When Adrien walked downstairs, everyone else was already there. Lila was halfway through telling Amelie the story of how she met Jagged Stone. Gorilla had settled himself in one of the chairs. At first, Felix was missing, but Adrien found him tucked away in a corner of the kitchen, his face buried in a book.
Amelie laughed and appeared behind Adrien. "You'll have to tell me more later, sweetheart!" she called back to Lila. She smiled at Adrien and gave his shoulders a comforting squeeze. "You alright, dear?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for letting us stay with you."
"Of course! I'm so happy you're here!" Amelia turned to Felix and frowned. "Felix, don't you want to spend some time with Adrien?" Felix looked up. "You're not going to spend his whole visit by yourself. Why don't you take him and Lila to get something to eat? You'd like that wouldn't you Adrien? You must be hungry from all that traveling."
"That would be great," Adrien agreed.
Felix shut his book. Adrien grinned at him, but Felix's lips did not even twitch. A completely expressionless look that nearly rivaled Gabriel Agreste's.
After a heavy silence, Felix finally spoke. "Alright. Give me a moment." Without another look toward Adrien or his mother, Felix stood and disappeared down the hall.
Amelie sighed. "I hope you're not still upset about what happened last time we were in Paris. What Felix did to your friends was unacceptable, but you know he cares about you, right?" Amelie glanced in the direction he had just walked off in, but he was gone. "He hasn't been himself lately. He barely talks to me. I was hoping you being here would help cheer him up, but I understand if you don't want to spend time with him."
Adrien had felt a lot more sure about seeing Felix back in the car. Felix was just as cold as the last time Adrien saw him. He had expected things to go differently. They'd hug and talk and everything would be like it was when they were kids.
"It's okay," he said, "I know Felix was going through a lot at the time. I'd like for us to be close again."
Amelie pulled Adrien into a hug. "You're such a sweet boy."
Adrien went back to the living room. Lila was slumped over the couch and looking at her phone. She perked up when she heard someone enter, but turned away again when she saw it was just Adrien. She'd wanted little to do with him when they were alone ever since he told her not to target Marinette.
"Do you want to come to get food with Felix and me, Lila?"
As he said that Felix and Amelie walked back into the room. Lila plastered a smile on her face. "Oh, yes!" she said, "I'd love for you to show me around London afterward, Felix."
"I suppose Uncle would want us to take—" Felix motioned toward Gorilla.
Gorilla wore headphones and had slid halfway off the couch. Ever since their trip to New York, he'd started listening to meditation tapes whenever they traveled. Adrien wasn't convinced Gorilla knew the difference between sleeping and meditating.
"Oh, you don't have to wake him," Amelie said, "this is a safe neighborhood, you'll be fine without him. We just won't tell Gabriel."
"Good. Let's go." Felix headed for the door. Lila jumped up and followed after him.
Of course, Adrien forgot to look for cheese. Plagg pouted, not that Adrien could see him hidden under his shirt. Traveling was the worst. If they were home, they'd be on the couch with the TV on. Plagg would be halfway through a wheel of gooey camembert. Instead, he was stuffed under Adrien's shirt, forced to listen to Lila's constant chattering and the growl of his own stomach.
Plagg stole a look outside from the edge of Adrien's shirt. Lila and Felix were a couple of feet ahead of Adrien. Lila kept reaching for Felix; grabbing at his arm when she got excited, putting a hand on his shoulder. Each time he pulled away, but she'd just inch closer to him and try again. Plagg laughed, served Felix right after what he did to that precious piece of cheese—and for what he did to Adrien's friends, too.
"What do you say we ditch these losers and find something fun to do?" Plagg whispered up to Adrien.
"Shh, Plagg, they'll hear you. Besides, I have no idea where we'd even go."
Plagg rolled his eyes. Adrien never wanted to do anything fun. "Fine. At least promise you'll find me some cheese. I think I'll die if I go another day without it."
