Adrien

Adrien had been back in school for two weeks now and there hadn't been a single akuma attack. Marinette had told him about what Master Fu had said and how despite his words, there hadn't been any sightings of the new miraculous holders during patrols. Even if there had be, he wouldn't have known. Between his father locking down the house, tightening up his schedule and Marinette refusing to let him patrol until he was fully healed, he hardly saw anything anymore. He knew they were just worried about him, with good reason of course. Adrien still hadn't completely wrapped his mind around what had happened in front of the Louvre when that akuma had attacked. He could barely remember it but he had seen the videos and they were...terrifying...to say the least.

The upside however was now his father would let Marinette come over almost anytime after they had gotten acquainted in the hospital. They had met in the past but in the way an eager fan meets an idol. Now it was like they had bonded in their solemn goal of protecting him. He was sure they would ease off, eventually, but it was nice to see they were getting along. Marinette's parents were no better either. Since they knew his and Marinette's secret, they had been dotting on him daily, sending him boxes of cookies and cakes and creme puffs. He had already added on a few pounds because of it and if he didn't start patrolling again soon, he might have to become a plus size model. Which wouldn't be a bad thing, when Adrien really thought about it.

Adrien was now standing in the open area of his school, talking to Nino about the latest Jagged Stone album when he noticed Chloe walking through the front doors. She had been acting a little different lately, a little nicer. But that wasn't what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the silver hair comb placed in front of the base of her pony tail. A small, barely noticeable hair accessory that Chloe had been wearing for a week or so now. The issue was that he hadn't noticed it at first. This was unusual for Chloe because the instant she got something new she always made a point to show it off before never wearing it again. But when he had said something to her about it she did something unthinkable, she brushed it off acting like it was no big deal. This could only mean one thing: it had been a gift from Chloe's mother.

Adrien initially blamed Chloe's mother for how cruel Chloes was. She had left Chloe when when Chloe was just a toddler, leaving her father to raise her alone. This lead to her being spoiled for the sake of time management and hurt by her mother's betrayal. To make matters worse, once in a blue moon her mother would send a present from wherever the hell she was at and expect Chloe to get all giddy about it. Chloes would wear or use the present for a week or two secretly hoping that wearing it might make her closer to her mother, only to feel embarrassed and stupid, discarding like everything else. Adrien remembered the first time he had experienced one of these present situations when he and Chloe were ten. Chloe had gotten a hair bow from her mother on her birthday and she wore it with pride for days. But Adrien also remembered the tears that soon followed that pride, it was one of the few times Chloe had be genuine in front of him.

"Adrien, earth to Adrien," Nino tapped Adrien's shoulders trying to bring him back to reality. "Man did you even hear a word I just said?"

"Oh um," Adrien fumbled looking back towards Nino, "Yeah, No . Sorry dude, I guess I'm more tired then I thought." He made a sheepish look at Nino hoping he would buy it. He did.

"Aw man, are you still not sleeping? Your old man ain't gonna let you leave the house if you don't start getting better. But I can't blame you after all. With what you've been through, I wouldn't be sleeping either." Nino tried to sympathize the best he could. Like most people, Adrien had lied to him about what really happened. Some Things were true. The fact that he had been hurt during an akuma attack by an akuma wasn't a lie nor was the fact that he had nightmares every night. But he wasn't dreaming about the poor akumatized soul that had been forced to to attack him and Ladybug. What haunted his sleep was the image of him turning all beast like again and hurting someone, hurting Marinette.

"Any man, Are you gonna be able to go with me to get the new album from Jagged Stone today?" Nino asked with Hope in his voice. His dad had just barely started to ease up on him this week by saying he could hang at Nino's place this coming weekend and he knew he ought best not test his luck. His face must of revealed his answer because nino's suddenly sunk.

"Oh c'mon man don't be like that," Adrien pleaded in a half genuine half teasing tone, " You know my dad is still being major protective after all that happened. You're just lucky he is letting me come over this weekend."

'Wait bro, he's letting you come over this weekend?" Nino exclaimed ecstatic, grabbing Adrien in a hug.

"What I hadn't told you, I knew I forgot something," Adrien feigned forgetfulness.

Nino pulled back from the bear hug, both hands gripping Adrien's forearms. Adrien gave his best friend a goofy smile.

"You," Nino said returning the goofy smile for his own, while wrapping his arm around Adrien's shoulders. Just in time to see this honesty display of loving camaraderie, Alya and Marinette walked up to their boys from behind.

