It already has been a week since Adrien and Marinette discovered their unique telepathic powers and to say that they were misusing it was an understatement.

On more than one occasion, Adrien would suddenly chuckle during a lecture that their teacher would immediately look at him only to teen staring blankly at him as if nothing happened.

Then on other times Marinette would suddenly scoff or groan for no reason whatsoever and Alya would look at Adrien and as expected see him smirk. He was probably telling her puns again.

Alya couldn't be happier for her best friends. Yes, Alya considered the three of her close friends as her best. Ever since she switched schools her life has never been the same.

Of course at her old school she made friends but most of them were temporary since they hardly clicked with her. Their interests were would mostly not coincide with each other and they would eventually have a fall out until they won't speak with each other anymore.

Shaking her head. Alya decided to let go of that train of thought. There was no point in dwelling in the past when she was already quite contented with the present.

A snort next to her caught her attention. Marinette was trying to hold back from laughing once again courtesy of one blond model.

Where was she? Oh right. Ever since the "big reveal" both Adrien and Marinette looked less stressed and looked more carefree than they had in months. Adrien mostly considering how much his life is compromised of modeling, interviews, photo shoots, fencing, and other useless things his father forces him to do. He was a teen but he had as much responsibilities as an adult which she found unfair.

How could someone be so cruel to pressure their child like that? Not to mention the fact that Adrien once told them that his father rarely congratulated him when he has done something good and it also came with some complaints!

How could you call yourself a father when you are treating your son, your only one by the way, like a slave?!

Like, seriously?! Can't a guy catch a break?!

Shaking her head, Alya turned back to Adrien.

The fact that he looks so at peace right now was worth their identities revealed between the four of them. Alya couldn't even tell who was happier between the two, whether it was Marinette who was now comfortable enough to actually talk to her crush without a break down or Adrien who was happy to know that he was able to experience what a life outside work.

Really, life was good and Alya wouldn't have it any other way.

"Dude... What's with the glare?" Nino asked as he tried to ignore Adrien's glare at him at their lunch table.

Adrien ignored him and instead the glare he was sending him intensified. Nino would've been fine with this but he could hear the faint growl emanating from Adrien and he gulped fearfully.

"Dude... You're scaring me..." He couldn't help but squeak out 'scaring' since this was the first time he saw Adrien this mad at him. He didn't even know what he has done!

"Good." Adrien growled as he bared his teeth at Nino. "Maybe next time you'll watch where you put your hands." Adrien threatened.

"Adrien!" Marinette scolded as she and Alya sat at their table. Marinette then pulled a spray bottle from her bag and sprayed water at Adrien. "Bad! Bad Kitty!"

Adrien hissed. The teen model actually hissed. Nino didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the moment so he settled to turn his attention to Alya and gave her a confused look hoping she could explain.

Much to his relief, she did. Alya smirked as she motioned towards the two superheroes. "As you can see, Adrien is acting on instincts and Marinette realized that Adrien can't control it no matter how much he tries to contain himself. Same with Marinette, no matter how much she hates a person if they need help she will definitely help."

"But I don't even know what I did?!" Nino raised his hands in exasperation.

Adrien stopped jerking away from the water and glared at Nino again. "You know what you did." He hissed as Marinette continued to spray water at him. "You put your arms around Marinette!"

Nino gaped at him. "Dude! I was just happy that she was able to secure tickets for us for the concert in a few weeks!"

Adrien scoffed. "Excuses. I know you used to have a crush on her and you blew it! Just accept that I was actually brave enough to ask her out instead of chickening and used her best friend as a scapegoat! Do you even like Alya that way?!" Adrien screamed.

Silence engulfed the group, unsure how to respond to Adrien's accusation.

It wasn't long before Adrien realized what he just said and abruptly stood up, turning his back towards them.

"A-Adrien?" Marinette asked uncertainly, worried what he was about to do.

When he looked back at Marinette, the three friends gasped as tears were now pooling in his eyes before turning back from them.

"I-I'm sorry... I... I didn't mean that..." He whispered apologetically. Before anyone else could say anything, he started running away.

"Adrien, wait!" Marinette called, trying to get up but Alya wrapped an arm around her.

"Girl, leave him be. I think he's too ashamed to speak to any of us, especially Nino." Alya said before turning to said boy. "You gonna be ok, babe?"

Nino sighed as he slumped on his seat. "Yeah... I'm more worried about Adrien. We know that he couldn't actually contain his feelings right now so I understand why he did what he did. I mean, it hurts what he said but it's technically the truth."

Marinette sighed as she removed Alya's arm from her. "Sorry guys but I can't help but want to comfort him. You know I have this sudden urge to help everyone but you also know that it goes triple for Adrien." She smiled ruefully when she checked the clock to see that they have about ten minutes before classes start. "Sorry guys but looks like Adrien and I are going to skip classes today." She chuckled before running off after Adrien.

"Tikki! Is there any way to locate Adrien?!" Marinette whispered frantically, hoping that Adrien didn't actually transform and go somewhere that's unreachable unless you are also a superhero. Actually, that was a pretty smart plan. If Chat wanted to talk then there was no one better than his partner.

"Yes! You know you two can talk with each other telepathically, right?" When Marinette nodded, Tikki continued. "Well, aside from unable to control yourself from helping and comforting everyone close to you, your instincts will also help you locate your mate."

Marinette nodded before she suddenly halted in running and looked back at Tikki, eyes wide. "D-did you just say m-mate?" She squeaked, blushing profusely. "N-not just partners, or boyfriend b-but mate?!"

Tikki giggled. It has been a while since she saw Marinette overreact like this and it was her guilty pleasure. Don't get her wrong, she was very happy that her Chosen and her mate were finally together but she still missed the days when Marinette would stutter her way around the teen model.

"Yes, Marinette, mate. As in soulmates!"

"S-soulmate!" Marinette squeaked, her entire face as red as her Ladybug costume. When Tikki continued laughing, Marinette pouted at her. "Tikki! Stop teasing me or you won't get cookies tonight!"

Tikki beamed at her. "Yes! You two were destined to be together! Regardless if you became Ladybug or not! The Ladybug and Cat Miraculous always choose the holders that are destined to stay together! Ying and Yang, Light and Dark, Creation and Destruction. One cannot exist without the other! The perfect mates!"

"T-T-Tikki!" Marinette was now reaching a new height of squeak. The same octave that only dogs could hear.

With one last giggle, Tikki floated up to Marinette and nuzzled her cheek. "Sorry, sorry. Now come on! There's a sad Chat Noir out there and only you could help him!"

Marinette nodded her eyes determined. "Right! Tikki, Spots on!"

After the lights faded, Ladybug closed her eyes looked into herself. Just as she suspected, her instincts were telling her that her 'mate' was on top of the Eiffel Tower, the place where the both of them mostly frequent during their days off. Without delay, Ladybug threw her yo-yo and started swinging there with haste. Now was not the time wasting debating whether she actually thought of Adrien/Chat Noir as her soulmate. What matters right now was going there to comfort him.

"Hey..." Chat Noir greeted weakly as he laid down on the roof.

"Hey, Kitty. Mind if I sit here?" Ladybug asked as he stood next to him.

"I don't. In fact, I much prefer if you were lying down next to me. Not only because I want you to but also because my stupid instincts won't settle down until you did." Chat smiled ruefully. "By the way, did you know that my protective instincts towards you triple when I'm transformed? If you think I was protective before, you'll be surprised how intolerant I am going to be now."

Ladybug sighed as she sat next to Chat Noir and started playing with his hair which earned her when he started purring.

"Oh Kitty... You don't have to feel sorry. I know what it's like when you try to take control of things but it just won't go your way. Life is like that. That goes double for us considering we're living a different life outside our normal ones. One that involves fighting supervillains with half of them people we consider friends. The fact that we can continue living normal lives means that we are doing fine. That outside the masks, we are still normal teenagers."

She smiled down at Chat Noir as the latter looked up at her with awe in his eyes.

"So what if the Akumas we're fighting are getting stronger? So what if we can only sleep half the time other teenagers do? What's important is that at the end of the day we still have each other to lean on to! We still have each other to tell how our day went without filtering out the secrets we keep from everybody else! We still have something to look forward to everyday! And do you know what I look forward to everyday?"

"Wh-what?" Chat whispered, hanging to every word Ladybug was saying. He was gripping his suit tightly, trying to fight the tears from rolling down.

Ladybug smiled softly as she leaned down and kissed Chat's forehead. "That I get to see your smile. That I get to remember how lucky I am to have you in my life. Chat... Adrien... I don't know what my life would be like without you." Ladybug whispered, tears falling down on Chat's face. "I don't know if I could've lasted this long without you in my life."

"M-M-Marinette..." Chat choked out as tears flowed down his cheeks. Never before has heard something so beautiful yet so strong. In fact, those words perfectly described the person, no, partner right in above him.

It was unfair how someone could be so perfect yet so humble. Someone who was very influential but instead of using it for self gain, they used said skills to help others instead of themselves. To think that he was lucky enough to get the attention of someone so... so...

"I love you, Chaton..." Ladybug whispered lovingly as she leaned down and before Chat could reply she kissed him. All her feelings bear for him to experience in that one simple kiss.

Yes, it was unfair how lucky he was to have someone like her in his life.

Lila groaned loudly as she flopped down on her seat, head thumping on the table without any grace.

Never in her life has she felt so exhausted. Her arms and legs ached, she was tired, she even wanted to crawl in her bed and sleep for the rest of her life.

"What?! I totally won!" Kim bellowed as he slammed a hand on the table, glaring down on the girl sitting next to him.

"Hah?!" Alix scoffed as she crossed her arms and looked in disdain towards the taller teen. "Are you that stupid? Did you forget that the winner would be the first one to sit on their chair? If my memory serves right, which it always does, then it was I who sat down first since you were busy dancing around like a monkey celebrating too early!"

Kim blushed in embarrassment. "No! The challenge was who could touch the table first which I clearly did when I arrived first! You are just making excuses since I have been winning most of our challenges for the past week!"

"What?!" It was Alix's turn to blush. "I am not making excuses! And what do you mean most?! For your information, I have one more than half of the challenges we have done this week! You just probably forgot the ones where you lost because you are so embarrassed!"

Growling at each other, they then snapped their heads towards their 'third wheel'.

"Lila!" They both screamed, even though Lila was just right in front of them.

Instead of replying, Lila instead groaned louder and buried her head in her arms. She was NOT in the mood debating with these... imbeciles!

For the past few days, not only were those blockheads dragging her to those so-called challenges but she was also forced to participate some of them! Whether it be running on the park, climbing some stupid wall, crawling under benches, or whatever crazy challenge they had in mind, she was dragged into it Heck once she was forced to eat raw fish! RAW FISH!

The fact that they were able to make her do it in the first place made her realized that she was probably going crazy too.

This only made Lila groan loader, trying very hard to disappear so the two will ignore her.

Her saving grace arrived when she heard the other 'third wheel' of their group.

"Guys..." Max sighed as he removed his glasses to massage his temples. "It has come to my attention that you two have been exhausting our classmate, Lila, from all the challenges you have forced her to engage. From my calculations, it would only be a matter of time before she either snaps or going back to being home schooled again."

Lila mentally cheered before what Max said caught up to her. Bolting straight up, she snapped her neck towards to Max, eyes wide in surprise and fear.

"H-how...?" She stuttered out, not able to finish the sentence.

Light flashes on Max's glasses as he smirked towards her. "Simple. I have been doing background checks of the whole class on the chance that an emergency occurs and contact to immediate family is needed. Imagine my surprise when I find out some amazing facts about you Lila Rossi."

Lila has gone pale as Max's grin widened.

When Lila stayed quiet, Max decided to continue. "Normally, I don't go too deep in researching about a certain person, no matter how important they are. But," he paused for dramatic effect, grabbing the attention of the other students around them. "Let's just say that when it comes to people I consider my friends, I will do what it takes to keep them safe."

Silenced filled the room and dread filled Lila. She knew a threat when she heard one. She may be naive when it comes to how people interact but there was no mistaking the warning this Max Kante was giving her.

Swallowing nervously, Lila couldn't help but nod her head in understanding.

Without warning, Kim suddenly hit Max's head lightly. "Dude, don't be so dramatic! What do you mean 'keep them safe'?! Pfft, I don't anything like that! I can take care of myself!"

And just like that, the tension in the room broke to million of pieces, just like Lila's dream of becoming popular.

"You? Take care of yourself?" Alix mocked as she mimicked Kim's body language. "Hey I'm Kim and I can prove that I am faster than a panther!" Alix mocked with a deep voice, trying to imitate Kim's way of talking.

Kim's face flushed at that reminder. "Hey! I was pretty sure that that panther was lazy!"

"Lazy or not, you almost killed yourself, you idiot! In fact, you were the whole reason why mr. Cesaire got akumatized!"

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Not!"

"To!"

"Guys!" Max interrupted the two of them. "The teacher is here." Max said calmly, pointing to said teacher in front of the class.

The teacher sighed as they placed their books on the table. "Thank you Max. Now, since Alix and Kim has finally given us their attention, let's start class, shall we?"

"Yes teacher..." both Alix and Kim chorused before turning towards each other and glared.

Aside from Marinette and Adrien missing from class, everything was as normal as it should be.

Well...

Wh-what does he know?

What did he mean by 'doing anything'?

H-he won't d-do anything d-d-drastic, r-right?

Lila was currently having a mental breakdown. Never before has she been threatened so casually.

Enjoy...