Chat Noir X Reader: The Muse

Chapter 44: Sick Bacchus (Part 1)

A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry about the late upload. This chapter and the upcoming ones were driving me mad, and since I'm a perfectionist, I kept going over and over everything to make sure it all made sense. Writing is hard. I think I figured it out now, so here's hoping that things will go smoothly from now on!

Enjoy!

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Rain came back to Paris with full force and brought the merciless cold along with it, as if to accentuate your dull mood. Even if you were inside a classroom, a shiver went down your spine, making you adjust your scarf around your neck to keep any cold air from getting in.

A loud crack of thunder made you look to the large windows of the cinema classroom. In your previous class, you had heard other students, mostly foreign ones, complaining about the weather, which was supposed to stay like this for the whole week. However, you didn't mind the rain. The thunders and constant noise were great to drown out the whispers that seemed to follow you around the university.

You should be used to the gossip by now, since it had been happening to you since the incident with the akumatized teacher and the scandal with Chat, but the whispered words and judging stares still made your skin crawl with annoyance. Sometimes you just wanted to yell at people to mind their own business, but it would only make things worse.

You had been reluctant to come to college thanks to all that, but you were glad that you had come. To a certain degree, at least. The cinema teacher had talked about the midterm exam and the last one, which would be in May. After that, the classes would be over, and you would have two more months before you had to fly back 'home'. You tried not to think too much about your departure, since it only seemed to worsen your anxiety.

The rest of the morning dragged on. It would have been great if you could've used the classes to take your mind off the issue with the rumors, but you didn't have that luck. Your classmates kept talking between themselves, and the quiet but still audible tone of their voices made you believe that they wanted the words to reach your ears.

"First Chat Noir and now Adrien? I'm actually jealous."

"She just wants their fame."

"What a bitch."

If the whispering students around you weren't enough, even the teacher seemed to be giving you weird looks now and then. You pretended to be focused on taking notes, but your notebook was filled with messy scribbles.

When the class finally ended, some students were bold enough to approach your desk before you could bolt out of the classroom.

"Are you really dating Adrien Agreste?" A girl with box braids asked.

"We're just friends." You slung your backpack over your shoulder and put your earphones in. If the girl or one of the other students asked something else as you dashed out of the room, the blaring music stopped you from hearing it.

You lightly moved your head to the beat of a song as you waited in line at the resto U. You stared forward, eyes unfocused and fixed on the back of the head of the guy in front of you. If you didn't look around, you wouldn't see the stares. You could pretend for a moment that everything was normal.

With your tray in your hands, you gather up your courage and looked around, looking for the usual table you sat on. You froze when you saw Adrien already there with your friends. Maybe it was better if you didn't sit together anymore. You turned around and began to head to a different table when someone put a hand on your shoulder.

Marinette smiled as she held her own tray with one hand. "Where are you going? C'mon, come sit with us."

You glanced at her hand on your shoulder. Did she know about the rumors? You weren't sure if Adrien had told her or if she had heard about them.