Chapter 2: Ataraxia: "A state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety, tranquility or untroubled mind." (1)
"The stone beings are scattered all over Paris and for the time being they're showing no signs of movement," Nadia Chamack stated, her eyes never straying from the camera no matter how much her hands shook as she read the report aloud.
"Police have closed off the area and warn local residents to not approach them for their own safety,"
She continued, her sentence supported by multiple images and amateur videos, that showed the panic and fear of the citizens when strangers, friends or even family turned into monsters before their eyes.
Marinette gulped audibly as she watched the news from her seat at the breakfast table.
Her pupils shaking at the sight of the damage that had been caused by the attack yesterday, while the charts that depicted the number of casualties, damaged properties and newly transformed people, continued to rise with every minute.
Forcing the tense muscles in her hands to relax, lest she'd get a cramp in there, a shaky exhale left her lungs before she gently set down the cocoa bowl that she had been drinking from, scared of spilling the contents if she watched any longer.
Rubbing her eyes, Marinette let out a long yawn and sighed, feeling disgusting from the exhaustion that was nagging at her eyelids ever since she woke up from her two hour long nap.
It was no surprise really, since she had spent most of the night searching the Internet for anything related to the new superheroes. And while that had been rather easy with the onslaught of information all over social media, it was made sheer impossible to find actual helpful posts beneath all those spammers that kept on refreshing her feed.
Most of the posts were of a similar nature.
These monsters, (not the spammers), that were frozen since yesterday and hadn't moved an inch the entire time, had become a pretty big attraction for people as soon as they realised that they wouldn't attack them if they got close.
A lot of them said that they tried to sneak close and take pictures or touch them as a dare, but before they could actually do anything, they were immediately shooed away by the police that sent them home. While others spent their time coming up with new conspiracy theories and claiming that this was some new art project or another ploy set up by the government to replace their bird drones or whatever.
Marinette sighed and rubbed her temples, forcing herself to focus on the Live report that was being shown.
"We won't stop until we find a way to get these people back into a normal state." The Mayor promised, raising his fist with an air of confidence while the red-haired police chief nodded along. Both doing their best to better the people's faith in them, even though the next sentence didn't help their case. "...But for now we're not making much headway."
"Pff-"
Marinette snorted, a small laugh escaping her for the first time on this rather depressing morning.
Of course they wouldn't, they only found out about the existence of magic and superpowers yesterday, so how in the world would they know how to save them?!
Marinette herself had to check her drawer as soon as she woke up, to make sure that the box was still in there and that she hadn't just dreamt it all in the end.
A not completely irrational response, as she often had trouble discerning memories from dreams whenever she recalled them.
The TV flickered back to the studio when the mayor's speech was over and Nadia Chamack said her closing line for today.
"Paris is now relying on our new guardian angels, Ladybug and Chat Noir to save us all, our lives depend on them."
A forced smile stretched across her face as she finished, her hands clutching the tablet close to her chest before they finally switched to the weather.
Noticing the suspicious silence that followed, her dad, who was washing the dishes while her mother was downstairs to manage the bakery, turned around and saw the tense posture and trembling fists in her lap.
Tom frowned.
Although he tried his best not to make it too obvious, he had been worried ever since he saw her coming down from her room with glassy and tired eyes. His poor daughter hadn't even acknowledged his greeting when she got to the kitchen, as her focus immediately shifted to the news report that was being shown on the TV.
And seeing her weak state now, he prayed that she hadn't gotten sick from the stress caused by yesterday's incident, because he had once read in a health magazine that excessive amounts of stress could cause a person to fall ill.
But regardless of the reason, whether it was stress or just the news, he didn't want his daughter to feel bad or, God forbid, guilty for no reason.
Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gained her attention.
"Listen," Tom started, rubbing his neck since he wasn't sure how to approach this, "I know how upsetting and scary this is but... don't worry too much sweetheart, now we've got two superheroes looking after Paris and the best way of helping them is to show them that we are not scared no matter what happens!"
Looking at his daughter for her reaction, he sincerely hoped that he managed to look confident and reassuring during his little speech, only to nearly freak out when he saw tears dripping from her eyes.
His worry seeped through the cracks and he quickly lowered himself to her eye level, fully prepared to overwhelm her with questions and "What's wrong?"-s when he suddenly felt a warm weight hugging him and muffled sniffles from where her face was squashed against his apron.
His surprise melted away almost instantly and he smiled, gently patting her back as he engulfed her in a light hug while the TV continued to play in the background, saying something about a storm in the next few days.
"But...what if Ladybug fails?"
Came the muffled question after a few minutes of silence in which she had managed to calm down before she pushed herself away from his chest and exposed her reddened eyes and flushed, wet cheeks.
"Then... I'd come and save you, super baker to the rescue!"
As his last resort, he quickly grabbed the baguette from the table and started posing with a bright, heroic smile on his face.
He was so proud of himself at that moment when he witnessed the spark in his daughter's eyes come back to life and make her look like the cheerful daughter he knew rather than the sad Dumpling that had sat there moments ago.
Feeling slightly better after hearing his words, Marinette stood up and hugged him once more, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks super dad,"
She said with a bright yet exhausted smile and ran upstairs to get her things for the new school day.
