"We can't let this happen!" Plagg complained loudly as Adrien grabbed his gym bag from the change room and started towards the exit. Tikki's sobs had quieted down now, but he could still feel her trembling in his pocket. Gently, he reached a finger down to pet her.
"I know." He sighed, stopping to rub his face. "Tikki, it's going to be okay. Marinette loves you. She'll come around. And even if she doesn't, you'll still see her. We're going to visit tonight and she's in my class."
"It won't be the same." Tikki turned away from him, pouting, and Plagg cuddled up next to her, looking up at his holder with such a sad look on his face that Adrien had to wonder if that was what he looked like too. Walking out the door and down the front steps, Adrien was met by a furious Natalie.
"Your fencing lesson ended twenty minutes ago." Natalie snapped as The Gorilla opened the back door of the limousine.
"I'm aware." Adrien tried his best to hold back an eye roll as he climbed into the vehicle. It wasn't necessarily Natalie's fault that his father was so suffocating, but it was hard to remember that when Natalie played parent representative for Gabriel.
"Your father will not be happy that you are late. He will be worried." Natalie slid into the front passenger seat and began typing furiously on her tablet.
"He's only worried about me because he doesn't want to have to replace a model this far into the spring line." Adrien glanced out the window as they passed the patisserie. Would Alya be there already? Would Marinette tell her friend that she'd given up her miraculous and her kwami? Could Alya convince her to change her mind?
"Even if that was true, and it is not, I worried about you. Does that not matter?"
"Natalie." Adrien groaned. "Of course it does. I'm sorry, okay? I got distracted comforting a friend after the akuma attack. They were really rattled by it. I didn't realize what time it was."
"I know as a teenager it can be hard to submit to your parental figures, but we do truly care about you. I will do my best to speak with your father about your tardiness. The next time..please, Adrien. Just call me." They arrived at the mansion and Natalie exited the car gracefully, striding purposefully toward the front doors.
"Thank you." Adrien nodded to The Gorilla before following after Natalie. Gabriel's assistant might try to talk him down, but Adrien knew it would be of little use. Better to face his father right away and get it over with.
"Good luck, kid." Plagg whispered, curling back up next to a sleeping Tikki. "You're going to need it."
~•••••~
"Oh Alya! What a surprise! I didn't know you were coming over!" Sabine greeted from the cash register. "Feel free to grab a pastry or two on your way up. Marinette's in her room."
"Thank you Mrs. Cheng!" Alya snatched a cheese danish then bounded up the bakery steps. She finished the treat halfway up to the apartment and flung the door open, climbing the familiar steps up to Marinette's room. "Marinette?" She called, pushing the trapdoor open and stepping inside.
Marinette sat on her bed, looking up at the trapdoor above her silently. As soon as Chat had left she'd ordered the other kwami into the miracle box, leaving her room completely silent save for her own breaths for the first time since she'd become ladybug.
"Marinette?" Alya asked again, beginning the climb to Marientte's bed. "What are you doing? Are you..are you alright?"
"I'm..okay." Marinette whispered, glancing up to look at her best friend.
"Marientte. I thought you-"
"I did." Marinette interjected, eyes glossing over with more tears. "Chat brought me back."
"I'm so glad you're okay." Alya whispered, trying to hold back the reporter in her that screamed to ask questions about her friend's death. "Where's Tikki?" Alya glanced around the room, trying to settle on a lighter topic. Usually Tikki and Trixx would be off talking and playing by now, but Alya could feel Trixx still sitting firmly in her bag.
"Is Tikki hurt!?" Alya and Trixx both found the thought at the same time and Marinette sighed, holding up a hand to stop them.
"No. No. Tikki's fine. She's with Chat Noir."
"How are you going to get her back? He doesn't know who you are, does he?"
"How do you think he got my earrings?" Marinette curled in on herself, placing her head in his hands and trying her best not to cry. "I detransformed so he could take them."
"Did you find out who he is?" Alya seemed almost excited at the idea and Marinette shook her head, not sure if she was thankful or regretful for how things had turned out on that end.
