I Knew It Was You [COMPLETE]

6. Differences

"Okay, no...it's definitely supposed to be divided by 3x," Marinette said, scribbling the corrections in his notebook. The whole class was put into pairs and Adrien ended up with Marinette. In a small class like theirs, the chances of these situations were high.
"See it cancels out here....and here and voilà!" Marinette said smiling at him and then diving back into her notebook.

"And here, you can cancel out the y's," he said leaning into her notebook and crossing the numbers out. Mmmm...she smelled of baked goods. Well, she practically lived in a bakery. 
"Oh yeah," she said, writing in her notebook, almost huddling over it. Adrien noticed his chest on her shoulder and suddenly remembered the concept of "personal space", sinking back into his seat. 

Throughout the whole class, they talked about nothing but math and Adrien was still in shock of how far they've drifted. They survived an entire math class without talking about how much it sucks. Thankfully, the bell rung and pulled him out of his thoughts.

"I can't believe we've only done halfway," Nino said rubbing his head, as Kim stared blankly at him. 
"At least your partner knows how to do halfway!" Alya retorted, resulting in an exaggerated gasp from Chloé. 

Adrien looked at his notebook, grateful to see only two questions remaining. Well, at least we did this much, he thought. He turned around to talk to Marinette, but she had already collected her things and mumbled a thanks for being a cooperative partner. She smiled and made her way out of class, narrowly avoiding a pillar.

He stayed in his seat as Alya and Nino approached him, engrossed in a heated argument over who had a worse partner. They noticed his droopy face and exchanged looks.

"You okay dude?" Nino asked.
"Is Marinette mad at me?" Adrien asked.

Alya sighed, knowing full well that she was going to have this conversation. After all it's been a month since school started and he clearly wasn't head over heels for Kagami, so the boy was bound to notice that his "just a friend" wasn't paying attention to him anymore.

"I don't know dude, I-I'm not very c-close t-to her so..." Nino blabbered. Alya rolled her eyes,  annoyed at Nino's incomprehensible but very obvious denial.
"She is pretty busy, honestly speaking. She doesn't talk to anyone as much as she used to, including me," Alya assured.
"Yeah but she at least talks to you. I just realized I haven't had a full conversation with Marinette until today's class. We didn't talk about anything other than math," Adrien said. Would mentioning that she agreed to Max's invitation be considered too much of an observation? he thought.
"Adrien look, if it's really bothering you, you should go talk to her about it. She obviously doesn't realize how much it affects you," Alya said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah?" he asked not very enthusiastically, looking at Nino.
"I don't know dude...Marinette seems much happier now-" Alya glared at Nino "-and she'll be happier if you talk to her, yeah!" Nino said, playing with the brim of his cap.
"Really? Okay then, I guess I'll talk to her," Adrien said, picking up his bag. He left the classroom, leaving Alya and Nino alone.

"I thought we were supposed to help her keep him away for as long as possible," Nino said, putting his arm around Alya.
"He wasn't in Paris the whole summer and he really needs a friend right now. No one shines in the friend department like my girl does," Alya said, leaning on to his shoulder.
"No one shines in every department like my girl does," Nino said. 
Alya smiled, hoping one day, Marinette will hear things like these from someone.

-x-x-x-

Cat stepped on to the balcony and sat as quietly as he could, sitting on the chair. He made sure no one was around and said, "Claws in."

"Sheesh, even I'm not this tired," Plagg said, finding a wedge of Camembert. Adrien rolled his eyes. He only had an hour of Chinese, a vigorous fencing session, three hours of homework and another akuma to destroy. Not to mention an emotionally disastrous time with Ladybug, third wheeling with Alya and Nino and the Marinette problem. Honestly, how was he still alive and functioning? "Claws out," he said, but he didn't get up. She was only a flight of stairs away from him, maybe he could go down and talk to her...

Marinette was important to him. She was upset with him the day he met her and he put genuine effort to make things right with her. That counts as friendship, right? They literally went to a movie together and concert and even a mime show. Sure they were all coincidences but, it still counts right?

Has he done something wrong? Did he hurt her? He tried to recollect when she became so distant. First day of school? No. Summer? Possibly. Last year? Most likely...

Her website exploded and he didn't even congratulate her. Maybe she was upset that he wasn't by her side, when he should be. After all, he was a model, he should have done something for her right? But then again, Marinette would never be upset over something like that. She would be happy about the recognition and put more effort into achieving what she strives for. 

"ARGHHHHHHH!" he groaned. Cat pulled his hair and stomped.

"Cat Noir?" Marinette whispered from the trap door. Cat shrieked and stood up, getting his tail stuck between the seat and nearly falling off the rail.
"Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

Cat composed himself, as she came out into the balcony. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" she asked.
"I-I-I'm fine! J-Just lost my b-balance there," Cat said, surprised by his own stammering. Whoa, where did that come from?
"Okay then," she said, awkwardly.
Cat scratched the back of his neck and chuckled. "M-Marinette, right?" he asked. She looked at him dubiously.
"I confessed my love for you, you rejected me, got my dad akumatized and you don't recognize me? Do all girls do this to you?" she asked.
Cat was taken back by her sarcasm. Did Marinette say something sarcastic?
"Uh-uh no! O-Of course I remember you! I mean, I remember how that happened not that I remember you because of that. Not the akuma. I mean, I don't think of you that often. I-I-I MEAN! I DON'T THINK OF YOU-"

Marinette stared at him in wonder. WHAT DID I JUST SAY? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? his mind screamed. A slow smile spread over her face. "Wow, you sounded a lot like me. I wonder if anyone understands when I ramble like that," she said, looking down in embarrassment.

Cat Noir let a nervous laugh out and turned. "Ow!" he said. He bent down and touched his foot, a sharp pain piercing through it. He winced and sat down.
"Cat, you okay?" Marinette asked. He scrunched his face and shook his head, "I don't think so- Ow! This shouldn't happen!"
"Okay, um, come down to my room. You should get some rest. I'll get you an ice pack," she said, rubbing his foot gently.
"Really?"
"Of course, I'm the one who scared you and got you into this mess, it's only right that I get you out."
"Geez, thanks Princess!"

She rolled her eyes as she helped him stand up. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and she held his waist. Mmmmm...baked goods...