"I promise I'll look when we get back to Amelie's house, okay?"
Plagg was about to disappear back into Adrien's shirt for a nap when he saw it; a pile of cheeses displayed in a shop window. It was beautiful, more so than any of the sights they had seen so far.
Adrien would refuse to stop. He already said he couldn't buy too much cheese or his father would ask questions. Even with his father busy at work he'd find out, Lila reported everything back to him. Besides, Plagg feared any cheese Adrien bought in front of Felix would end up squished under a pillow somewhere.
There was only one option: he'd have to go by himself.
When Adrien turned his head in the other direction, Plagg dashed out from under his shirt. Before he even phased through the glass he could smell it, the fragrance of so many different cheeses at once. Strong ones and nutty ones and ones that smelled strangely sweet. It was almost too much to handle after all this time.
"London is my favorite place in the world!" Plagg declared before he went through the window and dived head-first into the cheese display.
Plagg grabbed the closest cheese he could find, a lump of goat cheese, and shoved it into his mouth. Delicious. He kept going, eating anything he could reach; wedges of cheddar and slices of swiss. He had an entire log of a crumbly cheese he didn't know the name of. Finally, he ate a path right to his favorites.
"Camembert! Oh how I missed you," he said as he wrapped his arms around a wheel of it. He took a deep sniff of its glorious stench, then sunk his fangs right through the rind.
"Look, I told you I saw another kwami! Maybe he can help us!"
"Huh?" Plagg tore himself away from the cheese just long enough to look up.
Two kwamis he'd never seen before floated in front of him. One was some kind of bug. She was mostly black, with a glowing gold bulb on her back and equally bright gold eyes. A pair of curled antennae sprang up from her forehead. The other was dark gray, with a bit of white, furry scruff under his chin. He had a pair of wings growing from his back which, since all kwamis could fly, seemed useless to Plagg.
"I'm Wissp, the firefly kwami. And this is Wingg, the bat kwami. We need your help."
"Look, even though you're also kwamis, I'm afraid I just don't have enough cheese to share," Plagg said before tossing a piece of camembert into his mouth.
Wingg sniffed, then his face scrunched up. "Gross, no, we don't care about the cheese."
"You don't ?"
Wingg sighed and floated closer to Plagg, dangerously close to his camembert. "Look, we got separated from our holders a long time ago, but Wissp is convinced they're together and nearby."
"I just know they are!" Wissp piped in. "When our Miraculouses are close together, I can sense it. And now you're here too, this must be a sign we'll find them! You're the kwami for that cat hero in Paris, aren't you? Can you help us look?"
"I didn't realize Chat Noir and I are famous in London. Unfortunately, we're a bit too busy on our cheese tour to make any unplanned stops."
"This is more important than cheese!" Wingg snapped. "If your Chat Noir is such a great hero, wouldn't he want to help us? Besides, if you stay here much longer the shopkeeper will catch you. Then what?"
Plagg looked over to the man behind the counter. He was old and busy with a line of customers. Plagg wasn't afraid of him, he was skilled at dodging people for cheese; Adrien's father, the personal chef. But he couldn't stay there forever. The other kwamis were right, Adrien would want to help. At the least, it might get them away from Lila and Felix for a bit.
Plagg sighed. "Fine. Follow me to Chat Noir." He phased through the wall again and out to the streets of London. They were even more deserted than last time. Adrien and the others were nowhere to be seen. "Uh oh."
It must have been great for Adrien, finally free after all these weeks from his father breathing down his neck and away from the watchful eye of that bodyguard. He sat across from Felix with a stupid grin on his face, even though no one was paying him any attention. But if it was Heaven for Adrien, it was Hell for Felix. He just wanted to spend his Saturday at home, alone.
"And these were from a photoshoot we did in Florence." Lila shoved her phone in Felix's face again. It was a picture of the two of them in front of a large cathedral, wearing what Felix assumed were Gabriel's designs. Felix cared little for fashion and even less for anything his uncle did.
