Hello! Thanks for dropping by my story! Just a heads up, I know this is my first chapter but I do plan on doing multiple chapters at once and then posting in sequence, so Don't get disappointed if there's a gap in updates! I have the WHOLE THING planned out pretty much, so don't worry about not finishing!
This story was inspired by the song I'll Be There by Jess Glynne. It will be many chapters. I appreciate reviews and betas! Good and Bad! The rating might change further down the road, for possible violence and other themes. But we shall see. I hope you enjoy this chapter and wait patiently for more! (I'll probably do 3 more and then post once a week to continue. ;)
I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or the characters. My profile image is credited to Alempe at DeviantArt.
As he entered the noisy classroom that Monday morning, Adrien could already feel his bad mood rising back to the surface. One hand on the strap of his bag, he ran his fingers through his blonde locks, attempting to remove the face he knew he was wearing. He took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold into Ms. Bustier's classroom.
"Sup dude!" a voice who could only be Nino spoke. He was sitting sideways in his booth, one arm on the back of his chair as Alya sat behind him, waving hello to their mutual friend as he took his seat. Adrien greeted Nino with their signature manly high five-fist bump combo, while none-too-gently dropping his back to the floor beside the desk and taking his seat. He could almost hear the faint noise of indignation as Plagg was lobbed around inside the bag.
"Morning Nino – Alya." As much as he tried to make himself sound his "usual" chipper self, he could tell he had failed. There was a flatness in his voice that he usually reserved for his father's company, and his smile never reached his eyes. Alya took that as her cue to focus heavily on her phone, likely scrolling through her Ladyblog for new comments, while Nino started questioning; as he was apt to do.
"Hey, bro what's wrong? You havin' a bad day?" he looked to his best friend. Adrien hated that look. Nino always knew what was going on – not that it was hard to guess. Nino knew something happened with his father, the famous Gabriel Agreste, who had no time for his son unless he was making money, but he danced around the subject to spare Adrien's feelings. He knew Nino was just being courteous, but it still managed to make him sick to think people were feeling sorry for him.
"Nah, nothing more than the usual, I guess." He sighed. He knew his best friend would understand that that meant he didn't really want to talk about it. When things happened with his father, he had grown so used to it that he could put on a good act and make everyone believe he was just happy, friendly Adrien. But something about today just really got under his skin.
It could have something to do with the fact that he had a late patrol last night. He got home past one in the morning. Then to be lectured by his father about curfews and threatening to take him out of school as always. But no regrets! He was patrolling with his Lady! He could deal with some grogginess to spend more time with Ladybug any day. As if on cue, he yawned widely, attempting to cover his face with the back of his hand.
"Alright, well you better be okay, if not I'll go kick someone's ass! Just try me when it comes to my best bro!" Nino was nearly standing up, brandishing fists in front of his face as if he were intimidating with that calm, happy face of his. Adrien was about to retort that it would not be necessary, when Alya tapped on his shoulder, breaking his eye contact with Nino as they both turned to look at her. Perhaps she had noticed that the classmates that were there had started to whisper about his sour mood.
"So, who wants to bet on the arrival of our resident Tardy Queen?" she smirked, hazel eyes ablaze behind her rimed glasses.
"Hey, you know it's not fair when you can just text her and she'll tell you where she is, Alya." Nino complained. Nevertheless, he grinned back and added, "but I'll bet she gets here right as the bell rings, as usual."
"You know there's a good chance she won't text me back until lunch time, right? That girl is so scatterbrained, I swear." Alya shot back, not without a loving tone and cheeky smile.
He didn't really feel like joking around, but he threw in, "Maybe she'll get here before the teacher for once?" He shrugged his shoulders. Alya knew he wasn't putting effort into his guess.
She straightened her shoulders and huffed. "Well I'll bet, she's going to be much later than that. Probably after Ms. Bustier has already started her lesson." She said, crossing her arms confidently in front of her chest.
"Alright miss predicto-matic, what are the stakes of this bet?" Nino questioned.
"One action. Whatever the winner wants. From EACH of the losers since there are three of us." She threatened. Nino recoiled, sweat-dropping.
