Adrien smiled, "Thank you. I hope you get plenty of sleep. I'll see you at the race tomorrow."

With that, he said good night and Marinette disappeared into her room.  Adrien yawned and headed back to his room.  Plagg was still asleep when he entered, so he made his way to his bed as quietly as possible and laid down to sleep.

"Marinette," Alya spoke as she knocked on her friend's door the next morning.

Marinette sat up in bed with a dazed look on her face. She glanced at the alarm clock and saw it was 12:30 pm. She jumped out of bed and over to the door to let Alya in.

"You were asleep this whole time?" Alya asked her.

"I guess. I set an alarm on my phone," Marinette replied. She then started looking for her phone. It was no where to be found. She tossed her duffle bag aside in anger. "I bet Chloe took it."

"I was wondering why she looked pleased with herself at breakfast."

"Why didn't you check on me earlier?"

"I thought you were out practicing. You weren't answering my texts." Marinette started to get dress. Alya sat down on her bed. "So what happened last night? You were acting weird after you came back to the table."

Marinette decided to tell Alya everything. She could see her friend's hand forming a fist. "And that's why I didn't tell you. You would punch Chloe." She pointed at her fist.

"I have self control, Marinette. Geeze she's really desperate to keep you away from Adrien."

"I know. Luckily I was able to tell him last night."

"Oh?"

Marinette told her about her chat with Adrien last night. She even mentioned that he opened up to (not telling her what he said) her some more. Alya gave her a smug look when Marinette said she fell asleep on him. 

"What?" Marinette question the look on her friend's face.

"You need to confess to him."

"Already?"

"Yes. Marinette, you two are getting really close now. You're catching up with your progress with Chat."

Marinette puffed out her cheeks. "For the last time I don't like Chat. Things just got a little heated at the ball."

Alya laughed. "A little?"

"Alya!! I want to be with Adrien!"

"I know I know," Alya spoke and stopped laughing at her friend. "Now, if you want to make that come true then confess."

"What if he rejects me?"

Alya stood up and slapped her friend on the back of her head. "You guys are dating. He won't reject you."

"If you say so.."

"Marinette, he likes you. He may not realize it and he won't until you say something."

"Girls," Tikki spoke up. "We need to get going."

Marinette glanced at the clock it was now 1250. The race started at one. They then rushed out of the room. As they rode in the elevator Alya pulled out an apple from her hoodie's pocket and handed it to her friend.

"Thanks." Marinette took it from her and took a bite out of it.

"I grabbed it just in case you didn't eat."

"Marinette, can I watch the race with Alya?" Tikki asked.

"Sure."

"You can hide in my hair, Tikki," Alya said. The kwami flew into Alya's hair when they arrived on the lobby. The girls then made a run for it "Confident?"

"Yes," Marinette replied. "Talking to Adrien really helped." Alya smiled.

Meanwhile the class and Chloe were standing at the bottom of a slope. Word got out about the race so the whole class was there to watch. Chloe had smug look on her face. "I guess she forfeited. She's probably too scared to race."

"Not yet, Chloe," Max chimed in as he looked at his wrist watch. "It's exactly 12:59 and she has until 1:05 to get here."

Chloe glared at him.

"There she is," Alix said when saw both Alya and Marinette approching them.

"Chloe," Marinette spoke as she walked over to her. She held out her hand. "Give me my phone."

"I don't know what you are talking about. Chloe folded her arms.

"Give it. Or I'm telling a teacher." Chloe handed it over. "That was pretty low of you, Chloe. Taking my phone so I would oversleep. Makes you look like a coward." Marinette couldn't help,but smirk. She was glowing in confidence. Chloe taking her phone proved Chloe didn't believe in her own abilities.

"Ha! I'm not a coward," Chloe laughed. "Let's race." So the two girls and Max headed to the top of the slope. They stood at the top while Max stood in front of them.

"The rules are simple. The first one to the finish line wins," he spoke. "Now, on your mark, get ready, get set, and go!"

