Marinette was now sitting at her desk. She had her arms folded. Why hasn't he answered her text? It has been at least 15 minutes. Well there was only one thing to do. She picked up her phone and called him. She leaned back her chair and waited for him to pick up.

"I think you're pushing too hard," Tikki spoke up. She was now sitting on Marinette's computer monitor.

She waved her hand. "Tikki, I have no choice. I have to be hard on him."

Adrien walked out of the bathroom just in time to hear his phone ringing. He rushed to his desk and quickly glanced at the screen. Marinette. He bit his lip, certain she was mad at him for ignoring her text. Still... He needed to answer it.

The call was on it's last ring when he quickly accepted the call. "Good morning, princess," he answered, wondering how hard it would be to steer the conversation to something she wasn't mad at him for.

"Morning," Marinette said annoyed. She wondered if he left the phone ringing to the last second. "You ignored my text. And don't try to weasel your way out of this conversation. You're going to talk to your father about Peacock." She paused for a second. Marinette knew how to get him to do it. "Because if you don't I'll ask him myself."

"I didn't mean to ignore your text. I was just trying to think of what to answer," Adrien protested, putting his phone on speaker as he headed over to his closet. He'd been in such a hurry to answer the phone that he was still in a towel. He grabbed his clothes and said, "Please don't talk to him. I'll do it when I'm ready." Once he was done speaking, he placed the phone on his desk and got dressed while listening for her reply.

"So you're just going to let this whole Peacock thing bother you then? Adrien, why are you torturing yourself? It doesn't make sense.." Marinette didn't know what else to say. She leaned back in her seat.

"I..." He paused. Why was he doing this to himself? He did plan on making up with his father at some point, right..? There really wasn't a reason to hold back now. "I don't know... I just can't seem to talk to him without it being awkward."

Marinette smacked her head. "It's only awkward because you're making it awkward." She tapped her finger on her desk. "You know once you start talking to him it isn't so bad.." Marinette was remembering how she felt when she had lunch Mr. Agreste.

Adrien paced back and forth now. Talking to him wasn't so bad? Clearly, Marinette had never tried to talk to his father before now. Gabriel Agreste had never been easy to talk to. Why should now be any different? "You only say that because you've only spoken to him when he's making an effort to be friendly. Talking to him has always been awkward or distant. Just... now it's even worse."

"But Adrien he seems to be making an effort now. Has he been trying to talk to you recently?" Marinette was losing her patience with him. She tapped her finger harder on the desk. She had feeling she was going to ask Mr. Agreste about Peacock herself. She didn't care if it upset Adrien. She wasn't going to let it bother him.

Adrien stopped pacing and opened his mouth to protest, but she was right.  His father had tried to talk to him more recently.  But still...  He shook his head in frustration.  Why had he thought it was a good idea to bother Marinette last night?  It's not like he was dumb enough to not expect this reaction.

Sighing in defeat, he walked back to his desk and sat down.  "He has tried..."  He answered, pausing for a moment.  An implied 'but' hung on the tip of his, trying to escape his lips and failing.  But what...?  He gave up on whatever his subconscious was trying to say in favor of giving in for the moment.  

"Fine.  I'll ask him," he said.  Hopefully that answer would be enough for her to back off a little bit.

Marinette felt victorious. She wasn't expecting him to give in so easily. "Good. I want to hear his answer tonight when I come over." She then heard her mother calling for her. Marinette turned toward her trapdoor.

It then opened up and her mother poked her head up. "We need your help in the bakery."

Marinette nodded her head. "Okay mom." She then turned her attention back to Adrien after her mother left. "I'll come over after I'm done helping my parents. Bye!" She then hung up and left her room.

Adrien ended the call on his phone and let out a groan.  Now he had to talk to his father. There was no way Marinette would let him get away with not talking to him now. Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned his head to see Plagg snickering nearby, a slice of cheese in his paws.

"She sure told you," he laughed, his green eyes shining in amusement while a smirk planted itself on the kwami's face.

"Shut up," Adrien muttered, turning towards the door. 

Plagg's tail lashed back and forth, amusement in his eyes turning to frustration. "Come on, Adrien. You know she's right.  That's why you didn't have an argument. Just suck it up already and talk to your father. You have to like him, but being nice goes a long way."

"That's funny coming from someone who won't talk to Lycca just because he's the butterfly kwami," Adrien muttered. They exited his room with Plagg not even trying to hide. The only hired help here on a Saturday morning was the chef, and they were nowhere near the kitchen.

"That's a bad comparison. Just talk to him." With that, Plagg decided the conversation was over by flying into Adrien's collar and ignoring any attempt to talk to him.

His father was already at the table drinking a steaming hot cup of coffee and looking through a fashion magazine. He murmured a quick "good morning" but didn't look up as Adrien approached. Given their previous breakfasts in silence, it wasn't really surprising that he didn't think Adrien would speak to him.

"Good morning," Adrien muttered and sat down at one of the chairs close enough to have a conversation but not right next to his father. "How is your morning?"

His father did look up thanks to the breach in their usual routine, raising an eyebrow in confusion but didn't hesitate to answer. "Pretty good."

Silence fell back over them and Adrien almost just left it at that, but the thought of Marinette bringing it up was good motivation. "So... You and Peacock seemed to have gotten close out of nowhere.. Did something happen at the ball?"

His father stared at him a moment, obviously thinking about his answer. Why would he have to think about it unless he had something to hide? Finally, he shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about. We're teammates, so we went patrolling during the ball."

"Oh," Adrien murmured and quickly dropped the subject. He didn't believe his father, but it wasn't worth the effort to push when it could lead his father to realizing he was out late last night.

Soon after Marinette was finished helping her parents, she headed over to Adrien's house. Despite their current argument she was looking forward to spending time with him at his house. She decided to bring cookies over to cheer Adrien up.

Tikki poked her head out of her purse. "Do you think he asked his father?"

"I think so. I was very pushy."

"A little too pushy...," her kwami slightly mumbled.

"Tikki! I have no choice. It's almost November and they have gotten no where. I'm getting annoyed."

"True, but turn it down a notch."

Marinette bit her lip. She couldn't keep a promise like that. She finally made it to his house and rang the bell at the gate. She tapped her foot against the ground as she waited. She just wanted the best for everyone and she wasn't going to hold back anymore.

Adrien heard the doorbell ring and headed out to the front room to answer it.  He was nowhere near ready to explain to her that he only scratched the surface of the conversation with his father. He expected some fireworks would spark the moment he mentioned his father's weak excuse. He bit his lip for a moment before opening the door.

"Hey. How's your day going?" He asked as he motioned her into the house and shut the door behind her.

Marinette smiled at Adrien when he greeted her at the gate. "Okay. Yours?" She then followed Adrien into his house and the door closed behind them. She put the bag of cookies behind her back. She just smiled at him again hoping he would tell her about his talk with his father.

Meanwhile Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse and went off to go find Plagg and Lycca. She needed to talk to them both. Tikki went to Adrien's room first and found him on the bed. "Plagg!" She landed next to him. "How was your morning? I'm sure you overheard the kids' argument."