Hello! Time for Chapter 2, in which Adrien is an angry little kitty, and the class gets their Akuma.
...Okay, so I lied, there's a little bit of angst in this chapter. Just a little bit. Mostly angry Adrien and Alya... Don't mess with Mari. You'll end up with in danger with those two.
Hope you like it!
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Angry Kitten
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When Adrien jogged through the halls to his class, he found he wasn't the only one running late. At the sound of footsteps behind her, the black haired girl slowed down and turned around.
"A-Adrien! Marinette puffed in surprise, falling into step with him.
"Running late too?" he asked with a soft smile.
Marinette returned the smile and nodded. "Yeah. Um, P-Papa asked me to help with some baking this morning." She yawned. "I lost track of time. Ugh, I'm so tired!"
"Tell me about it. My father sprung a surprise photo shoot on me this morning."
They had slowed down to a walk now, and he took his time looking at her. She was resolutely looking away from him, her eyes staring at the doors as they passed by. There was a light dusting of colour across her cheeks, which made him smile, his stomach fluttering with butterflies at the sight.
He had no idea when that had started happening, when he had started to have feelings for her, but oddly he found he didn't mind.
She was finally starting to come out of her shell around him, and he loved it. He'd been making an effort over the last year now to make her more comfortable around him. And it was working. She'd even stopped stuttering like crazy or freezing up now. Who knows, maybe soon they would be good enough friends that he could ask her out for ice cream or something. Well, without Nino and Alya. Or would that seem too much like a date? Really, that didn't sound too bad to him.
There was just something about Marinette. She had these moments where her true passionate personality would shine through. He wanted to see more of that. He wanted her to be like that around him all the time. And, well, to be honest, when she was like that, she reminded him of Ladybug.
And it wasn't just her appearance, either. Though, that was already startlingly similar. But there was more to her than she let on. A passion, braver, a hidden grace. He noticed that it tended to show more when she thought no one was looking.
It was all this and more that put her at the top of his Ladybug list. Yes, he had one of those. After all, he couldn't help but notice every girl who looked or acted even a little bit like his Lady. And despite respecting her wishes, he still really wanted to know who she was.
He had been a little surprised when he saw just how much Marinette both looked and acted like Ladybug. And then there was also the fact that – like now – she always showed up late to school after an Akuma attack with a strange excuse. Just like him. He wasn't certain if she really was Ladybug, but he'd come to realise that he really wouldn't mind if she was. He'd even caught himself hoping she was even.
It would certainly make these feelings he was having a little less confusing.
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As they got closer to the classroom, they could hear a little commotion. Alya and Miss Busteir were standing in the doorway, Alya looking rather guilty.
"What's going on?" he asked.
At the sound of his voice, the teacher and Alya started and turned to face them. Miss Bustier sighed. "Nothing, apparently. And what about you two? Why are you late today?"
"I was helping Papa with a large order and lost track of time. I'm sorry, Miss," Marinette said, looking at the ground.
"Photo shoot," was all he said in the way of an explanation. Alya just looked at the two of them with an amused smirked. "W-what?"
"Oh, nothing," she said nonchalantly. "I'm just wondering if there's been an Akuma attack today. It would have sucked to miss it. I wanted to ask the two heroes if they're a couple yet."
The way that she was talking, Adrien almost had a heart attack. It almost sounded like she knew. Like she knew that the reason he was late was because he was Chat Noir, and had just been stopping an Akuma. It was true, but she couldn't know that. Could she? Oh god...
Marinette, however, just rolled her eyes. "Alya, I don't think one night is going to have changed the answer to that question."
"Alright, enough, Alya. You three take your seats please," Miss Bustier said. She was so used to this, that she didn't even sound exasperated or disappointed. She really was a cool teacher.
As they did as they were told, Adrien became aware that everyone was staring at him oddly. But not just him, they were looking at Marinette too. They seemed kind of nervous, and when they noticed he'd caught them looking, they would look away. He wasn't sure what was going on, but there was something. It was likely that they had been talking about the two of them. But what would make them react that way?
Obviously Marinette noticed too, because when the teacher started the class, he heard her whispering to Alya.
"What's going on? Why is everyone staring at me?"
"It's nothing," Alya assured her, sounding slightly peeved. "Just ignore them, Mari. Oh, and Cholé's on the warpath, so ignore her the most."
Marinette giggled. "I always do."
Her reply made him hide a smile. He and Chloé had once been... well, not good friends, but something similar. But over the last year she had gotten worse. Her bullying became something he wasn't able to handle. He was constantly pushing her away. And although he was never mean to her, he could no longer consider her a friend, let alone a nice person anymore.
"No, really," Alya went on. "No matter what she says or does, ignore her. You can hit her if you want. Just don't listen to anything she says."
"O-kay...?"
