His footsteps echoed across the marble in the large hallway. As he made his way toward his son's room, Mr. Agreste thought over what he was going to say. In other words, he had no idea what he was going to do once he reached Adrien's bedroom door. At first, Gabriel had been jubilant at finding out that Cat Noir's Miraculous was finally within his reach; all he had to do was reach out and take it. The only problem that quickly ruined his happiness was the fact that his son, his pristine and perfect son, was one of his most despised enemies.

Gabriel stopped mid-stride and his hands curled into fists at his sides. His eyes glared at the floor with hurt and rage at Adrien's betrayal. How could his own son turn against him?

He slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to get that ring in order to have the power to fulfill his greatest wish. He stood up, brushed off nonexistent dust from his coat, and started again toward Adrien's room.

As he was about to turn the corner, however, Natalie hastily walked toward him, concern flashing in her eyes. "Sir!"

Gabriel rolled his eyes and sighed. He looked over his shoulder at her but didn't turn around. "What is it, Natalie?" he asked.

"Sir, it's our partners in Italy," she said as she stopped ten feet away from him. She looked down at her clipboard, as if she still needed the confirmation that what never that worried her was still there. "There has been a mix up with your design orders and now there is not enough material to produce the necessary pieces for your next fashion show scheduled in the fall. Not only that, but the workers are demanding for more pay in exchange for 'the labor they have had to endure for the past several years.' " She looked back up at him but didn't meet his eyes. She looked slightly to the left of him. She hoped he wouldn't notice her hesitance to look him in the eye.

He did.

"Well, what do you plan to do to solve this problem?" Mr. Agreste said as he turned fully to face her and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Um, well, I believe it would be wise for you to fly to Italy yourself and settle this matter personally. If the workers see that you're willing to leave your home country to make sure they remain in line, then they will recognize your power over their jobs and they will keep themselves in check. As for the loss of material needed, I feel it would better be sorted out if you spoke to the heads of the Italian branch of your industry in person."

Gabriel raised his hand and started to scratch his chin, contemplating what Natalie had proposed. "So you think it would be best if I were to leave?"

Natalie nodded. "Yes, sir, and as soon as possible so you'll be back in time to oversee the current production of your summer line here."

Gabriel looked over his shoulder, back down the hall that led to Adrien's room. He knew that Natalie would never recommend something unless it would absolutely necessary and the only way she saw fit. He also knew that his son wasn't going anywhere either.

Where could he go? It's not like he knows that his own father plans to steal his Miraculous.

