Hi again! I'm sorry this chapter took forever but I had all my deadlines in the last two weeks and I've just gotten home... I have a lot of writing to catch up on so I should get a lot done over the holidays! Please enjoy and review!

This had to be the worst idea he had ever had in his life. No actually, this had to be the worst idea anyone had thought of in all of mankind. That was the only thing Nathanaël could think as he rounded the corner and saw the large white hotel building rearing up in front of him. It was truly an architectural beauty, he might have wanted to draw it if he hadn't felt so nervous. The creamy stone building stood proudly in the dimming sunlight, decorated all over with carved pillars and each arched window was sheltered by a red cover that shielded the little balcony underneath. It was easily the height of luxury- and he was currently thinking of ways to try and bluff his way inside.

He paused in front of it, hugging his books closer to his chest like they had a chance of protecting him. He didn't stand a chance of getting in there, surely? This was the hotel in Paris where all the celebrities stayed, where politicians had their parties and where the rich came to unwind and see the sights. He had just walked out of school and was still in his purple jacket and scuffed trainers. His trousers even had a large ink stain on one leg and he rubbed at it nervously, suddenly wishing he had gone to change at home before doing this. Yep, he thought as he looked back up at the building. This was definitely not his best idea.

The evening light was sparkling off the hundreds of windows and he felt almost mocked as they twinkled at him innocently. How had he ended up here? This surely wasn't going to work. The last time he had been inside that building, he had been akumatised and trying to get back at the girl who had angered him that much. And now he was back again looking for answers… and it all came back to that same girl. He frowned. Chloe's behaviour at school just hadn't made sense. She had had prime blackmail material at her fingertips yet she hadn't even shown it to Sabrina… it was like she had wanted it all to herself. What was up with that? Had she saved it just to use it at a later date when he wasn't suspecting it? These questions hadn't left him alone all day, it had felt like he was constantly being poked. He steeled himself back up as he looked up at the hotel again. He wasn't going to back out now that he had finally got here.

He took a deep breath and walked towards the entrance. The sight of the grand golden spinning doors made him gulp but he still somehow forced his legs to move, trying to look as casual as possible. Act like you do this all the time, he thought. Just make it natural…

He was almost at the doors when suddenly a figure in a deep pink uniform stepped in front of him. He looked up nervously to see a pair of eyes shielded with glasses were practically grilling him on the spot with a strict suspicious look. He didn't know how he kept himself from bolting as the surprise nearly made him drop his books. Somehow, he managed to meet the man's eyes, keeping an innocent expression on his face as the man spoke.

"What business do you have here young man? You don't look like one of our clientele." He leaned in over Nathanaël, clearly attempting to intimidate him as he gave a sniff. Nathanaël suddenly forgot to be nervous as he found himself offended. Maybe he wasn't the most fashionable but that doesn't mean the man had to sniff him like he walked out of a rubbish dump.

"I'm here to see Chloe Bourgeois." He replied. "She's a classmate of mine. We're meant to be working on something together in class but she accidentally took both our notes… I'm here to collect them."

The lie flowed off his tongue almost too easily; he wondered if that was a bad thing but for now he was too relieved to care. The guarded man leant back a little, his face still wary.

"Miss Bourgeois never mentioned this to me. Does she know you're coming?"

"No," Nathanaël said effortlessly though his nerves were started to creep back the longer he kept talking. "I only realised I didn't have my notes when I left school just now. I was hoping to quickly pop in and collect them; I wouldn't want to neglect my studies because that would reflect badly on both of us." He finished by giving a smile and the man visibly relaxed. Wow, he thought, if Madame Bustier had seen that, she would have signed me up for the drama club.

"OK, that seems fair," The doorman straightened up. "I do pity you though. We've had some of her other school partners come here to work over the years and it's never been pleasant for them. She threw a proper tantrum at one poor girl- it took weeks to return that room to normal." He openly shuddered and Nathanaël felt a jolt of panic in his stomach. What was with this crazy girl? She sounded like a psychopath! And he was really entering her room? He must be insane! "Anyway, she should be upstairs in her private suite. It's the one on the top floor, first door coming out of the lift. Do you want me to buzz up and tell her you're here?"

"No!" Nathanaël answered quickly, his voice going louder and more high-pitched. The guard gave him an odd look and he quickly had to give another smile and calm back down. "No please, don't trouble yourself. I only want to get the notes, I don't her to feel like she has to entertain me or anything."

The doorman gave him another strange look and for a moment Nathanaël thought he was done for, but then the man surprised him by giving a chuckle.

"Can't blame you for that," He eventually said, opening the door and letting Nathanaël pass through. "Nobody wants to spend too long in that girl's company, she's a real piece of work. No wonder she doesn't have any real friends."

