Adrien lay wide awake in the dark, as if he could sleep after what had happened that night. He found it too awkward to be in Marinette's bed, so instead he had opted for laying on her chaise. He had lain there for hours with his mind running on overdrive as he went over the events of the night before over and over.

When the early morning light finally began to filter in from the windows Adrien got up and stood in front of Marinette's mirror. He had taken her hair out of its pigtails before lying down and now it hung loosely just past her shoulders. He lifted up one of her dark locks and twisted it lightly between his fingers, the image of Marinette in the mirror copying his every action.

'Marinette is Ladybug.'

The night before, perhaps due to the adrenaline caused from all the bizarre events, he hadn't truly taken in that thought. With the whole body swap incident which was followed by the sudden identity reveal, it was as though his brain didn't fully process everything until now. It wasn't until he spent the night replaying the events that happened when it truly started to sink in, when he finally started to realize that Marinette was Ladybug.

How had he not seen it before, were they really both that blind? Her hair, her eyes, the light splash of freckles across her nose. Appearance wise, everything about her screamed 'Ladybug.' Not only had Ladybug been his classmate, but she had been sitting behind him the entire time! He mentally slapped himself, what sort of coincidence was that!

The thought of seeing her at school later that day caused a flutter of anxiety in his stomach. When he saw her would they communicate the way Ladybug and Chat would or would they forever be the shy Marinette and Adrien who felt awkward around each other?

A small yawn startled him from his thoughts, turning around to see the little red kwami beginning to wake up. How she could possibly sleep after what had happened the night before was beyond him.

"Morning," he smiled and approached her.

Tikki, who had been rubbing the sleep from her eyes, stopped and stared at him with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open as if this was the most shocking thing she had ever seen. More so than his little body swap. He gave her a confused look.

"Sorry," she said, shaking her head and smiling, "it's just that I'm not used to seeing Mari up this early. She usually wakes up late and has to rush to school." Tikki brought her hand up to her mouth and let out a little giggle to which Adrien smiled. She was definitely a lot cuter than Plagg.

With a laugh, Adrien cupped the small kwami in his hands. "Come on, I don't think it's so shocking that you need to react like that when you see her awake this early."

"No, really," Tikki said in all seriousness, "sometimes I'm worried that when winter comes around Marinette will just curl up and hibernate throughout the entire season."

Adrien smiled. "Well I can guarantee you that last night she probably didn't get a wink of sleep after what happened."

~.~.~.~.~

She couldn't help it, she was a nervous sleeper!

One moment she had been awkwardly sitting on Adrien's couch in the dark room, the next she was startled awake by a loud knocking at the door and the voice of a lady informing her that she was late.

Marinette rolled off the couch, slammed onto the floor, scrambled to her feet, stubbed her toe on something she couldn't see in the early morning light, and hurriedly limped her way to the door. Plagg groggily watched the scene before him having woken up due to the racket Marinette was making.

It wasn't until Marinette hobbled by Adrien's bed and saw the small digital clock on his night side table when her brain finally started to think instead of just react. The numbers that glowed in the dim light read that it was only 6 a.m. Late! Late for what? Was this person crazy! She sighed, placing a hand to her aching head, and stumbled her way to the door.

The lady standing outside the door had black hair pulled into a bun and glasses resting neatly on her face. Her expression was blank and emotionless, whether she had heard the racket Marinette made was impossible to tell.

"You were late for breakfast so I came up to check if everything was alright," she said in a very straight and stiff manner.

"Oh uh...yeah, everything's great!" Marinette said, raising both her thumbs to accentuate her point.

The lady only cocked her eyebrow at this, her face remaining the same. "Very well, but please do inform me if you feel unwell at any time."

"Ok, thanks for worrying about me...uh..." Marinette paused, searching for a name but soon realizing that she had no clue who this lady was. "Well, thanks anyways! I'll let you know if anything comes up!"

With that she quickly slammed the door in her face and turned to Plagg.

"Who was that?" Marinette asked once she was sure the lady's footsteps had faded.

"Her? That's Nathalie, Adrien's dad's assistant. You'll be seeing a lot of her so get used to it," Plagg replied absentmindedly as he scoured empty cheese wrappings on Adrien's desk and garbage can, hoping to find a piece he may have missed.

"I can't believe this is happening," Marinette groaned, resting her face in her hands and sinking to the floor.

