Hi everyone!!  SylveonKwami here.

So... last chapter happened.  Yeah.  Marinette was being a bit harsh, wasn't she?

Anyway, at least they have a chance to make up in this chapter... but if you can guess from the chapter name...

I won't take up anymore time- let's start.  

Enjoy (◑w◐ )

Adrien

It was the next day, Monday, and Adrien felt awful.  Not sick awful- he felt guilty for breaking Marinette apart from her best friend.  He should've just kept his mouth shut, and his lady wouldn't be in this mess.  He had tried apologizing to her at least a thousand times yesterday, but she had just smiled at him and told him that it wasn't his fault.  

He was in Marinette's bag, with Tikki and Plagg of course.  She was presenting her project with Alya and Nino- although, from what he heard, Alya was less than enthusiastic about doing it.  Was she still mad?  Surely, she can see that Marinette is stressed over something, right?

From the inside of her bag, it was hard to hear, but he could still kind of listen to Marinette's presentation.  From what he heard, they sounded pretty good- but he knew his lady would be great at anything she tried.  He sighed, completely in love.

"Jeez Kid, you're lovesick business is making me sick," Plagg complained, crossing his arms.

"Oh, don't be like that Plagg," Tikki said cheerily.  "Or should I call you 'Stinky Sock'?"

"Only if I get to call you Sugar Cube," Plagg said cheekily, tossing a sly smile at his fellow kwami.

Adrien sighed; Plagg was an odd fellow.  

All of a sudden, he heard Marinette's voice say that she had to leave the class, the bag swaying a lot because of Marinette's brisk movements.  Adrien was a little bit surprised; he had a feeling about the cause, but still, why was she this upset?

After a couple of minutes, she stopped and opened the bag, holding out a hand to help him up.  He held on to one of her fingers, and he could see already that her face was tense as she lifted him up.

"What's wrong, Mari?" he asked, because he hated seeing her act like this.

"It's..." Marinette let out a sigh, sitting down next to a water fountain that was nearby.  With her remaining hand, she pulled out her water bottle, took a sip, then held it out to Adrien so he could drink.  "Alya... I think she's hiding something from me."

"I mean, you did tell her yesterday that you could keep secrets from each other," Adrien pointed out, but when he saw Marinette's face, he instantly felt guilty and apologized, wincing.

"It's okay, Chaton," she told him.  "This morning, I saw Alya and Chloe talking together.  They never have even spoke before, aside from the times when Alya would call her out for being mean.  Alya hates Chloe... oh- I'm sorry, she's your friend, I shouldn't-"

"It's absolutely fine, Princess.  Continue on with your tale of woe," Adrien said cheerily, and Marinette shot him a mock glare.

"It's just... do you think they're... I dunno... potting against me?  Chloe already hates me, and Alya and I just had our argument, so..." Marinette trailed off, looking absently at the ceiling.  She lifted Adrien to her shoulder, and he climbed on gratefully.

"Are you sure it's something that serious?" Adrien asked, settling himself.  "I mean, I know what Chloe is capable of, but still, sounds a little extreme..."

Marinette shook her head.  "Like I said, I have no idea.  It could just be my Ladybug senses kicking in and giving me anxiety for absolutely no reason," she said, giving a small laugh as she did so.  Adrien offered her a small smile, laughing a little as one of her giant pigtails brushed against him.  

Out of the blue, the couple heard footsteps coming towards them.  A person- a girl- turned the corner, and there was no time for anyone to move.  Adrien huddled closer to Marinette's neck, hoping he wouldn't be seen.

The person came closer, searching for something- someone.  With a gulp, Adrien realized it was Alya.  Maybe Marinette's theory isn't so off after all...

"Marinette, what are you doing?" she asked, eyeing her friend sitting on the floor of a school hall.  "I thought you were going to fill up your water bottle?" she asked curiously, though Adrien knew deep inside that it was Chloe who told her to come and find them.

"Yeah, I was.  And there's the fountain," she said, pointing beside her.  She made no attempts to sit up, and Adrien was fully aware it was because he would be seen, if the risk already wasn't high enough.

"Oh right.  Sitting next to the fountain definitely puts water in your water bottle," Alya replied sarcastically, looking a bit angry.  "Do I need to tell Miss Bustier that this is what you're doing every time you sneak out of class at the same time each day?  Don't think I didn't notice- in fact, the entire class is wondering about you, girl."

"Please don't tell her," Marinette begged, and Adrien moved closer towards her as Alya stared harder at them.  He pulled some of her collar over him, hoping it would serve as decent cover.  

"Oh, I won't," she said, "but I will if you don't tell me what's going on with you."

"N-Nothing's going on," Marinette stuttered, becoming nervous.

"Marinette.  I only want to help you.  That's what I've always wanted.  And if you can't see that, you don't deserve me as a friend."

"Alya-"

"This friendship is over."

With that, Alya walked briskly away, as fast as she could.  Adrien was in shock of her words, and it was only when he heard Marinette start to cry that he realize how much they hurt his Princess.  He saw Tikki fly up and cuddle her cheek, and he planted a kiss on her neck, hugging it.  Dammit, the one time I need to give Mari a proper hug and I can't.

