Adrien held Marinette close to his chest, gently rubbing soothing circles on her back. She whimpered, pressing herself closer to the boy. After finishing his photoshoot, Adrien slipped out of the hotel and went a walk. He didn't expect to find a frantic Marinette sprinting through the park, on the cusp of a panic attack.

The sight looked eerily familiar to the boy, but he shook the feeling, instead choosing to comfort his distressed friend.

"Marinette?" Adrien asked, "Marinette, do you want to sit down somewhere?"

Marinette separated from Adrien, hastily wiping her eyes. Her brows were furrowed, concentrating on his words. Adrien waited patiently, wondering what could be going through her head.

Why was it that, as of late, Marinette always seemed sad whenever he saw her?

"I just want Adrien to be happy," Marinette said to Chat Noir, her tearful blue eyes glistening in the moonlight.

Memories of last night flooded to his mind.

His chest panged painfully, his heart thudding loudly, and Adrien realized that he absolutely could not stand it when Marinette shed tears. He couldn't stand knowing that she was hurting, and he was possibly the cause of it.

Marinette stared at Adrien's chest, concentrating on the blue scarf he'd wound around his neck that morning.

Her blue scarf.

"Marinette?" he asked again.

Marinette's eyes flickered up towards his, down towards the scarf, and back up to his before she stepped away again, plastering a small smile on her face.

"H…hey, Adrien!" she greeted, acting as if he hadn't just intercepted Marinette in the midst of a downward spiral, "What are you doing out here? I thought you had a shoot today…"

"It ended early," Adrien said quickly, "but nevermind that! Marinette, what's wrong? Do you want to sit somewhere?"

"No, it's fine…" she answered, looking away. "…It's nothing, I'll be o—"

"Marinette, you're not okay," Adrien interrupted, firmly placing his hands on her shoulder. Normally, he wouldn't have been so forward, but there's no way that he's letting Marinette go around thinking that he didn't care.

She looked unsure, but when she failed to respond to Adrien, he took that opportunity to reach down and take her hand.

"Please Marinette," Adrien begged gently, "I want to help you."

Teary bluebell eyes peered up into Adrien's own and Marinette stared closely, almost as if she were looking for an answer. Adrien stayed quiet, keeping her hand firmly in his until she nodded in agreement.

Together, the pair found themselves seated underneath a tree alongside the park's iron gates. From their spot, they could spot little groups of children screaming with joy and running around the playground. Parents watched on fondly and chatted amongst each other.

Just beyond the gates, Adrien could see Andre handing out ice cream, smiling jovially at each pair that approached his cart. Adrien observed the ice cream vendor until Andre suddenly met his gaze. He could tell the older man watched Adrien and Marinette for a moment before offering Adrien a smile and pushing onwards toward his typical spot on the Seine.

Adrien felt Marinette's hand shift underneath his, and he brought his attention back to the girl.

Marinette's eyes were closed, and she was focused on taking deep, cleansing breaths, no doubt a technique meant to calm her nerves. He'd recalled with a wince that Ladybug had used the same methods to help manage her anxiety during the last akuma attack.

"I don't know where to start…" Marinette began, her quiet voice finally breaking the tense silence between the two.

"If it's too much," Adrien suggested, "maybe you can start off with the small stuff?"

"Maybe…" Marinette agreed.

She paused for a moment, almost as if she were planning what she wanted to say, before speaking.

"Have you ever felt like you give too much of yourself away to other people?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"People come to you with their problems," she explained, "and you always put their needs first, regardless of how it affects you. And you keep doing it over and over and over and over again until there isn't anything left?"

Adrien knew very well what Marinette was talking about.

His mother was missing and his father was an emotionally distant hermit, constantly piling responsibilities and suffocating expectation on to him.

Adrien accepted it because Maman is missing and Pere's just mourning.

When Adrien wasn't living his life as the face of his father's world famous fashion house, making red carpet appearances, or trying to fit in at school as a "normal" child, he was protecting Paris from an unknown terrorist.

Adrien's ring felt warm against his skin, reminding him of the power that he wielded every waking moment of the day.

Oh, he was painfully aware of what Marinette was saying.

"Yeah," he whispered, "I do know."

"I don't feel like there's a lot of me left," Marinette confided to Adrien, "People keep expecting things from me, and I'm always the one who has to deliver because I'm Marinette. I'm the one who helps people, no questions asked. I'm the one who people look to for answers. I'm the one who—" she hesitated, trying to piece together her words.

But Adrien knew.

"—who is considered our Everyday Ladybug," he added.

A small, humorless curled up on Marinette's face and she nodded, "I'm just tired and I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

Adrien looked down towards the ground, his eyes trained on his and Marinette's shadows. He didn't have to stretch his imagination much to note the physical similarity between Marinette and his partner. Even their shadows were nearly identical.

We're not going down that road, Adrien thought to himself, Besides, we've already seen them together.

What were the odds that Adrien was well-acquainted with two wonderful girls that were so similar? Similar builds, similar creative tendencies, similar ink black pigtails and bright blue eyes—

It was even suspicious to Adrien that both girls were in states of distress around the same time.

