It was 6pm on Friday and Adrien was still stuck in school.

"Again, Agreste!"

He suppressed a sigh and did as M. D'Argencourt commanded, moving through the familiar forms and ignoring the ache in his muscles.

'Just half an hour more' he chanted in his mind. 'Just half an hour more!'

Nathalie had informed him only that morning that, with the school closing down for two weeks for the spring holiday period, his usual fencing lessons would have to be cancelled. At first he thought his luck was finally improving and that he would have some extra time to spend with his friends over the holiday… until she handed him his updated schedule and he remembered that he was Chat Noir, the embodiment of bad luck. The cancelled fencing lessons had been replaced with piano and Chinese lessons at home, and to compensate for the missed practices he was to have three hours of fencing after school today, and three hours on the first day back.

He just loved being an Agreste. Not!

At least he wasn't the only one stuck in school after the bell had gone. Most of his classmates were staying behind for various reasons – Rose had been very enthusiastic about her extra-long scrapbooking club; Juleka and Nathanael were working on some project with the art teacher; Nino was planning on raiding the vinyl records in the music library; Mylène was helping her father with some work and of course that meant the Ivan joined them too; Alya was scouring the library for any books that could help her discover Ladybug's identity and had roped Marinette into helping her – and of course the teachers were staying behind until the school closed its doors at 7pm.

The Gorilla would be waiting for him outside at 7pm, leaving him half an hour after practice to try and recover and spend time with his friends.

"Again, Agreste!"

If he somehow managed to survive the next thirty minutes intact. He fought back a whimper and pressed on.

'Just half an hour more!'

"Marinette!"

She leapt back from the window with a guilty 'eep' and stared into the knowing face of her best friend.

"Come on girl, just a few more books and then you can get back to ogling Adrien."

"Alya!" she hissed. "Not so loud."

The redhead snorted. "Come on, we're the only two left in the library."

She blinked and looked around, noting that her friend was indeed correct. Somehow she had missed the librarian and the handful of other students leaving while she watched Adrien practice. She couldn't help it though – after today she wasn't going to see Adrien for two whole weeks. It was a fate worse than death! And he always looked so sure and confident during practice, and so elegant, and just…

Alya's fingers snapped in front of her eyes.

She giggled. "Sorry."

"I know, I know, it's a fate worse than death," she mimicked Marinette's voice, repeating the rant she had heard all too often over the last week. "Chill, girl. You'll find some way to see him before school starts again, don't worry. Now help me find these books! Hey, don't you need to get some books too?"

"Yeah," she sighed and pulled herself away from the window. "There're two design competitions due at the end of the month, and they want three pieces each – something in my own personal style, an accessory to go with a specific garment, and one competition wants a modern twist on historical clothes while the other wants a French twist on traditional clothes from another country."

"Well you've got the last one in the bag, haven't you, Dupain-Cheng?" Alya teased.

"I've got too much for that one, I can't narrow it down!" she grumbled. "But I was hoping to find some inspiration in the history books here."

"You can find all of that on the internet you know?"

"I know, but…" she pulled one of her favourite books of the shelf. "See this?"

She held up the copy of Courtly Fashion in Medieval France for Alya to see, opening a few random pages showing beautiful illustrated scenes, bright colours, and diagrams depicting the construction of the garments.

"You can't find this kind of accuracy on the internet without wasting ages checking the authenticity of the webpages – and I have to prove to the judges that I used true examples of historical clothing to base my design on."

"If you…"

Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt.

Alya sighed and grabbed her phone, frowning when her mother's number appeared on screen.

"Hold on a second, Mari," she waved her friend away and answered the call. "Hello mama. No, I'm still at school. She is?" Alya sighed. "No, that's fine. I can be there in half an hour if I rush. Ok. Yeah. Love you too. Bye."

"Trouble at home?" Marinette asked sympathetically.

"Ella's ill, she's got a nasty spring cold, but Etta ended up dropping the bottle of cough medicine all over the floor. Mama can't get more because she can't take the girls out, Nina and Dad aren't home yet, and so she needs me to grab some and run it over," she sighed. "Look, I know we had plans…"

"It's fine," Marinette pushed Alya's bag into her hands. "You can do your research online any time. Go look after your sister."

"You're the best, Mari! I'll text you later!"

