Parenting Assignment (Miraculous Ladybug)

Chapter 1

Edited by:

@sleepingintheshadows

@Just_another_star

~.~.~.~.~

Marinette's class sat in eerie silence as they awaited the dreadful the arrival of their teacher. Nobody was looking forward to the new week long assignment they were about to start that day.

Recently their class had been learning about family studies. When Ms. Mendeleiev first mentioned that at the end of the unit they would be partnered up and given the task of taking care of an electronic baby, most of them were fairly excited.

At the time it had seemed like a fun and easy assignment, but their opinions soon changed as they began to learn more about their tasks as temporary parents. Their teacher brought in one of the dolls as a demonstration during their previous class. It only took a couple of seconds before the baby erupted into wails, giving everyone a horrifying glimpse into what the next week would hold.

It was then that they realized just how much work they would need to put into this assignment.

The sound of the door opening caught their attention and all heads anxiously turned to see Ms. Mendeleiev entering the room with a large storage case on wheels, probably containing the babies. Marinette and Alya silently exchanged nervous glances.

"As you all know, today you will be starting your parenting assignment." Ms. Mendeleiev got straight to the point. She opened the storage unit, revealing the rows of babies, then took one out and held it up.

"I will assign you each into pairs and you will be given one doll. For the next week you and your partner will have to act as parents to your child. We have already gone over this, but the dolls are filled with sensors that record how well you care for them; this includes meeting their needs, responding to their cries and whether or not you put them through any danger or abuse."

She put the doll down and held up a clipboard.

"When it comes to parenting, the responsibilities are supposed to be shared by both parents. Simply swapping the baby between one another and not spending any time together to help each other out will only make your job harder. Together you will make your own detailed report about your activities. Now, as for your partners..."

Marinette squeezed her eyes shut and crossed her fingers. Normally she would have been calling upon her Ladybug luck to help her be partners with Adrien, but in this case she wanted nothing more than to not be partnered up with Chloe. Ms. Mendeleiev had stated the day before that she wasn't going to pair them up according to gender, meaning she could be put with anyone.

However, what made her even more worried was that their crazy teacher also enjoyed to make her students suffer. She believed that working together with your friends was counterproductive, so whenever they had group projects she purposely paired everyone up with people they don't normally spend time with, matching them based on how well she believes their personalities and working habits go together.

More than once had Marinette been paired up with Chloe over the course of the year. She had been somehow managed to put up with her all of those other times, but this project was something she definitely didn't want to be stuck doing with Chloe, knowing that the blonde wouldn't contribute at all. Heck, she would even take Kim over Chloe. He probably couldn't be trusted to take care of, or even hold a baby, but at least he would do his share of the work.

Ms. Mendeleiev began reading off the names of her pre-planned list of partners, sighs erupting from the class after each pair was listed. Staying true to her beliefs, the partners their teacher chose were quite random. Kim and Sabrina, Max and Ivan, Nino and Juleka, Rose and Mylene, Alix and Nathanael.