Chasing Chat Noir

Chapter 1

"Marinette, you're going to be late for the first day of school!" I hear my mother's voice from down below.

Reluctantly, I climb out of bed before wincing- last night had been a close call. Hawk Moth had been relentless with his akumatizations; I hadn't had a proper nights sleep in over two weeks.

As I put more weight onto my legs I realize just how sore I was- they screamed for me to stop putting pressure on them.

"You need to be careful, Marinette." Tikki swirled around my dresser as I grabbed a change of clothes. "If you keep going at this pace, you could hurt yourself."

"We work under Hawk Moth's conditions, Tikki. I don't have much of a choice." I rush to get ready and stretch before running downstairs.

"Have a great day at school, Dear." My mother gives me a smile before handing me the keys to the bakery. It looks like I'd be in charge of orders after school today.

Alya is waiting for me by the time I make it to the school gates. "I was worried you'd be late- that'd make two years in a row!" I laughed and gave her a quick hug before grimacing. Last year was when everything started to change and my life got a whole lot more complicated.

"It looks like we have the same schedule as everyone from last year, yeah?" I ask while trying to tug my plaid skirt down. New uniforms were implemented starting this year; just my luck.

"Yeah, and we have Ms. Bustier again, too!" Alya fiddled with the tie on her collar. "Is this thing on right?"

We gave each other's uniforms a once-over before entering class.

"Alya and Marinette! Please take a seat." Ms. Bustier motioned to the front of the classroom.

I immediately felt a pair of eyes on me. As I glanced around the room, Adrien and I locked eyes. There was something so familiar about them. Alya elbowed me from behind and cleared her throat; I quickly averted my eyes and hurried to our table behind Adrian and Nino.

As Ms. Bustier started the lesson, I began to pay attention to the new uniform the boys were assigned. The white button downs tucked into khaki slacks and ties just like ours.

Adrien kept trying to loosen his tie with little success. He seemed to keep squirming in his chair, which would've been almost comical if he didn't seem...stressed? I must be imagining things.

As I looked over his shoulder, however, I noticed Adrien hadn't take a single page of notes all class. That definitely seemed out of character.

I snuck a glance towards Nino to see if there was something going on with him, but he didn't seem to have a care in the world. He just had his headphones on and was doodling on his notebook.

Normally, I would chastise myself for paying this little attention in class. But there was something in Adrien's stress that seemed to be the same as mine. Maybe it was because we were both trying so hard to hide it?

The bell rang before I could finish my thoughts, and the whole class rushed out of their seats to lunch.

..........

"Mind if I sit here?" Luka stood over the seat next to me as everyone else started to take their seats.

"Go ahead, Luka." I gave him a small smile before turning to Alya, who had her head stuck in a book.

"Alya! Earth to Alya! " I waved my hand in front of her face, but it was pointless.

"Believe me, Marinette. I've already tried that." Nino frowned but continued to poke Alya for attention anyway.

Juleka and Rose sat down at the table as well, leaving the only other open spot next to Luka.

"What did you guys think of today's lesson?" Rose beamed at all of us before reaching for Juleka's hand. Juleka blushed, but held her hand all the same.

"I thought it was really intriguing." Luka replied and then turned to me. "What about you, Marinette?"

If a million dollars were on the table and all I had to do was recite today's lesson, I would go home empty-handed. I quickly tried to come up with some sort of answer-

"It was boring, if you ask me." Adrien saved me from having to reply as he sat next to Luka.

"Good thing I wasn't." Luka mumbled under his breath.

"This new uniform suites you, Marinette." Luka picked up my tie and started playing with it.

"Thanks." I took the tie back into my own hands and tried to swerve the attention back to the table.

"Okay, I finished my chapter, now you all have my undivided attention" Alya finally looked up from her book. Nino smiled before quickly recovering.

"H-how was everyone's summer?" He asked everyone but it was clear he was waiting on one answer.

Alya went to respond, but I couldn't catch on to what she was saying because I felt eyes on me. I looked around the table and finally saw Adrien. He had his eyes on my tie, precisely where Luka had been touching me moments before.

There was a look on his face, but it was there and then gone so quickly I could've sworn I'd imagined it.

.........

I opened the door to the bakery and quickly dropped my schoolwork into my room. My parents were typically back in the kitchen at this hour catching up on orders, which put me in charge of the front desk.

I'd placed a few orders and taken a few payments from customers before my father came out of the back with flour all of himself.

"How was the first day of school, sweetheart?" He rubbed some flour onto my nose and laughed as he took a ticket from the counter.

I tried- and failed- to get the remaining powder off of my nose before responding, "it was actually really good."

"Then why the long face?"

My fatigue from fighting was really starting to catch up to me. "Just tired, that's all." I tried to convince myself as much as him.

He nodded his head and patted me on the shoulder. "Why don't you go on upstairs and try to get some homework done, yeah?"

I gave him one last hug before running upstairs and closing my door. I leaned against the frame and took a deep breath before realizing I wasn't alone.

My door leading to the roof was open, and I was about to prepare myself to fight when Chat Noir's dark shadow hung upside down from the entrance.

"I could really get used to that plaid skirt, you know."