With a quick hug the redhead ran from the room leaving Marinette alone in the library.

She was very tempted to go back to the window and watch the last few minutes of Adrien's practice – boy was she tempted – but she hadn't been lying to Alya when she said she needed to prove to the competition judges that she was using real historical examples and not an imagined version.

While she had plenty of ideas for the other designs, the historical one was bothering her. Her approach in all of her designs was a subtle one, but some of the gowns from history were anything but subtle. She wasn't sure how she was going to adapt that without it looking tacky.

Marinette wandered over to the librarian's desk and checked her favourite fashion book out and put it in her backpack.

"Maybe I should look beyond medieval France," she murmured as she headed back to the history section. "I'd guess most of the entrants would be doing French clothes, so maybe something Italian or English would stand out better?"

She was half expecting Tikki to answer her but wasn't surprised when her kwami was silent. She didn't like to risk being seen or heard at school even though there was no one around to witness.

"Urgh, it would be so much easier if they gave us a specific period of history to work from!" the ravenette grumbled, grabbing a few more books that looked promising and checking those out too. "Fashion from history. That's all they said. From. History. Do they have any idea just how many fashions that is? Or how quickly they changed? Or…"

She froze. Inspiration had just struck.

"Oh. What if my design showed the change in style over time? I could incorporate all the little nuances and… oh Tikki, I think I've got it!"

Silence.

"Tikki?"

Still no answer. Marinette rolled her eyes and reached for her handbag, popping the clasp open.

"Tikki, did you fall asleep ag…"

For the second time that afternoon she froze, this time in horror. Tikki wasn't in her bag.

"TIKKI!"

"Good practice today, Agreste. Keep working on those forms and I will see you again in two weeks."

D'Argencourt dismissed him with a wave of his hand as he hurried off to the staff room. He never lingered after practice any more, not since his akumatisation.

Adrien didn't care though, all his energy went into staying upright. His muscles were screaming at him.

"I really hope she doesn't want to meet tonight."

It was probably the only time since becoming Chat Noir that he didn't want to see his Lady. All he wanted to do was get home and spend the rest of the evening under a hot shower and then go to bed.

Somehow he managed to make his legs carry him into the locker room, stripping his helmet and gloves as he went, and he noticed his hand tremble slightly as he opened his locker. He was just too tired for any of this. He grabbed his drinks bottle and took a long gulp, the cool liquid perking him up slightly.

His phone was beeping at him and he really wanted to ignore it and just lie down on the bench but he knew he would be in a lot of trouble if he did.

One text from Nathalie, confirming his ride home at 7pm, and one from Nino.

[Nino]: Sorry Dude, got to bail. Need to get to the music store before it closes. Gaming tonight still?

On any other day he would have been disappointed not to spend time with his best friend, especially with his demanding work schedule for the next two weeks stopping him from seeing Nino, but today he couldn't be happier.

[Adrien]: No worries, I'm going home to sleep. Practice was rough. Maybe game tomorrow?

He got a reply instantly.

[Nino]: Dude, just sleep. UMS III will be there all holiday. Cya!

Adrien risked a glance around the room. No one was there. Good.

"Plagg, time to head home you glutton!" he called, tossing his fencing kit in the sports bag at his feet. "You had better not have gotten that stinky cheese all over my clothes!"

No answer.

He rolled his eyes. That wasn't unusual. Plagg was very much a cat – all he did was eat, sleep, and occasionally (when he thought Adrien wasn't looking) chase a ball of wool around. He was probably fast asleep – again!

He pulls off his fencing suit and quickly changed into a fresh shirt, dropping the old clothes into his bag with his foil.

"Plagg!" he grabbed his school bag and peered inside. "Plagg? PLAGG?"

His kwami was gone!

Two faint screams echoed around the school corridors, making the two old friends pause their conversation and listen. Blue eyes set in pink looked over at green eyes set in black and frowned.

"Did you just hear something?"

"Nope!"

"Plagg – I can always tell when you're lying to me," Tikki rolled her eyes. She peered over the books they were hiding behind and looked at the empty classroom in front of them. "I could have sworn I heard Marinette just then."

"I didn't hear anything, honest!" Plagg answered too quickly then winced at Tikki's glare.

"Wait, what time is it?"

