A Snap in Time

Chapter 17 (Adrien)

Adrien watched as Marinette stilled, freezing himself as a whispered word echoed in back of his mind.

Always.

The change in behaviour only lasted a couple of seconds and then both seemed to come around focus solely placed on the other. Adrien couldn't help but wonder what was causing this, and whether her sudden still state was equal to his?

Before Adrien could ask Marinette if she was okay and reintroduce himself to his friends, two hands slammed down on the top of his table.

"What do you think you're doing?" Adrien turned around and noticed Felix was standing in front of him. Unfortunately, it didn't look like he'd broken Felix's nose, the lack of blood told him that. He cursed himself for not hitting him harder.

"Oh sorry, is that not how you greet people in this country? I'm new here."

"Think you're funny, do you?" Felix leaned forward, his face almost pressing up against Adrien's.

Adrien grabbed hold of the pendant in his pocket and moved back slightly. He couldn't allow Felix to touch him and break the illusion, he wasn't quite sure how stable the power up was.

"No, I know 'Funny', he's in lycée now. Blonde hair, six foot one with a gimpy leg."

Felix pulled his arm back and Adrien prepared to dodge what was most certain to be a fist in the face, when Mr Damocles made himself known in the room.

"Is there something going on here I need to know about boys?"

Felix placed his arm back by his side, keeping his eyes firmly set on Adrien's. He knew this wasn't finished, the gleam in his cousin's eyes told him that. But Adrien had nothing to lose here, he had no controlling father and no goody two shoes image to maintain, just a desire to fix whatever had transpired to bring him here.

"No," Felix said as he clenched his jaw tightly. "Nothing's going on here."

"Then to your seat please, M. Agreste."

Adrien tried hard not to react to that. Felix? An Agreste? He looked around the classroom and everything seemed the same, yet different. The people there didn't seem ... them. Kim wasn't badgering Alix about their next competition, and Markov wasn't flying free.

He looked back to Felix, the blonde lips scrunched and one eyebrow raised. This most certainly was not the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Felix made his way back to Chloé, eyes never leaving Adrien's, and took the seat beside her.

Chatter fell amongst the room as Adrien turned his attention back to his old friends.

"Thank you," Marinette's voice was soft and sweet, but Adrien couldn't help notice the lack of the stutter he'd grown to love. The stutter which meant she loved him.

He understood her now, he understood a lot. The stuttering, the shyness, the want to not be left alone with him, it all made sense. He marvelled at how opposite they actually were when it came to their crushes.

He was loud, and obvious, even slightly obnoxious, where she was quiet and meek. He should have seen it sooner. He should have seen more. Maybe that was why he was here? Maybe, just maybe, he was back to help her?

"It's no problem, anyone would have done the same," because of course they would ... This was Marinette. The Marinette. The most loved girl in the class.

"I don't think so," she said, shaking her head, "not for me."

"Right, class," Mr Dramocles clapped his hands together, summoning the class to face the front. "We have a new pupil joining us today all the way from Shanghai. Lee Fu, please come to the front."

Adrien stood up slowly and walked down to the front of the class. He could see the rows quietly whispering into each other's ears, hopefully he'd made a decent first impression.

The guy who almost broke Felix's nose.

"Now, Lee, the class President will be showing you around this week," Adrien's eyes lit up and focused straight in on Marinette. She shook her head and looked down. Was she not the Class President? The sound of the voice following vibrated through his spine like a sedative, and he swore he'd never walk normally again.

"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!" Chloé rolled her eyes and made her way to the front, next to Mr Dramocles. "I can only do half a day, sir, I'm getting my hair done this afternoon."

As usual, nobody argued. She'd just call her father if she did. Different universe, same Chloé.

"M. Fu, please tell us a little about yourself." Mr Dramocles ignored Chloé and went to slap a hand on Adrien's shoulder. He quickly moved out of the way and smiled at his principal.

"I don't like being touched," he said, "part of my autism."

Adrien hated playing up one of his needs, but it was the only way to get through this and have some sort of reasoning for his obsurdedness. The position he was on the spectrum had nothing to do with touch; just numbers and order, and even though he hated people knowing, his friends back home supported him and encouraged him, maybe they would here too.

Home. God, he missed it. He missed her.

"Sorry, my boy, carry on."

Adrien coughed before turning to his fellow students again. "I'm Lee Fu, from Shanghai. My parents are French and Chinese and due to unfortunate circumstances, I am currently living with my Great Uncle. I am trained in fencing and piano, and I have a weakness for -" he stopped mid speech, contemplating whether what he was about to say was a smart thing to do. "Visiting Cheng Shifu's restaurant in Shanghai. It'll be one of the things I miss most about home." He decided to go for it anyway.

He looked up to see Marinette's mouth drop open, and he hoped he hadn't pushed this too far. He felt Plagg tap his chest through his shirt pocket, and he knew he had the kwami's full support.

"Cheng Shifu," Chloe squealed, before throwing her head back and laughing. "Please! That guy can't even cook soup! Though, it's not surprising considering he's related to Mari-Trash."

Adrien could feel an inner growl boil up, and fought hard to keep it down. He had to remain calm, attention was already on him enough.

He took a deep breath, keeping cool and calm, until he heard Chloé's next words and couldn't stop himself from going into full cat mode.

"Poor guy is too embarrassed to step foot in Paris again after that little cooking competition. It's a shame he didn't take his worthless niece with him though."

Adrien saw red. How dare she speak about Marinette like that? Is this how Chloé had always been when he wasn't around?

"Yeah, well, I happen to have it on good authority that someone sabotaged the soup, and I hope whoever it was is prepared for karma, because what goes around comes around, and I'll personally see to it that the right karma falls upon the right people."