Sometimes, Marinette mused, the biggest push towards publicly identifying herself as Ladybug was the possibility of days off school.
Then again, class was a welcome distraction today. For the fourth night in a row, sleep was elusive, slipping away for good as the dawning sun began to shine through her windows. After pacing the length of her bedroom for an hour, cleaning the bakery display cases and staring blankly at her sketchbook, Marinette had arrived at school early, for once. Kim and Alix gaped at her as they fell into the classroom, out of breath from their usual morning wrestling match in the hallway. Any jokes about her uncharacteristic punctuality, however, were cut off as Alya dropped onto the bench beside Marinette, greeting her with a light kiss.
"Friday, you looked like you were about to keel over. You didn't answer ANY of my texts this weekend, and today, not only do you look like a raccoon again, but you're early. Who do I have to fight?"
Marinette rested her head against Alya's shoulder, burying her face in soft red hair. "You don't need to fight anyone. I - I just had nightmares."
As Marinette breathed in the calming scents of coconut and fresh laundry, Nino and Adrien walked into the classroom. Marinette pulled away from Alya for a moment to allow her to greet her boyfriend.
"Hey." Adrien smiled at her. He looked better than she felt - at least until she noticed traces of foundation hurriedly streaked under his eyes and his absentminded fidgeting.
"Morning. How-how are you?" The familiar greeting felt both distant and intimate. Yesterday, while sitting on Master Fu's couch, they decided not to draw attention to themselves by with a sudden public relationship shift. After all, Gabriel still didn't know Marinette was Ladybug, and would no doubt be keeping close, suspicious watch over his son. Paranoid? Maybe. But Marinette was not willing to risk her family and friends, and Adrien agreed.
He shrugged noncommittally in response to her question, but his face told her everything. Without thinking, Marinette put a hand on his shoulder as he sat down in front of her, trying to reassure her partner. Adrien jumped slightly before pushing lightly against her palm, back arching like an affectionate cat demanding to be petted, and she surprised herself with a quiet laugh.
Alya stared at them in complete and utter shock - she couldn't have been more surprised if Marinette had transformed into Ladybug right then and there. Marinette's cell phone vibrated with a deluge of texts from Alya as Ms. Bustier called the class to attention.
I was so proud of you for graduating to WHOLE SENTENCES
and now there's shoulder touching
Explain ?
You're sleeping over at my place tonight
you will tell me everything
And if you have another nightmare I will PUNCH IT IN THE FACE
because this is obviously messing you up enough to make you have a normal human exchange with Boy Wonder
and INITIATING PHYSICAL CONTACT
Alya's insatiable curiosity never failed to cheer her up, even when it was inconvenient. The messages continued to pour in, and Marinette quickly silenced her phone to stem the incessant buzz. Her gaze shifted to Adrien's blond hair, and she nearly screamed with frustration. He was so close, but they couldn't risk drawing attention to themselves with plans and plotting. She had to find an excuse for them to spend time together, alone.
After what felt like days, class finally ended and the students were dismissed for their lunch period. Marinette stopped Adrien as he stood up from the desk.
"Hey, uh. So. I was... I've been trying to learn some Chinese to surprise my mom on her birthday, and I was wondering if you could maybe help?" She maintained eye contact, fighting the reflexive blush that washed over her face. Learning that Adrien and Chat Noir were the same person had shocked the stuttering and embarrassment right out of her mind, but evidently her body was going to take a while to come to terms with the whole situation.
His expression changed from bewilderment to comprehension as Marinette raised her eyebrows meaningfully.
"Sure, I'd love to! I can come over to your place after school today."
Nino and Alya peered through the large windows separating the hallway and classroom before turning to each other in astonishment, eyes wide as saucers.
Adrien stood outside the school, waiting for the car to arrive and carry him the three blocks home for lunch. The short drives always made him feel silly and wasteful, but he didn't protest; he was already pushing his luck while he waited on tenterhooks for his father to confront him.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Nino pouted at his friend. "Marinette's mom always makes quiche on Mondays."
"Sorry, I have piano lessons tomorrow and I haven't practiced since last week. Thanks, though!" Lying still felt wrong – though it was true that he'd been sorely neglecting his music practice – and Adrien bit his lip to quell the nausea of guilt that rose in his throat as Nino, Alya and Marinette crossed the street. At the same time, he was relieved to escape two hours of questioning. He winced when Marinette cast a plaintive look over her shoulder as he clambered into the silver car, and reminded himself to get the details of the story she told Alya and Nino. Nothing would make them more suspicious than conflicting information, and he was fully expecting to be grilled repeatedly over the next few days.
But this was an opportunity he couldn't miss.
Agreste Fashion's top executives gathered every Monday, meeting with Gabriel himself to discuss whatever crises had arisen over the past week. Adrien had never been sure what these crises were, and never curious enough to ask – his only interest now was the period of three or so hours this afternoon in which his father would be seated in a five star restaurant surrounded by cowering employees… safely away from the mansion.
Gabriel had not spoken a word to him since Adrien had arrived home early Sunday morning, after he made his way through back entrances and skirted security cameras to slip into his room. When Nathalie called to wake him up for Chinese lessons, there was no hint of suspicion or mention of an unscheduled meeting with his father. Monsieur Agreste had more important things to worry about, it seemed; or maybe he just didn't want to confront his son and remember how he'd left Adrien fading, soaked in blood, on the chapel's stone floor.
No, that would require a heart.
He had no doubts that his father knew exactly who Chat Noir was, or had been – the crumbling walls of Église des Anges were probably composed of equal amounts stone and top-of-the-line cameras.
Adrien yanked open the door after car pulled through the huge iron gates that separated the Agreste mansion from the outside world, barely waiting for the vehicle to stop, and ran inside.
Instead of entering the spacious piano room, Adrien carefully checked for housekeeping staff before slipping into the security office attached to the entrance hall. Screens displaying the various security feeds were scattered throughout the house, but they only showed current footage. Adrien, however, was looking for something else as he logged into the computer, using Nathalie's password gleaned from an evening of snooping the day before, and opened the folder containing the video from Saturday night. He selected a file labeled office_ga1, fast forwarding through several hours until a flicker of motion appeared in the corner of the screen.
The camera, fixed on the portrait of Mrs. Agreste, showed the figure of Gabriel pacing in and out of the mechanical field of view, halting with each rotation – Adrien assumed he was looking at the computer on his desk, which was just out of the frame – before the designer pulled himself to his full height and began to speak to the apparently empty room. For the first time, Adrien wished the surveillance software was equipped to pick up sound.
After several minutes of silently moving lips, Gabriel pulled the portrait aside and opened the safe hidden behind it. His movements were hidden as he faced away from the camera, but Adrien recognized the motions as he removed something from the breast of the immaculate white suit jacket. The boy's stomach dropped when Gabriel pulled a silver ring from his left hand.
He didn't know why his father would leave not one, but two, miraculous items in his office, but it didn't matter at the moment.
Plagg was here.
Not that the knowledge in itself did either of them any good. Even if Adrien could open the safe without Plagg's help, and even if the oversight that had allowed them to delete the evidence of his previous break-in had not been quickly corrected, his father would know exactly who had been in the safe. Adrien would deal with the consequences without a moment's hesitation… if he could actually get his ring back. Blowing the heroes' one advantage without the slimmest chance of success wasn't an option, and no matter how tempting it was, he couldn't charge in on a dramatic rescue mission.
However… Maybe Ladybug's kwami could help. He filed the thought away to be discussed with Marinette that afternoon. It would still be difficult, and dangerous, but for the first time since Saturday night, Adrien felt a glimmer of hope.