It was almost 5am and Adrien hadn't managed to sleep at all, he was just so worried about how things would go but he didn't wake Kagami or Nathalie no sense in them losing sleep as well, so he lay in bed alone with his thoughts, His room here was on the small side, but he already felt more comfortable here than in his room back at the manor. he probably wouldn't be coming back here again which was honestly sort of a shame he'd enjoyed his time away from his dad more than he should but he knew he couldn't stay, Hawkmoth might have been MIA recently but that wouldn't last he was still needed in Paris, beyond that he missed Nino, Alya, Marinette heck even Chloe as stuck up as she could be, face timing wasn't really the same as seeing them in person still after today this whole escapade is over, hopefully things will go back to some semblance of normality.
His train of thought was interrupted by some small movement in his room. It was hard to see what it was in the Darkness, but the green eyes gave it away. "Plagg? You're never awake this early" Adrien asked in a tired tone, his eyes struggling to pick up what they could in the darkness.
"Excuse Me? I can't live without my 5am camembert. I always wake up this early" Plagg objected before he switched his focus to Adrien. "What about you Kid? Kwamis don't really need sleep, but you do. Talk to your old uncle Plagg"
"I'm pretty sure you already know what's bothering me" Plagg simply nodded in response to Adrien's slight annoyance.
"Well, I would have to be pretty slow not to realise what was wrong but personally I think you're worrying too much" Plagg replied in his usually blunt tone. "Way, I see it your dad will agree even if he doesn't want to because family drama would be bad for business"
Plagg was probably right but Adrien still didn't like hearing it. "Ideally I'd want him to agree because it's the right thing to do but I suppose that's asking too much of him."
Plagg nodded in agreement without even thinking before stammering to comfort Adrien. "Well, hey stranger things have happened I know he's stubborn, but I don't think it's totally hopeless maybe" Adrien didn't catch that last part but he could tell Plagg didn't seem convinced, worrying wasn't going to accomplish anything all he could do was try to sleep.
—
Adrien's attempts to sleep had been pretty unsuccessful and Kagami was only doing slightly better herself; that combined with how early they had to catch their train to Paris meant they were both exhausted. They placed their luggage on the racks above them before sitting down. "You look tired." Adrien sighed, his tone reflecting how exhausted he was himself.
"You're one to talk, your hair a mess and your eyes are bloodshot, and you look about ready to fall asleep." She joked in an equally tired tone resting her head on his shoulder.
"Well yeah I couldn't sleep, I was a little too worried." Adrien quickly realised he was talking to himself as Kagami had fallen asleep, he simply laughed to himself before leaning back he tried to focus on staying awake, but it didn't take too long for him to fall asleep luckily for him he had a pint-sized god of destruction watching his back.
Nathalie has chosen to stay behind for a few days. It would be pretty suspicious if they returned together as far as Gabriel knew she was on vacation; he probably wouldn't be very happy she'd helped them run away.
The Carriage was empty and just before they were due to arrive Plagg decided to wake Adrien. "Hey kid wake up we're nearly there" No response. "Adrien look an akuma!" Again, no response, he was a heavy sleeper ever the impatient one Plagg took a hold of a lock of Adrien's Hair and pulled which succeeded in waking up the young man.
"Ow! Plagg, I told you to stop waking me up like that!" Adrien snapped, rubbing his head but Plagg simply pointed to the ETA displayed on the screen not far from where they were sitting.
"Does he do that a lot?" Kagami, seemingly woken up by Adrien's misfortune, seemed fine so she was just glad he hadn't done it to her.
"Only When he won't get up, which doesn't really happen all that often." Plagg replied in his normal devil may care attitude, Adrien only sighed in response.
They had a few hours before they had to meet up with Gabriel, so Adrien sent Nino a message letting him know he was back and within 10 minutes Nino, Alya and an awkward looking Marinette were there to greet the pair.
Nino almost immediately pulled Adrien into a hug which he had pretty much expected, and he hugged him back without any hesitation. "Oh, wow looks like I've got some competition," Kagami joked, though the pair didn't seem discouraged by that.
"I know I can't remember the last time Nino hugged me like that" Alya added as Nino pulled away from Adrien.
"They'll never understand what we have together" Nino replied in a dramatic tone which actually managed to get a laugh out of Adrien until he noticed Marinette, he should really talk to her.
Somewhat hesitantly he approached her Alya, Nino and Kagami seemed to realise what was going on and they decided to back away.
"Hey…" Marinette greeted in a small voice, he could tell she was uncomfortable which just made him feel worse.
"Hey, we didn't really get any chance to talk before." Adrien began in a somewhat awkward tone as he was trying to choose his words as carefully as he could.
