Chapter Text
Adrien stared at a message on his screen from Nino. 'Feeling a bit under the weather, won't come today. Sorry dude!'
Adrien sighed. It was pretty hard for him to enjoy the day without his best friend. He felt really lonely, though he could always hang out with Marinette and Alya. So he started typing out his response while heading to class.
Meanwhile, Marinette was digesting Alya's text. 'I'm literally dying, staying at home for today.' Marinette quickly thought of bringing Alya some pastries alongside with homework. Although the designer felt very tired due to her late-night sewing after patrol and wanted nothing more than take a nap during lunch break, her friend needed some pick-up, so sleeping could wait.
Marinette turned around the corner, heading to class, when she bumped into someone. Both dropped their bags and most of the books fell out.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going!" two voices exclaimed in unison. Marinette finally turned her attention to the unlucky person.
"A-Adrien, omg, I'm so-so sorry... I... Umm... I'm so clumsy, I m-must have ruined everything!"
"It's okay, Marinette. In fact, it was my fault not to pay attention. I guess I was just too upset by Nino's absence."
"Erh... How u-unlucky for b-both of us that both our b-besties are out... Ehe..."
Although all four of them were close friends now, Marinette still couldn't make herself stop stuttering and messing up in front of her crush.
"I guess we can share your desk then? I hate sitting alone, you know? School is made for communication!" suggested the model with a huge, almost Chat-like grin on his face.
"Oh, um... yeah, totally! I mean, great!" Marinette tried up a timid smile, while inside she was screaming from joy. Adrien, Adrien Agreste himself asked her if they could share a desk! On his own free will! Marinette felt like melting through the floor. 'Oh...' she mentally sighed. The dress would be white. And strapless. And they'll buy a nice house in the countryside. And raise up three children and a hamster...
"A hamster? Am I missing something, what are you referring to?" asked a confused Adrien.
Shit, did she really say that out loud? She completely forgot about his presence, caught in her own daydreaming. Hopefully it was only a hamster part...
"No-nothing..." blushed Marinette. Adrien cocked his eyebrow, but shrugged it off eventually. The girl could feel her whole body on fire while walking in the class with him side by side.
During the first half of the day, Marinette managed to calm down a little and get herself more comfortable around Adrien. Their last class before lunch was history, and it was incredibly boring. Marinette began sketching absentmindedly, but teacher's monotonous voice slowly lulled her to sleep. So the girl dropped her head to her hands and fell asleep.
Adrien noticed Marinette was exhausted, so he decided not to bother her till there was an emergency. Or the end of class, depends on which came first. Considering how irresistibly slow clock moved on, the second one wouldn't come soon. Adrien looked at the girl, she was so cute while sleeping. The boy found himself observing her soft features. Sure, he loved Ladybug, but Marinette was also a special someone who made his heart beating faster occasionally. He couldn't deny having a small crush on her. Adrien was about to turn his attention back to the teacher, when something near Marinette caught his eye. It was half-ready ladybug outfit in what he assumed was her sketchbook for designing.
Adrien thought it was no harm to take a closer look to her drawing. So he carefully, trying not to disturb her nap, took the book and stared at the outfit. It was very nice, though she obviously hasn't released every detail yet. Adrien stole a glance on Marinette. He wanted to look through her other designs, but doubted whether she would let him. Feeling ashamed of peeking without permission, he turned over some pages.
All the designs were amazing. He couldn't put a finger on how someone can make all those amazing things by their own. He turned over one more page and frose. There was a drawing of himself (well, not him-himself, but Chat Noir himself). Marinette slightly redid his costume, somehow making it look more countering his figure, which this way looked even better. Adrien couldn't help but wonder how did she knew his complexion so well. Did she like Chat Noir that much? Maybe even had a crush on him. Which was quite possible, he thought, judging by the picture.
Slightly confused, he turned over one more page. And that was where his brain stopped working. Here was a high quality, exact and definitely time-consuming sketch of him as Adrien. What shocked him most was the expression on the drawn face. It somehow showed both sadness and pure love. 'This look I must wear those times I think about Ladybug' Adrien assumed, staring on his own sketched version. God, it felt really strange.
He found himself even further interested, so he started searching through her sketchbook, seeking for more. The boy also found a rough picture of Ladybug. Marinette obviously put much less effort in capturing the spotted hero's appearance than in Chat Noir's one. It was yet another bit of confirmation for Adrien to his new 'Marinette-has-hots-for-Chat-Noir' theory. 'But', he reasoned himself, 'she also made an outstanding portrait of me. Like, me-me. Not Chat-me. Maybe she also has a crush on my plain civilian self?'
Adrien went through the rest of the book. With every new Chat or Adrien sketch he became more convinced he was never supposed to see those. They were drawn with so much effort within, Marinette made it perfectly clear that those two dorks were someone very special for her. The boy felt enormous guilt arising inside him, as if he was watching her soul instead. When he was about to close the sketchbook and return to the hostess, something red-and-black caught his attention. He opened the page to see red with three black dots tiny creature with a thin body and large head with big eyes. Bluebell eyes. Almost the shade of Ladybug's ones. And this whole creature seemed almost like... A kwami? But one belonging to... Ladybug?
Wait... WHAT?!
...yes, he was definitely not supposed to touch this book. Ever.