The week following the Sapotis attack and Rena Rouge's debut turned out to be quiet, much to the heroes' surprise. After their training session following the akuma, Ladybug barely came away with a score of 4 to 4 against Chat Noir despite the training she got from Draal. Turns out Chat Noir had been getting some extra training of his own and his instructor was quite good too, leaving the spotted heroine impressed. However, it did make Ladybug keen on increasing her training despite the limited days she could do so with her Troll instructor, leading to her doing solo sessions on Draal's off days.
Now that the weekend had arrived once again, the two heroes were looking forward to getting some well-needed rest. Especially Adrien, who had to participate in an unexpected ad for his signature perfume line and needed to dodge his fans at school towards the end of the week. But despite the influx of attention he was getting, Adrien had some plans for how he was going to spend his Saturday. This is how he found himself in Gabriel's atelier, nervously standing at the doorway in the hopes of getting permission to leave the house from the scariest person he knew… his own father.
"Father, there's something I'd like to talk to you...about. Can I have a few minutes of your time?" Adrien timidly greeted his father, anxiously fiddling with the ring on his finger while standing at the doorway of Gabriel's office.
"Yes, of course." Gabriel replied, not even looking away from his computer despite his words immediately causing Adrien to perk up.
"Really?" Adrien happily chirped, looking straight at his father amid his excitement.
"I'll tell Nathalie to let you know as soon as I'm available." Gabriel went on, still not even looking at Adrien as the boy sighed in disappointment.
"It'll be too late, by then." Adrien mumbled to himself, his words just loud enough to finally grab Gabriel's attention away from his current task and notice that Adrien was still fidgeting with his ring. A ring… he didn't have any recollection of Adrien receiving it. Either from him, Nathalie, or his mother before her passing.
"Shouldn't you be practising your piano?" Gabriel questioned his son, wondering why his son was wasting valuable time trying to talk to him instead of improving his musical skills.
"Yes. I'll… get right on it." Adrien sadly replied, followed by him walking out of the room with his head hung low. But as soon as the door was closed behind Adrien, Plagg took this as a chance to poke his head from his holder's overshirt in the hopes of cheering him up.
"Looks like you old man isn't going to be much help." Plagg remarked while Adrien started walking up the stairs, heading up to his room like his father had instructed.
"I was hoping that he'd be open to listening to me today of all days. But he's been so distant with me lately like he was before Simon Says!" Adrien vented to his kwami, taking the opportunity of no one else being in the vicinity to openly talk with his little friend without being either discovered or thought crazy. "What kind of work thing could be so important that he'd so busy that I have to make an appointment just to talk to him?!" the green-eyed boy growled when he reached the top of the stairs, continuing to his room.
"I don't know, kid. Your dad is as just as much a mystery to me as he is to you." Plagg admitted while Adrien opened his room door, entering the space before closing it behind them. "But that doesn't mean you can go out on your own, you know." the black kwami reminded his holder, flying out from Adrien's overshirt to float next to the boy.
"You're really okay with helping me sneak out? Usually, you're very keen on not doing anything if it's not eating camembert." Adrien recalled, surprised by Plagg's eagerness to do something instead of just laying around and pigging out.
"This is important to you, Adrien. So it's important to me too." Plagg replied before he started rubbing himself into Adrien's cheek, purring loudly and soothing the boy from his earlier turmoil.
"Thanks, buddy." Adrien said with a smile, hugging Plagg as best as he could with his hand. "Now we better get going. It starts in a few hours and I feel like we might have some trouble getting there." the blonde model observed as he and Plagg pulled away from their hug, walking over to his piano to get ready to sneak out.
"Not kidding. That perfume ad your father let out has the whole city going batshit crazy!" Plagg exclaimed, watching Adrien work on setting up his go-to move to avoid being discovered sneaking out.
"Plagg, language!" Adrien chided the black imp, turning on his stereo and setting it to play piano music.
"What? It's true!" Plagg interjected.
"Still, it's rude." Adrien lectured the kwami as he walked over to the room's wall of windows, not appreciating the way Plagg was talking about his… overeager fans.
"If you're so worried about your rabid fans, why don't you just go to the theatre as Chat Noir and transform back when you get there?" Plagg questioned his holder, zipping over to him while bringing up the biggest flaw in Adrien's plan.
"Personally, I want to take my time and walk there. Plus, I'm not concerned about the fans going crazy when they see me." Adrien assured Plagg, who looked at the boy like he had suddenly grown a second head.
"And why is that?" Plagg asked, concerned about Adrien's assessment of just how unpredictable his fans could be now thanks to the new ad release.
"You'll see in a little bit. But we're getting off track and we need to get going." Adrien said as he grabbed his master remote, using it to open one of the windows before getting ready to say… "Plagg, Claws Out!" the blonde-haired boy proclaimed, transforming into Chat Noir and leaving his room through the open window, eager to have a quiet time in getting to the theatres.
