Chapter 18: Spoiled Lunch
By the time the third and final act of the play was over, half of the gymnasium was half-asleep, while the other half was applauding the actors, whose performance was incredible. But there was one thing that all of them were, right then. They were all hungry. And knowing the cafeteria had a special menu for them all that day, all the students hurried out of the gymnasium. Well, most of them did. Marinette and the others stayed behind and waited until it was safe for their kwamis to come out of their hiding spot and join them. When almost everyone had already left the gym, the kwamis used the opportunity to join their holders, as they too left to see what they had for lunch that day.
"What do you think it's going to be lunch?" -Marinette asked. She had a light breakfast that morning, so she was a little hungry.
"Pizza, maybe?" -Alya suggested.
"I could definitely go for pizza. Especially one with mushrooms, bacon, olives and extra cheese." -Ivan declared, as he imagined the pizza he had just described.
"Don't forget the pineapple." -Max pointed out.
"Pineapple on pizza, Max?!" -Adrien asked him. –"Nino, help me out here, please."
"I'm with Max on this one, bro. Pineapple on pizza is life." -Nino declared.
"Alya, your boyfriend is insane." -Adrien joked.
"So, what's new?" -Alya giggled. –"I don't mind him loving pineapple on pizza, as long as he doesn't force me to eat it." -she laughed, as he placed her arms around him.
"I'm still going to convince you to change sides on that matter, Alya." -Nino smiled at her, as she kissed him.
"Keep dreaming, turtle boy." –Alya smirked at him, before he kissed her again.
"Well, it better not be spaghetti and meatballs. No offense, but last year, I counted more than ten couples in the cafeteria, doing the dinner scene from Lady and the Tramp." -Kim said, as he remembered of the previous Valentine's Day.
"And here I thought the thing you would be remembering about last year's Valentine's Day was the fact that Chloe told you she did not want to date you." -Alix snickered.
"Oh, very mature, Alix, very mature." -Kim shot at her.
"For the record, I told you that I didn't want to date you, because you're not my type, and because you're a jock, Kim. I don't date jocks." -Chloe declared.
"And because you were a really nasty bitch?" -Alix asked her.
"Yeah, that too." -Chloe agreed. –"Still, I stand by what I said. You're not my type, Kim." -she said. –"Still, I think you would make a great boyfriend for Alix."
"Like that will ever happen." -Kim scoffed at the idea of dating Alix.
"For once, I agree with him. That will never happen. Like you, I've got standards, and they prevent me from loving an idiot like him." -Alix told Chloe.
"She's… hey! I feel insulted by that remark!" -Kim exclaimed, making everyone else laugh.
At first, they wanted to go their classroom to grab their cell phones. Adrien himself was going to get it, as well as the pendant he was going to offer Marinette. But Kim convinced everyone to leave them where they were, and go to lunch instead. Unfortunately, by doing so, he made it impossible for any of them to know that there was an Akuma attacking the city. The only one who did go up to the classroom was Nathaniel, and even he forgot about his cell phone. The only thing he wanted to get right then, was the box of chocolates he was going to offer Marc, as soon as he saw him. Grabbing it, he quickly went back to the cafeteria, where most of the class was already on the lunch line.
Like Principal Damocles had stated earlier, the cafeteria's menu for that day was a special one… pizza. But not just one kind of pizza. There were several kinds of pizza. Usually, there was only one kind, but on that day, there were at least six different kinds. And there was also a special dessert, for whoever had a sweet tooth; chocolate and strawberry eclairs. Sufficient to say that there was not a single student who did not think that they had hit the jackpot that day with such a great lunch. The aroma of all those different kinds of pizza filled the air, as the students all waited in line for their turn.
At the tables, there was laughs and jokes, with the main conversation theme between the students being the play they all had finished seeing. But at the table where Marinette and her friends were having lunch, the conversation theme was different. They were all talking on just how great the pizzas were. And they were not the only ones saying it. Their kwamis, who were as always hidden from watchful eyes, were also enjoying themselves, as they were given small bits of pizza by their holders. All the while, the teenagers made sure not leave a single crumb on their plates, which earned one or two of them a couple of remarks.
"Chew your food, Kim! If you don't, you're bound to choke with a piece of pizza, stuck in your throat." -Alya said, as she took a small bite of her slice of Neapolitan pizza.
"You too, Sabrina. You look like a wolf, chowing down all that pizza." –Chloe said, as she watched the redhead eating what was her third slice of Carbonara pizza
"Sorry… but I just love Carbonara pizza, especially the mushrooms in it." -Sabrina said, as she finished the slice, before licking her lips. –"Do you think they'll let me get another plate? I don't know why, but I'm super hungry today." -she said.
"Well, I think that if you ask nicely, the lunch ladies might get you a few extra slices." -Marinette said, as she finished her slice of Four cheese pizza, her favourite. –"But you're not the only one… I'm also super hungry today." -she said. Her nerves were making her eat anything she had in front of her.
"It's probably because the pizzas are extra delicious today." -Max said, as he allowed Ari, who was hiding in one of his pockets, to nibble the slice he was holding.
"I concur. They're really good." -Ari said, as he savoured the pizza.
"Still, I wished they would have used Camembert on them." -Plagg spoke from inside Adrien's shirt pocket.
"Keep dreaming, Plagg." -Adrien told him.
"Well, they're pretty good, no doubt about it." -Juleka said, as she continued to eat one of the slices of Margherita pizza she had on her plate. –"Still, I wish they had pepperoni pizza." -she said, on account she only liked Margherita and Pepperoni pizza.
"Don't worry. We'll get one later. With cheesy crust, just like you love it." -Rose giggled, as she nibbled a slice of pizza.
"Tonight? What are you girls going to do tonight?" -Marinette asked them, curious.
"Juleka's brother, Luka, is going to give a concert, and we're both attending it." -Rose said. –"Oh, I forgot to tell you that my mom agreed to let me go tonight. That way you won't have to go alone to the concert." -she smiled at her girlfriend.
"That's great. Luka will be happy to have us in the audience, cheering for him, as he performs." -Juleka smiled at the blonde. –"And that way, will have our Valentine's Day date, Rose." -she thought to herself.
They continued to talk, when Mylene decided to ask Chloe something she always wanted to know about her. Something that she was not the only one who wanted to know the answer.
"Don't get me wrong, Chloe, but why don't you ever eat pizza with your hands, like everyone else?" -Mylene asked, seeing her eat with the pizza with a fork and a knife. Like all the others, she had never seen Chloe doing that whenever they had pizza, or hamburgers or even French fries. She would always use cutlery.
"Because unlike most people, I don't like to have my fingers covered in greasy cheese. I love pizza, but I hate having greasy fingers." -Chloe said politely, as she used a fork and a knife to cut a little piece of pizza and then gave it to Pollen, who was hiding inside her purse. Even when they went out for a bite, after a battle, she would always use a fork and a knife, which she would bring with her in her purse, to eat junk food. –"Plus, I don't want to ruin my nails." -she said.
"It's a good thing I don't have to worry about that little detail." -Nino said, as he took a huge bite of a slice of veggie pizza.
"Privileges of not being a girl." -Adrien pointed out.
"Correction, privileges of not being a girl who's always trying to look her best, Adrien." -Chloe told him, only for Adrien to chuckle. –"There's a big difference. And you boys tend to forget how easy you have it." -she said.
"I'm with Chloe on this one. You boys have it so easy on you. You wake up, comb your hair and you're ready to go." -Alix declared, agreeing with her. Still, no matter how many times it happened, Alix still felt a little weird in agreeing with a girl she despised for so long.
"I concur. Even you take at least half an hour in the bathroom to look presentable." -Daria told Alix.
"As if! Do you really think I look this dash looking, after I get out of bed?" -Kim asked Alix. –"I need to shave, moisturize and stylize my hair and put on a little bit of cologne, before I put on some clothes." -he pointed out.
"You mean a gallon of cologne! Phew" -Alix said. –"I wasn't going to say it, but you smell like you poured down a whole bottle of cheap cologne on you this morning." -she told him.
"Cheap cologne?! I spent part of my allowance on that cologne, and it wasn't cheap." -Kim said. –"Besides, most girls like it." -he declared.
"Well, not me." -Alix said.
"Me neither, Kim." -Rose said. –"I didn't want to tell you, but you put on too much cologne today." -she stated, with the cologne's smell making her a little bit dizzy. –"It's making me dizzy just from smelling it."
"That goes double for me." -Alix stated. She did not say anything to him, because she did not want to pick a fight with him, especially on a day where teachers insisted, they would all get along.
That last comment from Rose and Alix, made Kim smell his own clothes, and he quickly realized that he had indeed put on a little too much cologne. Because his cologne was the kind whose scent got stronger as time went by, and because he was already used to its scent, he did not notice he had put on too much that morning.
"Okay, maybe I put on a little too much today. But just so we're clear, this cologne was not cheap." -Kim said, while thinking that when he got home, he would have to change his clothes.
"We'll take your word for it." -Juleka said.
But not everyone was as chatty as Kim. Nathaniel was not talking much that day, and Marinette noticed it. So, she decided to ask him if everything was alright with him.
"Hey, Nathaniel, you're awfully quiet today. What's on your mind?" -Marinette asked him.
On top of not talking, Marinette also noticed Nathaniel had barely eaten the pizza on his plate. This was all because he kept thinking if he ought to give the box of chocolates to Marc, or not. He had gone to the classroom to get it, and now he was having second thoughts about it.
"Uh… nothing! I-I mean, I was just… I'm not very hungry." –Nathaniel said.
"Not hungry? I never seen you pass on a pizza, even when you are hungry." Marinette smiled at him. –"What's really going on? You can tell me… in fact, you can tell all of us."
He wanted to, but he did not know how they would react to him having a crush over a boy. Still, he figured he did not have to say it was a boy. By not saying if it was a boy or a girl, Nathaniel could talk about his problem, without any fears.
"Well, there's this person… I brought a box of chocolates to offer it to that person." -Nathaniel sighed.
"I noticed it." -Marinette said. She had seen that Nathaniel had brought a box of chocolates with him, but did not offer it to anyone in class, which suggested that he was going to give it to someone else. –"You didn't offer it to anyone in class, so I figured it was for someone else." -she said.
"It is… but I'm having second thoughts about it." -Nathaniel told her.
"Why?" -Marinette asked him.
"It's… it's because I don't know if that person will like it, that's why." -Nathaniel said.
"Well, if you don't try it, you'll never know." -Marinette said. –"Great advice, Marinette. You always had a knack to tell other what they should do or not, but you can never follow your own advices." -she thought to herself. –"Well, today I am following my own advice and I'm going to do the very same thing I told you Nathaniel. I'm going to tell Adrien how much I love him."
Thinking about Marinette had just told him, Nathaniel agreed that if he did not risk it, he would never find out the outcome of that endeavour of his. He had already decided that before he was going to try and win Marc's heart, he was going to befriend him and strengthen their friendship. That way, if there was any chance of him having any kind of romantic relationship with Marc, it would be based on a strong friendship. Sighing, he thanked Marinette, before getting up.
"I'll be right back, then. Don't let Kim or Ivan eat my pizza, okay?" -Nathaniel said, as he grabbed the box of chocolates and walked away from the table.
"As if I would eat someone else's pizza!" -Kim shot at him in a playful tone.
"I don't know… I've seen you eat everyone's leftovers before." -Alix joked, before bursting into laughs, which made Kim feel insulted.
"Hey, you gave me permission to do it, and it was one time!" -Kim remarked it.
"Who do you think he's going to offer the chocolates to?" -Chloe asked Sabrina, trying to ignore those two bickering at each other.
"I don't know. But whoever it is, I'm sure he'll tell us later." -Sabrina said, as she too got up. –"Now, if you guy's will excuse me, Mika and I, are going to try and get a few more slices of pizza." -she said.
"Got that right. I hope they give you a few more, because I think I'm beginning to like these, more than I like sweet bread." -Mika said from inside Sabrina's purse.
As they walked away, Mulan did not hesitate in praising Nathaniel, for deciding to go look for Marc and give him the box of chocolates. More than even Nathaniel, the red panda kwami wanted things between the two of them to work out.
"I was beginning to think you were not going to do this." -Mulan told him.
"To tell you the truth, so did I." -Nathaniel whispered to his kwami. –"I guess I needed to hear a few words of encouragement, before doing it." -he said.
Looking for Marc in that busy cafeteria, Nathaniel wondered if he had finished eating and was outside. He still had not seen him that day, and so, he did not know what he was wearing. If he did, it would be easier for him to identify him amongst all those people. Still, it did not take long for Nathaniel to spot him. He was sitting in a table, all by himself, with a plate of half-eaten pizza on one side, and a whole bunch of papers on the other. Gulping, Nathaniel hesitated for a brief moment, before forcing himself to go over to Marc's table, so he could give him the chocolates. Approaching him, Nathaniel made sure not to scare him, after he saw that he writing something.
"Hey, am I interrupting anything?" -Nathaniel asked Marc in a rather shy voice.
"Uh? Oh, it's you. No, not at all. I was just going over some notes I wrote, while I was watching the play." -Marc said. –"But where are my manners? Go ahead, sit down. Have you had lunch?"
"Uh, yes and no. I was having it with my friends over there, but I saw you and came to check on you." -Nathaniel said, as he sat down. –"You wrote all of that, while you were watching the play?"
"Well, not everything. It's just that I had a really great idea for a story, while watching the play, and I had to write it down, before forgetting about it." -Marc told him.
"I-I understand. Sometimes I wish I could do that with my drawings." -Nathaniel said. –"Come on, man, enough talk. Just go for it!" -he thought to himself. –"Uh, I almost forgot… these are for you."
"For me? But why?" -Marc asked him, as Nathaniel handed him the box of chocolates.
"Well, it's… this year, my friends and I decided to offer chocolates to people we care about and admire, and well, I thought that since you're new here and you probably don't have any friends yet, that you would like these." -Nathaniel said, trying not to mess up the words. –"You can consider it them a welcoming present. That is, if you're not allergic to chocolates and all…" -he said.
"Thanks!" -Marc said, as he looked at the box. –"Well, I'll give you one thing. You have good taste. These are my favourites." -he said.
Hearing him say that, Nathaniel's heart skipped a beat and he felt like he had done the right thing. He was afraid he would not like it, but now that he had given the chocolates to him, Nathaniel was happy he had given them to Marc. He did not know if that would make a possible future relationship with him a reality, but he did know that with that gesture, he had cemented their friendship, and that was good enough for him. And he was not the only one who was happy. Mulan was also happy for Nathaniel, after seeing him face another challenge that life had placed in his way.
"So, what are you writing about?" -Nathaniel asked Marc, trying to talk to him about something else other than the chocolates.
"Well, like I said, it's an idea for a story. In this case, it's an idea for yet another Miraculous Team fanfic." -Marc answered him. –"I had this insane idea, where some of the members of the Miraculous Team are akumatized by Hawk Moth and they turn against their friends… I even got some of the names for their akumatized forms. Ladybug would be Antibug, Chat Noir would be Chat Blanc, Carapace would be Shell Shock, Queen Bee would be Wasp Queen and Rena Rouge would be Rena Rage. I'm still trying to come up with names for maybe some of the others, in case I decide to use them, instead of these, you know?"
Nathaniel kept listening to the idea Marc had, and he himself considered this one to be quite interesting. He had checked a couple of fanfics from time to time, just to draw a little bit of inspiration for his own Miraculous Team fan comic. And among the ones he had checked, there were maybe one or two where one of the heroes was akumatized when he was in its civilian form. But he had not read one where the heroes were themselves akumatized while in battle. Still, he could not help but to know that something like that would never happen. The miraculouses prevented him and the others from being akumatized, even if Hawk Moth and his minions wanted to do such a thing.
"That seems interesting, I'll give you that. But, now that I think about it, I don't know if the heroes can be akumatized." -Nathaniel pointed out. He knew that was not possible, but other people did not know about it. –"I mean, if that was possible, don't you think Hawk Moth would have tried to do it?" -he asked him. Nathaniel did not know why he was talking that to Marc; he had never talked about subject with anyone else before. But for some reason, he felt at ease to talk to him about it.
"Maybe he has, and we don't know about it. Think about it, do you really think that we have seen all the battles of Ladybug and the rest of her team?" -Marc asked him. –"I know this is going to sound a little farfetched, because this is real life and not a comic book, but in the comic books, the heroes sometimes battle the bad guys and people don't even know about it, unless they reveal it. You don't get to see everything that goes on, even if you want to. That could happen in real life, I'm just saying." -he said, as he scribbled something else in one of the papers.
The truth was, the heroes had battled a couple of Akumas who were not public knowledge. These Akumas turned out to be so weak, that they hardly made any kind of damage and they were dealt with, without the public knowing about it. And while thinking about it, Nathaniel could not help but to remember the fact that they had battled the Collector a few weeks before, and the public did not find out about the whole story surrounding him.
"Well, I think you might be right." -Nathaniel agreed with him. –"There might be some things that the heroes do, and that we don't even know about it. It's not like they have a Facebook or an Instagram, or a twitter account and are always posting things." -he said.
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying." -Marc told him. –"But to me, as long as they keep protecting us and this city, I'm okay with not knowing everything they're doing." -he said. –"One thing I know for sure. They must be taking care of that Akuma, right now."
Hearing him say that, Nathaniel's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, having no idea what Marc was talking about.
"A-An Akuma?!" –Nathaniel asked him.
"Yeah, it's all over the news. There's an Akuma attacking the city. I got the warning from the Akuma Attack app. Didn't you get it?" -Marc asked him.
And the reason why he did not know about it, was because he did not have his cell phone with him. There was an Akuma attacking the city, and neither him nor the others knew about it.
"N-No. I left my cell phone in the classroom." -Nathaniel said, trying to look as calm as possible. He knew he had to warn the others, but he also knew he could not just leave Marc, without an explanation. The last thing he wanted was for him to think he was being rude to him. Going through his thoughts, Nathaniel quickly came up with an excuse, to get out of there. –"Oh, rats! Sorry, I just remembered that my teacher asked me to do something for her, and I've got to go." -he said, excusing himself. –"I'll see you later!"
"Uh… sure. Thanks again for the chocolates." -Marc said, as he saw Nathaniel walking away. –"He's a little bit odd, but I kind of like that about him." -he thought.
Making his way back to the table where the others were, he knew that time was of the essence. Sabrina had just come back and was happy the lunch ladies gave her three more slices of pizza, and was about to bite the first one, when she saw Nathaniel running towards them, looking like he had seen a ghost.
"Hey, what's the matter, Nathaniel?" -Sabrina asked him. –"Did you give the box of chocolates to the person you wanted to?"
"We need to talk, guys." -Nathaniel told them.
"Then, talk. We're listening." -Chloe told him.
"Not here… it has to be in private. You know, away from prying eyes?" -Nathaniel pointed out.
When Nathaniel said that, the whole gang understood that there was something wrong. Quickly, they left the table and went outside, where they could talk. The last one to leave was Kim, who upon seeing the pizza slices Sabrina had left in her plate, helped himself to them, not wanting them to go to waste. Alix seeing him doing it, quickly prevented him from doing it, pulling him by the wrist. Kim protested, but the pink-haired teenager ignored his protests and kept pulling him, so he would join the others. Looking for a place where they could talk freely without anyone hearing them, they chose an empty corner near the library's entrance. Once there, Nathaniel did not waste any time and spilled the beans.
"Guys, we've got trouble." -Nathaniel said. –"The kind of trouble that begins with an "H" and ends with another "H", if you know what I mean." -he pointed out.
"Hawk Moth?" -Alya asked him in a whispered voice, to which he nodded. –"And here I thought we were going to have a calm and peaceful day, guys." -she sighed.
"I'm with you, Alya. We don't really need an Akuma attacking the city, right now." -Mylene said.
"Hawk Moth sure knows how to spoil a person's lunch." -Ivan said.
"Why couldn't Moth breath have waited until the end of classes? It's going to be really hard for us to get out of here and deal with that Akuma, without getting into trouble." -Nino stated.
"What did you find out about this Akuma, Nathaniel?" -Marinette asked him.
"Other than it's attacking the city, nothing. I came to warn you, before I could find out anything more about it." -Nathaniel admitted.
"We should have really gone and pick our cell phones from class, after we got out" -Juleka sighed.
"Blame, Kim. He's the one who convinced us to go to the cafeteria to have lunch, instead of going to the classroom first." –Chloe shot at him.
"Hey! How was I suppose to know that we would have an Akuma running wild?! It's much my blame, as is everyone else's." -Kim stated.
"Never mind that! We're all to blame here, because we were all hungry and decided to have lunch, instead of going to the classroom to get our cell phones." -Marinette said in an ushered voice. –"But that doesn't matter now. What matters is that we go get out cell phones, find out what we can about this Akuma, and then find a way to get out of here, without anyone finding out and take care of it." -she said, while knowing the part of them exiting the school without anyone finding out was not going to be easy.
"I'm with you all the way, Marinette. But, how are we going to do that?" -Adrien asked her. –"It's not like we can ask Miss Bustier to leave earlier." -he added.
Before Marinette could answer him, a high-pitched scream was heard, alerting them to something not being right. This was not the kind of scream one makes when being surprised or scared. It was the kind of scream one makes when being attacked or hurt.
"What was that?!" -Alya asked.
I know, I know, I know... I know I promised that we would see things go haywire, but I felt that the team needed a big lunch before the fight. xD But seriously, I wanted to write a small scene between Nathaniel and Marc, while everyone was having lunch, and things got a little out of control, and we ended up with this slice-of-life chapter, just before things get too crazy. It also allowed me to reference the original show a little more. The chapter's title was my brother's idea, and I like it.
As always, feel free to comment, fav and leave suggestions and ideas to improve this fic, or future fics of this series.