Hey, Miraculers! Here's another one! Here's the setup!
Marinette is just a normal girl living in Paris, France. Or more accurately, trying to emotionally survive day in and day out.
She's always ducking Adrien Agreste's flirting and helping Kagami deal with his identical cousin, Félix Fathom. Between that and coping with the shenanigans of Cat Noir and Argos - Paris's local anti-hero/anti-villain figures - Marinette can't seem to relax! And is it just her, or is Cat Noir looking at her in a way she can't comprehend?
The clattering sounds of fencing foils brushing up against one another could be heard out in the school yard. A group of girls were standing on the sidelines, cheering for one fencer clad in red.
"Lutter, Kagami!" Shouted the girls' leader - a blue-eyed, fair-skinned maiden with dark hair in pigtails, clad mostly in grey and pink.
The girl in question, the one in red, touched her opponent with her foil, thus knocking him onto the mat. The coach blew the whistle to award the point to her.
The red-clad fencer took her mask off to reveal she had brown, almond-shaped eyes with short, black hair and freckles.
"Making clean work of me as always, Kagami," Her opponent said as he stood up and took his mask off to reveal he had tanned skin, blonde hair, and green eyes. "Nice job."
"Thanks, Adrien." Kagami spoke, her tone cool, but grateful.
She began walking back to the group of girls.
"You were incredible out there!" Marinette praised. "You gave him the old one-two!"
"Thanks, Marinette," Kagami responded. "I-"
"Kagami." A voice that sounded like Adrien said. She turned around to see a youth that looked identical to Adrien, only he was wearing an outfit that looked like a sleeveless suit over a long-sleeved grey shirt. He had black dress shoes and a black necktie, and his hair was smoothed down and slicked back.
"You kicked Adrien's ass with panache, as always." He responded with a smile, though it sounded like he was an adult that was merely satisfied with the performance.
"Um... Thank you, Félix," Kagami said, averting her eyes. "Now that practice is over, shall we go?"
Marinette looked at the scene and winced - her poor friend, dealing with Félix and his rudeness. While Kagami made her way to the locker room, Marinette felt eyes on her. She turned to look at where they were coming from. Adrien was still lying on the mat. He was looking at her with a goofy smile on his face, and waving. Marinette gave an uneasy wave back.
"Shouldn't you be going in there to change, too?" Félix said to his cousin, bringing him back down to earth.
"Y-Yeah, you're right, I should." Adrien responded as he got to his feet and began jogging after Kagami, running past Marinette. He paused in his step, turned to the pigtailed girl, and gave her a shy smile.
Marinette gave an annoyed groan as he left. She turned to the girls before saying, "Let's wait up for Kagami outside?"
They all gave agreeing nods.
Outside the building, the group was talking about random stuff, all while waiting for their fencer friend to show up.
"It's uncanny how the Clone Cousins are constantly trying to talk to you and Kagami," Alya commented to Marinette. "I mean, Adrien wanting to get close to you isn't a shocker. You're an incredible girl."
Juleka mumbled, and Rose translated, "Yeah, Félix is the harder of the two to figure out. I wonder what he might want with Kagami."
"Who knows?" Alix asked with a shrug, only to look up at the top of the stairs to the school. "Hey, Kagami! Down here!"
"Thanks for waiting, girls." Kagami said as she walked down the stairs. Almost right behind her was Félix, who was looking at her with a smile.
"You're welcome. Does your mom have anything else for you on schedule today?" Marinette asked.
Kagami pulled up her schedule on her phone. She looked it up and said, "I have ikebana class in half an hour. The car should be here soon."
"I wish your mom was a little more flexible. She shouldn't have that much control over your life." Myléne commented.
"I concur," Félix spoke up as he walked down the stairs to approach the girls. "Overbearing, controlling parents are the worst."
"Hey, don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?!" Alya barked.
"Hard not to hear you when you're right there," Félix responded before approaching Kagami. "I'll help you get your mother to-"
"I can advocate for myself, thank you very much," Kagami cut in, her arms crossed as a red, self-driving car pulled up to the curb. "I'll see you girls in a few hours."
She got into the back seat, shut the door, and the car drove off. Marinette looked over at Félix and saw he was looking at the car with an expression that seemed a bit sad, but his hackles appeared to be raised, too.
