Author's Note: Happy April Fool's Day, everybody! This story however is not a joke, but a very serious (or not? ;) ) multichapter AU. I hope you'll like it.
A Student in Pink
Gabriel "Hawk Moth" Agreste was Paris most renowned private detective. During his long and fruitful career he had earned enough respect to be considered 'the man who can turn impossible into possible' and enough money to own a comfy mansion in the 21st arrondissement. His employees were known to be strict, professional and painfully effective. Through the years Parisians had learnt to call them The Butterflies although no one knew where the nickname came from. A commonly held belief said that was because they were silent, sneaky and could smell trouble a mile off. They were good. So good, that no one seemed to know how exactly could they success in even the most dangerous or infeasible tasks. There were a few rumors about superhero abilities of Hawk Moth's champions, but people spreading them were silenced really quickly.
Today – the 1st of April – was a very special day for Gabriel, as it was exactly forty years ago when he took his first case. Forty years in this business was indeed a very unique anniversary. Usually detectives didn't last that long. They either couldn't keep their record mostly successful or were put out of business by people, who didn't like being messed with. Gabriel Agreste managed not only to stay on top, but also to build an enterprise, that could be described only as a detective empire. Still you cannot run a successful detective agency without making a few enemies. And although The Butterflies seemed to be really effective in keeping them at bay, the renowned sleuth felt the old age creeping in and the thought of retiring seemed more and more attractive with every passing day.
That day he finally made the decision. This was going to be his last case, before his son Adrien would take over the business. And afterwards Gabriel would finally take his beloved wife for the journey of their lifetime, the trip around the world. They've been planning it since Adrien was born, and now after a quarter of century Susanne's dream would finally come true.
'Sir, the clients are already here. Should I send them into your office?' his assistant's voice brought him back from his musings.
'Yes, Nathalie. And please let Adrien know, I require his presence too. Would you be so kind and brief him on the Dupain-Cheng case before he comes in?' Gabriel replied through his intercom.
'Yes, sir. Of course.' Her voice was strong, although he knew she was shaken. She was his assistant for the past ten years, and when he told her earlier that day he was retiring, she didn't take it well. She was a good employee, but her and Adrien didn't exactly get along. No wonder she dreaded the thought of the young Agreste as her boss.
'Thank you, Nathalie. Let them in.'
'Sir. You don't know how much it means to us, that you've agreed to take our case. We don't know what to do and police is clueless.' The owner of one of the best bakeries in the city was currently crushing Gabriel's hand to a pulp in his enormous palms. He loomed over Gabriel, which was quite an achievement considering the sleuth himself was a good 6'3 foot tall. The detective knew that despite the force of his handshake Tom Dupain was a kind and warmhearted man.
'That's hardly any news for me, Mr. Dupain.' Gabriel finally managed to pull his hand out of the baker's reach and put it behind his back to discreetly massage some life into in again. 'The abilities of Paris law enforcement community are precisely the reason why my services are in such a demand.'
'Marinette is our only child, sir. I don't know what we would do without her.' Mrs. Dupain-Cheng wiped another tear rolling down her cheek. The petit Chinese started sobbing again, and Tom wrapped his arm around her to give her some comfort. Gabriel could see that she was devastated, and her husband barely held his bearing too. That was understandable. He would feel the same should something happen to Adrien. Although that was exactly the reason his son received a proper education, including martial arts, special force training, science, psychology and management courses, not to mention a necessary detective license. He was also fluent in three foreign languages, and could play piano. The last ability was at insistence of his mother. Gabriel really couldn't see how it would be useful, but the boy liked to play, so he didn't object.
'Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, let me assure you that we will do everything within our power to find your daughter and bring her to you safe and sound.' Gabriel assured the woman in his most gentle and professional tone. 'Our agency had dealt with similar cases and I am proud to say, we've never failed.'
At that the door to his study opened revealing a tall young man with a blond halo of hair surrounding his handsome face. His eyes were of an unbelievable shade of green, like two emeralds gleaming in his eye sockets. Years of physical training gave him a slender yet muscular figure, though there was a unique almost cat-like grace in his movements.
'This is my son, Adrien. He will be responsible for your daughter's case, with my personal assistance of course.' Gabriel waved his hand motioning the young man to stand by his side.
'But… he's so young!' Mrs. Dupain-Chang exclaimed through her sobs. Adrien gave her a small smile. He was used to that sort of reaction. Although he was almost 26, peoples still thought he was barely a tall teenager.
'I can assure you, that Adrien is more than capable to perform this task. His training was meticulous, with my strict supervision. He's already more experienced than half of my men and never failed me. I have utmost trust in his abilities.' Gabriel put his hand on the blonde's shoulder and gave him a half hug. He was a proud father and wasn't ashamed of that. 'We have to consider your daughter's young age, and that's where Adrien's fresh looks comes in handy. Should the need arise he can infiltrate any group of youth, remaining unsuspected. He'd already done that several times, always with excellent results.'
'Well, if that's the case…' Tom raised from his seat and took Adrien's hand. 'Please, son. Bring our daughter back.' He heartily squeezed the blonde's palm looking him straight in the eyes. 'I can see you're a good lad. You'll find our little Marinette.'
'Little Marinette?' Adrien looked puzzled. 'Wasn't it written in her files that she was a student?'
'Ah yes, son, she is. But you have to excuse a sorrowful father for a little sentiment. As much as I am aware she's grown into a beautiful and wise woman, in my heart she's still my little princess, with pigtails and a pink dress.'