She wrapped her arms around her legs and placed her chin on them, watching Plagg as he ignored her to continue his pursuit for food. Marinette wished more than ever that Tikki was there. Her kwami always knew just what to say to cheer her up, always had words of encouragement to let her know that she could fix this and everything would get better. The thought of not being with Tikki only lowered her mood.

"I take it you're not much of a conversationalist," she mumbled into her arms.

Plagg turned to her and sneered. "I'll have you know that I can hold quite a conversation when the topic is about cheese."

Marinette rolled her eyes. How did Adrien put up with him every day?

She knew she couldn't just sit there all day and would have to head down eventually, so she might as well make it now. She stood up with determination and stalked over to Adrien's dresser, knowing that she would have to change clothes at some point.

"Alright," she breathed and closed her eyes, "you can do this."

Saying she wasn't feeling flustered was an understatement, but being Ladybug she knew she had to be reasonable and know how to handle even the strangest of situations. Being honest with herself, she knew that if Chat Noir had been anyone else then she wouldn't have many problems or strong feelings about their situation. However, the fact that Chat was Adrien and that she was now in Adrien's body was the real cause of her anxiety and nervousness. Heck, she even had trouble talking to him when she was Ladybug! It was better than when she was Marinette, but still awkward.

Opening her eyes, she turned to the black kwami who had floated over to watch her.

"Which drawers does Adrien keep his shirts and pants in?"

Plagg pointed to the top drawer. She opened it, but let out a yelp and quickly slammed it shut again, glaring daggers at the little kwami who was now beside himself with laughter.

"What?" He laughed out while wiping imaginary tears from his eyes, "you have to change your underwear eventually."

She could feel a blush forming on her cheeks both from anger and embarrassment. "It'll be fine just changing his clothes for now, we'll probably have this problem sorted out by the end of the day anyway."

This caused Plagg to stop laughing as he looked at her seriously for the first time. He was surprised that Ladybug of all people saw this as nothing, as though it was something that could be solved easily.

"I hate to be the devil's advocate, but what if you don't figure out a way to change back by the end of the day? What if this is permanent?"

Marinette turned away from him, ignoring the questions, and continued to search for clothes. No matter what she had to remain optimistic, it was all she could count on. There's no way this could be a long term thing, right?

Finding what she was looking for, she closed her eyes and swiftly threw off Adrien's clothes and pulled the clean ones on. It only took a couple of seconds and she kept her eyes closed the entire time, but she couldn't stop the hot blush on her cheeks. If yesterday she was told that she would be dressing Adrien she would have, well, she would have probably jumped with joy to be truthful, but now she really wasn't as happy as she would have been, just embarrassed.

Finally finished getting ready, Marinette left Adrien's room and made her way through the long hallways with Plagg guiding her towards the dining room. She entered a large room with the longest table she had ever seen, it could probably seat her entire class and still have plenty of room to spare.

Nathalie stood at one end with a clipboard and looked up at Marinette as she entered, there was a plate of food in front of the chair that Nathalie stood beside. Marinette made her way around the table and hesitantly sat in the chair, not really paying attention to the food in front of her.

Nathalie began reading off of the clipboard as Marinette stared around the room in confusion.

"Where's everybody else?" She asked, interrupting Nathalie who peered at her from over the clipboard with an annoyed expression.

"What do you mean?" She questioned.

Marinette looked across the large, empty table that stretched out before her. "Isn't anyone else going to be joining us? What about my dad? What's the point of such a bug table if it's just me?"

"Your father is too busy to sit down and eat." Nathalie's answered bluntly, only responding to one of Marinette's questions.

Marinette would have questioned the lady further but from her expression she could tell that she probably wouldn't be able to get any more information out of her. Considering she was supposed to be Adrien at the moment she assumed that it was expected she already know how meals work in his house. Instead she just gave the woman a light nod to show she understood. Nathalie handed her the clipboard with Adrien's schedule and excused herself, her footsteps echoing in the large and empty room as she left.

As soon as Nathalie was gone, Plagg left his spot from inside Marinette's shirt and started devouring some cubes of cheese from the plate, Adrien had already informed the chefs a while back that he always wanted cheese served with all of his meals. Marinette looked from the plate of food to the long table the stretched out before her. She couldn't help a feeling sadness spread that in the pit of her stomach as she sat there in that empty room.

"Are meals here always this lonely?" She asked softly, thinking of Adrien sitting there every day by himself.

"Cheer up kid, it's not too bad once you get used to it. At least, that what Adrien always tells me." His words only seemed to lower Marinette's mood as her face grew solemn. He looked down at the piece of cheese he held, then back up at her. Flying up in front of her face he stretched out his arms. "Cheese always makes me feel better."

