25. Crash My Party Part 1

A/N: Hello everybody! Lily and Sayuri here! Hopefully now that I know what I'm doing we'll go back to updates twice a week. Again, thank you so much for everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favorited. Ya'll mean a lot to me! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Things are gonna get crazy from here...

Chapter 25: Crash My Party; Part 1

Marinette had been missing from school for two days.

Her parents had finally contacted the school that morning, telling her teachers that she was sick and might not be back for several more days. Mrs. Bustier shared the information with the class because everybody was worried that one of their classmates had been kidnapped like Adrien. The teachers were also worried. Alya had been absent for as long as Marinette, and they had yet to hear the reason.

But for Nathaneal, the only person he noticed missing was Marinette. Sweet, lovely Marinette. He could no longer spend all day watching her in class, sketching her to perfection. He tried to draw her without looking at her, but he was unsatisfied with the results.

If only Marinette would notice him! She had always been kind to him, but she was kind to everyone. She hadn't made fun of him when Chloe had broadcasted the news of his crush to the whole school. She had been nothing but understanding and sweet. Sometimes he wished she could have just told him she wasn't interested. It would make everything easy.

He needed a plan! He just wished he were a little braver. Maybe then he could ask her out and get it over with. But there was so many things that could go wrong. And if Chloe found out...

When he heard that Marinette was sick and would be absent for a few more days, he was a little upset. But then he realized that maybe this was the chance he was looking for! With no Alya around to bring Marinette her homework, he could volunteer to take it. And then he could ask her in her own home, privately. It was perfect!

Ms. Mendeleiev ended up making everything easier for him. She ordered him to bring Marinette and Alya their homework as a punishment for drawing in class. He accepted the duty happily, to her mild confusion.

Before heading over to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, he headed home and dressed a little nicer then he normally would have. He brushed his hair and even considered tying it back. In the end, he chose not to. It was easy to hide behind the wall of red hair if things got embarrassing. He even stopped at a flower stand that Rose had set up and got a small bouquet of roses. Then he gathered up his courage and approached the bakery.

"Strange," Nathan thought as he walked up. "It's closed. It isn't usually closed." He reached out his hand to ring the doorbell, and then he stopped short. Could he really do this? What if she turned him down? What if she was still angry at him for the whole Evillustrater thing? What if she already had a boyfriend!

Squeezing his eyes shut, he ignored the strange looks from the few passer by. Standing in front of a closed bakery with a bunch of flowers must look a little odd. Finally, Nathaneal made his decision. He rang the doorbell and waited.

For several minutes, he heard nothing. He resisted the urge to press his ear to the door, lest someone open it. Then he heard quiet yet distinctive shuffling. Somebody moving towards the door. But nobody opened it. Nathan was overwhelmingly confused.

Finally, Nathaneal got frustrated. He did not get up his courage to walk all the way over here just to go home again and never have this chance! He shifted the homework assignments and the flowers to one hand and reached out. To his surprise, the door was unlocked (Adrien had busted the lock when he picked it). Nathaneal opened it tentatively.

"Marinette? Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?" he called quietly. He heard a noise in the kitchen, like someone hastily trying to move. He walked in. What if something was wrong? What if somebody was going to hurt Marinette?

Suddenly, there was a loud thump on the roof, followed by muffled voices. There was a crash in the kitchen. Nathaneal dropped his flowers on the ground and ran into the kitchen. If she needed someone to save her, who better than him?

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Chat Noir made his way home quickly and detransformed. He shoved Wayzz and Plagg into a small bird cage (magic proof, so they couldn't get out) and gave them nothing to eat despite Plagg's constant wining. Then he went down and locked the cat and the turtle miraculous in his safe.

It seemed the best option at this point. Ladybug knew who he was, so he couldn't be caught with the miraculous. Nobody knew about the safe except for him. The fact that the book had disappeared from the safe definitely worried him. But he had no doubt that Adrien (with the probable help of his kwami, since they could phase through things) had taken it. Of course, there was no way Adrien or anybody else could get into his mansion now. He practically had the place on lock down.

