"So, Kagami," Nino exhaled, "how is it living with my favorite dudette?"
"Well, she has been very kind and quite tidy. I have appreciated her company." Kagami said, a little too formally. She had seemed so tense around me. I didn't think she disliked me per se, but it seemed as if she hadn't warmed up to me at all since we had been here. Looking at her formal manners, my head swirled with guilt for all the times I ignored her. She must have felt like I hated her, when I really didn't.
Adrien, not even noticing Kagami's tense presence, chirped in, "Guys, I heard that today they're going to have an ice cream station. I never get to have that stuff." He seemed purely joyful as his green eyes gleamed with excitement. I could recognize that look anywhere; it's exactly how I felt trying new things as Ladybug. It seemed so strange, however, that he would feel that for something as small as an ice cream stand in the dining hall. Of all the things this dorky rich kid could look forward to, it was something as simple as ice cream.
"Dude, you're telling me you rarely ate ice cream. Your dad really is as much of a buzzkill as you say," Nino exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air if only to emphasize his astonishment. Nino always managed to make me crack a smile. I guess he was just comforting to me. I mean, even though we went through many hiccups in our mostly platonic relationship, we survived all of that. Not many friendships could survive a breakup, but ours did. Though, we did still drift apart after our breakup, and we hadn't quite recovered from that yet.
"I mean, yeah. I guess it was just another thing my dad barred me from doing," Adrien said as his eyes shifted away from Kagami and I.
"Well," I started, trying to help ease Adrien's obvious discomfort about the subject, "now is as good a time as ever to get some, right?"
With a nod from Adrien, we all walked in. Adrien ran over to the ice cream stand and Kagami slowly sauntered over to it behind him. Nino and I decided to find a table to set our stuff down before we got food.
Nino looked at me with his eyebrow raised, and a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You've been spending a lot of time with Adrien lately. I have to admit, he is quite the looker."
"Nino," I stopped him, knowing where this was going, "you know I'm not in the position to think about stuff like that right now."
"Dude, I don't know if you've forgotten, but we dated, and I know you." he stated, dropping his previously jovial attitude as I rolled my eyes. "You always do this."
"Do what?" Who did he think he was to question me. He didn't know about my life, at least, not all of it. He couldn't know.
"You say that you're 'not ready' for anything or that it's 'a bad time' every time a potential romantic partner enters your life. Even our relationship ended for no real reason, you just claimed the same thing. Why are you so adamant to stay single?"
I stood there, and paused. "It's not an excuse Nino, I'm not ready for anything right now. I thought you of all people would be able to accept that…"
"I can accept that, Marinette. It's just that it's been years now, and there's been no change. Plus, it's not as if you don't lead guys on."
"I what-" I started, before Adrien and Kagami approached the table.
"You guys haven't gotten your food yet?" Adrien pointed out as they took their seats.
Still fuming from my conversation with Nino, with a huff, I said, "I was just going." I quickly left, and got my plate. Who was Nino to say that I lead guys on and make excuses? Was he trying to make me feel guilty for breaking up with him? He had no idea what my hectic life was like. Granted, it's not like I could tell him, but for him to even insinuate that was infuriating. For him to bring up our relationship as well, it was clear he wasn't as over it as he let on. I grabbed a sandwich, knowing I could quickly gobble it down and leave. I was dreading going back to that table and sitting with Nino.
I made my way back to the table and saw that I had beaten Nino. Adrien and Kagami sat on the same side of the table, leaving two seats for Nino and I. When I approached, it seemed that whatever light conversation they were having paused.
"Hey," Adrien began with his eyebrows knit, "are you good?"
"Yeah," I stated bluntly. "I'm just a little stressed." He continued to look at me with those worried eyes. Adrien really was a good guy, and he deserved someone who could give their all to him. It felt wrong to date someone while keeping a whole alter ego a secret from them. On top of that, while from a distance he looked pretty average due to his baggier clothes, up close he looked like a model. He was gorgeous. It wasn't like he would fall for someone like me.
I started to gobble my sandwich as Adrien and Kagami resumed their previous conversation. Apparently they bonded over their rather strict parents. It seemed like both of their parents ruled over their whole lives. I felt kind of bad for them, but they seemed to have a lot in common. They began to talk about ways they got around their parents, and they were quite amusing. One time Kagami paid someone to take her place at a piano lesson. Another time, Adrien dressed as a chef at a charity event to get out of having to participate in small talk with those who had connections with his father. They seemed to live in an entirely different world from the one I know.
When I was halfway through my sandwich, Nino approached the table with an unreadable expression. I avoided his eyes, and he remained pretty silent. Adrien and Kagami continued their conversation, but Nino and I remained silent, trying our best to ignore one another. Adrien spared occasional glances at both of us, but never said anything. As tensions grew, I hoped for any excuse to leave. I ate my sandwich a little faster.