Marinette wrapped her arms around her body, drawing Adrien's attention back to her words. Adrien felt the urge to wrap the girl up in an embrace but ultimately decided against it.

She needed to hear what he had to say next.

"You know," Adrien began, leaning back against the bench, "somebody very wise told me that despite others' expectations, the only thing we can be is ourselves…"

A noise that sounded like something close to laughter escaped Marinette's lips, "I'm not even sure I know who I am at this point."

"You're Marinette," Adrien answered easily.

"Well Marinette isn't really enough," she replied glumly.

Adrien didn't say anything. He reached over to hold one of her hands, enveloping her slender fingers in the warmth of his palm. Startled, Marinette's head snapped towards Adrien, making direct eye contact with Adrien for the first time.

If Adrien were being perfectly honest, he had no idea what came over him. The moment he spotted Marinette running through the park, tears spilling down her face, an intense sensation surged through his body, leave the boy with a need to protect Marinette. To hear Marinette filled with such doubt…Adrien needed Marinette to know this.

"Marinette is more than enough," Adrien told her fiercely.

She looked like she were about to argue before pausing for a moment, allowing Adrien's words to settle in the back of her mind.

Despite it still being late afternoon, the sun was quickly sinking in the sky, an indicator of the approaching winter months. Children retreated from the nearby playground, clinging onto the arms of their doting parents.

Nobody seemed to notice the two teens sitting closely on the furthest bench.

A cool breeze sailed through the evening air, caressing the back of Adrien's neck. Next to him, Marinette shivered. Adrien frowned. He didn't want his friend getting sick from sitting out here for too long.

As if Marinette could read his mind, she waved her hand.

"It's okay. I'll be fine," she reassured.

"No, you aren't. You're shivering!" Adrien protested.

Marinette stubbornly remained rooted in her seat, her brows still furrowed in concentration. Adrien waited patiently for Marinette to speak again.

"I can't exactly explain it." Marinette began, rubbing her palms together, "Some days, I feel okay. I can design pretty clothes and go to school and have fun with my friends and help out at the bakery like a normal girl. Other days-"

She paused for a moment, collecting her words.

Noticing her twitching fingers, Adrien boldly reached out to hold one hand in his. Her fingers were cool to the touch.

"Other days?" Adrien offered gently.

"Other days," Marinette repeated, "it feels like I'm drowning, and I can't swim up to get enough air. Everything's a sensory overload and it's all so much that I just shut down."

The smallest, humorless smile curled on Marinette's lips, "Drowning is lonely."

A flash of pain streaked across Marinette's face and before Adrien could actually register what he was doing, she was already in his arms. He held Marinette closely, squeezing her against his body.

Adrien couldn't tell if the trembling was coming from her or him.

"Adrien…"

"You don't have to do any of this alone!" he blurted out, "You aren't alone! You have your friends, you have your family, you have me!"

Adrien didn't wait for a response.

"Marinette, it's okay to take care of yourself," he insisted, "It's okay to tell us when you need help. You don't need to shoulder all this responsibility, whatever it is, by yourself."

He needed Marinette to know this.

He felt Marinette shifting in his arms and, for a moment, thought she was separating herself from him. To his relief and surprise, Marinette reached up to grip the fabric of his overshirt, holding on tightly.

"You're always taking care of other people," Adrien continued. "Even if you're the one hurting, you always put the needs of others before yourself."

Especially for my sake, Adrien noted sadly.

She allowed the credit for her scarf to go to his father because she thought it'd make him happy to believe his father cared.

She stepped back to allow Kagami to seriously pursue Adrien because she believed that he'd be happy with her friend and couldn't bear the thought of hurting Kagami.

"Adrien…"

"Marinette, it's okay to not be okay," he told her, "It's okay to ask people for help. It's okay to let people take care of you for a change."

Marinette didn't always need to be the perfectly helpful and selfless friend all the time.

Adrien just needed her to know that she could be Marinette and it wouldn't change a thing about how others felt about her.

It certainly didn't change for Adrien.

After a moment of quietly holding each other, Marinette gently pushed back, still keeping a hold on Adrien. Her face was pink and splotchy and her eyes were red and would most likely be swollen in the morning, but none of that mattered when Marinette gave Adrien a smile.

She'd smiled at him plenty of times before, but this one—

"Thank you, Adrien," she breathed.

-this one felt different.

From Adrien's many outdoor sunset photoshoots, he'd learned very quickly to put out his absolute best performance. The brief period of time right before twilight, reverently referred to as the golden hour, provided photographers with the most stunning lighting.

Beams of sunlight from the sinking star would produce the most ethereal lighting.

It'd occurred to Adrien in this moment, that the golden hour arrived in Paris and for the first time in his entire career as a model, he was awe-struck by the otherworldly effect it had on people.

When Marinette smiled, her blue bell eyes sparkling joyfully, Adrien's heart gave a jolt. Marinette was a vision in gold, the light casting a gleaming halo around her ink-black tresses. Her skin seemed to glow radiantly under the sunlight, only enhanced by the striking blue of her eyes.

In a word, Marinette was beautiful.

Adrien felt heat rise to his cheeks when it registered that she was smiling so beautifully at him.

Oh.

Oh.

In that moment, everything seemed to make sense.