Work Text:
Maman: We have a surprise for you after school.
Marinette: Okay, Maman.
Fifteen minutes pass and another chime.
Maman: We adopted a cat.
Marinette: What? Why? What happened to no pets ever?
Maman: Oh, well, we couldn’t say no to this cat. He’s special, dear.
Marinette: Ok?
Maman: You’ll see when you get home.
Marinette couldn’t say she wasn’t curious about this new cat her parents had taken in. She simply couldn’t wrap her mind around them changing their minds about something this huge. Surely, she had to be missing something.
School couldn’t move slower if it tried as Marinette tapped her foot in rapid succession until Alya grabbed her leg to still her, shooting her an agitated look. Marinette whispered her apology though her foot started up within moments again and kept going until the final bell rang for the day.
“I’ll see you later, Alya.” She grabbed her bag and dashed out the door before anyone could stop her, racing across the street to her family’s bakery. “Maman, I’m home.”
She slowed as she neared the stairs, not wanting to accidentally trip and fall as she’d done often in the past. By the time she reached the top landing, she’d calmed down a little and opened the door to their home with less anxiety than she thought she had.
A comforting pat from her purse helped soothe her further though she couldn’t figure out why she was so nervous about meeting this special cat.
Her nerves came back full force, however, when she came into her living room and spotted the cat in question. She didn’t know what to expect, but she knew for certain she hadn’t expected the cat to be one of Paris’s superheroes. What’s more, she didn’t expect him to be lounging in her living room, sipping some hot chocolate his mother had made him.
“What are you doing here?” She strode over to him and demanded.
“Well, your parents invited me down. It seems I wasn’t as quiet as I thought when I came to see you earlier.”
“What did you do, Chat?” Her hand had come up to pinch the bridge of her nose as she tried to understand what he told her. She knew they were close in age, but it didn’t explain why he’d come before twilight when he often stopped by for a visit.
“I, um, I ran away from home.” He didn’t meet her eyes as he confessed, too embarrassed and nervous about her reaction to see it happen firsthand.
“What? Oh, Chat, it got that bad?”
He nodded, not trusting his voice at that moment.
Before she could offer him any words of consolation, her parents walked into the room with a tray full of treats for them to share.
“Ah, there’s our girl,” her papa said as he set the tray down and wrapped her up in his large arms. “I see you’ve met our newest addition.”
“I, uh, I have, Papa.”
“Well, he’ll be staying with us for a while. I think it’ll work out wonderfully, don’t you, Sabine? Now, they won’t have to sneak around her room like they’ve been for months.”
Marinette’s cheeks went bright red at their secret being discovered. While she would freely admit there wasn’t anything going on between them besides friendship, she hadn’t wanted her parents knowing she allowed a guy into her room during hours that boys shouldn’t be in her room.
“Maman, Papa, I can explain.”
“I’m sure you can, dear, but don’t worry. We trust you,” her maman said as she gazed at the teens with a knowledge only a mother could have. “Since it’s in the open now, certain rules will be going into effect.”
“Yes, Maman.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sabine smiled at them, knowing the solution she and Tom had in mind would work out for everyone in the end.
A few hours later, Marinette pulled Chat into her room, leaving the trap door open as per the agreement with her parents, and asked, “Are you okay?”
He didn’t answer right away but finally managed to admit. “I’ve been better. I really am grateful to you and your family, Marinette.”
“What about your identity? Won’t someone miss you?”
He shook his head, uncaring if his father sent an entire army after him. He refused to go home after the terrible fight they’d had. While his father didn’t agree about Adrien being an adult, Adrien knew he’d reached his legal age and fully intended on making the break as clean as he could from his old life. As for his identity, he hadn’t quite thought that one through when he sought refuge from Marinette earlier.
“Maybe I should show you who I am. You’re bound to find out eventually.”
Marinette didn’t know what to say as she admitted to being curious about the guy behind the mask, but she couldn’t allow him to reveal himself and risk those he loves and cares about, including her parents. She knew her own secret could cause problems for them, and she couldn’t make it worse by bringing Chat into the mix as well.
“Everything okay up here?” Her papa asked as he brought up some laundry for Marinette.
“Yeah, it’s fine, Papa.”
Chat looked at Marinette for a moment before he said, “Well, actually, we were discussing revealing my identity for everyone’s sake.”
“You shouldn’t, Chat. You could put yourself in greater danger.” Marinette grabbed his hand to stop him from saying the words to transform him into his civilian form.
Nothing prepared her for the words that came from her father.
“Oh, don’t worry, son. Your secret will be safe here. We already know who both you and Ladybug are.”
“What?” Marinette didn’t mean to shout, but her surprise was too much to contain. “How do you know who Ladybug is? Chat?”
“Your mother and I aren’t blind.” He didn’t offer anything more as he walked down the steps, leaving the teens to gape at each other.
When she turned back to Chat, she saw a thoughtful expression on his face as he studied her, nearly crying out when she heard him whisper, “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”
“Chat, please.”
“M’lady, I’m so glad it’s you.” He reached out for her hand, interlacing their fingers together, as he continued, “Plagg, claws in.”
A flash of green light engulfed Chat as his transformation wore off, leaving a smiling Adrien in his place.
“Well, I’m certainly a lucky cat to have found my home with Lady Luck herself.”
Marinette couldn’t speak for several minutes as her mind tried to wrap around everything she’d learned in the last few hours, but she knew one thing and that one thing couldn’t make her happier than she was at that moment.
“Oh, kitty, I’m so glad you’re home.”