"Lovely," Felix mumbled as he pushed her hand away.
He must have seen dozens of pictures by now. He learned one thing from all of the photos she showed him; Adrien did not like Lila. Felix had seen plenty of Adrien's modeling. Ads of him were plastered everywhere, even in London, especially after that stupid fragrance commercial. On billboards, in malls, magazine cut-outs hung in girls' lockers at school. Every month or so his mom would come home waving a magazine around, "look, it's Adrien!" as if Felix could somehow have forgotten what he looked like.
In all those pictures Adrien always looked the same: happy, confident, maybe even angelic. Looks that made him a heartthrob for probably half the teenagers in Europe. It was subtle—Adrien was a good actor for sure—but he looked different in the pictures with Lila. A nervous glance in her direction, his shoulders a bit more tensed than normal.
"And these pictures were from Achu!" Lila's phone was in his face again. She couldn't take a hint. Probably had no idea how irritated Adrien looked in the photos, either. "I just love going to Achu, have you ever been there, Felix? Maybe I could take you there someday. I could introduce you to Prince Ali! The two of us are close family friends."
"Can I ask you something?" Felix asked.
Lila's eyes lit up. It was the first thing Felix had said to her that wasn't a one-word attempt to shut her down. "Of course!"
"Does that usually work?" Felix didn't look at Adrien but could feel that he had looked up from his menu toward him.
"I'm not sure what you mean," Lila said.
"You know, making things up. Frankly, I'm a bit insulted you'd think I'd be stupid enough to fall for it. Do you normally just surround yourself with idiots?"
Adrien's eyes slid between Felix and Lila, but he kept his mouth shut. Felix imagined Adrien wanted to call her out weeks ago; but of course, he didn't. Adrien was too nice.
"Are you accusing me of lying?"
"Do I need to? I don't think a true statement has come out of your mouth since I met you. It's quite pathetic."
"Felix," Adrien finally spoke up.
"How could you be so mean?" Tears began to stream down Lila's face. Her demeanor had changed completely. Felix would have been impressed if she hadn't already annoyed him. "I was trying to be nice because Adrien told me you didn't have friends and no one likes you, but now I see why." She stood and ran off crying to the bathroom. Other customers in the café watched her, then glared in Felix's direction. That was more dramatic than he expected. He thought she'd just fall silent. Bravo for the performance, it seemed to trick everyone in earshot.
"You didn't have to embarrass her like that," Adrien said.
Felix shrugged. "She embarrassed herself. Why do you care so much anyway? I can tell you don't like her either."
"That doesn't make it okay to be cruel to her. You never used to be like this. What happened?"
Felix stood. "I don't need to be lectured by you of all people. You're one to talk, telling her no one likes me, and you—" he was cut off by Adrien's surprised look. "Ugh, just forget it."
"I didn't—Felix!"
Felix stormed out. Mom wouldn't be happy if he came home without them, but he didn't care. It was not like she would punish him for it, she'd just be sad. Not that he liked upsetting his mother, but he couldn't stand being alone with Lila and Adrien anymore.
"Are you sure it was a good idea to give Adrien your ring, sir?" Nathalie asked from behind the tablet screen.
"It was necessary," Gabriel said, "I'm sure seeing him with it will cause drama. Then, I'll be able to akumatize Amelie or Felix. That will be big enough to drag Ladybug and Chat Noir from Paris."
"That's another thing you should know. Chat Noir hasn't shown up to a sentimonster attack in weeks."
"I'm sure I can bring them both here." Gabriel paused for a minute. A sudden wave of emotion washed over him. Humiliation. Frustration. A bit of heartbreak, maybe? A smile crept onto his face. "I'm sensing a strong negative emotion from Lila Rossi. Looks like I didn't need to give Adrien the ring at all. I should have known her being here would be enough. And who better than Volpina to drag Chat Noir out of his hiding?"
"Adrien has to be around here somewhere," Marinette said as she checked her phone.
Tikki looked up from her spot in Marinette's purse. "Isn't that Adrien over there?"
Marinette looked up and saw him across the street. He was dressed differently than he normally did, and his hair was combed down. But that made sense; the whole point of this trip was for his father's brand. He probably was coming from a photoshoot.
"Adrien!" Marinette called and waved. He glanced in her direction, then kept walking. "He must not have heard me."
"Or he's busy. Maybe you should find him later."
Marinette took off across the street after him. She called his name again, but he kept on walking. She caught up and was nearly close enough to grab him when she tripped and fell to the pavement. The present flew from her hands into the gutter and Tikki tumbled from her open bag.
Marinette gasped and scooped Tikki up. "I'm sorry," she whispered before dropping her in the bag. Someone took a step toward her. "Adrien?"
He stopped just ahead of her. His eyes narrowed at the sight of her. "Are you blind or just stupid?"
"What?" She looked back at him again. It had to be Adrien. He looked just like him. Sounded just like him. But she couldn't think of a time Adrien had called anyone stupid. The scowl on his face made him look angry, but Marinette caught a spark of sadness in his eyes. Something must have happened to make him so upset.
She stumbled to her feet. "Um, are you okay, Adrien?"
His frown deepened. "Oh, so you're just stupid, then." He turned away, but stopped and picked something up off the ground. "Hope this was waterproof."
He held out a dripping pile of wrapping paper. For a moment, Marinette thought it was just a wad of trash. Then she caught sight of a stained sweater from underneath a ripped corner. "Oh," she said, taking it from him. It was soaked through with water and mud. Marinette looked at Tikki in her purse. The gift was ruined. Her daydream of being reunited with Adrien had turned into a nightmare. She turned in the opposite direction from him, ready to shuffle back to the train station in shame.
"Felix!"
Marinette spun back around. Adrien—actually Adrien, with his normal style of clothes and normal hair—was running toward them. Even with them standing next to each other, Marinette could have mistaken either of them for Adrien, if the other one never opened his mouth.
"Wow, you followed me by yourself? I'm sure your father won't like you running around London all alone."
"Look, Felix, I know Lila can be a lot, but you really upset her." Adrien sighed. "I was hoping the two of us could get along. Like how we used to."
"Why would you want that? I thought I had no friends and nobody liked me."
"I didn't say that, Lila just made it up. But if you're upset because it's true, I could help."
"It's not true," Felix snapped, "and even if it was I wouldn't want your help anyway. Look at your friends, I could do better. Chloe Bourgeois? Those idiots who sent you that video? This moron who couldn't even recognize I wasn't you?"
"Huh?" Adrien turned. His face lit up. Marinette's heart raced. "Marinette? What are you doing here?"
"Uh, I'm here to see you—I mean, I didn't come here for you! That'd be crazy. But I saw you! I mean not you, I saw, uh—"
"Oh, right. Marinette, this is my cousin, Felix."
"Right, yeah, I remember. I mean, I don't remember, I didn't meet him. I saw the video, that was fun! I mean, not fun. That was bad. That's how I know you. Nice to punch—meet you."
Marinette held out her hand, dirty and wet from holding her soaked present. Felix ignored it. "Right. Well, have fun with your girlfriend."
"Actually, Marinette's just a fri—"
A scream came from down the street. People ran past them. Marinette held her purse close to her and looked around for a hiding place she could duck into. There wasn't enough of a crowd that she could disappear from Adrien and Felix without them noticing. A figure dressed in orange rounded the street corner ahead, right behind another group of fleeing people.
"Is that Volpina?" Adrien asked.
It was her, no doubt, and she was running toward them. Adrien grabbed Marinette's wrist. She felt her face grow warm with blush. Before she could react they were running. Adrien pulled her with one hand and Felix with the other.
