Chapter 4

"Adrikins!"

The shrill cry almost made him wince – it certainly elicited a shudder from Plagg – but Adrien turned to the voice with a smile.

"Chloé," he said, genuinely happy to see his friend. The first to arrive, in fact, from his school. He knew that was in part due to his grandfather's old-fashioned disdain for people outside of his social circle and also partly due to the busy week he had. Chloé made the cut, being the daughter of the mayor. Adrien didn't even try to talk to him about Nino. "How are you?" he asked as she ran up to him and flung her arms around him. He refrained from pushing away and instead returned the hug, realizing that he actually did miss his friends.

"I've missed you at school," she cooed, snuggling into his neck. He grimaced and gently but firmly pulled away from her grasp. "How have you been? Class just hasn't been the same without you there."

He bit his lip and glanced around. "Let me show you around the grounds," he said, deflecting her question. He didn't want to be overheard by his grandparents.

"Sure thing, Adrien," she said, wrapping around his arm. He led her out to the gardens, hazarding a guess she might not want to be in the stables. He smirked, already imagining her shriek of protest at the thought of walking around the horses. Which was a shame, because he really wanted to tell someone about his progress with horseback riding. Someone other than his father. Smothering a sigh, he reached the edge of the gardens and allowed a small smile to form at Chloé's gasp of astonishment.

"It's gorgeous, Adrien!" she exclaimed, most likely the first genuine compliment he ever heard from her that didn't involve a comparison to something her own father could do.

He guided her through the pathways, pointing out the various flowers and ignoring her not-so-subtle attempts at dropping hints that he should give her one. "Chloé," he explained at last, "I don't think my grandfather would appreciate me picking flowers out of the historical gardens."

She frowned, harrumphed, and pouted, but finally let it drop. "When are you going to come back to school?" she asked instead. "I've missed you."

All of the excitement at seeing his friend drained out of him. He dropped down on the nearest bench and stared at the ground. Chloé, sensing the sudden change, sat down beside him. "I don't know," he admitted. "My grandfather thinks that public schooling is unbecoming of me, his grandson. He's brought in private tutors."

She gasped. "But what about your father? He's the one who agreed to send you to school in the first place," she pointed out.

Adrien stared off in the distance for a long moment, focusing on a bee taking flight between two roses. "Chloé," he said at last, turning to her. "This cannot go beyond us. I'm trusting you with a big secret here. I don't want the tabloids to find out."

Chloé sobered in an instant – almost as if a light switch had been flicked. "Adrien, you have my word." She sat up and locked her blue eyes solemnly with his.

He glanced around, once more affirming their privacy in the stillness of the flowers, then leaned in. "My grandfather somehow got a judge to agree that my father was an unfit parent."

"What?" Chloé screeched.

"Shh!" Adrien admonished, sweeping his eyes around the garden, frantic and panicked.

Chloé covered her mouth, her eyes sending an apology to Adrien even as guilt creased her face. "Sorry," she said.

"It's okay," he reassured her, his heart rate gradually returning to normal once he realized no one heard them. "Anyway, my father has a court date in three weeks, but I'm supposed to live here until then. I can't even text anyone because I'm not supposed to have contact with my father. My grandfather took away my cell phone."

Chloé crossed her arms and flicked back her ponytail with a snap of her neck. "Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. You're expected to stay out of school for three more weeks? Without your phone?"

"I convinced my tutor to follow the school's syllabus, so I can fit right back in." Adrien hunched over again and Chloé turned with a frown. He whispered the next part so low Chloé had to lean close to listen, almost as if he was too afraid speaking it aloud would make it come true. "But... I don't know if my father's going to win."

"Of course he will," Chloé replied, snapping upright, her back straight with utter confidence.

Despite himself, Adrien had to smile at her poise. It fell after a few seconds. "My grandfather is pretty persistent. My father would never have let it get this far if he had a choice. I saw him yesterday – during our court-appointed visitation schedule. He looked horrible. I don't think he's gotten much sleep since this started."

Chloé's face softened. "A good night's rest does wonders for the complexion," she said, tilting her head in thought and leaning back against the bench. Adrien nearly yelled at her to take this seriously when she continued with, "If your father is losing enough sleep to affect his perfect presence, then I think you're correct: he might not feel that he can win."

Adrien blinked. "That's... surprisingly perceptive," he praised.

She offered a tiny smirk. "Of course. I get a good night's sleep every night, so I am well versed on the effects of sleep deprivation on the body." She tapped one perfectly manicured nail against her cheek. "What did you tell him yesterday?"