A soft smile etched itself onto his face as he watched his daughter's retreating back and sighed deeply as soon as she was out of sight, placing the baguette back onto the table.
Tom had to talk to his wife, Xia-Bing.
It was deeply upsetting to see such a drastic change in their daughter's behaviour because of that incident at her school yesterday.
He was worried that if those continued to pile up, they might need to consider changing schools or even moving away.
But Tom didn't want to upset her even if that decision was for the best.
He just hoped that she would forgive them if that ever needed to happen.
Meanwhile, Marinette had just finished packing her bag and removing all signs of her crying as best as she could, before she straightened out her clothes and picked up her small, handmade purse where she kept her phone, wallet and all sorts of other important stuff.
Walking briskly towards the sink with her backpack slung over her shoulder, her eyes fell onto the drawer beneath it.
Her hand tightened its hold around the strap of the purse the longer her eyes lingered on it.
She didn't know what it was that made her hesitate so much. Alya was clearly the better choice between the two of them, so why did her heart flutter so nervously at the thought of giving it away?
Marinette slapped her cheek.
If only she would stop overthinking so much.
Exhaling sharply, she opened the drawer and put the box into her purse, determined to put her plan into action as long as her fear didn't catch up with her again. It was better to live a normal life anyway.
Quietly humming, Marinette stood near the stairs and waited for Alya at their usual meeting spot.
It was a nice morning, the air was fresh, the sun was already in the sky and the rubble from yesterday's chaos still blocked a good part of the road, causing all who drove by car to struggle.
A few students passed her on their way to class during the time she waited and among them were Alix and Kim, the two local sports fanatics with their eternal competition.
Just like every other morning, she could faintly hear the thundering footsteps in the distance, when a sudden gust of wind caught a few loose strands of her hair and made them flutter wildly as they rushed past her and into the school.
Brushing them behind her ear, she waited with a pitying smile when a few minutes later, Max, the poor guy, passed by and could only wave weakly at her with his stoping watch in hand before resuming his chase after the two, as it was his duty to evaluate the scores of their usual 7 o'clock morning sprint.
Chuckling softly she checked her face in the small pocket mirror to make sure that her eyes weren't too red to be noticeable and put it back with a satisfied smile. In that moment she spotted Alya in the distance who, like every morning, rode her bike to school.
But while that was pretty convenient and a smart way to not slack off for PE, it would make Marinette's life easier if she wouldn't disregard her safety so often. Considering that right now, Alya was biking towards her with only one hand on the steering wheel while the other waved at her with her phone in hand, her sole focus lying on her friend and not the road ahead.
Pasting a bright smile onto her face, Marinette waved happily and approached her friend once she parked the bike and took off her helmet.
Not even seconds later, her vision was filled by the phone that Alya shoved into her face, her grin so big and bright, one might think that the little device had hung the stars into the sky.
"Look! Look look look!!! I did it! Hahahaha! Look how popular I am!"
Alya squealed, jumping up and down and waving her phone around so much that Marinette couldn't even see what it was that she was so excited about.
Grabbing the flailing arm after nearly getting elbowed in the face Marinette grunted,
"Alya! Alya calm down I can't see anything!"
And wrestled her to a stop to take a look.
"I made a Blog! The Ladyblog! The place that brings you all the latest news about our superheroes Ladybug and Chat Noir!"
Alya bragged loudly and freed her hand out of her grasp, scrolling down to her first post to look at the views with a smile that rivalled the sun.
"I mean, how awesome is that?! Check out the number of views since I've posted the video!"
She yelled, squashing her friend's personal space to a zero as she presented her blog, standing next to her, shoulder to shoulder.
"Holy shit..."
Marinette whispered, absolutely shocked as she stared at the two million views that...kept rising?!
Was it normal to feel lightheaded all of a sudden?
She didn't think so.
For some reason Alya's voice started to fade into the background, growing more and more distant in her ears the longer she stared at the views.
It was a weird feeling to be honest. As if she was floating further and further away from reality.
"And wait until y-...uh Mari?"
"Huh? What?"
Marinette blinked and shook her head, a sudden burst of clarity ripping her from whatever trance she had been stuck in moments ago.
"Are you alright? You look pale..."
Alya asked, her happy expression melting into a worried one as she placed her palm on her forehead.
"Hm...not too warm. Do you think you'll be alright in class?"
"Uh- uhm- yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry about it, I'm just tired that's all."
Marinette said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile and brushed her off, scrambling up the stairs and hoping that it would hide her shaking hands.
Alya looked doubtful and observed her for a few minutes longer as she felt off for some reason, while her phone hung limp in her hand. But in the end, she sighed and chose to let it go. If it was something serious Marinette would always tell her.
Walking slowly through the entrance, Marinette gazed at her friend nervously, her heart going crazy from fear as it had been doing the entire morning.
The same went for her mind, which just couldn't decide if she should or shouldn't ask the question. But it seemed that her mouth was faster this time and blurted it out on its own.
"Why do you trust Ladybug so much?"
Marinette immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. Her bright blue eyes staring at Alya's surprised face.
Alya frowned faintly, a little concerned over her friend's weird behaviour today and asked in a hesitant tone,
"Why not? She did save us yesterday didn't she? And she's a hero!"
"But- but the stone beings..."