The young detective smiled fondly. His heart melted at how this man loved his child. 'Do you have any pictures of her? I'll be needing those, as well as information.'
'Of course, dear. We've brought some with us, but we also have others at our house.' Mrs. Dupain-Cheng took an album from her bag and handed it to Adrien. He opened it at a random page and looked at the photograph of the missing girl.
For a moment his heart stopped. His gaze swept over the sapphire eyes framed with dark long lashes, midnight blue hair falling down her back, cute freckled cheeks, alabaster complexion and pink lips. It went to a gorgeous powder pink cocktail dress, slender arms and long nicely shaped legs. He took in the look on her face – a bit of cockiness, a touch of courage, a tad of recklessness, a gleam of mischief, all soaked in pure joy of life. If she looked like that in a simple picture, in reality she was probably breathtaking.
'Marinette made that dress herself, you know.' Tom murmured bending over Adrien's shoulder to take a look at the photograph. 'She studies art and design, but she always wanted to be a fashion designer. So far she's already an excellent seamstress.' The baker didn't even try to hide his pride. 'And he shouldn't have,' the boy thought, 'The dress is amazing. Almost as amazing as the girl.'
As Adrien stared at the picture a strange feeling crawled up his guts, a sensation he couldn't quite place. He was positive he had never met the girl, and yet she looked familiar. He put that thought for later. Now it was time to get to business.
The young detective took some time to gather information from the girl's parents. His father helped him when they wandered off topic praising their daughter or recollecting some meaningless childhood anecdotes. Gabriel gently steered the conversation back to the right track. After all they weren't writing her biography, but were looking for useful clues. And as much as Adrien found that adorable, that little Marinette was a passionate ballerina, and had kept up her yoga and gymnastic classes even after graduating from lycee, he had to agree with his father that it didn't constitute a good lead. Of course later he would kick himself for not being more thoughtful.
Leaving his father to his business Adrien offered to drive the distressed bakers home and used this opportunity to inspect the young woman's room back at the bakery. He took a close look at the pink attic, at the pink chaise lounge with a pink umbrella, at the pink desk with pink office chair, at the pink comforter on a loft bed, and finally at the pink dressing table and sewing machine. Then he decided to give the case a code name "A Student in Pink". It seemed only adequate.
He asked the girl's parents if they would mind if he took a look at her (pink) computer, and they granted him permission to do that. They were really worried. He copied her e-mails and the browser's history to his web account in order to inspect it later in detail. There was no sign of social media activity on the computer, so if she was keen on that, she probably used only her (probably pink) phone. The phone that was turned off since the day she went missing.
Adrien thanked his clients for every bit of information he was able to obtain. They were most grateful even though he didn't do anything yet. He'd never met such nice people before and was really sorry they had to face such a terrible incident.
As he chewed through his second croissant from the monstrous pile Tom handed him at his departure, he thought that Marinette must have been a very lucky girl. He hoped he would find her soon and unharmed. Already a plan formed in his mind. He decided to start with the e-mail account and browser's history. Maybe there were some clues there. He would have to visit her art academy and talk to her friends, but that would be a task for tomorrow.
Adrien had to admit that the case was really interesting. Police detectives were baffled and positively helpless. No clues, no motives, no suspects, no notes. The girl just disappeared into thin air. Now that he came to think of it, that rang a bell. He took Marinette's photo from her file and gave it a closer look. Again that strange feeling in his guts he couldn't shake off all day told him there was something familiar about her. Finally he pinpointed the impression. He stood up from his desk currently covered in various materials from "The Student in Pink" case and went to his bedroom.
He had a little hobby, one that he never told anybody about. It was something that started as outside interest, and became an obsession. When Adrien started his career in his father's business, he decided he'd be the greatest detective of all times. Sure, his father was already a great one, so the bar for his son was set punishingly high. That was why Adrien decided to chose his goals with care and bravery of the twenty year old. He decided that in order to become the detective of detectives he would have to catch the thief of thieves. The most mysterious and successful Paris burglar, so stealthy no one had ever seen her in person. So cunning no one knew how she managed to pass all the securities undetected and loot event the most impenetrable vaults. She specialized in art and jewelry, although from time to time moved out of her way to obtain unique electronic equipment or a newly yet to be patent chemical formula.
He was following every incident, every notification, every rumor for the past four years. He still knew very little, but probably more than anybody else. And last month he finally got lucky. After months of guessing on her next target he found himself on the spot when she struck again. Although nobody knew about that, the master thief known as Ladybug could no longer claim to be unseen, as Adrien not only managed to take a very good look at her (which surprisingly left him stunned and breathless) but also to take a not so good picture (probably due to being stunned and breathless).
Now safely hidden in his apartment he opened his Ladybug file, usually hidden under the lose floor tile in his bedroom. He took the blurry photo from the folder and compared it with the picture of a Marinette Dupain-Chang dressed in a beautiful red column dress (of her own design). And the creeping feeling of familiarity finally found its conclusion.
His plans for tomorrow instantly went down the drain, as he knew in that moment that the only place he would be visiting was the lair of his father's archenemy, the headquarters of Master Fu and his faithful Kwamis. And he probably shouldn't let any of them know he was the heir of the Agreste detective empire. Already an idea started to form in his head…
AN: Yeah, I know. I already have three other fics going. But I just couldn't help it. And who needs to sleep anyway?
I'm dying to know what you think.
