Adrien sat in deep thought, waiting for class to start. There was still a good ten minutes before class started, and the rest of his classmates were chatting away at their seats. Marinette was the only one who hadn't shown up yet, to nobody's surprise. In his mind, he was thinking about the events from the last akuma attack: the Evillistrator.
Ladybug had shown up almost immediately after Chat left Marinette. Like, immediately. And plus, all the lights from the boat must have gotten her attention, right? How could she have just ignored it? Ladybug put Marinette is real danger by just ignoring her duties! There's no way she didn't see the boat! Plus, Chat was busy with Chloe during the beginning, but Ladybug already left Chloe! She could have easily stopped the Evillistrator from getting to Marinette while she was out, and she defiantly could have stopped him once he captured Marinette! Sure, something seemed off about her, storming off like that, but having a bad day doesn't give you an excuse to just ignore a citizen in danger. Its Ladybug's fault Marinette could have been hurt!
Well, no, it wasn't her fault. It wasn't anyone's fault but the akuma's.
He supposed he was just blaming Ladybug because it was the easy thing to do. Ladybug wouldn't actually put a citizen in danger. As strong as his rivalry was with her, she was a hero, not a villain. And loathe as he was to admit it, he respected her work. There certainly was more than one occasion where he couldn't have beaten an akuma without her.
But he was better. Chat Noir was the coolest.
"I'm telling you, Chat is way better!" He heard someone shout.
A smart person, he grinned.
Adrien glanced over his shoulder, seeing Alix standing up defiantly. She seemed to be arguing with Max and Kim.
"Come on, Ladybug is way cooler!"
Well screw you, too, Kim.
"Oh my gosh, guys, class is literally going to start in like five minutes are you really doing this again?" Nino laughed, not speaking loud enough for them to hear him.
"You're just saying that because you have a crush on her, Kim!" Alix teased, poking his arm.
"A crush?" Adrien asked, before he could even contain it.
"Yeah!" Alix laughed, now facing Adrien, ready to explain Kim's embarrassing 'secret', "He's only a Littlebug because he thinks she's cute!"
"I do not!" Kim shouted back, slamming the desk, "I'm on team Ladybug because she's just better."
And just like that, they were back at it again. Adrien turned back around, deciding to ignore the whole 'better' comment. Instead, he focused on the 'crush' part.
Who could have a crush on Ladybug? Surely she wasn't anything near crush-worthy. She wasn't anywhere near as cool as Chat! Adrien wasn't exactly expecting Chat's coolness to make Kim gay or anything, so it's not like romance is the best defense. But still! Why would anyone have a crush on Ladybug? She was obnoxious, totally lazy, not funny, and nowhere near as strong or amazing as Chat Noir! Well, okay, she's not obnoxious. She's not lazy, either. And she's pretty funny. And maybe she's a little strong. And amazing.
Okay, okay, Adrien can see why someone would have a crush on her. Out of all types of people to be rivals with, he was actually pretty grateful she was the way she was. He could have been stuck with someone who was actually rude, or a blackmailer, or maybe someone who didn't pull their weight. Out of all the people in Paris, whoever Ladybug actually was did the job right. In fact, it was kind of fun to be her rival. She certainly put up a challenge, but not to the point where he was left in the dust. And she was a good guy, too, so she never cheated or anything like that. She always played fair, even if it was inconvenient. And there was one time when Adrien was already having a bad day, and she hardly insulted him like at all during that fight. She's actually… pretty great.
But! She's his rival! He totally hates-but-not-really Ladybug!
And he was still upset that Marinette was in danger the other day, too. Yeah, that's right! The 'amazing' Ladybug wasn't there, was she?
He heard a click, and saw Marinette rush in the door, relieved that she made it on time.
With a smile, Adrien gave her a quick wave as she walked to her seat. She waved back, a grin of her own growing quickly.
Seeing her smile brought Adrien back to reality. The safety of the citizens was all that mattered, in the end. The rivalry of Chat Noir and Ladybug was just an added bonus, but it was the civilian's safety that really mattered. And here she was, safe as can be. Just seeing her made him feel a glowing ball of pride inside his chest. He protected wonderful people, just like her.
And yeah, sure, Ladybug totally sucked in comparison to the amazing Chat Noir, but she protected people like Marinette, too. So he'll always give her that little bit of credit, no matter what.