"Uh, isn't that one of those animal heroes from Paris?" Felix asked once they were safely hidden in an alley.
Adrien clenched his fists. "No, that's Lila. She got akumatized because of what you said to her."
Adrien had leaned in close to him as he spoke. Felix pushed him away. "Well, that's an unreasonable response. Hardly my fault."
"There you two are," Volpina dropped down before them. Her face collapsed into a snarl. "You two abandoned me for Marinette? Fine." Volpina grabbed Marinette around her waist. Marinette struggled, but without being transformed, Volpina was too strong for her to get away. "If you want to see Marinette again, guess you'll have to finally pay some attention to me."
Volpina jumped; in one leap she was on the rooftops. Marinette swung her elbow into her nose, but Volpina did not even flinch.
"Marinette!" Adrien called. He started to run back out to the street, but something snagged his shirt.
"Are you serious?" Felix asked. His grip was strong enough Adrien couldn't pull away. "You can't go after them, you'll get hurt. Let the police handle it or something."
"But Marinette's in trouble."
"You getting hurt isn't going to help her! Come on." Felix pulled him away.
There was nothing around Adrien could use to cause a distraction. If he tried to run for it and transform, he wasn't sure Felix wouldn't follow. He couldn't even ask Plagg for help without Felix overhearing. It made him feel useless; he was a hero, maybe the only one in London, and he couldn't even help his friend.
At first, Plagg was fine with ignoring Volpina. He'd shaken off the concern of the other kwamis. Told them he had no idea who she was; maybe another Miraculous holder. It's not like he could do anything without Adrien. Let Ladybug come to London herself and deal with it, Paris wasn't too far. He realized that plan wouldn't work when he saw Volpina carry a detransformed Ladybug away.
"So much for this trip being a vacation," he whined. The other kwamis were ahead of him, still searching for their Miraculous holders. Plagg joined them. "Look, I was wrong before. That fox lady? She's a villain. I need to find Chat Noir but have no idea where he might be. Do you know where in London an evil, cheese-hating boy would take his cousin for lunch?"
"Um, maybe a vegan restaurant?" Wissp guessed.
That could explain Volpina. Plagg would probably get akumatized too if he was forced to eat vegan food.
"Wissp, could this be them?" Wingg asked. He was looking over the edge of the building down into the streets below. "They're both wearing rings that look like our Miraculouses."
Oh good, maybe their heroes could deal with Volpina. Plagg might get away without doing anything after all. He looked over the edge of the building where Wingg was pointing and frowned
Millions of people in London, and they thought one of their holders was Adrien. Great. Even worse, the other one was Felix. Plagg shivered at the thought of all the camembert that might fall victim to him in superhero form.
"Hold on, a lot of people wear rings. That doesn't just mean they have your Miraculouses. Besides, you said your holders were girls before."
"Our last ones were, but we lost them decades ago. They must have passed the Miraculouses on to someone else," Wissp said
"So, you have absolutely no idea what your holders look like or who they are?"
"Nope!" Wissp said. "But I'm sure it's them. Our holders always come from the same family, and they're always twins."
"What makes you think those two are twins?" Plagg didn't want to say anymore, for fear he'd give away Adrien as Chat Noir. These two kwamis weren't the smartest he met. He wasn't about to trust Adrien's identity to them.
"Uh, they look the same," Wingg said.
"Humans always look the same. I tell them apart through scent. Just like a fine cheese, all humans smell different."
"That is disgusting. Wissp, come on, let's see if it's them."
"Wait, but what if it's not! You'll just be revealing magic to random people!" Plagg yelled. They ignored him and floated down toward Adrien and Felix. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but could tell Adrien and Felix were arguing. Maybe that would at least scare the kwamis off, then Plagg could sneak back into Adrien's shirt as if nothing happened. Then Chat Noir could save the day. Wissp and Wingg would have to find their holders on their own.