Another sigh. "I didn't want to worry him more. I told him all of the good things I enjoyed here."

"And you didn't tell him that you missed him?" She leveled a look at him. "You do miss him, right?"

"Of course!" Adrien couldn't believe she would ask that.

"Just making sure," she said. "I didn't know if you just missed going to school. Because I could try to talk to your grandfather about that, if that was the only reason you wanted to go back to living with your father."

"No!" Adrien exclaimed, fire coming into his eyes for the first time that morning, "I miss my father! I want to go back home. I..." he slumped again, the fire dulling, "I just miss being a family. But I don't want to leave my father. I wish he could see that I just want him to be happy too."

"You need to tell your father that you really want to live with him," Chloé insisted. "You're worried about causing him more stress but he needs to know that he has a reason to fight for you. If he gives up, all is lost."

Adrien had never seen Chloé so adamant about anything outside of shopping, being pampered, or her own personal goals. To watch her exude that much energy toward someone else warmed him. He didn't know what to say. Except agree with her. "You're right," he said. "I'll tell him the next time I see him that I miss being at home."

"Not soon enough," she replied, her body tense with determination. "He'll lose out on a whole week of planning if what you say is true. Then that only leaves two weeks to form a proper defense."

He chuckled despite the situation. "I'm sure my father has a dozen lawyers working on this case. I wouldn't worry about the timing."

She gave him an incredulous look, but didn't protest. It was a good thing, too, because Adrien spotted his grandfather heading toward them.

"I'm afraid it's time for Miss Bourgeois to leave," he said as he approached.

Adrien stood, turning to give Chloé one last hug. She brushed him aside, much to his surprise, and turned to his grandfather.

"Mr. Eclat, you have to let Adrien return to school," she said.

His heart plummeted to his stomach. His grandfather raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "And why is that, young lady?" The tone of his voice was one Adrien had heard many times coming from his father. Laced with disapproval and a good dose of irritation, it clearly screamed back off. Chloé either ignored it or didn't get the subtle hint. At this point, Adrien wasn't entirely certain Chloé understood vocal nuances.

"Chloé," he interrupted, attempting to stave off an impending disaster, "it's okay, really."

"No, Adrien, it's not," she said. She turned back to his grandfather. "Adrien has been attending school since the beginning of the year, and has made several friends. It's vital he be allowed to continue learning with them."

Adrien held his breath. His grandfather frowned. "He can make friends within his social circle here. Public school is unacceptable."

"But..."

"No 'buts', young lady," his grandfather said, cutting her off. "Adrien, say goodbye to your friend. It's time she left."

"How dare you!"

Uh oh. Adrien froze. Chloé stamped her foot and marched over to his grandfather. She got right up in his face and pointed at him. "Do you know who my father is?"

Oh boy.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," his grandfather replied. Adrien almost shivered at the ice in his voice. "Mayor, correct?"

"That's right, and when he hears ab-"

"I assure you, young lady, that your father's influence is minimal at best with me. I believe you don't know who I am. I suggest you do your research before attempting to flaunt your father's name." His grandfather glanced back to him. "Adrien, see your friend out. I think it's best if she does not return. Ever."

With that, he continued down the path. Adrien gulped and turned to Chloé. She stared after his grandfather with a mixture of outrage and bafflement, as if she wasn't used to getting her way. Which come to think of it, Adrien couldn't really remember a time when using her father's name had ever backfired on her.

What is it with his family banning his friends from seeing him anyway?

With a dejected sigh, he motioned to Chloé. "You better leave."

"Adrien, I..." she cut off with something akin to remorse on her face. "I'm so sorry," she said in a quiet voice. "I didn't mean to make things worse."

He swallowed and plastered a smile on his face. He had never seen Chloé look so downtrodden. "It'll be okay," he assured her. "It was good seeing you regardless. Tell everyone in class I said hi, would you? And uh, if you see my father, maybe tell him I miss him?"

A small smile appeared on her lips as she met his eyes. "I'll tell the class, but you have to be the one to tell your father, okay?"

He nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me."

A slim, well-manicured hand slammed down onto Marinette's desk. She stifled a shriek and jumped. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng," the haughty voice of Chloé sneered. She looked up at the blonde staring down at her.

Marinette deflated with a groan and a sigh. Alya glared up at her. "Do you mind? We were in the middle of a conversation," her friend said, not bothering to hid her obvious annoyance.

Chloé tossed her head, ignoring Alya. "I propose a truce," she said.