"He covered my eyes while he transformed."
"That sucks. He gets to know who you are and you're just left in the dark?" Alya frowned. "When are you getting Tikki back?" Alya didn't miss the way her friend flinched, turning slightly away from her. "What did he do? Did he refuse to give her back? Did he hurt you? If he so much as-"
"No. It's fine. He's bringing her back by later tonight. Can you leave?"
"What?" Alya tried to meet her friend's gaze, hurt evident on her face, but Marinette turned further away and shrugged.
"I've..I've had a rough day. I want to rest. Can you please just..leave. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Oh, okay." Alya put a hand on her friend's shoulder before descending down to the main floor. "If you need anything, just call okay?"
"Mhm."
Alya huffed and made her way downstairs, frowning in concentration as she left the bakery.
"Alya?"
"Don't fret, Trixx. We're gonna figure this out."
~•••••~
"Marinette," Wayzz began, appearing from the side of Marinette's bed.
"I thought I told you all to stay in the box." Marinette snapped, laying down and turning to her side. "I don't want anything to do with you, any of you, right now."
"But Marinette, this isn't like you. I'm worried-" Wayzz sighed when he realized the girl was already asleep, the sound of her soft breaths filling the room. "What are we going to do?"
"Nothing right now." Barkk answered. "This girl has had a very ruff, very long and painful day. Let's back off, let her sniff out her own feelings on the matter and I'm sure she will change her mind."
"You're right. Thank you, Barkk." Wayzz checked on the sleeping teen in front of them once more before the two kwami returned to the miracle box for a nap of their own.
~•••••~
"Natalie." Gabriel nodded to his assistant, still immersed in his newest design. He held his pencil in a relaxed manner, though his facial features assured he was anything but. "I trust you were finally able to get Adrien home."
"I'm right here, father." Adrien stepped into the room and Gabriel sighed, standing from his seat at his desk and motioning the two forward.
"I had hoped to speak with Natalie alone before deciding on your punishment. Twenty minutes is very costly in this business, Adrien. You are now twenty minutes behind schedule. You have a wardrobe fitting in an hour and a shoot at nine. Should I be expected to move it back for your convenience because you decided to dawdle instead of coming home to prepare?"
"See?" Adrien asked, turning to Natalie. "It's not about me. It never is. It's about my career. That's all I am to him." Adrien stood and disappeared from the room without another word, sure he'd hear of his punishment later.
"Natalie." Gabriel began, watching after his son in confusion. "What was he talking about?"
"You're too hard on him, Sir!" Natalie reprimanded, an uncharacteristically angry look on her face. "He's just a boy! A teenage boy who, in a normal life, would spend his time eating junk food and goofing off with friends, but instead is being forced to work half his life away, on a model's diet. Adrien is upset because you are always putting your work before him. Both as Gabriel Agreste the fashion designer and as Shadowmoth. He barely sees you and when he does it is work this, work that, photo here, don't eat that, sit up straight, piano, Chinese, fencing, do what I say! If it wasn't for that boy and my love for you I would have quit ages ago!"
"Natalie. I have always tried to do right by my son, I-"
"Don't you dare play that card, Gabriel Agreste. I have known you since we were teenagers. Do you think I don't remember you at Adrien's age? Hm? Now you, you could have benefited from this abuse you call a parenting style, but Adrien? Adrien deserves a much better father than you have ever been."
"Natalie, I-"
"You'll be eating dinner with your son from now on and will let him hang out with his friends as he pleases? What a marvelous idea, Sir."
"Natalie, I did not-"
"And Adrien will be replaced by another model, an adult, for the rest of the season? On a roll, Sir."
"Natalie! I have not-"
"And I will be getting a raise? What a day you are having. Now. I will be taking the rest of the day off and when I return tomorrow I expect to see light in that boy's eyes. Thank you, Sir." Natalie left the atelier in a rush and Gabriel sat, stunned, at his desk.
"Nooroo?"
"Yes, Master?" The Kwami peeked up at his holder and Gabriel frowned, lost in thought. "Ah. Nothing. Never mind."
"Very well, Sir."