Adrien waited a moment as his partner left before detransforming. Tikki appeared a moment later, floating in front of him with a kind smile.  She was very good at hiding whether or not she thought the situation was funny. Plagg would be dying of laughter right about now.  

Adrien smiled back and greeted her, "Hi Tikki. You ready to find some cookies?"

She smiled even wider, "Cookies would be nice, but I can eat whatever you want to get. I'm not picky like Plagg."

Adrien laughed. "Well, let's see what we can find. Can you do me a favor and hand me some money from her purse? I feel like it would be rude look through it.."

Tikki nodded and flew into the purse as he opened it.  There wasn't much in there anyway, but he still didn't want to invade her privacy. He took the money from Tikki and slid it into his pocket, trying to keep his eyes from straying to her clothes just in case there was anything distinctive about her outfit. He would not betray her trust.

They headed to another part of the same shopping district, and Adrien looked for a bakery despite Tikki's insistence that anything would work. He was too used to Plagg's picky attitude to settle for anything other than the kwami's favorite food. 

They found a small bakery in the middle of the shopping district, and Adrien stopped across the street so he could talk to Tikki. "What kind of cookies do you want?"

"Chocolate chip is my favorite," Tikki answered.  She finally gave up on telling him to get whatever.

She ducked back into the purse as Adrien headed into the bakery and looked around at the different breads, pastries, and sweets. He was biased to Marinette's bakery, of course, but everything here looked good too. He found what he was looking for and brought the small two pack of cookies to the register.

"Did you find everything you needed?" The man behind the counter asked. He was giving him a strange look that Adrien couldn't read.

"Yes. Everything looks really good here."

The man seemed confused for a moment before nodding and reading out the price. Adrien paid and left the bakery while holding one of the cookies above the purse for Tikki to take.  "Thank you," she said as she took the cookie, "We can head back now. I'm sure I'll be finished before Plagg and Ladybug make it back."

Adrien nodded and headed back, resisting the urge to eat the other cookie. He wasn't sure if Ladybug would want him to eat it or anything else while in her body, and he was so used to storing extra cheese that he thought she might appreciate it if Tikki had something to munch on when she needed it.

Tikki was right about making it back before his partner.  The alleyway was deserted, and Adrien wondered how hard of a time Plagg was giving her. He forgot to tell her what type of cheese Plagg liked, so this could be going very poorly.  He sighed and waited in the alley for Ladybug to return.

Marinette just lean against the wall with her arms cross. She wasn't going to go buy Plagg's favorite cheese. It felt wrong to use more of Chat's money despite the fact that he was rich. He probably had an allowance. Chat never came off as spoil rich brat like Chloe. Plagg just floated in front of her with a frown on his face.

"Well?" he said.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to go get me Camembert?"

"Nope."

Plagg made a frustrating noise. "And why not?"

"Because I bought this with Chat's money. Don't you feel bad for wasting his money?"

"Nope." Plagg just shrugged.

"Ugh!" Marinette rubbed her face with her hand. "What does Tikki see in you?"

"What?"

"Nothing! Look Plagg, if you don't eat this cheese I'll make sure Chat will never buy you Camembert ever again."

"What.." He actually looked concern about this.

"I'll tell him your new favorite cheese Munster."

"You wouldn't!"

"I would! So eat it!" She pushed the cheese in his face.

"Okay, okay!" He grabbed it from her hand and took a gulp. He knew Adrien wouldn't believe Marinette, but he probably would use Munster as a punishment if he found out he didn't like it. He ate the cheese rather quickly and stuck his tongue out. "Can you get me some water?"

"No can do we have akuma to catch. Transformation phrase?"

Plagg sighed. "Plagg, claws out."

Marinette smiled and shouted the transformation phrase. She transformed into Chat and quickly made her back the meeting spot. Ladybug found Chat there waiting for her already transformed. "Sorry about that Plagg was being a little jerk. I had to threaten him to get him to eat the cheese I bought."

Chat couldn't help but laugh.  "Yeah, that sounds like Plagg.  He can be very uncooperative.  Sorry, I forgot to tell you what type of cheese he likes.  I'm surprised you got him to eat what you bought."

He leaned against one of the buildings and crossed his arms.  "I guess next is brainstorming our way out of this switcharoo before our reveal consists of trying to trick our friends and family into believing nothing's up."

