Chapter Text
"Marinette? Marinette!" Alya's voice cut through Marinette's stupor, and she jerked her head up.
"What? What is it?" she asked, her voice panicked and confused. Marinette glanced around, and saw Chloe snickering at her. Their teacher stood at the front of the class, glaring at Marinette. Marinette grimaced.
"You were falling asleep," Alya whispered. Marinette bit her lip, and looked down at her notes. "That's the third time today, girl!"
"I couldn't sleep last night," Marinette lied. Her thoughts went to last night, swinging across Paris, ridding another of Hawk Moth's victims of the akuma. She'd been busy.
"And what about yesterday? Or the day before? Sounds like you've just stopped sleeping all together."
Marinette shrugged, and focused on the teacher in front of her. Alya was right, she hadn't had much sleep lately at all. It was all she could do now to stop herself from yawning. Hawk Moth and his Akuma's seemed to be getting more and more frequent. Even Chat Noir had commented on it last night, before they parted ways to transform in secret. Marinette shook her head slightly, ridding her mind from thoughts of Akuma's and Hawk Moth. That was a problem for Ladybug. Right now, she was Marinette, and she needed to focus.
The teacher cleared her throat, and gave the class a stern look. "I've noticed you've all gotten a bit too comfortable with the seating arrangements," Miss Bustier said, frowning. "This has led to some disruptions in the class."
Marinette and Alya snuck each other guilty looks.
"As such, I have decided it's in our best interests if we re-arrange the seating. I'll be drawing names out of a hat, and there is to be no swapping amongst yourselves."
Marinette's eyes widened. Alya was her best friend. They helped each other out. She didn't want to be seated next to anyone else. And what if she was stuck with someone like Chloe? Marinette almost gagged at the thought.
The teacher only gave them her trademark glare. It was a look that said 'do as I say, or face detention'. Everyone quietened down immediately, and waited in silence as the teacher wrote down everyone's names onto slips of paper.
Marinette's hands gripped the table, and her and Alya exchanged nervous looks. Neither one wanted to be placed next to Chloe. Or Sabrina, for that matter. Although Marinette felt sorry for Sabrina, she found the girl a bit overbearing as a friend.
The teacher began to draw the names out of the hat. Marinette held her breath, her knuckles white.
"Alya," there was a pause as the teacher pulled out Alya's new partner, "And Chloe."
"Chloe?" Alya said, barely hiding the disgust in her voice. Marinette gave Alya a sympathetic look. She felt sorry for Alya, but was secretly relieved that it wasn't her next to Chloe. Chloe looked just as annoyed by the turn of events as Alya.
"Marinette," the teacher said. Marinette's head jerked up. "And Adrien."
Marinette felt the colour flood to her face. Alya gave her a small smirk. Adrien turned around and gave her a small smile. Marinette could barely control her face muscles enough to return the smile. She was getting used to being around him, but she wasn't so sure she could handle sitting right next to him all the time. What if he found her annoying? What if he thought the way she stuck her elbows out when writing was dorky? What if he thought she breathed too loud? What if he thought she smelled bad?
Her heart was beating so fast that she thought he could hear it. What if he thought that was annoying?
"Dude! This blows, we're not going to be seat buddies anymore," Nino said. Adrien looked away from Marinette, breaking her stupor.
Alya elbowed her, and nodded to Chloe. The girl was fuming, her face as red as a tomato. They could almost see the steam from her ears.
Marinette couldn't help but feel satisfied at Chloe's anger. The girl was a bully, and it was good to see her comeuppance sometimes.
"We will begin the new seating arrangements when we return to class," the teacher said, signalling the end of their first period.
Marinette let out a heavy sigh as she packed up her work.
"What are you sighing for?" Alya said, nudging her. "You're not the one stuck next to Chloe."
Marinette gave Alya a small smile. "But I'm not sitting next to you either. I can't sit next to Adrien - what if he thinks I'm weird?"
Alya laughed. "You'll be fine. I'll help you talk to him still."
"What would I do without you, Alya?"
"Be a mess, probably."
Chat Noir leaned against the brick wall, his breathing heavy. "This is getting out of control," he huffed. Ladybug nodded. "This is the fourth akuma we've faced this week, and it's only Wednesday. Last week we had five akumas, and the week before that, seven."
"Chat, I have to go soon, I'm about to de-transform," Ladybug said, getting ready to leave.
Chat caught her arm in his hand, looking into her eyes. "Lady, we can't do this forever. We need to find out who Hawk Moth is and how to stop him." He gave her a smile, surprisingly small in comparison to his usual Cheshire grin.
"I know Chat, I know. But right now, I need to find somewhere to de-transform, and so do you." Ladybug disentangled herself from him, pulling her yoyo from her hip.
Chat nodded. "We need to start investigating. Meet me at the Eiffel Tower tomorrow night, yeah?"
Ladybug looked at him briefly, before swinging away. Chat watched her until he could no longer see her, aware of how close he was cutting his de-transformation.