Chat paused, sensing the bitterness in her voice. He should have expected it since he disappeared for the last one, but it still caught him a little off guard. He thought maybe she'd save it for after the fight. 

Her yelled pulled him from his thoughts and he ran forward to hit a section of the vine between the akuma and Ladybug before it could bring Her any closer to the florist.  Unfortunately, the vine found a way to wrap itself around the staff and pull it from it his hands.

Chat jumped back before a different vine could get hold of him and just narrowly missed being hit by some roses.  He eyed their surroundings for something to hit with cataclysm.  He smiled as his eyes fell on a stop sign behind her just a little to the left.  If he worked it right..

"Cataclysm!" He called, as he moved forward and brought his hand to the ground.  He couldn't control a large area cataclysm as well as a smaller area, but it still followed his mental map pretty well.

The cataclysm ate through the concrete forcing her to dodge left and laugh as she thought he missed.  It then curved to eat through the base of the sign.  The sign fell on the akuma's head just as planned, and her vines loosened enough for Ladybug to escape as the akuma had to take a moment to recover.

Ladybug landed on the ground. Her heart was pounding fast. That was close. "Thanks, Chat." She turned around and face the akuma. She recovering from being smack in the head. It was time to wrap things up. Ladybug tossed her yo-yo in the air. "Lucky Charm!" A rope appeared and Ladybug already knew what to do with it. She lasso the rope in the air and tossed it at the akuma. It wrapped around her body and Ladybug pulled her toward her. The akuma was now trapped. Ladybug ran over to her and took the flower was in her hat. She ripped it and the butterfly came out. Ladybug then quickly purified it and Pairs was no longer a jungle.

"You okay?" Ladybug asked the young lady.

"Yes," the lady looked so confused. "Um thank you Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"No problem." The lady then waved them goodbye and walked away. Ladybug turned to Chat Noir and she marched over to him. "Why didn't you tell me that you would be gone!? You could have sent Plagg!" she glared at him for a second then she hugged him. "I was so worried! I thought something bad happened to you!"

Chat frowned as she scolded him and avoided her eyes as she glared. He opened his mouth to apologize when she suddenly pulled him into a hug. He relaxed, a small smile on his face as he returned the hug before they separated.  

"I know... I'm sorry...  I was really distracted the week before and forgot to send Plagg. My family was out of town for the week.  I was worried about you too.  I saw the fight on the news. Their camera angles aren't as good as Alya's when she's around...  I really wish I could have been there." He didn't mention that it looked like that car had hit her or that he had thought she drowned when the akuma threw her in the river.

Ladybug just sighed. She could tell he looked guilty. "Just please remember to tell me next time." She then smiled at him. "See you later." She then ran off and returned home.

The rest of break was not relaxing at all. Hawkmoth really meant his returned. They fought two akumas per day. One in the afternoon and one at night. Because of that Marinette didn't have any time to try to meet up with Adrien. When she wasn't fighting akumas, she was busy helping out in the bakery or doing homework. Their science teacher thought it was a great idea to give them a test on the first day back. This frustrated Marinette because their last week of break would have been a great opportunity to confess to Adrien.

That Monday on their first day back Marinette was climbing up the stairs into the school. She let out a big yawn. Hawkmoth was so kind to have an akuma to attack in the middle of the night. She barely got any sleep. Since she was so tried Alya startled, when she entered the courtyard.

"You okay?" her friend asked her. 

"Yeah," Marinette replied. "Just barely got any sleep last night." She then lowered her voice. "Akuma."

Alya just nodded her head. "How was the rest of your break?"

"Besides the akumas okay. Yours?"

"Great. It feels good to be home though. I love my grandparents, but to be out in the country side for two weeks was crazy."

Marinette just laughed. Her grandparents didn't have internet. 

"So," Alya said as they climbed the stairs to their classroom. "Are you going to try to confess today?"

"Um, I'm not sure. I really don't have the energy to."

Alya just nodded her head. She was able to stay informed through the television and newspapers while she was gone. "Understandable. Things did get crazy for the past two weeks."

"But I am excited to see him again," Marinette said with a goofy smile. She blushed a little. "I was able to watch the fashion show."

Her friend laughed. "They had a stream?"

"Yep! Don't tell Adrien that I watched it!"

"Oh, I won't." The two girls then arrived in their classroom and took their seats.

Adrien yawned as he entered the classroom and took a seat next to Nino, who was playing a game on his phone.  It seemed Hawk Moth was intent on making their lives miserable again. Two akumas a day for an entire week?  They hadn't even known he could use his powers that often.  At least they weren't as deadly as his previous akuma week.  Still, so many attacks plus a few unplanned photo shoot was enough for Adrien to want to stay home and sleep.

