Masked Permanently

Researching

"Adrien, it's time for school!" Nathalie knocked at his door.

At the sound of her voice, Adrien glanced up toward his door. "There's an issue that I'd consider a little more important than my education!" He yelled back, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"And what might that be?"

Adrien jumped at the familiar, deep male voice that came from beside him. He sat up, realizing his father was sitting at his desk. "Father! What are y-you doing here this morning? I thought you'd be at work!" The boy asked, smiling nervously as he sat up straight.

"I heard from your bodyguard that you and Nathalie returned home late. What were you doing?" Gabriel asked with a raised eyebrow as he noticed the slideshow background of his computer changing to a selfie of Marinette and Alya, more zoomed in on Marinette's face than her best friend's.

Adrien's face reddened as he got up and slapped the button to shut the computer monitor off. "Oh, I was... doing a school project with the people I was assigned to group with!" He thought up the excuse quickly, "And Nathalie had to drive me there and back!"

Gabriel grunted a small thoughtful response, then looked at the door. "You know, when I had asked Nathalie, she offered me a different explanation," he clasped his hands together, standing to tower over his son in height.

Adrien gulped, letting out a nervous laugh, "Oh?"

"Nathalie told me that you were volunteering with your friends," Gabriel spoke curtly. The tall man adjusted his glasses, clearing his throat seriously. He bent down slightly with narrowed icy gray eyes to look his son in the eyes, then asked in the most solemn tone, "So let me ask you again, what exactly were you doing last night?"

Adrien parted his lips to respond breathlessly, but Gabriel cut him off, "Don't think this is the first time I've seen you sneaking off at night either. When I'd come home late at night, I'd notice you weren't in your bedroom."

It was then the boy felt he'd been whacked in the stomach with a dumbbell, and he looked to his drawer where Plagg slept helplessly before looking back up at his father. What could he tell him about all those nights? It wasn't like he could reveal his identity to his father, but he suddenly realized he could do much worse.

It was a terrible idea, Adrien knew, but revealing his identity wasn't an option. If he offered a less crazy explanation, Gabriel likely wouldn't believe him.

With a smirk, he looked up at his father and looked back and said, "I'll give you the truth, Father."

Gabriel looked taken aback by his sudden change of heart, and he pushed on curiously, "Well, then what is it?"

Adrien spoke smugly, and told his father, "What I do is something not a lot of people know about. Not even my closest friends know this, but I..."