Seeing how jittery Marinette was, Alya put on a confident face and stated with a fist on top of her heart, "She's gonna handle them!"
without an ounce of doubt. Having faith in the heroes that she had spent her entire life reading about.
"But what if she's not cut out to be a superhero?! Even though everyone thinks she is."
Marinette asked and promptly flinched at her blurted-out question, slapping her hand across her mouth again.
What was wrong with her today?! She wasn't usually the kind of person who would just blurt out things so randomly, especially in such dangerous situations.
Alya eyed her suspiciously.
"Marinette..." she said as she moved closer to her pale face and pushed up her glasses that glinted threateningly.
"Could it be that you want to tell me something?"
Marinette gulped and stepped back, smiling nervously, "What? N-no not at all! What do you mean?"
She stuttered, trying to escape Alya's sharp eyes that seemed to study each and every one of her reactions.
After a few seconds of silence, a look of enlightenment crossed Alya's face and she smiled knowingly, a smug expression settling on her face as she leaned back.
"I know what this is about Marinette,"
She stated with full confidence, not noticing the flash of panic that flickered in Marinette's eyes, "you're scared, but you don't need to be. I've seen it with my own two eyes. Ladybug's gonna protect us all, I believe in her."
Patting her friend on the shoulder, she gave her a last reassuring smile and walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Marinette behind before she scrambled after her, not wanting to stand there like a gaping idiot.
Marinette could kick herself for being so stupid.
How could she forget how much faith Alya had in heroes no matter what kind of franchise they were from? So why did she expect her to be suspicious of two superheroes who just randomly appeared in the real world as if this was a badly written comic book?
Sometimes Alya really was a little naive. Or at least that applied to everything that had to do with heroes when she was otherwise a very sharp and intelligent girl. A trait that she couldn't help but admire.
But her train of thought soon changed its course, when she noticed a small crowd of students, mainly composed of her classmates, that had gathered around a bench. A bench that Ivan was sitting on.
"So you really don't remember anything?" Alix asked the boy with something akin to distrust, the rest mimicking her by standing farther away from him than usual.
It was quite obvious that they feared him with the number of fleeting glances and glares he received from the other students in the school, as well as the wide arc they gave him whenever he passed by.
Ivan squirmed uncomfortably under the gazes of his classmates and curled further into himself, trying to make his bulky frame smaller.
"No, nothing... and I'm sorry, I wasn't myself..."
He mumbled weakly, not daring to look them in the eyes.
A shiver ran down his spine when he remembered the utter confusion he felt once he woke up in the stadium.
It was as if he had woken up from a fever dream and for a moment he thought he was still in one when he saw that weird girl, covered in red and black clothing talking to him and who apparently even knew his name despite never meeting him before.
Then, after she disappeared, Alya had approached him and explained everything that happened, even showing him the footage when he wouldn't- couldn't believe her claims. To say that he was shocked was an understatement when he saw the absolute carnage he- or rather Stoneheart had caused.
Thank goodness Alya had lowered the camera in shock at the most crucial moment when he got detransformed before said footage ended up on the news, or his life would've been over.
Next to that, Ivan was also grateful that she hadn't told the officers that he was the monster once they arrived at the scene and only explained vaguely that he had been present when that happened but couldn't give a statement due to shock.
"You were totally going ballistic it was so cool!" Juleka exclaimed, ripping him from his dark thoughts as she stared at him with glittering eyes.
She was the only one who wasn't terrified at the sight of him and to be honest, he wasn't sure how to feel about that. Juleka had always been a rather introverted person, even more so than him, and she usually only really talked with her best friend Rose.
So to see her so excited while everyone else was scared of him was both a blessing and a curse.
"You were totally about to crush me dude."
Kim said, that smug and proud look never having left his face as soon as he had spotted him.
Of course, Alya had told him how Kim had run away, crying like a baby and that fact did help him to not strangle that prick right then and there, but he was still pissed.
Distantly Ivan wondered if Kim even felt bad for being the reason why he got transformed in the first place, but he doubted it. Seeing as Kim did have a crush on Chloe, for reasons unknown, and did everything to be in her good grace. Thus resorting to bullying and belittling others except for maybe Alix or Max.
But in the end, none of these people mattered as much to him as his secret crush Mylene.
A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips when he thought of her and her kind personality. The only reason why he even realised that he was in love with her was because of the warmth that blossomed inside his chest every time he so much as looked at her.
Of course, at first he thought he was getting sick and googled all night to find an answer if one ignored how often Google told him he would die in two days.
But never mind that, the real problem was how or even if he should tell her.
Sneaking a glance at her, they accidentally made eye contact and in that short moment, he felt as if his whole world was being crushed, when he saw the fear in her eyes and how quickly she looked away from him.
Pained by her reaction and the traitorous pang in his heart, he averted his eyes and forced his feelings back into the corner that they came from.
What was he thinking anyway?
Mylene was too kind and gentle to end up with someone like him. She had every right to be scared of him, especially now that the whole school knew what he had done. And all that just because Kim had put two and two together and decided to tell the whole school with the help of the devil incarnate Chloe.
"Once a monster always a monster~"
Said devil sneered, grinning with satisfaction as he gave her a weak glare, stood up and walked away from this ridiculous situation. Ignoring how the rest of the students stumbled out of his way to let him through before he vanished into the locker rooms.
