Merlin was late to class. Again.
Staying up late to help Chat design his new costume and then staying up later waited for the hero to show off his new costume was taking its toll on Merlin. He raced into class, bag half zipped, hair pointing in several interesting directions and a sloshing water bottle full of coffee death gripped in one hand.
Fortunately, Ms. Bustier was quite used to his antics and Lila was no where to be found. A small, vindictive part of Merlin hoped she had been expelled, or at least suspended, for calling Paris's greatest hero a 'fucking tranny'.
He tumbled into his seat like a whirlwind, whipping out a piece of paper and opening his coffee, letting a rush of its warm scent fill the room.
Interestingly enough, Adrien was also late to class, even later than Merlin, as the model raced through the door a good 5 minutes after Merlin's own arrival.
Adrien was always late on the same days Merlin was, he realized, the days after akuma fights. Oh well, something more to add to his 'Adrien is Chat Noir' evidence folder.
Adrien collapsed into his seat in front of Merlin, blonde hair tousled and dull, deep bags under his eyes, marring his normally well modelesque skin. Merlin nodded a brief hello as Adrien's shadowed emerald eyes slid past his own, receiving the slightest blink of acknowledgment in return.
Ms. Buister's class slid through Merlin's exhausted mind like water, whatever she was teaching escaping him completely as he dozed in and out of sleep in his chair. The sunlight in the room was a little too bright, its warmth welcome but the shimmer of it's color off the floor decidedly not.
Merlin just wanted to go home and sleep for several long hours. He didn't even have the energy to think about Adrien, to add the detail about Adrien being as late and as tried as he was to his growing list of evidence. He wanted to know, sure, but he was a little beyond caring about anything other than blankets in that moment.
The bell rang, signalling the end of class and Merlin jolted out of his latest doze. Alya laughed at his start, clapping him warmly on the shoulder and then moving to stand up. Adrien also made to stand up, making his way around the desk to stand by Alya and Nino. "Hey, Alya, can I borrow your notes?"
Merlin was a little surprise at that, or at least as surprised as he could be expected to be with the fog of sleeplessness still swamping his mind and dulling his senses. "Oh, me too. I'm a little .... distracted." He flashed a wearly smile at Alya, hoping she wouldn't question why both Adrien and Merlin were so clearly on their last legs that morning, nor why they had shown up to school looking like shit mere minutes apart.
If she did notice anything, and Merlin knew her too well to hope she wouldn't, she made no comment. Alya was shrewd, a Ladybug enthusiast, and, most importantly, close to both Merlin and Ladybug and Merlin was praying she wouldn't make the connection between her best friend and the hero just yet.
He kept telling himself that he would tell her, someday. But someday was not to today and as far as Merlin knew, it wasn't about to be.
Alya just nodded at the both of them, a silent agreement, and made her way to the door with the three boys trailing behind her. Nino tried unsuccessfully to start a conversation with the zombie-like Adrien, his words falling flat when his friend glanced blankly at him and then simply nodded. It was pretty clear that Adrien was, if possible, even more tired than Merlin.
Which made sense.
Merlin wanted to believe it, Merlin didn't want to believe it.
There was no denying that his opinion of Chat had improved drastically in the last few months and his tentative admiration of the hero was undoubtedly a friendship now. He might even, in the dark of 2 am, go so far as to say that he was romantically interested in Chat. Maybe.
