AN: Writers block really kicked my ass for this chapter, so it took a little longer than I wanted. It's shorter than I would have liked and not a lot happens, but I'm trying to set up for some real shit to go down soon. We'll call this the...calm before the storm, so to speak.

I hope you enjoy!

The buzzing in her head returned.

Adrien cleaned her arm this time.

She didn't tell Chat Noir.

She was called into Mr Damocles' office the moment she stepped onto school grounds. Lila was there, already in tears, Alya protectively by her side. Ms Bustier stood with Mr Damocles and they both just stared for a few seconds when she arrived. She wanted to turn and walk out, but she was moving to a chair instead. Ms Bustier finally stopped staring and went to close the door.

"I didn't do it, blah blah, Lila's lying, blah, you don't believe me," Marinette rolled her eyes, "I know how this is going to go, so fix your fucking staring problem and get this bullshit over with."

Ms Bustier went slightly bug-eyed, and Mr Damocles' face got progressively redder. Marinette leant back in the chair with a painfully bored expression, staring at a pen on the desk.

"Your behaviour has been very concerning, Marinette. Bullying, walking out of class, physical violence. How can we help, this isn't like you." Ms Bustier was the one to talk, since Mr Damocles looked like he was about to explode.

Marinette scoffed at her. "I think it's a bit late for that, don't you?"

"Talk to us, Marinette." Ms Bustier tried again, but Marinette held firm.

"I tried that already. No one listened. You fucked up. Here we are."

"You are so full of shit, Marinette." Alya hissed.

Marinette raised a smug eyebrow and gestured to Alya. "Oh look."

Ms Bustier didn't try again. Mr Damocles finally stopped looking so red.

"Right, I think we best call your parents, Marinette. Lila, Alya, you're free to go." The principal said, picking up the phone.

Marinette mockingly waved at the girls as they got up and left, a sneer on her face. Lila's crocodile tears kept flowing, and Alya rubbed soothingly on her shoulder as she glared dangerously at Marinette.

"Your mother is on her way."

Marinette shrugged and started fiddling with her bag strap in a show of disinterest. She heard as Ms Bustier let out a small, quiet sigh, barely audible over that buzzing.

When her mother arrived, the buzzing stayed.

Marinette didn't listen as Mr Damocles started talking to her mum.

She couldn't decide if the buzz was pleasant and soothing, or irritating and terrifying. It was both, and that was worse. She shifted her hurt arm so that it pressed closely to her side, jammed in next to the side of the chair.

She tried to subtly put as much pressure on it as possible, almost smiling as the cuts began to throb, and she swore one of cuts reopened. She took a deep breath as the buzz left again, and she finally realised her mother was quickly wiping away tears.

Sabine had known that something was wrong – had noticed that none of her friends ever came around, that Marinette stayed up in her room more than before, that she ate less. But hearing how bad it was, what she had been doing, finally had Sabine breaking down. What had happened to her daughter.

Marinette couldn't watch as her mother held back the tears and recomposed herself.

"Unfortunately, we have no choice but to suspend Marinette." Mr Damocles said, and Marinette had been expecting that.

Taking her friends wasn't enough – apparently Lila had to take her perfect school record.

Marinette suddenly stood. "Let me go get my things from my locker then." She didn't wait for an answer, already storming from the room.

She didn't go to her locker. Instead, she burst into her classroom, the door banging loud enough on the wall that Marinette knew she probably broke something. Marinette went immediately for Lila, slapping her harshly across the face. The sound echoed through the room and through her head, and it took Marinette a moment to realise what she'd just done. It took her another moment to realise how much she enjoyed it.

"At least now its real, you lying, disgusting bitch." Marinette spat, her nose flaring as she saw the red mark already showing on Lila's face.

It took everyone else a second to catch up to the situation as well – by the time they had, Marinette had already fled the school.

Too far.

Not far enough.

Marinette went home only long enough to drop off her bag and phone, swinging in through the now-fixed skylight as Ladybug and rushing back out again.

She was starting to panic over what happened in the classroom. She didn't know she was going to do it until the sting registered in her hand. Even now she didn't know where it had come from.

She'd never hurt someone like that. She was never a violent person, and now. Now she was fucked.

But a part of her was so smug and satisfied and told her she hadn't gone nearly as far as what Lila deserved.

But she assaulted Lila and she was fucked and Lila was right.

The buzzing in her head changed to screams.

Marinette didn't know when she wound up on top of the Eiffel Tower, but it was late afternoon, and she was going to throw herself off. Not yet though. She wanted to watch the sunset and look at the stars one last time.

She hoped Chat Noir wouldn't somehow find her and stop her again. She hoped he would. She hoped for a lot.

She lay down on the cold metal, ignoring it as she started to shiver when the sun began to set.

Coming to terms with death was peaceful. Wishing for death was not.

There was a loud crash beneath her, which Marinette was content to ignore it until there was another one, followed by the distinct calls of an akuma demanding Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous.

Marinette rolled onto her stomach, staring off into nothing for a moment. She turned her head and rested her cheek on the metal, looking at the earrings which lay discarded a metre away. Maybe she could just toss them over the side and see what happens. Not her problem anymore.

