Adrien had not long begun his piano practice when Nathalie knocked on his bedroom door.

"Adrien, your father is held up at the office and won't be able to dine with you tonight, would you like the chef to send your food to your room?" Nathalie didn't tend to show too much emotion, but Adrien could detect a slight edge to her tone, annoyance perhaps? He didn't think too much about it though. He was in too good of a mood.

"Sure Nathalie, that would be fine." He answered as his fingers glided effortlessly over the keys. His father missing dinner wasn't exactly anything new. There had been times where Adrien had gone a whole week and never saw his father. "By the way, I promised a friend I would help her with her Chemistry revision tomorrow since we have a big test coming up and she invited me to stay for dinner. Will that be alright?"

"Her?" Nathalie asked puzzled. Adrien stopped playing and looked up with a soft smile.

"Yeah, Marinette. Her parents own the Dupain-Cheng bakery remember?." Nathalie's face lit up in recognition.

"Oh, the aspiring designer? Of course, I remember her. Yes that should be fine." Nathalie had only met Marinette a few times over the years, but she certainly liked her better than some of those other girls that tended to hang around the young model. "You do have that early morning shoot in the park on Saturday though remember, so I can only give you until around ten."

"That's perfect. Thank you Nathalie." The assistant gave a small smile at the enthusiasm in Adrien's voice, nodding her head before leaving his room.

"So can you get me some of those gooey cheese balls you forgot today?" Plagg drawled as he floated onto the ivory keys.

"Sorry Plagg, it kind of slipped my mind." Adrien only half heartedly apologised as he resumed his playing. Plagg flipped his tail around with a mischievous grin.

"Yeah, I guess your girlfriend was a bit distracting." Adrien hit a wrong key and winced.

"She's not my girlfriend Plagg. Marinette's one of my best friends." He replied, replaying the chord.

"But she invited you to dinner at her house, with her parents. Isn't that...oh I don't know...like a date?" Plagg continued to tease. Adrien shook his head.

"No Plagg, that's just a friend being nice. You should try it some time." The black cat scrunched up his nose.

"I'm only nice to Camembert." He said, floating off to get another chunk of his favourite addiction. "And maybe you sometimes if you get me more of this one, it's so creamy."

"I thought you might like that one." Adrien smiled. Plagg turned the page on the music for Him before settling on his shoulder. If Adrien thought Plagg was going to drop probing though, he would be wrong. Unlike his chosen, Plagg knew exactly who Marinette was and he'd been waiting far too long to put an end to these identity shenanigans, whether Tikki liked it or not. Plagg always felt his kittens got the raw end of the deal from Tikki's Ladybugs, but this was different because this Ladybug was in love with his kitten, she just didn't realise it.

"So...what about Pigtails then?" Plagg drawled. Adrien tried to ignore the Kwami, but he was being persistent. "Don't pretend to me you don't like her, I saw you today dropping jokes and flirting with her." Adrien stopped playing and looked at his kwami.

"I wasn't flirting." He said defensively, although not all that convincingly. "You know I only ever do that with Ladybug." Plagg only grinned.

"Yeah, yeah. You just keep telling yourself that kid. Come on, you have to meet up with Spots soon."

Adrien set up his phone to play a recording of his practice session, complete with errors, and called his transformation. Chat leapt out the window and began his rounds of the city in the late afternoon sun, but he couldn't seem to put out of his mind the conversation he'd just had with Plagg. He hadn't been flirting with Marinette, he told himself, it had just been some friendly banter - right. After all, he jokes around with Ladybug all the time. He frowned to himself. Okay, maybe that wasn't the best defence in this situation. He shook his head as he stopped momentarily. Marinette was a friend, a really good friend. Then again, why did it make him feel so warm and fuzzy inside when Marinette blushed at him today and why did he find himself counting down the hours until school finished tomorrow so they could spend more time together?

Later on, Chat Noir met up with Ladybug and chased her across the rooftops of Paris. It was his favourite day of the week, joint patrol with Ladybug. His 'piano practice' gave him the perfect cover to spend the afternoon together with his Lady. The sun was beginning to set and the afterglow colours of pinks and oranges spread across the new spring sky. He could hear her laughing as she raced ahead of him. He let her win of course, and it still brought joy to him to hear her happy.

