(A/N: Hey guys I've finished chapter 8 and I hope you enjoy, now before anything else I want to let you guys know this chapter has a bit of a mature seen in it hence the M rating in the description, and before you jump down my throat no nobody is having sex okay, I just want to throw that out there and clarify that, it is a bit on the boarder of it but it's not officially sex so nobody freak out over it please, I only added it as a way to help Marinette and Adrien grow closer to each other nothing more, but 'spoiler alert' I am going to warn you in the future they will hook up in this story, but when they're officially adults, which will happen in about four of five chapters in, so there. Now then let's see if this gets me killed.)
Chapter 8: He's trying
Dallas returned to the manor around 4:30 PM, he asked Adrien's bodyguard to stop at the local mall to try and find another knife to replace the one he'd lost the night he'd been shot, sadly he had no luck in finding the kind he'd liked. After leaving the mall he asked the bodyguard to take him to somewhere he could drown his misery in something high in saturated fats, as soon as he'd gotten to the manor's front entrance he started cursing his luck.
"God damn cheap ass factory made bullshit knives, 'just as good as smith made blades' he said, the FUCK they are, that jackass wouldn't know quality if it sliced his throat and he bled to death." He seethed as he took the final bight out of his big mac. "It's just impossible to find a quality smith these days yah know big guy?" Dallas asked the gorilla, but he didn't answer him with words, just a simple nod of his head. "Well don't look so up set about it dude." Dallas said sarcastically as he walked through the door then said out loud with a Ricky Ricardo impression for all to here. "Lucy, I'm home!" He laughed at his own joke, as no one else did. "Eh, everyone's a critic." He said to himself, as he made his way up to Adrien's room he noticed something about the whole house, it had the same butterfly design everywhere he seemed to look. "Jeez what is with all the damn butterflies?" He asked rhetorically, but received an answer anyway from around the next corner.
"That's Mr. Agreste's personal logo…" Dallas jumped almost completely out of his skin as he was startled by Natalie.
"Jeez lady don't freaking do that, what are you trying to do give me a heart attack or something?" Dallas scolded as he just took short breaths to try and relax his still beating heart.
"Mr. Agreste has asked me to assist you with your attire for the evening, one of your new outfits is waiting for you in Adrien's room, if you'd be so kind as to follow me." Natalie asked without expression as she walked into Adrien's room. Dallas didn't know what was going on or why she was waiting for him other than the obvious, but he didn't feel like just doing as she told him to do. When she noticed that he wasn't coming she stopped. "Mr. Jones, now please. Mr. Agreste wants you ready for tonight's event." She asked politely.
"And what event is that? Wait don't tell me, your fighting in the national battle robot league tonight and you're going for the gold." He joked once more, she narrowed her eyes at him with disgust, it was clear that she'd already had enough of his jokes about her being a robot. "What's with the look EDI?" She cocked one eyebrow as she didn't understand that joke. "Oh sorry you probably don't get that joke do you, well EDI is a character from a pretty popular video-game franchise called Mass effect, great game by the way I've beat it a million times, anyway she's an AI who gets her own body in the third game which kicks a lot of ass too just so yah know, oh and she also ends up nailing…" His explanation was cut short when Natalie grabbed his ear and dragged him into Adrien's room. "OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OKAY I GET IT, no more robot jokes." He cried as she just held her grip on his ear lobe. "But seriously do you have robot hands because your ripping off my ear sister!"
Natalie finally let him go then she turned and demanded in an angry voice. "Now you listen to me young man, I don't know how your former foster families handled discipline for you but I assure you that you will not get a ticket out of it this time because clearly you've gone without it for too long, but no more, you WILL show me respect you WILL do as your told and you WON'T give me any grief about it or so help me god you will find out in the worst of ways what it is to irritate me, do I make myself clear Mr. Jones?" She raged on as she just stared daggers at him.
"Yeah, okay…sure what ever you say ma'am." Dallas replied feeling about three inches smaller right now. God damn, he thought to himself, she really does have emotions, I guess she's not a robot after all, just really pissy.
Natalie then turned toward the bed and handed Dallas a brand new suit, it was a very sharp looking dark gray with a silk lining on the inside, to complete the ensemble was a navy blue under shirt with a black neck tie. "These shall be your attire for the evening, Mr. Agreste expects you to be ready before 7 o'clock, you will not delay you will be on time." She said demanding as he just stared at his new outfit.
He can't be serious, Dallas thought with distaste of the outfit, there is no way in hell am I gonna wear this. "Doesn't he have anything in…yah know, black? Cause black is more my thing really." Dallas asked politely, not wanting to enrage her again. Last thing I need right now is for this chick to bite my head off, he thought actually fearful of her, which was not easy for anyone to do to him.
"If Mr. Agreste believed black was your color he would've made it black, you're entitled to your own opinion Mr. Jones but in terms of fashion Mr. Agreste knows what you'd look best in." Natalie stated firmly. "Once you've changed Mr. Agreste wants you to report to his office, and before you ask no I don't know why and no I don't believe it has anything to do with what you may have done at school today. I'll leave you to change." She began to walk towards the door.
Dallas just stood there staring at his new suit. "I don't care how famous he is black is my color not this dark gray bullshit, now I think I understand a little more why his kid is so pissed at him." Dallas stood in front of the Mirror in Adrien's private bathroom, and just held the outfit up to himself, he didn't see how it looked better than his usual black leather jacket. "Seriously where am I going a funeral? Might as well just shoot me now because I hate it." He was about to throw the outfit away in the hamper by the door when he'd remembered what he told Adrien about his bracelet. "I didn't want to be rude after he works so hard on it so I just accepted it without complaining…" The words simply echoed in his mind like a bad song he couldn't get out of his head. He realized that Gabriel didn't have to make him a new outfit, he did it because he wanted to, which made it a gift and he'd rather cut his own throat than just refuse a gift from someone who had put their blood sweat and tears into it. He just sighed then said to himself. "Suck it up Jones, just for tonight that's the only time you have to wear it."
Meanwhile over ten blocks from the Agreste Manor, Marinette was getting ready for her evening with Adrien, and the dress she'd chosen to wear she'd made herself, and for just such an occasion. The dress was a bright red with a single spaghetti strap on the right shoulder while her left arm was draped with the only sleeve, there was a rose print pattern tracing the entire sleeve and the edge of the blouse with black beads tracing around the outer edge of the parachute, which had had a trail of handmade flowers stitched up and down the right hip of the dress and upon her right wrist she wore a bracelet to match the flowers upon her dress, her shoes were also made with their own flowers stitched just behind the toes. If there was ever a night that she wanted to dress to impress, it would be this night and Adrien was one of the first to see her in such a beautiful dress.
"So what do you think Alya? Too much?" She was having a face time call with Alya as she was feeling a bit too eager that Marinette was going out to such a classy restaurant.
"Girl are you kidding? You've knocked it out of the park with this dress, when Adrien sees you in that he's going to need to go to the emergency room to get his jaw reattached." Alya joked playfully, she clearly approved of Marinette's new dress and had no doubt that Adrien would love it.
"Well I hope not…" Marinette laughed at her friend's terrible joke. "Who knows how long I'd have to go without kissing him until he'd healed up."
"Knowing you Mari, you'd go crazy within the first week." Alya predicted. "So what's lover boy wearing tonight? I hear the Scarlett seahorse has a very strict dress code and I don't think that anyone is allow to eat there if they're not wearing anything less than a suit and tie, or a fancy dress like that one girl."
Marinette laughed again then replied. "Oh please it's barely still a prototype, I still have a long way to finish it."
"Uh-uh girl, don't you dare change even a single thread on that dress, it is perfect just the way it is warts and all." Alya stated with a semi authoritative tone.
"You sure? Because I think I could…" Marinette was about to narrow down how she could improve upon her dress when Alya cut her off.
"Mari, I repeat do not…I beg of you do not change that dress in anyway because it is at its peak and there is no way you could do anything to make it look better." She stated with the same level of firmness as before.