"Do I look like a clock to you Tikki? Look at the one about the teacher's desk."

She did and gasped. "Oh no! Plagg! It's nearly seven! We have to get back to our kids before they realise we're missing!"

"But we haven't seen each other in nearly a century!"

"PLAGG!"

"Oh fine!"

"Where's Adrien? Marinette was going to the library."

"If he's finished fencing he was going to meet Nino in the music library."

She vaulted the books and made a beeline for the door, not caring about staying hidden in an empty classroom. "Let's head up there then, before they realise we're gone!"

Marinette was beside herself with worry and fright. Tikki had never wandered off. Ever! She was always right there for her, and to suddenly find her missing… well it was scary.

"Tikki!"

She went through the library shelf by shelf, desperately hoping that her kwami had just got distracted by a book she liked. She could forgive Tikki wandering off and not hearing her, but to lose her completely. It didn't bear thinking about.

"Tikki, where are you?"

Maybe she wasn't in the library? Maybe she'd floated out of her handbag earlier in the day. If that was so, all she had to do was to retrace her steps and Tikki would come to her.

But what if she hadn't just floated out? What if she'd gotten sick again? He last cold had come on so strong and so suddenly. What if the same thing had happened and Tikki was alone and ill somewhere in the school. Anyone could find her. Anything could happen!

"No, no, no. Stop it girl. She must have just gone to inspect something. Just retrace your steps."

Now where had she been before Alya dragged her off to the library?

"The classroom!"

She ran for the door.

Adrien's reaction to Plagg's disappearance was one of growing alarm. It wasn't the first time his kwami had disappeared on him – he was a curious cat after all, and any unusual sound, sight, or smell that caught his interest was enough to tempt him away from the safety of Adrien's school bag, as it had when he ended up wearing Chloé's expensive bracelet – but the kwami had always returned before.

"Plagg!"

He was crawling along the floor of the locker room, looking under benches, desperate to see a glimpse of black that would tell him where his wayward kwami was.

"Plagg where the hell are you?"

Where could he have gone? He didn't usually stray far from his cheese, and for once the camembert was only half gone. Could he have fallen ill? Is that why he hadn't eaten his cheese? What if he'd been struck down with some rare and potentially life threatening kwami illness and fallen out of Adrien's bag earlier on in the day? Where had he been before practice?

"The library!"

He was running before he realised it.

"Plagg! You really need to be more cautious!" Tikki scolded, glaring at her partner.

He just rolled his eyes. "Why? The school is empty, and no one ever looks up anyway."

They were floating just below the ceiling, high above the heads of anyone who could have walked underneath them – not that there was anyone there to see them of course. The few people who were left in the building were packing up and getting ready to leave, they weren't roaming the halls or looking up where the two kwami were flying.

"But we can't be seen! You know the rules!"

"Yeah, yeah," he waved a paw at her. "Look, we're here now. Music library. Adrien said he was meeting Nino in here."

"Let's hope Nino isn't the one who sees us first and… Plagg!" she screeched, watching in disbelief as her partner nonchalantly phased through the wall in front of her. "Grrrr!" if she was human she would have been pulling out her hair by now. "I swear you act like this on purpose!" she shouted, before following Plagg and a slower and more cautious speed.

Marinette wasn't prepared for the door to open inwards just at she reached it, and barely managed to dodge the heavy wood flying straight for her face. But of course that meant she ran straight into the boy who was racing into the library as she was trying to leave. They collided and bounced off each other, falling backwards to the floor.

"Ouch!" she reached up and grabbed her head.

"Oh god, Marinette, are you ok?"

She blushed automatically. "A-A-Adrien?" hadn't he asked her something. "Oh, yeah, you're great, I mean, me good, I mean, I'm alright."

He looked really upset. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise anyone was still in here," he jumped to his feet and held a hand out to help her up. She was amazed by the fact that she took it, and allowed him to pull her back up to her feet, without fainting in delight in front of him. 'He's touching my hand! Oh mon Dieu he's actually touching my hand. I'll never wash this hand again!' "I shouldn't have come racing through like that anyway. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I…"

The library clock chimed the quarter hour, announcing the time as 18.45.

She saw him stiffen. "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"I've lost my k…gloves," he stuttered. She'd never seen him do that before. "I have to find them before school closes for the break!"