Stopping onto a sheltered rooftop, Ladybug sat down to catch her breath. Chat sat beside her, letting her rest her head on his broad shoulder as they watched the sun go down. "You know Kitty, I think this is my favourite part of spring, watching the colours of the setting sun on the horizon." She said happily. Chat rested his head on top of hers. It really was a magical sight. He felt so incredibly lucky to be able to see it from up here, looking over the city he loved. 

"Mine too Bug." He said, drawing in the last bit of warmth from the fading sunlight, despite the slight chill still in the air. He reached over and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together. They had grown so close over the years. In battle they could almost read each other's thoughts, their movements so intune they didn't even need to speak at times to know what the other was thinking. There was something very intimate about it. Although Ladybug had always been clear that a romantic relationship would be too risky, they were still best friends, connected in a unique way from their miraculous, and had formed a comfortable relationship based on partnership and trust.

"M'lady, do you think there will ever be a time we will know each other outside of the masks?" Ladybug lifted her head to look at him. There was sadness in her eyes, but also a lot of warmth.

"I don't know Chat." She sighed. "Even though Hawk Moth has been less active lately, we still don't know who he is or where the missing Miraculous are. It... I just don't think it's safe for us to know our identities, not yet anyway." She tried to say it as gently as she could, but she knew it still hurt him to hear it. No identities meant no chance for them to ever be more than what they were now. It hurt her too. With the end of Lycèe looming, she had all but given up on Adrien ever being more than a friend to her, but she had to push aside the growing feelings she had for her partner. She was the Guardian, and having had no real directions left to her from Master Fu, she couldn't risk the safety of the Miraculous, even if it hurt both their hearts to do it. "I would never want to see anything happen to you Chat, you mean too much to me."

"I understand Bugaboo." He said quietly lifting her hand and pressing a soft kiss to the back of it, before holding her hand between both of his. "I told you once that your friendship means everything to me, and I meant it." 

"Your friendship means everything to me too Chaton." She replied, her eyes twinkling in the fading light.

"Well, you'll always have it, no matter what happened, I promise I will always be here." Despite everything else, Ladybug knew she did have Chat's friendship, and Adrien's. It would have to be enough for now.

Chat stood up, pulling Ladybug up with him. He was surprised when she suddenly wrapped him up into a tight hug, but he readily returned it. "You're one of the sweetest, kindest people I know Chat, and you deserve to be with someone who can really love you." Chat rubbed his hand up and down her back. Was this her way of letting him down gently again? He rested his head on top of hers.

"So do you m'lady." He whispered near her ear. He thought he caught a vague scent of cinnamon and vanilla and it reminded him of the bakery, and of Marinette. It made him feel all warm inside and his heart flutter in a way only Ladybug had ever done before. Ladybug gave him one more tight squeeze before stepping back to look at him.

"Don't worry about me Kitty. I have everything I need right here beside me." She said playfully, flicking his bell. Chat was glad it was dark enough that she couldn't see the blush he was sure was on his face, but he was no longer sure if it was her teasing, or his thoughts about Marinette that had caused it. After bidding each other goodnight, Ladybug watched as Chat disappeared into the distance, before making her own way back home. Landing in her room, she dropped her transformation and gave Tikki a cookie.

Flopping onto her bed, Marinette turned her head to the photos on her cork board. She had long ago taken away the magazine photos of Adrien, replacing them with more candid photos with their friends. She realised how much more happy Adrien was in those pictures, how much more his eyes shone and how much more closer they had become over the years. He was one of her best friends, but even now, she still loved him. She picked up her cat pillow and buried her face in it. How could two stupidly cute blonde boys keep turning her emotions upside down?

"Do you think it's just the fate of the Guardian to be alone for the rest of their life?" She eventually asked her kwami. Tikki had been quietly watching Marinette from the end of the bed.

"Of course not Marinette." Tikki reassured her, floating over and placing a small hand on her chosens. "Besides, you'll get to see more of Adrien tomorrow, and who knows, maybe something might finally happen." If Tikki had fingers, she would have crossed them, but this was still great progress nevertheless, and Marinette had definitely been getting braver in her interactions with Adrien. Tikki knew Plagg would be pleased - one step closer to knowing their identities. Marinette gave her kwami a small smile.

