Chapter Text
"Marinette, right?" The strange boy said in what he must have thought was a smooth voice. He slid into where Alya usually would be, usually would have told him off from, but she had caught that bug going around. "I've noticed you around school and heard you're not taken, so... I thought we'd get to each other better."
Smug. Adrien watched from the corner of his eye. He had an arm around the back of the bench. So smug.
"That's very, uh, flattering of you- but really, I'm not interested."
"Oh come on, princess," he drawled. Princess? Did he just call her Princess? In that tone? Like she was being stuck up? "Don't be like that."
The way the boy shifted in his peripheral vision said he had moved closer. He heard Marinette slide away. Adrien inhaled deeply. When he let his breath out, he felt something of a growl in his throat. Personal space. Didn't he understand that?
"Look, you're making me uncomfortable. I have to get ready for next class, could you please leave me alone?"
She could be a spitfire at times, just one thing Adrien liked about her, but usually too sweet for her own good. Like now. She really should be verbally dismembering this guy, he knew she could.
"I don't bite," he said, smile in his voice.
Adrien's pencil snapped in his hand. He stood and whirled around, slamming his hands on the desk.
"I do."
That was unmistakably a growl. Using his height to his advantage, he stared down the strange boy. They squeaked and wilted under his gaze. Adrien didn't stop staring him down as he slid off the bench, not until he was out the door.
"A- uh- Adrien?" Marinette sputtered. Oh. Great. She was already nervous around him, she didn't need to see him being so Agresti- not the time- aggressive.
He cleared his throat, suddenly registering her look of shock, and those of the rest of the class. "Oh, I, it's just that I can't stand disrespectful guys. Sorry about that."
"No, ah- that, wow, that was really ho- ahh- haaardly inapro-propiate. You are fine- I mean, that! Was fine. Really," Marinette stuttered, red in the face. Then, with a breath, "Thank you."
Adrien gulped as he smiled at her. "You're welcome." He sat back down in his seat with all the composure he could muster, hoping that would get his classmates to stop looking. It sure didn't work on Nino, whose headphones were now down around his neck. He gave a toothy grin Adrien responded to with a 'What?' look. His best friend just shrugged and casually took out his phone. Adrien's own buzzed shortly after.
N- dude wtf was that?? just friends, my ass
A- What? I can stand up for my friends, right? Alya wasn't here to do it.
N- lmao like you lose it that bad when ppl give me a hard time ok dude w/e
A- Shut up.
N- uh huh
A- Stop.
N- ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Adrien put his phone away, grumbling, and ignored both Nino and the way his face was burning.