Normally, she would offer to help. Or at least try to offer to help without starting to ramble and sounding like an insane person escaped from the nearest asylum. But she had her own lost and found problem to deal with, and the same time limit.

"Sorry. I'd help but…"

"That's ok!" he excused her quickly.

"…I need to find my notebook," she lied. "If I see your gloves I'll shout, ok? Gotta go!"

She just had to find Tikki, she just had to! And if she found her with enough time to spare she could hurry back and help her beloved Adrien find his gloves! He'd be so happy she helped that she'd ask him on a date and he'd say yes of course and then they'd get married, and have three kids, and…

"Gah!"

She nearly fell down the rest of the stairs as she hurried to her classroom.

"Focus, Marinette, focus!" she chided herself, taking the stairs at a slower pace. "Tikki first; daydreams later!"

Adrien would normally have noticed Marinette's strange behaviour and her desire to be away from him as quickly as possible, but with Plagg missing he just wasn't paying attention. All he could focus on was finding his kwami.

He quickly checked to see if anyone else was in the library and, when he saw that he was alone in there, he relaxed.

"Plagg!" he snapped. "Plagg where the hell are you?"

There was no answer.

He ran to the nearest bookcase and started looking behind books, pulling some out, letting others drop to the floor, and completely uncaring of the fact that he was messing up the carefully arranged books and creating lots more work for the librarian. The model was halfway around the library, books strewn all across the floor, before the thought even crossed his mind that Plagg could be messing with him.

'He wouldn't dare… would he?'

"Plagg, I swear, if this is your idea of a joke…" he paused to think of something truly terrible he could threaten his kwami with and then smirked. "Plagg if you don't show up in the next five seconds then I swear the only cheese I will buy for the next six months will be processed slices!"

Silence.

He waited, hardly daring to breath, straining his ears to hear any sign of the god of destruction, but only silence met him.

"Damnit Plagg where the hell are you?"

The other half of the library was quickly turned upside down and when no trace of the bad luck cat could be found Adrien was ready to start tearing his hair out. It was a familiar reaction to Plagg and only fear of his father's reaction stopped him from actually carrying it out.

So Plagg wasn't in his bag and he wasn't in the library – could he have wandered off in the middle of his last class?

"Worth a shot," he muttered, shouldering his bag again and racing for his classroom.

"Well this was a great plan," Plagg grumbled. "Float around the empty school aimlessly trying to find our kids. What could possibly go wrong?"

Tikki glared. "I don't hear you coming up with a better plan!" she snapped. Why had she been so excited to see him again? She could do with another hundred years away from him after today.

"You do realise they're probably looking for us right now?"

She blinked. That… was quite likely if Marinette had already discovered she was missing, and hadn't gotten distracted again.

"Adrien will probably be running around with a hunk of camembert right now."

"Why didn't you point that out in the first place Plagg?"

"I thought maybe your good luck would cancel out my bad luck and we'd bump into the kids. Guess I was wrong."

Tikki fought the urge to strangle him.

"Hey!" he suddenly did a loop-the-loop "Let's head to the locker room!"

"Why? Will the kids be there?"

"No clue – but I've got half a wheel of camembert waiting for me with my name on it."

"PLAGG!"

"Relax, Tik," he smirked. "We just have to hide in their lockers. They'll stop by at some point. Besides, you can just float over the road to your kids home if necessary. I'm the one who has to ride back in a smelly sports bag."

She just glared.

Thankfully, no one was in the classroom to see Marinette barge through the door and promptly trip over air.

"Tikki? Where are you?" she begged.

No answer.

She was getting frantic by now. Tikki had never disappeared on her. Never. Something had to be wrong, it was the only explanation.

The only time she could remember being without Tikki was when she'd tried to make Alya into Ladybug and taken out the…

"EARRINGS!" she shrieked, her hands flying to her ears.

Marinette heaved a huge sigh of relief when she felt both of her Miraculous safe in place in her ear lobes and not damaged at all. Nothing was wrong with her Miraculous, they were safe, which meant that – hopefully – Tikki was safe and sound somewhere in the school.

She quickly looked under, around, behind, and in Mme. Bustier's desk – muttering apologies to her teacher under her breath as she searched through the drawers – then checked every desk and seat.

Still no sign of Tikki.