"Well, I won't get my hopes up." She said, but something told Tikki that deep down, she still did.

********

Once Adrien left for school the next morning, Nathalie brought a cup of hot tea to Gabriel in his home office. The designer sat at his desk looking completely exhausted as he filed through a pile of paperwork on his desk. He had worked late the night before and was up again early that morning. He looked up as Nathalie sat the cup down in front of him.

"Thank you Nathalie." He said with genuine gratitude, stifling a yawn as he picked the cup up and took a sip."What's this? Green Tea?"

"I thought you could do with an energy boost." His assistant replied. Gabriel nodded with a small smile. Nathalie always did read him so well and it was true, he felt quite depleted of energy after the gruelling meetings of the day before. He might have his name on the company, but it's the board members and investors who really pull all the strings and an unhappy board does not bode well for a company.

"The board of investors are not pleased to say the least." He said simply. "We are in a sales slump, the designs for the new season are flat and the problems caused by Miss Rossi among the models is compounding a lot of issues. Andre Bourgeois turned up at the meeting throwing his weight around like he usually does when he decides to turn up, but as a 25 percent shareholder he has a lot of persuasion."

"What did he want?" Nathalie asked puzzled. It was rare for Mayor Bourgois to turn up at board meetings, and when he did, it was usually either his wife Audrey or daughter Chloé behind it.

"Lets just say the board is now requesting Lila's contract not be renewed at the end of its term." Nathalie nodded with a level of relief.

"About time." She said, taking a seat on the opposite side of the desk. Gabriel gave her a surprised look, but didn't ask her to elaborate. He was well aware of Adrien's dislike for the Italian girl, his son had said as much after that last shoot. Gabriel was sure that had something to do with Andre being at the meeting. The man was a total pushover where his daughter was concerned, and it didn't sound as though Chloé had much love for Lila either. "Should I inform her of her dismissal?" Nathalie's presses. Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm for this, but for everyone's sanity I would wait until closer to her contract ending. I doubt Miss Rossi will take the news of her dismissal too kindly and we really don't need more trouble right now." Nathalie shrugged but left it, pulling out her tablet.

"So what happens with tomorrow's shoot?"

"Go ahead with the shoot, but tell Miss Rossi she will no longer be required at it. Adrien can handle this one on his own with Vincent in the park." Gabriel took another long sip of his tea, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Is something else wrong Gabriel?" Nathalie asked gently.

"The board wants to see more out of Adrien in his shoots. He's almost an adult and they don't want the "innocent, golden child" look anymore as they put it. That worked with the pre-teens but now they want something more mature." Nathalie raised an eyebrow. "Not to put too fine of a point on it they feel he lacks believability." Gabriel pulled out a photo from a recent shoot. Adrien was posing with one of their other female models, someone Nathalie knew Adrien got along well with. The photos were aesthetically pleasing and glamourous, yet the poses felt forced, even though Adrien was covering it well. "His lack of experience is showing. Perhaps I should enroll him in acting lessons?"

"You're kidding right?" Nathalie rebutted in surprise. Gabriel was taken aback by her sudden outburst. "Adrien is already exhausted trying to complete his school work on top of his modelling commitments and all the extra-curricular activities you insist he keeps doing. Look at his eyes Gabriel, look how tired he is." she pointed to the photo. "You can't seriously expect him to take up yet another extra activity?" Nathalie leaned back in her chair and folded her arms glaring at him. "If you're going to treat your son like an employee, then he is entitled to some time off now and then like all the other employees."

Gabriel winced at the angry tone in Nathalie's voice. He turned in his chair and looked at the portrait of his wife on the wall. Nathalie reminded him of Emilie when he first started Adrien into modeling for the company. Adrien's mother had been very protective to keep his childhood intact, despite his father working him from a young age. He could see that same kind of defensiveness now again in Nathalie.

Gabriel let out a long sigh, heavily reclining back in his seat before turning it around again. "What do you want me to do Nathalie? The investors want passion, they want romance. Adrien looks like a deer stuck in headlights." Nathalie narrowed her eyes.

