Disclaimer: Okay so Wattpad only has two ratings mature and appropriate for all ages. However, I would personally rate this story as Teen. If you haven't seen PG-13 movies, you may not be old enough to read this chapter. That being said, please don't spam me with this is inappropriate for me/ my child! I'm sorry if that's the case, but this story is in fact one toned towards teenagers. Thank you for understanding and your cooperation.

"Kid, you're in trouble." Was the delightful message Adrien Agreste woke up to.

"Plagg? How'd you get in?" He asked his agent, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"You have bigger problems than how I got in Adrien. Go get dressed, we have to talk."

"Okay." Plagg hopped off his bed and exited the room, giving Adrien the privacy to change. He hurriedly got dressed in black dress pants and an olive green button up and walked out of his room into the main space of his one bedroom apartment.

In the kitchen Plagg was raiding the fridge. "No camembert? What type of person doesn't have camembert cheese with them at all times? Especially a chef! This is unacceptable! I demand you go and buy some camembert immediately!" Adrien inwardly rolled his eyes at his agent's request to fill the need of his sick obsession over the cheese.

"Alright Plagg, I'll go get you some camembert after work today."

"You're filming a video once you're done with your shift, so you'll have to do it after." Adrien wished for the umpteenth time that Plagg didn't have full control over his schedule, it reminded him a little too much of growing up in the Agreste household. Adrien hadn't spoken with his father since he accidentally shamed him. He let out a long sigh.

"Are you sure we have to film a video this week? Seeing as how the last one went it might be better to take a break." Adrien adored being Chat Noir, he got to be himself without having to worry about the reputation on his back as an Agreste. However, he was in no rush to get in front of the camera where he had screwed things up so badly last time.

"Take a break? How the last one went? Your last video was a huge success!" Plagg exclaimed.

'Not for everybody.' Adrien thought to himself.

As if sensing his mood, Plagg sighed. "Look kid, I know you're beating yourself up about dissing your father's brand, but Gabriel Agreste is Adrien's father, not Chat Noir's. Don't let your viewers down. Gabriel Agreste has had his brand on the market for a very long time. Chat Noir, on the other hand, made an appearance only a few mere years ago. He can't take hits like your father can. That's why we need to get a video out today. The longer we wait to address Hawkmoth's report the worse the backlash will be." Plagg explained softly to the boy, but he had gotten lost half-way through Plagg's explanation.

"Wait, what are you talking about? Who's Hawkmoth?" Plagg blinked three times.

"You haven't seen it." He said, more to himself than to Adrien, as if he were coming to terms with some universal truth. He walked out of Adrien's kitchen and flopped down on his white couch. "Come here kid."

Adrien walked over and sat next to Plagg. Plagg then turned on the T.V. as Adrien gazed out the window to the right at the Eiffel Tower way out in the distance.

"Hello Paris, I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am, at least not yet. I am Hawkmoth and I have decided to help you, viewers of Paris, come to light about two celebrities this city can't get out of their head. I'm talking about the ever famous Ladybug and Chat Noir." Adrien's head suddenly tore away from the view and onto the reporter that had appeared on screen. He was wearing a black and purple suit and a plastic lavender ski mask which covered his face.

Adrien turned towards Plagg opening his mouth to ask him a question, but Plagg cut him off before the first word even left his mouth. "Just watch kid." His voice lacked even a trace of humor, which scared Adrien.

'This must be serious.' He thought.

Plagg's normally mischievous pea green eyes looked grave as he raked a pale hand through his inky black hair, obviously distressed. Adrien wished he could cheer him up. His agent wasn't the easiest person to get along with, but Adrien genuinely liked Plagg, even if he did remind him of his childhood.

"Here's the thing, when they mysteriously came onto the scene a few years ago, nobody knew who they were and now Paris idolizes them. The problem is that, nothing has changed, people of Paris, they are just as unknown now as they were when they first appeared. Why do we trust these people? We don't know anything about them and yet we give them our time, money, thoughts, we put our faith and hope in these ideals. We worship this image of what Ladybug and Chat Noir are. Let me ask you this, people of Paris, are you okay with worshipping a mask? Don't try to deny the fact that it is worship. Thanks to my amazing journalist, Volpina, I was able to get these screenshots."

The report then showed a photo of Chat's newest video an hour after it was uploaded, and the fact that 80% of Paris had watched it in the first 55 minutes. "As you can see, in not even an hour nearly all of Paris had seen Chat's video and that's not enough to convince you, just look at this."

It was a shot of Chat's merchandise sales.

"How-?"

"I don't know, kid." Plagg put his face in his hands. "I just don't know." Merch sales were private, supposedly, but there they were, displayed for all of Paris to see.

"As you can see, on average every person in Paris has at least 15 pieces of Chat's merchandise. Here you can see 200 life-size statues have been sold. Still doesn't sound like worship to you?" Hawkmoth raised an eyebrow at the camera.

"Now, let's consider that you're actually okay with worshiping, like a religious practice, a chef. You don't know him! He hides behind a mask, but why? It could be something as simple as not wanting to deal with fame, which is fine, however a photo Volpina caught suggests otherwise." Adrien felt a gasp escape his mouth as he stared wide eyed at the image on the screen.

"That's not Chat." He managed to choke out. Plagg gave him a look that screamed "Well, duh!"

"I know that! But Paris doesn't! As far as they're concerned that's you." The image showed a supposed Chat Noir entering an underground club.

"Now, we are getting experts to examine this photograph live to make sure it's reliable, but this just proves that as much as we adore Chat Noir, we don't know anything about who lies behind the mask." He then paused as if waiting for chatter to die down. "Look, I get that there has always been lots of speculation and theories about Ladybug and Chat Noir that are simply unacceptable, but rest assured I only put truth in what I say and I always back it up with proof. Ladybug and Chat Noir have no proof about who or what they say they are however. I'm sure you all can recall Chat Noir's 'face reveal'. Why would he still continue to hide if he was going to tell us he would reveal? " Hawkmoth leaned over the desk he was sitting at.

"Let me leave you with this. You were all tricked by him before when he promised a reveal. Who's to say that he's not still tricking us? I guess we'll never know since he won't come out of his mask." Hawkmoth's gaze was even at the camera showing just how cruel and cold blue eyes could be.

Plagg turned the T.V. off, sighing. "Now do you see why we need a video out today?"

Adrien just nodded, dumbfounded. "Why? What? How?" Adrien seemed to have lost the ability to talk in full sentences .

"I'm afraid that I don't have any answers for you, Adrien. However, we have to address this to the public immediately or else, I don't know what's going to happen." Adrien put his head in his hands.

"God." There were so many questions running around in his head. "We've got to do something." Plagg glared at Adrien.

"Obviously. Be thankful that you're a vlogger along with a chef and can actually get your word out to the public."

"Yeah."

"I wonder how Ladybug is going to deal with Hawkmoth." Adrien looked back at Plagg, shocked by his comment.

"He barely mentioned her! I'm sure she'll be fine, us on the other hand, will be the exact opposite of fine!" Plagg shook his head.

"I just showed you Chat's portion. Ladybug got it just as bad and she doesn't have the ability to reach out to the public as fast as Chat can. It's not like she has a blog or even social media. You can only reach her via email." Adrien frowned.

"Do you think that we could help her somehow?" He asked hopefully, but Plagg just shook his head.

"Sorry kid, that'll probably make things worse. She needs to fight her own battles."

"But-." Adrien protested.

"But nothing, it would be disastrous if Chat tried to protect her, there's no need to give Hawkmoth more ammo." Adrien sighed, forlorn.

"I know. I just wish I could help her. I don't want her to think that she's going through this alone. Especially if she won't be able to reach out to the public as fast as I can." Plagg frowned as he patted the young man's back.

"You have a good heart Adrien." Adrien smiled softly at his agent and suddenly, an idea came to him. If he had been in a cartoon, you would've been able to see the lightbulb go off over his head.

"Do you think you could get the studio two times in a few weeks?" Adrien asked excitedly. Plagg looked thoughtful for a few moments.

"I can check, but I'm not promising anything." Adrien's grin spread from ear to ear.

"Thanks Plagg!" He hugged his agent who suddenly went rigid. In all of his excitement he had forgotten that Plagg wasn't a huge fan of hugs, or any physical affection for that matter. He quickly let him go, not wanting to overstep his boundaries.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a good client. Now, shouldn't you be somewhere right about now?" Adrien looked down at his watch and felt a surge of panic run through his veins. Plagg was right, he should've been out the door already.

"Crap I'm late!" Grabbing his black dress coat, he rushed our hurriedly, already preparing his excuse for why he was late to Nino.

He stepped into his office on Pierre's Row 30 minutes later. To his surprise and relief, Nino hadn't arrived yet. However his relief soon turned to annoyance because well, Nino hadn't arrived yet.

'Why isn't he here?' Adrien thought. Of course, he wasn't any better, but Nino shouldn't be late either. It may not be his name on the side of the building, but Nino Lahiffe was still a very important part of Adrien Agreste Private Eye.

Sighing, he walked back to the dull reception area that lacked a receptionist and into his office. This office was either boring or minimalist depending on how you looked at it. The only bit of color came from the blue carpeting. It stood out against his dark brown desk, his large black chair, the two smaller gray chairs his clients sat in when they came to him with a case, and his white walls. The decor wasn't Adrien's favorite. It reminded him of the cold Agreste house he called home for most of his life, but he had to pick his battles. He got to pick the location, but his father had requested he had Natalie Sancoeur, a famous interior designer handle the decor.

Apparently Natalie was an old acquaintance of the older Agreste and Adrien had always tried to keep his father happy. Even if that meant pursuing a career he never wanted in the first place and staying in Paris instead of going out and seeing the world because he was an Agreste. They had been small business owners in Paris for as long as anyone could remember. The thought of an Agreste becoming a vlogging chef that traveled the world was an absurdity to his father.

A ding! Broke Adrien out of his thoughts and altered him that he was no longer alone. He walked out to the reception to see Nino along with a girl he didn't know. The girl had hazel eyes hidden behind rimmed glasses with bouncy auburn curls.

"Yo dude!" Nino told Adrien as he came into view. "There's someone I'd like you to meet!" The girl smiled, but there was something about the sly glint in her eyes that made him wary of her. "This is Alya, we met yesterday at the cafe next door."

"Oh! Slice of Paradise right?" Adrien asked Alya.

"Yep! I was Nino's waitress. He promised to show me his office today." She nodded.

"That's really cool! I'll have to check it out sometime."

"You totally should. I'm guessing your Adrien Agreste?" She asked politely. Adrien smiled wryly.

"What gave it away? Was it the name on the side of the building?" Alya seemed like the type of girl where sarcasm was her first language.

"No it was your name tag." Alya smirked and pointed to his white name tag that adorned his black dress coat.

"Ah, I see."

"Although the sign helped." Alya winked at Adrien and he smiled, glad that she had gotten the joke.

"You know, Alya wants to start a publishing business one of these days. I thought maybe you could give her some tips man, seeing as you're an Agreste." Nino explained.

"Really? That's awesome!" Adrien gave her a big smile not wanting to crush the girl's dreams with all of the behind the scene challenges of running a business quite yet. She seemed like a fun person to hang around and Nino seemed to really care about her. He wouldn't have risked being in trouble otherwise. A lot of the times Nino was more relaxed than a detective should be, but he was a hard worker and he had a firm belief in punctuality. The fact he had risked that for Alya spoke miles for Adrien.

"Thanks! My dream is to find the next Ladybug, I really look up to her." Alya's eyes lit up as she talked passionately.

"Oh?" Adrien inquired.

"She's an amazing author. I love her books so much."

" I presume you've seen Hawkmoth's video then." Just liked that, her eyes dimmed and narrowed.

"Yes I have." She gritted her teeth.

"What are your opinions on it?" Alya's eyes flared up, making Adrien regret asking.

"I don't believe a word that comes out of Hawkmoth's mouth. Even if he does have proof to support his claim, there are just too many unknowns." Alya's words gave Adrien a flicker of hope.

"Unfortunately," she continued "not everyone will see it that way. That photo he used could've been easily photoshopped and even if it wasn't it still could've been staged. However, he brought religion into the equation. Idolatry is a huge no-no in most monotheist religions, especially Christianity. Both Ladybug and Chat Noir will use most of their Christian fans, at least temporarily." This news was nothing new to Adrien, but it still gave him a sense of dread to realize how much trouble Hawkmoth had put him in.

"Then there are the masks." Alya rubbed her temples, obviously distressed about what Hawkmoth had done. "The people who are okay with worshipping Ladybug and Chat Noir will most likely not be okay with worshipping a mask and to complicate matters more, the people who don't believe Hawkmoth's deal about worshipping will believe him about the masks. After all, it is the truth. The truth is we don't know who Ladybug and Chat Noir are, but that doesn't automatically make them criminals. Yet, lots of people will stop being fans of them temporarily and who knows how many will stay away? If Hawkmoth keeps making reports that certainly won't help their cases." Adrien gulped. Alya was right, Hawkmoth would get rid of anyone who wasn't a die hard fan.

"All I know is that I'm not leaving Ladybug. She may hide behind a mask, but she's an amazing author and deserves every ounce of popularity she gets! So what if she said one mean thing one time, I've lost my temper multiple times, but does that make me a bad person? No! Of course not!" Alya fumed. Adrien was relieved to see that Ladybug had at least one person sticking by her side.He wondered in the back of his mind if anyone was ranting for his sake right now, claiming that they'll stick by his side, through thick and thin.

He knew that most of Chat's fans liked him not for his content, but for his puns and his looks. Unlike with Ladybug, who got popular based purely off of her talent. He might have the bigger fan base, but it wasn't bigger by much and he was like the popular kid at school. Everyone begged to be his friend, but the second someone better came along, people would drop him as if he was two week old Chinese take-out.

"She's an amazing author." Nino asked.

"I wonder how she's going to reach out to the public." Adrien told the pair, echoing Plagg from this morning.

"I'm sure she'll think of something, she's very resourceful." Alya told him.

"That's for sure." Adrien agreed. After all, she was able to still have her identity be a secret while still partaking in interviews.

"Maybe she'll reach out via social media?" Nino asked. Both Alya and Adrien knew that she didn't have any.

She was definitely one who liked to stick to the shadows. Chat on the other hand, basked in his fame. He couldn't help it, Chat was his escape from reality. Ever since he was little, he always felt trapped as Adrien Agreste and was only able to escape from it when he was cooking. Becoming a private eye was his father's idea, not his own, but Adrien had learned to never go against his father. Especially when it came to the Agreste legacy of being a small businessman. He was glad he met Nino, but he wished that he could drop the detective job and become Chat Noir full time.

"She doesn't have any. She really prefers to stick to the shadows." Alya answered Nino. "The only way to reach out to her is over email."

"Oh I see. Dude, she's really going to have a tough time reaching out to the public."

"Definitely." Adrien nodded solemnly.

"I wonder if Chat's going to help her."

"Hawkmoth has really thrown them in this mess, but at least they're in it together. They should use that to their advantage and help each other out." Alya thought out loud.

"I certainly hope so." Nino commented. Adrien just remained quiet, deep in thought.

"Sorry boys, but I have to go. Marinette needs my help."

"Marinette?" Adrien asked. Alya smiled.

"My co-worker and best friend. We'll have to get together sometime." With that, Alya walked out of the office, but not before giving Nino a quick hug in thanks, taking him by surprise.

'Marinette, what a pretty name.' Adrien thought, then came aware that Nino had asked him a question that he had missed. "Sorry, what was that?"

"What do you think, dude?" Nino asked again.

"About what?"

"Alya, Hawkmoth, Ladybug, Chat Noir." Nino supplied. Adrien chose the safest topic to talk about.

"She seems fun." Adrien answered, meaning Alya.

"She is! You know, she served me my meal last night, the best meal I've ever had in my life. I wrote my number on the check and we made plans for a date Saturday. I don't want to mess this up dude! What if she thinks I'm lame? What if she changes her mind about wanting to go out with me? What if she never wants to go out with me again? What if she stops talking to me altogether?" Nino continued to rant about Alya, but Adrien had toned him out.

'The only way to reach her is over email.' Alya's words rang in Adrien's ear as the final part of his plan came together.

"Adrien, dude, you've got to help me!" Nino's cry brought him back to reality.

"Alright, I'll help you." He replied, laughing softly.

"Thanks man."

"After we do some work." Adrien continued. Nino chuckled.

"Okay, that's fair, thanks man." He patted him on the back as he went into his office and Adrien went into it.

Flopping down on his chair, he powered up his computer and opened a tab to his email. He then typed out two different emails. He sent the first one without hesitation, but the second one demanded almost all of his courage. Taking a deep breath, he hit send.

"Don't worry Ladybug, I'm coming."