Chapter 10

Adrien: that sentimonster launched a car right at me and I got beat up pretty bad. I can't stay here. Carapace and Pegasus offered me a ride home, I'm taking it. Sorry not sorry

That would have to be enough for Nathalie and his father, because Adrien wasn't in the mood to even call them. He may have to face some repercussions later, but nothing could be worse than losing his miraculous. Adrien was already wearing everything he wanted to wear, so he left all his clothes in the hotel room—certain someone would be along to collect them anyway.

He nodded at Ladybug and Pegasus, who opened the portal and he walked through. The smells of Paris greeted his human nose and he felt a weight lift from his shoulders that he didn't realize was there. They'd come out just in front of their school, not that he could say that while still dressed up as Chat Noir. Though, he realized with pain in his chest, there wasn't much point to keeping his identity secret when he had no miraculous.

Pegasus's glasses started flashing their countdown-to-detransformation. He looked at Ladybug, who just smiled at him. He took that to mean that he could hang on to the miraculous for a while yet. He bowed to the remaining superheroes and bound off into the night.

Carapace put his hand on his friend's shoulder and said, "You could stay with me for a while, you know."

Adrien looked down at his amazing green shoes and smiled sadly, "Thanks, but you don't even know me."

"I doo-" he started saying, but Adrien's masked eyes caught him with a plea of 'please let me keep this disguise for a moment longer' and he redirected his sentence, "n't. I don't know you very well, but I'm sure my mom would be cool with it."

He gave a half smile but still shook his head. "I'll be ok. Cats always land on their feet."

"Ok; but remember dude, the offer still stands."

Chat Noir nodded at Carapace, who then also ran home. Ladybug and Chat stood in the street, eyes unmoving upon each other.

"If you think I'm letting you go home alone like Carapace did, you've got another thing coming," she growled.

He smiled sincerely this time. "You're going to come home with me? Or take me home with you?"

She frowned at this conundrum, but then that familiar I've-got-a-plan look crossed her face. "No, I'll need to go put Tikki to bed and let my parents know I'm safe. But I know someone who does know you and is definitely willing to feed a stray cat whenever she comes across one."

His eyes lit up. The look of excitement and relief on his face melted her heart. "Ladybug, I don't know what to say."

She pulled him into a warm hug and tried to let him feel the steady drumming of her heart. "You don't have to say anything. I think you're perfect just the way you are."

"Thanks," he managed.

She backed up and held out her fist with a cocky grin. "No matter what else, we got an amok, we got an akuma, we saved London and Paris tonight. Pound it." He half-heartedly lifted his fist to hers. She pecked him on the cheek and called, "I'll be in touch!" as she swung off into the night sky.

He stood in the dark street, feeling naked in his Marinette-made Chat Noir suit without his ring. He looked up at the stars and felt the tears starting to prickle behind his eyes again. But, before he could lose himself to his emotion, he heard three familiar voices call, "Chat Noir?"

Tom and Sabine were racing across the street from the bakery, and Marinette wasn't far behind them. They wrapped their arms around him, and he was enveloped in that feeling of belonging that he'd only felt with them. "Marinette said you needed help," Tom muttered as he picked up his wife, daughter, and Chat in one powerful motion. He squeezed the air out of all of them, then gently put them back on their feet.

They didn't ask questions. They didn't take a second look at Chat's not-Chat-outfit. They just walked him into the bakery, put a chair underneath him, and Sabine slid a bowl of bouillabaisse in front of him. His stomach was raw and aching, and he lifted a spoonful of broth to his lips. It was like nectar from the Gods. He drained the bowl and found a fresh plate of Croque Monsieur immediately in its place. He sunk a fork into the soft bread and watched the cheese string as he pulled it away. His heart grieved as he thought about cheese, knowing Plagg wasn't there to steal it from him. He devoured the sandwich as quickly as the bouillabaisse and tried to appreciate the cheese the way Plagg would have wanted him to. The plate was replaced with a salmon pie. He was on his third slice when he finally came up for air.

"Th-Thanks," he muttered around his full mouth. Sabine merely smiled. Tom came back in the room—which startled Chat, as he hadn't noticed that Tom had even left—and put his hands on his hips.

"Well, we got it ready," he boomed.

"What?" Chat asked, swallowing hard.

"The couch. Sorry, we don't have a guest bedroom."

