Adrien and Marinette sit side by side as André Bourgeois lectures the class on their assignment: being his staff for a day.
"Oh, joy," he murmurs to the dark-haired girl, who gives him a slight grin.
"Hey, can you maybe not get under the skin of whoever has trash duty?" she asked, looking up at him with big eyes. "I really don't want to have to clean up that mess."
He gives her a pointed look, crossing his arms. "If you'd just let me use them for like ten minutes-"
"No, Adrien."
"You're being unreasonable. C'mon, it's me-"
"And I love you, but you're really unstable and should probably not rule the wor-"
She's cut off by the Mayor clearing his throat in front of them. "Alright, if you two won't listen, then I suppose I'll just put you both on-"
The door slams open suddenly, and Adrien wonders if anyone is going to be able to finish a sentence today. Then he turns, and his jaw drops.
Jagged Stone, standing in all his rockstar glory, with his crocodile lounging behind him.
"What's up, Children of Bitches?" the man grins, flashing the rock sign.
"I'm going to use him," Adrien whispers.
"Oh my god, I am both for and against that both at once because I don't want you to but at the same time I have to see this."
"We'll take the luxury suite," the violet-haired woman behind him says calmly, not paying attention as the door opens, a guy with pink hair stepping in.
"Do all Americans have hair like that?" Marinette asks.
"Says the girl whose hair is blue in most lights."
"The boy whose eyes turn into mirror balls... wait. I just realized. I'm really mad at you."
"What? I thought we weren't going to talk about the fighting," he looks into her eyes. He was sure they'd settled on keeping the lives separate apart from a few quips...
"Not that," she waves him off.
"Then... what?"
"You got mad at me for 'cheating,' but it was with you!" she hisses, eyes flashing.
Oh. Right... "I... can explain?"
"Alright," André gives them each a severe look. "You two got lucky. We now severely lack gophers. That's you two."
"Um, about that..." Adrien fakes a cough. "Yeah, I'm way too sick to run all over the city like that, so..."
Marinette isn't sure what a gopher is, but clearly, it can't be good, so she follows his lead. "Um, yes, me too, really sick, yeah."
"Then I guess you two can sort trash..."
They glance at each other. "Gopher it is then!"
Something flashes. A camera, held by the man with the pink hair. "You!" Jagged Stone snaps, as the violet-haired woman pulls the camera away. "How many times do I have to tell you? No pictures!"
"C'mon man! I'm like, you're hugest fan in the history of ever!"
"No means no, stalker!" Jagged glares. "Security!"
"Oh, that reminds me of another reason I'm mad at you!" Marinette tells Adrien cheerfully... but Adrien is watching as tge stalker is hauled out of the building, grinning. "Oh. God, how did I mis that look? Are you actually going after that creepy guy?"
"I wouldn't have to if someone would just give me the earrings..."
"I am so not covering for you," she sighed. "And when Mr. Noir gets back, we're definitely going to stop you."
He gave her a long look. "You won't tell him who I am though. Right?"
"Not unless he respects our agreement."
"Then I would expect no less, my Lady."
...
Aforementioned Mr. Noir is checking into a motel in Tibet. He gives the woman across the counter a careful once-over. "A single room, please."
She stares at him. "You're Gabriel Agreste."
He pulles out a neat stack of RMB, sliding it across the counter. "For your discretion."
"No refunds," she tells him, carefully. "You do know the type this is?"
"Should I check in at the one two streets over?" he snaps. "I need a room for the night, I don't care where it is."
She passes him the keys without another word. "Room 46. Second floor."
He gives a smirk. "Thought so." He grabs his bags, bringing them up to the room. It's tiny. Cramped. Not the kind of place people would expect Gabriel Agreste to stay.
Purrfect.
He dumps his bags, pulling out his twin knives. "Pearl, Estella, I did miss you two."
"Right, those. Because a staff wasn't good enough for our Gabe, was it?" Plagg rolls his eyes.
"It's not about that. These just make better attacks," Gabriel sighs. They've been over this many times before.
He slides the knives ino his jacket, and heads out. "Is she close?" he asks Plagg.
The demon shrugs. "I can't tell. But I-" he cuts off, gasping suddenly. "Yes! Yes, she's hear, and she's screaming."
...
A gopher, as it turns out, is something very annoying to be.
Marinette thought she'd just be ticked that Adrien was making akumas at all, but at this point, she's more pissed that he left her alone on gopher duty. She's been looking for a pair of stupid glasses shaped like tge Eiffel Tower for hours now, and she's pretty sure that they don't actually exist.
And if she doesn't find some nonexistent glasses, she and Adrien will both fail the day, and it's worth a test grade!
And... there's Papillon, flying down behind her in the alley. "How's it going?"
"I can't believe you... is there an akuma running around right now?"
"Yup, Pixilator, he's sending people to an alternate dimension with a camera on his face!"
"Then control it!"
"Chill, he isn't lethal and you're invulnerable. I came to help with Gopher duty," he explains.
Marinette sighs, and presses a quick kiss to his lips. "Okay, well, I'm going to go fight your monster. If you can find a pair of glasses shaped like a red white and blue Eiffel Tower- glasses that do not actually exist- that would rock."
He tilts his head. "Well are you a designer or aren't you? Pull up a sketch, I'll have them made."
She blinks, and slowly smiles. "Right! Yeah! Thank you!" She beams, and grabs gus shoulders, kissing him long and hard, befire running off to transform and fight him.
She wonders when her life fell apart... oh, that's right. When she fell in love with Adrien Agreste.