Nino wandered in, tired and not paying full attention. He didn't notice Alya nudging Marinette eagerly. Marinette covered her mouth with her hands urgently, to hold back the giggles. He yawned heavily, and placed his bag on the floor. Marinette covered her mouth again, trying hard not to laugh. Neither of them noticed Adrien seeking up until he was right behind Nino. Adrien sneaked his hand up Nino's shirt, and pressed a cold can of coke against the small of his back, grinning. Nino screeched like a banshee at the sudden cold spot, and leapt forward. Adrien threw his head back, howling with laughter.

"ADRIEN!" Nino cried, half furiously, half biting back laughter.

"Sorry, I know what you're going to be like on Monday, so I thought I'd get you early!" Adrien beamed.

His smile was different when he was with Nino to when he was on posters. When he was modelling, he kept his smile small, and warm, but ultimately false. Even in family portraits he held the small, sweet smile, he was trained to use. No teeth, but mouth a little open. But here, with them, Adrien smiled with his whole face. He beamed with all his teeth, his eyes shone with true happiness, and he often laughed too. His smile with them was sunshine. Warm enough to melt Marinette from this distance.

"It's going to be dangerous to be you on Monday. I'll get you back so good!" Nino threatened, his eyes sparkling.

"Ah c'mon Nino! At least you're awake now," Alya grinned.

Nino glanced at her, suspiciously through his glasses. His amber eyes searched for any signs of expectation. That she was in on this. If she wasn't, he had another prank to expect. April 1st had gotten a lot harder to win since she became a competitor.

"Everyone take your seats. Adrien, I expect that can to remain in your bag until lunch is that understood?" The teacher warned.

Adrien slipped the coke into his bag again. "Sorry, it was just a bit of fun."

"That's quite enough fun, this is a classroom not a playground," the teacher tutted.

"This is school, there can be no joy allowed!" Nino muttered to Adrien.

Adrien chuckled, which made him close his eyes, and crinkle them at the corners. Marinette's heart twanged as he did. He was gorgeous, and he knew it, but he didn't brag, which made him even more perfect.

"Careful girl, you're drooling again," Alya grinned.

Marinette covered her mouth with her hand, embarrassed, she bowed her eyes, already turning pink. Alya laughed. She loved that girl dearly, but she was pathetic sometimes. Then something else drew her attention. Alya gasped. Her eyes sparkled, expectantly. Urgently she gripped Marinette's arm urgently, grinning as Nino headed to his chair. Marinette grinned expectantly. Nino took his seat calmly, and nothing happened. Anti-climactic. Marinette frowned. She and Alya shared a disappointed, confused look. Then Adrien took his seat.
He yelled in alarm as the bench upturned beneath him, throwing him to the ground, and dragging Nino down with him. Both, and their bags, ended up in a heap on the floor. Alya and Marinette gasped in alarm. Then Alya snorted. Marinette couldn't help but break into laughter as Alya broke down too. The boys sat up on the ground, and glared at them, grinning.

"Just you wait until Monday," Adrien warned.

"Sorry Adrien we only meant to get Nino!" Alya said.

"We must have taken out the wrong screw. Are you ok?" Marinette explained.

"Fine. Bruised, but fine," Adrien stood up and added, softer, so only Marinette could hear, "Maybe you should kiss it better my lady."

Marinette tilted her head, unable to hide her smirk, but her eyes never left his.

"Sit down kitty."

Plagg was less forgiving about being thrown to the floor so coldly, but he accepted it when he thought back to the weekly patrol night.
Now that Paris had FIVE heroes looking out for it, Saturday night patrol had become something of a ritual. Monday Ladybug took patrol, Tuesday Chat, Wednesday Rena Rouge, Thursday Queen Bee and Friday Carapace. On Saturday, all of them searched their own allocated areas, before meeting on a high-rise, flat rooftop, to catch up on details of the week, swap gossip and jokes, and draw straws for who took the Sunday patrol. Nino had to hold the straws because none of the others fully trusted any of the others not to keep a long straw for themselves. Sort of. Ladybug could be trusted, but not Marinette according to Chole, Chole couldn't be trusted even if Queen Bee was according to Alya, Adrien might be trusted but Chat Noir could NOT by anyone, and neither Alya or Rena could be fully trusted. That left Nino.
LAST week they had been discussing pranks. Apparently, Nino was the April Fools king. ("Um, there's only one royal around here! Moi!" Chole interpreted) Which brought up some competitive arguments from the others. Alya especially. ("You can be a fool king if you want, but I am a pranking GOD!") Plagg raised an eyebrow at this. Plagg saw a good money-making opportunity when he saw it. Not that Plagg had any use for money. He couldn't go into a shop and buy anything, so even if he had it, he couldn't use it. But a competition like this - between superheroes no less - was something he couldn't pass up. Kwamis are, by nature, competitive. They can't help it. Any friendly game quickly gets competitive and can end up in tears. (Poor Duusu one ended up in tears, and the only person who could ever console her was Nooroo, and Lord knows where he was in that century, but he certainly wasn't there to help!)

"My kitten can beat all of you hands down," He declared.

Trixx laughed, condescendingly. "Please! Don't you know foxes are the slyest of the sly?"

"Turtles may look calm, but they are fierce from hatching. Nino can beat all of you," Wayzz pointed out.

"Chole's going to sting you all," Pollen scoffed.

"Buzz off, Mari beats all of you time and time again," Tikki pointed out.

"Not Adrien! Adrien is her kryptonite!" Plagg smirked.

