Chapter Text
Adrien sighed in relief. Ducking back into his room, he flexed his limbs in preparation for his expert plan: sneak out and join the trip! His father wasn't in Paris; he couldn't monitor or control everything from Cairo!
Channeling confidence in his bloodstream, Adrien called for Plagg. "Hey, Plagg! Come on, the guys are waiting for me!"
"Say it louder for the neighbors, why don't you!" came the snarky grumble from beneath his pillow. Plagg phased through it, face scrunched in distaste. "Seriously, kid, what's wrong with just staying home and doing nothing? I got to recharge my meta relaxation quota and you're getting in the way!"
Adrien rolled his eyes but his smile betrayed the warmth in his chest. "Yeah, yeah, let's go already! Plagg, claws out!"
"No, wait, I'm still digesting!"
Chat Noir had one goal, and that was ignoring the fact that he keeps using his miraculous for personal gain catch up with his classmates! Leaping out of the window, the boy beamed back at the sun and propelled himself over the mansard roofs of Paris.
Cars zipped by, cyclers circled branching roads, and some crazy biker juggling a red scooter and three stacks of Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie boxes. The usual, no trouble to be seen—wait, Tom & Sabine? Yum!
"Who knows, maybe that's Marinette?" Chat Noir altered his course to intercept the speeding moped before the biker caused an accident. Before he could intercept a car with his baton, the biker took a sharp right and stopped, eliciting a sigh of relief from the superhero. "Hm, she usually goes slower than this... maybe it's not her?"
But the biker removed their helmet and Marinette shook her head to free her frizzy hair from its confines. Adrien's heart stuttered, but Chat Noir smoothed his heart eyes with a playful grin as he landed before the girl with the grace of a lioness. Marinette jumped, crying out in shock before she squinted at the sight in front of her. "Chat... Noir? Is something wrong?"
"Not at all, Marinette!" he chirped. "I, uh, was just passing by. You look quite dashing, by the way. What is the pretty maiden up to?"
Marinette smoothed her bird's nest with a heavy frown. "Ch-Chat, please don't... Um, I would prefer if you tone the act down a bit." She bit her lip in thought, adjusting the boxes in her other arm. "Not that I think you're acting or anything! It's just... after last time, I..."
Dread washed over Chat Noir's chest. Oh my god, I'm an idiot. "A-ah, right. I'm really sorry, Marinette, I didn't mean to—"
"Hey, no, it's okay!" Marinette gestured frantically with her unoccupied arm. "Uh, let me just drop these off and we can talk, okay?"
"Sure thing. Do you need help?"
"No, I have it covered. Easy as..." Marinette tripped over a bump in the masonry, almost dropping two of the boxes with a startled yelp. "...pie. Yeah, uh, offer still up?"
But Chat Noir had seen it coming, so he intercepted the falling boxes with a smile of endearment. "Nothing wrong with two more hands on deck, hm?"
Though mortification crept up her spine, Marinette sighed in defeat. "I guess. Thanks."
"Thank me by joining me for a stroll," he winked, but the girl was already ringing doorbells and greeting adults with practiced ease. Once the doors closed and one box remained, Marinette tugged Chat Noir's hand and pulled him down the block to deliver the final order, leaving her moped behind. "Uh, what about the scooter?"
"Later," she replied, handing the last box with a smile and collecting more tips to add to her jar. "Okay, that's the last one until Maman calls. Now, what were we saying?"
Chat Noir gestured towards the lonely scooter in the distance. "The scooter?"
Marinette huffed in exasperation. "I said I'll get it later, Chat, now answer the question."
The boy hummed in thought. "Do you have any plans for the day?" He was starting to prefer the idea of spending a free day with Marinette than joining the trip late. Of course, that depended on her answer; if she was attending the trip, he'd have to detransform and come back as Adrien Ag—
"No, not really," she cut off his train of thought with a knowing glint to her eyes. "Do you?"
"N-n-no!" That look started to freak him out, why is she looking at me like that? "Er, not for a few hours anyway. Say, would you make a stray cat elated and join him for a delightful pussyfooting through the streets of Paris?"
"For a what?" The confusion twisting Marinette's features downright tugged at Adrien's heart. God, she's so cute. She's always so cute.
"A pussyfooting. It means a stealthy way of walking, you know, like a cat." Marinette's frown became a deadpan that earned her a giggle for her efforts. "Come on, live a little! Add obscure words to your daily vocabulary."
"You know what, my parents actually just left for a very important meeting with very important people, so—"
"Come on, Marinette! Let's find M. Ramier and feed the pigeons!"
"Aren't you allergic—"
"Semantics! Come on, I spotted him by the Trocadero earlier, if we go now we can catch him—"
"Is that ring turning you into a legit cat or something?"
"Me-ouch! I'll have you know that I have always been a feline at heart!"
"Right, and my parents almost named me Choux."
"Ha! That was hilarious, how did you think it up? ...That was a joke, right?"
"Are we gonna find the strange pigeon man or not? Why would any sane person come close to something they're allergic to?"
"Why not? I too have a bucket list, you know. I wanna tick off 'live laugh love dangerously' today."
Ignoring the excited cat's rambling, Marinette realized that the whole block was staring at them and whispering to one another. Someone even had their phone out! "Shut up for one second, Chat! Let's go somewhere else if you don't want all of Paris knowing what you do in your spare time!"
And to quell Chat Noir's long-standing worry, Marinette retrieved her sad scooter, giving it a loving pat at the hero's behest.