A/N: YES. I LIVE. So, this whole quarantine situation (again, I don't like talking about it because it's very anxiety inducing) has me procrastinating a lot for school. So, now I'm catching up on writing and getting shit DONE. Expect more soon! Thanks for your patience! And hope you all enjoy!

Summary: A very bored Adrien Agreste finds his classes to be very drawl... luckily, his new seatmate has some methods that can help him pass the time. What is this... "doodling" Marinette speaks of?

Word Count: 2,411

How to Art

Adrien didn't often get bored in school.

But today was one of his rare occasions of feeling a tad unmotivated. Today Madame Bustier's lesson on history was taking a slight toll on Adrien—as did the early morning Akuma with a vengeance against traffic cones—and so his mind was a bit worked out. And it was only third period, so he knew he was in for a long one. The only thing that made his day bearable was walking into class just before the bell, where he bumped into Marinette who was also just as late as him. She quickly gave him his breakfast to munch, and told him she'd take his bag into the class and tell Bustier he went to the bathroom so he could have time to eat. He couldn't help but gleam in joy when he munched on his chocolate and lemon pastries. They tasted so good and were a treat to have, especially after an Akuma fight.

After he made his way into class and into his seat, Adrien instinctively fell into a feat of showering Marinette with compliments and praise. Her recent promise of bringing him breakfast every morning was something he cherished beyond her understanding. They had been doing it for at least three days now, today being the third, and each time Adrien sung off high compliments to her parents. But today's meal was provided by the everyday Ladybug herself apparently. He beamed up when she said she made it herself because her parents were too busy with an order. He felt bad at first of course, but she amended that it was a piece of cake.

And then she had to argue why cake for tomorrow's breakfast wasn't a good idea. Adrien disagreed, but Busier started a lesson so he had to put a pin in it.

All of what transpired really got Adrien excited. Because throughout all of that, Marinette was talking to him! Like actually talking. He was glad that she wasn't as nervous around him as she used to be, and that they now had a chance to reallyget to know each other. Marinette always fascinated Adrien, but he wasn't exactly provided a lot of opportunities to get to know her very well. The Marinette he was coming to know was someone he enjoyed.

Which is why his interest wasn't on the lesson of the French Revolution, but the art gallery his seatmate had conjured up in her notebook.

Marinette had her cheek resting in the palm of her left hand, wearing a bored look as her lazy eyes stared at her page. She had begun a new page, with barely one note written down, and was sketching away around the margins. Adrien was amazed at what she was drawing. She had drawn a doodle of what looked to be a ladybug, colouring in the body with a red pen and shading in the spots with her pencil. This particular ladybug had wide blue eyes that looked to be writhing in sadness with a small pout to accompany it. Adrien smiled as he tilted his head. It sort of looked like Plagg, if he was a ladybug anyways. The doodle came along with a speech bubble that said, We Want Treats, Not Worksheets.

Upon reading the text the young model actually released a snort, startling his seatmate from her bored trance. He felt a rush of embarrassment and guilt overwhelm him as he realized he had been invasively looking at her stuff. And judging by Marinette's surprised face, she didn't seem to like it that much. She seemed a bit flushed as she quietly stammered, "O-Oh, I was just uh—"

"Sorry!" he quickly apologized, matching her low tone. "I just noticed you sketching and… thought it was really funny." His face dropped as he noticed her surprise nowhere near dimming down, causing him to carefully backpedal on his words. "I mean, the joke, not that I think your drawing looks funny. I mean it is, but a good funny! It's really nice!" He wasn't making sense was he?

Marinette's eyes lit up as she asked, "R-Really? You think so?"

Relief filled within Adrien as his friend showed no sign of offence. With that, he nodded, "Yeah! It's very cute. Is that a ladybug?"

A wave of what Adrien assumed to be embarrassment (and maybe panic?) washed over the artist's face as she flew her hands over her drawing, covering it as if it were a scandalous drawing. "N-No! I mean, yes, but I'm not!" A cute look swelled up in her small smile as she carefully whispered, "Uhh, yeah. It-It's a ladybug. A cartoony one. Yup."

"It still looks really good!" Adrien pointed out.

"Aw, it-it's nothing much, really," Marinette countered.

"Nah it's nice Marinette!" Adrien lightly insisted, mindful of his voice level. Of course he could sense she seemed a bit bashful of her work, so he decided to move on. "Regardless, it looks like a lot of fun."

Her brows quirked upward as she tilted her head. "Doodling?"