After making up his mind, Gabriel sighed and nodded towards Natalie. "Schedule me a flight from Paris to Italy immediately."

~~~

As Adrien sat down at his desk and pulled out his textbook, he noticed that Alya, Nino, and Marinette were nowhere to be found. He looked around the room and saw Juleka and Rose discussing the previous night's homework and gossip revolving around Prince Ali with Mylene and Ivan. Kim and Max were in the back. Kim was trying to convince Max that he was the fastest runner in all of Paris, but Max kept quoting facts from his phone, disproving Kim's argument.

Adrien reached in his backpack to pull out his phone to see if his friends had texted him, when a perfectly filed hand slammed down on his desk. "Adrikins!"

The blond sighed and looked up at Chloé Bourgeois. She scowled down at him and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"How could you not tell me?" she demanded.

Adrien glanced toward the door, contemplating if he was able to make a run for it before he looked back at Chloé. "Hey, Chloé," he said, finally. "How was your trip to the States?"

Chloé's anger subsided for a moment. "Oh, it was good. I got to see my uncles and aunts and my way-to-many-to-count cousins. But I missed home." She sighed. "See? This is what I like about you. You care enough to ask me how my trip was. No one else, except for Sabrina, cared to even ask how my family was doing."

She leaned over Adrien's desk toward him. He leaned back. "Don't you see? We were meant to be. We're like...like...like Romeo and Juliet but without the whole 'dying' thing. How is it that I come back from my vacation and find out that my Adrikins is dating someone else? And of course, it just had to be that clumsy fool Marinette, didn't it?"

Anger flared inside of Adrien as he immediately stood and towered over the offensive blonde. Chloé stepped back, shocked at his sudden reaction.

"Don't ever say anything like that about Marinette again. You don't know what you're talking about. She's more than you know and if you even cared for one second about trying to get to know her, you'd see that she is an amazing, incredible, and beautiful person. You can torment me all you'd like, but leave. her. alone."

The entire time Adrien spoke, his voice was calm but strong. The rich girl knew she had obviously struck a nerve but had not meant to receive this much of a reaction. She looked up into his hard eyes before she cast her own eyes down to the floor. Trying to regain what was left of her composure, Chloé stuck her nose in the air, bit her lip, and walked to her desk.

Adrien sighed as he watched her go. He hadn't meant to blow up like that at her, but he refused to allow anyone to disrespect his lady. He sat back down in his seat and noticed that the room became eerily quiet from his outburst.

When the door burst open with Sabrina jumping with excitement, the room returned back to its original gossiping and arguments over exactly how fast Kim could run. Sabrina ran over to her friend who refused to look Adrien's way. Adrien didn't get hear what Sabrina's news was because Alya pulled open the classroom door and walked in. She stopped at Adrien's desk, with a small carton of lunch milk in her hand.

"Hey, sorry I'm later than usual," she said.

"No problem, but how come you're later today?"

Alya smiled. "My mom was testing out recipes for the new menu at the Le Grande Palace. This morning she decided to bake as many breakfast platters as she could and have my family taste them. They were SO good."

Adrien crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "And you didn't save me any?" He raised an eyebrow.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but I have a large family and they are extremely hungry in the morning. But I did manage to snag a milk carton on the way to school." She raised her hand holding the milk. "Only, I don't really need it because I forgot I had a water in my backpack. You want it?"

"Sure," Adrien said as he took the cup from Alya's outstretched hand. "Thanks."

"No prob." Alya walked past him and slid into her assigned seat behind him.

Just as he was about to ask her if she knew where their other friends were, Nino bolted into the room. He took deep breaths, trying to regain his breathing as he looked at the clock. "Whew! Okay, I'm on time."

"Seriously, is everyone running late today?" Chloé whispered from the other side of the room.

"Hey, dude," Nino said as he glanced down at his friend. "Sorry, I'm late but I need to talk to Alya about something. Do you mind watching this for me? It's a gift for a friend. Thanks!" With that, Nino slapped an item down on Adrien's desk, turned on his heel and took his new seat beside Alya behind Adrien.

The blond looked quizzically over his shoulder at his friends but saw that they were indeed discussing something very important. He didn't want to intrude where he wasn't needed so he shrugged and turned back around in his seat.

He glanced over at the vacant chair next to him and wondered where Marinette was. She only had a couple more minutes before-

Marinette casually walked into class and interrupted Adrien's train of thought. She smiled when she saw him and Adrien couldn't help but smile like an idiot back. He noticed that she had decided to wear her hair down that day and he thought she never looked more beautiful.

"Hey, got you something," she said as she tossed an item to him. He easily caught it with one hand and when he looked at what it was, he burst out laughing.

"Oh, you've got to be kitten me," he rolled his eyes, but still smiled. Marinette laughed.

In his hand was a bright green ball of yarn. He looked over at his girlfriend and saw that she was eyeing the contents on his desk.

"Seems like you're really into cats today, huh, kitty?"

"What?" Adrien looked down at his desk and finally saw what Nino had placed on his desk earlier: a small stick with a string tied to the end of it with a few feathers and a bell. A cat toy was sitting on his desk. Between the carton of milk, the cat toy, and the ball of yarn in his hand, Adrien looked like a serious cat person.

He turned around in his chair to see Alya grinning wickedly at him and Nino rubbing the back of his head.

"She made me do it, man," Nino said, pointing to Marinette.

Alya nodded. "It was all her idea."

Adrien glanced at Marinette. She giggled. "I couldn't resist. I've always planned on teasing Cat Noir for all those times he teased me if I ever did learn his secret identity. Unfortunately for you, you're him so..." She shrugged, still smiling.

Adrien had to hand it to her; she really got him. Only little did she realize, she had just started a war. Adrien wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. "Though I got to say it was a nice little trick, you have just unleashed the pun beast, Bugaboo."

She tried to make a sarcastic comeback, but when Adrien winked at her, she lost her train of thought. Her words died away and Adrien realized that though she was more comfortable around him now that she knew his alter-ego, he still had his original effect on her. He still caused her to stumble over her words and become flabbergasted.

Gonna have to remember that, he thought to himself. It's good to know that I have the same effect on her that she has on me. Seriously, though, could she get any more beautiful?

~~~

As the four friends walked out of the school, Adrien's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled out his phone and saw he had a text from Natalie.

"My dad's gone," he said. "He left for Italy this morning because of a fashion emergency."

Marinette asked, "How long will he be gone?"

"Only a few days, though I'm not sure. It could range anywhere from two days to two weeks. Depends on how big the crisis is."

