Hi everyone! Just as a bit of a warning, this story contains references to emotional and psychological child abuse and neglect, as well as manipulation. Just the usual stuff you get when dealing with Gabe. As someone who has experienced this first hand, I based Adrien's reactions to this on my own. I keep everything very vague, but I wanted to put a note here just in case.
This will be a two-shot, and the other part should be out tomorrow or the day after.
Thank you to LinhLotus for being my beta!
Chapter Word Count: 1,311
Six words. Six words that made Marinette freeze. She hadn't expected Chat Noir to interrupt her rant. When the cat-themed villain appeared on her balcony, she panicked and threw her glass of lemonade at him. He instinctively dodged, and both of them had cringed at the sound of shattering glass below. Then the shouting started.
Well, really only Marinette was shouting. But she was well in her right to, after all Chat Noir had put her through. Not that he knew it. There was no way he knew she was Ladybug. But he had to know how he and Hawk Moth affected the city.
"— tell me why?! Why do you do it?"
"I just want my mom back." The look on his face was conflicted, remorseful, broken even. He sighed before turning away to learn on her balcony rail. His voice seemed to be on the verge of breaking as he spoke. "About four and a half years ago, I thought she disappeared. But she didn't. She's in a magical coma caused by using the broken peacock Miraculous. And the only way to get her out of it is by merging the ladybug and black cat Miraculouses."
Marinette wasn't sure how to respond to that, but she tried. "I… I'm sorry. I had no idea." Then she remembered who she was talking to, and her anger was back. "But that isn't an excuse! Terrorizing the city, making people afraid of their own emotions, the ends do not justify the means." Marinette had no clue why Chat Noir was telling her this, and she was willing to listen. But that didn't mean she was going to not try and show him how he was wrong.
The villain scoffed and turned to lean back on the rail, but he looked down, refusing to meet Marinette's eyes. "Even if there was another option, which there isn't, I wouldn't have a choice." He took a deep breath, still refusing to look up. "He's my father. I have to listen to him. I have to obey."
Once again, Marinette was surprised into silence. After hesitating for a moment, she stepped closer to Chat, reaching out to touch his arm. When he looked up at her, she didn't see her opponent. She saw who he could've been. Her partner, her friend. They stared at each other for a moment before she spoke.
"Just because he's your dad doesn't mean he's right. Just because he's your dad doesn't mean you have to do or believe everything he says. And just because you've done wrong in the past doesn't mean you can't fix it now. You can change if you really want to.
"I'm sure there's another way to save your mom. If you went to Ladybug, maybe she can help you or knows someone who can. But you never gave her the option for that. Have you ever thought of trying?"
Blue eyes met green, and for a moment Marinette thought she had gotten through to Chat. But then he turned away again.
"It's easy to say that when you're on the outside looking in. But you don't get it, you don't know what it's like. And even if you did and I believed you, there's no way Ladybug would help us. Not after all we've done. Like you said earlier, Marinette, we've hurt a lot of people. Probably including people that she cares about.
"I'll admit that people I know, people I call my friends, have gotten akumatized. It was hard enough for me to see them that way, even when being on their side. I couldn't imagine fighting them. I'm sure she hates both of us. And I don't blame her in the slightest."
Mere hours ago, Marinette would have agreed with this statement. But after hearing Chat's confession? While she certainly still held hatred and disgust for Hawk Moth and Chat Noir, it's to a slightly lesser extent. And she held Hawk Moth more accountable than Chat rather than the two equally. If it had been her Papa, she wasn't sure what she would've done. But she knew what she had to do at that moment with the information she'd just been given. She had to give them a chance.
"You don't know that for sure until you try. Ladybug just might surprise you. She cares about all citizens in Paris, and that includes you and Hawk Moth. And I know it must feel like you'd betray your dad, but you'd be ending all of this. You'd give him a reason to end the violence."
"I learned from a young age to follow his rules. It makes life easier. But I still slip up. Believe me, I get more than my share of his anger. Four years, and we haven't once gotten close to the goal. And I'm the one who pays for it. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be in my room with the door locked from the outside. I'm just lucky that my window opens wide enough.
"I appreciate what you're trying to do here, what you've said. But you don't know my father. You don't know me. You have no idea the things he can do, the power he holds. I do this not only for my mom, but also for myself. I'm not like my dad. He's strong enough that he doesn't need other people. He can stand on his own"
Marinette's heart tore. She finally understood the reason why Chat Noir wasn't her partner. And while she had never experienced this treatment first hand, it was familiar to her. So she used words she'd crafted for another blond green-eyed boy she knew.
"Nobody is so powerful or so great that they can't improve and make amends for past wrongdoings. And please don't take this the wrong way, but both you and your father could do a lot of both, though him more than you." She turns her own back to Chat, learning on the rail next to where he was minutes before.
"Your story reminds me of my boyfriend, Adrien." She doesn't notice how Chat whips around to look at her, eyes wide in panic and mouth agape. "His dad sounds a lot like yours. Controlling, restrictive. Half the things Adrien says he's done could be described as neglectful or abusive. Not physically, but definitely emotionally and psychologically. Of course, I'd never say that out loud to him. Adrien loves his father despite Gabriel's many faults. But I worry about him sometimes.
"Nino, Alya, and I can tell when it's worse. He doesn't smile as much, and when he does it's his model smile. Or when he has to cancel plans with us due to last-minute photo shoots or trips to the office. We help however we can by supporting him and reaching out, but there's only so much we can do. And we know he feels alone, even though he's anything but.
"I imagine that you're like that. You think that you're alone and have no one you can trust. But I'm sure you have a Marinette, Nino, or Alya in your life. A friend, a classmate, or a relative you can turn to. Now I'm not saying you confess to being Chat Noir. But maybe be more open about how your dad treats you.
"Needing other people to lean on doesn't make you weak. It makes you human. Everyone needs help from time to time. You can still make things right. You can still fix this." Marinette heard some sort of movement behind her, but she didn't look back. "And who knows," she added, turning around, "if you work hard to earn the people's trust, you might even be able to become a —"
She looked around and saw that she was alone on the balcony. She finished her sentence anyway. "— hero."
Are you interested in meeting other MLB fans? Whether you're a writer, reader, cosplayer, or fan artist, you're welcome to join the Miraculous Fanworks Discord server! We give fic recommendations and prompts to one another, and a whole lot of other things! Come check us out. The link is [discord .gg /mlfanworks]