Someone's in the Mood to Piss Off Gabriel

At night, Adrien dreamed vividly. Sometimes he was in China, others in America, others in the arctic, and they varied across millennia. Plagg's influence, he suspected, though he'd have to ask Ladybug if she had similar experiences to be sure.

This time, he was in a church, watching the sunset through a western-facing rose window. Shouting down below caught his attention, and he turned around, looking over the railing at a man and a woman in clothes that belonged in a renaissance fair.

1239, Adrien's mind supplied. The year is 1239. Had he been awake, he would have questioned this knowledge and where it came from, but dreams didn't have to make sense. They just were.

"I cannot believe you're content to just sit around while innocent people are burning," the woman snapped. Her blonde hair and sapphire blue dress blew back behind her from an otherwise undetectable wind caused by her own rage. Her voice was so familiar yet so foreign. Adrien tilted his head, watching her and trying to get his brain to cooperate. He leaned forward, bracing himself on the brand new stone railing.

The man shook his head. "You forget that my last chosen burned along with the others," he replied, just as angry. "If we intervene, the humans will know about us, and the last time our kind were worshipped, our father nearly destroyed the world. Besides, even if you're able to stay hidden, you only have a year left before you-"

The sound of a door opening made the two straighten up, the man in particular adjusting his black tunic and smoothing his equally dark hair.

Another man walked up, a bright red cross on his white tunic. "Lady Foy, what brings you here today?" he asked. "You're not a woman to sin so often you must confess every day."

The woman smiled and shook her head. "Not at all, cardinal," she assured him. "I'm just here to offer something my mistress found to your sacristan here. It's a chalice that's been passed down in her family for generations."

The man in black gave her a smile back, but his was so clearly forced while hers seemed almost perfectly natural. "Thank you, Lady Foy. We are honored to have your mistress's addition."

"I'm certain you are." The woman turned to leave, but before Adrien could see her, a beeping noise pierced his ears.

Adrien shot up in bed, eyes darting to his alarm clock.

A voice spoke out to him, and it took Adrien a moment to recognize it. "You okay, kid? Kid, you there?"

Adrien shook his head, snapping out of it as he turned to Plagg. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine," he replied. "Just a weird dream. It's nothing."

Knock, knock, knock. "Adrien, it's time to get up!" Nathalie called through the door. "Breakfast is in twenty minutes!"

"I'm awake!" he called back. He rubbed at his eyes, even knowing it would result in an extra few minutes in the makeup chair at his next photoshoot. Totally worth it.

"Ooo, someone's in the mood to piss off Gabriel!" Plagg noted. Though he slept or lazed around more often than he didn't, Plagg still picked up enough about modeling to know what kind of confrontation was to come.

Adrien rolled his eyes and fell back on the bed. "I'm not trying to piss him off," he insisted. "I'm just tired. Really… really… tired."

Plagg gave him a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, kid. I know it would be easier if you and Ladybug could be on the offensive. At least then you'd get to make your own hours."

"No kidding," Adrien replied with a light laugh. He sat up again and stretched out, working up the will to get out of bed. "If only it were that simple."

"And don't forget you have a science test today," Plagg added in.

Adrien raised an eyebrow. Plagg didn't care about things like tests and being on time; in fact, he regularly encouraged Adrien to blow them off, the little chaos gremlin. "What are you, my keeper now?"

"No, but when you do well on your tests, you're in a better mood and give me more camembert."

Another laugh bubbled out of Adrien. "Alright, of course I do." He had no doubt that it was true; Plagg never passed up the chance for more cheese.

"Adrien!" Nathalie's voice called through the door again, and Adrien rolled his eyes.

"Coming!" he yelled back, throwing off the covers and getting out of bed. He got up and walked over to his closet, wiping the remaining sleep out of his eyes as he picked out an outfit. He got dressed in record time, Plagg being silent for once, and headed out into the dining room.

Nathalie placed a plate in front of him the second he sat down, then started reading off his schedule. "During your lunch break, you have a short autograph signing at the Louvre for their new exhibit, then after school you have fencing and Chinese- piano got pushed back because your instructor's daughter fell ill."

