Chemistry
The next morning Marinette was on her feet easily. Even the last night akuma did not disturb her sleep too much. The notification arrived just as she changed into her pyjama. She found Chat Noir already at the spot and they were finished in less than twenty minutes. There was no Bugaboo and no flirting. There was no talk after the battle as both of their miraculouses beeped. Well it was very late in the evening and the battle was over quickly. She did not complain.
"Good morning papa, maman." She greeted as she walked into the bakery.
"Good morning, I packed you lunch for today." Tom greeted and motioned towards a brown paper bag.
She took the extra pastry to add to her lunch bag that was already heavier then usual.
"We put some extra for Adrien since you will be working together on that assignment again." Sabine winked.
"Okay, thank you." Marinette greeted and ran away as she was trying to hide her blush.
"Eek" she squeaked because right there in front of the bakery was a very familiar car.
"Good morning Marinette." Adrien greeted. "I wanted to ask you to walk with you to school, but would you prefer a ride in this drizzle?"
The girl looked around, it was not raining, but the air was full of fine misty droplets that seemed to float around. She quickly nodded and entered the car.
"Thank morning good you Adrien." She spoke as he slid away on the seat and she sat on his place, his warm seat, that he warmed up by sitting on it, on his butt.
Stop. Just stop. You are doing a presentation on sexual harassment with this boy and you are thinking about his butt. The poor girl scolded her poor brain while her heart was wild, pumping blood into her face.
"Um, I mean, mood gorning I mean thank you." She quickly stammered.
Adrien reached over and buckled up her seat belt. That did not help her much either.
Then she noticed the paper bag with food.
"Here, my papa packed, for us." She offered without looking at him.
"Thank you. It smells delicious." Adrien beamed toward the bag and reached to take it. "Is everything okay Marinette?" He asked when he noticed she did not move.
"Um, yes." She moved the bag to his side but did not look. Her cheeks were already rather pink.
"Hey." He called gently. She finally turned and saw his eyes. His warm green eyes looked gently at her and she melted.
"Not a morning person." She quickly whispered.
Adrien chuckled.
His bodyguard grunted as they were in front of the school. They both went straight inside and to the classroom. They shared a few pastries before the rest of the class started to enter.
"So I was thinking." Adrien got up with his sheet of paper. "If this is too awkward for you, we can think of other examples."
"No." She squeaked. She was determined to do it, she was determined to help him and save him from those monstrous girls, and there were no selfish reasons behind that (like that awful way she felt when the girls were doing that) no no, no selfish reasons at all, she was not jealous, no. She was not going to be mortified by thinking how now she had to do that to him in front of a full classroom. The fact that she had an excuse to touch him was far less inviting now that she knew he did not like that. She would never hurt him like that.
Adrien raised his eyebrows. He was certain she was uncomfortable to do that. He understood why, she had just explained to him that it was wrong and he understood if she did not want to do it. He knew how he felt when he played his role and Marinette winced and stepped back.
"It is important for you." She looked at him with determination in her eyes that was so familiar but he could not quite place. Well he saw it before, when she faced Chloe, that was it, definitely.
Marinette was determined to do those two scenes, she wanted to show both girls that they were hurting Adrien, she wanted to show that to the whole class and to their teacher, and principal Damocles was supposed to be there for the show too.
"Thank you." He whispered. "But we can still change or adapt them if you want?" Because he would never knowingly push someone to do something they did not want. He was pushed to do such things all the time, he did not want to make other people go through that, especially his friends, like Marinette.
"No" she whispered back. There were other students entering the classroom and they continued their conversation but continued to whisper.
"Do you want to add anything of yours here?" He asked quietly. Marinette pondered.
"I might have an idea, but ..." It was Chat Noir's persistent flirting that was sometimes annoying her, sometimes was the key word. "Nah it is too complicated and long we can't do it without giving it the whole context."
"Well we have time, you can explain." Adrien leaned in closer so they could speak quietly.
"Well, you know how there is a time and a place for everything?" Marinette asked quietly.
Adrien raised his eyebrows. "You do not seem that kind of a person that would insist on that." He teased.
"Um yes, well no, I am not, but sometimes something is acceptable but sometimes it is not … " She trailed off. How was she going to explain this without giving away her identity.
"Sometimes?" He repeated her last word.
"Well, what if you would be comfortable with this in the privacy of your own room but not in front of the school?" Marinette asked as she pointed towards the paper. Adrien visibly shuddered.
"I would not." He spoke a bit louder than he wanted as he shuddered at the thought. "Not with the two of them." He added quickly to reassure her. She was already nervous and did not complete the attack yesterday, he did not want to burden her further. Besides, the thought of her doing that, if only for the show, did not feel so repulsive to him.
"Okay." It was Marinette who shuddered now because she understood what he was talking about.
