Bit of a late post, last week was kicking my arse and I was unable to upload. I made this chapter solely from Adrien's pov bcs I just love this this oblivious fool. Anyways, let me know if you guys like it, feedback is appreciated!

Chapter 4

Adrien hadn't thought that his little hangout time with his friends would have caused such a big fight with his dad and how he's "getting too distracted ", it made him furious because he had been doing every single thing his father had asked of him, whether it be the infinite amount of photoshoots, and the seemingly never ending classes of Chinese and fencing.

He felt his steps getting heavier, he had run out of his house, and surely he would later pay because of his actions, but at the moment he couldn't care less. Wandering around with no direction he quickly found himself in front of a now known place. Somehow he had ended up at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, he pondered whether it'd be best going to visit Marinette as Chat or to enter her home as himself.

Perhaps it was for the best if he entered as Adrien if he had wanted to get closer to Marinette without his alter ego in the way, but right now what Adrien needed was consolation, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to get it as his civilian self.

So he backtracked, looking for an alley that was away from strangers eyes, looking down into his jacket his eyes came in contact with Plagg's vibrant green ones.

"You're not planning on transforming to go visit that pigtails girl, right?"

"Plagg, you know her name is Marinette, and yes I'm going to go visit her"

"Why don't you just visit her as Adrien? Would make things a whole lot easier". Adrien raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "I thought you were okay with me visiting her" Plagg rolled his eyes, "I was until you lost focus of the reason why you're visiting her". Adrien rolled his eyes at Plagg. "I am not for-"

"Adrien?" His eyes opened as big as saucepans. He turned slowly to face the voice he that was so familiar. He hadn't expected her to be out of her house, but he also hadn't expected her to notice that he was there, thankfully he hadn't been mid transformation. That would've been a little bit difficult to explain.

"What are you doing here?" He looked into her eyes, they were full in confusion. Guess it's not every day you catch a classmate talking by themselves in an alleyway. Great, now she's going to think I'm weird.

"Oh, I was just.." Dang it, think fast "hiding from my bodyguard". That was normal enough, right?

"Ahhh" Marinette just nodded as if she understood what he meant. "You can come to my house if you want, help you hide out for a bit" He really didn't have any excuse to be able to get out of this one, but he was going to visit her either way, as Chat of course but that's just the small details.

"Yeah, that would be great". A kind smile graced Marinette's lips before she turned and kept walking in direction to her house. When she noticed that he wasn't following her, she looked back and with a small laugh said "You going to stay there or are you going to follow me?"

With a flush of embarrassment he followed after her.

Once inside the bakery, the smell of the sweets and warm bread was comforting, it smelled amazing, even familiar if he was honest but he couldn't place his finger as to why. He had been here before, but never before had it seemed so welcoming.

"Let me get you something to eat, what would you like?" Adrien pondered, he probably shouldn't eat sweets, but considering he was currently mad at his father he thought it'd be a good silent revenge.

"Umm, do you have passion fruit macarons?". Marinette turned to him with a look on her face he couldn't quite decipher.

"Oh, our bakery doesn't make those, Adrien" He heard from behind a tensed Marinette, his eyes fixed on the newcomer, it was Mrs. Dupain-Cheng.

"Really? Sorry, I was sure that the bakery made those. I'll just have anything then"

Marinette moved behind the counter, rounding up a small mountain of different sweets. Adrien couldn't take his eyes off her, she was acting pretty normal, unlike the past week. It did little to calm his nerves however. Not too long after, Marinette came to sit in front of him, leaving a cup of hot chocolate near him, which he gladly took.

It felt uncomfortable, he didn't know what to say, it was never this way when she was around Chat. Maybe it wasn't her, but him. Was he the awkward one? Maybe he was the only one making it feel awkward.

He slowly lifted his eyes, scared of what he'd see once he faced his friend. But he was greeted with the sight of her eyes glued to the table. Should he say something? Surely it couldn't make things even more awkward than he felt now.

"Marinette, thanks" This caused Marinette to finally lift her eyes, her deep blue eyes connecting with his, her head slightly tilted in curiosity.

"For what?"

"For being my partner in crime and letting me into your house. You're really an amazing friend"

He hoped calling her a friend would make her feel more comfortable around him, perhaps she was second-guessing their friendship and he wanted to make sure she knew how valuable as a friend she was to him, both as Adrien and as Chat (not that she would ever know).

Marinette seemed to make herself smaller, if that were even possible. He hadn't expected this reaction; how could it be that he had managed to make her uncomfortable? Stupid, it's because she doesn't consider you a friend. Anyone would feel this way if someone they didn't like called a friend.

"Thanks, Adrien" She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. It was so different compared to when she was with Chat. Oh no, this was a mistake, I knew I should've come as Chat.