A dry laugh escaped Adrien before he could stop it. "Wow, a parent taking the day off to care for their sick kid. What a concept," he grumbled dryly. He knew better, knew that being the CEO of a fashion empire was a little different than being an at-home piano teacher, but still, the thought rubbed him the wrong way.

"You haven't been sick a day in your life," Nathalie declared, though they both knew it to be a hyperbole. He'd been stuck in bed the entire day after Christmas thanks to that little "stunt" he pulled, as she and his father called it. Admittedly, though, he wasn't that bad off; it could have been much worse. Nathalie's voice cut in, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Now, if you're done moping, you still need to eat breakfast before you leave. You'll probably only get a sandwich for lunch with the signing."

Adrien didn't need another cue to dig in. 'Only a sandwich' was usually accompanied by the unspoken 'if you're lucky and grab one before they vanish.' Breakfast and Nino sneaking him snacks were his saving grace on those days.

He barely had time to shovel all his food into his mouth before Nathalie started giving him orders, telling him to get in the car so he could get to school. He hopped into the back of the car and gave The Gorilla a smile before they took off.

"She does know it takes you longer to get in the car and get the car to school than it does for you to walk, right?"

Adrien pulled the lapels of his shirt in closer, checking to make sure The Gorilla hadn't heard. If he had, he certainly didn't let it show. Once he was certain he was in the clear, Adrien bent his head down to talk to the kwami hiding in his shirt. "What can I say? My dad's overprotective; I'm the last thing he has of mom."

Plagg rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I've heard it before," he said dismissively, waving the comment off with his paw. "I'm just saying. Maybe let me go a few rounds with him and we'll see what he lets you do."

A snort escaped Adrien, and he covered his mouth as he checked for a reaction from The Gorilla in the rearview mirror. Again, nothing. He lowered his hand to speak again. "I think you'd give him a heart attack."

"Or maybe he'd just roll with the fact that a kwami was beating him up."

"Like he'd even know what a kwami is."

A shrug. "You never know, kid. You never know. You humans have a way of coming by information you're not supposed to with alarming accuracy."

Adrien smirked. "It's one of our best paw-lities."

"Bad. Even for you."

The car came to a stop, and Adrien got out, Nino immediately coming up to greet him. Gabriel could have enough problems with Nino to write a song, but at least The Gorilla knew better. Speaking of…

"Thanks!" Adrien called over his shoulder before he shut the door and turned to head inside with Nino.

"What's shaking, dude?" Nino asked. "You were smiling like a real human being when you got out of the car."

Adrien laughed and bumped Nino with his shoulder good-naturedly. "Just came up with a pun to use on the Ladyblog."

Nino groaned and bumped Adrien's shoulder back. "You're kidding me! Alya's gonna ban you if you keep it up. People have started joking you're actually Chat Noir on there."

"But sir, that's my emotional support fanblog," Adrien joked, causing them both to burst out laughing. "C'mon, before we're late." Adrien let Nino go in first, trying to give himself a second to calm down his racing heart. Okay, so he'd definitely have to tone it down on the puns, but surely someone else was making them left and right, too, right? Just… emulating Chat Noir. Yeah, that's what he'd say. And then pray no one made the connection.

Adrien slid into his seat just as Mme. Bustier clapped her hands, calling the class to order.

The morning seemed to fly by, Adrien too distracted by his dream the night prior to focus. He could have sworn he knew the couple arguing in the church, but the longer and harder he thought on it, the farther away the memory seemed to get.

"Adrien!"

Adrien gasped and jerked his head up, seeing Nathalie staring down at him in front of his desk. "Nathalie?" he asked. "What are you doing here?" His eyes darted to the clock, and he saw that it was only ten. "What's wrong?"

"I've said your name three times; you weren't given permission to come to class just to daydream," she said curtly. She took a breath, pursing her lips in frustration. "Something's come up. Your father's in the car."

"My father?" Adrien echoed. "What's so important that he needs to pick me up himself?" Well, he wasn't exactly picking him up, but this was the closest he'd ever come to doing so.

