A/N: To make up for the last chapter, this chapter is going to be a bit longer! Enjoy!
Chapter Four: Excuse
"Tikki, please, I don't have anything for you to eat here…" Marinette pleaded as the exhausted kwami collapsed into her hands. It was thanks to that very same kwami that Marinette had been able to quickly recover from the injury, but now she was stuck at the hospital with a tired kwami and nothing for her to eat, and it was way past her curfew.
"I can't…" she replied weakly, forcing herself to keep her eyes open. "You used the Lucky Charm. It took all I had to keep you from transforming back right in front of Chat Noir."
Marinette drew in deep breaths to calm herself. What could she do now so late at night? She had never been out on the streets later than seven o'clock in her civilian form, and if she got into any kind of trouble, then there's no way she could transform to get herself out of it. "Okay, no choice then. I'm going to have to get us back home as quickly as possible then, um…"
"See if the buses are still running," Tikki offered helpfully.
The buses stopped running at eleven. Marinette quickly glanced over at the clock and gasped in horror when she saw that it read 10:45 p.m.
"We've gotta leave, now! Tikki, hide!"
Without so much as a word to any of the hospital staff, she quickly hurried down the stairs, through the lobby, and bolted out the door, running for all she was worth to get to the nearest bus stop. Thankfully, there was one about a block away from the hospital, and she could see the bus coming from the other end of the highway.
She rested her hands on her knees, panting to catch her breath. For once, luck happened to be on her side.
"Marinette?"
"Oh, Papa… hey…" She waved sheepishly, knowing full well what kind of trouble she was in. "Dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I am so dead-"
He frowned. "I thought you were upstairs sleeping."
"And I was, Papa, but…"
"But what? You decided to sneak out? For what?"
If there was one thing she hated more than lying to Alya and Adrien (and even Chat Noir to some extent), it was lying to her parents. It wasn't as though she could just tell them, after all. 'Well Papa, if you really want to know, I was out saving the world!'
Yeah right.
"I left my textbook at Alya's house, and I needed it for tomorrow's test. So I went to get it."
Not totally implausible, right? She had gotten surprisingly good at the excuses, despite normally being a downright terrible liar.
Tom sighed audibly. "Marinette, you could've just asked us. We would've taken you over there. Or, you could've just asked Alya to bring it to school with her tomorrow."
She lowered her head in shame. "I know, Papa, and I'm sorry, I just… I panicked, I didn't think, and I know, I'm in a ton of trouble."
"You were out past curfew," he said, his voice low, "you could've gotten into trouble."
"But I didn't. I'm okay."
"Yes, you are, but I don't want this happening again Marinette, do you understand me? You could've gotten hurt. What were you thinking, leaving the house so late?! There are bad people in this world that could hurt you-"
"Nothing happened, I'm fine. I handled myself," she interrupted, gesturing to herself. Thankfully she hadn't sustained any visual injuries from earlier.
"Tonight, but what about the next time? I know you're getting older Marinette, and you're going to want to go out and do things. I'll have to accept that, I understand. But the city isn't always safe; you have to be more careful. So…"
"So…" Marinette trailed, tensing as she awaited her punishment.
"Go to bed for now," he said dismissively. "I'll talk to your mom and decide what we're going to do later. But tomorrow, you are to go to school and come straight home, you are not allowed to stop anywhere else. Understand?"
"But-"
"Bed, now."
She sighed dejectedly, nodding slowly as she made her way up the stairs. Once she was in her room, she collapsed onto her bed, sighing heavily into her pillow. "Tikki, what am I going to do if there's an akuma attack? If I sneak out again and my parents find out, I'm dead. Not to mention, I also have to go find that other akuma before it multiplies! There's no way I can miss school for it, I'll get suspended, and then my parents will ground me! Again!"
"Marinette, calm down! You'll have to. There's no avoiding it. Chat Noir can't do it without you, so you'll just have to come up with an excuse!"