"I guess that's that for now," Alya said with a sigh. "We'll rendezvous at the park later?"
"Marinette!" Adrien called as he came out the door and ran down the stairs to catch up to them. "So, you're be hanging out at the park with the girls?"
"Y-Yeah, we are," Marinette began. "Just a typical girls' hangout, nothing special."
"In that case, maybe we could go for a smoothie?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head while his face was pink.
Marinette opened her mouth, only for her phone to start buzzing. She lifted the device out of her pocket and saw it was her dad.
"Oh, dad's calling" Marinette said as she answered the call.
Adrien's face deflated in disappointment.
"Okay, on my way," Marinette said as she hung up on the call before turning to the girls. "Sorry, my parents need me on deliveries for a little bit. See you later!"
Marinette ran for the crosswalk and away from Adrien, tuning him out as he tried to call after her. After getting home, which was across the street from the school, she got the items her parents needed delivered, and put them in the box on her scooter before mounting, putting her helmet on, and speeding off.
Later on in the park, Marinette had met up with the rest of the girls as they'd arranged beforehand. They were just hanging out, talking, and keeping each other posted about their lives.
"So Alix, have you and your dad had any luck trying to get Jalil off those conspiracy theories he's been researching?" Marinette asked.
"No. Jalil can get very stubborn when he wants to be. But those conspiracy theories are just that: conspiracy theories," Alix confessed with a sigh as she drank some water. "I mean, come on, a ritual found in a papyrus that could supposedly bring someone back from the dead if you make a sacrifice to the gods?"
"That is ridiculous," Kagami agreed. "If such a ritual existed, can you fathom the number of people would be sacrificed senselessly?"
Juleka mumbled, and Marinette said, "Yeah, and even if it worked, there's no telling how they would come back. Probably not the same way they went."
The girls - minus Juleka - shuddered in disgust at the suggestion.
"Speaking of which, I have a few observation-based theories about our local vigilantes." Alya said as she pulled up a picture on her phone.
Two boys, one dressed as a black cat, with wild hair and green eyes, and the other was dressed in a blue suit with a hood that had design pieces that resembled the eyes of peacock feathers.
Cat Noir and Argos - the local super-powered mischief-makers that had emerged out of nowhere and started causing trouble.
They showed up and started wreaking havoc in Paris, about a month and a half after Adrien and Félix transferred to school. Whether or not this was a coincidence, Marinette wasn't sure. Not to mention, she couldn't decide which of the pair was more dangerous.
Cat Noir's power to destroy anything with a single touch was scary enough. His powers could cause a variety of things - buildings could be rendered to dust in seconds, technology could malfunction or break, he could create fissures in the ground and cause bridges to collapse. And there were so many other uses for that power, too. People everywhere would pose the question about what would happen if he was able to harness even more destructive power, or if he used that power against a human being. The general consensus was that it wouldn't be anything good.
Argos, on the other hand, had the power to conjure up creatures from someone's emotions, even his own. The beings' powers could be almost anything, depending on the thoughts and feelings of the person at the time. Even positive emotions and intentions could birth the beasts, but these ones tended to be a lot more beneficial and gregarious To add another level to it, these creatures could take any form, even other human beings, which made it tricker to figure out which was the creature and which was the person. And it seemed like Argos would get very attached to the beings and be hurt and upset whenever he would have to destroy them.
"Like what?" Zoé asked.
"I think-" Alya began, only for the girls to hear a loud crash and a truck alarm going off. They turned around to the source of the noise and saw Cat Noir and Argos. They'd flipped a sixteen-wheel big rig. People were honking in anger while the driver of the truck was banging and calling for release.
"Alya, we can't stand around in the danger zone! We gotta get to shelter!" Marinette insisted, pulling on Alya's arm.
"But-" Alya began.
"No! Fleeing is for cowards! I'll take care of those two!" Kagami said as she took up her bokken and charged in.
"Kagami, wait!" Marinette shouted after her friend.
Kagami swung her bokken at Argos, who whirled around. He moved out of the way, the tip of the bokken hitting his shoulder. Every time Kagami tried to hit him, he would dodge, duck, and give the girl a playful expression and smile.
She growled at him, shouting, "Your mischief is unacceptable! You could've hurt the driver of the truck!"