Adrien felt his cheeks slightly burn at the word. Was that what it was called? "Uh, um, yeah? To be honest I never knew it was called that. I thought it was just sketching." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

Marinette softly chuckled. "No, no, sketching is a thing. But for like, just pencil drawings. Sorta. Doodling is like… just," her eyes drifted back down to her paper as she hurriedly conjured another drawing, "a sort of past time thing. To fill the boredom." It was a small—"doodle," Adrien supposed—of the shrugging emoticon but with adorable anime eyes. It wasn't as neat as Marinette's previous work, but he gathered that was her intention.

"Wow…" he smiled. "It looks cute!"

"Thanks," she smiled back, "but it really isn't much. Just something to fill the boredom."

Adrien stared at her two doodles and sighed. It looked fun. He wished he had a semblance of an artistic bone in his body, aside from just fashion. He wondered if this was another school thing people did that he missed out on. Was his home schooling so strict that he just never took the opportunities to… doodle? He had done silly sketches before, but nothing like what Marinette was doing.

"Adrien", her voice snapped him out of his trance. She stared at him curiously as she softly asked, "Would… Would you like me to teach you?"

His brows raised as his eyes shot wide open. "How to draw?"

"How to doodle," she corrected with a small laugh. His cheeks slightly flamed as he realized how eager he sounded. "But yes! There's a lot of fun little doodles kids in école learn to do and they're easy too!"

So it was a thing?

She seemed to pick up on his curiosity and proceeded to begin her first lesson. "Like this," she drew two rows of three vertical dashes, then turned to him. He quickly gathered he was supposed to follow her and so he did the same. She smirked as she connected the bottom row's first and last dash with two diagonal lines then the top row with the same thing, but mirrored. As Adrien followed he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be looking at. She watched his paper as she, without looking, connected a few more dashes, creating a very cool S shape. Slowly and carefully, he followed her movements and—though very jagged—he managed to create the same thing! The model's mouth dropped as soon as he realized that he made that.

"Whoooaaa…" he gasped in awe.

Marinette giggled as she bumped her shoulder against his. "See? Quick and simple!"

Adrien lips upturned into a smile as he realized he liked Marinette like this. She seemed so confident and comfortable. Maybe she was finally warming up to him? Moments like these where she exposed a bit of herself, Adrien noticed she was excited. He liked that.

And he liked that she was sharing it with him.

"What else?" he eagerly inquired.

The artist in question mirrored his smile as she turned her attention back to her paper. "How about… oh! Do you know the English word for dog?"

"Yeah… why?"

"I learned this cool trick where you can make a dog from the word dog!"

Adrien's jaw dropped for the umpteenth time that day… and it wasn't going to be the last time either.

::::

Marinette did love literature. She was an artist, how couldn't she? She understood a fair amount of all her subjects, but she had a difficult time struggling to keep up with the in-class lectures. Something about the teaching style just didn't click with her. So she was trying to pay attention. It was hard, yes, but she was giving it her all and focusing on her notes, listening to Bustier's current ramblings about poetry. It was only sixth period, but she was still powering on. Sure, it could be argued that the words were flowing in through one ear and out the other, but she was determined.

Though, it was a bit distracting considering the constant giggling going on to her left.

Marinette was trying not to peek at his work, but she could tell he took her recent teachings into practice and was having a field day on his paper right about now. She had made side glances very so often, noticing him switch coloured pens and flip back to pencil. He seemed like a child. Very cat-like. It made her happy to see Adrien so… well, happy.

It piqued her interest.

She caved in and decided to sneak a glance. Her eyes slightly widened in surprise as she found a collection of small Cool S's and animal doodles all surrounding what looked to be a panel-like strip of a joke. The characters involved with the punchline? Ladybug and Chat Noir, a very well doodled Ladybug and Chat Noir she might add. His characters seemed very comic-like, with his Chat being more cartoonish and his Ladybug looking more modelesque. Ladybug seemed to, very animatedly, have her arms crossed as Chat Noir has a small fluffy dog in his hands. The first speech bubble went to him:

M'Lady, what would you call this drawing of a poodle?

She noticed Ladybug's face seemed to hold that of a blank expression. What Chaton...?

A doodle!

Marinette rolled her eyes as she shook her head. That was a pun surely even Chat Noir himself would be embarrassed of. Well, as his sworn partner Marinette had a duty to defend his honour. Forgetting all about her notes, she quickly doodled a mock up of Tikki and Plagg—an inside joke only she would get—and laid out some speech bubbles.

Feeling proud of her work, she tapped Adrien's arm with her pen, gesturing to her comic of a drawing before smiling proudly.

The strip had Tikki looking over Plagg's shoulder, asking, You're taking notes in class?

