pronoia (n): a neologism that is defined as the opposite state of mind to paranoia: having the sense that there is a conspiracy that exists to help the person / it is also used to describe a philosophy that the world is set up to secretly benefit people.

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This had to be the worst day of Marinette's life. Okay, maybe not the worst; the time she forgot to capture the Akuma and all Paris broke into chaos was absolutely terrible. But this one came pretty dang close.

It was lunch time and just about the whole school was lined up to purchase the famed "silver rings". Everyone wanted to get their hands on it before tomorrow night. Since they were designed by Gabriel Agreste, a great benefactor to the collège, that only made the selling point even higher this year. The line stretched from near the basketball hoops inside the gym to the curb around the block. Sadly, Marinette was at the very end of the line.

"Oh, no..." She tapped her foot anxiously while biting on her nails simultaneously. "I don't think I can get one in time!"

Tikki popped her little red head out of Marinette's purse. "Relax, Marinette! I'm sure they'll be enough left by the time we get there!"

Marinette quickly shoved the kwami's head back in the purse and closed the clasps. "Shh, Tikki!" As soon as this happened, Nathalie, Gabriel's assistant, stepped out of the school holding a megaphone and a giant sign. She pushed her loose strands of red hair behind her ear.

"Now, there are a limited amount of rings left and not everyone will be able to get one today!" She belted into the machine. "The sign will be the cut off for the people who will be unable to purchase a ring." Her heels clacked against the steps as she came down. As she appeared behind the corner, Marinette's legs trembled with nervousness. With the sign in her hand, she briskly walked past the line and paused in front of Marinette.

The pigtailed girl made her best puppy eyes, but that didn't seem to change Nathalie's mind. With a quick adjustment on her glasses, Nathalie placed the sign right in front of Marinette and left, leaving her cut off from the rest of the line.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Marinette tossed her hands up in exasperation. "I've been waiting here for most of lunch! I haven't even eaten yet!" She opened the purse and shouted into it. "Tikki! Where did the good luck go?!"

The poor kwami covered its ears. "Maybe today is an off day! It's not my fault!" Marinette sighed and closed her purse yet again. She sadly walked away from the line and back into the school. She wouldn't have the chance to give Adrien a ring, and granted, a lot of girls would try anyways. She'd be one more annoyance to him.

* * *

As Marinette headed up the stairs and towards her classroom, a familiar brunette burst out of the room, rushed in her way and stopped her in her tracks. "Marinette!" Alya panted, holding up a hand to tell her to stop. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Huh?" Marinette blinked. "I was just in line for the rings, but they sold out."

"Luckily, I know you," Alya winked as she dug into her pocket. She pulled out a ring and placed it on her best friend's hand. "I bought an extra one."

"Oh my goodness, Alya!" Marinette tackled her friend into the tightest hug she could muster. Her friend hugged back in an eager reply. Marinette pulled away and stared at the ring's reflection. The shape looked very familiar, as if it were a silver version of Chat Noir's miraculous. She shook her head, pushing the very thought to the back of her mind. Deciding to tease her friend a bit, she pushed the ring back. "No, I couldn't accept this. That would absolutely crush Nino's heart! I am glad to learn of your feelings, however-."

Alya gave the girl a swift and playful punch to the shoulder. "Girl, shut up. Please." The two laughed together as they entered the classroom.

Before they did, though, a certain black kwami actually decided to do his duty for once. Well, after he ate his dose of Camembert, of course. "Adrien!" The cat popped out of the bag. The two were alone in the room after Alya left because the model stayed behind to work on his studies. His little arms waved in the air.

"Plagg!" Adrien whispered through his teeth. "What?! What will happen if you get seen-."

"Give me your ring," Plagg replied with a twitch of his whiskers. "I want to take a look at it." Quickly looking around the room, the blonde haired boy swiftly took off his ring and slid it into his backpack. The kwami held the ring gingerly, inspecting it carefully.

Just as that event finished, another began as Alya and Marinette stepped into the room and Adrien hastily stood up from his seat. "Y-You guys didn't hear anything, right?" He waved his arms in a fluster. The two friends looked at each other strangely.

"No? Why?" Alya asked.

Adrien's eyes darted around the room, hoping to find an excuse. He looked down to find pinyin and characters scribbled all over his paper. "Ah, uh, I was practicing my Chinese!" He gave himself a mental pat on the back for that one. "I didn't want you guys to hear my awkward pronunciation."  He picked up his homework and showed it to them as extra proof.

