A/N: I blame RoseGartenTwilight for ever putting Code Lyoko AUs for Miraculous Ladybug in my head

One would think Ladybug, the superhero of Paris, would be more careful.

One would be wrong.

Marinette grinned up at Officer Raincomprix, feeling pretty guilty despite being mostly innocent. She wouldn't exactly call "taking back something someone else stole from you," stealing. But coming out of Chloe Bourgeois' room with her bag full of things needed for the Miraculous Ladybug plan to work looked pretty incriminating.

"Why hello, sir," Marinette chipped with an overly large grin. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"What's taking her?" Adrien wondered. He pulled out his phone just in time to see Marinette call. He was quick to answer it. "Marinette! Where are—"

"I got caught."

Adrien froze. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I snuck out of Chloe's room just in time to get caught by Sabrina's dad. I'm in the mayor's office now. Chloe's sure to be tick—IGottaGo."

And just like that, the line went dead.

Adrien scowled at his phone.

"What?" Alya asked, looking over at Adrien. "Was that Marinette?"

"She got caught by Sabrina's dad, and now she's sitting in Mr. Bourgeois' office."

Nino's face paled. "But we can't defeat this akuma without her! We need those things she grabbed."

"And we can't exactly break her out of the mayor's office," Alya said. "Not without causing more chaos and some speculation."

Adrien growled. "Actually," he grumbled. "I can think of a way."

"You want me to do what?" Chloe cried.

"Please, Chloe," Adrien begged. "I'll do anything."

"Anything?"

Adrien cringed. He hated this already. "I… I'll go out with you for… for a week."

"A week!" she screeched. "For Marinette, the price is two months. Minimum."

"One month and a down payment."

Chloe's anger faded to surprise. "What kind of 'down payment'?"

Marinette was up to her ears in trouble. Honestly, there were way too many possible bad case scenarios that her wild imagination couldn't even peg which one was the worst.

"This is truly despicable," the mayor scolded her. "Invading my daughter's privacy—"

"Daddy!"

Marinette resisted the urge to cringe or cower at the sound of Chloe's voice. However, it was impossible to ignore how seemingly happy that tone was.

"Chloe!" the mayor squeaked in surprise. "What are you—"

"Oh, I just wanted to tell you that Marinette forgot something in my room when we had some project together. I told her she could get it. I didn't think it would cause her so much trouble."

The mayor blinked. Marinette blinked. Officer Raincomprix blinked.

Chloe just smiled one of those overly fake smiles she gave when trying to get her way. "So you don't have to punish her, daddy. It was a simple misunderstanding. She's free to go, right?"

It took a moment for the mayor to respond. "Oh! Uh, well, I suppose."

"Great." Chloe grabbed Marinette's bag from her father's desk and shoved it at her, then proceeded to push Marinette out of her father's office. "Bye. Have a nice evening." With one last shove, Marinette was out of the office and the door slammed shut behind her.

It took a moment to get her bearings, but once she did, she noticed Adrien slumped over in a chair looking suspiciously sheepish. "You got me out of there, didn't you?"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

Her brow raised, her ladybug sense screaming at her.

"Hey, Mari," Adrien continued, finally looking up at her the way a guilty child looked up at their parent. "Do you mind if we don't see much of each other for… a month?"

Adrien was a walking dead man.

"It's all over the internet," Alya commented. "Sabrina made sure of it."

"Of course, she did," Nino said with a sigh. "Adrien's gonna be ticked."

"Oh, Adrien's gonna be dead," Alya swore. "And Mari's gonna kill him."

"How long do you think he's even gonna be able to hide it from her?"

"If that's all you have to say," Marinette's angry voice rang out in the back ground, prompting Alya to immediately shove her phone away. "Then don't say anything at all. In the meantime, I have a lucky charm to set up."

With that, Marinette marched off toward Alya, leaving a very put-out Adrien in her wake.

Nino moved away from the girls towards his bro. "Well, looks like you got her outta trouble."

Adrien grunted.

"I just can't believe you kissed Chloe to do it."

"One word to Mari and your dead."

The city was saved, at least. But Adrien knew his life was very close to being on the line again. "I've gotta go for the night," Chat Noir said, standing up from where he and his superhero friends were hanging out on the Eiffel Tower. "I promised Chloe."

"If you ask me," Carapace began. "She should leave you alone for the night. You know, with that down payment and all."

Adrien inwardly cursed then disowned his former best bro.

"Down payment?" Ladybug asked, glaring up at Chat. "What are they talking about?"

Adrien didn't want to answer. So he didn't. "Gotta go see ya bye!"

"Chat Noir!"

"How long do you think it's gonna be before Marinette forgives him?" Nino asked his girlfriend as they watched Marinette storm to her next class with Adrien following behind like a lost puppy.

"If it were me, never," Alya sassed. "But who knows. Maybe she'll come around one day."