"Dude, you look like you were hit by a truck," Nino said while pausing his game.

"Busy spring break.  One week in New York.  Last week focusing on photo shoots that I don't remember hearing about before then.  I need some down time," Adrien said before yawning again.

Nino frowned, "Your father needs to stop overworking you...  Are you ready for the physics test?"

Adrien's face went blank. "Physics test...?"  He could almost feel the gears turning as he tried to remember what test Nino was talking about.  His head hit the desk as he groaned.  How had he forgotten?  His father would be furious if he got anything below and A- and he wasn't sure he could pass it when he was this tired and hadn't studied once.

Nino patted him on the shoulder sympathetically.  "I'm sure you'll do fine. You're great at science."

It was that point that Marinette and Alya entered. They greeted each other and the four of them chatted a little about break before the teacher entered the room with her stack of tests.  By the looks of most the class, no one was ready or wanted to take this test. Not that it matter.  Their teacher enthusiastically passed out the tests after a brief welcome back.

The test wouldn't have been too difficult if he'd had a chance to study for it, but looking at it in his current state of tiredness was enough to give himself a headache.  He tried to recall the various equations needed to work through the problems but could only remember two of the five necessary.  He took a guess at the other three and hoped for the best. 

The rest of the school day was a blur as was the rest of the week. He dozed through a lot of his classes and tried to make up for it through his homework while also juggling a photo shoot a day as well as one to two akuma attacks a day. He had no clue why his father was suddenly scheduling so many shoots or what was making Hawk Moth want to attack so frequently, but his homework was starting to suffer.

A week later, he sat silently in class, staring at the front of the room. He felt tense, the stress of the past few weeks starting to put his mind in overdrive. Their teacher walked in with a stack of graded tests and handed them out while talking about how disappointed she was that so many people were unprepared after two weeks to practice.  

Adrien didn't even want to turn his test over and look at the grade, but he couldn't leave it sitting on the table.  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he turned the paper over.  With a gulp, he looked down and paled at the grade.  It was a C.  He might as well have gotten an F.  That's what his father would view it as. 

He felt sick. Nino tried to talk to him, but he just shook his head and laid down on the desk.  Nathalie would demand to see this test and then report to his father.  He was so dead.

Marinette was getting really annoyed with all the akumas lately. They weren't dangerous like that one time, but they were wearing her out. She wondered if Hawkmoth was trying to over work them. Because of the akumas eating up her time she had to make sure to stay on the top of her homework. So she didn't have any time for friends. At this rate she wouldn't be able to confess to Adrien until summer break. Speaking of Adrien she noticed how tense and stressed he looked lately. She wondered if anything was wrong at home. Marinette wanted to talk to him about, but he never got a chance. At lunch time she was fighting akumas and after school he left at once. 

When their science teacher handed her test, Marinette grabbed it. She looked it over and breath in relief. She got a B-. Her parents weren't the time to get angry about grades, but they do get disappointed. Marinette looked up and noticed Adrien's reaction to his test grade. She bit her lip. She needed to talk to him today.

After school Marinette was busy putting her books into her bag, when she noticed Adrien was already gone. Panicked Marinette rushed out the door and was able to catch Adrien waiting for his car outside. She practically ran over to him. "Hey, Adrien." She took a minute to catch her breath. "I was wondering if everything was okay. You look stressed."

Adrien forced a smile as Marinette ran over to him. He was happy to get a chance to speak with her, but he also didn't want to worry her.  "Hey. I'm fine. I've just been really busy lately. All my normal photo shoots were on hold before the fashion show, so we're catching up now. It's just really exhausting. It should be fine once everything settles down."

He failed to hold in a yawn as the car approached and stopped in front of them.  "Well, I need to go..  See you later.." He said. He gave her another tired smile before quickly getting in the car. He wished he could speak to her more before the car got there.

Marinette just waved to goodbye forcing a smile as well. She could tell he was lying to her. She just stood there and watched his car drove away. Alya soon joined her.

"Is everything okay?" her friend asked her.

"No. Something is wrong with Adrien, but he won't tell me."

Alya just nodded her head. She noticed his change in behavior as well. "He probably doesn't want to worry anyone."

"But we're friends, Alya!" she turned to best friend. "I told him he could talk to me about anything!"

"Yeah, but sometimes people try keep their problems to themselves, Marinette."

"Ugh! What should I do?"

"Sadly all you can do is watch over him and hope he talks to you. You can't force it out of him."