Argos, still smiling at Kagami, pulled out his fan and blocked her bokken with it. The two looked at each other - Argos with a smile, Kagami with rage.
Cat Noir was ignoring the scene, having wrenched the trailer open. He smiled at its contents and said, "Jackpot."
He hung onto the trailer before swinging himself in. He began pushing out the items in question - trash cans.
"Trash cans?" Kagami asked.
"Come on, you wouldn't want someone dumping trash in your backyard, now would you?" Argos said as Cat Noir came out of the trailer with the last of the trash cans.
"No, but-" Kagami began as she tried to climb onto the trailer to attack Argos.
"No "buts" - the mayor shouldn't be treating outer space like a dump, either!" Cat Noir shouted as he turned the trash can around to reveal the rocket boosters underneath.
"Rocket-powered trash barrels?" Alya asked as she zoomed in to the scene.
"Yeah. Part of the mayor's new program to send our garbage into space, instead of finding more sustainable ways of reducing waste!" Cat Noir explained. He raised his right hand. "Cataclysm!"
He stooped down and hit the rocket booster on the trash can with his hand, causing it to disintegrate into a pile of black ash. He scowled at the remains before looking up. He turned to get Argos' attention, but he stopped in his tracks when his cat eyes met Marinette's.
Marinette's breath caught and her heart stopped dead. Dread started churning in her stomach and chills went up and down her back. To Cat Noir, the world seemed to fall away as he kept looking at her, like he'd seen a ghost or even a unicorn. Soon, his expression became a small smile.
Marinette herself snapped out of it and shouted, "Kagami, look out!"
Kagami turned around and saw Argos had started approaching her from the trailer. He grabbed her hand, but instead of letting her fall, he yanked her up before pulling her up into a princess carry and began jumping over to Marinette and company.
He set Kagami down before making a run back to Cat Noir.
"Why, that little-!" Alix began, tempted to stomp over to the boys.
"Let's just go and get somewhere safe, girls! It's not worth it!" Marinette said as she blocked her friends and ushered them away from the scene. She hadn't noticed Cat Noir staring at her with that same smile.
A few days later, the girls were hanging out at the school and talking about everything but that hiccup in the park.
"So, I had a few ideas for that upcoming fashion design contest." Marinette said as she was showing her designs to her friends.
"These are sick, Marinette!" Alya said as she looked the sketches over. "So, what's the plan?"
"The subject matter for this contest is casual women's dresses and accessories. The general theme is "sustainable beauty," and use of sustainable materials is a requirement. I was thinking that I could use fabrics and materials that are made from reclaimed plastic bottles." Marinette said as she showed the girls a few other sketches of design ideas she had in mind.
"I like this one," Zoé said, pointing out one design in Marinette's book. "Is it inspired by bees?"
"Sure is! This design would kill two birds with one stone - the theme would be inspired by protecting the bees from the pesticides and how microplastics are hurting them." Marinette explained.
"That's genius!" Myléne said while clapping in approval.
Alya heard footsteps and looked to her left, before moaning. She leaned in to the group and alerted them, "Heads' up! The Clone Cousins are coming in hot at our 8:15!"
The girls made complaining groans. Some of them hung their heads or threw them back in annoyance.
"They're cousins, how can they look and sound identical like that?!" Myléne asked, her hands on her head. "Their clothes and hairstyles are the only way you can tell them apart."
"Their mothers are identical twins, according to my research," Alya said as she pulled up an article about Adrien and Félix's mothers, the Graham de Vanily sisters. "But even so, what are the odds?!"
"I'm not sure even Markov can answer that question," Marinette mentioned. "I'll bet if they switched places, no one would be able to tell."
The girls gave agreeing noises just as the boys got there.
"Hey girls," Adrien spoke. "What's going on?"
"Nothing much, other than talking about a fashion design contest. Why?" Marinette asked, a little uncomfortable with how Adrien was leaning against the wall in a casual manner.
His arm laid against it, his hand positioned above his head. His chest was puffed out. His feet, while crossed, were pointed at her, and he was giving her a toothy smile that extended beyond his mouth, including raised eyebrows. Adrien's eyes were focused on her, looking at Marinette with something that she couldn't understand.
Félix was standing in front of Kagami, his hands behind his back, a smile on his face, and looking a bit tense. He was trying to mimic Adrien, but compared to his more socially-adept cousin, Félix was coming off as clumsy and rigid.
