"Alya I can't make it….."
"Oh hush you, you're almost done anyways right?"
Marinette shifted her phone to her other hand and pressed it up against her ear, trying to balance the box of supplies up the stairs to her room.
"Yeah, but still…. Packing is taking so long…."
"I told you to not save it until the last minute," Alya's voice chastised.
Marinette just rolled her eyes, opened her door, and placed the box in the center of her room.
"So are you saying you don't want the swimsuit I made you?"
There was a pause where Marinette could hear Alya choking on her drink. After some sputtering Alya coughed out, "You wouldn't dare."
"You want to bet?"
"Not this time girl. I'm not about to take a bet I know I'll lose. So, how about you still give me the swimsuit because I'm totally your best friend and you know I don't have a backup. Pleaseeeeeeee?"
Marinette just chuckled and admitted that she would have let her wear the swimsuit anyways.
"Hey Alya, I have to go. This bag isn't going to pack itself."
"Okay girl. Check in with me before you go to sleep. Peace."
Marinette hung up and let her hand drop, looking at the box in the center of her room.
"Ughhhhhhh."
A little red blur zoomed towards her, twirling around before coming to a stop by her hand.
"Hey Marinette!"
"Hey Tikki! How was your nap?"
"Pretty good! What are you up to?"
"Trying to pack. My parents gave me this box that is full of camping gear. I think they forgot that we were assigned cabins…"
Tikki giggled lightly, "They may have. Or, maybe they just want you to be prepared. You never know what you might need!"
"You sound like the Boy Scout motto…"
"Always be prepared!" The two said in unison.
After having a laugh, Tikki left Marinette to look through supplies, while she flew to go munch on some cookies across the room. Marinette opened the cardboard box, shifting through its contents. Marinette pulled out a tightly rolled up sleeping bag and set it to the side, knowing it wouldn't be of any use in the cabin. She kept digging through the box, setting things aside until the box was empty.
After around an hour, Marinette was surrounded by different gear. There was a sleeping bag, a one person tent, lanterns, flashlights, and so much gear that Marinette couldn't even see her floor. Marinette sighed while giving her head a slight shake, she didn't even need most of this stuff. She started re-packing the box, and slowly her floor became less cluttered. In the end, she had the box packed, excluding a flashlight, a hiking backpack, some water bottles, and bug spray. Marinette let herself slump back and lay on her floor, sighing in relief that the worst of it was over.
A ring from her phone broke the temporary silence in her room, and Marinette sat up looking for the source of the sound. Of course her phone was across the room, so Marinette stood up and answered her cell.
"Alya?"
"Hey girl, checking in on you. It's getting pretty late."
"I know, but I finished packing. I had all my clothes packed but my parents wanted me to go through a huge box of supplies. Did you know they even had bear repellent? I love them, but that's just way too much."
Marinette could hear Alya laugh through the phone, "Well at least you know they care."
"True. Speaking of, did you hear if Adrien could make it or not?"
"To be honest no, Nino hasn't told me anything, I think he already fell asleep."
Marinette sighed in disappointment.
"Well, thanks anyways Alya. You should try and get some sleep. I have to go."
"Okay, night girl. I'm stopping by your place tomorrow, I'm not letting you show up late and miss the trip."
"Yeah, yeah, okay Alya. I have to go. Bye."
"Bye."
Marinette set her phone on her desk, then walked towards Tikki, who had once again fallen asleep. Marinette really didn't want to wake her up, but she couldn't miss patrol, especially since she needed to tell Chat that she would be out on the trip. She put the heels of her hands against her closed eyes, putting just enough pressure to her eyes, and she let her hands slowly slide down her face. Feeling slightly more awake, she carefully nudged Tikki with her finger.
"Tikki….. Tikki? Time to wake up, we have patrol."
Tikki rubbed her tired eyes and flashed Marinette a smile.
"A cookie might wake me up faster…"
"Oh I'm sure it will," Marinette said with a giggle.
Marinette obliged and gave Tikki her desired cookie. Tikki inhaled the cookie a floated in the air with much more energy.