Marinette didn't look happy about that answer. "I'll see you tomorrow." She then just walked off and headed home.

The photo shoot was a disaster.  It was at his father's building, so of course his father would be there.  No need to go through Nathalie for the physics test. His father reached out a hand, "Did you get your physics test back?"

Adrien nodded and rummaged through his bag, grabbing the test and handing it to his father as they walked towards the makeup room.  Adrien watched his father's eyes narrow as he saw the grade and looked through the test. "Adrien, this is terrible. I thought you knew better than this."

Adrien bit his lip.  They were outside the makeup room door, but he knew his father wouldn't let him go mid lecture.  "I know... I didn't have a lot of time to study between New York and all the photo shoots the second week of break. Most teachers put their tests before break..."

"So now you're blaming your teacher?  You should have had plenty of time in the evening to study.  What exactly were you doing?"

"I..." Adrien paused. He was fighting akumas.  That would not work as an explanation. Nothing would work as an explanation in this case. "I was really tired..." He inwardly cringed at that. This wasn't going to work either.

His father crossed his arms, "So you were sleeping rather than studying?  We had a deal, Adrien.  You keep your grades up if you want to go to that school.  Does this mean you can't keep up your end of the bargain?"

Adrien's eyes widened.  "No! It's one test... I'll do better on the next one. I promise."

"Fine. You will come home at lunch and study. You will also study in the evening. I want to see every test after this one until the end of the year to make sure you're doing well.  Understand me?"

Adrien nodded, "Yes sir."

"Good."  His father excused him to get ready.

After the photo shoot, he was taken straight home and started studying immediately. He could not be pulled from school. He didn't want to go back to being home schooled. Thankfully, there was no akuma that night.

Unfortunately for him, however, there was another akuma right before his photo shoot the next day. Adrien had to sneak away as he exited the car by using the crowd to escape Gorilla's notice.  He found a spot to transform and made it to the nearby shopping district in record time to find a baking akuma. It saw him and quickly flung dough at him.  

Chat barely dodged the full force of the attack and ended up with a large piece of dough on his shoulder which suddenly hardened in the heat of the sun.  He had to punch it to make it crumble from his shoulder so it didn't restrict his movements.  Hopefully, Ladybug would arrive soon.  He needed to get back to the shoot ASAP.

Marinette felt so frustrated. There was something wrong with Adrien and he still wouldn't tell her. She get he didn't want her to worry, but not telling her was worrying her! After school Marinette, stood at her locker and bang her head on the door.

"Marinette," Alya said. 

"Hey," Marinette said and looked at her friend.

"Do you want to go and get a crepe?" Alya was trying to cheer her up.

"Sure."

The two friends left school and got a crepe by the Eiffel Tower. They sat down on a bench. Marinette bit into her crepe. After she swallowed it, she let out a heavy sigh. Alya pat her on the back.

"It sucks that I can't do anything for him," Marinette whined.

"I know, but like I said you can't force him to talk."

"I'm about to." Marinette kept on eating her food.

Alya's phone then made a noise and she pulled it out of her pants pocket. She unlocked her phone and saw a news notification. She read it and gasp. "Marinette, there's an akuma at Chloe's hotel."

Alya's friend let out a groan. "When will Hawkmoth give it a rest? What he is trying to make up for his akuma quota?"

"We should get going," Alya stoop up on her feet.

"Do you want to be Ladybug for the day?"

"Marinette!" Tikki angrily popped out of Marinette's purse.

"Alright. I'm going." she finished her crepe and both her and Alya headed to the hotel. When they got closer, both of them hid in an alley. They poked their heads out from behind the wall. They saw the akuma looked like some kind of baker. Marinette panicked for a second thinking it was her dad. But after studying him for a moment, it was a stranger.

Alya gasped.

Marinette looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"That man works with my mom! He's one of the pastery chefs. She hates working with him."

"Hmm he must have gotten fired."

"Wouldn't surprise me. Look." Alya pointed to the hotel. Marinette looked back. She saw it was covered in jelly. Marinette couldn't help, but laugh. It made her think of Kung Food. The poor hotel was a victim of so many akuma attacks.

"Marinette," Tikki spoke. The girls turned around and saw the kwami floating in the air. "If you haven't noticed. Chat is struggling. We need to get going." 

Marinette looked back and saw Chat was having a hard time dodging the akuma's doughy attacks. She just nodded her head and transformed. Ladybug then ran off and pulled Chat out of the cross fire.

