Adrien had been rather looking forward to this field trip as it was one of the few his father had agreed he could go on, after an exhaustive background check on the staff and where they'd be staying, but for Gabriel that was progress. Despite the 5 hour long train ride followed by a short bus ride to where the class would be staying, Adrien was as excited as he'd been when they left. Where were they going you ask? To the snow capped peaks of the French alps.
After they had gotten settled at the lodge they'd be staying in, the class had been split into groups of four for the hike group one consisted of Chloe, Sabrina, Kim Alix followed by group two made up of Rose, Juleka, Mylene Ivan, group three was formed by Max, Nathaniel, Marc Lila, Finally trailing behind was group four Adrien, Marinette, Alya and Nino and of course school staff were leading the way along the trail.
Alya and Nino had gone ahead and Adrien, not wanting to leave her alone, stayed with Marinette, he'd noticed Alya and Nino left him with Marinette quite often which was a little awkward for him. It's not that he didn't like Marinette, he did but she was difficult to talk to and she seemed intimidated by him so he did his best to appear non-threatening, not that he looked that threatening to begin with.
They'd been walking for almost an hour and Adrien didn't quite know how to break through the awkward silence that seemed to have settled between the pair. "So… uh the snow is pretty huh" Not the best conversation starter, but Adrien couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Yeah you are." Marinette started before realising what she had said "I-I mean it is, the snow I mean, not you, not that you aren't pretty, but that's not the word i'd use." Marinette stammered as she attempted to back peddle what she had said before just giving up entirely. Adrien, being the trusting soul he was, seemed to believe she had meant the snow.
"Well uh thanks, I guess you look pretty to" Adrien was just returning the compliment of course he hadn't expected Marinette's reaction, in her attempt to hide her embarrassment Marinette lost her footing on the hill almost falling down the side, until Adrien caught her hand "That was a close one Marine- Whoa!" Adrien's foot slipped in the snow and the pair fell down the hill, Adrien had just enough time to shift their position so he'd take the majority of the impact, before they landed in a heap at the bottom.
Marinette was the first to sit up "Just my luck, are you okay Adrien?" Marinette looked down for a moment before getting off of him and helping him up, Adrien brushed the snow off of himself before looking up to the top of the hill.
"Too steep to climb.." At least as Adrien anyway Chat Noir could scale it in seconds didn't do him much good he couldn't transform with Marinette here. "I left my phone in my bag at the lodge, Marinette have you got yours?" For a moment Marinette looked optimistic, until she took out her now broken phone from her bag; it hadn't survived the fall.
"I think I landed on it." Marinette sighed before putting it away pausing for a moment. "So let's make sure I understand the situation. Nobody knows where we are, we don't have our phones and we have no idea how to get back to the lodge." "If only this had happened with Alya, Ladybug could get us back in no time,'' Marinette thought to herself before putting her backpack on. "Alright well the first thing we should do is make a fire before we freeze" Marinette stated calmly.
"You're awfully calm about this" Adrien was a little relieved she wasn't panicked, if he'd gotten stranded like this with Chloe she'd already be writing her will.
"I used to go camping with my parents a lot, it's a little colder then I'm used to but the principle is the same, They say if you're lost find somewhere safe and stay there, first thing we need to build a fire, find any dry wood you can and meet back here" Marinette stated before going off to look. Once Adrien was out of earshot Tikki emerged from her pocket.
"Are you sure you're okay Marinette?" The Kwami inquired in a concerned tone, looking over her for any signs of injury.
"Nothing hurt but my pride Tikki. I can't believe I got us lost out here just because I couldn't take a compliment from him." Marinette silently cursed herself as she got to work gathering wood for the fire.
"Don't take it too hard Marinette, you can't help how you feel. What's done is done, you just need to focus on staying safe."
—
On the other side of the forest in contrast to his counterpart Plagg was barely holding back his laughter. "You really gotta watch your step kid, not that I need to worry about falling, Silver lining you're stranded out here with pigtails how romantic." Plagg mocked as he emerged from Adriens pocket.
"Plagg this is serious, we could be in real trouble out here" Adrien did his best to ignore his Kwami's teasing but this really wasn't the best time for it.
"No you aren't you've got me three words and all your problems would be over" Plagg floated upside down past Adrien as Adrien knelt down to pick up some firewood.
"And reveal my identity to Marinette? You know I can't do that." Adrien argued as he headed back to where Marinette had been causing Plagg to duck into his pocket.
—
Once the pair had gotten a fire going they dragged a couple fallen logs around the fire, so they had a place to sit. "Any idea how long it'll take for someone to come looking?" Adrien asked though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
"Well the hike was supposed to last 3 hours so they probably won't even notice we're gone until then" Guessed Marinette as she sat down. "Listen i'm sorry if I hadn't slipped we wouldn't be in this mess, you got dragged along because you tried to help me."
