Red Strings And Markers

e i g h t

"You done dying?" Marinette deadpanned.

"Not at all." Alya snickered before hanging up.

Marinette sighed, deflating on the chaise. "This trip is going to be the death of me." Marinette sighed to the giggling Tikki.

"Father, my class is going on a field trip to London, could I get your signature to go?" Adrien was facing his father who had papers surrounding him in his office.

Gabriel Agreste spared one glance at his son before looking down at his laptop. "London?" His fingertips tapped on the keyboard, anxiety clogging up Adrien's throat as his father prolonged the silence that was growing between them. "Perfect, I had a plan to take you there anyway. Have Nathalie sign." And with that Adrien turned on his heels and stalked out of his father's office.

Adrien should be happy that his father approved, but he was more than upset because he said he had plans for Adrien. That would mean photoshoots, interviews and all the modelling mess.

"You should be glad. You were grouped with your Marinette." Plagg spoke from inside Adrien's shirt.

Adrien patted his shirt over where Plagg was resting, shushing him. Adrien went into Nathalie's office and laid the paper neatly over a stack of papers. "A good question is, how are gonna tell Ladybug?"

Adrien put his palm to his forehead. "Ladybug!" How was he going to tell her?

"The trip to London is going to be approximately four hours long. We are to meet here at six in the morning, promptly. Anyone late, will be dismissed and sent home. We will depart from the school at 6:10. The train will be leaving at 6:49, so early arrival gives us extra time to get comfortable. From Paris, it will be an hour and a half to our first stop at Brussels. It will be an hour wait from our departure from Brussels and a one hour ride to London."

It was the Thursday before the field trip and Professor Bustier was running over the field trip information for the umpteenth time.

"As you all know, those of you who are co-ed groups, you will be sharing a room. I expect you to be well behaved young adults, or else." She eyed several groups in the class.

With Alya having switched seats right as Professor Bustier said the news, Adrien and Marinette have been sitting next to each other for the past two weeks. No matter how much Marinette got used to actually sitting next to Adrien, any time he tried to talk to her, she stammered. Any time Adrien tried to talk to her, the shyness got the best of him and he wasn't able to say anything.

As Chat Noir, Marinette has told him that she will be going to London and she won't be around. As Ladybug, she decided she wouldn't tell Chat anything. She was sure that Chat Noir was going to be able to handle an akuma attack if she wasn't around for three days.

As Chat Noir, he hasn't mustered up the courage to tell Ladybug that he was going out of the country either.

"I have such a big crush on you Ladybug, but instead, it's like I'm the bug and you're the garden." He said to himself one night as he watched Ladybug disappear into the night after a battle with an akuma.

Chat couldn't tell her that he had plans on going on a trip – his mortal occupations wouldn't concern her. Besides, Ladybug was strong and he knew that she could handle it on her own for a weekend.

"I can't believe it. Adrien should have been my partner." Chloé watched as Adrien and Marinette tried to talk to each other, biting her nail.

"I-It's okay, you have me here! Second best!" Sabrina winked, leaning into Chloé with a smile.