Showdown

:20:

Adrien awoke to silence.

Strange. Normally his alarm clock or Natalie would've woken him up by now.

Confused, sat up before looking around, instantly noticing that he was in Marinette's room.

Memories of the day before came flooding back into his mind:

Matriarch attacking their class,
following the akuma back to Halkmoth's hide out,
defeating Halkmoth,
finding out that Halkmoth was his dad.

His dad was Halkmoth, and it was broadcasted for the whole of Paris to see.

He sighed before grabbing his phone and unlocking it with his pattern. He then opened up the news app.

He was promptly greeted with headlines on the home page, all of which discussing his father.

Halkmoth Defeated by Our Beloved Superheroes

Paris's Super Villain Is None Other than Famous Agreste Fashion Designer

Halkmoth Unmasked As Gabriel Agreste

Adrien sank back into the bed before flipping over, his face facing the pillow.

He groaned, loudly, already fed up with the press for the day.
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Marinette struggled to stay awake through another one of Ms. Mendeleiev's boring science classes.

"Ette... Marinette" Alya wisper-shouted to her friend, preventing her from taking a nap in the middle of class.

"I almost fell asleep didnt I?" she asked.

"Yep" Alya simply replied.
"Whats you with you today? You seem distracted"

"Its nothing Alya" Marinette tried to brush her off.

"Oh, its something girl"

"No its not" Marinette faught back, letting her gaze wander off to Adrien's empty seat.

Alya suddenly gasped.

"Its about Adrien, isn't it?" the brunette said a bit too loudly, drawing unwanted attention from the rest of the class.

She mentally face palmed, of course it was to do with him, everyone knows about the whole Halkmoth scandal.
It must be stressing her out, not knowing where Adrien is and if he was okay.

The designer stared at her blankly before replying.
"I'll explain more after school" Marinette said, hoping to get Alya off her back for now.

Alya stared at her with worry before focusing on the class again.
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"So what's up with you and Adrien?" Alya asked as soon as class ended for the day.

Marinette sighed. She was hoping that Alya would forget about earlier.
"So you know what happened, Ladybug and Chat Noir defecating Hawkmoth, who then turned out to be Adrien's dad" Marinette said, knowing that there was no way of getting out of this now

"Yeah, it was all over the news yesterday" Alya replied.
"Apparently Hawkmoth was out on the streets too! I with I got to record it for my blog"

"Well, when it was revealed that Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste, Adrien and I were hiding from the akuma in my house so he decided to stay the night" it may not be the whole truth but she wasn't planning on telling her friend that her and her boyfriend were actually fighting his father.

"Then this morning, when my alarm went off, I couldn't bring myself to wake him up. He just looked so peaceful asleep, I couldn't wake him up and bring him back to the mess going on around him right now"

"But then when I got here, all I could think about was how he's going to face hate from the public because his dad was Hawkmoth"

"And no matter what he does, he can't escape the consequences that his father's actions have caused for him and will cause for him in the future" Marinette breathed out, the reality of the situation finally dawning in her.

"Mari, relax" Alya tried to calm her friend.
"He's alright, you're alright. Hawkmoth is gone thanks to Ladybug and Chat Noir, you and Adrien are safe"

Marinette exhaled.
"You're right, we're okay, no one was hurt"

"And how am I supposed to believe that?" a third voice added. 

"Chloe?!" Marinette and Alya were surprised to find her easedtopping into their conversation.

"I want to see him, wherever you've hidden him"

"And why would I let you do that?" Marinette argued back.

"Because I am Adrien's oldest friend and...I care about him as much as you do, if not more" Chloe added.

As much as Marinette still disliked Chloe, she couldn't just leave her in the dark. Even trough all the unnecessary stress she caused for the pair, she was an old friend of Adrien and it would mean a lot to him to know that she still does care for him.

"Fine" Marinette agreed, much to Alya's Shock.

"Well if she's going, then so am I" Alya faught back.

"Fine" Chloe scoffed.
She just wanted to see her Adrikins as soon as possible, even if it meant that blogger girl had to tag along with them.

So the three walked out of the school and were on their way to the bakery until Chloe stopped them.

"We aren't walking are we?" Chloe asked.

The two others sighed.

My house is right there" Marinette said, pointing to the bakery.

"What if I get attacked by something along the way, I rather not risk it" she approached the car for her that was conveniately parked outside of the school, the door being held open for her by the driver.

"Now get in before I change my mind"

Complying, the Alya and Marinette got into her limo, getting out about a minute later when it pulled up to the bakery.

The group then walked into the bakery, Marinette's dad being surprised that Chloe was with them but didn't speak of it.

Marinette guided them up the steps to her house, opening the front door once they were there.

once opened, the three were greeted with an empty apartment, spare for Adrien on one of the bar stools facing the small kitchen, peacefully eating a cinnamon roll.

"Adrien!" said boy could barely register what was happening before he was belong ingulfed by Chloe.

He froze at first before accepting the embrace, standing up so he could wrap his arms around her and pull her closer.

"I'm so glad you're safe" Chloe said into the crook of his neck.

"Me too" Adrien whispered back.