Chapter Text
Adrien begrudgingly woke up, his incessant alarm shattering his dreams. They had been pleasant, from what he could remember. His mother had been there, safe and warm. Colors and lights had danced around him, just as they did so long ago. Adrien wondered, as he often did, what it would be like to see again. He remembered what it was like, of course, but there was only so much to draw on. He had lost his sight at a young age, due to a chance encounter with a faulty piece of construction equipment. A bolt here, a snapped belt there, and Adrien became a sunglasses aficionado. His mother and father had sued to hell and back, getting a settlement so large they could replace most equipment in Paris twice over. Although, Adrien apparently still had to model per his father's request, but that train of thought was a little too depressing this morning.
Instead, Adrien yawned and stretched, sitting up before shutting off his alarm. Still groggy, he tried to sit up straight, mentally preparing himself for the day. First, he had breakfast plans with his best buds, Me, Myself, and I, followed by lunch with rousing conversation from his inner monologue, and dinner plans under the stars. Well, there could be stars. His ceiling could look like anything at this point. Interrupted, of course, by various photo-shoots, home-schooling, and asking his father about public school.
Wait.
School.
Public School.
SHIT.
Quickly, Adrien ran through his room, pulling himself together as quickly as he could. Of course he would almost forget about school, the one day Nathalie actually managed to convince his father it wasn't too dangerous. Under guard, of course, but that was nothing new. One of the surprisingly few benefits of having no friends over to change his room, is that he had memorized where everything was, able to walk around with confidence. Vaulting over various pieces of furniture, he scrambled together what he could only assume were the highest brands of fashion, since they had been pre-selected by Nathalie the night before, and ran out the door. Slowly, he walked back into his room, picking up his faceted cane he kept by the door. Feeling along the wall, he perused his selection of sunglasses.
"It feels like... A rimless day." He muttered, grabbing a sleek pair of glasses with metallic bands.
Items in hand, he ran down the stairs, meeting the man simply known as Guerrilla at the door. Flipping on his shades, Adrien snapped his cane to the side, locking it in place. He was thankful Guerrilla was the one escorting him today. Of all the people in his life, Guerrilla was one of the few who didn't think Adrien was made of glass. He didn't take Adrien's arm, or coddle him through life. It was a welcome change of pace, though it could get a little cold at times. Sitting in the car, Adrien could hardly keep still, ecstatic to finally learn what a school was like.
0o0o0
Marinette's alarm jolted her awake, almost making her fall out of bed. She was an incurably deep sleeper, so her mother had insisted on getting one of the loudest alarms on the market. How she had grown to loathe that machine. Still, she had actually woken up to her second alarm, giving her even less time to get to school.
Throwing her outfit together, she found herself once again lost in the faint birthmark along her left forearm. Everyone knew about Soulmarks, the destined first words spoken to you by your true love, but no one really ever talked about them. It was a simple fact of life, like having five fingers on each hand, or waking up just in time to be late to school. Besides, the birthmark faded after they were spoken, so if you had a mark, you hadn't met The One, simple as that. Still, she couldn't help but think that anyone who still had their mark felt the same confusion she did.
"And I felt so good about Rimless today." Seriously, what the hell did that even mean?
Shaking herself out of her confusion, she ran down the stairs, dragging her book bag behind her. With a quick breakfast and quicker goodbyes, she ran out of the bakery, making her way to school. That is, until she heard the faint ringing of the school's bell, signifying to all students outside of the grounds that they were, unfortunately, late.
Groaning, Marinette picked up in speed, barely registering the black car pulling up beside her. As she ran, she kept her eye on the main gates. It was unlikely, but they might have instituted some new rule of locking out late students, and she would not be locked out all day. Many things would go over well with her parents, but that is not one of them. She was about to change course, climb the steps three at a time, and jump through the gates for a three point landing, until she ran full speed into a blonde boy getting out of a car. They both toppled to the ground, his bodyguard standing beside himself in shocked silence. It took the two of them a moment to actually react, each for wildly different reasons.
For Adrien, he was simply shocked that someone had snuck up on him like that. Sure, he hadn't been fully paying attention, and he might have been a little too jittery with excitement, but he usually prided himself on his awareness. Still, this stranger had not only snuck up on him, but tackled him to the ground, all without him noticing a thing. She was like a ninja. A sneaky, clumsy, ninja.
For Marinette, her mind was working overtime, trying to grasp the fact that she had just tackled Adrien Agreste to the ground. Adrien Agreste. The same Adrien Agreste that she had seen a thousand times in her favorite fashion magazines. The son of her idol. Who she had just tackled to the ground. Whose sunglasses were now shattered a ways away. Who was trying to get up now.
Wincing through a scraped elbow, Adrien noticed a missing weight on his face, and reached up for his glasses. Feeling nothing but air, he started pushing off the stranger, trying to find one of his favorite pairs. Stunned, Marinette got off of him, still not quite processing everything that just happened.
Reaching his shattered glasses, he clicked his tongue, saying, "Damn. And I felt so good about Rimless today."
Finally catching up, Marinette rushed out, "Oh my gosh I am so sorry please don't hate me I didn't see you there that was my fault I was trying to get to my class and I'm gonna be late and you're blind and I just broke your sunglasses I am SO SORRY, here please take mine."
Holding out her hands, Marinette held a pair of white sunglasses, a floral print wrapping around its bands. With her head bowed, she had a perfect view of Adrien's arms, almost cradling his broken shades. And there, wrapping twice around his forearm, was a sprawling wall of text, slowly fading into his skin.
The last words to go were, "Please take mine."
And that was when Marinette screamed.