Look, I know I'm indecisive but I'm going to post the story just because I don't want to lose this again. That being said, enjoy Chapter 1!

Class with Superheroes

Chapter One - "Sleepy Troubles"

The backdoor to the bakery opens, revealing a rather slumped figure standing at the doorway.

"You're going to be late, honey!" Sabine cried out behind the counter. Marinette groaned unenthusiastically, causing her mother to look towards her daughter, thus causing a horrified and displeased expression to spread throughout her face.

"Marinette, you should've at least brushed your hair!" scolded her mother. Perfectly emulating a lion in a teenage body, tousled and unkempt hair covered Marinette's head, resulting of days without brushing or washing her scalp properly. As for her clothing, wrinkles covered the fabric and the faint scent of sweat lingers on it from the unexpected hot weather continuing for the past week. Additionally, eye bags were also another contribution to her worrying state as she accumulated more and more hours of staying up than falling asleep. Placing the pastries in a brown bag, she snatched a sandwich from the kitchen plate and sat down.

"I know, I know. I just don't have enough time," Marinette said while munching her sandwich.

"Maybe if you wouldn't stay up so late then you might have some extra time," Sabine pointed out. Marinette inwardly groaned the second time. It wasn't her fault that akuma attacks were eating up her much deserved beauty sleep.
Her mother watched her eat silently from the bakery racks, Marinette taking the smallest of bites before staring at the wall. Sighing, she decided not to press on it because whatever Marinette was hiding, Sabine knew she would tell her eventually.

A few minutes of silence passed and Sabine spoke up.

"You better hurry up, Marinette! School starts in several minutes!" That immediately grabbed Marinette's attention. She quickly placed the sandwich back onto the plate, slipped on her school bag and placed a small peck on her parents' cheeks.

"Bye Maman! Bye Papa!" she cried out while heading outside the bakery door. Her mother waved at her disappearing figure while her father emerged from the storeroom to flash her a wave before heading back in. She started running, but with her loss of stamina and build-up of fatigue, it quickly turned into a slow jog towards school. Nevertheless, this caused frustration for she knew that she could move at a faster pace.

God, why is my energy so low? Marinette thought. Sure, her schedule of waking up, go to school, deal with akuma attack, go back home, deal with another akuma attack and sleeping with an occasional akuma attack after had been affecting her, but she didn't think it would affect her this much. Okay, maybe that was a lot but at least Hawkmoth had dedication to his job!

Is turning butterflies into akumas really a job though? Marinette wondered. I wonder what he does in his spare time when he's actually not sending out akumas.

Nearing the school, she decided to reflect on the current year's events to pass the time. Many events and surprises have occurred in the year that she was eternally grateful for. There was the mysterious inheritance of the Ladybug Miraculous placed on her desk, entirely transforming her life unexpectedly. Not only did she gain a red, polka-dotted companion for her every day troubles and to keep her company, but also gave her access to gaining a completely new identity: Ladybug, the famous Parisian hero. Alongside her black feline partner, Chat Noir, they battled every single akuma together and overall saved their beloved city each day. Of course, there were other aspects of being an active hero as well for many interviews and news reporters often rushed towards the duo after each fight was over. She didn't mind though since she loved Paris and its citizens- well most of its citizens (*cough* *cough* Chloe *cough*) and would definitely show her pride if given the opportunity.

Speaking of love, this reminded her of Chat Noir. Her partner still conveyed his undying love and adoration towards her; even if she reminded him many times that, she was in love with someone else. Moreover, his constant need of revealing her sacred crush was enough to make her quite annoyed with him to say the least, but regardless she told him the name anyway. The most peculiar detail though is his reaction and the aftermath of her confession. After a surprised cry of "W-WAIT IT WAS ADRIEN AGRESTE ALL THIS TIME?" followed by a stunned, speechless Chat, let's just say that Chat increased his flirting to the absolute max and bugged Ladybug to tell him more about the model, to which she happily obliged because who wouldn't want to talk about the hot, kind and sweet Adrien?

Marinette suddenly yawned for about the umpteenth time and saw her beloved school come into view. Mustering up the last of her energy, she pounced at her classroom door, earning the attention of her classmates. Luckily, the bell had rung almost instantaneously after her arrival and Marinette silently congratulated herself for not being late and slumped her bag next to her classroom desk.

"Girl, are you alright?" Alya asked. Marinette slowly sat down and barely nodded. Alya furrowed her eyebrows.

"Nuh-uh. Girl, you look like a wannabe walking dead actress," Alya remarked half-teasingly. Normally Marinette would've given her a classic "ALYA!" before pouting and laughing with her, but instead her head laid flat on the desk while her eyes focused on the corner of the room. Alya opened her mouth to continue, but loud, frantic footsteps interrupted her quicker than she would've liked.

"Sorry Mme. Mendeleiev, I overslept," Adrien said while stifling a yawn. Likewise, he was the definition of an all-nighter gone extremely wrong. He didn't arrive the class with his usual happy, chirpy manner, which already made Nino suspicious, but rather just mimicking Marinette and dragged himself towards his desk. The half-circular dents in his eyes were a clear show of eye bags that had developed recently, giving him a more concerning image. Even Chloe noticed the change in his attitude and furrowed her eyebrows worriedly at her friend.

"Dude, are you alright?" Nino asked, gazing at his friend with utmost worry and sincerity. Groaning loudly, Adrien managed to create a thumbs-up in response before laying his head flat on the desk.

Observing the scene before her, Alya tried to grab the teacher's attention and to ask if they could go outside. Unsurprisingly, Mme. Mendeleiev, who was currently teaching Chemistry to her students, did not realise or even care for any of her students and silently shushed the four back to work. The group opened their textbooks and quietly began the questions, Alya sneaking one last glance at her best friends before picking her pen up and writing. A gruesome twenty minutes of questions later when Mme. Mendeleiev announced that she would be taking a short bathroom break, earning a quiet, relieved sigh from a few people.

"I expect you all to be continuing your work when I come back and don't create too much noise," she warned sternly before going out of the classroom. As if rehearsed, the whole class dropped their pens and started chatting to their desk neighbours about the upcoming weekend. Giggles and shouts leaped about and not long did people stand up from their chairs and move to different spots of the room. Alya took this chance to approach Marinette without any distractions.

"Girl, what happened?"

"Akuma—" Marinette yawns "—attacks," she groggily answered, lifting her head up to face a perplexed Alya.

"Huh?"

"They are purely pawful," Adrien said joining in, spilling out one of his alter ego's iconic puns without realising.

"God, kitty that last one was horrendous. Your puns were the worst," Marinette stated, unknowingly slipping out a nickname only her partner shared.

Adrien took no heed and continued. "But m'lady, can't you see that my puns are simply clawesome?" A loud snort sounded beside him.

"Dream all you want, kitty," Marinette replied, sleepily looking at Adrien with a gleam in her eyes.

"Why would I want to dream when the dream I've wanted was right before my very eyes?" Adrien asked, turning towards Marinette with a smile. Marinette froze and looked at Adrien in complete bewilderment. There was a sense of familiarity between his words that she couldn't quite piece, although she knew she had heard it somewhere before. Was it a previous conversation they both had that she didn't remember about?

Anyhow, a thought brought her back to a couple of months ago at a Parisian rooftop.

"Hey kitty, what's your dream in life?" Ladybug asked randomly. She looked towards her feline partner who was gazing at her with lovesick eyes.

"Why would I want to dream when the dream I want is right before my very eyes?" Chat said his gaze soft and his smile wide. Speechless, she drank his words in. Never in her life did she meet such a sweet and protective person like Chat except for Adrien. Moreover, here Chat was, revealing that his own personal dream was her, frankly being one of the most sweetest responses she's heard so far. His dream reality of being with her, being her or just seeing her was enough to bring her to tears.

"Bugaboo? Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so—" Chat apologised continuously, cupping her face with his hands while he gently wiped the tears away.

"Thank you," Ladybug breathed out. Surprised, Chat looked at her in confusion.

"Why are you thanking me?" Chat asked, gazing at Ladybug's teary, blue orbs and radiant cheeks.

Ladybug smiled shakily. "Just thank you. I know I don't say it a lot but just know that I'm truly grateful for when you say things like this," Ladybug smiled wider. For what was an eternity, blue met green in a staring contest none of them initiated, but ended with a quick kiss on the ravenette's forehead.

"No problem, m'lady. I'll always be here for you," Chat reassured kindly.

Marinette could easily remember it all now. How the conversation had kept her up that same night and the next thinking what would have happened if Adrien hadn't been there; if she gave Chat a chance and ignored Adrien instead. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was developing a small crush for her partner, which only added more confusion and frustration as she didn't know who to choose. Nevertheless, the conversation that had occurred with Adrien worked some gears in her head- that Adrien acted quite a lot like Chat Noir. Both of them had the similar goofy nature that she grew to love and even shared some of the same jokes, especially the same undying love for cat puns (which Marinette was less excited about since she already got enough from her partner) but enjoyed them anyway. Sure, he could be a big fan of Chat Noir, but Marinette knew that he would never fake his personality. So what was that about then?

She gazed at his eyes and saw a familiar green tint with dark green flecks around his iris. Huh, Marinette thought. They have the same eye colour. Who knew?

Her eyes drifted towards the rest of his face and noticed how tired he looked, making her cringe. How long has it been since he was like this? Marinette wondered. Two, three months? The remembrance of Adrien first appearing like this was the day after the excruciating fight between them and the Grandmaster, who turned out to be a headmaster at a nearby college. She recalled how she and Chat spent all night trying to break the akuma free of his cane and overall used their transformations endless times while trying to feed their kwamis as quickly as possible.

Her eyes landed on his Chat-Noir-like hair on how it always seems so ruffled and messy and somehow manages to stick out everywhere. Each strand resembled a small, unpeeled banana ripe from the tree.

They even have the same hair, Marinette silently pointed out.

Unbeknownst to her, Adrien was silently gushing over how similar his bugaboo was to Marinette. Both radiated a powerful confidence around their peers and proved to be extremely selfless in many situations. Hey, even the same old hatred for Chloe was a trait that they both shared.

Could they be…?

Pfft, what am I thinking? They can't be the same person, Adrien wondered to himself.

No, Adrien and Chat Noir are just similar that's all, Marinette thought at the same time.

That's got to be the reason right? Yeah, they're just similar, both thought.

"—drien! Marinette!" Mme. Mendeleiev yelled out. The two immediately snapped out of their moment and looked towards their teacher, only realising that the whole class was staring at them. This resulted in the two blushing furiously before awkwardly sitting down next to each other.

"There you go! I've been trying to get your attention for 4 minutes now!" she exasperatingly declared, placing her ruler down. "Now sit down, I have a class to teach." With that, she visibly sighed and returned to writing on the board.

Marinette obliged, ignored Alya's confused glances and tried to pay attention to the lesson. However, she didn't last for very long since she had no interest about learning different pH levels and instead pretended to take down notes, occasionally doodling Adrien's name with a heart around it. As if forgotten, her fatigue returned stronger than ever, while she tremendously tried to keep herself awake and not give in to her body's demands of sleep.

About ten minutes later, she couldn't keep it up anymore and found her eyelids closing with more force than she could handle, causing sleep to take over. Moments after, she lets out a faint squeak followed by a quiet giggle.

"Oh, Adrien..." Marinette said dreamily, causing the edges of her mouth to lift slightly. Her head slowly tilts to the side and discreetly pushes a lock of hair behind her ear.

Her murmurs of "You're so sweet, Adrien" and "Oh, Adrien…" or even "Adrien, put me down!" continued. Unaware of this situation, her classmates were busy giggling at her adorable antics and hushed whispers passed in people's ears. Many knew of Marinette's evident liking for the blond model and they didn't need to keep it a secret since Adrien's obliviousness always prevented him on finding out.

After that, pure silence emitted throughout the entire classroom for desperate writing and undisturbed focus needed to match a quick teacher's lesson. Yelling ensues somewhere outside the classroom shortly after as the writing gradually stops. Loud crashing resonated from somewhere near before cacophonous shrieking filled the hallways.

Thunderous pounding shattered throughout the school before the classroom doors escaped from its hinges.

"Marinette! Marinette!"