Chapter 3: Another Day at School

"Hey girl."

"Hey Alya," Marinette replied as she took her usual seat next the Alya. She sighed as she sat her backpack down on the ground. Alya eyed her with a look of worry.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just a lot going on at the bakery right now," Marinette lied. She was becoming quite good at lying these days and she hated it. Sometimes I wish I could just talk to Alya about what's really going on. She's my best friend and has always helped me out when I needed it. Sure I have Tikki to talk to, but she's a 5 thousand something year old immortal kwami; hard to relate. Besides, Tikki made it clear when we first met that absolutely no one could know about my secret identity.

"Don't worry girl, I'm sure it will die down soon." Alya said while reaching into her bag to pull out her phone. "By the way, have you seen my latest post on the Ladyblog?"

"No. What did you post?"

Alya smiled as she pulled up the post on her phone and passed it to Marinette. Marinette took the phone and began reading. Alya had posted an article about their fight with Hang Ten and even had a short video of Chat Noir getting smashed against a building. Seeing the video reminded Marinette of how Chat Noir had been hurt protecting her. The memory made her cringe. I need to do something about him always putting himself in harm's way for me.

"Looks like Chat got hurt pretty badly." Marinette exclaimed as she passed the phone back to Alya.

"Yeah, I thought he'd be out of the fight for a while, but I managed to catch a glimpse of him and Ladybug heading out a few moments later to defeat the akuma."

"Looks like he got hurt protecting Ladybug again, he's so reckless."

Alya let out a small laugh. "He maybe reckless, but I think it's kinda sweet how he's always trying to protect Ladybug, like a knight in shining armor. You can tell from his actions how much Ladybug means to him."

Marinette groaned. Great! The last thing I need right now is another reminder of Chat Noir's feelings towards me. This is going to make turning him down a lot harder.

The door to the class opened and in walked Adrien and Nino.

"Morning Nino, Adrien."

"Good morning Alya," the two said in unison.

"Good morning Marinette," Adrien said.

"G-g-g-good m-m-m-morning!" Marinette managed to stutter out.

Adrien simply shrugged at Marinette's stutter and took his seat. He was used to her stuttering around him by now, although he still wondered why she acted that way around him. As Adrien sat down Marinette couldn't help but to stare at him, her heart in a flutter. All it took from Adrien was one look and she completely forgot about her anxiety over Chat Noir's feelings. As she continued to stare she noticed that something seemed a little off about Adrien. He seemed a bit stressed, unhappy, anxious maybe? She became to ponder why when the doors to the classroom opened.

"Adrikiens!" That one word was all it took to snap Marinette out of her fixation on Adrien. Nino, Alya, and Marinette all frowned as they watch Chloe walk through the door and proceed to wrap Adrien into a tight embrace.

"Good morning Chloe," Adrien replied as he attempted to unwrap Chloe from him. Chloe allowed her arms to fall to her side. "How are you today?"

"HORRIBLE! You won't believe the morning that I had, it was simply dreadful! It all started when this stupid new waiter served me orange juice with pulp. EVERYONE at the hotel knows I only drink pulp free orange juice! I was so angry I accidently broke my fingernail on the cup." Chloe held up her hand to show him.

Adrien grabbed her hand gently and then lowered it before replying. "Didn't you say he was new?"

"Yeah, he just started a week ago."

"If he's new, then how was he supposed to know that you only liked pulp free orange juice? Did you ask for pulp free?"

"Hmph, of course not! When I order orange juice the waiters should already know that I want pulp free." Chloe turned to proceed to her seat. "Luckily I won't have to deal with him again, I had daddy fire him."

"You WHAT!" cried Alya, Nino, and Marinette in unison. They had all been listening in to Adrien and Chloe's conversation.

"Chloe, you can't have someone fired just because of something trivial like serving orange juice with pulp in it. What if he really needed that job?"

"If he really needed it, then he should have done his job properly." Chloe pulled out a nail file and began to fix her broken nail. "Honestly Adrien, you're too nice for your own good."

Before anyone could reply, the teacher walked in and began the lecture.

"Spoiled brat Chloe strikes again," whispered Alya to Marinette.

"I'll say," she replied before turning her attention to the teacher.


He flung his vest and black tie into the dumpster in fury. I can't believe her! How was I supposed to know that she wanted pulp free orange juice if all she asked for was orange juice? He screamed as he kicked the side of the dumpster in anger, before falling to his knees in despair. After searching for weeks he had finally found a job that fit with his schedule, was close by, and would hire someone without any prior work experience.

Cecil Kuroshitsuji was a 19 year old, first year college student. Life for him had been going well until his parents were injured in a car accident. Both parents suffered severe injuries and became unable to work. Although Frances' Universal Healthcare covered all their medical expenses and even provided them with temporary daily cash benefits, bills had started to accumulate. It was a struggle trying to survive on 50% of their usual income, especially since the family was still recovering from a prior financial crisis. Cecil had offered to drop out of school and work fulltime, but his parents wouldn't hear of it. Finally they had agreed upon a compromise and let him work part-time so long as he maintained his grades. He agreed and found the job at Bourgeois Hotel and well, you know how that ended.