Marinette skipped down the steps just behind her father. "Here you go," she said, tossing Chat a pair of black satin pajamas that still had a few long threads hanging from the seams.

"Hang on, did you just make these?"

She blushed. "Well, I had the fabric…" she pulled a long strip with eyeholes in it and tossed it on top of the pajamas. "Besides, I didn't think you'd want to sleep in that hard mask."

The kindness wrapped around him like a warm blanket. He followed Marinette to the main living level and she showed him to the bathroom, where Tom had laid out a clean toothbrush, razor, and bar of soap. Marinette gave him a towel and some privacy. Thirty minutes later, he felt like a new man—his stomach full, his body clean and clothed in the amazing softness of the new pajamas and the matching mask. Marinette—now dressed in her own pajamas—was sitting on the chair next to the couch made up with sheets, pillows, and blankets. He sunk into the soft spot beside her and pulled his knees to his chest. She reached over and slipped her hand into his hair and her fingers gently raked his scalp. It had an instantaneous relaxing effect. He propped a pillow under his head and stretched his legs out across the couch.

"You can't imagine how good this feels," he muttered as he leaned into her touch. He wasn't just talking about the way her fingers were sliding through his hair.

"I'm glad," she responded in a soft voice, understanding everything he meant.

A few hours later, he jolted upright, startled by a dream of Lila's icy laugh. He looked around and regained his bearings. He was on the edge of Marinette's couch. She was curled in a ball on the chair, her arm still slung over the edge of the couch and flopped on his pillow—she'd clearly fallen asleep still stroking his head. Her hair was a tangled mess across her face. Her lips were parted in a soft snore. She was even drooling just a little bit. He thought she looked like an angel.

Adrien scooped her up in his arms. She was so tiny that even without super strength, it wasn't difficult to lift her. He climbed the staircase to her bedroom, pushed open the trap door, and set her gently on her bed. He drew the blanket up to her chin, reached down, brushed his lips against her forehead, and started to leave when a sleepy hand slipped into his.

"Chat," she murmured in her half-asleep state.

He hesitated.

"Chat," she said clearer this time, "you can stay."

He tried to be steadfast, but it was too hard. He sat at the foot of her bed and pulled his knees up. She tossed an extra blanket to him, then shifted so that there was a wide enough space for him to curl up. He pulled the blanket up to his nose. It smelled like her—warm, floral, and sweet. He felt an unusual but incredible sensation in his chest—it was as if his heart was growing, filling him with light and peace. It wasn't the heart-racing, gut-punch feeling he got when he was with Ladybug, but it was welcoming and hopeful and very real. He had no better word for it than 'love,' though it was deeper and more special than anything he'd ever felt before.

He took her hand and closed his eyes. This time, when sleep washed over him, the dreams were of much softer things.

His hand was still in hers when Marinette awoke sometime in the mid-morning. She looked at that beautiful hand of his and realized she'd never seen them without the gloves. There was a tan line around his ring finger. She reached up and felt her own earrings and realized how much they meant to her. She knew Chat must be feeling the loss of the miraculous ten times worse than what he let on. She knew how important being Chat was to him.

He was still sleeping so peacefully. His face was buried in the puddle of blankets at the foot of her bed, and Marinette realized with a start that the satin mask she'd made so hastily the night before had slipped off his face during the night. If he hadn't been turned away from her, she'd have seen his face when she opened her eyes. She immediately covered her face with her hands and, as quietly as possible, got out of bed. She went downstairs to see her mother and father in the bakery kitchen, already done with the day's wares and working on a special cake order.

"Good morning," Marinette yawned.

"Good morning, dear," Sabine smiled as she kissed her daughter's cheek. "Is our guest of honor doing well? I heard him take you upstairs last night. That was awfully sweet of him."

Marinette blushed and turned to her father, "I promise nothing happened—"

He just laughed and cut her off with a finger. "I trust you, Marinette. Besides, a true father knows when there's a kid in turmoil. I would've woken you up and made you go back down and sit with him all night if he hadn't fallen asleep in your room."

Marinette smiled at him. "Thanks. Can I take some breakfast to him?"

Her parents smiled and nodded and handed her a tray with juice, yogurt, fresh croissants, fruit, cheese, and soft-boiled eggs. It was way more food than she thought she needed, but Sabine gave a little half-grin and shooed her daughter out the door.

Marinette got the idea part way up the stairs and changed her trajectory to the second-story window. "Tikki," she whispered, "spots on."

