Simplicity: Chapter Two
Adrien sleepily slammed his hand down on his alarm in a nearly desperate attempt to silence the device that had ended his sweet dreams of Ladybug. Adrien laid there staring at the ceiling silently bidding the sun to start sinking back down below the horizon and stop shining golden rays of translucent light through his large windows, yet the sun seemed oblivious to his desires and continued its slow assent into the sky. Adrien turned to look at Plagg on his night stand, still sound asleep despite the previous blaring siren that was his alarm clock. Adrien shook his head ruefully at his beloved, yet often sarcastic kwami before slowly sitting up and throwing his blankets off and swinging his legs to the side of the bed. Adrien suppressed a gasp as his bare feet touched the cold floor. He stood quickly and made his way to his closet to grab his clothes for the day in a bid to resist the urge to swing back in bed and sleep the day away like the cat he truly felt he was meant to be.
Adrien grabbed his signature "look" as he swiftly turned and made for the shower. The water was warm and inviting where the floor had been cold and less than appealing to his toes. The warm water woke Adrien up as the sounds of Plagg waking up could be heard through the sound of the falling water "Adrien! It's breakfast! I'm starving! Where is my cheese! You wouldn't want me to waste away to nothing would you? Adrien". Adrien smirked upon hearing Plagg's usual morning whines for camembert cheese that seemed more fitting for a mouse than a cat. Adrien turned the water off and quickly dried off before swiftly putting his clothes on and running out of the bathroom, still barefoot. "Plagg, you know where I keep the cheese. Just grab some" Adrien chuckled as he reached into the fridge for Plagg's breakfast of choice, or any meal for that matter. "Adrien, you know it takes better coming from your chosen. I told you that. Breakfast is the more important meal of the day and I will not have it ruined because you were too lazy to feed me" Plagg joked as he munched happily on his rather large piece of the smelly cheese.
Adrien smiled affectionately at Plagg. Despite Plagg's constant whining and sarcasm, Adrien knew he and Plagg had special friendship that was definitely give and take. Adrien laughed as he scratched Plagg behind the ear and a purring sound came out of him as he continued to eat his cheese "Whatever you say buddy". Adrien spun on the heel of his foot and marched back into the backroom and brushed his teeth. Adrien smiled in the mirror, inspecting the effectiveness of his brushing when Plagg floated up next to him "Come on model boy. Time for school. No making faces in the mirror. Let's go. We got places to go, people for you to see, and places for me to nap" Plagg admonished before zooming out of the bathroom. "I was just making sure I didn't miss anything Plagg" Adrien called after him, but chuckled knowing Plagg had heard nothing. Adrien bent down and grabbed his green pajamas before exiting the bathroom himself.
Adrien folded the pajamas and made his bed swiftly before placing the freshly folded night garments on the edge of the bed for later that night. Adrien walked to his drawer and grabbed a pair of black socks before a mischievous grin spread across his face as his eyes came in contact with his Chat Noir socks. 'Yes' Adrien thought 'Those will do nicely'. Adrien laughed to himself as he put his Chat Noir socks on in a silent protest of the splendor his father usually surrounded him with on a daily basis and laughed even harder at the image of his father fainting seeing Adrien wearing department store bought socks.
Adrien looked up as a knock was heard on his door causing Plagg to zoom into his jacket pocket. "Adrien," Natali called through the door "Be down for school in five minutes. I don't want you to be late". Adrien smiled 'Natalie really does care, in her own way sometimes' as he got up and headed out the door as he grabbed his backpack from a recently installed hook near the door in one swift and seemingly practiced motion.
The car ride to school was uneventful and short. "Have a good day at school, Adrien" Natali called from her spot next to the Gorilla who remained silent. "Thank you, I will. Have a great day you two" Adrien said with a smile before closing the door and the car promptly pulled away. Adrien smiled at the car as it drove off 'They care about me, I just know it' Adrien thought as his nose caught the familiar smell of delicious baked goods coming from across the street. Adrien smiled "Well, I did miss breakfast…" he said to himself as he strolled across the street to the Dupain-Chang bakery.
