Marinette is mopping up his mess with a towel when there’s a knock on her door. She opens it with her elbows to keep the vomit from touching the lid.

It’s Kagami.

Marinette nearly drops her towel. “Oh.”

Sleeveless shirt and tiny skirt. Lots of makeup and glitter. Clearly, a costume party.

“Mari, I’m soooo sorry,” Adrien moans behind me, and his girlfriend rushes to his side.

“Adrien! Are you okay?” Again, her voice startles Marinette. As if the getup weren’t enough to make her feel completely juvenile and inadequate.

“’Course he’s not okay,” Nino grumbles from the bed. “He just puked on Mari.”

Nino is awake?

Kagami looks at Marinette. “Call a cab. We need to get him to his apartment.”

“I can get up by my bloody self.” Adrien tries to push himself up, and the two of them reaches out to steady him. Kagami gives a pointy glare at her, and Marinette backs up.

“How’d you know he was here?” The latter asks.

“Chloé called, but I was already on my way. I’d just gotten his message. He called a few hours ago, but I didn’t get it, because I was getting ready for this stupid party.” She gestures at her costume, upset with herself. “I should have been here.” She brushes the scruffy blonde hair from his forehead. “It’s okay. I’m here now.”

“Kagami?” Adrein sounds confused, as if he’s just noticed her. “Mari? Why is she here? She’s not supposed to be here.”

His girlfriend shoots the bluenette a look, and she shrugs with embarrassment. “He’s really, really drunk,” She says.

Nino rolls off the bed. “Alright, all right! Enough with the drama.”

Amazingly, he stands and pulls Adrien off the floor. The two of them balance him between their shoulders, while Marinette stands, fidgeting. “Get the door,” Kagami says sharply.

Marinette opens it, and they stagger out.

Adrien looks back. “Mari. Mari, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’ve already cleaned it up. It’s fine, it’s not a big deal.”

“No. About everything else.”

Kagami's head jerks back to Marinette, distant and confused, but she doesn’t care. He looks so awful. She wishes they’d put him down.

He could sleep in my bed tonight; she could stay somewhere else. But they’re already maneuvering him down the stairs.

They push aside the glass door and push him outside. Adrien stares at her sadly as the door shuts.

“He'll be fine! Your father will be fine!”

She doesn’t know if he hears her. They bundle inside a cab. Marinette watches it until they disappears.

Sunday, November 1, all Saints’ Day. Oddly enough, this is the actual day that Parisians visit cemeteries. People are dropping by the graves of loved ones and leaving flowers and personal tokens.

The thought makes Marinette ill. She hopes that Adrien doesn’t remember today is a holiday.

When she wakes up, she stops by Adrien's. The door is locked from inside. No doorbell. His cell is switched off. Either he’s out cold or he’s not accepting visitors. Most likely both.

“It’s best to let him sleep,” Alya says. And the bluenette's sure she’s right, but she can’t help but wish he would get up.

Adrien wouldn’t even come out for dinner. Nino, who is cross and bleary, says he checked in with him on his way here—a pizza place, where they always eat on Sunday night—and Adrien didn’t want company. Alya and Nino have patched things up. She looks smug to see him suffering through a hangover.

Marinette's emotions are conflicted. She's worried for Adrien's father, and she's worried for Adrien, but she's also furious with his father. And she can’t focus on anything for more than a second before her mind whirls back to this:

Adrien likes her. As more than a friend.

She felt truth behind his words, but how can she overlooks the fact that he was drunk? Absolutely, positively, one hundred and ten percent smashed. And as much as she wants to see him, to be assured with her own eyes that he’s still alive, figuratively, she doesn’t know what she'd say. Do they talk about it? Or does she act like it never happened?

He needs friendship right now, not relationship drama. Which is why it’s really crappy that it’s become a lot harder to kid herself that Adrien attention hasn’t been as flattering—or as welcome—as it has.

Marinette has to meet with the Kitty Section for the fundraiser, but with everything happening here, she's distracted the entire time. She just wants to go back to bed. It’s too confusing. Everything is too confusing.

On the day of the program, Adrien is absent at the backstage meeting. And although, Marinette convinces herself that it's just the situation, it doesn't stop her from worrying.

But he does appear. Right before the curtains lift.

Sitting beside him, she tries to meet his gaze, but he stares down at his phone with a vacant gaze. Or rather, stares through it. He’s pale, practically translucent.

The audience laughs at a joke by Madame Babineux, but Adrien is quiet. Marinette watches him nervously. Light stubble is beginning to shadow his face.

She hadn’t realized he needed to shave so often.

A loud smattering of applause as Madame Babineux bows with a flourish. Curtains close.

Adrien's still silent.

The bluenette wants to reach out and squeeze his hand and tell him everything will be okay. He shouldn’t be here. She can’t imagine what she'd do if she were in his situation.

His dad let him come. Adrien should be in California.

The next item is the Kitty Section and their classmates cheer and whoop and holler.

Marinette's only half listening to Alya.
Anarky pulls Adrien aside for a minute, and the bluenette suspects that someone had given her a gist of what has happened with the blonde. She can’t follow the entire conversation, but Marinette hears her ask if Adrien would rather like to spend a few minutes in another room. He accepts.

As soon as he leaves, Lila Rossi is suddenly in Marinette's face. “What’s with Adrien?”

“Nothing.” Like she'd tell her.

She flips her hair, and Marinette notices with satisfaction that a strand gets stuck to her lip gloss. “Because Steve said he and Nino were totally wasted Saturday night. He saw them staggering through the Halloween party, and Adrien was freaking out about his dad.”

“Well, he heard wrong.”