Regaining his confidence, he said, "Fine, you're on. There's no way Marinette is going to be that late. What made you guess that anyway?"
"I just have a feeling, and I know my bestie." She sat back in her chair smugly. At this point, Adrien had already lost interest in the conversation and was laying with his head on his desktop, scrolling through his tablet for today's lesson plan, hoping to get it over with quickly. He didn't even think to deny Alya's threatening bet.
The clock ticked on and people flooded into class. Eventually the murmuring died down as Ms. Bustier entered the class. Nino knew by now he had lost the bet, as the seat next to the Ladyblogger was still vacant. He looked to Adrien for solace, but he looked to be preoccupied on his tablet and unaware of what he had just lost.
"Bonjour class. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend." Ms. Bustier smiled at the faces of her class. "Let's start our day as usual by saying something nice to each other." She looked around for someone to go first. Before she could pick someone, the door burst open and a tornado of pink and navy blue came crashing in.
Distracted, Adrien looked up to see Marinette, recently dubbed the appropriate Tardy Queen. She was panting, with her tablet under her arm and her bag flung around her neck, hanging over her back rather than on her shoulder where it should be. Her face was flushed, and she looked close to tears. She bowed deeply to Ms. Bustier, her bag swinging dangerously close to the floor in front of her and nearly making her fall over. Adrien had to suppress a snicker. Even if she didn't mean to, Marinette always had a way of bringing some relief to a situation – comedic or otherwise. It just wasn't school without her.
Nino didn't miss the smile – the real one – the first one to reach his best friend all morning. Noted. He turned back to look at Marinette and followed suit with a grin of his own.
"I'm so sorry I'm late Madame! I was- I was-…"
"Never mind the reason Marinette. It's never anything a normal person would truly be late from." Ms. Bustier joked sarcastically. "Why don't you stand up and start our words of kindness for today? Make someone smile to make up for your tardiness."
Marinette blushed hard, turning to face the class with a look of determination. She swept her blue eyes over her classmates, looking for someone to compliment. She almost always picked one of the girls. He was never sure if it was a feminist-women-empowerment thing or if she was just too shy to call out a boy in class. Her gaze lingered on Alya. Called it. What he didn't know, since his back was turned, was that Alya was gesturing at himself.
Then she was looking right at him. Or rather, through him. If she wanted to, Marinette could look someone in the eyes and dig straight to the soul. He felt exposed, like she was reading his open book, written in children's rhetoric and lots of pictures. She made a face like she knew everything, and he flinched, waiting for the pity look and some assuming statement.
It never came.
She smiled brightly, her eyes twinkling. She clutched her tablet across her chest protectively and took a deep breath and masked herself with a playful smirk.
"H-hey Adrien. Why don't cats like online shopping?" he blanked. Was she telling him a joke? A cat joke? Had she just made a full sentence while speaking to him? Everyone was silent, waiting in anticipation, but Ms. Bustier picked up on what she was doing and smiled warmly. She did say to make someone smile, not that it had to be a compliment.
The whole class stared at him, waiting for his response. "…why?" he managed to get out. His gears were still spinning a little.
Marinette could barely contain her giggles as she tried to get her punch line out, "Be- he he- Because they prefer a CAT- a-logue!" She leaned forward, making a kitty paw fist and grinning cheerily.
For the briefest of moments, there was silence. He felt his face heating up.
There was no holding back the pure joy at the cat pun she had just unleashed. He blew a small raspberry from his lips trying to contain the smile that broke as he threw his head back and laughed. The whole class followed suit.
"Oh, wow Marinette!" "Never saw that one coming!" "Really, we've stooped to cat jokes!?" some people shouted. Rose was wiping a tear from her eye and even Chloe was tittering at her seat. Nathaniel was blushing madly, Adrien couldn't blame him – the cat pose might have been over the top, but it was just so cute and the perfect thing to trigger the laughing spree.
