"Ah, has anyone seen Marinette this morning?" the teacher called out as she took roll.
"She's at the eye doctor," Alya answered, receiving a thanks from the woman. Adrien and Nino turned around, questioning the girl. "Marinette's been running into things, stumbling over steps, and if she held her magazines any closer to her face she'd have a permanent ink stain on her nose," Alya explained.
It was strange; Adrien hadn't noticed anything wrong with his princess's vision. When she thought through plans to deal with akumas, she was always so precise. Her movements never seemed to falter when she jumped from rooftop to rooftop, so where was this vision problem, exactly? It started to bug him that he'd not noticed, since he'd made it his personal mission to protect Marinette as much as she would allow him to.
Of course, that's when the door to their classroom opened oh so quietly, allowing Marinette to sneak in barely noticed. She slunk over to her seat beside Alya and kept her head hung down. Weird. Adrien could hear the girls behind him talking, and he could make out the words glasses and embarrassing from his Lady and stop worrying so much! from Alya.
So, as soon as the bell rang an hour later for lunch, Adrien spun around quicker than he'd moved in quite a while. "How'd the eye doctor go, Marinette?" he asked, leaning his chin on the desk.
"It was fine!" Marinette squeaked, standing up quickly and dropping her head to stare at the ground. Adrien couldn't see glasses, which was slightly strange.
"Girl, you have to actually wear these for them to work, y'know," Alya teased, picking up the offending object from a pink case on the desk. "And that's the only way you'll get used to them," Alya added.
"Yeah, put 'em on!" Adrien said with a smile, trying to get the girl to look at him. "Let's see if they can make you even prettier!" He could see the eye roll, so he knew he had her.
"Fine..." Marinette snatched the glasses from Alya, who was swinging them by the arm. The frames were pearly white while the arms were pink with black spots, which made Adrien snicker quietly at the irony. "They look so silly!" Marinette whined, tossing them off her face once again when she felt the two gazes baring down on her.
"No, no!" Alya fussed, "They're adorable, Marinette!" she tried to reassure, looking to Adrien for help. The girl figured if there was one person Marinette would listen to it would be him. "Put them back on!" Alya held the glasses back out, but when Marinette made no move to put them on her face, Alya huffed and forced them over the girl's ears.
"Alya!" Marinette yelped. All the throwing was starting to give her a headache, as if the car ride and her still-dilated eyes hadn't done that enough themselves.
"Adrien, what do you think?" Alya asked, turning Marinette by her shoulders to face the blond. She tilted Marinette's head up so she would be looking him in the eyes, ignoring her best friend's protests. Marinette pushed the glasses up on her face, looking at the boy nervously. She felt like a dork in the glasses, like her entire world was closing in at the corners and spreading out everywhere else, which made her own reflection distorted and oh god has her nose always been that ROUND?!
"You look really cute, Marinette," Adrien complimented, offering a bright smile to the girl. She smiled, shaking her head. She picked up her bag and clutched it to her chest, looking down at the ground as she tried to step down without falling.
That plan failed.
"Whoops!" Adrien snickered as he put the girl back on her feet after having caught her by the waist.
"They take a little getting used to..." Marinette said with an awkward laugh. She let go of Adrien's shirt, which she hadn't even realized she was holding on to.
"Well, you can get used to them during lunch," Alya nagged, poking her friend's cheek as she walked past. "And if you take them off, I will find out!" she threatened as she walked out the door.
Marinette looked at Adrien, who had to struggle to not laugh at her huge pupils. "Doesn't that hurt, Princess?" he asked, guiding her out the door.
"Only if I look at the light," Marinette explained. "Half the reason I kept my head down when I came in earlier..."
"And the other half reason?"
"I was wearing these dumb things..."
Somehow Marinette had ended up bringing Adrien home for lunch. This happened more times than she'd like to admit; the two of them would start talking as they walked, Adrien would wave off the car there to pick him up, and they would both end up at the bakery. Sabine was happy to feed a second mouth, but not without teasing the boy that he was going to eat her out of house and bakery with his appetite.
As they walked into the bakery, Marinette's father came out of the kitchen. "Ah, Mari! How are the glasses, sweetie?"
"They're OK..." Marinette answered, tugging Adrien's sleeve to lead him up the stairs. "I just wish they didn't look so silly..."
Adrien looked back to the man, rolling his eyes and mouthing 'she's being dramatic', which elicited a chuckle from him.
Sabine plopped plates in front of either child with pizza. "Sorry it's simple, we've been busy this morning!" the woman apologized, kissing Marinette's head.
"It's fine, Mama," Marinette assured, smiling at the woman. She took the plate in her hands and went to sit on the couch, having kicked her shoes off and shrugged her jacket off. Sabine disappeared down the stairs, leaving both teens alone. As soon as she was gone, Marinette took off her glasses and laid them on the coffee table.
"Hey, hey, hey," Adrien scooted over with his shoes half off his feet and grabbed the glasses off the table. "Put them back on," he practically commanded, holding the folding frames out while he jumped to shake the sneakers off.
"They're giving me a headache," Marinette tried.
Adrien smirked, setting his plate down and unfolding the arms. He held out the glasses, peering through the lenses and making faces dramatic enough for Marinette to see before sliding them over his ears. "Woah," he breathed, blinking furiously. "How do you see with these?" he asked, plopping down on the couch beside Marinette. His eyes were wide as he tried to focus, so he looked directly at Marinette.
The girl giggled, shaking her head at him. He looked positively wild with his eyes wide like that, and it was the silliest thing Marinette had ever seen. "Give them, you'll stretch them!" she said with a laugh, grabbing the glasses off of Adrien's nose. He kept the wide eyes, blinking hard to keep up the silly face. "You're such a dork," Marinette giggled, pushing his face away.
"Put them back on, Marinette!" Adrien whined. "They're cute, I don't know what you're worried about!"
"They're not cute on me," Marinette explained, folding the frames and setting them back down. "Trust me, I looked."
"Yeah?" Adrien huffed, scooting closer to her until his crossed knee hit her thigh. "Well, they're adorable on you. Trust me, because I didn't think it was possible to make you cuter!" Marinette blushed, turning her head away. Adrien snatched her chin and made her look him in the eyes, sitting so there was just barely an inch between their noses. "If you think you're not cute with those, then you've lost your mind."
Marinette was about to retort, say that he was just being nice, but he cut her off.
"Don't argue with me, My Lady," he said sternly. It wasn't often he used that tone with her, usually opting for a teasing or concerned one. He was truly serious. "If you even try, I will kiss right here on your own sofa."
Marinette giggled, rolling her eye sat the boy. "You're so threatening, kitty cat," she said. Adrien smiled, backing away from her to pick up the glasses. He held them out for her, and for the first time that day, Marinette put them on herself.
"You really are adorable in those, Mari," Adrien whispered.
Then Marinette surprised him. She kissed his cheek and thanked him before picking up their plates of cold pizza so they could actually eat their lunch. Adrien wasn't quite sure what to do, too busy malfunctioning and blushing to even recognize Marinette's head leaning on his shoulder. She was too cute, and if anyone dared say otherwise, Adrien wasn't sure he would be able to keep his claws in.