"Ready Tikki?"
"Ready!"
"Tikki…. Spots on!"
_MLB_
Adrien was worried, how couldn't he be? His whole class was leaving on a camping trip and Adrien hasn't even talking to his father about it yet. This was how Adrien found himself taking in a deep breath trying to calm his nerves, standing just outside the doors of his father's office. After giving himself another moment to compose himself, Adrien reached his slightly shaking hand out and knocked upon the door. Seconds of silence passed.
"You may come in."
Adrien pushed open the door with only slight hesitation before stepping into the room and closing the door softly behind him. The boy walked into the room, standing in front of his father's desk, with his father giving him a nod to sit down. Adrien complied and sat in the seat.
"I'm assuming you have a reason to disturb my work?"
"Uhm… Yeah…"
Adrien's father gave him a stern look, silently chastising Adrien for his less than eloquent reply. Adrien ducked his head down slightly, letting himself take in another breath before continuing.
"My class is going on a camping trip tomorrow, heading just outside the city. We will be staying in cabins and doing group activities. It will be four days long and they are providing transportation to and fro. I need… I need your approval and signature to go."
The slightly folded permission slip was pulled from Adrien's pocket and he set it on the desk. His father looked from Adrien to the slip and shook his head slightly. Adrien felt his body sink in disappointment at his father's words.
"No. You have prior commitments. As much as you may… want… to go on this trip, you have a photo shoot already scheduled. Not including the piano, fencing, and Chinese lessons you would be missing."
Adrien sat in silence, about to get up before an idea came to mind.
"Father? What…. what am I modelling for the shoot?"
Gabriel was already back to working, assuming Adrien had accepted his answer. At the question he replied distracted, already done with the conversation.
"Some new outdoor clothing for the upcoming fall line. Some of the new interns are proving their worth with their line by placing their works along mine. If they do well they stay. This is an important shoot because of it's nature, as I only accept the best."
Adrien's green eyes lit up in excitement, as his hopes were confirmed.
"Father…. I have a proposition for you."
The confident voice of the green eyed boy got the attention of his father and the man turned to face his son again, his eyebrow raised in interest.
"Oh? What would that be?"
"An outdoor shoot in the woods, simple as that. Since it is fall outdoor clothing, it fits perfectly! Not only can you promote sales with it, you can also test the durability and functionality of the designs. Customers want clothes that are functional and fashionable, while you want designers to prove they can provide, and I want to go on the class trip. Also, I have a friend, Marinette, who is really into fashion and she could probably help model for the designers who design for girls. It all works out. A win-win-win situation you could say."
Adrien was practically shaking in excitement when he saw his father actually contemplating his offer. He was hoping he could have the luck of Ladybug, just hoping to everything and anything he could go. Also, hoping Marinette wouldn't mind him volunteering her to help. He would have to make it up to her later.
"You may go."
Adrien's voice was filled with excitement, "Really?"
"Yes. However, you will need to make sure to not let yourself fall behind in your studies. Since this is last minute, you will need to pack for yourself but Natalie may be able to assist you if needed. I will be busy informing the makeup team, designers, and the photography crew. Make sure you are ready to leave tomorrow and I will stay in touch."
"Yes sir!"
Adrien got up quickly and turned towards the door, ready to leave.
"Adrien."
After hearing his name he turned around.
"Yes?"
"Your permission slip?"
Adrien's eyes widened as he realized he almost forgot the most important thing for him to go. He quickly walked to his father's desk, grabbing the slip from his father's proffered hand. He thanked the older man and turned to the door once more. He reached the door and opened it, only to be stopped once more by his father's voice.
"Adrien…. Good job… It was a well thought idea."
The older man was fully immersed in his work once more, so he didn't see his son's face. If he had, he would have seen Adrien's blinding smile.
After Adrien got away from his father's office, he let out a small laugh as he let his feet guide him to his room. On the way through the halls, Adrien slipped his phone into his hand and dialed a familiar number.
"Hey Nino!"
