The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste

by Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: Don't own Miraculous Ladybug or make any money writing fanfiction.

Chapter Ten

Gabriel Agreste was displeased.

Honestly, that was an understatement.

Gabriel Agreste was infuriated.

He had allowed Adrien his little temper tantrum, the slamming of the door and stomping to his bedroom, expecting to let the boy stew for a bit until he had calmed enough to be reasonable. In the meantime, he had assured Mlle. Rossi things would progress as planned.

That had been a miscalculation. Adrien's behavior had only escalated, as he somehow managed to escape the mansion—something Gabriel had only discovered later, when Nathalie had brought the tablet to him, with that picture on the Instagram social media account that was meant largely for Adrien to promote the brand. He had been permitted to use it for additional reasons, but clearly that had been a mistake.

Gabriel had been struck by the smile on Adrien's face, though, carefree and happy… and alongside that of a boy he'd never seen as they cuddled in an intimate way that was wholly inappropriate for the brand. He never would have allowed such a picture with Mlle. Rossi.

But his hands were also tied by Adrien's move—if he were seen to disapprove, many of his employees would be livid, not to mention critics. The LGBTQ+ community was well represented in the fashion industry. At this point, Gabriel would be seen as homophobic.

Furthermore, a third party had taken those pictures, meaning Adrien had found allies.

Nathalie had attempted to regain control of the account, to no avail. Hopefully the furor would die down quickly; Gabriel had the Gorilla out searching for his wayward son so they could nip this in the bud. But he'd come up empty thus far.

Mlle. Rossi had called, raging, and had required a lecture about tone and entitlement. She had been seething by the time he hung up on her, but Gabriel didn't particularly care. She was outliving her use with her childish assumption he'd give in to her demands.

He had used the roiling emotions of a jealous fan to create an Akuma, but it had been defeated far too quickly for his liking,

Nathalie had returned with the tablet shortly thereafter, with a new photo and that hair. His hair had been pristine, never adulterated with anything so aggressive as dye. And now—! He matched his 'boyfriend'—Gabriel was certain this was a fake relationship, but if he said such a thing publicly it would receive backlash—and they were feeding each other ice cream and laughing. Another picture taken by a third party.

Gabriel hadn't even noticed the caption, or the following post essentially accusing the company of forcing him to work, until Nathalie pointed them out. Worse, there were comments from fans angry that Adrien was not permitted to play with that ridiculous band.

theofficialchloebourgeois: I didn't know it was that bad, Adrikins. I'll talk to Daddy.

alya-ladyblogger: theofficialchloebourgeois Pretty sure this violates child labor laws, too. #LetAdrienGoToSchool

theofficialchloebourgeois: Will bring that up.

The Instagram tag the Ladyblogger had created had started going viral, even spreading to Twitter.

The TVi news was even using it. Curious, Gabriel clicked on the article they'd linked to.

Model Adrien Agreste Comes Out, Alleges Being Forced to Date New Gabriel Muse, Lila Rossi

Leaked Rossi text messages include threats

When he saw the image of the text messages, he hurled the tablet against the wall.

Nathalie gave him a reproachful look and he glowered at her. "You were due for an upgrade anyway," he hissed, still trying to contain his rage.

Clearly Mlle. Rossi had become more than an inconvenience.

"Inform Mlle. Rossi that her association with Gabriel has ended, as she has provided an unsavory image for the brand. Announce that on the official social media. Make sure the announcement planned for tomorrow is stopped."

A stress headache, perhaps even a migraine, was coming on.

Marinette returned home with freshly painted pink fingernails, and Jagged loudly praising her nonexistent design ideas.

"Marinette Dupain-Chang, would you care to comment on your relationship with former Gabriel model Lila Rossi?"

Oh, that had been tempting. 'Former'? They hadn't seen that bit of information before she'd left—she'd have to text that to Kagami and Luka, who would share it with Adrien. They'd agreed that he'd need to keep his cell phone off to avoid the GPS locater, until they'd gotten enough done.

Jagged posed for the camera, hugging her one-armed. "That horrid girl has been bullying my niece here. Kept her too afraid to say anything. But Uncle Jagged's here to take care of his Marinette."

Then he pushed past Nadja Chamack to enter the bakery—let in by her parents despite it being after hours. They presented him with a large box of macrons to thank him, and asked if he would be free to join the family for dinner the next night—specifying that 'the team' was welcome, too.

Adrien, Luka, and Kagami had been insistent that she should bring them in on the plan, that they have some adults they could lean on aside from Jagged, whose stay in Paris would only be so long.

Marinette hadn't been certain about letting them in on the fake relationship details, but they had been appropriately horrified at Adrien's treatment and had immediately been on board. Everything had fallen into place, and maman had insisted after tomorrow she would take her break from the bakery to coincide with Marinette's walk to school, so she could escort her for her protection.

They had a plan, a script, for Luka and Adrien's relationship. She just had to be ready early tomorrow to be escorted to school, and be ready for any media attention.

And they had decided that Luka should be seen with Adrien, saying goodbye before the school day with appropriate closeness. They hadn't specified what it should be, but that part could be ad-libbed. Regardless, the media would eat it up.

She updated her parents over dessert fruit tarts, then pleaded exhaustion and headed up to her room to get ready for bed. On her way up, she texted Luka and Kagami the news about Lila.

Tikki looked a bit exasperated when she was finally able to leave Marinette's purse, and for a moment she was worried the kwami disagreed with what they were doing, that she'd be disappointed.

"I didn't realize Adrien had it so bad," Tikki said instead. "That poor boy. I'm glad you came to his side; I know it might be hard to watch him in a pretend relationship with Luka."

Marinette relaxed. Tikki was on her side.

"I knew his father was awful, but I didn't know it was this bad, either. If we do this right, M. Agreste will be under enough scrutiny to give Adrien some freedom."

"He deserves better," the kwami commented, taking the cookie Marinette offered her.

Marinette nodded. "Do you think I'm doing enough?"

"You're doing everything you can." Tikki set down the cookie and put one tiny hand on Marinette's. "And… I think Luka was right. You expect too much of yourself. I know you're Ladybug, but you're also Marinette. You don't need to bottle things up. You don't need to be perfect."

Marinette was silent for a bit, thinking about that. She'd always tried to stay strong on her own—even during the worst of Chloé's bullying, she hadn't reached out. Part of it was learning that Chloé could get away with a lot because of her status; teachers were rarely willing to punish the daughter of the mayor, so instead Marinette had been told she was being too sensitive, or that she needed to be the bigger person and be an example. All she'd wound up being is an example of a doormat.

In the past year, she'd learned that what her teachers had done was considered gaslighting. She'd managed to let them convince her that her feelings weren't important. Marinette had been afraid to tell her parents everything, because if they told her the same thing…

Ever since Alya had come, she'd been able to start growing out of that—all it had taken was someone standing up for her.

"Thanks, Tikki."

The kwami sighed. "Honestly, I should have helped you take care of this Lila situation earlier. It's gone on too long. I let you flounder, even after you were almost Akumatized. I didn't even think about how this was effecting you. I'm sorry, Marinette."

Marinette brought Tikki up to her face and kissed her cheek. "I was doing what Luka said—putting on a front. I need to trust you and my parents and my friends more."

"We'll learn together," Tikki told her with a smile. "I'm so proud of you, Marinette!"

They snuggled cheek to cheek for a moment, and then Marinette went to the bathroom to prepare for bed, leaving Tikki to her cookie.

What? Four updates in four days? What is even happening?

Happy American Eat-Carbs-Until-You-Pass-Out Day.