Despair in Paris

Chapter 6

Marinette woke up with a start, jumping and banging her head against the headboard. Where was she? Looking around, she seemed to be in some kind of fully furnished hotel or dorm. It was a very simple and kinda outdated room.

"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7A.M. and nighttime is officially over. Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!" a familiar oddly creepy yet cheerful voice sings from the monitor hanging from the other side of the dorm.

The sudden announcement made the freckled girl jump out of her sheets, memories of what had happened the day before flooding her mind. She quickly remembered the get together and got ready before heading towards the dining hall. She walked down the halls with a pep in her step, low key excited for the investigation.

"Morning. Everyone already left to investigate, you're a bit late. Did Monokuma not wake you?" a ginger haired boy mumbled, gaze planted on the tiles in front of her. He was scrawny and his face was flushed red, his soft blue eyes averting her gaze. If she remembered correctly he was Nathaniel, the Ultimate Artist.

"Oh he did! Sorry, I'm always super late for things, I completely forgot about everything," the raven haired girl giggled, nervously scratching the back of her neck. Nathaniel nodded and explained to her that they'll be looking around the first floor. "And in an hour we will all meet back up in the dining hall again." They only had a half hour left, so they swiftly went to search the winding halls.

They began to look through the room which appeared to be a science lab. Marinette took one half for herself and Nathaniel had the other.

"Hey, I found a vent!" Marinette shouted, pointing towards her discovery. It was beside the closet door and maybe big enough for a petite person to slip inside.

"Wait, let me go get the screwdriver from the wood shop!" her partner said excitedly, scampering off to get the tool.

Moments later, he ran back, out of breath and slightly sweaty. "Let's hope this works. Mind holding the plate?" he asked, gasping a bit.

She nodded excitedly. But to their chagrin they realized it was way up there, and neither of them could reach it.

The girl began looking for a stool with no luck. Nathaniel crouched down onto his knees. "You...you can get on my shoulders and unscrew it," he said, hiding his face in his hands.

Marinette flushed. "Uh.. Yeah! Sure!" she stuttered out as she began to climb onto his shoulders. 'Maybe gingers aren't so bad...Wait, what am I thinking? I'm in love with Adrien! Not Nathan!'

She began to quickly unscrew the plate, only to find it, unsurprisingly, blocked. So putting in the effort to climb onto his shoulders and getting all conflicted about her feelings was all for nothing?

"Find anything?" Nathaniel called, eyes flicking up.

"Uhm...no, it's blocked." she sighed, screwing the piece back to its original spot. Both of the teens felt defeated. After all, they shouldn't have put so much hope into one little vent.

Marinette got down from his shoulders, tears of frustration forming in her eyes. What if they never get out? Why if they get stuck here forever?

Sensing her distress, Nathaniel went to grab her hand. "Hey, we're going to make it out, okay? You have my word for it," he said, a sudden boost of confidence flowing through him. "An- and I'm sorry for looking at you like that during our introductions. That totally wasn't cool of me."

"I forgive you Nate. Just don't do it again, okay?"

He nodded. "Come on, let's finish searching."

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They had finished searching the lower floor, regrettably only finding a bunch of empty classrooms. Sighing at their inability to find an escape route or anything useful, they began to trudge back.

"Hey, Mari?" the boy began, moving a lock of hair out of his face.

"Yeah?"

"We should hang out more often. I wouldn't mind having someone to trust while being in this hell of a school," he said, flushing as he looked her in the eyes for once.

"Of...of course! I would love to!" she giggled, taking his hands and hugging him all the way to her chest. Nathaniel felt his usually racing mind go blank, and hugged the small girl back with a stupid smile plastered on his face.

She looked up, her elated eyes meeting his glazed over ones. The dumbstruck boy was in love, and he couldn't deny it anymore. Slowly, he leaned in until their noses brushed together. They gazed into each other's eyes and he moved to lean in, closing his eyes and readying his lips.

"Hey! What are you two doing! Everyone was so worried and you guys are here sticking your tongues down each other's throats!"

Marinette yelped and swiped her hands away from Nathaniel's chest "It's not like that! I- I had something in my eye! Yeah! And he took it out for me, yeah! Gee, thanks Nate!" She forced an awful smile.

Chloe shook her head. "Come on, let's get back. And please, next time, get a room. That was the grossest shit I've seen in a while. And I've seen shit."

Both Nathaniel and Marinette blushed and timidly followed the blonde back to the dining hall.

"OMG girl, what happened! I thought that stupid ginger took advantage of or even murdered you!" Alya cried, running up to Marinette and hugging her, burying her face in her shoulder.

"They were lost." Chloe says simply, somehow having the mercy to keep the secret from the rest of the class.

'What could Chloe be thinking now?' Marinette knew this girl may look nice, but she knew what she heard must be true, wasn't it? Chloe has to have something in mind, and it scared her.