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Marinette let out a sigh. It was painful for Chat Noir to hear. Was that a sigh of relief? Probably. Nobody wanted to be with the Chat Noir, criminal of Paris anyways.

Chat stood, clearing his throat. "I should leave." He spoke quietly. "Good night, m'lady." Marinette could hear, feel his pain. Why? As he walked away, she wanted to follow and hug him. Hold him, comfort him? Instead, she watched him go, disappearing into the night.

"You had the chance to tell her." Plagg hadn't touched the wheel of camembert that Adrien had given him once they returned to their room.

"What's the point? I've already told her a lot. I would rather find out why this is happening first." Adrien rolled in his bed, face deep into a pillow.

"We know why this is happening-"

"That's not what I mean, Plagg." Adrien snapped. Plagg flinched and picked up his wheel of cheese, floating off somewhere in the room.

He could feel it. The darkness within Adrien was beginning to fester, he just didn't want to admit it. Ignorance was bliss, wasn't it?

"I hope you find that other wielder fast, Fu..."

Adrien's eyes were heavy. He wanted to succumb to sleep, but his thoughts wouldn't allow him to. Thoughts about a world where his mother still abandoned him, where his other half is his sister and she hates him. He as undeserving of the world..

"Did you make it home okay?" The sensations startled him out of his thoughts. He quickly sat up, as he thought he was imagining the pink on his forearm. "... Not that I care or anything." Adrien scrambled for a pen, quick to uncap and erase.

"Is the princess worried about lil 'ol me?" She could almost hear how smug he was.

"I shouldn't have asked." She scribbled.

"No, Thank you... I did get home fine." Marinette stared at her arm. Well... He's okay. Now what? "I wish there was a way I could repay your kindness..." She tapped her pen against her cheek several times, thoughtful.

"You're not allowed to show that painful expression again." Her handwriting wan't as neat and print as the first message .Definitely more smooth than her scribbled, angry message. Although she was ordering something from him, the strokes of her writing seemed gentle. Although she was ordering something from him, the stroke of her writings seemed gentle. "Next time... Next time just tell me a story or an akuma or something. Nothing sad." Adrien gave a weak smile.

"I apologize for that. Criminals aren't supposed to show any emo-"

"Let me stop you right there." Her writing suddenly overlapped his. "Okay, whatever 'big, bad criminal' facade you have under there, you can stop. You said you're the good guy, right?" Marinette waited for a response but it never came. "Right?"

"Correct."

"Then you can stop pretending." To say that he was speechless was an understatement. Even his thoughts were stunned. Marinette believed his story. She didn't think he was insane.

Adrien brought his arms to his eyes. It was hard to contain what he was feeling. His chest constricted, his throat clogged thickly.

Marinette rose her hand to her chest, watching how the writing was smeared, like water was washing the ink away. Was he crying? She gnawed on her lip. Should... Should she comfort him?

Plagg could sense a difference. The darkness was subdued. Plagg looked down from his perch and found Adrien quietly sobbing in his bed. He watched Adrien glance at his arm with a gasp, hastily wiping it clean and scribbling something on it. Plagg smiled softly.

"As long as she warms up to him... So will his heart."

The rest of the night was small talk, mostly Marinette trying to unintentionally comforting Adrien, until he was able to fall asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he found her last message on his arm. "Good night, Chat Noir." And some nondescript doodles around it. He felt as if he was waking up from a long dream. But he had to face reality once he met with Marinette in the hallway.

"Good morning." She smiled.

"Good morning Mari."

The day came and went. Adrien didn't have practice, Marinette had no fashion meets and they had no shoots to do.

"That's odd. Father doesn't have anything planned for us today?" Marinette shook her head.

"Apparently not. We are free all afternoon, but Papa wants to have dinner with us tonight." She gave a sigh. "I wish I would have known, I would have called Alya and Chloé and we could have been able to hang out today."

"Well, why not? We can call the whole gang together and we can watch a movie." Her eyes sparkled, but the light dimmed slightly.

"But you know how Papa is regarding friends..." Adrien scoffed.

"As long as they're friends with Chloé, I'm sure there won't be a problem." Marinette was still a little hesitant but nodded after a while.

"Okay! I'll call the girls. Can you call Nino?" Adrien gave a nod. He headed towards his desk and Marinette followed in behind him. He put his stuff down by his desktop, while Marinette went and dropped herself on his couch.

"Aw man, I wanted to snack." Plagg mumbled with a sigh. Adrien glanced down at him.

"You're going to have to hold out for a while... People are coming over."

"I know, I know." The two glanced over at his sister's legs that were draped over the armrests as she talked to Chloé.

"Behave."Adrien opened a drawer from his computer desk and Plagg snickered.

"I could say the same to you. Don't do something I wouldn't do." Adrien gave a scoff as his kwami floated away.

"Alya and Chloé said they would come, have you called Nino yet?" Marinette sat up, watching as her brother walked towards her.

"No, I haven't, I got distracted by a... thing." Marinette giggled a bit.

"It's alright. Honestly, I think that Alya was telling Nino as I was telling her, so he should be tagging along anyways." Adrien mumbled a 'sorry'. "Still, you should probably send him a text to let him know." Adrien nodded. Adrien shot Nino a text and shortly after both Marinette's and his phone buzzed.

A new group message.

Chloé:

Marinette:

Nino:

A:

C:

A:

C:

A:

N:

M:

Adrien: