I was pretty surprised to find my email blowing up this morning. (Plus a whole blanket of snow on my house!) Thanks for all the comments, and I hope I don't let anyone down. This was originally a crack fic idea, but I suck at those and it became more serious/convoluted. (Still maybe a dash of crack.)=^-^=
Ch.2 - Pigeons and Coffee
"I saw Chat Noir last night." Lila bragged to the class's resident reporter. "No sign of Ladybug though. I hope nothing happened." The tone of her voice felt so fake to Adrien's ears, he almost covered them to block it out.
Plagg had told him he didn't have to do anything, but of course, Plagg likes to leave out details in the moment of cheese deals. In order to start the reaction Chat Noir would have to cross the person causing their negative emotions. That's why it was like the old myth though Plagg still refuses to acknowledge he had anything to do with the legend. The part that made it worth it aside from what was to come? That was Lila completely missing the point when he told her, "A black cat just crossed your path. You may be in for some bad karma." She thought he was joking! Of course it wasn't like he stuck around for a full conversation, but still. Watching her laugh was actually amusing in a way.
"So? Did he mention anything? I didn't hear about an Akuma last night." Alya responded as she checked her phone.
"No, nothing like that. He did saunter up to me with one of his cat puns. The look on his face made me think he was flirting, but I would never do that to Ladybug, so I ignored it." Lila explained with more information than was true... duh.
"What's with that grin dude?" Nino asked as he watched Adrien's grin.
"Huh? Uh, nothing, just thought of something funny I heard Chat Noir say before."
"Uh-huh, so why do you look like you've got the ultimate prank planned?" Nino asked back able to tell his friend had something on his mind.
"Well, maybe I do?" Adrien shot back before both boys burst into laughter.
Ms. Bustier entered the room followed by a very flustered and out of breath Marinette. "Good morning, class. I hope you all finished your reading for last night." She declared before placing her bag down. "Because we're having a pop quiz on it first thing. Tablets out to receive the assignment." There was a small chorus of groans as the class followed the instructions.
Marinette was making her way up to her seat when she suddenly fell face forwards on the steps. "Oh my gosh, Marinette! Are you okay?" Lila asked with faux sympathy.
Adrien could see her pulling her bag strap out of the way as she kneeled down and narrowed his eyes. Seriously? She can't even wait a few minutes before doing something!? Had she always been causing Marinette accidents too? And here he'd only thought it was lying, but if it was this sort of thing too? "Hold on, Marinette." He called as he dashed around the desk to help her up. Lila hadn't moved to get up, though Adrien was thankful. It gave him the perfect reason to do so himself and keep Lila away.
"Ouch..." She groaned as she flinched upon putting weight on her left wrist.
"Don't stand up too fast." Adrien instructed as he pulled her up by her other hand.
"Th-thanks, Adrien."
"Marinette, will you need to go to the nurse's office, or do you think you're fine?" Ms. Bustier asked with a worried tone at seeing one of her students harmed.
"I think-" She flinched once again when she picked up her bag with her left hand.
"I'll take her to the nurse's office, Ms. Bustier. I really think she hurt herself." Adrien interrupted as he took her bag from her. "Don't try to move your hand, Marinette." He instructed as he gestured to the door.
"Alright then, that would be best. I'll hold your quizzes until you get back." Ms. Bustier informed as Adrien led her to the door. The young blond gave one last cold look from the corner of his eye before they were both out of the room.
It was about 30 minutes later that they both returned. Marinette had her left wrist wrapped while Adrien held onto the sling she refused to wear. When they entered the class it was a shock to find the front desk broken in half. Lila was sitting in Alya's seat while Alya sat near the back. "Uh... did we miss something?" Marinette asked as the teacher noticed them enter.
"Ah, well due to an accident, that desk will need to be replaced. Please just take a seat in the back with Marinette, Adrien." Ms. Bustier instructed as she gestured to the seats.
After class, Adrien was able to get the story out of Nino. "It was the weirdest thing, dude. We were all just taking our quizzes and it just snapped in half right where Lila was sitting."
"Yeah, you'd think she broke a mirror or stepped under a ladder. It was that kinda freaky." Alya added in while adjusting her glasses.
"It was terrifying really." A new annoying voice cut in. Adrien turned to see Lila wearing a distraught expression. "It was only fortunate you weren't sitting at the time too, Adrien."
