Chapter 24 - Looking for Home
"Hi Adrien! You seem better." Marinette had seen Adrien arrive from where she stood at the top of the stairs of the school entrance.
Adrien smiled at her, "Yeah. Nathalie let me walk to school and she even ate breakfast with me. It's a nice change to not always be alone."
Marinette smiled sadly at how much he had been starved of family attention. "Come on, let's go inside kitty."
"Whatever you say princess," He slipped his hand into hers and they leisurely walked through the school doors.
When they got to the classroom they were greeted by Alya, Nino and Chloé who were all sitting together at one desk.
"Hey guys," Marinette waved to them.
As soon as Alya heard Marinette's voice her head whipped up and she stared at her with wide eyes.
"Umm… Everything okay Alya?"
Nino and Chloé were also staring at her with wonder.
Alya cleared her throat, "Yeah, yeah. But girl, we need to talk. All of us."
Marinette wasn't sure how to react so she gave her a confused nod and walked over to her desk. Adrien followed her and took a seat in Alya's spot.
"Marinette. Umm… I was just wondering whether you wanted to come with me this afternoon? Nathalie and me are checking out some apartments where we could go live since… since Nathalie won't be able to keep up with the checks if we're living at the mansion." He looked at her questioningly, "So, will you come?"
"Of course, Adrien," She smiled and squeezed his hand, "I don't have anything else to do anyways."
Adrien smiled, "Great thanks." He walked to his own spot next to Nino.
Not much later Ms. Bustier walked into the class and everyone quieted down.
The lesson was mildly interesting and Marinette managed to stay focused for the first time in a while. This time however it seemed that Alya was the distracted one. She kept glancing at Marinette who tried to ignore her as much as possible so she could stay caught up with the class for once.
After a few more slow passing classes (in Alya's opinion), it was finally lunch. Alya stood up quickly, grabbing Nino's hand and urging Marinette, Adrien and Chloé to hurry up.
"Hey, maybe we could head to the bakery," Marinette suggested while packing up her things.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Adrien agreed.
It was decided. The five headed to the best bakery in Paris to get lunch.
When they arrived Sabine and Tom greeted them. "Hello guys, what would you like for lunch?"
They all chose a few baked goods and headed upstairs to the living room. Adrien had tried to convince Sabine and Tom to let him pay but they straight out refused, Marinette backing them up. Giving up, Adrien headed up the stairs, followed by Marinette.
Once everyone had a spot around the room they started eating. Everyone was quite tried. It was getting closer and closer to the end of the year so the classes were getting harder.
Alya was the first to finish and hesitantly started talking. "Can we- Is it safe here?" She looked at Marinette who nodded slowly, having seen that the door is closed. "In that case we should talk," She looked expectantly at Marinette.
"Umm… W-well…." She stuttered.
"We know Marinette," Alya interrupted. "We know you're-" She hesitated, "We know you're Ladybug."
Marinette didn't look completely shocked, mostly worried. "I-I uhh…." She looked at Adrien who smiled at her encouragingly. He knew how much her secret identity worried her, and how much it became a fixation of her's.
"Yeah," Marinette whispered quietly.
Chloé and Nino stared at her with amazement while Alya looked satisfied. "Great now we all know who we are." She smiled.
Marinette smiled slightly, her guard being let down knowing her friends accept her, and what she does. Then her face darkened. "I'm sorry to interrupt this. It's really nice to finally be free to not always be lying to you guys but there's still something we have to talk about."
"Do we have to give back our miraculous?" Alya immediately asked. Just then Trixx flew out of Alya's bag, where she had been eating.
"No! I don't want to leave this world! It's so nice here," Trixx protested and the other kwamis joined in.
"No, no, no." Marinette quieted them. "You can stay with your owners," She reassured the distraugt kwamis, "But you still have to use your powers for good." She looked at her friends carefully. They all nodded, telling her they would never use them for anything else.
"Now that that's settled what did you want to tell us Marinette?" Alya looked at her best friend.
"Well, you all know that…" She looked at Adrien carefully then continued. "You all know that Mr. Agreste is awaiting trial. We'll all need to be there to help explain what happened. I know Nathalie agreed to help us with anything we don't know." She looked around the room at her friends. "Will you all come? With your miraculouses of course," She added quickly.
They all nodded and Adrien looked at them gratefully. "Thanks guys."
"Of course, dude," Nino smiled sadly.
The friends stayed a little longer at the bakery, just talking about normal news. Anything to distract them from what was waiting for them in a few days.
Once the lunch hour was over they headed back to school, splitting up at the entrance and walking to their separate classes.
Marinette happily went to the arts classroom for art. Mr. Monlataing soon arrived and started instructing on getting materials to practice shading with different types of mediums. Marinette went to get some pencils (her favourite medium) and started sketching. She enjoyed the class so much she was surprised when the bell rung, signaling the end of the school day. Marinette packed up her things and walked to the front of the school, where she promised to meet Adrien.
When Marinette arrived outside she saw Adrien standing at the bottom of the stairs looking for her. She waved to him and walked down the stairs. Adrien greeted her with a small kiss and took her hand.
"Thanks so much again," He smiled at her.
"Of course, kitty." She squeezed his hand.
