#ladynoi

"Babe, let the dude breathe, okay?" he heard his best friend mutter as he came close to them and put his hand on one of his girlfriend's. "He's on the verge of a heart attack, you keep him locked like that and he'll collapse right into your arms. Or right under your feet, perhaps, since judging by your expression, I doubt you'd like to actually catch him."

"You bet I wouldn't," Alya drawled, pushing his hand away and then grasping the rail tightly again. "Not until I know for sure that he's got nothing to do with this. Or until he spills the beans and admit that he does as I believe it's more probable, and then proves that he can fix it."

She shifted her eyes back to Adrien. "And I don't mean a simple 'I'm sorry', Agreste."

Again, before Adrien could as much as open his mouth, he was cut off by Nino coming to his defence.

"She told you it's not his fault," the latter said with a weary sigh. "I think you should at least consider Marinette's opinion on the subject before you avenge her and hurt someone who's not even the main suspect of the crime, and much against Marinette's will."

"Well, you can believe that crap if you wish, but I'm not buying it," Alya retorted. "It's obvious she was hiding something, given the way she was and since she did mention that the heartless idiot who'd made her so was in fact 'her best friend', the chance that it had to do with the sunshine boy here is more than fat. Even if Marinette claims otherwise."

"Well, that's a nice way of viewing evidence," Adrien managed to break in at last, feeling the anger rise in him once more; he wasn't sure if it was Alya or Marinette (again) he was vexed with, but that he would determine later. "I suppose it doesn't matter what I have got to say about all this, either?"

Alya's eyes narrowed in concentration. "So you do know what I'm talking about."

"I have no idea," he corrected her. "All I know is that you're furious with me for some reason and that it is connected to Marinette and myself in some way, but at the same time, you're clearly not interested in what either of us has to say about the subject. So if you were so kind as to at least tell me what the heck it's all about, that would be wildly appreciated."

He saw the look of astonishment reflect on the countenances of both oh his friends and realised that it was probably the first time when he had ever spoken to them as harshly - and as coldly – as he'd done just now.

Somehow, the sight made him swell with satisfaction.

Guess it's really not Marinette I'm angry with, after all.

"So?" he picked up, seeing that he was not going to receive an answer without another push on his part. "Are you going to explain why you've assaulted me like that or will we just stay like this until Miss Bustier drags us back to class?"

With an angry huff, Alya surrendered to his wish and let go of the rail, before stepping back. As if sensing the potential danger, Nino wrapped his arm around her shoulders and nodded at Adrien reassuringly.

The other boy smiled and returned the nod, relieved. It was good to know that someone was on his side in all this, whatever it actually was.

Even though he certainly did have an idea as to what might be the issue here.

He simply couldn't let them know that he did.

"Thank you," he said calmly, even though he knew it was nothing but a sham; if he hadn't been relaxed on that rooftop he could hardly be expected to feel serene now? "Now, would you please tell me what's going on in here? Why is Nino talking about 'avenging Marinette' and how is it the reason for you to be angry with me? And first and foremost: where is Marinette?"

Again, he had to wait for their answer, unless he was to count Alya's annoyed yet somehow resigned sigh and Nino's tightened jaw as one. All of the sudden he thought that the matter might be a whole lot more serious, despite the rather childish display he'd just been treated with.

If the last night's event had taken such a great toll on him...

...could Marinette be as affected by it as well?

No, definitely not as much, he tried to convince himself quietly. Of course she would take some of it too heart, she's not some kind of an unfeeling mutant; she's the opposite of that. Still, our argument can hardly compare to all the things I've had to face and accept since we parted, so surely, it can't be that bad.

Right?

"She's not at school," he was snatched from his meditation when Alya finally decided to share her information with him. "She came in the morning and pretended to be alright, except we all saw that she wasn't. So Miss Bustier sent her back home."

"Just like that?" Adrien asked instantly. "I mean... Your reaction from earlier suggests there was much more to it. Like you two have actually had a chance to talk."

"We did," Alya confirmed. "Or more like, I tried to talk to her while she kept dodging it, feigning good spirits and refusing to answer my questions."

"Have you attacked her in the same way you did me just now? Cause I think that might explain her reluctance."

Alya's glare became murderous again. "Of course I didn't, stupid. I was as discreet as possible and only asked about most basic things. Like you know, why did she had those dark bags under her eyes or why her hands were trembling all the time. Stuff like that."

"Look, dude, I know my girl can be pushy sometimes," Nino supplied readily. "But it was not the case this time. Those inquiries were what we would have asked her on any other day – the difference was in how Marinette responded to them."

Alya let out another sigh, one that was much less warlike this time. "When I asked her, I fully expected her to shrug and then complain about another all-nighter she'd pulled off because of a new idea for a design. Or maybe to say that she'd fallen asleep over homework, or a book, or maybe had just lost herself in daydreams for too long last evening and gone to bed late as a result. Normal Marinette stuff. Instead, I got clenched fists and teary eyes and that was long before she actually broke down."

Now Adrien's heart seemed to stop for real.

"Broke... down?"

