Chapter Thirteen

Questioning a tight lipped kwami was a tiring affair. Adrien had tried cheese bribery and the threat of taking said cheese away but Plagg had remained firm in his avoidance of an answer. This elusiveness only strengthened Adrien's conviction that Plagg had indeed seen his partner out of the mask. He was half tempted to suit back up and go out again but he needed to get some sleep, he had the interview in the morning.

Tossing a large ball of wool at Plagg, which effectively knocked him out of the air, Adrien sauntered off to his bedroom and stripped. Under the hot spray of the shower he closed his eyes and let the beating warmth wash away his worries. He couldn't dwell on the past anymore, he needed to focus on the future. If only the past would let him go.

And in the morning the past was about to rear up again. Directly opposite him sat Alya readying to interview him. Being distracted was problematic since he really needed to focus on the questions Alya was about to throw at him. He glanced over at his long-time friend who was busy riffling through papers in preparation. Sinking back into the armchair, Adrien looked to the ceiling and sighed.

Between his frustration with Plagg and his fruitless searching, his mind continued to wander to his exchange with Marinette as Chat Noir. Last night's mistake meant he needed to reassess his strategy in seeking out Ladybug as his alter ego. Perhaps he could approach Marinette to assist him with his search but given their current shaky status out of the mask, he was rather hesitant.

Alya shuffled her paperwork into a neat stack, jotted some notes on her table and got herself sorted. Then it was time for the camera to roll. "Today marks the third anniversary of Hawkmoth's capture. To most it was quite astonishing to discover that the man behind the mask was none other than fashion elitist, Gabriel Agreste. But no one could have been more shocked than his son and model, Adrien Agreste."

The reporter turned in her seat to face him. "Thanks for joining me this morning."

"Thanks for having me." He replied with a cordial nod.

From there Alya rehashed a lot of questions that he'd been grilled with at the time of his father's demise. Questions that he'd been hesitant to answer. Now though, he was well versed in what to say.

Alya propped forward in her chair. "Many people wonder how you could have been unaware of your father's sinister side, especially since you lived with him at the time."

The model concealed his flinch. "My father was a recluse. He always kept to himself and didn't let anyone get close. Not even me. Sometimes it was like living with a stranger."

"What do you think your father's motivation was?"

Adrien laced his fingers together on his lap. "Primarily, my mother. Losing her affected him terribly. It was like part of him died when she was taken from our lives. I'm aware that in the final battle, Hawkmoth said he wanted to bring her back and the only way he could do that was to steal Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous. He believed their combined power would allow him to do this."

"So, it was the grief of his wife that made him irrational?"

"It would appear that way."

"Are you still in contact with your father?"

The model winced as he considered the last time he'd spoken to Gabriel. Despite apologising for his behaviour, he'd verbally backhanded Adrien for selling his business. Claiming he was a disgrace to the Agreste name. "We are on speaking terms."

"Do you think he feels remorse for what he's done?"

"Yes and no. He said to me that he always picked regular people as his victims because he wanted to empower them. In some regards he believed he was allowing them a small piece of justice that benefitted his own objective. He never selected people of a violent nature, although some of the powers he granted certainly had the ability to cause grievous harm. For that he was sorry."

"Speaking of harm, Chat Noir was never seen after the final battle with Hawkmoth. Do you think it's possible he obtained wounds that incapacitated his ability to be a superhero?"

Adrien's eyes dropped to his ring, and he lowered his right hand to sit between his thigh and the chair arm. "I couldn't say."

Alya flashed a familiar post-battle photo on the screen beside them. There stood Chat Noir covered in plaster dust, a slash of blood lined his right cheek and a hollow look was set in his feline eyes. On his left was Ladybug, reaching out a comforting hand while she too looked equally battered. But unlike him, hope continued to radiate from her features. She didn't understand what that day had truly cost him. "This is the last image captured of Ladybug and Chat Noir together. If you could speak to them now, what would you say?"

Adrien didn't hesitate in answering. "Thanks for doing what needed to be done."

"So, no hard feelings?"

With unblinking focus, the model answered. "Hawkmoth had to be stopped, no matter what."

Once the interview was over, Adrien stuck out his bottom lip and blew the hair away from his eyes. Alya gave him a sympathetic pat on the wrist. "Thanks for doing this. I know it had to be hard."

"I'd like to say that over time it gets easier, but that wouldn't be true." Adrien muttered as he picked up a glass of water and took a sip.

"Look at it this way, the interview may just be the prompt to bring Ladybug out. She always had a soft spot for you."

The model frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Adrien, you had to notice. Any time Ladybug thought your life was in danger she raced to your rescue. Then she'd stick around for as long as possible."

"Ladybug did that sort of thing for everyone. I don't think I received preferential treatment."

