Not How She Imagined Her First Trip to America

Being a superhero, one might think that Marinette's life would be terrifying or amazing and all together unpredictable. That was, unfortunately(or fortunately depending on who you ask), not the case. The routine become just that, a routine, very quickly. The akuma that would attack the city of Paris became a regular event, unsurprising the heroes. The adrenaline rush and the exhilaration that came with being Ladybug, however, never went away and the Parisian knew she wouldn't change her decision to become the superhero for the world. That didn't mean that Marinette didn't groan the moment she heard the loud crashes, her best friend whizzing past her with her phone out, on her way to her class.

When Ladybug arrived to the scene, both Alya and her leather-clad partner, Chat Noir, were there, one fighting the akuma, the other filming the battle from behind a trashcan. Ladybug sighed and jumped into the fray. The akuma was some sort of plant themed villain- She wasn't really paying attention -but the akumatized object was obvious. The giant watering can they used as a weapon. A few horrible puns, a couple of curses, one well organized plan(involving an extremely close call), and a cry of "Miraculous Ladybug!" later, and the akuma was purified and the city was back to normal.

"Pound it!" The two superheroes yelled, bumping fists after another successful fight. The moment of celebration was cut short when simultaneous beeping resounded from both of the superheroes. Ladybug made to leave, but was stopped short by a hand around her arm. She looked back, catching a pleading look on the cat's face. "I'm sorry Chat, but we can't."

He looked a little downcast, but quickly recovered, kissing her hand with a dramatic bow. "Then I bid you adieu, Malady!" Giving her a two-fingered salute, he bounded off.

Ladybug stood there a moment longer to ponder over his immensely gentlemanly, yet goofy, attitude with a smile. A second set of beeping had her soaring across Paris towards her school from the string of a yoyo. She arrived not a second late, detransforming before heading into class.

The rest of the day was uneventful, unless you count being paired up with the Adrien Agreste for a lab uneventful. Alya later commented on how her bones seemed to have disappeared for the day, leaving her a pile of jelly. That earned her an elbow in the side.

Marinette flopped down onto her chaise, groaning into the cushions. She could feel the fire on her face and the small god giggling from her seat on a plate of cookies wasn't helping anything. "Tikki! This is serious! I was paired up with Adrien and I acted like a total idiot! I spilled three different vials! Three! How does a person even do that?! He probably thinks I'm an idiot! And I got some of it on his shirt!" She gasped, lunging into a sitting position. "I spilled chemicals on his Agreste brand clothing! What if he hates me?! What if he never talks to me again?! What if he tells his father and I'm shunned by the world of fashion and am never able to pursue my passion and am forced to work in my parents bakery my whole life because nobody will ever hire me?! Oh NO! What if I-"

"Marinette, calm down. I'm sure Adrien doesn't think your stupid and definitely doesn't hate you! You're overreacting! Did Adrien seem mad when you got the stuff on his shirt?" Marinette shook her head looking ready to protest, but Tikki didn't give her the chance. "Then you're fine! If you were to ask me, and I am a being who has been alive for longer than this country has existed, I would say that Adrien seemed even closer to you by the end of class."

"Really?!" Tikki nodded. "Okay, the plan to get Adrien to marry me is still a go!" She internally and externally flinched at her own words. "But first I have to get actual sentences out in front of him…"

Tikki laughed and flew over to her charge's shoulder as Marinette transitioned to her rolling chair. "I know you can do it Marinette! You're so talented after all!"

"Not when it comes to him…" She quipped, pulling her books out of her bag and fishing out her homework. "Before I can face him, however, I must finish this physics homework." She glared at the paper a full two seconds before groaning and leaning back. "Do I have to Tikki?" The god only gave her a knowing look before the designer reeled herself back into the homework.

She didn't get very far, only the first question, before something caught her attention. There seemed to be some sort of static, a pulse, that she could feel coming towards her. Goosebumps trailed up her arms and she reflexively stood up from her chair. Tikki seemed to have sensed it too, as she came to rest on Marinette's shoulder, right next to her earrings. "Tikki what is th-"

There was no pain, but the strange sensation of being surrounded by a giant energy had her frozen, and she would have stayed that way had Tikki not been yelling at her. "Transform Marinette!" The god needn't say more, the words leaving her lips as a blue light encased her body.

"Tikki, spots on!"

The Gardener, Chat had concluded, would not be on his list of top ten favorite akuma. This list, conversely, could be renamed the "Akuma I hate the least" list, but the sentiment still stood. The catnip joke had been funny at first, until the wrenching scent invaded his nostrils and distracted him during the fight, then made him feel loopy.

Akuma that hypnotized him in some manner in order to use him against ladybug were on his list of least favorite akuma ever. Hawkmoth's latest akuma had easily made it to the top(or bottom) of the list when Chat had almost Cataclysmed Ladybug in his distorted vision when aiming for the akuma's weapon. She said it wasn't his fault, but he had heard how shaky her voice was and couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

It wasn't until he was paired up with Marinette for a Chemistry lab that the guilt faded away. She seemed to make him laugh whenever she was around, but it wasn't just him. The entire class seemed to brighten and talk more amicably with each other when she was there. Marinette was like the glue that kept them together and he couldn't stop himself from comparing that to the way his Lady united Paris against Hawkmoth.

When Adrien got home, after doing fencing, a photo shoot, and Chinese lessons of course, it was nine-thirty. He sighed as he flung his bag onto the floor next to his desk, dug out some Camembert for Plagg, the greedy bastard, and quickly opened the Ladyblog to catch the events of today's akuma from an outside perspective. His eyes were immediately drawn to Ladybug at her entrance and they stayed like that, trained on her figure, throughout the clip.

"Adrien, I'm out of cheese!" Plagg's call for the dairy product stopped the model's scouring through the comments on the Ladyblog post in order to ignore the physics homework on his desk. He turned towards the gluttonous cat and gave him a stern look.

Raising his eyebrow, he looked Plagg over. "Don't you think you should tone it down with the cheese. I read somewhere that milk is bad for cats."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a god that's been alive since before your great grandmother's great grandmother's great grandmother was even an idea in her great grandmother's head. I'm not like normal cats. I like cheese. I need cheese for you to do that whole Chat Noir thing, you see? And I'm currently out of cheese, so that means no running around the rooftops of Paris flirting with your girlfriend."

Adrien gave him an a fronted look, but no words came to his defense. He couldn't deny the flirting part, that was basically what half the things he said as Chat were aimed towards. He didn't want to deny the girlfriend part, because while it was just an idea, he desperately wanted it to come true. So the superhero opted to glare at his small floating companion before relenting with a small "fine" and stomping off to fetch cheese from the kitchens.

He stopped before making it even three steps from his seat, his spine tingling and his breath disappearing. He let out an involuntary hiss at the mass of squirming that he could feel. It was a weird sensation and Adrien could feel something coming. Plagg seemed to share the sentiment, because his demands for cheese had stopped.

It wasn't until a blue light enveloped the young teen that either made a move to speak. Plagg shouted desperately, something Adrien hadn't heard before, screaming at him to transform. He, of course, immediately complied.

"Plagg, claws out!"

When the strange feeling faded away, Ladybug expected to be attacked by an akuma or something. What she didn't expect, was to be standing in a large crater, in the middle of an unfamiliar city, staring into the emerald green eyes of her partner.

"Chat?"

Updates for this will probably be slow, fluctuating with my inspiration to write this. I am also taking four AP classes and am in Marching band so I don't have a lot of time for writing. I swear we will get to the Avengers part of this story soon, though I was tempted to put it in this chapter.