Marinette teetered back and forth on her toes as she tried to explain to her parents why she wasn't in her room. Obviously, she couldn't tell them she was Ladybug. That would put both of her parents in extreme danger, so that was out of the question.

It looked like Marinette had to do the one thing she hated the most: lie.

"Well, I..." Marinette mumbled, picturing her balcony and the ground below it. She was going to tell her parents that she jumped off it to meet up with Alya at the movies, but her balcony was way too high off the ground for her to make it down without breaking a few bones.

Sabine raised an eyebrow, her feet tapping on the floor. The disappointed gaze on her face then softened. "We really don't want to ground you again, sweetie. Please tell us the truth."

Marinette's heartbeat quickened, her mind flashing to the only other person that was with her that day. Sorry kitty, she briefly thought before she opened her mouth to speak."I went somewhere with Chat Noir."

"You... what?" Sabine gasped, her eyes widening.

Tom stood up straight, raising an eyebrow of his own. "The superhero?" he voiced in disbelief.

"Yes," Marinette sighed, falling deeper into the lie.

"How? W-why?" Sabine continued, slowly spiraling into a hopeless abyss. She wanted to know why her daughter was supposedly out with a superhero and if she got into any danger along the way.

"I was feeling lonely and needed some company," Marinette mumbled, twiddling her fingers.

"Call Alya then! Not some superhero!" Sabine raised her voice, pacing back and forth across the floor. "We don't know their real identities, Marinette. What if..."

"He isn't like that!" Marinette exclaimed defensively before Sabine said exactly what she thought she was going to say. Her heart shattered as she counteracted her mothers' statement with the continuous lie. "I didn't call Alya because she couldn't have gotten me out from my balcony. Only Chat Noir could."

Tom furrowed his brows. "This is not acceptable, Marinette. What if Chat Noir attracted the likes of some supervillain and then you would be caught in the middle of their fight?"

"But he didn't, and I'm fine," Marinette sighed. She felt horrible for making her parents slowly dislike Chat Noir. "Please, don't act like this. Chat Noir is actually a really good person."

Sabine took a seat on the couch, wrapping her mind around the entire situation. Her head was spinning. "Marinette, I'm sorry, but he is a superhero. His job is to protect Paris, not to whisk you off whenever you feel like leaving."

Marinette widened her eyes, realizing her mothers' words sounded exactly like her own. Even though the scenario was made up, Sabine had a point. Chat Noir was a superhero and so was Ladybug. She was foolish to ever think it could be something more...

Wait, what?

Marinette inexplicably felt her eyes water as she thought about the situation even more. Was she developing feelings for Chat Noir? It wouldn't be a surprise considering her love life with Adrien was absolutely crushed. Then again, even if Marinette had feelings for Chat Noir, it could never work.

They were superheroes and they had jobs to do. They didn't have time to fall in love. In fact, the more Marinette thought about, these words were the exact same ones she used to reject Chat Noir as Ladybug.

And Marinette never thought she would have to give the same talk to herself.

Sabine stood up from the couch and approached Marinette. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I don't want you to be out with Chat Noir anymore. His job is too dangerous for you to be around him."

"Okay," Marinette whispered, taking her mother's words with a grain of salt.

She was still Ladybug, so she would be with Chat Noir no matter what. The only difference this time was that she couldn't be seen with him as Marinette anymore.

The fact that she was Ladybug and could still see Chat Noir during patrols or when they fought akumas made her feel a little better. But she was still incredibly angry at herself for creating this problem in the first place. All because of a little lie.

"Sorry again," Marinette whispered. "I'd... better get up to my room then."

Sabine and Tom stayed silent, watching as their daughter turned around and trudged up the stairs to her room.

Marinette would remain there for the rest of the night.

Sabine turned to Tom once Marinette was upstairs, her body tensing. "Do you think we were too hard on her?"

"No," Tom replied. "She needs to learn she can't go sneaking around with superheroes, especially after what happened to Ladybug today. What if Chat Noir had dragged Marinette along? She could've gotten trampled by all of those news reporters or worse."

