The first few lessons came and went, passing seemingly in a blur. Before he knew it, the bell for lunch had rung, interrupting Ms. Mendeleiev's very long lecture on the history of the atom.

"Alright class," The woman called out, attempting to be heard over the din as the students packed up to leave. "We'll finish this off tomorrow. And remember to bring in your homework too."

Adrien followed the flow of people out of the door, only to be gripped by a firm hand. Said hand hauled him out of the door and into a quiet corner of the hallway.

"Hey! What do you think you're…" He trailed off as he looked at his supposed 'kidnapper', expression morphing from irritated to shock. "Chloe?"

Sure enough, it was the queen bee herself, face smug and her hands upon her hips.

"Don't look so surprised Adrien, I'm not trying to kidnap you or anything," She gave her eyes a roll. "I'm here to help you with your little 'Marinette' problem."

His what?

He opened his mouth in reply, only to be cut out when Chloe began talking again. "You see, the school's holding a dance - which I suggested to be done of course - because we just finished all of our exams."

Okay…? Was she trying to make him go to this dance with her?

"And although me and Marinette never see eye to eye, as your friend I want what's best for you. I can see how much that girl means to you so… so I'm willing to let this one slide. You two really need to stop dancing around each other and get it together. That's why I think this dance will be the perfect time to ask her out."

Adrien's face flushed red as he spluttered. "Wha-? No! Nope. I definitely don't have a crush on her. She's just a-"

"Friend?" Chloe finished, tone teasing. "Puh-lease Adrien. She's all you talk about. Marinette this, Marinette that! I've even seen those smitten looks you give her! And that flirting you two do - 'Princess' and 'Kitten' aren't names friends give to each other. You are not subtle."

Face still red, Adrien slouched his shoulders and sighed, accepting his defeat. "I guess you do have a point."

"Well duh!" The girl exclaimed, flicking out her ponytail. "I'm Chloe Bourgeois! I'm always right."

"Sure Chlo," He responded, tone dry.

Choosing to ignore him, Chloe gave him a small shove. "Now get over there and ask her, you two are really painful to watch."

Doing his best to ignore how his cheeks were somehow steadily increasing in heat yet again, Adrien wandered towards the nearest exit so he could go to his friends' usual lunch place.

"Umm, Adrien? Don't you usually eat over that way?" Chloe called, pointing to an exit further along the hallway.

Ah.

Oops.

"Ugh, Plagg!" Adrien moaned as he headed across the school grounds. "I can't just as her out like that, she-"

Adrien trailed off, realising that things were awfully quiet. "Plagg?"

The teen checked his pockets searching for any sign of him, only to come up empty. Where was he? Plagg needed to stay by his ring so he could transf-

Huh?

The boy froze in his tracks, trail of thought suddenly lost.

What had he been thinking of again?

He furrowed his brow in a desperate attempt to remind himself, but it worked to no avail. Hmm, oh well. Adrien shrugged off the thought as he noticed a bright, red capped boy up ahead.

Ah, Nino.

Maybe he could talk to him about what Chloe had said.

"Now there's our precious sunshine child," Alya remarked as Adrien reached the picnic table. "Care to join us in our discussion about my Majestia blog?"

The blonde shuffled awkwardly under Alya's gaze. He needed to talk to Nino. Alone.

"Actually, do you mind if I-?" He gestured at Nino.

"As long as you don't run off with my boyfriend and get married, it's fine," She said, causing the two boy's to nearly choke. She turned towards her best friend. "What about you Mari?"

"I don't mind at all," She beamed, an expression that lit up her face like a galaxy full of stars. "We'll still be over here when you guys get back."

"So, what's up?" The two had hurried to a nearby bench, way out of earshot from their female classmates. Nino slung his arm around the back of the iron bench, whilst Adrien fidgeted uncomfortably.

He was not looking forward to this conversation.

"Advice, Nino. I need advice."

The boy shot him a confused glance. "Advice? What kind are you talking about?"

Scratching the back of this neck quite awkwardly, Adrien drew in a deep breath. "So the thing is… I kind of need some, uh, I need some relationship advice. To help me ask out Marinette to the dance. You already have a girlfriend, so I thought that you might have an idea on what to say."

There was a short silence as Adrien winced, unsure of how his friend would react. Although he was dating Alya, he had previously had a crush on the pigtailed girl. And wasn't there a 'bro code' against wanting to date your best friend's ex-crush? Was this whole thing a bad idea? Was Nino going to react badly?

What he hadn't expected, however, was for him to burst out into laughter.