Marinette trusted her friends judgment, so when she said it looked just fine the way it was she wasn't going to ignore it. "Alright you're the boss…" Marinette looked up at the clock and saw that it was almost time for them to get going. "Oh crud we need to get going, talk to you later Alya bye."
"Have fun girl, but not too much fun." Alya wiggled her eyebrows suggestively just before she hung up.
Marinette rolled her eyes at her friends comment and laughed, ever sense the fashion show Alya had continued to remind Marinette not to have 'too much fun' when ever they went out, but it was more reverse psychology than a joke as she wanted Marinette and Adrien to enjoy one another physically as well as intimately. "Okay Tikki she hung up, you can come out now." Marinette called to her kwami, who immediately flew out to see the dress that Marinette had chosen.
"Ooh, you've really out done yourself this time Marinette, he's going to love it." Tikki cooed as she floated around her and marveling every aspect of the dress.
"I hope he does, otherwise I've just wasted three months of drawing it out." Marinette worried aloud. "Okay let's get a move on."
Down stairs Adrien was sat down on the couch with Marinette's parents sitting across from him, and as Marinette had predicted earlier that morning they began to bombard him with a thousand questions at once. "So do you think that you and Marinette will go to the same college? After all you both have a claim staked in fashion it would seem like the best option for the two of you to stay close." Mr. Dupain said eager to know of Adrien's plans
"How long do you think that we'll have to wait until Marinette's ready?" Plagg whispered to Adrien from inside his coat feeling very impatient, and hungry as he'd just eaten the last of his camembert.
"Quiet…" Adrien whispered back, then he shifted his focus back to Marinette's parents. "Well Mari and I haven't really discussed that just yet, but I don't think that's such a bad idea." He said with honesty.
"Can I get you some more tea dearie?" Mrs. Chang asked as she stood up holding the tea pot.
"Oh no, I couldn't ask you for…" Adrien was cut short with the creak of the door hinges to the trap door leading up to Marinette's room, he quickly looked up to see her walking down stairs in her new dress, time seemed to slow down in his mind in that very moment, the atmosphere seemed to shimmer like the stars in the night sky, he could swear he heard the song I'll make love to you by Boys two men, which was cut short as it was actually Mrs. Chang's ring tone for her cellphone going off.
"Ugh…stupid telemarketers, ignore." She said as she swiped left on her phone, she then took notice of Adrien staring in the direction of the stare case, she turned her head and gasped then squealed with joy to see her daughter in such a beautiful dress. "Oh sweetie you look beautiful." She stood up and walked over to Marinette to get a better look at her daughter's dress.
Mr. Dupain was also taken in by his daughter's dress. "Well Mari it looks like you've out done yourself, red is definitely your color honey." He said as he too got up too meet his daughter from across the room.
"Oh you have no idea daddy." Marinette said in reply, then she continued in her head, especially sense I save Paris in it every week. Marinette looked over to the couch to see a very slack jawed Adrien Agreste just sitting there stunned by her vision. "I take it you approve kitty?" She asked rhetorically.
Oh my god, he thought to himself, she is more beautiful than I've ever seen her. He wanted to say that she look gorgeous, beautiful even, but he was both physically and mentally unable to do so, until Plagg bit him to snap him out of his trans. "IIIII…don't think I've seen anyone quite as beautiful as you are right now Mari." He said trying to ignore the fact that he'd just been bitten by his kwami.
"You really think so?" She asked with a hopeful expression.
Adrien quickly replied. "Absolutely, sure Chloe has a lot of designer dresses but I don't think she even has a dress that looks that good." If I were to go blind right now I'd be okay with this being the last thing I ever see, he thought to himself. "Well uh…we'd better get going before it gets too busy, thank you both so much for having me over again." He added as he stood up and led Marinette to the front door, just before her mother stopped them.
"Wait, just a moment, I want to get a picture of this." She said as she got her disposable camera out from the kitchen cabinet.
"Mom you must have like a million pictures of us by now I'm pretty sure you don't need anymore." Marinette stated slightly annoyed. Every time she got the chance to get a picture of the two together Mrs. Chang wouldn't hesitate to snap a new photo, claimed that they were too precious together to let one adorable moment escape her photo album.
"But none of them have you in that beautiful dress, now stay still and smile you two." She said as she took aim with the camera.
"It's okay princess, I'm used to it after all." Adrien assured her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and placed a kiss on her cheek just as her mother took the picture.
"Got it, alright you two have a lovely evening." Mrs. Chang said as she and her husband waved them both good bye.
Before they left Mr. Dupain halted them briefly. "Wait just one more second honey…" He rushed off down the hall then came back with a coat. "It's going to be a little cold out tonight so you'd better bundle up." He said as he handed her the coat.
"Thanks dad, I'll see you both later, oh and I'll try to be home before 11 o'clock this time." Marinette thanked as she put the coat on then stuffed her hands into the pockets, and found that they were each filled with a single item, both of which were for something you'd use to prevent pregnancy. She gripped them both then pulled out a latex condom and a wheel of birth control pills. "Really?" She said to her father with slight annoyance.
Adrien began to blush at the sight of both items, oh my fucking god is he for real right now? He thought with disbelief.
Mr. Dupain just gave an apologetic grin as he shrugged his shoulders, Marinette was obviously up set over this but she didn't feel like getting into a fight over it with her parents right now, she just wanted to leave as quickly as possible. "Come on Adrien let's get going…" She opened the door and both teens left the apartment, but before she closed the door she stopped and said to her parents with annoyance. "We will talk more about this later." Then she slammed the door behind her. On the way down to the street Marinette hid her face in her hands and began to groan. "Oh my goooooood…they are so embarrassing."
Adrien started to giggle at how flustered she was getting. "Aw come on princess they just want us to have them as a precaution, I mean don't get me wrong I stand by what I said but that doesn't mean I'm not tempted." He said honestly, and that dress just made it a little harder to resist you, he said inside of his head.
"I suppose your right, better to have them and not need them right?" She said in agreement. "But still to use a coat as a way to smuggle it to me? Who comes up with these things?" She asked rhetorically.
"You've gotta admit it is pretty clever, not obvious in any way." Adrien pointed out. "Unless of course the person you give it too doesn't know about it and takes them out like you did." He chuckled slightly as they made their way down stares to a cab that they had called for in advance, he opened the door for her then ushered her inside. "After you…my princess." He said rather romantically.
She giggled then climbed into the back seat, she sat down on the opposite side of where she'd entered naturally so Adrien could enter the car quicker, the car took off toward Agreste manor, along the way Marinette had scooted closer to Adrien in the back seat so that she could cuddle with him all the way home, she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. If this is a dream then please god don't let me ever wake up, she thought to herself praying that this was the reality she was in for the rest of her life.
Back at the mansion Dallas was finally dressed in his new suit, also fighting his tie as he tried to tighten the damn thing. "Come on…you…son of a…bitch…" He cursed as he tried to untie the knot he'd put in it. "I swear…to god…if I wasn't already wearing you…I'd burn you to ashes." He fussed with it for so long that he didn't even notice Gabriel had came in to check up on him.
He cleared his throat to make himself known to Dallas, who turned around fast and saw him standing just in the door way of the bathroom. "Having trouble I see." Gabriel stated the obvious.
"What gave it away?" Dallas said sarcastically as he continued to try and undo the knot he'd made.
"You'll never get it undone like that if you keep pulling it you'll just make it worse." Gabriel said as he walked in and aided the young man with his tie. "There, now let's start over from the beginning shall we?" Gabriel proceeded to tie Dallas's tie for him as the teenager clearly didn't know how to do it himself.
"Thanks, damn thing was being a pain in the ass." Dallas thanked as he smoothed out his tie. Gabriel stood in front of him with a satisfied smile on his face, Dallas saw this look and was immediately creeped out. "Uh…dude, what are you doing?" He asked feeling very uncomfortable by the look on his foster father's face.