Nathanaël was about to breathe a sigh of relief but those words made him stop. He knew what Chloe was like and had borne the brunt of her actions many times before but to hear from her father's own staff that the girl was close to unlikable was still pretty sad. As he made his very through the richly-decorated hotel lobby towards the lift, he pondered the man's use of the term 'real friends.' It didn't take a genius to work out Sabrina was more of a worshipper and a servant than a friend but wasn't she meant to be close to Adrien? She was always talking about him so he had just assumed they were close…

His thoughts were halted when he was confronted by the gold front of the lifts and the giant pad of buttons that flanked its side. He stared at the thing in horror. The pad was the size of a computer keyboard but it had nearly twice as many buttons. How on earth did anyone get anywhere in this place?

OK, relax, he told himself, anxiously trying not to drop his books and draw attention to himself. The doorman said her suite was on the top floor, so it stands to reason it would be the top button. He looked up at the point of the pad and, sure enough, the top button had been marked with a swirling pink C.

I wonder what the other guests think when their room is on the top floor, Nathanaël wondered with a smile as he pressed it and the lift doors opened at once with a soft chiming sound. Do they have to pay more for the privilege of staying closer to the owner's daughter? The thought made him chuckle as he walked in and the doors slowly shut. He found himself suddenly encased in gold and he got a creeping feeling it was trapping him inside. He could feel the lift start to move and his chest tightened, making him feel like he was trapped in a vice.

Don't panic now, he told himself firmly, remembering to take long slow breaths like his mother had taught him. He kept his eyes focused on the dot of light in front of him, refusing to be swamped by his nerves now as it slid further and further up, indicating what floors they were passing. You're so nearly there. You just have to go in, get the drawing and then stroll back out again. It will be easy as pie.

Thankfully, the lift didn't stop at any other floors and when the doors opened with the same soft chime, the corridor before him was empty. Hesitantly, he stepped out of the lift, his head darting around to see if anyone was approaching. Once he was satisfied he was the only one there, he hastily piled all his books in his already bulging schoolbag before he made a dash for the nearest wall and hugged it close as he inched forwards.

This is ridiculous! He told himself as he carried on moving along the wall, his back pressed so close to it, he wondered if the pattern of the wallpaper would rub off on his jacket. You're not in a spy movie! Still, despite the logical part of his brain screaming at him, he didn't move away as he rounded the corner and was suddenly confronted with a long stretch of white doors. They were all identical and edged with gold and his jaw dropped open at how many there were. How the heck was he supposed to find Chloe's suite out of all these?

Pushing himself to keep moving, he made his way down the corridor. Chloe's suite will probably be away from the rest of the hotel rooms, he thought, examining the doors and seeing they had room numbers on them. Knowing her, she'll have it marked so it should be easy to find. Trying to relax again, he made his way further and further into the bowels of the hotel, the twists and turns of the corridor almost feeling like a maze that he was steadily losing himself in. With every step, he felt more unnerved as the only thing he could hear was the rhymical thumping of his schoolbag bashing against his knees as it swung from his shoulder. Several times, he thought he heard voices and threw himself round a corner to hide, only to realise they were from a long way away or from inside a room with a closed door. He had always been easy to scare, he still jumped every time he was called on class but this was taking it to a whole new level and by the time he reached the last door, his nerves felt like they had been shot.

The door at the very end was bigger than all the others and had been painted with so much gold, the white was barely visible among its sheen. The knocker had been shaped to look like a swan and, to Nathanaël's relief, he could see the word Chloe had been stamped on the door in pink, directly at his eye level so he couldn't have missed it if he tried. He stared at it half in amazement. He hadn't even considered the possibility he would get this far. He had been certain some more staff would have seen him and hauled him away yet here he was standing outside the door of his classmate, about to go inside.

He could feel his hand trembling again as he reached out for the knocker; he was almost scared to touch it in case it disintegrated under his palm. His mind flicked back to the last time he had been in this room, under the influence of Hawkmoth and using the powers he had been granted to destroy the room and get revenge on Chloe. The thought almost made him feel sick now. Even though he couldn't remember that night, he still felt guilty over it. Maybe that's why she picks on me, he thought sadly. If that was the reason, I can't really blame her. For a moment, he was tempted to turn back, not wanting to see the inside of that room again and feel the flood of memories it would bring back but something compelled him to push his hand forwards that final inch and turn the knocker. He had to get that drawing back, even if it was just so Chloe couldn't use it as ammunition against him.

He poked his head through the gap and looked around the room; it seemed empty and the deafening silence indicated that Chloe wasn't there hiding in another room that he couldn't see. Letting out a long slow breath that he didn't realise he had been holding in, he slipped the rest of his body through the door and gently closed it. It barely made a sound as it shut and he gave another relieved sigh before he turned to look around the room. It hadn't changed at all from the last time he had been there; his first thought was that it looked like any of the other luxury suites in the hotel. It was still overwhelmingly pink with the giant pink sofa in the centre of the room, the lounging pink chair that reminded him slightly of a deckchair around a pool and billowing silk curtains separating the two parts of the suite. There was the same table with a jar of roses balanced on top though there were so many of the blooms stuffed in the neck of the vase, it didn't look like it stood still be upright. The wall behind them was entirely glass, giving him the best view of Paris he had ever seen and Nathanaël could already feel his fingers itching to sketch it down but he knew he had to hurry. He couldn't see the drawing anywhere and he knew he was running out of time; it wouldn't be long before Chloe or some other member of staff came in and he would be done for.