Where else could Tikki be? Her eyes darted around the classroom, looking for all of the places her kwami might potentially hide, before settling on the huge bookcases at the back.

Bingo!

"Tikki? Are you there?"

She yanked books aside, searching every nook and cranny of the bookcases, but there was no sign of Tikki anywhere.

"Some Ladybug you are," she berated herself. "Losing your kwami? How could you do that Marinette?"

She began pacing behind the desks, walking out her stresses so she could think clearly. Where could Tikki be? She wasn't in the classroom, or the library, and she hadn't seen a red blob floating around the school corridors (not that she'd been looking, damn it, she'd better do that on her way out just in case). They hadn't had science today so she didn't need to check the labs, or the computer room either. In fact there were only two other places in the school where Marinette had been to today.

The nurse's office and the locker room.

"I'm coming Tikki!"

Sometimes Adrien hated being the Black Cat. His bad luck followed him everywhere.

"Eeep!"

"Ooof!"

Like today for example. The one time he didn't want to run into his friends and that was literally the only thing he could do.

"Sorry Marinette," he groaned and reached out a hand to help her up. "I wasn't paying attention."

"You're fine, I mean, fine you're, gah! That's fine!" she stammered. "I was rushing and not looking. Sorry," she took his hand and he pulled her up.

"Are you sure you're ok?" she was stammering a lot more than usual – he hadn't concussed her or anything by running into her so often had he? Oh god that would be just his luck.

Marinette grinned and waved her hand. "I'm fine, promise. Okseeyoulatergottagobye!"

She disappeared in a blur of black and pink, thankfully leaving him alone in the classroom.

The nurses' office was empty, Mme. Beaulieu their motherly nurse having left as soon as the school bell rang, but the office itself was never locked in case anyone needed it.

Marinette had been in there more than any other student and was more than familiar with the set up.

As far as medical rooms went, this one was pretty bare. Mme. Beaulieu's desk was opposite the door and on either side of it was a small patient's bed with a curtain. There was a chair with castors pushed under the desk next to two cabinets – one was unlocked and contained medical records and office supplies, the other was locked and contained the few medicines they were allowed to keep on premises.

Other than a few posters on the wall that was it.

It took less than a minute for Marinette to search the room for her missing kwami but it took her twice as long to decide whether or not she was going to try and break into the locked medicine cabinet on the off chance that Tikki was hiding in there.

Three minutes and four broken bobby pins later she was convinced that Tikki wasn't actually in there. She'd failed spectacularly in her efforts to break into the cabinet (thank god there wasn't a CCTV camera in here for patient privacy reasons) but the noise and her swearing would surely have alerted Tikki to her presence.

The nurse's office was a bust, but she still had the locker room to try.

"Please be there, Tikki. Please!"

"Finally!" Plagg grinned. "My darling cheese, here I come – gah!"

Tikki lunged for his tail and snatched it up, pulling with all her might to stop him from flying off. "Hold it!"

"Tikki!"

"I need to check Marinette's locker first, Plagg," she reasoned. "If she's already emptied it then she won't be coming back, but if her things are still there…"

He waved his paw at her. "Yeah I get it, if her stuff is there you can wait for her. Hey?" he suddenly perked up. "Does she have any shiny things?"

"Plagg!"

"Come on Tikki, all that in Adrien's locker is books and smelly sports clothes. You can't blame a cat for being curious!"

She sighed, recognising a loosing battle when she saw one. Besides, getting him out of the open was probably for the best.

Footsteps sounded close by, and the handle on the door began to turn.

"So M. Damocles approved my lesson plan for next term…"

"Plagg! Hide, quick!"

She darted for Marinette's locker in the corner, hoping her luck was enough to ensure the two kwami weren't seen by the teacher. She phased straight through the door, followed shortly by a black blur, and they waited with baited breath for the scream of discovery or for the voice to fade as the teacher walked away without seeing them.

Thankfully, the footsteps faded away and the door opened and closed again. They were safe.

"Oh, shiny!"

"Plagg!"

They might be safe from discovery, but Tikki was beginning to suspect her partner wouldn't be safe from her for much longer.

Adrien quickly shut the classroom door behind Marinette and released the breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. That had been too close for comfort. If she had seen Plagg it would have been disastrous!