Alya shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Honestly Agreste, you're so damn oblivious. The woman was practically stalking your house when you were trying to pull yourself together, after everything that happened with your Dad. Ladybug didn't have to do that, it shows that she was concerned and that she cares about you."

A muscle in his jaw twitched. "My father was her arch nemesis, she probably felt a mix of guilt and pity."

"If you'd said in the interview that you wanted to talk to Ladybug, I'd put money on it that she'd appear within a day. I interviewed her multiple times in the aftermath, all the way up to her retirement and whenever I mentioned you the professional mask dropped." Alya poked his shoulder with a finger for emphasis. No doubt Plagg heard her suggestion and would nag him later.

He caught her hand. "Alya, I appreciate what you're saying but Ladybug's interest in me is empathetic. She's that sort of person."

A growl of frustration escaped Alya. "You're so damn stubborn. Speaking of which, I need a favour."

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

She chuckled at that. "Our mutual friend needs fixing."

Adrien swallowed, his mind immediately drifting to the night before. "Marinette?"

"Yes. Her continued mortification from the 'incident' is driving me crazy. She's just redecorated her apartment and I said I'd catch up for coffee with her. I may have also mentioned that I was bringing a friend."

His brow furrowed. "Did you say it was me?

"Hell no."

"You're terrible, Alya."

"Nope, just keeping it real for my friends."

Trepidation writhed in Adrien's belly as he followed Alya down the hallway and towards Marinette's apartment. Although his friend would have no idea that she'd seen him last night as Chat Noir, the agony of anticipation mixed with dread was killing him. He kept wondering why she had been so emotional. Chances were, she was about to flip when she saw him without the costume but for an entirely different reason.

Alya shot him a reassuring yet cheeky look as they got to her door. The reporter gave him a gentle nudge, "Stand over there so she doesn't see you when she opens the door." With a smile that failed to hide her treachery, the reporter knocked on the door.

Adrien couldn't see Marinette but by the tone of her voice she knew her friend was up to something. "Hi Alya. You're unusually early."

"I brought a surprise." Alya beamed as she pinched a fist full of Adrien's sleeve and roughly tugged him into view before shoving him at her friend.

"Adrien!" Marinette gasped as her hands covered her flushing face.

He clamped his teeth together as he flashed an annoyed look at Alya, then switched to a smile for Marinette. "Hi. Alya invited me along." The designer peeked through her fingers and what little skin he could see was deep pink. Apparently, she hadn't gotten over her embarrassment. As he considered what he could say to put her at ease, Alya gave him an unexpected push from behind and he stumbled forward, sweeping up Marinette in his attempt to regain his balance. "Alya, would you quit it?" he snapped as he glared over his shoulder.

The reporter chuckled as she stepped back. "Oh wow, I just realised I've got somewhere else I need to be. Catch you two later." With that Alya closed the door and left them alone.

Letting out an exasperated huff, Adrien glanced down to find Marinette's face planted against his chest. For a moment he could have sworn she was sniffing his shirt. Then her chin lifted and her eyes crept up to meet his, her face flushed. "I-I, uh…"

Adrien placed his hands on her shoulders. Last night he'd been the one freaking out at the unexpected meeting and he felt he should put things right. "Marinette, do you think I hold some sort of grudge for what happened? Because I can assure I don't."

Marinette dropped her head and tucked in against his chest. "I can't even look at you."

"Isn't that a little melodramatic? It was an accident, or are you trying to tell me it wasn't?"

The designer's fingers remained latched onto his shirt, but she pulled her head up so suddenly he half expected her to have whiplash. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Then what's there to be embarrassed about?"

"My face landed in your… ugh! And the photos!"

"At least I wasn't naked." He said with a chuckle only to watch Marinette's eyes bulge and a muscle twitch under her eye. Okay that suggestion seemed to make things worse. Thinking quickly, a memory sprang to mind. "Can I tell you a secret?" he said leaning close.

Marinette swallowed, "I guess."

He glanced from side to side as if checking they were alone. "Ladybug once faceplanted in my crotch too." He failed to mention that he was Chat Noir at the time, or that he blushed more fiercely than his counterpart. But she didn't need to know that.

Rather than looking amused, Marinette's brow crinkled. "That did not happen."

"I swear it did. I was in danger at the time. I think she intended on tackling me around the waist to push me out of harm's way, but I'm guessing her aim was a little low. We ended up on the ground, me on my back and her… well, you get the idea." Adrien could feel his face heating as he explained.

"Are you sure you're not making this up? I'm pretty certain that happened to Chat Noir." A touch of sadness entered her eyes at the mention of his alter ego. Then she stole a peek at him and her cheeks lost some of their colour. "You probably saw it on the Ladyblog or something."

He shrugged, "Maybe Ladybug needs glasses if it happened to Chat Noir too."

