With a weary sigh, Adrien propped his head against his fist as he fought to stay awake in the lesson. The fact that Hawkmoth kept attacking at the oddest hours hadn't been doing his sleep schedule any favors.
At least Miss Bustier's pleasant demeanor made classes much easier. She beamed, clapping her hands together to attract everyone's attention. "Good Morning, class. We're going to break off into pairs to go through critical thinking questions on last night's reading assignment!"
A collective groan went up through the classroom, but the dutiful scrape of chairs hailed the ready acceptance of the task at hand.
Adrien muffled a yawn, and peered over at Nino, only to find his best friend had quickly turned around to work with Alya.
With a half shrug, he stood up and turned his own chair around. "Shall we work together, Marinette?"
Her own eyes widened, as she glanced up from her purse. Blinking and then peering over to Alya to see that she and Nino had joined up.
She shook her head for one uncertain moment, before she shut her eyes and smiled.
He almost wasn't sure that she'd actually murmured, "Sure," until the smile reached her eyes as she beamed back up at him.
Marinette was such an inherently a warm person, one whose company he had actively sought out, even though there were times where he'd heard some of the oddest phrases trickle past her lips. But with as chilly as it often was at home, he needed that sort of warmth in his life.
Though he'd often gotten that kind of warmth and reassurance from Nino, his best friend had been spending a fair amount of time, slipping away to steal more time with his own girlfriend. It was understandable, but no less disappointing.
Besides, he'd spotted that same sort of envy he'd felt on Marinette's face when she'd watched Alya sneaking off as well.
More to the point, Marinette herself was so kind and generous with her time, even with Chloe when his old friend hadn't exactly been kind. She was the only civilian that he could recall who was quick to even spare a kind thought of concern to him even when he'd been actively rescuing her from an Akuma.
Matching her smile, he sat back down and took one of the sheets that Miss Bustier passed out. It was lucky for him that this was one of his tutor's favorite books.
He watched as Marinette's eyes dipped down to the page, nibbling at the inside of her lip as she turned her focus to the questions at hand.
In fact, she was so focused, she hadn't even noticed her pencil rolling off the front of her desk.
He'd leaned down to pick it up, not even noticing her hurried scramble to stand up and snag it herself.
She might have struck him as funny. She had even left him entirely dumbstruck at the class picnic they'd had on Heroes' Day.
But as her purse dropped down over the desk just as he'd had the typically bad luck to be ducked back up with her pencil, this was the first time she'd ever struck him - quite literally.
Author's Notes:
Based upon my own Tumblr post and my brain just wouldn't let go.. Probably 3-4 drabble chapters.
Currently not beta read.