Based off prompt number 3 from this post by gale-of-the-nomads on tumblr.

(gale-of-the-nomads . tumblr post/140428603755/adrienette-prompt-ideas)
I have actually been sitting on this one for days. I've had it finished for a while, but I wasn't ENTIRELY happy with it. There are still some parts I'm not happy with, but I like it enough to post it.

.

.

.

Sometimes Marinette doubted that she had Ladybug's luck. Sure, maybe her luck had improved since she had gotten her Miraculous, but she couldn't be all that lucky. Not when she always seemed to get herself into situations like this.

She was currently squished into a locker that smelled absolutely horrid, the lower shelves digging painfully into her back and her head jambed up against one of the higher ones. She had a large bruise forming on her shin that was currently pressed up uncomfortably against a shoe, and she was trying to remain as silent as possible as the boys flooded into their locker room.

She was stupid! She such a stupid idiot!

She had been giving something to Kim earlier when she had been distracted by the sight of Adrien at basketball practice. She was so distracted by him that she didn't even notice that she'd given Kim the wrong package. The package she'd actually given him contained something incredibly embarrassing, and of course, it was of the utmost importance that she got it back immediately. Of course, by the time she realised what had happened and had snuck into the boys locker room and found Kim's locker to sneakily switch the packages, practice had ended and the boys were already walking in. Tikki had unlocked the locker for her and she'd swapped the packages. But now there was no escape, and no legitimate excuse she could use without making a fool of herself. So, in her panic, she had jumped into the locker and slammed it shut on herself.

The locker smelled of pure Kim, which, though it wasn't entirely horrible, was not a smell she wanted to be antiquated to this closely. But on the brighter side of things, the boys were talking so loudly that they probably wouldn't hear her unless she made a rather loud sound.

.

"But seriously, she's so stupid!" she heard someone say from near by.

She recognised that voice. It wasn't someone she knew well, but she knew she had passed by him today. She wished that there was a way she could see out of the locker, but the grates in the door were too high and too low for her to see through. They only let in the tiniest bit of light as well.

"I don't know about stupid, but she sure is a klutz," someone else replied.

"Tell me about it," said the first person. "Did you see her?! How can anyone muck up that badly?!"

"Hey, Chase, what's this?" she heard Kim ask.

"Oh, this girl totally wiped out in front of us. What was her name again? She was in your class last year, Russel."

"Marinette," the second one replied. "You know, she's not as clumsy as she used to be. Last year she was terrible. It was like she had no luck at all."

The first guy snorted. "She hasn't improved that much. I saw her walk into the wall the other day. And today, oh my god! I don't think I've seen a wipe out that epic since-"

"Hey, lay off her!" The voice was close by, probably only a locker or two away. The sound of that voice made her heart pause a moment, then flutter frantically. Adrien...

Chase snorted. "Whoa, your getting a little defensive there, Agreste. She your girlfriend or something?"

Marinette had to hold back a squeak that threatened to escape her, and her heart began to beat like crazy. Oh god, how did she end up these situations?! There was a beat of silence where Adrien said nothing, but she heard Kim stifle a small chuckle. The door of the locker thumped, making her jump, but when nothing happened she realised that Kim was just leaning against the door.

"What?! N-no!" Adrien practically squeaked. "She's just a friend. A really good friend of mine. So I'd appreciate it if you stopped teasing her."

"Geez, Chase," someone else said. "Look how flustered you got him. You can't just say shit like that. Just because people are good friends doesn't mean there's anything between them."

"That's what you said about Rose and Juleka," Kim snorted quietly.

"Yeah, you got a point there," Chase said. "I mean, she's cute and all, but Mr Model here is probably swimming hotties. I'd pick one of those model girls over that disaster zone any day."

Marinette bit her lip, trying her hardest not to make a sound as Chase hit her pride and self confidence with some pretty hard blows. Her face crumpled as she realised he was right. She was a walking disaster zone. She was an awkward klutz who couldn't do anything right when she wasn't transformed. Of course Adrien wouldn't look at her twice. She was no where near as pretty as some of the models he worked with. And sometimes she was sure that there was someone else he liked. There was no way that she could compete with-

Her thoughts were stopped in their tracks when she heard a growl. An actual growl.

"I said lay off her!" Adrien ground out. "You don't even know her, so just shut the fuck up!"

The entire locker room went dead quiet. You probably could have heard a pin drop, so it was a good thing that she had pretty much stopped breathing. Everyone seemed to be in a state of shock at Adrien's outburst. She was willing to bet that, like her, they had never heard him swear before.