"Oh, stop it. There is nothing wrong with Ladybug's eyesight."

"Are you suggesting she intended to land on me that way?"

"N-no," she scoffed as she crossed her arms. "And it wasn't you, it was Chat. Besides she was probably distracted at the time."

Adrien smiled to himself. Ladybug had been rather flustered, which was weird. It had been one of those situations where he had to bounce between being Chat and not Chat. Whatever had been bothering his partner only got worse after she landed on him as Chat Noir. At first, he'd been just as shocked as her. That feeling gave way to the thrill of having Ladybug so close and he'd grinned like an idiot as he teased her. 'Face it, milady, you're falling for me.' He'd thought that maybe, just maybe he'd finally affected her as thoroughly as she did him. But it hadn't lasted. She'd returned to her usual self for the next akuma fight.

"What are you grinning about?"

"Oh nothing." Adrien said as he failed to hide his smirk.

Marinette cupped her face with her fingers digging into her cheeks. Her frustration surpassed her embarrassment. "You're thinking about it again, aren't you?"

"Actually, I was thinking about the past. Unlike you, I'm not as fixated on that particular moment in time."

"Ugh, you're infuriating." She snapped as she dropped her hands.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Lighten up. I'm not holding it against you."

A resigned sigh escaped her lips. "Fine. I'll do my best to ignore one of the most embarrassing moments of my life."

"Look at it this way, at least I'm not a stranger. That would have been worse."

Scepticism was clear on her face. "Really? Compared to an internationally famous model, I think not."

Alya was right, Marinette took stubborn to a whole new level. Time to bring out the big guns. "Mortifying is finding out you've been living under the same roof as Hawkmoth for years. Now that's emotionally scarring."

All traces of embarrassment and irritation slipped from Marinette's face to be replaced with sympathy. "Oh Adrien, I'm sorry. You're right. I'm bending this all out of proportion."

"I just wanted to put things into perspective. I miss having you as my friend. Besides women don't normally run away from me. It's usually me running away from them."

She began giggling at that. "That's certainly true. If you had a girlfriend that might solve your problem."

Adrien shrugged. "Up until now I've been too busy to even entertain the thought. Are you volunteering for the position?" He teased with a wiggle of his eyebrows and began to regret his choice of words as her face flamed red. "I'm joking," he assured her as he pulled her in for a hug.

It felt all too natural for him to rest his chin on top of her head as she embraced him in return. He also noticed that she was in no hurry to move away. Marinette was still snuggled against him as she spoke. "I saw the interview today." He loosened his hold and stepped back to listen to her. "The picture at the end, it's always made me wonder what happened to make Chat Noir vanish. I know you had a lot to process when you found out about your father, but you said you spoke to Chat Noir in the aftermath, right?"

The topic of Chat Noir didn't particularly surprise him, given her encounter last night, yet the question was unexpected. What could he say? The truth had been gnawing at him and he longed to tell someone but that person needed to be Ladybug. Still, Marinette had been amazingly supportive to him through the whole ordeal and she'd been so upset last night, he needed to give her something. "The battle took a lot out of him and he wanted time to himself."

"He told you that?"

Adrien tugged her back against his chest, not wanting to look her in the eye yet also wanting the comfort. "Not in so many words but he paid an unexpected price that day, one that he tried to conceal from everyone."

"What was it?" she whispered.

His voice cracked. "The same thing I lost, faith in himself."

Marinette's vision began to blur as tears pooled in her eyes. While she couldn't look at Adrien in her current position, she could hear how broken he sounded. It must have been truly awful discovering his father's terrible secret. Yet he'd held it together in the public eye for years, secreting away the shattered mess that lingered behind closed doors. Shuffling to the side, she looked up at him. Blue eyes met green and his haunted depths were so reminiscent of Chat Noir's that she was prompted to say, "I saw him, last night."

Adrien blinked but said nothing.

"I saw Chat Noir."

His voice was quiet. "Are you sure?"

"It wasn't for long, but I managed to speak to him. I think he was looking for Ladybug."

"She's retired." Adrien said so matter-of-factly that she winced.

"Maybe he thought she'd come back if she saw him."

"How could Ladybug see him if she's not here?"

"Just because she's not in costume, doesn't mean she's not around."

"I suppose. You're sounding just like Alya."

"What do you mean?"

"She's hoping that the anniversary of Hawkmoth's capture will lure Ladybug out."

Marinette chuckled. "That sounds like Alya. I swear she misses the infamy of the Ladyblog."

"Well it's hard to maintain the Ladyblog when there's no Ladybug around."

"True, but maybe Alya's hope isn't unfounded. I have no doubt that Ladybug misses her partner, it's just a question of when Chat Noir will give her a chance to find him."

And that opportunity may just be in the next chapter... stick around, things are going to get interesting.

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