Not Alone: A Miraculous Ladybug Story

Chapter 24

 The next morning, Alya met Marinette in the bakery before they walked over to meet the boys in the park. Grabbing a few danishes and Adrien's favorite, a chocolate croissant, Marinette kissed her parents goodbye and the two girls started south down the street.

Halfway to the park, they ran into Adrien and Nino who had also met up that morning. Buoyed by the night before, Adrien ran up to Marinette and enveloped her in a massive hug, spinning her around and off her feet.

"Adrien! You'll smoosh the croissants!"

"Chocolate?" he inquired, putting her down gently.

"Of course," she rolled her eyes, but laughed at his childlike enthusiasm.

"You're the best," he kissed her cheek and took the bag over to Nino to share his loot. They walked ahead, and Marinette waited for Alya to catch up.

"That seems to be going well," she remarked with a sly grin at her friend. "Remember when you were afraid to talk to him." She elbows Marinette lightly in the ribs. "Now, you're practically official!"

"Not just 'practically'."

"What?! When? How?" She hits Marinette, and the girl notices through a sharp pain that Alya definitely hadn't realized how much stronger the miraculous had made her, even not transformed, yet.

"After he met my parents last night."

"Wait, wait wait," Alya stops dead in her tracks, and spins Marinette to face her. "He came over last night. He met your parents. AND you apparently made your relationship official. WHY HAVE WE BEEN WALKING IN SILENCE FOR THE LAST 15 MINUTES! GIRL, SPILL!"

Adrien glanced back hearing Alya's shrill squeal and noticed the girl bouncing up and down and an exasperated but happy look on Marinette's face. Guess she told her the good news, he smiled to himself. Nino looked over at him.

"You seem happy, man."

"Do I?" Adrien was surprised by his own curiosity. He thought he'd always put on a good facade at school. He was a model, he should be able to portray emotion with his face after all. That's not to say that Adrien had spent the whole year unhappy. There were just moments where the grief over the loss of him mom hit him. It came in waves, but he thought he did a good job of hiding that part of his life from everyone. Apparently not.

"It's good man. I mean, you always seem happy, but there's usually a hint of sadness always just lurking in the background. And I don't blame you, your family situation is rough, and everything with your mom..." He trailed off. "What I mean to say, is you seem happier than you did, and I'm glad."

Adrien was touched, and again surprised by Nino's perception. He was happier. It's wasn't all because of Marinette, but their relationship was definitely a part of it. He had less lies in his life now that there wasn't secrets between him and his Lady, he was closer than ever to finding his mother and he was finally starting to understand his father's behavior towards him so he could stop blaming himself for it. He looked back over to Nino and realized he felt a lot closer to his friends too. He'd finally let them into his life completely, and they had been more supportive and loving than he could have ever hoped for.

"I am happy."

"Good," he nodded to him, and they continued on in companionable silence, munching on their pastries.

What neither of them wanted to bring up was the reason they had all met that morning, so contrary to Adrien's newfound happiness yet the main player in its continuation. They needed to come up with a plan to confront Hawkmoth, his father.

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Alya, ever prepared, had brought a mini-whiteboard to the park so they could map out their "game plan."

"You guys have always worked as a team and rolled with the punches as they happened, which until recently has worked. But now, there are four of us, and I have a feeling this plan is going to be a bit more involved than in the past." She rolled out the malleable, glossy board onto the picnic table between the four of them. Nino, to her left, put a weight on his corner and Marinette and Adrien did the same on their side of the table.

"So first we have to decide when. We could just confront Mr. Agreste, but then we risk him just denying the whole thing. I think we should go during an akuma attack, when he is more likely to be transformed as Hawkmoth, and use the element of surprise."

"During an akuma attack? But who will cleanse the victim?"

"That's why we need to split up. I say Marinette and I take care of the akumatised victim, while Adrien and Nino make for the Agreste mansion. We'll handle our situation as quickly as possible and then meet you there."

"Ohkay," Arien drew out, extremely uncomfortable not being with Marinette during a battle, but acknowledging the merit in Alya's plan.

"What do we do when we get to my place?"

"I say you corner your father when you find him as Chat Noir, Nino can help you if he tries to make a run for it, and make him talk. "

"How'll we do that?" Nino asked, looking up from the white board where he had been writing a few bullet points and a timeline based on Alya's plan.

"Well, try to get him to talk, but if he's not budging, or if things get dicey, we'll have to tell him."

"Tell him what?" Adrien still wasn't getting how just talking to his father would achieve anything, and he had a year of trial runs to prove it.

"Everything. Tell him you know about the blackmail, about your mom, about this ex-friend and who he really is. If we have any hope of helping your mom, we need Gabriel on our side. "

"No offense Alya, but I doubt he'll believe anything Chat Noir says. He'll be too busy trying to steal our miraculous, like he has been for the last year. Having it so close within reach is going to be too tempting."

"That's why you're going to need to surprise him and use our secret weapon."

"Which is?"

"You."