Chat Noir felt a little conflicted about his current situation, Ladybug still hadn't told people about his father and if he did it he'd be as good as confirming he was responsible for destroying the statue and the Graffiti outside the mayor's office.

Sure she hadn't denied it either but "No comment" wasn't a great response, he knew she had a good reason she wanted to protect him and his mother even if she didn't know it was him.

Would she reconsider if he knew that he was fine with people knowing? In fact, he wanted people to know. Honestly, it was at times like this that he wished she knew his identity. Meeting up with her as Chat was so much easier than meeting up with her as Adrien.

He could count the number of times he'd talked to Ladybug as his civilian self on one hand, and he couldn't just rely on running into her. How could he do this?

He could ask her to meet up as Chat Noir and then say he couldn't show up at the last minute, then he could just happen to show up as Adrien. No, she'd just leave before he showed up, and if she didn't, him showing up would be a little too convenient. It might be enough for her to piece together his identity.

He'd have to think about it later. He was just heading to school staring out the window. It was quiet as always; his bodyguard was a pretty taciturn man. He wasn't sure he'd ever heard him speak.

"I have this friend and she's keeping a secret I think other people should know, If I say anything people won't believe me, but she has a good reason to keep it a secret or what she thinks is a good reason but it's really not something she needs to worry about."

He was mostly just venting at this point; it wasn't like he expected a response from him, of course.

"Im hiding stuff from everyone, even my best friend," Adrien paused for a moment. "You're also my best friend, don't worry. it's just frustrating, you know? because the solution is so simple, but I can't just do it. "

"Hmm," and a nod was the only response he got out of him.

"I can't talk about this with anybody, really, and I feel like a piñata. I'm just gonna burst. What should I do?"

The car came to a stop at a light, and the man turned to look at Adrien, but before he could say anything, Adrien spoke up.

"You're right, I should talk to my other friends about all this."

The gorilla simply nodded before turning back to face the road. It didn't take long for them to reach the school, Adrien said goodbye before heading out of the car, feeling a little better after that admittedly one-sided conversation.

He had a plan, Adrien knew Nino and Alya's identities thanks to Nino's little outburst during that whole incident with Rocketear, he also knew Rena Rouge was close with Ladybug, possibly closer than he even was so he'd ask Alya to help him contact her. He had a good reason, after all.

Obviously, he couldn't ask a question like that in the middle of class, so he'd need to try and get a moment alone with her. He wasn't going to risk revealing her identity.

And so when during class, he slipped Ayla a note asking to talk to her, preferably alone, but Nino could come if he wanted, Nino declined just so Marinette wouldn't be left by herself

"Since when does Adrien talk to Alya anyway?" Marinette mused as she sipped her water battle.

"Couldn't tell ya, but it's not like they don't get along," Nino answered with a shrug. It had been a while since he'd hung out with Marinette without Adrien, but they were friends before he even knew Adrien, so it was perfectly natural for him.

"So what's on your mind, Goldilocks?" Alya asked in her normal casual tone.

"Well, I was hoping you could help me get in contact with Ladybug." Adrien cut straight to the point he didn't see much point in beating around the Bush. "You run the Ladyblog, and you're Rena Rouge. You're probably the best person to ask about this."

Alya silently cursed Nino for telling Adrien her identity. It was a while ago, but it still bugged her.

"I guess I can try. It's about your dad, right? You want to know if those rumours are true."

"Got it in one."

"Well, journalists need to be good at reading people, I'll see what I can do, but no promises, come on, we should head back."

Alya and Adrien went back to the group but didn't say anything about what they had talked about, Marinette didn't know why until later but Nino didn't seem too concerned, He'd resolved to be less suspicious since he was akumatized as Rocketear.

–

The rest of the school day went by as you'd expect. Thankfully, there is no Akuma attack today, at least. Nino had originally wanted to walk home as a group, but Alya insisted on going home with Marinette. "Sorry Nino, Girls only, you can walk with Adrien."

"Aw, what? It feels like I've not hung out with you all day." He complained but ultimately complied.

"I don't mind if -" Marinette began but was cut off by her friend.

"This is private, I'll swing by your place later, kay?" Alya waved the boys off, and once they were alone, she turned to Marinette.

"Adrien wants to talk to Ladybug. About his dad." As her friend finished speaking, Marinette felt her heart sink. She should have known this was coming. Of course, he'd want to know.

"I guess I should have expected that."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"I'm not sure. If anyone has a right to know it's him and his mother, but how can I be sure he won't do something reckless once he finds out?"