Unbeknownst to Adrien, his identity was much closer to discovery by his and Ladybug's enemy than he could have ever imagined. The reason why Gabriel was so busy while Adrien was trying to talk to him in the atelier, was that he was reviewing Ladyblog footage for any striking connections between his son and Chat Noir. Truth be told, Gabriel and Nathalie had been suspicious of Adrien for a while now… up to about when Gabriel akumatized himself into Collector. When one becomes an akuma to avoid having his devilish activities discovered and finds his son missing from his room after being grounded, it definitely leaves some lingering questions. Especially when Chat Noir seemed happy to find out Gabriel Agreste wasn't Hawkmoth.
So after that day, Gabriel and Nathalie had been trying to find any evidence to prove if Adrien was Chat Noir. Nathalie took the more physical side of the evidence gathering, testing Adrien of his physical prowess and defense skills by going extra hard on him in their training sessions. From what she could observe, Adrien was holding back a lot of his true skills and it proved that he was at least skilled enough to pass off as the feline hero. Meanwhile, Gabriel had been analyzing hours upon hours of footage from both the Ladyblog and any CCTV cameras that managed to catch a glimpse of the heroes for further evidence. The CCTV cameras provided less than Gabriel had hoped, but the Ladyblog had been very helpful in finding what he needed.
This is how Gabriel found himself comparing video footage of Chat Noir from the Ladyblog and a clip from Adrien's perfume ad on his computer. Despite the amount of evidence Gabriel and Nathalie had scrounged up, it was still not enough to fully confirm Adrien was Chat Noir. But his earlier witnessing of Adrien playing with his ring had sparked a new idea for the fashion designer to confirm his theory.
After pausing the Ladyblog video and rewinding it, Gabriel zoomed in to take a closer look at Chat Noir's ring while bringing the latest advertisement video of Adrien alongside it. However, a quick zoom-in on the ad to take a closer look at Adrien's ring and placing the two videos side-by-side was the final nail in the coffin. Upon the close study of the rings… Gabriel's worldview turned upside down after he found their shapes to be identical!
"No! That's impossible!" Gabriel exclaimed with wide eyes, appalled and betrayed by his discovery.
Now presented with irrefutable proof, Gabriel let his fury guide him to burst through his atelier's doors and march upstairs to Adrien's room, hearing piano music playing as he drew closer. When drawing near the door, Placide I.T.; who had been standing guard by the door after Adrien went back to his room, noticed his boss coming towards him.
"Let me through. Now! I wish to speak to my son." the fashion designer demanded the burly man, his angry tone unnerving Placide enough to step back and let the enraged Gabriel pass.
With nothing in his way, Gabriel finally opened the door to his son's room, ready to confront him about his discovery. Instead, he and Placide were left shocked to see that Adrien was not there and that the music was actually from the boy's stereo. Further inspection of the room proved to be more concerning when Gabriel saw the open window behind the piano and Adrien's phone in the stereo, quickly emanating any hopes of tracking the runaway boy. In any case, Adrien's apparent egress wasn't doing much to calm Gabriel from his rage.
"NATHALIE!" Gabriel roared as he stomped over to the piano, turning off the music as Nathalie showed up next to Placide after hearing her employer call for her. "WHERE IS MY SON?!" the walking fashion disaster demanded as he turned to face those standing at the doorway, instilling fear in the normally impassive adults.
"What?!" Nathalie stammered, not understanding what was going on since she had only arrived seconds ago.
"Adrien has managed to leave his room without either of you noticing!" Gabriel explained amid his fury. "FIND HIM, NOW!" he demanded, prompting Placide I.T. and Nathalie to skidaddle downstairs to start their search for Adrien.
While Gabriel was blowing a gasket when finding out Adrien had escaped the Agreste Mansion, the boy in question was now walking through the streets of Paris lined with images of his latest ad without a care in the world.
How is such a feat possible, you might wonder?
The answer happens to be hanging around Adrien's neck.
You might recall that thanks to his last joint visit with Ladybug to Stone Arc, Adrien came away with his own disguise runestone necklace. And like Ladybug, he also requested a civilian disguise in its creation. Once he left the mansion and found an empty alleyway to transform back into his normal self, Adrien pulled out his necklace and summoned his civilian disguise, which he had been affectionately calling 'Chad Noris'. As soon as a soft green glow surrounded the corresponding runestone and the disguise was in effect, the model in hiding walked out of the alley and used his disguise to walk through Paris without any unwanted attention.
At first, things were going well. No one was looking at him like he was a spectacle or as if he was the one who invented the next evolution of wearable tech. Unfortunately for Adrien, his bout of good luck had come to a screeching halt when he let his gaze wander from the path ahead of him to his destination and bumped into someone by mistake.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you!" Adrien exclaimed as he stumbled back from the person he collided with, unaware of the glow surrounding his second runestone fading away from it.
"It's okay, dude. I was the one who wasn't looking where I was—" the boy; Wayhem, began to apologise… only to look up from said device and be greeted by the sight of… "Adrien?! You're the Adrien Agreste?!" the curly brown-haired boy excitedly observed, his words catching Adrien off guard and making his hand fly to his runestone necklace for the familiar warm glow that enveloped the stones.
