"Not that I don't hate that vase as much as you do, but do you," Plagg darted to the left, "… do you really have to smash things so close to me?"
Adrien continued to stomp on the vase he'd knocked to the floor.
"Stupid." Stomp.
"Idiotic." Stomp.
"Useless." Stomp.
"Excuse." Stomp.
"For." Stomp.
"A." Stomp.
"Father." Stomp.
"There, there kit. The old man's opinion never should have mattered to you in the first place," Plagg tried.
Adrien's stomping intensified.
"Do you want to go to your room and yell at the wall? That might help?"
Plagg wished, not for the first time, that Tikki was here to deal with the kit. He didn't know how. For kwami's sake, he was the god of destruction, not healing and creation and fixing problems and all the good, fuzzy things that were associated with that.
Adrien collapsed onto the floor and hugged his knees and sat very still for a while, staring off into space.
Plagg despaired. The kid was honest to goodness sitting in the shards of his own recent destructive fit. What did one do with someone whose anger turned to self-loathing? Plagg was getting Tikki, she would know what to do. She'd probably make him do it for reasons she'd refuse to explain, but she'd know what to do. So Plagg tried to hitch a lift to Tikki.
"It's boring here. We should go to your girlfriends'. She has delicious cheese pastries and she knows how to treat a guy."
"She's just a good friend Plagg," Adrien sniffed.
And if that didn't make Plagg's heart jump for joy he didn't know what would. Adrien spoke! That was a good sign right?
"But you're right. She has macarons. And loving parents," Adrien spat the last bit with venom.
"Plagg, claws out!"
He was meant to go as Adrien, noooooooooo…
Plagg was gone, sucked into Adrien's ring.
LINE BREAK
Marinette was quite happily figuring out why the fabric wouldn't hang just right on the skirt she was making for Juleka's birthday, when her stray cat knocked on her trapdoor and flopped into her bedroom.
"What did I say about stray cats in my bedroom uninvited?" Marinette teased, still focused on the project in front of her.
"Oh, you're busy. I'll…uh…come round another time then."
Marinette looked up from her work with a frown, "It's just a skirt. I didn't mean what I said."
Chat still stood hesitantly just under Marinette's trapdoor.
"You sure?"
"Is there something wrong, Chat? You know I was just teasing." Marinette's eyebrows creased together in concern.
"Uh, just wanted to get out of the house, you know?" Chat mumbled, staring down at the floor as he did so.
"There is something wrong. Do you want to talk about it? You can be vague and protect your identity."
"You're the only person I know except Ladybug who wants my identity to remain a secret," Chat laughed harshly.
"Chat…Look, I'm here if you need to talk okay? But I won't pressure you."
"That. That is exactly what I need right now. To not be being pressured."
"Do you want to sit down and watch a movie then?" Marinette suggested.
"I wasn't planning on staying too long. I don't want to inconvenience you."
"Don't be silly, if home is awkward right now, then you should stay here. Juleka's birthday isn't for ages yet. You need me more than the skirt," Marinette smiled, in an effort to provide the levity her partner usually supplied.
"I just… parents are meant to be supportive, right? And all my dad…er… parent-s ever do is pressure me into doing what he-they want me to do. I know they're doing it because of good reasons and that they probably know best, but I'd like to make my own mistakes, for once." The words spilled out of Chat's mouth in a torrent.
He needed advice, and if Marinette was the one he wanted to talk to about it, then she would just have to channel the spirit of her mother.
"Making your own mistakes is part of growing up. Try and explain it to your parent-s. If they won't understand that you need a little bit more freedom, then take a stand," Marinette tried awkwardly. This was not her forte.
"Yeah, they – they don't really tolerate 'insubordination'."
"Then either you are 'insubordinate' and deal with the consequences, or you just continue to only go out as Chat Noir."
It seemed crystal clear to Marinette.
"You don't understand," Chat ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily, "How do I put this…? I have a few privileges that are very important to me and my father threatened to take them away unless I prove where I was when I went missing. I can't exactly provide evidence of my time as Chat Noir…so…either way I'm going to lose a highlight of my days."
Marinette hummed under her breath for a few seconds. It sounded like an impossible situation, but she knew that there was always a third option – it was just how terrible that option was.
"What about…? No, that…Well, it might be right up your alley. Just tell me, how good are your sneaking skills? How subtle can you be?"
"Well, you have to be pretty good at sneaking to hide your other life as a superhero," Chat responded, clearly caught off guard by the enquiry into his stealth skills.
"What if you found a way to beg for your fath- ahum – parent's forgiveness and suck up to them. However, secretly, you can be plotting ways to sneak out of the house; alibis for when you're out as Chat Noir; excuses; deception; and ways to annoy your father."
"You – are miraculous, purrincess. That just might work."
"Why don't you ask your friends in your civilian life if they can cover for you? Tell them you have a secret you don't want your father to know about."
"I could always tell them I have a secret girlfriend…" Chat laughed.
"I mean, it could work. If your friends are anything like mine, though, you'll find that that might cause as many problems as it solves." Marinette rolled her eyes. "You've met my best friend: Alya Cesaire, author of the Ladyblog, reporter extraordinaire. Sometimes telling your friends you have a secret is not the wisest move."
Marinette sighed. She still hadn't mentioned to Chat that she'd told Alya the whole truth about their dating plot. It was going to come up at some point – she'd just rather it wasn't now.
"Yea..h," Chat stuttered, "you might be right about that purrincess."
"But if you can provide him with an alibi, it will prevent your father from taking away your 'privileges' for a while."
"And maybe someday I'll be able to figure out why he's so intent on controlling me."
Marinette knew her kitty didn't want her pity, so she hid it as best she could, but she couldn't even imagine what life would be like without support from her parents. She didn't want Chat to have to suffer through a life where his parent was something to fear rather than to rely on. Being a superhero was never meant to be an escape – he was never meant to have to rescue himself. She'd never even realised that Chat was so alone. How well did she really know her partner after all?
Marinette's thoughts ran into each other and blended and merged until she could no longer understand what she was thinking. All she knew was the need to comfort her partner – to hold him close and never let him get hurt again. She settled for pulling him against her in a hug.
A/N:
I lowkey hate this chapter, which is why it's so short. Next week's will hopefully be better.