"I really don't want us to find out our identities through this mix up," Ladybug said. She then thought about their situation some more. Both of them were unable use each other's weapons. They could easily give each other's weapons to use, but Chat would have to use the yoyo to purify. It would make things awkward. She sighed. "Chat, we're really going to have use teamwork here. We'll just have to guide each other. Like if you don't know what the use the Lucky Charm for I can help."

Chat nodded.  There really was no way around the fact they had to adapt to each other's weapons and abilities. He would almost certainly need her help with the Lucky Charm.  He took a step towards her and held out his hand. "Let me see my staff," he said.

He kept it in his outstretched hand once she gave it to him and pointed to the paw print. "That's where you can access the phone if we were to somehow get separated.  On this area you can add a little pressure if you want it to extend and on that area add pressure for it to retract.  You can also split it into two staffs if you add pressure in both areas at the same time, but there's no reason to unless you are able to dual wield. There's nothing special to activate the shield; just spin it and it will work on its own.  You should be able to swing it around effectively without knowing any specific staff combat skills, but I can show you a few stances if you think it will help you fight."

"No, I think I'm good, thanks," Ladybug said and took back the staff. "Now the Yoyo." He gave it to her and she showed him how to properly throw it. "You just swing it around like a lasso, when aiming at enemies or objects. Think you got it?" She handed it back to him.

Chat nodded. "I think I can get it," he said, turning to face away from her and testing the yoyo. It took a few test throws before he was comfortable with it. "Yeah. I'm good."

Meanwhile, Hawk Moth clenched his cane angrily.  "Switcher, go find Ladybug and Chat Noir and take their miraculous! Then you can do what you want. Leaving them alone gives them a chance to beat you!"

"Don't worry. Those two couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag in their condition. I've almost found Bridgette. I'm going to switch with her, and then I'll go get them."

Hawk Moth hit the end of the cane against the ground in anger. How dare this akuma disobey him?  He was about to take control into his own hands when Switcher was interrupted.

Chat and Ladybug found Switcher as she was about to switch two more people. "No you don't," Chat said as he threw the yoyo. He meant to catch her arm and possibly get the wand, but his aim was too low and the yoyo wrapped around her waist. Chat pulled it back anyway to keep her from switching her victims, and she fell backward, missing her target.

Switcher turned to face them as she untangled the yoyo and it returned to Chat.  "Well, well.  Look who joined the party," she said as she glanced around for other things to switch them with.

"Sorry we're late we didn't get an invite," Ladybug said trying not laugh. Hey she was Chat after all.

The Switcher didn't look amuse. She pointed her wand at Chat and it glowed purple. She now had him under his control. "Get her miraculous!"

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Ladybug shouted and was now being chased by Chat. Of course since he was under controlled he was better with the yoyo. She dodge countless times. As Ladybug was running she got out her staff. Somehow she was able to use it to get her to the top of a roof of a building.

She slightly hit herself on the head. "Got to act fast." Ladybug glanced down and noticed the Switcher was standing there with her eyes closed. Controlling Chat like a puppet. An idea hit her. Right when Chat got on the building she threw the staff at the Switcher. It hit her right in the arm that was holding the staff. It went flying thus freeing Chat from control. Ladybug then jumped off the roof and rolled on to the ground. Since the Switcher was running toward her wand Ladybug decided to use her power.

"Cataclysm!!" she shouted and struck the ground with it. The ground slowly cracked and it trapped the Switcher. Ladybug then ran over to the wand and picked it up. She then threw it at her partner. "Chat, catch!"

Chat barely registered what had happened as the wand flew towards him. He quickly grabbed it from the air and shook his head to clear his thoughts. He heard Switcher yell as she lunged towards him and he snapped the wand to release the akuma.

Now was the worse part.  The black butterfly was already starting to fly away as he let the yoyo fly.  He cursed as it missed and quickly snapped it back to his hand so he could throw it again as hard as he could.  Thankfully, he caught it the second time and purified it.  There was a small flash in his vision, and he was suddenly back in his body.

He walked up to Ladybug as everything was fixed and held out his fist for a pound it. "Man, that was a tough one."

Ladybug held her breath, when Chat was trying to purify the akuma. She was able to breath again, when she returned to her body. "Tell me about it." She returned his pound it. "I should have just cataclysm the ground the first time instead of trying for the wand." Ladybug then heard a beep from both of their miraculous. "Welp, got to go!" She then took off with her yoyo and made her way back home.