Nino clapped and rubbed his hands together. "Well, if the cat's away, the mice will play! See, guys? I can make a cat pun too." He smiled proudly.

Alya playfully rolled her eyes. "What did you have in mind, then, Mr. Punny?"

"Hey," Adrien interjected. "I'm the pun guy. My puns are the greatest. Right, Bugaboo?"

Marinette shrugged. "Well..."

Adrien slapped a hand over his heart. "Princess, you wound me!"

She laughed.

"Anyway," Nino said, "Adrien, you think it'd be cool if we went over to your house to play video games? I still have yet to beat you and frankly, I want to watch Marinette kick your butt at Mega Strike 3 to make me feel better."

"Yeah, you guys can come over. I don't think I have any photoshoots today so I'd think it'd be fine. And what's this I hear about Marinette beating me?"

"Oh come on, you know I always win. Don't even try to deny it," Marinette said as she stood on her toes to look Adrien in the eye.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Princess." He winked.

"Well, I don't know about you guys," Alya said as she looked across the street toward Marinette's bakery, "but I'm hungry after that long day at school."

"If you guys want, we can stop by the bakery on the way," Marinette said.

"But wait, doesn't your bodyguard, the gorilla, usually pick you up?" Nino asked Adrien.

Adrien looked down the school's front stairs to where the silver car would usually be waiting. It wasn't there. He glanced down the street. His car was nowhere to be seen. "I guess since my father had to leave, the gorilla must've gone with him. So I guess we can all walk to my place together."

His friends nodded in agreement and walked across the street to Marinette's bakery. On the way, Adrien slipped his hands into Marinette's and didn't let go until he pulled open the door to the small shop. He held it open for his friends; they all said thank you.

Inside, Marinette was encompassed by the sweet aroma of her parent's baking. She guessed that her dad was in the back baking more sweets for the shop because her mother was the only one manning the cash register.

Alya and Nino were gazing through the glass containers, deciding on what to get, when Adrien came up behind her and grabbed her hand again. She looked up and saw him smiling down at her.

She blushed.

She didn't notice her mom wave goodbye to her last customer and turn her attention on them. "Why, hello!" She looked down at Marinette and Adrien's hands and grinned. She turned back to face the kitchen's doorway."Tom, Marinette and her friends are here!"

Tom, still wearing his apron, walked through the doorway, carrying a tray of freshly-made croissants. He saw Alya and Nino first. "Hey, Alya and Nino. Care for some croissants?" he asked.

"Yes, please. Thank you, Mr. Dupain," Alya said as she reached for some.

Nino reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Tom noticed and motioned for Nino to stop. "Oh, please, Nino. There's no need. These treats are in the house."

Nino looked up from his wallet. "Oh well, thank you. Thank you very much, dude- I mean, sir!" Nino put away his wallet and grabbed two croissants.

Mr. Dupain smiled before he looked over at his daughter holding Adrien's hand. His smile vanished. "Ah, Adrien. I see that you must be the one who Marinette says is her new boyfriend."

Alya and Nino looked at each other before hustling towards the bakery's entrance, not wanting to stick around. "We'll be waiting outside for you guys," they said as they hurried out of the shop.

Marinette turned back to face her dad. "Yes, Papa, Adrien is my boyfriend but-"

Tom broke out in loud laughter and walked over to the pair. He wrapped Adrien in a great hug that caused Adrien's feet to leave the ground. "Any guy that Marinette deems worthy to be her boyfriend must be special. Welcome to the bunch, my boy!"

He released his hold and placed Adrien back on the ground. Adrien had the biggest smile on his face. "Thank you, sir."

Sabine walked around the cash register and stood next to her husband. "And he's polite too. I knew there was something good about you when I met you. Good pick, Marinette." She winked.

Marinette knew her face must've been as red as her suit. When she glanced at Adrien from the corner of her eye, she saw him grinning at her, happy that her parents accepted him. He squeezed her hand. Marinette smiled, appreciating him trying to comfort her.

Marinette looked back at her parents and saw her dad give a small amount of money to her mother. He had a small frown on his face. When she glanced at her mother, she saw that Sabine was all smiles.

Did my parents actually bet that we would become boyfriend and girlfriend?! she thought, shocked. Well, I think that's about as much as I can take.

Just as she was about to say that she and Adrien should go, a tall, slender man walked into the shop. He had a dark look in his eyes and when his gaze settled on her father, he nodded his head.

