Chapter 1 - The first run

Chapter 1

Marinette sighed as she followed Alya to the change rooms. She found it frustrating how she had perfect physical abilities as Ladybug, but as Marinette she could barely catch a ball. Every time they played sports it always went badly for her. When her class did athletics, she tripped on the edge of the sandpit and landed face first in the sand, getting it through her hair and clothes. When they played soccer she managed to avoid the ball and was succeeding in her own private game of dodgeball, until she got distracted by the beautiful Adrien and the ball hit her in the face.

As well as her limited Marinette ability, it was the PE outfits that she despised. When she was Ladybug, although she wore the fairly tight latex suit, at least her face was covered and no one had to know it was her. Here, she had to wear shorts and a uniform shirt that was just one size too big, and didn't look good on anybody. As an aspiring fashion designer, the simple design brought tears to her eyes, and no matter how much she longed to alter it she couldn't for the sake of her grades.

At the moment they were in the middle of their cross country unit, where they ran for kilometers on end. In previous years Marinette had hated this unit, but since becoming Ladybug her fitness had improved amazingly and running was one of the few units that she could actually succeed in because it required the least technical skill. Perhaps this was going to be the one unit where she wasn't going to get any more injuries and mess up in front of everyone.

She and Alya fought their way through the crowded doorway to the girls' change room, gagging slightly on the deodorant fumes left from the class before. Marinette reluctantly hung up her bag on a vacant hook and slowly began taking out her uniform.

'Come on girl, no time to waste! We took so long getting here we're going to be late for class, so hurry up because I'm not waiting!' Alya ordered as she ripped off her shirt and quickly threw on the PE one.

'Alright, but unlike you I have some modesty.' Marinette shot back as she ran to the changing stalls.

When they walked out of the room, they headed towards the corner of the gym where their class had gathered. Some of them, like Alex and Kim, were always there on time and really got into the sports, although their competitive natures often resulted in very intense games. Others, like Chloe and Juleka, never got changed and preferred to get a C or D than to participate. Marinette and Alya were from the group in between; they tried their best, but if they let the ball go past or forgot their uniform, then so be it. Their PE teacher, Ms Briant, smiled at them as they approached. She was one of their best PE teachers and even Marinette liked her, because she was always smiling and encouraged all the students to really do their best and enjoy the class.

'Good morning girls! Only a couple of minutes late this time, but as you're changed I won't complain.' She said as she winked at them. 'Alright everyone, today is Thursday and it's our last chance to get super strong and fast before the cross country carnival tomorrow, get excited!'

There were a few cheers from those closest to her, while the rest were just a bunch of muffled groans.

'We don't want you to get any injuries before tomorrow so for our last class on this subject you only have to do a light three kilometer run. It's just the usual course today: around the school and out to the park, then circle the park twice before coming back here. I will only be recording your time if you manage to beat your previous best, so it's really about doing your best and having fun! Everybody ready? Ok, go!'

The class began to move, with Kim and Alex out the front pushing each other to greater efforts in order to beat the other, with Adrien following casually behind.

Marinette watched him as he ran. He was so graceful, every step following a perfectly measured arc as his muscles in his legs were flexed with each landing, seen clearly below his shorts. His hair bounced on each step and caught the light beautifully, and he hardly seemed to be puffing.

'Marinette! Go girl, move it!' Alya pushed her from behind, causing Marinette to nearly fall onto the hard floor.

'Alright, I'm coming!' she sighed as she followed the class outside.

Adrien breathed deeply as he jogged towards the park. Usually he would run with Kim and Alex, but they were putting in extra effort today to try to beat each other, and he didn't want to get in the way. Besides, he'd already put a good time in and was certain he would get a good grade for this course, and he wanted to enjoy the lovely weather. He had left Nino behind though, which he briefly felt bad about, but then shrugged the feeling away. Nino didn't like running, preferring to give Adrien various mixtapes which he had arranged specifically for his best friend's run. He would wait somewhere near the building for Adrien to come back and tell him about his opinions on his music.

The sun was out and shining brightly, feeling warm on his skin. There were only a few clouds, looking like white balls of fluff as they drifted slowly across the sky. The breeze was gentle but kept him cool as he pushed on and arrived at the park. Alex and Kim had already finished their first lap of the park and were red faced and covered in sweat, desperately trying to beat the other as they ran past him. He ignored them and admired the pond in the middle of the park, taking a break to stroll leisurely past the water while he watched a mother duck with its babies, the cute little line of ducklings all following their mother across the pond and into a patch of reeds. He smiled at the sight and began jogging again.