They were off. Both girls race down the hill. They were neck and neck. As they skiied down Marinette was starting to take the lead. She angled herself to pick up more momentum. Chloe growled at herself and pushed herself harder. She was able to catch up to Marinette. Chloe then rammed into her. Marinette caught herself from falling and found herself heading toward a tree. She turned her body to a stop and could hear Chloe laughing. She took the lead.

Marinette took off and went as fast she as could. She was catching up, but it wasn't fast enough to take the lead. They were approaching the bottom. Up adhead Marinette noticed a ramp. If she used it she could beat Chloe. However she has never used before so she could wipe out. Marinette decided to take the risk. She skiied on to the ramp and jumped off. She was able to nail a prefect landing and beat Chloe. Her class cheer and Alya hugged her.

"That's cheating!" Chloe yelled at her when she crossed the finish line.

Marinette looked at her. "You never said we couldn't use ramps. And don't you dare accuse me of cheating when you rammed into me during the race."

"Hmph." Chloe looked away.

"Now, since I won you're my servant for a month." Marinette paused. She really didn't need Chloe to do things for her. An idea then hit her. "So I order you to be nice me and everyone in class."

Chloe looked horrified then gave Marinette a look of disgust. She then skiied away with Sabrina going after her.

Adrien sighed with relief as Marinette made it to the race before the deadline.  He wasn't surprised Chloe was behind her being late after hearing what had happened the night before.  At least Marinette was able to get her phone back.
 
Plagg poked his head out from under Adrien's hat. "She's confident today," the kwami said, a small yawn escaping him.  Adrien could only guess he had been sleeping under his hat until now.
 
He smiled, "Yeah. I talked to her last night. I guess it really helped.  There they go."
 
He cheered as Marinette quickly took the lead.  All her practice was paying off. He felt a tap on his head from Plagg and looked back to the race just in time to see Chloe push Marinette.  Of course Chloe would try to win through cheating.
 
“Oh, she’s going to hit the tree,” Plagg said, sounding strangely worried for a moment.  Adrien held his breath, resisting the urge to try to do something to keep Marinette from hitting that tree. Thankfully, Marinette remembered how to stop.
 
He didn’t get any relief from his worry as Marinette built up her speed again. He could tell she was eying a ski ramp nearby. Ramps were very difficult for new skiers, and she had literally never been taught how to use it.  He tensed and even Plagg stayed quiet as Marinette flew from the ramp and landed just far enough in front of Chloe to win the race.
 
Once the snow settled and Chloe left the scene, Adrien ran up to her with Nino and Alya close behind.  “Great job!” He said with a smile.

The next few hours included a little more skiing before the group got together to build a snow man.  It was going well until the first snowball flew towards them from outside their little group.  The snowball exploded into little pieces as it hit Marinette.

Marinette froze, when she felt a snowball hit the back of her head. She turned and saw Kim and Ivan standing there. They both had grins on their faces and Kim had a snowball in his hands. He turned and chucked at Juleka who was building a snowman with Rose. Marinette narrowed her eyes. Throwing snowballs at innocent people? She couldn't let this happen. She quickly made a snowball and threw at the back of Kim's head. He turned and looked at her. Marinette gave him a big ass grin.

"You do know this mean war now, right?" Kim asked her.

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have fought back," Marinette replied in a teasing voice. 

"Alright then. The war is on!"

They then quickly formed teams. Kim, Ivan, Max, Rose, and Juleka were on a team which left Nino, Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Alix on the other team. Marinette took charge right away and bark orders. She had Nino and Alya build a fort while her, Adrien, and Alix chuck snowballs at the enemy.

"Take them from the left, Adrien," Marinette whispered to him as they hid behind their fort as they made more snowballs.

Adrien easily fell into step with Marinette as she gave the orders.  The game was on, and he was ready to give it his all. A snowball fight should be nothing after months of akuma battles.

He gave a quick nod as he finished his next round of snowballs and dashed to the left. He dodged a snowball from Kim and sent two of his own flying towards Kim and Max. He smirked when the snowball hit Max square on.

He dodged a few more snowballs (they seemed so slow compared to real attacks) and chanced a glance to see how Marinette was faring. He smiled as he saw her doing just as well, if not better. The smile faded to determination a moment later when he saw a snowball flying towards her. 

