Fifty-Three: Return to Reality

Author's Note: After spending the long holiday break with Marinette and her family, Chat reluctantly returns to the mansion to resume his regularly scheduled life.


I cherished every day that Santa had gifted me; spending the part of holiday break at the Bakery left me with memories I knew I would cherish for years. It had been a long time since I'd had a Merry Christmas, and it was with great reluctance I returned to the mansion on New Year's Day.

Nathalie had called just after breakfast, and the sedan pulled up a hair before ten. Why it was necessary for me to resume my solitary existence when there was still a good week before school restarted was a mystery to me, but one I shrugged off knowing that I'd likely be able to escape the confines of my cell fairly quickly. Trudging through the front door of the mansion, I dryly noted the Christmas tree was already history, along with what little decorating Nathalie and I had done before Father's impromptu overseas trip. Normally, I'd be sad to see it discarded so quickly, but with my warm memories of family still fresh from my visit to the Dupain-Cheng's, my spirits remained ebullient.

As I entered my bedroom, I realized Nathalie had been rattling off a schedule – an honest to goodness schedule – for the rest of the day and the remainder of the week. I'd only trained a single feline ear in her direction (figuratively speaking, of course) but otherwise had tuned her out, but something she'd said caught my attention. "Did you say Los Angeles?"

Nathalie nodded. "Yes. Your father has booked a photo shoot for the summer swim catalog, and his photographer of choice isn't able to get to Nice this year. He will be in-" she flipped something on her tablet, then looked back at me, "—Santa Monica and Newport Beach this week, so we're going to him."

I blinked. "I'm leaving Paris?"

"Just for a few days," she said, then she lowered her tablet. "I… thought it was best to squeeze it in now, before school restarted," she added quietly. "So you won't miss anything."

I blinked again. There were times when I thought Nathalie actually cared about me. "Thanks, Nathalie," I said with a half-smile. As she turned to go, I quickly stopped her. "Nathalie… would it be possible-"

"I presumed you'd want to bring some friends with you and have planned accordingly. I just need their names for the tickets," she said as she looked over her shoulder, a genuine smile on her face. "Merry Christmas, Adrien," she said softly.

Despite everything, I hugged her. "This means a lot to me. Thank you."

She nodded and left; I waited a few moments to ensure the coast was clear before calling Marinette. When her face appeared on my screen, I smiled a Chat smile at her.

"Don't you look like the Chat that's eaten the canary," my girlfriend said. Arching an eyebrow at me, Marinette asked: "What trouble are you planning on getting us into now, Kitty?"

"Remember when you said you wished you could be on set when I did a swimsuit photo shoot…?"


Late that evening, I dropped out of the sky and into a crouch atop one of our rooftop meeting locations. Realizing the two of us couldn't exactly talk freely, Marinette had suggested we meet up and discuss my wild plan to take a significant portion of Team Miraculous to the United States for a few days. On paper it sounded foolishly dangerous, but I had an ace in the hole that I furrvently hoped would convince my skeptical partner it was doable. Ladybug was but a moment behind me, dropping down on her yo-yo. She quickly settled in, cross-legged and nestled into my shoulder.

"This is the craziest idea yet, Chat," she said not unkindly. "And we can't leave Paris unprotected."

"We won't be gone more than a few days, Milady," I replied as I wrapped my tail around her waist and nudged her closer. I wasn't above using my full set of feline skills to get what I wanted. "You've picked some fantastic members for our bench, LB. They can cover for us until we get back."

"Chat," Ladybug sighed, "this isn't some sort of part-time gig that we just choose to do when we feel like it." She scratched behind an ear, allowing me the excuse to start purring. "I admit to being a bit lax at allowing you to use your Miraculous for more personal—"

"Purrrrrsonal," I interjected as I softly rubbed my head against her cheek.

"—reasons," she continued, rolling her eyes, "given what I now know about your home life. But this is something different. We're talking about willingly being thousands of miles away with no way to get back if Hawkmoth decides to rear his ugly head."

I purred a bit more.

Ladybug pulled back. "You've already thought about this, haven't you?"

I nodded, returning to my cat-ate-the-canary grin. "I've had a good mentor," I added.

Arching a masked eyebrow, Ladybug sighed. "Lay it on me."

My grin widened. "Pegasus."

Ladybug stared at me. "That's… that's actually rather brilliant, Chat."

"Thank you, Milady." I purred louder. "My thinking is that we loan Max his Miraculous while we are in Los Angeles; if something happens here, he can open a portal and we're back in Paris before Hawkmoth knows we were missing."

She nodded slowly. "I like it, but I need to think about it a bit. When does the plane leave?"

"Tomorrow morning," I said. "And I don't have a choice – I have to be on it."

Ladybug nodded again. "Which means I'd probably have to use some version of this idea if I stayed here in Paris but needed to yank you back." She ran a hand along my mask edge. "You thought of that, too, didn't you?"

"Yes," I said, unable to prevent my masked eyes from closing at her touch. I may have even leaned into her ministrations… damn those feline tendencies. "I'd understand if you didn't want to come, Milady. But at least you have the option now if you wish."

Ladybug smiled in such a way that my I felt my face warm up. "How small are those swimsuits, exactly?" she asked sweetly.

My masked eyes snapped open as my face started to radiate like the sun. "Small enough," I swallowed.

Slowly, she leaned in and kissed me. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."


House of Gabriel rented a beach house for the few days that we were going to be in Santa Monica; with the time difference between Paris and Los Angeles, we wound up arriving with the balance of the day left to explore the city – under the watchful eyes of my bodyguard. Though he spoke rarely, he hardly ever smiled – and yet, acting as the defacto babysitter for the four exuberant teenagers appeared to have gentled his mood enormously.

It might have also been the mouse ears that Alya talked him into wearing while we were at Disneyland.

The jet lag started to catch up with us when we returned to the beach house late that evening. Sitting around the firepit facing the wide, white sand beach, Marinette and I huddled on one side against the chill of the evening while Nino and Alya mirrored us on the other. S'mores had been requested, and my bodyguard was in the kitchen pulling together the materials for us.

"I hope it's not this chilly in the morning," I mewled as I huddled closer to Marinette.

My nascent night vision caught the wicked gleam in her eye. "I'm sure they'll give you a robe between takes," she said.

"They'll have to Photoshop out the goosebumps," I sighed.

"They do that?" Nino asked, his eyes wide.

"You have no idea," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Even I don't even recognize who it is after they work on me digitally." I flopped my head, letting my hair swish a bit. "The hair tends to get the most effort. And that's after they gel the heck out it."

Mari looked at me. "If you had a choice, would you model?" she asked seriously.

I thought about that for a moment. "I've done it for so long now, I don't know a life outside of it," I replied honestly. "Maybe? It's given me a set of skills that have come in handy, that's for sure."

"And a face known the world over," Alya pointed out.

I blushed a bit. "Well, I suppose," I said, shifting my gaze to the ocean. "It does make it hard to walk down the street from time to time."

My bodyguard appeared with the makings for S'mores, but glanced meaningfully at the massive clock hanging against side of the house. Picking up on his cue, I smiled at my friends. "One round for me," I said, "and then I need to get my beauty rest."

"Are really you okay with all of us being on set tomorrow?" Nino asked.

I looked at my small core group of friends and smiled wider. "I'd want you all at my side no matter where I was," I said genuinely, before smiling. "No matter what I was wearing. Now, let's eat."