"This is awesome!" Wayhem exclaimed, unaware of Adrien panickingly looking at his feet to confirm his findings when he didn't feel the glow around any of his runestones. When seeing he was now his normal self and presented with Wayhem's excitement of his presence, Adrien couldn't help the nervous laugh that escaped him amid his panic.
"Okay, bye." Adrien said with a pathetic wave at his newly discovered fan, quickly turning around to walk away and try to find a place to don his civilian disguise again. However, his plans immediately flew out the window when Wayhem started following him. 'Crap! Maybe I should have listened to Plagg's advice.' the green-eyed boy thought to himself, now seeing he had chosen a very risky way of getting to the theatre. But to be fair, how was he supposed to know that the disguise would fail him after bumping into someone?
"I can't believe I'm meeting you! The first time I saw you in that ad, I told myself, 'Wayhem, I got to meet this guy. He's so cool!'! What if I was, like… your biggest fan?" Wayhem rambled while still following Adrien, leaving the poor boy even more uncomfortable than he was when Wayhem first found him out.
"Yeah... sure." Adrien awkwardly replied, not having anything else to say regarding Wayhem's words. And just as Adrien was about to look for any hiding spots, Wayhem had other plans that would put a new kink in his.
"Say 'Cheese'!" Wayhem cheered as he quickly took out his phone, pulling the model in for a side hug to take a photo of them. " 'Me and Adrien. This is the best day of my life!' " the crazed fan read aloud while Adrien recovered from the phone's camera flash, typing in a caption for a post to his social media.
"No! Don't post it up on—" Adrien tried to warn Wayhem, now realising what he was doing. But just as he was about to take the phone away from Wayhem… he had already posted the photo online. " ...the Internet." the blonde model sadly finished, slouching in on himself when seeing that his location was now sent out to everyone in a ten-mile radius.
See, the reason why Adrien decided to use his phone to play his piano music instead of his iPod this time, was because of the large amount of tracking software it had on it. After sneaking out to school the first time, Adrien had gone through everything he had brought with him that day to see what could have tipped off his caretakers on his location. Imagine his surprise when he found out that his phone was basically a homing beacon for his father to use to find him. So whenever Adrien decided to sneak away to do something he wanted to do, he tended to not have his phone on him to prevent his bodyguard or Nathalie from finding him so quickly.
But that didn't account for other people using their phones to post about his whereabouts, which Placide was counting on as he patrolled the streets in the Agreste limousine, searching for Adrien. Fortunately for Adrien, Placide was a fair distance away from him when he got an alert for Wayhem's post, quickly plugging it into the GPS to track down the location of the photo. After a quick redirect, the burly man was on his way towards his charge, who was still trying to get away from Wayhem before the fanboy got him into any more trouble.
"Hold up! Could you autograph my cologne bottle of Adrien? And my life-size cutout?" Wayhem questioned Adrien, holding out the items to the model and creeping the poor boy out before he noticed the Agreste limo was right behind the crazy fan.
"Some other time. I've gotta get going." Adrien quickly replied, turning around and running off to get away from both Wayhem and Placide before he found him.
"No wait! Adrien!" Wayhem wailed, his voice so loud that it alerted nearby pedestrians to the model's presence.
As soon as they looked to confirm Wayhem's claims, many civilians started shouting Adrien's name in delight, some even hoping to get an autograph from him too. Upon seeing the massive crowd forming, Adrien hightailed it out of the area and ran off to find some sort of hiding place to lay low. All the while, he was being chased by a mob of rabid fans chanting his name and coming in all shapes and sizes, including a wide variety of driving vehicles including a motorcycle, a firefighter's engine, and a police helicopter. In short, Adrien soon concluded that he wouldn't find a hiding place for a long while… let alone make it to the theatres in time.
Speaking of luck, the heroine of the concept was currently at her house and totally unaware of her crush being chased by a rabid mob of his fans. With the weekend having arrived, Marinette was looking to get a bit of a break and enjoy some time with her friends at the pool. But since the new Adrien ad came out, she also thought that she could squeeze in some quality oogling of her crush while eating breakfast. Said oogling involved her watching the Adrien fragrance advertisement on her computer, which features him in all-white clothing running along rooftops in slow-motion.
The slogan 'Radiant. Carefree. Dreamy. Adrien... the fragrance." from the commercial voice was like sweet music to Marinette's ears, especially when she started backtracking the advertisement when it got to the 'Adrien' part. So much so that the lovestruck Marinette was so enamoured that she needed Tikki to help her push the spoonful of yogurt the girl had into her mouth. Fortunately, Marinette managed to finish her breakfast and kept on watching the commercial.
"Radiant. Carefree. Dreamy. Adrien…" Marinette spoke alongside the commercial voice, smiling at the video while Tikki flew near her.
However, Marinette suddenly broke out of her trance when her phone started going off, prompting her to look away from the video to see who was calling her. A quick check of her screen had shown Marinette and Tikki that the caller ID belonged to Alya, which had the designer quickly clicking the 'receive call' button.
"Marinette, we've been waiting for you for fifteen minutes! Where are you, girl?" Alya lightly interrogated Marinette after she appeared on the phone screen, immediately reminding Marinette of her prior engagement.
"Uh, I was deciding which swimsuit to wear." Marinette replied with a nervous chuckle, only for the video from her computer to start playing again behind her.
"Uh-huh. And Adrien's ad helps you pick out a swimsuit, girl?" Alya teasingly probed Marinette, who giggled in embarrassment while standing up from her desk chair.
"Um, yeah! I'll be right there!" Marinette assured her best friend, once again letting out a nervous laugh before ending the call.
Once the call was over, Marinette quickly ran to her chaise, put her phone inside her already-packed duffle bag and grabbed it before racing down the stairs leading from her room to make it on time to the pool. As she did, the pigtailed girl was so distracted that she failed to notice that Tikki wasn't with her, or that she had forgotten to do something before leaving. However, thanks to Tikki being the kind kwami she was, she wasn't going to let her holder forget as she zoomed after Marinette, following her as they got out of the house.
"Marinette? Marinette, haven't you forgotten something?" Tikki called out to Marinette as they exited the Dupain-Cheng residence, causing the red-tipped-haired girl to immediately stop running when she finally processed her kwami's words.
"Oh! I forgot to pack my swimsuit!" Marinette wailed as she skidded to a stop a few feet away from her home, her eyes wide at the possibility. But her fears were momentarily relieved when Tikki managed to catch up to her and float in front of her holder, shaking her head 'no'.
"Not that." Tikki replied, quickly pointing at what Marinette was wearing. Confused by her kawmi's words, Marinette looked down at herself and immediately shrieked when she realised that she was still wearing her pyjamas.
"I have to change!" Marinette exclaimed when her feet were back on the ground, quickly turning to run back to her house while Tikki flew into her duffle bag. However, she never made it back as she suddenly bumped into a fleeing Adrien just mere feet away from her door.
"Marinette?" "Adrien?" Marinette & Adrien breathed out in surprise, momentarily gawking at each other after they collided with one another.
"You live near here, right? Can I hide out at your place?" Adrien pleaded with his hands clasped together in front of him, getting over his surprise first when he realised he was now with a trusted friend.
"Uh, hide at my place? Sure." Marinette managed to say, her cheeks aflame with her red-hot blush when she saw her crush in front of her. But it didn't last very long when she realised that Adrien's request was a little strange.
"Wait… why do you need to–" "Adrien!" the sound of Adrien's fans echoed behind them, interrupting Marinette while also giving her a pretty good idea of why Adrien asked to hide at her house.
"Too late!" Adrien fearfully exclaimed, turning in time to see the mob of fans rushing past Marinette's family bakery in search of him.
"ADRIEN!" Wayhem wailed after breaking away from the mob, unknowingly becoming the closest to his idol until he finally noticed Adrien and Marinette a little ways away from the mob. "THERE HE IS!" the curly brown-haired boy announced to the mob, causing all of them to see the two teens in their not-so-great hiding place.
"Come with me!" Marinette said as she grabbed Adrien's arm, her hero instincts taking over as she led him in a run towards the Place des Vosges park.
Meanwhile, the mob changed course when they saw the teens run off and followed after them while still chanting Adrien's name. Fortunately for Adrien and Marinette, the fan mob's need to change course allowed for enough time for them to hide in the conveniently dry fountain in the park. They had just crouched down low enough into the fountain when the mob of fans ran past it, unaware that Marinette and Adrien were hiding inside it. As soon as the heavy footfalls faded away, Adrien took a chance and peeked past the lip of the fountain, relieved that Marinette's plan had worked.
"Thank you for saving me. People are going crazy over this ad." Adrien thanked Marinette as he laid across from her on the fountain's base, grateful that she helped him out.
"You starred in an ad? I had no idea! That's awesome!" Marinette replied with a blush still painted across her cheeks, trying to make it seem like she wasn't among the percentage of people who were obsessed with the new ad as well.
"I don't know about that. In fact, it's really quite…" Adrien began, only to suddenly notice that Marinette was wearing her pyjamas. "...embarrassing?" the green-eyed boy hesitantly finished, causing Marinette's hand to quickly fly to cover her exposed upper chest while her nerves were starting to get the better of her.
"Heh! All good now! I'd better get going." Marinette quickly announced, rising to her feet and grabbing her duffle to leave the fountain. But before she could, Adrien suddenly pulled her back into hiding and hid behind her. Left confused by Adrien's actions, Marinette followed the frightened boy's gaze and then saw the Agreste limo patrolling the park entrance. "Wait, isn't that your bodyguard?" the designer questioned her companion, looking at him for confirmation.
"Actually, I-I snuck out without permission. I'm supposed to be home right now." Adrien explained, shame creeping into his voice as he realized that he didn't make the right choice in trying to get to where he wanted to go. However, before Marinette could ask him to elaborate on his action a little more, the sound of someone's camera flashing sounded off behind them, causing them to see that the maintenance man for the fountain had caught them.
" 'Adrien and his girlfriend in the fountain'!" the maintenance man read aloud, typing the caption for the photo he took before sending it to the internment.
"We better get out of here!" Marinette declared, the two teens standing up and running off now that their hiding place was compromised.
Needless to say, the new photo caused a lot of uproar when it was uploaded. From the mob of fans chasing Adrien to Gabriel Agreste himself, everyone in the city was alerted not only to Adrien's location but also to his alleged girlfriend. Some people, like Marinette's gal pals; excluding Lila of course, who were still waiting for her at the pool, and the mob of fans were happy by the news. Others, like Gabriel Agreste and Placide I.T., were more interested in Adrien's safety and trying to get him back to the Agreste Mansion. Said bodyguard, however, had received the alert and adjusted his course to head back to the park he had just passed by to get to Adrien. But imagine Placide's surprise when he arrived at the park and stomped up to the depicted fountain, only to see that Adrien was not there. Frustrated by his failure to find Adrien, Placide went back to the Agreste limo and started to patrol the area again, hoping to get another alert to Adrien's location.
Unknown to Placide, Adrien and Marinette were actually a lot closer to the park than he had thought. After being found out at the fountain, the two teens ran to the Métro in the hopes of using it as another hiding place. However, they ran the whole way and were out of breath by the time they arrived at the train platform, bending over and resting their hands on their knees while taking deep breaths.
"I'm so sorry I got you in this crazy mess, Marinette. Now everyone thinks you're my girlfriend!" Adrien apologised to his friend, feeling bad that he got Marinette involved with his crazy fans.
"Adrien, if there's one thing I know about, it's misunderstandings." Marinette assured Adrien after catching her breath, rising to her full height. 'Even though I wish that was the case.' the pigtailed girl remarked internally, choosing to keep her fantasies on the down low.
"I'm more worried if things are gonna be okay between you and your father. Will this little stunt of yours make your relationship worse?" Marinette asked, concerned for Adrien and his limited freedom after such a disastrous sneaking out.
"How can anything bad happen... with my Marinette lucky charm?" Adrien warmly questioned as he put his left hand near his face, removing the aforementioned item from his pocket with a wink. Upon seeing the charm she had given him, Marinette gasped in happiness that he kept it and smiled brightly at the boy before her. Her happiness only grew as she thought back to when she gave Adrien her lucky charm, now knowing that she meant so much to him that he kept it all this time. But unknown to them, a woman on the opposite subway platform suddenly noticed Adrien and Marinette together and screamed in joy, bringing the teen's attention to her.
"It's Adrien from the ad! There he is!" the woman screamed, causing any of Adrien's fans in the vicinity to start taking pictures of Adrien and Marinette with their phones.
"We can't stay here!" the blonde model exclaimed, quickly grabbing Marinette's hand and causing her to smile as they started running away from the mob's view.
The two teens dashed off towards the Métro exit in the hopes of getting away from the mob who were still chanting 'Adrien' as they pursued them. But just as they were about to get to the exit, Adrien stopped them in their tracks when he saw that his bodyguard; who had received the alert on his location, was blocking their way. Having no other choice, Adrien and Marinette turned around to go to the way they entered the Métro, prompting Placide to follow after them too. Unfortunately, their troubles only worsen when they see Wayhem on the second exit stairs, blocking that way too.
"Yoohoo! Adrien!" Wayhem called to his idol, the rest of the mob coming into view behind him.
With the onslaught of new people coming towards them, Adrien and Marinette quickly realised that they were trapped! However, Lady Luck seemed to be giving them a break when Adrien noticed that a newly arrived subway train door was open next to him and Marinette. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette and threw the two of them inside the subway right before the doors closed.
As they flew through the air, however, Adrien was unaware of his lucky charm bracelet falling out of his pocket and landing on the ground outside the train by his bodyguard. But he and Marinette had bigger problems to worry about, like the fans they saw trying to get in when they recovered from the fall. Thankfully, they failed to do so before the train left and the teens managed to finally get away from the crazy crowd. Unfortunately, said crazy crowd wasn't happy that Adrien had left them.
"ADRIEN!" Wayhem wailed, kneeling on the ground alongside a portion of the unhappy mob. But his mood suddenly picked up when he noticed Placide I.T. standing near the group. "Look, that's Adrien's bodyguard!" the fanboy exclaimed, causing every Adrien fan to immediately tackle the poor bodyguard in the hopes of getting some form of contact with the absconded Adrien.
"I got his phone!" Wayhem exclaimed amongst the photo-taking members of the mob, soon opening it and scrolling through the contact list to find and call Adrien's phone. However, he was in for a rude surprise when the call got picked up. "Adrien?!" the curly-brown-haired boy cheerfully greeted the person on the other end of the call, only to be greeted by a very cross Gabriel Agreste in possession of his son's phone.
"Who are you? And where's my son? Return that phone to its owner this minute or I'll have you arrested!" Gabriel demanded from his end of the call, causing Wayhem to immediately drop Placide I.T.'s phone in surprise before another fan got a new alert on his phone.
"They were spotted at Concorde!" the fan announced just as another train arrived behind the crowd, prompting the mob of fans to immediately board it and leave the bodyguard alone.
As soon as he was alone, Placide I.T. slammed his fist on the ground in anger, furious with himself for losing his charge yet again. However, he then noticed the bracelet that fell out of Adrien's pocket and picked it up to examine it more closely. When he did, he soon remembered how much Adrien talked about when he received it and knew he treasured it a lot. So without a second thought, Placide put the bracelet into his pocket for safekeeping and headed back the way he came, hoping to find Adrien before his fans did.
(2 minutes earlier)
With the train leaving the crazed mob behind them, Adrien and Marinette could finally sit down and take a breath.
"Whew, that was close." Marinette breathed out, her hand on her chest while she turned to face Adrien. "Are you okay, Adrien?" the red-tipped-haired girl asked, leaving Adrien flabbergasted by her words.
"I should be the one to ask if you're okay. I did just tackle you so that we could escape." Adrien pointed out, shocked that Marinette was more concerned about him instead of herself.
"I'm fine. I've been through worse when I roughhoused with my brothers." Marinette assured the model, quickly followed by her phone suddenly ringing from her duffle bag. Surprised by the sudden buzzing, Marinette pulled the device out of her bag and was greeted by the sight of Jim's contact on the screen. "Speak of the devil." the designer remarked when she saw her brother calling her, pressing the 'accept call' button and lifting it to her ear.
"Hey, Jim. You're calling early." Marinette greeted her brother, surprised that he was using a normal call instead of video calling her.
"Care to explain why the whole internet is raving about you and your quote-unquote boyfriend?" Jim questioned Marinette, his voice laced with disbelief and causing the girl to turn her attention to Adrien with a nervous smile.
"Uh, one moment please?" Marinette quietly requested, immediately getting a nod in confirmation before taking a few steps away from Adrien. "Guarda, non mi aspettavo di trovarmi in questa situazione. Sai che avevo intenzione di incontrare i miei amici in piscina oggi! (Look, I didn't expect to be in this situation. You know I was planning on meeting my friends at the pool today!)" the pigtailed girl tiredly explained, switching to Italian while her free arm came to wrap around her middle and her hand rested in the crook of her left arm.
"Sei ancora con lui? Perché non vi siete già lasciati?(Are you still with him? Why didn't you split up already?)" Jim probed, copying his sister's actions while miffed to hear Marinette was still with Adrien.
"Non è stato facile scuotere i fan di Adrien. Sono implacabili!(It hasn't been easy to shake Adrien's fans. They are relentless!)" Marinette replied, trying to defend Adrien since he didn't mean to pull her into this mess.
"Chiaramente!(Clearly!)" Jim sarcastically remarked."Ma come sei finito a essere inseguito dai suoi fan? E perché dovrebbe essere in giro pochi giorni dopo il suo ultimo annuncio?(But how did you end up being chased by his fans in the first place? And why would he be out and about just days after his latest ad?)" the Trollhunter interrogated his sister, hoping she could shed some light on Adrien's reasons for causing such chaos.
"Onestamente non lo so. Non mi ha detto perché è scappato di casa. (I honestly don't know. He hasn't told me why he snuck out of his house.)" Marinette admitted, shrugging her shoulders as she turned her head to glance back at Adrien; who was idly looking down at his shoes while waiting for her to be done.
"Aspetta... è davvero scappato di casa? Per qualcosa di totalmente estraneo alla scuola? Wow, non pensavo che ce l'avesse in lui! Sono impressionato!(Wait... he actually snuck out of the house? For something totally unrelated to school? Wow, I didn't think he had it in him! I'm impressed!)" Jim praised, not expecting to hear normally obedient Adrien breaking the rules for reasons more befitting a teenager than wanting to go to public school.
"Sono contento di sentirlo!(I'm glad to hear it!)" Marinette chirped, happy that Jim was starting to warm up to Adrien… even if it was just a little bit. "In ogni caso, devo andare. Il treno su cui siamo io e Adrien sta per fermarsi a Concorde e forse possiamo evitare la folla per un po'.(In any case, I've got to go. The train Adrien and I are on is about to stop at Concorde and maybe we can avoid the mob for a little bit.)" the red-tipped-haired girl reported as she turned to face the train car window, watching the tunnel blur past.
"'Noi'? Non ti separerai da Adrien una volta scesa dal treno?('We'? You're not going to split up with Adrien after getting off the train?)" Jim asked, his concern bleeding through from his end of the call.
"Non lo lascerò a respingere i suoi fan accaniti da solo! Cotta o non cotta! (I'm not going to leave him to fend off his rabid fans by himself! Crush or no crush!)" Marinette argued, letting her free arm drop to her side and clench her fist in frustration.
"Come potevo indovinare?(How'd I guess?)" Jim mumbled, knowing just how selfless Marinette could be when it came to the people she cared about. "Stai solo attention, ok? Quei fan sembrano essere molto pazzi.(Just be careful, okay? Those fans seem to be very crazy.)" the blue-eyed boy warned.
"Più come un pazzo di merda! Sono ancora più ossessionati da Adrien di me!Uno di loro ne aveva addirittura una sagoma a grandezza naturale! (More like batshit looney! They're even more obsessed with Adrien than me! One of them even had a life-sized cutout of him!)" Marinette exclaimed, reporting just how bad the fans were and hoping that Jim would be less critical of her habits towards her crush.
"Sì! Sembra un lavoro pazzesco! (Yeesh! Sounds like a wackjob!)" Jim remarked. "Ma ti lascerò andare a fare le tue cose. Ci sentiamo più tardi, sorella.(But I'll let you go to do your thing. Talk to you later, sis.)" the Trollhunter farewelled, trusting his little sister's confidence in taking care of herself and Adrien.
"Grazie, Jim! Te ne parlerò stasera!Ti amo!(Thanks, Jim! I'll talk to you tonight! Love ya!)" Marinette responded as she turned to look away from the train car window, glad that he trusted her.
"Ti amo anch'io, sorella! (Love ya too, sis!)" Jim said before hanging up the call, letting Marinette turn to face Adrien again.
"Sorry about that. Jim was concerned about the posts about us." Marinette explained, walking back over to her friend/crush.
"Totally get it. What kind of brother would he be if he wasn't worried?" Adrien rhetorically wondered, bringing a smile to Marinette's lips. "But what else were you guys talking about?" the green-eyed model asked, concerned by how long their conversation was… especially when they used Italian for it.
"Nothing too serious, so don't worry," Marinette assured him, swatting her right hand in the air in front of her. "So, what are we going to do next?" the designer questioned Adrien, her hand falling to her side again.
" 'We'? I thought you'd want to split up after we arrive at the next station. Why would you still want to stick with me after I got you into this mess?" Adrien lightly interrogated, surprised by Marinette's willingness to stay by his side and help him out.
"Whether you got me into this chaos or not, you're my friend Adrien. We're in this together and I'm going to help you with this." Marinette declared, her hands nervously gripping her duffle bag strap as she looked at the ground to keep Adrien from seeing her blush.
"Thanks, Marinette. You're the best!" Adrien exclaimed, quickly pulling her into a hug and surprising her.
"A-a-a-anytime, Adrien." Marinette stammered, her blush intensifying as she returned the hug. "I just got to let the girls know I'm not going to make it to the pool." the pigtailed girl said as she pulled away from the hug, quickly opening her phone to do so.
Group Chat: Flower Besties
Lotus: Hey Alya. So I don't know if you and the girls saw the posts on the internet, but I won't make it to the pool after all.
Tiger Lilly: Gurl, you better believe we saw the posts! Even then, why can't you come to the pool?
Lotus: Thanks to those posts, Adrien's fans are chasing us all over Paris. I'm staying with Adrien to help him avoid them.
Tiger Lilly: In that case, good luck! We can go to the pool with the girls tomorrow.
Lotus: Thanks, Alya! Bye 👋
Tiger Lilly: Bye! Have a good time with Adrien! 😘
Now that she let her friends know about her situation, Marinette signed off of the chat and finally placed her phone back into her bag.
"Everything good?" Adrien asked, hoping Marinette was still willing to help him avoid the mob.
"We're all set. The girls and I changed our plans for tomorrow." Marinette reported with a smile.
"Now arriving at Concorde." the train speaker announced, its words echoing through the train car.
"Looks like we're arriving at Concorde. Here's to hoping we can avoid any more fans." Adrien voiced, turning to face the train car door while taking a calming breath.
"Hopefully." Marinette agreed, copying Adrien's actions just as the train stopped and the doors opened. But as soon as they step outside, they are immediately recognised by the numerous occupants of the station.
"ADRIEN!" the crowd cheered, immanently rushing over to the teens.
"Looks like we're not so lucky." Adrien nervously observed, pulling Marinette closer to him as the crowd approached.
However, before the crowd could surround them, they were pulled back into the train just as the doors closed to block the crowd. Relieved by the save, the teens watched the fans back away from the train as it started to leave, only to be startled by a sigh from behind them.
"You two really need to think things through before merely stepping out into a loaded dock of fans. That was too close." a voice behind Adrien and Marinette said, prompting them to turn around and see…
"Artemis?!" "Ms. Queen?" the two teens exclaimed at the same time when they saw the familiar face, only to turn to each other in surprise. "Wait, you know her too?" Adrien and Marinette asked the other, causing a giggle to escape Artemis at their 'talking at the same time' quirk.
"I'm here too, you know!" a voice behind Artemis spoke up, followed by Rayla popping out from behind her caretaker.
"Rayla! I didn't see you there!" Marinette exclaimed, quickly kneeling to the ground to hug her favorite kid to babysit.
"Do you two always do that little 'talking at the same time' thing? If so, it's absolutely adorable." Artemis noted with her arms crossed over her chest, softly smiling at their little habit.
"It happens more often than you think." Marinette admitted as she pulled away from Rayla, taking in both the newcomer's outfits.
Predictably, Artemis was in a new outfit Marinette hadn't seen her in. Today, she was wearing a sea green leather jacket over a white V-neck blouse, black denim jeans and dark tan suede ankle boots, her hair in a half-up half-down version of her normal braid. Her accessories were a black leather belt with a gold buckle, a gold locket and a medium-sized dark tan leather purse slung over her left shoulder. But upon closer inspection, Artemis wasn't the only one to be dressed differently. Rayla was sporting a light orange dress to her calves with a scoop neckline and two-inch straps, cinched at her waist with a thin white leather belt. To finish the look, Rayla also had her hair braided instead of it in a ponytail and white sandals adorning her feet to go with her belt. All in all, they looked like they were looking to have a day out on the town.
"Okay, I'm still a little confused here." Adrien spoke up, turning to Marinette hoping to get some answers. "How do you know Ms Queen?" the blonde model asked, wanting to know why she seemed so familiar with this particular woman.
"I'm her ward, Rayla's, babysitter. I offered my services to her at Chloé's apology party and it just went from there." Marinette explained, standing up from the train car floor. "I thought you already knew, though. I mentioned it to Alya in class the day after my first time looking after Rayla." the red-tipped-haired girl said, earning a suddenly nervous look from Adrien at the reminder.
"I don't think I heard you say it." Adrien replied, rubbing the back of his neck as he admitted to not paying attention to her.
"Oof, that's got to suck for you." Rayla cheekily remarked, chuckling at Adrien's folly.
"In any case, how do you know Artemis, Adrien?" Marinette asked the boy, everyone ignoring Rayla's little jab for Adrien's sake.
"Oh, we met at Chloé's party too. We even had a little conversation before I had to leave and pick up Rayla." Artemis interjected, explaining how she and Adrien met.
"And apparently, she was friends with my mom before she passed away." Adrien added, revealing that extra little bit to their connection.
"Wait… really?" Marinette questioned the older woman, her eyes wide at the news.
"Indeed." Artemis replied with a smile, thinking fondly of her time with Emilie.
"Wow!" Marinette breathed in amazement.
"But that's beside the point. Care to explain why you two were about to be mobed by that crowd?" Artemis asked… even though she had a good idea of the answer to that question.
"Have you seen the latest ad?" Adrien questioned the newcomers.
"We have in passing, yes. But why would…" Rayla began, only to trail off the more she thought about Adrien's situation. "You've got to be kidding me? Everyone's still going crazy over it?" the white-haired girl incredulously questioned the boy, her eyes wide at the thought.
"From the looks of it, it would seem like it." Artemis grimly observed, her theory confirmed. "Well, you two are in luck. The next stop is near a department store. We can go there and get you two some new clothes to avoid being recognised." the greying-haired woman declared, hoping to help the teens avoid the mob before taking a look at Marinette's current outfit.
"Well, some proper clothes for some of us at least." Artemis playfully remarked, prompting Marinette to shy away from the small critique.
"I was running late to meet my friends and I forgot to change." Marinette bashfully explained, nervously looking at her feet before Artemis chuckled at her behavior.
"Marinette, the last person you have to explain yourself to is me. Lord knows how many awkward situations I've been in in my youth." Artemis assured her regular babysitter, seconds before the train slowed to a halt. "But we'll talk more about that later. Let's get you kids some new clothes." the sea-green-eyed woman proclaimed as the train stopped and the doors opened, letting the group out into a thankfully empty station.
"We're clear. Let's go." Artemis announced, followed by the group heading up to the exit before the train left again.
While Adrien and Marinette were getting help from their new ally against the rabid fan mob, they were unaware of what a certain resident supervillain was currently up to. After the little mix-up Wayhem had made in calling Adrien's cell with Placide's, Gabriel decided to finally take matters into his own hands. This entailed him using the secret passage from his atelier to enter his lair within the mansion, hoping to use his powers to either locate Adrien or akumatize someone to do it for him. Preferably the second one.
Master, you don't really think Adrien could be Chat Noir?" Noorro questioned his captor as they were lifted into the observatory-esque space, the white butterflies resting on the floor around them as they waited for any action.
"I don't know. But he's hiding something for sure." Gabriel said as he stepped off the lift platform, letting the floor hatch close up above it. "Since his bodyguard has failed to keep an eye on Adrien, there's only one way for us to uncover his secret." the fashion designer decided, walking to the center of his lair and pulling off his ascot to reveal his Miraculous underneath.
"Nooroo, dark wings rise!" Gabriel proclaimed, triggering his transformation into Hawkmoth. One way or another, he would find out the truth today!