"You really don't know anything, do you?" Alya's gaze was full of genuine surprise now. She shook her head adamantly. "Okay, so maybe I have jumped to conclusions too fast. The thing is, I'm really worried about her and since she wouldn't speak openly, I was left wondering. And you are one of her closest friends so if you had hurt her... She would've been devastated by it. Just like she was today."

"But why?" Adrien asked again, desperately. "And how can you know all that if she left as soon as you said she did? She's always late for class, so you couldn't have talked much before -"

"She didn't leave at once," Nino explained. "She got to school a few minutes before eight and hardly spoke to anyone. We noticed she wasn't fully herself, but as Al said, we blamed it on the lack of sleep, because we all know it happens to her a lot. That is, until Alya did ask her and Marinette began to avoid the questions she'd asked."

Alya nodded in confirmation. "It went on for three long hours, both in class and in between... and then on the third break she lost it. No sign, no warning. She just crumbled down, turned into a crying, suffocating mess. It was horrible."

"Yeah. it was."

For the umpteenth time in the last fourteen hours Adrien felt an infinite, mind-boggling, absolutely devastating terror come over him. The idea of Marinette being so unwell that it could be referred to as crumbling down and a suffocating mess would have been enough to make his inside twist on its own, without the extra confirmation in the looks Alya and Nino wore while telling him about it. Those two things mixed and additionally supported by the memory of Alya's most recent attack and rage...

Good Heaven, he needed some answers.

And now.

"Guys, I need details," he forced his mouth to say even though the rest of his body seemed inches away from falling apart in the same way that Marinette's had. "Tell me what it was. How she looked, what she said. Especially what she said."

Alya and Nino exchanged looks and for a second, Adrien was sure that they would decide he was not worthy of being entrusted with the knowledge he so craved. He couldn't blame them if they had – yet at the same time, he begged God that they would be generous this time.

He had to know now.

"Alright, so basically, she'd been gloomy from the start, but we've already told you that," Alya began after a while and Adrien was ready to kiss her in thanks. "Again, it appeared to be a simple exhaustion and that's what we took it for. Then Marinette got all weird about it though, yada yada yada... and then I decided to confront her. Probably not the best of my moves but it still seemed like a better idea than letting her go through that whole ordeal alone, whatever it was.

"So I dragged her to the bathroom and made sure no one was there to overhear us. I asked some more questions, Marinette dodged each and every one of them. She kept doing that... until I asked her if it had anything to do with you.

"That's why I was so sure it was you who'd hurt her," she picked up after a pause, during which Adrien was certain he would die of guilt and shame before Alya might decide to speak again. "As soon as I pronounced your name she burst into tears. She was on her knees a moment later, trying desperately to calm down again but failing completely... And then all of a sudden she began to tell me how it was not your fault at all."

"She did?" Adrien whispered, his own eyes beginning to sting. He blinked rapidly, hoping his friends had not noticed the change in him, although at the same time he was beginning to realise that he hardly cared if they had. "I mean, it's good to know I haven't done something unintentionally..."

Gosh, what an idiot he was. What a perfect, absolute moron.

What a damn jerk.

Of course it was him who'd done it, on both sides of the mask.

As if to confirm his thesis, Alya added, "She said it was another friend of hers, someone we don't know but who, apparently, means a great deal to her. She said they'd argued on the previous eve and that it'd been rougher than ever before, and that it had kept her awake for half of the night even though she'd managed to fall asleep without much trouble at first. She mentioned something about it being her fault but then contradicted herself and cried that it was not her fault at all, but that it was still so hard and confusing and that it hurt so much to have him think badly of her...

"I don't know, Adrien," she concluded with yet another sigh. "Quite frankly, I got lost after about fifteen seconds into her monologue. But I do know this: whoever that scoundrel is, he'd hurt my best friend in a way no one ever had before. And I can't just forgive that."

Adrien could swear his legs were turning to jelly right there and then.

"Was it really that bad?" he managed to ask, his voice barely above whisper. "Could it really have been the worst you've seen? I don't want to deem it unimportant or say that you're hyperbolising, only that -"

"Adrien," Nino cut off unexpectedly. "Remember when Marinette broke up with Luka last year and we found her crying in the park?"

Adrien's face turned pale as a sheet.

"I do," he stammered, appalled. "Of course I do."

"It was worse. And I only saw her after she'd left the bathroom."

All of the sudden, his mind was made up. He wasn't sure why or how, except that the image of Marinette's ugly crying – the image he remembered so well from all those months ago, now intensified tenfold by Nino's words and his own shattering feeling of guilt – had a major role in deciding that. That image itself would have been enough to make him crack; now it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

Coward or not, ready or not, he could no longer stay and pretend that things would somehow fix themselves on their own. There was no miraculous cure – except for the work he might still do.

No matter how horribly impossible the task still seemed in his eyes.

"Bro? You're alright?"

"I'm sorry guys," he replied automatically, shifting his gaze back to the pair before him. "I can't stay. If things really are as bad as you say they are... I just need to talk to Marinette and as soon as I can. She probably won't let me in; she's been through hell and back and unwanted company is probably the last thing she needs. But... but I believe I may be of some help if she does."

Alya raised an eyebrow at him, mistrust painted all over her face. "No offence Agreste, but why should you be the one able to help her out now?"