Adrien felt Marinette jostle the bed as she left the room and almost jumped up after her, but then he realized his mask had slipped from his face in the night. He stretched on the nest of blankets under him and rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes. Marinette's room was soft and pink. Light streamed in from the window and skylight. He stood up and descended to the main floor of her room and walked around for a minute, enjoying the pictures on her walls. There were quite a few of Adrien, Alya, Nino, and their other school friends. When he'd finished his circuit, he noticed a flash of light reflecting off of what was clearly a glass photo frame tucked under Marinette's bed. He didn't want to invade her privacy, but curiosity got the better of him and he climbed the stairs to retrieve it.

It was him. It was Chat Noir, with his ruffled blonde hair and quirky grin. But there was another photo, tucked under his picture in the frame. He slipped it out—it was a picture of him, Adrien, giving a little wave. Why would this picture be under Marinette's bed? And why would she put a picture of Chat on top? He heard footsteps below him, so he quickly slipped the pictures back in the frame and set it underneath her bed.

A moment later, however, he was surprised when it wasn't Marinette coming up the stairs, it was a little knock on the skylight to the balcony that drew his attention. He pushed it open and bright blue eyes surrounded by a halo of golden sunlight shined down on him from above.

"Good morning, Sunshine," she crooned and dropped down to the room. One hand expertly balanced a breakfast tray loaded with all of Adrien's favorite things.

"Ladybug!" he sighed. She placed the breakfast tray on the chaise and gave him a hug.

"I came to check on you and Marinette said you were still up here sleeping, so I thought I'd surprise you."

He smiled. "Best surprise ever." She blushed and sat down in the computer chair while Chat Noir started breakfast. "Hey, have you eaten yet today? This is delicious, and there's plenty for both of us," he said. She graciously took a croissant and started eating.

"Mmm," she sighed, "Dupain's croissants are the best in Paris."

"Yes they are," he grinned. "Sometimes I think it's not fair."

She raised her eyebrow, "What's not fair?"

"How Marinette seemed to get all the talent."

Ladybug's cheeks tinted pink under her mask. "Marinette? Yeah, I mean, she's good at sewing and stuff, but sometimes she's kind of clumsy…"

Chat Noir's brow furrowed, "That's a little harsh."

Ladybug tried to laugh, "No, no, I mean, Marinette's totally awesome. She makes me laugh, is all."

Chat Noir's smile returned. "She makes me laugh too."

"I'm glad to hear it." They ate in silence for several minutes. "Have you checked in with your… parents?" she finally asked.

He shrugged. "I let my dad know I was coming back to Paris. Then I turned off my phone. It was him that made me go to London in the first place; I'm not in a rush to go home."

"Well, maybe it's a good idea just to let them know where you're at, so they won't worry," she continued.

He shook his head, "Ladybug, not everyone has that kind of support system at home."

She pushed the tray aside so she could sit next to him on the chaise. She put her arm around him. "I know you can stay here as long as you need. And when you're ready to face them, if you want, I'll be there, by your side."

"You mean you'd come home? To my home? With me? Without my mask?"

She pondered it carefully, then said, "Yes. If that's what you need. I'll drop my mask, too, if you ask me to."

He looked into those sparkling bluebell eyes for a very, very long time. He reached up and gently touched her cheek. She didn't blink, didn't shy away from him. "Ladybug," he whispered, "that… that means everything to me. But we both know that's a terrible idea."

She gave a little half-grin, "A bug can hope, right?"

The electricity between the two of them tamed, and he relaxed. "I… I need to talk to you about… someone."

She blinked rapidly. "What? Who?"

"Marinette. She and I have been getting much closer this week, and last night, I felt something I didn't understand before. I'm not saying I don't love you—my feelings there haven't changed. But, when I'm with Marinette, it's like I've come home. I need Marinette in my life, and I think… I think I need her as more than just a friend."

Ladybug reached out and squeezed his hand. "You'll always have me, Kitty."

"I… I want to tell Marinette. I want to tell her everything." Ladybug bit her lip and stiffened. "I know you said only one person," he rushed now, "and I know yesterday Nino found out my identity on accident because he was there when Lila…well… But I just… really wanted to…"

"Yes," she interrupted, "you have my permission. You can share your identity with Marinette, if that's who you've chosen."

Green eyes met blue with a connection of understanding, love, and respect. "It is. She is. She's the one."

