For a straight-A student, class president, and secret Parisian superhero, Marinette got detention far too often.

Today, it was some snap at Chloe she made during PE. The school had really cracked down on any negative peer interactions with the whole akumatization situation (not to mention, Paon advocating for stronger anti-bullying policies on the news), and so her smart but sharp retort had landed both her and Chloe in detention.

Oh, did she mention Adrien was in detention too? Yeah, Mr. Model had suddenly turned into a detention regular, likely thanks to her crushing his feelings as Ladybug. She had been avoiding him at school after their awful window-encounter; she couldn't stand Adrien hating Marinette too.

She watched as he slumped next to her, not even surprised to see her.

"Chloe?" He asked, a knowing smile. She nodded. Marinette blushed at the moment of eye contact, scolding herself and focusing back on her work.

Adrien's face fell, and not even bothering to appear to be doing work, he slouched back on the desk. Slouched so far, in fact, his foot tripped Chloe as she walked by them, almost as if he purposely tripped her. Marinette hid her laugh in a macaron.

Once Chloe marched her way to her spot (after much high pitched whining), a mandated silence fell across the room again. Well, apart from Adrien's snores. Madame Bustier was too kind to wake him up.

The rest of detention proceeded about the same way as always. Marinette almost wished there was a mid-detention akuma attack, which to be fair happened pretty often due to Chloe's complaining.

Marinette's eyes kept going back to Adrien by her side. A year ago she would have done everything except use the miraculous wish to have the chance to be this close to Adrien. Close enough to observe his drool even - she avoided fantasizing about that too much, trying to be less of a creep than she used to be.

When Madame Bustier dismissed them all, Marinette gently nudged Adrien. Well, gentle at first, but it took a few hard pokes to actually shake him awake. She wasn't sure if she liked being able to jostle a supervillain or just liked the excuse to touch Adrien. She told herself it was the former.

She slid a cookie on a napkin his way (Tikki was a little peeved at her snacks being given away, but she would deal). He murmured a thanks as he inhaled it in one bite. A reward, she thought, for his nice revenge on Chloe earlier.

She was packing her bags as classmates filed out, noticing Adrien waiting for her despite having no bags of his own. His lack of effort in school was stressing her out just seeing it. Despite everything that had gone down, she still cared enough about him to worry. And despite her best denials, her heart still fluttered when he said her name.

"Hey, uh, Marinette, is everything okay?"

"What? Yes, yes, everything is fine - nothing out of the ordinary, honestly," she rushed, tripping over her words.

"Alright. It's just…" He rubbed the back of his neck, looking flustered himself. "I feel like you've been avoiding me? Which is totally within your rights to do, and you don't owe me anything, but I'm not sure why."

She was struck with an extra layer of guilt. Her attempts to not ruin her relationship with Adrien by speaking to him was of course ruined by her not speaking to him.

"It's not you," she let out, which was honestly true. She had gotten so stressed over this Paon situation that she made a rash choice, and it wasn't Adrien's fault she had revealed his identity. "I'm just all in my head about not making the right decisions, and it's hurting my relationships with the people who are important to me."

"Like, about university next year?" He guessed.

"Sure." She shrugged. "It's just… one of my friends is going to a school because of his parents, and I think it's a risky choice for a lot of reasons, but he feels like I don't understand him."

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Understand him."

She looked at Adrien, all disheveled (and, unfortunately, very hot). She saw Paon, aching for someone to love him back.

"Not yet. And I'm not sure I've earned the chance to."

"Marinette, you are the most selfless friend I know. This guy is stupid for not listening to you."

If only he knew how funny that was. And honestly, Marinette wasn't sure if he was right.

"Anyways, how are you?" She meant to divert the conversation, but she realized she actually wanted to know. She should have asked about it earlier. She forgot how nice it was to talk to him.

"Oh, you know," Adrien brushed it off.

"I feel like we've just established that I don't," Marinette chuckled. She and Adrien started to make their way out of the classroom.

"It's similar to you, actually. I know I need to do something, I'm just not sure how to do it. I was hoping to do it with this person but… I'm not sure we're on the same page anymore. Or if we ever were."

"You were. I mean, I'm sure you were, and that she is really trying to be there for you."

"At least I have you, my fellow juvenile delinquent friend." Adrien bumped shoulders with Marinette, almost sending her flying down the front steps of their high school.

"Always, sleepyhead." Marinette blushed again, not meaning for it to come out so flirty. Without Chat Noir, there was all this flirtatious energy, and now here it was, coming out with Adrien of all people.

They stared at each other for a quick beat. The limo had pulled up, but Adrien made no attempt to move.

Suddenly, Marinette wrapped him in a tight hug. He swore he heard her whisper to him, "I know you're a good person, Adrien." Then, as quick as that happened, she bounded away, and he waved a soft goodbye.

And for the first time since that night on the roof with Ladybug, Adrien smiled.