"Whoa, dude. Chill. I was-"

"No! I said shut up!" Adrien growled, his voice getting louder but further away. There was a murmur amongst the guys and she guessed that he had gone right up to Chase. "How dare you talk about her like that. You don't know her. You don't know how much of an amazing person she is! All you ever do is tease her or make vulgar comments about her, and I'm sick of it! She is the sweetest, kindest, most wonderful person I know, and she deserves more than assholes like you talking about her like that. And screw your stupid comment about me being too surrounded by 'hotties' to notices her. As if I'm out of her league or something, because that's just bullshit! Marinette is just as beautiful, if not more so than any of the models I know. And I would be lucky if she ever liked me back and we were dating. She is an incredible person, so if I ever hear you talking about her like that again..."

"P-please, like I'd be worried about a pretty boy like you," Chase said. He sounded meeker than before, but was clearly trying to pick his bravado back off the floor. "You may be the best at fencing, but I'd like to see you in a real fight."

"Oh, it's not me you'd have to worry about," Adrien said. His voice was low, dangerous and almost silky. It made her heart skip a beat because hot damn she had no idea that Adrien could act like that and it was hotter than she had expected. "I'll probably only punch you in the face. No, the one you have to look out for is Chat Noir. See, he and Marinette are friends, and from what I've heard, he's very protective of her. Just one word from me and I'm sure he'd more than happily suspend you by your ankles from the top of the Eiffel Tower." Then his voice lightened up, and she could imagine him drawing away from Chase with his usual light smile as if nothing happened. "So, we clear?" There was a gulp and Chase must have nodded or something. "Good," Adrien said in response. "Glad we understand each other."

There was the sound of gentle patting and then footsteps getting closer. Then, slowly murmuring started back up again. Soon the murmuring was chatting.

Marinette's heart was pounding so fast she was sure that someone would hear it. Had Adrien really just said all that? She felt like she was about to pass out...

"Wow, Agreste. Didn't know you had it in ya," Kim said with a smug tone.

"I don't like people picking on my friends," Adrien muttered, opening his locker.

"Uh-huh. Friends... I'm guessing you don't like other people calling your friends cute either."

"Wh-what? No, I – I... That has nothing to do with- She's just my friend, dude," Adrien stuttered.

"Of course she is," Kim said. "That's why you've turned bright red and just declared to the entire team that you would be 'lucky if she liked you back'. Kinda obvious on that one, dude."

"I – I... Would you just shut up and start packing up?"

"Nope," Kim said with a chuckle. "I'm having too much fun teasing you about this new crush of yours. You know, I can totally help you out. I got Ivan and Myleen together."

If Marinette hadn't already fainted, she was getting pretty close to. Adrien had a crush on her? At any rate, he certainly wasn't denying that he liked her. Screw fainting, she was three seconds from dying of happiness.

Adrien scoffed. "You didn't get them together, you got Ivan Akumatized! It was Mari and Ladybug who at least started pushing them together before they finally got together after Myleen got Akumatized."

"Yeah, but you got to admit that I totally started it all." The locker suddenly rattled and Marinette froze in fear. "I found out first. Marinette and Ladybug never would have known if I hadn't- Ahh!"

The locker door swung open and Kim jumped back in surprise when he saw Marinette squished into the tiny space. He stared at her with a dumbfounded expression as she just squatted, frozen in his locker. Then she gave him an awkward, cheesy grin and waved.

Adrien's head poked into view as he looked to see what had startled his friend and he instantly went bright red again, a look of surprise and embarrassment appeared on his face.

"Ah... I gave you the wrong package, but I've switched it now. So-okay,gotta-go,bye!" she shouted, suddenly launching herself out of the locker.

She dashed out with the package clutched in her arms. She stumbled into Kim on her away and almost tripped over a few of the other guys. She pretty much ran into the wall before rebounding off it and turning to run out the door. She skidded as she turned, darting down the hall a bit before flopping onto the wall and grabbing at her chest as she was overwhelmed by what just happened. She could still hear the boys in the locker room as they all began to chat again.

She heard Chase snigger. "See, like I said. She's a total-"

"Chase, one more word and you'll be at the top of the tower!" Adrien growled.

Anymore argument was cut off when Kim began to laugh very loudly. "Oh my god, dude! She totally heard everything you said! Everything!"

"...Oh crap," he squeaked faintly. Still clutching at her heart, Marinette had to agree. At his friend's hooting, Adrien began to growl again. "I swear to god, Kim! I doubt Chat Noir would be against hanging you from the Eiffel Tower too!"

Kim just continued to laugh.

.

.

.

BTW, Russel is the redhaired boy in the previous year's photo who is standing next to Chloe. I have a headcanon that he is Miss Busteir's son.