"At this point, I would feel violated if Lila just walked into my room." The boy whispered quietly. Marinette groaned. "And she even did not hurt me the way she hurt you." He added. "How do you even go to the bathroom after that?" He asked quietly once the thought occurred to him.
She blushed, hard. He just asked her about how she went to the bathroom. She was glad she was seated because her feet would have given up. Her feet. That was it.
"On my feet." She shrugged. The tease was lost due to her blushing face and quiet voice. But Adrien got the message and blushed back.
"I am sorry, that was rude of me, it was not my place to ask." The boy apologized swiftly. It was his turn to blush. He just asked the girl about going to the bathroom. What was he thinking?
Marinette did a little thinking of her own. Perhaps her evasive methods could be useful for him too. It was not as if he asked her what she did in the bathroom.
"Actually I sneak away or go when she is already in the classroom or wait to ask during the class." Marinette counted the ways on her fingers.
The fact that their heads were so close together prevented Chloe from her usual morning attack. The fact that they barely perceived anyone else made them miss the moment Ms Buster entered the classroom. The teacher caught their attention after additional effort and Adrien finally turned around, but he noticed the way Lila glared at the two of them. He could see on Ms Bustier's face that she noticed the glare too. The teacher frowned but did not ask a thing. She took attendance.
Adrien did not evade Chloe's attack completely because she threw herself on him in the beginning of the next short break. He had to use all his strength to push her away. That girl was strong.
He did not fail to observe how cautious Marinette was. She approached a bathroom door that was on their way to the science class, but then she noticed Lila's sly grin as the liar saw the opportunity. Marinette quickly turned around and continued to walk. Adrien knew that Mme Mendeleev had strict rules and seldom allowed students to go on toilet breaks. It was mostly because they would either miss part of her explanation and were not able to perform the experiment, or they would need to abandon the experiment itself.
Once they were in the science lab, Adrien took out his worksheets and put them on the desk. Alya was behind in her spot and talked to Nino. Adrien quickly summoned Marinette and pretended he wanted to discuss their assignment. It was good that everyone evaded talking to them as they did not want to be drawn in and get the extra work.
The bell rang and Marinette motioned to move away but Adrien motioned for her to stay and smiled. She melted instantly.
"You can chose your lab partners now." The teacher announced.
Marinette turned around only to see Alya's knowing wink. Nino just shrugged. Adrien mouthed thanks to Nino and turned back to the teacher. He noticed Lila was furious.
In the next five minutes the teacher explained the experiment. Marinette was visibly squirming and bouncing and pressing her knees together. Then there came the time to pour the water into a measuring device and then into a glass container and heat it. Adrien knew.
"You can ask now." He nudged her.
She stared at the boy. 'How did he know?' Passed through her mind quickly, but the need was so intense she ignored everything, her crush, the mortification, the threat that Lila might follow.
"Teacher, could I be excused to go to the bathroom?" She asked as she bounced on her feet.
"I will brief her when she returns." Adrien added quickly and quietly.
Mme Mendeleev looked at both of them sternly and then allowed it. Her look told Adrien that it was his responsibility now.
Marinette bolted out through the door.
Two minutes later she was back.
"What did I miss?" She asked quietly.
"She did not let Lila follow you." Adrien whispered and smiled mischievously. "They just finished arguing."
"What?" She mouthed.
"I have to brief you on this one, but you were here during the explanation, do you understand what we are doing?" He asked quietly.
"Mostly, I think." She sighed.
He explained her briefly and they did the experiment. Mme Mendeleev checked their notes and nodded approvingly. Then she motioned for them to check the rest of their worksheet. There were other experiments they could do.
"Oh, we could make them all." Adrien beamed.
Marinette frowned.
"Come on, it will be fun." He was bouncing on his feet and Marinette could not possibly deny him this, the boy had so much fun, she just wanted him to be happy.
They have completed all twelve experiments and Adrien was doing quick computations for one while Marinette struggled but completed the computation for another, they quickly exchanged the results and proceeded with the next set of experiments. The bell had already rang but the teacher let them use additional two minutes because Marinette was absent for that time. They finally returned their wet and smeared reports, but filled up to the last point.
"What about adding your names to these?" The teacher asked as she waved the two report sheets. They both swiftly turned around and wrote their names. The teacher was smiling at them while they were not looking.
After they left the chemistry class, Adrien was thoughtful.
"Marinette, if I said now that 'the chemistry is good between us', would that make you uncomfortable, I mean would that classify as sexual harassment?" The boy asked what bothered him. Because he would say something like that to Ladybug and she would sometimes roll her eyes sometimes she would retort beck, sometimes she would ask him to stop.
But the girl he asked was pink in her face and just waved her head.
"You are waving your head, but I can see that I made you uncomfortable." Adrien sighed.
"No" She squeaked out. Then she took a deep breath and clenched her fists. "You can talk with me about chemistry all the time." She spoke quickly and then exhaled. And then she resisted the urge to run away.