Work Text:
It goes like this:
When Chloé is fourteen, she tells Adrien, “I think I might be gay.”
That night, Adrien tells her, “I think I might not be a boy.”
Chloé blinks, and stares, and asks, “are you a girl?”
“I don’t think so,” Adrien tells her. “Don’t tell anyone?”
“If you don’t tell anyone I probably like girls.”
“Deal.”
“Deal.”
--
It goes like this:
Chat Noir’s reputation is built on saving Paris and guarding Ladybug. Chat Noir is a charmer, a gentlecat, a suave little shit even when accidentally jumping into light poles or missing a landing. Chat Noir is a blank slate that builds a name on being a hero.
“And you, young man—”
“Oh, I’m not a man.”
“Boy—”
“No, no, not the age,” Chat Noir interrupts, and it’s a plunge, really, but it’s one that can be taken. It’s a thing that can be done, and there’s no dad or Nathalie or Gorilla to get in the way. “I mean… I’m not a boy or a girl. I’m just… something in between.”
The reporter stares, and her smile goes strained. “Oh, I’m sure that’s just—”
“Just lovely!” Ladybug says, louder than whatever the reporter was about to say. “Just lovely, right, Nadja? Chat Noir’s a great symbol for Paris’s nonbinary youth, yeah?”
Ladybug’s grin is a challenge, an angry one, and the reporter swallows.
“Right. A… wonderful symbol.”
Chat could kiss her.
--
It goes like this:
They get ice cream. They sit on the Eiffel tower. They watch the sunset.
“Is there anything else I should know, Chat?”
“Hm?”
“I mean, pronouns? Sexuality? Anything?” Ladybug prods. “I’ll support you no matter what, obviously, but… I want to know what to say if someone tries to get me to mess up. If I misgender you by using the wrong pronouns in public after you’ve come out, people might… take it as permission.”
Chat stares at her for a few long moments, and then laughs. It’s tired and relieved and wary and giddy all at once, and ends up muffled in the leather gloves with a groan. “I love you so much. Thank you.”
Ladybug shifts, and Chat guesses she’s uncomfortable. “That’s… yeah. Um. So?”
“I can do he and they for now,” Chat says. Meeting Ladybug’s eyes is very difficult, suddenly. “I’m… still figuring things out.”
“Okay,” Ladybug says.
“And I think I like both boys and girls and, you know, people who don’t really do that whole thing, like me, but… I dunno. We’re both pretty young, aren’t we, m’lady?”
She cracks a grin, and pats the strut she’s on. “C’mere, kitty.”
Chat laughs and hops over. “Time for a heart to heart?”
She laughs. Chat could listen to it all day.
They sit there for a bit, shoulders pressed together as they eat, and then Ladybug says, “I’m trans.”
Chat chokes on some ice cream.
“You good?”
“I didn’t know that,” Chat croaks you. This requires more coughing. “Hold on, I’m—”
“Take your time,” Ladybug says.
Chat breathes heavily, and then turns to Ladybug. “You’re… you’re like…”
Ladybug shrugs. “My parents were supportive, and I figured it out… very young. Or, well, I figured out something was off, and took a few years of trying to nail down what before I decided I was a girl, and my parents, uh, noticed. Apparently, I wasn’t ever very subtle about it, you know?”
Chat laughs. “No, Paris’s favorite superhero? Not subtle?”
A pointy elbow digs into Chat’s ribs. “Don’t be mean.”
“I’m not, I’m not!” Chat protests. Giggles still escape. “So, you’re… publicly trans? I guess?”
“I mean, I don’t wear pins or anything, but everyone at my school that remembers me as a kid knows,” she says. “And I’m bi, but that’s been less of a thing. Like you said, we’re young.”
Chat leans against her again, and both of them kick their legs a bit to hit against the strut.
“Should I start wearing, like, a pride scarf?” Chat asks.
“Why not?”
--
Kim says something in class the next day, about Chat being nonbinary. It’s not malicious, really, just… bro humor. Adrien tries not to take it personally.
Chloé throws a fit. It’s enough to get Kim sent to Mr. Damocles’ office. She carefully doesn’t meet Adrien’s eye, afterwards, but this wasn’t about Chat, not really. Chloé doesn’t care about Chat very much. She cares about Adrien.
She’s not the only one that might be ready to pick a fight, either.
“I think now would be a good time to say that this classroom is a no-tolerance zone for transphobic, homophobic, and related language,” Mme. Bustier says. “While some mistakes are natural, this is now a popular topic that will be coming up regularly, due to how embedded Chat Noir is in Paris’s culture, as one of our two main heroes. I expect you all to make your best effort to be polite in your language choices, and to do research if you plan to speak on the topic. There are plenty of resources on this topic, and I do believe the Ladyblog made a post last night with links to several. I know you are all kind, courteous teenagers, and will do your best to be sensitive and sensible about these things.”