He started to meticulously search the room, careful to touch as few things as possible so nothing would be seen as out of place. As he looked around, he could see traces of Chloe dotted through the room that somehow made it less like a regular hotel suite and more like her own room. Under the pink lounge chair, there was a Ladybug rug with her symbol on it and that for some reason made him smile- he had known she was a fan but he hadn't realised she was this obsessed. There was other Ladybug merchandise on a chest of drawers, among them the print-out of a selfie where Chloe was posed with the heroine of Paris herself. Nathanaël stopped to admire it, picking it up carefully so it didn't rumple the edges. It showed Chloe pulling her usual duck-like pout at the camera, her arm forcibly hooked around the shoulders of Ladybug, pushing back her dark pigtails in the process. Chloe looked overjoyed but Ladybug's expression almost made his heart sink. Her face was held in a frustrated grimace and he could tell from the way she was rolling her shoulder that the second after the photo had been taken, she had thrown her arm away and rushed off. Even Ladybug doesn't like her much, he thought. That's really sad, considering she is her biggest fan and the one she has to keep saving. He began to wonder if anyone really liked Chloe except for her father and honestly, he didn't seem to be around her much…

Don't get distracted! His brain huffed at him. You aren't here to feel sad for her, she deserves it anyway from the way she treats people! You need to find that drawing! Remember?! That's the whole reason you're here, not to snoop around!

Right, he thought putting the photo back down quickly. He swept over the room again but still there was nothing. That must mean the sheet is in her bedroom. He looked over at the silk curtain and gulped. Walking into this room had been difficult enough; walking into her bedroom felt like an even worse prospect. That was even more private than this room and what if she was asleep inside? These thoughts rushed through his head in a mad haze, almost making him dizzy. He gripped his head between his hands, his fingers so tightly woven into his hair, it felt like he would never pull them free. He made his chest heave steadily again, feeling the movement relax him slightly as he took a few uneasy steps towards the curtain. There was no other thing for it. He had to take a look inside.

Freeing his hands from his tangle of red hair, he brushed at the curtain, sweeping it aside and exposing Chloe's bedroom. He winced as he yanked it away fully, expecting to hear a scream but there was nothing; again, he was lucky and the room was mercifully empty. Almost ready to faint from relief, he gave a quick scan of the room and saw it was just as luxurious as the other room, only this seemed a little more personal. The room was still blindingly pink with the biggest bed he had ever seen positioned in the middle of the room, covered in a mountain of pillows that were mostly Ladybug themed. There were also some posters of the superhero on one wall but on the whole they were bare. He couldn't see any photos of her or her family or anybody in fact. That seemed strange to Nathanaël- his room was tiny compared to this, the box room of his house but it was full to bursting of his own personal things. His walls were plastered with photos of him and his mum, some of his drawings he was particularly fond of, postcards from holidays and leaflets from art galleries… He barely had enough space for it all yet here was a room that was so much bigger that reminded him of a blank canvas. He took another few steps inside, scared that his movement would trigger some sort of alarm but that didn't happen and his shoulders sagged.

OK, he thought. Time to find that drawing.

He looked around, expecting to have to closely examine the room to find it. What he didn't expect was to turn around and see it staring him in the face. He jumped back in shock, almost falling onto the bed as he stared at the small section of wall next to it. A large corkboard had been pinned up there and dead in the centre of it was his sketch of Chloe. The face in the picture seemed to be staring at him intrigued as his legs dragged him closer to it until he was standing directly in front of it. He could hardly believe his eyes. Not only had she kept it but she had put it in a place of honour? Was he going insane? His hand reached out and stroked the paper as if he had to prove to himself that it was real. Then, he stepped back and saw the rest of the corkboard and his jaw dropped open when he saw what else was pinned there.

Dozens of other sheets of paper looked back at him, fluttering slightly at the corners where they had been stuck there firmly with brightly coloured pins. Each one had a ripped edge where it had been torn from a notebook and each one had a drawing on it. He could recognise each one instantly; one was of their classroom that he had drawn one rainy day, another was of some fruit that had been arranged in a way he had liked, another was a landscape of some fields he had seen on one holiday. There were others he had copied countless times, inferior clones of drawings he had since perfected whilst others were experiments he had tried and then discarded… it was like seeing a collage of his own art and style. He could see some that he had done ages ago, where the lines weren't as clean and the drawings were more scratchy. His eyes widened at the spectrum of it all. How… how did she have all this? Most of these were sketches he couldn't remember, ones he had tossed away long ago… and Chloe Bourgeois had them?

He was so dumbfounded, it didn't hear a door open behind him as his luck ran out.

"Hey! What are you doing in my room?!"