His friend had music playing in the background, but heard his reply of, "Yo Adrien! What's up?"
"Oh nothing much…. Just convinced my father to let me go on the trip."
"You did what? Heck yeah! I told you that you could do it if you used your brain! How'd you do it?"
Adrien slipped his permission slip to his pocket and transferred his phone into his just emptied hand, approaching the door of his room.
"Well, I almost couldn't convince him. Apparently he had booked me a photo shoot for this weekend and he didn't tell me until today. It's for an outdoor fashion line though, so I figured that I might be able to convince him to actually do it outside instead of some set. I also said…. Oh shoot I have to talk to Marinette…"
"Wait what? What does Marinette have to do with this?"
Adrien was now in his room, and let himself flop on his bed before he replied.
"I uh….. told my father that she could help model and give feedback on the clothing…?"
"Oh well it's a good thing Marinette is as nice as she is. If I were you, I would tell her tomorrow morning and hope that she doesn't get as angry with you as she would Chloe."
"Do you think she would be mad?"
"Nah probably not. Rather be safe than sorry though. As much as I wish I could help, I gotta go finish packing before Alya gets mad at me. I fell asleep earlier so I really need to finish."
"Bye Nino."
"Peace out."
Adrien let his phone slide out of his hand, and settled his head against his pillow. He had planned to only rest for a few minutes, but his hopes of rest were dashed when he felt a small creature land on his head. Adrien sighed as he mentally prepared for demands of camembert. Adrien wasn't wrong.
"Feed me. I need some sweet, wonderful, delicious camembert."
"I fed you earlier."
"That was over an hour ago though."
Adrien was tempted to just ignore the annoying black kwami, but the small cat continued pestering him. After five minutes of constant pleas and swats to the back of the head, Adrien accepted that he would have to give up and give the cat some smelly cheese. Adrien slowly got up, stretching as he went, and he felt Plagg finally float away from his head. Adrien signaled for a maid to bring him some cheese, grimacing at what the staff must be thinking. Hopefully they didn't think he had some addiction to cheese. When the cheese arrived he finally got Plagg to shut up.
"You should be grateful you know."
Play slipped another chunk of cheese into him whole.
"Oh? Why's that kid?"
"Everyone probably thinks I have some cheese addiction or obsession. You're going to get me thrown in rehab."
Plagg finished off his cheese before answering back.
"Well I doubt you'd get thrown in for that, if anything I'm boosting your reputation. Cheese is an art so people will just think you're more sophisticated and not as simple minded as you are. Also, I get you a ticket out of your pampered life, so there's that."
Adrien grimaced slightly at the comment of his life being pampered, but he didn't and couldn't deny it. As much as he didn't like the smell of the cheese or Plagg's attitude for that matter, the cat did have a point. Adrien would not be telling Plagg that of course.
"Whatever you say Plagg. I need to pack for the trip tomorrow. I didn't give myself much time…. It's getting a bit late."
"Late enough for patrol to be starting."
Adrien looked confused for a second before glancing at the clock. Sure enough, it was well past the time Adrien thought it was and Adrien was cutting it close to being late for patrol. Not wanting to miss a moment free from the confines of his house or a single moment with Ladybug, Adrien decided that packing for the trip could wait until later. Hopefully Natalie wouldn't decided to come check on him later, if she did he would have a hard time explaining it. Oh well, he could deal with that later.
"Plagg…. Claws out!"
_MLB_
Ladybug was enjoying the feelings of the wind whipping and pushing at her face as she leapt across rooftops. She only used her yo-yo for particularly difficult jumps, airing on the side of caution. There was no need to get an injury just before her trip. As the was leaping about she kept her eye out for two things, an akuma and Chat Noir. So far, she had seen neither, so she kept going faster and faster across the rooftops until she could hardly breathe. She chose a spot to rest and let herself catch her breath, reveling in the feeling of freedom and the burn of her lungs in her chest. Being Ladybug made her feel so alive. As she sat, she waiting for Chat, who was surely going to show up any minute.
"Hello, my lady."
Ah there he was.