"Let's... let's get to class guys," she said slowly, holding out a hand for Adrien as Tikki flew back.  As Adrien followed the kwami, he only felt worried for Marinette, and all he wanted was for that stupid akuma to be purified.

~~~~~~~~~~

https://youtu.be/Ydzpg7kBRlU

Just as Adrien thought, the rest of the day couldn't get any worse for Marinette.  Alya did tell Miss Bustier about what Marinette was doing, and although she didn't get in trouble, she sure did get a good scolding.  She had cried when she got home, and although she was doing a little better now, she looked... dull.  Even Nino didn't call, or anyone for that matter, and it just made Adrien more upset.  They'd had a small dinner up on her balcony, where he tried apologizing at least a million times.  She'd told him that it wasn't his fault, and even if it wasn't entirely caused by him, part of it was.

They were still up there, looking at the clear night sky.  "Oh, I almost forgot!" Marinette said suddenly, standing up.  She started running to the hatch to get back into her room, and told Adrien that she'd be right back.  He felt puzzled; what was she up to?

After a few minutes passed, Marinette came back up holding a cupcake and a small box tied with a bow.  "Surprise!" she said happily, setting the two on the table in front of him.

"Uh... Mari... what's the occasion?" he asked, confused.

"Can't I give you gifts whenever I want?" she asked cheekily, and Adrien found himself blushing.

"I-I mean, y-you can, but-" he stuttered, but thankfully Marinette stopped him before it went any further.

"I know your birthday's coming up soon," she said.  "I want to give you an early birthday present, and throw you a mini birthday!  Quite literally," she added, looking at his small figure, and he couldn't help but laugh at her little pun.

At the same time though, he couldn't help feeling embarrassed- and incredibly guilty.  Marinette just had the worst day of her life and here she was doing this for him.  "You didn't have to do this," he told her, giving her a helpless smile.

Marinette responded by taking out her phone and playing some fun music.  "I wanted to though," she added.  "Open it!" she told him, looking excited.  From the side, both kwamis watched excitedly, though Tikki seemed to already know what the gift was based on her expression.

Carefully, Adrien opened the box- which she made at his size too- to find a whole load of black fleece.  It's clothing, something she made too! Adrien thought excitedly, unfolding the fabric-

He gasped.

She made him a mini Chat Noir onesie.

She made me a freaking mini Chat onesie.

He looked up at Marinette, his face full of disbelief.  "Do you like it?" she asked tentatively.  "I mean, you've been stuck in those clothes for who knows how long now, and I thought-"

"I LOVE it, Princess!" he told her, rubbing the soft fleece against his face.  "It's amazing- how did you make this?  It must've taken forever!"

"Well, you know me, I find the time," she said, flustered.  "I'm glad you like it, Chaton."

"That's perfect," Plagg called out from the side.  "Now that you have a suit I don't have to waste my energy transforming you anymore."

"Uh... what about my Cataclysm?" he asked, sighing because of how lazy his kwami was.

"Eh, you don't really need it, do you?" his kwami responded, earning a smack from Tikki.

"Plagg, you're too lazy," she said, though she gave him a smile.  Adrien smiled too; Plagg and Tikki were definitely made for each other.

"So..." Marinette's voice drew his attention back to her.

"Wait!" Adrien said.  "Turn around, I wanna put this on."

"Uh.. okay," she said, blushing a little and turning around.  He quickly changed out of his old clothes and put on the onesie- she was right, he felt much more comfortable in this.  "Okay!" he chirped.  "I'm finished."

Marinette turned around, and instantly whipped out her phone to take some pictures.  "You look so adorable in that, Kitty!" she said, her smile shining like the sun.  "You look like the real deal."

"I am the real deal," he reminded her, pointing to their kwamis sitting beside them.

"No no, I meant you look like a real kitten," she explained, her eyes shining from his apparent cuteness.  Adrien blushed, sure, people called him cute all the time (he was a model after all), but it felt different when Marinette called him that.

"Anyway.  I was going to ask if you wanna have your cupcake now?  I'm gonna head to bed... long day," she said, getting up to do what she said.

"Wait, Mari!" he called, stopping her.  She had a bad day... it was the least he could do.  "Marinette... you've done so much for me.  You deserve to help me finish it- besides, I can't finish it even if I tried," he admitted.  

"Well... if you say so," she said, sitting back down with him.  

"Thanks for all this, Mari," he told her gratefully, because this really was too much.  He felt the fleecy fabric, and it was the kind of fleece that had the long tendrils of thread so it felt like it was soft fur.  He loved it, and her, too much.

"No need to thank me Minou," she said, her eyes filled with love.

"I love you Princess."

"I love you too Chaton."

Wrapping up yet another chapter!!  This one was longer than I thought it would be, but I still hope you enjoyed it.  If you haven't seen the message on my profile, this story will now be updated on a WEEKLY basis, on the same day (Wednesday).  This will be better for the story and will allow me to finish it quicker- BUT this means that updates will be late or delayed more often because of it.  But yeah, starting this week (this update is early btw), weekly updates will start.

Anyway, that's all.  Thanks for reading everyone!!

Stay tuned ;)