"I have some time after school today, Marinette. Maybe we could go to the movies or something?" Adrien questioned Marinette, his face red while giving her a grin.
"And there's a new restaurant that serves authentic Japanese cuisine," Félix commented, giving a strained smile to Kagami. "Maybe you could give me a culture lesson on the food, Kagami?"
The two girls gave the boys uncomfortable looks, like they'd asked a question that they couldn't answer for whatever reason.
Alya and the remaining members of their group looked between the pairs, with curious expressions. The boys looking awkward and shy, the girls looking as if they'd been backed into a corner.
"So...?" Adrien asked, rotating his hand to get an answer out of Marinette.
"I-" Marinette began, only for the bell to interrupt. "Oops, time to get to class!"
The girl got up and started jogging to the classroom. The rest of her friends followed suit, not noticing the disappointed, frustrated expressions on the boys' faces.
"That was a close one." Marinette said to the girls.
"Interacting with those two is a cumbersome chore. Félix in particular." Kagami commented, pinching the bridge of her nose in discomfort.
"Yeah," Alya agreed, but she gave Marinette a smile. "Though, would it be so bad if you did go on a date with Adrien?"
"Sorry Alya, but I am not interested," Marinette insisted, shaking her head. "There's just something about him and Félix that's setting off the alarm bells in my stomach."
Marinette didn't hate Adrien, but she wasn't fond of him either. She could best describe her attitude towards him as "cautious indifference." There was just something about him - and Félix - that rubbed her and the girls the wrong way. The day they started attending school, Marinette's gut told her to be wary of the clone-like cousins. And her instincts were seldom wrong.
"You're a good judge of character, Marinette," Alya assured. "If you say something about them is off, that's good enough for us."
"Yep! If it hadn't been for you, I would still be acting like my half-sister just to stay in her good graces, and letting her and my mom control me." Zoé agreed.
"And if it hadn't been for you, Lila would've had us wrapped around her fingers," Myléne added. "She almost ruined our futures, got you expelled, and I almost believed her when she was talking about all that charity work she was supposedly doing."
"Yeah. Thanks for the gentle hypocrite speech," Alya thanked. "You really brought me back down to earth."
"Indeed. I nearly fell into her clutches until you talked sense into me." Kagami agreed.
"Not to mention, we wouldn't even have you for a friend if Marinette didn't reach out to you with an open mind." Alix said.
Marinette smiled at her gal pals, the warmth spreading through her body.
In the classroom, Marinette was trying to pay attention to Mlle. Bustier and her lesson.
"Now, what were some of Edgar Allen Poe's literary choices that he made in his works?" Mlle. Bustier spoke as she walked around the room to get answers.
"He was known for Gothic literature," Rose commented. "And wasn't his word choice very good? Using the right words in the right places?"
"Good, Rose," Mlle. Bustier said. "Poe was one of the main proponents of the literary "art for art's sake" movement in the 19th Century in Europe. Anything else about his writing?"
"Weren't several of his pieces inspired by the fact that a lot of the women in his life died prematurely?" Alya asked.
Juleka mumbled out, "Very intense psychological and horror themes in his works."
"Excellent, Juleka!" Mlle. Bustier said.
Marinette wasn't interested, and was letting her teacher's lesson go in one ear and out the other. Psychological horror wasn't her favorite thing.
"Now, Poe's influence can be found in the works of modern writers, such as H.P. Lovecraft. Poe's often considered the godfather of the science fiction genre in some of his works, as he was fascinated by the scientific advancements of the time." Caline said as she walked around the classroom.
"Hey, don't forget about Mary Shelley! I'll bet most people don't even know that Frankenstein was written by a woman! If anything, Shelley inspired Poe, not the other way around!" Alix commented.
"That's very true, Alix." Caline agreed.
Marinette was still in la-la land. She heard paper rustling in front of her and she looked to see there was a folded note with a red heart sitting near her hand. Marinette looked up and saw Adrien had turned to look at her, a smile on his face.
Marinette pushed the note aside and went back to tuning out the teacher. But a few minutes later, Marinette found another note with a red heart on it. Again, Marinette slid it away from her. It happened for a third time within the next few minutes. Marinette looked up at Adrien, who had a near-pleading expression on his face.
