Luckily, by the time Nino and Marinette found Alya and Adrien, they had finished talking about secrets to be kept.
Nino seemed suspicious. "What ya doin' back here guys
"Nothing much," Alya lied. "Adrien was just reading some description cards for me."
"Descriptions about pottery?" He quirked an eyebrow.
Alya hadn't noticed that they had moved out of the miraculous exhibit when they hid, to a much less interesting section on prehistoric pottery.
"Yeah," She said. "The pottery is actually pretty interesting." She smiled warmly.
Alya knew that she could be a very convincing liar. She hated doing it; it felt like she was using people to get what she wanted. But this secret was too big to tell anyone. Nino was better off not knowing- even if it hurt her to lie to him.
Adrien pointed to an old, sculpted tea pot. "This is from the Tang Dynasty."
Nino laughed "That's great, man."
Marinette, who had been looking especially small behind Nino, spoke up. "We should probably get going. We're supposed to be back at the bus in ten minutes, and the museum is pretty big."
The four of them walked back towards the lobby of the Museum. Boys walked in front while Alya and Marinette drifted behind them a bit.
Marinette tuned to Alya. "Is there something going on with you and Adrien?" Her voice was soft and melancholy.
Alya felt her little heart break. Did Marinette think Alya and Adrien had a thing? Like a romantic thing?
"Of course not!" Alya struggled to keep her voice low, not to bring the attention from the boys in front of them. "I would never go after a friends crush- That's like the biggest rule in the code! I'm with Nino!"
Marinette tucked her hair behind her ear, and looked at her feet. "Your right, I'm sorry for doubting you, but there is something going on right?"
"Yeah." Alya sighed. "It's about his dad."
Marinette nodded. "Oh, okay." She didn't ask more on the subject.
It hurt to lie to her friend but it was better than her thinking she was with her crush. And there was no way Alya could tell her that Adrien was Chat Noir.
The class loaded onto the bus as Mrs. Bustier did a headcount. Unfortunately this bus wasn't as nice as the one they had taken to the hotel; it was just a plain school bus.
"Three to a seat!" Mrs. Bustier yelled towards the back of the bus.
Alya, Nino, Adrien and Marinette paused; one of them was going to have to sit apart from the others. Alya froze, hoping that if she didn't move, they wouldn't choose her.
Chloe latched on to Adrien's arm. "Adrikins can sit with me and Sabrina!" Sabrina stood behind her, holding Chloe's huge bags from the gift shop.
Adrien looked back to his friends in a silent, desperate plea for help.
Nino smirked and shrugged. "Hang in there, man."
Mrs. Bustier Called back again. "Sit down, we have to get moving."
The teens complied, with various levels of enthusiasm. Marinette scowled and held her hands in fists, unhappy that Adrien couldn't sit with them. Sabrina hovered for a bit, deciding where to put the bags, until she gave up and placed them, beside Rose and Juleka.
Adrien looked over the booth back at them, pained. Alya held back a laugh; Saving Paris he could handle, but not obnoxious fangirls.
Nino and Marinette sat on either side of Alya, Marinette looking out the window, and Nino siting on the tiny piece of booth that was basically in the aisle.
Alya's phone beeped in her hand. She looked down to see a message from Adrien.
We have to talk abt what happened. Meet me at the hotel.-Adri
k. I'll try to get some time to see you. -Alya
"Talk about what?" Nino's question surprised Alya. She looked up from her phone to see that he was reading the messages as well.
"It's nothing important." She knew her excuse was poor, but she couldn't think of anything good on command.
"If it wasn't important you'd tell me." He answered.
She looked back down at the phone, avoiding eye contact. "I don't know what to tell you. I don't even know what's going on yet."
Nino took out his own phone and started typing. She hated seeing him like this; he didn't seem happy in the least, much different from his usual positive, chill self.
He looked up from his phone towards Adrien, who looked back and shook his head. Alya looked to Nino, trying to decipher whatever the boys had talked about in their text, but Nino turned away.
He made no contact with anyone for the rest of the bus ride.
The trip back to the hotel was short, and soon the students piled out of the bus into the lobby. Mrs. Buster informed them that they were to spend some time to themselves, then come to the dining hall for lunch.
Marinette nudged Alya's arm. "Would you come with me to see if my cousin has arrived yet? Collin's pretty cool."
"Well I was going to..." Alya's voice trailed off. What could she tell Marinette? That she was going to go have a secret meeting with Adrien? There is no way that would end well. She sighed. "Sure, I'm game."
The two girls walked through the lobby to the back room where Marinette's Grandmother had been before. Alya felt weird walking to back room because it seemed to be a sort of staff meeting room, still Marinette walk straight in with the confidence of a master.