Adrien forced a smile and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I was just lucky. Too bad about the desk though, I think I'll be fine sitting in the back until it's replaced." He then noticed Marinette making her way out to change classes. "Hold up, Marinette, I'll take your bag." He didn't wait to be excused before dashing over to her. Lila held back her annoyance while Nino and Alya traded knowing expressions.
After classes were over, Lila quickly moved to cut off Adrien before he could go to Marinette. She didn't know why, but he'd been stuck to her like glue all day. "Could you help me with my bag please, Adrien? My wrist has really been bothering me since lunch."
The blond used all his will power not to roll his eyes at her. "Uh, sorry, Lila, but I promised to walk Marinette home, and hold her bag. She only hurt her wrist this morning, so she needs to be more careful with it." He then walked right around her, but felt a tug on his arm.
"It doesn't look like she's asking for help to me. She looks perfectly fine." Lila gestured to the young designer who was already pulling her bag up with her right arm.
"And so does your wrist. Glad to see it doesn't hurt as much as I thought." Adrien countered looking down at the arm she used to hold him. He pulled a little more to be released and went back to heading for Marinette.
Lila scowled for only a moment before a smile forced its way through. She spotted Alya who was walking down from the back desk with Nino. "Adrien is just so kind to be helping others like that even though he barely has any free time."
"Dude's got a heart of gold." Nino agreed adjusting his hat.
"Yes, I'd hate to be a bother on him if I could help it." Lila continued just a little louder. "His schedule is just so full after all." Adrien could feel his eye twitch at her voice, which was practically announcing Marinette was horrible for letting him help her. He felt a pat from within his shirt and willed himself to keep going. He didn't need to do anything at all.
The very next day, Ms. Bustier ushered all but three of her students to the library for a short study hall. Adrien, and Marinette needed to do their quizzes, and Lila too, but she didn't mention why. "Please begin. All of the desks have been checked so we shouldn't have any further problems with them breaking, Lila."
Adrien found the questions simple. From what he could see of Marinette she was thinking hard on her answers. Lila looked annoyed from where he sat. Maybe she made some big deal about taking a quiz in an unsafe place and thought she'd gotten out of taking it? Of course not! He could feel himself grinning as he wrapped up his quiz to submit. Ms. Bustier could see his submission from her own tablet and ushered him to the library to wait with the others. "Yo, dude." Nino called quietly from a table he shared with Alya, Kim and Alex.
"What's wrong?" He wondered as the DJ cued up a video on his phone.
"You're not gonna believe this. You totally missed it yesterday." Alix was trying not to laugh just thinking about it.
"It's really not that funny." Alya whispered looking like she wanted to laugh despite her words.
"What?"
"Just watch dude." Nino turned the phone to show him. "Alya was using my phone for her blog."
The video started to show Alya making an intro. "Hey, Ladybloggers! I'm here with Lila Rossie who had an interesting run in with everyone's favorite black clad cat hero Chat Noir! There was no akuma, and so it has me thinking, anyone else out there have a random run in with Chat Noir?" She then turned the camera to Lila so she could recount her story. Right as she opened her mouth a flock of pigeons suddenly swarmed her. "Eeeeeekkkk!" "Oh my gosh! Nino!" The camera shook as Alya's arm entered the frame to help shoo the birds away. Nino next entered trying to hit them away with his hat. The shaking camera went on for another minute before the true target of the birds was revealed. The small flock was now attempting to abscond with her bag.
"So, why were those birds trying to steal her bag?"
Nino put the phone away. "We think it was the granola bar wrapper that fell out of her bag after that, but I don't know."
"Seems kinda much for one little wrapper right?" Kim asked as he nudged Alix.
"Heck yeah, but priceless." She mused finally calming her laughter.
Adrien did well to hold in his own laugh. It came as more of a grimace which Alya took as sympathy. "It really was terrible. I'm glad she was fine afterwards, but still..." She traded a glance with Nino.
"Yeah, it is really crazy. Two weird incidents in one day, huh?"
Adrien had a strong feeling he knew what it was, but he wasn't about to admit it. "Well, everyone has bad days right?"
"...Sure, I guess." Nino responded feeling something off about his friend. "Looks like Marinette's done." He next pointed out after seeing her walk in.
Adrien turned and walked over to her. "How do you think you did?"
Marinette gave him a modest smile. "I'm hoping I did good. I spent extra time going over the readings last night just in case." She then took a look around the library. "Ms. Bustier told me to come get everyone else back to class."
"So Lila's done too then?" Adrien wondered as he turned back to the others to wave them over. Marinette quietly nodded when he turned back. "Something wrong?"