"So it's true then?" Alya had been fairly sure, but Marinette had unintentionally confirmed it. "I won't say anything, but you shouldn't keep it from him. If you lie to him about this and he finds out, he'll never believe a word you say again."

Marinette remained silent for the rest of the way home. She decided she would tell him the truth about his dad, but she'd still prefer the general public didn't actually know. She just wanted to be careful.

Once they arrived at the bakery, Marinette told Alya when and where to tell Adrien to go to speak with Ladybug before heading inside and straight to her room, slumping against a wall with a sigh.

Adrien got the text from Alya and decided to head out now, the meeting place wasn't too far from his home, no doubt because they thought he'd have to walk, he decided transforming was an unnecessary risk so he thought it best to do just that.

"So what's the plan, Kid? What's the point of asking her if you already know?" Plagg didn't really get his friends' intention here: secret identities were messy.

"Well, yeah, I know, but she doesn't know that I know. So if she tells me, then she knows that I know, I'll let her know that I think the people of Paris should know so that nothing should stop her from telling the truth."

"You lost me, kid."

"Of course I did. Look, you'll get it afterwards now get out of sight."

Plagg reluctantly did as he was told. Adrien hadn't really spoken to him much since he found out about his father. He knew he should have told him, but he didn't want to hurt him like that.

This was more or less the longest conversation they'd had since he found out, and Adrien's tone wasn't at all friendly. He needed to think of a way to make it up to him. But that would have to wait as Adrien arrived at the meeting place, a rather quiet spot in the park.

Adrien didn't wait long for Ladybug to show up, and as annoyed as he was with her, he could pretend for the time being. "Thanks for taking the time to meet with me."

"Of course. I can only imagine what you're going through." She offered a sympathetic smile. It was genuine, but to Adrien, it looked hollow.

"I imagine you can guess what I wanted to ask."

She knew, of course, but she really didn't want to talk about it, so she remained quiet.

"Is it true?"

She had been dreading this part. How would he react? She didn't want to upset him, but she knew she couldn't just avoid the question like she did with Nadja. No, she had to answer him properly.

"Yes, it is, I'm sorry." She closed her eyes, anticipating him to get upset, but there was nothing.

"Thought as much" He was mumbling but she managed to pick up on it, of course he had mentioned that the rumors made sense in school but for him to have so little reaction to being told they were true was strange.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine… it's just I should have realised what he was up to. It explains why I barely ever saw him." He was pretending to be surprised by this, of course, but truthfully, it helped to vent his thoughts.

"You couldn't possibly have known what he was up to." She placed a hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him, and he just about managed to avoid pulling away, Adrien had no reason to be mad at her.

"Someone else has the Butterfly now, right?" He knew she didn't know who, but it was worth thinking about.

"Yes, but I don't know who, whoever it was had to be able to get into your home and they'd have to know about the secret room."

"Secret room?"

"Behind the painting in your fathers office."

Adrien sighed, pausing for thought. He didn't even know about this room, so he couldn't be much use right now. "I'd say it's worth investigating Nathalie Sancoeur and Tomoe Tsurugi."

"You think one of them could be Hawkmoth?"

"Maybe, Nathalie knew my father better than anyone and she used to be obedient to him to a fault, she'll know something even if she isn't directly involved and Tomoe is the only person my father wouldn't argue with he respected her but it was more than that, like he was afraid of her." This was awfully well thought out for someone who had just found out about this a few minutes ago. Still, Ladybug wouldn't argue 2 potential leads were better than the 0 she'd been working with.

"I'll be sure to look into them. Thank you, Adrien."

"Don't mention it, and Ladybug, one last thing, I think people have a right to know about my father. After all, he's done. He deserves to be remembered as a villain."

"But aren't you worried about how people might see you?"

"Should I be? Maybe some people might judge me for what my father did, but anyone who'd judge someone based on the actions of their parents isn't someone I'd get along with anyway."

That was certainly an optimistic way of viewing it, Ladybug still wasn't entirely convinced it was a good idea to tell people about his father, she had Adriens permission but she decided she should ask Emilie as well. he was her husband after all.

But in all honesty, she was looking for an excuse to delay what she would later come to accept as inevitable

--

Thats the end of this chapter, hope you enjoyed its a little more slow and it's mostly set up but next time should be a bit more exciting, will Ladybug or Chat Noir get any useful information out of Tomoe and Nathalie? Reason on and find out.

But yeah that's it, Leave a review if you want to, I read all of them bye for now