"Oh nothing…I'm just glad that you wore the suit, it really does…well…suit you." Gabriel stated feeling pleased that Dallas actually chose to accept his gift.
"Yeah well…you probably worked hard on it and I didn't want to seem rude, even though it's not my color." Dallas complained only slightly, the truth was he found that he like the way the suit looked on him in the end, the only thing he didn't like was that it wasn't black.
"Oh nonsense my boy, you look exquisite in this shade." Gabriel complimented the teen. "Take it from me son, this color works for you."
Dallas disagreed with him but he didn't want to upset him, so he just made a joke instead. "Well anything is better than prison orange, am I right my man?" He held up his fist hoping for a fist bump, which Gabriel didn't return. "Awkward…" Was all Dallas said as he slowly put his fist down, then he asked curiously while half joking. "So why do I need to get all gussied up for anyway? We going on a hot double date or something?"
"Actually no, were having dinner with a representative from child services to finalize your paperwork for you to stay here, I just wanted you to look your best for dinner tonight." Gabriel announced with a half-smile.
Dallas rolled his eyes at this and groaned. "Ugh…hate those kinds of dinners just so you know, it always ends in drama for me one way or another so I don't expect this time to be any different." Dallas sighed as he left the bathroom and flopped on the couch then turned on the TV to see what was on, he just started to flip through the channels one by one trying to find something he liked. "Lame…rerun…seen this one…no…no…hell no…ooh game of thrones…sucks…" He complained about nearly every channel he flipped to. "GOD you guys have nothing good on TV in this country ever, it's all fashion this and croissants that, none of your channels have any comedy or action that I can really get behind." He eventually just gave up and shut off the TV then just threw his head back and let out a very irritated groan.
"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about that, but if there is any way I can make you feel more comfortable please let me know, also if it's not too much to asked please be down stares with in five minutes the represent will be here soon." Gabriel requested as he left the room, Dallas had a funny feeling about all of this, not just the fact that Gabriel was being kind to him for almost no reason but also that he could sense that there was something off about him, something that rubbed Dallas the wrong way. He was determined to find out what it was and soon as he wasn't very patient with getting to the bottom of the truth.
But for the moment he was just going to relax, and also play some music. "It's about time I got back to that again this week." He got up and went over to his luggage, in his smaller carry on bag he had many different keep sakes, some from other reservations he'd visited over the years, others from cities he'd been to, but that's not why he was searching in this bag, he reached in and pulled out a small chrome urn with a name engraved on it in cursive, Maria C. Jones. "Hey mom…sorry I'm late to keep my promise to you…I did something stupid that you'd probably chew me out for again…oh well, old habits die hard I guess…now then…" He put the urn on the top of Adrien's piano then pulled out his phone then scrolled through his play list then selected the very song he was looking for, Salute D'Amour by Edward Elgar. "Okay Eddy, make my mother happy please and thank you." He pushed play, turned the volume up as high as it could go then sat the phone down next to the urn. He sat down on the piano bench and just listened to the sweet melody of the piano and violin duet play together complementing each other in perfect harmony, the song brought back happy memories of his childhood, before he'd lost his parents, before he became a foster child, before he became a child that no one who knew him before this day and age would ever recognize, he began to cry softly as the tune played on, he hated and loved the song for the same reason, it was his mother's favorite song of all time and he would play it for her ashes once a week and just sit there and cry every time he'd hear the song to remind himself of what he'd promised her before she died. As the song finally ended he lifted his head and wiped away the tears, he picked up the urn in his hand and just held it staring at the name engraved in the side and his reflection. "I'm so sorry mom…I just…I couldn't do it…I was too weak to keep my promise…" He set the urn back down and just let the flow of painful tears fall, he buried his face in his hands and just cried out his sorrows.
Eventually Natalie came into the room to check and see what was taking Dallas so long, she was fully prepared to scold him, lecture him, yell at him even, but when she opened the door to find him crying she was completely caught off guard. She quickly began to rethink of what she'd say as she walked over to him. "Dallas…" She spoke softly. "Are you alright?" She put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
He looked up to see a concerned look on her face, he sniffled then dried his eyes. "Sorry…sorry you had to see me like that." He said as he stood up and made sure his outfit had no wrinkles. "So is the rep here yet?" He asked trying to change the subject.
"Uh…yes, she's here and waiting for you with Mr. Agreste…" Natalie was a bit worried that Dallas wasn't quite up for the evening's events, so she quickly asked. "Would you rather we reschedule for a later date?"
Dallas was quick to abject. "No…no we…we don't need to reschedule anything, I just had a…a private moment is all, trust me Natalie I'm fine." Wow…that's the first time I've called her that, he thought to himself as he began to make his way down to Mr. Agreste's office. "Hey…sorry I'm late sir, I was…just having a much needed moment to myself." Dallas apologized as he walked into the room to see Gabriel and the representative from child services already in deep conversation about the conditions of Dallas staying in the Agreste Manor.
Both Gabriel and the rep saw that his eyes were slightly reddish and puffy from crying. "Dallas, are you alright?" Gabriel asked showing concern for the boy.
"Yeah, I'm good…just…listening to a…very…sad song." Dallas spoke the truth, that song would forever make him feel sorrow and pain every time he'd hear it. It's for your mom you little shit, he scolded himself mentally, you owe her that much sense you couldn't keep your promise to her.
The representative walked over to Dallas to introduce herself, she was blond, in her early forties and wore a gray pan suit with a silver brooch over her right breast designed to look like a sparrow. "Hello Dallas…" She greeted warmly. "I'm Janet Carmichael with child protective services, I'll be handling your paper work for your stay here in Mr. Agreste's home, I'm also here to do an on sight inspection to see that this home is suitable to house a foster child."
Gabriel then came up behind her and said. "And I'd be very happy to show you around myself, Dallas if you would please stay here until we return. There's a book on my desk to read if you get bored." Both Gabriel and Ms. Carmichael left Dallas to himself, he took notice of the book Gabriel had mentioned sitting on his desk.
"Wow…that thing looks ancient, like older than dirt ancient." He said as he walked over to the book and picked it up, he stared at the cover and saw that it had ancient mandarin characters on the front, characters that he had been taught how to read by his father before he died. "Where the hell did you find a book like this Agreste…?" He asked regardless that he wasn't in the room, he began to read the writing on the cover to himself. "To he who looks upon this book must not forsake the oath, for within its pages lies the secret to unlocking greater power of the miraculous, with this power even one holder is unstoppable, choose wisely for the miraculous must only be used for the good of mankind and never be used for dark intentions, such is our ancient pact with the…" He stopped when he came to the last character, not that he couldn't read it but because he didn't recognize the word. "What the hell is a kwami?" He simply shrugged his shoulders then sat down at the desk and read the book to himself, he read each and every single thing on each page he came across, he was stunned when he caught sight of Ladybug and Cat Noir, or at least illustrations that resembled them. "Okay there is no way this is a coincidence, something smells fishy about this book, and Mr. Agreste, and I wanna know what it is." He continued reading the book to see what great secrets it held that the cover was referring to. To a normal person all of the scratches and scrapes in the book wouldn't make sense, but Dallas already knew what each marking meant. Deciphering the code was child's play to him, so much so that he didn't even need to write it down to keep track, he understood each and every single thing perfectly, to a point, when he'd reached the alchemy chapter it was all in riddles that didn't make much sense to anyone really. "Wow, what a bunch of horse shit." He said as he started to skip a head to some later chapters in the book, he stopped when he landed on a chapter focusing on two miraculous he'd already seen plenty of. "Ugh…seriously what is so special about a guy in a gimp suit and a girl in a jester's jumpsuit." He started reading the chapter then discovered it's importance. "With the power of creation and destruction combined the holder can reshape reality any way they see fit with a single wish, but be warned…of course there's a catch, with these things there's always a catch…with every action there will be a reaction like a stone thrown from afar into a calm stream the ripples from that stone will grow and grow until they have…blah blah blah who cares about the extra crap I think it's clear what the message is and that message is be careful what you wish for or it'll come back to bight you in the ass." He mocked as he closed the book and just put it back on the desk.
