"Boys to the back," the teacher called out as Adrien and Nino walked into the lower floor of the school. The 10th grade class was having a school sleepover as their reward for city clean-up day, but that didn't mean they had free run of the school. That would be irresponsible.
Adrien and Nino made their way toward the stairs to set up "base" hidden away slightly. Kim, Max, and Nathanaël were slightly grouped together, though there were clear aisles between their sleeping bags. Other boys were slightly grouped around each other by social groups, but none of them were nearly as close as the girls.
Adrien could see from the girls' side of the gym that they were almost all in one big pile. Little tents were constructed out of blankets and chairs and sleeping bags were zipped together to create big beds. The only ones that weren't with the others were-
"Honestly, they expect me to sleep on the floor?" Chloe fussed as she sauntered in, waving off the call to stay toward the front of the gym. Sabrina ran in behind her with an air mattress in her arms. She threw it down and set it up before moving on to her own sleeping bag. "This is so dumb!"
"You didn't have to come, y'know," Alya said with a snarl.
"If I didn't then who would be here to run this place?" Chloe asked.
"Maybe our actual class president?" Alya suggested, crossing her arms. Marinette yanked the girl down, telling her it wasn't worth it.
Adrien looked over to Nino, who just rolled his eyes and shrugged. No one was much for sleeping on the floor, especially when that floor was concrete, but did Chloe really think they would be sleeping all that much? Yeah right! Adrien unzipped his bag, figuring that they'd all go get changed soon. Of course, he forgot about Plagg being right on top.
There was a quick moment of panic as Adrien tried to hide the kwami, flailing as he jumped in front of Nino's line of vision. That's when Plagg stirred from his sleeping place and the rank odor of moldy cheese wafted up to Adrien's nose. "Agh!" he coughed and pinched his nose, attracting Nino's attention quickly.
"Bro, you OK?" the other boy asked.
"Yeah, I'm totally fine!" Adrien reassured, waving off the concern. Plagg blinked up at him, grinning evilly at the happy coincidence. Adrien rolled his eyes and leaned over the bag to whisper to his kwami. "Plagg, you can't just stay here like this, our bags are gonna be searched in a few minutes!"
"Well, what do you want me to do?" Plagg whined quietly. Adrien looked up, trying to think of something he could do with the little cat until it was safe. Marinette! Surely she had Tikki; a spontaneous "playdate" should be fine, right?
"C'mon," Adrien mumbled. He picked up the kwami and tried to hold him in the most unsuspicious way he could to get to the other side of the gym.
"I'd take off your shoes if you're going to talk to Marinette and Alya," Nino warned.
Adrien froze and spun, tossing his arms behind himself. "What?" he yelped before realizing what Nino had said. "Oh, yeah, shoes!" he laughed awkwardly, making sure Plagg had ahold of his belt before yanking off his shoes. He snatched the kwami and took off, thanking Nino for the heads-up. Luckily when Adrien reached the girls' side, Alya was in the bathroom and Marinette was not. It would be a lot easier to explain without having to codename the kwami something Marinette wouldn't understand.
"Marinette!" he called. The girl smiled and waved so he jogged over, dropping down onto a stuffed unicorn's nose. "I need to leave Plagg over here; there's nowhere for him to hide in my stuff, and I don't need a teacher to find him when they search our bags," Adrien explained.
"That's fine, Tikki's under my pillow. It's the duck one," Marinette leaned over to pull back a blanket curtain for Adrien.
"I'll be back for him later, promise," Adrien said as he got to his feet.