"And Marinette is his! He stammers just as much as she does, and you know it. A cat had his tongue for a week when he found out who Ladybug was," Trixx pointed out.

"That wasn't his finest moment," Plagg admitted.

"Are you all forgetting who is the queen around here? I'll put honey on Chole to beat all of you," Pollen declared.

"Chole wouldn't get involved. She doesn't talk to any of them outside of the battles, and you know that won't change because of some dumb contest," Trixx argued.

"I still put my bet on her," Pollen stated, firmly.

"I'll take that bet. A pot of honey if Chole wins. A block of camembert if Adrien does. What do you bet, bugaboo?" Plagg batted his eyelids at Tikki.

Tikki frowned and folded her arms. "Now I understand why Marinette doesn't like that nickname."

"Aw c'mon girl, what'd you bet?" Trixx grinned.

"I don't believe in gambling," Tikki stated.

"It's no gamble for me, I know Alya's gonna win," Trixx shrugged.

Tikki huffed. "Marinette can wipe the floor with Alya if she wants to. She took her phone and she never noticed!"

"She noticed within five minutes!" Trixx argued.

"A slow reaction time for the slyest of the sly, wouldn't you say?" Wayzz teased.

Trixx scowled at him. "She's faster than Nino! He had to have this explained to him twice, Alya figured it out herself!"

"I have patience for the boy. He's kind-hearted, smart, and loyal. He reminds me of someone," Wayzz smirked.

He was obviously talking of himself. Trixx rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

"Are you betting or not?"

"I'll put in two cookies for one of your hugs Wayzz," Tikki challenged.

There was a gasp from the other kwamis and Plagg beamed, "Oooh, game changer!"

Wayzz gave the best hugs. He had a lot of practice with Duusu and Nooroo - they could be emotional - but it was rare to get one. You had to be incredibly upset, or narrowly avoid death. Wayzz worried about all of them, since they were all the family he had, but to actually be hugged by him needed more than just coming back home for a while. The last time Plagg had got one was for the same reason Tikki did. It was something deeply unpleasant, that he did not like to think about. It still gave him nightmares. He couldn't imagine what it did to Tikki. He pushed that thought from his mind. It still hurt him, and he was ashamed of it.

Wayzz slowly ran his gaze across each of the others, at their hopeful gawping. Tikki may have been the oldest kwami, but Wayzz was the wise grandfather of the group. He chuckled darkly.

"Deal."

So as you could imagine, the rapid approach of April Fool's Day had all of them in frenzy. All except Chloe though. She was content with ignoring them outside of their hero parameters. Otherwise people started questioning when they became friends and how conveniently close it was to the sudden extra heroes fighting alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir. It meant that she got left out of dumb things like prank wars, but understood why Adrien had been thrown to the ground do dramatically, even if the rest of their class didn't.

"You could out shine all of them, Chloe!" Pollen insisted.

Chole threw her hair over her shoulder, and laughed, "I already do."

Across the classroom, Pollen spotted Trixx. Trixx waved at her, with a cocky smirk. Already she was winning. Well, she and Tikki. Chole wasn't even involved. Pollen didn't stand a chance. She gritted her teeth with determination.

"It's only Friday," she hissed.

"And we've still got three days to win," Trixx winked.

She was a cocky fox, that was for sure, but Pollen had a trick or two up her sleeve too. This wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.

Now that the tournament had officially started, and so early, everyone was on edge. Each of them made a point to be keenly aware of where the others were at any given time. Especially Nino. Alya and Marinette were mildly suspicious of one another, but put aside their differences until Monday, in order to team up and bring down the boys together. Nino hadn't made such an offer to Adrien, and now they were both alone. They were both on high alert, which made things a little difficult for their teachers.

"Eyes to the front Miss Dupen-Chang."

"Is your conversation with Alya more important than your education, Nino?"

"Sorry Adrien, is my lesson interrupting you and Marinette?"

"Miss Dupen-Chang I won't tell you again. stop gossiping and pay attention."

"Phones are banned in class Alya, I won't warn you again."

Other class members were a timid about the prank this morning. They weren't aware that there were only a select few people involved. A general air of fear and expectation filled the class. Everyone was wondering who was next, and everyone was wondering what would happen to them. Marinette didn't want to risk hurting anyone again, and she figured that technically she'd already gotten Adrien, albeit accidentally.

"Tikki, where are my post-it-notes?" She whispered.

Tikki dove into Marinette's school bag, and searched for the post-it-notes that Alya had brought her to thank her for giving her Trixx. They were red with pale black spots so you could still write over it.

"What are you writing?" Tikki asked eagerly.

Marinette wrote neatly and clearly: Gotta Go Fast. It wasn't as witty as Tikki would have liked, but it was better than nothing. Marinette leaned down and tapped it, gently onto Nino's back.

"Weak," Trixx scoffed.

"Yeah girl, you gotta up your game if you wanna win," Alya agreed, softly.

"I'm not trying to win, I just want to avoid being the victim. To give as good as I get," Marinette shrugged.

When the bell went to leave the lesson, Marinette stood up, and immediately fell over, down the stairs, much to the shock of the class. While they had been paying attention to the teacher, Wayzz had slipped over to Marinette's side, and tied together her laces.

"Can't beat the classics!" Nino high fived Wayzz.

Marinette was sprawled out across the floor, pink from shame and anger, and she glared up at Nino.

"This means war."

Nino's eyes sparkled.

"Bring it on."