Chapter Text
Adrien is just hanging around near the art room when he hears two familiar voices enthusiastically chatting away inside—no, he doesn’t have art for a class, but it’s on the way to his fencing practice! Which… he doesn’t actually have today, but he’s just getting used to the layout of the school! Never mind that he’s been attending public school for almost two years now, just shut up, Plagg.
Anyways—those two voices. Adrien recognizes them as one Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Nathaniel Kurtzberg, and from the sounds of it, they are getting particularly chummy in there.
The door suddenly opens, forcing Adrien to utilize every Chat Noir reflex he has to duck into an empty classroom. Marinette soon walks out with a light blush on her face. Adrien admires how cute and like a friend she looks before turning his attention to the boy in the art room sporting a similar blush.
Hm…
“Thank you for showing me that, Nathaniel. It was beautiful,” she says sincerely, and Adrien’s heart skips a beat at how—how friendly she looks, even though they all have a test tomorrow in chemistry and Nathaniel has undoubtedly kept her from studying at home like the good student she was. He glares at the redhead, feeling something ugly.
Pity.
Poor Marinette. She really is too nice to tell him no, the model thinks with a shake of his head.
And so, like the Good Friend he is, Adrien sneaks into the art room, not making a sound until he is nearly looming over Nathaniel’s workstation.
“Hey Nathaniel!” he greets brightly.
“Hello Adri—” Nathaniel’s reply gets caught in his throat as he registers the Very Scary expression on the normally sunny boy’s face. “Uh… hello… Adrien?” He can feel a cold sweat start up. Did someone turn the thermostat all the way down? And dimmed the lights?
“I was just passing by when I heard you and Marinette and got curious! What were you guys up to?~”
“W-well, we were just—”
But Adrien doesn't let the other boy finish, cutting in, “Even though she’s busy with studying? You took up her precious time with some romantic—”
Nathaniel coughs in disbelief. “N-n-no, it’s not—”
“Because you know my good friend Marinette, she’s always so oblivious and nice that she—"
“I was just asking her for pointers for a comic I’m making! That’s all! It was a one-time thing!” the introverted artist chokes out. Well, he’s not actually being asphyxiated, but with the threatening, Very Scary way Adrien was looking at him, it sure felt like it.
The oppressive atmosphere relaxed, but only slightly. Adrien was smiling at him still, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Really now? You weren’t wooing her with some romantic flowery artsy stuff?” he says cheerfully, clearly unconvinced. “So, it’s okay if I see it too?”
Nathaniel practically throws his sketchbook at his classmate, looking very much like a victim of a back-alley robbery. Adrien’s “thanks a lot~” does nothing to change the image.
“Oh? Is this… Ladybug?” Adrien suddenly asks, looking intrigued. He skips to the back of the book and thumbing through several sketches the redhead had done when he was feeling—ahem—inspired. The blond taps one of the drawings. It's one of the racier ones, with a questionable back angle of Ladybug’s skintight suit. “You drew her really well, especially here. Great dynamic pose.”
Nathaniel’s eyes widens at a sudden realization. Adrien must have some idea of his infatuation, right? Maybe if the artist were clearer about his crush—ah, no, he meant admiration—on the spotted heroine, Adrien would leave him alone about his completely platonic friendship with Marinette. Surely if the blond knew where Nathaniel’s interests lay, he could finally have some peace! His heart soars with hope.
He clears his throat. “Um, Adrien,” Nathaniel says shyly, but firmly, “I don’t think of Marinette like that. If I… were to have a crush on anyone, it’d be Ladybug, but she would never… notice someone like me… I think…”
Pause. The artist waits for Adrien’s reaction. The blond is caught off-guard momentarily by the confession before a slow, even scarier smile spreads onto his face.
“…what did you just say, Na-tha-ni-el?~” Adrien questions in a sing-song voice, and the redhead can see his life flash before his eyes.
He sincerely wishes he had drowned in the Seine when he had the chance.
-x-
“I’m so sorry I’m late for our study session, Adrien,” Marinette apologizes profusely. “I got held up after school today and lost track of time.”
“It’s really no trouble at all. Trust me, Marinette,” Adrien replies easily from the comfort of his home.
He flashes his computer’s camera his most friendly smile. He himself had only managed to get home and turn on the computer quickly enough to receive her video call. It takes every bit of his model training to look calm and composed and not out-of-breath from the running he had done to get here.
She stills for a second, eyes wide and pen going slack in her grip at the sight. Her lips part slightly. Adrien wants to just reach over and boop her nose to snap her out of that cuteness—someone could get the wrong idea and try to ask her out and that would just eat up more of her time, you know? Then she shakes her head with a bemused smile and quickly reddening cheeks.
“Okay, okay, but you’re not letting me off the hook if this happens again,” Marinette concedes. Adrien nods, knowing there won’t be a next time—at least, not from a certain traumatized artist. She turns back down to their chemistry review. “So, I’m stuck on balancing question number 8…”