"Hey Chat. Finally ready for patrol?"
"I'm always ready my lady."
She stood up at looked at Chat, after looking at the cat she pulled out her yo-yo in an exaggerated fashion. She shut it after seeing what she wanted.
"Ah….. Always ready huh? I wouldn't consider ready as 33 minutes late."
She wasn't mad, she could patrol alone if she wanted, but she wouldn't give up a chance to tease Chat.
"33 minutes from your presence? My heart aches for the time we missed together."
The heroine pushed her finger into his chest playfully.
"The 33 minutes you missed."
"Forgive me my lady."
"Hmmmm….. If you can catch me first!"
Before Chat registered the statement, Ladybug was soaring through the sky far away from him. He followed soon after and slowly gained on her. He was having the time of his life, but they soon had to stop when there was police activity in the area. Ladybug noticed before he did.
"Got you! Now you have to forgive me!"
"Hush Chat, not now. Something's wrong."
"What?"
"There are police all over the road if you didn't notice. I stopped running, so you didn't actually catch me. Now shush and let me listen."
Chat felt a little embarrassed at his inability to assess the situation and as he looked over the roof he saw exactly what Ladybug had described. There were cars with the flashing lights confirming that they were in fact the police, and they were all surrounding what looked like a commercial jewelry store. The chatter of police could also be heard and from Chat had gathered, they were robbed, which he figured was fairly obvious, but there was something odd. There was no evidence that the robbers left. Meaning… they were likely still in the store. Ladybug seemed to have come to that conclusion and was already standing up pacing. Chat watched her as she stopped and seemed to have finished her plan.
"Chat I know what we need to do."
"What? Nothing that puts anyone in danger right?"
Ladybug didn't say anything and looked at him slightly offended. Chat realized his mistake and scrambled to fix it.
"Not that I meant you would try to put anyone in danger! That came out wrong, I meant is it a plan that doesn't put you or I in danger? We may be heroes but we are still human."
"We are human and so are they. And for your information, no. No one of my knowledge will be put in intentional danger, and if there was anything to go wrong it would likely happen to me so it wouldn't matter."
Chat gave her a shocked look, ready to protest but she interrupted.
"No. We don't have time to argue, we need to act. You will act as a diversion as usual. This time however, you won't be put in danger. I want you to go down to the street and start talking to the cops. You need to talk clearly and make sure you can be heard, but don't make it obvious that you're trying to get there attention. My safety relies on this. If they are holed up in there, they will be looking at the front door but likely away from it. They will probably be listening to the conversation and will realize that shooting or fighting their way through the front won't work. They would want to put as much distance as possible from them to the police. That leaves the back of the store, likely the storage room. I will use the distraction to my advantage and come in through a window on the floor above, some business offices are there if I am correct. I will find something to cut through the floor or use lucky charm to find something to cut through the door. I will attack from above, and I will assess the situation from there depending on the amount of people and weapons that are there. Got it? Do not approach them no matter what happens. With me there they will likely be more skittish and will probably shoot anything or anyone that they pose as a threat. We need to go, I've wasted too much time talking. They are probably trying to find away out, they should know they are limited in their options by now. Let's go."
Ladybug used her yo-yo to get to the top of the other building, then using it again to slide herself down to the second floor window. She swiftly kicked it in and entered the building before Chat had even moved. After the shock had passed, Chat leapt down to the road and used his baton to break the fall. The police cleared a way as soon as they realized the hero was among them. Chat mindlessly chatted with the officers asking standard questions, as his mind was focused on the situation inside the building.
Ladybug was searching around the room when she finally heard Chat talking to the officers. She let out a small sigh of relief. From here he sounded natural and to be honest she was surprised his voice carried so far, it worked in their favor though because that meant the robbers definitely had to be able to hear them. Ladybug only let herself continue to look for something for a minute, any longer and she felt that she was pushing time too much. With a resigned sigh she whispered the words for her lucky charm to appear. A giant nail appeared and Ladybug wasted no time putting it in the floor and grabbing a chair from the office to slam it down. With one swing, the chair came crashing on the nail, making a giant hole crumble in the floor. Ladybug was glad that she had enough sense to set the nail at an angle so it was less likely to hit someone. As she fell through the floor, she noticed a man just under her who would have been killed immediately by the two foot metal nail if she hadn't angled it.
