"You disobeyed a direct order, Adrien."

Adrien looked at his feet solemnly. He swallowed back the excuse that he so desperately wanted to spit at his father.

Gabriel Agreste moved a cup on his desk and pressed his fingers together, giving his son a cold glare. "I told you to stay in sight of the runway," he reprimanded. "And yet you disappeared quickly after we were done. Tell me…"

Adrien held his tongue.

"How hard is it for you to follow my orders?"

"Not very, father," Adrien relented quietly.

"Then why didn't you listen?"

"I...I don't know, father."

"Adrien, this requires a punishment, you know that, right?" Gabriel sat back and Adrien shuffled his feet.

"I know."

"You'll receive more homework the next few days and a more tightly packed schedule," Gabriel addressed. "Try and manage your time well, Adrien. Maybe then you'll follow orders better."

"Yes, father."

"Dismissed. And close the door on the way out. I have work to do."

Adrien nodded weakly and left the room, closing the door silently on his way. He sighed and made his way to his room, shutting himself in.

Again.

His phone buzzed with a text from Nino: 'Hey, heard there was an akuma attack at the show, dude.'

Adrien stared at his messages for a moment before smiling a little and replying. 'Did Alya tell you that?'

'I have my sources

'You doing ok?'

'With the akuma? Ya, im fine. But my father gave me extra work cuz I "didn't stay in sight of the catwalk"'

'Ew, bro that sucks

'Wanna have an actual convo about this thru phone call?'

'Father might catch me'

'Oh yeah

'Well, check the Ladyblog then. Alya got some vids of Ladybug yesterday'

'Cool, thanks, Nino.'

'No prob. See u tomorrow.'

Adrien put his phone down and hesitated before turning on his computer and checking the Ladyblog for those videos. He found a couple short ones of him and Ladybug engaged in banter, one long one of Ladybug with him in the background fighting the akuma, and then…

He could feel his heart swelling in his chest. Alya'd uploaded the video of him as Chat consoling Ladybug about the fight.

Of course, he'd been there so he knew what happened, but he wanted to watch it again. That was such a big advancement for their friendship and it gave him some hope for the future. It also showed him just how fragile Ladybug was under the mask.

She'd been able to shrug off insults in the past because she had absolute certainty that they weren't true. But nobody had ever called her useless, especially with that much conviction. And it hit her hard, he could tell.

Adrien paused the video suddenly as he was considering this. What if the reason it got to her was…Ladybug really thought she was useless as a civilian? And Hawkmoth knew this?

He frowned. He'd talk to her about it later. Right now he had to do his homework, or else he'd hear about it from his father.

::

School the next day wasn't too taxing. A couple people asked questions and Alya shot Marinette knowing glances, and Adrien, though a little down, even brought up the deal his father had offered at the show (funny…how'd HE know about that?), but nothing too out of the ordinary.

Alya came over after school and updated the Ladyblog while Marinette gave her some info and worked on her homework. Alya was on her back on Marinette's bed, scrolling on her phone.

"It was weird, Alya," Marinette mused, tapping on her keyboard. "He seemed so reluctant to show. And he kinda opened up to me, but only about his home life."

"Why don't you talk to him as Ladybug?" Alya suggested. "He might say more to Ladybug than Marinette. After all, he is crushing on Ladybug."

Marinette flushed at the thought. Just another embarrassing thing to be reminded of. "Yes, thank you for bringing that up. Because I definitely don't deal with it on a regular basis."

Alya laughed. Suddenly she sat up on the bed. "Wait, wouldn't it be funny if Nino found out who Chat was and didn't tell anyone except me?"

"Ha!" She didn't take her eyes off her computer. "I'd be fine with not knowing who he really was. He's a bit of a pain."

"Mari, you've interacted with him like twice," Alya pointed out.

"Exactly," Marinette countered.

"It's kind of endearing though, don't you think?"

Marinette sighed. "Okay fine, maybe a little bit, but not enough to mean anything."