He was too tired to argue with that stuck-up bitch and the self-centred prick who would've, no doubt, followed her example immediately.
Meanwhile, at the Agreste Manor, Adrien had once again escaped through his window to try and get to school successfully.
It was no easy feat considering how far he had to run and how little time remained, but with the help of his new little godling creature, it was no problem at all.
Of course, his actions did not come without consequences as minutes later, Nathalie stepped into his room since she was worried why he hadn't shown up for their lesson yet, only to find his room empty and devoid of life.
To be honest, at this point it was a wonder why she was even surprised anymore.
But sadly, despite the fact that this was starting to become a common occurrence, it did not stop her from growing scared and restless at the aspect of him missing, especially if one considered how little he actually knew about the outside world.
Who knew in what kind of trouble he would get himself once he set foot outside.
With that in mind, she immediately rushed out of the room and started asking the other employees if they had seen him, only to receive pitying glances and headshakes before they resumed their work in the lifeless mansion.
Now, about twenty minutes later, Nathalie let out a shaky sigh and ran a hand through her hair as she paced back and forth in the Foyer.
That foolish boy.
Nathalie, for all the years that she had accompanied Gabriel and Emilie on their travels and stayed in contact with them even after they married and had their son, had never anticipated ending up as Gabriel's secretary and having to take care of his son while he drowned himself in work.
He seemed to forget that they had been friends at some point in life and that he had to actually act like a father and not like the boss of a world-famous fashion company. Especially since there wasn't a single sentence in her job description that said something about babysitting.
"Nathalie!"
'Speak of the devil and he shall appear'
She thought grimly and turned around, seeing the source of all her troubles standing tall and proud at the top of the stairs.
"Yes?"
"What are these talks about my son missing?"
He asked, his voice as cold as steel as he glared at her and the bodyguard that had somehow appeared beside her without her noticing, and who was looking down at the floor with guilt.
"And more importantly, you didn't see him leave? What am I paying you for if you can't even look after some teenage boy?"
'Oh, he's angry alright,'
Nathalie thought, not daring to let the surprise show on her face.
Although she knew that he still cared for his son, these last few months he started to treat him more and more like an employee rather than a family member, only using the word "son" if he was causing him trouble.
So to see him genuinely upset at his disappearance was something that she hadn't anticipated. Or at least not to such a degree.
"Go and get him immediately. If anything happens to him you will be held responsible!"
He growled at last, when he didn't receive any response from them and stormed away, retreating back into his studio.
Nathalie sighed again. The tension leaving her shoulders as she brushed some of her hair out of her face that had slipped from the bun.
Patting the beefy arm of the sad man beside her who looked like a kicked puppy, she said, "Let's just get this over with," and led him to the car to catch the kid again.
Adrien ran like a maniac as he weaved himself through the masses of people and finally got to the park that was near the school that he got accepted in, after he wrote an application without anyone knowing.
Well, anyone except his personal made and companion that had been hired after his mother's health worsened to the point where she couldn't take care of him anymore. And who was now the closest person that he could call family next to his father and distant relatives from London.
Panting heavily, he had reached the point where he didn't care anymore if he got leg cramps at the end of the day or if he embarrassed himself in the introduction if it meant that he could have a normal life for once. That thought only spurring him on to run faster once he spotted the school in the distance.
His kwami Plagg, watched him with a somewhat curious expression when he saw the joy on the face of his exhausted owner and couldn't help but wonder why humans would be so happy at the aspect of being stuck in a building for sometimes more than ten hours a day, only to learn stuff they would never need in real life.
And as to how he knew so much about the modern world... Well, let's just say he interrogated the kid the whole evening about it and what he needed to know, since the last time he had been summoned was several centuries ago.
But seeing it first-hand was...well,... it was weird. Very weird.
Metal things that transported humans? Flying tin cans in the sky?
Giant glass towers and lights that glowed at night without needing fire?
Not to mention their weird system of currency and the talking, glowing mini box that they called "phone".
Despite having seen countless of worlds before this one, he still couldn't understand why the Mirak would lend such simple creatures their powers just to stop their counterpart Dezas from wreaking havoc again.
But he, since he was just a part of a higher being, did not have a say in their matters and could only hope that that imperfect being would be satisfied with the amount of chaos it caused on this planet before it finds a more interesting one to annoy.
Plagg didn't want to be stuck as a toy for children for all eternity.
"You're such a strange kid Adrien. Who would wanna be at school if you can stay at home all day?"
He said, as soon as he escaped the kid's stuffy jacket when he threatened to not only throw up from motion sickness, but also be nearly flattened to death when the dumb kid stumbled over his own feet.
Yeah sure, he wouldn't die from it because he could easily phase through things, but it was just such a hideous feeling when you could feel how your atoms shifted around to let the foreign matter pass through.
So he opted to just fly alongside the kid as long as no one else was around.
Hearing his comment, the kid- Adrien just let out a breathless chuckle and said,
"You don't get it Plagg. I've had enough of being shut up at home by my dad, I wanna meet people and make friends and go to a normal school like everyone else."
Plagg huffed a little and observed him, thinking that the kid really owed him for having to deal with all of his family troubles after knowing him for a day or so.
What was he, a therapist?
"Ugh, I think I'm feeling weak."
