As it turned out, there was so much more to Marinette than meets the eye. The teacher was equal about calling on names to answer questions.

But, other parent's noticed, that she would always hesitate when calling on Marinette. Tom and Sabine especially noticed the teacher's pause before deciding to pick their daughter to answer. 

She was always correct.

Which, they figured, wasn't difficult for their little Marinette, she has always been oh-so-smart. She didn't really come to them about her homework, and always brought back beautiful report cards. It was just another thing they didn't have to stress about, thinking about her future. But they long since decided that Marinette could be whatever she wanted to when she grew up.

It was now their lunch break- which was essentially a banquet from all the food all the parents brought to share with everyone. Marinette eyed everything with bright eyes, and happily tried everything that was offered on the table (excluding anything that had contained chocolate, much to her dismay).

"Marinette!" she turned to see her parents sitting with the Bourgeois', and walked over with her plate (filled with many foods) and sat down in between her parents. She looked at Chloe for a moment, who frowned at her, and bobbed her head in greeting before tucking into her food. "So, Mrs. Bourgeois, this is Marinette. She's twelve, but her birthday is coming up!"

"It's not a big deal, mom," Marinette rolled her eyes, "if anything, I'd rather not think about it. Birthdays are simply yearly reminders that children came out of their mothers-"

"Marinette, please," Tom brought a hand to cover is ears, "I don't want to hear that from my baby."

"Speaking of babies, we learned how they were made in class last week, well, the others did, but I already knew about it-"

"Is she always like this?" Audrey stared at Marinette in distaste, but oddly enough, more impressed than anything. 

"Has been since she was born," Sabine sighed, "she's always been very independent."

"Unfortunately, I still have to depend on them for a few more years," Marinette piped up, swallowing her food, looking up at Audrey through her eyelashes, "since they take care of me, make me food, and pay my medical bills, not to mention the addition of how much they're going to have to spend on my feminine care-" she frowned, "which I'm still dreading, as much as I can take care of myself, I would be lost without my parental unit."

There was a small pause, as the Bourgeois' staring at Marinette who starting digging into her food once again.

Chloe stopped eating to throw her a look, "Femim- what?"

"Remember when they showed us about the uterus, periods, and sperm? Feminine care is what females need during their monthly menstrual cycle." 

Chloe gave a blank stare, "I shouldn't have asked."

Sabine and Tom laughed, used to situations like this. But it was nice to see Marinette interacting more; since Luka left, she hasn't been as active. She spend her days painting, reading, or just staring out the window. Lost in her own thoughts.

Thoughts they could only ever hope to understand.

"Ah, Mari, don't eat that!" Tom snatched a muffin from her, receiving a look of betrayal from her. "Mari, I ate one of these before you got to the table, it has chocolate in the middle."

"Oh," she frowned, "thanks, papa."

"You're not allowed to have chocolate?" Chloe cackled, "Sucks for you!"

"Chloe," Andre reprimanded, but with his wife and Chloe, he didn't have much of a chance.

"Ah, Marinette's allergic, you see," Sabine smiled sadly, "it's very severe. She's required to carry an epipen on her and the nurse has minimal supply."

"Oh, goodness, I had no idea, Sabine," Tom frowned, "Did Emilie know?"

Audrey rose a curious brow, how did these...mid-class residents know Gabriel and Emilie Agreste?

Marinette sent an empty smile at Andre, "She still has some, I think. We all found out I was allergic after Adrien fed me chocolate." Andre winced, remembering the current status of Adrien's predicament with memory loss, and began to apologize, but Marinette stopped him. "You have nothing to apologize for, Mr. Bourgeois, all you did was ask a question."

"An insensitive one."

She tilted her head, the same, empty smile held some amusement, leaning her chin on her palm.

"Now, really, Mr. Bourgeois, do I seem like a sensitive person to you?"

-

Tom and Sabine got to meet Nathaniel and Alix during Marinette's Art class, who rushed over to introduce her to their parent's. They were very surprised to see how easily Alix dragged Marinette around without her getting upset about being touch and manhandled. 

Marinette politely greeted their parents, who were intrigued from the stories their kids tell them of the super-smart-blank-slate friend that they seemed to have gained- or had, in Nathaniel's case. After his parents had moved him to a different daycare (the original had prices and fees that they could honestly save money on). But in that move, he seemed to have found the nice-quiet girl that he had met at his old daycare- though he didn't quite know her enough, as soon as she saw him, she sat with him as usual.

As if nothing was different.

"We have nothing to worry about, do we?" Sabine sighed at her husband's question, "Or at least, not until boys start asking for her hand- then we'll have something to worry about."

"Now, honey, I think we both know that Marinette already promised herself to a certain someone," Sabine teased, who nearly wailed at the thought. "Though with how things are now," she shook her head, "it might not even happen. Though, I am curious as to what will happen once Luka comes back with his mother."

"Ah, yes, the great rivalry between the prince and a knight, yes?" Tom joked, but looked over at his precious, little Marinette who shared her thoughts on Nathaniel's art and rapidly growing skills to his parents who listened with small smiles of appreciation and relief. "Both after my little princess."

"I don't know who the prince and knight are-" a voice piped up, making them jump and looking down at Marinette's friend, Alix, who grinned up at them, "-but Marinette's real popular, ya know? She just doesn't know it!" She turned to look at her friends, "There isn't a boy in the school who hasn't had a crush on Marinette! Nathaniel has the biggest one I've ever seen!" She whispered the last part to them, before laughing.

Tom buried his face in his hands to stop himself from screaming while Sabine laughed.

So, maybe there was a few things to worry about...