"Plagg you annoying cretin where are you!" Adrien snapped. He was so over the mischievous kwami's games right now. He had half a mind to confiscate all of his camembert for the next two weeks as punishment. Or maybe two months.

He didn't get a reply even though he was half hoping he would and so set about searching high and low for Plagg. He wasn't hiding under any of the desks, in any of the drawers, or behind any of the books – which looked suspiciously askew.

The thought crossed his mind briefly that his kwami partner had been here, messing around with the books, but then he remembered that Marinette had been searching for a notebook so this was probably her doing rather than Plagg's. One lead gone. He felt a minor twinge of guilt at how he had left the books in the library – after all, Marinette had managed to keep these books relatively neat – but pushed it aside and focussed on the task at hand.

Where else could Plagg be? What would motivate him enough to leave? The only thing that really worked on Plagg was cheese, especially his precious camembert, but he had that with him in his bag so…

"The lockers!"

Plagg wouldn't know he had his bag with him and if he had got bored with whatever had drawn him away in the first place then naturally he would go searching for the cheese in Adrien's bag which had been safely stored in his locker.

He ran for the locker room at full speed bursting through the doors.

"Plagg?"

"Hey!" Plagg yelped as Tikki pulled his tail again. "You find that way too enjoyable."

"Enjoyment has nothing to do with it!" she snapped back. "Isn't that Adrien?"

The black kwami floated up to join her at the holes in the top of the locker door. "Yeah that's him – hey! He's got my cheese!"

"You never change!" Tikki rolled her eyes. "Now's your chance to get to him. The coast is clear."

"Fine!" he huffed, but paused before phasing through the door. "Hey…"

"What?"

"It was fun hanging out again, Tik," he smiled then, a real smile, one she didn't see on his face very often, and she couldn't help but smile back at him. "Are you sure we can't…"

"It's against the rules. We can't tell them – or even encourage them to tell each other. You know that."

"Yeah. I know. But you can't blame a kwami for missing his partner, can you?"

"Oh Plagg," she smiled wider. This was why she put up with his annoying behaviour, fondness for smelly cheese, and general unpleasantness – although, listing it like that did make her wonder if she had a screw loose somewhere. She put up with him because beneath the layers of annoyances he truly had a heart of gold. "I have missed you, you know."

"Maybe we could catch up again when school is back?"

Her smile faltered. "I don't know if that will be possible without revealing why we're disappearing so often, and that's…"

"Against the rules, yeah, I know," he finished. "Can't blame me for trying."

She sighed. "I do wish there was a way to spend more time together without breaking any of the rules."

"Me too, Tik, me too," he gave a sad smile then turned back to the locker grate. "Looks like Adrien's still here. I'd better head over."

"Goodbye, Plagg."

"Bye, Tikki." Plagg said and then pushed forwards.

"Gah! Adrien!"

"Marinette?"

"PLAGG NO!" she yanked on his tail and pulled him back into the locker, both of them slamming into the back with a loud thud. "You can't let Marinette see you!"

"Oh, way to go Tik!" he groused, rubbing the back of his head with his paws. "And you were worried about me giving us away. No way are they going to ignore that noise!"

She blushed a deeper red than normal. "Maybe with my luck they'll ignore it?"

"Don't count on it. I'm here too, remember?"

"Plagg!"

"Look!" he pointed through the grill at their humans. "They're not looking. I'll just zip over to the other group of lockers and…

"No, it's too risky."

"Oh come on! We're running out of time here. I'm fast enough to…"

"It. Is. Too. Risky!"

"Too late!" he smirked and dove through the door.

"Oh no you don't!" she grabbed his tail and pulled as hard as she could.

They both flew into the back of the locker and yelped.

"Uh… what was that?"

Plagg shot Tikki a smug grin and she punched him in the shoulder.

He yelped.

"Oh not again!"

"Gah! Adrien!"

"Marinette!"

She was beginning to suspect that her Ladybug luck had deserted her today. Normally running into Adrien this much would be a dream come true – and some part of her was indeed swooning with sheer delight – but she couldn't look for Tikki properly with him there.

"So…"

"So…?"

"Did you find your, uh, gloves?"

He sighed. "Not yet. I've looked everywhere. What about you?"

"Sorry Adrien, I didn't see your gloves either."

He frowned slightly and she remembered her little lie a moment too late. "I was asking about your book."

"Oh, ha," she grinned nervously. "Of course you were. Uh, no. No I haven't found it yet either."

"Did you leave it in your locker?"

She glanced to the corner where she hoped Tikki was hiding in her locker. "Maybe?" she shrugged. "I…"

A thud sounded throughout the room, startling the two teens.

"Uh… what was that?" he asked, looking in the general direction of her locker.

"What did you do that for, Tikki!"

"This is all your fault!"

"Oh not again!"

Adrien watched as Marinette stalked – and really there was no other word for how she was moving – towards her locker. The locker that he had definitely heard a thud and what sounded like a yelp from. The locker he was beginning to suspect Plagg was hiding in. Sometimes he really, really, really hated that he had a curious cat kwami. Why couldn't he just stay put?

"What again, Mari?" he asked, following her over. If he could distract her, or snatch Plagg away without her seeing, then everything would be alright – right?

"This time I swear she's getting done for animal cruelty!"

Ok. That was new. "What's going on?

She paused and sighed. "It's Chloé."

"What's she done now?"

"She found out that I'm a Chat Noir fan the other week…"

He perked up at that. She was a fan of his?

"…and she's been taking every opportunity since then to mock me for it."

Well he was not going to stand for that. He had a fan! He had a fan! "I can have a word with her if you want?"

She gave him a small smile then. "That's ok, Adrien, I can deal with the teasing. I just don't want her to be mean to any more poor kittens."

"Kittens?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Three days ago she put a kitten in my locker, a little black cat with beautiful green eyes. The poor thing was terrified by the time I got him out."

He sighed too. "That sounds like Chloé, unfortunately. Was the cat ok?"

"Yeah… I was so tempted to keep him, but I like in a bakery so," she shrugged. "We found a good home for him though."

"And you think there's another one in there?"

"Judging by the noises, probably. It probably found the cat toys she shoved in there this morning."

A noise that sounded like a cross between a squeak and a hiss suddenly erupted from her locker and she sighed, covering her face with a hand. Adrien was glad about that because then she wouldn't see the panic on his face. He recognised that voice!

"Toys!" Plagg purred in delight. "Let me at them!" he dove towards the bag at the bottom, correctly suspecting that that was where they were hiding.

"Plagg!" Tikki grabbed his tail again. "No!"

He hissed. "Let go!" he yelped.

"Uh…" he didn't know what to say, he couldn't think of anything believable enough to explain why the kitten in her locker was actually a floating bad-tempered black kwami.

"I knew it," she growled, clearly frustrated, and reached for her locker.

"No! Wait!" he lunged for her hand and grabbed it.

"A-Adrien?" she blushed scarlet.

He could feel his own cheeks colouring. "You shouldn't open it. It could… be upset. And scratch."

She blinked and relaxed marginally before she gave him a small smile. "I'll be fine. I'm good with cats."

And before he could do or say anything, she reached out with the hand he wasn't holding and opened up her locker.

Four sets of eyes stared at each other in horror – two blue and two green – in complete silence.

There, in Marinette's locker, were two kwami.

Two kwami.

Two kwami!

"Uh…"

The kwami blinked, looked at each other, then back to the humans, before Plagg sighed.

"Well, Sweets, looks like we let the cat out of the bag after all!"

"Plagg!" Tikki snapped, yanking his tail again in her frustration. "You can't… you just… I…" she screamed and covered her eyes with her paws.

Adrien and Marinette gaped at the kwami and then looked at each other in shock and recognition. Who would have guessed that their partner had been so close to them after all?

"Please, Tikki, we aren't fooling them."

Tikki screamed from behind her paws again before looking up with big blue eyes. "Marinette, Adrien, I am so, so sorry about all of this."

"Don't be sorry Tik, accidents always happen when our luck gets involved."

"You're bad luck and I'm good luck. Nowhere in those descriptions does it mention dumb luck!"

Plagg scoffed then smirked at Adrien. "Hey kid, why don't you introduce me to your girlfriend?"

"What?" two shocked voices screeched.

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Author's note: re-uploaded at 11pm on 16th January to correct formatting error. Thank you Mythril Moth and TxC for pointing that out for me. Hopefully the page breaks show up this time.