A tear slipped down Ladybug's mask and into her smiling lips. "I'm so glad you've found her." She hugged him again, and then stood. "I'm going to be tracking Lila. I'm just a phone call away."

He nodded and kissed her on her cheeks. "Thanks for everything, LB."

She winked and gave a grandiose, Chat-Noir-style bow. "Anything for you, Mi'kitty!" She tossed her yo-yo out the skylight and took off. Adrien gathered the breakfast dishes and went downstairs to return them to the kitchen and then changed back into his amazing Marinette-made Chat suit. When he exited the bathroom, Marinette was curled up on the couch, hand stitching some project.

"Good morning, Chat!" she said as she stretched out.

"Good morning, Marinette," he responded.

"Did you get enough breakfast?" she asked politely. He nodded. "Say, I've got a… kind of a morning routine… that I've been working on," she said, "would you like to come with me?"

"Morning routine? That sounds intriguing."

She laughed. "Let me just go grab my gloves."

Carapace had no clue what he was doing, but he was determined to do it anyway. Wayzz had taught him how to use his shield to call the others, and they'd all shown up. "So, uh, thanks for coming," he started stupidly. Everyone was looking at him like they expected him to say something of value and he was coming up short. "So… uh… yeah, last night was pretty bad…"

"That's the understatement of the year," Pegasus retorted.

"Wait, what happened?" King Monkey asked, scratching his head.

They all laughed, but Ryuko was quick to notice, "Yeah, you and Rena weren't there, were you?"

The two of them shook their heads. They took twenty minutes to each tell their individual perspectives on the previous days' events. Carapace went last, and when he got to the part where Chat Noir had said Lila's name, everyone was silent.

"I still am having a hard time believing it was Lila," Pegasus sighed.

"Believe it," Ryuko said through the hard edge of gritted teeth.

"I mean, I knew she had that… condition, or whatever," he continued, "but I didn't think she'd turn full on supervillain."

"She duped a lot of people," Rena Rouge added, dropping her head, "myself most of all. All this time, Ladybug, and Marinette, have been warning us about her, and I made excuses for the… the… person."

They laughed at Rena's almost-insult. Carapace patted Rena's back. "You didn't do anything wrong. Ladybug said something last night that we'd all do well to remember—this isn't your fault. This isn't any of our faults. This is Hawkmoth and Mayura and Lila's fault, one-hundred-percent. We can't change the past, but we can change how we're going to react now that we know the truth." They nodded their agreement. "And that's when Lila stole Chat's miraculous."

Rena and King Monkey gasped. "Wait, what?"

Ryuko nodded solemnly.

"Guys, we've got to do something about this," Carapace said, getting to his feet and starting pacing. "We've got to figure out how to help, how to get his miraculous back, and beat Lila once and for all."

"Well, what do we know about our opponent?" Ryuko started. "When I'm preparing for a big fencing tournament or something, I study my opponent."

"She's a liar," Rena Rouge spat. "She even lies about lying."

"Ladybug said she's been training with Mayura," King Monkey offered.

"And she's been targeting Chat Noir in specific," Carapace added.

"She's also a model for Gabriel Agreste, and has been spending time with Adrien in England the last week and a half," Pegasus added. When everyone looked at him blankly, he raised an eyebrow, "What? Doesn't everyone read Paris Teen Weekly?" They all laughed.

"But that's really critical information," Ryuko acknowledged. "We know where she is, who she's spending her time with, and what she's been doing."

"And remember back at the end of school, she posted online about dating Adrien?" Rena Rouge reminded them, "she's been trying to get Adrien to date her for a while now."

"Even longer than that," Ryuko sneered. "She's been after him for months.

"And Marinette." Rena Rouge interjected.

"Again, critical information. We know who she's targeting."

"So what do we do about it?" King Monkey asked.

"Well, we'll need to have guards on Marinette and Adrien at all times. Let's find out when she's coming back to Paris, because as I understand, she's still in London," Ryuko started.

"I'll keep an eye on the news outlets," Pegasus volunteered.

"Leave Marinette to me," Rena Rouge raised her hand.

"And I'll watch out for Adrien," Carapace muttered. "I owe him that much."

King Monkey stood and started spinning his jingu bang, "Guys, let's do some serious training—we need to be ready when she comes back."

It'd been over a week since Adrien had worked up a sweat like this, and it felt great. Not to mention the stress he was able to release into the punching bag.

