Chapter Text
"Hey, Marinette, are you ok? You look like you're about to fall asleep," Adrien whispered, looking at the dark haired girl next to him. Her chin was resting on her hand, and her eyes were drooping. He had to admit it was kind of cute. Her head slipped down, and she shot back up in surprise.
"Huh, what?" she asked, her eyes darting around wildly. She froze up when she saw him watching her. He would have chuckled, but the colour flooding to her cheeks told him he probably shouldn't embarrass her further.
Miss Bustier cleared he throat, shooting a cold glare towards Marinette. Sometimes Adrien wondered if Miss Bustier had been akuma-tised, with how cold she could be.
"You good?" Adrien asked, his voice a whisper. They were towards the back, something that was going to take him a while to get used to. Nino was down the front, sitting as far away from the awkward Sabrina as possible. Alya, Marinette's friend, was a row in front and across from them, and she kept shooting Marinette glances, particularly whenever Chloe said something.
Marinette nodded. "Just tired. I had a busy lunch," she whispered back.
"Tell me about it," Adrien mumbled. Defeating the Mole was tough work, his ability to burrow underground and spring up with no warning had been tricky to figure out. It had taken longer than usual to defeat him and his akuma, but Adrien had already decided that that was because both him and Ladybug were exhausted.
"Now, class, at the end of next month, there is a fashion competition," Miss Bustier's voice interrupted them, and Adrien was slightly amazed by how fast Marinette's attention turned to Miss Bustier. "Our school will not be the only one to enter, however, I hope our school will be the one to win. As such, for your homework, you and your partner - the person sitting next to you - are to design and create an outfit together."
Adrien glanced to Marinette, who's light blue eyes were wide with excitement.
"I'll be passing out the competition requirements shortly, however feel free to start discussing ideas with your partner. I expect to see full cooperation between you. It will be an exercise in working with someone you wouldn't usually. If, and only if, one of you wins the competition, will I reconsider the seating arrangements. Is that clear?" Miss Bustier fixed the class with a cold glare, before nodding curtly.
Adrien turned to Marinette, and was surprised to find her already opening her sketch book.
"I suppose winning this shouldn't be too hard, with you here," he said, smiling warmly.
She glanced up at him, her eyes shining. Her jaw was slightly lowered, but she closed it quickly, grinning. "You think so?"
"You won the derby hat competition didn't you?"
She nodded enthusiastically, her voice appearing to fail her. They were interrupted by Miss Bustier handing them a sheet of paper. Adrien shifted it to the middle of the table where they could read it better.
"I expect a good design from you, Marinette. Challenge yourself."
Marinette nodded eagerly. Adrien leaned over to read the competition details, his arm brushing against Marinette's.
"It says here, the theme is Paris. And that one of us has to model it," he told her, looking up. Her face was bright red, and she flashed him a nervous smile.
"Ah, that should be you. You're the ho- the model! You're the model, after all," she said, laughing nervously. He shook his head.
"You should do it," Adrien said, smiling warmly. "You'd be good at it. I can even teach you how to walk like a model."
"Really? If you say so," her voice trailed off nervously.
"Yeah! You'll look great!"
Marinette fell face first onto her bed, her arms outstretched. "What am I going to do, Alya?" she asked, her voice muffled. "He wants me to be the one to model what we make. What if I fall?"
"Sounds like you've already fallen - hard," Alya teased. Marinette raised her head to glare at her best friend.
"Alya," Marinette whined, stretching her name out.
"You'll be fine, Marinette," Alya comforted her, smiling gently. "You and Adrien are gonna spend time together, you're going to be your usual charming self, and he'll realise how cute you are and fall for you. Trust me. And hey, maybe these modelling lessons will make you less of a clutz."
Marinette buried her face in her pillow. "You really think that?"
"Yes I do. Especially the spending time together thing, because I told him I'd let you know that he's dropping by at five-thirty to start working on the project."
Marinette shot up, her eyes wide with panic. "What time is it?"
"Five-twenty," Alya said, grinning wide. "You have five minutes to get ready."
Marinette threw a pillow at Alya, before letting out a groan. Downstairs, the doorbell rang. This was not how Marinette planned the project going.