:: :: ::
Her last year at Collège Françoise Dupont was off to a bad start.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng had never considered herself particularly lucky. Now, by all accounts, she knew that she had a great life. She had two wonderful parents, an amazing best friend, good grades, a nice house… so by some accounts, she probably should consider herself lucky. But all good things aside, when she factored in her clumsy, forgetful, impatient personality, she considered her life to be pretty average for a fourteen-year-old girl.
However, the first week of her third and final grade of middle school had Marinette questioning if perhaps she picked up an unlucky charm somewhere.
Her first brilliant mistake had been procrastinating the summer reading list. The list wasn't at all long, but every time her parents asked about homework, Marinette had a ready excuse to hold it off. The beach, a lunch date, perfecting her baking skills, a fashion show, the excuses were endless. Now, she had actually read two of the three books. The two shorter works, of course. Still, it was better than not having read any of them. Besides, how was she supposed to know that there would be a pop quiz on the first day of school?
She had also woken up late. Not late enough to be late for class, but Marinette had wanted time to pick out the perfect outfit, eat breakfast, walk leisurely to school… Well, she had time for one of those things. She had practically jumped into a pair of shorts and a white button-down blouse, grabbing a black blazer and racing down the stairs. Her mother was waiting by the door, backpack and fresh croissant ready. Marinette snatched them up with gratitude and all but flew out of the bakery. She ate the croissant greedily as she ran to school.
Okay, so her day was off to a rough start by her own fault. She should have read all the required books, and she should have set a second alarm after staying up late the previous night watching a movie. Though honestly, it wasn't her fault that Titanic was over three hours long! And she couldn't just go to bed on time and not finish it…
All right, maybe she could.
Awful morning aside, everything else that happened that week… Marinette attributed to the stray black cat she saw while stuffing her face full of croissant that first morning. It all went downhill from there.
She made it to school on time, but her new locker wasn't easy to use. The previous user had jammed it one too many times, and the door now required some extra jiggling to open. After depositing everything except her Civics and French textbooks, Marinette headed off to her classroom; it was just down the hall from the fourth grade classroom she'd been in last year, so at least she had no trouble finding it.
She immediately recognized Chloé Bourgeois's blond head from across the room. Marinette groaned slightly; why couldn't she get a break? Why couldn't she have one year without that brat in her class? Chloé was mean, spiteful, and full of herself. She'd had it out for Marinette ever since the poor girl had accidentally spilled paint on her new designer shoes back in sixth grade. And while that had been three years ago, Chloé had never let her forget it. Although the rich, daddy's-little-girl was rude to everyone, she was nastiest to Marinette.
Chloé was sitting in the front row on the far side, next to her best friend, Sabrina Rogers. Well, Marinette supposed 'best friend' was a stretch; Sabrina was more like a minion or underling. The girl did everything Chloé asked, from her geography homework to sharing test answers. If the Bourgeois family hadn't been wealthy enough to afford servants, Sabrina would probably be doing laundry, too.
Fortunately, all of the seats on that side of the room were taken, so Marinette wouldn't have to sit directly in the queen bee's line of fire.
Unfortunately, there weren't many seats left on the near side of the room, and Marinette had to sit near the front where the teacher would have a good view. She wouldn't be able to doze off or text in class or doodle in her sketchbook without being very careful.
Her only saving grace was Alya Bloc, her best friend in the entire world.
Marinette slid into the chair next to Alya, relieved to find that they were in the same class again. Also, they were sitting in the second row, a slight improvement from the immediate front. The first row was only occupied by Nino, Alya's video partner-in-crime (and secret crush, Marinette loved to argue). To her disappointment, no one was sitting next to Nino, meaning the teacher would have a perfect view of anything Marinette was doing during class.
"You couldn't have picked seats further back?" she huffed at her friend.
Alya raised a challenging brow. "Look, you want better seats? Get here earlier."
"Oh whatever, you probably just wanted to sit behind Nino–"
"Oh, shut up," Alya argued, kicking Nino's chair when he tried to turn around and join the conversation. "No need to inflate his ego any further; his head's already a hot air balloon."
"Hey, hey," Nino chimed in, turning around despite another swift kick from Alya, "the only reason my head might be big is because it's full of big ideas. Did you see all the cool shots I posted over the summer? My demo reel is getting so cool!"