He could tell that she was confused and wanted to know more, but Alya refused to say anything else. By the looks Nino was sneaking at him, he knew what was going on too.
A smirk appeared on his face. It was time to do some digging. And when it came to Nino... This was going to be easy.
.oOo.
Nothing!
Two and a half hours! He had been nagging Nino for information for two and a half hours now, and yet sill he remained tight lipped.
Nino!
The guy who couldn't keep a secret to save his life! The guy who had told Kim about his surprise birthday party not an hour after it was planned. The guy who had told half the school about one of Alya's special surprise posts before she even had the chance to post it. That guy, and yet, not a thing!
Something was seriously up. And Nino was trying hard not to let on. He was flashing panicked glances back up at Alya. It was a good thing that he hadn't been relying on just Nino to find out. He'd been paying close attention to the rest of the class. They were all acting weirdly. Every single one of them!
He had actually been paying more attention to his classmates than he had to the actual lessons, for once. He didn't think that anyone else was paying much attention either, much to their maths and science teacher's annoyance.
They had spent majority of the day looking at him and Marinette and muttering to each other. He'd noticed that as the day went on, they paid less attention to him, and had been focusing on Marinette. They seemed to be getting more and more worried as she looked progressively sadder and dejected throughout the day. He'd also noticed Chloé sending her rather sadistic smiles, and her phone going off frequently.
Ms Mendeleiev had certainly noticed the way everyone was acting too. At the very least, she knew that no one was really paying attention to the lesson. And for once she didn't seem to be able to control it. Usually if it was just one person, she would snap them out in an instant and send them to the principal. But this was the entire classroom. She had snapped at them many times, but to no avail. She was starting to look a little red in the face now...
And still, everyone chose to ignore her and watch Marinette. For some reason this really bugged him. Yeah, okay, so he was watching her too. But he was genuinely concerned. He wanted to get rid of that small sad look that was constantly on her face right now. He wanted to hold her and tell her it didn't matter. But everyone else – with the exception of Alya – looked like they were waiting for something to happen.
There was a faint buzz as her phone went off again, and he turned around to look again.
"Just ignore it," Alya begged her. "Seriously, girl, just turn it off."
It was too late. Marinette had already opened the message before her best friend had even opened her mouth. A small gasp escaped her lips, and he watched in horror as tears welled in her eyes. His gut clenched. No one was allowed to make his Princess look like that. No one!
He heard Chloé snigger, a snarl formed on his lips and his fist clenched, nails digging into his palm. What the hell was she saying to her?! Actually, it didn't matter. He wasn't going to stand for this. He wasn't going to stand for anyone hurting the girl he lov- whoa, what?
During his momentary confusion, Alya had bet him to the punch, snatching the phone from Marinette's hand. Her eyes flicked over the text for a moment, then her jaw clenched and a look of rage like he'd never seen formed on her face. She flicked her finger across the screen, making the messages fly up to previous ones. She took it all in, looking more and more furious. She was so angry he was starting to wonder if someone could be possessed by an Akuma twice.
"I'm going to kill her!" she seethed, standing up. The clattering of her chair rolling back alerted everyone to her movements, and Ms Mendeleiev scowled at her.
"Alya, sit down!" she growled.
"You think this shit is funny, you snotty cow?!" Alya shouted, ignoring the teacher.
"Alya, please, it's not worth it!" Marinette begged, attempting to grab her phone back. Just as she reached it, Alya yanked it away.
"Oh, this is so worth it. No one speaks to my best friend this way. No one should speak to anyone this way! I am going to kick her ass so hard, she-"
"Alya!" the teacher's growl was so low it shocked her a moment.
That moment was all Marinette needed to grab her phone. But Alya noticed at the last second, and as she tried to grab it back, it went flying... Right towards him.
He caught it with a swift movement, preventing it from hitting the ground. He was about to hand it back to her when something caught his eye. He was trying not to pay attention to it, honest. He was already angry enough with Chloé for whatever it was without actually knowing. But on the screen was a picture of him.
Curiously, he looked at the picture. It was a picture of him and Chloé at one of his father's events. They were dressed nicely and were posing together. He had an arm around her, and a pleasant smile on his face that he always pulled for photos. She, however, was wrapped around him, her lips pressing into his cheek. He remembered this. She'd gotten Sabrina to take it on her phone, and had kissed him at the last moment. Why would she send this to Marinette?
He found out when he scrolled down slightly, finding a torrent of taunting messages saying how Adrien 'belonged' to her and would never like Marinette. As he read the messages, he felt something rise in his chest... something hopeful... Marinette liked him?! Of course, there were a few other feelings boiling under the surface that heavily outweighed that hope. Anger. Oh, most definitely anger, and the need to protect and defend her... His body entire body went cold when he saw the last message.
'Why don't you just kill yourself. It's not like anybody will care.'