She landed on her roof deck and returned back to Marinette. Both her and Tikki quickly went inside to avoid the cold. "Oh, man that was close."

"You're not bad a Chat Noir," Tikki said with a giggle.

"Thanks," Marinette said and laugh as well.

"So what did you think of Plagg?" Tikki asked. She was curious since Marinette had to threaten him. 

"He is such a spoil brat. What do you see in him?"

Tikki just smiled. "There's more to him than meets the eye."

"Whatever you say," Marinette said and went down to the lower level of her room.

Chat headed back towards the park as quickly as possible. He had no idea if Gorilla was still waiting at this point, but hopefully...  If not he'd either have to walk home or call and apologize for disappearing.  He hoped this wouldn't lead to his driver being fired. 

He detransformed behind a large tree after looking out for people and headed into the opposite entrance of the park so he could come out in the same area he originally went in.  He stopped by the bathroom to check his face from Ladybug's face plant and found a few scratches on his cheeks.  Adrien quickly washed his face, to get any dirt off before heading out to the park entrance.  He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the car was still there. Gorilla looked just as relieved to see him finally return.

"Hey, sorry... I didn't feel good..." He said. It was a flimsy excuse since he was gone for at least a few hours. For all he knew, his driver had gone looking for him and found nothing.

Gorilla just stared at him for a moment before shaking his and opening the car door.  "Get in. Mr. Agreste wants to see both of us in his office as soon as possible."

Adrien frowned and got in. Gorilla was always the silent stoic type, but Adrien thought he saw a hint of worry in the man's eyes. He wasn't sure if his father called or texted his driver, but it was clear the he was pissed and both of them were going to get yelled at.

When they arrived, he followed Gorilla to his father's office and slowly entered. His father gave him a hard stare, and Adrien was sure he noticed the scrapes on his face. "Where have you been?" he asked sternly.

"I felt sick on the way home and asked if we could stop at the park since they have bathrooms. I'm sorry... I should have tried to make it home," Adrien answered.

His father stared at him for a long moment, and Adrien fidgeted in his seat. Why was he staring for so long?  Then Gabriel spoke, "How did you get those scratches on your face?"

"I fell on my way to the bathroom. I felt dizzy," he answered.

"I see." Gabriel turned to his driver, "Ray, from now on you will not stop on your way driving Adrien to and from school. I don't care what the reason is. I want him home on schedule everyday."  He turned back to Adrien, "And you are grounded for the week. You will go to and from school without stopping, and you will not see Marinette outside of school. Do both of you understand?"

"Yes sir," Gorilla said.

"Understood," Adrien answered with a frown. This was fair, but it would make getting away to fight akumas even harder. Not to mention the fact he couldn't hang out with Marinette until the week was over.

"Good.  You're both excused.  I expect you to go straight to your room, Adrien."

Adrien nodded and both he and his driver left the room.

Gabriel watched them leave, tapping a finger against his desk. Chat Noir joined the fight in the park. Chat Noir (technically Ladybug) face planted. The time between getting from the park to home was about the amount of time he suspected Chat Noir would take to do so after the fight.

"Something wrong, Gabe?" Lycca asked, pulling Gabriel from his thoughts.

"No," Gabriel answered.  There was no way a string of coincidences was proof of anything.  There was no way Adrien and Chat Noir were related.

The next day at school and Marinette walked into her classroom. She was greeted by Alya and she took her seat. As they talked their classmates were filing in and of course the trending topic between them was the akuma fight from yesterday. Alya posted on her blog about it last night (and of course had great detail thanks to Marinette). Marinette couldn't help, but smile. Her classmates were impressed that her and Chat could still fight despite the odds. Adrien came in and Marinette greeted him.

Before she could say anything else Alya noticed something. "Hey, Adrien what happened to your face?" Marinette looked puzzled.

Since their attention was on Adrien they didn't notice Bridgette took her seat. She got out a bottle of up nail polish out of her purse and started to paint her nails. A look of annoyance appeared on her face as her classmates kept taking about Ladybug and Chat Noir. When Chloe decided to partake in the conversation, Bridgette just smirked. The two went way back. Both of their mothers were friends. When they were little, both their mothers hoped they would be friends. It never happened. "If you ask me Pairs is better off without those dweebs." Bridgette looked directly at Chloe.

Chloe's right eye twitched. She knew she was doing this get on her nerves. Most of the upper class kids knew Chloe was a huge a fan of Ladybug. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." She blew on the nails she just painted before moving on to the next hand.

