Home is Where the Heart is

Meetings at Home

Marinette woke up cold and sore. Sleeping sitting on the floor was never all that comfortable, and she had yet to actually get used to not be sleeping in a bed.

Tikki was sleeping in the backpack, where the Miraculous box and the grimoires were. There wasn't much else in there, besides a wallet with all her money, and a comb Master Fu gave her.

Marinette rose, stretching her limbs and listened with satisfaction as she heard her bones pop and crack.

Yep, sleeping on the floor was never going to be comfortable.

Marinette started going through a list of things they had yet to do to track down Alfred. She was now on day four, and with no clue where he might be, Marinette felt lost. Tracking down people had never been her expertise. It took her four years to track down Hawkmoth!

It was stressing her out. For some reason, it felt like a ticking time bomb was hovering over her head, and that if she didn't find Alfred soon, it would go off.

She let out a tired sigh, rummaging through her backpack, being careful of Tikki, and took put the comb Fu had given her.

Things really didn't turn out the way she had expected. Flashes of the final battle with Hawkmoth popped up to the front of her mind, and Marinette dropped the comb as she had been brushing her hair, waking Tikki up with the sound.

"Marinette?" Tikki mumbled, her words slurred from sleep.

"Just go back to sleep Tikki, I'll wake you up when we go. I want to go to the library again and see if I can find anything in their archives."

It was hard doing this sort of thing when she had no idea where she should be looking, but she wouldn't give up! Master Fu had trusted her with this, and she wouldn't fail him.

"I was thinking..." Tikki said, flying up to Marinette. "Maybe we should take a break from looking for Alfred."

Marinette stared at Tikki in disbelief for a few seconds.

Tikki wanted her to take a break from Miraculous matters?

"But Master Fu said-"

"I know what Master Fu said," Tikki cut Marinette off. "But I don't think he would mind if you took some time to take care of yourself. I mean look at you!" Tikki gestured at Marinette, probably trying to convey all of her, but with her tiny paws, only being able gesture at her head. "You can't even sleep properly because we have no place to stay!"

Marinette looked down to the floor, not wanting to look Tikki in the eyes.

She was aware of how bad things were for her at the moment, and if she was honest, she had no idea what she would do once she found Alfred, but taking a break just felt... wrong.

"Just for today Marinette, take a break. Let's go out and buy you a new sketchbook and some pencils, get some nice food, do something. This isn't good for you."

Marinette and Tikki stared at each other for a while, seeing who would cave first.

It was Marinette.

"Fine, but only for today. Tomorrow, we go straight back into looking for Alfred. I want to look for a place to stay as soon as we've found him."

Tikki whooped in victory, surprising Marinette before she smiled fondly at the kwami. Cupping Tikki in her hands, Marinette kissed her on the black spot on her head.

"Thank you, Tikki," Marinette smiled, picking up her backpack. "How about we go and find an art store somewhere?"

And with that, Tikki flew back inside the backpack, and Marinette crawled out of the window, heading back into the city.