Not long after he'd finished reading Gabriel and Ms. Carmichael returned from the tour of the house. "Well I'm happy to report that this house is more than adequate for you to stay here Dallas, to be fair though I expected nothing less from Gabriel Agreste." She said with a smile.
"Great, I get to stay in a swanky mansion now, it's gonna be cocaine and French whores from now on." Both Gabriel and Ms. Carmichael's faces gave a weird look until Dallas started to chuckle and say. "I'm kidding jeez don't look so serious."
Gabriel shook his head and thought to himself, lord give me strength. "Well then I do believe it's time for us to get going." Gabriel announced to both Ms. Carmichael and Dallas, who was slightly confused.
"Wait, where are we going?" Dallas asked Gabriel so he didn't feel out of the loop.
Gabriel then stated with a smile. "Dinner, we'll be dining at a restaurant near the Louver called the scarlet seahorse, I have a table on permanent reservation on the VIP list."
Dallas had heard of the restaurant, also heard that it was expensive, he then realized what the new suit was for. "Oh…so we're going to sign papers in a very ritzy little high class place so you can have an excuse to eat a lobster, I see how you work Gabe, pretty clever if you ask me, well I'm down for that haven't had any decent seafood sense I left the states, hope their clam chowder measures up to Boston's you can't go wrong with that choice." Dallas said trying not to sound too excited.
"I think that you'll find their chowder is more than an acceptable substitute, now then lets get going shall we." Gabriel led both Dallas and Ms. Carmichael to the car waiting out front for them all, as the car pulled away Gabriel then turned toward Dallas then asked very casually. "So what did you think of the book?"
Dallas almost didn't here him as he was answering a text message from Adrien. "Huh…oh, it was…okay I guess, not really gonna try and understand it all but the book was an interesting read. By the way why do you have a book like that anyway?" He asked bluntly.
"It was my wife's last gift to me before she disappeared, it's the source of my inspiration, to be frank it's also the source of my success as well, in all my years I've never seen another copy." Gabriel replied with a smile knowing that his plan was working perfectly. Now that I know he can read the book I can put everything in motion, he thought to himself thinking that things were finally going his way.
"Well just so you know it's got a lot of weird junk in it, mostly riddles and weird Chinese metaphors, but other than that not a whole lot of useful information." Dallas lied slightly, he didn't want to give away that he was already figuring things out, he then returned to answer Adrien's text.
Adrien: Is my father still home?
Dallas then began to write out his response to Adrien.
No, we all just left. Going out to dinner.: Dallas
Adrien then responded with a message that made him sound a bit confused.
Adrien: Uh…we?
Dallas quickly typed out then sent his response.
Someone from child services came over to see if it was okay for me to stay here, I'm happy to report that she's okay with me staying here which means I get to live a life that I never thought I'd get the chance to live, guess my bad luck is finally starting to turn around.: Dallas
Adrien quickly responded with another message.
Adrien: So why are you guys going out for dinner?
Dallas then replied fast.
IDK, other than to sign the paper work, and I'm getting a free meal out of it so I'm not complaining.: Dallas
Adrien then sent another response.
Adrien: Well in that case enjoy pal.
Dallas put his phone back in his pocket and just enjoyed the ride, not long after they had left the manor the taxi that Adrien and Marinette had road in pulled up to the front gate. They stepped out of the car and Adrien paid the driver for the ride plus a 10% tip. "Thanks for the ride." He said as he handed the driver two hundred Euro. "Well then, shall we my dear." Adrien said as he held out his hand so he could escort her inside.
She liked to see this side of him, she never would've guessed that he was the romantic type. "Why yes Mr. Agreste, I think we shall." She took his hand then she coiled her arm around his then she leaned up against him and kissed his cheek. They both walked through the gate and proceeded through the front door of the mansion, Adrien was then greeted with the sight of Natalie who it would seem hadn't left for home just yet.
"Adrien, I was under the impression that you were heading out for the evening." She voiced her confusion.
"We are, I just needed to get a quick change of clothes." Adrien replied not stopping as they made their way up the stairs.
"If you'd like I can bring down an outfit or two for you to choose from." Natalie offered.
"No thank you Natalie, I can find one on my own." Adrien politely declined.
"May I ask though were you'll be going this evening?" Natalie asked with slight worry as he hadn't told anyone yet were they were heading.
Adrien stopped for only a brief second then he turned and said slightly irritated with his agent. "We're going to the scarlet seahorse to use our reservation, I trust that will be enough information?" He then continued up the stairs with Marinette still wrapped around his arm. As they made their way up the stairs out of sight and out of ear shot Natalie reached for her phone and called Mr. Agreste to give him a heads up to update the number of their party. While she was doing that Adrien and Marinette had just entered his room. "Make yourself comfortable princess, I'll just need a minute." He kissed her hand then proceeded to his walk in closet.
While he was searching for an outfit he liked Marinette was just wandering around in his room, she stopped to see that he had a bunch of pictures of her on his desk, as Ladybug. I had no idea that he was so into Ladybug, she thought to herself, it kind of reminds me of when…wait. She then began to put her mind to work, she began to process this information and realized that he was more than just a fan of her super hero persona, the girl he was in love with was Ladybug…but Ladybug never told him that I was in love with another boy, especially sense…oh my god! She finally put two and two together and realized the truth. "Could Cat Noir…really be Adrien?" She said at half volume, Adrien didn't quite hear her so he called out and asked.
"Did you say something Mari?" She was startled slightly, then she said trying to cover up the fact that she'd just figured out his secret.
"Uh…nothing…I just noticed that you really like Ladybug is all." She said nervously hoping that he wouldn't find out her secret just as easily.
He stopped upon hearing those words, like and Ladybug echoing in his mind, they reminded him of what he'd discovered through Dallas back at the hospital, he wanted to ask her if she was the girl under the mask that he'd come to love as more than just a friend over the years, but he couldn't do it until he had more proof. "Uh…yeah I'm kind of a fan of hers. I guess you could say that I've always been a fan." He stated the truth to a point. But I wanted more than just to be a fan, I wanted her to be the one to hold me when I'm alone and lost in this world, he said in his head, but it's time I stop living in a fantasy and start living with the fact that she doesn't love me and never will, she can be with who ever she wants to be and I don't care anymore, because I've got someone else now, someone better than her, someone who I know that actually loves me back and I'm never letting her go.
Marinette wanted to ask the burning question, did he have a crush on Ladybug, but she had a feeling that wouldn't go over so well. "I'll bet she'd be super flattered to know that you have so many pictures of her on your desk." She replied speaking for herself of course.
Adrien then came out of the closet for a moment then said. "Yeah well…she's great and all but to be honest I don't think it would matter what she thought of me." He felt somewhat upset knowing that he'd wasted so much time trying to be with someone he didn't even know, even though he had no idea that he'd finally gotten his wish. Marinette took notice of this and realized that he was somewhat heart broken because of her, or more accurately Ladybug.
"It's her isn't it?" She asked bluntly, Adrien's attention snapped toward Marinette unsure if he'd heard her right. "She's the one you had a crush on, isn't she?"
A thousand thoughts began to rush through his mind, oh god did she figure me out that easily, but how…how could she have guessed so accurately. He then realized that he had been standing there quietly for too long then he finally said. "Uh…well…maybe." He didn't want to lie to her, he was afraid if he lied then she'd be upset with him in more ways than one.
This only helped Marinette believe what she had already learned and also make her hate herself for it, all this time…it was him all this time and I've been rejecting him, breaking his heart more and more by the day, she scolded herself mentally.
