Adrien

I walk into school with a smile on my face.

Yes, I know, that should actually be illegal.

But I'm not smiling because of school; I'm smiling because of her.

...At least I am until I catch sight of her empty seat. "Alya, where's Marinette?" I ask, a frown etched across my lips. What I meant to say was, 'Alya, where's the only sunshine that brightens my day? Where's my princess?' But I think that may have sounded a little weird.

She gives me an excited grin. "She's probably slept in and through doing that made herself late to school. Maybe you should switch places with me so you can ask her yourself though when she gets here?" I return her excited grin and nod my head, getting up again to switch places with her without even confronting Nino about it. I'll talk to him later though.

Sitting in Alya's seat, I begin to grow nervous. What if Marinette's in a bad mood and doesn't want to talk to me? What if she gets sent to the principal's office for being late? I mentally gasp. That means I won't be able to talk to her at all!

"A-Adrien?!" A voice from beside me suddenly wakes me out of my thoughts. Turning my head I'm faced with Marinette.

Wait, was I so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice her walk in?

Well, apparently I'm blind.

"Oh! Um, h-hey Marinette," I awkwardly say, bringing a hand up to the back of my neck. Damn it, why did I agree to swap places with Alya? I'm Adrien right now, not Cat Noir!  And what's up with my sudden stutter? I'm usually pretty smooth with Marinette. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?

"How come you and Alya switched seats?" she asks, drumming her fingers on the desk.

My reasoning for sitting here goes out the window as soon as she asks me, and I'm left to fumble over my words in an attempt to socially save myself. "Well, I-uh-I...I don't know-I just-How come you were late?" I not-so-smoothly change subjects. Wow, I really wish I could just freeze time and gather my thoughts on a piece of paper so I could plan out how to talk to her and be prepared. But then again, I'd still probably be an awkward mess in this conversation.

"Oh, I was late because I didn't get much sleep last night and I accidentally slept in. I'm so glad Ms Bustier hasn't told me off for it though," she smiles in relief, looking completely calm and collected-nothing like she used to be around me. I'm hoping that's just because she's learned to control her crush on me and not because she's stopped liking me.

"Oh, how come you didn't get much sleep last night?" I ask, a sudden boost of confidence surging through me as Marinette's face turns red at the question.

"Um-Well-I-I was up late talking to a friend..." she nervously trails off, still blushing. Something inside of me jumps around at this because I was the 'friend' that she stayed up late talking to and she's blushing over it. Can she get any more adorable?

"Ah, cool. So anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight?" I blurt it out before even thinking. It's almost as though my heart's taken over my brain and all logic has just left. We've hung out a lot just lately; I don't want her to get sick of me!

She smiles. "I'd absolutely love to, but I promised Alya a girls night. I'm free tomorrow though?" I mentally sigh, thinking about how lonely I'm going to be tonight, until I remember that I have my Chinese lesson today so I wouldn't have been able to hang out with her anyway. Ugh, damn my impulsivity and busy schedule!

Speaking of busy schedules, I'm probably not free tomorrow either. Maybe I can convince my father to cut back on the things he piles on me. Then I'll have more time to get to know Marinette..."I-"

Before I can get halfway through starting my sentence, she cuts me off. "Wait, I'm so stupid, you have another photo shoot tomorrow! Of course you won't be free...Are you free to hang out on Sunday?" I have to force my jaw not to drop. How did she know I have a photo shoot tomorrow? I didn't even know that.

"How did you...I mean I didn't..." I sigh, deciding the only way to not make a fool of myself in the conversation is to just drop it. "Yeah, I'm free to hang out on Sunday." She seems too tired to notice that she just confessed to knowing what I'm doing tomorrow anyway. Lazily grinning, she rests her head on her arms and closes her eyes.

How is it that 2 weeks ago my brain failed to process how beautiful she is? Maybe I'm just slow...

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"Nino, hey did you want to hang out at my place after school today?" I ask, realising that upon chasing after Marinette like a lost puppy I haven't given my best friend the attention that I used to.

And besides, as the saying goes: bros before girls.

Wait, did I do that right? Or is it bros before foes? Hold up, Marinette isn't a foe; what am I saying?! Or thinking, rather. I should probably stop thinking.

Nino's face lights up. "Dude! You're serious? You never invite me to your house! This is seriously so cool! You sure your dad will let me come over?"

It's at this point that I feel terrible. Nino and I have been best friends for over a year yet he's only been round my house a couple times. "Yeah, it's fine. My father's never around anyway so you should be fine," I shrug, feeling my mood slightly drop at the mention of my father never being around. Nino puts his hand on my shoulder in a comforting manner upon noticing it.

"Then I guess I'll be seeing you after school," he removes his hand from my shoulder as we walk into science class and find our seats.

Today will be guys day. Just me and Nino. No girls like Marinette involved to mess with my head. Just me and Nino, Nino and I, I and Nino...The bros...Chillin like bros should...

...Okay maybe I'm not normal...

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A/N:

ahh I'm like a day late posting this chapter I'm so sorryyyyy! And the chapter was also a filler chapter too so it didn't have much Adrienette action and stuff..

But maybe next chapter will so don't give up on me yet 😂

I'd also just like to say thank you SO SO SO much for almost 2K reads. I know I say thank you a lot and it must get annoying by now but writing really is my only real passion and to see people reading this book and actually enjoying it is more gratifying than I can even explain!

Also would like to say thank you to the readers who comment on each chapter-your comments make my day and I love reading your reactions to this story :)

(Obviously the art above isn't mine but this fandom is so talented I can't even like people are doing such great things with their lives and I'm over here bragging about how many Oreos I can fit into my mouth)

Anywayyy I'll be posting soon so until then ✨

-Belle