The adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir (A rewrite)

Flawless and Fabulous

12 PM Lunch Time

Adrien was absolutely thrilled to have his first birthday party ever. His parents never allowed such things. His father said they were meaningless, and his mother always said there were better things to do.

Mother.

The sudden thought made him go back to those empty nights in his room. The nights where his sorrows could be shared with no one. The nights his father was crying silently in the kitchen. The nights where thunder rivaled his cries. He thought about how his mom had always wanted the best for him. She introduced him to modeling so he could grow up loved. She made him learn multiple languages in order to communicate with more people. She loved hearing him play the piano.

He shook these thoughts out of his head. He focused on the empty seat across from him. Nino had skipped school today because he was 'busy'. Adrien knew what he was busy with, but it felt nice pretending he didn't know. Nino invited everyone at the school, and Adrien had personally invited the agents, celebrities, and other famously known people. Since it was all so short notice.

And of course, he had to personally invite Marinette. Adrien hadn't thought much of Marinette at first. She was just another topic he could discuss with Nino. But recently, he's noticed how incorporative she could be. All his attempts to get friendly with her go sideways.

Inviting her out after shoots. "I'm busy." Talking during break, "I'm busy." Walking her across a street, "I'm busy."

Requesting anything of her is harder than requesting anything of his father. At least he entertains the idea. She just flat out refuses.

Nevertheless, he must befriend her. He's made it his personal goal to help out Nino in any situation. Even if that meant talking to the most thick headed girl around. That's the only reason he pushed so hard for her to come. She begrudgingly said yes, he took that as a small win.

He looks over a couple of tables, and he sees Marinette and Alya eating today's served food. He notices Marinette always eats so little. A habit of his from his modeling career. Always match their eating pace. Those words are practically ingrained into his brain.

He goes over to sit with them, and immediately, Marinette looks annoyed.

"Hey, Adrien. What ya need?" Alya said. She's always had a casual tone about her. He disliked the formality of others, it felt so disingenuous.

"Yes, Mr. Agreste, what can we do for you?" Marinette said in an almost condescending tone. She was all but smiling. Her face was stiff and didn't move from a stern look. It was annoying.

"My friend Nino isn't here today, and we've had a few conversations in the past. I hope it's okay to speak casually. " He spoke in an awkward manner. He was still getting used to talking to people. He knows how to speak business, but leisurely talk just wasn't part of his daily life. He found it hard to adjust to certain norms. He didn't know what was socially acceptable and what wasn't. Alya was a nice girl with a mean look. She always treats him like he's just another student. It's a rather nice change. Marinette is fun to listen to whenever she isn't aware of Adrien's presence. She always has something interesting going on. He just wished she didn't push him away so much.

"Oh yeah, that's totally fine!" She reassured him. "Marinette was just telling me about how her gymnastics trainer used to be very strict with all the students. Always had to have the perfect technique for anything type of stuff. One day, a parent, who had been a professional gymnastics trainer as well, asked about their teaching degree. He said that he studied in the same school that the dad had gone to. His degree on the wall said the exact name of the dad. Turns out the degree had been stolen a couple of years after the dad had gotten the degree. It had been sold on a random website, and the fake trainer had bought it."