Chapter Text
Nino Lahiffe wasn’t usually one to brag, but there were many ways in which he could spend his Saturday afternoon. A few weeks ago, primarily, it was spent on dates with his girlfriend – or perhaps he’d babysit, or go and see a movie, or go ice skating, or something.
But for the past three hours, he’d been cooped up in Kim’s bedroom, with Mar and Kim, researching every law there was regarding a child’s rights.
“I don’t know what any of this means,” Marinette groaned, head planting onto her arms in front of her laptop. “So many words… why does it have to sound so official?”
From the bed, Kim was in the same position, eyes glazing over as he scrolled through whatever online resources he could find. “The child labour stuff…” he began, words morphing into a yawn. “It’s complicated. Because Adrien was technically in the entertainment industry, I’m pretty sure he just needed consent from his legal guardian – and that’s his dad. No breaking the law there.”
“What about hours worked?” Nino said. “In Britain, there’s a law that minors are only allowed to work certain numbers of hours a day. Adrien’s worked himself ragged before, right? He has to have violated that at least once.”
Marinette propped her head up with one of her hands, looking over to Nino, who was occupying a bean bag, laptop resting on his knees. “And what have you found?” She asked, eyes still closed.
“Actually,” Nino began, “I found the laws surrounding moving out. Adrien isn’t 18 for, like, 9 months – and you have to be 18. But you can be an ‘emancipe’, which means with your guardian’s consent, you can live alone. We just need to sort out how to remove Gabriel as Adrien’s guardian.”
“How do we do that?” Marinette asked.
Nino shrugged. “That’s what you’re supposed to be looking up!”
The plate that once held the apple slices that Kim’s mum had provided was now empty. Nino sighed, watching it. He could have been out having lunch in the park or something right now.
“Alright, I’m switching focus,” Marinette declared, typing into her computer. “If Gabriel’s such a horrible person – surely some of his past employees have complained.”
“Yeah, like how Ellen’s supposed to be horrible in real life,” Kim commented.
“Ellen?” Nino asked. “Who’s that?”
Kim shrugged. “This American TV Show host, or something.”
“Alright,” Marinette picked the laptop off the desk and twirled her chair around so she was facing the other two boys. “I’ve got it.”
Nino looked up at her. “Well?” He asked.
Kim looked to the plate, where there were no apple slices left. “There’s no more apple?” He asked.
“Shut up, Kim. I’m doing legit stuff,” Marinette said. “Okay; the general consensus is that he’s really strict. But he pays well, and the benefits, and hours are fair. Isn’t that like any prestigious company, though?”
“How are we supposed to know?” Nino asked. “We don’t have proper jobs. I DJ for the school.”
Kim rolled onto his back. “I’m a lifeguard,” he said casually. “It actually pays pretty well. I think it’s because I had to go through a bunch of training for it.”
“Focus, guys!” Marinette said. “The point is, nobody’s been treated so badly that they’ve publicly spoken out about it – so we don’t have anything there, either.” She sighed. “What else can we do?”
“You’re forgetting we literally have Adrien himself – the child that Gabriel has neglected for seventeen years,” Kim said. “We got this, Mari. We have Nino Lahiffe on our side – lawyer-to-be extraordinaire.”
Nino scoffed. “Whatever. Continue your research. We need to find out whether we can get Adrien emancipated.”
Walking Marinette to school had become a staple in Nino’s routine surprisingly quickly. He’d begin each day earlier, excited at the prospect of the free pastry – and usually, he’d have to wake Marinette up before he got to enjoy it. On the days where she was already up, the two of them ate as they walked to the school, before usually splitting up to speak to others.
Nino knew they weren’t suddenly going to replace every other friend, and become ‘the golden trio’ again, but he’d expected to see them more around school. They hung out more after hours, sure – but after they’d suddenly made such a large re-entrance into his life, it was weird to see Kim skateboarding with Alix – or Marinette speaking with Kagami – and merely wave in greeting, instead of going over and ‘hanging out.’
Marinette had recently taken up to talking with Alya again – something nobody had really noticed that she’d excluded from her routine when Lila was around. Nino an Alya were… weird. They could smile and be civil, even cracking jokes around one another – but put them into a situation where they had to converse one-on-one and it was usually Nino that tensed up. He wanted to forgive her – but it felt that, in the revelation, their relationship had taken five steps backwards. It was like she was somebody that he loved, but didn’t really know. And he wanted to fix it; he just didn’t know how. But Marinette and Alya were never really estranged. Sure, they’d had their disagreements, but Marinette couldn’t hold much anger in her tiny body (that space was reserved for Ladybug’s super-strength), and forgiveness came easily to her. Now, they were almost back to the way they were.
Adrien’s car pulled out, the boy himself stepping out and walking over to Nino. The two hugged, before Adrien turned to wave goodbye as the car drove off.
“Morning, dude,” Nino said, smiling. “How are you?”
Adrien yawned. “Tired. The akuma attack was right outside my house – horrible stuff. I’ve been up since five.”
Nino pulled a face in sympathy. “Hey,” he probed. “Has your old man ever made you get up super early for a photoshoot or something?”
Adrien shrugged. “Nathalie’s very particular about the law – and which hours I’m allowed to work in it. So never before 6, I think. Doesn’t mean I’m not up getting ready before 6, though. The ‘work hours’ officially start when the shooting does – so usually we get there an hour or two before.”
A frown pulled Nino’s lips downwards. Interesting. Could they prove that in court?
Adrien’s eyes were darting around the steps, casually looking for something – or someone. “Looking for Marinette?” Nino asked.
The pink tint of Adrien’s ears told him everything he needed to know. That was Adrien’s ‘tell’ – and it was always super obvious.
“Don’t worry dude, she already went inside with Alya,” he patted the blonde on the back.
“I- I wasn’t worried!” Adrien responded. “Nope! I was just… curious.”
Nino laughed. Yeah, right. Curious.
But Adrien… blushing. That was interesting.