Life had gotten… harder for Marinette Dupain-Cheng to say the least. To say she had too much on her plate was an understatement. Between dealing with her first real heartbreak, being Ladybug (the miraculous, masked hero who saves Paris), school and being the new guardian, she was overwhelmed. Her life had become lies, lies and more lies. "Oh, I'm just tired because I was up late sewing!" HA! She hadn't even had a new design come to her in months! "Maman, no I'm okay, I just have a lot of homework!" Did she have homework? Had she paid attention at all today? "Oh no! I got home hours ago! I just came in the back door!" She had begun to wear Kaalki's miraculous in order to make it home and to school on time, otherwise there was just no way… Oh, there's another lie 'oh, Papa! My perfect 20/20 vision is deteriorating! Can you make me an eye appointment so I don't have to walk home when my legs are clearly too tired to carry me?'

No, the real story had gone much differently, she told her parents and they leapt at the opportunity to help her, which made her feel all the more guilty. Then she had to fake poor eyesight and lie to a doctor in order to pick out eyeglasses that looked similar to the miraculous and wear that instead… only to find out that the eyeglass trend from America would seep into Europe a few months later. No one at school had really responded, though Marinette wouldn't have really noticed if they had. Alya had said something about being 'poor eyesight twins' and one of the boy, though Marinette couldn't remember if it had been Nino or Adrian, had said she looked really nice. Marinette only replied with a weak 'thank you' and had tried to remember if they had been assigned homework the night before.

She was a mess to be perfectly honest. Her perfect grades hadn't fallen though scores of low nighties were much more common. She was sinking, but not enough for anyone to really notice it'd seemed. Some days, she was grateful for the distraction. Just last Tuesday, Adrien had smiled at her in a way that physically hurt her chest. When a half-assed akuma appeared, she'd thanked Hawkmoth and said she had to pee in order to sneak away and transform. Her new priorities were also a great interruption from her quiet war with Lila Rossi. It's hard to be upset about someone else's stupid lies (and there were many) when you had to keep your own straight. Though Lila was very enthusiastic about the unrestricted access to Marinette's friends. Alya hadn't been over Marinette's in ages, which was probably safer for her as Marinette's room was a death trap. Did Marinette even still have friends? She wasn't sure. She couldn't give a miraculous to anyone but Chat Noir, that's for sure. She couldn't put any one in danger like Miracle Queen's reign again. No, no more Rena Rouge, no more Carapace. As the guardian, did her mere presence around them put them in danger? Sigh, no more Alya, no more Nino… No more anybody.

"Marinette? Have you not woken up yet? You're going to be late!" Her mother's voice almost startled her.

She didn't reply. She had been awake. She'd been awake for hours. But if she'd call down, she couldn't pretend that she had already gone. And she would be late. Stay quiet. Get dressed. Use Kaalki. Make it to school on time.

"She must have already gone. I'm sure we'll see her for lunch." Her father's voice was happy. Her parents were excited to see their daughter taking her attendance so seriously now. Really Marinette had to constantly be ready for an akuma. After Hawkmoth got the last guardian to run, he knew he was after her. And he knew she was a child. If Master Fu couldn't handle him, how could she?

Marinette's style had changed too. Wayzz would sometimes get upset to get put back into the box after being worn for so long, and she had Nino at school… so her new norm had become a black turtle neck with high-waisted jeans. She also wore her hair down more often to try to relive those thirty seconds when Adrien saw her as possibly more than a friend. But today was not that day. A ponytail it was. She slipped her glasses on and sighed. "Kaalki? Are you still okay with this?" The kwami appeared and nodded sadly, "just get me some of those carrot sticks from the cafeteria and tell me which closet to go to today."

###

Marinette scribbled quickly, she had a few more minutes before class started and they had indeed had homework. She knew the stuff but boy was it annoying. And Lila's piercing laughter was really getting under her skin.

"Hey Marinette!"

Marinette looked up and responded to the boy with the best smile she could muster, "hey Adrien. How are you?"

He smiled back, "I'm good, whatchu' working on?"

Marinette's smile turned embarrassed and she went back to working on her papers, "the homework, I forgot about it last night."

