April 1st

Pranks

- Marinette's POV -

I quietly sit and work at my desk, occasionally taking a glance, or two, or maybe more than three? At Adrien. When Adrien turns around and quietly begins talking.

"Hey, Marinette, could I borrow your Bluetooth headphones? My school computer's headphone port has been acting up and I know you have some Bluetooth ones."

"Yeah sure, just give them back at the end of class, ok?" He nods and I take my headphones off my neck. Passing them to him I whisper, "Be careful."

His reassuring smile in return melts my heart. I dorkily smile back at him as he turns back around. I sigh and return my gaze to my work slightly more distracted than before. I don't realize that my headphones are still connected to my computer so I plug in my wired headphones and hit play on my "Trying to concentrate despite my crush being too cute for their own good" playlist. I realize no sound is coming out so I try turning the volume up. Adrien flinches and yanks my headphones off his head, they nearly go flying across the classroom and into the board. I realize my mistake a few seconds later when I hear the ONE heavy metal song on the playlist blasting out of the headphones. I hit mute faster than I ever have in my life and blush furiously.

"Sorry, Adrien! I forgot to disconnect them from my computer!"

"Hahahaah! It's fine Marinette. I didn't peg you as a heavy metal girl though."

"I'm not! It's just the ONE song."

At that moment Mlle. Bustier interrupts. "Marinette, Adrien, get back to work."

"Yes, Mlle. Bustier." Adrien and I chorus.

We both turn back to our computers and resume working. I go back to my music and turn the volume all the way down as low as it will go, but I don't disconnect the headphones just yet. I search for other songs by the artist, In This Moment, and choose one at random. I press play on a song called "Mechanical Love" and skip to about 15 seconds in. When I strain my ears I can faintly hear the lyrics coming from my headphones.

"...Standing in the rai~n..."

"...I~ Remember what you said~. Before I turned away~. My heart di~ed..."

I freeze up and disconnect the headphones as Adrien questioningly turns around. "April Fools!" I whisper.

He gets this smirk on his face, it reminds me of Chat Noir, as he turns back around to continue working. I wonder what it could mean for a second and then I dismiss it as nothing to worry about.

- Adrien's POV -

The music comes back briefly and instead of reacting like I had the last time I merely flinched and noticed the volume was going down, I presumed Marinette turned the volume down and then disconnected the headphones so that her ears wouldn't get blasted the next time she wore them. A few seconds later I hear the start of a new song. This one is also, funnily enough, metal. It sounds like Marinette skips a little bit of the intro because the next thing I hear is lyrics.

"...Standing in the rai~n. Your black sta~re. Your black eyes. I~ remember what you said~. Before I turned away~. My heart di~ed. Your sweetest li~es..."

It suddenly stops playing as I move to turn around, giving Marinette a questioning glance.

She whispers "April Fools!" and I smirk as I turn back around.

I smile to myself and continue working, plotting my revenge prank. I discreetly yank a pen and pencil out of my bag and scribble a note to Nino.

'Hey Man, Marinette just April Foolsed me. Up to help me get her back?'

I carefully slide it across the desk under the pretense of tapping Nino's arm to ask for help on the assigned task. He reads it and scribbles a reply. Returning the note by leaning over and dropping it in my lap while he 'helps' me. I carefully read it.

'Sure Dude, let's talk after class though.'

"Adrien!" Mlle. Bustier's voice rings out next to my ear. My face flames in embarrassment. "Since you were passing notes, would you like to stand up and read it to the class please?"

Damn. The thing I was trying to avoid. "Of course. It says: 'Hey Man, Marinette just April Foolsed me. Any ideas? Sure Dude, let's talk about it after class though.' That's all."

Mlle. Bustier sighs and shakes her head. "Please don't pass notes in class. I expected better of you, even on April Fools. Now please resume working on your assignment."

"Yes, Mlle. Bustier." I sigh and resume working.

What seems like forever later, the bell rings. At last! Lunch break! "Hey Nino, let's go to the park."