"I've got to get me one of these," he laughed as he pummeled the thing with a series of hits and kicks.

"I'll try to remember that for your birthday gift," Marinette laughed.

He adjusted his mask—an increasingly annoying act, as he was accustomed to not worrying about his mask or ears—and finished his set, then flopped onto the bench next to Marinette, panting.

"What's next?"

"A break," she said with a smile. "I mean, I've really been working hard this summer, but you put me to shame. Are you… a gym rat?"

He clutched his chest in mock pain, "Who you calling a rat?"

They both laughed. She stood and walked to the mat and started doing some Tai Chi. Slow and steady, breathing and centering herself. Chat checked his mask again and stood behind her and started mirroring her motions. It was a very peaceful way to cool down from an intense workout.

"So-rock climbing, fencing, kickboxing, and Tai Chi; is there anything you don't do?" he asked quietly.

"Of course," she smirked, meeting his eyes in the mirror on the wall, "I don't play the piano." He chuckled. She shrugged. "I guess I got sick of all the clumsiness and feeling so weak whenever there was an akuma attack. I've been really lucky this year—I know there's been more than one butterfly sent in my direction—not to mention all the times you saved me, whether you were aware of them or not. I figured it was time to up my training."

He was surprised at her drive. "Hm, when most people decide to 'up their training,' they don't take on four new sports in one summer."

She blushed slightly, "I couldn't decide which would be the most beneficial. Besides, Alya's sister was itching to teach us both kickboxing, and Kagami has been a brilliant teacher for fencing and Tai Chi—" he choked when she said the word 'Kagami.' "What?"

"Kagami taught you fencing and Tai Chi?"

"Yeah… why?"

"For how long?"

"I dunno, it's been a while now. At least since school got out, maybe longer. I didn't know you even knew her."

He swallowed hard and put a little too much force into his Tai Chi. "Well… she's been akumatized a couple times," he said with a little shrug. "I was just wondering why you didn't ask Adrien."

A laugh gurgled in her throat. "Yeah, that would have been a disaster."

They finished their cool-down and Marinette cleaned up their boxing and fencing gear. He took her bag from her and swung it over his shoulder. They started walking back to the bakery; it wasn't far. "Why would it have been a disaster?" he asked. She smiled and tried to change the subject.

"Have you heard from Ladybug today?"

"I've honestly been too scared to turn on my phone. I didn't exactly tell my father where I was going to be."

She looked at him with concern in her eyes, but didn't judge him. "Are you… safe? At home?"

He nodded, "More or less. It's just not my favorite place, and I'm not particularly eager to try to explain what I've been doing the last twenty-four hours."

She got a wicked little grin on her face, "You should take home some chocolate croissants. Or macarons! Macarons make everything better."

He laughed. "I might just do that."

"But in seriousness, Chat, my parents and I can help you out. They're really good at that kind of thing."

They arrived at the bakery and checked in with Marinette's parents, grabbed some sandwiches, then climbed up to her bedroom. She put her gear away and grabbed the sewing project she'd been working on earlier. The room was very quiet. Chat sat on her chaise and was tempted to pull out his phone to see if Ladybug had made any progress on the Lila front, but the questions he was dying to ask Marinette started burning a hole in his chest.

"Marinette," he said quietly. She looked up from her project with soft eyes and a gentle smile, "can we talk?"

She chuckled. "I thought that's what we were doing."

He smirked. "I… need to tell you something… something really important." She put the project down and leaned forward. He swallowed hard. Why did she have to look at him like that? This was hard enough as it was without those beautiful eyes scanning his soul. "But before I can, I need to know… why would Adrien teaching you fencing be a disaster? And why do you have a picture of him under a picture of me under your bed?"

Her face drained of all color. He didn't like it. "Ch-Ch-Chat," she stammered. Her breathing quickened and she looked like she might be sick.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to—" he tried, realizing this might have been a more sensitive subject than he'd previously thought.

But she waved that comment away. "Just let me get my heart rate back to normal," she whispered, taking some deep breaths. "You deserve to know." He sunk back into the chaise patiently. She closed her eyes. "I'm… in love with Adrien." He gasped. "He and I go to the same school, so don't think I'm just another crazy fangirl. We've gotten to know each other through this year. But I've never been able to tell him. I can't see straight around that boy. I'm pretty sure he thinks I hate him or something…"

Chat was processing as fast as he could, but it wasn't nearly fast enough. "So he's… the boy who… jerkface…"

She pressed her lips into a line. "He's no jerkface. He's kind and caring and smart and funny. The times my heart broke were my fault, all my fault. He never knew because I couldn't tell him."

