During 'Origins Par 2,' if Ivan hadn't been akumatized at the beginning of the day (maybe later instead). I wanted to explore Adrien's potential reaction upon learning Marinette's name after the chewing gum incident.

It's not exactly romantic or cutesy, but it does show some first intrigue about Marinette to Adrien after they first meet.

Adrinette April 2024

Day #20: Best Friends

"Agreste, Adrien," Miss Bustier called out, standing behind her desk with her tablet in her hands.

The blonde boy was staring straight ahead at the teacher, ready and eager to begin his first official day of school. But when she called his name—backwards—out of nowhere, he wasn't sure why. She hadn't asked him a question and he didn't think he did anything wrong.

Adrien wasn't too familiar with classroom basics. What was he supposed to do again?

"You say 'present'" his new seatmate, Nino, whispered to him.

Oh right. This was rollcall. He was supposed to reply so the teacher could mark him as present for the day.

Adrien jumped up from his seat. "Uh, present!" he shouted, sticking his arm straight up above him.

Everyone started to chuckle around him. Miss Bustier even gave him an amused smile. Adrien rubbed the back of his head bashfully as he sat back down. He probably didn't need to say it that loud. He was a little embarrassed but he didn't mind making his fellow classmates laugh. They were laughing with him, not at him.

Seated again, Adrien turned back to Nino. He smiled back at him and offered him a reassuring fist pump. Everything was cool. He'll get the hang of school basics eventually.

"Bourgeois, Chloe." Miss Bustier continued.

"Present," his old friend replied from behind him.

"Bruel, Ivan."

"Present."

Adrien listened closely to the names Miss Bustier listed off. These were his classmates for the rest of the school year so it was important for him to know their names. Hopefully, he could make friends with all of them. He also turned around so he could see who replied to each name so he could see which body belonged to each name.

After Ivan, the larger boy behind Chloe, Miss Bustier called for 'Cesaire, Alya' and the girl in the front row on the other side of the room spoke up.

Not the girl who now hated him for something he didn't do, the girl sitting next to her, closer to the window.

After her was another girl; 'Couffaine, Juleka.' The tall girl wearing a black and purple dress in the back stood up and mumbled something before sitting back down. She must be shy and had trouble speaking up. But at least she stood up so Miss Bustier could clearly see that she was indeed present and accounted for.

"Dupain-Cheng, Marinette."

"Present."

To see who this classmate was, Adrien only had to turn his head a bit to the right.

It was her. The girl who now hated him for something he didn't do. Sitting right across the aisle from him. Her arm was raised and she was facing the teacher.

Marinette. Her name was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Adrien wasn't sure why but finally knowing her name had him more intrigued by her.

Instead of paying attention to the rest of the classes names and looking to see who they were, Adrien found himself continuing to stare at the girl across the aisle.

Adrien still felt not so great for not being able to get the gum off her seat in time, and even less after hearing her voice angrily tell him off after thinking that it was all his fault. And Chloe's.

Based on what Chloe was saying earlier and what he knew about her—having known her most of his life—this probably wasn't the first time she'd pulled a mean prank on Marinette. There was also Nino's reaction to when he introduced himself and his hesitation to shake his hand when he discovered that he was friends with the spoiled girl.

'So, you're friends with Chloe.' That's what they both had said. Like it was all the information they needed to stay as far away from him as possible.

Chloe said it was to command respect to herself but that was silly. Being mean to people couldn't make anyone respect you. If someone had put gum on his seat, he'd call them a bully.

Maybe that's who Chloe really was. A bully.

He had been trying to take it off—but to her, it looked like he was putting it on—then Chloe and Sabrina started laughing at her. That was all the proof she had needed.

Even after he told her he was just trying to take it off, she didn't believe him.

He was friends with Chloe. Her bully. That's was all she needed to know to not trust him.

She had every right to be mad at him.

After Marinette had scolded him and they both sat down, Nino had asked him why he didn't just tell her directly that it was just Chloe and he had nothing to do with it.

She's been Adrien's only friend for so long. His best friend? Maybe.

That was when Nino finally introduced himself, offered him his hand to shake, and also offered him some friendly advice to make some new friends.

Maybe he was right. Adrien wanted friends who were nice. Nino seemed nice.

Sure, he still knew that he was friends with Chloe but he just saw for himself that he wasn't like her. He didn't 'command respect' like Chloe did. He needed nice friends.

Adrien wondered if Marinette was nice too. True, she hadn't been so nice to him so far but he totally understood why. Maybe if he told her properly what had happened, they could start over, and he could see how nice she really was.

Adrien was still staring at Marinette as he thought about everything.

She was smiling as she faced the board. She had a nice smile. That was a good sign.

From the corner of her eye, she must have finally noticed that he was staring at her. She turned her head a bit to him and threw a mild sneer at him before looking away again with a huff.

Yup. Still hated him.

Adrien decided to finally stop staring at her and faced the board. Miss Bustier was finally done with rollcall so he needed to pay attention. But every once in a while, when he could, he found himself briefly glancing back at her again.

He wanted to make things right. Make her understand that while Chloe was his friend, he didn't put the gum on her seat and he'd never do that to her himself or anyone else ever.

He'd tell her later, maybe at lunch or right before they all left for the day.

He wanted them to be friends.

Maybe even best friends.

Rollcall was arranged alphabetically by last names. So I looked up all of their full names and put them in alphabetical order to make it accurate.

(still no sign of the Marichat May prompts for this year. Just like last year, super late).

Next chapter will be the 22nd. See u then ;D