Archive of Our Own ^beta

After a long day of constant disappointment, Adrien made his way back towards his room, his head lowered in defeat. He made his way towards his bed, sat down, then sighed. At that point, it was obvious that he was struggling to hold back the tears forming in his eyes. Seeing this, his little kwami, Plagg, hopped out of the mini-pocket in Adrien's jacket, and floated up to try to comfort their owner.

"Look at the bright side: everyone knows that isolated fermented cheese always becomes the best-tasting cheese in the end!" They tried saying enthusiastically, but Adrien slowly shook his head.

"They end up rotting, too."

Plagg's ears lowered in sadness, realizing that what they just said might not have been what the young blond wanted to hear, so they instead floated closer to him, their eyes full of sympathy. "I'm sorry, Adrien."

"Don't be," Adrien replied, still keeping his head lowered, as if he were afraid to show his vulnerability in front of his kwami. "I just feel… trapped."

Hearing this, the black cat kwami became visibly aggravated, floating around Adrien as they exclaimed, "In case you might be forgetting, you're Chat Noir! Nothing in this world can trap you! All you need to do is just transform, jump into the sky and go see…" 

"Ladybug?" Adrien asked in bewilderment, his head raised this time and turned towards the window.

It took a second for Plagg to register that Adrien wasn't just finishing their sentence, but he was, in fact, looking at Ladybug as she got closer and closer to the window. Panicked, Plagg quickly floated away and hid, right before Ladybug landed in front of Adrien's window. 

Ladybug knocked on the window, waving with a nervous smile on her face. He quickly got up from his bed and opened the window for her, letting her in, but he was unable to hide the look of shock on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, me? Pfft, I was just passing by, and…" Ladybug began nervously, looking at everything but Adrien's bright green eyes. Yet, for a moment, her eyes met his, and she could instantly tell how sad he looked.

She quickly regained her composure, then continued, "I'm sorry about what happened."

Ladybug's apology made Adrien recall everything that went wrong that day: he had to finish school early due to an akuma attack, and after his superhero business, he was asked to hang out with his friends in the free time that he now had. He tried calling his father to ask for permission, but he didn't answer, so he was encouraged to just go along with it. Unfortunately, he was somehow discovered, and his father made his way there himself to reprimand him. He apologized over and over again, but his father ignored him until they made it home. The only thing he told him was…

"You are forbidden from going out with your friends until further notice. Is that clear, Adrien?"

And, of course, all he could say in response was…

"Yes, Father."

He felt pathetic. No matter how hard he tried, he could never express how he felt to his father. He was burdened with the expectations he was forced to uphold, making the very thought of breaking down a sinful endeavor, no matter how badly he wanted to let everything out. 

"Don't worry, I'm fine," He told her, smiling softly. He didn't need to ask how she found out, since his father arriving and forcefully taking him away caused a big scene at the location they were in. Surely, Ladybug could have been one of the many people at the Louvre. However, he couldn't help but lower his tone in sadness as he said, "this is nothing new."

Ladybug's sadness grew as she looked at Adrien, feeling a mix of anger, frustration, and sadness. She wasn't just a passer-by in the situation, she was there, right next to him, watching helplessly as Gabriel dragged Adrien into his car. Somehow, she felt too intimidated to move, and the guilt had been consuming her since. 

"It doesn't matter if it's new or not, this shouldn't have had to happen! You didn't do anything wrong!" She exclaimed.

Adrien turned around and took a few steps forward. 

"I didn't meet my father's expectations," He muttered, biting his lip and closing his eyes.

Ladybug stepped forward, clearly frustrated, "That's no reason for him to treat you that! You're his son! Can't you see that you deserve better?!"

Adrien didn't respond. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, struggling desperately not to cry in front of Ladybug. She was about to approach him, when the sound of Adrien's phone ringing halted the both of them. Much to Adrien's relief, Ladybug went over to grab his phone for him, but Adrien didn't move. She took a look at the caller, finding that it was Nino. 

"I think your friends are calling," She said softly, extending her arm for him to take his phone, but he kept his back turned. "They must be worried about you."

"I can't answer right now," He murmured.

Ladybug retracted her extended arm and looked at the phone, seeing Nino's call turn into one of the 50 notifications that hadn't been checked. Missed calls and messages from so many of his classmates, including her. 

She gently placed the phone back down on the bedside table, watching as he made his way back to his bed with his head lowered. She knew that he was upset, that much was obvious, but she didn't know why he was trying so hard to hide from her. Did he not trust her? Was he afraid of her? Did he hate her? 

"...Can I ask you something?" He asked, interrupting Ladybug's spiraling thoughts. He had raised his head to reveal his puffed-up eyes from crying, breaking Ladybug's heart.

"Of course, you can ask me anything," She said softly, making her way to sit next to him on his bed.

But nothing could have prepared her for the question he was about to ask.

"Is this not… normal?" 