"Incoming on your left, Marinette!" he called to her while throwing a snowball towards the other.  The two collided less than a meter before the first snowball could hit her.

"Thanks, Adrien!" Marinette shouted back. She then quickly rolled over and made a new snowball. She tossed it and hit Kim right in his face.

As the fight went on Alya was sitting behind the fort observing the fight. She was mostly watching Adrien and Marinette. They were in sync. Too in sync. They were dodging snowballs left and right. Watching each other's backs. Marinette giving him orders and him blindly following them. Alya frowned. Could Adrien be?

Meanwhile off to the side Tikki and Plagg were watching the fight as well. Tikki looked at Plagg mischievous with a smile. She flew down to the ground and made a tiny snowball. She then threw it at him. 

"Snowball fight!" she chanted excitingly and stuck her tongue out at him.

The snowball fight raged on, but Adrien could tell the other side was getting tired. They were moving slower in their movements and their aim was faltering. He quickly launched a few more snowballs at the other team, smiling with satisfaction as they hit their mark.

Off to side, Plagg hissed in surprise as the snow hit him. So cold! He turned to Tikki while grabbing some of the snow in his hands. "You're on!" He yelled, and the kwamis began chasing each other while throwing the snow. In his frustration, Plagg began collecting more and more snow into larger snowballs.

Meanwhile, Gabriel sat in the dining area checking his emails again. He figured it was almost his turn to go out to watch the children on the slopes when one of the teachers approached him. "Mr. Agreste, it's time to bring the kids in for dinner. Can you go get Adrien's class?"

Gabriel nodded boredly before turning his phone off, grabbing his coat, and heading toward the door.  When he exited the building, he heard a lot of joyful screaming. He headed in that direction, figuring it must be the children; as undisciplined as they were.

Plagg struggled as he tried to carry a snowball that was about as big as him. He was going to get Tikki good.  Then she'd never throw snow at him again.  His plans changed as he caught Gabriel in the corner of his eye as he came up the hill.  Plagg smiled as he got a little closer and chucked the snowball at the side of Gabriel's head.

Meanwhile, Kim was the only one standing on the opposite side. Juleka and Rose were done fairly quickly. Max had run out of breath and ended up behind the opposing fort making snowballs until he decided he was done.  Ivan had gotten hit in the face, tried to call foul, and then left to go find Mylene. Kim looked ready to quit as well. 

Kim held up a snowball and chucked it towards Marinette as she was bent down to collect more snow. Adrien grabbed his last snowball and ran in front of Marinette, throwing his snowball while taking the hit of the one Kim threw. Kim was not expecting this move and was hit square in the chest.

Kim held up his hands in surrender, and Adrien's team cheered as they won. Adrien quickly turned to Marinette, excitement getting the best of him, and held out a fist. "Pound it!" he said, enthusiastically. His mind was just catching up with his obviously Chat action just as Marinette quickly returned it.

The moment was ruined when Adrien heard his father's voice seething with angry. He turned and saw his father with snow clinging to the side of his face. 'Uh oh...'

"All of you, get inside! It's time for dinner. After dinner you will report to your rooms and stay there the rest of the night or until someone comes forward and admits to throwing that snowball," Gabriel commanded.  

Adrien could just see his kwami, stealthily trying to get back to him. 'Damn it, Plagg...'

The other students groaned but slowly headed towards the lodge, no doubt planning to complain to one of the teachers. Plagg made his way into Adrien's pocket without being seen, and Adrien headed towards the lodge expecting to hear an earful from his father at some point.

"Plagg, no!" Tikki shouted, but it was too late. He already hit Adrien's dad with a snowball. She just shook her head and quickly returned to Alya seeing how she was the only one behind the fort. She went into her coat pocket.

Alya let out a gasp, when she saw Adrien and Marinette do a fist bump. She quickly got out her phone and started to type all these things she witnessed in the snowball fight in her note app.

Marinette frozen after the fist bump. She couldn't believe they just did that. Marinette was then quickly pulled out of her thoughts, when Adrien's dad scolded them. She let out a sigh. At least they were able to eat. She just followed her classmates into the lodge.