"I don't know, maybe I should go talk--" Sabine quickly said, but Tom stopped her, caressing her shoulder.

"She'll be alright," Tom said, planting a kiss on Sabine's head. "Marinette knows we only do this out of love."

Sabine relaxed her body, resting her head on Tom's chest. "I hope you're right."

*

The next day at school, Marinette tried to resume as normal. But the pain hurt.

Knowing that Adrien practically hated her was overwhelming.

So every time she sat behind him that day, looking at his golden hair and smelling his nostalgic cologne, she wanted to burst into tears.

It was getting harder to deal with and move on.

Alya noticed Marinette was acting strange at school. Heck, she had been acting strange ever since Louise moved into the picture. But this time, it was different.

No longer did Marinette look scornful or jealous to her best friend, instead she looked heartbroken and empty.

Alya pulled Marinette aside as they were leaving their physics class.

"Hey," she whispered. "What's up with you? Didn't you get my texts over the weekend?"

Marinette had been silent with her best friend. She hadn't told Alya about the plan to take down Louise with Chloe, nor the part where Adrien broke her heart.

Marinette was done keeping secrets.

"I-" she coughed, her eyes beginning to water. That familiar feeling of pain came flooding back.

"Marinette," Alya said quietly, leaning in closer. "You can tell me."

Something inside Marinette snapped. She was done bottling up her feelings. Enough was enough.

"Adrien hates me," Marinette breathed coldly, her eyes staring straight ahead. "He hates me, Alya."

A few tears had slipped down her cheeks, but that was about it. She had expended all of her tears the last few weeks.

"What? No he doesn't-"

"Yes he does!" Marinette yelled, sliding down the wall and falling on her butt. "You didn't see the way he looked at me."

Alya crouched down, grabbing her friend by the shoulders. "What are you talking about?!"

Just then, a tall figure cleared their throat, interrupting the two.

Alya and Marinette turned their heads to see Ms. Mendeleev standing in front of them with her hands on her hips.

"What is going on here?" the teacher asked, clearly annoyed. "You two are interrupting my class."

"Sorry," Marinette murmured, keeping her head down. Her puffy, tear filled eyes were cleverly hidden behind her bangs. "Won't happen again." She promptly fled the scene, forcing Alya to race after her.

Marinette hadn't seen where she was going, and accidentally bumped into someone on her way out.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, these are expensive shoes," a high pitched voice whined.

Normally, Marinette would've thought it was Chloe. But it wasn't.

Louise dusted herself off, looking through Marinette's bangs to spot her eyes. "Oh, it's you!"

Marinette remained neutral, wiping her eyes.

"Sorry I bumped into you," Louise smiled. She then tilted her head. "You okay?"

Alya caught up with her friend, bending over to catch her breath. "Geez you are fast," she panted, glancing up momentarily to spot Louise. She straightened up and waved. "Oh. hey Louise."

"Hi Alya," Louise greeted back. Her eyes then refocused on Marinette. "But seriously, are you okay? We can talk if you want."

"I'm fine," Marinette replied, turning away.

"Okey dokey," Louise shrugged. "Let me know if you need anything, kay?"

Marinette didn't reply, she just gave her a sly glare before walking out the doors of the school.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that sly, as Alya saw it and gasped at the gesture. "Marinette! That was so rude!"

But she kept walking.

Never. Turning. Back.

Louise sighed, crossing her arms and acting completely clueless. "I tried being nice to her. I mean, I know she liked Adrien, but I really hoped she would move past that and we could be friends."

"I know she will come around, sorry about her," Alya shrugged.

"Why was she crying?" Louise asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," Alya answered without hesitation. She then looked around. "Do you mind pointing me in the direction of your boyfriend? I have a homework question to ask him."

Louise piped up, flashing a toothy grin. "Of course! He's in the locker room talking to his fencing buddies."

"Thanks," Alya smiled, walking away.

"No problem," Louise replied, watching Alya walk away. She hummed happily as she pulled out her phone and texted a blocked number.

Everything is going according to plan. Just a few more days and we are ready for take off.
~L