Her father's joyous attitude was gone in an instant. "Um, well, I hope to see more of you, Adrien, but I need to go. I'll see you later tonight, sweetheart." Tom took off his apron, handed it to Sabine, and walked over to the tall man. He nodded toward the door, and the two of them walked up the stairs to her parent's apartment above the bakery.

"Who was that?" Marinette asked her mother.

Sabine looked worried but when she turned back to face her daughter, she plastered on a smile. "Nothing to worry about, dear. Why don't you run along now so I can attend to the other customers?"

Marinette nodded and she and Adrien turned to leave. It wasn't until Adrien held open the door to the shop for her that Marinette realized there were no other customers in the shop.

~~~

"Do you think Adrien's getting an earful from Mr. Dupain right now?" Nino asked as he took another bite of his second croissant.

Alya glanced through the shop's windows and saw Adrien wrapped in Tom's arms, his feet dangling above the floor. "I think he's alright, just a little...smushed at the moment."

Nino looked into the shop and laughed. "Yeah, he's fine."

Alya watched as Mr. Dupain set Adrien down back on his feet. Adrien immediately took Marinette's hand again. The sunlight shined on his ring and reflected back into Alya's eyes. She glanced at her best friend and saw her earrings. They were black and seemed like regular, ordinary earrings. Only Alya and her friends knew the truth.

Alya sighed and turned away from the window. Nino noticed his friend's change in demeanor and swallowed the last bite of his croissant. "You okay, dude?"

Alya glanced at Nino from the corner of her eye. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just....no. It's nothing."

Nino cocked his head to the side. "Come on. I know that's something is bothering you. What's up? You can tell me."

Alya sighed again. "Now don't judge me, but it's just that I want to have superpowers too."

"That's it?" Nino laughed. "Oh man. You really had me for a second there. Of course, everyone wishes to have powers. I mean, I do too, but I'd doubt I'd make a good superhero."

"Nino, I'm serious...I want a Miraculous too. Now, I don't want Marinette's Miraculous or Adrien's, so don't think that I want to be the next Ladybug or whatever. There's no one in all of Paris more perfect to be Ladybug and Cat Noir than them but...sometimes I wish I had my own Miraculous. I wish I could rescue people from danger and save the day too. I've always wanted to do something more than post superhero articles on my blog but..."

Nino nodded for her to continue. She knew that she had his full attention. He really was a good friend.

"I love my blog and I love superheroes. I just wish I could be one too." Alya shrugged and laughed half-heartedly. "But it's not like they have extra Miraculous lying around."

"Yeah," Nino said, slowly nodding his head and thinking about his friend's words. "I totally understand what you mean and I also wish I could have powers too. But it's like you said. I don't know if there are anymore Miraculous for us to have. And even if there were, I'm sure we would need to be 'selected' in order to receive one."

Alya looked down at the ground before she felt Nino's hands on her shoulders. She looked up and met his eyes.

He said, "But we still can make a difference even without powers. We can help Ladybug and Cat Noir, however we can, whenever we can, like before when Marinette was... well, you know."

Alya smiled softly. "We'll always be there for our friends."

"Just like they'll always be there for us...like I'll always be there for you."

Alya gazed into his eyes and knew that he meant what he said. He'd always be there for her and she knew without a doubt she'd be there for him. He was such a good friend to her. The world around them started to fade away until there was only them. Nino slowly leaned forward-

A tall man in a dark suit pushed past them and opened the door to Marinette's bakery. Nino immediately dropped his hands and took a couple of steps back, uncertainty written all over his face. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand and pulled out his phone. He didn't know what to say next. Alya didn't know either. She looked away and thought about what had just happened. Had she just been about to-

No way. There was no way I was going to- No. Alya argued with herself. Even though we may have talked about what could be that time we were trapped at the zoo, I thought we had decided to just remain friends. But if he felt something more...

The door to the bakery opened again. Marinette walked out with Adrien following.

"You guys ready to go?" he asked.

Alya glanced at Nino. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "Sure, let's go," she said finally.

~~~

After countless rounds of Mega Strike 3, Marinette proved to be the supreme winner. Poor Nino couldn't beat anyone at the game. He had lost to Alya, who had lost to Adrien, who had his butt handed to him by Marinette.

That girl can really play video games, Nino thought to himself.

He glanced at Alya who was sitting on the white couch in Adrien's room. He hadn't spoken to her since they talked at the bakery. He couldn't believe he had been about to kiss her. Though he may have liked Marinette for a time, his feelings for Alya had grown after that day at the zoo. But he knew she only saw him as a friend, so a friend he would be for her. He just hoped he hadn't screwed up so badly that their friendship was ruined.