Marinette couldn't stop herself from giggling at his attempt to cheer her up as she took the small cube of cheese from him. "Thanks."

As the kwami went back to eating his cheese Marinette looked around the room again. Was this really normal for Adrien, sitting around in this giant house all alone? What about before he was Chat Noir, when Plagg wasn't there to keep him company? Never before had there been a time when she felt so alone like she did now. She was always surrounded by others, the thought of craving human contact had never crossed her mind before.

Not knowing else who she could talk to, she reached her hand into Adrien's pocket and pulled out his phone, staring at it for a moment before reluctantly dialing her own number.

~.~.~.~.~

Adrien had done a quick scan of Marinette's room looking for a landline phone, but came up with nothing. He assumed that they should probably talk sometime before school started to go over how they should act, but it wasn't until then that he realized that he had no means of contacting her.

He looked down at Marinette's cell phone in his hand, the screen stating that he was locked out for five minutes due to entering the wrong passcode too many times.

Just as he sighed and put the phone down, a song tune erupted from it causing Adrien to jump.

Looking at the screen he recognized his own number and answered the phone.

"Marinette?" He asked

"H-hi," she said softly.

The two fell into an awkward silence, neither one knowing what to say.

Adrien finally spoke up first, not sure how to start the conversation. "So, I guess you must have figured out my password then, if you're able to call me that is."

There was silence on the other end as Marinette began to panic internally, she hadn't thought twice when unlocking his phone and was caught off guard when he mentioned it.

"Yes, that's it!" She said hastily in order to cover up her suspicious pause. "I guess I got really lucky, I am Ladybug after all, luck is my middle name!"

Adrien smiled, her awkward response somehow putting him more at ease. "That is true."

"So..." Marinette was only now realizing that she had no idea what to say to him having only called in the first place because of her desire to talk to someone.

"School," he said, "we should go over what to do at school."

"Right!" She decided it best to just go with what he said instead of telling him his house made her lonely. Adrien did have a point though, everyone at school would be expecting them to act as they normally do. Anything different would rise suspicion.

She thought about it for a moment before replying. "I think it would be best if we don't talk too much to each other at school. We don't normally communicate too often and if we started now then some people, namely Alya, might get suspicious."

Adrien hummed in agreement, he wouldn't put it past Alya to notice even the slightest of changes in her best friend's behaviour. Then he remembered another person who would notice a sudden shift in his behaviour.

"Oh, Chloe!" He could hear Marinette make a hiss of annoyance, but continued anyway. "I know you don't like Chloe very much, but you shouldn't make it that obvious when you're in my body. She may not pick up on your dissatisfaction of her when you're Ladybug, but she'll be expecting me to act like I always do with her."

There was silence on the other end which was followed by a long sigh.

"Fine, but I won't be happy about it."

Adrien nodded to himself, feeling relieved that Marinette agreed and he wouldn't have to worry about Chloe finding anything suspicious.

They returned to an awkward silence after that.

"I guess we should just meet up after school to go over how we'll change back," Adrien said, "but we'll have to do it quickly because I have a photoshoot later tonight."

There was the sound of shifting papers coming from the other end as Marinette looked through his schedule for the day, having not been paying attention when Nathalie had read it to her. There it was, just as Adrien had said, a photoshoot. Marinette inwardly groaned, hoping that they could be changed back before then.

The two agreed on how they were going to act around each other and their classmates, Marinette gave Adrien her password while warning him to only use it for calling people, then they said their goodbyes and hung up.

Adrien put down the phone and went to get ready for the day, but it was then that he came face to face his first problem being in Marinette's body. Standing in front of her mirror he held up a red hair tie and stared at her loose hair.

He could do this, it couldn't be that hard, wasn't it just like using an elastic band? He grabbed a bundle of her dark hair and put the band around it, twisting it a few times until it stayed in place, then did the same for the rest of her hair.

He stood back to admire his work, face full of pride. See, he could do anything! But his face soon dropped upon seeing his reflection. Marinette's hair was a mess. The elastics were too low and not tight enough so her hair fell limply to the sides. It was also uneven as he had put too much hair in her left pigtail, leaving the right one with barely anything. Honestly, it looked as though a three year old had done the job.

