The final showdown! Excuse me for the lengthy chapter, but I felt like it was necessary to keep this all in one part

-

When Adrien got to school the following day, there was only one person on his mind; Marinette Dupain Cheng. Now, that wasn't so out of the ordinary, but what was different was the cold fury that Adrien felt simmering at the edges of his mind. It was like nothing he had felt before because usually, situations saw him as the understanding one, the one willing to bend over backwards trying to forgive people and accommodate them.

Not this time though. This time, someone he very dearly loved was being targeted again and again. This time was different because it was his breaking point. There's only so much a person can take before they trip over themselves trying to forgive and forget. So many times, he had forgiven the same people in his life over and over again only for it to bear no result whatsoever. And Adrien had waited long enough, he'd given people enough chances. He'd waited two years for his father, months for Lila.

Years for Chloe.

"Adrikins!"

She leapt at him, fully expecting him to catch her in his arms like he always did. Instead, with all the grace that came with being Chat Noir he side-stepped and allowed her to trip past him and kept walking. To her credit, she managed to catch herself in time before she fell to her face and she quickly swerved around to face his back. She came back at him and latched onto his arm, but Chloe was caught off guard when her precious 'Adrikins' stopped in his tracks. She looked up to see the sharp green eyes of a predator looking down at her.

"Chloe. Not today."

In all the years that she had known him, she'd never seen him this angry. Sure, he got upset with people time to time but he always forgave quickly. It was the one thing that allowed her to get away with all that she did after all. Today though, she could only describe the look in his eyes as one of absolute fury and she pitied the poor sod who'd inflicted it. She was smart enough to immediately back off and let him continue on his way, wishing whoever was up against him the best of luck, because they'd certainly need it.

Adrien continued down on his warpath, an objective in mind, and his anger only calmed down when he finally saw her.

Marinette.

He made a beeline towards her as a large portion of his anger ebbed away and before anyone could get a word in, he was turning her around by her shoulder and pressing his lips to hers in desperation. Whatever she had been saying to Alya, who now stood dumbfounded behind Marinette with her jaw hanging wide open, was swallowed into Adrien's lips. It took her a second to gather her bearings but once she had he felt her arms circle loosely around his shoulders. He let out a happy hum, doing nothing to break the kiss as he pulled her flush against him by her waist and for a moment, it was just them and nobody else. The spell was broken when they pulled away but not once did he loosen his grip around her, only resting his head against her with a happy little smile.

She giggled and pecked his lips again, "Well aren't you rude, interrupting me like that. Don't you know I was talking to someone?"

"You know you love me princess."

She sighed happily, "That I do, that I do."

She gave him one final kiss on his nose before pulling away and turning to face Alya again but he only adjusted himself by wrapping an arm around her waist. Over Alya's shoulder, hidden partially by the shadows, he could see Lila's furious scowl even from halfway across the courtyard. He only smirked when he caught the lair's eye and slowly bent down to peck Marinette's cheek, never breaking eye contact.

Who knew this would be so much fun?

-

Explanations were as always painful and tiring, but he was smart enough to take the lead considering that Marinette had no idea what was going on. The story was that he was now finally rebelling against his father, much to his friend's delight. The most approving probably had to be Nino, who kept clasping him on the back at regular intervals, saying that he knew Adrien had it in him. On the other hand, while the boys showed him nothing but support, all the girls seemed to have mixed reactions. He assumed it was because of what he had overheard the other day, looking at how Alya kept shooting concerned glances at Lila.

Lila. Oh man. Never had Adrien taken so much pleasure in spiting someone. The poor girl was stuck between scowling openly when she thought no one was looking to looking mildly disappointed whenever one the girls tried to console her. It was hilarious.

All the drama guaranteed that he was dead tired when he finally got home, but not tired enough not to match the glare that his father sent him when he stepped inside the mansion.

"Adrien."

"Father."

"I would have had reason to think that you understood your circumstance after our last meeting."

To his father's chagrin, Adrien let out a loud and mocking laugh. He met his father's bewildered gaze and struggled to hold in a smirk, "So, 'Miss Rossi' told you, huh? I knew she was quick, but not this quick."

Immediately, he could tell that he had caught his father off guard by the way Gabriel's whole expression tightened. To his credit though, he did recover quickly. "What is the meaning of this, son?"

"Nothing out of the usual father. I mean, by your standards, I've always been a rebellious one, haven't I?"

"Enough."

Adrien stayed quiet as his father spoke on, "It is clear to me that your friend's have been nothing but a bad influence on you. As such, you are not to attend public school any longer."

Adrien shrugged, "Okay."