"No need to apologise for that, it's not like you did it on purpose and even if we're stuck like this for the time being, I don't regret trying to help you. At least you aren't alone out here." Adrien attempted to reassure her in a genuine tone, he said it like it was no big deal, like his selflessness was something anyone would do. "I kinda wish we had something to eat though."
"Well never fear," Marinette opened her bag before taking out a few sandwiches "Marinette Dupain-Cheng is here" Marinette finished before handing Adrien a chicken Salad sandwich.
"Are you sure you don't need it?" Marinette nodded before taking out a sandwich for herself, The pair began eating in a comfortable silence Adrien sneaking Plagg food when Marinette wasn't paying attention, what he didn't notice was she was doing the same with Tikki.
"As usual Marinette, your food is first class, the cooks back home could learn a thing or two from you" Marinette took the bag the sandwich had been in from Adriens hand and put it back in her bag.
""Thanks Adrien, I appreciate it. We should try and get this trash out of the open, it could attract a bear." Marinette sat back down warming up her hands, unbeknownst to the pair it was a little too late to avoid attracting unwanted attention.
"Wait, there are bears around here?" Adrien questioned looking around for a moment, in case anything decided to sneak up on them
"Yeah and not just them either, Bears, Wolves, Lynx, even Wild Boar tons of dangerous animals around here but we shouldn't need to worry they're not normally aggressive." Marinette telling him not to worry didn't seem to do much to comfort him unfortunately his fears were confirmed when the pair heard a branch snap not far from their fire.
Not too far from the fire stood a brown bear, it was on all fours and it had definitely noticed the pair but it didn't approach yet. Adrien and Marinette froze in place, racking their brains to figure out what to do.
"Don't try to run unless you have no choice, it'll only chase you" Marinette warned in a hushed tone Adrien nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off the creature for a second. "Now no sudden loud noises, we need to move slowly towards that tree, he's too big to follow us if we can climb up there, the branches wouldn't hold him." Marinette whispered as the bear slowly stepped to the side, immediately catching the bear's attention and it roared before pounding the ground with its front paws to try and scare them.
Before the pair managed to reach the tree the bear charged them causing them to separate running in different directions, the bear however Followed Marinette after her bag, Tikki zipped out of Marinette's pocket. "Marinette, you can use Ladybug to get away, you know you can't outrun it!" The Kwami panicked only for Marinette to shake her head.
"I have to try, I need to keep my identity secret." Marinette insisted to Tikki's dismay her commitment was admirable but this wasn't the time.
"Marinette, your life is more important than your secret Identity!" Tikki begged as the bear cornered the girl Marinette relented, realising she only had one way out of this.
"Tikki-" Marinette Began only to be interrupted
"Plagg Claws Out!" There was a flash of green light and suddenly she found Chat Noir stood between her and the bear. Chat Noir quickly hit the bear in the nose with his staff causing it to back away for the moment before it had a chance to approach again Chat Noir lept into action hitting it in the leg with his staff as hard as he could the bear flinched noticeably, letting out a low pitched whimper before running away from the pair.
Chat Noir put his staff away and immediately turned to Marinette "Are you okay Marinette!?" He asked frantically as he looked over her for any signs of injury Tikki had gone back to hiding in Marinette's pocket.
"Y-Yeah I'm fine thanks to you Adri- I mean Chat Noir" She still seemed somewhat stunned by the revelation not that he could really blame her.
"Guess the cats out of the bag" That was a bad joke even for him but it was an attempt to break the tension. "I know this means I could've gotten us back on the trail at any time. I wanted to keep my identity a secret but still, when I saw you cornered by that thing I had to help." Marinette simply nodded, taking a moment to collect herself properly.
"That's okay I'd do the same thing… if I was a superhero that is! Which I'm not, I mean I was Multimouse but that was only once" Adrien simply laughed at her defensive response, though that did remind him he'd have to tell Ladybug about this, but she'd forgive him right? It was life or death.
.
"Relax I'm sure if you had superpowers you'd stop me from becoming lunch meat even if it compromised your identity" Chat Noir assured her as they went over to the fire they had built and extinguished it with snow before Chat Picked up Marinette Bridal style. "Come on we should be able to catch up with the others pretty easily" Chat Noir took out his staff before vaulting back up the hill with Marinette transforming back to Adrien just as the pair caught up with Alya and Nino they'd only been gone about an hour so they could rejoin like nothing had ever happened.
They had a lot to talk about back at the Cabin sure, but for now they were safe.
Kind of a random one-shot but this idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while