He quickly pulled the elastics out and tried again. This time his hair was a little more evened out, but the hair ties were still too loose. He tried pulling on them to bring them closer to his head, but when he did so he also pulled the hair up with them causing some strands to stick out from the pigtails. He let out a huff of frustration and pulled the elastics out again and ran a brush through her now messy hair.

Once again he attempted to do this impossible task. He scooped up half of it and held it tight to the side as he tied the elastic around it, then swiftly did the same for the other side. This time his left pigtail was up at the side of his head like a handlebar while the other still hung loosely by his shoulder.

He ripped the hair ties out and released another frustrated groan, was this what some girls meant whenever they said it took hours to get ready? He tried again, this time trying to tighten the elastics as much as possible. He attempted to turn his head to look at the hair but failed and the end result looked no better from the others.

"This is impossible!" He complained as he once again brushed the knots he had made out of Marinette's hair. "How do people make this look so easy? How does anyone with ponytails make it to school on time?"

He was considering just forgetting the hair and going to school with Marinette's hair down, when Tikki let out a laugh from behind him and picked up the elastic which he had angrily discarded onto the floor. He watched in awe as the little kwami neatly parted Marinette's hair and tied the elastic around it, then did the same for the other side.

She flew back once she was finished and he stared at her handiwork. His hair looked was looked exactly like how Marinette always wore it.

"How did you do that?" He asked in astonishment.

Tikki just smiled at him. "I told you, Mari always wakes up late. Usually I end up doing her hair while she frantically gets ready."

The two exchanged smiles before Tikki flew into Marinette's bag which Adrien placed around his shoulder as he made his way down the trap door on the floor.

"Aren't you going to get changed? You're wearing the same clothes that Marinette wore yesterday." Tikki asked, popping her head out of the bag.

Adrien rubbed the back of his head with pink cheeks. "I think it's probably best this way, and I doubt Lady- I mean Marinette would want me changing her clothes. It's only for a day so there shouldn't be anything wrong with keeping them on."

Tikki looked at him uncertainly, having similar thoughts with what Plagg had mentioned to Marinette about their situation not being something easy to fix. She only sighed, deciding it was better for him to have confidence about this problem, and popped her head back inside the bag.

Adrien had just entered the bakery when a voice spoke up from across the room.

"Nice to see you up so early for a change."

He looked over his shoulder to see Sabine smiling at him as she arranged pastries on a tray. He flashed her a quick smile to avoid suspicion.

"Yeah, I wanted to get to school early today."

He turned back around and nervously started to head towards the door again when a large hand rested on his shoulder and twisted him around, causing him to face the man he knew as Marinette's father. Tom raised his other hand and rested it on Adrien's forehead.

"Heading off to school early, are you sure you're not sick Mari?"

Tom had a humorous grin on his face that caused a feeling of jealously and sadness to well up in Adrien's chest. When was the last time his own father had asked about his health? He knew Tom was only joking, but it still stirred his feelings to have someone care about him. Forcing a smile on his face like he was used to doing when masking his feelings, he brushed the larger hand away from him and let out a light laugh.

"I'm fine..." he paused for a moment before adding, "dad."

Tom smiled and reached his hand to the counter behind him then brought it back, placing something in Adrien's hands. Adrien looked down and realized that he held a crisp, golden brown croissant.

"Don't forget to eat something," Tom said.

Adrien could feel his eyes grow wide as he stared down at the large, fluffy pastry that had been placed in his hands and felt his mouth begin to water. It was still warm! The intoxicating aroma drifted up to his nose and excitement welled up inside of him. He couldn't help the large smile that spread across his face as he looked up at Tom and beamed.

"Thank you so much!"

Tom laughed and ruffled the hair that Tikki had done for him not too long ago. "I've never seen you this excited about eating a croissant before. I hope you enjoy it."

Adrien nodded his head furiously. As he was imagining what the little piece of heaven in his hands was going to taste like, he was pulled into an unexpected bear hug. He was taken off guard by the sudden action. He was hugged by Chloe on a daily basis and he hugged his friends occasionally, but this wasn't like those hugs, it was one filled with the warmth and love of a family member. It seemed like forever since he had last felt this sort of feeling. He hadn't felt this way ever since his mother...

The warmth burned in his chest and Adrien wasn't sure of how to react; should he hug Tom back or just continue to stand there awkwardly? He never did get his chance to react because in an instant the hug was over and Tom stood back with a smile on his face. Adrien thought he heard Tom say something about having a nice day at school, but he wasn't concentrating on his words.

