Hello, beautiful people! Again, I'm sorry for the late update, but I'm glad I waited. I was actually a little impatient to post, but this is for the greater good. The quarter of school will end in roughly 2.5 weeks, so afterwards I can try to bust my behind and finish this story! I might even start posting new stories too. It'll be great practice for my English class next quarter... creative writing! I'm so excited... Anyhow, I truly hope you enjoy this fun chapter like I did when writing it. Enjoy!

Chapter 5

The next morning came fast for him, but it wasn't unpleasant. Despite Plagg's complaints about being out so late to visit his girlfriend (not that he would admit that Plagg was almost right since day one) and that he needed cheese or he would starve, it seemed to be a beautiful day. That beautiful day quickly turned dark as he realized he wasn't going to school. Glancing across his room, he took notice of his luggage that was already packed a week ago. He sighed as he heard a knock on his door. "Adrien, are you awake?" he heard Natalie ask.

"Yes, I just got up."

"Please be dressed within the next fifteen minutes so we can leave within the hour," she quipped, still being polite but stern. He sighed again, letting her know that he heard her before she marched off down the hall, most likely to her desk. Plagg looked at him a little concerned, before it was gone as he gulped down his cheese whole. Adrien almost gagged as he finished changing and went to fix his hair.

Just as Natalie said, they were going to the airport within the hour, having passed the school (with him sighing forlornly, mostly for his princess, not that he would admit that), and driving through the main part of the city before reaching the airport. It took them a couple hours, but he sighed in relief of not having to be cramped in the plane for too long. Once he arrived at the set, he noticed everyone running amuck. He could tell it was going to be a really long weekend. He glanced at his phone, tempted to text his friends again, especially Marinette, but was interrupted by the photographer barking orders. Yep, this is going to be a long weekend.

"This is going to be a long weekend," Marinette commented drily. She and Alya were just completing a history assignment and talking before their lunch break Friday, when Marinette slumped over her part of the desk and began fiddling with her pencil.

"Yeah, especially because Adrien isn't going to be here," Alya commented with a smirk. Marinette didn't miss the 'subtle' suggestion, and only sighed in response. Alya knew about the night her friend confessed, but she refused to believe that Marinette got over him. She claimed that she 'wants to see her ship sail,' whatever that meant. Marinette could write a book over how many things Alya said that any normal person wouldn't be able to understand. She could only sigh again as she slumped further into her desk. It was true that Adrien wouldn't be there this weekend, but she was mostly worried about her kitty, but she wouldn't admit that. He told her a few days ago that he was going to be visiting family in another country this weekend, and he would need all the support he could get. She almost wanted to giggle as she remembered his face as he said it, but she was too depressed. "Girl, it's only for a few days, chill." Alya was confused as to why Marinette was so down. It was true that Alya wanted to see her two friends together, but Marinette said she was over him. Also- "why are you so down when you have another man, Marinette?" she couldn't help but ask.

Marinette stopped her tapping on the table, which was slowly irritating her friend, not that she noticed, and looked towards her with a raised brow. "Another man?"

"Yeah, that hottie that picked you up on the motorcycle the other day."

"Hottie? Babe, I don't drive a motorcycle," Nino snarked from in front of the girls. Alya scoffed and rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's reverse pick-up line while Marinette giggled despite her despair.

"I wasn't talking about you babe, I was talking about the hottie we all saw."

"That hurts, babe. How should I feel about you calling other guys hot in front of me?"

"Well," she said coyly as she sarcastically tapped a 'thinking' finger on her chin. "Adrien and I did make a pact on being each other's rebound if anything happened to you."

"You what?!" Marinette never heard about this, were they serious?! One look to Nino and saw the dead look in his eyes, albeit them being playful. They were serious. Either they actually did make a pact, or they made one jokingly but in front of Nino anyways.

"Yeah, used a blood oath and everything, girl, just like at our sleepovers," Alya winked. At that moment, Marinette knew that the pact was playful banter and she had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. They never made a blood oath, so she knew that Alya was just trying to rile Nino up. Well, Marinette could roll with it.

