The Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Mischief crew and sunshine squad

Ah well. He'd continue the thought process later, when Nino, Alya and Marinette weren't there. 

He heard Alya's chuckle as he swiveled around to face the two girls. "Girl, you are as sneaky as a snake! I didn't even hear you come in!"

"I am so not a snake. A cat, maybe, but a snake? No way." Marinette snickered, as if at an inside joke. 

"Come on, Mar, we all know you're a straight up Slytherin." Nino interjected, pointing at her with his stylus, a grin on his face.

"Can neither confirm nor deny, my friends." She said with a wink before gathering her things. "Seeing as I missed an hour of class-"

"Ahem, sleeping again, ahem..." Adrien interrupted with a smirk as the four of them stood up and began to walk outside. She mock scowled at him before continuing.

"-would one of you mind lending me your notes to copy? Or even just what the lesson was about so I can go home and do crazy amounts of research before realizing hey you did too much now you're ahead of the class?" Marinette mocked herself mildly, rolling her eyes at herself. 

Alya snorted. "We should just let you get ahead so you can sleep in."

Marinette mock-gasped, placing a hand over her heart. "I am hurt that after everything we've been through together, you don't want me to be here next to you?" At Alya's blank look, she dropped the hand. "Ouch."

"Sorry, Mar, my hands are full." Nino grinned, remembering the scene from the Disney movie she was referencing. At her scorching look, he held up his hands in defense. "I've got homework of my own, dudinette." 

"So? We could be study buddies!" She smirked, leaning towards him. "I've got pastries!"

"Last time we were study buddies, we ended up playing video games and gorging on croissants and eclairs." Nino said flatly, earning a burst of laughter from Marinette. 

"Yeah, and I don't regret it, even if we ended up in a food coma." She said through chuckles, wiping a tear from her cerulean eye. "So... probably not a good idea to leave me and Nino-"

"Nino and I." Alya corrected, nudging the blunette with her elbow. 

"Okay, grammar Nazi, Nino and I in the same room together." Marinette rolled her eyes once more, this time with a little more playfulness as she looped her arm through Nino's. "Remember when we completely trashed my room while we were supposed to be 'cleaning?'"

Nino snorted with laughter. "Oh yeah, and Sabine just gave us this look like 'I'm not mad because I expected this.'" 

"Then Papa comes and he just bursts out laughing and hands Maman 5€." She continued to giggle, leading her friends to the bakery. "I can't believe they bet on that."

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "You can't believe they bet on you and Nino doing something... that only you and Nino would do?" He grinned as Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. 

Adrien adored his little group of friends. But there were two things he adored more - Chatte Noir, and his bubbly little kwami Tikki.

~*~

"Don't worry Adrien! I'm sure Chatte Noir is fine!" Tikki reassured a worried Adrien after a particularly devastating akuma attack. "Her suit protects her!" 

Adrien ran a hand through his hair, continuing to pace around his ridiculously huge room. "Yeah, but that blow was pretty hard. She shouldn't keep putting herself in the line of danger! It's not-"

 "Chatte Noir, while seeming laid-back, knows what she's doing." Tikki interrupted him with a sigh. "She can't risk you getting injured, because you're the one who has to purify the akuma. She knows that she's a distraction, a shield, because you can bring her back, but she can't bring you back." Tikki nuzzled his face comfortingly.