The moment Tom had pulled away, he felt the warmth slowly seep out of him and a tinge of sadness spread throughout his stomach. Adrien yearned for that warmth to return, the warmth and love of a family that cared for him, the warmth and love that his father had failed to provide.

Tom's curious look at Adrien's obvious downcast expression brought him back to his senses. Waving a quick goodbye to Marinette's parents he ran out the door. When he was a distance away from the bakery he stopped and was about to return to his thoughts on the hug, but then he remembered the croissant in his hand.

All other thoughts draining from his mind, he started down at the pastry in all its baked glory. The last time he had the chance to try Tom's croissants Marinette had shooed her father away, but not this time! It felt like a shame eating something so perfect, but he could have cared less as he went to take a large bite out of one end. It was in that moment, just before his teeth closed around the freshly baked pastry, when a couple of kids pushed past him causing him to lose his grip on the croissant as it was flung out of his hands.

It was as though the world was moving in slow motion. Adrien stared in shock as his true love sailed through the air and landed neatly on the road. Tikki popped her head out of Marinette's bag and stared at the croissant laying on the road, then up at Adrien with pity.

"That's a shame."

"I'm still eating it." Adrien said with determination laced in his voice as he strode towards the road.

Tikki made a disgusted face. "But it's dirty."

"Something like that won't stop me."

Adrien had just reached the curb when a car whizzed by, causing him to leap back. When he was finally able to return to the road, he stared down in horror. Tikki followed his gaze and her eyes settled on the now flattened croissant. Adrien fell to his knees and stared at the pastry with the same look one would use if that had been their kitten instead of a piece of bread. He hesitantly scooped the pastry up into his hands, half of it breaking off and falling back onto the road, and placed it on the grass in front of him, mourning the loss.

All Tikki could think of doing was pat his arm and tell him everything would be alright, that Marinette lived in a bakery and he would have plenty of chances to eat croissants.

~.~.~.~.~

Marinette had just stepped out of the car that dropped her off at school. Before she even got the chance to mentally prepare herself for the day that awaited her, she was attacked with a killer embrace. She could smell Chloe's strong perfume before she saw her. Marinette went to glare down at the annoying girl, but Chloe's giant mass of blonde hair only got in the way.

"Oh Adrien, I missed you so much! It's been, like, twenty four hours since we last saw each other!"

Marinette only grumbled to herself and tried to pry the girl off of her. If Chloe seriously thought that from yesterday after school until this morning was twenty four hours then she was most definitely a living example of a stereotypical dumb blonde.

'This is even worse than dealing with her as Ladybug,' Marinette thought t herself as she tried once more to get the girl off of her, growing more frustrated with each second that passed. Never before had she wanted a crowbar as badly as she wanted one now.

After what felt like forever, Chloe finally released Marinette from her killer hug and stepped back, saying something to Adrien that Marinette tuned out. She opted for not listening or talking to the girl at the moment because she knew she probably wouldn't be able to hold herself back. She smiled a wicked grin as she thought about how Chloe would react if she took advantage of being Adrien and let her know how much nobody liked her, including himself.

She quickly shoved that thought aside as they made their way to class. As much as she hated the girl, she couldn't ruin Adrien's reputation for something like that.

As they approached their classroom Chloe finally released her grip on Marinette's arm, something that Marinette had failed to notice she was doing while in deep thought, and went with Sabrina to their desks.

Marinette entered the classroom next but paused in the doorway. She saw herself sitting in her seat next to Alya. To everyone else it would have looked perfectly normal, but to her it felt really odd. People don't usually see themselves in third person view other than in pictures, videos or the mirror, but here she was staring as herself having a conversation with Alya, most likely one about Ladybug.

Noticing her presence, she saw her light blue eyes shift in her direction, making eye contact for a brief moment, before quickly looking back to Alya.

"Hey," Marinette said quietly as she approached the desk and went to sit in Adrien's spot in the front row.

"Hi," Adrien replied while keeping his eyes averted.

She quickly sat down next to Nino who greeted her with a smile. She returned his smile, feeling more at ease. Nino she was comfortable with.

Her and Nino were having a casual conversation about new video game, Marinette praising herself for her so far convincing act, when the teacher walked in and started their lessons for the day.

With classes there wasn't much time for the two heroes to worry about each other or acting normal, so all they had to do was worry about was getting through the day. It seemed easy enough. However, another challenge of being in each other's bodies was approaching and no matter how much they tried to ignore it, the feeling just wouldn't go away and only got stronger as the minutes ticked by.

They really had to pee.