The next day, Marinette avoided talking to her friends about Adrien as much as possible, which was not easy. It seemed that was the only topic anyone wanted to talk about. In some ways, she was dreading the period after lunch break because of the inevitable assumptions about where she and Adrien were disappearing to, but it had to be done. Being Ladybug always came first.
When lunch break came, Marinette waited for Adrien to leave the class first, then followed shortly after. Hopefully she could prevent anyone from noticing they were together. When she got out into the hall, though, Adrien was standing right there waiting for her.
"Ready to go?" he asked, looking a little too excited.
"Why are you waiting for me?" Marinette whispered at him angrily. He looked taken aback as she grabbed his arm and started pulling him away, hoping to get out of sight before Alya came out of class. She had no such luck, spotting her watching them as they went down the stairs. Marinette blushed furiously.
"What's the matter?" Adrien asked, confused.
"It was hard enough having to convince them we're not a couple," Marinette explained through gritted teeth, "You're not making it any easier."
"Oh," Adrien looked despondent, "Sorry."
The two of them walked in silence as Marinette led them into the locker room. There were a few other students in there, luckily none from their class, so both of them put their backpacks away and dawdled at their lockers for a few minutes until everyone else left. Once the locker room was empty, they stood in the corner where anyone coming in suddenly wouldn't happen upon them.
"Ladies first," Adrien said, his eyes alight with enthusiasm. Marinette grimaced at him. What's he so excited about?
"Fine," she huffed before declaring, "Tikki, spots on!" Tikki came flying out, empowering her miraculous. She couldn't help but smile as strength flowed through her again, infusing her with magical energy. She looked at Adrien and saw he was just staring at her, watching her with such delight it was actually a little creepy.
"Come on and transform already," Ladybug crossed her arms and glared at him.
"Of course, m'lady," Adrien said with a little bow, then he held out his ring and shouted, "Plagg, claws out!"
Ladybug had seen others transform before, but this was the first time she witnessed Cat Noir do it, and it felt… different. With Alya and Nino, they still seemed themselves, just with the costume over their normal garb, but she also knew who they were ahead of time. With Adrien, he seemed to turn into someone completely different. It wasn't just his outer appearance that changed, but she could see that sweet, almost innocent countenance turn playful, the swagger in his step that seemed to affect his posture, and that confidence that he could do anything. It was fascinating to watch.
"Now who's staring?" Cat Noir said with a wink, slipping into his new persona easily.
"Whatever," Ladybug scoffed, turning toward the window and pulling it open, "Let's go."