As Nino and Alya dove into a conversation about their respective video blogs, Marinette took the time to finally catch her breath after a hectic morning. She hoped that her misfortune was over.
It wasn't.
Her best friend nudged her with an elbow. "Mari, did you see the amazing footage I got of Chat Noir last night?!" Alya was gushing.
Marinette's face flushed. She was terrible at keeping up with Alya's blog, especially now that the girl was posting one or two videos a day. It had been hard enough for Marinette to remember to check the site when Alya had been uploading short clips once a week, even though she had bookmarked the link. Now she was overwhelmed any time she actually did remember to visit the blog, being greeted by five or six new and long videos. So no, she hadn't seen the fresh footage Alya posted last night.
"Chat who?" she asked, raking a hand through one of her black pigtails and racking her brain for clues. Alya normally posted slice-of-life videos or interviews. A policeman rescuing a cat from a tree. Old Mrs. Chevalot sitting in the rocking chair on her porch. Art life, as Alya liked to call it. Marinette liked to call it boring. Perhaps this latest piece was another cat being rescued from somewhere.
"Chat Noir, girl! You know, that dashing feline vigilante?" Alya prodded.
Nino coughed. "I think you mean, average-looking superhero-wanna-be."
"He's doing his best," the redhead argued. "He's just a bit clumsy, if you ask me."
"More like unlucky," Nino replied. "I mean, he's basically a male version of Catwoman … without the stealth or skills or reflexes. For someone dressed as a cat, you'd think he would learn how to land on his feet."
"I'm sorry, who?" Marinette asked, trying to pay attention while keeping an eye on the teacher. She was dimly aware that said teacher had arrived and was talking to someone. She heard the words 'new student' thrown around and saw the teacher gesture towards the empty chair next to Nino, but she was pulled back into the conversation when Alya thrust a cell phone in front of her face.
"Oh, come on, Marinette, you have been watching my v-log, right?" she asked accusingly. "This is my third video of him."
Marinette watched the cell phone closely as Alya played out her latest video. The screen was fairly dark, since it had been shot after sundown, but she could make out rooftops. Alya was shooting up, from the ground. Someone was running across the buildings. Someone dressed in black, with a long tail. The light from the street lamps reflected on his gold hair, but she couldn't make out much else. He ran for a while, before tripping and falling onto a balcony below. Marinette heard several flower pots break, before a light turned on inside. An old man appeared at the door… and then came outside and began hitting the cat-person with a broom!
"Yeah, not exactly the most balanced cat," Nino scoffed. "Just last week, he tried to save that runaway baby carriage and caused a huge wreck in front of O'CD! I thought I was gonna die!"
"You went to O'CD again?" Alya asked, exasperated. "Don't you own enough records?"
"Nope," he replied simply, smiling at her. Marinette stifled a giggle at the cute look Nino was giving the redhead. Alya just rolled her eyes.
"So this Chat guy," Marinette continued, barely noticing the scrape of the chair in front of her on the floor. "He's trying to be a superhero?"
"Girl, he IS a superhero," Alya argued, queuing up her videos. "He totally saved that old lady from being hit by a car a few weeks ago!"
"That was once," Nino countered. "The guy is a troublemaker. He may be trying to help out, but really, he just causes more problems."
All three friends jumped at the sound of a heavy bookbag being dropped onto the empty chair.
Marinette looked up and was met with the most gorgeous person she had ever laid eyes on.
She had to be dreaming. Standing in front of her was a boy Marinette could only describe as… "Perfect."
Three pairs of eyes stared at her. Had she said that out loud?!
She flashed a smile, hoping her blush wasn't too bright. The boy merely gave her a cold look before turning around and walking back over to the teacher. She let out the breath she'd been holding.
Perfect, indeed. Light blonde hair, pale blue eyes, perfect build… She would bet money that he was a model, and if he wasn't, he should be; advertisers were losing out on potential profits. Marinette would buy anything featured in an ad with this gorgeous guy. The way he stood at the front of the classroom, waiting for the teacher, he had to be well-bred. Excellent manners, designer clothes… Marinette recognized his vest from the fashion show she'd seen on TV last week; it wasn't even available to the public yet! Who was this beautiful angel and where had he come from?
