Confrontation

TW/ Mentions Character Disappearance

About halfway to Andre's the four friends decided to go back to Marinette's house. The trip back was silent except for the occasional "hello" to someone passing on the street. The three friends were still utterly shocked at what Marinette had said. Even as Chat Noir, Adrien had never seen his Lady or his Princess act that way.

The friends made their way inside the bakery and up to Marinette's room. They all had a separate agenda in mind. Alya wanted to interrogate her best friend, Nino wanted to sit and observe (A/N I think Nino knows more than he lets on), Adrien wanted to marvel at how brave his girlfriend was, and Marinette wanted to get those videos sent to Nathalie.

Key words "wanted to."

Marinette was the first to climb up her trap door and a feeling of dread washed over her. In her room stood none other than Gabriel Agreste.

As the rest of the group followed up the stairs, they could not believe their eyes. Without a word everyone except the bluenette sat down on the chaise. Lady Luck was determined however, to send the videos to Nathalie. After the action was done, Marinette came and stood by her friends, almost in a fighting stance. Gabriel motioned for Marinette to sit with her friends, but she was still riding her adrenaline high and replied,

"I'll stand thanks," in the most bitter tone she could muster. After what seemed like hours of excruciating silence, Gabriel spoke.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, I skimmed over your book and I have a few questions," the designer began. "What prompted you to start taking these notes?" Gabriel then looked at Alya and Nino. "Did you two not recognize that my son was in distress?"

"Why should they when you didn't?" Marinette bit back. She seemed to have a poison in her words because every time she spoke, they stung Gabriel, and he felt like they were eating away at his soul.

As if she could read her once idol's mind, she said, "That's called guilt. You get it when you finally start owning up to how terrible of a person and father you are."

"Leave Marinette and I alone for a moment." Gabriel said as he paced the girl's room. The foursome looked at each other, and with Marinette's nod of approval, the others left.

-line break-

"What do you want? I thought I made myself completely clear in what I said earlier. If you don't start taking respon-"

"I fully intend to take responsibility for my son suffering at the hands of Miss Rossi. I came here to tell you that you are right." Now it was Marinette's turn to be shocked. She never thought she would see the day that Gabriel Agreste was admitting to being a terrible father.

"I haven't been paying Adrien the attention he needs, and I have been pushing him too far." At this, the man sits on the chaise, takes off his glasses, and rakes his fingers through his hair. "I didn't listen to him. He is my son, and I've been ignoring him." Marinette felt a pang of sympathy towards the man, but she knew what was about to be said he needed to hear.

"If I may be so bold," she said timidly, "I think something happened that drove you two apart. I think... it was when your wife disappeared." Marinette waited a few seconds before cautiously continuing. "Instead of being there for him, and helping Adrien cope with the loss of his mother, you pushed him away, which I think has harmed you both. I care about Adrien and only want what's best for him, and I know you do too."

Then, the truly unexpected happened. Gabriel broke down in tears. He didn't understand why this girl he was so horrible to was so willing to help him and his son. He didn't understand why he felt the best option was to push Adrien away. He didn't understand why he couldn't allow himself to move on. He didn't understand why he didn't notice his own son's pain.

"I can't imagine what it's like to loose someone so close to you," Marinette began soothingly, "but I do know that everyone grieves differently. Even so, you both need to lean on each other to support one another. This may be hard to hear, but the day you lost your wife, Adrien not only lost his mother, he lost his father too."

At these words, Gabriel felt like his heart was going to shatter. Did he really only pay attention to his own sadness to not even realize his son was hurting too? Marinette was right. It is time to move on.

With these words ringing through his head, thinking back on the past 3-4 years, Gabriel finally realized just how much damage he was causing. Absentmindedly, he reached up and touched the two Miraculouses. Marinette took notice but did not say anything-not yet. After taking a long, steady breath, Gabriel looked at Marinette in the eyes. She could not identify the emotion buried deep beneath the surface of his cool grey eyes, but she knew whatever it was was important.

"Marinette, I trust you." With those words echoing through the deafening silence, Gabriel pulled the magic broaches from his chest. "I renounce you Nooroo. I renounce you Duusu. Take these to Ladybug and Chat Noir please, Marinette." He said while handing the Miraculous to a stunned girl. "I am ready to atone for my actions."

A tear slipped down an eavesdropping Chat's face.