The robbers had no proper chance to react. One moment they were standing together preparing for a fight, but not one from above. The robbers felt their arms and bodies all wrapped in a metal cord, herding all five robbers together and rendering them unable to move.
She cautiously approached the group of robbers who were now struggling and yelling profanities at her. She went to check the security of the yo-yo's hold on them when she must have gotten too close and a foot came crashing on her own. She bent down slightly because of the pain, and she felt another burst of pain when the same robber slammed his head into her own. Muttering a profanity of her own, she stumbled a few feet away and tightened her hold on the yo-yo, making the robbers even more squished.
"Chat you better get yourself in here! I got them!"
Ladybug winced at her yell, the volume of her voice sending more pain through her head. She blearily saw Chat run in followed by a few officers. The officers ran for the thieves and took all and any weapons they could find and put hand cuffs around their wrists. They gave Ladybug a heads up, telling her she could finally let go of the hold on them with her yo-yo. Her yo-yo retracted and she held it in her hand as she heard her ratings insistently beep. She quickly did her ritual and repaired all the damage that she caused, including the window and floor she had previously broken through.
Chat who was keeping an eye on her finally came over.
"Are you okay? I would have come to you first but we needed to check that they had no weapons. Are you hurt?"
There was an insistent throb in her head but she brushed it off. She had things to do.
"Chat I need to talk to you later. I'm running out of time so I need to refuel. Eiffel Tower. 30 minutes. Be there. Have to go."
Ladybug ran so fast she practically flew out of the store, slightly stumbling as her mind was still trying to catch up. She made it into an alley before she transformed in a red flash and she became Marinette once again. Her tired kwami flew lazily in the air before her and asked for a cookie. Marinette was quick to grab a cookie from her purse and give it to her hungry friend. Her friend ate it in her usual fashion, whole. The cookie was gone in an instant but it brought energy back to the kwami.
"Tikki I really hate to do this to you after a transformation, but I really need to talk to Chat about being gone for this weekend. Was that cookie enough? We shouldn't be fighting again, I just need enough time to talk to him."
"No problem Marinette! But what about your head and foot? Are you okay?"
"No need to worry. Honestly my foot doesn't hurt much and my head is throbbing but hopefully it isn't a concussion. I'm not seeing double so that is a good sign. I really need to go, the Eiffel Tower is a bit away. Ready Tikki?"
With the nod of Tikki, Marinette transformed once again. The trip to the Eiffel Tower didn't take as long as she thought it would, but Chat was already there. She was surprised and greeted him with a question.
"You're here already?"
Chat just looked at her worriedly.
"I didn't use my power so I'm still good to go on energy. What happened? Are you okay? What were you thinking?"
Ladybug sat down next to Chat and tried to ignore the way his voice was getting slightly more historical the more he pestered her. The worry was endearing in a way, but her head hurt too much for her to appreciate it.
"I'm fine really. Just a horrible throbbing headache and a sore foot. I might have a bruise, that's it."
"So you're hurt! What were you thinking? We don't do small crimes, our job is akumas!"
"I was thinking someone was going to get hurt!"
"You were right! You did!"
"That doesn't matter! That's my job! Protect civilians and if I get hurt doing it, so be it!"
"How are you going to help them if you get hurt and are incapacitated?"
Ladybug pressed her fingers into the bridge of her nose, trying to relieve the pain and to calm down. She knew Chat had a point, they had never dealt with crimes and havoc that wasn't related to an akuma. Why she decided to do it today, she didn't know.
"Look I don't know why I did it, I just did. We got out fine so everything turned out okay. This isn't what I wanted to talk to you about though."
"So you want me to ignore your recklessness and the fact that you're hurt?"
"Yes."