"Well what did you expect Gabriel. You pushed him into these kinds of shoots before he was ready, before he'd even had a real girlfriend." Gabriel wasn't going to argue. He knew he had made a mistake with that, but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

"Do you think I should ask Andre if Chloé would be interested in modeling? Adrien might be more comfortable with her." Nathalie shook her head.

"Adrien thinks of Chloé as a sister or a cousin, I'm not sure that's quite the look the board is hoping to achieve here. However if she's interested I'm sure we could use her elsewhere since Miss Rossi will be leaving us." Gabriel only snorted at the mock sadness in Nathalie's voice. He had never pegged her for the sarcastic type. Even in all the years he'd known her, she still surprised him sometimes.

"Well what do you suggest then?" He asked in defeat.

"For a start you can give Adrien next weekend off. Let him go to the Foire Du Trône fair with his friends and have some fun for a change. I'm sure the rest will figure itself out." Gabriel looked at Nathalie questionly.

"You know something you're not telling me?" He asked with a hint of conspiracy. Nathalie only smirked.

"Let's just say I'm playing a hunch." Gabriel leaned back in his seat and folded his fingers. As much as Gabriel hated to admit it, he had realised some time ago that Nathalie knew far more about his son than he did.

"What would I do without you Nathalie?" He asked with genuine fondness.

"I shudder at the thought." Nathalie quipped with a smile."On that note, Adrien won't be home for dinner tonight, he's helping a friend with Chemistry revision." She added, getting up from her chair and heading for the door.

"A friend?" Gabriel asked.

"A girl." Nathalie replied with a knowing look as she exited the room.

"Oh." Gabriel said to himself. He stood up, looking again at Emilie's portrait, his hands behind his back.

"No wonder you and Nathalie were such good friends my dear." He said quietly to the image in front of him. "She's just like you." He presses his fingers into the hidden panel taking him to the chamber where Emilie laid.

Crossing the path to her sarcophagus, he placed his hand on the glass. Emilie skin was looking more and more grey as the time was passing. He didn't know how long she had left to hang on, but it seemed as though time was running out, and strangely he didn't know how he felt about that. He sensed the pin under his cravat begin to activate with a new negative emotion.

Nathalie had already surrendered her Miraculous. Despite having physically fixed the Peacock Miraculous, the Kwami Duusu was still suffering from the ill effects of the damaged Miraculous. Without a Guardian, the Kwami could not be healed. Nathalie's sentimonsters were becoming erratic and difficult to control and while Nathalie's deteriorating condition had begun to improve, transforming was leaving her wiped out and exhausted. Gabriel made the decision he wouldn't risk it any longer, locking the Peacock Miraculous away in his safe.

"Nooroo." Gabriel called. The small purple Kwami floated up in front of his face.

"Yes Master." The Kwami said in a small voice. Gabriel looked back at the coffin of his comatose wife.

"Dark Wings Rise."

*********

"En-garde...pret...allez!" Mr D'Argencourt exclaimed. Foil on foil clashed in a brief flurry before the point was again awarded to Adrien. "Game. Alright everyone packing up now. That was a good session for this afternoon so enjoy your weekend." Adrien lifted his mask guard with a smug look on his face.

"Either you're off your game today Kagami, or you're finally going to admit that I'm the more superior fencer." The Japanese girl lifted off her own helmet from her head and shook out her dark hair.

"You wish, just caught me on a bad day. I guess I'm distracted about this business dinner I have to attend today with my mother. Fun way to spend a Friday night right?" Adrien nodded in agreement. He felt bad for Kagami though, his father might be absent, but her mother was almost suffocating. "She wants me to step up more into her role at the company and I honestly don't feel ready yet." Adrien knitted his brows together. Aside from Ladybug, Kagami was one of the strongest women Adrien knew and it wasn't like her to be so nervous. "To tell you the truth, I don't want to be part of the business at all and I guess I'm just not up for the 'I'm disappointed in you' talk again. It seems as though I never do anything right."

