Yo, forgot to mention this earlier, but this takes place after Season 3 Episode 9, Miraculer, because the only heroes that are gonna show up are our main five. There will be no spoilers for episodes after that, but the ones before it are fair game. You have been warned ;)

Eleven days earlier: Marinette's POV

Chat Noir wasn't okay, and Ladybug knew it.

He'd been acting strange throughout their patrol. He'd barely said a word to her the entire time, which wasn't like him. Normally, her partner took every opportunity available to flirt or joke around with her, but not tonight. She doubted he even realized he was doing it. He didn't seem particularly angry, just… distant. Distracted. His mind was a world away.

They finished their patrol by the Eiffel Tower, as per usual. But before her chaton could slink off, Ladybug grabbed his tail. "Hey, wait a sec." She walked him over to the edge and gestured for him to sit beside her. She looked him in the eye. "What's wrong, kitty?"

He tensed up, but recovered quickly, leaning back against his elbow and meeting her stare. "What do you mean?"

She didn't relent. "You've been acting weird today. Don't deny it. Is something bothering you?"

"I'm fine, m'lady," he said, but she gave him a skeptical glance.

"If you're so fine, then why are you acting so weird?"

"I just-" his voice cracked and he curled forward, elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. "I don't… I don't know if I should tell you…"

"If it's personal, just leave out the details. But you don't need to tell me if you don't want to."

"I just…" he trailed off again and she wrapped her arms around him.

"I think something bad is going to happen soon… like really, really bad," his voice was shaking, as Ladybug froze like a deer in headlights.

"What do you mean?"

"I-I… I found out something. My kwami says I shouldn't worry about it, but I just have a really bad feeling and..."

"I don't know," he finished. Ladybug responded by squeezing him tighter. They sat like that for a few minutes, until he gave her a small smile and lightly poked her cheek. He whispered, "See you tomorrow, bugaboo."

Then he leapt off the tower and was gone.

Marinette couldn't keep Chat out of her mind that night. She tossed and turned in bed for at least half an hour, until she anxiously whispered, "Do you think he's okay, Tikki?"

"I don't know, Marinette."

"What if he's not?"

"There's nothing you can do right now, Marinette. Best you just get some sleep. You have school tomorrow."

Despite her kwami's advice, Marinette lay awake for hours before finally drifting off into a restless sleep.

Naturally, she woke up late and almost didn't have enough time to get ready. She rolled out of bed with a groan. Her envy of morning people was immense. How did they do it?

She got dressed and packed up her bag with what had to be military levels of speed, stumbled down the stairs, kissed her mom goodbye on the cheek, and grabbed a croissant on the way out the door, which she promptly stuffed in her mouth while running to school. Which she then made a mental note to never do again, because that left her out of breath and nearly choking. God, did she hate Mondays.

Chat Noir was probably having a worse day than she was.

That thought shut her up. Her face settled into a worried frown as she walked into Ms. Bustier's. Alya nudged her. "Missed the alarm again, girl?" When Marinette didn't really react Alya gave her a weird look, before continuing, "You know, you're not the only one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

In front of them, Adrien looked more rumpled than ever. His hair was messy and unbrushed, his shirt was completely wrinkled, and his shoelaces were untied.

Normally, Marinette would be more concerned for him, but her mind was already preoccupied having an anxiety attack on Chat Noir's behalf.

Ms. Bustier started the class off with an announcement. "For this history unit we will be doing a project, where you will make a music video related to the topic of our discussion-"

"Awesome," Nino grinned, but quickly sobered when the teacher gave him a look for interrupting.

"Partners have already been selected randomly"-the class groaned-"and are as follows."

"Nino and Sabrina."

"Juleka and Mylene."

Marinette partially tuned out her teacher as the list when on and on, still worrying about Chat Noir. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong, and wherever her kitty was, he was panicking about something.

Suddenly, Alya nudged her. "Lucky!"

Marinette sat up straight. "What?"

"Girl, have you not been listening? Ms. Bustier just paired you with Adrien!"

Oh, not today. She didn't even realize she'd said it out loud until Alya asked, "Why?"

"Oh, um… I-I'm not wearing my lucky socks! That's all," Marinette breathed a sigh of relief as Alya chuckled. She was glad she hadn't revealed her true thoughts.

Because ever since last night, Chat Noir's anxious words had replayed in her head, over and over. I think something bad is going to happen soon...

It was strange that she was so hung up on this, because it wasn't like anything crazy had happened. They had talked. Chat was acting weird. He seemed really anxious about something, but she had no idea what. And even less idea why she was so worked up about it.

Maybe it was because her instincts were one step ahead of her.

Something bad is going to happen soon.

She shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind. There was no use worrying about it. She'd see her chaton on patrol tonight, everything would be fine.

Before she knew it, Alya was nudging her. "C'mon Marinette, class is over." Marinette looked up and was startled to see that half of the class had already packed up and left for lunch. Alya shook her head. "What is with you today, girl?"

Marinette and Alya joined Nino and Adrien at their usual table in the cafeteria. Conversation was subdued, as neither Marinette nor Adrien seemed to want to laugh and joke around. Then the bell rang, and they were off to study hall in the library, where everyone was getting started on their projects. Alya and Nino were pulled off to separate parts of the library by their respective partners, and then there were no more tables, so Marinette ended up sitting on the floor next to Adrien in a secluded corner of the library.

Ok, get on task Marinette. She needed to stop thinking about Chat and focus on her project with Adrien. She didn't want to look weird in front of him. Besides, there was nothing to worry about right?

Or was there?

Well maybe-

"FOCUS, Marinette," she groaned.

"What?" Adrien's head snapped up.

"Nothing," she turned toward Adrien, giving him a forced smile. That's when she realized his eyes were slightly red, like he'd been crying.

Had he looked like that all morning? She'd been too distracted to notice. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"What? Yeah, why?"

"Your eyes look kinda red. Ha-have you been dying-no, n-not dying I meant-I mean-crying?!"

Gosh, he probably thought she was so weird.

Or maybe that wasn't what he was thinking about, because he immediately paled and said, "What? No-no, you must be seeing things, it's probably just the lighting here in the corner, playing tricks on your eyes."

"You're lying," the words slipped out of Marinette's mouth before she even thought about it and once she realized what she'd said she startled, nearing falling out of her chair.

She opened her mouth to apologize when he cut her off, deflated. "Yeah, you caught me." He put his head in his hands, elbows on his knees, and his posture looked so similar to Chat's the night before that her brain did a double take.

Was is possible that Chat's dilemma could be connected to Adri-

SHUT UP, STUPID BRAIN.

Marinette hated her brain sometimes. But she did not let that show as she laid a comforting hand on Adrien's shoulder.

"Marinette, can I tell you something crazy?" he whispered.

"Uh… sure."

"I think my dad's assistant is a drug addict."

Thanks for reading, and for all of the reviews/comments so far. I appreciate it so much; your words are my fuel when I'm procrastinating on getting this done. I'll see you in the next chapter! :P