Adrien shut the door of his locker with a resounding slam. Plagg poked out of his shirt collar and jokingly hissed, "Did you want the entire school to hear that?"

"Sorry, Plagg, I'm just distracted today," the blond muttered, zipping up his coat. The kwami took note of Adrien's downturned eyes and softened his voice to a concerned whisper. Adrien somberly pet his kwami and nudged him back into hiding. The school day was finally over and all he wanted to do was go home to sulk alone.

"H-hey Adrien," came a soft voice from behind him. Adrien turned to come face-to-face with Marinette. As always when she interacted with him, she seemed slightly on-edge and nervous. Adrien managed a small smile despite his mood. Marinette was a hard person to sulk around.

Marinette pulled a small box from behind her back. "I noticed you seemed a little down this morning. I brought these for you from home during our lunch hour." Adrien peeked inside the box to find 12 colorful macarons. She took a quick breath, as if to steady herself and tell herself that she was capable of continuing a coherent conversation. She relaxed a little, and continued, "Maybe it's just because my family owns a patisserie, but I rely on desserts to help me get through rough days. I hope these help."

Adrien's cheeks turned the slightest bit pink at the gesture. Marinette was the only one so far to notice his dour mood. He placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her in for a quick hug. After they pulled away, he noticed Marinette's bright red cheeks, and suddenly felt a bit awkward himself.

"Sorry if the hug was too much. It's just that this was really cool of you." He swept his hand through his hair and looked like his old self for the first time all day.

"N-no, it was fine. I like hugs! I'm glad you're happy with the macarons." Marinette stammered. Adrien looked down at the box of cookies and the slightest hint of his Chat-like charm was visible on his face.

"I don't really feel like going home right now. Want to sit down somewhere and help me eat these macarons?"

Marinette froze for a moment before she reminded herself to use her perfectly functional vocal cords. Words, Marinette, words. You know how to speak. She nodded.

"Sure, Adrien, that sounds great." She found her voice again and shot him a vibrant grin. "We can hang out at my place for a bit if you want. We'll have access to plenty more pastries where those macarons came from!"

Adrien took the liberty of taking Marinette's textbooks from her hands, smirking in his head at the blush he was able to elicit from her.

"Sounds perfect. Lead the way, Mari."

Marinette made him sit in the bakery for a few minutes while she claimed to be straightening up her room. Of course, Tikki teased her relentlessly about how "straightening up" simply consisted of hiding all of her posters of Adrien. When they finally made it to Marinette's bedroom, they hung out on opposite ends of her bed and paged through her sketchbook. They came across a design she made of a Chat Noir onesie. Adrien promised to model it for her if she ever made one. After a few hours, Sabine DuPain-Cheng knocked on the door.

"I just wanted to let you two know that dinner's almost ready." She then turned to Adrien with a warm smile. "You are more than welcome to stay if you would like to."

"I would love to, of course, only if Marinette's okay with me staying." He teased with a grin.

Marinette rolled her eyes with a small smile and a hint of pink at her cheeks.

"Of course I want you to stay. We'll be down in five minutes, Maman!" She turned back to Adrien after Sabine retreated back down the stairs. "You certainly seem to be in a better mood," she commented.

Adrien closed his eyes for a moment in reflection. It was the anniversary of Élodie Agreste's disappearance, and Adrien's father refused to talk to him about anything concerning his mother. Not only was Adrien especially hurting today over his mother being gone, but his father's habit of pretending Élodie never existed was making this day much harder.

"Adrien, are you okay?" He snapped out of his reverie. Adrien didn't feel ready to share any of this with Marinette, but his heart felt lighter anyway for having spent the afternoon with her. For lack of words to explain this to her, Adrien simply pulled Marinette in for a hug. This one lingered longer than the first, and he was glad when he felt Marinette relax into it this time.

"Thanks Marinette. You really turned my day around."

This is my first time writing for these characters, so if anything is OOC or awkwardly written, I apologize in advance! Constructive criticism is appreciated! Thanks for reading. :)

Bhavana