Adrien's head was full of calculus. The new unit was harder than he had been expecting and he was still working on even memorizing the formulas. When he allowed himself a gap in all the equations, Ladybug slipped in and filled his mind up with those sad eyes.

There was no room in his head for his father's opinions.

This fact did not stop his father from talking.

This was one of their monthly lunches. Adrien had wanted to skip it but skipping it would mean an argument later. So he had dragged himself along to the fancy restaurant. He had worn a suit. Gabriel looked almost pleased when Adrien looked up at him. He kept a carefully bland look on his face. It was almost as difficult as all the calculus to keep the right blend of interested and polite in place but he had had a lot of practice.

"You should considering bringing a date that will catch attention but not cause the wrong kind of talk. You're still friends with the Bourgeois girl, aren't you? Her father recently announced his candidacy for president. You should give her a call," his father said and Adrien snapped back into the moment.

"You would like me to invite Chloe to an industry event?" Adrien asked and his voice came out sounding normal.

"Chloe, yes, that's it. Pretty, blonde, right? You'll look like a matched set. The photographers love that. She can borrow a proper gown if she doesn't have one," his father waved off the concern of Chloe's fashion sense with a careless hand as he picked up his cup of coffee.

"Chloe is not exactly the 'take out for a photo-op' kind of date," Adrien said, "If I take her out once, she will be having our engagement accidentally announced in the papers by the end of the week."

"Marrying a politician's child is always risky, if her father falls out of favour, she won't be nearly as useful," his father said.

"Did you honestly just tell me that my future spouse should be useful to the company's image?" Adrien said.

"It's a consideration," his father said from over the lip of his coffee cup.

Adrien took stock of the moment. His father looking pressed and neat and perfect. Not a hair out of place, not a stitch of clothing out of place. Not quite human. Did he wake up with his hair like that? Shouldn't his son know that? Adrien had lived in the same house with him for eighteen years and hadn't ever seen him disheveled. The restaurant around them was just as stark. Beautiful, yes, every floral arrangement and square of white linen was beautiful but it felt suddenly empty.

"Is that why you married my mother, because she helped the company's image. She was pretty enough and cultured enough to make you look good at parties?" Adrien was angry but he kept his voice low. This would not be a scene. He didn't want a scene reported in the papers any more than his father did. He still had a dessert ordered but he got up and slowly slid his chair back into place.

He didn't want to hear the answer. Whatever the answer was, he didn't want to hear it. He retreated before he had to hear it.

"I'll see you on Thursday," Adrien said.

Then he left.

Without being dismissed.

He was an adult. He was headed towards his twenty-first birthday and he still couldn't walk away from a table with his father without needing to be dismissed. That thought just made him angrier. He transformed in the alley behind the restaurant, prodding a sleeping Plagg out of his pocket and then took off across the city. Chat was faster than he was and he didn't really want to be himself at that moment.

Chat Noir jumped rooftop to rooftop until he was back in the business district. He climbed up the side of the building that housed Agreste Couture without really thinking it through. He found an open window and hung on the ledge for a moment to be sure the room was empty before he swung himself up inside.

And the room was not empty.

Of course it wasn't, because that was the kind of day he was having.

Marinette looked up from a sewing machine and a minor designer he vaguely recognized stood over her with a piece of fabric in his hand. Marinette and her arms crossed and her jaw set. The designer, Elijah, had pursed his lips and was shaking the bit of green material in his hand. They both turned to look at Chat Noir with wide eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Marinette asked.

"Do we need to evacuate? Is there another monster on the loose?" Elijah's voice was panicked. His arrogant sneer fell away.

"A guy can't just break into an office building without a good reason?" Chat said.

"It is a felony," Marinette said and a corner of her lip twitched.

"Feline-y, I like that, I need to remember that," he said.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong? Maybe we should evacuate? I can go raise the alarm!" Elijah said.

"You do not need to evacuate, everything is purrfectly fine," Chat told him but the man was already turning towards the door. Marinette turned to watch him go with a look of relief on her face. She slumped back in the chair and picked up the bit of green that Elijah had been flapping around and turned it over a few times. She dropped it back on the desk and raised her eyebrows at Chat.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Choosing the wrong window, though it has brought me to you so perhaps it is destiny," he said with a grand sweep of his arm.

She stared at him, frowned at him and then let out a little explosion of laughter. She leaned down over her sewing machine, put her head on her arms and giggled. He grabbed a low stool from against the wall, sat down on it and spun his way over to her, pushing with a foot until he caught up against the table. His stool was lower than her chair so he had to tilt his head back to look up at her.

"Usually I am not so charming as to reduce girls to hysterics," he said setting his chin on his hands and watching her with a little smirk. She had an infectious laugh and he wanted to join in with her and keep her giggling. Adrien knew her a little but Chat Noir had only ever properly met her once. Still, a little bit of flirting didn't seem like such a bad way to wash away the conversation with his father.

Flirting with someone his father wouldn't consider 'useful' felt like a bit of a rebellion. It helped remind him that his father's opinions of usefulness weren't anything. Her giggle alone was worth more than all his father's sneering.

"It's been a terrible day," she said without lifting her head but the laughter was still in her voice. She might have been reading out of his mind but he didn't tell her, "Me too."

"Do you need me to scratch someone for you?" he asked. When she looked up he gave her a theatrical hiss and flexed his claws at her. She shook her head and gave him a rueful smile like he had done something charming but embarrassing. Maybe he had.

"You need to go find your proper window, kitty cat, you don't want people thinking you're a stray," she said.

"But I'm so cute, maybe you should adopt me," he said leaning toward her and widening his eyes.

She laughed again and then braced her foot against the stool he sat on and pushed. He bumped into a cabinet and tried to catch himself and failed entirely. Instead he set himself spinning back out into the middle of the room where the wheel caught on his tail and the entire thing went over. It happened fast and he was left lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling feeling a little dazed and confused.

Marinette came over and frowned down at him. She looked worried and that made him flash her a big bright grin. She scoffed but held out a hand to help him up. He kept her hand once he was untangled and back on his feet. He went to kiss the back of her fingers and she pulled her hand away gently.

"Adieu, my princess," he said.

"Get out or I'll chase you out like an old lady with a broom," she said pulling her hand back but still smiling.

"You're the prettiest old lady I have seen all day," he said.

"Out," she said, "And if anyone asks, you were never here."

"Where? I was nowhere," he said and then he climbed back out onto the window ledge and gave her one more charming smile before climbing towards the roof and the service entrance there that he could use to sneak back inside as Adrien.

"Bye bye kitty cat," she said and he was still smiling by the time he made it up over the edge of the building and onto the gravel roof top.