In the room were Xiang and two other people, sitting at the round table. One was an old Chinese man wearing a Hawaiian shirt. The other was no other than Gabriel Agrest, Adrien's father. The tall man stood suddenly when they entered, giving Alya the impression that her and Marinette were a place they shouldn't be.
Adrien made no mention of his father coming on the trip, and Alya wondered if he even knew his father was here.
Still Marinette's eyes were not on the rich fashion designer, but the man in the Hawaiian shirt.
"Master Fu?" Marinette asked, confused.
The man smiled and nodded. "It's nice to see you, Marinette."
"Are you related to each other?" Alya asked trying to assess the situation.
"Oh! - Uh no. He and I aren't, uh, related." Marinette stammered, and then changed the subject. "Is Collin here yet?"
"Yes." Xiang confirmed. "He is in the staffroom with his father."
"Wait," Alya said. "I thought this was the staffroom."
Xiang stood and pulled back wooden panelling that Alya had thought was just part of the wall. "No, this is my library." Behind the paneling was a wall of bookshelves filled to the brim with books, some books were even pressed in horizontally to use the most of the space. "When you find him, be sure to remember to ask my son for the book."
Alya nodded and followed Marinette out to the real staffroom.
Marinette turned to her as they walked. "What book was she talking about?"
"It's a book about the miraculous. I'm trying to read up for the Ladyblog."
The two girls entered the staffroom- which indeed held the title better than the previous room. The staffroom held a fridge and microwave, staff lockers, a white board with schedules written on it in Chinese, and a table with fold-out chairs.
Near the white board, Zhi argued loudly in Chinese with a boy in his late teens. His hair was close cropped, and a blue-black colour like Marinette's and his eyes a dark teal. He wore a white T-shirt and dark jeans. Alya assumed that he was Collin.
At the table, a staff member ate quickly, seeming like she would rather be any were else than near the fight of her boss and his son.
Zhi, who had become red in the face, stopped yelling with his son to see the girls come in. He scowled at his son, made a final comment in Chinese, and walked past the girls to leave the room.
Collin watched his father leave, stone-faced, then his face lit up when his eyes rested on Marinette.
"Collin!" Marinette laughed as they hugged. "It's so good to see you!"
He smiled and released the hug. "You've gotten so big, Mari! I remember when you could ride on my shoulders, now look at you!"
"Collin, this is my best friend, Alya." Marinette said. "And Alya, this is my cousin, Collin."
He elbowed her playfully. "Technically, I'm Marinette's uncle."
"But he's only three years older than me," Marinette said. "So saying he's my uncle is kind of weird."
"Makes sense." Alya agreed. "Collin, I was supposed to ask you about a book?"
"Oh yeah, "The Book of Humans, Gods, and Demons"." He went to a backpack sitting on the table beside the eating staff member, and pulled out an old book with a grey cover. "My mom said you wanted it. It has a lot of facts about the Kwami. You're lucky it's in French."
He handed it to her. Alya flipped through the pages. "So, why did you have it?"
Collin zipped his bag shut. "I want to go to university in Chinese culture, so I've been studying pretty hard. I've even gotten an invitation to a great school out of the city, but Dad doesn't want me to go."
"Why not?" Marinette asked.
Collin sighed. "He wants me to take over the hotel chain- but it's really not my kind of thing. I want to learn about the world around me, not run a business."
Alya's phone buzzed with another text from Adrien.
Nino's out with Alix and Max, now's the purrfect time to talk. - Adri
Alya mentally groaned at his pun, then spoke to Marinette. "You two should catch up. I've got some stuff to do." She left quickly to avoid any questions Marinette might had have.
________________________________________________________________________________
Adrien and Nino's hotel room was the exact same as Marinette and Alya's only.
Alya entered to find Adrien sitting cross-legged on his bed feeding Plagg some sort of cheese.
He looked up at her. "I need your help Alya."
"What would you need my help for?" She walked to the foot of his bed and took off her bag- the book was starting to get heavy.
"I want you to help me find lady bug."
Alya smirked and raised her eyebrow. "What the seductive Chat Noir can't win the fair lady's heart by himself?"
"Alya, I'm serious."
She held her forehead in her hands. "Isn't she like nine hundred years old or something?
Adrien shook his head. "No. That was just a red herring; I think you were getting close. She should be our age."
Plagg, who had been trying to eat with restraint, gave up and shoved the whole piece in his mouth. Alya smothered her laugher, unable to stay a serious as Adrien.
Alya opened her bag. "Yeah, I'll help. But we can work on that when we get back to Paris, for now I want to ask you-" She took out the large grey book and dropped it heavily on the bed.
"-How much do you know about your Kwami?"