"Oh, nothing!" Marinette looked a little too sure which screamed the opposite. He took her hand and walked her further away. "Did Lila say something to you?" He asked once the others were out of ear shot.
Marinette held up her hands in front of herself. "N-no... not really..."
Adrien crossed his arms and let out a sigh. "Which means she did, didn't she?" Marinette turned her head away and started playing with her hair. After waiting another few seconds the blond realized she wasn't going to say any more. It didn't really matter at this point though, he knew Lila said something to Marinette, and he knew it wasn't good. The very fact she wouldn't tell him, also meant it wasn't something she liked to talk about. That was enough.
"You two coming?" Nino called as the rest of the class was already grouped and heading out.
"Yeah, come on, Marinette." He took her hand to guide her along. Blushing was about all she could do in response as she followed.
It was just after the first few students got to the room when the ear piercing scream tore through the hall. All the students quickly moved to the railing to see the source. "Holy crap! Is that Lila?" Kim called out in bewilderment.
"I'm more concerned about that machine." Max cut in adjusting his glasses. The entire scene was something out of a B comedy. Lila was backing away from a coffee dispenser trying to block the massive spray of the lukewarm liquid. The grounds keeper was the first one to step in as he took Lila in a towel.
Adrien saw the whole thing and grew worried. If this was Plagg's bad luck at work, maybe it was going too far? "I know I shouldn't laugh, but..." Marinette started before giggling a bit at the other girl's expense. "I did warn her the machine was having problems."
Adrien raised a brow at her expression. "Nah, looks like it's fine."
Marinette gave him a confused expression. "What?"
"Huh? Oh, not that, sorry." Adrien apologized with a hand on the back of his head.
"So what'd I tell ya, huh? Perfect right?" Plagg bragged as he dashed to the private fridge. "I told you it would make a great outlet."
Hearing that made Adrien remember that little bit of guilt he had. "Yeah well..." He ran a hand through his hair. "It feels like a bit much to be honest. How far can this bad luck go?"
Plagg looked over the fridge door. "Are you really worried about that Lila girl? What about pigtails?"
"Of course I'm worried about Marinette way more, I just don't want Lila to really get hurt."
Plagg rolled his eyes with a sigh. "You're way to nice, kid, you know that?"
Adrien crossed his arms. "I know Marinette wouldn't want someone getting hurt for her sake too."
"Yeah, cause she's way too nice as well. Geez..." The kwami snatched up some cheese and closed the door. "The bad luck isn't something that can be directly controlled once it starts, but your intention can play a small part. This is supposed to be an outlet for negative feelings for my holders after all. What kind of feelings you feel can manipulate what kind of bad luck is passed on. Of all my past holders, this ability has only resulted in death twice before. The first time had lots of extra circumstances you don't need to worry about it. I can say for a fact it won't happen. The second time was because a bad luck accident caused the victim to be arrested. Prisons back then weren't so nice." Plagg then shrugged again. "So no worries kid."
Adrien didn't seem so sure. While it was good to know she wouldn't die, he hadn't even thought of it going that far. He was worried of serious injury. Any one of the accidents so far could have hurt Lila even if they seemed harmless at the time. "Sure, Plagg, but just in case, how do we end this bad luck?"
Plagg narrowed his eyes. "Remember, kid, this is supposed to be an outlet for your negative energy. We can't just stop it. It could be way more dangerous for you to hold it in."
"I just want to know... just in case." Adrien insisted as Plagg prepared to eat his cheese.
The kwami held off for a moment. "Well, the obvious way is to stop feeling any negative feelings." He let out a sigh and swallowed his cheese whole. "Course I don't expect that. If you're really that worried, kid, Ladybug will be able to fix it. Her kwami is the one who can cancel it out." He finished just before burping obnoxiously.
"Ladybug's? Is it because you guys are opposite?"
"Duh. Bad luck's opposite is good luck. Why do you think her ability is called 'Lucky Charm'? Anyway, you're worrying over nothing, kid. As far as I can see, that Lila girl is overdue for some prime bad luck." Especially considering how much good luck she'd have if she was nicer to Marinette. Plagg found the irony amusing as he thought about it.
So just a taste of what Lila is getting so far. BTW the coffee machine was broken which is why it wasn't scalding hot water instead. We don't want our cinnamon roll to be crushed with guilt over a salt witch do we? Anyway, I hope this is the direction ya'll expected. Comments and any other interesting bad luck incidents can be placed in a review. Please and thank you for your time.=^-^=