"Hey," said Marinette. "It's me." She peaked her head out from the tree. "I'm near your house, but there's a problem. The media is outside. I don't know how to get in without drawing attention." She hid her head behind the tree again.

Adrien bit his lip. He hadn't thought about that... He tapped a finger against his sheets and tried desperately to think of a plan. "Uh... Are they around the entire perimeter? Maybe you could try to get in around back..."

How she would get in the back, he wasn't sure. She could easily jump over the back of the wall as Ladybug, but that would draw too much attention.

"Um, I guess I could try that. Let me call you back," said Marinette. She then hung up the phone and quietly made her way to the back of Adrien's house. Thanks to her luck there was no media. They were all near the front of the house. She hid behind a tree to transform. 

As Ladybug she hopped over the fence and landed safely on the ground. She then detransformed and walked up to the back door. Marinette then just stood there. Tikki could unlock it, but she felt that was being rude. Marinette quickly called Adrien. "Hey I'm at the back door. Can someone let me in?"

"Sure. Hold on," he said. He hanged up the phone and then texted his parents in a group chat. Marinette had to come in thought the back to avoid the media. Can you let her in the back door?


Gabriel looked at his phone. He was still at the dining room table.  I'll let her in, he replied so Iris wouldn't have to come back downstairs. He stood and headed to the back door. Then he opened the door and moved to the side to let her in. "Hello, Marinette. How are you doing?"

Marinette walked through the house. "I'm good. How are you?" After a quick chat with Adrien's father, she went upstairs to Adrien's room. She opened the door and found him sitting in bed.  Marinette smiled at him and walked over to the bed. She sat down.

"Hey," she said. "My dad made you some cookies." Marinette then handed the bag to them. "While I brought you your homework." She took off her bookbag and unzip it. Marinette then pulled out his homework. She just sat it on the bed.

Tikki came out of Marinette's purse and stared at Plagg for a second. She then flew off and went into the closet.

"Huh. It's almost like your dad loves me more than you do," he teased with a grin, taking the bag of cookies from her. He ignored the homework, not wanting to think about it at the moment. Instead, he took a bite of one of the cookies. "Thanks for coming over."

Plagg gulped as he saw Tikki's look. If only he could avoid this talk for a little longer... But he sighed and flew quickly after her into the closet. His tail twitched nervously as he landed and waited for her lecture.

"No problem," said Marinette. "So how are things going?" She helped herself to a cookie as well.

Tikki stood in the middle of the floor and waited for Plagg. When he landed in front of her, she could tell he was nervous. Tikki wasn't going to scold him. She could tell he felt guilty at the hospital. Especially when Marinette scolded him. So there was no point to lecture him. She just wanted answers. "Plagg, I just want to know why things got out of hand."

"Pretty good. The media crawling around keeps me from going outside, and resting has been really nice even though it's boring as crap..." He took another bite of the cookie. He wasn't going to mention how much he wanted to be out on the rooftops again. She probably wouldn't approve.

Plagg relaxed slightly when she didn't scold or lecture him outright. Maybe he could get through this talk without facing too much of her wrath. He sighed. "Because I'm a bad kwami. I trusted Adrien to be able to protect himself, and he gave me extra cheese for the deal. I should have known better... But I'm worried he would have made me transform him anyway just by saying claws out."

"You shouldn't be going outside anyway," said Marinette. "Not until you're healed." She then took off her shoes to make herself more comfortable. She decided to sit cross legged.

Tikki shook her head. "He seems out of control. Have you talked to him?"

Adrien nodded. "I know. I'm just already sick of being in my room. I'm in here so often," he whined over-dramatically as he put on a face of mock anguish.

Plagg frowned. "I talked to him recently and told him he shouldn't go out alone anymore since now that they know he goes out they could find him again. He said he wouldn't anymore, but I don't know if I believe him. He's so use to putting on fake expressions when he models that he can lie really easily if he wants to. Everything with his father really messed him up... Even though he said he'd make an effort to fix things, they haven't talked to each other about it at all. He's going to keep acting like this if they don't fix things soon.."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Adrien, don't even bother. I'm not going to baby you since this could have been prevented." 

Tikki sighed. "That's not good." She sat down on the floor. "Well you just have give him tough love and don't! And I repeat don't give into cheese! Do you understand me?"

He sighed and dropped the theatrics, "Fine. But I really am bored.. What should we do today?"

Plagg nodded. "I know. I won't do it again. I don't want him to ever be in that kind of situation because of me again. I'll just have to figure out a good way to keep him from transforming before I can stop him..."

"Well," said Marinette. "We can play video games? Are you able to play from your bed?" She glanced at the TV and then back at him. "Can you see the TV from here?"

Tikki chuckled. "Plagg, how about taking the ring from him at night? You'll need to hide it too."

Adrien nodded. "I played Mario Party with my parents yesterday. I don't know how my mother managed it, but she got my father to play. He sucks at video games."

"That would be the best bet," Plagg said, though he gave her a doubtful look. "He'll be resistant to giving it to me. He already hates it when his father takes it from him at night. It's worth a shot, though."

Marinette smiled and perked up. "You played Mario Party with your dad? That's great!" She was happy that Adrien was bonding with his family again.

"Then team up with his father," Tikki said. "I'm sure he'll help you get the ring." Tikki then chuckled again. "Maybe he'll send an akuma."

Meanwhile Iris found Gabriel in the library. "Hey. I'm ready to go. But the media is still outside our gates." She walked over to the couch he was sitting on and leaned over it. "What should we do?"