Silence.

Marinette exchanged a baffled look with Alya. "Uhm, a truce on what?" she asked.

"Our mutual hatred for each other."

Alya chuckled. "I'm pretty sure you can't call truce on feelings," she pointed out.

Normally, Chloé would have retorted with another insult, but she ignored Alya once more. "It's about Adrien," she said.

Marinette stiffened. She had just finished telling an incredulous Alya (and an eavesdropping Nino) about her encounter with Mr. Agreste on Friday, complete with his request to have her stop bringing over work and the true reason behind Adrien's absences. Now, Chloé comes in with a shocking offer to set aside their differences for Adrien?

"Uhm," she began, a bit hesitant in her approach, "what do you mean?"

"He's miserable," Chloé exclaimed, all but blurting it out in a whine. "We have to do something."

"We?" Alya interjected, folding her arms in disbelief. Marinette frowned and thought for a moment. While she normally would have dismissed Chloé's outburst as overexaggeration, after her short talk with Mr. Agreste, she couldn't help but wonder what Chloé knew about the situation. And a small part of her wondered if maybe the blonde girl was correct...

"Okay," she said, cutting across Alya's objections. "What do you have in mind?"

"Meet me in the library after school," Chloé said. "I'll explain everything there."

Alya, ever the investigator, hunched over and glared at Chloé with her best evil eye. "If this is some kind of poorly concealed attempt at pranking my girl," she growled, the threat lingering unspoken.

"No prank," Chloé insisted. "I visited Adrien yesterday. It's important." With that, she went and sat down at her seat, studiously ignoring the three of them for the rest of the day.

After school, Marinette, Alya, and Nino headed to the library.

"I'm not letting you go in there by yourself," Alya had said when Marinette insisted on going alone. "I don't trust that girl."

"And Adrien's my bro," Nino added. "If she's telling the truth, I want to help him out."

So the three of them shuffled through the library, searching for Chloé. They found her in a corner, surrounded by books. She was reading a fashion magazine. Good to see some things were still consistent. She looked up and spotted them approaching.

"Oh there you are, it's about time," she huffed, setting the magazine aside. "I figured it would be all of you, so I got this bigger table."

Alya eyed the books on the table as she sat down across from the blonde. "What are all these books doing out?" she asked, picking up one labeled Treaties Through the Ages and flipped through it.

Chloé shrugged. "They were on the table when I arrived. I'm not going to put them back." The unsaid it's not my job was obvious in the way she sniffed at the scattered piles.

Alya rolled her eyes and set the book behind her on the cart. Nino and Marinette scooped up the rest and set them on the cart next to the others. Their space finally clear, they all took their seats. "Okay, Chloé," Alya said, "what's going on?"

"Adrien isn't living at home with his father," Chloé began. Marinette and Alya exchanged a look. Chloé narrowed her eyes. "Did you know this?"

"Mr. Agreste told me on Friday when I went to deliver Adrien's schoolwork," Marinette admitted. "He said that he's living with his grandparents right now."

The blonde leaned forward as if sharing a big secret. "That's not the whole story. I met with Adrien yesterday." She proceeded to explain their friend's situation.

"That's horrible!" Marinette exclaimed when she finished. "Mr. Agreste didn't say any of that to me." That earned her three sympathetic looks. "What?" she asked.

"Girl," Alya said, shaking her head, "why would Mr. Agreste tell you that?"

"Oh." She frowned, realizing that Alya was correct. There was no reason for Mr. Agreste to share private, personal information with her. "What can we do about it?" She zeroed in on Chloé. "You didn't ask us to come here just to tell us this."

Chloé folded her arms. "Isn't it obvious? We need to help Mr. Agreste get Adrien back."

At this, Alya snorted. "Chloé, Mr. Agreste has lawyers that are much more qualified at the legal aspects than we are."

Chloé slammed a hand down on the table. They jumped. "You don't get it, do you?" she exclaimed. "If Mr. Agreste could have gotten Adrien back right now, don't you think he would have?"

Marinette thought back to when she met with Mr. Agreste. His frayed posture, his exhausted aura... she nibbled on her lip as she mulled over their conversation. "I think you're right," she mused. She recalled his calm demeanor during the entire Simon Says akuma incident at his home, including immediately after she and Chat discovered him on the rooftop. "Mr. Agreste had," she trailed off and waved her hands as if physically plucking the right words out of the air to voice her thoughts, "this feeling of things spiraling out of his control. I've never seen him not act one hundred percent confident about anything." Even when his life was in danger, she thought wryly. "This was something new and quite frankly, a bit frightening." She looked at Alya and Nino. "Especially with what Chloé is telling us."