Memories were swishing through Chat's brain like a hyper-speed movie. The way Marinette would clam up; the ridiculous day at the Grévin Wax Museum; the handwriting on the valentine; the way she could talk to him when he was Chat Noir, but never as Adrien; Nino's voice saying 'hung up on you…'

"Why? Why didn't you just say something?"

"I tried, Chat, I tried so hard. But every time I got close, something awful happened. And then… he told me he was in love with someone else."

Chat's eyes widened in horror. "What? When?"

"Well, never in so many words… there was this awful time when we were at a wax museum and playing jokes on each other and I was trying to practice telling him how I felt and… oh Chat, I was the worst possible me I've ever been… and when I tried to apologize and tell him exactly how I felt, he said 'the girl I love…' talking about someone else. I thought he meant Kagami, and I thought they were dating, but about a week ago, she told me they weren't. But that very same day, there was this press conference—" Marinette gulped back tears that were threatening to start— "and Adrien… said he'd left his heart in Paris. That's when I knew. It wasn't me, it wasn't Kagami… I don't know who it is, and it doesn't really matter."

"That was the day the akuma tried to get you," he muttered, staring at his hands.

"Yeah. And the day you saved me," she said quietly, with a little sniffle. He looked up at her and saw those blazing eyes. "And the day that I put your picture in the frame."

He realized what she was trying to say. "So… you're over him?"

She sighed. "I wish it were that easy. I want to be."

He thought of Ladybug and how desperately he wanted to move on, but just couldn't. He thought about her head on his shoulder, her hand in his on top of Tower Bridge, the way she'd screamed his name, the way she'd kissed him. "I know exactly how you feel," he said softly. He reached out and took her hand in his.

"Chat," she muttered, "I think I'm falling for you too." She was looking at their intertwined hands and the way they fit so beautifully together. "When we're together, it feels so right and easy. If I had the choice, it'd be you, every time."

"But… you don't have that choice, do you."

She shook her head.

"I know; I don't have it either. Because if I could, I'd choose you, Marinette. But… Ladybug…"

She sobbed silently. "And Adrien…"

They pulled each other into a hug and didn't let go for a very, very long time.

"Are you sure you don't want one of us to come with you?" Sabine Cheng asked again.

Chat Noir shook his head. "Don't take it wrong; it's a secret identity thing."

She gave him a hug and then backed up to afford him more personal space. "OK, son," Tom boomed, "but if you get any grief from your parents, you call me, and I don't care who they are…"

Chat laughed. The way Tom called him 'son' made his heart swell with joy. Marinette made good on her suggestion and handed him a stack of Dupain Bakery's finest wares. "Thank you all so much, for everything," he murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. Steeling himself against the inevitable encounter, he gave Marinette a quick kiss on the cheek and shook Tom's hand, then strode boldly out the front door. He walked a few blocks like that before ducking into a public toilet to change into the massive T-shirt Mr. Dupain had given him. He tucked his amazing Chat costume into the bag next to the macarons and walked the rest of the way home. The gates of the mansion had never felt more imposing. He realized he didn't have his key card, having left everything at the hotel in London, so he pushed the buzzer.

"Yes?"

"Gerard? Is that you?" Adrien asked to the camera.

"Adrien!" the voice gasped and the gates slid open at once. He'd only made it a few steps up the drive when the front door flew open and Adrien's bodyguard barreled out toward him. He threw his arms around him and lifted him off his feet.

"Heh, I never knew you cared," Adrien managed through his bodyguard's tight embrace. He grunted and put Adrien down. Adrien extracted a box of goodies for him and together they entered the austere foyer. Gerard was barreling down the stairs, looking disheveled and lost.

"Adrien!" he called again, and the sound of his name triggered the door to his father's atelier to burst open and two police officers, followed by Nathalie, to come pouring out.

"Adrien! You're safe!" Officer Raincomprix boomed and raced toward him to confirm his findings with his hands.

Nathalie walked toward him timidly, at first making to reach for him, but then pulling her hand back. "Thank you for your services, Officers, but we won't be needing them any longer," she ordered. Officer Raincomprix scowled.

"I'm going to need some signatures for my paperwork," he huffed. "And there's a lot of people who are worried about Adrien that deserve to know where he was."