With Plagg holding up a notebook and saying, Nope, just doodling!

And Tikki smiling back, Ahh. I knew something sketchy was going on!

Adrien snorted.

Like, actually, very audibly snorted.

A flush crept up to his cheeks as he covered his nose, attempting to stifle his laughter. Marinette couldn't help but feel compelled to laugh as well, nothing how silly Adrien looked with a flushed face and puffed cheeks. She burst into a fit of barley held back giggles, which in turn left Adrien to leak out in his laughter. The two proceeded to giggle like children, shamelessly laughing at their dumb puns as they pointed at each other's doodles.

"Ahem," a voice spoke up. The two froze as they noticed Miss Bustier, and the rest of the class, staring at them. Alya and Nico had raised brows of what Marinette assumed was shock and pride on their face. Lila seemed annoyed, of whatever. Everyone else seemed generally surprised that the two were being disruptive, which to be fair, Marinette realized was justified. "Adrien, Marinette, would you like to share what it is you both found so funny with the rest of the class?" Miss Bustier inquired, jutting out her hip as she stared at the two challengingly.

The two exchanged a look. Marinette immediately grasped at Adrien's worry and spoke up, "Uhhh, A-Adrien just found it funny that you can make an ode about an haiku, but not a haiku about an ode."

A look of confusion overwhelmed her peers, but for Adrien, relief, and for their teacher… a look of amusement seemed to take to her lips. "Oh! Yes, quite strange indeed! Though, do please keep comments like those till after I'm finished speaking. Or raise your hand if you do."

"Yes Miss Bustier," the two said together.

Seeming satisfied, she carried on with her teaching. Adrien smiles at Marinette, whispering a thanks. She easily smiled back.

He hurriedly wrote down, I like your pun. Would make Chat Noir proud.

She chuckled. And your Ladybug would flatter the real deal herself.

Who would've thought? Adrien Agreste loved puns.

::::

"Evening Chaton!" Ladybug greeted as she descended on the rooftop. "What are you up to this fine evening?"

The cat seemed startled by her presence, sheepishly hiding his hands behind his back as he hugged it against the wall. "Uhh, nothing!" She noticed he had a black marker in his hand before he not-so-slyly hid it from her gaze.

She raised a brow at his secrecy.

He easily relented, sidestepping away to reveal… a Very Cool S drawing?

Ladybug nearly laughed. What are the odds of something this ironic happening? "Wow, had no idea you were an artist, Kitty."

His guilty look seemed to fade almost instantly as a smile replaced him. "Really? Well, I sorta just learned about this today."

Ladybug's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yeah… a… a friend taught me." The words seemed to comfort him, as his newfound smile grew a smidge. She felt no need to question it.

"Well, would your friend get upset if I taught you some other cool doodles?" she asked, holding out her hand for the marker. His smile managed to grow even more.

"No, I don't think she will. But, I'll have to warn ya, she's a great artist."

Ladybug grinned at the challenge, stepping up to the canvas of a wall as she started to draw. "Well we'll see about that, Chaton. Please, allow me to teach you… how to art!"

A/N: Soooo? Eh? Eh?

ehhh...

Well I liked it! And so did that guy! Just like, imagine I'm pointing at someone. To be honest I pulled an all nighter just writing a bunch of fics and such, so i may be a bit out of it. I'll probably change this A/N later... Also, is it obvious I had no other ideas for elementary/middle school doodles? I was trying to think of stuff everyone knew... aside from the Very Cool S (and yes that's what it's called, I searched it) and got nothing. I thought of the dog one, but then remembered they're French so it wouldn't make much sense... Because newsflash, I may be Canadian, but I'm not French-Canadian, so I don't know the French's culture well enough if they have their own childhood doodles everyone grew up doing.

Anyways, hopefully you guys notice a pattern with how I organize these oneshot structures. And yes, this will be entirely a oneshot series. I don't know if i'll ever unfold a plot, but right now things will be episodic... like the show! Also, I haven't even finished Season 3 yet. I kinda stopped watching after episode 10? Whichever that might've been, so I'm not exactly following much of a canon. And to be fair, none of this is canon considering it's a rewrite from episode 1 of season 3.

THAT SAID, I won't be doing salt! Sure, I have my griefs about the show and whatever, but I won't write salt fics. The only one I've ever done was for a Lukanette and to be honest that was much more passive than standard ml salt fics. What I'm trying to say is if you're worried about this story getting salty about characters, don't. Only characters getting hate will be Lila and Gabriel. I swear I ain't even focusing on that stuff. This is strictly Adrienette fluff guys.

Just had to make things clear.

Until next time,

- Bleh