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School was an ordeal sometimes, but it was all Adrien could do to make it there on time. The bakery he lived at was conveniently located next to his school, and he thanked the stars that his mother had insisted on opening a bakery before her untimely passing. Getting to school on time had never really been an issue before, but it was getting harder to get himself up, even with his own source of positive energy at his side all the time.
“You’re not going to be late,” chirped a voice from beneath his jacket. “Don’t worry.”
“I can’t help it,” murmured Adrien as he crossed the street. “Father’s always been a stickler for timeliness. I can’t exactly shake the habit.”
“Being on time is important,” conceded Tikki. “If you leave cookies in the oven too long, they’ll burn!”
“You’ve got that right.” He stepped through their school’s huge open doors and smiled brightly at the sight of all its students milling about in the open court, windows collapsed to allow pure sunlight to fill up the space.
“Adrien! Good morning!” Nino strode over, smile wide and white against his brown skin. “How was your weekend?”
“Tiring,” said Adrien, which was more of an understatement than anything considering that he and Lady Noir had worked for hours on an akumatized victim that had been fixated on building huge Lego structures. The child had been cute despite the destruction that they had caused, but it had cost the two heroes a chunk of their night. “And yours?”
“Alya and I watched this awesome movie with Marinette, but she cut out halfway.” Adrien perked up at the sound of her name. “Apparently, her parents needed her home for something urgent.”
“I hope everything is okay,” he said softly.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was an incredibly interesting person, as far as Adrien was concerned. She was the daughter of two famous fashion designers, and she often modelled their designs. They were scandal free, and Marinette’s genuine kindness and honesty bled through in everything she did. Sure, she was a little clumsy sometimes, but she was cute and considerate and just an all-around fantastic human being.
She was incredible. Like an everyday superhero. And maybe he was a little in love with her, but who wasn’t at this point?
“We can probably ask her,” said Nino. “She’s coming over right now.”
Adrien felt himself look sharply at Marinette, who approached them with Alya faithfully at her side. “Nino.” Her eyes slid, smooth and blue as a summer pool, from Nino to Adrien. “Adrien.”
“Hi," he managed to get out.
“Morning,” she said. “Is everyone doing well?” A chorus of shrugs and sighs greeted her. “I agree. Monday’s are always so bleh-“ She made a face that had her friends chuckling away.
“Is everything alright at home, Marinette?” asked Adrien. “I heard that you couldn’t stay for the whole movie.”
There was only a slight hesitation in her voice as she said, “Oh, yeah. Yes. I had to head home." She folded her hands nervously behind her back. "For my dad. He needed my help for something.”
“For fashion week?” he offered helpfully. He remembered being invited to that movie night, remembered turning it down so that he could help his father with the bakery and do homework, remembered closing the store for a short period of time while his father was on a delivery in order to save the day as Mister Bug.
Marinette snapped her fingers and grinned, any earlier anxiety sweeping off her face. “Exactly. A girl can’t quit,” she said. “If I’m going to follow in their footsteps and perfect my outfits, I need to learn from the best.”
Ah, she was practically overflowing with joy, thought Adrien sweetly. There was so much pride in her voice when she talked about her parents and the TS brand they had cultivated together. It was a success story in every sense for them, and Adrien felt happy for her when she talked about them. He was a little envious too, of course. A part of him longed for that same feeling with his father. He was plenty proud of the Agreste bakery. He loved making new things, creating beautiful cakes and tasty treats. But sometimes he wished that he didn't have to; that he could just be a normal boy without a job and simply spend time with his father and his friends.
But alas, he was both a busy boy and a busy superhero. One just couldn’t quit, as Marinette had so aptly put it.
“Are you participating in the fashion show at the end of the month?” asked Nino curiously.
Marinette nodded, and Adrien’s heart jumped in his chest when she turned to look at him. “Of course I am. My parents want me to try modelling some of their more delicate designs, and I’m excited for it. They also said I’d be allowed to try out one of my own.”
“Your own designs?” Adrien perked up and noticed that Alya was shaking her head playfully.
“You’ve got so many though!” laughed Alya, and Marinette blushed.
“I’ve got a lot of ideas,” she said, half-bashful, before smiling more brightly. “But to be honest, I’ve always loved designing more than I liked modelling, and I think this is my chance to show my parents that I can do it.”
“There’s a catch, girl. Even I can tell.” Alya put an arm around her friend and squeezed. “Spill.”
