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It started about a month after the first time he had been granted permission to have lunch at school.
Technically, the permission only covered the school cafeteria, and time to eat.
Chattering and leaving school grounds to fetch lunch from somewhere else were definitely not included.
But, his friends seemed to really prefer getting their lunch somewhere else. Being seniors, they were the one class allowed to leave during breaks, and while Adrien did not really mind the cafeteria food, he was always happy to get to spend some time outside. Nino had been the first to suggest taking him with them.
Most days, it was simply dropping at Marinette's to grab some bread and one of the marvelous beverages her parents had been smart enough to start selling as sides. It was nice getting to spend time at a place as nice as her place. Sometimes, after they had rushed to finish a croissant with whatever the filling of the day was, they had time to play some video games. Take a stroll at the park.
Those days were nice.
Technically, that was even less included in the agreement. Technically, Adrien had been allowed to have lunch at school, and nothing more.
But, as long as he made it back in time for class, it should be okay, right? The school hadn't been told he was not allowed to leave school grounds, nor that he was to be eating from the cafeteria.
It was pretty much a miracle he had that little grey area in the agreement. And, even better. That he did not have to transform in order to have some unsupervised time other than class.
It had taken lots of arguing from Nathalie, but his father had actually backed from his initial idea of having someone stationed outside the school periodically.
"If you have nothing to hide, then I see no reason that it should worry you," he had said.
Either way, it would have most likely been Nathalie sitting in a car for hours at a time. Lately, she had become much more caring. Sure, it was a little odd at first to have the woman go from "professionally cold" to someone Adrien wanted to believe really, genuinely cared about him.
She had begun calling him to her room as soon as he got back from school, asking how his day had been. She made sure Gabriel kept his promise of not having Adrien model anymore. Adrien was not sure, but certain gestures, certain comments she made felt pretty backhanded to him whenever Gabriel said something that threatened their agreement. Adrien didn't mind much, as long as it kept his father happy and him out of modeling, but Nathalie had turned much more defensive.
In a way, he had begun trusting him. While nobody would ever be able to fill the void the death -or as his father liked to call it, disappearance- of his mother had left, Nathalie made him feel a little more cared about. Loved even. And that was nice. Really nice.
He was pretty sure that if she was ever sent to make sure he wasn't going anywhere else, she would cover for him. In fact, she had actually covered a few times when he had sneaked out as Chat Noir. While he hoped she only believed he was going through some sort of rebellious phase, if there was anyone he would tell, it would be her.
As long as he made sure to stay safe and not alone while he got used to being outside on his own, Nathalie didn't seem to mind him going outside. As long as he knew how to take cover from akumas, too. Of course, Adrien hadn't told her yet that it was him taking blasts like they were candy in the news every other day under the mask. While he would feel relatively safe, hoping she would keep his secret, having fought her as an akuma more than once didn't leave him restless enough about the matter to actually consider anything serious.
To his luck, there hadn't been akumas for a few days now. Well, maybe the attacks would eventually come back at double their strength, like the last time Monarch had taken a break. But, for now, Adrien hadn't had the need to make up any ridiculous excuses for not picking up the phone while transformed. He was chatting animatedly to Alya over a couple of milkshakes and some sort of chocolate-filled pastry after a good sandwich.
"I know! I'm running out of Top ten funniest Lucky Charm compilations and stuff like that, I won't be able to keep posting daily like this!"
Marinette and Nino snickered at the same moment he did. While he was pretty sure they laughed over Alya's comment, his laughter came from the fact that it was true. Even with the regular patrols he and Ladybug were doing, it was the most relaxed schedule he had had in... He couldn't even remember. Definitely since before he received his Miraculous, with all the modeling duties he had.
Suddenly, an alarm wailed from Alya and Nino's rings.
And... they had jinxed it.
"Uh, I have to run to the school! If Nathalie gets sent to pick me up and I'm not there-" he said as quickly as he could think, trying to find an excuse to leave and transform.
"I'll go with you! Just in case, at least that way the akuma won't catch you alone! Plus I left the project I'm working on for Kitty Section in the Art Room, if it's another goo monster-" Marinette rambled.
At least she was headed for the Art Room. That would be enough time to let him transform.
~(X)~
It had been, in fact, trickier than he thought. In the end, he had to go for his go-to bathroom excuse, and the akuma had been tough. Seriously, the akumas with Miraculous powers were going to be the death of him out of sheer physical exhaustion.
Adrien dropped into a bathroom stall, suddenly grateful that the akuma had wiped out a portion of the school. At least that would explain his disappearance.
The second Plagg was released from his ring, his phone buzzed with at least five missed calls and a few texts.
From Nathalie.
Adrien panicked for a second. What if she had gone to get him home during the attack and noticed he wasn’t there? He could only hope he wouldn’t be nervous enough to give himself out when he explained the whole “a-part-of-the-school-was-magically-erased” thing to her.
He closed his eyes, dreading the worst for a second while he opened the texts.
“The news say the akuma is headed towards the school area. Stay safe.”
It’s at your school. Are you safe?”
Adrien, did you get caught in the attack?
Adrien, are you okay?”
I’m coming to get you after the attack is over. Don’t worry about your father, he is okay with it. You need a break, I already canceled your evening classes.
All the missed calls were after the third text.
Huh. That was weird.
He had been very publicly the target of various akumas, but he couldn’t recall a single time he had had to explain himself like this. Taking the rest of the day off sounded nice with the exhaustion of fighting after a while he had now, even if he didn’t really need it. He had fought much tougher akumas, even been the target of some as Adrien.
A sudden thought invaded his brain.
It was the first time he had something to explain and the option to rest.
He had never been called after an akuma hit wherever he was.
He hadn’t been offered the option to rest like that, not even after Gorizilla dropped him off a building or truly tough stuff like that.
More precisely, his father had never called after an akuma.
His father had never offered letting him rest.
He was only snapped out of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone.
Nathalie’s number.
“Adrien? I’m outside, grab your things. I’ll wait for a little if you want to tell your friends.”
As soon as he was outside, he ran as fast as he could to hug her.