He went to sit down in his office chair and rewind from the days events when Natalie's voice came over intercom. "Sir, we seem to have a problem with some fabric shipments that needs your immediate attention."

"I'll be right there," Gabriel muttered. He looked forlornly at his comfortable office chair before dragging himself to work.

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Nino made his way out of the Dupain-Cheng bakery, head spinning. His best friend was Chat Noir. He couldn't believe it. He did feel a little hurt that Adrien had never told him, but he supposed it made sense. Ladybug and Chat Noir never even revealed their identities to each other.

He rode the Metro all the way to the Agreste mansion. He was a few feet away from the gate when he realized he didn't have an excuse to get in. Crap.

"Yes?" Natalie's voice came over the camera speaker after he rung the doorbell. Nino took a deep breath. He wasn't the best liar.

"Um, h-hello dude-I MEAN MA'AM! I'm in Adrien's class... His best friend... and-"

"I know who you are. What do you want?"

"Well, I was supposed to... um... bring Adrien's homework over! I mean, I-know-he's-not-here-just-it'll-be-there-when-he-gets-back!" Nino finished quickly. He pulled some random papers out of his bag and held them up. Natalie eyed him suspiciously and sighed.

"Fine. Put it into the box." The mailbox popped open.

"Woah woah woah, du- I mean ma'am! It'll get all out of order and messed up!" Nino protested. He could hear the very exaggerated sigh from the other end.

"FINE. Bring it in."

The gates opened and Nino walked inside and up to the door. When he opened it, Natalie was ready to greet him. "Okay, I'll take that from you and give it to Mr. Agreste when he...returns," Natalie ordered. Suddenly a high pitched voice called over Natalie's shoulder.

"Natalie! The new fabric order was all messed up! And we have a deadline to meet!"

"Coming!" Natalie said. She glanced at Nino hesitantly. "You know where Adrien's room is. Leave that on the dresser." She turned and followed the woman into another room. Nino let out a sigh of relief, shifted his headphones, and crept over to the safe that Adrien had said was behind the portrait of his mother.

"This must be it," Nino thought, looking at a large painting of a beautiful woman with blonde hair and green eyes. He swung the portrait open. Then he took a list of possible codes out of his bag. Adrien had written down several different possibilities, the first being his mother and father's wedding anniversary. It worked. The safe door swung open.

Inside of the safe, there were several objects. A picture of Adrien's mother, a weird turtle shell bracelet, a peacock feather pin, and... Adrien's ring? Nino was so excited! Were these items miraculous? He grabbed the pin (that was what he was originally supposed to take) and then he picked up the other two things without hesitation.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. Slamming the safe shut, he ducked behind a table. He heard Mr. Agreste muttering to himself about 'those darn delivery people' before his footsteps faded away.

"I should go check out that dude's office too," Nino thought. "Why does Adrien's dad even have the miraculous?" He thought back on the story Adrien had told him and his eyes widened.

"Adrien's dad is Hawkmoth!" he muttered under his breath. "Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth! And he did that to Adrien!"

"There's no way Adrien knows about this," Nino thought. "Do Marinette and Alya know? Oh god, what am I supposed to tell him?" He crept up to Mr. Agreste's office. The first thing that called his attention was muffled yelling.

"Give me cheese or give me death!" a little voice called.

"Plagg, that's not going to help," Another voice said, sounding exhausted. Nino followed the voices through several doors until he entered weird white room. There was a cage with two little tiny creatures in it. The black one was yelling loudly.

"THIS IS KWAMI ABUSE!" he screeched. His eyes widened when he saw Nino. "YES! NINO! WE'VE BEEN SAVED!"

"Who are you and why do you know my name?" Nino asked loudly, trying to keep his voice to a minimum volume.

"Oh please, you're Adrien's best friend. I go with the kid everywhere. How would I not know you? My name is Plagg and get us out of here!"