"Ok, don't you have to go home though?"

"I'll ditch today. It'll be worth the consequences later."

"Up to you dude, though your Pops is much too harsh on you."

I grab Nino's hand and pull him down the steps to the park.

"So... what's your idea..."

- Marinette's POV -

I lean over and whisper to Alya, "Did you hear that? I think he's planning revenge!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it girl. Nino's the worst at April Fool's pranks. He'll just take your bag and hide it in a janitor's closet or something dumb like that."

I keep worrying about it though, over the whole remainder of the period I stare intensely at the back of Adrien's head, as if it will give me answers. The instant the bell goes off I grab Alya and yank her to the bakery. Somehow I manage to get there without falling over or anything like that. I snag the plate of food my parents left out on the dining table/extended countertop and pull Alya up to my room. We dig into the food, bakery leftovers from yesterday, the freshly baked unsellables from today, and a couple of sandwiches.

"So..." My voice comes out slightly muffled around a bite of sandwich. "What do you think they're planning?"

Alya sighs and shakes her head. "You're hopeless. You know that? It's probably nothing."

The lunch break speeds by faster than I would like and before I know it I'm back at school. Oddly enough Nino is sitting in my seat and Adrien is still sitting in his normal place. I cautiously wander up to my seat, clutching my bag closer. "Nino...?"

"Up next to Adrien Dudette, sorry. I need to chat with Alya."

This isn't unusual, it happens every once in a while, he and Alya spend a class sitting together, normally it's Nino moving back to my seat. Once or twice it's been Alya moving up and trading with Adrien though. So I don't think anything of it, just smile and go take Nino's seat. Nino's seat right next to Adrien... Who was planning a revenge prank... With Nino... On me... Crap. "Hey." I robotically greet Adrien.

"Hey, Mare."

"What?" My head whips around to face him.

"I said: 'Hey there.'" He put emphasis on the beginning of 'there'. As if he didn't actually say it...

"Didn't you say: 'Hey Mare.'?"

"No."

"Alright..." I reluctantly let it go.

"So how's Kagami?"

"Kagami?"

"Yeah. Kagami."

"She's fine. What about Luka?"

"Luka?" Why is he bringing up Luka?

"Mhm, Luka Couffaine. The guy you're dating..." The end trails off and I almost miss it.

"He's fine, though we're not officially dating yet. That's entirely on me of course, I'm still hung up on my first crush, and I don't want to date Luka while I have these significant feelings for someone else as well."

"I get it. Kagami and I aren't officially dating yet either. Though she'd love for it to be official. I still love that other girl I mentioned, that time after the Grevin in the car..." He trails off as if he suddenly remembers my hasty exit from the car. Wasn't he dating Kagami? They kissed! They must just be keeping it on the down-low because of their parents. This 'third girl' is imaginary. He was definitely referring to Kagami that day in the car.

"Anyways, purromise that you'll have purrfect focus in this impawasible class, Marinette?"

I groan. "Are you secretly Chat Noir or something? Only he would be capable of fitting that many bad cat puns into one sentence!"

"Why yes, yes I am."

I look at him with a horrified expression on my face.

"APRIL FOOLS!" He shouts. Immediately after he cracks up.

I begin laughing too. "You really got me with that one Adrien!"

"Payback for the headphones one!"

"I'm going to top your prank next year. There's not enough time to plan the best prank this year."

"I'm going to top your prank Mari!"

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!"

Mlle. Bustier walks into the classroom so Marinette and Adrien quiet down and get ready to listen to Mlle. Bustier. Oblivious to the fact that Alya had just recorded their entire conversation, and oblivious to the fact that the rest of the class (minus Chloe and Lila) was watching them as well. Most of them were happy that Marinette had finally stopped stuttering. They were also annoyed that Marinette and Adrien were so clearly meant to be together yet that Marinette seemed content just being friends with Adrien for now, despite pining after him for years. Class began and so, April Fools Day and the prank war were both laid to rest until the next time April Fools rolled around.