Chapter Two

Adrien still hadn't let go of Marinette's hand.

They had been walking for quite some time now, and although, based on how loud Nino and Alya were talking, their "private conversation" was over, he made no move to go rejoin his best friend.

Beside him, the black-haired girl seemed to be slowly warming up to his presence, actually looking up (at him?) rather than just at her feet. Her shyness couldn't help but make him smile, and he felt glad she hadn't yet tried to pull her hand away from him.

Marinette, on the other hand, was doing her best not to explode from excitement.

It's him, it's actually him, she kept having to look up to make sure Adrien was the person walking next to her. It's him and he's holding my hand, oh my god, OH MY GOD!

She didn't try talking to him, keeping her mouth closed to stop herself from screaming her thoughts out loud.

Nino and Alya looked back every once in a while to check for progress. They were at first amazed by the fact that the lovebirds-to-be were actually holding hands, but the novelty wore off when, after half an hour, they hadn't said a SINGLE word to each other.

"Do you think Marinette's okay?" Nino asked in a hushed tone, concerned now that it was getting late.

"Only one way to find out," Alya sighed, pulling out her phone.

"Wait." She stopped moving, thumbing through her phone. "I don't have signal." She looked up at Nino, exasperated.

Adrien and Marinette had stopped behind them and were now paying attention. Nino immediately jumped on the chance, and motioned to Alya. She took the cue.

"Nino, we've been walking a really long time. Are we almost there yet?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

He made a point of holding the map in front of Marinette and Adrien. "We're should be right around here," he said confidently, pointing his finger at a random spot on the paper.

Marinette scrunched her eyes. "Nino," she began, her voice wavering. "Aren't you, uh, holding that upside-down?"

With that, Alya immediately grabbed the map out of Nino's hand, turning it upside-down so that the North symbol pointed up. "Nino, you idiot!"

Adrien pouted. "Does that mean we've been walking the wrong way this whole time?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," Nino replied, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, eyes downcast.

"But, uh, you at least know where we are, right, Nino?" Marinette inquired hopefully.

"Well… no, not really."

Nino was met with three groans. "Sorry, guys," he chuckled sheepishly.

"We can just use a GPS though, right?" He turned to Alya, who was already furiously tapping on her phone.

"Uh, no, because we have no signal," she replied, twirling her phone in front of his nose. "Unless you feel like climbing a tree?"

"Let me see the map," Adrien requested. He studied the aged paper carefully. Marinette, whose hand was still in his, joined him.

He suddenly pulled his hand from hers, grinning sheepishly and handing the map back to Nino. "I, uh, gotta go to the bathroom."

"Me too," Marinette piped in, clutching her hand.

The two immediately split off into different directions, while Alya and Nino took a seat on a fallen log.

"Don't get lost, you two!" Nino called out.

"Don't worry, I'm not like someone I know." Adrien's voice responded.

Alya chuckled. She leaned in toward Nino, relishing in the break after a long time walking.

"How far are we, actually?" She questioned, stretching her legs out in front of her.

"Eh, 'bout ten minutes?" Nino replied, doing likewise with his arms. He then took the opportunity to put them around her, enclosing her in a warm hug.

"They'll figure it out, you know" Alya grinned, snuggling up against him.

"Nah," Nino grinned back. "We'll just walk around in circles forever. Then maybe they'll finally talk to each other!"

"Tikki!" Marinette hushed, willing her kwami, who was sleeping in the inner pocket of her jean jacket, to wake up.

She felt a squirm, then her red bug dozily flew out, rubbing her bluebell eyes.

"Are we almost there yet?" She asked with a yawn. "You've been walking a loooong time"

"We kinda got lost" Marinette admitted with a sigh. Tikki blinked back in concern.

"How far away are you? She questioned, glancing up at the sky. The sun was already halfway down, meaning there were only a couple hours left before sunset. Threatening clouds were beginning to pile up from the east.

Marinette hoped it wouldn't rain.