The next day the class was able to enjoy a few more hours of snow actives before heading home. Once the bus was all pack up, the class took their seats and they headed home. Marinette and Adrien were sitting next to each other. A few hours past and everyone was starting to fall asleep. Both Marinette and Adrien ended up falling asleep on each other. Heads against each other's.

Meanwhile below their seats, Tikki popped out of Marinette's travel bag. "Psst, Plagg." The cat kwami popped out of Adrien's Plagg. "Why did you hit Mr. Agreste with that snowball? You know better than that!" She hated scolding him, but she had to otherwise he would be out of control.

Plagg shrugged.  He'd already gotten an earful from Adrien that morning after his roommate went down to breakfast. "The guy's a jerk, Tikki. You don't know how he treats Adrien all the time. It's a wonder this boy isn't evil Chat number six. His father deserved a snowball to the face."

He grabbed a piece of cheese (something of lower quality than Camembert thanks to the lodge's lack of good cheese) from the bag and took a bite. "Besides, I've been wanting to prank him for a while, and this was the best way to not get caught."

Adrien and Marinette slept the rest of the way back, waking up only after the teachers began calling out to remind the students not to forget anything. Adrien woke up only a moment before Marinette and she quickly jumped away from him, red and stuttering like she often did when she was this close to him. Adrien just smiled and they were quiet until the bus stopped at the school and everyone got off.

Adrien dreaded getting in the car with his father. He had made sure he didn't a chance to speak with him the entire trip, and now his father seemed unhappy about it. They sat in the back of the limo, quiet for a moment before his father spoke.

"Did you enjoy the trip?" He asked.

"Yes.  It was great being able to ski again," Adrien answered.

Gabriel nodded, "Your classmates are not very disciplined."

Adrien stared at his father for a moment, trying to figure out how he should respond. What was his father trying to get at with that statement? "I don't..." he began, still confused.

"And I believe it's rubbing off on you. There was no reason for you to take part in a snowball fight.  You know how tabloids distort everything."

Adrien frowned. "I was just having fun with my classmates. We're teenagers on school trip. That's what teenagers do."

''Even so, I did not raise you to act like that. You know better than most teenagers."

Adrien stared at his father. Why did he seem to drain the fun out of everything Adrien ever did? His classmates had even complained to him last night about his his father was worse than a dictator. It was not only annoying but also embarrassing.  So he said the one thing he knew would shut his father down instantly.  "You say you raised me not to, but mom and I had snowball fights all the time. She loved them. I don't remember you ever complaining back then."

The silence that followed threatened to crush him under its weight. It was one of those moments Adrien had known he would regret but didn't realize just how much. There was something in his father's eyes he could not identify, but he could tell he'd hurt him.

Adrien bit his lip. "I'm..." he began to apologize but the limo pulled up to their home before he could.

Gabriel opened his door and exited the limo without a word, and Adrien did not see him for the rest of the night.

Marinette was unpacking from the trip in her room. She was on cloud nine and humming a happy tune. Then suddenly she heard a loud boom. Marinette quickly jumped to her feet and ran up to her deck. Tikki was following right behind her. When the got on the deck, they saw black smoke in the distance and heard sirens going off.

"This can't be good," Marinette spoke. Then there as was another loud boom. "Do think it's an akuma?" She glanced at her kwami.

"There's only one way to find out," Tikki replied.

"Tikki, Spot's On!" Marinette shouted and became Ladybug. She then took off into the sky heading toward the black smoke. When she got closer, she landed on a building. On the street down below she saw an akuma. He looked like a construction worker and was carrying around a TNT box. Ladybug let out a gasp. The akuma made another explosion go off. The building that Ladybug was standing on was starting to rumble. She quickly took to the skies and got another building for a safe distance. She decided to wait for Chat before approaching the akuma.

Adrien paced around his room, his bag still packed with clothes from the trip. He'd gone too far. Mentioning his mother was a last resort tactic he'd used only one other time with better results because of the context of the argument. He couldn't tell why he thought this was a good time to bring her up.

