Chapter Text
“Physics suck,” Marinette groaned, slumping in her chair and slamming her pencil on her desk. “It’s so stupid! I’m going to be a fashion designer! Why do I need to learn physics?”
Alya’s laugh rang clearly through the FaceTime call. “Girl, you should really get a tutor or something.” They were both currently in their respective bedrooms, and Marinette had her phone propped up on her desk so she could talk to Alya and work on her homework at the same time.
“No thanks,” she said, making a face. The last time she’d had a tutor hadn’t exactly been a pleasant experience. “It’s not that I’m failing, but my grade isn’t that great either.”
Her best friend hummed in agreement. Alya’s lips were pursed and she had a contemplative smile on her face, as if she was thinking about something. Marinette narrowed her eyes. She could already see where this was going.
“What’s on your mind?”
“But do you know who is good at physics?”
“Who?”
“Adrien Agreste,” Alya said slyly.
Marinette’s cheeks instantly stained pink. “Alya!”
“I’m just saying. Nino says that Adrien’s the reason he’s not failing the class right now. And apparently,” she added, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, “he’s a really good teacher too.”
“If you think I’m going to ask Adrien Agreste to tutor me in physics, you’re unfortunately very wrong.”
“But Mari, come on! This could be your chance to woo him. How else will you end up with that house, the three kids, and the hamster named—”
“That was a joke, Alya!” Marinette exclaimed, blushing harder. Ugh. She knew she’d regret telling Alya about her celebrity crush some day. But how could she not like him? He was not only the son of her favorite fashion designer, but he was also a model—and a really good looking one at that. From what little Nino had told her, Marinette knew he was a kind, sweet boy that loved anime and video games.
That was where she drew the line. Yeah, she had a couple of pictures of him in her room and had had several fantasies about a future with him, but Marinette never thought of him as more than a simple celebrity crush who happened to be friends with her best friend’s boyfriend. That was that.
“And maybe it could become a reality,” Alya insisted.
“No,” she said. “I’m not going to ask Adrien for help with physics. I barely know him! I’ve met him like once, at Nino’s birthday party last year, and all I did was stumble and stutter around him the entire evening.”
“Well, Nino and I do try to get you guys to hang out with us, but your schedules never match up.”
“True. But also, ” Marinette added, “even if by some miracle Adrien and I ended up getting to know each other and started to like each other as more than friends, I can’t date him anyways.”
Alya gaped at her. “What! Why?”
“Because I want to be a fashion designer, and obviously if I date Gabriel Agreste’s son, people are going to accuse me of using connections to get into the fashion industry. And I don’t want that.”
“Damn, girl.” She let out a low whistle. “You’re the only person I know that would turn down Adrien Agreste to pursue your career.”
“Wouldn’t you do the same thing?” Marinette asked, raising an eyebrow. “You have Nino.”
“Oh no,” Alya said with a grin, “if a model as hot as him asked me out, I’d obviously have to dump Nino.”
“So cruel. Looks like I’ll have to take Nino for myself when that happens,” she teased.
“He’d understand,” Alya said, and the two of them kept straight faces for not even two seconds before they both burst out laughing.
“Anyways,” Marinette said once their laughing fit had died down, “I should probably get back to studying.”
The brunette nodded. “You do that. Don’t you have a test tomorrow?”
“Yup.” She sighed and looked down at her homework. “Quiz me.”
“I am so glad I don’t take physics this year,” Alya muttered as Marinette sent her the material so she could quiz her. “Okay, so. . . .”
This was bad. Day later, sitting in physics class with Nino at her side, Marinette stared at her test paper with nothing but sheer horror.
“What’d you get?” Nino asked, nudging her side as the teacher continued to pass the papers back.
“Bad enough that my parents are definitely going to be banning me from video games for a while,” she said, showing him her paper.
His eyes widened. “That’s—”
“Terrible, I know.” Marinette groaned. “And before you say anything, no, none of your reassurance is going to comfort me.”
Nino frowned. “Sorry, Mari.”
“I think I seriously need to start looking for a tutor or something.”
“You know, you could always ask Adrien,” he said. “He helps me with physics all the time. Like seriously, the dude’s insanely smart.”
“Did Alya put you up to this?” Marinette asked suspiciously. “Because she said the exact same thing.”
“Great minds think alike.”
“Great minds matchmake alike,” she muttered under her breath.
“What was that?”
Marinette sighed. “Nothing. But anyways, I wouldn’t want to bother him. He’s probably very busy.”
“Trust me, Adrien loves company,” Nino said. “In fact, he’s been dying to meet this gamer named ‘Ladybug’ that I casually mentioned I knew.” He grinned at her.
She squeaked, a blush spreading across her cheeks. “R-really?”
“Yeah. If you want, I could give you his number.”
Marinette bit her lip to keep the yes from tumbling out of her mouth. As much as it would be cool to be tutored by Adrien, she didn’t want to bother him. That, and she was one hundred percent sure that if she did ask him for help, she’d be paying more attention to him than she would to the physics.
“Nah, I’m good, but thanks for the offer.”
“Okay,” Nino said, turning back to pay attention to the class once the teacher had finished handing back out the tests. “Just let me know if you ever change your mind.”
Oh, she definitely wasn’t going to be changing her mind anytime soon.
Adrien was once again up late and binging some anime when his phone pinged with a text. He frowned. Normally Nino was the only one that texted him this late, but one look at his phone told him that it was from an unknown number.
[Unknown Number]: Hey, is this Adrien Agreste?
[Adrien]: Yes. Who is this?
[Unknown Number]: Nino gave me your number. Are you busy?
He instantly relaxed. He’d been wary that some fan might’ve somehow gotten their hands on his personal number, but if Nino had given it out, that meant this was someone he should trust. After all, his best friend respected his privacy. He wouldn’t just give his number out to anyone.
[Adrien]: No, I’m free. Do you need help with something?
[Unknown Number]: Yeah, if you don’t mind, I was wondering if you could help me with physics.
[Adrien]: Sure, I can do that! What specifically do you need help with?
[Unknown Number]: Can I send you a few pictures of problems I need help with?
[Adrien]: That’s fine, go ahead :)
It was about ten at night, Adrien was helping a random stranger with their physics homework, and his binge-watching fest had been abandoned in order to help his best friend’s friend. But he didn’t really mind. As the minutes ticked by, he found himself immersed in the problems and helping whoever it was on the other side of the screen. They seemed nice, always checking to make sure he was okay with helping and asking thoughtful questions. It was definitely quite a change from Nino, who was always groaning about not understanding a single thing.
But suddenly, about halfway through working through a problem, something occurred to him.
[Adrien]: Wait, I never got your name.
That was quite suspicious, now that he thought about it. What if he’d been wrong? What if this was a fangirl? What if—
[Unknown Number]: Well, I guess you can call me Ladybug.
Adrien’s jaw dropped, his phone nearly falling out of his hands as he processed the information. Wait. So Nino hadn’t been kidding when he said he knew Ladybug?!
[Adrien]: You’re one of the top players on UMS III, right?
Actually, Ladybug was the top player. She also happened to be the girl he kind-of-sort-of had a massive crush on and played against as Chat Noir several times a week. The one who constantly rejected his flirting, hated his puns, and apparently, was also so terrible at physics that she needed his help. Chat Noir’s help.
[Unknown Number]: Yes, that’s me.
Oh, no. He felt a tentative blush creeping up his neck as he realized what just happened, who he’d just been talking to, and exactly what exactly he’d gotten himself into.
Great. He was screwed.