Now
"You give them to much control over you." You smiled softly as the two of you sat cross legged on the floor in her room, the kwamis all flying rampant around your heads.

"I know." She whined, doubling over and allowing the palms of her hands to smack on her eyes. "I just feel so badly leaving them cooped up in the miracle box."

You grimaced at that. "You know they have a whole world in there, right?" You asked with the slightest chuckle, feeling sort of weird that she felt like the way your grandfather did things was wrong. No one was perfect though, he surely wasn't.

And neither are you.

"I know, they just enjoy being out here so much and learning all the humans things." She said with a sigh, waving her hand around.

You nodded. "Of course, they're very curious creatures."

She just sighed, sitting there with you and seeing how composed you were was making her feel like a guardian. "Do you just—"

Almost as if you knew where she was going with that, "And you give them out to much. I know you've dialed it back a bit, but Stompp was telling me about the times you gave him out in a whole group with Ivan as the holder." Learning that made you feel a bit better about not wanting to go out and be a hero.

"I just didn't know what to do after becoming the guardian." She admitted. "Things with Chat Noir were only getting weirder since he was in love with me, but we have way to many responsibilities to even consider that." She sighed.

You frowned, forgetting how infatuated the hero was with the guardian. It had only made you uncomfortable back in the day, the boy would tease you with jarring comments and innuendos—but be in love with another girl the whole time.

"How is he now? With you."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly after Master Fu lost his memories and you stopped being a holder, he changed."

Placing your elbow on your knee, you leaned your chin on your palm and stared at the girl. "How so?" He seemed pretty similar to you whenever he visited. Still as cocky and bratty as ever,

She shook her head almost like she didn't know. "Doesn't talk as much, sticks more to the shadows. I guess part of that is my fault too, I didn't need him as much when I relied on the team."

You nodded slowly. "I can see how that would upset him. He always like to be the center of attention." You rolled your eyes.

She laughed. "Yeah, you're right about that."

Reaching forward, you grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "You're doing great, Marinette." Her eyes widened. "You took a hard situation and made it work, be proud of yourself."

Her eyes began to tear up. "Thank you, Y/n."

And before you could leave the room for your shift, she stopped you. "You're doing great too. You had it the worst out of all of us, and look how tall you stand." She smiled.

You stared down at her hatch door, turning quickly to smile at her and nod before walking back down the stairs.

It was weird to you that she saw you like that, when you thought of yourself all you could see was failure.

**
"When do you get off?" Nathaniel whined, leaning over the counter.

"I'm closing tonight, I already told you this." You hummed as you continued scrubbing the dish you had been working on since the two of them walked in.

"We just want to take you out Y/n. You're always so cooped up and busy." Marc smiled gently.

"I'm perfectly fine." You retaliated. "Go home, work on your comic."

"No way." Nathaniel protested. "Our worry for you is inhibiting our art."

Marc nodded in agreement. "Right, first you take to long to tell us you returned, then you move in with Marinette and work at her bakery instead of asking one of us, and then you turn to Adrien-"

You leaned over and stuffed a cookie in his mouth. "Don't mention that!" You hissed, a blush rising to your cheeks.

Marc reached up and grabbed the cooking, chewing on the bit he had unintentionally bitten. "We're just worried about you." He sighed, rubbing his eye. "Just come get some ice cream with us, we can wait until you get done."

"Fine." You sighed, cutting eyes at the two of them. "But you're buying."

**
Night came quickly and the stars were dancing across the sky. You wondered if Andre was even running his cart right now, anyone with sense would be asleep.

But hey when have you ever had any?

The three of you, arms linked, walked down the streets chatting about nonsense. They went back and forth on a new anime that they had been streaming since you were away, and you made a few comments about the old ones you enjoyed together.

They told you about their new comic book that would be printed next week, and you told them about the progress you were making on your portfolio.

The air was cool and the night seemed to not be to bad after all.

Maybe this is exactly what you needed, a night out with these guys, they always did know how to make you smile.

"Y/n! Watch out!" A voice called out as soon as Marc and Nathaniel began running towards the ice cream cart, leaving you lingering behind.

You turned around quickly, wondering who could be yelling when you saw Chat Noir hurdling towards you, a large akumatized victim trailing behind him.

Before your body could react with the training that had been ingrained in you all those years ago, Chat Noir collided with you, finding a tight grip on your waist before using his stick to swing the two of you into the sky.

You quickly gripped his shoulders in a panic. "What the hell?" You screamed, watching as the victim chased after the two of you. "Where's Ladybug? And my friends!" You yelled as you pointed back towards the boys now in danger.

"I'll get to them." His voice was rough against your ear. "Let me get you to safety first."