Alya raised an eyebrow, but Marinette didn't suspect a single thing. She was too busy focusing on not becoming a stuttering mess in front of him. Alya nudged her the pigtailed friend and Marinette took a robotic step forward. As she awkwardly walked up the steps past Adrien, her clumsy self tripped over his book bag and she plummeted towards the ground. The ring fell out of her hand onto the ground.

The book bag opened, releasing its contents onto the floor. Plagg, unluckily, released his grip on the Miraculous and he couldn't see that it rolled next to a very similar looking one. "Oh my goodness!" Marinette cried out, swiftly picking up the first silver ring she saw. Please tell me Adrien didn't see the ring, she thought to herself.

"Are you alright, Marinette?" Adrien asked, holding out a hand to her. She held up her empty hand and he pulled her up.  She kept her other hand behind her back with her palm all sweaty.

"Y-Yes! Am I, I mean, I am! Thank Adri-, uh, you, um..." She mentally face palmed herself; she literally just tripped in front of Adrien and got back into her stuttering mess. Adrien merely gave her a slightly confused smile in reply. Like she said earlier, this day had to be the worst day of her life.

Things seemed to go even better for her; Nino ran into the room with a clipboard in his hand. "Marinette!" He yelled while waving his clipboard rapidly. "We need your help!"

Alya sighed while massaging her temple. He ruined a perfectly good moment between the two.

Marinette dropped Adrien's hand immediately out of shock. "Yes, Nino?" She turned around to find the boy panting from exhaustion.

"Rose is sick; we need you to fill in the role of the princess for tomorrow's performance at the festival!" Nino waved the clipboard around wildly. "You're the backup, remember?"

"Poor Rose!" Marinette exclaimed. "I'll run over right away."

Nino pointed at her ears. "Remember to remove all your jewelry; you'll be heading into costume very shortly. Rehearsal is waiting on you!" He dashed out of the room so fast it was almost as if he left a puff of dust behind him like in cartoons. Marinette subconsciously reached for her earrings; what if an Akuma attack was to happen while she was gone? Chat Noir couldn't possibly purify the Akuma.

There was no time to think about it, however. She reached into her bag, and the red kwami lifted up the box that originally held her earrings. She gave Tikki an apologetic look as she headed up the steps and took off her earrings by her desk.

Adrien kept making side glances at his bag, silently hoping Plagg was alright. He couldn't check on the kwami because Alya and Marinette were still in the room. Marinette placed her box on her desk, but when she turned around to run back down the stairs, her purse swung and hit the box, knocking it onto the floor. She didn't realize this and made a sprint to the door.

"S-Sorry, Adrien!" She yelled as she left the room.

Alya looked at Adrien, then at the empty doorway, and back at Adrien. He blinked unknowingly. Trying to start a conversation, he said, "I wonder why Chloé didn't want to be the backup; she always wants the spotlight."

"Probably because you're not the prince and Nathanaël is," Alya heaved another sigh. "I should probably catch up with Marinette; see you later in class!" Unlike her friend, Alya just paced into a lazy jog and left Adrien behind.

The model too breathed a sigh, but instead, it was of relief. Plagg floated out of the bag, rubbing his head. "Ouch, that hurt! When we get home, I need something to make me feel better; Camembert! And tons of it."

"Yes, I got it," Adrien rolled his green eyes as at the little glutton. He froze. "Plagg, where'd you put the Miraculous?"

"I just had it!" Plagg said but held out his empty arms. "I must've dropped it when that Marinette girl kicked the bag." His green eyes scoured around the floor until his vision landed on a silver object a little ways away. "Here it is!" He swooped down on the object and picked it up, although it was more as if he were lugging it because it was nearly half his size.

Adrien took the ring from the kwami and placed it back on his fourth finger. He stared at it for a moment. "Huh," He shifted the ring. "It seems a little lighter than normal." In the corner of his eye, he also spotted the little hexagon box near his foot. "I didn't know I packed the Miraculous box today..."

And in that moment, when Adrien picked up that box, everything went wrong.

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how in the world did this book reach 3k views i've done absolutely nothing on it omg

thanks???

... i hate this chapter with a burning passion but it's been 3 months so

xoxo,
arisa