Adrien's eyes narrowed at Nathalie. He hadn't seen her in days, although she was supposed to be his chaperone. She'd abandoned him in London, sided with Lila, and forced him to work with her over and over. No, he didn't think Nathalie deserved to know anything more about him from now on.

"I needed some time and space," Adrien said firmly to the police officer. "But I was safe."

Nathalie clicked her tongue at Officer Raincomprix and his partner, and said, "Gerard will help you finish filling out your paperwork, and then you will kindly exit the premises."

Officer Raincomprix jutted out his jaw in frustration but nodded at his partner and the two followed Gerard upstairs to the butler's pantry.

Nathalie and Adrien stood there, scowling at each other for a long moment. "We should go visit with your father," she said at last. "He will be eager to see you."

Adrien had once quite liked Nathalie. He'd even thought she'd make his father happy and would have welcomed her as a step-mother. But in the last few months, she'd changed. She'd been so sick for a while, and even when her body healed, it was as if her heart had been frozen. There was no more warmness, no more understanding favors, no more waves or smiles. But she was still his father's assistant and one of the few that had jurisdiction over his schedule, and Adrien was not planning to rebel against her or his father—his mother had raised him better than that.

He followed Nathalie into the atelier where his father was standing like a statue.

"Son?" Adrien gave a little frown at the moniker; it was cold, not like the way Tom Dupain said it.

"Father," he said, straightening up into the massive T-shirt and sweat pants.

"I am… pleased you are safe."

Adrien bit his lip, "Can I make one request?" His father gazed over his glasses at him in a piercing stare. "Please don't make me work with Lila Rossi anymore."

His eyes were masked, but his lips turned down, "No, I don't think anyone from Gabriel brands will be working with Ms. Rossi any more. She… was supposed to check in with Nathalie after the sentimonster attack, but she didn't. Upon further inspection, we discovered she stole a great deal…from the company. We found her room completely barren. She was supposed to come back to Paris with Nathalie, but never showed up for the train. Needless to say, her mother is suing for child endangerment, but you needn't worry about that."

Adrien could hear Nathalie's teeth grinding beside him. Adrien looked back and forth between his father and Nathalie. They were glaring at each other in the most peculiar manner. "So… can I go change, then?"

His father nodded, but before Adrien could leave the room, he said, "Son, I do apologize for making you work with that girl. I sorely mistrusted her."

Adrien frowned, "She's always been dishonest. Dishonest people aren't trustworthy."

His father's eye twitched slightly, but Adrien understood that he was free to go.

Nino pulled harder on the rope, trying to keep the slack at a minimum, but Adrien was climbing the wall so fast, he couldn't keep up. "You mean she was in love with me from practically the day we met? And you never said a word?" he yelled down to his friend.

"Well, I was sworn to secrecy. Trust me, if you'd been in my position, you wouldn't have said anything either."

"But if you'd told me, I could've done something about it. Maybe not broken her heart."

Nino's chest puffed out slightly, "Yeah, but Adrien, would you have done something about it? It's not like you were planning to date her."

Adrien paused his ascent on the climbing wall to drop his head. "No, I wasn't planning on dating her. I've been so focused on Ladybug that Marinette totally slipped my notice. It wasn't until I started spending time with her as Chat that I recognized how special she was."

"Hey now, bro," Nino said tersely, "don't be so hard on yourself. You're a good friend, you've always been nice to her."

He laughed bitterly but started climbing again. "There was this day, the first day of my trip to London, when I heard her mom had been akumatized and I came back to check on her. Marinette told me the akuma had been after her, but her mom had saved her from it last second. I asked her why she'd felt so hurt that an akuma would target her, and she told me it was a boy. I called him jerkface. That's what I am, Nino; I'm a jerkface. I'm a blind idiot!"

"Well, it's not too late, is it? Why don't you ask her out or apologize or something?"

Adrien paused again and frowned in thought. "I'm coming down," he muttered, and Nino leaned into the rope so his friend could rappel to the ground. "Maybe, maybe I could ask her out. Not right away, of course; I wouldn't want her to think Chat had told me how she feels. But we could do some group things and I could take her to the movies or something…"

Nino gave him a thumbs-up. "That sounds good."

