I've Got You

Knock, knock.

Adrien cringed reflexively at the sound and the sound of the door opening.

Gabriel cleared his throat as he walked into his son's bedroom, as if knocking wasn't heads up enough. "Plagg, Nooroo, may I please have a moment alone with Adrien?"

Adrien checked over his shoulder for a half second to see the kwamis flying away before he turned back to his game. They'd hardly spoken since Madelaine started living with them, and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't at least a bit by design.

It took Gabriel way longer than it should have to cross the room and sit next to Adrien. When he finally did, he took in a deep breath and said, "We need to talk about these past couple of years."

"What's there to talk about?" Adrien asked, refusing to take his eyes off the screen. "The Guardians screwed with your brain. You're better now."

"But they didn't do anything to yours," Gabriel declared. "And you were the one who's had to deal with an abusive father for the past two years who's also apparently been fighting you as a supervillain while you've been running around as a superhero."

Adrien paused the game as he felt his blood rushing in his ears, his chest tightening up. "I-I can't do this right now."

"We have to do it eventually, and the longer we avoid it, the worse it's going to get," Gabriel insisted, placing his hand on Adrien's shoulder. Adrien jerked involuntarily, and Gabriel removed his hand. "Like that." He took in a shaky breath and let it out, and when he spoke again, his voice cracked. "I am… so sorry for the things I did to you. Even if I wasn't in control, you still had to deal with my actions. You have suffered so much, far more than you should ever have to, and I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you."

"I don't know if you can!" The words sprang from Adrien's mouth before he could stop them. He sniffed and wiped at the tears forming in his eyes, trying to stop the deluge. "I know it wasn't you, but you're right, I still had to deal with my father never going to my fencing meets and isolating me from my friends and promising to have dinner with me but never showing up! And I want to move on and have things go back to normal, but I don't know if I can!" Sobs wracked his body, and he alternated between barely getting a sentence out without pausing to collect himself and racing through give before he broke. "And I'm terrified I'm so scared something's gonna happen that more are gonna come and they're gonna take you both away from me again and I don't know if I can live through that again!"

Gabriel took a deep breath, trying not to break down and join his son in his sadness, but he knew he couldn't do that right now. He had to be strong for him. "That is not going to happen," Gabriel promised. "The Guardians are gone now; they're never going to hurt this family again. And it's going to take time and work, and we may never go back to the way things were, but we'll get better. That is my number one priority; you are my number one priority. I don't care if it means selling the company and moving into a shitty studio apartment where I have to sleep on the couch every night. I am going fight like hell for you, do you understand?"

Adrien nodded slowly, then took a deep breath and turned to look at Gabriel. "I can't stay here tonight," he declared. "I can't stay… in this house, where they took Mom, in this room, where you left me alone every day." Another deep breath. He needed to be able to get this out in one go without breaking down. "Do you know what happened when you made that Sandboy akuma?" He didn't wait for an answer. "My nightmare was being trapped in this room. The windows got prison bars on them all of a sudden, and then they kept getting closer and closer and closer. And I called out for you. And you didn't show… You were the one who put me there."

Gabriel couldn't keep his composure any longer. A sob escaped him, and he rested his forehead in one hand. "I'm so sorry."

"I know," Adrien choked out. "But I need some time."

Hesitantly, reluctantly, Gabriel nodded. "Please keep me updated," he whispered, not trusting his voice to be any louder. "Or at least Nathalie or The Gorilla, if you don't want me to know where you are."

Adrien lunged, wrapping Gabriel in a hug and sobbing. "Thank you," he whimpered before pulling away. He stood up. "Plagg!"

The black kwami zipped in, and it was painfully obvious he had been listening in the entire time.

"Claws out!"

After Plagg's green light washed over him, Chat Noir ran out the window.

Chat didn't realize where he was going until he was already there, just around the block from his own home. He knocked on the door, not really knowing what to expect.

He really should have hoped for someone other than Tom Dupain to answer. He appeared to be okay with him not returning Marinette's crush on Chat Noir, but that could have changed since they last met. He watched as Tom's expression went from confused to irritated to worried.

"Can I stay here tonight?" His voice came out cracking, a barely-intelligible squeak.

Tom barely gave half a nod before Chat Noir collapsed into him, letting out all his emotions from his talk with his own father.

"Tom, dear, who is- oh!" Sabine peered around her husband, just as shocked as he was to see Chat Noir sobbing into his chest, barely able to support his own weight.

"Could you pass the mashed potatoes? Thanks."