The kwami fake complained after a few seconds of thinking and purposefully hung behind to slow the excited kid down. A thing that he would do a lot more often once he figured out just how gullible the kid really was.
Adrien, as expected, stopped in his tracks and walked over to him after letting out an exasperated sigh.
"You know what's strange?" He asked, handing him a piece of camembert which was one of the only things he truly liked to eat, "all you eat is this disgusting rotten camembert cheese and then I have to smell like it 24/7."
Throwing him a severely offended glare, Plagg finished munching on his (way too small) piece and retorted,
"Well it's not my fault that you don't know what good food is and besides, if you want to be able to transform into a superhero then stinky cheese will have to haunt you for the rest of your life."
Adrien rolled his eyes at the flippant answer and motioned him to fly back into his inner jacket pocket, to which he reluctantly complied and prayed that he wouldn't actually be forced to throw up, because of the kid not being able to run like a normal person.
Thus leaving Adrien alone with his thoughts once more.
Mere minutes later, our local child model (ahem ahem) had finally reached the school and was already halfway up the stairs when he heard the telltale screeching of wheels behind him.
Ignoring the spike of anxiety that came to life in his chest, he gritted his teeth and continued his ascend despite the fatigue from twenty-five minutes of almost continuous sprinting.
Squashing the urge to look back and let himself get distracted from his goal.
"Adrien don't do this your father will be furious!"
Nathalie exclaimed with more emotion than he had ever heard from her in all her years of pseudo-babysitting him while she worked for his father.
"Tell him you got here too late!"
He retorted with what he hoped was an indifferent tone as he stared her down. Desperation rolling off of him in waves.
Nathalie studied him for a short while before her equally desperate expression melted into one of defeat, when she saw the underlying steel in his eyes and overall demeanour.
'So he does have a few traits from his father'
She thought and sighed, pinching her nose bridge from the oncoming headache.
"Fine, but put these on at least." Nathalie said at last and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and a face mask from her bag, before handing them over to him, "You are now at a public school and you know how your fans react when they see you."
Pleasantly surprised, Adrien looked at Nathalie in amazement and accepted the items given to him with gentle hands.
As he put them on, he smelled the familiar perfume branche had he had been working with for quite a while now since his father had made a collaboration with them. That said, these were his undercover clothes that he wore whenever he needed to go to a photo shoot without his bodyguard.
"Thank you."
Adrien said softly and smiled.
It was a genuine smile.
And even though it was hidden behind the plain black facemask, it was obvious how grateful he was from the tone of his voice.
If that shocked Nathalie, she didn't show it and simply nodded in return, her expression morphing back into the familiar professional mask that she always wore.
Not noticing how, once his back was turned towards her, that mask slipped for a second, showing the hidden fear and annoyance from Gabriel's wrath once he found out.
Adrien couldn't believe his eyes when he finally passed the school gates and thus started a new chapter in his life.
Before that, he had only ever been at a private school for a couple of years together with Chloe while he spent the rest of them getting home-schooled by various teachers that ended up leaving for one reason or another. Though he highly suspected the paranoia of his father for that.
But now, this was his first time seeing an actual public school and he was impressed. The dirty, yellowy walls, the trash littering the courtyard, the dripping pipes and general run-down aesthetic of this school was absolutely fascinating.
Especially that weird shady group of kids in one of the corners, who glared at him with venom when he accidentally made eye contact with one of them as they took a long drag on their cigarette.
But his wonder was soon broken when he spotted a commotion taking place not far from him, where a girl with red coloured hair and glasses was yelling loudly at his long-time friend Chloe while pointing at a door in the distance.
"How could you say that to Ivan?!"
She yelled, her raised fist being held back by another, meeker girl with black hair and paler skin.
"What do you mean? I only said the truth!"
Chloe said with a flippant tone, as if she was amused by this. Adrien had never seen her like this before, or at least not that he remembered.
Whispers and snickers from other onlookers rose in volume and he could out a few phrases like, "...Chloe is doing it again." and "poor Alya, I hope she..."
But he couldn't dwell on them very long when the commotion continued.
"You're the real Stoneheart."
The girl with glasses growled, pulling her arm out of the black-haired girl's grasp and huffed loudly. Causing a rather tall boy with a red hoodie to snicker with delight...or something, he couldn't see it clearly at this distance.
"Oh? So I'm the one who broke Sabrina's dad's arm?" Chloe spat, glaring at her without any amusement left to spare, "Just because your footage of those lame superheroes was shown on TV doesn't mean you have to act so high and mighty."
"Hah, says the girl who is nothing without her daddy's money!" The other finally snapped and promptly stomped away with the black-haired girl in tow, leaving behind a shocked Chloe who would've whipped out her phone and call her father if Adrien hadn't used that chance to quickly run over and clear the situation up.
"Hey, Chloe!" He whispered harshly as he grabbed her shoulder, making his friend jump. Despite his complete lack of social skills, he was fully aware of the perplexed glances he was attracting and prided himself in being able to ignore them.
A perk of being a model he guessed.
"Who are you!?"
Holding her phone close to her chest, she acted like an offended maiden until he sheepishly lowered his sunglasses to whisper,
"It's me Adrien, please don't scre-"
"ADRIKINS! YOU CAME!"
She cried out, throwing her arms around him and successfully blowing his cover in front of the entire school.
