Chapter Text
"Now, Adrien, you will give me your Miraculous."
Adrien’s mind is racing a mile a minute.
Shit is stumbling over what the fuck, and together the go hurdling into I am going to die a virgin...
As if his dad can watch his thoughts project across his face he says “And I want her earrings, too. I know you know who she is. You were with her just now. I can smell her on you.”
Well, that’s fucking creepy. But he knows as well as any that the powers of the Miraculous amplify human senses in addition to strength and dexterity. It’s not really that weird when he thinks about it. Except...No, no, it’s definitely weird that his father - that iconic fashion designer Gabriel Agreste - is scenting his partner’s [girlfriend's?] arousal on his clothes and skin.
He wants to deny it, but his blush has already given him away, and Hawk Moth’s [he refuses to think Father’s] eyes light up in twisted elation.
Time for Plan B. Which, well, Plan A [“deny and hope?”] wasn’t all that great to begin with, and he’s not the one who comes up with the plans anyway, and honestly “Plan B” is him realizing he even needs a Plan in the first place, so that’s going to get him nowhere. Forgive him if his brain is sluggish on tactical strategy when his blood spent most of the evening vacationing south of the border [and is still somewhat prepped for a solo round that is definitely off the table now, thanks, Gabe]. His brain cells may be a little slow getting into the act…especially when “Topic Of The Day #3” - fter “Topic of the day #1: Marinette is Ladybug,” and “Topic of the Day #2: I’m hooking up with Marinette/Ladybug because she's in love with me!” - is: Oh my god, my own father is Hawk Moth, and Hawk Moth is standing in my bedroom, WHERE HE JUST SAW ME DETRANSFORM, and Hawk Moth knows my identity, and I am so grounded...by Hawk Moth. Because Hawk Moth is my father...
He blinks. Priorities, Adrien.
And maybe that’s the moment where it really starts to sink in because now he’s realizing that Mayura is definitely Nathalie wielding Peacock Miraculous - Nathalie who’s been getting sicker and weaker...just like his mom, in all the same ways...and nope, that’s it. No more thinking down that avenue. It’s too big and too much, and everything is off-kilter, and he sways on the spot as everything feels like it’s about to come crashing down on twelve-year-old shoulders. Even if he isn’t twelve anymore, he still feels every bit a child as his mind flees screaming from its logical course of enlightenment and barrage of memories, which inevitably ends in the realization that everyone in his life has somehow, in some way, spectacularly betrayed him.
It's just too much...
Adrien is vaguely aware of his father - his nemesis - clutching a white butterfly that then flies, purple and blighted, from his silver-gloved hands. It takes its time fluttering and looping through the air as it makes its way lazily in Adrien’s general direction. Adrien is surrounded, cornered and feeling every bit the feral stray up against the odds. There’s nowhere to run. Everyone under the roof where he grew up has left or lost their mind. His lady isn’t by his side because she has no idea she needs to be, that there’s an akuma charged and headed to make him its next victim, Hawk Moth's next villain.
Her next adversary.
He’s still physically poised for a fight while mentally he’s reeling at the edge of the mawing abyss before him, an abyss full of all the ways he’s never been enough - loved enough, clever enough, discerning enough about what was happening right under his nose.
But then he focuses his mind’s eye on HER, and it’s the effect of a magical yo-yo wrapping around him and pulling him back before he plunges full-on into the looming chasm. Just the thought of Ladybug, Marinette, anchors him in the here, the now, her very existence and permeation in his life is proof to him he’s not alone and never abandoned. He’s not a helpless child anymore. He’s a superhero. A guardian of Paris. And her ever-devoted partner. And she loves him. His Lady’s heart is finally his, and he has [almost] everything he’s ever wanted, and he’s not going down to this asshole without the fight of his life.
And, oh right, said asshole is still talking.
“You will take her earrings, the Ladybug Miraculous, from her, and you will bring them to me, along with your ring.”
No.
The butterfly hovers just above his fisted right hand, his ring the clearly intended target. Plagg. Marinette. His own father has targeted not only him but those who are most important to him as well.
NO.
Putrid, purple wings beat but cease their approach as Adrien summons up every bit of love and devotion he harbors for his Lady, his city, his kwami, his life as Chat Noir, wrapping it around him like a fortress, letting resolve permeate him, flesh becoming iron.
He must not let Hawk Moth turn him. Not now, not ever. He WILL NOT, CANNOT betray his Lady, especially not when he finally has the final piece of information to end this.
Hawk Moth growls impatiently. “EVILIZE HIM!”
Adrien locks eyes once more with Plagg, steals himself. Without a human wielder, the kwami of destruction’s cataclysmic power is unpredictable, unfocused, and catastrophic. Plagg isn’t fully charged, but he isn’t drained either, not nearly. In wordless agreement, they take the only plan available to them, even if it’s crazy. Calculated recklessness, afterall, is what they do best, and it rarely fails them.
Eyes closed.
Inhale.
Don’t overthink it.
Exhale.
Do it for her.
Eyes open.
Now or never.
Plan C.
Adrien pivots and bounds for the steps leading to the mezzanine while Plagg dives for the floor. He feels the blackening tiles sag under his foot as he launches his body the last of the distance to reach the bottom of the spiral steps. A cacophony of crumbling architecture, furniture, and his beloved grand piano resounds around him as the floor disintegrates. But he doesn’t look back in his race to the upper level. There are shouts from below, behind, but there’s no time to look back or down. He reaches the mezzanine, calls for his transformation. As soon as his baton manifests, it’s in his hand, and he’s launching himself back out the window he entered through, barely clearing the opening before the glass shatters and the outer wall crumbles inward.
Chat Noir doesn’t get far before his ring beeps an incessant, desperate warning. Leaping as Chat from a roof, he lands as Adrien in the alleyway, quickly realizing it is the same one where Ladybug-Marinette had him pinned while Paris was burning what seems like a lifetime ago. He feels like he’s lived two lifetimes since then because nothing about his life before was real… Or, no, she was real. She’s always been real and solid and by his side, a slave to secrets as much as he. It’s just everything else that was a lie.
Suddenly he's exhausted and drops to his butt against the mold-streaked wall. He hangs his head in his hands and wants to scream and cry and rage and cataclysm everything in sight. He's shaking, hyperventilating, and has to work to make his eyes focus on his worried kwami.
"You did good, kid. I’m proud of you, buddy."
Plagg pats his head in a rare show of affection. It's awkward but still the balm that Adrien needs at this moment. He takes a breath, let's it out, does it again. In the distance he hears echoes of sirens, but he can't bring himself to care. There's only one place, one person, he needs right now, but it's too risky. Plagg swiped the last of his camembert from his pocket sometime during the evenings...activities...and now he's stuck with a recognizable civilian face and a desperate necessity to sneak out of the city unnoticed.
Clawsome.
He's about to text Marinette when he realizes that could be a huge mistake. Even having his phone on him at all is a bad call call, get it?.. No. Stop. Focus. Without hesitation, he stands up, drops his phone, and smashes it under foot. He digs the chip out and snaps it, too, for good measure. He can always reach out to Ladybug from his staff's communication device, but that means charging Plagg up.
So first things first: feed the kwami.
Then? Save the world.