"Oh, then that's okay. Adrien would be a good rebound. I'm honestly not surprised you would go for his best friend, that would be typical Alya," she fake-shrugged her shoulders. Nino's pout only became more pronounced.

"You two are so mean," he whisper-pouted, making the girls laugh out loud. They almost completely forgot what they were talking about while teasing Nino, before Alya cut back to the chase.

"You didn't answer me though; on Wednesday, someone on a motorcycle picked you up. Who was it?" Marinette had to think for a moment before Alya cut in with, "his name was Anthony?"

"Oh, yeah. What about him?"

"Who is he, Mari?" Alya's patience was growing thin, Nino could tell, but Marinette just looked confused at why she was asking about him.

"Oh, well-" just then the bell for lunch break sounded, signaling the end of their classes for the first half of the day. "How about I introduce him, yeah? He wants to meet you guys anyways."

"Were you going to go somewhere for lunch with him?" Nino asked concerned, because he didn't want to interrupt their date.

"No, we were going to eat at home today. I'll just let my parents know I'm inviting you two as well," she chirped, making her way to the entrance. It didn't take long for them to get to Marinette's house, already smelling the delicious meal that was likely almost done. "Maman, papa, I brought Alya and Nino along, is that okay?"

"Of course it is, sweetie," her mother called from the kitchen as Tom came out and shared a brief handshake with Nino and hugged Alya.

"Where's Anthony?"

"He should be here any minute, he had to run to the market." Almost right on cue, Anthony walked in the door.

"I brought the sacrifice!" he exclaimed as he walked in, not amusing the other three Dupain-Cheng's but making the 'strangers' laugh. "Oh, I didn't know we were having company," he mumbled embarrassed. He made his way over to the table and set down the bag, which Tom immediately grabbed and gave to Sabine, before he made his way to Marinette and kissed the top of her head. "Hey Marbear, how was school?"

"Exhausting, but not finished yet." Their casual exchange was making Alya more and more impatient, while Nino stood flabbergasted at them, and Marinette and Anthony were none the wiser.

"Honey, do you want to introduce Anthony or are you two going into your own world again?" Tom cut in, startling the two kids who were now nervously rubbing their necks.

"Sorry, guys meet Anthony. Anthony, meet Alya and Nino."

"Ah, so you're the Ladyblogger Mari has talked about?"

"Yeah," she said hesitantly, not knowing if she should trust the young man. He seemed nice, but she still didn't know him. "Are you Marinette's boyfriend?" she cut to the chase.

Unfortunately, her straightforwardness caused the whole room to still in awkward silence for a few minutes, before bursting in laughter from the three Dupain-Cheng's and Anthony. Alya folded her arms close to her body in embarrassment and tapped her foot in impatience, waiting to know what was so funny. "W-w-wait, y-you thi-nk that, hahaha that I'm this pipsqueak's boyfriend?!" Anthony managed.

Marinette managed to stop her giggling and shout an indignant 'hey' to him before giggling again at their faces.

"No offense, Marbear, but you're not my type," he teased.

"Oh yeah? Is Tifanny your type then?" she teased right back as she playfully crossed her arms. He could only gasp at her in shock with his mouth gaping open.

"Alright you two, why don't you stop tormenting your friends Marinette and just tell them," Sabine gently admonished as she continued making the lunch with the newly attained ingredients.

Marinette couldn't help but laugh a little guiltily at what her mother said, but she didn't hold back more giggles looking at her friends faces. "A-a-al-alright, then," she said, attempting to quell her giggles. "Guys, meet Anthony, my older brother," she introduced properly this time.

"BROTHER?!" Nino and Alya shouted in unison. They couldn't have known she had a brother, and Marinette felt even guiltier about it because they have been friends for years now, especially with how close her and Alya were.

"Yeah, my brother. Sorry, mentioning that I have a brother sort of slipped my mind," she admitted with a blush and scratching her neck.

"Sort of? Sort of?! Girl, you can sort of forget about a quiz on a given day. You can sort of mess up your make up. You can sort of forget to brush your hair and teeth in the morning on your rush to school. You can NOT forget to mention you have a sibling! Especially after all this time!"

