"Just a Friend?" Book 1 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy (MLB FanFic) |COMPLETED|

Chpt 39: Just the facts.

Adrien was staring out the car window at the lights of Paris on his way home from the airport. He was gazing over the city, thinking how quiet it looked, wondering if something big was going to happen any time soon to ruin that calm. He was grateful that nothing really happened when he was gone, but he kept learning more things that were pointing toward his father being Hawk Moth. Could there be some way for me to tell? Clues in Father's office? Where did the butterflies come from? From in the house somewhere? He had so many questions that needed answers.

It would be a lot more difficult to snoop around his father's office now that his father was home. Adrien wished he had thought more seriously about all of this when his father was out of town- it would have been so much easier then! He gave a quick glance at his father who was sitting on the seat next to him. As usual, there was no real expression on his father's face, no clue as to what he was thinking, though sometimes it felt like his father knew what he was thinking. Adrien hoped he wasn't reading his thoughts now! But, no. If he could read his thoughts, wouldn't there be some expression on his face? Displeasure or anger? If Adrien decided to try to answer his own questions, he would have to be very careful.

Adrien thought he might be able to get some information from his father now, since they were trapped together in the car. He really wanted to find out if his father would be away from his office this week.

Adrien cleared his throat softly. "So, Father, do you have any special plans for this week?" He tried to make it sound like he was only casually interested.

Gabriel's eyes snapped to Adrien's face, startled at the question, as he had been thinking about his akumatization plans for the end of the week. He quickly tried to read Adrien's face for any hint of what his son may know and then got control of his own expression to address his son. "Why this sudden interest in my plans?" he asked suspiciously.

Adrien registered the brief, startled expression and the weird note in his father's voice, wondering what they meant. "It's just that you've been out of town for awhile and I wondered whether you would be working on anything new this week," he said. "Doing anything different now that you are home?"

Gabriel continued to stare intently at Adrien, trying to assess whether there was some emotion behind these questions that would indicate the reason he was asking, since his words gave no real information. Adrien felt uncomfortable under his stare, but did his best to project a guileless expression, meeting his father's eyes. After a minute of silence where Gabriel found that he surprisingly couldn't read his son's emotions, he answered. "If there is some reason for you to know my schedule, I will share it with you." Gabriel turned his head to look out the window and indicate the conversation was over.

Well, that didn't get me anywhere, thought Adrien. "Yes, Father," Adrien said out loud and looked out his own window. He could see the house on the next block and was glad to be able to get out of the car soon and go to his room.

- - -

Adrien shut the door to his room, put his stuff down, and walked over to the couch. He got his phone out and called Marinette, sitting on the arm of the couch waiting for her to answer. Adrien was thinking she wasn't going to pick up, but she answered on the last ring. 

 "Adrien?" she said, sounding breathless.

"Were you in the middle of something? You can call me back if you need to," said Adrien.

"No, I just wanted to answer when I was in my room, so I ran up from the kitchen," Marinette replied. "Everything's fine. How are you?" she asked him.

"I'm fine. Things went ok. I have some things I would like to talk about in person, though, rather than over the phone. How's your schedule tonight?" Adrien asked.