"Well, you're wrong." Chloe crossed her arms.

"Ha! Like you would know. Ladybug and Chat Noir don't care about the akuma victims at all."

All eyes were on the both girls. Marinette was biting her lip. She wanted to defend her and Chat, but it would make it too obvious. 

"Uh, yeah they do," Alya spoke up. She looked mad.

"You're that girl who runs the Ladyblog?" Bridgette asked Alya. Her attention was now her.

"Yes," Alya replied and looked proud. 

"What a pathetic attempt at journalism. You should stick to a more realistic goal if your journalism is your dream."

"What did you say?!" Alya stood up with her fists clenched. Marinette quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

Bridgette smirked.

"Just ignore her, Alya," Chloe talked. "At least you have something going. Miss air head over there has nothing to fall back on, when her modeling career is over." Alya looked over at the blond shocked that she stood up for her.

"Yeah and being daddy's little girl is so much better," Bridgette snapped back returning her attention to Chloe. She then blew on the hand she just painted.

"Looks who talking mama's girl. The only reason anyone puts up with you is because of your mother."

Bridgette was shaking in anger.

"I'm surprise she able to get you enrolled here seeing how all the private schools in the country have kicked you out."

"Enough!" Marinette shouted. Both girls looked at her. Marinette laughed sheepishly. She didn't think that would work. She just wanted to stop the fight before someone got hurt or akumatize. "Can't we just get along?"

"No," both girls said in unison. Luckily their teacher walked in and class begun.

Adrien smiled, trying to look embarrassed when Alya asked about his face. "I tripped when going up the stairs last night and ended up face planting. I should have been more careful."  He hoped that was an adequate excuse since he had left school with his driver like usual.  There wouldn't have been a chance to face plant into concrete.

His attention drifted back to the conversations around them as Bridgette insulted Ladybug and Chat Noir for not caring about the akuma victims. That was completely wrong. Of course they cared about the victims.  He wasn't surprised Alya, being the school's authority on all things Ladybug, spoke up in their defense.  

Thankfully, the fight couldn't escalate as Marinette stepped in.  The small distraction was all that was needed to break up the fight, even if Chloe and Bridgette answered with a no since class began.  

After school, there was another akuma attack.  Thankfully, it happened before he met up with Gorilla. He would get extra time being grounded, but Gorilla wouldn't have to fear for his job since Adrien would just disappear.

The akuma itself was not that powerful or dangerous.  Some kids were terrorizing a fruit stand owner, so the akuma basically threw various fruits at them while yelling about how much he hated teenagers. The yellow apple in the mounds of green and red was easy to pinpoint as the object, and they were able to destroy it with no problem.  He didn't even need to use cataclysm.

He and Ladybug separated. She used Lucky Charm so she would detransform in the next five minutes. Chat used the extra time in his superhero form to head towards home despite the possibility Gorilla might still be waiting. There was no reason a kid who sneaked off after school would return to get a ride later.

He was halfway home when he saw Alya walking down the street.  She looked frustrated, and he realized she must have missed the akuma attack for one reason or another.  There was no other way she could have been all the way over here if she was at the attack and left on foot. 

He smiled.  Maybe he could cheer her up.  He quickly dropped down in front of her and gave her a confident grin. "Hey. You're Alya, right?  The girl who runs the Ladyblog.  Ladybug told me you were looking to interview me. Maybe that would be a good story since you weren't able to be at the akuma attack today. You didn't miss much. Just some rotten tomatoes being thrown around."

Alya looked shock to see Chat Noir right in front of her. She returned his smile. Ladybug told him, huh? She would have to fact check with Marinette. "Yes, I would love to." She got out her phone and hit record. She then turned the camera to face her. "What's up Paris? Alya here with a special interview with Chat Noir!" She then turned the camera on him. "Since the akuma fight today was weak how about we talk about you? Pairs barely knows anything about you. What are your interests?"

Chat thought about the question for a moment.  Obviously, he couldn't give her anything too concrete.  Personal details were too dangerous to give away at the drop of a hat.  He gave her a mischievous grin as he answered, "Ah, you know. Saving Paris, fighting alongside Ladybug, scaling buildings, and jumping over rooftops.  You have no idea how thrilling it is to be able to traverse the length of Paris in under ten minutes. It's even great for stress relief."

He leaned against his staff as he spoke, completely relaxed. "Does that answer your question?"