“Well, I was hoping you guys would be willing to model for me?”
“No way, really?” Alya hugged her friend close, cheering for her. Nino was smiling too, happy for her, but Adrien found his mind wandering off in a blissful daydream, thinking of how blessed he was to be friends with Marinette. Modelling for her sounded like such an amazing experience.
“I don’t really think I’m model material,” said Nino, “but I’ll give it a shot for you.”
“Oh, you’ll all be fantastic,” said Marinette. “I’ve already designed for Alya, so I know she’ll be amazing. Nino, you’ve got the right height for some of the pieces I want to try.” Nino blushed with pride while Marinette turned to Adrien. “And you are literally perfect!”
Adrien felt like his throat was closing up, his heart racing in his chest at her words. “I am?”
“Your build and proportions seem best for the outfit that I want people to see,” she said simply, her entire expression looking so pleased with him that Adrien nearly swooned on the spot. He’d never felt more blessed to have blond hair and fit physique from his fencing practice “I’ve been thinking of using our local superheroes as inspiration, and I think you would really work well with the Mister Bug inspired look I have in mind.”
She thinks I look like a superhero, thought Adrien blissfully before realizing that Marinette thought he looked like Mister Bug.
And he was Mister Bug.
The school bell rung, pulling them all away from their conversation and drawing them towards the classroom. Nino and Alya stepped together as they headed to their classroom, and Adrien and Marinette fell into step next to one another, exchanging an easy smile.
"So, that akuma this weekend?" she began. "What did you think?"
"The Lego Master?" Adrien laughed, trying to shrug off some of his earlier nervousness. It was a Mister Bug inspired outfit. It wasn’t like she was going to stick him in a suit with a mask and reveal him to the world. "I'm glad Mister Bug and Lady Noir were there. I can't imagine what would have happened without them. Especially Lady Noir." Adrien could not help the adoration that slipped out when he thought of Lady Noir. Strong, confident, stunning Lady Noir. Regardless of her propensity for bad luck, she was an absolute force on the battlefield and had more than once helped him figure out how to use his Lucky Charm. She was always aiding him in battle, redirecting him towards his target; like the ultimate compass.
"She gets the job done," said Marinette, "but she wouldn't have been able to do it without Mister Bug. He's an integral part of the team."
Adrien felt himself flush. Compliments from Marinette were considered high praise in his book, even If she was just kind to everybody. The only other time he'd heard something that kind was from Lady Noir herself, who had on more than one occasion, smiled brightly at him and praised his abilities. It wasn't common, and it certainly wasn't underappreciated. He wanted to thank Marinette but knew that he couldn't without giving himself away.
"I'm sure," he said instead, face flushing. "Mister Bug would be happy to hear you say something like that."
Marinette smiled, and this time it was a soft, almost fond, look. "I'm sure he would be."
It gave Adrien pause and reminded him - for a brief, wild moment - what it felt like to have Lady Noir direct that kind of expression at him. His Lady was playful and creative, quick and cunning. And she could flirt like it was nobody's business. She overflowed with confidence, and her puns were top-notch. But she looked at him with quiet adoration in her eyes, eyes that he often wished he would be receiving from Marinette instead.
"Marinette?"
"Yes?" Her blue eyes met his again, so different from the vivid greens of Lady Noir, but just as beautiful.
"I was just going to ask if-" He stopped abruptly, a hand quickly going to grab Marinette's arm and pull her back before she walked face-first into the classroom door. It felt so reflexive to do so, and he thought back to every instance where Lady Noir, despite her charm, still had the misfortune of breaking mirrors or tripping on cracked sidewalks. It wasn't often. In fact, it nearly never affected them in battle, her bad luck manifesting itself whenever she used her Cataclysm. Without that outlet, patrols with Lady Noir were often a game to see when she would break something. It was terribly frustrating to his Lady, who very much took pride in her quick, cat-like reflexes, but there was only so many times she could claim to be quick when she slipped on absolutely nothing in the streets.
Back to the lady at hand, however. "Are you okay?"
"Me? Yes, I'm fantastic." Marinette's cheeks flushed a familiar pink hue and she righted herself, a hand lingering on his shoulder. "Sorry. Thank you, Adrien."
"Happy to help," he said before finally prying himself away from her with a gentle smile. He missed her close already. "Shall we go in?"
She nodded and boldly linked their arms together. Nothing, Adrien decided, had ever felt so right to him before, nor quite so familiar. "We shall."