butterflies

part i

"...bystanders have not been hurt, although paris' superheroes have not made an appearance yet..."

there was unrest among the students of francoise dupont high school as adrien listened to his friends talk quietly amongst one another. thunder rumbled in the distance as heavy, chilling rain poured down from the skies. there was a gloomy eeriness that clung to the air, a quiet that made the high schoolers feel like they were just waiting for something to shatter the silence. grey clouds were collecting, casting the city in shadow-like darkness.

another akuma attack had been reported yet again. the parisian superheroes were more than glad to help out, but it was obvious they were tiring: their moves became sloppier, their conversations shorter, and their patience thinner.

adrien listened to the chatter exchanged between alya and nino, while marinette remained quiet. she looked tired, which really wasn't that uncommon, but her fatigue seemed to spill into all of her activities. she had less "pep in her step," as alya had said, and her eyes weren't nearly as bright as they used to be. not that he meant to pay attention to such things, of course, but it was hard to not notice. even chloe, who couldn't give a rat's ass about anyone but herself, had laid off on the harassment. adrien chalked up his attentiveness to marinette as nothing more than being a good, concerned friend, but as of late that excuse was becoming harder to sell, even to himself.

it started about four months ago when they came back from summer break. everyone had gone back to school and while adrien was physically there, he was mentally absent. kagami had just gone abroad for school again after they'd broken things off. he would have liked to say it was a mutual breakup, but she was the one who brought it up. kagami was wise beyond her years so when she told him that his heart wasn't in the relationship, he knew she was right. he expected his first heartbreak to be gut-wrenching, but it wasn't. he felt sad, sure, but not in the way that leaves you paralyzed in bed for weeks on end. at the time, he wondered why that was, but the answer was obvious: marinette.

when he got to school, it was almost as if she could see the gloomy cloud over his head. she was there for him when no one else seemed to notice, her stuttering and fumbling hardly present in their conversation. in the beginning, he felt almost guilty for confiding in her. it would've been ignorant of him to believe she didn't have problems of her own (who didn't?), but it was a fact known by many that marinette dupain-chang was one to do whatever she could to help the people she cared for.

it was then that he noticed it: the butterflies. it was like a tsunami of anxiety, excitement, and shyness all rolled into one whenever she did anything: the way her hair moved in the breeze, her clear laugh that dared him to smile, but most of all, her kindness. marinette was one of those people that you couldn't hate. she was that person who helped others even when no one was looking. he didn't want to, but he couldn't help himself when he started falling for her every move.

she didn't know, probably never would, but she had him whipped.

the blonde was snapped back into reality when his best friend nudged him: "you coming?" nino's brow arched in question.

he looked across the street, where his bodyguard was waiting for him, standing by the driver's side door of the sleek black audi. though it's been the same car since adrien was like thirteen, it still looked brand new.

"i forgot my homework," he said to nino, calling out to his bodyguard to repeat the same thing. with a barely discernible nod of approval from the bodyguard, adrien turned back toward the school doors.

adrien grumbled as he jogged away from his friend group: "well, nadia, paris' superheroes happen to have vaguely normal lives too if you weren't aware."