Kitten
by Diana-san
The door opens slowly as Adrien pokes his head through to take a quick survey of the classroom before entering. With a quick jog to his seat, he sits down as he sets a large bag down besides him. Nino stares at Adrien curiously before staring down at the bag.
"What do you have in that bag, Adrien?" Nino asks his friend.
"Uhh… n-nothing!" Adrien stammers as he throws a small gray towel over the top of the bag to cover it.
Behind the two boys, Marinette and Alya exchange curious glances with each other. Alya slides her elbow towards Marinette as she whispers with a hand shielding her mouth, "What do you think he has in there? He's later to class today than usual."
Marinette raises both her shoulders up in a shrug as she wishes she knew too. Adrien was always one to arrive to class early and today, he came in two minutes after the second warning bell for class.
Suddenly, something in Adrien's bag began to move as the grey towel falls to the floor and a small yellow kitten pokes its head out of the bag. It mews softly and Nino almost falls out of his seat when he sees the kitten.
"Ahhhh! He's so cute!" Alya says out loud as Adrien places a finger on his lips. Immediately, the class turns to look at their section and Alya laughs loudly as she waves her phone in the air. "Haha… Just following up on the latest celebrity gossip," Alya tries to cover up her previous statement. "Jagged Stone has a new album coming out!" she throws in as that catches everyone's attention instead and they all return to looking at their phones.
"Adrien, when did you get a kitten?" Marinette asks in a low whisper as she and Alya both hunch their heads down on top of their desks.
"I found him near my house as I was leaving for school. I couldn't leave it alone by himself so I brought him to school with me until I can get to the animal shelter and drop him off," Adrien whispers back.
Marinette was sure that only made Adrien even more perfect in her eyes. "That's so sweet of you," she says with a smile as she couldn't help but let a dreamy sigh out before feeling Alya's fingers pinching her on the arms.
Nino sneezes and then sneezes again.
"Nino, are you allergic to cats?" Alya asks.
"I'm not allergic," Nino insists. He sneezes a third time. "But I think I'm allergic."
Adrien gives an apologetic look at his friend but Alya quickly offers up a solution. "Marinette and Nino can trade spots for today!"
"W-whaaat?" Marinette stammers in surprise as Nino quickly nods and brings his stuff over to Marinette's side.
"Ah, thank you so much Marinette! You're the best! You too Nino!" Adrien says as he flashes a smile at her direction.
Marinette could feel her heart bounce right out of her chest as she blushes and quickly gathers up her books before mouthing a quick appreciative thanks at Alya. Her friend only winks as Nino slides into Marinette's seat.
The door to the classroom opens and their teacher walks through as she sets her attendance book down on the front desk. As she surveys the classroom, she double takes at the new seat changes in the front with Marinette and Nino. "Why are you two in each other's seats today? Marinette and Nino."
Marinette and Nino glance at each other and Adrien tries to fumble for a good excuse for his two friends.
"Uh– Marinette forgot to wear her contact lenses today! So she needs to sit closer to the front to see the board!" Alya pipes in, saving all of them. The teacher seems to accept this reason as she nods and reminds Marinette to remember next time.
Class goes on without another hitch for the next few minutes as the teacher writes a new assignment on the board. Marinette could barely concentrate as she finds herself occasionally, or more frequently now, staring at Adrien's side profile. She could feel a slight movement in the pocket of her jacket as Tikki seems to be giggling at her expense.
From his new seat, Nino could see a lot that he never noticed before in the past in his old seat. First of all, Alya seems to always be on her phone updating something when the teacher wasn't looking or writing something in her notebook that he was sure also wasn't even class related since they definitely weren't even studying the topic of ladybugs. Second of all, Marinette seem to be more strange than usual as her attention was always on either Adrien or Chloe. He couldn't really tell what she was looking at because she would glance away every ten seconds or so with a light blush on her face. And the last of it all, Adrien had a really good back profile.
As the day went on, there were only ten more minutes left of class. Marinette sighs, knowing that soon her perfect dream would come to an end when the school bell rings to break the magic. Instead of that bell, however, came a soft mewing sound as Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino froze in their seats.