"Relax, Adrien. It's not like you told him off," Plagg said, lying on Adrien's pillow and watching him with what might have been mild concern. Adrien couldn't be sure.

"I may as well have told him off. I said that specifically to get to him. That's something Chloe would do..." Adrien murmured in disgust.

"Whatever you say. I don't think you did anything wrong."

Adrien was about to respond when a large boom rocked the city. He quickly ran to the window to see smoke rising out into the city. "Plagg, do you think that's an akuma?" He asked. Explosions could be anything from a demolition to some kind of attack; akuma or otherwise.

Plagg shrugged, unconcerned. "Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't look like the typical akuma attack."

"Well, we're going to check it out. Plagg, claws out!" Adrien called.

Once he was transformed, he headed towards the explosions. It didn't take long for him to see Ladybug standing on a nearby building. He landed beside her with a half smile. It was nice to see her again after the weekend. "Good evening, my lady."

"Hey, Chat," Ladybug responded she gave him a half smile as well. "There's an akuma blowing up the city with TNT." She then motion him to follow her. The akuma was moving and blowing up more buildings along its path. The duo jumped across buildings that were safe from the akuma. 

The akuma stopped in the middle of a street and was about to set off another building. Ladybug quickly jumped into the action and tied up his arm with her Yo-Yo. The akuma looked at her.

"I think you have done quite enough damage!" She shouted at him. She glanced up at Chat hoping he would do something. Unfortunately the akuma was strong enough to let his arm lower and he pushed down the lever on the TNT box. The building that was adjacent to them started to fall. Chat happened to be standing on it. "No!" She reeled in her Yo-Yo and jumped up and grabbed a hold of Chat. They tumbled down the other side of building and landed on the ground. Ladybug was on top of him. "Are you okay?"

Chat followed Ladybug as they got closer.  She was on fire today; quick to get close and catch the akuma's arm as he was still on the nearby building.

He was about to call his cataclysm to and jump from the building to get the akuma's object when a the mixed sounds of an explosion and crumbling cement filled the air.  It was too quick for him to even register the building suddenly disappearing below him.  Too sudden for him to even think to catch himself with his staff.  

And the he and his partner were tumbling down a building with quite a bit of rubble.  The impact with the ground was not as hard or painful as he expected other getting the wind knocked out of him.  

The landing also ended with him rolling onto his back and suddenly realizing why he didn't feel like the equivalent of a street pancake.  Ladybug had hit first.

He looked up at her worriedly as he caught his breath.  "You okay?" He couldn't quite hide the panic in his voice.  

He was so used to taking the hit.  It terrified him that she had taken this one.  This had to be the most dangerous akuma they'd faced in a while.  He should have bee paying more attention.

Ladybug frowned when he asked if she was okay. Didn't he care about himself? He was always concerned about her. She sat up and felt a sharp pain in her back. Everything happened so fast she didn't realized how hard she hit the ground. Thank God their magic gave them better endurance and strength.

"I'll be okay," she replied calmly. She moved her arms. Nothing broken. "You're not the only one who can take a hit." She then slowly stood up. Her legs weren't broken as well.

Chat let out a relieved breath as she brushed the landing off. That was a large drop. He was still concerned she might be hiding any pain, but all he could do at this point was watch her back like always. He'd be way worse off if she hadn't been watching his.

He smiled.  He loved how strong she was. "Of course. No akuma around can crush you, Bugaboo." 

Meanwhile, the akuma was looking around plotting its next move. Hawkmoth growled as it stood there. "What are you waiting for? Get them while they're recovering! I want their miraculous even if you have to dig them out of the rubble!"

The akuma nodded, "Understood." It eyed the nearby buildings, planning the route of explosions. Then he pushed the button and the rest of the surrounding buildings exploded in a shower of glass, concrete, and steel.

Chat look towards one of the exploding buildings just in time to grab Ladybug and pull her out of the way of a large chunk of concrete.  He was not as lucky to avoid a baseball sized piece as it collided with his side.

He let out a pained gasp before looking at Ladybug. "I think Hawkmoth's finally decided he wants to kill us," he said before grabbing his staff and deflecting some more debris. They needed to get out of the explosion zone.