Brotherhood of Secrets

Nino walks towards the redhead and shuts his sketchbook. "Let's put the negative artwork away and focus on making sure Adrien is happy and isn't keeping his emotions all bottled up."

"Studies have shown that's actually quite dangerous that it seems," Max said. "It can shorten a lifespan, lead to heart disease, and cause people terrible stress that's enough to make their hair fall out, and-" Kim covers his mouth. The boys let out sighs of relief, knowing that's over.

"Max," Kim said as he pulled the genius close to his chest. "Chill. None of that will happen to Adrien, because we're going to be the ones who help him. Okay?" Max nods.

"Terrifying symptoms aside," said Nino. "Boys... To the mansion!"

The quintet stood outside the Agreste mansion, going over their plan a few more times.

"Max, you got the fake project rubric if Nathalie answers?" Nino asked. In response, Max reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a printed rubric for what looked like a history project. "Excellent. Nath?" The redhead stood at attention. "You got the comics if Gorilla answers?"

"You owe me, Lahiffe," Nathaniel muttered as he pulled out three Knight Owl comics from his blazer. "You know how long I stood in line outside the store for these? Two hours!"

"How'd you use the bathroom?" Kim asked, making his cheeks turn as red as his hair.

"Let's just say I ruined a perfect pair of jeans," he answered, sounding ashamed. "No further questions!"

"Okay," Nino held his hands up in defense. "Okay. Jeez." He made his way towards the doorbell and rang it, immediately backing away when the camera popped out of the wall and inspected the five boys.

"Can I help you?" Nathalie's voice asked through the speaker.

Nino turned to Mac and whispered, "Hand me the rubric." Max does so and Nino holds it up in front of the camera. "Well, we're doing a group project for our history class, and Adrien is a part of our group."

"All six of you?" She asked skeptically.

"Yes, that is correct," Max confirmed confidently without a hint of nervousness in his voice. "This project was assigned the day we had our history tests, the day Adrien left for a photoshoot, so he missed when we were being paired up."

Nathalie, still not entirely convinced panned the camera over to Kim, Ivan, Nathaniel, trying to keep straight faces so the five of them could get in. She knew this Nino Lahiffe was trouble, according to Gabriel's standards, but Adrien did seem more relaxed around the red-capped boy and his friends. She heard of Max tutoring the blonde boy when his grades seemed to be slipping, just so Gabriel wouldn't pull him out of school. Kim helped him embrace his more carefree side and seemed to prove Adrien with some comic relief. Nathaniel, while quiet, is what Adrien described as an amazing listener, always being a shoulder to cry on when Nino wasn't around. Then there was Ivan, providing Adrien with the warmth and comfort his own father hardly ever provides.

They obviously weren't working on a project. But if they were going through all of this trouble just to check up on Adrien, whom Nathalie and Gorilla noticed has been quite down lately ever since his break up with Kagami, then it wouldn't hurt to let them in. It still baffled the assistant as to why they broke up when they were so good together. What she heard from Gabriel when he akumatized the Japanese girl into Lies is that she was tired of people telling... Well, lies. Adrien was lying to her about something, but what? Deciding not to mull over this anymore until later, Nathalie opened the gates, allowing the boys entry.

"Oh, thank God," Nathaniel whispered as he clutched the comics close to his chest.

Nino, with a confident look, leads the boys to the front door. "See? I told you, dudes, it would work."