He looked over at Adrien and Marinette once again playing video games. Only now they were no longer playing Mega Strike 3. Adrien was desperately trying to see if there was any game that he owned in which he could beat his girlfriend. So far, there were none. Even the games that just required sheer luck to win, Marinette still beat everyone.

Go figure, Nino thought. She's all about having good luck.

Nino sat atop the halfpipe in Adrien's room, next to the bickering Kwamis. Tikki and Plagg apparently had a lot to catch up on since their last adventure as Ladybug and Cat Noir, which had been in the early 1900's during World War II to Nino's surprise. After their last heroes became too old to perform their necessary tasks, Master Fu (which Nino and Alya had yet to meet) had kept Tikki and Plagg safe from people who would abuse their power. Now, the two Kwamis were arguing about which time period had been the best so far.

Plagg crossed his little arms. "I still think that Ancient Rome had been the greatest time period."

"Seriously, Plagg?" Tikki said. "The Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, or even nowadays with all this new technology are way better time periods than Ancient Rome."

Nino raised an eyebrow. "Had cheese even existed back during Ancient Roman times?"

Plagg nodded. "Of course! That was the time I fell in love with cheese. I tried it for the first time and I've been in love with the stuff ever since."

"Is there anything else in this world you love more than cheese?" Tikki asked as she rolled her eyes.

Plagg looked at her. "Yes." He said nothing more.

Alya's phone buzzed and she saw that she had a text from her mother. "Oh hey, guys. I need to take off. Mom needs me to help her cook dinner. She can't feed a big family on her own."

Nino slid down the halfpipe and stood next to the couch. "Just how many siblings do you have?"

Alya softly smiled at him before looking away. "Too many too count, but I love each and every one."

"Well, here let us walk you out," Adrien said as he turned off the TV.

"I need to go too," Marinette said. "I completely forgot that I have history homework that's due tomorrow."

"Aw, alright," Adrien said as he led the way out of his room. "But I'll see you later tonight for patrol, right?"

Marinette nodded. "Of course, silly cat."

As the four friends walked down the grand staircase that led to the front doors of Adrien's mansion, Nino saw Alya turn to look at him. Unfortunately, she forgot that there was another step before the landing in the middle of the stairs and she slipped. Nino reached out to catch her, but Alya looked to the wall for support. Instead of her hand bracing the wall, however, she pushed against the massive portrait of Adrien and his father. To everyone's surprise, her hand went through the portrait and triggered a secret door. The portrait slid in and to the right, revealing a large metal door with a numerical keypad.

Alya steadied herself on the landing and looked at Adrien. "Uh, did you know that was there?"

Adrien's eyes were as big as saucers. "I...I had no idea. I mean I know my father has another secret compartment behind my mother's portrait in his office but I never thought he would have another..." His words died away.

Nino and Alya looked at each other before turning back to face the door. "Let's see what's inside," Nino said.

"What?" Adrien said, shocked. "No...no we can't. This is my father's and if he doesn't want me to know about it, then there's probably a good reason for it."

"Oh come on, aren't you even a little curious to know what's inside?" Alya asked.

"Maybe it's just his designs for his new collection or something," Adrien said as he scrambled to come up with a logical excuse as to why his father has a secret door behind his family's portrait.

Nino saw that Adrien was really struggling with this and noticed Marinette trying to comfort him. She took his hand and he held onto her like his life depended on it, like she was the only thing that kept him grounded.

"Well, I want to know what's behind it," Plagg said, disregarding Adrien's worry and zipping through the door.

"Wait, Plagg!" Marinette cried but she was too late.

The door swung open. Plagg floated in the middle of the doorway with a stone staircase that led up into darkness behind him. He had the biggest, mischevious smile on his face. In an instant, though, it vanished. Plagg's eyes widened and he immediately looked to Tikki.

Nino looked at the Kwami beside him and saw that she shared Plagg's expression.

"Nooroo," they both whispered. Their big eyes looked at each other for a second longer before they sped away up the staircase.

"Plagg! Tikki! Wait!" Marinette and Adrien cried simultaneously.

After a moment, Alya said, "Well, now we have to go. We have to go get the Kwamis." She stared at the dark entrance where the Kwamis had disappeared.

Adrien looked to Marinette and he nodded, reluctantly. He started up the staircase with Marinette right behind him. Nino glanced at Alya as she followed Marinette. "Are we going to like what's up there?" he asked.

"Guess there's only one way to find out," she said.