Paw Problems

A Day at the Zoo

The zoo in Paris had hardly seen better weather, the sun shining and the breeze comfortable to both the animals and their visitors. The district was likely patting themselves on the back for their rather unoriginal yet well received field trip idea for their freshman class. Old enough to let them go without a chaperone, and young enough not to mind wasting a school day roaming the cages.

Ms. Bustier had barely finished reminding everyone to meet by the front gates at noon for lunch when they all split up into their groups, wandering off and leaving any school staff left in sight far behind. Nathanael slipped away quietly without anyone noticing, Alix resting her hands behind her head and strutting off with a nature that proclaimed her to be too aloof to care much about anything one way or the other. The rest paired off with their usual counterparts, Nino gravitating towards Adrien, Alya and Marinette close by, Kim and Max making a b-line for the more interesting creatures while Sabrina and Chloe went one way and Mylene and Ivan went another.

"Are we really going to be here the whole day?" Alya was saying, the boys approaching and joining the conversation while it was still new. "I mean it's already ten but the zoo isn't all that big and the only new thing is the panthers. We'll be done way before the four hours is up."

"Better than spending it in school," Marinette said with a shrug, looking up with slightly wider eyes when the boys joined.

"Couldn't agree more," Adrien announced with enthusiasm, looking around him as if to thank the day for being so nice.

"You look jazzed," Nino commented with a chuckle, "how long has your dad had you locked up?"

Adrien groaned, and the group smothered a laugh. "It's been nothing but shoots for days now, trust me I really needed this. No work, just walking around in the sunshine."

"Welp, I know I'd definitely take this over sitting in a desk any day so it's cool with me," Nino said mid-stretch, looking fairly pleased himself. Everyone looked pretty comfortable, the girls wearing shorts and breezy shirts, Nino with an uncharacteristic tank top and cargo short combo and Adrien shedding his usual white over shirt, just looking happy to wear something he had picked out himself.

Adrien took a deep breath as the others chatted idly, trailing behind them as they picked a random direction and started to head further inside. It was such a relief, this trip. Finally something relaxing... his father had been wearing him thin, even more so than usual. It had been a long time since he had the opportunity to just go out with his friends even if this was still a school trip. Ahead of him Alya scoffed, rolling her eyes while Marinette and Nino laughed at something he hadn't heard, and he smiled. It was such a good natural feeling, the joy of people. He had for so long only understood loneliness. Now he understood togetherness as well...

And it felt good.

"Bro," Nino got his attention, halting his movement for a second to fall in step with him. "Back me up. Observatories are lame, zoos are awesome. Yes?"

"They aren't lame!" Marinette said indignantly, crossing her arms and pouting a little when Alya laughed this time. "And I never said anything against zoos. One doesn't have to be lame for the other to be cool."

"I think both are great," Adrien said neutrally, Nino scowling while Marinette grinned happily. He watched the two of them get in an fight over what sort of field trips were superior and he chuckled to himself as they got into it. The four of them made it to the first exhibit by the time Nino had made the argument that astronomy trips were inherently more education, and thus inferior, to which Marinette countered that education didn't mean bad.

"It just means boring," Nino said with a roll of the eyes, waltzing lazily up to the first cage to read the sign. "The Feather-Tailed Glider," he announced, "indigenous to eastern and south-eastern Australia, growing up to three inches in length and only weighing five ounces."