Iris woke up from the sound her phone buzzing. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and brought it down to her eye level. She read Adrien's text. She smiled at it. Iris regretted texting them last night. It gave Gabriel another clue.

She answered his text. I'm fine. How are you? :)

Iris stayed in bed and tried to sleep a little more, but her phone went off again. She opened it and saw Gabriel's text. She let out a sigh.

Sorry no. :(

Meanwhile Marinette was standing in front of her mirror fixing her into a bun. She grabbed one of her hairpins from Tikki. She felt annoyed from last night. Why did they have to break out into another stupid fight? Now she was going to have to hear Adrien vent about it. She was so sick of their attitudes. Nothing will get fix if they continued to both act like this.

"Ready for school?" Tikki asked as she handed her her last hairpin.

"Yeah," she mumbled.

"You okay?"

"No," she replied and let out a sigh. "Bu there's nothing I can do. I'm neutral."

Tikki just nodded her head. She knew what she was talking about.

Marinette walked over to her lounge couch and grabbed her school bag.

"Don't worry Marinette, today will be a better day," said Tikki with a smile on her face.

She smiled back at her kwami. "Thanks."

Tikki flew into her purse and Marinette left her room. She ate a quick breakfast before heading out to school.

When Marinette got to school, she went to straight to class. As she headed up the stairs she could hear gossip like talk coming from some of the students. She ignored it. Her mind was still thinking about yesterday. When she entered the classroom, she saw Adrien sitting there already. She walked up the stairs and joined them at their desk.

"Morning," she said. Before she could say anything else Max and Kim came into the classroom and were talking really loud.

"I told you, Kim," said Max who looked very frustrated. "All new superhero teams start out rough. Just give them time."

"Pfft," said Kim. "They're going to fall apart." They took their seats. "I bet one of them is going to quit. Probably Peacock she seems like a weakling."

"But she's new. She just needs to get use to her powers."

"True. Ah! I bet Chat Noir will quit. He looked really mad last night." Both boys continued to argue about the miraculous superheroes.

Marinette looked puzzled and glanced back at Adrien. "What are they talking about?"

Adrien shrugged and lowered his voice so only she could hear. "Us, apparently... Sounds like someone recorded the fight last night..."

As he was speaking, Nino slid into the desk in front of them and looked back at them. "You didn't see what's trending in the news?" He asked, surprised. "I would have thought you two would pay a little more attention."  He pulled out his phone and typed a few things into its internet browser until he found what he was looking for before turning the volume as low as possible and passing it back to Adrien.

Adrien pressed play and watched as the clip played a brief introduction by Nadja Chamack before launching into a clip of Chat Noir fighting with Hawk Moth. The video was obviously taken by an amateur and thankfully did not catch parts of the exchange that indicated a familial connection between him and Hawk Moth before his father teleported them away. Still, he was surprised how hostile Chat Noir and Hawk Moth looked towards each other from an outside view. Now wonder the class was speculating. 

The news was speculating too, he realized as his thoughts were pulled back to the clip which ended with questions and speculations about why Hawk Moth was even there, whether Hawk Moth should be there in the first place, and what role Peacock played in the grand scheme of things. Adrien stopped the clip and handed the phone back to Nino in mild disgust.

"I can't believe someone was awake and in a good position to film that..."

"Well we were by apartments," Marinette said quietly. "I'm sure we woke some people up..." She then noticed Alya running up to them. She had her phone in her hand. Before she could say anything Marinette interrupted her. "Nino showed us.

She sighed and took her seat. "Dang it." She turned around to face both Marinette and Adrien. "Well it's all over Paris."

"Great..."

Alya sighed again. "You're telling me. I miss being the first person to report things."

Marinette shot her a glare.

"I know I know it's dangerous, but I miss being in the action! I wish they were like akumas."

"Alya, akumas were dangerous as well. One almost sacrifice you!"

"And I was a prefect sacrifice thank you very much."

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Are you serious!?" shouted a voice from the front of the classroom. Marinette and company looked toward the voice and saw Chloe standing there facing Bridgette. "How could root for a man who terrorize Pairs!?"

"It's simple. I hate this city," Bridgette replied calmly. "Why should I root for Ladybug and Chat Noir, when all they care about is the fame?" 

"What about Peacock?"

"Who?"

Chloe glared at her. "Ugh this pointless! Ladybug is not in it for the fame! She's a hero who deserves a better team!"

"Whatever."

Marinette just buried her head in her schoolbag. Why must Chloe be her fan? Why can't she hate Ladybug like Bridgette?

Adrien sighed, trying to ignore the conversation sparked by Chloe's declaration as other classmates either disagreed or reluctantly nodded in agreement.  He was tired of the discussion by the time the other students were debating on the pros and cons of each hero. Who knew one fight with his father would spark such a debate?  This was stupid.