"But…" Nino sighed as Adrien dove into another rant, "what about Ladybug? Last I saw her, we held hands. She was so worried about me, too, when she thought I was in the crowd attacked by that sentimonster. I think she might have feelings for me as well, and if I ask Marinette out, I'll jeopardize any chance I have with Ladybug."

Nino and Adrien re-strung the rope so Nino could take his turn on Adrien's climbing wall. He wasn't nearly as good of a climber as Adrien was, but it was fun and passed the time. "Well, dude, I don't know what to tell you. Alya's so much better with this kind of thing than I am."

Adrien rolled his eyes. "Gee thanks, bro." Adrien fell silent for a few minutes and Nino slowly started climbing, but then he groaned again. "I messed this all up!"

Nino suppressed a chuckle. "She's really gotten under your skin!"

"She has," Adrien moaned, "I really, really like her, Nino. Did I tell you we kissed?"

"Uh… wait, Marinette or Ladybug?"

"Marinette. Well, and Ladybug too, I guess, but you were there for that."

"You kissed Marinette?"

"Well, Chat Noir did."

Nino was glad he was facing the wall because he was grinning from ear-to-ear trying to prevent himself from laughing at the ridiculousness of Adrien's conundrum. "So. Chat Noir kissed Marinette. When?"

"The day I was telling you about—after her mom got akumatized. And… a few times after that too."

"Dude!" but Nino paused, "What was it like?"

"Really great." Nino couldn't hold it back any more—he burst out laughing so hard he almost fell off the wall. "Hey!" Adrien scoffed.

"Sorry man," Nino hiccupped.

"I really like her! I was about to tell her my identity and everything. But I just had to know how she felt about me first…"

"Wait, you were going to tell her you're Chat Noir?"

Adrien nodded solemnly. Nino gave up on the fruitless climb and jumped to the floor. "When I found out how deep her feelings were, though, I couldn't do it. I couldn't add to her burden. She'd be so heartbroken if she found out she'd been kissing Adrien in disguise."

Nino shook his head and raised his eyebrows. "You don't know that; she might've been really happy."

He shrugged, "I doubt that. Besides, it felt like I would have been taking advantage of her. I just couldn't do that. Not to my princess."

"So you didn't tell her."

"No."

"Do you think you ever will?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I hope so, someday."

"And until then?"

"Until then, I guess I'll just have to settle for being really great friends with Marinette and Ladybug." Adrien's head fell in pain.

Nino patted his shoulder. "That's the best basis for any relationship, dude. Alya and I were friends long before we started dating. It's way better that way. I promise." Adrien just nodded.

"Master Dude!" a little voice piped from Adrien's desk. It made both Adrien and Nino jump.

"Oh! Wayzz, sorry man, I'm just not accustomed to having a kwami with me all the time," Nino laughed.

The two boys went to see what Wayzz was doing. "I've been monitoring the news reports, both here on the computer and using the magic of the miraculous. I just sensed something big."

"Mayura? Hawkmoth? Jeune Paonne?"

Wayzz shook his head, "No, and I already told you, I've never been able to locate Mayura or Hawkmoth; they've ordered their kwamis into secrecy. Jeune Paonne never thought to do that with Duusu, so that's why I've been able to locate her a few times. But it was something else—not a miraculous holder. I can't be certain without checking the footage."

"There's footage? Turn it on!" Adrien gasped. Wayzz had to use his whole body to move Adrien's mouse, but was able to pull up some recent news footage from London.

"There's been a major disaster at the Heathrow Airport," the reporter was explaining as aerial drone footage was displayed, "Some kind of explosion has baffled investigators. The jumbo jet was refueling before it was to head to New York, but in a matter of seconds, suffered catastrophic damage. Miraculously, there appear to be no injuries. However, flights have been delayed, rerouted, or cancelled until investigators have finished their work and the runway has been cleared."

Adrien gasped at the pictures on the screen. It looked as if an entire 757 had been disintegrated, taking a great deal of tarmac with it. "Wait… I know that kind of destruction… there's only one creature who can do that…" Wayzz smiled and nodded at Adrien. "It doesn't look very tidy; he must have done it himself. Wayzz," he pressed on in a torrent of thoughts and words, "do you think he's fighting her?" Wayzz nodded again. "Trying to prevent her from running away to New York?" Wayzz nodded once more, wisely.

Nino finally interjected, "Who?"

Adrien and Wayzz grinned simultaneously and answered together, "Plagg!"

Author's Note: We're winding down to the last few chapters. Hang on for the ride!