Hello and welcome to my submission for Adrinette April! (Yes, I know we're already halfway through. Yes, I am still working on everything else.) You can find this and other marvelous works over at Tumblr under the tag adrinetteapril2018

I decided to make all the prompts into one big story, so here ya go! (Some chapters will have more adrinette interaction than others, be warned!)

As always, feedback and constructive criticism are highly-encouraged and very, very welcome! (I expect I'll make a few people mad by the end of this...)

Topsy-Turvy

Chapter 1 - Hide

Chat Noir landed on a familiar balcony and stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He tried to ignore the beeping of his ring as he frantically looked around to see if there was a better place to hide nearby.

There wasn't.

One of the bad things about being homeschooled most of his life was that he didn't really know a whole lot of places in Paris where he could go if he was in trouble. Sure, he'd tried to see as many sights as possible as Chat, but public areas and tourist traps weren't good hiding places for a teenager on the run.

The best place he knew outside his own home was the school, but he knew it had security cameras that monitored it at night. (Mr. Damocles had been very proud of the brand-new system, and had informed the whole school that any suspicious activity or vandalism it recorded would be punished severely.)

His ring gave yet another pitiful beep, and Chat sighed and hid in the shadows as the magic collapsed around him. Plagg fell into his waiting hands, an annoyed glare already focused on the blond.

"You can't be serious," he whined. "We'll never last on the street! How're you gonna keep me fed?"

"I raided your fridge before I left," Adrien whispered, handing the kwami a wedge of camembert to shut him up. "And I have some cash savings. We'll make it, at least for a little while."

"Right, because one of the most-well-known faces in all of Paris is just gonna be able to mingle in a crowd, huh?" Plagg said, rolling his eyes.

"I'll think of something!" Adrien insisted. "Now, keep your voice down, or we'll be—"

The hatch of the balcony suddenly opened, and a familiar head peeked out. Adrien shied into the shadows, but she'd already seen him.

"—heard."

"ADRIEN?!" Marinette exclaimed, her eyes going wide. Adrien quickly shushed her, looking around frantically to see if anybody could see them. Her balcony actually seemed quite private. That was a relief.

"What are you doing up here?—Wait, how did you get up here?!" Marinette whispered, coming up the rest of the way.

"I… climbed?" Adrien lied, trying for an innocent smile. "I have this rock wall at home," he explained quickly, when his classmate raised an eyebrow, "so, I have lots of practice… and it wasn't really that hard..." He bit his lip, trailing off, unwilling to lie to her anymore.

To his relief, Marinette nodded.

"Yeah, Nino told me about your 'amazing' room," she said. "But… okay, why are you here?!"

Adrien sighed and hung his head. He didn't want to involve her if he could. Or, at least, as little as possible.

"I don't really want to get into it," he admitted. "Let's just say… things with my father are not going… well."

Marinette studied him for a moment. Nino had told her about Adrien's bad relationship with his father, and she'd seen evidence of it as Ladybug, but things must be bad if it had him running away from home in the middle of the night. And he had to be running. He even had a duffle bag!

"So, you… came here?" she asked, unsure why he'd chosen to run to her balcony of all places.

"My dad will suspect Nino immediately," Adrien pointed out. "I couldn't go there. Same with Chloe. And Alya has curious little siblings. I'd likely be found there too."

He had a point, Marinette thought. She didn't have any siblings, Manon was never allowed on her balcony when she was over, and she didn't have any sort of pets that would alert her to a stranger on her roof (unless you counted Tikki, but Marinette would never consider her kwami to be a kind of pet, and besides, Adrien didn't know about her).

"Can I please just spend the night up here?" Adrien begged. "I promise I won't be any trouble and, if you want, I'll be gone as soon as it's morning!" He hated having to impose on her, but it'd been a loooong day, full of emotional turmoil, and he was so tired….

"Honestly, Adrien, what kind of girl do you think I am?!" Marinette asked, offended. Adrien felt his hopes sink. "You're not staying on my balcony!"

"Okay, then. I'll just g—"

"You can stay in my room, where it's warmer."

"Wha—REALLY?" Adrien asked, flabbergasted. "B-but, you—you're—"

"You can sleep on my chaise lounge," Marinette said, opening the hatch to her room. "It's actually pretty comfortable; I've napped on it a lot. With a few extra blankets and pillows—I assume you don't want my parents to know you're here?" she added, looking up at him.

Adrien gulped. "No, thank you." The fewer people who knew, the better.

"Well, then, come on down and help me get things set up—wait! On second thought, give me a moment to clean up a little!" she hastily corrected herself, closing the hatch behind her.

"O-kay?" Adrien said, confused at her erratic mood swings. And her offer of shelter. And really, Marinette just confused him on all levels.

"We're really gonna stay here?" Plagg asked, still partially hidden and sounding doubtful.

"Do you have a better plan?" Adrien asked.

"Forget what you saw and go back to the lap of luxury?" Plagg suggested. "It's the plan with the most cheese. That makes it the best plan."

"You know I can't do that," Adrien argued, forcing the images out of his head again.

"Done!" Marinette's head popped up again. "C'mon down! We'll get your bed ready."

"Thank you, Marinette," Adrien said, following her down into the room and pretty sure those words couldn't even begin to describe how grateful he was right now. "Are you sure it won't be too much trouble?"

"Of course not," Marinette laughed easily. "It's just a few blankets and pillows. As long as we're quiet, we won't wake up my parents. They're early to bed, early to rise. A baker's life."

"They won't come check on you?" Adrien asked, still a bit uncertain.

"Nope. I'm not an early riser at all and they know it," Marinette said. "My mom will usually call for me if I'm about to be late for school, but if I set my alarm, it should be fine."

"I'll set mine too," Adrien said, reaching for his phone. Then he realized—he didn't have it. He'd seen enough real-crime dramas to have left it at home when he escaped. Marinette must've read the expression on his face, because she laughed again.

"Feels weird not to have your phone, doesn't it? I've broken mine a couple times when it couldn't be immediately replaced. It felt like I'd lost an arm or something!" she giggled.

"It really does," Adrien murmured, looking away.

"Hey," Marinette said softly, touching his arm, "it's gonna be okay. We'll get through this together, all right?"

For the first time that night, Adrien felt himself relax and smile.

"Thank you, Marinette."

End Chapter 1.