"Uh…aren't you a bit curious to know why, or how I even know her?" He asked feeling a bit awkward about this situation, but instead of showing interest she just began to cry with this sudden reveal. Adrien just stood there and saw her face well up with tears, he immediately began to comfort her. "Hey come on Mari don't do that." He said as he pulled her into a loving hug. "I told you already I'm over her." He stated with honesty, he was over Ladybug, and yet at the same time he was still madly in love with her.
Marinette looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said. "It's not that…" She sobbed as she wiped away the tears. "It's just…she had the chance to be with someone as sweet and loving as you and she just rejected you time and time again and she didn't even care that you were hurting…" She buried her face into his chest and just sobbed aloud. "She's horrible…she's the most horrible person out there especially for not realizing how amazing you are." She said discretely scolding herself.
It was in this moment that Adrien realized that he'd completely underestimated how much she really loved him, he put a gentle hand under her chin and tilted her head up to meet his gaze. "Princess…please don't cry, it hurts me to see you upset, especially over someone you don't even know." He said assuming that she wasn't Ladybug even though he had his suspicions, but if it is her…well then…I'll just have to find it in my heart to forgive her, he thought to himself, but if not then…whatever. "Marinette please understand this, I probably will always love Ladybug, but I will only ever be in love with you, you're the one I want to be with Mari, not some girl dressed up in spots who I don't even know, and as long as I have you…" He took both her hands into his and held them up in between them. "I'll never feel hurt again, you're my princess Marinette…your…my lady." It felt so strange that he'd just called her his lady right to her face, and yet at the same time it felt so right. He then leaned in and kissed her passionately, he snaked his arms around her slowly as he tightened his embrace around her, her crying slowly died down as she felt the love from his kiss, love that she felt that she no longer deserved but was fortunate to have none the less. He pulled away from the kiss just to hold her in his arms. "Don't ever forget that Mari, I love you through and through and nothing will ever change that." He stated firmly and lovingly as he placed one last kiss atop her head.
She threw her arms around him and just held him tight breathing in the scent of his hair as she rested her chin on his shoulder. "I'm sorry…" She whispered softly into his ear and feeling the need to say what she had to say to him for unknowingly hurting him just as much as he did to her.
He then replied just as softly. "Don't be, you have nothing to be sorry for princess." After spending a few moments in each other's tender embrace Marinette had finally calmed down and Adrien returned to choose his outfit.
She then went into his bathroom to fix her mascara, which she'd ruined with her own tears. She began to wipe away her makeup so she could reapply it, sensing that she was still upset Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse and pleaded. "Marinette…please don't hate yourself."
"I don't Tikki…" Marinette replied half honestly. "I hate Ladybug, she had the chance to be happy and she was…an idiot doesn't even begin to cover it." She began to start crying again, but then she started to get a hold of herself. "Okay Mari calm down now, just keep it together."
Tikki had a feeling that Marinette had discovered the truth about Adrien, but she still had to ask. "What do you mean Marinette?"
Marinette then said almost scolding. "Don't pretend that you don't know Tikki, you knew it was Adrien the whole time, but I know why you didn't say anything…even though it would've made us happy."
Tikki was shocked, Marinette had never so much as raised her voice to her before, but she understood her frustration was more focused on herself rather than at her. "I'm truly sorry Marinette, I've wanted to tell you for so long it practically hurt me to watch you both hurting." She said with a painful expression.
"It's not like it matters Tikki, now I can never tell him the truth, because as soon as I do it's all over between us. He'll hate me for the rest of his life." Marinette summarized as she just stood there loathing herself in the mirror. "I don't deserve to have him, I don't deserve to be loved."
That's when Tikki had had enough of her negative attitude towards herself. "I won't let you talk about yourself like that Marinette, did you hurt him yes of course you did but that doesn't mean you meant to, there is no way you could've known until tonight Marinette, and don't you dare say you don't deserve his love ever again because if there is anyone, ANYONE in this whole gosh darn city that deserves his love it's you Marinette, with all the things you have to deal with on a regular basis you deserve to be happy with the boy you love more than anything in the world, and if I know one thing it's that he loves you just as much, whether your Marinette or Ladybug he will love you till the end of time." She stated firmly as she just floated in front of Marinette's face waving her little hand about. "Now don't you ever say that again understand?" Tikki scolded as she put both her hands on her hips.
Marinette smiled softly as she nodded her head, knowing that Tikki was right about everything even if she didn't feel what she said was true she still felt she was right, she took her kwami into her hands and simply hugged her close to her face. "I don't know what I'd ever do without you Tikki." She whispered softly, forever thankful that she had a friend like her to make her feel better whenever she needed it.
After she had reapplied her makeup she left the bathroom and went to sit on the couch, but before she even got close she noticed something that she had completely ignored up until this point sitting on the piano. "What's that?" She asked as she made her way over to the small object, she picked it up and realized it was a cremation urn. "What's this doing here?" She then read the name on the side to herself. "Maria C. Jones?" She was about to ask who this was but then she remembered what Dallas had told her and Alya at school earlier that day. "If this is here then that means he was telling the truth, but why would Mr. Agreste take in the boy who assaulted his son?" She wondered aloud.
"Watch yah got there Mari?" Adrien asked her from behind startling her something fierce and causing her to throw the urn high into the air, as it came back down Adrien reached up and caught it just in time before it hit the ground. He then gave a very apologetic grin and said. "Sorry, didn't mean to spook you." He then read the name on the urn and realized who's ashes were inside. "Ohhh…this must be Dallas's mom. Then it's a good thing I caught this." He said as he put the urn back down on the piano.
"So he really is your foster brother now? He wasn't just making that up? But I don't understand I thought he attacked you." Marinette voiced her confusion.
"Yeah…about that…" He began to tell a harmless little white lie, it was obvious he didn't want to tell her that he was Cat Noir yet, even though she already found out only moments ago. "As it turns out…this was a different Dallas Jones that attacked me. Not the Dallas we know but another one, mainly because our Dallas is native American not Latino, apparently they look very similar to one another."
Marinette began to buy what he was saying as the truth, but then she remembered that Dallas had fought Cat Noir so she knew he was lying for sure, but she didn't want to call him out on it, it wouldn't be right, she thought in her head, he has to tell me on his terms. "Okay…but did he tell you…" She was about to ask if he knew about what he'd done at school earlier when Adrien simply stated.
"I know about the whole elaborate plan he concocted to show everyone he's trying to change, I don't think it was really the best way to go but it worked in the end." He finished with a shrug of his shoulders, this wasn't what Marinette was referring to of course but she still had to tell him about it.
"Actually I was referring to when he hacked into everyone's personal data on their phones during lunch." She said with a deadpan expression, Adrien's jaw dropped with this sudden reveal of information.
"He did what?" He asked somewhat angry that Dallas had done this and didn't share with him this tiny bit of information. "I don't believe this, when he gets home I'm going to have to kick his ass." He said with slight rage in his voice.
Seeing him a little angry actually managed to arouse Marinette slightly. "Oh really…?" She asked surly as she wrapped one of her arms around the back of his neck and put her free hand under his chin and turned his head toward her. "Is that so Mr. Agreste? Tell me then my sweet little kitty…" She then put her other arm around him and pulled him in close as she raised a leg and hooked it around both of his. "How would you do it?" She pulled his head down connecting their foreheads so she could stare deeply into his beautiful green eyes.
Adrien's heart began to beat a little faster with how flirtatious she was being, oh god I want her so bad right now, he thought to himself. "Well…I would probably break his jaw to start…" He said a little shaky, he saw the look in her blue bell eyes, it was a look of lust, a look he was feeling deep within him as well. "Then I might uh…punch him in his ribs or…something?"
She realized that what she was doing was really messing with him, in a negative way, so she just ended his discomfort by kissing him tenderly, this is way better than seeing him fight somebody anyway. She pulled away from the kiss then led him over to the couch where she shoved him down just before she crawled on top of him, he was about to abject when she put a finger to his lips and shushed him. "Remember, I made a promise to you kitty… and so did you…" She took his hands then placed them both on her chest and forcing them to cup the curve of her breasts.
Adrien began to feel his heart beat even faster now, it was obvious that he wanted this for a while. "Uh…Mari, I'm not complaining about this but…why are we doing this?" He asked completely confused.
She leaned down pressing her sex into his with the intent to arouse him further, just to tease him a little. "Because I love you." She answered honestly just before she kissed him, this is as far as you go Mari and not an inch farther, she told herself trying to keep her hormones in check.
Adrien was having a similar problem, he wanted so bad to strip her of her dress and show her just how much he loved her, this is torture…to both of us, he thought feeling the heat of her sex passing through to his own, just keep your head on straight Adrien, don't give in to it just don't give in. Sadly for both the young lovers they had to end their romantic moment when Adrien's phone began to ring. "God damn it." He cursed as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Hello? Yes this is he…uh-huh…right…no we'll be there within the hour…okay…thank you…alright good bye." He stuffed his phone back into his pocket then looked up at Marinette. "As much as I want to keep going…we really should leave before our reservation for the evening is up." He said with a grin on his face just before he planted a kiss on her lips, she gently climbed off of him to allow him to return to choose his outfit for the evening.
When he entered the closet again Plagg flew out and just stared at him. "Okay I really don't get you kid, do you want to go all the way or not? Because I'm getting a lot of mix signals here." He asked very bluntly.
"It's…complicated, I want to do more with her but…not until were ready." Adrien replied honestly, but at this point he wasn't sure if he wanted to wait anymore.
"Well you better figure it out soon because this is driving me nuts seeing you two beat around the bush about it, most of my former masters just hopped to it when they found their sweethearts, granted most of them were adults by that time but still." Plagg complained as he floated away from Adrien and sat on the top shelf of his closet, he reached into one of Adrien's dress shoes and pulled out a single wedge of camembert.
"Are you using my shoes to store your cheese?" Adrien asked with a hint of annoyance.
"Well it's not like you use them every day, besides your feet already make them smell just as beautiful as my delicious camembert." He took a bite out of his cheese and let out a very long 'mmm' sound. Adrien rolled his eyes at Plagg then reached for one of his black suits, only to be stopped by Plagg. "I wouldn't use that one." He said cautioning him.
Adrien turned toward him and asked. "Why not?" When he lifted the suit off the hanger he noticed that the suit had a slight bit of weight to it, in the pockets, he reached in and found they were stuffed with more camembert. "Really my suits too? Have you no decency Plagg?" He asked again with annoyance.
"Kid your talking to a guy who's done nothing but destroy everything he touches sense the dawn of time, what do you think?" Plagg said with sass as he took another bite of cheese. Adrien chose another suit on the rack that looked similar to it, and thankfully it had no cheese in its pockets.
"Well how about you keep your nasty smelly packages of love to yourself because I don't want anything to do with them." Adrien said as he left the walk in closet and Plagg alone with his cheese.
"He didn't mean that baby." Plagg said to his…cheese, just before he devoured the last of it.
"Plagg…" Adrien whispered just before he left to change into his suit. "Shut the hole that eats the cheese."
Plagg then lifted up his little hand for some reason that Adrien didn't understand until Plagg elaborated. "You can't tell but I'm flipping you off."
Then Adrien came back with. "Your right I can't, because there's nothing to flip, now get in my pocket before I flush your cheese down the toilet with the rest of the shit." Plagg grumbled as he got up off of his behind and flew down into Adrien's suit pocket. Adrien took his outfit into the private bathroom to change. When he came out of the bathroom Marinette smiled with approval as he walked out looking sharp. "How do I look?" He asked as he gave her a quick spin for her to see how it looked on him.
"Perfect, you just need a tie." She suggested as she admired his new look. He returned to the closet and brought out a few ties.
"Okay which one do you like more red or green?" He asked sincerely wanting her opinion.
She rubbed her chin as she considered which one he should use, she then made up her mind and said. "I think you should go with green, it matches your eyes."
He smiled as he took the green bow tie and began to tie it around his neck, he made it seem flawless. "There, now that I'm finally ready I think we'd best get going my princess." He said as he took her hand and led her back down stairs, but instead of leaving out the front entrance Adrien led Marinette to the garage for a little surprise that she was in no way prepared for.
"Why are we going to the garage?" She asked confused.
Adrien didn't answer her with words, he just flipped the light switch and the entire room lit up revealing a number of expensive sports-cars of every major company in the world, from Corvettes to Ferraris and even more, Marinette was speechless to say the least, Adrien then leaned in and said. "My lady, your chariot awaits…all you have to do is pick one." He walked over to a lock-box on the wall and punched in the code, he was rewarded with the sound of a distinct metallic click then he opened the box revealing several sets of keys, each one boar the logo of the car it belonged to, Marinette had no idea of which one she wanted to ride in, it was clear that she was going to have a hard time choosing their ride for the evening. Adrien just stood there and laughed as she just gawked over all of the cars she could pick from. "Come on Mari there practically all the same, just pick one, anyone you want is ours for the night." He stated completely unafraid of the consequences from his father.
Eventually Marinette made up her mind and chose a sapphire blue 2015 Enzo Ferrari. "This one…" She said looking back at Adrien with a smile. "I like this one the most."
Adrien grabbed the keys for the car off the hook and unlocked the doors, which opened automatically and vertically. "You wanna drive it?" He offered as he held out the keys, to say that she wasn't interested would've been a lie, she definitely wanted to drive such a beautiful car more than anything else, but she thought better of it and politely declined.
"Nah, I don't even have a license yet, but you on the other hand…go crazy." She said confident that he could handle driving the car much more than she could.
"Alright then if you insist." Adrien replied as he walked her over to the passenger's side of the car, helped her into her seat then closed the door for her, then he walked around the front of the car and got into the driver's seat then shut the door, then he put the key into the ignition and started up the car. The engine came to life with a gentle per that made Marinette's spine tingle with excitement. "Buckle up…" He suggested as he put the car in drive and began to burn rubber as they tore out of the garage like a bat out of hell.
They arrived at the restaurant in record time, after letting the valet take the car and park it Adrien and Marinette proceeded down the red carpet leading into the restaurant, she had draped herself around his arm as they walked together, and ignoring the paparazzi that had caught wind of their date for the evening, as soon as they made it to the hostess at the front podium of the restaurant she recognized them immediately and led them to their table, which was already occupied by Mr. Agreste, Ms. Carmichael and Dallas who all but Gabriel were already enjoying their meal as he was too nervous as to figure out what to say to his son other than the truth, Adrien suddenly filled with both shock and anger to see his father in the restaurant that they'd chosen for their evening alone. "Hello son…" He greeted as warmly as he could.
Adrien's eyes just narrowed at his father, then he said as civilized as he could without sounding enraged. "Hello father…didn't think you were coming here for your business with child services, otherwise I might've left you alone to take care of it, I mean after all I know how much you hate to be disturbed while you're doing business." Adrien clenched his hand into a fist then turned to Dallas and greeted him a bit more warmly than his father. "Hey Dallas, how's the chowder?" He asked wholeheartedly as Dallas had just finished his third bowl.
"It's amazing, so creamy and with fresh clams too, I haven't eaten like this in forever, it's a good thing your dad's rich otherwise he might've gone broke by now." Dallas summarized as he wiped his face clean with his napkin, when he looked up he was frozen by the sight of Marinette in her new dress, holy SHIT, he screamed inside his head, she is more beautiful than I've ever seen her…hey wait what is she doing here? "Oh uh…hi Marty I-I MEAN MARI I definitely meant Mari and nothing else." He then grinned nervously and kicking himself yet again, what the fuck you dumb bastard, that's the third time today you've done this. Marinette just rolled her eyes at how dumb he was being, and also feeling slightly embarrassed.