Their teacher turns around and stares at the four of them. "What's that sound?" she asks.
Marinette blinks as she scratches her throat. "Ah, it was me!" She begins to mew softly as she laughs in nervousness. "I-I have a babysitting job on the weekends and sometimes we play make-believe cats and now it just comes out of me subconsciously." She knew it was a long-shot of an excuse but somehow, it sounded quite plausible when she said it out loud.
Their teacher stares at her for a moment and for an instant, Marinette was sure that the teacher was going to get mad. But she doesn't and instead, their teacher chuckles. "Okay, my nephew does the same thing at home. But maybe next time you should play a quieter make-believe game. For the sake of the rest of the class."
Marinette nods sheepishly as Adrien breathes a sigh of relief. Behind them, Alya and Nino also take in their own sigh of relief as they sink back into their seats. As the teacher assigns homework for the day, Adrien turns to Marinette and smiles as he whispers a "thank you". Marinette was sure that she died and went to heaven twice that day. Or thrice. She lost count after the first.
The bell rings and Adrien calls out to Marinette to stay behind. Alya giggles as she sees Marinette's reaction and quickly, she nudges her friend before waving a quick goodbye. Nino pats Adrien on the shoulder. "Sorry, man, I would go with you to the animal shelter but…" Nino sneezes. "I'm probably sick. That must be it."
"Or allergies?" Adrien asks.
"I've never been allergic to anything in my whole life! Nuh uh. Not starting now. Must be the common cold," Nino laughs but stares at the large bag near Adrien before slowly backing out the door. "So I better go drink some Vitamin C right now. Bye Adrien! Bye Marinette!"
The classroom is now empty except for the two of them and Marinette awkwardly tugs at the bottom of her shirt as she waits for Adrien to speak up first.
"I want to thank you for today, Marinette. You didn't have to change seats with Nino or cover for me with the mewing but you did anyways," he says. "That was some quick thinking also," he notes.
She nods as she blushes at his words. "O-of course! You're my friend! And we couldn't let the teacher discover the kitten. That would have gotten you in a lot of trouble."
Adrien smiles. "Friend?" he echoes. "That's the first time I've heard you call me that, Marinette."
Marinette begins to stammer. "U-uh unless you don't want to be called that." She laughs nervously. "Sorry, it just sort of slipped out."
"No, I like it. Friend. Marinette, my friend."
Marinette was sure to drop to the floor in a complete mess if it weren't for Adrien still standing there in front of her. "Yes!" she agrees in excitement.
"I think I owe you dinner some time then Marinette for you covering for me today."
Dinner? The thought of having dinner with Adrien was enough to send her over the moon. "Ah, no. I told you that I did it because you're a friend so you don't have to treat me out—" Marinette stops talking as she realizes what a big mistake she was making. What was she doing in rejecting a dinner, possible date, with Adrien, her crush? This was why she needed Alya with her to stop her from making these dumb mistakes.
"Then let me treat you as a friend," Adrien says with another smile.
"Okay," Marinette replies this time in a soft voice as she watches Adrien hoist up the large bag over his shoulder.
"Would you like to go to the animal shelter together?" he asks as the two of them leave the classroom and walk out to the front of the school.
Marinette clap her hands together as she is ready to agree to such an invitation. But before she could say yes, they both hear screams come from down the street as a man in a bumblebee outfit flies past them. Marinette blinks as she realizes what is going on. "Um, actually…" she says as she steps backwards towards the school. "I think I forgot something in the classroom."
Adrien nods as he also walks towards the direction of where the bumblebee man just flew. "Of course. Well, I have to run. The shelter closes at 4pm." The two of them just stare at each other for one brief moment before turning around and dashing away in different directions.
As Marinette runs back inside the school, she shuts her eyes in disbelief that she missed such a golden opportunity to hang out with her crush. Tikki flies out of her pocket as the two of them find an empty corner of the school hallway to crouch in.
"Don't worry, Marinette. At least there is still dinner in the future!" Tikki reassures Marinette.
Marinette grins. "You're right. Okay, let's go Tikki!" she says.
"TRANSFORM! LADYBUG!"