Marinette let out a sigh. It was painful for Chat Noir to hear. Was that a sigh of relief? Probably. Nobody wanted to be with the Chat Noir, criminal of Paris anyways.

Chat stood, clearing his throat. "I should leave." He spoke quietly. "Good night, m'lady." Marinette could hear, feel his pain. Why? As he walked away, she wanted to follow and hug him. Hold him, comfort him? Instead, she watched him go, disappearing into the night.

"You had the chance to tell her." Plagg hadn't touched the wheel of camembert that Adrien had given him once they returned to their room.

"What's the point? I've already told her a lot. I would rather find out why this is happening first." Adrien rolled in his bed, face deep into a pillow.

"We know why this is happening-"

"That's not what I mean, Plagg." Adrien snapped. Plagg flinched and picked up his wheel of cheese, floating off somewhere in the room.

He could feel it. The darkness within Adrien was beginning to fester, he just didn't want to admit it. Ignorance was bliss, wasn't it?

"I hope you find that other wielder fast, Fu..."

Adrien's eyes were heavy. He wanted to succumb to sleep, but his thoughts wouldn't allow him to. Thoughts about a world where his mother still abandoned him, where his other half is his sister and she hates him. He as undeserving of the world..

"Did you make it home okay?" The sensations startled him out of his thoughts. He quickly sat up, as he thought he was imagining the pink on his forearm. "... Not that I care or anything." Adrien scrambled for a pen, quick to uncap and erase.

"Is the princess worried about lil 'ol me?" She could almost hear how smug he was.

"I shouldn't have asked." She scribbled.

"No, Thank you... I did get home fine." Marinette stared at her arm. Well... He's okay. Now what? "I wish there was a way I could repay your kindness..." She tapped her pen against her cheek several times, thoughtful.

"You're not allowed to show that painful expression again." Her handwriting wan't as neat and print as the first message .Definitely more smooth than her scribbled, angry message. Although she was ordering something from him, the strokes of her writing seemed gentle. Although she was ordering something from him, the stroke of her writings seemed gentle. "Next time... Next time just tell me a story or an akuma or something. Nothing sad." Adrien gave a weak smile.

"I apologize for that. Criminals aren't supposed to show any emo-"

"Let me stop you right there." Her writing suddenly overlapped his. "Okay, whatever 'big, bad criminal' facade you have under there, you can stop. You said you're the good guy, right?" Marinette waited for a response but it never came. "Right?"

"Correct."

"Then you can stop pretending." To say that he was speechless was an understatement. Even his thoughts were stunned. Marinette believed his story. She didn't think he was insane.

Adrien brought his arms to his eyes. It was hard to contain what he was feeling. His chest constricted, his throat clogged thickly.

Marinette rose her hand to her chest, watching how the writing was smeared, like water was washing the ink away. Was he crying? She gnawed on her lip. Should... Should she comfort him?

Plagg could sense a difference. The darkness was subdued. Plagg looked down from his perch and found Adrien quietly sobbing in his bed. He watched Adrien glance at his arm with a gasp, hastily wiping it clean and scribbling something on it. Plagg smiled softly.

"As long as she warms up to him... So will his heart."

The rest of the night was small talk, mostly Marinette trying to unintentionally comforting Adrien, until he was able to fall asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he found her last message on his arm. "Good night, Chat Noir." And some nondescript doodles around it. He felt as if he was waking up from a long dream. But he had to face reality once he met with Marinette in the hallway.

"Good morning." She smiled.

"Good morning Mari."

The day came and went. Adrien didn't have practice, Marinette had no fashion meets and they had no shoots to do.

"That's odd. Father doesn't have anything planned for us today?" Marinette shook her head.

"Apparently not. We are free all afternoon, but Papa wants to have dinner with us tonight." She gave a sigh. "I wish I would have known, I would have called Alya and Chloé and we could have been able to hang out today."

"Well, why not? We can call the whole gang together and we can watch a movie." Her eyes sparkled, but the light dimmed slightly.

"But you know how Papa is regarding friends..." Adrien scoffed.

"As long as they're friends with Chloé, I'm sure there won't be a problem." Marinette was still a little hesitant but nodded after a while.

"Okay! I'll call the girls. Can you call Nino?" Adrien gave a nod. He headed towards his desk and Marinette followed in behind him. He put his stuff down by his desktop, while Marinette went and dropped herself on his couch.

"Aw man, I wanted to snack." Plagg mumbled with a sigh. Adrien glanced down at him.

"You're going to have to hold out for a while... People are coming over."

"I know, I know." The two glanced over at his sister's legs that were draped over the armrests as she talked to Chloé.

"Behave."Adrien opened a drawer from his computer desk and Plagg snickered.

"I could say the same to you. Don't do something I wouldn't do." Adrien gave a scoff as his kwami floated away.

"Alya and Chloé said they would come, have you called Nino yet?" Marinette sat up, watching as her brother walked towards her.

"No, I haven't, I got distracted by a... thing." Marinette giggled a bit.