Nino pushed back his cap. "Okay, so what do we do about it? What can we do that Mr. Agreste cannot?"

Chloé smirked. "We play dirty." She pulled up her phone and swiped a few times. "Sabrina's asking her father about the judge. I'll ask Daddy about him, too."

"We can't just focus upon the judge," Alya insisted. "If Adrien's father doesn't have valid legal grounds to plead his case, then it won't matter what judge sits on the bench, they'll always rule against him." She pulled out her notebook and scribbled a few things down on it. "I'll research custody laws. We need to know what we're getting ourselves into."

"Do you think you can do a better job than Mr. Agreste's lawyers?" Chloé asked, for once without any sarcasm – just genuine curiosity.

Alya's hand stilled. She looked up from her writing. "I don't know. I imagine they'll probably plan a better defense than I can ever dream. But if we're going to help Adrien, we need to know as much as possible. Maybe there will be something we can think of that's outside the box. We should at least know how this process is going to work. And what are the obstacles that lie in our way."

"I'll help with that, too," Nino quickly added. "I have a cousin who studied law. He can give us some of his books and maybe point us in the right direction and answer a lot of our questions. He can also tell us how to navigate city hall for the court records."

"What can I do?" Marinette asked.

Three pairs of eyes swiveled to her.

She gulped. "What did I say?" she asked.

Chloé chuckled. "You're going to be our liaison to Mr. Agreste."

"What?" Marinette all but shrieked. It was a good thing they were tucked away in the back corner of the library or she had a sneaky suspicion they would have been kicked out by now.

Alya and Nino nodded with Chloé. "Girl, you're our class representative. You know how to talk to people in authority."

She was not convinced. "Chloé has lived around people in authority her whole life. If anyone is good about talking to people like that, it's her."

The attention shifted back to Chloé. The girl glared at them. "No way," she declared.

"Why not?"

Something flickered on her face. She continued glaring at the three of them. Alya opened her mouth, but Chloé cut in first. "Fine!" she said, "Adrien's grandfather banned me from their grounds," she announced. She refused to meet their eyes. "I don't want to get into the same situation with Mr. Agreste."

"Wow," Nino mumbled. "That's not something I think I can claim I have ever seen."

"So you want me to risk acquiring Mr. Agreste's wrath?" Marinette protested. "He'll not only ban me from ever going in his home, but he'll probably blacklist me from the fashion industry. It will ruin my chances of following my dream to become a designer. Thanks a lot, Chloé." She folded her arms in a pout.

"No way, that's not my intention," Chloé insisted, sincerity shining in her eyes. "Mr. Agreste already likes you because of your designs. Plus, he's talked to you before under an impromptu meeting and you came out of it without being banned." Her gaze slid over to Nino. "That's more than some of us can say."

"She's right," he said. "Mr. Agreste can be brutal but you survived." He leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. "That's already two steps ahead of the rest of us."

Alya patted her shoulder. "Girl, you have a way with words. Plus, you have a backbone when you put it to use. Mr. Agreste won't be able to walk over you."

I only have that backbone because I've talked to him as Ladybug, Marinette thought, her mind flashing back to that fateful day. Even then, corralling Mr. Agreste had been an exercise in patience. He hadn't even listened to their suggestions and recommendations in the end. What good did she, a non-transformed superhero have when her heroic counterpart couldn't even dent his stubbornness?

Oddly, it was Chloé who pushed her into taking that risk. "It's for Adrien," she said. "Won't you at least try?"

Marinette glanced at each of their faces – hopeful and determined. She nodded. "Okay, fine. Yes, I'll talk to him," she said, and the three beamed at her. Nino threw up a hand in victory. "But," she paused, dampening their sudden enthusiasm, "I'm not going in blind again. That was a nightmare. We need a plan of action before we can even think of approaching him."

Chloé stood. "Well, what are we waiting for? I'll go talk with Daddy and Sabrina and let you all know what we discover." She tucked her magazine into her bag, turned to leave, and hesitated a moment before turning back around and facing them.

"For Adrien," she said with a decisive nod.

"For Adrien," Marinette agreed with a warm smile.

And with the barest hints of a smile upon her own face, Chloé pivoted back around and sauntered out of the library.

Author's Note: This was my least favorite chapter, but a necessary one to set up for what happens in the future.

Thank you all for your continued support!