Unlike she normally would be, Marinette wasn't all that concerned when Adrien was missing in class today. It was the second anniversary of his mother's death, after all. The boy deserved some time alone to grieve.
She did, however, help coordinate the class into writing a card and getting a few gifts together. She planned to deliver them to the Agreste mansion along with some baked treats after school.
Of course, she could never truly understand what Adrien was going through, but she could relate. The anniversary of Master Fu's 'death' was coming up in just a few weeks, and Marinette could already sense that it would be a difficult day for her. She had mixed feelings about being the guardian, but most of all, it was hard seeing her mentor not remember all their times together at all. He was coming in for the day, not knowing why that day was so important, and Marinette planned to take him to the Louvre. Master Fu loved art, and Marinette needed a holiday.
But that was all besides the point, and Marinette needed to stop stressing about that anyways. It was still almost a month away, and she had some bigger emotions and responsibilities to deal with as the Guardian. Balancing her personal and superhero life had only gotten more difficult, and today was no exception.
Admittedly, her being late to patrol was partially her own fault. She should have ran to the Agreste mansion as soon as the bell rang, but the class had spent another hour after school had ended prepping the gifts and chatting, and then she had to run home and bake with her parents. The streets were crowded too, given it was rush hour, and so she had to run on foot to the Agreste mansion. She half-wished she could just transform into Ladybug so she could move faster, but Marinette had learned her lesson about using her superpowers to deliver gifts to Adrien Agreste. She'd never risk something like that again.
Oddly enough, the house was completely empty, save for Gorilla who grunted and let her in. She had forgotten how large the mansion was, and her footsteps echoed in the tall main hall. That, combined with the boring grey and black color scheme, made the whole house reek of a constant mourning for Emilie.
Carefully climbing up the marble steps, Marinette strode to Adrien's room. After the blue scarf incident, she didn't just want to leave everything at the front door; besides, Adrien might want company on a day like today. But just before she could knock on the door, it flung open right in her face, sending macarons and meticulously wrapped presents flying.
"I'm so sorry, Marinette!" Adrien shot to the ground to pick everything up, bumping heads with his very good friend. After another slew of apologies from both sides, Adrien seemed to realize exactly what had fallen all around him.
"Is this… for me?"
"Yeah! The class wanted to do something special for you because we know it's a hard day. Not that it has to be! Or, rather, that there's anything strange about this day. I mean, I don't even know what day it is anyways!" Marinette's voice ran quicker and higher as she rambled on, but Adrien didn't seem to mind. He smiled, and brought her in for a tight hug.
"Thank you, I appreciate having amazing friends like you. Today has been... well, strange would be putting it lightly." His voice dropped to a low whisper, so quiet Marinette could barely hear it (and Adrien definitely didn't think she could). "I'm so sorry."
Marinette melted into his arms. Although the smell of Adrien's cologne was overwhelming (and was that a touch of camembert she detected?), Adrien's hugs were the best. She immediately missed it when he pulled away at the sound of his father's voice that had seemingly come out of nowhere.
"Adrien! It's time for," Gabriel coughed, "father son bonding time!" It took Marinette a while to process this. Gabriel's tone was the same cold, commanding one she was used to, but his words didn't match anything she knew about him at all. Well, she supposed it was important for the Agrestes to stay connected, especially today, and Marinette knew Adrien would be ecstatic at his father's proposal to spend time with him.
At least, that's what she thought. Instead, Adrien slumped, not even turning to look at him.
"Father, I'm kinda busy right now," he muttered, the acoustics of the room being the only reason Gabriel could hear his son.
"Is what you're doing more important than you-know-what?" Gabriel snapped, emphasizing the last phrase.
Adrien stared into space, weighing his two options. Marinette took this time to glance at the time on her phone. She didn't want to awkwardly leave, but she was already 30 minutes late!
This time Marinette leaned in for a hug.
"Have fun with your father," she whispered with her head pressed against Adrien's chest, "and call me if you need anything." Marinette ran down the stairs, tripping on the bottom step with Adrien thankfully behind her to catch her. She shot him a quick smile before rushing out the door, just turning the corner behind the gates before transforming.
She swore at herself while swinging towards their meeting spot at the Eiffel Tower. It wasn't like her to be late, and after all the times she had harped on Chat for being so, she wasn't looking forward to his playful jabs (well, she was, but wouldn't admit that).
She stood on the lower beam of the Eiffel Tower, searching for Chat in the sunset. She spotted a few tourists below, not sure if they were taking pictures of her or the landscape behind her. She waved anyways, trying to appear calm as her worry grew. Hooking her yo-yo onto the top of the tower she did a full sweep, but still no luck.
"Chat, if this is some prank, I swear to god -" she said to no one. Ladybug swung her legs off the side of the tower as she waited, not very patiently. After nearly two hours of no Chat, no akumas, and no sign of anything interesting, she resigned to go home.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the first patrol Chat had missed, and it would be far from the last.