Adrien looked confused at the girl, thankful she couldn't see his face. She never forgot about homework, that he could remember at least. He had hoped she was designing again. She said she was sewing but he hadn't seen her draw in ages, "do you need help?"

She laughed a weird laugh in response, almost biting, almost sarcastic, "no I'm okay. I'm almost done. Thank you though."

Adrien hummed in response and sat in his seat. Stealing another look at the girl. She hadn't been herself for a while. She stopped wearing pink as much and, as a model, he had notice concealer make an appearance under her eyes. She was hiding dark circles and bags. Her laugh hadn't been the same and her eyes hadn't been as shining and beau….. happy. He'd thought that maybe something happened between her and Luka, but Alya had confirmed that Luka was still crazy about her though Alya had no idea what Marinette thought of Luka. She hadn't been with either of them outside of school in ages. The only time, as far as he knew, that the two saw one another was when Luka visited at lunch. That was on days that Marinette didn't escape home.

Something was different. It wasn't hard to tell. He'd thought it was Lila's rumors she had started about Marinette talking badly about people behind their backs, but when asked about it Marinette knew nothing about the rumors. Adrien still made sure to stop them, but any concern about Lila's misdeeds seemed to vanish from Marinette's mind overnight. It was a strange thing indeed. Adrien thought that maybe she was scared of the possibility that she could have been exposed as Multimouse in front of Hawkmoth, but when Chat Noir paid a visit to ensure her identity was safe her response was a non-chalant, "of course it is, you silly cat." With a much more chalant, delicious batch of cookies that she snuck him from the bakery to usher him out of her window. So that night had given him a sugar high and crossed-out her fear as a possibility.

His stomach growled at the thought of the cookies and Marienette, without thinking much about it, handed him her pop tart. He took it with thanks but was confused on why, again, she didn't have a breakfast from her bakery. She always went on about how she loved to bring her family's croissants for breakfast but she hadn't brought them…. Again for ages. He missed them, and he was sure she did too,

"Marinette wh-"

"Marinette! You actually beat me here today girl! I stopped by the bakery but your parents said you'd already left." Alya sat down and pulled her things out of her bag,

"Yeah, sorry, I forgot you mentioned yesterday you wanted to walk together. I'm sorry. Maybe you can come over for lunch?"

Alya chuckled, "Jeluka was telling me that Luka is coming for lunch, so maybe we should stay here today."

Adrien watched out of the corner of his eye for any reaction from the girl, but she just flipped the page she was working on over and continued working, "I wouldn't mind a coffee though, I didn't get a chance to grab one this morning."

Alya's smile grew and she waved at her boyfriend as he walked in the classroom and sat down, "I'm sure he'd love to get you coffee, maybe all of us can go? Nino, Adrien? Would you come? Kagami too maybe?"

Adrien nodded enthusiastically, "Kagami is helping out her mother today, but I would love to come, Nino?"

Nino nodded, "yeah, Chris broke the coffee pot, so I am down for anything caffeine."

Alya laughed but Marinette only replied with a distracted "yeah, maybe" as she finished up her homework.

Mme. Bustier entered and clapped her hands, "alright guys! Let's see you reading responses!"

The students handed their papers to the front. Adrien turned to take the stack from Marinette only for her soft hands to brush against his. He looked up to meet her eyes, only to see her staring into her new, larger brown purse that sat beside her.

Adrien sighed. He had liked her pink purse much better.

###

Adrien sighed when Luka, indeed, jumped at the chance to buy Marinette a coffee. He would have liked to buy her one and maybe have a second alone with her to ask her what was really going on. Marinette was quiet on the walk over and listened to the excited chatter around her, though it did not seem like she was tuned into to anyone. He didn't understand how she could be so different and no one else could tell. Even Luka had just seemed to accept it, which he didn't understand. She was practically screaming for someone to help her and no one was. Adrien clenched his fist and said nothing.

"So what idea are you going to submit, Marinette?" Luka's voice was patient,

"Hmm?" Marinette finally turned her eyes up to look at the group.

"For the spring dance?"