"Mlle. Bustier, Adrien is passing notes to Marinette!" Alya said aloud, garnering everyone's attention.
Adrien flinched as the redheaded teacher came over to look over the notes. Marinette gave them to her and Caline opened them to read them over.
"Well, I can see you're paying attention to our poetry lessons," Caline said, being gentle. "But you can't do this, Adrien."
Adrien was beet red in embarrassment. He gave Marinette a petulant look before turning to Mlle. Bustier. He conceded, "Yes, Mlle. Bustier."
Caline crumbled the notes in her hands before throwing them in the recycling bin. Marinette closed her eyes and shook her head for a second before looking back to the chalkboard.
That afternoon, Marinette was watching the bakery while her parents were out running errands. She was cleaning and rearranging the cases and mumbling the poem out loud.
"Okay, so it starts, "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary-"" Marinette murmured, only for her phone to begin blaring.
She groaned before pulling it out of her pocket and seeing a royal blue banner with a green paw print on a black circle. It was the alert badge/banner combination the city came up with as a safety and alert system to combat Cat Noir and Argos' activities. It acted identical to the standard emergency alerts on most phones for bad weather, criminals at large, missing persons. This included the location of the fight. The difference was that the tone for a Cat Noir or Argos-related emergency had its own unique banner and sign. And whenever there was an update, the same alarm would blare.
"Wait, they're this close to the bakery?!" Marinette asked in shock when she saw where the fight was at.
Marinette was about to put her phone back so she could go into lockdown mode, but a commotion started outside. She looked up, and gasped - outside the bakery windows were two robbers, who were in a fist-fight with none other than Argos and Cat Noir.
"What do you think you're trying to do?!" Cat Noir shouted at the two goons as one of them tried throwing a punch at him. Cat Noir defended before doing a low sweep kick to knock him down.
"Wreck the bakery, what else?" One of the robbers said as he got up and lunged at Cat Noir. "If we damage it enough, then they'll have no choice but to sell, and then we'll get a huge monetary reward from the big guys who hired us!"
Hearing that, Marinette grabbed a peel from the wall and dashed outside.
"Hey! You leave my parents' bakery alone!" She shouted, getting the boys' attention.
Cat Noir whirled around to look at Marinette and he hollered out, "What the hell are you doing?!"
Marinette ran forward and tried to take some of the fencing/swordsmanship skills she learned from Kagami to try fighting off the robbers. She managed to land a hit on one of the guys' heads with the peel, knocking him down, causing the animal-themed boys to laugh.
"Nice hit!" Cat Noir praised with a chuckle.
"Not too shabby." Argos agreed.
Marinette turned around and raised the peel at Cat Noir, saying, "I'm not finished yet, you fleabag!"
She tried to slam the peel onto him, only for him to lunge forward, shouting, "Look out!"
He pushed her behind him and extended his baton horizontally to brace himself. A random, rusted pipe clanged onto the baton, and Cat Noir had extended the baton long enough that the ends were up against two light posts. As the robber tried pressing on the baton to get at Cat Noir, the lamp posts acted as braces to keep the baton from bending too much.
"Well, you're certainly no damsel-in-distress," Cat Noir chuckled at Marinette as he turned to face her. "Im-purr-essive. But you realize that the safe thing to do in this situation would've been to call 112 to get the police to take care of these rats, right?"
"And have them pick you and Argos up while they're at it?" Marinette asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Come on, don't you know how much help we've been around the city? So many people are grateful fur our interventions." He laughed while trying to push back against the robber's pipe.
"Like what?!" Marinette questioned, losing her patience.
"You know, once Argos and I are done here, I could take you out to a café and we can talk about it." Cat Noir offered, a suave facial expression.
Marinette began stammering at this, blinking at him. She managed to utter out, "A-er, What?"
"So, what would you like to do? Coffee, tea, or moi?" He teased as he leaned in close to Marinette's face. He flashed her with a charming, seductive smile. His eyes, though half-lidded, were smoldering with desire.
Marinette's heart began accelerating, her face turned red, and she found herself getting lost in his green kitten eyes for a second. But once she realized what was going on, she shook her head to regain her senses.
"N-Nice- NONE! I mean, none of the above, thank you!" Marinette said, backing away. She hit the wall behind her.
