Well, Nino thought, Plagg had been right. Adrien was a little out of it, as first evidenced by his spectacular entrance five minutes after the bell rang.
Wham
Every head in the room swiveled as the door reverberated on it's frame. A few heads continued their swivel to stare at Marinette, who was (for once) one time and in her seat, handing her homework assignment forward to be collected with the rest of the class.
The door slid open to reveal Adrien, who was grimacing as he held a hand to his head. Seeing all the eyes on him, he froze, color creeping up his neck. Muttering something about oversleeping his alarm, Adrien handed his note to the teacher and sat down next to Nino.
"You okay man?" Nino asked, eyeing the red mark forming on Adrien's forehead.
"Yeah." Adrien mumbled, still a little flushed. He took the stack of worksheets from Marinette, pulling out his folder and adding his own on top as the teacher approached and collected them. "Just wasn't watching where I was going."
Nino was grateful to note that his friend was coherent and mostly-aware. Walking into doors was a little odd, but it was a far sight better than unresponsive or babbling in tongues.
"You alright?" At Adrien's strange look, Nino shrugged. "You're not usually late."
"I'm...fine." Adrien nodded. "I was just up late studying."
"Studying?" Nino asked dubiously.
"Yeah." Adrien huffed out a breath. "I learned a lot."
Nino kept an eye on his friend during class, and was relieved to see that even if Adrien was rather distracted, he was still all there. Adrien had to jet out early for a photoshoot, but Nino managed to sneak into the locker room during gym class and have a quick word with Plagg.
"You sure he's alright?" Nino frowned down at the little kwami. Plagg glanced up at him, rolling his eyes before returning his gaze to Adrien's phone.
"He's fine." Plagg said unconcernedly. "His nose is probably sore though."
"He just seems...out of it." Nino chewed his lip worriedly.
"He is." Plagg studied the screen, frowning in concentration before tapping it. Nodding, he set the phone down and stared up at Nino. "I told you he would be."
"I know, I know." Nino sighed. "He just seems...dazed."
"If you're so worried, why aren't you asking him about it?" Plagg asked sardonically. "Why are you bugging me? I'm not his mom."
"I know that." Nino frowned. "And you know darn well why I'm not asking him."
"That's not going to hold much longer - he knows you took him home." Plagg pointed out. "He's going to be asking questions about that soon enough. Hope you have answers."
Nino didn't really have answers. Well, that wasn't totally true - he did have answers. But he also had responsibilities, and those responsibilities demanded that he answer to his mentor before he was confronted by Chat. So directly after school, Nino headed down past Marinette's house, twisting and turning along the side streets until he came to a familiar massage parlor.
"Master Fu?" Nino went in through the front - it was still business hours. When he didn't receive a response, he sat down in the lobby, idly scrolling through the Ladyblog while Wayzz took off, phasing through doors in search of his friend.
Nino was only a few minutes into an article about last night's akuma and was pondering where Alya got her information from when the door opened. Master Fu escorted an elderly woman out, accepting her payment and setting up another appointment before turning to Nino with a patient smile.