"Class, settle down," the teacher, Miss Bustier, was saying. "I know you're all still in summer-mode, but it's time to come back to earth and get ready to learn."
Several students groaned aloud.
"Now, now, settle down. Before we get to all of that, though, I'd like to introduce you to your new classmate," she said, gesturing to the beautiful blonde. "This is Félix Agreste–"
Did she say Agreste–?! As in, famous designer Gabriel Agreste?
"Oh my god, ADRIEN?!"
Chloé's shrill tone cut through Marinette's thoughts. The blonde had stood from her chair and run over to the tall boy, who looked less than thrilled to see her. "Oh, Adrien, it really is you!" she cooed, looping her arms around him.
Alya and Marinette shared a questioning glance.
"I haven't seen you in, like, forever!" Chloé shrieked. "Everyone, this is Adrien Agreste, son of the famous Gabriel CEO and fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, of course. We were childhood sweethearts!"
Marinette felt her heart crack. How could this vision of perfection be in love with Chloé?!
Adrien gently pushed her arms away and took a step to the side. "We were childhood acquaintances," he corrected. "Our parents ran in the same social circles."
Marinette allowed herself to breathe again. Leave it to Chloé to exaggerate things. Still, this gave the snobby girl an excuse to hug him. Lucky.
"Yes, as I was saying," Miss Bustier continued, shooing Chloé back to her seat, "this is Félix Agreste, and this is his first time at Collège Françoise Dupont, so I want everyone to make him feel welcome. Félix, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"
"Firstly, I go by Adrien," he said, a hint of a scoff present in his tone. "Secondly… Well, you all already know that Gabriel Agreste is my father. I have been in a few of his shows, and I do quite a lot of modeling when not at school."
"Why have we never seen you in school before?" asked Kim, a brawny guy who sat near the back.
"Up until now, I was taught by private tutors," Adrien answered quietly.
"So… you were homeschooled," Kim said, clearly finding it amusing.
"Yes, I believe I just finished explaining that," Adrien replied dryly. Chloé shot Kim a dirty look for daring to make fun of her beloved.
The teacher glared at Adrien for his snarky remark, and when he said nothing further, she pointed him back to his chair. The chair in the row in front of Marinette.
She had to look at that luscious blond hair for the entire year? She was going to be completely useless in class, staring at the back of his head all day long…
"Uh, Mari, are you going to be all right?" Alya asked, noticing the girl's lovestruck look.
"Possibly," she sighed, watching Adrien move his bag and sit down in front of her.
She wasn't sure if her luck had gotten better… or worse.
:: :: ::
Worse, it seemed.
The week crawled past Marinette like a snail. If she wasn't bringing the wrong textbook to class, she was caught doodling in her sketchbook. She sat on wet gum during PE, missed out on the last slice of pie, was called to the board too many times… Thursday it rained, and she left the wet umbrella sitting out in the locker room to dry; when it came time to walk home, she found that someone had "borrowed" her umbrella. She had to walk home in the downpour. Chloé made sure to make it a big event, announcing to any passing student, how awful Marinette looked, comparing the poor girl to a drowned rat and laughing as she and Sabrina got into her limousine. Marinette could feel the weight of Adrien's gaze on her back as he, too, was chauffeured away in an expensive sports car. She wondered how pathetic she had looked then.
She guessed that she should feel lucky he noticed her at all. Something about even bad press being good press, right? Oh, why did he have such an effect on her?
Marinette found it impossible to concentrate in any of her classes. Adrien sat in front of her in almost every subject, and even when he wasn't close enough for her to smell his expensive shampoo, he was still in the room and therefore within view. Perhaps it was a good thing that he practically ignored her; she already swooned when he walked into a room, so she could only imagine what might happen if he actually talked to her.
Of course, Adrien rarely talked to anyone. He mostly kept to himself, occasionally chatting with Nino, though never initiating. He also acknowledged Chloé, though he generally frowned at all of her ramblings; he openly refused to sit with her anywhere and constantly reminded her that they had never been, and never would be, sweethearts. Chloé never seemed to hear him.
By lunchtime Friday, Marinette was desperate for the weekend to arrive. Sure, she loved staring at Adrien all day, but she really needed a breather from the distraction that was Mr. Perfect. She found she actually studied better at home, away from him, though she found herself looking up his public photoshoot pictures from time to time. She really needed to get a grip.