As the sound of screams came from outside, I breathed a sigh of relief. For once, I was thankful for the akuma attack. As I got up to go find somewhere to hide, Nino stopped me. "We have to hide."
"I know, I was going to find somewhere."
Nino huffed and asserted, "I know you're mad at me, but that isn't something to risk your life over, we need to stick together, right Adrien?"
"Uh…" Adrien said, a look of panic in his eyes. "If it's a big deal, I could take Marinette?" he said as if it were a question.
Unable to think of an excuse, I agreed. He led me outside of the dining hall and towards a class building that had less windows and would be a good hiding spot.. As we were moving, however, Adrien got lost in the crowd. I turned around, not wanting to leave him alone in this situation. Especially not when he was just trying to protect me when I was too stubborn to go with the whole group. As I went back, I found myself in an alley. Just as I was about to transform to be better able to find Adrien and fight the akuma, my partner swooped down in black leather.
"Why hello purrincess, what are you doing here?" he said with an oddly light presence. He had seemed so downtrodden with Ladybug lately.
"I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you, the superhero, be fighting the akuma right now?"
"Citizens are always my first priority," he stated, extending his hand to me. His chivalrous demeanor almost reminded me of when we first got our miraculous. Though I complained at the time, I really missed his cute little smirk. Unable to do much else without raising suspicion, I took his hand. He swept me up and took me to an alley behind a bakery right outside of the campus. I held in a laugh at how ironic it was, being that I grew up in a bakery. The smell was nice, and reminded me of home.
"See, was that so hard?" Chat exclaimed as he put me down.
"I mean… I was held by a mangy cat," I smirked as he scrunched his nose at the comment, "but this one is pretty cute I guess."
With that, he gave a quick goodbye and fled back towards the scene. A slight panic hit me when I realized I had just called Chat 'cute'. Despite my embarrassment, I transformed and swung to the scene. While Chat probably thought I was there, it was still very irresponsible to take that much time away from the akuma for a single citizen. He had even brought me all the way off of campus.
When I had swung to the scene, I saw a giant stage on the main lawn of the campus. It seemed that a theater professor was upset with the lack of interest in his classes, so now his akumatized form compelled citizens to act in a play. He was doing Macbeth, and the dark meaning behind that being the play was not lost on me. Chat was trying his best to avoid people dashing at him with swords as Shakespearean English was spoken around us. He seemed worn out and I felt so guilty.
Looking around, I found the akuma perched right in front of the stage in a giant director's chair. He moved his hands around all those he had put in his 'play' as if they were puppets. He continued zapping people and forcing them to join as he picked his favorites to play certain roles. When he examined the citizens that he considered, he seemed to put all of his attention into it. That was the time I could strike. The question was then, how was I going to get to him. Even off of the giant stage it looked like a war being fought, just like the one at the end of Macbeth. Citizens swung swords and were genuinely fighting one another. I made my way towards Chat.
"I'm so sorry I'm so late. I got held up. Secret identity and all."
"It's okay," he replied nonchalantly, "but what's the plan LB?"
"Use your baton to form a shield and push me towards the akuma. We need to distract him though. You need to pretend to be a part of his play, while I'll hide and break that chair from the back. I'm pretty sure that is where the akuma is hiding."
"Alright, after you my lady," I smiled at the more endearing nickname, and then swung off.
Chat spun his baton in a circle in front of him, pushing all the people in front of him away. He kept a puffed chest, trying to look like he was fighting in an actual war. He looked so funny that way. As we made it closer, I slowly slid my way to the side to get to the back of his chair. Chat stood right in front of him with blank eyes and the same puffed chest.
"My my, what do we have here. This one has quite the figure… he could take one of the leading roles." he paused for a second, the purple butterfly appearing in front of his face. "Though, I am not a huge fan of the cat costume. That just won't do.
Chat remained still as the akuma reached for him, continuing the charade. I would have to get there quickly. I used my lucky charm, and it gave me a small scooter. I hated that thing sometimes. Citizens still poured in around me. Nevertheless, I used it to the best of my ability to get there, with the extra speed I got from the miraculous helping to push citizens to the sides. Right as the akuma began to grab Chat's hand, I was able to crack the back of his chair, releasing the akuma.
Chat jumped over, looking a little nervous, but thankful. He gave me an exhausted smile and put out his fist. "Pound it." I then had to return to my friends, tensions and all. I almost missed the akuma.
Hey guys, sorry I just disappeared for a few months. I had some really rough stuff going on, and didn't want to make this story too angsty. Nevertheless, I am back, and will try to upload every other Saturday. I hope you enjoy the chapter!