Chapter Text
Chapter One
For the first time in his life, Adrien was having trouble focusing on his schoolwork. He knew that she was always late and sometimes even missed class, however, the school day was almost over, and there was still no sign of Marinette. He couldn’t help himself from turning around every few minutes and disappointingly eying her empty seat. After the 5th time, Alya took notice and decided to clue the blonde in.
“She’s home sick today,” Alya whispered, catching Adrien’s attention before he turned back around. “She has a cold.”
“She’s sick? Is she going to be okay?” Concern dripped from Adrien’s whisper of a voice as a panicked look struck his face.
That concern and panic did not go unnoticed by Paris’ most investigative journalist. Alya smirked as the scheming wheels in her head began to turn. “Yea, it’s just a cold. Nino and I were going to drop off notes from today’s lessons as well as any assignments to her after school. Did you want to come? I’m sure just seeing you would make Marinette feel MUCH better.”
Hearing those words made Adrien perk up. Seeing him would make Marinette feel better? The warm feeling spreading across his chest made him forget that he was in the middle of class. Mentally noting that he would have some free time in between the end of school and the start of his fencing lesson, he enthusiastically answered Alya’s invitation. “Yes!"
Scattered giggles danced around the classroom as a result of Adrien’s cheerful outburst. Miss Bustier turned away from the board and offered a kind smile to her usually most well-behaved student. “Adrien, is there something you want to share with the class?”
Remembering where he was, Adrien whipped around facing forward. “No, I’m sorry Miss Bustier. It won’t happen again."
With understanding eyes and a small nod, Miss Bustier accepted this apology and continued on with her lesson.
The rest of the day seemed to drag on as seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. Adrien usually loved school, however he could not bring himself to stop worrying over his good friend. What if her cold developed into something more serious and she had to go to the hospital? Or what if she was feeling so many negative emotions from being sick that Hawkmoth was able to akumatize her? Or what if-
“Hey Adrien!” Alya interrupted his intrusive thoughts as their school day finally came to an end. Nino stood behind her, avoiding making eye-contact with his best friend as they made their way down the school’s front steps.
So occupied with his own thoughts, Adrien hadn’t even noticed that the day had officially ended and that he had walked out of the school. “Hey Alya. Are you ready to head over to Marinette’s?”
“Yea...about that. Turns out Nora needs to prepare for a last-minute match, so I need to go home and watch the twins so that she can squeeze in some extra training. And since there’s two of them I could really use Nino’s help. Right Nino?” Alya nudged her boyfriend in the ribcage with her elbow, eliciting a half-hearted agreement from him. She dug out some papers from her backpack and shoved them into Adrien’s hands. “Here’s the notes I copied for Marinette off my tablet and her missed assignments that I collected. Will you make sure she gets them please? You’ll be doing Nino and I a huge favor!”
“You just want me to go? Alone? I-I don’t know.” Adrien looked down at the papers in his hands, contemplating if him going on his own was a good idea. Marinette was a good friend - a very good friend. She was so much of a good friend that recently she’d been on his mind a lot and he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. Not only was she constantly on his mind, but he was even starting to adopt her mannerisms of clumsiness and nervousness whenever he was around her.
Alya crossed her arms, purposely turning the corners of her lips downward. “Hm, we really have to get going. If you’re not up for it, I guess she’ll just fall behind a day…”
“No - wait!” Adrien pulled the papers in towards his chest, hugging them as a determined expression adorned his face. “I can do it. I’ll bring them to her right now!” With a committed nod, he abruptly turned and made the brief journey from the school to the bakery.
Alya’s makeshift frown morphed into a devilish smirk as Nino picked his head up and watched his friend cross the street and enter the bakery with gusto. “You’re evil you know."
Alya shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her innocent boyfriend’s hand. “Yea, but you love it.”