I can't believe that used to be me, she thought with disbelief. "Nice to see you Dallas, love the suit it looks good on you." She said slightly less irritated with Dallas after what Adrien had told her back at his house.
Dallas cleared his throat then said a little shaky. "Why thank you Mar…uh Mari, Mr. Agreste was kind enough to prepare it for me for tonight, and might I say that dress your wearing is…well I really don't know how to describe any other way than…you look hot." Real smooth Jones, he said sarcastically in his head, what's next are you gonna say you wanna fuck her in the men's room next? He quickly decided to change the topic by saying. "So what brings you here tonight?"
Marinette blushed a little from his earlier remark about her being hot, but she ignored it and replied. "I'm here on a date…" She then pulled Adrien a little closer to her and continued. "With my boyfriend."
Dallas quickly realized when she said boyfriend that she was referring to Adrien, and he knew it had to be him for two obvious reasons, the first being that he said he had a date earlier that day, the second being they were both standing right in front of him with her holding on to him. Just my luck, he thought to himself, every freaking time I find a girl I like she's either a cunt or has a boyfriend, but this one is my foster brother, god damn it. "Well…I've gotta say Adrien you have quite a taste in girls." He said suddenly feeling stupid for saying it in front of her. "Uh I mean she's quite a catch I mean babe, I MEAN LOOKER, I MEAN…I'm gonna shut up now." He just put his head down on the table with a loud thud causing all the silverware, glasses and dishes to wattle. "God kill me now." He begged as he mumbled to himself, he had never been so embarrassed in all his life.
Adrien would've started laughing if he wasn't distracted by his father's next request. "Won't you both sit down, surely you don't intend to stand here all night." Adrien simply glared at his father with his anger still coursing threw him, Gabriel sighed and pleaded. "Adrien, please…I'm not asking for much."
Sensing that the tension of the room would boil over any second Marinette quickly said to Adrien. "If you want we can just leave, we can eat here some other time I don't care that much about…" Before she could finish Adrien said with ice.
"No…I made you a promise this morning that we'd eat here and damn it I am going to keep it, plus I am not going to let my father's presence ruin our night." He said each word as he locked eyes on Gabriel, he took Marinette's coat then pulled out a chair for her to sit in, once she sat down he pushed her closer to the table then he sat down next to her.
The waiter came back to the table and took Adrien and Marinette's orders for food and drink, both simply opted for water, as for food Marinette had chosen the shrimp Alfredo while Adrien chose a grilled trout. Both of which the young teens found to be delicious, but no matter how good his food was nothing was going to distract Adrien from the fact that Gabriel had intruded on his evening alone with the girl he loved, even if it was just an accident. Ms. Carmichael could sense the tension in the air like everyone else did between Gabriel and his son, she saw that they both just kept on staring at each other from across the table, Adrien's look was of pure anger while Gabriel's was of pain and regret, she'd finally had enough of the tension of this moment between them and asked the burning question. "Alright I think I speak for everyone here when I ask, is there a problem with you two Mr. Agreste?"
Gabriel was about to answer just before Adrien cut in, he was afraid that Adrien was going to tell her the truth of what had happened only a few weeks ago. But Adrien wasn't going to do that to Dallas, not while he was just getting settled in. "My father and I had an argument the other week, he wanted me to go to a certain college in Monaco where I would be far away from home…and my girlfriend of course…" He put his hand on top of Marinette's then continued. "But I told him that I'd already applied to another school here in Paris so I could be closer to Marinette, but he didn't want to take no for an answer so we argued, and needless to say I have no intentions of leaving this city or the one I love…whether he likes it or not." Adrien finished his white lie by taking a fork full of trout.
Gabriel was thankful on the inside that Adrien didn't out what he'd done, no matter how much he wanted to he wasn't going to tell the child services rep what Gabriel had done to him. Gabriel saw this as a way to apologize directly to his son. "Believe me Adrien no one is more upset with myself than I am right now, I never meant for things to get so out of hand, but I promise you I want to make it up to you, I know I made a mistake, one that I will more than likely hate myself for for the rest of my life and I don't care what it takes but I will make it right." He said from the very bottom of his heart.
Marinette could sense the sincerity in his words, she could tell that this wasn't the same Gabriel Agreste she'd come to know over the years, but Adrien wasn't buying it for even a second. "Stop it…" He said with venom in his voice. "Just stop trying to win me back father, we both know that's not going to happen."
Marinette and Dallas both could sense a fight brewing, and they were afraid that things were about to turn ugly. "I'm not trying to win you over son I'm trying to fix…" Gabriel tried to persuade but Adrien just cut him off.
"Don't even try to lie to me, we both know that it's just so you can look good in the eyes of the public in the end." He stated with Icey words.
Dallas quickly tried to distract Adrien just in case he would say something he didn't actually mean. "So…if your not going to Monaco…" He started to speak, but only for Adrien to shoot him down.
"Shut up Dallas…" He snapped at him, Dallas jumped back a little then Adrien continued. "For the past five years of my life all I've ever done was to make you look good, to make everyone believe that the great Gabriel Agreste walks on water, well I've had it with that life so from now on I'm going to do things for me not you." Adrien stood up from his seat and started to leave the table when Marinette grabbed his sleeve, he looked down to see her face.
"Adrien please don't go." She begged with large pleading eyes.
Adrien knelt down and said. "I'm just getting some air princess, I promise I'll be back." He placed a small kiss on her cheek then he left the table, Gabriel began to let out small tears of pain, Dallas knew he couldn't just let this one go, he had to do something and fast or things would get worse.
"I'll be right back I uh…have to use the bathroom." He excused himself from the table and headed off in the same direction Adrien did, he found Adrien grumbling to himself outside of the restaurant entrance. "Well that was quite the performance wasn't it." Dallas opened with sarcasm.
Adrien looked over to the door and saw Dallas standing there, he then looked away and replied with equal sarcasm. "Tell me about it, I mean can you believe him? Trying that whole I'll make it up to you speech, I mean if he thinks for even a second that I'm going to buy his whole born again act for even a minute…"
Dallas was quick to cut him off. "I'm not talking about your father Adrien I'm talking about you."
Adrien looked back at Dallas with confusion. "Me? What does this have to do with me? He's the one who fucked up, he's the reason that this is even happening in the first place." Adrien stated not backing down.
"Oh boo-hoo my daddy hit me one time in the face and it hurt my wittle feewings…" Dallas replied with sass. "Big deal, do you have any idea of how many times I've been hit by all the foster parents I've had in my life, I don't even know because I lost count a long time ago." He stated with firmness.
"This isn't the same Dallas…" Adrien barbed trying to get him to see things from his perspective. "He's just been a jackass to me for god knows how long, he's the worst father who…" Just before Adrien could finish Dallas interjected.
"Now you stop right there pretty boy, because when it comes to worst father ever I've got you beat by a mile." Dallas pointed out.
"You don't know what I've been through…" Adrien fired back. "I've been left alone basically for the past five years and he never even cared that he was hurting me."
"Your right, I don't know what you've been through, but I do know that your dad is doing something for you that my dad never did for me." Dallas laminated with a stern look.
"And what might that be?" Adrien asked uninterested in hearing the answer, but Dallas answered him anyway.
"He's trying…" He half shouted with a deadpan expression. "He's trying to change for you Adrien, that's why he took me in that's why he's trying so hard to fix things, I mean didn't it strike you as odd that he hasn't told you what to do within the last few weeks? It's all because he took my advice."
Adrien took notice of this then growled. "You mean you're helping him?" He narrowed his eyes at Dallas. Dallas simply nodded, just before Adrien asked with venom. "How much did he pay you?"