"It's fine you were in a rush, and I knew how it would go beforehand anyway." her saying that just made Adrien feel a little worse.
"Well, um..." Adrien scratched the back of his head nervously. " Sorry, this is probably going to sound super awkward but you're a great girl Marinette and I hope we can still be friends?"
Marinette laughed a little awkwardly before nodding. "I'd love to stay friends; things will probably be a little awkward for a while but I'm sure I can get over it." Marinette replied in a cheerful tone that only sounded slightly forced as she offered a high five.
Adrien high fived her before sighing in relief. "Well, that was a lot easier than I expected. Hopefully things will go as well with my father."
"Well, he might not be happy about it but I'm pretty sure he won't argue especially after you ran away like that" Marinette replied as they headed back towards the group.
"So have you figured out what you're going to say to your parents?" Alya asked Adrien and Kagami as the former rejoined the group.
"Same as before we're not going to compromise with them" Kagami said with certainty Adrien didn't even need to say anything.
"Hopefully they'll agree. I'm not really sure what we'll do next if they don't." Adrien sounded less certain than Kagami but he had a point. This was more or less it.
"They will, we've shown them we're serious and they know this is the last chance they get." Kagami reassured him which helped even if it was just a little.
—
Time seemed to be slowed to a crawl as Adrien dreaded meeting up with his father and Tomoe but finally the time was here. Kagami was nervous as well; he could tell despite her best efforts to hide it.
After they arrived Adrien phoned his father, and it didn't take long for them to find him and Tomoe the man was hard to miss given his tall imposing figure not many people were over 7 feet tall
"Father." Adrien greeted simply trying to hide his nervous tone Gabriel didn't seem to notice how nervous Adrien was.
"Hello Mother, Mr. Agreste." Kagami greeted respectfully but it was clearly out of obligation more than anything else
"Adrien as you have left me with no other recourse, I will agree to your terms just tell me what you want." Gabriel spoke in a defeated tone he sounded absolutely exhausted.
"First of all, you don't decide my career, Second Ease up on my schedule and give me a little more free time and would it kill you to spend a little more time with me?" Adrien spoke in a firm tone that let Gabriel know he wouldn't compromise. Eventually the man nodded.
"Kagami, I assume you want the same thing?" Tomoe guessed though she wasn't quite right.
"Well yes but also you need to be more supportive, you never care about what I'm doing unless you tell me to do it." Tomoe wanted to argue but deep down she knew her daughter was right.
"Alright then. I'm not sure how much I could encourage your drawings, but I suppose I could pay for art classes." It was a start Kagami knew her mother wouldn't be able to give feedback as she was blind after all.
—
To the couples surprise their parents had kept their word it was perhaps for fear of them leaving again but it was better than nothing Kagami had been able to cut back on her fencing and had even started art classes she was happier than she'd been in a while, and it showed previously she almost never smiled in public now? It seemed like she was smiling whenever Adrien saw her as for Adrien his father had more or less let Adrien sort out his own schedule, he still did piano lessons, fencing, Chinese and the occasional photo shoot but he had a lot more time to himself and he could go out more or less whenever he wanted. As for spending time with Gabriel? Well, his father was still busy, but he always made sure to have at least one meal with Adrien every day. On a completely unrelated note, Hawkmoth had been a lot less active recently Akuma's seemed to be a once-a-month occurrence now, but he was still friends with Ladybug, so they met up to patrol twice a week.
"You wanna go grab something to eat kitty?" Ladybug asked as she landed on the arc de triomphe beating Chat in a race there by a whisker.
"I'll have to take a rain check on that ladybug. I've got a date next time though." Chat politely declined things were a lot more relaxed between them now that things were strictly platonic.
"Oh? Well don't let me keep you, I'm sure this mystery girl is waiting for you to sweep her off her feet" Ladybug teased playfully, pushing him.
"Of course, parting is such sweet sorrow, until the next time." Chat Noir joked before jumping off the arc and vaulting away.
—
Kagami was just leaving art class when Chat landed in front of her. Thankfully there weren't too many people out this time of day. "Good afternoon milady you got the tickets?"
Kagami rolled her eyes before producing two tickets to the Aquarium De Paris. "Isn't it pretty stereotypical for a cat to wanna go look at fish?" Kagami joked before putting the tickets away.
"I suppose but what can I say? Maybe Plagg is finally getting to me" Chat Noir shrugged before looking back at Kagami. "So, you ready to go? Kagami nodded and Chat picked her up before vaulting away into the city.
So that's it, that's the end I'd love to hear your thoughts on this whole thing, I really do appreciate the reviews I might write an epilogue about their date at the aquarium so let me know if that's something you'd want to see