Hello Miraculers! I hope you enjoy my new story. No villains in this one, just our characters having some good fun :)
Disclaimer, I own nothing of the Miraculous world.
"So, class," Miss Bustier announced. "As you all know, in a month's time we have our annual school festival, which means that for the rest of the week, we teachers will be taking names from students who would like to participate in anything. So, if you would like to help organise, decorate, or put your name down for any events, please come see me or another teacher before the end of this week."
There was a murmur of excitement among the students as the bell rang and they all filed out.
"You know, I haven't done one of these things before," said Alya. "What does it involve?"
"Well, there aren't any classes that day," her best friend Marinette explained. "Instead, we do things like have races and games in the morning. Then we have an extended lunch with lots of booths where we can buy various things and free food. And in the afternoon, there's usually some big event, like last year the students put on a play. It's a lot of fun."
Nino and Adrien had joined them by this point, and both Alya and the blonde were looking excited. "That sounds awesome!" Adrien exclaimed.
Marinette blushed and nodded.
"So, what are they doing this year?" Alya asked the group at large.
Nino replied, "I asked Miss Bustier. They're doing a talent show. So, I'm going to show off my DJ skills."
"Cool. I'll have to put my name down, too," Adrien said.
"Really? What are you going to do?" Alya asked.
"Not sure yet," the model laughed. "But I'm sure I'll think of something."
"Well, I'm sure Rose, Juleka and Ivan would like to enter Kitty Section," Marinette pointed out, managing not to stutter only by avoiding looking at the beautiful boy.
"Yeah, true," Adrien mused. "But I kinda want to do something else as well. Hmm…I wonder if we're allowed to enter ourselves more than once?"
Which was the first thing he asked Miss Bustier when they all got back to class.
Miss Bustier informed him that each group or person could only be entered once, meaning if someone wanted to present two acts, they'd have to part of a group or pair for at least one of them.
This was lucky for Adrien, as not only was Marinette correct in saying Kitty Section would want to enter (and they were quick to make sure Adrien could be involved) but Kagami also approached him and suggested that they put on a demonstration on behalf of the fencing club.
Nino also entered, as he'd said, as a DJ, and also decided to join the girls to help organise. Marinette suspected this was more to make Alya happy than anything else.
Alya had requested to be the official reporter for the day; a request swiftly granted when she eagerly volunteered to help with setup as well.
Marinette ended up being put in charge of designing the decorations. She also decided to run her own booth selling some of her designs. And of course, she was asked to recruit her parents to provide part of the school-wide lunch. Tom and Sabine agreed at once; they'd been part of the school festival for years and got as excited as any of the students.
All four of the friends decided to take part in the morning games, and they had a lot of fun taunting each other over who would win each of the events.
So, for the next few weeks, all of them were kept busy with the preparations.
On the day of the festival, Marinette, Alya and Nino arrived early along with the teachers and the rest of the student organisers to help set up.
As the other students arrived, many of them decided to help out as well, so it wasn't long before everything was finished.
"Wow, it looks great, Marinette," said a familiar voice in the bluenette's ear.
She jumped and whirled around and almost fell over, but Adrien's quick reflexes had already kicked in and he grabbed her elbows, steadying her. Marinette blushed even more. "Th-th-thank moo. You!"
He gave her a friendly smile. "No worries."
When she was certain she'd regained her balance, she stepped awkwardly away.
Adrien dropped his hands and nodded at the low platform that had been set up in the middle of the school courtyard. "I think they're about to start."
Sure enough, Principal Damocles was standing on the platform with a microphone, while teachers were trying to shepherd any stragglers over to the crowd in front of him. Adrien and Marinette headed over as well, taking their places next to Alya and Nino.
"Welcome everyone, to our school festival, celebrating the founding of our beloved Francois DuPont College 155 years ago. I know you're all excited, so I'll go ahead and announce the first event: our speed-eating competition!"
There was an outbreak of cheering and whoops.
Damocles smiled at his students. "So, if your name is entered for this event, please take a seat over here." The principal waved towards a long table set up at the side of the courtyard, set for ten people along one side.
Adrien winked at his three friends. "Wish me luck."
He and nine others went to take their seats, including Kim and Alix. Aside from Alix, there were only two other girls. All of them were cheered on by their various friends.
"Alright," said Damocles, once the ten had taken their seats. He'd stepped on the platform and followed everyone else over to the table. "The rules are simple. Finish as many hotdogs as you can in ten minutes. You must completely finish each one, and whomever eats the most wins! Are you ready, contestants?"
They all nodded.
"3…2…1…Go!"
The ten entrants immediately began cramming food in their mouths, while the rest of the school broke into excited shouting.
Ten minutes later, a huge cheer went up for Sebastian, who'd beaten almost all others easily. Marinette whispered to Alya that he had been the favourite due to his impressive win last year as well.
Adrien surprised everyone by taking second. The slim blonde had seemed to inhale each hotdog, leaving the rest far behind.
The girls laughed and cheered while Nino shook his head with a kind of resigned wonder and said, "Don't get between my bro and food."
Alya and Marinette laughed and congratulated Adrien once he'd rejoined them.
The games continued, with at least one of the four friends participating in most of them. Alya took part in the fewest, preferring to watch so she could record and later report on the school blog, but still had her share of events. The foursome got particularly competitive whenever they all took part in the same competition, such as the three-legged and wheelbarrow races. The former saw Marinette and Alya facing the two boys, but they switched teams for the latter, so Alya and Nino ran against Marinette and Adrien.