“Steve said Adrien wanted to kill himself.”

“Steve is full of shit,” Alya interrupts. “And where were you on Saturday, Lila? So trashed you had to rely on Steve for the play-by-play?”

But this shuts her up only temporarily. After the program, it’s clear the whole class knows. Marinette's not sure who spilled—if it was Lila, or if Steve or one of his bonehead friends remembered something else Adrien said—but everyone is buzzing.

When Adrien finally arrives in the parking lot, it’s like a scene from a bad teen movie. Conversation screeches to a halt. Drinks are paused halfway to lips.

He stops in the doorway, assesses the situation, and marches away. The Couple, and Marinette chase after him, surprised to find Alix and Kim and Chloe and Nathaniel trailing behind them.

After a lot of speed-walking, they find him heading to his car. “I don’t want to talk about it.” His back is to them.

“Then we won’t talk about it,” Nino says. “Let’s go out for lunch.”

“Crêpes?” Kim asks. They’re Adrien's favorite.

“That sounds amazing,” Alya chimes in.

“I’m starving,” Alix says. “Come on.” They move forward, hoping he’ll follow. He does, and it’s all they can do not to sigh in relief. Alix and Kim leads the way, while Nino falls back with Adrien, Nathaniel, Chloé, and Alya trailing behind. He talks about little nothings—a new pen he bought for their art class, the rap song his neighbor keeps blasting about sweaty rumps—and it helps. At least, Adrien shows minimal signs of life. He mumbles something in reply.

Marinette hovers between the groups. The bluenette knows it’s goody-goody of her, but as concerned as she is about Adrien, she's also worried about ditching her friends who worked hard for her. Marinette glances back at the boat, and Nino shoots her a look that says, They won’t care today.

She hopes he’s right.

Their favorite crêperie is only minutes away, and her discomfort for skipping the function eases as she watches the crêpe man ladle the batter onto the griddle.

Marinette almost moans as she sinks into the first bite. Warm and gooey and chocolaty and perfect.

“You have Nutella on your chin,” Alya says, pointing with her fork.

“Mmm,” Marinette replies.

“It’s a good look,” Alix says. “Like a little soul patch.”

Marinette dips her finger in the chocolate and paints on a mustache. “Better?”

“Maybe if you didn’t just give yourself a Hitler. You look ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous,” Chloé says. But she's smiling.

To everybody's surprise, Adrien gives a snort. Marinette's encouraged. She redips and paints one side up in a swirl.

“You’re getting it wrong,” Nathaniel says. “Come here.” He dabs his finger in the edge of chocolate sauce and adds the other half carefully, with his steady artist’s hand, and then touches up her half.

Marinette looks at her reflection in the restaurant’s glass and find herself with a massive, curly mustache. They laugh and clap, and Alya snaps a picture.

The men in elaborately tied scarves sitting at the table beside them look disgusted, so she pretends to twirl the ends of her Nutella mustache. The others are cracking up, and finally, finally Adrien gives the teeniest of teeny smiles.

It’s a wonderful sight.

Marinette wipes the chocolate from her face and smiles back. He shakes his head. The others launch into a discussion of weird facial hair— Alya has an uncle who once shaved off all of his hair except what grew around the edge his face—and Adrien leans over to speak with Marinette.

His face is close to hers, and his eyes are hollow. His voice is scratchy. “About the other night—”

“Forget about it, it wasn’t a big deal,” She says. “It cleaned right up.”

“What cleaned right up?”

Whoops. “Nothing.”

“Did I break something?” He looks confused.

“No! You didn’t break anything. You just, kind of, you know ...” She mimes it.

Adrien hangs his head and groans. “I’m sorry, Mari. I know how clean you keep your room.”

She looks away, embarrassed to be called out on this. “It’s okay. Really.”

“Did I at least hit the sink? Your shower?”

“It was on the floor. And my legs. Just a little bit!” Marinette hurriedly adds, seeing the horrified expression on his face.

“I vomited on your legs?”

“It’s okay! I’d totally have done the same if I were in your situation.” The words are out before she has a chance to stop them. And she is trying so hard not to mention it. His face is pained, but he passes by this subject to one equally excruciating.

“Did I ...” Adrien glances at the others, ensuring they’re still distracted by facial hair. They are. He scoots his chair even closer and lowers his voice.

“Did I say anything peculiar to you? That night?”

Uh-oh. “Peculiar?”

“It’s just ... I only vaguely remember being in your room. But I could have sworn we had a conversation about . . . something.”

Her heart beats faster, and it’s hard to breathe. He remembers. Sort of. What does that mean? What should she say? As anxious as she is for answers, she's not prepared for this conversation. Marinette bides for more time. “About what?”

He’s uncomfortable. “Did I say anything odd about . . . our friendship?”

And there it is.

“Or my girlfriend?”

And there that is. Marinette takes a long look at him. Dark undereye circles. Unwashed hair. Defeated shoulders. He’s so unhappy, so unlike himself.

She won’t be the one to add to his misery, no matter how badly she wants the truth. She can’t ask him. Because if he likes her, he’s not in any state to begin a relationship. Or deal with the breakup of an old one. And if he doesn’t like her, then Marinette will probably lose his friendship. Things would be too weird.

And right now Adrien needs friendship. And familiar. Kagami is the familiar.

Marinette keeps her face blank but sincere. “No. We talked about your dad. That’s all.”

It’s the right answer. He looks relieved.

*

Okay, my writing schedule sucks. So, get ready for lots of random updates at random times! Please leave vote and comment. I'd like to know how I'm going on. Also, do you like the new covers? Check out SAWWE's cover too!

Stay pawsome,
— Upama ♥