Work Text:
"Ouch!"
"Wha-"
Instinctually, Marinette looked to the side the poking came from, only to be met with heavy eyebrow signaling. Marinette looked in the direction Alya was pointing to subtly, and as if struck by lightning- caught it.
A few contortions and a dropped pencil in barely more than a second later, she was the image of a perfectly concentrated student.
"Just in time!" she whispered, more to herself than outwardly. Honestly, if anyone were to actually look carefully, the doodle that took up about half a page of her notebook would surely give her away. She had definitely not spent the last twenty minutes of their History lesson sketching up a design for a corset, not at all. It had definitely nothing to do with the fact she remembered more about the costumes in her history book rather than the words themselves in some parts, either.
Mme. Bustier turned around as per usual, trying to ensure the class was listening. Sometimes, Marinette felt a slight pang of guilt at the thought of so-shamelessly lying to her favorite teacher, but it was better than being talked to once again about distractions in class.
Once, Alya had told her that at least she wasn’t falling asleep again.
As much as she hated to admit it, with the exhaustion her Ladybug duties had been bringing upon her as of lately, it was kind of an achievement. The lack of sleep had gotten her to an unusually grumpy state that morning as well, so her improved mood was also a big improvement.
Suddenly, she realized something. As her freshly used pen began gliding over to ink the parts of the sketch she was sure could work, it was evident.
Her designer’s block had been cured.
Marinette leaned in to whisper at her girlfriend.
“It’s so impressive, the things one does in class when bored! Look at this!” she said proudly, tilting her notebook just enough so that Alya would be able to get a clear view. Her smile was wide enough that, if it weren’t for the ever-growing eyebags she wore and the fact Alya had been witness to her downspiraling mental state, Marinette would look like the happiest girl in the world.
It was good to see her smile about something other than winning against an akuma and saving the city every now often. Or seeing her smile in general, for that matter.
Taking a chance as the teacher continued writing down on the board, Marinette dared begin detailing her former sketch, now properly inked. It was in moments like that she was glad to have picked good notebooks so that she could almost use them interchangeably with her sketchbook.
On a brief brightness moment, she wrote down some notes actually regarding the class on the next sheet, leaving a blank page so she could cut and paste the one she was working on to her sketchbook as soon as she got home to it. At least that way it wouldn’t be as blatantly obvious if Mme. Bustier asked to see her notes, which much to her luck was uncommon, and she wouldn’t miss the entire class.
Three bullet points already written were three lines she wouldn’t have to copy from Alya’s notes later. And, if her creative frenzy wasn’t gone by the time she got home and by some miracle only ascribable to Tikki’s luck Shadow Moth took a day off and no akuma attacks were sent, maybe it could mean a few minutes to draw her pattern on paper for later cutting.
Suddenly, noise so loud she couldn’t even make out where it was coming from filled her ears, so strident it hurt. Instinctively, she covered her ears. The chaos in the city during an akuma attack was usually much more difficult to handle than… whatever was going on, so why was it so hard to even make out words? The lights- they felt brighter, and the crowd around her was starting to feel asphyxiating, and-
Grabbing. Her arm. Someone was grabbing her arm.
Upon opening her eyes -when had she closed them?- Alya was speaking to her.
“We have to leave!”
Leave. Get out of the classroom. Out with everyone else, and surely a million more noises and lights and that wretched alarm that just would shut up and…
Before she knew it, she was already on her feet rushing outside. Walking down the stairs. Briefly, she realized it was probably the first time that week she had not tripped while going down. Or upstairs, for that matter. It was such a funny coincidence, but there was just so much still in her brain to even find the fun in the joke, let alone tell it to Alya or anyone else.
It felt as if her mind was simultaneously collapsing onto itself while simultaneously exploding. She did not want to experience it ever again, but it was happening, and the feeling wasn’t leaving. The way in which the piercing shrill of the alarm was still screeching made her want nothing more but to burst her eardrums just for the chance to stop hearing it. Or transform and use her Ladybug powers to climb up the wall and rip the metal contraption off the wall. Or just… cry. Cry forever until her mind finally gave her a break or the alarm stopped, whatever happened first. She was not about to get picky if it meant having a chance of the nightmare stopping.
Suddenly, the direction they were going switched. And… the alarm stopped. The flow of people stopped.
Peace. What a blissful peace.
Poking at her arm.
“...you okay?”
“Are you okay?”
“Is she okay?”
Marinette tried to answer, but the sole thought was exhausting. Nothing was coming out. At least, though, the alarm had stopped, she thought in an attempt to calm her senses down. Sure, there were the sounds of about a few hundred students drowning what would have otherwise been the purest breath of oxygen to be inhaled amidst a cloud of pollution, but one thing was gone and Marinette could finally open her eyes.
Interference coming from a megaphone. An amplified dry thud. Someone clearing their throat.
Marinette suddenly thought it would perhaps be more comfortable to somehow crawl out of her own skin than whatever this was. Way, way too much. She couldn’t even clear her thoughts enough to decipher who was talking. Making the words out was a bit of an achievement.
“Students, attention please! There 's no fire. We had a malfunction in the alarm system, which triggered it. We understand this was a stressful situation for many of you, so those who need it are allowed to grab their belongings and go home early, if you notify your teacher. The school apologizes for this mistake.”
“Are you staying?” Alya asked.
Going home sounded so nice right now. However, that meant having to make all the way back up to her classroom, and telling Mme. Bustier she was going home, and probably answering questions from her worried friends and-
Marinette only realized how violently she had just started to fidget with her hands with the sound of one of her knuckles cracking.
Tentatively, Alya asked. “Do you want me to go tell Mme. Bustier you’re leaving and grab your things?”
Marinette only nodded. She was used to words not finding their way out when she was even as little as extremely anxious, but it didn’t mean it ever got less obnoxious. It felt like yet another barrier between her and the world, one that could fall down at every given moment.
After a few minutes, Alya was making her way down the stairs, carrying her own backpack in addition to Marinette’s. The sudden switch between Marinette’s blank, tired expression into a very much puzzled one must have given her away, because Alya seemed to catch on almost instantly.
“You didn’t think I was letting you walk all the way home just like this, didn’t you?”
Now Alya mentioned it, Marinette feared slightly for her reaction speed should a car race at her on the street, or her overall ability to pay attention to her surroundings without being overwhelmed. Sure, it was a journey made for years two or three times a day, sometimes even more, but with her brain feeling a special type of tiredness that rivaled that of her toughest days as a superhero, and the current urge she was experiencing to crawl up her bed, curl up into a ball and rest until the world around her didn’t feel as much as it did…
Marinette directed a glance at her girlfriend, suddenly even more grateful than usual to have someone who knew her so well in her life.
“Also, all that noise really stressed me out. Do you think it would be a good idea to recover together?”
Marinette nodded with the closest to a sincere smile she could utter in the moment. Maybe, the day wouldn’t end up so bad.