I Trusted You

Unsettlement

Adrien fell back on his bed, a smile still evident on his face. Plagg munched on his cheese. "I wonder what makes you so happy," he said sarcastically.

Adrien ignored him as he thought of Marinette. He hoped that he had cheered her up a bit as her being upset was the last thing he wanted.

She had improved his mood drastically. He wasn't praised much aside from his looks, and he was over the moon to discover that she appreciated him.

"Adrien, can we sleep now? It's annoying seeing that dreamy grin on your face," Plagg whined.

"Stop it, Plagg," he said. "And yeah, I guess we should be off to bed now."

He pulled up his covers and fell asleep, but not before one last fleeting thought of Marinette crossed his mind.

Much to Plagg's dismay, he still had a smile on his face as he slept.

-----

The next day at school was slightly better for the both of them. However, the night before hadn't solved their problems.

And one of those problems was Lila Rossi.

She saw the way Adrien discreetly turned in his seat just to flash a smile at Marinette, and she did not like what she observed.

She did not like how Marinette would drop her books seeing those smiles, and how Adrien would immediately jump to help her.

"You'll pay, Marinette," she muttered eerily to herself.

"What was that?" Nathaniel questioned from beside her.

"Oh, nothing," she said sweetly.

-----

Ladybug and Chat Noir stood in the sunset, exhausted after their patrol.

"You were lying that day." Ladybug said, looking him in the eye.

Chat Noir stiffened. "What?"

Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder. "You were sad. Chat Noir, I'm sorry if your home life is bad. Just know, you're the best partner I could ever ask for," She leaned on his shoulder.

Chat Noir gaped at her. Marinette was right about what Ladybug thought of him. But he still had one thing to ask.

"Ladybug..." he began, "Would you ever, you know, hide something from me?"

She froze for a second. She contemplated telling him everything she had been hiding. She wanted to tell him about her civilian life, her guardianship, everything.

But it was too dangerous. Alya already knew, and that had put her in grave danger with Shadowmoth. She couldn't risk losing anyone again. Especially if it were Chat Noir. And with Chat Blanc a very likely possibility, she couldn't tell him.

She was trying her best not to tremble with the memory of the very day she saw Chat Noir get akumatized. It was in her darkest nightmares.

Chat Blanc would continuously haunt her in her sleep, and there wasn't one day that went by without him being in her thoughts. She was terrified of losing Chat Noir to the dark side, which could happen from a mere akuma.

So, with a wavering smile, she said with the most sincere tone she could manage, "Of course not, kitty."

Chat Noir's stomach dropped. Ladybug was lying. She did hide things from him, including the fact that she was okay with holders knowing each others' identities.

He tried his best not to seem disappointed as he gave her a shaky grin. "Right. Of course you won't."

She looked away and chewed on her lip, filled with guilt. She didn't want to hide things from him. But she knew she had to. The last thing she wanted was to endanger him.

They stared at the sunset for a little bit longer until they said their goodbyes and went home, not feeling any better than the other.

----

"Marinette, something is fishy," Tikki commented.

"What is it, Tikki?"

"Shadowmoth hasn't been akumatizing or amokatizing anyone for a while. I'm worried he's planning something big!"

"I don't think so. Maybe he's out of ideas."

"Maybe. But I'm still anxious!" Tikki stated.

"Calm down, Tikki." Marinette was only half-listening to Tikki as she was lost in her thoughts. She had noticed that Adrien had seemed much better at school that day.

However, that was really only half of all the problems she needed to solve.

There was Lila. She wasn't really sure what was up with her and why she was acting so off.

There was Chat Noir. She was riddled with guilt upon having to lie to him. This was ironic considering the fact that Chat Noir had been facing the same problem just a short time ago.

Adrien was still not as happy as he usually was even though he seemed happier.

Her guardianship was also an issue. It was getting in the way of her social life and mental health.

Moreover, the safety of her loved ones was at stake.

All these problems were somehow connected to each other.

Also, there was a new problem: Tikki's agitation

"I'm worried, Ziggy! What if Shadow moth is being sneaky because he doesn't want us to suspect anything?"

"Oh, you're right! This is not good!" Ziggy agreed, fluttering around the room in panic.

All the kwamis began buzzing around in confusion and panic.

Marinette stood up from her seat. "What's going on, you guys?"

All of them turned to her.

"Marinette, what are we going to do?"

"What if Tikki is right?"

"She could be wrong."

"Or, she could be right and we're all in serious danger!"

An argument then sparked up in the room.

"No, guys, Shadowmoth isn't preparing anything! Besides, if he is, we're all ready for it!"

The calmed down a bit.

"Marinette's right."

"Yeah, Shadowmoth is too dumb anyway."

"Maybe we're overreacting."

Even so, Tikki still wasn't quite convinced.

"I don't think this is all a coincidence," she mumbled to herself.

----

They had the group project at night that day. Adrien was still a bit saddened at the aspect of his partner lying to him, but he didn't show it. Marinette didn't talk much. Lila was quiet too.

Each of them were glad there was peace so that they could finally get it over with.

Marinette leaned her head back and held her head up triumphantly. "I'm done."

Adrien moved over to her spot and hunched over her laptop. He broke out into an impressed smile. "That's great, Marinette! It looks amazing. I wouldn't change a thing about it."

She beamed proudly and thanked him.

Lila glowered at her, but didn't say anything.

She'd pay for what she's doing eventually. I'll make sure.