"No golden retriever today?" Alya teased as Marinette was now free of her 6'2 emotional support animal. 

"Yeah he started to show signs of aggression so I thought it was best to leave him home. Maybe for a few days until he learns his lesson."

"Poor thing is going to have separation anxiety."

The two girls bursted into laughter. Missing each others company as Marinette had been too busy trying to untangle a square she carelessly knotted together.

Alya stuck out her hand hoping Marinette would offer up the sweet treats that she had hidden in her bag. Delicious quality fig rolls from the best bakery in Paris. How could one resist?

"They're for lunch."

"Morning snack?" She tried to unzip Marinette's bag as she wished to obtain the fig rolls. Fig rolls, a dessert that took Alya back to when she visited her grandmother, Hortense. She bought a variety of sweets for her grandchildren. Once those little vultures swooped in all that was left on the round kitchen table was a yellow package filled with fig rolls. They were by no means professionally made but they were full of sweet memories. Alya could only imagine how heavenly ones from the bakery would taste.

"Absolutely not."

"But I'm starving..."

"You walked in eating a granola bar."

"It's not enough. I worked off a bunch of calories last night."

"Is that why Nino is running late?"

"I gave him just a teeny weeny workout." She pinched her fingers. "He told me to go easy on him... he's probably not coming in."

"Marinette." Miss Bustier waved her over as she needed to talk to her about something quite important. Standing next to her was Luka Couffiane, a prac teacher occasionally seen around the school. Mainly working with Ms. Mendeleiev and Mr. Dekay as due to the teacher shortage they needed more hands to assist with the ever growing student population. AP Biology, Biology, Chemistry. AP Chemistry, Music Theory, Theater technology, and percussion. Teaching was not the venture he wanted to go down but it counted towards his community service.

"I informed Mr. Damocles of your circumstances and found a compromise. Since student safety

is the priority we thought Luka here could accompany you."

Luka rolled his tired turquoise eyes at Miss Bustier's explanation. She was glossing over the fact that Francis Dupont did not want to be accountable for any more incidents involving Adrien Agreste. Gabriel had made it very clear to the school board that if Adrien was caught in another scandal that he was talking down the reputation of the school down with his son. It was in Francis Dupont's best interest to do everything in their power to protect the Omega on the loose. It did not have to be a permanent solution, just a temporary solution until she turns eighteen.

"Uhh, okay." Marinette awkwardly smiled as she did not think she had the choice in the matter. She had not spoken to Luka for a long while, just an occasional wave here and there. He was three years older and was just everything opposite of what Adrien was. Radiant, carefree, and dreamy? How about dark, earnest, and practical? "So you're my bodyguard?" She teased.

"Yeh and I have to follow you around everywhere you go."

"Everywhere? Including the bathroom?"

"What are you talking about? Women don't go to the bathroom."

Marinette let out a high pitch snort at Luka's quick retort. He had a lactose intolerant sister so she knew he had the pleasure of finding out the hard way. Especially since the Couffianes' lived in such small confinements.

Hearing her unique laugh was a welcomed highlight to his day as M was his favorite letter as it had the most memorable sound. "Ma-ma uh Mamamarinette!" An unforgettable introduction that made him smile every time he needed cheering up. She was young, cute, and developed a harmless crush on him. She started following him around for a few weeks until she realized that it was a waste of time. He was old, old enough that whatever thoughts or feelings that were blooming would diminish quickly.

He had no intention of pursuing her, not then and certainly not now. He somehow ended up being hit with a reverse card as when he returned to Francis Dupont he got to hear about Marinette's trials and triumphs. All made worse by his younger sister belonging to the same class as her. Then he was entrusted with the Snake Miraculous. The biggest mistake Ladybug had ever made and he could not tell her what happen just that he wasn't a good fit.

"You're not affected?" She wondered how Luka was unaffected.

"No."

"How come?" She looked up at him, with curiosity. She wanted to know as this could help Adrien. Make him feel like they can be in the vicinity without wanting to jump on each other.

"I am stoned out of my mind with heavy dose suppressants."

"Isn't that dangerous?" She heard about the consequences of taking one too many. 'How many has he taken that there is no reaction?' 'Is this why he's going to follow me around?'

"Yeah, but it's worth it since.." His voice filled with pain and regret. Of a story that was always on the edge of his mind but he could not say word of it. Five minutes was all it took for him to never want to be an Alpha nor experience a rut. "The only person I'm hurting is myself."

 _________________________________________________________

Adrien looked at his computer screen and smiled as he wrote cheeky captions on the side of the Google Doc that him and Marinette shared. He had her phone number but thought he would be subtle. Put an unexpected smile on her invitingly round face. He crossed his fingers hoping that Marinette would find his little side notes charming as had nothing else better to do with his time. He had attempted to practice piano after leaving his midnight lover to her everyday activities but he could not focus. "Hopeless." He mumbled to himself as he was dedicating his free time to her like some love struck buffoon.

He looked passingly at the clock at the corner of the screen as he had to arrive at Francis Dupont at exactly seven. He knew that he wasn't supposed to be on school grounds but to his knowledge Natalie nor his father had canceled his weekly fencing lesson. 'And if I get there at exactly seven, I could see her.'

Adrien had always found himself pulling towards his fun-sized magnet. Somehow knowing that despite their unlucky meet-cute that he would become a better person with her by his side. Quite a high responsibility for, a thought to be a normal girl with a normal life. Destiny? Fate? It all put the kibosh on his plans. Marinette and him were supposed to have been JUST FRIENDS. Her pinning after him and him pretending he did not know. Him crossing his fingers that she would find somebody else and yet still be his. That was their normal and now their so-called new normal was heart-rending.

He shook his head as he recognized that there was no need for this compulsion. 'Focus!' He knew whatever this newfound obsession with her was born from their foredoomed attraction as compatible sub-sexes. A strong bond created from him being around her during her first heat. Yet, he quickly abandoned every romantic chance he had with his bluebell eyed mistress as soon Ladybug put her straving hands on him. 'You can't just swing back and forth between the two.'

<Fated Bonds? Pfft... so overrated. Adrien added onto a margin of a paragraph stating: "a destined pair will seek each other out. As their bond was inseparable. To have an obsessive need to be with one another."

Another paragraph of notes claimed that "Omegas possessing an item which smells like their partner can either trigger or stall their heat. It was all based on whether they were bonded or not." With this fact in mind, this may have contributed more or less to making her previous school day insufferable agony.

<My bad, Princess

"She likes me, I like her. I like her... I like Marinette Dupain-Cheng?!" Adrien looked up at his signed Cosmo Bug doll he placed beside his computer monitors. "Why did you make this so much harder?" He liked them both a lot. He had never truly admitted it to himself that he had romantic feelings for Marinette. He often made the excuse that he was just an overprotective friend willing to put her future over his. He leaned back into his chair and pushed his hair back. "I am so stupid."

'First love? Unattainable. Second love? Unintentional. Me? Stupid.' He briefly typed <Will you go on a date with me? Before deleting it.

She was in his vivid fantasies much like Ladybug was. Ladybug who he practically promised himself to. Ladybug who did not come with this toxic taste of beastly inclination. Funny, how that all worked out as recalled the sweet but bitter day that he just said: "Fuck it!" To the wind. To not worry about the strain that it could put on him and Marinette's complicated status.

He knew he was failing terribly at loving HER. A notion that soundly utterly mad as she wanted him, at least as Adrien Agreste. Never as ChatNoir. But who was the HER in question? Ladybug or Marinette? Both blinded by his fame and dashing good looks, was it unfair to blame himself? As he wanted it to be easy to choice. "I would rather fight an Akuma." He huffed as he slumped down in his chair only to quickly correct his posture.

Adrien skimmed a few more lines as he wanted a distraction. His eyes locked intensely on a sentence. "Omegas have a strong fear of abandonment and are unlikely to recover. They have the highest suicide rate compared to the other sub-sexes."

"I could have happily gone through the rest of my life without knowing that."

"On the opposite end, Alphas have the highest homicide rate due to their lack of impulse control."