Alya was silent for a moment. "Maybe…" She sounded thoughtful. "Maybe not enough to you, but you did say he didn't have a good family life, right? Maybe it's enough for him."

Marinette stopped and thought about that. "Maybe you're right. That…might explain why he flirts with me as Marinette AND me as Ladybug…"

"Girl, wait, he seriously flirts with you as Marinette?"

"Yup. Almost as bad as how he flirts with Ladybug," Marinette confirmed, chuckling to herself. "I think he's an attention addict."

"You don't know the story behind it though," Alya put in. "Maybe get to know him better, maybe you'll both benefit."

"Oh alright, fine."

Alya grinned evilly. "You know who else you need to get to know better…"

Marinette turned red and lobbed a pillow at Alya. "D-don't you have homework to do?!"

"Haha! You're right, girl, but one more thing. Can I tell Nino that you're Ladybug? He's figured out that I know who Ladybug is and he keeps pestering me to tell him. He promises he won't tell anyone else-mostly because I warned him that if he did, I'd take his headphones and hack into his iTunes account."

Marinette hesitated. "How can you be sure he won't tell?"

"He knows me well enough. He acts chill but really he's terrified of me. He's admitted to it before." Alya grinned widely.

Marinette fiddled with her stylus. This was a bit risky.

Oh, who was she kidding? This was downright dangerous! But then…Alya was usually pretty truthful, and if Nino truly was intimidated enough by the girl to not blab, then it might be okay.

Marinette wasn't as close to Nino as Alya (she suspected at least one of them had a crush on the other, there was even a chance they were borderline boyfriend/girlfriend) and so this required an amazing amount of trust in someone who was more of an acquaintance than anything. She needed trust, faith, and luck for this.

Marinette sighed. "Okay," she relented. "But Alya, I swear to God if he tells-"

"If he tells he will never get to hear any music ever again," Alya promised. "I'll make sure of that."

Marinette shot a smile at her friend. "Good. Now get started on your homework. The blog can wait."

::

It was definitely getting colder. Chat had already slipped about five times trying to catch up with Ladybug.

She thought it was pretty amusing.

Chat finally stopped and grabbed her wrist. "My Lady, please do a mangy alley cat a favor and slow down," he panted, Ladybug turning to smirk at him. "I've nearly fell to my unsightly death many times now, once even slipping over the edge of the library for a second. Can we just...stop for a minute? I've got some things to talk about anyway."

Ladybug sighed and sat against a chimney, soaking in the warmth radiating from its bricks. "Fine. After all, you do have to explain why you were late to patrol tonight."

Chat grinned, his chest still heaving. "Well, My Lady, I had some things to cat-ch up on," he purred with a wink. Ladybug rolled her eyes and Chat's expression softened a little as he steeled himself. "But in all seriousness, I really just wanted to talk about what Hawkmoth said to you through that akuma yesterday. Are you sure you're fine now?"

Ladybug started slightly, like she hadn't expected him to still be thinking about that, and then she sighed with a wavering smile. "I'm pretty sure," she told him. "It was a silly thing, getting upset like I did at a comment so w-wrong as it w-was…"

"No, it wasn't," Chat insisted.

"Yes it was, Chat. It was a simple insult that I've gotten many times from akumas, and...and that one was no different. I swear I'm fine. I overreacted."

"You're lying."

"Chat, I'm fine," Ladybug finally snapped. "I don't wanna talk about it."

He locked eyes with her and they stared at each other for a moment before Ladybug finally huffed and turned to face the road below. "Okay, okay, I guess it h-hurt a little, but I'm fine now, Chat. Are you happy?"

"Not entirely, but for your sake I won't push you farther," Chat Noir sighed after a bit of hesitation. "Though I would still like to stay and chat."

"Stop."

The cat simply grinned at her and she gathered her bearings, shaking off any negative feelings she'd had a second ago with some difficulty. "Okay then, start off by telling me why you were late."