She closed her eyes and felt as a tear slowly slipped down her face. There was a burning in her nose as she forced the tears away and put the earrings back on. She didn't give Tikki a chance to talk before she transformed.

She threw herself off the Tower, just as she wanted to, but she caught herself with her yoyo and joined the fight. Chat Noir didn't comment on how late she was – he didn't comment on much at all. Instead, he looked far away – he looked like her.

Ladybug was worried that maybe the akuma would be her mum, or Alya, but was relieved to see it was someone she didn't know.

The fight was over quickly, happening in a blur.

The screaming in her head stayed.

"Ladybug, wait." Chat's green eyes were dull.

Ladybug put on the best façade she could as she turned to answer her partner.

"Yeah? Everything ok?"

"My friend…I thought maybe she was getting better. But she…" He took a deep breath, and Ladybug could tell her was trying to find the words without revealing too much, "She…no one can find her. We've been looking everywhere."

"We?"

"Her parents and I. She didn't come home, and her parents are worried. I'm really worried. I think she might…" he didn't continue.

"I'll keep an eye out, yeah? Who's the friend?" Ladybug offered, hoping it would comfort her partner.

"Um- it's Marinette. I know you guys are friends too, I probably should have told you sooner about everything's that happening with her."

"Oh. I didn't know she was…I'll let you know if I find her, ok?" Ladybug should get an award for this performance.

"Thank you, bug. I better keep looking too. Talk later." He did his best to smile at her and left first. She waited until he was far out of sight before going back up to her spot on the Eiffel Tower and detransforming.

Once again not letting Tikki talk, she ripped the earrings straight from her ears and shoved them into her pocket.

She'd been doing that a lot lately.

Marinette wished she could be as beautiful and free as the stars. She liked to believe – hope – that she'd become a star when she died. Maybe someone would look up at her and smile. Maybe then she'd be happy.

Marinette didn't know what time it was when she made it back home. Well past 2am, she supposed.

Her mother startled awake on her bed when Marinette slipped in through the skylight. Based on the dampness of her sheets and the still-visible streaks on Sabine's cheeks, she'd cried herself to sleep only recently.

Sabine sobbed and crushed her in a hug and didn't let go.

Marinette didn't have it in her to feel guilty or upset for the state she'd left her mother in.

Chat Noir had never yelled at her before. Once upon a time, Marinette would have been terrified. Now, she sat numbly on her chaise and just took all of it.

She deserved it. Chat was right. Everything he had to say about her was right.

She should have thrown herself off the Eiffel Tower, joined the stars like she wanted. She still wasn't sure why she hadn't.

"I was so scared, Marinette! Do you have any idea what that put me through? I don't- I can't lose you like that, Marinette." Chat was still yelling, fluctuating between anger and hurt so quickly in his mess of emotions enough to make Marinette slightly dizzy. "I will support you, always, you know that, but this was too much! I don't want to get angry at you, but-"

"But I deserve it. You're right. Lila's right. Everyone is fucking right. Yell at me, please." She'd almost started to like it.

"Marinette, what-"

"Scream at me. Insult me. Tell me everything you've ever wanted to say to me." She looked up at him, finally, pleading.

Chat Noir softened immediately, and Marinette's face scrunched up in anger. It was the exact fucking opposite of what she wanted – needed – him to do.

"Fucking yell at me, Chat Noir!" She was screaming now instead. He looked terrified for a moment, and jolted like he was going to step back. But then the fire in his eyes matched her own, and he was advancing on her instead, venom on his tongue as he kissed her.

"Fuck me like you hate me." Marinette demanded. Chat Noir growled and gripped her harshly under her thighs.

"Sometimes I do." He admitted as he flipped her roughly onto her stomach, bending her over the chaise.

"Good."

They didn't address any of it. The words, the raw emotion, the way he would grab her just a bit too hard or how she'd scratch just a bit too deep.

When Marinette was sure he was asleep, she whispered, "Sometimes I hate you too."

Marinette didn't look at her phone very often anymore – every time she did, she was met with more hatred and vile insults. She used to find that ironic. In the wake of slapping Lila and getting suspended, her phone had been completely off for days and shoved into a drawer.

When she finally pulled out to message Adrien, the notifications flooded in as expected. She deleted them immediately without reading the messages, and instead focussed on the few missed calls she had from Adrien and texts hoping she was ok.

Adrien: You're probably fine but I'm coming over. I'll be there in an hour.

Oh. Well.

Almost as if her reading the message summoned him, Adrien's head was popping up through her trapdoor.

"Oh good, you are alive." He joked, a small smirk playing on the edge of his lips.

"Unfortunately." She didn't miss the way the smile in his eyes faltered for a moment before he grinned.

Marinette rolled her eyes and gestured with her head for him to come up already, dragging her feet to sit on her desk chair. When he was fully in her room and the trapdoor was locked behind him, she waved her phone vaguely in the air as she said, "Only just turned it back on."

