"Whoa… I did not expect you to say that dude." I could hear Nino say through the phone.

"I didn't either." I admitted, "This is all happening too fast but I can't stop thinking about her Nino, ever since I saw her today."

"Well it's simple, why don't you talk to her about it? You sound a little mixed up now but I am sure a little chat with Chloe can clear it up for sure." Nino suggested.

"That's good advice but things are more complex than that." This was it. I had regretted not telling him before and I really wanted his help, I had to come clean. "Nino, this will be my last year at school. I didn't tell you earlier because you were really excited about your break and I didn't want you to worry about me."

"Man, seriously? It's your dad isn't it? You can't let him do this to you bro, think about everyone you've met at school, you can't just leave them high and dry."

"Nino I can't." I said in a harsher tone than I intended, "He can't help it, I am always running off somewhere or another, he doesn't trust me at all. He let me go to public school this year and I've let him down too many times." I said in melancholy.

"Why do you always take off when your dad tries to put you in one place?"

I responded with silence. As much as I wanted to yell out that I was Cat Noir and that I needed to take off to save Paris, the real answer was that I was just self-centered. When Plagg and I transformed, I felt so free and unrestricted by my normal life. As soon as I didn't have an excuse to turn into Cat Noir I ended up sneaking out to study with Chloe. It was all my fault.

"I'll answer that for you dude." Nino said to reassure me, "It's totally unfair. Anyone in your shoes would be doing the same thing, actually, I am pretty sure I would have peaced out way more than you have. It's like your dad doesn't even know how much pressure you're putting on yourself for him."

These days my father knew hardly anything about me other than off-comments Nathalie dropped him. I rarely got to see him but I still knew he cared a lot about me. Managing the Gabriel brand must be putting a huge stress on him.

Nino was absolutely right but I hadn't dared give myself hope. I wanted to protect my future self from the crushing disappointment he'd face after hoping things could be different. "I can try talking to him but I really don't think I'll be able to change much."

"Dang it Adrian! Why can't you just get mad for a change bro? I have to go, but I am going to call you back as soon as I can. Pick up next time, alright?" Nino was distraught on my behalf.

"Will do Nino. Thanks for talking with me, school has been lonely without you." I added.

"Take care of yourself dude. Later."

Nino hung up and I walked up to my bedroom. I called Nino to help me calm down but I ended up becoming more worked up. All of my friends were about to be pulled out from under me and I couldn't find a way out. I turned on my tv only to turn it off instantly as soon as I saw Marechal Moulin still talking on the news. Day by day it looked like I had been losing both sides of myself. If Cat Noir disappeared from Paris and Adrian disappeared from Dupont, what would be left?

I had trouble sleeping. I couldn't tell if it was because of how much I still had to think about or if it was just the light coming from the Eiffel Tower again. After much tossing and turning, I fell asleep to wake up for school the next morning.

Ironically, in spite of the interest I was starting to take in her, the rumors about Chloe and I began to die down. A couple of days was all it took for people to move on to the next gossip. From what I overheard Alya was beginning to miss Nino enough to spark an emotional response from the rest of the school. I smirked as I sat down at my seat. I was sure to give Nino a hard time about the rumored crush, the same way he did for Chloe and me.

Chloe started acting strange. I could see her staring right at me in my peripheral vision but as soon as I turned to face her she quickly looked away, pretending she didn't do anything at all. At least she had her phone put away today. With any luck she might blossom into a good student.

After class ended Chloe and I had a brief exchange.

"Are you sure you're okay to go out tonight Adrikins? I don't want you to get in trouble again since I sort of had plans for the rest of our last school year together." Chloe emphasized.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world Chloe." I answered. "Have you been doing okay? I heard from Nino that your father went out of town and I know you don't do the best job when it comes to taking care of yourself."

Chloe started to get defensive, "I am doing just fine, you don't need to-"halfway through her sentence she decided not to rant, "Yeah, I am okay. Thanks for worrying about me."

"Who are you and what did you do with Chloe?" I said with a small chuckle.

