Mr. Damocles announced that there would be a school-wide trip to Grotte de Lascaux for all students in Earth Science and Honors History classes. The trip would be overnight, almost anyway. It would be a long drive out to the caves, then all day to explore, and another long drive back to Paris. Adrien was determined to spend the day with Marinette.
As soon as the class trip was announced, he started subtly suggesting to Nino that it would be a great opportunity to be alone with Alya without the chance of getting caught by parents. He believed he was successful there.
Then he started working on Nathalie to clear his schedule for that weekend. The trip would be all-day Friday, and he wouldn't be fresh enough for a Saturday photo shoot. Unfortunately, that meant the next Saturday would be a double-header to make up the time. Marinette is right. Fall is too full of projects for the holidays.
By the day they picked partners, Adrien had become paranoid that Marinette might have taken his recent absences personally and not want to spend the trip with him, so he asked her while clinging to his lucky charm she had given him. As it turned out, he didn't need to be concerned. She answered immediately with a resounding, "Yes!" then a demur, "I'd love to be your trip buddy." He felt his face break into an idiotic grin, but he couldn't temper his excitement. He was going to spend an entire day with Marinette!
After he asked Marinette to be his trip buddy, she had tapped him in the shoulder and handed him a note. He had felt himself blush, but he couldn't help it. The note turned out to not be from Marinette though. He opened the note eagerly to be disappointed by finding Alix's handwriting instead. The message was simple: I told you so. He made a show of balling up the note and throwing it in his bag without looking back at Alix. Still, he heard her snicker in the back of the class.
This is the day! Marinette had dutifully crossed off every day on her calendar preparing for this day. Her first full-day school trip!
As soon as Alya had asked Nino to be her trip buddy, Adrien had turned around in his seat to ask Marinette. It had been almost two years in the making, but she had managed to get to know Adrien well enough to stop stuttering around him. However, this request had her flying with nervous energy, and she answered exuberantly with a loud, "Yes!" Then she tried to control her voice better, but she only managed to keep most of the stutter out of her voice, "Of c-course! I'd lo-love to be your partner for the school trip."
Marinette was determined to be herself with Adrien, so she stuck out her fist for a bump. She began to worry as Adrien stared at her outstretched fist for a few seconds before he pounded it. That is something I do all the time. Have I never done that with Adrien?
She thought through a couple times recently with Alya, and she knew she had with Nino. She fist-bumped Cat after every Akuma fight. For sure she pounded it with Alix every time they completed a project together... but no, she hadn't ever done that with Adrien. Oh well.
"Partners! This is going to be great. I'm really looking forward to this trip."
Well, he was acting like it was nothing now, so maybe she was overthinking it. She asked the question that worried her most, "Are you sure your dad will let you go?"
"Oh yes. I've been working on this for a long time. He's already agreed, and Nathalie has blocked my schedule."
"Excellent! We'll have to plan out what we are bringing, but I've definitely got the food handled. Can you get the flashlights?"
They had quickly reviewed the supply list and divided the remaining items and met up a couple times to shop for the remaining supplies. Several times this week Adrien had stopped by her locker to talk about the trip, and she was SO EXCITED!
Everything was turning out so well! She had made his favorite for lunch and dessert, plus extra snacks for any-time munchies. She had also packed a secret snack pack for Tikki and created a little cave in her bag so her Kwami would be comfortable the whole day.
She reviewed her list cursorily and asked Tikki if she had forgotten anything.
"Did you grab Kaalki? Just in case we need her to get back to Paris to fight an akuma."
Marinette nodded to the Kwami, "The horse miraculous is inside Ladybug's yo-yo, and I warned Cat that I won't be around the city today. Don't worry about Ladybug, Tikki... she's just as prepared as I am for today!" She winked at Tikki and smiled as her flying friend giggled.
Downstairs the door to the family living space opened and her mother's voice called up the stairs, "Marinette! It's time to go, you can't be late today! And your 'trip partner' is here to make sure you are on time."
Aww, that's so thoughtful. "I'm ready to go, Mom! I'm coming down now!"
She walked gracefully down the stairs, grateful that she had finally grown into her feet. Her clumsy falls were now limited to moments when she wasn't paying attention. She paused on the last flight to take a deep breath and prepare to see Adrien. Be yourself, no embarrassing stutters!
"Good morning, Adrien! It's a perfect day, don't you think?" She couldn't keep the excitement from her voice.
When he didn't answer right away, she started freaking out. She mentally reviewed her outfit trying to figure out what could be wrong. Since the school trip was for Earth Science, they were going to be wandering around a large cave system. So, Marinette had forgone her regular outfit for long pants in dark blue with a black sweater with ladybug spotted sleeves over a tee shirt. She didn't think anything was amiss.
She watched Adrien for any response, but he seemed stunned. "Uh, Earth to Adrien. Everything ok?"
For some inscrutable reason, he blushed furiously and stuttered through, "Uh r-right. It-it's a p-perfect day!" He nervously reached back and scratched the back of his head.
Marinette narrowed her eyes but didn't comment. She grabbed a fresh croissant and offered Adrien one, then called out goodbyes to her parents.
Adrien was still acting weird on the walk over to the school. He had almost walked into traffic while staring at her... twice.
Marinette's curiosity finally took over her desire to pretend everything was fine. She asked simply, "Are you ok today? I can't help noticing that you don't seem comfortable around me today. Did I do something?"
"Of c-course not. I'm just excited to spend the day with you." He blushed faintly again and shook his head a little as if to clear it.
Marinette was still uncertain, but she tried to let it go. They were at the school now, and she didn't want to be teased about this. This was exactly what she wanted: to spend the day with Adrien, and her classmates would not ruin it!
Adrien offered to put her bag under the bus, and Marinette handed it off to him and took off to find Alya. Her friend was sitting on the school steps, and she gratefully accepted the coffee Alya held out for her.
"I thought you might need something to help you wake up. I know you aren't a morning person."
"I'm wide awake today though. Real quick, tell me, is Adrien looking at me weirdly?"
"Weird how?"
"I don't know, exactly." She described meeting him that morning and asked, "Am I reading too much into this?"
"Don't psych yourself out, girl. He asked you to be trip buddies. I think he's looking forward to spending the day with you too."
They stood silently drinking their coffee and watching the boys load up the bus. When had Adrien gotten so strong? She thoroughly enjoyed watching when there was no chance he would catch her. Except, he looked up at just that moment and smiled mischievously at her ogling him.
Shoot! Busted! She blushed a little but managed to control her reaction so that he wouldn't know how much he affected her. She rolled her eyes as he winked at her and picked up another heavy bag. She hummed, "Mmmmm." That's new. I like it a lot.
Alya bumped her with an elbow and raised an eyebrow at her. So, it's not just in my head! She shrugged and made her way into the bus, grabbing the row right behind Alya.
She opened her 'bus bag' and set up the comfort package for Adrien with a neck pillow and blanket, and snacks to share. She pulled out her headphones but stared dismayed into the now empty bag. "Shoot! I forgot to put my tablet into this bag! It's under the bus now."
Adrien walked up then and sat down, "Don't worry about that! I brought a headphone splitter if you are interested. We can watch a movie on my tablet together."
"Oh wow! That was really thoughtful of you! What did you have in mind?"
To her surprise, Adrien blushed lightly again, but he looked pleased, so she just ignored the reaction. "I don't know if you remember this conversation, but a while ago we were talking about animes we both enjoy, and I downloaded several episodes of a similar anime. I haven't seen it yet, but the reviews were really good... or I have a lot of music and some movies..."
She laid a hand on his arm to stop him from rambling. Wait, Adrien is rambling at me... What is up with him today? He was looking at her hand on his arm curiously, so she felt emboldened to say in a mildly flirtatious voice, "Let's get comfortable first, then check out that anime!"
As they settled in, Marinette watched him from the corner of her eye, trying to be inconspicuous. He seemed a little flustered. Could SHE be flustering him? Unlikely, but it really seems like it…
With a flourish, she flung half the blanket over his legs before handing him the neck pillow. She said with her best hotel manager impression, "My partner will travel in complete comfort!"
He bumped her shoulder in response and replied, "I knew I picked the right partner!"
He pulled up the first episode and plugged in his headphones, but Marinette was stunned. She knew that he had purposefully picked her to be his trip buddy, but it was one thing to know in your head and another to hear it out loud.
She smiled triumphantly and settled back while he plugged in her headphones too. Adrien pressed play, and they spent the rest of the ride alternating between watching episodes and talking about the show. At one point, Marinette took a chance and wrapped her arm around Adrien's and dropped her head on his shoulder. He stiffened in surprise. For a single second Marinette was afraid she had made a mistake, but Adrien sighed happily and leaned his head against hers.
When they arrived at the park, the teacher called down the aisle for everyone to leave their travel gear but grab their tablets. Adrien gently squeezed her arm and took off with Nino to unload the bus.
Marinette leaned forward to ask Alya, "Did Nino say anything about Adrien?"
"Is he still acting strange? You two looked pretty cozy."
"Exactly! THAT is weird. We've been hanging out more lately, but he's never indicated that it was as more than friends! WHAT IS HAPPENING!?"
"Nothing you need to freak out about, girl. Come on! Just enjoy today and worry about what it means later. Live in the moment."
"Right, live in the moment." She repeated the words in her head, but she couldn't keep her mind off Adrien's unusual attitude for long.
She and Alya waited for the boys to finish unloading. Nino and Adrien brought over the girls' packs, and then all of them hurried to catch up to the group. They were just in time to hear the tail-end of their teacher's instructions, but it was probably a repeat of what she had said in class, so they weren't worried about missing it. Their teacher left them with a final warning, "It is dark inside the caves. Even with the flashlights, you'll need to be extra careful. Remember to take notes and finish the worksheet on your tablet before the end of the day. And most importantly, have fun!"
Adrien stopped to pull out two flashlights for them, and Marinette pulled out her tablet. They ended up in the back of the group, but that was quite alright with Marinette. She was looking forward to spending the day with Adrien without an audience.