"Alya, I would appreciate it if you could calm down and lower your voice, please," Tom lightly admonished, chuckling when he made the outspoken girl blush, which was a difficult feat.

"Sorry, Tom. Anyways, why didn't you tell us? Tell me?" At first Alya sounded a little curious, before she sounded betrayed. Marinette felt even worse about not telling them, especially her.

"I'm truly sorry, it just never came up."

"You could've just randomly said something, like whenever I complained about my siblings you could've commented about your brother doing the same thing."

"Sorry, my brother isn't as bad as your siblings," she stated to try to lighten the mood, being effective when a corner of Alya's mouth twitched slightly. "He may be bad, but not near as bad as them," she continued, this time more on the teasing side directing towards her brother.

"Hey," he exclaimed affronted. "I'll have you know that I'm an excellent older brother, god-like in fact," he praised himself with a puff of his chest.

"Yes, and would mister god-like brother care to explain how well your cooking of linguini is?" she prompted while resting her hands on her hips. He visibly deflated with his face immediately flushing.

"Stop bringing up that story," he whined.

"What? What happened?" Nino finally piped up.

"Long story short, we had to call the fire department," Marinette confessed with a dismissive wave of her hand and a large smirk adorning her face.

"What?! Linguini is so easy, how could you mess up so badly that you had to call the fire department?" Alya asked, surprised.

"Don't even ask, I still don't know the answer to this day," Tom cut in with a small smirk of his own, making Anthony grumble and the rest of the kids to laugh. The rest of lunch went fairly well, with stories from the past that made the siblings laugh and pout in embarrassment on their own sides. Eventually, they made it to Marinette's room where they were stuffed and just talking about nothing until they had to return to school.

"So, Anthony, what is your occupation and where have you been for the last few years?" Alya asked, quickly warming up to her best friend's older brother.

"Oh, that's an easy question," he started as he placed down his iced tea he made, greatly confusing Marinette's two friends about what the drink was. "I've been touring the States for the last couple years with my magazine crew."

"Did you say the states?"

"Did you say magazine crew?!" both friends questioned at the same time, causing the two Dupain-Cheng siblings to laugh at them once more.

"Yes, I graduated university a few years ago and went to work traveling with my magazine crew, Travel à la Mode."

"Oh! I read those magazines! It's my favorite France based magazine about traveling the world. But, I don't remember there being an Anthony Dupain-Cheng in there…" she considered with a slight pout.

"That's because there isn't. I don't really want to be bombarded by crazy fans once they know who I am."

"It's a little late for that, dude," Nino half-mumbled to Anthony.

"What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"If you haven't noticed, you're kind of a hunk," Alya managed to admit with a straight face. Her straightforwardness caused Anthony to blush and lower his head in embarrassment, covering his cheeks with his hands, much like what Marinette does when she's embarrassed. Nino didn't seem to take offense to how his girlfriend called him a hunk, seeing how it was true and knew that Alya wouldn't try anything with Anthony. He was safe, for now.

Marinette couldn't help but giggle as the tables turned on her brother. "It's true, Tony. A few girls in the school have already started talking about 'the hottie with a motorcycle.'"

"Yeah, a couple even threatened Marinette about being seen with you Wednesday," Alya commented casually, shooting Mari a slight smirk knowing what sort of reaction she was going to get. As expected, Marinette's cheeks turned pink, but before she could correct Alya she was suddenly grabbed by her brother.

"You were threatened? By who? What did they say? I swear I'll kick their asses," he declared with sincerity. Alya and Nino were slightly surprised at how protective he seemed of Marinette, while she didn't seem at all surprised over his protective nature.

"It's nothing I can't handle. It mostly consisted of, 'you better stay away from him,' or 'he's all mine, he'll fall for me once he sees my beautiful face,' yada yada-" Marinette scoffed while mocking the girls who apparently threatened her. Her little show startled a laugh from her friends who knew exactly who she was talking about.

"Hehehe, totally. Lila truly is a piece of work."

"Lila? Lila Rossi?"

"You know her?" Alya asked.