"Oh shut up you jerk. You would sound cooler if you just said something like, 'Anything for you.' Or something." Chloe retorted.

"I'll see you tonight Chloe."

Chloe echoed what Nino said the night before, "Yeah, just take care of yourself for me okay? You don't have to go to the concert if your dad makes it hard for you."

Chloe and I went our separate ways and outside I could see it beginning to rain. I dreaded returning home. Father was probably going to do everything in his power to keep me from going to the concert with Chloe. Why did I even mention it to Nathalie? If I any sense I would have simply have left my room through my window like always.

In time, I came home only to sit face to face with Nathalie. Her cold and distant expression was always so difficult to read. "Adrian, I spoke with your father, he wanted me to show you this." Nathalie presented me with a tablet screen and a video of my father.

"He really couldn't come downstairs himself, could he?" I asked in dismay.

"Just listen to what your father has to say." Nathalie said impatiently.

I pressed play on the video and I saw my father begin to speak, his black framed glasses did little to hide the disappointment in his blue eyes. "Adrian, I hope you understand that I am only tried to take you out of school for your own good. I only ask that I know that you are safe and taken care of but you insist on making that more and more difficult for me." My father took a deep breath. I saw this coming. There was only so many times I could say sorry and then run away a day later. What he said next shocked me, "With that out of the way, I am giving you one last chance to prove that you can stay at public school." My chest pounded in anticipation. "Only because Nathalie convinced me otherwise, I will allow you to go with her to this concert. You are allowed to arrive there, enjoy the show and then immediately leave without a single deviation. After tonight I expect you to do as you are told until the end of your school year. If you can manage that, I will allow you to continue going to school. Now, you should hurry up. You don't want to keep the girl waiting." Father maintained a stern look throughout the entire message, ending it without as much as a smile.

"I can't believe it." I marveled, "Father is actually going to let me stay!"

"There is something else Adrian." Nathalie mentioned before pointing towards the coat rack on the other side of the living room. It was the suit that my father had made for me. It was in perfect condition. "It took an absorbent amount of time, but I managed to get all of the stains out of it."

I ran up to Nathalie to hug her, "Thank you so much! I don't even know what to say, I can't believe you've done all of this for me!"

Nathalie looked uncomfortable as she began to blush. Awkwardly allowing herself to be taken into my embrace, "Um. Yes. You are very welcome Adrian… As your father said, you really should get going though…"

To her relief I let go of Nathalie to begin putting on my freshly clean suit. I felt empowered as I wore the white jacket while I straightened the red tie. I looked outside and even the thundering rain could not stop my elation. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to attend the concert, but now I had the chance to stay in school with Chloe, Nino and all of my friends.

The drive to the concert was fast. I had planned on arriving on foot but now with my Father's approval, The Gorilla was happy to drive me. Fat, wet rain pounded on the car windows as I watched the buildings pass by. Soon enough, I stepped outside to greet Chloe, she was shivering in a long white dress which did a poor job of covering her dainty figure. As I walked closer I noticed her hair was curled and her fingernails were painted with a light shade of red matching her lipstick. She tried harder to dress up tonight than she did for the gala.

"Chloe, are you okay being out here in the rain dress like that?" I moved towards her, allowing us to huddle together underneath the umbrella.

Chloe's teeth began to chatter, "S-s-shut up! I w-w-wanted to look c-c-cute tonight!"

I put my arm around Chloe, trying to warm her up, "Let's get you inside. You'll catch a cold out here."

Chloe and I walked into the music theatre and found our seats without any problems. Thankfully the packed venue provided plenty of heat for color to start returning to Chloe's face. "So Adrikins." Chloe said leaning against my shoulder, "How do I look tonight?"

I chose not to give Chloe the compliment she desperately wanted, "You looked pretty cold. I am surprised you walked so far in a dress in the freezing rain." I said with a smirk on my face.

"Oh don't give me that!" Chloe complained, "You had your eyes all over me after you stepped out of your car!"

I spread myself out in my chair, "If you already knew how I felt about it why did you ask?" I teased.