He settled into his rhythm, hearing the crunch of gravel below his feet as he reached the park path. Left alone with his thoughts he began to think about his beautiful Ladybug again. They had seen each other last night during an akuma attack and had beaten them without having to use either Ladybug's Lucky Charm or Chat's Cataclysm, so had enough time to hang around and chat for a few minutes. They had strolled down a street together, strolling across the roofs and admiring the sunset and watching the street lights turn on.

Ladybug had stopped at the end of the row and stretched her arms up above her head, yawning as she did so.

Chat had grinned from his space beside her.

'Tired, my lady?' he purred, as he reached his arms up to give her a gentle neck rub. She smiled slightly as she gently pushed his arms away and took a small step to the side.

'It's ok kitty, I've just been doing extra running in my PE classes. That on top of these akuma attacks is just wearing me out.'

Chat nodded, 'I understand bugaboo, my class is doing cross country to prepare for our school carnival, and although I am paw-sitively cathletic already, it is almost too much for this poor feline.' He pulled an exaggerated pouty face as he looked at her.

Ladybug smirked at him as she reached up to gently scratch his ears. 'You poor thing, do you want to call it a night?'

Chat leaned into her hand as he put his hand up to rest it on top of hers. 'Never, my lady, when I am with you I am full of energy, and I wish that this night would never have to end.' Of course, his miraculous chose that moment to beep, signaling that he had 5 minutes to get back home before he transformed back into Adrien. Ladybug grinned wryly, 'Unfortunately, your miraculous seems to think otherwise. I'll see you next time, chaton.'

And with that, she had taken out her yoyo and swung off into the night. Chat kept his hand on his ear where she had touched him, watching her as she disappeared.

Adrien was still smiling as he ran, and couldn't help thinking about how perhaps Ladybug was also jogging along with her own class somewhere else in Paris. Or perhaps, if she was in his class, she was even running right now! He passed by the entry to the park as he completed his first lap, and saw Marinette and Alya getting close to the park. Alya was puffing slightly and her face was beginning to match the red colouring of her hair. She didn't seem to be letting this stop her talking to Marinette, who looked completely unfazed as she ran. Adrien found this interesting, how Marinette could be so calm while running.

He had always assumed that she was somewhat fit, but he had never seen her as someone who really got into sports. After all, since he had arrived at the school earlier that year, all he had seen of her in PE were her epic blunders. He grinned at the thought, remembering how he had helped her out of the sandpit and watched as her face turned bright red underneath the sand that coated it, and how she had sulkily spat out a mouthful of sand that she had accidently almost eaten when she landed.

'You know Marinette, you're supposed to land feet first, not head first? It's kinda one of the rules.' He had teased her. She had merely become even redder and quickly went to find Alya, and together they had gone off to the bathrooms to try and fix her clothes.

Adrien looked around now at the park, and wondered if there was any sand here. He saw a small bit around the pond and briefly considered once again teasing her with it, but he knew that his shy classmate would just become embarrassed again and he definitely did not want that. He looked at the gate now from the other side of the park and watched as she arrived, her hair bouncing in her pigtails on either side of her head, with her cheeks a light pink and her eyes alight from the exercise. Damn she's cute, he thought as he watched, then almost tripped on a tree root on the path and quickly returned his attention to his route. He was mildly surprised at the thought, but then brushed it aside. Of course she was cute, no one could deny it. He would be a fool if he thought otherwise.

He was getting close to the exit of the park and decided to slow to a walk as he looked back at the girls again, ignoring the rest of his class as they started to shuffle past him and into the park. Alya was focusing on the ground in order to keep her focus on running, but Marinette was looking around and admiring the park, just as he had. He saw her also smile at the ducklings, and the way her eyes lit up made him stop where he was to watch. She turned to Alya and gave her a nudge and what Adrien assumed were some words of encouragement, as Alya laughed tiredly and looked up to smile at her. As she looked up she saw Adrien watching, and said something to Marinette, who also looked up. Adrien made eye contact with her for one second and panicked, not sure how to react. He found himself winking at her and got a thrill from her wide eyed stare, but continued panicking so quickly turned around and sprinted out of the park. Before he could see anything further. At least he had an excuse to run.