I swear, I'm going to make that blond girl pay for what she did to me! He thought as a black butterfly flew into his watch.

"Hello Black Butler, I am Hawkmoth. I will grant you power to seek revenge on the one who has hurt you, but in return I want Chat Noir and Ladybug's miraculous. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes, Hawkmoth." Cried Cecil as he was slowly consumed by a dark cloud.


Ring

Time for lunch. Adrien thought as he began to put his school books away and began to leave.

"Dude, are you okay?" Inquired Nino to his best friend Adrien.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been kinda out of it all day, is there something on your mind?"

Ladybug "no-nothing really important, just thinking about somethings."

Nino frowned a little, "you sure about that dude, because usually you're a star pupil. Hard to believe that nothing could cause you to blank out half a school day."

All throughout the day Adrien had been spacing out. To the untrained eye it appeared as though he was paying attention in class, but Nino could tell he was lost in his own world. For starters, he hadn't taken a single note and even though he was always looking directly at the teacher, his eyes were never really focused on the teacher. Luckily he wasn't asked any questions throughout the day, so no one noticed his lack of attention other than Nino. 8 months of friendship and sitting together had taught Nino a lot about Adrien.

Adrien paused. How am I supposed to respond to that? 'Yeah Nino, I've been unable to focus due to Ladybug consuming my thoughts. Why you ask? Because I'm Chat Noir and I kissed her the other day. Her reaction wasn't exactly on point and she left before I could explain myself. Now I'm worried about what this means and how to move forward.'

Adrien sighed. I guess I have no choice. "It has to do with my dad…" Adrien looked away as he said this with hurt etched into his words.

"Ok dude, no need to go into full detail if you don't want to." Nino knew about Adrien's rocky relationship with his dad better than most (except maybe Chloe) and had learned not to force the subject whenever it came up.

As Nino went to leave Adrien couldn't help but feel guilty. Over the last 8 months he had developed a habit of using his dad as an excuse when Nino noticed that something was up and he loathed himself for it. Oh how he wanted to tell Nino the truth, let him know what was really bothering him so he'd have someone to talk to. Plagg wasn't exactly the best companion when it came to heartfelt conversations about his lady, Nino would definitely be a better help on that front. But Plagg had made it clear that no one no one could know his secret identity, not even Ladybug.

Ladybug. Adrien thought as he left the school building and headed to his limo. I've planned everything out perfectly for when I see her again, but who knows when that will be. Adrien's anxiety began to build as that thought crossed his mind. Unless there was an akuma attack, event held in their honor, or some other emergency that they happened to stumble upon, Ladybug and Chat Noir never saw one another. They only appeared during those specific, random events and did not have a routine or anyway of contacting each other out of the transformations. It would be nice if we had some way of contacting each other or routine where we met up on a consistent basis. That would make everything a lot easier, besides, I'd have more time to get to know her. It was hard to find time to chat when dealing with an Akuma attack, plus they always had to leave relatively quickly afterwards due to their miraculous running out of power.

As Adrien began to enter the limo, wondering when he might see his lady again, a scream filled the air. Normally he wouldn't be so ecstatic to know that someone was in danger, but knowing that this meant he could see his lady again filled him with joy. As he attempted to exit the limo however, the gorilla (Adrien's bodyguard) gave him a quick push and shut the door before hoping into the driver's seat and speeding away.

"Don't worry Adrien," Nathalie began, "we'll get you home safe and sound before any danger occurs."

Great. Adrien thought as he sat in the limo. Now I have to wait until I'm a lone in my room to transform and sneak out to help Ladybug with the akuma. Adrien looked out the window of the limo hoping to catch a glimpse of the akuma and gain some idea on how to defeat it.


Author's note: You will not believe how hard it was to create a convincing financial crisis for Black Butler! France has some really great medical coverage and their universities are really cheap too, but I think I pulled it off. To those who are wondering about how I came to write this Fanfiction and its actually good, here's the answer. 1) I went to two different panels at last month's kon which discussed the art of writing Fanfiction. The main topics were researching the country that your story takes place in, note the difference between canon and fandom, and make sure to keep characters in character. 2) I have numerous friends who are also fans of Miraculous Ladybug. They will read and often critic my work before I post it. 3) I have read over 35 different Miraculous Ladybug Fanfictions, some good, some bad, and some with good points and bad points. Shout out to "Smoulder" by MidnightStarlightWrites my favorite LadyNoir. I would also like to mention that for this story I will be following canon so Chat Noir and Ladybug do not go on patrol, Adrien's favorite subject is not Physics, and the reason why Marinette does not want to reveal her identity is not because she thinks she is pathetic and that everyone would be disappointed to find out that it is her beneath the mask. Anything else that might develop in the story outside of canon will have a reason and be explained. I hope you all enjoy the rest of the story :D

P.S. Black Butler rules! (season 2 does not exist in mind)