Super

Chapter 10: Don't Underestimate Snoot Boops

The walk home was pretty quiet, with only Adrien asking how I was feeling again, and after I told him I felt fine, he didn't make any further attempt to make conversation.

We were able to leave the school without any of the teachers getting in our way, blending into the crowded halls filled with students desperate to leave the place. I didn't feel relaxed though; I needed to find a way to calm Adrien down.

The few smiles he'd given me weren't reaching his eyes; add to that that he'd been pretty much silent the whole way home and it brought me to the conclusion that I should probably stay at his place for a while, to see if I could get through to him.

I didn't want him to attack again—I couldn't let him! One attack was bad enough—in fact, I felt it was one too many!

How... How could I keep protecting him if he attacked again? Because that was what I was doing; I knew he had powers, I knew he was only one who could be behind last week's attack—we're the only ones who have fallen down that cliff except for Morrigan Fay herself!—and yet, I didn't turn him in to the authorities and I couldn't even confront him myself, all because of my selfish desire to keep things how they are—to keep him.

The guilt was growing and eventually it'd be too much.

Eventually, stalling wouldn't be enough anymore.

*Heavy mental sigh filled with all my woe*

The amount of worries taking laps around my head at the moment made me dizzy again and I stumbled slightly, prompting Adrien to quickly steady me.

"Thanks", I said quietly.

"Why don't you keep holding on to my shoulder? Or if you want you can take my arm. Just don't force yourself, please", he told me.

The clear concern for me on his face had my mind screaming.

WHY ARE YOU SO NICE TO ME?!?!?!?

It was really freaking hard to see someone as a potential villain when they're always doing stuff like caring about you and making you lunch!

Anyhow, I decided to put my worries in a box, seal it up and place them all the way to the back of my mind for now.

I also decided to take Adrien's offer on holding on to his shoulder for the rest of the way.

I let a minute pass before asking Adrien if I could be at his place for a while. At first he told me if I was sure I didn't want to rest at my home instead, considering how tired I've been, to which I gave the excuse that I didn't want to worry my mom with the red marks on my face.

I'm not too sure why I insisted though, considering that I couldn't even figure out exactly what to say that'd dissuade him from continuing his revenge without letting it show that I knew he had powers in the process.

What could I suddenly bring up in the moment that was specific enough for him to be discouraged from vengeance, but also vague enough that he wouldn't figure out that I knew he was behind last week's attack?

It wasn't exactly something that you could just bring up after talking about the weather!

"The summer heat has really begun to calm down, hasn't it? You can tell that fall is nearing. You know what else should calm down? A person's need for vengeance."

I tried to anyway as we continued walking towards our apartment building (my usual behavior was weird enough that I could pull seemingly random comments off), but no matter how many subtle comments I made against the act of payback or jokes I made to lighten the mood, I was met with little to no reaction, thus leaving me with the disconcerting realization that Adrien's mind was elsewhere, quite possibly planning something.