"Nino?" He inquired, unsure on what was so funny. Was his top on back to front?

The laughter died slowly, as Nino regained his posture. "Sorry - heh - Dude," He said between his chortling. "It's just that - pfft - with your expression and all, I kind of thought someone had died." His face softened slightly, and his gaze turned thoughtful. "I'm happy for you bro, it's about time you two got your act together." He placed his spare hand atop Adrien's shoulder.

The boy in question let out a deep breath in which he hadn't realised he had been holding up until now. Phew, he wasn't mad.

"Nah, 'course not," He grinned.

Oh, he was speaking aloud still.

"Just to warn you, Alya was the one to ask me out in our relationship, but," He paused for emphasis. "that doesn't mean I don't know how to help you out."

"Thanks Nino, I owe you one. What do you think I should do?"

"Okay, so just imagine I'm Marinette for a moment," When Adrien nodded, Nino continued. "And you want to ask me out. So what are you going to say?"

Adrien bit his lip in thought, suddenly finding his shoes very interesting. "I would possibly say something like 'Hey Marinette! I'm-"

He broke off momentarily distracted by a tiny, furry cat which happened to scamper past that very moment. Its golden bell collar let out a small tinkling sound, giving him an odd sense of-

What was it?

Deja vu?

"-Chat Noir?" It sounded like less of a statement and more of a question.

"Huh? Dude!" Nino eyed him with shock. "You can't just introduce yourself as a cat! What even-" But his words were lost to him, as Adrien's mind wandered.

Chat Noir.

Where had he heard that phrase before?

The answer was on the tip of his tongue, and yet-

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Just like earlier.

The boy stood up briskly from the bench, face furrowed. Whatever this was, it was important. He couldn't just let it go. Nope, he needed answers. Pronto.

"Uh, where are you going?" Came his friend's voice from behind him.

"Home, I'm… not feeling well. Can you let Ms. Bustier know that I'm not going to be in next lesson," He asked turning his head back towards Nino as he spoke.

"Uh, okay? I hope you get better soon then," With that, he changed pace, breaking off into a run down the street, leaving his considerably baffled friend behind.

"Oh, and thanks for the advice Nino!" He called out as an afterthought.

"But we didn't even get anything done!"

"Adrien? What are you doing here?" His Mum nearly startled him as he closed the front door with a thud. She was giving him a stern expression, arms folded in a businesslike way. "You didn't skip school, did you? Your not normally like that." Yeah, he enjoyed school. Spending time with his friends and all that. He hadn't always been able to go to public school, so he treasured-

Umm.

He'd always been in public school, hadn't he?

Shaking himself (once again) from his spur of thoughts, the boy turned his attention back to Emilie."Oh, I wasn't feeling well so they allowed me to come back home," A little white lie shouldn't hurt, would it?

The woman's attitude completely flipped over as she widened her eyes in concern. "Oh Chéri! Why didn't you say that before? Do you want to go upstairs and get some rest?"

"No Mum, I kind of want to talk to you…"

"Ah," His Mum lit up in realisation. "I see, I'll be in in a few moments. Would you like something to drink?"

He nodded vigorously in approval as he dashed into the living room.

Laying upon the couch, he took in the scenery, giving a contented sigh as he did so.

Oh, how much me loved this place. It was always so…

Homely.

"So, what's upsetting you?" Emilie asked, dropping onto the couch next to her son. She passed him a small glass filled to the brim with some sort of smoothie.

Taking it graciously and making sure he didn't spill any, Adrien responded to her question. "Well, today's just been a bit off? You know?"

"How so?"

"Things keep on slipping my mind, it just feels like I have this whole other life I've forgotten about."

"Is see…"

"There are just fragments. Like running across rooftops, a girl in red and…" He faced his Mother. "I think I'm a superhero, Mum," He said in all seriousness.

Emilie cracked a smile, obviously not taking him seriously in the slightest.

"Okay sweetheart, are you sure that these aren't dreams that you're making up?"

"No… at least, I don't think so?"

"Look at things this way: your life is perfect. Why would you want to change anything about this? About your family? About your home? Why would you want anything different?"

Adrien bit his lip, absorbing all of her words. It was true, his life was perfect. Well and truly perfect. There was not a single thing he would change about it… so why was he craving something else? Why give up all of the good things he had in life?

His eyes shot up in realisation as he slipped on a small grin directed at his Mum. "You're right, Mum. Life is pretty great," He let loose a small laugh. "I honestly don't know what I was thinking."