"What the fuck, Chloé?!" The words were out of his mouth before he even realised it. He was on his feet now too, the entire class looking at him in shock. He was too furious to care that they had just heard 'quiet, mild-mannered' Adrien Agreste swear at one of his oldest friends.
"Mr Agreste, how dare you use that language in my class. Sit down this instant. You too, Alya, or I will send you both to the principal."
He turned to the teacher, his eyes hard. "Sorry, Ms Mendeleiev, but if anyone should go to the principal, it's Chloé." He turned back to the blonde girl, who was staring at her nails in an irritated attempt to ignore them. "I knew you could be mean, Chloé. I even knew that sometimes you could be cruel. And I've tried to ignore it, I've tried to right it, or stop you, but this... This is disgusting!" At his harsh words, her head snapped to him, and the entire class gasped in shock. "Is this really how you treat people?!" he hissed, his voice low. Marinette was staring at him with large, watery eyes. She appeared to be holding her breath... everyone was. They had never heard him raise his voice before, let alone rage at someone like he was. "What the hell makes you think you have any right to say stuff like this to anyone!"
"Mr Agreste, sit down!"
"What the hell have you got against Marinette? What has she ever done to you that you hate her this much?!"
"That's it, go to the principals office!"
"No!" he retorted, too lost in his rage to comprehend that he had just defied his teacher. "I'm not letting her get away with telling someone to damn well kill herself! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
While the class made horrified sounds of shock, Chloé scoffed as if all of this was no big deal. "Please, Adrien, you're being so dramatic. I'm just trying to push her over the edge."
"Push her over the edge?!" he growled. "You want to push her over the edge and make her die!"
"No, dummy, just get her possessed. I have 150€ total riding on her becoming an Akuma by the end of the day." She said it so flippantly that if Nino wasn't already holding him back by the jacket, he may have lunged at her. But instead he froze, his entire form rigid.
"What?!" His voice was low and flat. Dangerous. He noticed that at his voice, many people in the class shrunk back.
"Chloé, shut up!" someone hissed.
"Y-you made bets?" came Marinette's quiet, trembling voice. Though she mostly sounded upset, he could hear a hit of anger behind it. "You... you made bets about when I'd get possessed?"
"Well, duh," Chloé said, rolling her eyes. "Adrien too. But unlike some people, I didn't bet he'd turn at all. He's just too good for that."
"Shut up, Chloé!" someone else shouted at her, their voice panicked. He couldn't tell who had said it. He didn't care. His blood was pounding loudly in his ears, and he was a few seconds from transforming, kidnapping Chloé, and leaving her at the top of the Eiffel tower until someone got her down again.
He rounded on the class. "You all placed bets? Do you all think this is funny?! Do you think that it's a game?! You've all been possessed before. How the hell did that make you feel, huh? And now you're-"
"Dude," Nino pleaded. "Calm down. At this rate you will be possessed."
"He's right," Marinette said quietly. "Don't get Akumatized over this. I'm not worth it."
"Not- Of course you are! That was never part of the question. But besides that, it's completely wrong. And no one is allowed to make you cry!"
"Enough!" a thunderous cry came from the front of the class, they all turned to see their teacher standing at her desk, looking livid.
Only... she wasn't exactly their teacher anymore. It was clear that she had been Akumatized. Her skin was now a light shade of purple and her hair was now shock white, standing up like Einstein's... or a Super Saiyan. She still had her white lab coat and glasses on, but her outfit was now a winey-purple coloured skin-tight body suit with a flaring high collar. The soles of her shoes and belt were now an electric green. So were her eyes, and a large bio hazard sign on her stomach. A pink butterfly shape was still visible around her eyes.
"I am Bio Hazard! And little children are to sit down and do as they are told!" She clapped her hands together, and something bright green formed between them. She hurled the substance at the windows and within seconds, it solidified. "Now, there is no way out. The entire class has earned detention. So you will sit back and be good bait while we wait for our 'favourite' heroes."
Adrien's eyes darted about in panic. He could already see Alya's fingers flying across her phone, probably calling for help on the Ladyblog. But he was more concerned about the exists.
She was right, there was no way out. They were sealed in.
Fuck.
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Ta da!
Yeah, I don't know about you, but Ms Mendeleiev seems like the kind of teacher who would crack pretty easily. I've actually drawn up a rough design of her on my tumblr, if you want to check it out (I have a link on my profile page).
Also, I figured that since this is probably about 6 months from where we are in the show, Mari and Adrien have had a bit of development with their relationship. And for Adrien, it's a little more development than he originally thought.
And I kind of have this headcanon that Nino can't keep a secret for shit. It is only the threat of Alya that has kept him telling Adrien about Mari's crush. But now it looks like the Chats out of the bag on that one now. You can breathe, Nino.
See you for the next chapter!