"Do you have any kings?" Adrien asked, looking up to Marinette.
"Go fish."
Adrien sighed, grabbing another card from the pile. He was losing by a mile, Marinette had nearly matched up half the deck already.
The two were sharing their lunch together, even though Alya and Nino had already left. They still had a while before school started back up, but Alya and Nino both forgot to do their homework, and they knew they couldn't hang out with their friends without getting distracted, so they left to finish their work. This left Adrien and Marinette at the table, playing another game of Go Fish.
So far, the score has been: Marinette 3, Adrien 1. And it was about to be another win for Marinette if Adrien didn't get it together.
"Any two's?" Marinette asked, checking through her hand.
"Nope! Go fish!" Adrien grinned.
They went on like this for a while, and eventually Marinette did in fact win.
"I don't get it, you're like the card master!" Adrien whined, gathering up his losing matches to put them back into the deck.
"It's Madam Card Master, to you," Marinette corrected with a giggle.
"Is there like, a cheat or something? How did you get so good at a kid's game?" Adrien asked, leaning back in his chair suspiciously.
"It's not cheating, it's skill." Marinette answered proudly.
"But it's Go Fish. There's like no skill involved!" Adrien laughed, pointing to the deck.
"There's enough skill involved for me to be better." Marinette smirked, holding the deck up, "Wanna go again?"
"No," Adrien shook his head, "Let's try a different game. Rummy?"
Marinette nodded, and the two played a round of Rummy.
Marinette won.
"I'm never playing anything with cards with you again," Adrien swore under his breath, giving Marinette a joke glare.
"There's plenty of games I'm not good at," Marinette laughed, "Like dominoes and poker."
"But I don't think we'll play much poker at lunch," Adrien reminded her, "But I bet I can make better card houses!"
"Let's see!" Marinette challenged, handing half the deck to Adrien, and the two got to work on their houses.
Finally, Adrien had something card-related that he was better at, making a monstrous card mansion, while Marinette could hardly hold up her tiny house.
"Adrien, that's amazing," Marinette breathed, staring at the giant house, before it eventually all tumbled down.
"They don't stay up long," Adrien laughed, "But being homeschooled with no friends really teaches you how to make a good card house."
Marinette gathered up the cards again, and checked her watch.
"Do you want to head back to school?" Marinette offered.
Adrien checked his watch as well, and nodded and slowly got up from his chair.
But right as he reached for his bag, they heard a loud crash from outside the mini-restaurant.
Everyone in the building rushed to the windows, and saw a girl no older than 20, clearly akumatized.
"I'm tired of being disrespected by little children!" She shouted, throwing magic balls at the children around her, which formed into handcuffs around all the kid's wrists.
"You will listen to me, The Sitter, and you will do exactly as I say!"
Marinette gulped, glancing around the building. There was a back exit, and see noticed a few people rush out to escape.
"Adrien!" She called out, "We need to get out!"
He nodded, and they rushed out of the building together.
"Follow the crowd," Adrien instructed Marinette, pointing to the large crown of people running away, "I'm going to stay and, um, c-call the police!"
"No, Adrien, you need to leave!" Marinette shook her head quickly.
"Just go!" He yelled, pushing her into the crowd for safety.
Marinette felt herself almost growl in frustration, and bolted into the nearest empty alley, and hid behind a dumpster can to transform. Immediately afterwards, she rushed back as Ladybug. She saw Adrien glancing around nervously behind the building, trying to shoo away the people who were still there, clearly he was trying to get them to safety first.
Selfless, Marinette thought, but stupid.
She laughed as she remembered thinking the same thing about her partner as she jumped down in front of him. The thought left as soon as it came, however, and she focused again.
Quickly, she grabbed Adrien's arms and lifted him back up, carrying him away from the scene and towards the crowds of people who were rushing away. She thanked everything that was holy that she finally had some more confidence around Adrien and could actually make physical contact without freaking out. But then again, this isn't exactly a romantic situation, this is for his safety.
"Get to safety!" She ordered, pointing to the crowd, "Leave helping the people to the superheros!"
And with that and a pat on the back, she zoomed back away, hearing the faint call of the people as they saw her fly by.
Thankfully, after she returned to the scene of the akuma, Cat Noir wasn't far behind, and the duo fought the akuma together.