If it weren’t for how it would definitely get back to Nathalie, Adrien would consider coming out right here and now.
Class resumes.
--
“—just wanted to thank you for standing up for Chat.”
“I didn’t do it for you, Dupain-Cheng!”
Adrien peeks around the corner. This might turn into a fight. Things with Chloé and Marinette often do.
“Chloé, I remember a lot of people being jerks when I was first changing up my look,” Marinette says. “Including you. So… thanks for standing up for Chat now. Shows you’ve grown.”
“Ugh, whatever!”
Chloé storms off.
Adrien hesitates, but wanders up to Marinette anyway. “Hey, Mari—”
“EH?!” Marinette flails and turns in surprise, and one wildly swinging hand hits Adrien in the shoulder.
“Um. Ow?”
“Ohmigosh Adrien I am so sorry,” Marinette squeaks. “Did I—did I hurt you? Is something broken? Do I need to call your dad or take you to the hospital or tell Nathalie to start—”
“I’m fine!” Adrien assures her. “It probably won’t even bruise, Marinette! It’s good. We’re good. Don’t worry about it. It was an accident.”
She flushes.
“Anyway,” Adrien says, one hand coming up and back to scratch awkwardly at the short hairs of nape of their neck. “You, um… I overheard what you said to Chloé, about changing up your look? Are you, um…”
She flushes more, but it’s less flustered and more… not angry. Fearful, maybe. “Yeah. I’m trans.”
“How did you… do it?” Adrien asks. “How did you tell—tell your parents, and your teachers, and classmates, and… how?”
She searches Adrien’s face for a moment, and then softens. “Oh. This isn’t… I mean, you’re asking for advice, yeah?”
Adrien looks away, rubbing at one arm. “Something like that.”
“Okay. Do you… want to come by the bakery after school? If you don’t have a photoshoot?”
Adrien does not, in fact, have a photoshoot today. “That sounds great.”
--
“So…” Marinette says, once they’re in her room with a plate of cookies and some homework to use as a smokescreen. “Do you know where you’re at?”
Adrien blinks at her. “What?”
“Um, mentally, I mean,” she rushes to explain. “Like is it just a vague feeling that something is wrong, or you can’t untangle sexuality and gender, or you’re definitely a girl and want to come out but don’t know how, or—”
“I’m nonbinary,” Adrien interrupts. “Um… he or they. I didn’t copy Chat, I’ve known this for months, but…”
It’s not like Adrien Agreste, face of a fashion powerhouse, can come out of the closet.
“Okay,” Marinette says. “Who knows already?”
“Chloé,” Adrien says. Marinette’s face twitches at that, but she tucks it away in a fraction of a second. “And, um, now you. That’s it.”
Marinette nods. “Your dad…”
“I don’t know,” Adrien says. “He’s… he loves me, but he’s not always happy if I chance my mind about something he’s decided for me. If I wanted to change one of my hobbies or language studies, he’d be really resistant to it. If I wanted to stop doing shoots, too. I don’t… I’m a celebrity. It would be news. It could affect sales, a lot.”
Marinette makes a face. “Can I fight your dad?”
“Um… no?”
“Too bad,” she mutters. It’s almost funny, because Marinette’s usually over the moon about the Gabriel Agreste as a major fashion designer, and right now she’s just annoyed at a friend’s dad. It’s comforting. She isn’t even nervous about it, and Marinette’s basically always nervous. “So… okay. Chloé knows, because you guys have known each other forever. And I know, because you overheard that I was trans and wanted advice. Is there anyone else you’ve thought about telling? Someone you can trust would be cool about it?”
Well, Plagg knows, but that’s a no-brainer. Anyone else?
“Gorilla,” Adrien says. “I don’t think he’d report me to my dad. I don’t think he’d care one way or the other unless it put me in danger, actually. I’ve known him basically my whole life. He just wants me to be safe.”
“Uh-huh. And then?”
“…then I see what happens?” Adrien tries. Something’s getting lost in translation. “What?”
“Adrien,” Marinette prompts, oddly gentle.
Adrien shifts away, confused and a little concerned. “What?”
“Nino was in my corner from the moment I switched my style to be girly,” she says, firm as can be. “Maybe tell him?”
Oh. Right.
Adrien’s… maybe been worried about losing his best friend if he says something wrong. Chloé was in a similar boat, and thus easy. Paris, as Chat, was easy. Marinette was already there, and also easy.
