Adrien
He settled into his seat, rubbing his face. He had barely slept last night, worried that he had just destroyed Chat and Mari's friendship. He hadn't been able to get her out of his head all night. She still wasn't in her seat, and he prayed she showed up. If she skipped it would just be confirmation that he really had screwed up. Nino sat down next to him, his face bright red. But that wasn't what drew Adrien's attention. Nino's hat was missing. He couldn't even remember the last time he had seen Nino without his hat.
"Are you okay?"
Nino grinned, turning to look at him.
"Dude, I am better than okay."
"Where's your-"
"Hey Adrien, can you do me a favor?"
He looked up to Alya, who was sporting Nino's missing hat. Her face was red too.
"Huh? Yeah, sure. What's up?"
"I was wondering, if just for today, I could sit with Nino?"
Adrien looked between the two of them, realization slowly dawning on him. The blushing, the hat, the messy hair. They must have been affected by the acuma last night too.
"Yeah, of course."
He grabbed his things and got up, moving down the row to sit in Alya's seat. He sat down, his gaze leveling on the door.
"Please Mari. Please show up."
He whispered, glancing from the door to the clock. The second hand was ticking away, and he flinched when it hit zero, the bell ringing. That was it. She had skipped, which meant she had lied to him last night about not being upset.
"Alright everyone, listen up! Its come to my attention that yesterday most of you got little to nothing done concerning your projects. The first twenty minutes of class today will be dedicated to it, but after today, you have to make your own time for it."
Adrien dug through his bag, pulling out his notebook. Since Mari hadn't shown, he was on his own. He stared down at the paper, trying to force himself to focus on the words. But how could he? He kept picturing her face, the fear in her eyes, the panic in her voice. He swallowed dryly, shaking his head. He was going to be sick. He started to stand, when the door opened, and he could see her trying to sneak in. He fell back into his seat, taking a breath. At least she had showed up. That had to be a good sign right? The teacher waved her over, and based off of how red her face turned, he assumed she was getting in trouble. She made her way to her seat, not even glancing up as she sat down.
"If I'm late on Monday, I get detention."
She growled, and he frowned slightly.
"That sucks."
Her head shot up, her blush getting darker once she realized it was him.
"W-wheres Alya?"
He gestured behind them, and she turned to look.
"Oh."
"At least it was a good one. We had the best make out session we've ever had thanks to that acuma."
He watched Marinette sharply turn her head, looking at the girl who had said it. Most of the school was talking about that acuma. Maybe that was his way in.
"Did you hear about the acuma attack last night?"
He asked, and she seemed to tense up, making the nausea in his stomach worsen. She nodded, setting her notebook on the table.
"I heard about it. Another love one right?"
"Yeah, did it affect your area?"
She tipped her head lower, whispering weakly.
"What?"
"Your neighborhood. Was anyone you know infected?"
"No."
She said it quickly, and he nodded. Why did he expect her to tell him that it had? That wasn't just something you'd admit. She opened her notebook to a blank page, drawing two stick figures. He leaned closer, watching her label one as A, and the other as B.
"That acuma got me thinking though. You like hypothetical questions right? Can I ask you one?"
Her question sounded urgent, and he nodded without hesitation.
"Of course Marinette."
She pointed at the paper, drawing a small heart over stick figure A.
"Say person A is infected by a love acuma, and they come on to person B."
His heart was sinking, waiting on her to finish. She drew an arrow, pointing from A to B, as if he wouldn't be able to follow along without it.
"Okay..."
"And say person B didn't stop it. Does that make them a bad person?"
He held back a frown, staring at her. Did she really think that she was at fault?
"It depends. Did they sleep together?"
His own words sent images tumbling into his head, of her lips, the sounds she made. He tried to brush them off as quickly as possible.
"Does it matter?"
He scoffed, running a hand through his hair. Of course it mattered. He wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault. That she hadn't done anything wrong. But this was a hypothetical question. Not a real one.
"Yes. I think it's important. If person B slept with person A, knowing that they weren't in the right mind, then yes. That would make them a bad person. But, if person B stopped it before it got to the point of them actually sleeping together, then no. They aren't a bad person."
Alya walked around their table, and propped her elbows on it.
"I agree with Adrien. Person B isn't at fault anymore than person A is."
Marinette raised an eyebrow, turning to face Alya.
"Really? Okay. So let's say person A was Nino, and person B was... Chloe. Would you still feel the same?"
Alya's face turned red, and anger flared in her eyes. Nino walked around to her, shaking his head.
"Uh-uh. Don't bring me into this."
"Now hold on Mari. That's completely different. Nino is in a relationship. You never said anything about person A being in a relationship."
Adrien stepped in, and she frowned, looking down at her paper.
"You're right. That was out of line. I'm sorry Alya."
Alya leaned into Nino, sighing in response.
"It's okay Mari."
Adrien looked back to Marinette, who still seemed unsure.
"Besides. If person B is so worried about being a bad person, they need to talk to person A. Find out how they felt about it."
She glanced at him, before ripping the page from her notebook.
"I guess that makes sense. Hypothetically of course."
"Of course."
He repeated, and watched her crumple up the paper.
They didn't interact much for the rest of the class, they both seemed to be in their own little worlds. He needed to talk to her. As Chat. But he didn't have patrol tonight, Ladybug did. The bell rang, and he headed straight for the locker room, ducking into a stall. He leaned back against the door, staring up at the ceiling. He wanted to fix this. But how?
"Adriennn when's lunch? I'm starving!"
Plagg whined, flying out from beneath his shirt.
"Do you ever think about anything other than food? I'm trying to figure out what to do about Marinette."
"Just pretend it never happened. Isn't that what you kids normally do?"
Adrien sighed, digging through his bag for the tin of cheese. Plagg was usually more helpful when he was eating.
"We aren't kids anymore Plagg. We're adults. And she's obviously upset about what happened. I can't just pretend it never happened when she's this upset about it."
"Then go talk to her."
Adrien finally found the cheese, pulling out a slice and tossing it to Plagg.
"I can't. What if she starts asking questions I don't know how to answer?"
"Well what does your generation do to talk to each other, without talking to each other?"
Adrien thought for a moment, before digging through his bag again.
"We text. That's genius Plagg."
"I know I am."
Adrien scoffed, grabbing Chat Noir's burner cell from the bag. The only person he had given the number to was ladybug, in case they ever needed to get in touch on their off time. She never used it of course. He got Marinette's number from his phone, and sent her a text from the burner.
"Hey Purrincess. How's school going?"
He held open his bag, and Plagg sighed as he dove in. He slung it over his shoulder, heading for his next class.
"How did you get my number Chat?"
"I have my ways."
He ducked through the doorway as the bell rang, taking an open seat in the back. Luckily this teacher was more relaxed about having phones out during class. As long as your work got done she didn't care.
"How unnerving. Can we talk about last night?"
He turned his phone on silent before responding.
"Sure princess. What about it?"
"I feel like I took advantage of you."
He looked up, quickly copying down the equations on the board. His phone lit up again, and he leaned over it, reading her text.
"It's just that everything you were talking about made sense. Maybe I haven't gotten over him because I haven't given anyone else a chance."
He sat back, squinting at the phone. Was she saying that she wanted to give Chat a chance? He brushed the thought off as quickly as it had come. Of course she wasn't saying that.
"You didn't take advantage of me princess, and you didn't do anything wrong. Besides, no one in their right mind could resist all this."
"Well you certainly think highly of yourself."
He grinned, quickly solving one of the problems, in case the teacher did a walk around.
"In all seriousness, it's fine. Really. You stopped it before it went too far."
"The only reason I stopped it, was because you were about to reveal your identity."
His heart rate picked up, and he re-read the text. That was the only reason? She actually would have slept with Chat?
"So... you're saying if I hadn't tried to reveal my identity, you wouldn't have stopped it?"
He was so distracted by the thought, that he didn't notice that someone was standing next to him, until a hand pointed at his paper. He quickly set his phone down, offering his teacher an embarrassed smile, which she did not return. She gave him a stern look instead, heading back down the aisle. He hurried through solving the equations, his heart beating faster with each second that passed. What if she said yes? What then? His phone went off, and he glanced at the teacher who was still staring in his direction. He focused on the problems, getting them done as quickly as he could. So, Marinette may have wanted to sleep with Chat. Did he want that? He was so confused last night. He was worried about her, and frustrated with himself, but he was more confused than anything. He had really enjoyed that, and he couldn't tell if it was the acuma, or just because it was her. He finished the equations, and quickly grabbed his phone, opening her messages.
"I don't know Chat."
What the hell was that supposed to mean? Regret seemed to sink into his skin, as if he had missed an opportunity. He sucked in a breath, looking away from his phone. Was he actually disappointed that he hadn't slept with Mari? Memories of last night appeared in flashes, and he didn't shove them away as quickly as he had before. She had responded so well to him. It was as if she had been infected too, though he knew she hadn't. The way she moaned his name still made his heart skip, and he sighed softly. Marinette was just a friend.
"Kitty?"
He shook his head, this time determined not to think about last night. He would just ask her to clarify.
"Did you want to sleep together last night?"
"I don't know."
He wanted to ignore that. How could she not know?
"It all just sounded good. I wanted to forget about him, even if only for a moment. It sounded like a miracle, that if I just forced myself to focus on you I'd feel better."
Marinette was just a friend. He repeated in his head, and another voice responded.
'Yeah. Just Adrien's friend.'
There was emphasis on Adrien, and he frowned. That sounded more like something Plagg would say. But it was right. Mari was Adrien's friend more than she was Chat's. If it affected their friendship, Adrien and Marinette's would still be intact. Besides, what if that worked for him? Getting lady bug off of his mind sounded like a dream. It wouldn't change his feelings for her, he already knew that. But it would give him a break from them. He had tried everything else. Why not this?
"Do you really think it would have worked?"
"It was worth a shot."
His chest was starting to ache from how hard his heart was pounding.
"Do you want to give it another shot?"
He cringed at how it sounded, setting his phone down as a timer went off in the classroom.
"Alright everyone. Switch papers with someone else and take out a red pen."
He switched papers with the person in front of him, pulling out a pen from his pocket. His phone screen came back on, and he clicked the message.
"Are you sure?"
His skin grew hot, and he immediately responded.
"We could start slow. Just a kiss. If that doesn't work, then neither of us have to regret having sex."
"Okay."
He exhaled sharply, looking from the paper to the board, where the answers were now displayed. He had just agreed to kiss Marinette. He slid his phone into his pocket, looking up at the clock on the wall. Only several more hours of school to go.