"Are you sure?" He asked, pouting. "Because I'm certain that I would paw-sitively enjoy your company, belle."
"Y-You would?" Marinette questioned, both confused and surprised. Her heart pounded again.
"Hey, Cat Noir, less flirting, more fighting!" Argos shouted as he used his fan to block a punch from the other robber.
Cat Noir felt resistance pushing on his staff. He turned his head away from Marinette, faced forward and called out, "Argos, let's take this somewhere else! Otherwise we'll ruin the bakery! #Supportsmallbusinesses, after all!"
Argos used his fan to defend. He turned to his teammate and said, "Good idea!"
Cat Noir retracted his staff a bit before using it like a baseball bat to smash the offending thief away from him.
Both peacock and black cat got their opponents away from the bakery building. Cat Noir turned to Marinette and gave her a wink before following after his partner. Marinette, a smile beginning to grow on her face, and her cheeks pink, watched them leave, her eyes glued to Cat Noir's back.
Marinette's parents had arrived on the scene a few seconds earlier, and they approached their daughter.
"Marinette? Hello? Are you still on Earth with us, honey?" Sabine questioned, waving her hand in front of Marinette's face.
Marinette's mental cloud broke, and she started looking around in confusion, asking, "Who? What?"
"Marinette, are you okay?" Tom asked.
"I-I am," Marinette said before sighing. "I... I'm glad Argos and Cat Noir stopped those guys from wrecking the bakery."
"Me too," Sabine agreed. "I may not agree with a lot of what they do, but they saved our home."
Marinette nodded, murmuring to herself, "I'd better get back inside. The Raven won't read itself."
She turned around before walking back into the bakery, still a bit dazed.
Up in her room, Marinette was struggling to read and analyze the poem. In fact, she'd been at it for hours, and it'd become long past dark. She read and reread it and reread it again, but her mind was blocked, as it was preoccupied.
"Ugh, I can't focus like this," Marinette moaned as she put the poem down. "What happened to me down there?! I shouldn't be going gaga over one of Paris's rascals!"
She slammed her head against the table and let out an angry groan. A near nano-second after, she heard rattling coming from her round window in the wall. She looked up at it, startled.
Hearing whistling winds, she said to herself, "Okay, Marinette, calm down. It's just the wind blowing, and nothing more."
But then she heard knocking on the trap door above her bed, causing her to shriek, startled. She looked up at it in anger and said, "Stupid pigeon, knocking on my trap door!"
She climbed up the stairs to her bed to get to the balcony to shoo the pigeon away.
Poking her head out the door, she found a bouquet of flowers lying there, and nothing more.
"What the heck?" Marinette said as she took up the bouquet.
The flowers were carnations, pink roses in both full blooms and buds, and baby's breath. It was wrapped in white floral paper with a pink ribbon around it. Inside was a card with her name written in pink calligraphy.
"These are so nice." Marinette murmured as she looked at the flowers under the light of the moon.
She looked around, seeing that the balcony was deserted, save for her. She said, "I'm the only one here... This assignment is getting to me. Only this and nothing more."
Marinette went into the kitchen area downstairs and got a vase of cold water for the flowers, before bringing them back up to her room.
She put the flowers on her desk near her sewing machine. Giving them one last smile, she went back to reading the poem to analyze for class. But sadness took over for a second and she said to herself, "Nevermore."
The following day at school, Marinette reported the incident to the girls.
"You found flowers on your balcony?" Myléne asked as Marinette showed the girls a picture of the bouquet that she'd gotten.
"Yeah, with a poem written on a card for me. Don't get me wrong, they're beautiful and it was a nice thing to receive, but it's an enigma how they got there." Marinette said as she passed her phone around while making their way to the lockers.
"It sure is, especially since you can't reach the balcony without going through your bedroom and climbing out of the trap door above the bed." Alya added.
Marinette opened her locker and she jumped back in surprise, but no noise.
"What is it? Roaches again?" Alya asked, rummaging through her bag for her package of disinfectant wipes (both she and Marinette made a habit of keeping them on hand).
Marinette saw what was in her locker and smiled. She said, "This is a thousand times better than roaches!"
The girls gave her curious, confused looks.
"Omigosh, this is so cute!" Marinette said as she pulled out what was in her locker.