"Girl, you've got it bad," Alya noted, following Marinette's eyes over to Adrien. He was sitting at a table by himself across the cantine. Nino had tried to sit with him on the first day, but the boy had refused, claiming he liked to eat alone. So Nino sat with the girls at their small table.
"I know," Marinette whined. "What am I supposed to do? He's gorgeous!"
"Women," Nino muttered, taking a bite of chicken. "The guy is clearly a loner. Why do you girls always fall for dark and mysterious? Don't you know it's a bad sign if a guy doesn't want to make friends? He barely talks to me. I try and try and try but he never gives! I'm always doing all of the talking!"
"At least he responds," Alya replied. "Err, sometimes. Mari, you haven't even touched your food! That's like the fourth time this week. Not eating isn't going to make him notice you."
She blushed and tore her gaze away from Adrien. "Sorry! I'll eat, I promise!" And she did; Marinette began cramming forkfuls of chicken into her mouth at an alarming rate.
"Why don't you just go talk to him?" Nino suggested.
Alya nodded. "Yeah! Ask him out for the weekend!"
Marinette choked noisily on her chicken, so noisily that even Adrien looked over and frowned. She downed an entire glass of water and coughed until she could breathe normally again. She could feel him continuing to glare at her, as if her coughing fit had disturbed his peaceful meal.
"Are you two insane?" she hissed. "He ignores me when I sit right behind him, why would he want to see me outside of school?"
"Because you're adorable," Alya supplied. "Plus, if you don't ask him out after school, I'll ask him for you."
"WHAT?!" she shrieked, looking wide-eyed with panic at Alya's triumphant face. It was then that she realized everyone in the cantine was staring at her, including Adrien.
She ducked her head and glared at Alya. "You can't be serious!"
"Oh but I am! Mari, you've been staring at that boy with googly-eyes all week; it's time you did something about it," the redhead stated. "Besides, you never know; he might say yes."
Marinette seriously doubted that, though she supposed it couldn't hurt to try. He already paid her no attention; what was the worst he could do, ignore her again?
She should have known better than to approach him with her recent stroke of bad luck.
When the last bell of the day rang, Marinette tried to leave school as quickly as possible. However, Alya hadn't forgotten the arrangement, and the girl quickly killed Marinette's plans of escape. Nino wished them good luck before heading home, something the dark-haired girl wished she was doing at the moment.
"Alyaaaa, you know I'm not good at this sort of thing," she complained, watching as her friend looked around the corner. She was keeping an eye out for the boy in question.
"You'll be fine, Mari. Just don't go all incoherent on the man, and it should be okay. The worst he can do is say No, right?"
"Exactly!" she squeaked. "He could say no!"
"At least you'll have tried and know for sure. Aha, there he is," Alya cheered, pushing her friend out into the hall. "Go get him!"
Knowing that Alya would just make a scene if she backed out, Marinette swallowed a huge gulp of air and attempted to gather some courage. But it never came. So it was with shaky legs that she approached Adrien, who was busy swapping out the textbooks in his bag.
She stopped a few feet away from him, with one last attempt to collect her thoughts. She wasn't given a chance though, as Adrien seemed to sense someone standing behind him. He whirled around to face the newcomer, and Marinette saw his eyes narrow just slightly when he realized who it was. When he noticed it was her.
After a moment of silence, Adrien raised his eyebrows, apparently waiting for her to say something.
"Umm, hi," she blurted, cringing inwardly at how stupid she must sound. Way to blow it already. Adrien offered no greeting in return, merely turning to shut his locker door before staring at her expectantly again.
"So, Adrien, how are you?" she finally managed to ask. Seeing his annoyed frown, she quickly corrected herself. "I mean, how are liking it here? You were homeschooled before, right? I always wondered what it was like to be homeschooled; I think it would be weird. I mean, not that you're weird, of course! I just… I mean, it must be odd having your parents be your teachers and such…"
She saw his expression and hurried on, knowing what he was going to say. "I mean, you were taught by tutors, I remember! But still, it must be different right? The school, the students… I guess being a model, you wouldn't have time for any of that. I saw your latest show!"