At the same time, a bit farther away from the "school-drama-come-to-life", an entirely different scene unfolded itself in the locker room that was quiet and only filled by muffled rock music and quiet humming until Alya slammed the door open, with Marinette stumbling inside behind her.
"That bitch! How can she just say stuff like that huh?! What's wrong with her?!"
The girl snarled, pacing angrily back and forth, the sun from the window setting her red-dyed hair aflame as she let out a string of curses that would be censored in any child-friendly show.
"Believe me if I knew I'd sign her up for therapy immediately," Marinette weakly joked, not in the mood to get angry at Chloe's audacity as she rubbed her aching wrist, having sat down onto the dusty floor as soon as the door closed.
Alya had a rather strong grip when she was angry.
Probably due to the occasional arm wrestling she and her sister did when she had a break from the tournaments.
"Ha!" Alya stopped pacing, looking at Marinette with unfiltered amusement glittering in her jewel-like eyes.
"I doubt any amount of therapy would help her at this point," she barked, taking off her glasses to cleanse them before she put them back on.
"Well, I can't say you're wrong,"
Marinette replied, scooting a little to the side to make room for her friend when she sat down beside her and let out a long, exhausted sigh. Leaning her head against Marinette's shoulder.
A few calm minutes passed that way as they shared the comfortable silence and watched the dust particles dance in the sun, until they were sent scrambling onto their feet again by the loud ringing of the bell.
The two friends were nearly out of the door, when Marinette suddenly heard a muffled sob from somewhere in the room and stopped, gaining the attention of Alya who raised an eyebrow at her.
"I...need to finish something here first, "
Marinette explained vaguely and put on an apologetic smile that made Alya frown and squint in suspicion.
Whenever her friend put on that damned smile, she was bound to either make some dumbass move or get herself into trouble whether it was intentional or not. So she, as any good friend would, stared at her for what felt like an appropriate amount of time to change one's mind before sighing and giving up.
She just had to make sure to be there when she had to bail her out of trouble again.
"Fine fine, I'll keep them busy,"
Alya said with a final pointed look and vanished behind the door, leaving her friend alone whose face formed a satisfied smile.
'Hah, works every time'
Marinette thought and took a deep breath, steeling herself mentally for what was to come.
Following the sound that came from a few lower rows, she soon found herself face to face with the shaking form of Ivan, who sat huddled in a shadowy corner with his headphones on.
Approaching him carefully so as to not startle the poor boy, she lowered herself onto the ground and waited until his sobs died out and the song ended. Offering a sense of silent compassion whether he noticed or not.
"Why are you here?"
He croaked after a while, startling Marinette from her thoughts.
"Oh! I-i uhm... I just- I wanted to see if you're ok...."
She stammered weakly with fluttering gestures, blushing when he looked at her with a deadpan stare, although it did not hide the few tears that rolled down his face.
Without her noticing, the embarrassment faded from her face and was replaced by worry, making it clear as day why she was really here. Because worry was essentially another form of pity, and Ivan didn't want nor need pity.
Growing annoyed at the silence and weirdness of the situation, he sighed and let his limbs fall onto the floor, his hand only reaching up to remove his headphones before he turned to look her in the eye.
It seemed like he was willing to listen to her.
"You know, you should tell Mylene how you feel."
Marinette said after a short pause, smiling softly at his startled reaction. He looked a lot less intimidating when he sat there in the corner of the locker room, with the sunlight softening the harsh edges of his body and giving his face a rounder look.
"I don't know what you're talking about,"
Ivan sputtered, a blush creeping up his neck as he avoided her gaze, acting as if he was expecting her to make fun of him.
That caused a light giggle to escape her lips and she hid her smile behind her hand, trying not to laugh harder when he threw her an offended look.
"I saw the way you look at her,"
Marinette explained shortly after in a soothing tone, not letting her eyes waver to make sure that he understood that she wasn't lying.
"I'm sure she'd like you too if you just talked to her."
A contemplating look formed on his face and he scrunched his eyebrows together, his dark brown eyes searching her face for a lie.
"Yeah sure, I'm no good with words, you know that,"
He mumbled and relaxed again, hiding his face in his arms and sounding as hopeless as her chance at a good grade in math. Marinette frowned at that, too tired to deal with such nonsense.
"You know, there are many ways to show someone that you love them. Who needs words if you could draw her a picture or send her a flower or something like that?"
Marinette stated with crossed arms and a miffed expression, not letting her surprise show after his head shot up so quickly that she thought his neck might snap and he looked at her with amazement.
At least his tears had finally dried up and his face wasn't red anymore, so he could nearly pass as presentable.
"Marinette you're a genius, thank you so much! "
Ivan exclaimed softly with the brightest smile she had ever seen and hugged her, nearly crushing her lungs in the process.
"I could- I could write her a song! Do you think she would like that?"
A little overwhelmed at his sudden enthusiasm she smiled sheepishly and held up her hands in a calming manner,
"Woah woah, calm down I'm sure Mylene would appreciate any gift you give her, but if you want to write a song... well, just make sure not to sound too...aggressive."
"Ah, yeah... right,"
A bit of his excitement dimmed when he heard that and he let go of her delicate shoulders, considering her advice.
"Then I'll do my best."