The sound of the bell alerted Mrs. Chang that a guest had walked in. She turned to greet their guest "Hello and welcome to the Dupain-Cha…Adrien? Oh how wonderful to see you! I haven't seen you since the game thing you and Marinette did together" She gushed. "Speaking of Marinette…" Mrs. Chang said to herself as she turned and started walking Marinette's stairs before stopping and looking back at Adrien "Hold on one minute Adrien. I'm going to make sure Marinette didn't sleep though her alarm again" She called as he continued up the stairs. Adrien chuckled "That's not likely Mrs. Chang".
Marinette lay in bed, twisted in her blankets in some form of pretzel like fashion that only Marinette could have gotten herself into. "Marinette" her mom called as she rapped on the trap door leading to her room. Marinette shot out of bed with an energy fueled by pure panic "Yes, mom, I'm up" Marinette called frantically as she ran around the room trying to find her things and put her school clothes on. Mrs. Chang giggled as she headed down the stairs still hearing her daughter's frantic footsteps darting across her room.
"Adrien" Mrs. Chang called "What would you like honey" she asked sweetly. Adrien looked up somewhat shocked she had come back down so silently. "Oh, gosh. You scared me. Erm, I'll take the cinnamon roll please Adrien said with a smile that knew his dietician would have a heart attack if he knew what he was about to eat. Adrien reached for the wallet in his back pocket when Mrs. Chang placed his order on countertop "Do not even dream about paying for this Adrien. Friends of Marinette don't pay for breakfast here" she said with a wink that caused Adrien to blush lightly. "It's ok Mrs. Chang! Honesty, I don't mind paying" Adrien started before Mrs. Chang dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Oh Adrien, its ok. What is one cinnamon roll for one of my daughters DEAREST friends" She asked with a smirk that seemed to say she was up to something. Adrien continued to blush lightly 'Marinette considers me a dear friend? God what did I do to deserve such amazing friends' Adrien thought happily as a loud thud caused both of them to look up and smile fondly "I guess Marinette is awake after all" Adrien laughed as he grabbed his cinnamon roll and made his way to a table. "Oh yes, that she is" Mrs. Chang giggled as she couldn't help but cheer at her silent victory of feeding her future son in law.
Adrien smiled as he felt Plagg move in his jacket. His smile widened as he could have sworn he heard him grumble something about cheese being a better breakfast than some cinnamon sugar covered bread. Adrien lifted the cinnamon roll to his lips and took a large bite out of it and nearly cried as the warm, gooey roll nearly melted in his mouth in an explosion of sweet and buttery cinnamon flavor. Adrien swallowed his first bite "God I love this place" he whispered as he continued munch on his sweet treat. Adrien's attention was pulled away from his cinnamon roll as Marinette came crashing down the stairs frantically grabbing a raspberry Danish and making for the door before she came to a dead halt and stared at Adrien in disbelief.
Adrien smiled and waved at Marinette even though she looked like she was in full on panic mode. "Hey Marinette! How are you this morning? I hope you slept well" he offered kindly while Marinette walked over with a strange, but not bad looking, grin on her face that betrayed her nervousness. "Adrien morning… I mean good Adrien…I mean good morning Adrien" she finally managed to squeak out. Adrien chuckled lightly as he got up and pulled out the other chair for Marinette to join him. "Good morning Marinette. Sorry to surprise you like this, but I got out of the car this morning and I smelled your family bakery. I simply couldn't say no" he said with a wide smile as he sat down and took another bite from his cinnamon roll. Marinette blushed and nodded her understanding "My mom and dad work very hard to make our bakery the best in Paris. I'll let them know you loved what you smelled" Marinette said boldly as he beamed at Adrien for his kind comments about their bakery. "Good job Marinette! You didn't get tongue tied that time" Adrien joked. Marinette blushed more and shoved a bite of Danish in her mouth.
They fell into a comfortable silence that surprised Adrien. Usually he felt the need to crack jokes and be talkative around people, but Marinette was calming in her own special way. Maybe it was because she was so sweet? Adrien tried to shrug it off, but it really was the simple moments like this that caught his attention the most. Nothing amazing was happening, nothing spectacular. Just two friends having breakfast together, yet there was a peace that came only with ladybug or being Chat Noir. 'I could get used to this' Adrien thought as he smiled over at Marinette who blushed and took another bite of her breakfast. Adrien frowned as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and smiled at seeing it was just Nino sending a "where the heck are you, dude" text that surely meant they were going to be late if they stayed too much longer. "Marinette, we better get going" Adrien said as popped the last of his cinnamon roll in his mouth. "I would hate for us to be late to school because I forgot the time since you have been chatting my ears off" Adrien joked as he helped Marinette to her feet to begin the short walk to the school conveniently located across the street.