Marinette blushed heavily after admitting that last part. One of Adrien's eyebrows was beginning to twitch, so she plowed on. She had to get to the part where she asked him out!
"I mean, I saw it live on TV a few weeks ago, before I met you. You were wearing that same vest, right? Wait that sounded weird, didn't it? I just mean, I'm… into fashion? Yeah! I'm into fashion so I've watched all your shows, and, oh wait, that sounds weird too. I mean, I've been a huge fan of your father's for the longest time, but when I saw you in class I didn't realize it was you at first."
Marinette paused to catch her breath, realizing she was getting nowhere with this ramble of hers. Not only was Adrien's brow twitching, his whole body seemed tense.
"Anyway," she hurried, "we sit near each other in almost every class but we don't really know each other, and I thought maybe we could get to know each other better, since we'll be in class together for a whole year. I mean, I know you usually sit by yourself and don't say much, but I thought maybe if we got to know each other, you'd have someone else to talk to, and I think you're really awesome and cool and there's something about you that makes you interesting, and I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out this weekend for a coffee or something…?"
His pale blue eyes were studying her. Aside from the hand gripping his backpack tightly, Adrien gave no sign that he had even heard any of her ramblings. Marinette nervously twisted her fingers together, but his gaze held her in place. And what a gaze it was! She wanted to melt straight into the floor, a pile of mushy feelings.
Adrien shifted his bag higher onto his shoulder and brushed past her, stalking away.
She stood there in the middle of the hallway, watching him stalk all the way out of the building, where his car was no doubt waiting at the curb. Marinette continued to stand, frozen in place, long after most everyone else had left the school.
He had just… completely ignored her! No, it was worse than that. He had stood there, waiting for her to speak and blab about whatever it is that she was going to say. He had waited while she fumbled around her words. And then, without even giving an answer, he just walked away as if she had said nothing important at all!
Well, to someone like Adrien, Marinette supposed her words did indeed mean nothing to him.
"What the hell?!" Alya exploded, finally emerging from her spying corner. "How rude! Who does he think he is? Just because he's some rich, model prissy boy, he thinks he can treat you that way?! He didn't even bother saying No; he just walked off!"
Marinette blinked. That was true. Absolutely and completely true. She had been looking at this entirely the wrong way. He hadn't said No.
"He didn't say No," she said softly, interrupting Alya's rant. "He didn't actually say… no."
A small smile graced her lips.
"Girl, you do realize you just got rejected, right?" the redhead asked, waving a hand in front of her face. "Are you mentally blocking out the part where he ignored you and stormed off?"
"I'm choosing to focus on the fact that he never actually refused," she replied, a goofy grin spreading across her face.
"He never actually said anything," Alya pointed out. "I think you're interpreting this the wrong way."
Marinette turned to her friend, startling her with such a bright smile after that horrible rejection. "I'm choosing to look on the bright side. You said earlier, 'at least you'll know.' Well, I don't know… because he never gave me an answer one way or the other. Which means, I can try again next time."
Alya sighed. "I suppose I should just be glad you bounced right back, huh? I was expecting you to be a bit depressed."
Marinette just smiled and followed her friend out of the school.
She was a bit depressed, but she didn't need Alya worrying over that. That rejection had been almost as bad as dealing with Chloé. To have him wait and listen, as if he was actually considering her words… only to find that he was merely playing with her, as if he was spitefully mocking her somehow. And yet…
She wanted to believe there was more than meets the pale blue eye with Adrien Agreste. The man was a mystery needing to be solved, and Marinette always loved a good-looking mystery. She at least wanted to be officially rejected; he could give her that much. As she and Alya parted ways, her thoughts slipped back to the distant blonde, and she felt her heart flutter. She'd get an answer, get him to notice her… one way or another. As she waited at a corner light, Marinette felt that maybe her luck was improving.
A delivery truck sped past, driving through yesterday's rain that had collected near the gutters. It splashed all over the dark-haired girl, covering her from head to toe in dirty water.
Okay, so perhaps her luck was as bad as ever.
:: :: ::
If you haven't seen the original Ladybug PV, you should totally check it out (remove the spaces and replace the slash): www. you tube . com (slash) watch?v=FlwV3scCgAM
Especially as that video is the main inspiration for the character looks as well as Adrien's personality here, although they have been mixed with their 3D animation counterparts in my mind.