Marinette was nervous about showing up to school the next day. Part of her wanted to go after him last night, but he looked really mad, and Tikki advised otherwise. 

"He's not in the right space right now. If you go after him now, he won't be the kindest. Wait to talk to him," Tikki said.

"Talk to him tomorrow, perhaps. It will help resolve things."

Marinette had a feeling things weren't going to be so easy. 

As she walked into the school building, she could see most of her classmates waiting for the first bell to ring. In one corner, she saw Nino standing with a few of the other boys in her class. Adrien wasn't there.

She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not. If he did show up, he'd still sit in front of her. 

"Boo!" Alya placed her hands on Marinette's shoulders.

Marinette jumped and let out a loud squeak before covering her mouth. Alya started laughing while Marinette's face turned red as a few students around them turned to look at them.

"Alya!" she hissed. "Not funny!"

"You scare so easily!" she giggled. "You were way out of it, I couldn't resist."

Marinette huffed in frustration. She was already nervous enough. 

"No, but seriously, you good?" Alya stopped laughing, noticing Marinette was more upset than usual. "You were just staring off into space with an intense look."

"I'm just... stressed?" she replied.

"Stressed?"

"Yup! Lots and lots of school work, you know?" she laughed nervously. 

Alya narrowed her eyes at her but could tell Marinette didn't want to talk about what was actually bothering her.

"I get it," she decided not to probe. 

The first bell rang, and Alya and Marinette walked into class. 

A few moments later, Adrien walked in. Marinette tensed, and Alya took immediate notice. She turned to look at Adrien, and he had his eyes down. 

"Hey, dude," Nino spoke.

"Hey," Adrien said back. He briefly looked at Alya and waved at her. And, to the surprise of Nino and Alya, completely ignored Marinette. They both exchanged surprised glances. 

Alya turned to look at Marinette, expecting her to be shocked too. Instead, Marinette shrank into her seat shamefully. 

Before she could begin to ask anything, the bell rang, and the teacher began class. 

Eventually, lunchtime rolled around. As the group was getting ready to head out, Adrien stood up before them.

"See you guys later," he spoke before quickly exiting. 

Marinette looked down shamefully once again.

"Marinette, did something happen?" Alya frowned. They had gone back to being friends again. They were getting along just fine the day before!

Marinette didn't respond but could feel the hot tears form in the corners of her eyes. 

Alya took immediate notice. "Girl, hey, honey, what's wrong?"

Marinette just shook her head. How could she explain to her friends what happened? It involved her alter-ego. 

"Did he do something to you or say something?" Alya asked. Marinette kept shaking her head. 

"I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled. She picked up her stuff and quickly left the classroom, choosing to go home for lunch. 

"The hell did we miss?" Nino turned to look at Alya confused. 

"I don't know. Think you can talk to him? I can talk to Marinette."

"They clearly want to avoid the subject. How are we going to get them to stay and talk to us?"

"They can't avoid the project we still need to finish. We'll just have to talk to them then." 

.

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. 

Marinette was still nervous about talking to him. But at home, Tikki reminded her they were still superheroes. They have to talk eventually and work this out. Even if they're going through a rough patch, Paris can't wait. 

Tikki encouraged it to happen as soon as possible. An akuma attack could happen at any moment. 

So when class ended, Marinette waited by the entrance of the school. Adrien would have to walk by there so she could try to stop him then. 

People filtered out quickly. She looked around, hoping to catch him before he left. 

To her luck (sort of, anyway), Adrien walked out of a classroom after most students had left. Most students left had after-school activities, so most were heading to different parts of the school. 

As Adrien walked past her, Marinette reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"Adrien, wait," she pleaded. 

He turned to look at her with a glare, and she quickly let go of his arm.

"Please, you have to listen to me. We have to talk."

"We already talked," he responded.

"No, we didn't. Adrien, please," her eyes began to water. 

Seeing her tear up only made him angrier. Why was she sad? Oh, right, because Chat Noir was dumping her.  Chat Noir. That's who she is seeing. 

"Yes, we did. It's clear you only wanted Chat Noir, not Adrien."

"That's not true, just please, let me talk! Why won't you let me speak?"

Adrien sighed, "There's nothing you can say that will make this situation better."

"You're not even letting me try," a few tears began to roll down Marinette's cheeks. 

Couldn't she see his point of view? Was she being so selfish and only seeing her own side?

"What if I wasn't Chat Noir?" he asked.

"Wh-what?"

"What if I wasn't Chat Noir? Would it have changed things if I was only Adrien?

"That wouldn't have changed anything!"

Adrien scoffed, "Be honest with yourself for once, Marinette."

"I am being honest!" she cried. 

He looked at her, "Oh really? What if Chat Noir was actually Luka? Would you care about Adrien then? Would you show up at his place? Or would you ignore heartbroken Adrien and go fuck Luka instead?"

Marinette flinched at his words. Her jaw dropped. More tears began to roll down her face.  

"Which is it? Hm?" he glared. 

Her mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. His words stung. A lot. 

"Figures," he mumbled and brushed past her, walking out of the school building. 

~~~~~~~~~~

sorry for all the cliffhangers lol

short chapter, I ran out of steam

enjoy the angst, there's more to come