Cataclysm

A villain's background

First period of classes that day went by with no more ''incidents''. Marinette, however, noticed that the mood on the whole classroom was heavy. People were whispering and looking at Adrien and Lila, with frowns to the first and looks of pity to the second. In any other situation regarding the lying little prick, Marinette would have been angry; But today she was worried. Adrien did not look good even before all this happened, and now, on top of sleepy and disheveled, he looked sad.

Marinette had all the intention of offering her company and support to the blond boy, but Alya had other plans for lunch. She practically dragged her out of her way towards Nino and Adrien, and had her sitting on a quiet corner of the cafeteria instead. Marinette looked at her friends eyes, no words needed for her to question her intentions.

''I just wanted to chat with you, that is all'' Answered the reporter, trying to sound nonchalant but Marinette could tell she had serious business in mind. She decided to bite the bullet and ask. ''Why can't we chat on our usual table with the boys?''

Alya paused for a moment and looked at Marinette in the eyes before saying. ''Have you ever thought that maybe Adrien is not as good as we thought he was?''

Did she really just ask that?

Alya must have seen something in her face because she immediately added ''I don't mean it that way! I mean, I know you will keep liking him, it's just... how do I put this... I think he has a lot of umm... background, to become someone way more err... unpleasant than what we see everyday''

Marinette couldn't believe what she was hearing, Was everyone under an akuma effect that made them want to cause drama today or something?. She shook her head and sighed, deciding to be mature for once and try to be patient with her friend and her new ''discovery''.

''You think Adrien might be akumatized?'' She tried to make her voice sound as neutral as possible, but the thought just added a new layer to her worries.

''Not... exactly. Look, he is a rich boy with a heart of gold, right?'' Marinette just nods at this. ''But his life isn't exactly easy, his schedule sucks, his father sucks and his mother went missing. And what he just showed us today? He just did a 180° and rejected a person he has had no problem being friendly with for a long time now. I know the topic of his mother might have triggered something in him, but Lila has been nothing but friendly with him and everyone'' Alya glared a bit at Marinette after saying this, as if trying to add unlike someone.

Marinette was just so over the Lila topic with Alya, she had tried to bring her friend to her side on it but gave up when the blogger just wouldn't even try to consider that all that came out of her mouth was bullshit. She was now buying that Adrien was friendly with her because he wanted to, something that Marinette knew from the beginning was not true. He was putting up with the liar because he didn't want to cause problems for anyone. At least that's what she thought until today, when he admitted that he was doing it to protect his friends. She would need to ask more about that later.

''Alya, what are you trying to say?'' She asked, resignated. ''Don't you think the comic book villain tropes are a bit unrealistic to use to judge your own friends?'' Marinette didn't even finish that sentence and Alya was shaking her head. ''It's not a stretch Marinette! we have heroes and villains in this city, and he has never even been Akumatized, for whatever reason. I know Hawkmoth has had plenty of material with that boy. He has acted so perfect in front of us all this time and now he acts out just because Lila mentioned his mom?''

Marinette couldn't really deny anything Alya was saying, that was the worst part of this whole conversation, maybe of this whole day. Adrien has never been Akumatized, he's always smiling even if its a little bit fake at times, he's calm and considerate and always kind to everyone, even to people like Chloe and Lila, until today, that is. And that last thing was what worried Marinette the most. Because Alya didn't know for sure what Marinette did, that Adrien was kind at heart and it was not just an act. But today the limit of that kindness was reached and while to everyone else, it might just mean it was never there in the first place, to Marinette it meant her crush was in serious need of some help.