"Sorry, I'm late, she said." she got some dough out of his hair. She frowned. Ladybug noticed he looked worn out. Were all these fights getting to him? "Stay put. I'll take care of him." She turned to the akuma and called out Lucky Charm. A bag of flour appeared and she caught it. How fitting. Dough came flying at them and she quickly pulled herself and Chat to the ground. Ladybug then got up from the ground and ran toward the akuma. She hit the bag of flour in his face. The bag exploded causing flour to go everywhere. The akuma was blind. Ladybug grabbed his whisk and crushed it with her foot. The akuma flew out and she purified it. 

"Miraculous Ladybug!" she shouted and threw the bag into the air and everything returned to normal. The man who was akumatize just ran off. Ladybug turned around to tease Chat about the fight, but he was gone. She looked confused. Was there something wrong with him too?

"Ladybug!" Alya said as she ran up to her. 

"Hey, did you see where Chat went?"

"Yeah he ran off when you freed the butterfly."

"What?"

Alya shrugged. "He looked like he was in a hurry."

Ladybug pouted. "I hope he's okay..."

"I'm sure he's fine."

The two girls went back to the alley and Ladybug detransformed. Marinette then handed Tikki a cookie from her purse. She has been carrying around cookies more often because of all of the attacks. Tikki took it and went back inside the purse. She nibbled on it as the girls headed to Marinette's apartment. Tikki was concern about Adrien. She had about feeling about all of this.

Chat breathed a sigh of relief when Ladybug appeared and didn't protest as she pulled him out of the akuma's attack.  He watched as she used Lucky Charm and threw the flour in the akuma's face.  She seemed to have it in the bag as she broke the item and caught the akuma.  Time for him to go.

He ran past Alya who waved to try and stop for a moment.  He didn't have time for that so he completely ignored her.  Getting back to the photo shoot was the most important thing right now.

He made it back just in time to get dressed but ended up holding up the makeup team.  His father made an appearance at some point too, but he just nodded and apologized.  He has no will to argue even if he could think of a good excuse.  He just wanted to get the shoot done with and go home.  He had homework and probably another akuma attack or something.  At one point he thought Hawk Moth was limited to one akuma a day, and the villain had chosen the worse time to prove him wrong.

Later that night, Plagg watched as Adrien struggled to stay awake long enough to do his homework.  The boy was cracking under pressure, and Plagg was starting to worry.

"Maybe you should go to bed.  You can finish this in the morning," he suggested.

Adrien shook his head.  "There'll probably be an akuma in the morning.  I need to finish this tonight."

Plagg floated in front of Adrien, crossing his arms. "No, you need to sleep.  You're going to make yourself sick if you keep doing this."

"I don't have a choice, Plagg.  I'm not being pulled out of school just because Hawk Moth is having a field day."  He tried to hold in a yawn, but Plagg wasn't fooled.

"You can't do everything, Adrien.  Pick something and cut it out.  At least until things calm down."

"I would if I could, Plagg, but the only thing that's flexible is responding to akuma attacks, and I can't cut that out.  I'll figure out how to balance everything eventually.  So stop bothering me while I'm trying to do my homework."  Adrien gently waved him away and went back to what he was doing.

Plagg sighed and went to grab some cheese from the mini fridge.  He had to settle for some gross, overly processed cheese sticks that Adrien begged Nathalie to pick up since he didn't have time to get Camembert.  Normally, Plagg would complain, but he had the common sense not to stress Adrien out anymore than he already was.

Adrien was asleep at his desk by the time Plagg returned to his side.  He shook his head and went to Adrien's bed.  Grabbing the blanket, he struggled to pull it over and drape it over his partner's shoulders.  There was no way Plagg was going to wake him.  The kid would have to do his homework tomorrow.  And Plagg would need to have an emergency meeting with Tikki as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Gabriel sat in his office, tapping a pen on his desk.  Adrien was breaking.  He could see it in his eyes and the way he carried himself.  Gabriel had known his son was sensitive, but he didn't realize how sensitive.  He took a deep breath and tried to remind himself that this was all for the best.  The end would more than justify the means.  But still...

"It won't be long now, Gabe."  Lycca said, floating with a candy bar nearby.  He stared at Gabriel and seemed to realize his hesitation.  "Don't tell me backing down.  You've gotten too far into this plan to back down.  Adrien would realize something was up."

Gabriel sighed.  He wasn't completely sure Lycca was right.  Then again, what else could he do at this point?  Adrien needed at least one good parent.  If he had to use his son to get that parent back, then so be it.  "I'm not backing down," he answered.  "I'm just thinking..."

Lycca nodded, "Just don't think too hard. You'll start doubting yourself."