Adrien pulled his friend through the door and across the cross walk, which was luckily signaling for pedestrians to walk, as they made their way to the school. Adrien was about to say something about class when he noticed he was still holding Marinette's hand. 'When did that happen' Adrien asked himself absently as he let go and smiled sheepishly "Sorry Marinette". Why hadn't he noticed, maybe because it had simply felt, natural? He shook the thought from his head as he gestured towards the school lets not keep Alya and Nino waiting, I bet they are wondering where we are miss "lucky charm"" Adrien laughed at his own little joke completely oblivious as to what his words had done to Marinette. "I mean seriously, you must be lucky. I always get stopped at every crosswalk. Remind me to take you out next time I want to go for a walk" Adrien said as he disappeared into the school to find Nino before the bell.
Marinette followed Adrien on instinct alone. All brain function had ceased to exist. Adrien called her, basically, "his lucky charm". Cloud nine paled in comparison with the euphoria she was feeling right now. Marinette smiled goofily as she followed Adrien across the courtyard to where Nino and Alya sat expectantly waiting for them to show up. "Dude, where have you been? I've been waiting for like, fifteen minutes" Nino whined while Alya rolled her eyes "Oh shush. You know I'm great company" she said tapping her glasses with a knowing smirk that caused Nino to blush lightly and Adrien to chuckle. Alya looked over to Marinette, her inner reporter coming out as there were so many questions that needed answers.
"Girl! How did you get an interview with Chat Noir" Alya whisper screamed to not attract too much attention. Marinette was brought out of her Adrien endured fantasy and smiled "I was working on my designs and Chat landed on my roof. He scared me so I said he owed me an interview for my best friend and he agreed" Marinette scrambled to find a good enough excuse to hide the real reason for the interview. While unknown to Marinette or Alya, Adrien released a sigh of relief. 'Marinette kept my secret' Adrien thought even as guilt nagged at him for even doubting his Purrincess for one moment. 'She is too good a person to betray me like that' Adrien thought fondly as Marinette tallied yet another mental "Ladybug" quality to Adrien's mental list of potential suspects. Adrien silently chuckled at the insanity that shy and timid Marinette was winning that race by a landslide.
"Oh my gosh! You are so lucky! What did I do to deserve you Marinette? The Ladyblog has been exploding all day" Alya gushed. "In fact, Chat Noir's little page on my site has gotten more views today than all the Ladybug parts combined! His page is never that busy! Thank you so much! I didn't realize how little I have for Chat Noir; I need to seriously update his stuff. Our duo deserve to be treated like a team" Alya said matter of factly to which Marinette nodded enthusiastically "Yep, Ladybug would be lost without her kitty" She joked which got Alay all riled up and talking about Ladynoir "needing to happen".
Adrien stared at Marinette as if she said something novel. "Ladybug would be lost without her kitty", gosh how he hoped ladybug felt the same way! "Do you really think that Marinette" Adrien asked excitedly as the bell rang. Marinette looked at Adrien and with more confidence than he had ever seen on her face, that he knew of, said "Without a doubt in my mind". Adrien spent the rest of the day happily daydreaming about his lady and doing his assignments with ease. Adrien looked up as Marinette groaned softly behind him. Adrien turned in his seat to look at Marinette with a concerned expression "Are you ok Marinette" Adrien asked which caused Marinette to stiffen slightly. "Y-ya. I'm fine. I just can't out figure this problem math….I mean I can't figure out this math problem" Marinette stammered quickly. Adrien grinned at the opportunity to help his friend "Well, math is my favorite subject, followed by history of course" Adrien added as he stood up to stand next to Marinette who had stiffened for a completely different reason.
'He said pretty much the same thing as Chat Noir…'Marinette thought before noticing Adrien's close proximity and smiling nervously, all previous thoughts abandoned. "Hmm, this one isn't too hard. Just remember that what you do to one side you must do to the other side. So if you subtract the three from over here, you have to take away three from this side too. Then you need to get X by itself so you divide this x by five since that's the number in from of X. So you should divide your fifteen that you have left on that side by the five and be left with X equals three since fifteen divided by five is three" Adrien said all while pointing to the different numbers and sides as he explained the steps to Marinette. "Thank you Adrien" Marinette breathed. "That honestly makes more since than what the teacher said earlier" Marinette whispered so as not to alert Mrs. Bustier that she found her collogues explanation lacking.