A pink teddy bear wearing a cute ladybug-themed dress that had matching wings and a headband. And in its hands was a pink rose that had a small, white card attached to it. The card was identical to the one she'd gotten with the bouquet.
"Oh, that is cute!" Rose squealed. "Is there anything else in the locker?"
Marinette took a look inside and saw it was wiped clean and nothing other than her books were inside.
"No, just my books," Marinette said as she put the teddy bear under her arm before gathering what she needed for class. "I don't see any vermin in here, so they must have taken the time to clean up, too."
"Very considerate of them." Juleka mumbled.
"Think it's from the same person?" Marinette questioned as she held the teddy bear.
"Could be, judging by the handwriting on both cards." Alya said as she looked at the card on the teddy bear, then the card in the picture.
"You're not the only one who's found presents in odd places, Marinette. Look at this." Kagami said as she approached the girls.
She was holding a kawaii-style crimson, black, and gold plush dragon, and it was also holding a red camellia in its hands. Attached was a crimson-colored card with black calligraphy on it.
"Found that in your locker?" Marinette asked, though it was partially a statement.
"Right. And last night, there was a bouquet of red camellias that had a card with my name on it on my bed. I thanked my mother, but she told me it wasn't her doing," Kagami reported. "Reading the card confirmed it."
"Red camellias?" Alya asked, deciding to look up the flower in question.
"Yes. Camellias are closely-tied to samurai. The fact that they're red isn't likely to be an accident, either." Kagami commented.
"Wait, wait!" Alya cut in. "Time out, girls! First, you two find bouquets of flowers on your respective balcony and bed, and now these presents in your lockers today? Seems a bit weird, don't you think?"
"Yeah, something's off about all of this." Alix said in agreement.
"...Is it just me, or do you think Kagami and I getting similar presents isn't a coincidence?" Marinette questioned.
The rest of the girls were shaking their heads, with a big collective, nonverbal "no."
The warning bell rang out.
"Let's worry about this mystery later, girls." Alya said.
"Good idea." Zoé said as she got her class materials out of her locker.
Once Alya and Marinette got to their shared bench in their classroom, Marinette had the teddy bear sitting in front of her. She had her face in her hands as she examined the stuffed animal with delight in her eyes. She flicked the antennae on the headband, causing them to dance. She laughed.
"I don't know who gave you this present, but it's certainly made your day." Alya laughed.
"It has!" Marinette laughed.
"Ugh, who gave the baker girl a teddy bear?" Chloé said as she snatched up the toy and started looking at it in a disgusted manner. "This toy is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! This thing belongs in the trash!"
She approached the trash barrel, but Marinette stood up and said, "ZIP IT!"
The authoritative tone in Marinette's voice made Chloé freeze.
"You of all people shouldn't be teasing someone about a teddy bear," Marinette said as she crossed her arms. "Don't you still have yours, Mr. Cuddly? There's nothing wrong with keeping a childhood toy like that."
Chloé turned red in the face.
"She's right," Another voice said and the girls turned to see Adrien, who was looking at the scene in disgust. "Lots of people keep stuffed animals, even adults."
He took the teddy bear away from Chloé before giving her an angry stare-down.
He walked away from the trash barrel and gave the toy back to Marinette, saying, "Here you go."
"Thanks." Marinette said, her tone neutral, but filled with gratitude.
She sat back down. Sitting at his seat in front of her, Adrien turned around and faced the pigtailed girl. A bit pink in the face, Adrien asked, "So, that's a cute teddy bear. Where'd you get it?"
"I found it in my locker this morning." Marinette said as she kept staring at it.
"Really?" Adrien asked, sounding happy-surprised.
"Yeah." Marinette confirmed with a nod.
"Whoever put it there must have really wanted to put a smile on your face." Adrien commented.
"And it worked." Alya teased as Marinette pulled the bear into her arms for a hug.
Adrien looked at the scene with an indescribable smile.
Okay, that's a cut for this chapter! I'm sure it's obvious who left which gift for which girl here. Three guesses, the first two don't count.
Coming up, the girls have to keep coping with the boys' flirting. But things get a little more confusing as more presents pile up, but with fewer hints as to who the gifters are.
And maybe some prompt ideas for a Holiday/Christmas one-shot, please? 😅