The next day, Adrien was awoken by Nathalie's knock and somewhat frantic reminder he needed to leave for school.  Adrien snapped awake in an instant and quickly ran around the room to get ready for school.  Plagg just withdrew into his Adrien's bag before he had a chance to scold him.

The morning got worse as he pushed through his homework in the car.  His phone vibrated with an alert from the Ladyblog that something was under attack.  He had no way to escape the car and very reluctantly opted to skip the attack to get his homework done while praying Ladybug would be fine on her own.

Even though he had gotten extra sleep, he was still tired and ended up sleeping at his desk until Nino woke him for the beginning of class.  Only half of his homework was done.  He just leaned over his desk with his head in his hands as roll call began.

Plagg waited until well into first period before making his move.  He exited Adrien's bag and flew low to approach Marinette's purse from below.  He poked his head through the purse material when he was sure no one was looking.  

"Tikki, we need to talk," he whispered before pretty much dragging her out of the bag and flying low towards a small supply closet right outside the classroom.  He stopped only when they were hidden in the closet.  "Adrien needs help.  He's breaking.  I don't know what to do," he said before she had a chance to speak.  He didn't even try to hide his worry.

Marinette barely made it to school on time. The akuma was  tricky to fight without Chat. Now she was worrying about him too. His recent behavior proved something was up. She ran to her seat and rest her head on her school bag. This was getting ridiculous. When will Hawkmoth give it a rest? Marinette sat up, when she heard Nino waking up Adrien. He was getting worse. She felt so useless seeing him like that. She wished he would talk to her.

During first period Marinette passed him a note. Well to Nino seeing Adrien didn't notice her. Nino was able to get his attention. The note read, Please talk to me.

Meanwhile in the supply closet Tikki was glad Plagg called the meeting. He was acting so mature right now. She frowned at his question. "I'm not sure either. This has to be Hawkmoth's doing. Maybe he's trying to wear them out? But Marinette isn't nearly as affect as Adrien.

Adrien jumped as Nino gently elbowed him and handed him a note.  He looked down at the note and recognized Marinette's handwriting.  He glanced so he could see her in the corner of his eye before looking back down.  She looked worried...

He took a piece of paper from his notebook and paused, not sure what to answer.  He couldn't mention anything about the akuma attacks, and homework and photo shoots alone would not have been so hard on him.  

He quickly scrawled what he hoped was enough on the paper.  I can't... My schedule is packed.  I have to go home for lunch and right after school.  Really overwhelmed right now.  Hopefully, it will be fine soon.  

He knew that wasn't a satisfying response, but it was all he had.  He folded the paper and passed it to Marinette when the teacher wasn't looking.

Plagg shook his head when Tikki mentioned the akumas.  "The akuma's aren't the only problem for him.  He got a C on that physics test, and his father threatened to pull him out of school.  He's had either photo shoots or some work related thing everyday.  Fencing, basketball, piano, Chinese.  He has to keep up with his homework, and he doesn't get enough sleep so he sleeps in class and can't keep up.  He had his schedule perfectly managed before spring break, but too much is happening now.  I told him to consider taking a break from fighting until he catches up, but he refused.  He only missed the one this morning because he couldn't think of an excuse to get out of the car.  Jeez, Hawk Moth's timing is horrible."

Marinette read it and just crumbled up the piece of paper in her hand. She wasn't happy with his answer. He was obviously hiding something from her. 

Tikki sighed. "Plagg, this is all on you unfortunately. I got nothing. Marinette is trying to talk to him, but he keeps shutting her down. It's really getting to her. Now she's worried about Chat too."

Adrien stiffened as he heard the crumbling of paper behind him.  He shouldn't be surprised she was mad.  That answer was bullshit and even he knew it. He would have to get out of the classroom ASAP to avoid her.  Not that he wanted to avoid her, but conversation would get him in trouble.  His father was being so restrictive on his time now.

Plagg sighed.  "I'll do my best, but he's stubborn. If we could just get them to reveal their identities...  He'd talk to Marinette if he knew he could.  I don't think he takes me seriously when I tell him he should tell Marinette.  And now he's not even got the time to visit her as Chat. I guess I'll keep pushing him to tell her." 

Plagg sighed. This was going downhill fast.  He wondered if he should tell Tikki the extent of Adrien's increasingly negative emotions.  The kid was incredibly good at managing his emotions. He had to be with all the disappointment in his life. But everyone had a breaking point, and the kwami was starting to worry he was getting close.

He decided to stay quiet for now. Things could still turn around. "We should get back to the classroom. You can let Marinette know Chat is having trouble sneaking away. That way she won't expect him in battle if he happens to miss more."

They returned to the classroom as it was getting close to lunch.