Adrien smiled as the lightbulb came on for Marinette and she completed the rest of her homework without any difficulty. "Adrien, you are so smart, you could be a teacher" Marinette gushed. "puh-lease. As if my Adrikins would stoop to being a teacher when he has his modeling and company to run. Teaching is for smart little people, not people like me or Adrien, not that you would understand" Chloe mouthed off from her seat on the other side of the room. "Well, to be honest Chloe I would consider that as an option. I love helping people almost as much as I loved baked fish…speaking of which, when is lunch? I'm starving over here" Adrien whined leaving Marinette and Chloe shocked for different reasons.
Adrien's smile widened when the bell rang and he grabbed his stuff to go "I'll see you after lunch guys! Hopefully its lemon pepper fish this time instead of chili pepper" Adrien said wishfully as he bolted out the door to presumable get the lunch he seemed to desire so much. Marinette's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in suspicion while Alya finished grabbing her things. "Marinette, let's go grab some lunch at your place. I'd kill for some of your mom's cooking right now…and if we happened to run into a cookie or two…well" Alya said with a giggle as she grabbed Marinette by the hand and led her out the door. However, Marinette's suspicious look did not last Alya's talk of lunch with her best friend and all thoughts of Chat Noir and Adrien's similarities were shoved to the "mere coincidence" category of clues as anyone could like those things.
"Plagg, that was delicious" Adrien sighed as he put his fork down and eyed his kwami who sat in his lap eating his Camembert slowly and deliberately for a change. "Yes, yes it is" Plag sighed happily as he took another bite, savoring the flavor of the cheese he could never seem to get enough of. "Plagg, I've been thinking…do you think Marinette could be My Lady? I mean, they share so many qualities and even have the same eye color, although I don't think I've even seen Marinette's eyes for long enough at a time to see if they are exactly the same…" Adrien trailed while Plagg nearly choked on his cheese. Plagg, after he finished coughing, eyed his chosen as if to gauge his seriousness "You know what they say, "Sometimes the hardest puzzles have the simplest solutions"" Plagg said while doing his best impression of what sounded like an ancient Chinese master. "Oh thank you oh wise and learned one" Adrien mocked playfully before taking a moment to carefully consider Plagg's unusually solid sounding advice, even if it could have come from a fortune cookie.
"Plagg, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna investigate my greatest lead on who My Lady is. I hope I'm right, but I think I need some special permission first…" Adrien said as he let the thought die midsentence as Natalie walked in, warning Adrien to be ready to go soon because lunch time was nearly up. Natalie exited the room as quickly and quietly as she came. "What do you mean by that kid" Plagg asked while cautiously eying the door. "I'm going to ask Ladybug's permission to find her, because I think I'm close. I really do" Adrien sighed while standing from his seat at the large and lonely dining table that was never filled with the guests it was intended for. "But, kid…what if it's not her" Plagg interjected. "Well, I guess my search would have to continue elsewhere, but like you said "simple solutions to complex puzzles", right" Adrien asked with a smile as he made for the door in a hurry that caused Plagg to grumpily eat his cheese quickly so he could get to his hiding spot before Adrien made the door.
Natalie couldn't help but to notice Adrien's happy demeanor and smile. She mentally noted that she should have the chefs make that dish more often since Adrien seemed so pleased with it. Adrien's happiness, however, did not stem from the fabulous lunch, but rather the fact that he now had a plan of attack for uncovering his lady. Adrien smiled happily as he mentally planned his ladies downfall into his trap of love.
The passing streets, people, and buildings blurred together as the car sped its way to the school near the glittering river where ducks playfully bobbed on the water, eagerly waiting for a bread lunch of their own from happy passersby on a bright, cool, and somewhat cloudy day. Days like this were the ones that promised bread and happy ducks, yet on a bench near the water's edge sat a man who was anything but happy. A dark butterfly floated on the breeze as it flitted across the gently swaying waters towards the bench that held its unwitting victim.
I hope you liked this chapter and I will be getting more done in the near future! Stay tune! ^_^