No sooner did Adrien's car arrive with Nathalie inside. "Hello Adrien, hello Marinette. You can come into the car and we will drive to the first place I thought could be suitable."
Adrien nodded and hand in hand with Marinette, walked to the back door. Once they were inside, the car drove off.
After a short drive, the car stopped and they all got out except for Gorilla who went to park the car.
They had arrived in front of a tall, modern building. Adrien and Marinette followed Nathalie inside.
The entrance was big and there was a desk with a receptionist typing on a laptop.
"Excuse me, I'm Nathalie Sancour and I'm here to look at the apartment-" Nathalie checked the paper she was holding. "Apartment 824."
The man typed some more on his laptop then looked at Nathalie. "Yes. Go down the corridor," He pointed towards the corridor that continued at the end of the entrance hall. "From there, take the elevator to the eighth floor. Then follow the corridor on that floor and look for apartment 824. Someone will be there to show you around."
Nathalie nodded and thanked the man. Then she did as he said and walked down the corridor with Adrien and Marinette close behind. Once they get into the elevator Adrien started to tense next to Marinette who remembered how Adrien is claustrophobic.
"I know you don't like the elevator Adrien. I'm sorry." Nathalie apologised. "We'll just look at the apartment, then depending on how much we like it you can decide whether you would prefer another place."
Adrien nodded, agreeing but still looking worried of the small space he was in. Marinette gently squeezed his hand to tell him everything would be fine. "We're almost there."
The elevator stopped and for a second Adrien's heart stopped beating. Then the doors opened and he let go of the breath he was holding.
In front of the door labeled 824 there was a lady with a clipboard who smiled as soon as she saw them. She opened the door and then welcomed them in. "Hello! Come on in, I'll show you around!"
The apartment was pretty nice in Marinette's opinion but a little too modern. The windows were quite small so there wasn't a lot of light and even though it was the afternoon and it was bright outside, the lights were on.
When Marinette looked at Adrien she nudged him and whispered, "Do you like it?"
He kind of wiggled his head and Marinette assumed that he wanted to say no but he didn't want to be rude to the nice lady that was showing them everything.
Once the tour was over the lady told them they could stay a little longer if they wanted to. They did and discussed whether or not this would be an option for a new place to live.
"So, do you like it Adrien?" Nathalie asked him.
"Well, it's nice but I feel like it's too dark?" He looked unsure if he should be honest. His father would have never asked him something like that. He would choose himself and Adrien would have to deal with it.
While Adrien had been lost in thought Nathalie had nodded, "Yes, it is quite dark and I understand it wouldn't be very nice for you to always need to use the elevator."
Adrien nodded slowly and Marinette agreed, "Yeah, that's true. Right Adrien?"
"Yeah."
"Ok then, we'll go look at a few more okay?" Nathalie looked at the two, who nodded, agreeing.
After visiting a few more apartments Nathalie decided it was enough. Marinette suggested to head to the bakery to get a small snack and start deciding which apartment they liked best. Nathalie agreed, much to Adrien's pleasure.
"Well hello Adrien! Hello Marinette!" Tom greeted them with a warm smile. Then he saw Nathalie and asked, "And who are you, Miss?"
"Hello, I am Nathalie," She responded. "Adrien, Marinette and I have been going around looking for a new place to live."
"Oh really?" Tom looked confused. "And why are you moving out of the mansion?"
"Papa!" Marinette looked at him angrily. Then she softened and looked down, "It- It doesn't really matter…"
"No, no, it's okay Marinette," Adrien gently lifted her chin, to make her face him. Then he turned to Tom. "My father is- He committed a crime and is now in jail."
"Oh! I'm so sorry Adrien!" Tom's mood dampened visibly.
"It's- It'll be okay. Mainly with Marinette's help," He smiled at her sadly.
"Well I'm glad she's helping you." Tom smiled at his daughter. Then he opened the glass case with all the pastries and took out a few. "Come on upstairs, I'll bring you some things from the bakery."
"Thank you, Mr.- I mean Tom," Adrien smiled.
Nathalie thanked him then followed Marinette and Adrien up the stairs.
Once they were all siting down they started discussing.
"So, Adrien, which apartment did you like best?" Nathalie asked him.
Adrien started listing a few, three to be precise. One of them being an apartment on the third floor which was quite close to the school. It was modern and spacious. The second one was an apartment that was near where the swimming pool was. This one was on the fifth floor. It was more old-fashioned than the first one. This one however was kind of dark inside but Adrien still liked it. The last one he mentioned was one that was an old apartment that was renovated with new furniture. This one was also close to school and only two blocks from the bakery and Marinette's house. Adrien liked that one best.
Nathalie considered what he said and told him that he also liked the first and third one that he mentioned. Marinette suggested writing down pros and cons of both of the apartments and they did as she said. After a lot of writing and munching on croissants they had decided which apartment they would get.
"Yes, looking at these notes I think the third one that you mentioned would be the best. Do you agree Adrien?" Nathalie looked at him expectantly.
He nodded.
"Yay! You'll be living so close to me!" Marinette ran over to where he was sitting and gave him a tight hug. Adrien laughed and hugged her back.
"That will feel so nice, Princess."
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A/N: Yay, they're going to live close to each other! I hope you could at least vaguely picture the apartments I described and I promise to describe the apartment they're taking more in the next few (last) chapters. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!