Nodding in approval at his final answer, a smile etched itself onto her face when she saw his determined expression and the fire in his eyes.
"Let's go back together then ok?" She said, as she stood up and brushed off the dust from her dark grey jeans, offering him a "helping hand" to get up again.
"Sure."
He answered, gladly accepting her offer and letting himself get pulled onto his feet again.
Opening the door to get to their class, the last thing they expected was to be blocked by a literal wall of flesh, the flesh meaning humans this time.
"What the fuck?!"
Ivan's eyes widened a little at her sudden cursing but he could do nothing but follow her when she started dragging him through the crowd and towards the stairs.
The crowd got thicker and louder the further they went up and Marinette could swear that she heard cameras go off somewhere before she realized that they all crowded around one specific room.
Their classroom.
Now, the weird part was not only that so many people could fit into her school without making it fall apart like wet cardboard, but also because no one was paying attention to Ivan even though he was the only semi-celebrity in their building.
"Excuse me, excuse me, coming through, excuse me.."
She repeated countless times as she pushed and shoved those damn students out of the way and got closer and closer to the open door, only for her jaw to drop to the floor when she saw what was going on.
The first thing she saw, when she looked inside, was Chloe, who was posing in front of the cameras and handing out signed flyers and more to other students in exchange for money.
But that wasn't the surprise though, because a couple of steps away sat a young blond boy, who despite being good-looking, seemed rather... Well, miserable mixed with naive she supposed, judging by his complete lack of reaction towards the perplexed faces of his peers and Madame Bustier.
Ushering Ivan inside as unobtrusive as possible, so they wouldn't get noticed by Chloe and dragged into the spotlight again, she quickly spotted Alya among the crowd and navigated towards her to grab her arm.
"What's going on?"
Marinette hissed, keeping a close eye on the fan signing Chloe had apparently started. Though, she had no clue as to who that blonde guy was.
Did Chloe suddenly gain a long-lost brother who was locked in the basement or something?
"So, you remember how I said that I would buy you guys some time?" Alya whispered back, giggling lightly when one of the students tripped and ripped their signed poster, wailing loudly as if it was the end of the world,
"Once I got to the classroom, I was just about to tell Madame Bustier an excuse about how Ivan was puking his guts out and you had to help him to the nurse, when all of a sudden Chloe barged inside, followed by that new kid, Adrien-something and the horde of students."
Alya snorted when she remembered the shocked look in Adrien's eyes once he got dragged inside and placed onto a chair with a bunch of posters beside it for signing. Wherever those came from.
"Well, now Madame Bustier is trying to get them all out and is texting with Madame Mendeleiev to send help."
Call Alya a prophet because no second later their Science/Math teacher appeared inside the room, her loud clicking shoes foretelling her arrival and whistled loudly with a deepened version of her ever-present frown on her face.
"Everybody out! Go to your classes!"
She barked, scattering the students like a flock of pigeons and clearing the room in record time. It was a clear advantage that nearly all students in the school were scared of her unlike Miss sunshine Linguistic teacher over there who shot her a grateful smile.
Huffing soundly, she gave the still-standing students a last glare and a curt nod to her colleague before strutting off to who knows where as if she had never been here in the first place.
"Finally..." the red-haired woman sighed and clapped her hands, gaining the attention of her perplexed class, "now students, please take your seats and we'll start with attendance."
She said with a bright smile and picked up her sheets from the desk, only to realise that the list wasn't there and quickly excused herself to fetch it from the teacher's office.
Using that chance, Chloe grabbed Adrien and pushed him onto the seat in front of her, declaring with a bright smile,
"This is your seat Adrikins, I saved it for you right in front of mine."
And professionally ignoring the perplexed scowl from Nino, who had arrived early today and spent the entire fiasco defending it from other weirdos.
"Thanks, Chloe."
Adrien replied half-heartedly, still dazed from the hell he went through seconds ago and shifted in his seat.
Next time he should ask Nathalie to just dye his hair black if he was going to get harassed by students like this again.
"Uh, hey! I'm Adrien,"
He said and offered his hand to the stranger next to him with an awkward smile.
"You're friends with Chloe then, huh?"
The guy said and looked at him with a wary, nearly disgusted expression, that caused him to falter.
'What's wrong with being friends with her?' he thought dimly and lowered his head.
A gesture that simply earned a scowl from Nino who huffed, not wanting to deal with the source of his current problems.
"Where did that come from?!"
Startled by the sudden exclamation, several heads turned towards the source to see Marinette standing next to her seat and pointing at a chewing gum that was stuck to it with disgust written all over her face.
Her bright blue eyes, blazing with anger, flicked across the classroom in search of the culprit, only to spot the self-satisfied smirk on Chloe's face.
"It was you wasn't it Chloe?"
Marinette growled, making some students around her flinch.
"Hm? I don't see what's wrong with that. You two were such brats yesterday it's only fair that you get a little attitude adjustment from me- no, from us don't you think so Adrikins?"
Chloe said with a lilt to her voice and leaned forward to pat the new kid's shoulder, who stared at her with wide eyes and a betrayed expression.
That look was all Marinette needed for it all to click into place.
"So you're that Adrien, the one who's friends with Chloe?"
She asked, her voice dangerously apathetic as she stared him down, not noticing the shocked and impressed expression on Alya's face.