\ "Now Adrien do I have any reason to be jealous?" Alya teased, bringing the boys' attention the the girls. Nino and Adrien, without releasing each other from the other's grip, spun around in one large swoop to face the girls. It was quite the impressive feat.

"Yes," Adrien said with an almost completely serious face until he and Nino busted up laughing simultaneously. Adrien had really come out of his shell and was even starting to make jokes in the same dorky fashion as Nino and Alya. But that didn't mean Alya was going to let him get away with it.

"That's fine," She said nonchalantly as she threw her arms around Marinette's shoulders from behind, "That just means I get Marinette all to myself, isn't that right Mari?" Marinette, instantly able to play along, threw her hands together in a swooning maiden pose.

"Oh Alya," she said playfully only to be followed by their joined laughter. The four all laughed together in an eruption of giggles.

...

Chloe

Chloe had only transformed once after she got Pollen. She had never been more glad that there hadn't been an akuma attack in weeks. She had made sure that she would had no hand in making an akuma as much as she could control. She had never been more nervous in her whole life as she was to fight her first akuma. She would be fighting alongside Ladybug and to a lesser extent even the thought of fighting by Chat Noir's side made her nervous. Could she really do it? Was she really up to the test of being a hero. She had been wearing the hair comb just in case but she hadn't made any public appearances as her latex clad self.

It was after school and Chloe was on her way out when she saw Adrien. She had told Sabrina to go on ahead to the store and get them a place in line so they could get the new Jagged stone CD, Chloe told her she had run some mayor related errands for her father but she just wanted to walk there herself. She had been doing a lot of thinking lately and it helped to do it when other people weren't watching. So she was packing up quietly by herself in the classroom when she saw Adrien. He had also told his friends to go on ahead without him. She knew that he wasn't able to go but they had offered to walk with him to his father's car. Instead Adrien said he forgot something and ran back into the classroom. But he wasn't looking at his desk for whatever he had forgotten, no he was looking at her.

Ever since he had started public school again, they had grown distant. It was mostly due tothe fact that she was horrible to everybody and he was so sweet. But he never stopped trying to be her friend. He even tried to encourage to be nice, he was naive like that.

"Chloe," he said with sympathy in his voice, "Where did you get that hair comb?" his voice was still sweet and gentle, but in the way you approached a wounded animal. But the question still made Chloe horribly nervous. She had tried so hard not to bring any attention to the comb that no one had asked about it in weeks but of course Adrien had noticed it.

"What hair comb?" She lied. Pollen had told her b=very specifically not to tell anyone about who she was or about the miraculous.

"That silver one, it looks very nice. I thought I might get one like it for Marinette," Now they were both lying and Chloe knew it. Did Adrien know something she didn't?

"Oh this old thing," she said gesturing towards the comb at the top of her head. It was time to put on on the Chloe Charm™ "It's just a family heirloom that Daddy found," she said making herself sound arrogant and proud, despite really being neither of those things. She hated lying to Adrien.

"Chloe I know when you're lying," He said with a little more hardness to his voice. And I know when you're lying she thought. Why was he so adamant about this? "You got it from her didn't you?" his voice was now mixed between hard and soft like he didn't know how to feel about what the answer might be.

"What," Adrien has broken Chloe's selfish facade with these words, leaving her baffled.

Adrien slowly walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Adrien what are you…"

"You said you wouldn't let her hurt you again," he said gently.

"Adrien, No," She stated, " It didn't come from my mother." Chloe pulled herself away from his grasp. She wanted to be happy that he went through this trouble worrying about her but she was too focused on trying to keep her secret.

"Oh, I uh," Adrien seemed confused.

"It's sweet of you to be worried about me Adrikins but you have nothing to worry about." She did her best to try and reassure him. "It's just some dusty old trinket Daddy found in a box of things from my grandma. He insisted I wear it and you know how much I hate to disappoint Daddy." Chloe really tried to sell the story.

"Oh, OK," Adrien seemed a little embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I just didn't want to see you get hurt or akumatized." Adrien shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"Oh Adrikins you're so sweet to me," She said trying to reassure him with her regular self. "Why don't you let me walk you out to you papa's car?" This made Adrien Smile which calmed Chloe's palpitating heart.

'Okay chloe, Let's go," He responded with a giggle. Chloes quickly grabbed her bag off the desk and turned to follow him out the door.