrien?" He heard. Adrien looked in the direction of his name to see Sabine with a notebook in her hand. He scratched the back of his neck with his other hand.

"Hey, Sabine."

"It's been such a long time." The elder woman made her way towards Adrien.

"Yeah." He admitted. Adrien felt guilty. He had been in Paris for over three months and he hadn't visited the Dupain-Cheng bakery even once.

"Well, I'm glad you're here." Sabine smiled at him. Even though he was taller she made him feel like a little kid with that smile. Sabine than looked over at Marinette.

"You still have to work."

"In the back." Marinette finished.

She giggled when her mother shook her head. Marinette gave the elder woman a kiss on the cheek and departed behind a door that led to the kitchen of the bakery.

Sabine and Adrien were alone in the bakery with Marinette gone. Sabine continued on what she was doing when the young adults entered the bakery.

Adrien looked around the small shop. Little things changed over the time he wasn't there. The menu had more variety, tables and chairs were scattered here and there along the floor and the case that displayed all the baked goods was larger. He liked it. Some of the walls were painted a different colour and there was a corkboard that displayed different things. Adrien scanned the item.

It had all sorts of things, business cards, dates, photos of cakes, photos of clients at events and little notes.

There was one picture that caught Adrien's attention.

It was Alya's 18th birthday bash. All four of them were framed in the picture. Adrien, Nino, Alya and Marinette. 'It feels like forever ago.' Adrien thought. It wasn't though. It was four years ago, almost three months before graduation. Alya didn't want to celebrate.

"I'm a woman now, I don't need a birthday party," Alya told them oh so many years ago. She was wrong. Her friends threw her a party anyway, major hangover the next day. Which was bad because they had a test that day, which they missed. They all blamed Nino who brought the beer. He arrived at the venue with more than enough.

"Courtesy of the boyfriend." He said.

"Courtesy of the guy who made us skip a day," Adrien mumbled. Marinette's words, not his.

"I still wonder to this day what you kids did that night." He heard from behind him.

"Ah!" Adrien turned around to Sabine chuckling at his reaction.

"A lot of things have changed."

"No need to tell me." Sabine didn't reply.

Instead, she met Adrien's eyes. Her pale almond brown ones contrasting to his bright lime green ones. 'A lot of things do change.' Adrien noted. Sabine had wrinkles now, something she didn't have last time he saw her. Crows feet marked the ends of her eyes from wide grins that reached her eyes. She was always a joyful lady.

Her hair was still the same but streaked with greys and whites. Sabine was shorter than him, a growth spurt that happened in Adrien's junior year.

"But some things stay the same." Sabine smiled up at him. "Like the way you look at Marinette." Adrien's train of thought crashed. "She was in so much pain when you left." Sabine's eye wandered.

Adrien could tell that she was trying to make it awkward and comfortable. But Adrien didn't feel that way. He spent too many nights laughing and eating at the dinner table in the Dupain-Cheng house, too many family hangouts, too many parent greetings to find anything uncomfortable with one of Marinette's parents. He liked it that Sabine was talking like this to him. He liked it that they could have these type of conversations with a mother. But the fact that the topic was of her daughter whose heart he broke, made him ill. It made his head spin and stomach boil. Adrien didn't like the fact that he hurt the love of his life and he didn't think he ever will.

"But the way she talked about you even though she was hurt never changed... Not even the slightest." She looked back up at him as she said those last words.

"I know I hurt her," Adrien said after a long pause. "I'll never forget how much I did." He furrowed his eyebrows and kept eye contact with Sabine. "And I'll never stop loving her." He muttered. Sabine's face was straight. Solid as a statue who was just mocking him he thought. But a smile cracked her stone like face and her eyes were glossy.

"I know you won't." She whispered. Sabine quickly wiped her tears and gave Adrien a reasuring smile before she walked off.

Adrien realised where Marinette got her smile. Her and Sabine had such similar smiles, both so heartwarming and reassuring. A strong grin that could make a bad day turn just the slightest. After knowing both women for so long he finally knew why he felt so relaxed in Marinette's present.

It was her smile.

~.~.~

"You stayed?" Marinette asked as she opened the large metal door. Adrien shrugged. He sat at one of the tables in the bakery with a notebook and his laptop in front of him. A cup at the top of his notebook and an empty plate behind his laptop.

"Yeah." Adrien grinned. "Free wi-fi." Marinette chuckled.

Adrien noticed that she wasn't as jumpy as she was earlier that day. Marinette seemed more focused and not detached. He watched as she packed up the bakery. Putting the display foods away and counting the money in the register.

Spending time with her parents made her feel better, Adrien could tell. It was a visible feature. Anyone usually felt a positive way in Marinette's presence. But when she was in her paranoid state they couldn't help but worry.

"Where're your parents?" Adrien asked. Marinette nodded her head to the back.

"Cleaning up the kitchen." She simply stated as she closed the register. She rested her palms on the edge of the counter and looked at Adrien. The blonde boy typed at his laptop only stopping occasionally to look at the notebook. Marinette walked out from behind the counter and towards Adrien. As she pulled out the other chair at the table he sat at she snatched the notebook.

"Hey!" He protested.

"These are Nino's." She mentioned.

"Yeah, they are," Adrien said sheepishly. He attempted to grab the notebook but Marinette moved her arm further away.

"Law? Nino doesn't study law."

"How'd you know it was Nino's then?" Marinette slapped the notebook on the table and pointed at the many doodles that scattered the page.

"That and his hand-writing." She pointed at the many doodles that scattered the page. Marinette folded her arms and smirked. "But he doesn't study law, in fact, he doesn't like it-"

"Too much chaos." Adrien finished the statement that their friend always used when things such as the judicial system and politics were brought up. "I know. But because he's such a good friend." Adrien took back the notebook. "He did a little research for me." Marinette's face was blank.

"You want to study law," Marinette confirmed. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung. Her face nothing but surprise and Adrien blushed.

"Yeah." He muttered. Marinette immediately snapped into action.

"That's what you want to do? To study law?" Adrien thought she was going to say something bad, something like 'I don't think you'll make a good lawyer too much of a pretty face' or 'That's stupid you're just a model'. Marinette's reaction was the total opposite.

"I think you'd be a great lawyer. And I know you'll become one, you're Adrien Agreste. You can do anything you put your mind to." Marinette said quietly.

'I'm Adrien Agreste.' Adrien reminded himself like those words were a key to a lock.

Marinette sat there quietly watching Adrien as he typed up whatever it was. She knew, she just did, that he was hiding something. The way he moved, the way he sat, the way he cursed under his breath. She could feel the tension he expressed. Marinette watched his movements like a police officer watching a criminal. But Adrien wasn't a criminal.

He was a hero, to Paris, to everyone and to Marinette. He was a person who deserved her love more than anyone. Adrien was human no doubt but that's why she loved him.

'I love him.' Marinette thought as she watched Adrien pack up.

She loved two people, who were the same person. But how was she supposed to prove that? There was no proof, there was nothing that led to him being Chat Noir.

The two walked out of the bakery after saying goodbye to Marinette's parents. They walked halfway to Marinette's apartment.

"Where are you heading?" She asked.

"Got some work at the show." Marinette checked her watch.

"It's almost 8." She told him. Adrien looked down at her and smiled.

That was her proof. His smile, that she has seen way too often. Marinette has seen it in the most deadly of times and in the sunniest days. She has seen it with cat ears and a leather mask and without.

"Late night work."