Chapter Text
Marinette resigned herself to her doom the minute Madame Mendeleiev announced that she would be partnered with Lila for the lab assignment.
Things were going to literally explode without the intervention of an akuma, and, somehow, Marinette knew that she would be the one blamed while Lila played innocent and got away with it.
Marinette’s fears were confirmed when, once they’d arrived at their lab stations, Lila whispered, “I would rather fail than cooperate with you,” ever so softly in Marinette’s ear.
Marinette shrugged, pretending it didn’t faze her even as she screamed on the inside.
Suddenly, Adrien’s hand shot up. “Madame Mendeleiev? Could I please work with Lila today?”
Fifteen pairs of eyes went wide in surprise.
“Lila’s been out so much due to her illnesses, and I want to help her get caught up,” Adrien continued with a beatific smile. “Absolutely no offence meant to Marinette, but I think I’d be a better tutor, since I’m second only to Max in this class.” He nodded his head at his assigned lab partner.
Madame Mendeleiev pursed her lips as she considered this request.
“…Very well,” she finally decided, feeling unusually generous. “But I better not catch you two goofing off. You’d better be productive.”
“Yes, Madame. Of course,” Adrien assured, holding out a hand to Lila. “Come on, Lila. Let’s get you up to speed.”
Lila shot Marinette a triumphant sneer.
Meanwhile, behind Lila’s back, Adrien winked.
Marinette’s mouth dropped open several centimeters.
There was no way Adrien had overheard Lila’s comment and intervened on Marinette’s behalf…was there?
She didn’t have time to puzzle over the matter as Max joined her at her station.
He nodded politely, seemingly unbothered by the partner switch. “I guess we’ll be working together.”
“Looks like it,” Marinette replied, mentally doing a victory dance because she’d missed her fair share of Mendeleiev’s classes due to akuma attacks, so she was a little shaky on the course material herself.
It was a windfall scoring Max as a lab partner.
When the class broke for lunch that day, Marinette made a point of catching Adrien on the front steps.
“H-Hey,” she called tentatively.
He turned and beamed at her like a soccer stadium light. “Hey. What’s up Marinette?”
She swallowed and balled her hands into fists resolutely. “What you did today in Chemistry… I’m not sure if you meant to or not, but you really helped me out by taking Lila off of my hands…so…thanks, Adrien.”
“Absolutely,” he assured, scooping up her hand and pressing the lightest of kisses to the back of it. “I couldn’t just leave you hanging like that. …Have a nice lunch, Marinette.”
With another glimmering smile, he squeezed her hand and then released it, turning to head for his waiting car.
Marinette stood there on the steps, watching him go and feeling like a hot mess.
She was never going to get over him when he regularly acted like a fairytale prince.