Ladybug's eyes widened, her gut twisting as she slowly started to realize the severity of the situation. Gabriel Agreste wasn't just stern and cold, his mistreatment was so constant that Adrien thought it was normal. This wasn't a one-time situation, this was a genuine problem. 

"No, it's not," She said gently. "Not at all."

"But I know he loves me," Adrien immediately said, as if trying to defend Gabriel. "He's forbidding me from seeing my friends because he thinks they're bad influence on me, out of–" 

"–He's forbidding you from what?" Ladybug interjected, feeling her anger rise. The more she knew, the worse it got. 

Adrien was a little startled, but he replied, "I know my friends aren't bad influences, but he is trying to protect me. Everything he does is for my own sake."

Ladybug took a deep breath, trying to stop herself from saying anything rash. Her anger was off the charts, but she couldn't show Adrien that, not right now. 

"Do you, honestly and wholeheartedly, believe that?" She asked him, and Adrien froze.

His mind wandered off, trying to remember every time he heard his father telling him that everything was for his own sake; but… he didn't recall anything. Every time his father told him so, it had always been for the sake of the "Agreste brand". That realization made Adrien's eyes widen. All the memories he had were false memories… his father wasn't protecting him, he was protecting his brand.

"I… I don't…" His mind kept racing back and forth, desperate to find any instance where his father told him directly that he was protecting him, but to no avail. 

Seeing him panic, Ladybug immediately hugged him tightly. Her embrace broke every barrier he was trying to hold, and he immediately burst into tears, hugging her back as tightly as he could. He continued to desperately look for something, anything, that told him his father loved him for certain, but nothing came to mind. 

Ladybug caressed Adrien's head as she closed her eyes, the sound of his cries making her unable to hold back her own tears. The severity of it all broke her. She was angry that Gabriel forced Adrien home and publically humiliated him, but it was so much more than that. Gabriel was abusing him, and he didn't even know it! She couldn't imagine what he had gone through.

After a minute or so, Adrien stepped back from the embrace, and went back to lowering his head, as if he were ashamed.

"I'm sorry," He murmured.

Ladybug got up from beside him and went towards his desk, where she grabbed some paper towels. She then made her way back and crouched, using the paper towels to gently wipe the tears from Adrien's face.

"Never apologize for feeling, Adrien," She told him, placing the paper towel down and holding his head gently to make him look into her eyes. She gave him a small but endearing smile, and he could only blush in return, not knowing how to react.

After a few moments, Ladybug herself realized how embarrassing the situation was, so she quickly and clumsily got up, her face flushed in embarrassment.

"Whew! Oh, wow! It's suddenly so hot in here, isn't it? I wonder how that happened! I'm sure it's not because we were so close to each other or anything… I mean it's not like I don't want to be that close to you because you're soooo gorgeous but this isn't the reason it got so hot suddenly and….!" She paused, looking at Adrien to see his confused look, "...you got an A.C?" She asked, her voice squeaking in embarrassment as she cringed.

Adrien shot her an amused look, smirking her way as he teased, "You think I'm gorgeous?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean, probably! I mean, this is unrelated to our current discussion!"

Adrien suddenly burst out laughing, causing Ladybug to feel even more embarrassed. Though, at the sight of him laughing, she found herself forgetting how embarrassing the situation was for her, and smiling warmly at the sight of his happiness. 

All she wanted was for him to be happy.

"You remind me of a classmate, she's just as funny as you are," Adrien said, still chuckling. 

"Psshhh, no wayyyy! That is one weird coincidence!" She said nervously. 

"It's not that weird. You guys share a lot in common, I'm sure you'd get along," He said, smiling.

Ladybug let out a sigh of relief, realizing he didn't make the connection she feared, "I'll take your word for it."

After a few moments of staring at each other with smiles on their faces, the superhero checked the time on her yo-yo, realizing that it's getting close to dinner-time and her parents would go check up on her soon. 

"I have to go now, duty calls," She said, and Adrien looked visibly upset. So she approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But I'll be sure to check up on you from time to time, if that's okay with you, that is!"

Adrien smiled softly, "Of course."

"And if you ever need anything, I'll always be here to help, and so will your friends," She turned to look at the phone on the bedside table, making Adrien look over there as well, realizing what she meant. 

He nodded, and so, that was Ladybug's cue to leave. She jumped towards the window, and right when she was about to leap into the sky, she heard Adrien say:

"Thank you, Ladybug."

With a smile on her face, she swung her yo-yo and made her way home, determined to do her best to get Adrien out of that horrible situation: one step at a time.

Adrien got up, visibly doing better than before. He picked up his phone, which now had 70 notifications. He chuckled, sitting back down on his bed and replying to every single one, starting with:

Marinette: I'm soooooo sorry about what happened!!

Marinette: Are you okay??? 

Marinette: If you can't respond to me it's okay but I just want to know if you're safe!!!

Marinette: We love you so much!!! Platonically!!!

Marinette: Adrien I'm worried :(

Adrien: I love you too.

Platonically.