He started to make his way to his room, pretending to be ignorant of the gaze trained on him. Before he turned the corner into another hallway though, he spared one last glance over his shoulder, "As such, since you're so fond of reminding me of my rebellious behaviour, don't be too surprised when it eventually gets out of hand. Know that you have brought this upon yourself, and know that while you may think it, I wasn't asking ridiculous things of you father."

With that he walks off, heart beating erratically in his chest. He knows that him and Plagg had practised this about a million times, but that didn't mean it was any easier.

-

If his father had thought his model son had been trouble before, it was nothing compared to how Adrien was going to be now. Channelling Chat Noir had never been easy in his civilian form but sometimes, when someone made him too angry, the sass came out full blast. While Chat Noir was fully and wholly a part of him, Adrien hadn't yet learned how to integrate him in his day to day life (except at a few chosen moments or in front of a few chosen people). That's to say, Adrien had no problem going all out when things got rough.

Like now.

He was barred from leaving the house effective immediately after the 'stunt' he had pulled yesterday, nothing that Adrien hadn't expected. His old tutors were called the very same day, and it was settled that his home-schooling would resume the following morning.

Funny thing though; when his teachers arrived the next day, Adrien wasn't there already waiting for them. After waiting a good ten minutes Natalie was sent to his room but lo and behold, Adrien was nowhere to be found. After that, a house wide search ensued with no result and just as the adults were getting ready to head out and make the search Paris wide and this a proper emergency, Adrien decided to walk into the foyer in his pyjamas and bed hair. He pretended to look confused as Natalie screamed at him about how worried she was and when she finally calmed down enough to ask him where he had been, he just looked up at her innocently and said, "Didn't you check in the library? I fell asleep there last night."

It was funny seeing how Natalie's eye twitched and Adrien had no doubt that she had checked there. Of course she hadn't found him, who's to say he was sleeping in plain sight?

All in all, being able to scale bookshelves had its perks.

The news no doubt got back to his father, but of course his father decided it wasn't anything important enough to show up for. He probably thought that eventually his son would get tired of this nonsense and go back to bending to his will once again.

Adrien was more than happy to prove him wrong.

-

It only got worse from there, of course.

If his father thought that by making his schedule even more hectic than usual would dissuade his son from his most recent act of defiance, then he was sadly mistaken. He had to give his old man some credit though. At least his father had posted some guards around the sight of the photoshoot, ensuring that it'd be much harder for Adrien to slip away.

Nothing a certain cat couldn't handle though.

As soon as the photographers called for a ten-minute break, Adrien took his chance. While Natalie was busy making a phone call, Adrien managed to slip away when one of the guards wasn't paying attention. He quickly took cover in a nearby alleyway and transformed, just as Natalie noticed that Adrien wasn't in her immediate line of sight. As amusing it might have been to sit on a rooftop and watch the people at the shoot scramble about in a pointless search, Adrien had a certain princess he needed to visit.

-

"Adrien?! What are you- oof!" He enveloped her in a hug and held on tightly as Marinette struggled to pull her arms out from where they were pinned to her side by his. He pulled away long enough to give her a kiss, and vaguely he could make out the familiar clicks of a photograph being taken. There was no doubt that in only a few minutes his pursuers would track him down but for the moment Adrien contented himself by hugging his girlfriend closer.

"I thought you were under house arrest?"

"I am. I'm also rebelling."

"Oh Adrien."

Marinette, sweet sweet Marinette, she let him cling to her as she worked at the register, aware that they probably didn't have much time. She was right, of course, when not moments later the Gorilla burst into the bakery and caught Adrien's eye. Natalie followed behind and glared in his direction, only to be met with a cheeky grin.

"Of all the irresponsible things that you have pulled, this really takes the cake Adrien Agreste!"

"You are aware that we are in a bakery, and therefore you just made a pun Natalie?"

Natalie gave him a fearsome scowl as he pulled away from Marinette. "Hey now, no need to get salty, I'll come with you quietly."

That seemed to catch them off guard. Clearly, they had expected him to put up more of a fight. He simply gave Marinette a light kiss on her cheek and with a sweet, "Good bye princess", he was off.

Of course, this wouldn't be the last of his 'rebellion'. Oh no, Adrien was just getting started.

-

Gabriel Agreste had come to his wits end. Never before had his son gone so much out of his way to disrespect his father wishes. Gabriel mourned for the days when Adrien was a quite little boy ready to do anything to please his father, he really couldn't understand what had gone wrong.

