Author's Note: For Tsubaki. Happy Second Anniversary, apologies for this being so late.

Kim and Alix were at it again.

No one knew how it started but it wasn't really much of a surprise that they had started arm-wrestling right there and then in the middle of the classroom. Everyone crowded round, the girls were cheering on Alix while the boys cheered on Kim as the two battled it out.

"Give up, little girl," Kim smirked patronisingly, "no one can match my strength."

"Wanna bet?" Alix huffed. Her face was covered in red splotches and there was a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead, they had been at this for twenty minutes (seriously, where was their teacher? It was like every time she went to the photocopier room she vanished through a black hole or something) and Alix was beginning to struggle. "'cause this….is….nothing," she panted out as she managed to push Kim's hand sideways.

"Ooh, fighting words," Kim said mockingly as he pushed their hands back and then into the other direction, "but as you can see I. Am. Winning."

He then forced her hand further down despite Alix obvious attempts to push it back up. Then slowly, very painfully, Kim managed to shove Alix's hand all the way down to the desk. Her hand landed with a soft thump.

Their reactions were instantaneous.

Alix immediately shot up from her chair and tugged at her hair in frustration. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed furiously and dramatically.

(Everyone grimaced and covered their ears at that.)

Kim, however, jumped up and pumped a victorious fist in the air. "YES! TAKE THAT!" he bellowed cheerfully. "See!" he said smugly in Alix's direction. "I told you that girls were weaker than boys."

The atmosphere turned frosty as every female in the room turned to glower in Kim's direction. Even the shyest and sweetest girls in the class looked murderous and it was enough to make all the boys (barring Kim who was still grinning like an idiot) to swallow loudly and take a step back.

"Oh really?" Chloe huffed as she crossed her arms menacingly. "Wanna repeat that fairy boy?" she sneered.

A couple of people flinched at the nasty reference to Kim's Akumanised form but the boy in question appeared completely unbothered as he slouched back in his chair with casual arrogance and smirked up at Chloe. "Yeah," he drawled out, "girls are weaker than boys."

SCREECH!

Everyone jumped at the sound of metal scraping against the floor and whirled round to see that Marinette had sat herself opposite Kim, her eyes had a steely glint in them that made everyone shudder, as she held her hand out firmly. "Prove it," she said flatly.

Kim looked as if he was about to fall out of his chair, he was so shocked. His eyes bulged out and he spluttered wordlessly for a good few seconds. "Oh come on, Marinette!" he whined pathetically. "I'm not arm wrestling you."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked with uncharacteristic coldness. "Are you chicken?"

Rose's jaw dropped in surprise before she turned to Juleka and shared a grin. "Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!" they cried out mockingly.

"Burn, baby," Nino cried out, "burn!"

"You tell him, Marinette!" Alix cheered.

Kim flushed with embarrassment at this. It didn't help that the rest of the class was now joining in with their own taunts. "No!" he snapped. "I'm not chicken."

Marinette gazed back at him, undaunted as she kept her hand held out steadily. "Then arm-wrestle me," she said calmly, "and prove that boys are stronger than girls."

Kim stared at her hand for a moment and then shrugged. "All right," he said arrogantly, but "don't blame me if you get hurt."

Marinette almost looked amused at that. "I won't," she promised.

And with that Kim took Marinette's hand and…..

…..nothing happened.

The class stared in confusion and disappointment as neither one of their classmates appeared to be moving. Marinette's eyes sparkled with a mischief that no one had ever seen before and the smallest, confident, of smirks began to form at her lips.

Adrien blinked rapidly as he tried to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing because he could have sworn Marinette almost looked like Ladybug when she had a winning idea for their fight against the Akuma.

"Dude," Nino cried out exasperated, impatience getting the better of him, "when are you going to start wrestling?"

"I am!" Kim choked out.

The class all looked taken aback when they realised that Kim was sweating like a pig as red splotches appeared on his face and the muscles in his arm strained as he truly was trying to push Marinette's hand down…..and nothing was happening.

Marinette looked completely unbothered about the fact that Kim was trying to squeeze her hand with all his strength.

Everyone's jaws dropped open.

"Are you done?" Marinette smiled sweetly. "Because I'm getting rather bored now."

Kim snarled wordlessly which only served to make Marinette's smile all the more sweet. And then, with such humiliating ease, Marinette gently pushed Kim's hand down onto the table and won the match without even breaking a sweat.

"YES! GO MARINETTE!" Alix screamed delightedly as she pumped both fists in the air and jumped up and down in the air. "Ha! In your face!" she cackled as she pointed at Kim. "So much for girls being weaker than boys. One of the most girliest girls in class just kicked your arse."

"So!" Kim barked, bright red with embarrassment. "It means nothing. Max!" he cried out as he turned to his best friend. "Avenge me!"

Max paled slightly and took a hesitant step backward. "I-I-I don't think that's a good idea!" he stammered out.

It really wasn't. Marinette beat Max within two seconds of him sitting down, to make things worse Max was half convinced she accidentally broke his thumb (Adrien thought he might have a case there as he could a sworn he saw a crack form in the wooden desk beneath Max and Marinette's clasped hands) as he left the table whimpering, and then poor Nathaniel couldn't even cope touching Marinette's hands as the merest brush of her soft fingers sent him flying from the table and standing behind Ivan as his cheeks burned with embarrassment and affection.

Nino tried next and had pushed and pushed with all his might and used both hands to no avail. Alya had to cover her mouth to hide her laughter as Nino went as far as jumping onto his feet, bum sticking up in the air, as he pushed with all of his strength against Marinette's unrelenting hand.

Ivan refused outright. "I'm not stupid," he grumbled and then turned away to ignore Kim's howls of protest and indignation.

"Adrien!" Kim turned to face the blonde model. "You'll defend the honour of the male gender, won't you?"

"I…erm…yeah," Adrien mumbled, unwilling to say no and upsetting Kim but simultaneously wishing he could because he really didn't want to hurt Marinette. She might appear stronger than he originally thought (and despite how delicate and princess-y he thought she was he had always thought she was rather strong and brave) but as Chat Noir, Adrien was going to have super-strength on his side and could actually, accidentally, physically hurt her. "I will defend the honour of the male gender," he said unconvincingly.

Several girls snorted at that.

But Adrian ignored it as he sat down and, much to his bewilderment and fascination, Marinette's cheeks instantly flushed a bright pink.

Adrien smiled politely at her which, for some reason, caused a flash of nervousness on Marinette's face as she swallowed audibly. She then licked her lips, and much to his shame Adrien found himself following that little sliver of pink tongue brush against her plump bottom lip, before her eerily familiar stubborn steel glint reappeared in her beautiful blue eyes and she held her hand out confidently.

Slowly, Adrien reached out and, carefully, he gripped her hand. Electric sparks danced across his palm and shot down his arm as he felt her soft skin against his. He stiffened, startled at the feelings that suddenly bubbled up inside him, and Marinette stifled the smallest, quietest, of gasps.

Her cheeks burned a deeper pink that almost bordered on red.

Suddenly aware of how is palm was now tingling where her palm was touching and that his fingers burned and itched where they were knotted against her fingers and that his stomach was suddenly filled with fluttery butterflies and his heart was beating loudly and fast that he was certain everyone else could hear, Adrien decided to end this as quickly as possible.

After all he couldn't suddenly have these feelings, his heart belonged to someone else!

With a large fraction of his super-strength, enough that it would have probably sent the likes of Kim staggering but not strong enough to do any serious harm to Marinette, Adrien pushed against her hand.

Their hands didn't budge.

Marinette's eyes widened in surprise and she squeezed his hand back (which sent another new flurry of butterflies flying in his stomach) but otherwise she barely reacted at this show of strength.

