Marinette and Adrien dropped hands as if they'd been burned. He turned to her, a stricken expression on his face, and she gave him her best reassuring smile before they went to their respective seats.
"Not right now, Alya," Marinette said wearily.
Her best friend stared at her like she'd lost her mind. "You walk in holding hands with a guy who's been missing for four months and you expect me not to have a million questions?"
"I said not now. Go ahead and interrogate me later. Class is about to start."
Her heart ached as she saw Adrien's shoulders curl forward. He could clearly hear every word and was worried about getting in trouble. He brightened a little when Nino came in and gave him a bear hug—they had sporadically kept in contact even though Adrien hadn't been able to give him any details—but Marinette was still concerned. Maybe coming back to school had been a terrible idea.
"Settle down," Madame Thenardier said as she walked in the room. Her eyes bugged out of her head when she saw Adrien. "Monsieur Agreste, where have you been?"
"Doesn't matter," he said flatly. "I'm 18 now and within my rights to go to school."
The teacher was taken aback but didn't push the issue further. Enough people were staring already and she had material to cover. "Alright then. Everyone, open your books to chapter twelve…"
Marinette hardly heard a word all period. More than anything she wanted to reach forward and squeeze Adrien's shoulder—do something to let him know it would be okay—but she couldn't. She'd already called too much attention to their relationship and Alya was going to go full Inquisition Mode as soon as class got out.
When the bell rang, her first instinct was to grab Adrien and run but he was crowded by too many people. She couldn't get to him.
"Where have you been?" Chloe screeched louder than the rest of the crowd gathered around Adrien's desk.
His voice was defeated. "Oh, what do you care, Chloe? You dropped me just like everyone else. I thought you were different."
"I was in shock! Your father—"
His eyes flashed dangerously. "Yeah, my father turned out to be a total psycho. Go figure. I thought you cared about me but all you really cared about was my last name. Once that was infamous you wanted nothing to do with me. Go away."
"But Adrikins I—" her lip quivered.
"Don't call me that!" Adrien shouted. "I've always hated that nickname. And we aren't friends anymore so you don't get to call me that."
The crowd parted in fear as he turned and he strode out of the room. With a quick glance in Alya's direction, Marinette hurried after him.
"Leave me alo—oh, it's you," he sighed. "You were right. I wasn't ready for that."
Marinette sighed. She knew something like this would happen but he was so excited to get some semblance of his life back that he hadn't listened. "You knew there would be questions."
He rubbed a hand over his face. "I didn't think it would upset me that much. Nino wanted to know too but at least he was mostly just happy I was back. Everyone else just wants to gossip."
"Not everyone," she said softly. "Alya's been worried about you."
Adrien laughed sardonically. "Sure. Alya, the one who's probably going to be asking the most questions. I'll bet she cares."
"It's going to be okay," she said firmly, gripping his arm. "It'll just take a bit to adjust back."
"How long, Marinette?" he demanded. "There are only five more months of school. I don't want to be hounded the whole time. And what about after? Most of the schools you've applied for are in Paris. I'll never escape it!"
"It'll die down eventually," she reasoned. "You disappeared so soon after…you know…so coming back stirred up the news again. Act normal. Reintegrate yourself. There will be bigger news and this will be forgotten."
He deflated. "All I've ever wanted is to be normal. But that's never going to happen, really."
"Kitty…" Marinette didn't know what else to say that would comfort him. She was out of her depth, having never experienced anything like this.
"Don't worry about it, my lady," Adrien shot her a weak smile. "I'll get over it."
He trudged in the direction of his next class, leaving Marinette standing there more helpless than ever. The person she loved more than anything was hurting and there was nothing she could do about it.
Alya caught up to her then with a scowl. "I'm still waiting for an explanation, missy."
"What's to explain?" Marinette said dully. "He's hurting, I'm trying to help him."
That was when the aspiring journalist exploded. "What's to explain?! When did you two get so chummy? Did you know where he was hiding? Were you the one hiding him? Are you dating? Is this why you weren't more worried that he was gone?"
"He needed help, I was the one he came to," Marinette said crossly. "That's all I'm going to say. This isn't some big scoop. This involves people's lives and I'm not the only one who could get in trouble if it gets out. Let. It. Go."
Alya looked taken aback. "What's gotten into you? I'd never tell!"
"Has it ever occurred to you that it's not any of your business? Ugh, everyone is morbidly curious and all he wants is for things to be normal. The details don't matter! What does matter is that my best friend needs me so I'm going to do everything I can for him," Marinette snapped.
"I thought I was your best friend."
"Alya, that's not what I meant—" she tried backtracking.
Alya shook her head. "No, I see how it is. All those times you couldn't hang out you were with him weren't you? And here I thought you were stressed about applications. Proves what I know."
When they arrived at their classroom, Alya sat by Rose instead of in her usual seat by Marinette. What was she supposed to do? Alya couldn't understand without knowing that Adrien was Chat Noir but that wasn't her secret to tell, especially to the girl who ran the Ladyblog. She was torn. Alya was her best friend—had been for years—but Adrien was practically a part of her. She said she would do anything for him and she meant it. She just didn't think it would be at the cost of her best friend.
Adrien was waiting for her at the door a few hours later when the lunch bell rang. "Let's go home," he said quietly.
He looked as miserable as she felt. Throat closed, she nodded and took his hand.
"I'm sorry about Alya," he said sadly. "Nino told me. It's my fault."
"Don't blame yourself," Marinette insisted. "I was the one who got too defensive. If I'd explained myself better she wouldn't be upset."
He snorted. "Sure, blame yourself for defending me. Sometimes, I can't believe you. You're too good."
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too. I just wish today had never happened. And it's only half over."
They spent their lunch hour snacking on macarons and watching Death Note, neither of them saying much, but reveling in the comfort the other provided just by being there. They were a team. They'd been a team for years but it was different now, working together against things other than akumas. Real things. Hard things.
Adrien nodded off against her and she kissed his hair, wrapping her arm around him a little tighter. He had been through so much and she had only been there for a small part of it. He said being with her made up for everything else but she had a hard time believing it. She just knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life making him smile.
"Chaton," she said gently. "It's time to go back to school."
"Do I have to?" he mumbled into her shoulder.
"If you want to go to university, yes."
Adrien groaned. "Fine, but you're not leaving my side for the rest of the day. For someone so small you're surprisingly scary. They give me more space when you're there."
"We are lab partners next period," she reminded him. "That won't be a problem."
"Alright, alright," he said as he pushed himself up off the couch. "At least we're going to the bakery after school. I really need to pound some bread dough."
Marinette smiled. "I bet Maman will feed us dinner too."
"Mmm that's more than enough reason to go back to school," he said, salivating over the thought of Sabine Cheng's cooking. "Let's go!"
As promised, Marinette didn't leave Adrien's side for the rest of the school day. She wanted to talk to Alya, to apologize, but she didn't get the chance before it was time to head to work. Sure enough, Adrien kneaded bread dough with unnecessary roughness but it wasn't hurting the bread so her father let him.
"Rough day?" he whispered to Marinette as Adrien continued giving the dough a beating.
She nodded. "Everyone was all over him and he argued with his oldest friend."
"Well, your mother is making pasta and you know how much he loves her garlic breadsticks. Maybe that will cheer him up," her father predicted.
His prediction was thankfully correct. Adrien perked up a lot after dinner and was back to joking around and making bad puns as they worked on homework before heading back to their aparment. It gave Marinette hope that they might get through this after all.