Half of the time, whether it be piano lessons or his Chinese tuitions, Adrien was simply missing. He didn't even leave the house, he just disappeared. Nobody ever found where he kept vanishing off to and he was only found if he allowed it. On the better days there would only be a half hour search, on the worst it was almost impossible to find the boy. And since he wasn't leaving the house, they couldn't even track his phone, because Adrien always seemed to leave it in his room. Gabriel, at one point, had tried to place a tracker in his clothes but the thing never worked, and the next day he found one of the rooms in complete chaos.

Safe to say, they never tried that again.

Whenever Adrien had matters to attend to outside, like his fencing classes and his photo shoots, no matter how many guards Gabriel placed around the perimeter Natalie and the Gorilla always ended up tracking him down to the Dupain-Chengs's bakery. The boy didn't even try to change it up, and it was infuriating he didn't even put up a fight while being bought back. At this point, they didn't even try looking somewhere else, they always and without fail found him in the same place.

It was like he was mocking them.

Safe to say, there was a certain and lifting satisfaction for Adrien when his father greeted him from where he stood at the top of the stairs of the mansion after Adrien had returned from a 'photoshoot'.

"Adrien."

"Father."

"You are to resume going to public school straight away from tomorrow, but only if you stop this rebellious act of yours. It is unbecoming to see an Agreste act in such a manner."

"Am I allowed to continue dating Marinette, father?"

"If that is what you wish."

Adrien had to keep a giddy smile from spreading across his face. "Thank you, father. I won't let you down."

Gabriel Agreste didn't dignify his son with a response. He could tell himself that he had only let in to cut his losses, but both the Agreste men knew who the real winner of this round was.

-

Next day at school saw Adrien making a beeline for the top steps of the entrance, where his beautiful girlfriend stood. It had been a horrible week, only getting to see mere glimpses of Marinette and only when he snuck away from photo shoots and fencing practices, but that's not to say it hadn't been worth it. Never had Adrien had the gall to act out the way he had the last few days, but now that the whole thing was over it made him realise that sometimes standing up for what you thought was right really was worth it.

With his gaze solely on one, he failed to notice the orange headed his way and before he knew it, it was clinging to his arm. He looked down to see poisonous green eyes meet his.

"Adrien! I'm so glad you're back!"

That certainly turned quite a few heads. Lila internally smirked to herself; the more, the better. Even that Dupain-Cheng brat was watching, something Lila couldn't be happier about even if she tried.

It was a happy coincidence that Gabriel had put his son on house arrest for going directly against him around the same time Lila had a 'round the world tour' (really just a lie to take a break before the big showdown). Now that Adrien had finally been moulded properly into submission, there was no way he'd dare go against her. He wouldn't want to be pulled out of public school again, would he?

"I've missed you so much, Adrien. I heard what happened with your father, and I'm really sorry about that."

"You are?"

"Mmmmhmmm" Lila pulled back so that she could properly face him. Finally, the moment of truth. "In all honesty, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now."

Nearby, where Marinette had a hand covering her mouth to keep herself from attracting any unwanted attention (iN aLL HoNesTy), Alya shot her best friend a weirded-out look before turning back to Lila. What was that girl doing? Didn't she know that Adrien and Marinette were a thing again, that Adrien had fought tooth and nail with his father just to come back to school? If she confessed now, in front of half the goddamn school, she'd only embarrass herself. Alya stepped forward to intervene, but it was already too late.

"I really like you Adrien. Will you go out with me?"

A hush fell over the people who were watching. Eyes flicked from the girl, to the boy she confessed to, a boy who everyone knew was already taken. What would he say?

Adrien looked over Lila's shoulder to Marinette, only to meet bluebell eyes filled with curiosity. She seemed to be asking him a silent question:

What are you going to do now?

Adrien knew the answer. An indistinguishable smirk lit up on his face, one that he quickly hid before anyone caught on. But just as he wanted, Marinette saw it. She caught the mischief in his eyes and she smiled back.

Frankly, Adrien was done taking the high road.

"I'm really sorry Lila, but don't you know? I already have a girlfriend."

There was a chorus of gasps all around. Adrien distantly heard someone shout, "Oh snap." as Lila's face progressively got whiter, whether out of anger or humiliation, he did not know. He smiled apologetically at her before moving past, wrapping an arm around Marinette when he finally reached her.

"Hey princess."

Distantly, he heard Lila run off crying and Alya moving to follow, but not before the blogger shot him a quick glare. Oh well, he couldn't please everyone.

"Don't you think that was a bit harsh?"

Adrien snorted as Marinette and him started to walk towards their classroom, "After the hell she's given us? Nah."

Marinette simply sighed and let her head rest on his shoulder, "I'm proud of you Adrien."

By the way he felt Plagg's claws lightly dig into him, Adrien could say he was proud of himself too.