Trying to fake a casual friendship with one's closest confidant seemed to be the acting challenge of the millennium. Adrien kept his eyes glued to the board in front of him, but he didn't see any words. His back was straight and his feet were on the floor, but his listening ears were nowhere to be found. The teacher's lesson washed over him like white noise. Adrien's body was being the perfect model of a model student, but his mind had been left to wander before he even walked into the classroom.

He snapped back to attention when the power went out. Everyone in the classroom was dead quiet. Then the sky became dark as well. Students blindly clamored over each other to get to the windows and try to see what was going on. The only light came from Nino's cellphone.

"Nino, turn that off! You're ruining my shot!"

"Alya, you think you can film in absolute darkness with an Android?"

Nino waved the beam of light around the room, subconsciously taking a head count. Alya had climbed on top of Ivan's shoulders to get a better shot of the sky, still completely devoid of light.

"Everyone, please stay calm, and get back to your seats", Mme. Bustier sighed. She slowly moved from behind her desk, feeling her way to the door.

"This is a state of emergency!" Chloe cried, "We should all be let out early!" The students all turned to the general direction of Mme. Bustier and started speaking out in agreement.

"NOBODY-no one-is moving. I am going to see what is going on. I will be gone for five minutes. I expect everyone to be in their seats when I get back", the teacher responded.

"Isn't it against protocol for a teacher to leave the stud-OW!" Sabrina was abruptly cut off by Chloe's very sharp elbow meeting her ribs. Everyone quietly stood still for a moment, then broke out into a buzzed murmur when they were sure their instructor was gone. Alya slipped behind Nino and grabbed his arm.

"Nino, cover for me", she whispered.

"Mme. Bustier said to stay here", he replied.

"Okay, so stay here. And cover for me."

"I can't cover for two dudes at once, babe."

"Wait, what?"

Nino had turned his phone's light off to save battery, but turned it back on and did another sweep of the classroom. He nodded, and turned it off again.

"I always cover for Adrien when he's missing. You know how it is-" Nino started, when Alya shut off her phone and grabbed his shirt collar.

"Wait."

"What?"

"Where's Marinette?!" Alya's low whisper had escalated into a regular talking voice as she realized her best friend was missing. The class stopped.

Kim started laughing.

"It's not funny Kim!" Alya started to shout. "We have no idea what's going on and Marinette and Adrien are missing!"

Kim doubled over laughing. In spite of it being pitch black and nobody being able to see much at all, Alix managed to punch him square in the shoulder.

"Ow! Alix, stop that! They clearly just went somewhere to make out!" Kim said, wiping a tear from his eye. From the laughter, of course. Alix didn't hit him that hard. Obviously.

"NOT MY ADRIKINS WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE-" Chloe began shrieking.

"MARINETTE WOULD NOT LEAVE US IN A TIME OF CRISIS TO-" Alya shouted.

"I don't think Adrien's ever even kissed a girl-" Nino said, mostly to himself.

Nathaniel picked his head up from where it had been on the desk the entire time and decided to join the fray.

"Maybe they're Ladybug and Chat Noir", he said, half-jokingly. Everyone turned to where they assumed Nathaniel was.

"Hold up, what did you just say?" Alix chuckled.

"Maybe…Marinette and Adrien…are Ladybug and Chat Noir." Nathaniel repeated, sounding out each syllable.

The class burst into laughter. Alya and Nino furrowed their brows.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng", Chloe said with a sneer, "the Ladybug? The Ladybug that is my best friend? Not in a million years! And Adrien is far more handsome than that Chat Noir!"

"Not that I'd ever like to agree with Chloe", Alya said, biting her lip, "but I'm pretty sure if Marinette of all people is Ladybug, I'd figure it out by now." Nino nodded in agreement, forgetting that nobody could see the supportive gesture. "But…" she continued, "I think it's possible Adrien could be Chat Noir!" The rest of the students started to argue with each other about the possibilities.

"Alya", Nino interjected, "Adrien is too obedient to be Chat Noir! That would involve going against the schedule his father has for him, and that dude is so strict. Adrien would have to sneak out of his fortress of a house, fight akumas, and sneak back in without being noticed!"

"Nino, didn't you just say you always cover for Adrien when he's missing?" Alya asked. Nino, paused, then asked Alya a different question in return.

"If Marinette is definitely not Ladybug, and she isn't with Adrien, where is she right now?"

"Wait!" Mylene shouted to the dark room, "Nathaniel, what makes you think that anyways?"

"Well", he started, noting that this was the most attention he had from everyone in a while. It was making him nervous, but he continued, "whenever there's an akuma attack, they're either already gone or have some unusual reasons to disappear. I don't know about Adrien, but we all know Marinette is pretty much always ready to fight, so it can't be because she's scared." He said pointedly. He couldn't see a thing, but the silence that hung in the air implied he had everyone's undivided attention. "Additionally, they're never in the same room as Ladybug and Chat Noir respectively, are they?"

"That's not true!" Alya objected, "When they showed up at Alix and Kim's race, Marinette was standing right next to me!"

"And Adrien was with me!" Nino added.

"Oh", Nathaniel said.

"Which means I'm right", Kim boasted, "they snuck off to suck face!"

An uproar filled the room. Chloe was lecturing Kim on the very close and personal relationship she maintained with Adrien that Marinette could never ruin. Rose and Mylene were counting the times they saw Marinette and Ladybug in the same place at the same time. Alya and Nino were fighting about who is supposed to keep track of which friend and where they could possibly be. Ivan and Max were debating what to call the new power couple of the class. Suddenly a wave of light crossed through the room, followed by the lights coming back on and the sun shining again. Everyone groaned as their eyes adjusted to daylight.

"I can't believe I spent an entire akuma attack in here instead of vlogging", Alya sighed. Nino gave her a shrug. Marinette and Adrien quietly slipped into the room, seemingly unaffected from the sudden change from absolute darkness to mid-day light. Mme. Bustier came back right after, seemingly frazzled.

Marinette and Adrien shared a fleeting glance of worry. They both thought the other had the civilian situation handled. Mme. Bustier ended up slightly electrocuted, but no worse for wear. They didn't think anyone noticed the look they shared as they sat at their desks.

Everyone did.

"SO, Marinette", Kim began, leaning on his desk. Mostly for dramatic effect, but also because he still couldn't see properly. "Where have YOU been?"

"SHUT UP, KIM", Alya and Chloe both yelled.