Brotherhood of Secrets

"Okay, dudes!" Said Nino as he held up his tablet, showing photos of Adrien and Kagami looking happy and so in love. "Our bro's got a problem, and we're the only people who can help him out!"

Max adjusts his glasses, narrows his eyes at the pictures, and asks, "How did you get those photos, and when did you have the time to take them?"

"Max, my man," he chuckled. "Like Alya with Marinette, I too am invested in my best friend's love life."

"Ex-love life," Nathaniel corrected, not looking up from his sketchbook.

"Anyway," Nino rolled his eyes. "You all haven't seen him like I have, he's all down in the dumps because of his break up with Kagami."

"Marc and I saw her in the art classroom," Nathaniel piped up. "She looked so upset. I tried talking to her, but she said that only Adrien had the answers, but, I didn't feel like getting deeper into it."

"Yeah," Kim nodded. "Poor girl. And they made such a good couple."

"Plus, Marinette liked Kagami and wanted to see her happy," Ivan added.

"There's about a twenty-five percent chance she'll be comfortable with another girl dating Adrien," Max calculated. "With Kagami, Marinette seemed very content with them dating, but she's also dating Luka, so..." He shrugs.

"Was dating him," Nathaniel corrected. "They broke up, remember? I heard from Alix, who heard from Myléne, who heard from Rose, who heard from Juleka, who was told by Luka."

"Shit," Ivan cursed. "Seems like everyone is breaking up, huh? How's Mari doing?"

"And from what I heard from Alix, she's doing okay," Kim answered. "There was a little argument but girls talked it out, they're doing whatever they can to help Mari de-stress, and then they had a sleepover at Alya's I should have been invited to!" He pouted. "They had candy popcorn, and did nothing to save a little bit for me!"

"Guys!" Nino exclaimed, sounding annoyed as he waved his tablet back and forth. "Let's get back to Adrien, alright? The guy needs our help. He just seems so... Closed in on himself lately, y'know? I think something's really wrong; he won't even tell me what's up."

"He won't tell you what's wrong?" Kim asked in disbelief. "But you're his best friend! This is serious... Maybe his dad is just being a dick," he guessed.

Nino hummed in thought. "Possibly. Let's keep that on the board. I've seen his 'Father won't let me be a normal boy,' look, and that's not the look I've seen him with." He sees the boys becoming more concerned. "But, if it is that poor excuse of a dad who's causing our bro pain, then we are definitely calling child services, for real."

"No backing out this time!" Kim cheered, making Max chuckle. "Let's get his ass in jail!"

"But, maybe we should try talking to him first before jumping to conclusions," Max suggested. "What Adrien really needs is an intervention, something to let him know we're all here for him, we're here to help him out."

"I like that," Ivan smiled.

Nathaniel set down his pencil and looked up, "That could work, actually."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Max asked with an arched eyebrow and a proud look.

Ivan leans over to see what Nathaniel was drawing. "What were you drawing, anyway?"

"The hole we're are all destined to dig ourselves into if this fails," Nathaniel said as he held up his sketchbook, showing a page with a black hole in the center and five stick figures of the guys trying to crawl out. None of them are amused. "What? You guys know I'm right. Things just never seem to go our way."