"Ah, well I- uhm that-"
"No." She held up a hand to interrupt his pathetic stammering, "No need to say anything, very funny you three, very funny..."
Sighing, she pulled out a paper from her bag and put it onto the chewing gum, blatantly ignoring any attempted apologies from Adrien. They were probably fake anyway.
"That was so cool Mari!"
Alya whispered as soon as she sat down and Madame Bustier returned, her arrival immediately cutting off all hushed conversations as she started to call for attendance, oblivious to the drama that happened seconds ago.
"The way you defended yourself against those blondies was amazing! I'm so proud of you, I knew you could do it!"
Blushing brightly from the unexpected praise, Marinette ducked her head and hid her face in her hands. All previous anger simmering down to a weak flame.
"I didn't do that much Alya."
"Ah, no need to be so modest, I didn't expect you to follow my advice so soon, maybe Ladybug inspired you too to be confident eh?"
Her friend said with a bright grin and crescent-shaped eyes and patted her arm before averting her attention to her phone that she pulled out while the teacher wasn't looking. Quietly squealing over every new like and comment she got.
An ice-cold pit formed in Marinette's stomach when she heard those words and dread quickly replaced her bashful feelings.
It was weird how soon she had forgotten about the problem that was hidden in her purse, especially when she had initially planned to give it to Alya immediately and be done with it.
In a daze, her eyes wandered towards the purse and her thoughts went haywire, drowning out everything else in the room.
In fact, she was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice how Adrien embarrassed himself when his name got called -a shame really, she would've enjoyed it a lot- and only managed to snap out of it when Alya waved a hand in front of her face.
"Marinette! I thought I told you to tell me if you're feeling unwell, what are you spacing out for so much that you can't concentrate on the lesson?" She whispered harshly, although not without a worried undertone when she noticed how hazy her friend's eyes were.
'The lesson?'
Marinette thought confused and looked around.
When did the lesson start? They were doing attendance just now?
Her eyes widened when she saw how the rest were all writing something from the board at the front and she panicked.
Quickly grabbing a pen that she had lost at the bottom of her bag and her fraying notebook, she threw both onto the table and began to frantically copy the notes that Alya made, who had, while she was searching for her stuff, pushed over her own notebook so that she could copy them with a heavy sigh.
Marinette could only thank the gods that there wasn't much that she needed to copy or else she'd be fucked.
Writing down the last words with an aching, ink-stained hand, she let the pen drop and massaged her hand, leaning closer to Alya so that she could whisper in peace.
"Okay," she said, pushing Alya's notebook back to her, "Before you start scolding me again, I just had a lot on my mind and I wanted to ask you a question, so no need to waste your worry on me."
Marinette ignored her frown and continued,
"Alya, wouldn't you want to be a superhero and go out and fight monsters and stuff?"
Her friend's eyebrows shot up and above her hairline and she leaned closer, whispering back with surprise written all over her face,
"Sure! I'm not scared of anyone except my mom but you know how that is. Why the sudden question?"
Unbeknownst to the two, Alya wasn't exactly great at whispering and their hushed conversation earned them a stern look from Bustier, who slowly approached them to catch them off guard.
Like a tiger waiting to pounce on its prey.
"Well, you see I-"
Marinette started, reaching for her purse to open it when she flinched at the sound of a hand slamming down onto the table.
"Marinette, Alya, would you like to share with the class what you're whispering about so excitedly?"
Madame Bustier asked with a smile on her face, though the displeasure in her eyes told a whole different story.
Meanwhile, Adrien who only overheard the words, "We'll talk during the break," from the two girls before the teacher started scolding them, simply couldn't get rid of the guilt he felt from earlier.
He couldn't, for the life of him, understand how Chloe could so easily admit to doing such a thing without feeling guilty in the slightest. It was obviously rude and disgusting to do so, so why would she step so low?
Nino, who saw his sad expression, sighed deeply and put his pen down, not believing that he was actually going to comfort Chloe's friend for god's sake.
"Why didn't you tell them it was Chloe's idea?"
Nino asked, startling the boy beside him who then blinked at him in surprise.
"I saw what she did when you two came in. It was so chaotic you must've not noticed me."
"Oh.."
Adrien replied, confused at his sudden willingness to talk to him.
"Well, I've known Chloe since I was a kid," He explained gaining a curious look from the quiet boy, "I know she's not perfect but I can't throw her under the bus like that you know? It's not like I have many other friends to hang out with."
Averting his eyes, Adrien stared at his hands in his lap, not wanting to see the familiar pity in the others eyes before another sigh cut through the quiet and a hand grabbed his arm.
"Then it's settled. I'm Nino and it's time for you to meet some new friends."
Nino said with a small smile and offered him a handshake, shocking Adrien to the core.
Staring blankly at the offered hand, his shock bloomed into brilliant, bursting happiness and he returned it with such vigour that Nino's hand threatened to break while saying, "I'm Adrien, nice to meet you too," before he settled back in his seat, eagerly writing down whatever Madame Bustier was talking about once she finished her scolding.
Blinking wildly, Nino pulled his aching wrist back from the boy and shot him a disturbed look which went unnoticed.
"What a weirdo..."
He whispered with furrowed eyebrows and continued writing with his left hand, hoping that he wouldn't regret his decision in the future.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone