Just Friends

Two

Adrien stared at his class schedule. Not sure where to begin.  "I think I might need some help." 

Marinette grabbed his baby blue colored paper. A highlight of the school was using extra colored paper for schedules. She always wondered if it was so they stood out against the many syllabuses. Or if it was because the school wanted to save the white paper. "How the heck are you in all the advanced classes?" 

"I don't know. I had Natalie do my schedule since I had no clue where to begin." He rested his chin on her head as he found it quite entertaining that Marinette was quite shorter than him. She looked to be 5'2" while he was 6'3". 'To think she was once taller than me.'

He thought about the days when Marinette made fun of Adrien for being just an inch shorter calling him Pipsqueak, Teeny Weeny, Shortie McShortface. All names that were short lived in the scope of things.

His mother, Emilie found it quite adorable that the result of Marinette's schoolyard taunts was that Adrien started comparing his height to everything. "Am I going to be taller than-" He filled in the blank with random things, people, and animals. Even asking if he was going to grow taller than the Eiffel Tower. The answers were mostly no but the two most important ones were yes and a maybe.

"Am I going to be taller than Marinette?" "Am I going to be taller than Father?" He still wasn't as tall as his father who seemed to be a giant compared to everyone else, at 7'0. Perfect for a basketball player, not great for standard doorways. 

When Adrien was a naive toddler he thought that his mom was a princess that was kidnapped by a mean, grumpy giant. She was beautiful with blonde hair, kind eyes, and a sweet soothing voice. A staple of the heroine in the books he read. The only difference being she didn't end up with a prince who was supposed to make her live HAPPILY ever after. 

How he envied the relationship between Marinette and her father, Thomas Dupain. He often wished that Thomas would become his father. Built like the beast with the personality of Yogi Bear. Food, smiles, and encouraging words. Was it too much to ask just to have the last one? Was it too hard for Gabriel to do that one thing?

He hadn't seen Thomas as Adrien Agreste since the funeral of his mother. But, as Mister Bug, he saw him quite frequently. Thomas and his wife catered many events and LadyNoire insisted that they support local businesses by eating at The Dupain-Cheng Bakery. She said that they shouldn't partake in large franchises however, he knew that girl could not say no to a drink from Starbucks. Anything warm with a disgusting amount of sugar or something pink.

She had the same taste as his Kwami,  Tikki who thought the Dupain-Cheng pastries and desserts were to die for.  looks of happiness when Mister Bug ordered five dozen cookies of different varieties on the first of the month. Just in case Tikki needed to recharge or just wanted a snack. He couldn't do anything without her, she was what made Adrien Agreste, Mister Bug. The words of reason, the miracle maker, the inspirer.

She helped him be a better person. He was so glad that he had been chosen despite how hard being the savior of Paris was. He couldn't imagine having any other Kwami as LadyNoire often complained about her's. Including the other night on patrol.

"Chewing on electric wires, eating hamsters, stealing things, making everything smell like rotten cheese."

"He sounds like a handful"

LadyNoire laid on a rooftop groaning and griping. She didn't want to go home and repair damages left from earlier that morning. "You have no idea. It's like having a demon living in my room. He's a sentient being. Why would he choose to chew on things that are plugged in? Is he trying to kill himself?"

"I don't think Kwamis can die."

"Plagg's certainly testing if he can or not. I have things I have to do, I Can't keep repairing things. His stupidity is expensive." She crossed her fingers hoping that he wouldn't do anything stupid tomorrow. It was an important day. "Can't I have one day go smoothly?"

Mister Bug patted her head knowing how it felt not to have things go your way. "It's okay, I know you're able to power through anything. You're the most remarkable person I know." 

"I'm warning you, if you keep talking like that, I'll kiss you."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take." He smiled as she heard her giggle nervously. He would do anything to keep her in good spirits and she seemed to need a lick me up. They both agree that they shouldn't have a romantic relationship not until Hawkmoth was defeated but flirting was allowed. Lots of flirting in fact. 

LadyNoire smiled and couldn't resist an attempt at a Southern American accent. "I do declare, Mister, you've caused my heart to race faster than a horse at the Kentucky derby." 

Both of them erupted into laughter. Was it the sad attempt at a Southern American accent? Or was it the comparison that made him laugh? Maybe it was just the one who was telling it. He wanted to know her more and more but he had to navigate new terrain and defeat a purple terrorist before he could do anything. 

"Dude, you got Ms. Mendeleev for the first period. That sucks. At least I have her in the afternoon." 

"Do we have any classes together?" 

"One of your study halls overlaps with my lunch. Besides that, no."

"The whole point of this was to hang out with you, maybe if I tutor you we can be in the same classes next semester."

"Nope. I'm not killing myself by studying, just for you. I barely get to sleep like it is." 

"Mari, you're not staying up late are you?" 

He hit the nail on the head. The late night patrols with Mister Bug and her bad habit of losing track of time when she worked on crafts. She wanted to fix her sleep schedule as the next day she always regretted staying up so late.

"Noooo." Her voice changed pitch like a child being asked if they did it and trying to deceive their parents. 

"Mari." He sighed before she fussed up. He remembered that she wasn't a morning person as during sleepovers she was always the last one to wake up. She would make a big fuss not wanting to do anything and stay nice and comfy. Adrien would resort to becoming the dreaded tickle monster. Taking on the challenge. 

He pinched sides causing her to jolt forward. "Okay! I might be a little bit of a night owl."

Adrien looked her up and down and harnessed his inner Bourgeois.  "You not getting your beauty rest explains a lot."

If he was going to act like a Bourgeois, he was going to be treated like one. "Bitch, you can figure your class schedule on your own." She crumpled his schedule up into a ball and handed it to him.

He just stared at her unsure how to fix this. He thought his comment would have been greeted with a laugh or small chuckle. Not a blue ball of paper. "Umm….I made a mistake. You look very pretty and worked very hard to look this pretty today and I may have gone too far with my joke."

He awkwardly smiled hoping that was enough to fix this. He only just reunited with her and didn't want to screw it up.

 "Ugh… fine. Ms Mendeleev is to the left, up the stairs. Go in, look for a guy in a red hat with headphones. That's Nino. He's quiet at first but opens up to close friends. You'd like him. He's pretty dorky."

"Red hat, headphones, got it."

"Also don't touch or talk about the hat."