"Ah, well, My Lady…" He thought for a minute, turning his eyes to the clouds as if expecting help from God himself. "See, my father...is a very, ah, strict man, and I hadn't exactly followed orders after a…" Frick, how should he say this? "Um...event, and he's loaded me down with work as punishment." He tried for a sheepish, light-hearted grin, and Ladybug raised an eyebrow.

"No offense to your father, but that's stupid," she said, blunt.

"My father's stupid," Chat muttered to himself. He looked at Ladybug again. "Yeah. He takes away a lot of freedoms from me. Though...he is getting a little bit better. He just started letting me attend public school this year." He smiled wide.

"Really? Wow, tough dad."

"I know, and he's also around, like, once or twice a week. So he doesn't even know that I spend most of my time away from home."

Ladybug looked at him incredulously. "Are you telling me that you are typically alone whenever you're home?" she gaped.

Chat shrugged. "No," he revealed. "We're a, um…" He sucked in a sharp breath of air through his teeth, a grimace forming on his lips. "A...wealthy…?" He looked at Ladybug to make sure she was still comfortable with the conversation, because he sure wasn't. It made his mouth taste sour whenever he told someone his "family" was beyond financially stable.

Most people didn't have even close to what he had in terms of money and he felt like he was talking down to people when he told them he was rich and lived in a huge mansion, with his room bigger than three classrooms at his school combined. He definitely did not want to make his Lady feel that way; she was too important for that.

But she looked entirely comfortable and didn't show any signs of feeling self pity or jealousy. So Chat continued after clearing his throat.

"We're a wealthy family, and he's got a large staff at our...uh, house, so I'm not alone, but it sure feels like it." He laughed to himself as the thought of Plagg screaming for cheese came to the front of his mind. "And I've got my kwami, who pretty much complains and eats cheese all the time."

Ladybug laughed and Chat smiled.

God knew how much he loved her.

Ladybug shook her head and looked down at the road. "Mine eats anything that has sugar in it, but she really loves cookies," she giggled. "My family runs a bakery and she gets most of her sweets from there."

"Mine orders me to sneak into the kitchen and smuggle cheese to him," Chat laughed. "The chef's caught me on more than one occasion and just assumes that I have an insane love for cheese. He's even started just bringing random plates of cheese now. Plagg-my kwami-is pretty happy about that."

Suddenly his ring beeped and Chat jumped, arching his back like a scared cat and letting out an unflattering yowl in surprise. Ladybug snorted, covering her mouth with her hands to keep from laughing out loud. Chat Noir flushed a very bright shade of red and brushed off his shoulders, stammering unintelligibly.

"This cat had better scram, LB," he mumbled, recomposing himself. "Especially before he does something else embarrassing."

"Wait, Chat," Ladybug hastily pleaded, standing up shakily on the icy roof of the building. "I just remembered, why were you so reluctant to go through with that mission yesterday?"

Chat blinked and started slightly when his ring beeped again. "Oh, I just was going to be really busy and I was frustrated a little because the two events were going to be like back-to-back," he answered honestly. "Now I'd better go before the cat's out of the bag."

Ladybug rolled her eyes again and waved him off. "Just leave, cat," she smirked. "You've crossed the line in acceptable puns."

Chat laughed and winked at her before leaping to the next building across the street. He stood and blew a flirtatious kiss at her from afar, and suddenly his ring beeped again and he yelped, displaying his hilarious cat reaction yet again. Then he sheepishly sped off, his tail between his legs.

Ladybug giggled to herself and swung home. The cat really was adorable, but in the annoying younger sibling way.

And he cared. He cared so much about what may or may not be bothering her and it made her smile. Not even Alya was that attentive to her feelings.

Marinette's phone vibrated on her desk a few minutes after she'd de-transformed. It was Alya.

'MARI DID U SEE WHAT CHAT DID WHEN HIS RING BEEPED'

Marinette laughed and replied as Tikki dug into the secret cookie stash her charge had in her room.

'Yes i did, Alya, i was there'

'IM CRYING IM GONNA UPLOAD IT TO THE BLOG'

'Did you catch it on video?'

'YES'

Marinette giggled and shook her head, replaying the event in her mind as she typed a response.