Chloe began to pout and folded her arms across her chest, "You always complain about how I never compliment anyone else, how about throwing some my way for a change?"

Chloe and I began to laugh together. We had so many of these ridiculous moments and I remembered that I would still be having them next year as well. "Hey Chloe, I heard back from my father today, and he said if I came straight home after this concert he'd let me come back to school next year."

Chloe's reaction did not disappoint. She threw both of her hands flat across her mouth and moved away from me in shock, "No way! If this is a joke, it isn't funny Adrian!"

I shook my head with a smile on my face, "No joke, we get to enjoy this tonight and I'll be at school next year too."

"Adrian, that makes me really happy. These last few days have been incredible, I mean, really. Way more fun than hanging around the bunch of nobodies, I mean- the other people I spend time with." Chloe said, catching herself.

The happy moment we were just in was about to become short lived. Dany Chapuis, the pianist came on to the stage with a horrified look on his face. "Everyone! Get out of here! Evacuate the building! There has been an Akuma attack!" Right after the piano player gave us his warning, the stage behind him cracked open and the roof was torn off by a gigantic man standing nearly fifty feet tall. He wore a red hoodie and dark blue jeans, large enough to fit his gigantic size.

"No one can look down at me now. I am larger than life itself. I am Man-Mountain!" He thundered as he began to crush the stage underneath his heel.

People ran in all directions and Chloe was quick to join then, "Adrian! I have to go, I'll see you in a bit!" she yelled as she ran off.

I felt a vibration in my pocket and pulled out my phone to see that Nathalie was calling me. I picked up the phone and started to run. "Adrian, come to the street corner this instant. The Gorilla is there waiting for you, it's too dangerous for you to stay where you are."

I bit my tongue. I had to come up with some sort of excuse as to why I couldn't make it, "I can't Nathalie I am trapped in the debris. I am going to head towards the underground subway." I lied.

For the first time in my life I heard Nathalie raise her voice, "Adrian! I am tracking your phone right now, I can see you moving. The subway was closed down as soon as the giant man started to attack going there is no good. Now stop this instant and come to the street corner now!"

I ran up to the upper-balcony of the theatre where everyone had evacuated. Seeing that it was safe, Plagg came out of my suit. "Adrian!" he cried, "Ladybug needs to talk to you!"

I grasped my phone with both hands as the akumatized giant continued to destroy the building around me. There was still time to make it to the street corner. I still had the chance to show up to school next year and welcome Nino back from his long vacation. I still had the chance to go out on dates with Chloe and live a normal life. I had the opportunity to go home and leave this whole mess behind me.

I whispered into my phone, "I am sorry." I threw my device down on the ground. I wasn't chosen to hold the miraculous to take the easy way out in hard situations. I needed to stop this villain.

"Plagg! Claws out!" I yelled as the kwami was sucked into my ring.

Immediately I looked down at my finger to see Ladybug's face appear, "Cat Noir, I wanted to talk to you for a few days now, but I think I made a horrible mistake. I don't know what I was thinking when I said-"

The entire build was beginning to collapse. As much as I enjoyed hearing Ladybug's voice again, I needed to get moving, "Ladybug! We'll do this later! Come to the music theatre, it's a supervillain!" I yelled over the roar of the wooden stage being snapped like a twig.

"A villain!? I am on the other side of town, you'll be on your own for a while but I am coming Cat Noir!" I heard Ladybug say as I dodged parts of the roof that were now crashing down on the balcony.

I began to spin my magic staff over my head in order to fly out of the unstable music theatre and into the pouring rain once again. I landed on the sidewalk and civilians stopped running as they saw me.

"Hey! It's Cat Noir! He's here to save us!" one of the onlookers cried. "Queen Bee couldn't stop the big guy with her superpower, you have to help her Cat Noir!"

Her superpower? I looked up to see Queen Bee struggling inside of Man-Mountain's right hand. Her miraculous showed that she only had five minutes before she had to change back. I took a low stance. I needed to fight this supervillain all alone long enough for Ladybug to show up but short enough so Queen Bee doesn't reveal her identity to all of the civilians.

No pressure.