Marinette closed her eyes for a second and Adrien noticed her shoulders slump, "o-oh yeah. I hadn't thought about it. As class president I take the submissions from the class, pick the top two, give them to the class to vote on, then start planning it and setting it up." The weight on Marinette's shoulders grew. She could feel it getting heavier. Another thing to do, an entire dance to plan. Decorations to design. Everything.

"Oh, you can't submit one at all?" Adrien's voice was sad. He was sure she would've had the best idea out of the entire student body.

Marinette shook her head, "I pick the top two so it could be biased, you know?"

The group nodded respectfully, it made sense. Just part of the responsibility of being class president.

The coffee shop wasn't exactly busy but the group got their table, gave their money and their orders to Nino, and got comfortable,

"girl, where is your coat, I get that it's almost spring but it's still freezing. They're telling us we could get snow tonight."

Adrien turned quickly, it was true, the girl didn't have a coat at all, but she didn't even seem to notice,

"oh, yeah, when I remembered that I had the homework to do, I kind of rushed to school, I just completely forget."

Adrien began collecting his coat to offer the girl, but Luka put his on her chair,

"I'm driving home after this so just take mine. You can get it back to me later."

Marinette's eyes dimmed slightly, "it's pretty cold, Luka, you'll need it. I'll be okay."

But the boy just shook his head. Yeah, that's right. Not his job. Luka is the boyfriend. Nino brought the coffee back over, holding Marinette's as far from him as possible, "here is the one with enough espresso to kill a man."

Marinette nodded her thanks for the coat and the coffee. Then the group heard a word that they had never heard Marinette say, "Fuck!"

Adrien patted Nino's back as he choked on his coffee and stared at the girl in shock.

She didn't even seem to know what she'd said and continued, "my parents thought I was coming home for lunch! I have to call them! I'll be right back!" She left the table, slipping on Luka's jacket as she ran outside with her phone in her hand.

Adrien watched her leave then turned to the table. Alya spoke first,

"our little baby is all grown up and cussing!"

Nino and Luka laughed while Adrien bit his lip, "don't you guys think she's been acting weird?"

Alya took a sip of her coffee, "I mean, talking badly about her friends was weird bu-"

Luka and Adrien jumped to Marinette's defense with a "She'd never do that!" and a "Lila made that up!" respectably, the boys looked at each other for a moment before Adrien looked away, "that's not what I meant anyway! I meant the forgetting her homework, the change in her coffee order, her style changing!"

Luka had a strange look in his eyes and smirked knowingly while Alya replied, "she's always been scatter-brained! It's part of the reason we love her. As for her coffee and style change. I don't know. She hasn't talked to me about it. Lila said she's probably outgrowing us."

Luka looked at her strangely, "that's not true at all, Alya. You seem really interested in this Lila though."

Alya shrugged, "she made a good point, Marinette is dating an older guy now"-Luka choked on his coffee-"I mean, there was going o be a chance she'd change."

Luka looked shyly away and said nothing. Nino spoke next, "I've known Marinette a long time. She wouldn't just drop us because of a dude. Sorry Luka" Luka put his thumb-up in a supportive gesture, "and Adrien is saying the Lila made some of this stuff up. You know she has that condition."

"Lying." Adrien said under his breath, "Marinette wouldn't do that" he agreed, "so something else has to be happening."

Alya shrugged, "she's been designing more, maybe she's working too hard."

Adrien said nothing. Designing…. She hadn't designed anything. When he went to see her as Chat Noir her sketch pad had been collecting dust, but he couldn't just say that. He sighed and pretended to drop it. Marinette then walked back in, her cheeks rosy from the cold, "they were okay."

She sighed and Luka's brow raised, "is everything okay?"

"My uncle is sick, they're going to be going to take care of him this weekend. I'm going to be running the bakery."

Luka put a hand on her shoulder, "is he okay?"

Marinette nodded, though Adrien swore he saw her shoulders slump even more, "yeah, I think so, he just needs some help with his restaurant and stuff. That's all."

Adrien bit his lip and watched her frown as the rest of the group went back to talking. Fine. Adrien couldn't talk to Marinette, Adrien couldn't figure what was going on. Adrien couldn't solve all her problems.

But maybe Chat Noir could.