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“Join the Cool Chats Club! Hey - do you want to show support for Paris’ best superhero? Here - take a flyer!!”
On a sunny Thursday morning, no one could enter the doors of Collège Françoise Dupont without being ambushed by Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Armed with a stack of flyers, Marinette and Alya were handing them out to each person who walked up the stairs, whether they were a teacher, student, or custodian. And to Adrien’s surprise, everyone was accepting them - not even Mme. Mendeleiev refused.
Adrien stood at the bottom of the steps, watching as Marinette handed out flyers to M. Damocles, Ivan, and Alix. Nino stood beside him, waiting for the blond to enter the school.
“Uh, bro? We should get in there if we don’t want to be late,” Nino said. No response. “Adrien?”
“I didn’t think she was being serious,” Adrien said, and Nino thought he saw the faintest sign of a tear. Was his bro about to start crying?
“Adrien! Nino!” Marinette had caught sight of them and was waving them over from her spot at the top of the stairs.
“Hey, Marinette,” Nino said as they reached her.
“Hi! Are you going to be attending the first meeting of the Cool Chats Club after school today?” Marinette asked, handing each of them a flyer.
“Yeah, sure,” Nino said, examining his. Electric green lettering spelled out the details of the club against a black background. “We’ll be there, for sure! Thanks, Marinette!”
Adrien felt faint.
The school day passed without much incident. The only topic of conversation seemed to be the Cool Chats Club, but besides that, it was a pretty average day.
But once the last bell rang, it seemed like a school-wide race to reach Mme. Mendeleiev’s classroom. Marinette had decided to hold the Cool Chats Club there - it was larger than Mme. Bustier’s room, but was used less, as Mme. Mendeleiev usually conducted her classes in her lab.
As students entered the room, Marinette stood up at the front. Cupcakes spelled out, CHAT NOIR IS THE CAT’S MEOW, bright green letters on black frosting. Or, at least, Adrien assumed that’s what they spelled out before half of them had been eaten. Nino and he each grabbed a cupcake before taking seats in the back - the room was packed, almost as packed as Mme. Bustier’s had been for the first meeting of the Got Spots? club.
Adrien bit into his cupcake as everyone waited for the last people to trickle into the room. The frosting was buttercream, the cupcake itself passionfruit-flavoured. It was delicious - when no one was looking, he made sure to sneak Plagg a bite. The kwami, usually so against sweet things, took a pretty big bite without complaint.
“Welcome, everyone,” Marinette said, clapping her hands to bring all conversations to a halt. “This is the first meeting of the Cool Chats club, the Chat Noir Fan Club of Collège Françoise Dupont.”
A cheer went up from the crowd. Adrien tried to tamp down the red flush he knew was inching over his ears.
“First of all, let me introduce you to the vice president of Cool Chats, Chloé Bourgeois, and our publicist, Alya Césaire.” Marinette gestured to where the other girls were standing, and the gathered applauded, Nino cheering loudly. Adrien joined in, clapping as he watched Chloé and Marinette stand next to each other without glaring daggers at each other.
“The purpose of this club,” Marinette continued when the clapping had died down, “is to not only show Chat Noir how much we, the average citizens of Paris appreciate him, but also to channel that superhero spirit into our everyday lives - because while we may not all have superpowers, we all have the potential to become heroes.”
More applause sounded as Adrien’s ears turned redder.
“Our first event will be writing letters of appreciation to Chat Noir, as well as the rest of Paris’s heroes,” Marinette said, “we’ll be meeting back here next week, at the same time. We’ll have all the necessary supplies ready for you. Thank you for coming today, and we hope to see you all next week!”
With a start, Adrien realised that an hour had passed already. People began getting up and heading out the door, stopping to thank Marinette as they exited.
“Thanks for organising this, Marinette!”
“You’re so cool for doing this, Marinette!”
“See you next week, Marinette!”
“Hey, Marinette,” Adrien said, approaching her as Nino went to talk to Alya. “Your first meeting went great!”
“Oh, thanks, Adrien,” Marinette said, “and thanks for coming!”
“Yeah, no problem,” Adrien said, “Uh, just out of curiosity, how are you going to get the letters to Chat Noir? If you need help with it, I sometimes see him patrolling outside my house - I could help deliver them?"
" Oh,” Marinette said, seeming surprised, “um, actually, I was going to - well, uh, I have a - a friend of a friend, that is, someone I know knows someone - err, thanks for the offer! But I’ve already got something set up.”
“Oh - I’d better go now, the car’s waiting,” Adrien said, “but it was a great meeting! See you in class tomorrow?”
“Yup,” Marinette nodded, “thanks for coming! Bye!”
“I like Pigtails,” Plagg remarked from inside his shirt as Adrien bounded down the steps to enter the waiting car.
“Yeah, she’s pretty cool,” Adrien agreed in a whisper before calling out a greeting to Gorilla as he buckled his seat belt.
And a week later, as Plagg zipped out of the ring as Adrien landed in his bedroom, he couldn’t help but think that Marinette really was quite extraordinary. Setting down the rather large sack Ladybug had given him, Adrien reached in and pulled out one of the many cards inside.
Dear Chat Noir,
Thank you for all you do for Paris and for Ladybug. We wouldn’t be here today without you. You’re a pretty Cool Chat!!
Sincerely,
Marinette Dupain-Cheng