"It's alright. Honestly, I think that Alya was telling Nino as I was telling her, so he should be tagging along anyways." Adrien mumbled a 'sorry'. "Still, you should probably send him a text to let him know." Adrien nodded. Adrien shot Nino a text and shortly after both Marinette's and his phone buzzed.

A new group message.

Chloé: So what are we watching?

Marinette: We haven't decided yet.

Nino: not some cliché love movie pls

A: we can watch one of those on our own ;)

C: Ew, keep your PDA to yourselves.

A: Hey, you were the one who started the group chat

C: You want to fight?

A: Let's go girl, outside the Agreste mansion in five

N: girls pls;;;

M: Neither of you is fighting each other

Adrien: Unless the two of you want to get arrested

C: Fine. I'd win anyways.

A: lol sure

N: I'm sure Alya would win

A: ;)

C: blocked

Adrien could hear Marinette's giggles and he smiled, plopping himself down beside her. "What do you want to watch?" He asked as she laid her head in his lap.

"I don't want something too lovey dovey. Maybe a comedy? Something good." She shrugged, holding the phone over her face.

A: good riddance

C: Hey!

N: omg,,,

Adrien: Children, please.

Marinette giggled more. Adrien glanced down at her. "And what are you laughing at? You're also a child." She gave a gasp and pretended to be offended, but Adrien slipped his fingers into the crook of her neck and began to tickle her. She nearly dropped her phone on her face but Adrien caught it as she started to twist and turn.

"A-Adrien, stop!" She cried between her laughs. He didn't stop until there was a knock on his door.

"Adrien? Marinette?"Nathalie came to them and Adrien continued tickling her. Marinette was nearly crying now, until she fell on the floor with a thud.

"Yes Nathalie?" Adrien asked innocently. She glanced down at Marinette, who was still coming down from her laughter, before looking back up at Adrien.

"Guests have come to see the two of you."

"Let them in." Nathalie gave a nod and left and Adrien could feel the glare on him.

"You're going to pay for that!" She shouted, as Adrien bolted for his bed to put some space between them.

"Am I, though?" He chuckled as he tried to avoid her. Instead of hopping over the bed, she picked up a pillow at threw it at him. "Hey!" He took the pillow off his face and he was surprised to no longer across the bed, but beside him.

"Gotcha!"She smacked him with a pillow and he fell on the bed, Marinette jumping on top of him and hitting him with the pillow.

"Are we interrupting something?" If the scene would have occurred in the real world, the two of them probably would be very embarrassed and would have scampered for space. But the two of them stopped, Mari frozen, straddled atop, with Adrien laughing beneath her.

"Yes, you've come to witness the death of Adrien Agreste."Mari spoke with all the seriousness in the world and Nino snickered.

"And then there was one." Alya smiled, joining Marinette with a pillow of her own. Adrien's jaw dropped.

"Chloé, help!"

"Sorry Adrikins, but do you need help Marinette?"

"Chlo! Bro, help!" Adrien called out to Nino. Nino rose his hands up in defeat.

"Yo, that's three against one, you're on your own, my dude." So Adrien was stuck under attack pillows for a good while, until he was able to take a pillow from a distracted Marinette. He knocked his sister down, along with the two others, before running across the room and calling a truce.

"So, what are we going to watch anyways?" Chloé asked as she was fixing her hair.

"Still haven't decided."Alya and Nino curled into a corner of the sofa, Marinette plopping down beside them. Adrien knelt in front of his TV set, opening a drawer that was full of DVD boxes of all the movies he had. Chloé joined him.

"What about a romance?" Chloé suggested. Both Nino and Adrien grumbled under their breaths. Chloé gave a huff and crossed her arms.

"How about a comedy?" Alya suggested.

"Or an adventure?" Adrien started to look through his collection, before picking out a title that would suit all their preferences.

"I've got it!" Chloé took the movie out of his hands.

"The Princess Bride?" She asked. "This movie looks old though." She mumbled, flipping the box over to look at the back.

"A classic!" Marinette commented.

"It's got a mix of everything, trust me, Chlo. It's got comedy, romance, adventure, all in one." Adrien took the movie back from Chloé and popped the box open, putting the DVD inside.

The movie started to load and he and Chloé went to settle down on the couch with the others. Adrien sat next to Marinette and Chloé sat beside him, Marinette making sure to lean on Adrien.

The movie continued on and it wasn't until Dread Pirate Roberts was revealed to be Wesley, an interesting conversation came about.

"How could she not tell that Roberts was Wesley?" Chloé asked. "You'd think that she would recognize the so called 'love of her life'. With or without a mask."

"Well, you'd be surprised." Adrien commented.

"Then again, she hadn't seen him in years, and people change, so can you blame her?" Marinette defended.

"A mask shouldn't make a difference." Chloé crossed her arms. "It's ridiculous."

"It makes me wonder if we know who Chat Noir is." Alya spoke up. "For all we know, he could be like, our classmate, or someone we know, y'know?"

"Alright, you got me, I'm Chat Noir." Nino spoke up. Alya elbowed him playfully and they laughed.

"I wanna get an interview that guy. He's so evasive, but he's so cool." Marinette scoffed.

"You'll only boost his ego." The girls giggled.

"What if he's like, some famous singer or actor or something? Innocent boy gone rogue, y'know?" Alya wiggled her eyebrows. Chloé chuckled.

"Yeah, like Adrien?" She added sarcastically. Nino snickered.

"Adrien would be the last to go rogue." They laughed.

"Father would probably kill me for just sneaking out." Marinette giggled.

"My brother wouldn't do anything of the sort." Adrien chuckled, tapping her on the nose.

"You know me too well." He replied.

"But it makes me wonder, does Chat Noir have a red string?" Adrien saw Marinette physically stiffen.

"Probably leading to the city jail." Chloé mumbled. Alya laughed.

"But really though, everyone has their own red string. Bonnie and Clyde had their red strings, so every bad guy has their own princess." She motioned towards the movie, regarding Dread Pirate Roberts and Princess Buttercup.

"'Inconceivable'!" Marinette quoted the infamous line from the movie. They laughed.

"It also brings up another good question, why don't the Agreste sibling have their own red strings?" Alya asked.

"Well, maybe they met their ends yet." Nino added.

"I don't think that's how they work." Chloé commented. "Didn't the two of you meet until a couple years ago?"

"And I remember writings before we met because we didn't meet until the next school year."

"You were what, fifteen and a half when you joined our class?" Marinette asked. Alya hummed, staring at Marinette.

"There are many red strings, some thicker than the others. Maybe the red string between the two of you is so thick that it cancels out the end of your real string? Or maybe the two of you don't have your thickest strands yet." Marinette blinked, looking away.

"It's okay. I don't need an end to my red string." She mumbled softly. "After all, I have my brother, don't I?" She looked up at Adrien.

"Right."

They finished their movie, Adrien noticing how Marinette was more attached to him now after their previous conversation. Her goodbye was less enthusiastic as their friends were leaving in time for dinner. At dinner, she wasn't the bubbly self Adrien had been expecting. When they headed up to their bedrooms that night, Marinette dragged behind.

"What's wrong Mari?" She avoided his gaze, looking out the ground.

"What would you do if... If your red string was tied to a criminal?" Is that what she's been thinking about this whole time? Adrien stared at her for a little bit and Marinette blushed, shaking her head quickly. "Actually, forget I said anything!" She tried to run off into her room, but Adrien grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I was just thinking." She started to pout a bit, standing in front of him with her head down. "I think... Not all people are bad. Sometimes people do bad things for good reasons. Or bad people do bad things because they have to. But just because someone does bad things doesn't mean you're a bad person." His mind wandered off to Papillion – what were his reasons for obtaining the Miraculous?

"Just because someone does bad things doesn't mean that they're a bad person." She repeated his words, almost in a daze. She blinked and looked up at Adrien with a soft smile. "That makes sense. Thank you, Adrien." She got up on her toes and kissed his cheek, bidding him good night.

Once Adrien went into his room, Plagg buzzed around him. "So, so, are we going to go out and play tonight? Cause some terror out in the Parisian streets?" Adrien chuckled.

"Well, isn't your ego boosted." He snickered.

"I mean, I am the one who makes you who you are. So when people say you're cool, they're saying I'm cool. I'm a cool villain. Nobody idolizes me." His tail swished. "Remind me to thank your friend next time." Adrien rolled his eyes.

The hours turned into days, the days turned into weeks. The weeks turned into months. Adrien nearly got used to living like this now. He couldn't say the same about his feelings and his wants regarding his adoptive sister.

Adrien hadn't heard anything from Master Fu and Alya was beginning to ask questions as to why Chat Noir was no longer showing his face around.

"Maybe he finally got caught?" Chloé mumbled. Alya gave a disbelieving hum.

"I don't think that Paris' most wanted would go down so quietly." Marinette agreed with her.

"He probably has a life of his own, cut him some slack." It warmed Adrien's heart that Marinette was coming to his defense.

Her meetings with Chat Noir were infrequent and short, but it was nice. It was much more different than Marinette and Adrien. A sibling bond that was like a twin bond, except they weren't twins. Old photo albums show when Marinette was brought into the Agreste family, around the age of five or six.

However, he couldn't find any material on how she ended up in an orphanage or what happened to the Dupain-Cheng's that they lost a daughter.

Adrien decided to make a stop at the Dupain-Cheng's, something he'd been doing at least twice a week for the past couple weeks. He filtered around through the boxes, finding a new scrapbook of Sabine's. More pictures of Paris, more pictures of her and Tom. There was a photograph of Tom proposing and several of their wedding, honeymoon. Moving into their first home together and there was one more photograph, the last one in that book, was of Tom kneeling, his face in Sabine's belly.

"For a criminal, you're quite the curious cat, aren't you?"