He pushed forwards with a little extra strength and was able to make Marinette's hand bend to the side when she suddenly pushed back with her own hand and righted their clasped hands once again.

Adrien's eyes widened as he felt another explosion of sparks dance across his skin and just comprehended exactly how strong Marinette actually was.

He gripped her hand tighter, ignoring the tingles and fluttery feelings her touch caused, and pushed forwards with all of his Chat Noir strength.

The stubborn glint in Marinette's eyes got steelier and stronger as she pursed her lips and pushed back with all of her strength. The class cheered and jeered loudly as Marinette's and Adrien's hands began to go back and forth to the right and left as the other kept pushing for the upper hand.

"Come on Adrien!"

"Go Marinette!"

"You can do it Adri-kins!"

The girls all whirled round to face Chloe indignantly. "CHLOE!" they bellowed in unison, their faces flushed with righteous anger.

"What?" Chloe shrugged, unbothered and undaunted, "I don't care if it's boys vs girls. I'm not cheering for her," she then shot a disgusted, haughty, glare in Marinette's direction which Marinette ignored completely in favour of biting down on her lip and trying to budge Adrien's hand to the side.

"God," Alya rolled her eyes, "So much for sisterly solidarity."

"You-"

"Yeah I know," Alya interrupted a grinning Kim with a grimace, "I realised the moment I said it."

As if Chloe was ever going to care about other people let alone other people for the sake of a principle.

Chloe huffed indignantly at that but no one paid her any attention as they all turned back to the struggling Adrien and Marinette. They had both leaned forwards now as they threw in their entire concentration and strength up against one another. Marinette was incredibly pink and her bottom lip was swollen from all the biting she did as she pushed against Adrien's unrelenting hand. Adrien looked unnaturally ruffled as he desperately tried to return the favour.

They were in a complete stalemate.

"Go Adrien!" Nino cheered loudly. "Do it for the boys!"

"You can do it Marinette!" Rose cried out.

"Adrien! Adrien!" the boys chanted. "Adrien! Adrien! Adrien!"

"Marinette! Marinette!" the girls squealed. "Marinette! Marinette! Marinette!"

At first, it looked as if Adrien was going to win as he managed to push Marinette's hand halfway towards the desk but the moment he looked delighted at his mini-victory, Marinette immediately sprung their hands back up and started to bend his wrist down towards the other side of the desk.

He gritted his teeth and fought back and once again they were in a stalemate of their arms sitting upright on the desk.

"Oh come on dude!" Kim burst out impatiently. "This is Marinette." Alya shot him a filthy look as he managed to make Marinette's name sound almost like an insult. "Just charm her and victory is yours!"

"Don't listen to him Adrien!" Alix screeched. "You're better than that!"

But he really wasn't.

Adrien was a boy with an ego like any other teenage boy and he wanted the boys to like him and cheer him on and celebrate his victory with him. He dreaded disappointing and upsetting Kim, Nino, and all of his other friends.

As much as he liked Marinette and didn't want to hurt her, he wanted to win just a little bit more today.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Adrien took Kim's advice and quickly ducked his head over his and Marinette's interlocked fingers before he pressed a soft, fluttering, kiss on her knuckles. Marinette's eyes widened as her face immediately flushed a bright red, her jaw dropped open, and her mouth formed a little 'O' of surprise as she gasped.

Her elbow immediately slipped out from beneath her and Adrien had no trouble pushing her hand down against the table.

"YES!" Kim bellowed as he jumped up in the air and pumped both fists up. He then reached out and dragged Adrien into a headlock and ruffled Adrien's hair with a fist. "VICTORY FOR THE BOYS!"

"NO!" Alix screamed furiously. "MARINETTE, HOW COULD YOU?!"

"I…erm...gah…you….Guh….?"

Unfortunately this was the most anyone could get out of Marinette for the rest of the week. It was almost as annoying as all the bragging Kim did that week.

Almost.