Adrien Agreste was talking on the phone to his wife, Marinette. It was his first day working as a teacher and he was nervous about it. Specially, since the kids were not paying the slightest attention to him.
"Well, hi there, teacher. I'm so proud of you, prince. How's it going?" Said the young woman.
"Hi Marinette. Er, not that good but I'm trying"
"Sorry, I can't hear you" The kids were making a mess. Chatting, fighting with each other, playing with their toys and so on.
The young man was trying to come up with a good idea. Something that would let him get to those kids. Anything. He really wanted to bond with them, he had even learned their names by heart and everything. After having to learn piano music sheets, incredibly complex Chinese symbols, fencing techniques and modelling tendencies, the teaching career had been really easy for him. He was more than smart; he was brilliant and something like memorising a bunch of names was child's play for Adrien.
"Being here is a little more complicated than I thought, but I stay pawsitive. You know I love children" He explained.
"Oh, dear. You'll find a way. You'll see. Step by step"
"I know M'lady. This situation can't last furever" Marinette giggled. She loved her silly kitty.
At that moment, one of the girls, the one who was closer to Adrien, realised how her teacher was speaking. It was weird.
"Did you hear that? What does it mean?"
She called her classmates' attention. Suddenly, the kids were silent. Excited about "the new word" the little girl lifted her hand in the air.
"I'll call you later, honey" Adrien hung the call.
"Yes, Sophie?" He pointed at the child. She was amazed he remembered her name.
"What did you say, teacher, er...?" The little girl blushed cause she couldn't remember the new teacher's name, but he smiled kindly.
"Adrien" he said. The nine-year-old smiled back.
"Teacher Adrien, what is furever?"
The other kids gathered around, interested in the ongoing conversation. The young blonde bent to reach his student's eyes. He was among them.
"Do you know what a pun is?" His smile got a little wider. The young man was in his element.
"No, I don't" said most of the students.
"Alright, let me use the board" The now excited teacher stood up and walked to it. Then, seized a chalk for the first time ever.
"First, you gotta know something about me. I love cat puns"
"Cats are lovely!" Said a boy
"I have three cats!" Exclaimed another girl.
"So fluffy and soft!"
"I love cat's fur!" Adrien pointed at the last kid who had talked with growing excitement.
"That's great, Tommy. I can call you Tommy, right?" The kid nodded, impressed by the familiar/nice attitude of the new teacher.
Then he wrote "fur" on the board with a neat and beautiful handwriting.
"We can't talk all together, because I won't be able to hear you and you won't hear me either. Please, raise a hand to talk" he said, putting some order, but the kind look never left his eyes.
"Thank you so much! Now, can anyone tell me what else does a cat have?"
"Paws" said a timid girl who hadn't talked before. Not even to introduce herself to the teacher before the class started.
Adrien wrote "paws" on the board.
"Thank you, sweetie. What's your name?"
"I'm, I'm Lucy" She stammered. Adrien's heart melted a little, she reminded him of his Marinette. Stammering, cute Marinette. But some kids laughed, making Lucy look down. Her lips pouting. She was about to cry. Oh no.
"What are you laughing at, kids? I think Lucy's voice is just lovely. You should talk in class more often, dear" The girl smiled timidly and blushed a lot. The other kids stopped laughing.
"Listen, kids. We're not here to make fun of our buddies. We want to be good friends, don't we?"
"Yes, teacher Adrien" The students agreed. The ones who had laughed, looking flustered.
"So, paws, fur, that would do! At least to make cat puns. Look" He wrote "pun" on the board.
"When you use words that sound alike, but with different meanings, you're making a pun. To make cat puns, I mix everyday words..."
"Like forever!" Said Sophie.
"Wow, you're so smart, Sophie, good job! Yes, forever... How can you mix it with one of the words we just wrote? I mean, what would make more sense? Pawever? A little weird, right?"
The students thought it well. Their concentrated faces were so nice to look at.
"Furever, that's what you said before, teacher!" Said a boy.
"That's great, Louis. We are all smart in here, aren't we?" The young man smiled brightly. It was a good class, after all.
After talking about cat puns, which was the way the new teacher could reach his new students, Adrien managed to go back to the original lesson of the first day of class. Different kind of words.
When the class ended, almost everyone was happy and comfortable with him.
"Now, I have something for you. A little gift I prepared" The kids looked at their teacher, cheering when they found out he had brought them candy, adjoined to paper figures. They thought he would give them stars. However, that peculiar and unique teacher, instead of giving them stars, gave the kids paws in different colours, letting them choose their favourite ones.
"See you tomorrow, my little kitties" Was his goodbye every day.
The children ended up by loving their language teacher so much that, when the year ended, many of them cried, not willing to get away from him, but Adrien was still working in the same school. He hugged them all, and even shed a few tears along with his little kitties. "I'll visit you in your classroom next year. I promise" he said and he did so. Adrien was a man of his word.