Nathalie just started packing his things into his bag for him. "We'll discuss it in the car," she declared. She handed his packed bag out to him, and he stood up, head still spinning.

Adrien spared a glance back at his class, giving them a small, nervous smile. "I'll see you all tomorrow!" he cheered, trying to hide the worry in his voice. He said it. He said he'd see them tomorrow, so he'd have to come back, right? It was a constant fear Adrien had, getting pulled out of school permanently with no warning, no rhyme or reason. God, he hoped that wasn't what was happening.

He got in the car to see that his father really was there (part of him had expected him to just be on a skype screen), talking on the phone.

"No, I don't care how she got there, but she needs to stay there so I can speak with her," Gabriel bit out. "You cannot keep us from walking in; we are going to see her, and anyone who tries to get in our way will be met with a lawsuit so huge France will have to revive debtors' prisons so they can pay them off!"

Adrien didn't dare say anything, knowing it was a surefire way for his schedule to mysteriously get bogged down with a new extracurricular or ten. He couldn't help but wonder what was going on, though. Probably just some gripey model who didn't want to share a dressing room with his set mates, but it could be something as big as design theft. Nothing would get his father fired up like attempted design theft.

What took him by surprise was that they were headed towards the airport. He didn't realize until they'd cleared the city itself, but once they hit the A1, it was painfully obvious. With his theory formed in his head, Adrien wondered what the hypothetical thief had done to get caught by airport security. Something obvious, he supposed.

Adrien didn't dare utter a word as his father continued making calls, all the way up until they walked into the airport's security lockup.

"Stay here," Nathalie declared as she and Gabriel headed towards a man in a suit who looked like he'd been expecting them.

Adrien turned to wander around the lobby, but he was met by The Gorilla's chest. "Right," he muttered. "Staying here." He plopped down in a chair, glancing at the door to one of the interrogation rooms. Maybe if he focused…

"My name is Helena. Oxley. It's always been. Helena. Oxley. Now please, let me go!"

Sure enough, Adrien could hear the people inside talking, even through the door. One of the benefits of Plagg's powers that bled over into him even when he wasn't transformed was the super hearing. The woman talking had an obvious American accent, but it still sounded somewhat familiar.

"You're telling me you've never heard of Emilie Agreste?" another voice, likely an officer, asked.

Wait, what? That blew his design theft theory out of the water. Did this woman have information on his mom?

"No," the woman replied dismissively. "Who is she?"

"She went missing over a year ago," the officer explained. "I'm the lead detective in her case." Now Adrien recognized the voice. It was Detective Mallory; he'd had plenty of conversations with her over the past year and a half.

There was a brief pause before the woman asked, "What? And you think I had something to do with it? I've never even been to France, much less Paris!" She paused again.

"That's not what I'm saying at all." Detective Mallory's tone never wavered, remaining calm even when faced with her interviewee's frustration. "I want you to look at a couple of pictures, see if you recognize them."

"…Fine." A minute passed before the woman said, "I've never seen them before in my life. Who are they?"

"They're Gabriel and Adrien Agreste, Mrs. Agreste's husband and son."

The woman huffed in frustration. "Why would you show me their pictures after I told you I've never been to Paris?"

A man in a lab coat passed in front of Adrien and knocked on the door of the interrogation room, and Detective Mallory opened the door ajar. "The prints match," he said quietly.

"Thank you." Detective Mallory closed the door again, and Adrien heard the scraping of a chair on linoleum, then the sound of a stack of papers hitting the table- maybe a file. "Miss Oxley, this is a photograph of Emilie Agreste the day she went missing."

A long silence filled the room before the woman spoke again. "This is a joke, right?"

"Adrien?"

Adrien jerked his head to look at his father, standing in front of him with a DGAC agent. Gabriel moved and slowly sat down next to him. "Adrien, son, I'm sorry to have pulled you out of school for this. It looks like-"

"This is bullshit!" Adrien looked to the door as it opened, but he only saw the arm of a woman as she yelled at Detective Mallory, holding the door open so she could make her escape. "If I'm not under arrest, I'm leaving." She turned, and finally Adrien saw her face.

"Mom?"