Dallas then responded with more sarcasm. "Oh he actually promised me the mansion in his will, a few of his cars, his money, a few hot bikini babes…" Then he snapped at him. "HELLO…wake up and smell the baguettes Frenchy, I didn't do it for me I did it for you and your dad. Because he doesn't want to lose you, because he agrees that you deserve better than what he's given you these past few years, he actually wants to become a better person Adrien, he wants to be the father YOU deserve, and your not letting him be that father." Adrien slowly began to realize what Dallas was saying was the truth, but he was still mad that his father went behind his back to use his friend to help him. "Look, I'm not saying you have to forgive him today, but you at least need to give him the chance to change his ways. Now the way I see it you have two options, one…you can stay out here and bitch and moan about how your life sucks worse than a virgin giving you a blow job, and two…you can swallow your stubborn ass pride and just go back in there and give your dad a chance, because I guarantee if you pick option one I'll just drag your ass back in there kicking and screaming like the little bitch your being." Dallas finally finished and saw a very silent and expressionless Adrien standing in front of him.
"Why do you care so much about trying to fix things between me and my father?" Adrien asked casually.
Dallas looked away for a second and said with a voice filled with sorrow. "Because I envy you, you have what I never had in a father, someone who loves you and only wants you to have a normal life, where as mine wanted me to be just like him in the worst of ways, and because I never tried to get him to change…I lost him, and all because I wanted a normal life…well be careful what yah wish for cause sometimes you just might get it. But if I'm being 100% honest, he never would've changed because he never wanted to change, because people only change if they want to Adrien, and I know for a fact that your dad does." He put a hand on Adrien's shoulder hoping that what he'd said had gotten through to him.
Adrien let out a very defeated sigh finally realizing what he was doing wouldn't help him in the end, it wouldn't fix anything, it would just be reversing the roles, and nothing would've changed. "Okay, I…guess your right, it's time to put an end to this."
"Hallelujah the boy can be reasoned with." Dallas cheered feeling victorious, just as the boys were about to go back inside a big black SUV pulled up and out poured four gangsters all of which were coming after the boys. "Shit, RUN ADRIEN!" Dallas shouted as he leapt at one of the gangsters with a flying kick to his gut, but as soon as he turned around to face another gangster he felt a sharp jolt of electricity in his neck causing him to fall to the ground and convulse.
"DALLAS!" Adrien cried as two of the gangsters restrained him and tried to force him into the car, only for one of them to be tackled from behind by Adrien's bodyguard, who then pulled Adrien away from the other thug then punched him so hard he went flying into the car leaving a man sized dent in the side and incapacitating him, he shoved Adrien behind him and snarled at the three other thugs unafraid of them. One thug came at him with a baseball bat swinging it at his head but he just caught it with his hand then punched the attacker with his free hand sending him flying back several feet, then he took the bat and broke it over his knee like it were a twig then threw it down on the ground, both remaining thugs exchanged a look of fear then came at him together. One of them slashed at him with a knife while the other used a stun-gun, he simply swatted the stun-gun away just before he caught the knife's blade in his massive hand only inches away from his chest, he slowly rotated the gangster's wrist backwards causing him to let go right before he kicked him with great force through the window of the restaurant, he turned back to the remaining thug just as he had picked up his stun gun and thrusted it into the larger man's stomach, who felt nothing more than a tickle, he grabbed the stun-gun out of the gangsters hand and crushed it like it were a soda-can then let it fall to the ground, just as the thug put his hands up to surrender the bodyguard drew his head back and headbutted him in the face breaking his nose and at the same time rendering him unconscious. Once the last of the thugs were incapacitated Adrien and his bodyguard ran over to Dallas to see if he was okay. "Dallas, are you okay?" Adrien asked as he helped him sit up.
"This…is why…I will never understand people who are into dominatrix." He groaned as he rubbed his neck.
"For god sake even when you've been tazed you still have to make jokes." Adrien chuckled as he helped Dallas to his feet. Before any of them could get out of the street another car came barreling toward them driving along the side walk, acting on impulse the bodyguard grabbed both boys and threw them over the parked SUV and out of harms way just before he was struck by the car head on, before the boys could get up more armed thugs stood over them holding guns pointed at their heads.
"Hey look boys, it's little baby Dallas, haven't seen you in a while traitor…" One of the thugs said with a sinister smile on his face as he knelt down. "Yah know if the boss hadn't called off the hit on you we would've plugged you by now."
Dallas was confused, he knew there was a hit put on his head but he didn't hear anything about it being called off. "Lorenzo called off the hit on me? Why?" He asked hoping for an answer.
"Don't know; all he said was you weren't worth the trouble anymore, said he was tired of losing men cause of you, but personally I think it's because of that little roomer going around about what Hawkmoth did to some of our boys the other night…" He stated as he stood up. "Not sure why Hawkmoth gave a damn about you for but if I had to guess, he probably wants something from you."
The words he just used began to resonate in his head, Dallas quickly began to put the pieces together, the book, the butterflies all over the house, the cryptic behavior, and now the hit being called off because of a well-known super villain for almost no apparent reason, this was all beyond a coincidence. Does that mean that Gabriel Agreste…is Hawkmoth? He asked himself mentally.
"But seeing as the boss had no legit reason for calling it off he's lost a lot of face in the rollers, so now he's gotta get it back somehow, and what better way then by kidnapping little Agreste Jr. over here and holding him for about say…fifty million euros?" He said turning toward Adrien. Dallas began to feel scared, scared for what they might do to Adrien, because when it came to the Romani rollers they almost never release their captives even if their loved ones pay the ransom the rollers would more often than not sell their captives as sex slaves to the highest bidder never to be seen again. "Load up the model, leave the traitor here…" One of the thugs was about to knock them out when Dallas cried out.
"WAIT! Just wait one second…" Dallas began to make them an offer they couldn't refuse. "Your boss still wants me dead right? I want to make an offer…"
The thugs all exchanged a look, then their leader asked bluntly. "What kind of offer?"
Dallas looked at Adrien and gave him a wink of reassurance, then he looked back to the gangsters and said. "That's between me and your boss, it's a strict need to know basis see? You take me to him then maybe he'll let you listen to my little offer."
The offer was way too cryptic for their liking, but Lorenzo was still a man of business and would more than likely want to hear about this offer Dallas was proposing. "Alright then, load 'em both up." He ordered with a smile, the gangsters then proceeded to knock them out then dragged them to the car and loaded them up in the trunk of the car, before they left the gang leader went inside to the hostess and handed her the ransom letter. "Make sure that gets to Gabriel Agreste."
She didn't hesitate in getting it to Mr. Agreste who had a worried look on his face from waiting for his son for too long. The hostess handed him the letter then he read it to himself, his heart sank, his eyes shot open wide, he was consumed by fear due to the contents of the letter which read. "Pay us Fifty million euros by midnight or you'll never see your brat again, Antonio Lorenzo." Gabriel quickly pulled out his phone then dialed 911, he then cried out over the phone with fear in his voice. "Hello police, my sons' been taken."
The restaurant called for an ambulance to take the bodyguard to the nearest hospital, while Gabriel was talking to police Marinette took this as her only chance to leave without being spotted. Without hesitation she swiped the keys to the Ferrari they'd arrived in to use as she pursued the rollers. "While were following them we'd best transform while we still can. Tikki, spots on!" In her usual pink flash of light Marinette had transformed into her persona and followed the rollers from a safe distance, it wasn't too hard for her to follow them, the only people who had SUV's like the one that took Adrien and Dallas were the rollers as they were all imported from the united states, Ladybug followed them all the way to an abandoned meat packing plant on the west side of town, she had no idea why they'd set up shop there but she had a feeling it wasn't anything good.
(A/N: And that's all she wrote everybody, what did you guys think? Please let me know in the comments below, in the next chapter of WOS Dallas makes Lorenzo a deal too good to pass up, Ladybug comes to the rescue and Adrien takes a chance and gives Dallas an ace up his sleeve, alright then just a friendly reminder that mature seen I'd mentioned before was only a way to bring Mari and Adrien closer as a couple mainly as a catalyst to add a bit more drama to the story as this was a longer chapter and most of those tend to be a bit boring so and these things need to be spontaneous. Okay bye now.)