'Hes gonna hate you but its gonna be worth it lol'

'SO WORTH IT

'i should probably go to bed now

'also what's the answer to number three i didn't understand it'

'You could have asked when you were here, Alya.'

'i know but like

'it didnt exactly cross my mind'

Marinette shook her head. That girl was so scatterbrained that it was amazing she ever got anything done.

'Hold on, lemme find my homework.'

::

Nino didn't expect anything less.

With the discovery of shy little Marinette being the renowned Ladybug, it wasn't beneath him to suspect Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir. After all, the boy did have some painfully obvious similarities with the feline superhero, especially the puns.

God, Nino thought to himself in amused disgust as he walked down the hall, the PUNS.

Adrien was typically a quiet, reserved kid, but he could pun like no one else could and it was positively sickening. And it came out of nowhere too. Like one time in science, the teacher had asked the class why chromosomes always came in pairs, and Adrien had responded with, "Because they're bromosomes."

Nino was pretty sure he got them off Tumblr.

But now here Adrien was, frozen in front of him with a horrified look on his face, a tiny black...cat (?) floating next to him in front of his locker. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever before Nino raised an eyebrow.

"Dude."

"Nino I swear if you say anything about I will actually I don't know what I'll do but i swear if you tell I just-"

"Bro, I don't even know what's going on!" Nino countered, his voice crescendoing as he continued speaking. Why was there a tiny cat floating next to him what was going on has stopped working hELP. "Adrien, seriously, could you maybe explain?!"

Alya poked her head in the door. "Nino, would you hurry up?! We're gonna-" She stopped when both boys stared at her and the tiny cat zipped out in plain sight. "Oh." Her voice got very quiet before she shot into the room and slammed the door shut behind her, locking it.

"Adrien, spill, now. Before Nino implodes."

Adrien exhaled heavily. "Nino, Alya, this is Plagg, my kwami."

Plagg waved and Alya and Nino exchanged glances. "And…?" Nino pressed slowly.

Adrien groaned and looked at the ceiling before divulging a rush of jumbled words. "He's a magical creature that helps me turn into Chat Noir and-"

"Hold up hold up hold up hold UP," Nino interrupted, squeezing his eyes shut and waving his hands. He opened his eyes and gestured widely at Adrien with his arms. "You're Chat Noir?!"

Alya began pacing the room fervently, mumbling incoherently and talking to herself and waving her arms everywhere. Nino soon followed suit but only for a couple seconds. He continued freaking out. "I mean, I kinda suspected but you?! Dude! What?!"

Adrien weakly grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well…"

Nino stared at the ground and rubbed his temples. "Oh my god."

Adrien waved his hands half-heartedly. "Surprise."

Alya was busy composing herself at the other end of the room, her head in her hands as she propped her arms on her knees. "What."

There was a moment of silence before Plagg spoke up. "Would anyone like some cheese?"

Nino jumped back. "He can TALK?!"

"Yeah," Adrien confirmed, "and usually it's complaining."

Plagg glared at his charge. Alya came up and stood next to Nino. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder," she muttered. "Why don't we go to Marinette's bakery and figure this out at one of the tables? We'll get sweets too."

"I can't," Adrien said sadly. "Father's loaded me down with work to do because I didn't follow some orders at the show the other day. He'll get after me if I don't head home right now."

"Oh."

"Well, maybe Alya and I can go and figure this out," Nino suggested, still pretty dazed. "But dude, I am definitely talking with you about this."

"Cool. Look, I really have to go, Natalie's calling me and if I don't get down there in five minutes I'm in trouble." Adrien grabbed Plagg and shoved him into his bag before unlocking the door and running downstairs.

Alya sat down. "This week has been the craziest week of my life," she muttered. "On top of that, you and I have to practice some serious restraint, man."

"Yup." Nino watched the limo pull out of the school parking lot and toward Adrien's mansion. He blinked. "Wanna head over to the bakery now?"

"Yeah, sure. I hear they've got a fresh batch of macarons."