Chat kept his eyes on the bowl as Marinette accepted it from Tom; it was safer than looking at anything else, really. After he'd collected himself enough, they sat down for dinner, the Dupain-Chengs welcoming him with open arms.

Hardly a word had been spoken since then, though. The family tiptoed around him, only making the occasional comment about the weather or the food before lapsing back into uncomfortable silence. Finally, Tom said something.

"So, Marinette, how are things going with that boy at school you like?"

"Oh my God."

"Tom."

"What?" he asked. "I'm just making conversation!"

Chat perked up a little. Thank God Marinette had moved on, even if it was only brought up in a desperate attempt to get someone to say something. "There's a boy you like?" Chat asked, turning and smiling at Marinette. "What's his name?"

Marinette turned bright red and buried her head in her hands. "Oh my God, I am not doing this with you."

"Oh come on!" Chat prodded. "You can tell me!"

"It's- gah! It's not important; he doesn't even like me that way, anyway."

Tom groaned. "How would you even know?" he asked. "You haven't told him!"

"I… sort of made it… kind of clear…ish."

Chat snorted at the claim, earning a dirty look from Marinette. "And here I thought you were more forward."

Marinette scowled, but there was still a playful glint in her eyes. "You wanna go? I bet I could take you."

"Maybe in Ultimate Mecha Strike 3," Sabine chimed in, giggling a little. "We can play after dinner and see if Chat Noir's any good." Upon seeing Marinette's face light up, she added in, "After we clean the dishes."

Chat Noir smiled, looking around at the small family, and he couldn't help but wonder if he could ever have this- or something like it- again. He'd never had to wash dishes before, but he remembered watching movies with his parents and sitting at the same end of their giant dining table as them.

He sobbed before he could stop it. He set his fork down and laid his shaking hand on the table, the other hand covering his mouth in a futile attempt to muffle the sound.

Marinette placed a hand over his. "Chat?" she asked. "Chat, what's wrong?"

The words came out against his own will. He needed to tell someone what he was feeling or he'd lose his mind. "I wish I could have this," he choked out. "Family dinners and-and cleaning the dishes and time together."

"Oh honey…"

Three pairs of arms wrapped around him as he sobbed, and he couldn't help but feel more at home than he had in two years; that just made him cry even more. Someone- Sabine, he thought- started petting his hair, cooing and telling him to let it all out, and he did. The most recent wave of sadness fell from him until he couldn't cry any more, and he was left shaking in the Dupain-Chengs' arms. When he calmed down enough, they continued dinner in silence, then moved to the living room, leaving the dishes for later, Tom and Sabine insisted.

Marinette pulled Chat Noir into her, letting him rest his head on her chest, and he purred involuntarily. She didn't seem fazed, continuing to pet him as he transitioned.

"You need to talk to someone, sweetie," Sabine said, reaching out and gently rubbing Chat's calf. He nodded slowly, working up the will to speak.

When he finally did, it was the most painful thing that came out. "My father was Hawkmoth." He broke down into sobs again, the one confession wearing his resolve down. Between the time his mother had disappeared and Helena had shown up, he'd only cried once or twice; apathy spell Gabriel didn't approve. But since her return, he felt like a leaky faucet, just waiting for someone to be foolish enough to try to fix him.

The Dupain-Chengs had gone eerily silent (save a soft "oh shit" from Marinette), seemingly content to let him go at his own pace- or perhaps just too shocked to ask for more information.

"The G- someone cast an apathy spell on him," he finally managed to rasp out. "About two years ago. He changed and I didn't know why, but I felt like everything I did was wrong… and then I became Chat Noir and I finally felt free for the first time in months without-without rules and expectations and the constant fear of not being enough for him." He broke down again, and Marinette resumed petting his hair.

"It's okay," she whispered. "Take your time."

A few shaky breaths later, and he was ready to continue. "Something… happened last week. It broke the spell, and… well, uh, and some other things happened, too, and the first thing he did was apologize for everything and confess to me. And he promised he'd be better and make it up to me, but I told him we had to save-" He caught himself. The ordeal of Emilie Agreste's doppelgänger wasn't exactly something he could claim happened to multiple people in Paris. "Someone. And I told him I was Chat Noir and to akumatize- senshify, they're called senshi when they're not corrupted- senshify me so we could save her and we did but I've been avoiding him ever since and today he came into my room to talk and-" He sniffed, his words catching in his throat. "I thought I'd forgiven him; it's not his fault he did it, but I don't, I couldn't. I can't forgive him, not yet."

Marinette tightened her grip on him and started planting kisses in his hair, trying to calm him down. "It's okay, kitty," she whispered. "You're safe here. You'll always be safe here. Just let it out. I've got you."