He didn't know what else to say, the strange tension made him feel suffocated. He needed to leave as soon as he could, but found it'd be even worse if he left just like that.

He felt a vibration on the table and looked down to his own phone, but the screen was blank. Leaning forward, he realized that it had been Marinette's phone. He stared at her out of the corner of his eye.

She was smiling widely. Oh.

Who could she be texting? He tried to look at her screen, his curiosity winning against his better judgement. Would she smile like that if he texted her? He felt a tiny bit of jealousy over whoever had gotten that reaction out of his friend. It's not like she doesn't deserve to have friends other than you. And he knew that, he really did. He himself had friends he was closer to in his civilian life, but maybe it was that he felt close to her as Chat, but he couldn't help but feel that he wanted to be the only friend to whom she felt as close to as he did to her.

Small giggle left her, before she could stop herself from doing so, and as if suddenly aware of her surroundings, pushed her phone away.

"Just a friend, al-although it doesn't really matter to y-you anyways, so I don't really know w-why I'm telling you that and it's not like you asked either, and I should pro-probably shut up now" Her face blossomed in a bright red shade, reaching up to her ears and looming down unto her chest.

Adrien found the gesture so painfully Marinette that he couldn't help the light chuckle that escaped him. She smiled lightly at him, before looking down at her drink, which was mostly done.

"Marinette, I should probably go, thanks for everything" She looked up at him once again, and nodded. "Right, well see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow". It was a lie, he definitely was going to visit her as Chat later tonight, he still needed to relief the stress from fighting with his father, and surely once he went back to his house there would be even more stress to complain about. Being with Marinette as Adrien was okay, but it wasn't the same as when he was Chat. As Adrien he had to maintain a certain amount of poise that he could shed once he was Chat.

He walked back to his house, not feeling as relieved as he would have liked, although it had been kind of nice to be with Marinette it was almost as equally stressful. It was like walking a minefield. The fact that one of his comments had made Marinette uncomfortable was a clear testament to that.

He neared the mansion, willing himself once again, he didn't want to go anywhere near his father at the moment, but felt it would be too childish of him to do so.

He crossed the threshold, breath stuck in his lungs. "Adrien" His father's voice came from the top of the stairs. Had he been waiting for him there? No, Nathalie had probably told him he had arrived at the house. "Yes Father?"

"I hope you have come to your sense, otherwise I might have to take some of your privileges" His father's stare made his body feel cold. Oh yes, his privileges. Also known as school and friends, as if that weren't what most normal teens already had.

"I have father, I will not go to the bands practices again without telling you beforehand"

"Well, I'd actually prefer if you didn't go at all" This startled Adrien, "Wait, father. They're my friends, I can't just stop seeing them"

His father seemed to ponder on what to say or do, Adrien couldn't figure out what the hell was going through his father's mind, nor did he want to know.

"Fine, you can visit your friends, only after you've taken care of everything and it won't take time away from your responsibilities." Adrien couldn't believe what he just heard. Did his father just give him the green light? He felt a rush of happiness surge through him.

"Thanks father, I'll make sure to not let you down" He couldn't keep the wide smile from spreading across his face. Running up the stairs, he came close to his father, he wanted to hug him but knew the older Agreste wouldn't like it so he kept his hands on his sides.

Without another word, his father turned and went back to his office. Adrien went to his room with a jump to his step. Once inside Plagg went to face his holder. "Does this mean you won't visit Marinette tonight?" Adrien looked at him like he had grown another head.

"What? Of course I'm going to visit her. I may not need consolation anymore, but I'm in such a good mood, and I genuinely want to see her" Plagg seemed unamused.

"You just saw her!"

"Yeah, as Adrien, it's not the same and you know it" Adrien didn't understand why Plagg was being so stubborn about it. He felt defensive trying to justify his actions. "Why are you so against it?"

Well, you've been using me more than usual, and I just don't want to be out of energy when an akuma comes around" Plagg seemed to pout, if that even were possible from the kwami.

"Plagg, is this your way of asking for more cheese?" the kwami seemed offended, but Adrien knew him well enough.

"Ahhh, was that it?" The kwami turned his back on Adrien, who couldn't help but laugh loudly at his kwami's stubbornness.

"It's okay, Plagg. I'll feed you all the amount of Camembert you want" Plagg looked over his shoulder, still not facing Adrien. "Is that a promise?" Adrien nodded.

"Yes Plagg, now let's get on with it, now shall we?"

"well, you know what to do kid"

"Plagg, Transform me!". Not long after his transformation was done, Chat stood in the place Adrien had stood just a few seconds ago. Before leaving however, he left a pillow on the bed posing as himself, just in case someone came to check up on him. Leaving through on his of the windows he leapt out to the night. Not before long he was running across the rooftops, one particular rooftop on his mind.