Though none of them had managed to actually win, the whole school agreed this was probably the most memorable thing to happen so far. Ten seconds into the race, an embarrassed Marinette – too overcome by holding her crush's ankles – tripped in a truly spectacular manner and ended up bruising both herself and partner. Adrien laughed it off and the two eventually picked themselves back up and continued, though with no hope of catching up to the rest. When they tripped the second time, Adrien suggested they switch places, which was almost as disastrous. The pair ended up finally finishing the single lap of the courtyard a full five minutes after the next pair, and the only thing that stopped Marinette fleeing the scene in mortified terror was Adrien grabbing her and crushing her in a giant hug with a laugh and the comment that "at least it would surely make this festival stand out."
The rest of the school was laughing as well, though like Adrien, the majority found it endearing to see two of their favourite classmates act like such fools.
Tome and Sabine (and the other parents who'd been asked to provide lunch) had arrived by this time, and comforted their daughter as well, so the bluenette was soon back in good spirits.
Her mind quickly turned to other things once lunch had started, and she set up her booth. Alya had delegated Nino to continue her reporting duties so she could help her friend, but as it turned out, it was unnecessary.
"Hello, Marinette," said a familiar voice. Kagami had approached, along with a number of Marinette's other classmates, to inspect the selection of homemade jewellery.
"Hey, Kagami!" Marinette replied.
"Do you see anything you like?" Alya asked.
Instead of answering, the fencer picked up a delicate chain with a simple pendant charm. "This is nice."
"Yeah, it really suits you," Marinette agreed as the other girl held it up to her throat.
Kagami gave her a small but genuine smile and said, "How much?"
Once she'd paid for the necklace, she glanced at Alya and asked, "Do you want to go see the rest of the displays for your blog? I will stay and help Marinette."
The other two looked at each other, taken aback. But Marinette quickly smiled, so the reporter said, "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Kagami." She waved and departed.
Kagami sat down in her chair, and the two blue-haired girls had a great time selling the rest of the jewellery. It was nice too, Marinette thought, since it gave Kagami a chance to talk to a lot of the other students, as most of them still didn't really know how to treat her.
When the talent show finally rolled around, the school gathered once more in front of the small stage, this time sitting and relaxing on the ground, many of them still munching on the snacks from the various food stalls.
Alya had managed to save a space and a croissant for Marinette and Kagami in the front row. Marinette immediately seated herself beside her friend, but Kagami just thanked her for the food and said she had to get ready for her act. The other two nodded and waved her off with a "Good luck!"
The talent show was highly entertaining. Mylène and a few other students performed a comedy skit first, which had everyone laughing and was given an enthusiastic cheer at the end, though no one cheered louder than Ivan. Then came a singer, a dancer and another singer. After that was Adrien and Kagami in their fencing display. Kagami won, though just barely. Nino was on next, showing off his DJ skills. The crowd, already worked up from the fencing match, was soon up and dancing along.
Then came a violinist and another comedy act, which was followed by Kitty Section. After Kitty Section was a pair of gymnasts, a mime and then another singer. Then Damocles got up to announce the last act.
"And finally, Adrien Agreste with…um…" He peered at his notes as though he wasn't quite sure what it said, "showing us his…baton twirling."
There was a silence, broken only by a few sardonic titters.
Marinette stared at Alya, who just shrugged, looking as bewildered as she. Even Nino, who'd joined them after his own performance, seemed mystified.
Adrien stepped out on stage once more, two long batons in his hands. He gave his audience a somewhat nervous grin as he took his stance. Then he nodded towards Miss Mendeliev, who stood waiting beside a laptop, and she hit play.
Marinette's jaw – along with everyone else's – dropped as they witnessed the next several minutes. Adrien was, in a word, magnificent. The batons whirled and spun so fast and so gracefully it was as though they had a life of their own. Adrien barely seemed to even touch them as he guided them through the air. Sometimes he held one still, allowing the other to shine alone, keeping it going with just one hand, or occasionally bouncing it off the other.
When the music finally stopped and the blonde struck his final pose with both sticks raised in the air, there was a stunned silence. Then a roaring cheer broke from the students as they all stood and screamed, clapping madly.
"What was that?!" Alya hooted. She had to shout to be heard above the others, even though Marinette, to whom the question was directed, was right next to her.
Marinette just shrugged. "I had no idea he could do that."
"I don't think anyone did!" her friend laughed.
Afterwards, Principal Damocles announced that the day was over and the students were free to leave. Many students, including Marinette, Alya, Nino and Adrien, stayed long enough to help tidy up, but the teachers soon shooed them off, telling them to go home and enjoy their afternoon. The foursome walked over to the Dupain-Cheng bakery instead. Tom and Sabine welcomed them all, saying they could help themselves to anything in the bakery, so they all grabbed a couple of sweet buns each. (Adrien restricted himself to half a dozen and promised to pay, but they waved him off.)
"How can you still be so hungry after that contest this morning?" Alya demanded, amazed. "And lunch! I saw you with a full plate at least three different times!"
The others chuckled and Nino simply repeated, "I told you: don't get between my bro and food." Then he pivoted in his seat to face the blonde. "What I want to know is, how come none of us knew you could spin a baton like that? Dude, that was incredible!"
Adrien winked. "I have many hidden talents, my friend."
"Well, that is one hell of a secret talent," Alya commented.
Adrien just grinned at her.
I hope you liked my story and that you'll leave me a review to tell me what you think.
Love OnlyHere4Puckabrina xoxo