So, he decided to do something he typically avoided. Join in to shut it down.  He raised his voice as he spoke so the class could hear him.  "I don't see why anyone would think they'd fall apart over one fight. Ladybug and Chat Noir have worked together long enough they're never going to split. And Peacock's new so of course she's going to have a little bit of trouble. She's probably doing better than most people would considering these enemies look tougher than the akumas.  And Hawk Moth seems fully capable of working on his own if he really wanted to. The fact he's still fighting with them means he's probably there to stay.  Like Max said, they're probably rough because the team is new."

He tried to sound neutral as he spoke, hiding any disdain for Hawk Moth and staying general enough to not arouse suspicion.  Hopefully, he succeeded and this would shut them up...

Marinette just stared at Adrien. She was shock that he tried to sound neutral toward his father. Now the classmates were talking about how the team should over come their differences. Marinette just patted him on the back. "Nice try, but just ignore it."

Adrien sighed, "I know.  I just couldn't help it this time..." He was especially annoyed they had called Peacock a weakling. She was doing remarkably well given she was thrown into the battle with enemies far more powerful than the akumas.  Plus, the idea Chat Noir would leave the team just because he was upset with Hawk Moth was preposterous.

Iris was still sitting her bed staring at her phone. Why hasn't either of her boys text her back? Adrien was probably at school which was understandable. As for Gabriel he could multitask at work! She let out an annoyed sigh.

"It will pass," Marinette said sounding optimistic. "It always does."

Adrien nodded. At least it wasn't as bad as right after Chat Blanc. Thankfully, the discussion finally died down when Mrs. Bustier entered the room and started class.

Gabriel stared at his phone for probably the hundredth time this morning. He wanted to reply to Iris's text, but he wasn't sure what to say. As much as he wanted and needed her home, he didn't want to make her feel worse than the frowning emoticon already indicated she was.

'Okay.. Let me know if there's anything I can help with.' He finally texted back. That was the best he could do for now.

Iris's phone buzzed. She opened Gabriel's message and frowned. That's it? She sat there for a minute thinking. She wanted to talk to him a little bit more. His fight with Adrien from last popped into her mind. She started texting him.

How's Adrien?

She hit sent. Iris felt stupid for asking him since she asked Adrien herself, but this was good way to see things were at home.

Gabriel tapped a finger against his desk as he tried to figure out how to answer. How was Adrien? Unhappy. Rebellious. And ready to disown him as a father, he'd wager, and it was completely his fault. But telling Iris that wouldn't really do much for her, would it? It would just make her worry about them.  Then again, why was she asking him about Adrien when she could text Adrien directly...?

'He's fine... We've been having some disagreements lately, so he tends to avoid me... His girlfriend says he's happy, though...' Well, that didn't sound great at all. He couldn't lie to her, though, so he tapped send and let it go. He subconsciously wanted her opinion anyway.

Iris read his reply multiple times. It hurt to read this, but she needed to hear it from him. She let out a sigh. They really needed her. She should go home...

She shook her head. No! She needed to protect them!


How are going to handle this?

Iris then hit send. She wasn't going to show her reaction to this or ask him questions about why Adrien was acting like this.

Gabriel sighed and twirled a pen in his hand  far more skillfully than anyone would have realized he could.  He had no plans to address it and didn't have the knowledge to figure it out on his own. All he had was what Peacock had suggested.

'I'm not completely sure... He was sneaking out late at night so I made it impossible for him to do so, but that just upset him. We have breakfast and dinner together now, but it doesn't seem to be doing much...'  

Oh, how he hated sending her reports of his failures...

Iris tapped her fingers on her bed. What to tell him? He was trying which was good. She didn't want him to be overbearing. That would make things worse. She sighed and picked up her phone.

Don't give up! Teenagers can be difficult. My sister was! Just take things slowly. The important thing to do is to show him that you love and care about him. Even if it is tough love! Not too tough! Be sure to be reasonable. 

She hit send. Hopefully that will help. She pretty much gave him the same advice from when she was talking to him as Peacock. Maybe it will encourage him more since it came from her instead of her alter ego.

Gabriel sighed. Easier said than done. Adrien seemed to react the same way no matter what he did. His actions as Hawk Moth had shattered the fragile relationship they'd had since Iris's disappearance. As far as he could tell, nothing was going to help until Adrien was willing to rebuild that relationship that he'd so carelessly destroyed.

'How do I know when I'm being unreasonable? He acts the same way no matter what I do..'

If you're unsure ask him!

Iris hit send. It was the only thing she could thing of. Something unreasonable may not be unreasonable to him. So it was hard for her to explain it to him.