Chapter Text
Once again, Marinette had almost fallen off the stairs, burning hot cup of coffee in hand.
And once again, despite the almost feline reaction time he had, Alya was far faster to catch her.
She wasn’t even walking with them, having arrived a few minutes earlier, but even with that against her, she dashed across the hallway all the way to the top of the stairs, catching her in time.
As soon as Marinette was safely on her feet again, and a little more awake after the bout of adrenaline, Alya ran back to her seat.
“How did you even survive before she came here?” Adrien asked, more as a joke than anything, but with a fair share of actual curiosity.
“To be honest, Socqueline was pretty much it. I’m not sure who gave her better reflexes, her martial arts training, me, or Chloe.”
“Who?”
Adrien was quite sure he had never heard that name before, maybe once? With the number of people they saved on a daily basis, for all he knew he could have saved her a dozen times already.
“Socqueline, she was my best friend until last year! She- she got expelled for trying to protect me once -long story, Chloe’s fault- and since she couldn’t continue with lycée without having finished collége, she works at her parents’ store.”
“Chloe got her expelled?”
Suddenly, he was even more satisfied with his decision to cut ties with her.
“Do you want me to tell you the entire story?”
As much as that was a painful part of her life to remember so casually, it was over now. It was only another story. She could do it.
“Are you sure?” Adrien asked, noticing the slight frown on her face as she explained it.
“Why not? We’re not even doing schoolwork in class, I can tell you while we finish today’s crossword.”
~(X)~
After about fifteen minutes of avid storytelling, Adrien really, really wanted to meet Socqueline.
“She did so much for me…”
“Do you have the address of her store? I would love to meet her.”
“You? Oh, she will be over the moon! She loves you so much-”
Marinette stopped mid-sentence, remembering. “Are you okay with it?”
“With what?”
“Well, she… She’s a fan of yours. Almost as big as I used to be, but since she hasn’t had the chance to spend so much time with you, well. She isn’t Wayhem level, but she does have an Alliance. Has you in her Alliance. I’m sure she will understand when she actually meets you, but if you just appear in the store I think that would make her freak out a little bit and then it would make you uncomfortable and you’re not going to like her anymore and-”
Suddenly, Marinette felt the strong and steady, yet gentle, hold of his hands on hers, bringing her down to earth. She blinked a few times, trying to make sense of the sudden grounding.
Adrien chuckled lightly, a warm smile appearing on his face.
“It’s okay, I’m- I’m used to it. Besides, if she’s nice enough to mean so much to you, I guess she’s nice enough to understand!”
“Just to make sure, I’ll text her today,” she said, pulling out her phone with a slightly nervous tone. “Is next week okay for you? Should I send Nathalie -you?- her number?”
“Next week is good! Nathalie will help me get the permission, any day would be fine either way.”