The air was cool that night.

The party had pretty much been a disaster, but that was normal whenever Chloe tried to do something nice.

You snuck out near the end of the party and sat on the roof of the hotel Chloe lived in. Your feet were hanging high over the city and your hands were clutched tightly to the ledge. Your heart pounded in your chest at the thought of your untimely death you seemed to be setting yourself up for.

But that's why you loved it too.

That sense of control.

Even with all the fear rumbling through you, the view was worth it.

Paris was stunning at night, even if you weren't looking at the Eiffel Tower. The city had slowed down but the lights shining through the windows of the apartments lit up the night like stars fallen to the Earth.

"Please don't fall." His voice was soft so it wouldn't startle you, and his request came across as a warning to his presence. You felt the sound of his voice rush over you and you turned your head slightly to the side to see Adrien standing there, holding half of a pink macaroon.

Her signature color.

"Marinette makes the best, second to my dad." You laughed softly and Adrien hummed in agreement.

He walked over and sat on the floor with his back against the ledge you were sitting on. He made no move to sit directly next to you, and you couldn't tell if that was out of fear of making you fall, or simply being scared of falling himself.

"What're you doing out here all alone?" He asked you. Everyone had been inside having their redo baking lesson, but you were no where to be seen. No one made it known if they had noticed your absence, but after snagging one of Marinette's macaroons, he began to look all over for you.

You sighed as your eyes traced the patterns of the stars, "Just thinking." You replied simply.

You felt your knuckles and joints start to stiffen, so you kicked your legs over and hopped off the ledge and back onto the solid flooring. You sat next to Adrien and leaned your head back against the ledge, mimicking his position.

"About what?" He asked with a sigh of relief. He was so worried that you were going to fall, every time a simple breeze came through in the few moments he had been up there, he had to resist the automatic urge to reach for you.

"About how I don't belong here." You whispered the raw thought that crossed your mind often.

Your sister hardly talked to you and when she did it was often in between screaming matches.

Your parents were to preoccupied in the bakery to notice if something was off about you. You even had a difficult time forming solid relationships with your peers, because you always felt like there was somewhere else you should be.

Your mind was in the stars, wandering across the adventures of the sky.

"Why wouldn't you belong here?" Adrien questioned with a confused expression.

You sighed as your body hunched forward and your hands laced in your hair that covered the sides of your head. "I'm just seriously struggling. My relationship with my family is complete shit and I have a horrible time making friends. I'm so unbelievably bad at it. I feel like I'm supposed to be anywhere but here."

"By here do you mean Paris or-"

You nodded, "Yeah. Paris." You sighed.

Adrien was quiet for a moment which made you nervous. You allowed your eyes a moment to wander the inches of his face. His hair didn't shine under the light of the stars like it did during the day, but it was dazzling under the light of the moon nonetheless.

His face was perfectly symmetrical and his nose curved perfectly as it connected with the bow of his lips. His bright green eyes averted up and met with yours. The kindness of the boy shined so clearly through his eyes.

You felt your cheeks burn in embarrassment from being caught the moment his eyes connected with yours, and you looked away bashfully.

Adrien didn't seem to notice. He placed a hand on your knee and your eyes burned holes in his hand as your heart began pounding at the physical contact.

"I understand what it feels like to not belong. After my mother...well you know...my house felt completely different. I hardly see my father and he never leaves the house. He tries to force his life of solitude on me but I've always wanted to go out and explore. Making friends has been the most exciting part." You frowned as he spoke but he continued to speak, "Y/n, you are one of the relationships I cherish the most."

Your eyes widened and you turned your body to face him. He was smiling brightly at you and he rubbed your head.

Your knees were pressed tightly to your chest and he simply continued to smile down at your smaller form. "I know it's hard to find where you feel like you belong, but I believe you'll find it. You know we all love and accept you. Especially Juleka, Rose, and me." His gaze was soft and your heart sped up under his gaze and his choice of words.

Love...he said love.

"Thank you Adrien...you seem to always have the right things to say." You smiled wide, hoping it would hide the red you were sure was lifting to your cheeks.

You were glad the lights that kept the area lit were dim.

"All I want is to make sure my friends are happy." He smiled with a soft shrug of his shoulders.

"You do a great job of that, promise."

That night solidified the thought you had been having for weeks now, you wanted to be with Adrien Agreste.

***

You walked into the bakery, dressed and ready for school. You were relieved to see that Marinette appeared to be doing better. Her eyes were no longer puffy and she was back to her typical sporadic energy.

It had only been a few days since her fight with your classmates, so you were surprised to see she bounced back so quickly.

Marinette was picking up apples and you couldn't help but snort at the sight of her clumsiness.

"What happened?" You asked with a gruff morning voice. After helping your parents open the bakery, you went back to sleep for another hour.

Marinette didn't even move slightly to acknowledge you which made your mother frown. "We had a customer come in and your sister accidentally ran into her."

You reached to grab your muffin your mother promised you, just to realize it wasn't there.

Your head shot up and you were met with your mother's guilty expression. "Marinette gave her all of the pastries you like as an apology." Your mother said, realizing the backwards apology her daughter had given the young customer.

You scoffed and kicked the basket of apples over again once your mother's back was turned, grabbing one that rolled to the floor, and you walked over to the sink to wash it off.

Marinette silently fumed as she picked up the apples again. "Oh Marinette! You really need to be more careful." Your mother scolded.

You grinned wickedly at your silent success, taking a bite of your apple and ignoring the hellish glare she sent your way.

*

You and Marinette walked side by side to school again. It was part of your punishment for fighting and your parents were somehow convinced that if you kept walking like this you would somehow start getting along.

When in reality, the second you were out of sight of the bakery, you sped off in front of her.

You walked into the courtyard and went over to a bench near the corner of the area. You pulled out your textbook and read the homework pages you intentionally didn't do last night.

Your peaceful studying didn't last long before the school brat, Chloe, began announcing her presence. Out of the corner of your eye you saw a silky red carpet that Sabrina was quickly rolling out.

Your attention darted towards your sister who was walking towards Chloe and the girl she stood with.

You squinted your eyes, forgetting your contacts and your glasses that morning. The image of the person beside her began to form more clearer and you quickly realized who it was. Her dirty blonde hair was slightly covered by a bright blue beanie hanging off her head, but her bright yellow pants stood out the most—clashing with the world around her.

She was in Paris and didn't tell you.

You shoved your textbook into your backpack and hurriedly swung it onto your shoulders, not caring that something had fallen out of your unzipped bag. You raced in the direction of your sister and best friend, missing the conversation they had.

Marinette appeared to be devastated and Zoe's nasty expression quickly flickered, horrified at the sight of you.

"Oh! There's another one! Since Marinette Dupain-Cheng is mine, you can have her even worse lesser sister! It's perfect for us Zoe don't you think?" Chloe's grin was wicked and you paid no attention to the nasty girl as you stared darkly at Zoe.

"You seriously didn't want to tell me that you're in town?" Your voice came across oddly calm, chilling not only yourself but everyone around you who cared to listen.

Zoe switched from horrified to nervous and vice versa.

Chloe gasped, dramatically, "Are you seriously going to let her speak to you like that whatever your name is?!" Chloe snapped at her sister.

Zoe looked at her sister with a confused expression, "Zoe. You literally just said it."

Chloe looked surprised that Zoe responded to her like that. She began waving her hand in her half-sister's face. "Oh shut up with that!" She then motioned back to you.

You noticed Zoe gulped before she looked down at you. Her face shifted from shame to a scowl. "Why don't you get your trash ass out of here and go mop the floors you baker girl." Her insult was pitiful and you noticed that Marinette was looking back and forth between your matching shoes.

Connecting the dots she had no right to be making.

A connection that was yours, that was no longer filled with the intense love it once did.

"You're pathetic Zoe Lee." Your eyes welled with tears and you stopped your trembling hands by clenching it into a fist, the image of hitting her across the face passing through your mind devilishly.

You turned away with a pounding heart and left the three of them staring at you—all with drastically difference reactions.

"Who is-?" Chloe began to ask, when she finally noticed the shoes the two of you shared, and shoved her sister's shoulder. "Why do you have the same hideous shoes as Stupider-Cheng?" Marinette laughed in annoyance at Chloe's pitiful insult.

Zoe watched you walk away with shaky eyes. "I don't know." Her speech began soft but was sharp at the end. Marinette looked up at the new girl, finally connecting the little bits of broken pieces she had acquired from you and Zoe.

'Zoe's only ever friend...is Y/n'

**

You ripped the wrapper off the pastry you had grabbed to add to your lunch. You hated this stupid flavor. You hated that Chloe's stupid sister had the one you loved.

Fuck. Chloe's sister.

You had never called her that before, only ever thought of her as Zoe—your Zoe.

You crumbled up the remains of the wrapped and tossed it into the trash can before giving it a swift, pain inducing kick.

The impact caused you to hiss. You had changed out of your tennis shoes and replaced it with the plastic sandals that were in your backpack.

Stupid girl.

"That whole thing was so fucking cringey." You muttered as you pulled out your phone and stared sadly at your lock screen of you, Zoe, Jess, and Anon.

Pissed off, you searched up a picture of a black screen and made it your new background. You shoved your phone back into the pocket of your jean shorts and headed upstairs to your class, ignoring the worried stares of your friends and classmates.

"Hey Y/n-" Adrien began but you passed him, completely ignoring him. He watched you with a puzzled expression as you approached the door to your class but stopped abruptly with your hand hovered over the handle.

You threw your hands up and slammed them back to your sides. "You know what? Fuck it!" You screamed and slipped off your back pack, handing it to Adrien. You ran through the halls searching for her, resisting the urge to scream her name as you ran.

You were already going to be in enough trouble for being late.

And you were running through the halls.

Let's not add shouting to the list.

You found her leaving the principle's office with Chloe and Mr. Damacles. You stormed up to them and grabbed Zoe by the wrist. "Excuse us for a moment sir." You pulled her towards the stairs, not caring that she stumbled due to your quick and strong pace. You didn't see it, but Mr. Damacles looked relieved to be away from one of the "evil" sisters.

He didn't even try and stop you.

"Y/n—" her voice was fearful, "Please let me go." You noticed the tremble in her voice immediately but you were too angry to be sympathetic.

The two of you were now outside by the bottom stair. "How could you?" You finally asked, breaking the silence between the two of you.

"I-"

You didn't even give her another chance to speak before you started yelling again, "You knew! You knew how much I was dreading coming back here!" Your eyes were filled with frustrated tears, "You sat there acting like you were sad that I was leaving, but then you ignored me every time I called, and to top that you didn't even bother shooting me a text to let me know you moved to Paris!" Your were screaming incredibly loud, and you were getting stares from the pedestrians.

Zoe was mortified.

"What kind of friend does that?" You asked, the tears now falling. Your voice had softened and you were hating yourself for letting her see you cry. She didn't deserve to know how sad you were anymore.

"I'm so sorry, Y/n." She sounded pitiful as she reached out towards you, but you flinched away from her. She stared down at her shoes with darkening eyes.

You whipped around your bag and pulled out your shoe. "I should throw this at your damn face," you spat, even angrier that she was crying. "What was it you called me, trash ass? Well excuse me while I go learn how to be the help since that's all I'm good for." You flipped her off and walked back into the school in search of a tardy pass.

*

You received detention for being late for class, running in the halls, and causing a public disturbance.

Each time you had imagined your best friend moving to Paris you were ecstatic. You imagined walking through the streets and showing her everything about the city, the same she had done for you when you wandering New York.

You never expected it to turn out like this.

You sat in the quiet room, staring at your phone that was on the monitor's desk. All they left you with was the textbook you never finished reading.

That damned textbook...that you should've just kept reading.

**

After you were released from after-school detention, you went to the barge to see Luka and Juleka. You also hoped staying out later would avoid your inevitable punishment for getting detention.

Or make it worse, but who cares about those details?

Rose and Juleka were the first people you saw as you approached the house boat. They both had nervous expressions on their faces; they must've heard or seen you earlier you assumed.

"Hey Y/n!" Rose was quickly back to her cheery self and she waved at you to come over.

"Hey girls." You smiled softly, feeling absolutely exhausted from the emotionally draining day.

"How are you doing Y/n? Adrien was really worried about you earlier."

You would be lying if you said Rose's statement didn't send butterflies through the entire length of your body. You gulped, hard. "You know Chloe's sister?" You asked.

The girls nodded.

"Marinette said she was really mean to both of you." Juleka muttered and you felt your heart clench from the reminder.

"Which is so confusing! Marinette said she was so nice when she met her at your bakery before school this morning." Rose spoke with a hint of a whine in her voice.

Your head shot up and you looked at the small girl with wide eyes, "She...was at the bakery?" You asked as your brain scanned for the memory of the morning. Your mother had said Marinette had ran into a customer, but you never would've imagined it was Zoe.

"Yes, I think Marinette tried to message her to figure out what was going on," Rose's face scrunched with frustration, "Oh! I really don't like it when Chloe brings others down!" She exclaimed with a deep frown on her face.

You no longer had any desire to continue this conversation. You told them you needed a second and you walked over to the edge of the boat. You hoisted yourself up and sat as you stared down at the water.

Your solitude was short lived, Luka hoisted himself up on the ledge next to you. "I always come here too, when my inner melody sounds like that." He pointed in the direction of your chest.

You blinked, resisting the urge to laugh at his bizarre way of speaking.

"You seem like you're good at reading people." You spoke with a soft, sarcastic sounding laugh.

Luka simply shrugged and averted his eyes away from the water and towards you. "You intrigue me, Y/n Dupain-Cheng."

Your eyes widened and you snorted, "Oh my, you pulled out the full name."

"I'm serious." He spoke with no trace of laughter and you looked into his eyes with a body full of conflicted feelings.

"What do you mean by I intrigue you? I get it I'm all over the place but if you find my pain amusing-"

"That's not it,Y/n." He interrupted you with an oddly calm voice, but all you heard was him saying your name again.

That distraction was quickly replaced by comparing yourself to him. While you got worked up about everything quickly, Luka sat there calmly—turning his frustrations into symphonies of peace.

He opened his mouth to speak again but you were interrupted by an insane amount of yelling.

"If you want to be worthy then you'll crush those losers and not me you idiot!" It was Chloe who was screaming. You rushed to the deck with Luka and saw a very tall, golden girl who looked identical to Chloe.

"Why does she look like Chloe...when Chloe is right there?" Rose asked and you shrugged.

Your eyes widened as Ladybug dragged the victim away from the boat, the one who had just crushed Chloe.

The only person this could be was Zoe.

After all of the conversations the two of you had over the past year discussing the jealously and insecurity you both felt because of your sisters...it just had to be her.

You wanted to go to her, you wanted to save her from this evil that was consuming her. You were still pissed at her and you imagined that wouldn't change, but your heart shattered as you watched the only person you ever truly loved hurt people.

When you knew deep down, that was the one thing she loathed the most.

You began to leave but Luka grabbed your arm and pulled you back towards him, holding you close against him. "You can't." He whispered lightly against your ear.

You knew he was right but you still hated yourself and everyone around you for not having the power to save your best friend.

To make matters worse, Ladybug saw the entire interaction between the two of you as she swung through the sky.

**

The akuma alert was soon over and the sun was beginning to set. You knew you needed to go home soon, but you were enjoying the sound of your friend's band to much to leave.

"Hey you guys." It was Marinette's voice that caught your attention. When you looked up her eyes locked with yours and darkened. You shivered at the stare she gave you, having no idea what made her so mad this time.

Following her onto the boat was Zoe, with a box of macaroons from your parent's bakery clutched in her tight grip. Her eyes fell on you and you saw a desperate and sad look across her face.

You adverted your eyes away from her to try and ignore the hitch in your throat. You wanted to make up with her, of course, but approaching her after being so embarrassing earlier made you nervous.

You were lost in thought as you tried to come up with a way to get out of there.

"And then they put cockroaches in my locker." Her voice was broken and it added another crack to your heart that was already on the verge of shattering.

Your eyes averted back to her and she was shamefully looking to the floor. Ivan stepped forward and hugged her tightly, and everyone told her that they forgave her.

'How...do they forgive so easily?'

You had always found it so easy to forgive Marinette growing up, you wanted your sister no matter how much she wanted you.

But with Zoe, it felt like you chose each otherZ shouldn't that be easier to forgive?

After a while her shoes were passed around and more people added their personalized designs to her shoes. It made you sad to watch, considering that no one else ever added their friendship to your shoes.

You picked up your backpack and began to walk off the boat to go back home.

Your mood was depleting, you needed to get out of there before you ruined everyone's night.

A hand grabbed your shoulder, you barely made it to the plank. Your body stiffened and your head turned slightly, meeting you were your sister and her frightening eyes.

"Let go of me Marinette." Your voice was soft, a gentle beg for her to let you leave peacefully. She let go of you and you walked back onto stable land, but she kept following you. "Why don't you just go enjoy your friends?" You asked her, desperate for a moment alone after such an overwhelming day.

"Yeah, that's exactly right. My friends." She spat, which caused you to pause.

You stood there as the flood gates that were holding back her anger opened. The pressure of the unavoidable argument between the two of you became too heavy to bare. Your eyes welled with tears and you just waited there for her next move.

"You're really not going to say anything?" Her voice cut like a knife.

"Please just tell me what you want me to say."

Your pitiful tone made her feel guilty for even confronting you. She saw how close you were to Luka while she was saving Zoe, and Marinette felt like her life was so unfair as she watched the two of you. She truly believed you were the core issue of all of it.

"I want you to explain what the hell you're doing hanging around my ex boyfriend of less than a week."

"I didn't even know you had an ex." Your voice was exhausted and you were overwhelmed with an unimaginable amount of sadness.

"God you and your lying is so frustrating! You really expect me to believe you didn't know?" She laughed. "Why the hell did you come back here anyways? You hate it here! If you had just stayed in New York we wouldn't all be so damn miserable!" She yelled at you, gaining the attention of your friends on the houseboat.

You felt your heart sink in your chest as each word drained a bit of your life force. "You're right Marinette." Your words were barely audible.

"I should have never come back."

Almost as if it was waiting for you to break, an akuma flew out of the the trees and into your backpack.

"Peace Wrecker, I am shadowmoth."

Edited 5/16

Playlist for this book:
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/heartbreak-cure-playlist/pl.u-kv9lRk5TagkGg6
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/47bIy8MxQ0NoxJg4sfCmOk?si=oCVu28VQT92-6eOSouxpOA&dl_branch=1

Question! If you could describe Y/n in a sentence (personality, your perception of her goals, etc) what would it be?