"Um, sure. Do you have a key?"

"Oh yeah, let me pull it out of my magical pocket and unlock the cage by myself. NO I DO NOT HAVE A KEY!"

"It's in his desk," Wayzz said weakly. Nino retreated and came back promptly with a key. He unlocked the cage and hesitantly picked up both of the kwami.

"Awesome! Now let's go back to Adrien! You got my ring, kid? I can't go very far without it."

"Yeah I got it," Nino said proudly, holding up the shiny silver object. PLagg's smile could not be matched. Nino turned and crept out of the room and back the way he had come. He was very careful to peek around walls and check to make sure no one was there.

He got all the way down the stairs and halfway across the front parlor when he began to run. Suddenly, Nino crashed into someone and fell on his butt.

"Ahem," Gabriel Agreste straightened his tie and looked down accusingly at Nino. "How did you get in here and what are you doing?" His eyes traveled to the kwami's in Nino's hands.

"I was just leaving some homework in Adrien's room! Can't have him rescued and then unable to catch up, right du- I MEAN SIR? I'll just be going now..." Nino scrambled to his feet and moved to dash around Mr. Agreste and leave the room when a hand grabbed his wrist.

"Adrien sent you, didn't he?"

Nino's snarled angrily. "Hawkmoth!"

Gabriel's eyes held a hint of fear. "Figured it out did you? Did Adrien tell you that?"

"I don't even think he knows! Just wait till I tell him his dad was the one who hurt him. He'll be so angry! And you won't like him when he's angry!" Nino countered, struggling in the man's firm grip.

"I know what my son looks like angry!" Gabriel insisted, almost like he had something to prove. Nino's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I doubt it, dude! You ignored his existence for all his life! The poor guy does everything he can to please you! He doesn't eat or sleep properly! He constantly panics about being perfect! And you ignore him! Could you be any more of an asshole? You don't even say 'good morning' to him! You haven't done it once! I guess you were too busy trying to KILL people with your demon butterflies!"

"DO NOT SPEAK OF IT LIKE THAT!" Gabriel roared. "EVERYTHING I DID WAS FOR HIS OWN GOOD!"

He was momentarily blinded by his anger, and Nino immediately took the opportunity to kick him in the shin. Gabriel cursed loudly as Nino tore out of his grip and turned to run, only to be tripped and brought to the ground again.

"Coming here was a mistake!" Gabriel growled. He ripped the cat miraculous from Nino's hand as the boy shrieked angrily, his baseball cap falling off as he twisted desperately. Gabriel's hands immediately went for Nino's pocket, where the turtle and peacock miraculous resided. Before he could get them, Nino bit his hand. Hard.

Gabriel jerked his arm back. "Did you just... bite me?" he snarled in disbelief. Nino kicked him again and jumped to his feet, tearing out the door. PLagg's shouts of 'run kid, run! Keep Adrien safe for me!' followed him out the door. Then he heard another sound.

"Plagg, claws out!"

Nino dashed for the gate, scared out of his wits. There was no way he could outrun Chat Noir! Wayzz knew this also. "Nino, you need to use me to transform!" he insisted. Nino's eyes widened.

"W-WHat? You mean like, have super hero powers? I can't..."

"Of course you can! Just say 'Wayzz, shell on' while wearing the bracelet!"

Nino's eyes were nearly bulging out of his head. He looked hesitantly at the weak kwami. He could hear Chat Noir/Gabriel shouting orders to lock down the mansion. "Are you sure?"

"Positive! Do it!" Wayzz commanded. "Just do it!"

"Okay," Nino said. He grabbed the bracelet out of his pocket and slipped it onto his wrist. "Wayzz, shell on!"

A/N: Well, there we go! A day early too, so hopefully I'll be able to work on some other projects too! Thanks for reading and reviewing. Have a great day! #FeedTheKwami

(And if you're bored, you could hop on over and read "Miraculous Music". A series of random oneshots I've been writing based off of songs.) ;)