"That DOES NOT make it BETTER!" 'Can I afford to fail this assignment? Probably. Can Marinette?' He asked him as this assignment was giving him undue stress. 'No, she can't. She's going through alot, I just need to stop fooling around and get it done.'

He was afraid of the facts that he would learn as she did not deserve the fate that was being handed to her. 'This is the least I can do.' He rummaged through his school satchel looking for his notes. "Voila!" He said, pulling out his folder and notebook for Miss Bustier's class.

Adrien let out a little laugh as Marinette had snuck copies of her notes in his folder. Little doodles and personal notes splattered all over the pages. "Great minds think alike."

There was a little chibi characterization of Adrien's Alter-ego holding a croissant with an arrow pointed at him. A caption of "Remember to feed your cat." Another had little swirls up in the corner that slowly turned into flowering vines. But, the pages had something in common as they all had little sketches of clothing, one that he was a bit partial towards. A cropped ChatNoir themed hoodie with the words: "Check Me Meowt" on it. A little X was next to it so he assumed that she was not a fan of it as some had check marks beside it.

"Did she look these over beforehand?" He moved his fingers gently across her handwriting as he read her shorthand. She had substituted the titles Omega, Beta, and Alpha with their respective symbols; A, B, Ω. He wished that made it easier to read her notes. "Fated Pairs= ↑. Ω+A=↑. B+B=/. B+A=/. B+Ω=/. A+A=↓. Ω+Ω=↓."

"What is this gibberish supposed to mean?" Not that he should complain whether the notes wear legible or not as he avoided taking them. He soon found two words made everything so much clearer as if he just discovered the Rosetta Stone. "Conception rates."

"Oh... okay. Highest, neutral, lowest. Makes sense now." He then started to type how Fated Pairs had the highest conception rate thinking that he could fit it into the project. "Do I want to dive in deeper on this? Maybe, see how high the stats are?"

He was unsure if he wanted to go down the rabbit hole unless there were some sort of benefits to said project. "Focus!"

He went to a website that had scientific research on the relationships and dynamics of Alpha and Omegas and looked through it. "It's best to take precautions whether an Alpha or an Omega. Contraceptives and suppressants are extremely important to promote healthy intercorse between constenting adults. Omega pheromones can attract unwanted partners and tend to magnetize Alphas."

"What type of idiot doesn't use protection?" He asked as he typed a few sentences before catching his faint reflection on the computer monitor. That paired with a few judgmental coughs from the peanut gallery, he recalled something Nathlie said: "Did you use protection?"

He was not directly taught about safe sex. He learned the basics through some of his favorite books and in passing by his friends. Alya not having an issue giving the graphic version of what sex was like as she found it endlessly entertaining to embarrass Marinette. Knotting, ruts, heat, condoms, birth control, all excluded from his public and peer education. Was it not a terribly bad idea to leave a bunch of hormonal teens without the education to take care of themselves and others?

Adrien typed "Does an Alpha need to knot in order to..." a lot of suggested frequently searched options popped up. "orgasm?" "make their partner orgasm?" "get someone pregnant?" "have sex?" "satisfy a rut?"

He clicked on the third result hoping no one looked at his search history. Although this was not the worst thing he ever searched. A tie between "Ladybug nudes" and "Ladybug tentacle monster porn." He thought if he forgot to delete his history he could always blame it on the project. He was blaming everything else on it. Why not this?

Adrien looked at the results and hoped there was a definite answer. A yes or a no but he could not pick which answer he wanted. If it was a no, there was no harm done. But if it was a yes then this mishap would make his decision making so much easier. Because what man wouldn't step up if put in this situation? "Alpha and Omegas have a 97% conception rate but it is best to take a pregnancy test for better results."

Adrien wanted immediate yes or no. He did not have to pull Marinette into this even though this problem was created by teamwork. A fact that added to his piling anxieties. "Could I convince Marinette to take one?" "Would that put her through more stress?"

"Plagg, how do you check if someone is uh... pregnant without them knowing?" He asked as Plagg was supposed to be this all knowing, all powerful creature.

"I don't know, maybe have them pee on some barley and wheat." He was content on staying out on whatever Adrien was mumbling to himself. "WAIT.... That's to tell if it's a boy or a girl."