Adrien nodded, already expecting that explanation. He was used to her not responding for a little while.

"Figured. But I also figured I'd use your silence as an excuse to come over."

"And Nathalie and the Gorilla just…let you?"

Adrien grimaced sheepishly.

"Ok, so maybe I'm blowing off a photoshoot right now."

Marinette finally took in his outfit and snorted. "Naughty, naughty. Don't tell me my bad behaviour is rubbing off on you."

"Maybe just a little. Worth it though." Adrien took off the overshirt – which looked incredibly uncomfortable – and slouched onto her chaise.

"Worth your father's rage?"

"Of course you're worth it." He'd said it so casually, but there was a firmness to the statement that let her know Adrien really wanted it to sink in. They didn't linger on it.

Instead, Adrien's eyes drifted to the bite mark that now peeked out of her shorts when she shifted on the chair.

Adrien raised an eyebrow and, if Marinette wasn't mistaken, he almost looked impressed. "And who gave you that?"

Marinette wasn't sure whether to be absolutely mortified or laugh about the situation she now found herself in.

"A friend." Marinette shrugged, her shoulders dropping heavily in an over-casual gesture.

"Well, good for you." He had a goofy, sincere smile on his face, stretching his mouth wide and making him look adorably ridiculous.

"It has been, actually. I won't…I can't go into specifics, but…well yeah, I think it's been really good for me."

There was the small voice in her head that told her it was only good because she was using it to avoid actually dealing with things, but Marinette chose not to pay it any attention. It was a good thing. It had to be. How could it not be?

"That's so good to hear. Whatever helps, right? You deserve something good."

"Thank you, Adrien."

Whatever Adrien was going to say next was cut off by the shrill ring of his phone. Adrien grumbled and slowly slid off the chaise onto the floor in annoyance. He rolled over and laid pathetically on the floor with his face buried in the carpet, muffling the continuing sounds of a very unhappy Adrien.

"What's the worst that could happen if I ignore it? I'm already in trouble as it is." Adrien fumbled in his pocket for his phone and declined the call, tossing the phone in a random direction after silencing it when it immediately lit up again.

"Do you think they'll come look for you here?" Marinette asked, thoroughly amused by the display. Adrien lifted his head and rolled back onto his back again.

"Maybe. Probably. You'll hide me if they do, right?"

"Obviously. I'd love to be your partner in crime."

"Marinette!" Marinette's head whipped to the trapdoor at the sound of her mother calling her name. "Mr Agreste is here wondering if Adrien has come over."

Adrien scrambled off the ground, grabbing his bag and phone in a rush, staring at Marinette in what could only be described as panic.

Marinette didn't have to think before she was shoving him through the skylight and instructing him to hide behind the circular table-thing on the balcony, just in case.

She listened to the sound of her mother climbing the stairs and unlocked the trapdoor before putting in her earbuds and laying down on the chaise, eyes closed. She heard as the trapdoor swung open and resisted the urge to open an eye to see what was happening.

"Marinette- oh. Oh." She heard as her mum let out a sigh and the trapdoor went back into the place. "Sorry, Ms Sancouer, it doesn't look like he's here."

"Thank you anyway. Sorry to have disturbed you. Have a good day."

Marinette waited for the footsteps to drift away and made sure her mother had gone back down to the bakery before she went to fetch Adrien.

"Thanks to my impeccable acting skills, the coast is clear!" She announced, ducking her head around the table to surprise Adrien. He almost jumped out of his skin at the shock, making Marinette devolve into a fit of laughter.

"Holy shit, Marinette!"

She could barely answer between the giggles and gasps for air.

"Message me if it goes really bad, yeah? I'll make sure I pay attention to my phone." Marinette promised Adrien as she let him slip out the backdoor.

"I will, but I should be fine. Thanks for this afternoon."

"Of course. Thank you, too."

Adrien gave her a lopsided grin before he left her with a wave over his shoulder.

Marinette ducked back upstairs as quickly and quietly as possible, avoiding her parents, just in case.

"My friend noticed the bite mark you left on my thigh today." Marinette said by way of greeting when Chat Noir slipped into her room.

"Oh, did he? And what did he have to say about that?"

"First of all, how'd you know it was a he? Second, he was happy for me."

"You only have one friend aside from me, and it's a he." Chat Noir stated, smug.

Marinette rolled her eyes but smiled despite herself.

"I did go a bit…harder than usual last time, though. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, of course. I liked it a lot." Marinette moved her shorts to show off the harsh mark on her thigh. "I think it's hot."

Marinette watched as Chat Noir's gaze turned from concerned to fiery hunger as he took in what she so proudly displayed, and she let her finger lightly run across the bruise, teasing him. A short gasp rose from her lips when she pressed down on it, and the sound seemed to make him snap, pinning Marinette down on the chair by her thighs and leaving a fresh mark just below her collar bone.

AN: Like I said, not a lot happened in this chapter, but it's also laying the brickwork for some shit down the line. Hopefully you still enjoyed!

As always, any feedback is always welcome, I love reading your comments (:

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Thanks so much for reading, stay cool