"Sort of. Marinette sometimes complains about this 'insufferable girl Lila' at school, saying that she could be even worse than Chloe at times."

"Oh yeah, she's a pathological liar who tries to get close with those most famous or rich."

"Most notably Adrien, he's her favorite target," Alya tried again, trying to get a rise out of Marinette, only receiving an eye roll in response. Either Marinette was onto her, or she truly was over Adrien and couldn't care less if Lila and Adrien went out.

Anthony, being observant himself, noticed the look Alya gave Marinette, and knew that she must assume that Mari still had a crush on the young model. "Do you think she has a crush on him?"

"I doubt it," Nino cut in, oblivious to the looks the others were sending each other. "I hear around that she says what she does to most attractive or rich guys, not just Adrien. Adrien just happens to be rich, famous, and attractive, not to mention too nice for his own good. That cinnamon roll is going to have a hard time once he graduates."

"Doesn't he already have girl problems now?" Alya teased knowingly. She also knew that for a while, Adrien had a crush on a mysterious girl that lasted until just a couple seasons ago.

"He does, not that he's going to do anything about it," Nino rolled his eyes.

"So, where is this mysterious model-boy anyways?" Anthony asked.

"Besides in the magazines I know are around Marinette's room," she paused knowingly, ignoring Marinette's blushing face and stutters of betrayal, "he's in Milan for the weekend for a photoshoot."

"That sucks. I was excited to meet the young man who stole my baby sister's heart," be playfully pouted, making the friends laugh while Marinette smacked his shoulder, hard.

"I told you before, I no longer have a crush on him! Also, I'm no longer your baby sister. I'm your younger sister," she huffed.

"You're still my baby sister, and nothing will change that," he teased while ruffling her hair. In response, she begrudgingly stood up and made her way to her vanity to fix her now ruined hair.

"You two are surprisingly close, why is that?" Nino asked, and judging by Alya's face, she was wondering the same thing.

"Well, for a while, I was practically raising Marinette myself. When we were kids, maman and papa were always busy with the bakery and, with me being a full six years older, I was able to take care of her. I was always there for her up until she was old enough to take care of herself, which was only a few years ago," he teased again, making himself chuckle lowly. Those chuckles quickly turned into a painful cry, however, when she threw a makeup brush at him before continuing with her hair.

"Wow, who knew. No wonder you two are so alike, she practically is a carbon copy of you."

"You got that right. It also helps we are so similar because we get along fabulously," he stated while posing dramatically. The four laughed once more before Alya's alarm went off, signaling the time to go back to school. As they made their way there with Anthony in tow, he admitted that his celebrity name was Tony D'Alto (for which he explained why the name was funny, being the Italian meaning for son of the tall one), for which his Italian 'friend' Tifanny helped create. "I'll see you later, pipsqueak," he bid farewell as they reached the front of the school, making a mad dash back home when Marinette tried punching him.

"You two are super sweet," Alya commented to her side. She seemed to be genuine, but there was a mix of admiration and disgust on her face as she said it. "It's kinda gross."

"How so?" Marinette challenged with a quirk of her brow.

"It's cute how you two are so close that you know practically everything about each other," Marinette jolted slightly when, in fact, her brother practically did know everything about her, including her biggest secret. "But then again, it seems so perfect that it's as cheesy as an American rom-com," she commented with a roll of her eyes, making her two friends laugh.

"I agree, he seems like the perfect protective brother that you only read in stories," Nino perked up.

"That's true, but he's practically my other half, I couldn't even imagine my life without him in it."

"Well, you better start now, newbie," an annoying voice chirped from behind. Turning, the three scowled as once again they saw Lila walking by. "Soon enough, I will find an opportunity to win him over, and then you can kiss your hottie good-bye," she smiled sweetly, but it was coated in venom with every word.

Alya was growling while Nino adjusted his cap to prevent from retaliating, and Marinette just sighed in annoyance and continued into class. She didn't know what Lila wished to gain from Anthony, but she would do anything to protect him from that snake, Ladybug or no. She just wished that Lila wouldn't be putting her down in such a way. With each word, she cut into her deeper and deeper, and eventually, she will break. That is what Lila wanted.