As Marinette walked to her desk, she gave him a wink. She knew something was wrong with him that morning and gave him the first thing she could think of to put him at ease and get him out of the spotlight. He smiled back, thinking to himself how very Chat-like that joke had been. He'd never seen a side of Marinette like that before. It was almost endearing, had he not known that Marinette hardly knew Chat Noir aside from a passing moment during an Akuma attack. It made him wish she could be like this all the time, without being so affronted by being in his presence that she can't form coherent sentences. He wished he could get to know the side of Marinette that everyone else did.
One thing he did know, was that she had succeeded in banishing his bad mood, even if for just a little bit. As she sat down, Alya high fived her. Nino looked back at the two of them suspiciously, still mad about losing the bet from earlier and wondering if they had planned the entire thing.
"Now, now, class settle down. That was quite a wonderful performance, Marinette. You are forgiven. For today." Ms. Bustier gleamed at Marinette. "Let's get started, shall we?"
The rest of the class went rather smoothly, aside from the moment when Nino sent him a text.
Dude, you know Alya won the bet, right? :'(
Oh, damn. I forgot.
Hell, I forgot about it. What was the rule again?
He paled when he got the text back explaining what he now owed the crazy woman sitting behind Nino. He would have to handle it, he supposed. Knowing her, she would hang onto it until they almost forgot about it and throw it back when it was convenient for her. He would not look forward to it.
When the bell rang, Adrien began to gather his things and head for the door to the next class. He was a little disappointed to be leaving half his friends – he only shared the next class with Alya – and his mood started to turn to where he had been this morning. As people started filtering out, he felt a hand tug on his shirt sleeve.
He turned to see Marinette, and an empty classroom. Had he lagged that long?
"Uhm, listen… Adrien. I – I wanted to let you know that. Well. If- if you, you know…" she grabbed her right arm with her left, scuffing her foot on the ground and started blushing again.
Cute.
What? No.
"Yes, Marinette?" He tried to be patient. He had to get off to his next class. Apparently, she didn't mind being late for every class.
"I just wanted to- to say that, if you ever need….totalkaboutanythingI'mhereforyou!" she managed to blurt out. This was the Marinette he was used to.
And he was right, she did know something was wrong this morning.
"Um," he rubbed the back of his neck, "yeah, thanks Marinette, but I think I'll be okay. I've been dealing with this stuff forever, so… I think I can handle it." She looked a little defeated. She knew about his relationship with his dad. The four of them had made a group for themselves, hanging out at school and sometimes outside school, doing activities or getting lunch or coffee together. They all had a connection to each other, but he still had his barriers.
She seemed to have a moment of bravery, "Ah, I know. You're right, Adrien. I know you're strong enough to do it all on your own. But that doesn't always mean you have to." She smiled sweetly, touching his arm briefly before heading off to her next class.
"See you later." And like that, she was gone. He stood there, gob smacked.
What did she mean? He didn't have to? Of course, he did. How could anyone else understand? How could he let anyone know how he really feels, how he wishes he could escape to be Chat Noir for the rest of his life, and leave the model life of Adrien Agreste behind? He can't tell anyone, ever. Not even Ladybug, his only friend who knew Chat Noir for real. His heart was warmed to think that Marinette cared enough to offer her shoulder to him, but he couldn't help but think that no matter how much someone cares for him, it'll never be more than shallow, and they'll only ever know the side of him he likes the least.
He knew how Ladybug felt about sharing personal information, but maybe if he asked, she would listen to him and try to understand. He could give it a try the next time he sees her. Marinette was right, he didn't want to do this alone anymore. Even though it couldn't be her, he needed someone.
He scrolled through the Ladyblog all throughout his next class, in an attempt to raise his spirits while thinking of his Lady and imagining hanging out with her in real life. It worked, and he spent the whole time scrolling and daydreaming wistfully about those blue eyes and blue-black hair, laughing breathlessly while flying across Paris with him, until the lunch bell rang.
Wow it seems much shorter than I thought! Don't worry, I'll be putting up more. And no, this story will not be completely in Adrien's POV. I don't think I could handle that...! I just got so excited to get this first bit out there. If anyone has recommendations to improve my summary, please PM me! I'm terrible with summaries...
Thanks for reading!