It had been a long day for Marinette Agreste. She had woken up early in the morning as usual to go to work at 'Marinette Fashion House', a company she had built up herself over the years and that was going quite good. She wasn't all that famous and her fashion house wasn't all that big but for her, it was enough. Then, right after lunch, she had been pulled out of work by a call from her son's Principal. He had made a prank on a girl in his class which ended up with her being covered in paint. Marinette loved her son and found his pranks funny and uplifting, but lately they had become harsher and she was getting worried. If he made more pranks like this in school he might get expelled.
She had gone back to work for a few hours and then closed up and gone over to her parents bakery. She had helped out a little and got a few baked goods to bring home for the family. When she got home she had made dinner for everyone and they had eaten together. After that she had decided to clean out the attic a little and that was where she found herself now. She was looking around at old photos and boxes full of things her children had made in kindergarten. She smiled as he looked at three-year-old Emma's handprint, feeling he sting in her heart and finding herself missing those days. Now Emma was thirteen, and she was the youngest of the three. Marinette had never thought that the time would go so fast.
She put the handprint back into its box and moved a little to open a new one. The first thing she saw was a pile of letters and notes. She picked up the first one, a short note with doodled ladybugs and a little text scribbled on it.
Evening My Lady! Can't wait to get home and see you and kiss your purrfect lips. Love you Bugaboo!
Marinette let a small laugh out as the same time as the tears started to drip down her cheeks. She put her hand over her mouth and tried to choke a sob without much success. She moved on to the next note, this one much shorter.
PRINCESS! I love you very meowch
She laughed again as the tears kept running. She had almost forgotten how much he used those nicknames and how cat puns was part of the norm for them. She picked up the next paper.
Dear Marinette,
I know I could just call you on skype and I probably will after writing this but hey! Let a guy write romantic love letters if he wants to!
I'm still so sorry that you couldn't come with me and Father to Milan and that I couldn't stay at home with you and Hugo. I miss you so much, Bugaboo, and I think about you and our little lovebug every second that goes by. I love you so, so much. You are the best thing to ever happen to me. Without you I wouldn't be me, because you are such a big part of me. You are my world and every moment away from you pains me so much. But to think that you'll be there waiting for me when I come home makes it easier. You are the stars in my sky and air in my lungs. You are everything, a never ending flame that will forever burn in my heart. I can't wait until I get to hold you in my arms again and cover your in kisses and show you how much I love you.
I'll see you soon.
Love Adrien
Marinette put the paper away to avoid getting tears on the letter. She put her head in her hands and allowed herself to cry fully. Seeing his handwriting and remembering hurt. It hurt so much. But she still loved reading it. It reassured her. Everything that they had… it was real and it wouldn't be forgotten. It would always be right here for her to remember, for her children to understand and tell their children about.
She kept reading the rest of the notes and letters, full of nicknames and puns and reassurance of his love for her, and she cried all the way through. She put the last letter in the pile on the floor and turned to see what was next only to see two small, eight sided boxes. She inhaled loudly and looked down at them, not daring to touch them as memories flooded back to her. Memories of wind in her hair as she swung across the rooftops of Paris, of late nights at the top of the Eifel Tower watching the lights of the city, of catlike eyes looking at her as if she was the world.
It was life that she hadn't thought about in so long, maybe because it was a life that was lost to her. It was another part of her that was gone. But after she lost Adrien, she couldn't go back. It was impossible for her.
Adrien had died as Chat Noir. They had tried to stop a robbery and he had been shot. It was only two months after Emma was born and their oldest was three. Their kids didn't remember him. They never knew their father. And he never got to see them grow up. He never got to see how amazing they turned out to be, although Marinette was sure he knew.
She picked up one of the boxes and opened it, revealing a pair of colorless earrings. But she knew the secret behind them. She knew what they could do. She felt how cold and metallic they were in her hand after not having been used in years and the tears started flowing again. Carefully she put them back and in the box and put it back, doing the same with the letters all while crying. And then she looked up in the air.
"Adrien" her voice sounded choked. "I- I miss you. So much" she said. She didn't know why she waited for a reaction or why she was disappointed when there wasn't one, but she was.
"MOM! I need your help with my homework" she suddenly heard her daughter call and quickly stood up.
She dried her tears and put on a brave face and left the attic. But before she closed the door she let out three words.
"I love you"