"I know what you mean." Adrien said, his shoulders slumping slightly recognising that dejected look in Kagami's face. He had certainly heard that phrase said to him enough times from his father over the years. That last photoshoot he had done not only earned him a long lecture on professionalism but a conversation on keeping face and 'faking it until you make it'. Of course, that was easy for his father to say, he wasn't the one having to deal with Lila Rossi trying to pucker up to him. "But I'm sure you will do great, you always do." He said, giving her a warm smile.

"Thanks Adrien." She replied, feeling a bit more confident. Turning together, they headed to their separate locker rooms to change and gather their belongings.

Meeting up again, Kagami was smiling at a price of paper in her hand before she looked up with a sigh. "I guess I'm just missing my boyfriend more today than usual. I've been listening to his songs everyday, but it's not the same as having him here with me."

"Are you going to tell your mother about you and Luka?" Adrien asked with concern. Tomme Tsurugi was not the kind of person one would really want to be on the wrong side of. Kagami looked away, biting her lower lip before a look of determination took over her face.

"When Luka comes back we plan too." She said, with confidence in her voice. "He's in America for a few more weeks working on his solo album. She's not going to like it when we tell her, but Luka is my choice and I'll be damned if she tries to take him away from me." She was trying to hold back tears and Adrien put his arm around her. "It's been hard though. Trying to have a relationship in secret puts a strain. Without our friends, I don't know how we ever would have managed it." She looked up at him, a softness filling her hazel eyes. "I love him Adrien, I really do, and he loves me just the way I am. Even if my mother doesn't approve, it won't change anything for us. I'd walk away from everything to be with him." Adrien gave her a tight hug.

"You know I'm here for you Kagami, whatever you need." Kagami nodded, stepping out of the hug and looking at him. "Can I ask you a question?" Kagami nodded. "How did you know? I mean, when did you realise Luka was the one?" Kagami blushed slightly.

"I don't know really." She began. "I guess on the surface we seem so different. I always thought people needed to be alike to be a compatible couple, but in a way Luka and I compliment each other. He is the calm to my storm. The more time we got to spend together, the more I started to see in him. He listens to me, and his music soothes me. One day I just knew I could never live my life without him in it." Kagami could see in Adrien's eyes he was thinking over her words. She smiled to herself, guessing that a certain bluenette in pigtails was the one occupying his mind.

"You know, if I hadn't met you, I might not have become friends with Marinette and she wouldn't have invited me to her seventeenth birthday last year where Luka and I first danced together. Funny what a small world it can be sometimes." Adrien came back from his thoughts to the conversation.

"So how have you managed while he's away? Doesn't your mother monitor your phone still?" Adrien was surprised to see Kagami start to laugh.

"Actually Marinette came up with this convoluted idea. Luka writes me a letter then takes a picture of it and sends it to Marinette on this app. She then prints it out to give to me. I then write a reply which she takes and photographs and sends back to him." She held up the note she had been reading earlier. "Marientte gave me this one before fencing class started." Oh, so that's why he saw Marinette still around earlier. Not that he thought she was going to be waiting around for him to finish his practice session. No, absolutely not.

Adrien hadn't really seen Marinette since that strange akuma earlier in the day. Honestly Adrien wondered why Hawk Moth even bothered. The poor guy was an actor suffering from stage fright and practically handed his akuma over to them once he and Ladybug had him cornered. They didn't even need to use their special powers. The last Adrien saw Marinette had run to hide in the bathroom at school. At least he knew she was alright.

"I'm not surprised. Marinette is amazing like that, always there for others and helping her friends." Then Kagami saw it, that soft smile Adrien always had on his face whenever Marinette is mentioned. The two continued to walk down the stairs to where Kagami's car was waiting for her. "Maybe I could help. You and I see each other a fair bit, I could pass some of the letters back and forth? I'm seeing Marinette tonight, I'll tell her." Kagami nodded her head with an amused smile.

"I'll ring and tell her that I know and I'm okay with it. Nobody else knows except Juleka and Alya. They were helping cover for us so we could meet in secret. I honestly never thought I would ever have friends like them." She leaned up on her toes and gave Adrien a kiss in the cheek

"Thank you Adrien. You and Marinette have been true friends to me. Enjoy your date." Adrien helped Kagami into her car and saw her off before heading towards the bakery. It was only after she had left that he realised he never corrected her about the date part, much to Plagg's delight and snickering.