"Who knows?" Marinette said despondently. "I want to transform and figure out where we are."

"Sounds good to me," Tikki giggled.

She transformed with a quick call of "transformez-moi!", and soon enough was scaling up the nearest tree, praying that none of her friends looked up. Marinette prided herself on being able to come up with on-the-spot explanations, but there was no way she'd be able to explain what Paris' most beloved superhero was doing climbing trees in a random forest two hours from the city.

The same fear was passing through Adrien's head as he clawed his way up the tree in his trademark leather costume. Plagg had been hesitant to transform him, having been told he would get a break from Chat Noir's constant shenanigans.

Adrien had packed extra cheese just in case.

He was quick to get to the top, and spent a moment sitting in the branches just breathing in the clear air. The view was in complete contrast to his usual ones in Paris- there was green everywhere he looked, save for the grey-blue streams that winded their way around the forest like alleyways through apartments. The sun was gliding down toward the horizon slowly, its job done for the day as Adrien could feel just the tiniest hint of a chill in the breeze that ruffled his honey-coloured hair.

I ought to go camping more often, he thought to himself. I bet Ladybug would enjoy this view.

Ladybug was not enjoying the view. In fact, Ladybug could barely get herself up to the top of the tree, her yo-yo useless in the heavy branches and her clumsiness working against her. By the time she made it to the top, huffing and puffing, her only concern was to figure out where they were. She scanned the landscape, hoping to match what her eyes saw to the map she remembered in her head.

Adrien had just realized that if he didn't get back soon, Alya, Nino, and Marinette would come looking for him. He twisted his neck around rapidly, trying to figure out where they were when he noticed a clearing not too far away from where his tree was.

That must be it! He thought excitedly, and hurriedly dropped himself to the lower branches only to come face to face with a bird's nest.

"Ah- ah- ah- ah- CHOO!"

The sudden loud noise startled Marinette, and before she could even think about where or what it came from she found herself flailing among the branches. She desperately threw out her yoyo, hoping it would entangle itself in the tree and keep her from falling any further.

Adrien jerked his head in the direction of the crashing sounds, and for a moment he thought he could discern a familiar shade of red, but not before it was lost in the leaves. He sniffled and rubbed his nose, making a point to himself to avoid nests on the way down.

Marinette's legs were splayed awkwardly among the branches, chest heaving and clutching desperately onto the string that kept her from taking a twenty-foot drop. She carefully pulled herself up, regaining her balance before allowing herself to relax. Recovering her yoyo, she maneuvered herself down the tree, carefully sliding from branch to branch before landing on the ground with a thud and a sigh of relief.

Adrien was stuck. Getting up a tree, he realized, was a lot easier than getting down a tree. He wasn't even sure why he was stuck. It wasn't like Adrien had climbed a hundred trees before and was a pro at it (in fact, he'd never actually climbed a tree before), but it shouldn't have been that difficult.

He groaned internally. Leave it to Chat Noir to get stuck in a tree and confirm all the cat stereotypes. He flashed back to that time Ladybug had saved a civilian's cat who had shared his fate.

She'd laugh her head off if she saw me right now.

"Adrien! Marinette! Where are you!" Alya's voice rung out, followed by a second, deeper voice calling the same names.

"I'm right here!" a breathless voice joined the first two, and Adrien could just imagine a red-faced Marinette rushing out to meet Alya and Nino.

He then heard a thud noise, a loud "Ow!" and a chorus of concerned "Are you okay?"'s, and he chuckled a bit to himself at the thought of the scene before realizing he didn't have to imagine it, because all three of them were right underneath him.

Shit.

He did the only thing he could think of, as embarrassing as it would be.

He released his transformation, took a deep breath, and screamed "HELP!"

Author's Notes

A cat with feather allergies, can you imagine?

Thank you for all of the feedback, and wow so many favourites and follows just with the first chapter, what a pleasant surprise! I hope you all enjoy this one just as much c: