Post-Reveal: Volpina

Chapter Twelve

When Adrien woke up that morning, he frowned and wondered why he felt so well rested. He rolled over and poked Plagg. "Hey, Plagg. Wake up."

Plagg groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Plagg, I- I didn't have any dreams tonight." He remembered a factoid Nathalie had once told him. "Well, I did, but I didn't remember it, so it wasn't a nightmare."

"Fascinant," Plagg yawned. "I'm going back to sleep."

Adrien sighed and began his morning routine. Get dressed, eat breakfast, stare at pictures of Ladybug...

Before he walked out the door, he stopped and stared at the golden portrait of his mother. Just for a moment, the gold outfit she wore flashed blue, green, and purple in his vision. It went away as abruptly as it came.

"Plagg, open the safe for me, please." He marched towards the safe.

"Why?"

"Just do it." (MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE)

Plagg shrugged and dived into the portrait. Adrien hastily swung it to the side and opened the safe.

"What are you doing now?"

Adrien thought to himself, and tentatively reached for the peacock pin. He glanced around to make sure nobody was looking.

"Well? Take it!" Plagg urged.

Adrien bit his lip and snatched the pin in one fluid motion, stuffing it in his bag and running out the door.

His first objective at school was to find Marinette and tell her that he had another Miraculous, but of course Marinette was occupied, listening patiently to Alya talk about how Ladybug was almost revealed yesterday and Chat Noir saved the day by tackling her. The thought crossed his mind a lot, but Adrien wondered how Alya would react if she knew her best friend was the person she revered most in the world.

Oddly enough, no one seemed to care about Lila's antics yesterday. Adrien suspected that the students had begun to disassociate Lila from Volpina.

He resignedly sat in his normal seat without saying a word to Marinette, regrettably. Nino couldn't help but to notice Adrien's yearning expression.

"Dude, what's wrong?"

Adrien was seriously considering telling his friend the truth, but knew he couldn't. He opened his mouth, but Nino interrupted him. "Hey, is it about yesterday?"

Adrien felt very nervous suddenly, for a reason he couldn't identify. "What about yesterday...?"

"Weren't you and Marinette found in an alley yelling at Volpina?"

Evidently, the man who saw them in the alley had spread the word. It was a given that Alya knew about this too, then; in fact, it was probably she who told Nino. "Oh, yeah. That."

"Did that shake you up or something?"

"Sure, I guess." Adrien laid his head on the table. "Why is life so weird?"

"I don't know, man. You gotta just roll with it," Nino advised sagely.

The school day came and went in a boring sludge of schoolwork and gossip. The only part he really enjoyed was lunch (LetAdrienEat2K16), until halfway through Marinette joined him at his table.

"Hey, minou," she said smoothly. "Mind some company?"

"No, not at all," Adrien replied, immensely relieved. "In fact, I have something I want to show you."

Marinette leaned closer in curiosity.

Adrien unzipped his bag, pulled out the pin, and handed it to her.