Adrien's First Day of School

Ladybug's eyes were wide as she stood in front of Chat Noir. She had flung her yo-yo at his head, fully expecting to knock him out with one blow, but he had caught the yo-yo in his hand.

His movements had been so quick that a gasp had escaped her lips. Her brows now furrowed in frustration as she took in his teasing gaze. She let out a low growl and then yanked on her yo-yo, pulling it out of the villain's hands.

"What do you want?" she spat.

"You know, for a superhero, you're not very nice," Chat snickered.

Ladybug felt her temperature rising. The mangy cat had only spoken twice and she was already fed up with him. Ladybug snapped herself out of her anger and began to scan him, looking for an object where the akuma could be hiding.

"I don't have much patience for villains," she said. "So let's cut down on the small talk."

She flicked her wrist and began to spin the yo-yo by her side at lightning speed.

Chat Noir pretended to look hurt by her words. "Oh, you're not in the mood for a quick chat?"

He reached behind his back and pulled out a staff. He pressed a button on it to extend it to a longer length and then spun it around just as fast as Ladybug was spinning her yo-yo.

The akuma must be in there! Ladybug thought.

"I hate puns," she said with a grunt as she threw her yo-yo forward at full force, wrapping it around Chat's staff and then pulling it towards her.

She grinned as the staff snapped into her hand. "You know, for a cat, you're not very fast," she said.

Before she could react, Chat Noir lunged at Ladybug and slammed her back against a pole. Suddenly, Chat was holding his staff to her throat, pressing it with just enough pressure to make her cough. She reached up desperately to try to push the staff away from her throat, but Chat was too strong and Ladybug was suddenly feeling dizzy.

"Silly Bugaboo," he said, leaning in close to her. She could feel his hot breath on her face. "There's no akuma in this staff. There is no akuma anywhere."

Ladybug gasped for air but refused to let any fear show in her eyes as she glared at him. There has to be an akuma! She thought as her mind raced.

Just then, Chat pulled the staff away from her throat and wrapped an arm around Ladybug's waist as she collapsed into him, gasping for air. She was too busy taking in deep breaths to fight him when he suddenly pulled her to his chest and looked down into her blue belle eyes.

"I don't want to hurt you, milady," he murmured. "But there's something you have that I need, and I'll be coming back for it."

His green eyes seemed to glow in the dark as his gaze shifted to her ears. He reached up a gloved hand and briefly touched one of her earrings. He grinned wickedly and then released her before jumping off the top of the tower.


"So, did you change your mind," Plagg asked in between bites of camembert, his eyes hopeful. "About stealing Ladybug's miraculous?"

"What makes you think I changed my mind?" Adrien snapped, suddenly annoyed.

"You could've taken her earrings tonight," Plagg stated plainly. "But you didn't."

"It would've been too easy," Adrien lied, spitting out an excuse. "It would've been no fun. Like a cat, I like the chase."

Adrien turned away to look out his bedroom windows. While it was true he liked a good challenge, he hadn't taken Ladybug's earrings tonight because he wanted a reason to meet with her again. He wanted to chase her. Besides, he caught her by surprise tonight, but from now on, she had a heads up. It was only fair.

His mind wandered to visions of those blue belle eyes. Those deep orbs had burned with determination. It was the first time he had seen her up close. With his cat-like vision, he had taken in every freckle, her milky skin, pink lips… Adrien grinned. He was pleased with the impression he left on her.

"Don't you need to get some sleep tonight?" Plagg asked. "Tomorrow is a big day for you."

A huge smile broke out across Adrien's face. It dawned on him that tomorrow was his first day of school - ever. He had finally convinced his father to allow him to enroll in public school. Besides, maybe attending public school would help him track down Ladybug. Based on his observations, he guessed she was about his age. It was unlikely he would just so happen to attend the same school as her, but it was an excuse to convince his dad nonetheless.

"You're right, Plagg," he finally said. "Good night."


Marinette moaned in annoyance as Alya sprayed her face with a water bottle.

"Wake up, girl, time for the first day of school!" she practically sang.

"How did you get in here?" Marinette asked, pulling the bed sheet over her head. She was utterly exhausted. After her infuriating run-in with Chat Noir the night before, she had run back to the parade to check on Alya and the others.

"Your mom let me up," Alya answered and then she grabbed Marinette's legs and yanked her off the bed. Marinette let out a yelp as she hit the ground.

"Girl, come on, we need to pick out your outfit!" Alya exclaimed, pulling Marinette up onto her feet.

Marinette's groggy eyes finally opened wide enough to see that Alya was pretty dressed up from her usual school clothes. Her hair was in a braid and she wore a flowery summer dress.

"What's the occasion?" Marinette asked with a yawn.

Alya rolled her eyes. "It's the first day of school, Mari! This is going to be our year!" She said and then wiggled her eyebrows. "Plus, there will be new students… Maybe new boys in our class?"

This time, Marinette rolled her eyes, figuring that Alya really just wanted to impress Nino. But she relented. 15 minutes later, she was wearing a solid red halter dress with black lacy gloves that exposed only her fingertips and a pair of black combat boots. Her hair was down, bouncing around her shoulders in dark blue waves. It was a striking difference to her everyday pigtails.

"Looking good," Tikki squeaked after Alya headed downstairs.

Marinette smiled warmly, feeling confident. "Thanks Tikki, time for school!"

When Alya and Marinette entered their classroom, Marinette couldn't help but feel at home. Her classmates were chatting excitedly, no doubt about the fiasco during the parade the night before. The students gathered around Chloe, who seemed to be enjoying the attention.

"It was horrible, absolutely ridiculous!" she exaggerated, throwing her hands up in the air. "He ruined our float and I was covered in dust!"

Despite the awful situation Chloe described, Marinette couldn't help but chuckle. She wasn't fond of Chloe, but she had to admit school wouldn't be the same without her.

As she approached the group of students, Marinette heard a small gasp. "Marinette," Nathaniel breathed, stepping towards her. "You look...really good in red."

Marinette smiled at her friend. "Thank you, it's my favorite color," she said with a wink.

Everyone was sitting down in their usual seats when the classroom door opened once more. Marinette had her head down, working on a new design, when she caught sight of an orange pair of sneakers out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she lifted her head to see who the shoes belonged to.

And there he stood. A tall, blonde boy with tan skin and dazzling green eyes. Dang… she thought to herself. Wait, he looks familiar…

"Adrikins!" Chloe cried, jumping up out of her seat to tackle the blonde boy.

Marinette frowned. "Adrikins?" she murmured to Alya.

"Girl, that's Adrien Agreste," she whispered back.

"A-Agreste? As in, like, Gabriel Agreste?" Marinette's jaw dropped. "Gabriel is my all-time favorite designer!"

"Yea and Adrien is his teen-model son," Alya smirked.

Just then, Madame Bustier entered the classroom, signaling for students to take their seats for role call.

"You can sit here, across the aisle from me!" Chloe said to Adrien, pointing to the empty seat in the front row next to Nino, which was right in front of Marinette.

"Thanks, Chlo," Adrien replied. As he walked up to the desk, his eyes caught Marinette's and he smiled warmly, sending butterflies through her stomach. As the new boy took his seat and quietly introduced himself to Nino, Marinette raised an eyebrow. He seemed nice, but he was friends with Chloe. That had to be a bad sign, right?


Adrien fought hard to keep a smile on his face as Chloe climbed all over him as soon as he walked into the classroom. Yes, she was like his only friend, but he didn't care for how she clung onto him all the time. He was here to make new friends, but he couldn't do that if Chloe was going to be hanging onto him 24/7.

He did appreciate her guiding him to one of the few empty seats in the class, though. As he walked up to his desk, a glint of blue caught his eye. He looked up at the girl in a red dress sitting in the desk behind his seat. Her hair was dark as midnight, so dark that it had a blue tint. His gaze met her blue eyes and he smiled.

Well, hello... he thought mischievously. After sitting down, he turned his attention to the boy sitting next to him.

"Hi, I'm Adrien," he said, flashing a smile.

A corner of the boy's mouth twitched and his eyes narrowed slightly. "You're friends with Chloe, right?"

"Chloe? Um…" Adrien was interrupted by Madame Bustier's voice.

"Agreste, Adrien," she called out. Adrien's head snapped up at the sound of his name. He stared blankly at the teacher, wondering what he was supposed to do.

"Um, that's me, I-uh," Adrien stammered nervously.

He heard a quiet chuckle beside him. "You say, 'Present,'" the boy next to him whispered.

"Oh! Um, present!" Adrien exclaimed awkwardly as quiet giggles erupted throughout the room.

"Thanks," Adrien whispered back to the boy. "I'm new at this whole school thing. I'm sorry if I offended you in any way, I don't have a lot of friends besides Chloe…"

The boy paused for a moment to study Adrien and after a moment, a grin spread across his face. "I'm Nino," he said, reaching out a hand for Adrien to shake. "And it's time for you to make some new friends, dude."


Marinette was lost in thought as Alya blabbered on about how many views her video of Chat Noir's appearance got on her Ladyblog. Marinette kept replaying the events of the night before over and over in her head, hoping to recall some other item on the villain that could've had the akuma.

But why did he say there's no akuma? She wondered as Chat's words came back to haunt her.

As she and Alya re-entered the school after lunch, she was so zoned out that she didn't see Chloe stick out her foot to trip her. Marinette yelped and shut her eyes as she saw the ground fast approaching her face.

A moment later, she didn't feel the impact she expected. Instead, she felt two hands gripping her elbows and she slowly opened her eyes to see who it was. A pair of electric green eyes were looking down at her.

"You okay? Nothing broken?" Adrien asked.

Marinette blinked. "I-uh-I mean, no, I'm f-fine, thank you," she stammered, straightening herself out.

She saw a flash of curiosity in his eyes but it was instantly replaced with a warm smile. "I'm Adrien," he said, reaching out for her hand. "What's your name?"

She took his hand and shook it, a dumbstruck look still on her face. "Marinette," she replied.

"Marinette," he repeated with a soft hum. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He bowed forward and pressed his lips onto the top of her hand before releasing it and turning to walk away with a grin. It all happened so fast that it took Marinette a moment to realize what had just happened. She snapped out of it when she heard a low growl coming from Chloe and uncontrolled giggles coming from Alya.

As Chloe huffed wordlessly and stormed off after Adrien, Alya turned to Marinette. "What was that?" she asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Huh? What? Nothing!" Marinette exclaimed, her face growing hot.

"Looks like a certain girl in red caught the new boy's attention," Alya said with a sly wink.

Marinette felt herself get even more red. "Whatever," she mumbled. "Let's just get the rest of this day over with so we can go home!"