Briefly she thought of Chat and their… disagreement, but shook her head to rid herself of the memory. She didn't have time to feel sorry for herself, not right now. "Yeah, okay… excuses. Yeah, I'm good at that, so… tomorrow, after school, I needed to… stay after to… get help from a teacher?"
"That's good!" Tikki exclaimed. "We'll just have to make sure we find it quickly!"
"Yeah, but finding a butterfly in Paris is like looking for a needle in a haystack…"
Tikki shook her head. "Not if it multiplied. If it did, then those bug monsters will be back tomorrow. If not, then the akuma most likely returned to Hawk Moth."
"And if it returned to Hawk Moth, then all he has to do is wait for that same guy to be upset or angry again…"
"It's a waiting game for now, Marinette. Just get some rest."
Marinette smiled warmly at her. "You too, Tikki. Oh, I almost forgot! I have a stash of cookies in my drawer, if you want some."
The kwami's eyes lit up as she nodded excitedly. "Yes, thank you!"
"Bug monsters again? Gross. Oh- but no offense, bugaboo. You just happen to be the most beautiful bug I've ever laid eyes on."
Ladybug rolled her eyes. "They're frozen anyway, Chat. We just have to track down that guy and find whatever the akuma is hiding in. Speaking of which, why'd you come along? I'm just capturing the akuma."
She had been expecting some sort of snarky or flirty response, as was the 'Chat Noir norm', but he seemed oddly serious. "Because, we're a team. I don't let you do anything by yourself, and I know you'd do the same for me."
"Of course, but-"
He placed his hands on her shoulders, effectively silencing her. "Ladybug, I know you can handle it. I'm aware of that. But I want to help you. Let me, please?"
There were so many different things she'd wanted to say to him in that moment.
'I'm surprised you want to help me at all.'
'You shouldn't feel like you have to help me.'
'I'm sorry.'
But she merely smiled, nodded, and allowed him at her side again.
The only thing that seemed to feel right nowadays was Chat Noir by her side.
When they finally managed to track the akuma victim down, he was rather understanding about the situation. And oddly helpful, as he revealed that the akuma was probably now hiding in his glasses. Surprisingly, his guess had been correct.
"I don't want to become that person again."
"Sorry about your glasses," Chat said apologetically, gesturing to the shattered glasses on the floor, destroyed by none other than him.
The man smiled and waved a dismissive hand. "It's okay, I can always get a new pair. Thank you, to both of you."
Chat grinned smugly, folding his arms over his chest. "No problem. It's kinda what we do."
"We'd better get going. Thank you for your help sir."
The man nodded. "No, thank you, really."
"For once, we got through that without having to use Cataclysm or Lucky Charm," Chat said pointedly as he extended his staff. "Care for a ride?"
Ladybug looked back and forth between his smirk and his extended hand. There was a part of her- a large part, which desperately wanted to accept his offer. But she couldn't, and she knew that all too well. To take advantage of his kindness when she had been nothing but cruel to him was hardly fair.
"No thanks, I've got my own transportation." She held up her yoyo, mirroring his smirk. "See you around, Chat Noir?"
"Definitely, my Lady."
At around ten o'clock the next morning, there's a furious pounding on his front door. He was about to get up to answer it, but instead, another knock sounded on his bedroom door.
"Adrien, it's me. Can I come in?"
"Oh, yeah, sure."
Nathalie, dressed formally as always, stood at attention in his doorway. "There's um… someone who claims to be your friend at the door. Her name is Alya. Should I let her in?"
"Alya? What would she be doing here?"
"Uh, sure, I guess."
"…She seems angry," she noted, "are you certain?"
Adrien swallowed nervously. "…Yes. It's uh… probably important."
An angry Alya was most definitely not a pretty sight. He's seen her when she goes on her rants, he's even heard her curse out Chloe a few times, and that girl has quite a colorful vocabulary. He could only hope that she came over for a friendly chat, but judging by Nathalie's words, he was probably in for an earful.
"Adrien Agreste," Alya hissed dangerously as she stepped into his room, "you'd better tell me what the hell you did to Marinette."