Chat was surprised at the blunt and snappy tone of Ladybug's voice.
"Look…. Chat I'm sorry for being snappy. My head just hurts so much I can't really think. It's getting really late and I need to tell you that I'll be gone tomorrow and the two days following after."
"Gone?"
"On a trip. For three days. I just wanted to tell you so you were prepared."
"We might have a problem…"
Ladybug looked at Chat who was sitting next to her.
"What would that be?"
"I'll also be… Uh… Out of town for the next couple of days…"
"Oh no I do not need this. Why of all days did I need to do something so stupid? Today was meant to be so simple. What are you leaving for? Can you get out of it?"
"I would rather not… it would be rather hard to explain why I wasn't there and it was really hard to be able to go."
"Shoot. I might be able to miss the field trip… I could pretend to fall off my ladder… That could explain my head and foot and give me a reason to stay. I really wanted to go… my friends are going to be there."
Chat listened slightly in shock but making sure he didn't let himself show that he heard the slip ups that Ladybug was making. By the sounds of it…. She was going on the same field trip as he was! He had to get her to go on the trip, maybe he could confirm that she was in his class!
"Are you sure Paris can't stand to be without us for three days? We didn't exist to them a while ago, surely they'll be okay for a couple days."
"I guess… maybe we could just go to the police and warn them that we will be gone? To have them be on guard? I don't know. I can't really think straight right now."
"That's… Actually a really good idea. I can go warn them after we talk. You're not really in the condition to and I'm sure someone is still there at this hour, especially after the robbery."
Ladybug just nodded and put her head in her hands from exhaustion.
"That would work."
"Are you… Actually okay?"
"Probably not. I don't know. I will be after some pain medicine. I have some at home, I'm a bit of a klutz so I'm always prepared. Why did I chose today of all days to do this? I have to wake up early, ride a bus, and go camping. Not exactly what I would call relaxing. Guess I'll have to hope the pain meds will be strong enough to make my head stop hurting."
"Will you be fine going home alone?"
"I'm not that loopy where I would let you take me home."
"Worth a try."
He was smiling but he didn't tell her it was really because she had actually revealed a lot to him. We was now almost certain she was going on the same trip as him and she was in her class.
Ladybug seemed oblivious and decided to leave to head home.
"Bye Chat. See you in a few."
"Au revoir my lady."
The spotted heroine went one way while the black clad hero went the other.
Chat Noir stopped at the police station as promised and warned the officers. They seemed grateful for the warning and promised to try their best at keeping the city safe. They agreed to put up an announcement on all news channels and websites if the two heroes were desperately needed. Chat left the station after sending a quick message to Ladybug's yo-yo and headed home. He landed in his room and groaned. He still had to pack. He de-transformed and got to work.
_MLB_
A buzz woke Marinette up from her slumber. And she was… on the floor? She was still transformed as Ladybug! She checked her yo-yo which was the source of the buzz and saw that Chat had worked out an agreement with the police and everything was set. She quickly de-transformed after reading the message.
"Tikki are you okay? I didn't mean to fall asleep. Did I strain you at all?"
"No not at all. I think you were only asleep for a couple minutes to be honest. How about we get you ready for bed?"
Marinette agreed and changed into her sleepwear, brushed her teeth, took some pain medicine, and crawled into bed.
"Good night Marinette. Hope you feel better in the morning. You have your trip early in the morning."
" I know. And thanks Tikki. Good night and sleep well."
Marinette was asleep within moments. Tikki stayed up a bit longer to make sure that everything was in order. By the time Tikki went to sleep, Marinette's stuff was ready by the door, pain medicine in one of the pockets, with her alarm set for five in the morning. Tomorrow would be a long day.
_MLB_
AN: I'll be honest, it has been way too long since I have updated. Life has been very demanding and I have multiple things going on such as studying for school, going on vacation, and going to band camp almost everyday. I just got a new laptop yesterday, so updates should rise exponentially, but I can't promise anything. Thanks to everyone that is still reading, I'll try not to let you down. Any comments would be appreciated, it helps motivate me.