' Can you come over? ' Marinette texted Alya. She didn't necessarily think that she wanted to talk to Alya about the situation, but she was now well aware that she wouldn't be able to talk to Chat. She let out a deep breath and looked at the remote for the little toy that sat on the shelf above her bed. 'I don't think I can be alone right now.'

' Of course! I can be there in like 15, papa should be back from work in a few minutes and I can head over as soon as I'm done watching the twins. Everything okay? ' Marinette read the text. She read the text three, four, five times, but there was no way to avoid the words that were on the screen in front of her.

Everything okay?

The short answer was no. Not everything was okay. The long answer was that, unfortunately, it felt like nothing was okay. Marinette felt like she was out of allies because she was out of allies. She had Alya, but Rena would never come out of retirement again. She had Nino, but there was no Carapace without the Miraculous.

The same, honestly, applied to all of her friends. As Marinette , she had friends. She had people who she loved and seemed to love her, too, but they couldn't help her. They didn't understand what she was going through. Ladybug didn't have anyone, as much as it broke her heart to think that.

She reached out to the shelf sitting above her bed and her fingers unconsciously wrapped around the remote to the little toy. She stared at the little device, flipping it over repeatedly in her fingers. She swallowed her saliva and pressed it.

"One to say hi," she reminded herself after the first press. "Two if I…" she felt her voice catch in her throat. She pressed the button a second time. "Two if I need him." She did. Kwamis, did she need him.

"Mrew... mrew..." The sound rang out of the cat toy on Adrien's desk when he collapsed onto his chair. It was two presses. Of course, it was two presses, after the experience that the two of them had just shared, there was no possible way that she would just be saying hi. She needed him.

She needed him and he couldn't be there for her. He looked around to his door and was pleasantly surprised to find it closed. However, he suspected that there was a decent amount of 'freedom' that would be given to him now that Gabriel knew every secret Adrien could have possibly been keeping.

He picked up the little cat device and felt the lingering vibration in his hand on the tail end of the sound dying out. It made him feel better, strangely. Sure, he felt guilty, too, but it meant that she hadn't given up on him, right? That she hadn't given up on the two of them coming up with a solution to the problem together.

It was hopeful thinking, and he was certain about that. He couldn't help himself, though. He knew that Ladybug probably didn't mean anything serious by pressing the button, but it felt like he had someone on his side. It felt like she was on his side, even though he had betrayed her. He couldn't be on her side anymore and he felt a tear spring to his eye.

"Mrew… mrew…" the little toy repeated. He hated the warmth that he felt in his chest at the 'I need you' that rang through the device. He felt like he didn't deserve to be needed after how much he was certain he had hurt Ladybug.

'Do you want to come to Mari's? Apparently, she needs some smiles right now.' The text came through from Nino a few minutes later and Adrien couldn't help the hope that rose in his chest. Hopefully, spending time with friends would do him some good, too.

'Sounds great!' Adrien's reply was quick, to the point. In order to avoid suspicion, he'd made a deal with Gabriel- Adrien could leave the mansion after school or on the weekends, so long as Cat Walker stayed out of the public eye outside of battle. It was going well so far and meant that Adrien could go to the bakery with his friends.

Adrien couldn't help but think about the fact that he also 'needs some smiles,' Maybe, he and Marinette would be good for each other in that regard. He could make her smile and she could make him smile, even though they were both dealing with their own unrelated issues.

With being allowed to go places, Adrien had also been given permission to generally change his style. It couldn't contrast with the morals and ethics of the Gabriel fashion house, but Adrien didn't need to appear as perfectly styled and put together as he did when he was younger. He messed with his hair so that it appeared slightly more Chat Noir-esque.

His hope was to slowly switch his personas. In time, 'Adrien' could start acting more silly and playful, like Chat Noir was. In opposition, 'Cat Walker' would be more obedient, careful, and plain, how he'd always viewed himself as Adrien. He knew that change would have to be gradual to not make anyone suspicious.

He put on a beanie to cover his hair before he left the house. He knew that there wasn't anything that would stand out to the public about the new style, but he was still nervous for anyone outside of his friends to see it.

When he arrived at the bakery, he saw Nino standing outside waiting for him so that the two of them could go inside together. He walked up to his best friend and the two of them shared a hug before going inside.

Sabine and Tom waved the young men through the bakery to the stairs. Alya had told them that the boys were coming over. Sabine offered the two of them pastries and Adrien was happy to accept a pain au chocolat. Nino led Adrien up the stairs to the apartment and stopped in the kitchen to get Marinette a small bowl of raspberry sorbet.

"It doesn't make any sense!" Adrien could hear Marinette's voice through the trapdoor to her bedroom and immediately wondered what he'd agreed to. When the boys got up to her room, Marinette was pointing to a video on the Ladyblog of Cat Walker staying back from the battle with M. Pigeon.