Nino was… one of the guys. A dude. He called Adrien bro and invited Adrien to Boys’ Nights and argued with Adrien’s dad about birthday parties and class trips.
“He was cool about it?”
“Yeah,” Marinette says. “He’d be cool about you, too.”
“I’m… not sure,” Adrien says. “What if he says he’s cool about it, but stops inviting me to do guy stuff? Or keeps inviting me, but only because he still sees me as one of the boys when I’m not?”
“Going by my experiences?” Marinette says, “He’ll probably just ask if you want to come or if it would be weird, and then go with whatever you say.”
“Oh.”
“Besides, what even is ‘guy stuff’?” she asks. It’s probably rhetorical. “Some people would say fencing is guy stuff, but Kagami’s still better than basically every dude we know, right?”
This is true.
“Hey,” Marinette says, lightly punching Adrien’s shoulder. “It gets better, you know?”
Adrien really hopes so.
--
Someone tries to trap Ladybug in a conversation about Chat Noir being nonbinary. It goes in circles of nonsense that Chat really doesn’t want to deal with, and then Ladybug snaps.
“You realize I’m trans, right?”
The reporter’s eyes dip down to her chest in confusion, and she snaps, “Hey! Eyes up here!”
His eyes go back up. “Huh? But you—how?”
“Well, when I was born, the doctor told my parents ‘it’s a boy!’ But he was wrong, and a few years later I said ‘I’m a girl!’ and now everything’s fine.”
Chat snickers behind a fist. The reporter—Chat doesn’t even know who this guy is, or which channel he represents—just blinks. “Um. Okay?”
Alya shoves him out of the way. “Ladybug! Can you repeat that for the blog? Is this prompted in any way by the recent surge of discussion about queer policies in the government and how they affect the city’s youth? Can you address what you think of those conversations, and where you stand on the policies being discussed?”
“Sure! Later, in a private interview; I’d have to read up on which policies are actually getting discussed.” Ladybug laughs, all cheer now with Alya. “Heroing doesn’t leave a lot of time for keeping up with politics, you know?”
“I can prepare a list of topics,” Alya says breathlessly.
“Sure!” Ladybug goes to say something more, maybe arrange something, but then her earrings beep. “Er, I’ll swing by when I have a chance, alright?”
“Yeah!”
Chat watches her go with a smile.
--
Ladybug brings Chat to the private interview with Alya. Nino is even there, with sound equipment and the camera. Chat grins at him, shoots him some fingers guns, and gets a laugh and a wave back.
The interview is… an interview. It’s nothing Chat hasn’t done a million times as Adrien and Chat Noir. It’s a little more political and personal than the questions about fashion lines and ‘how does a photoshoot work?’ and ‘were you scared when you faced that akuma?’
It’s… important, though. It’s all things like gender markers on passports and marriage equality and the influence Catholicism has on French legislation at the national level. Chat knows a lot about how these things work, but Ladybug is the one that talks about stuff like abolishing gender markers to prevent police discrimination, and how marriage equality also needs to take disability policy into account, and how she personally finds that the Catholic influence on legislation is both deeply ingrained and utterly dismissed by both policymakers and the media.
“I have a friend whose family has to make nods to Christmas despite being Muslim because the kindergarten pushed it so hard that the kids were confused about why ‘everyone else’ was celebrating it and they weren’t,” Chat says. They don’t look at Nino, even though this is technically about him. “The parents don’t like it, and the older kids regret having done the same thing when they were younger. If schools can teach Christmas, then they should teach other holidays from different religions and cultures too.”
“Schools are a secular space, and a lot of people would say that Christmas has become secular. What’s your take on that?”
“It only feels secular because Catholicism is in the majority in this country,” Ladybug says, absolutely severe. “It’s still a very religious holiday, with religious roots and connotations, and insisting that it’s secular while refusing to extend the same benefit to similar holidays from other religions is deliberate discrimination. I don’t mind keeping schools secular, but that should be applied impartially, rather than to everything but those things that are ingrained as a result of Catholicism being a national religion for so long.”
“…are you Catholic, if you don’t mind me asking?” Alya says.
Adrien wiggles a hand. “I haven’t been to church in years, ‘cept for a funeral. It’s not really a thing for my family.”
“My father’s family is Catholic. My mother’s is not. I’ve seen both sides.” Ladybug crosses her arms. “It’s why I feel so strongly and clearly on the topic.”
A ping comes from Alya’s phone. She glances at it. “Um, someone wants to know how you feel about the whole… meeting Santa thing.”
Ladybug’s face sours. “I feel like that’s getting away from the topic of queer politics and secularity in schools. If someone wants to argue the Santa thing, it can be done another time.”
“I’d rather talk about safe spaces in schools,” Chat Noir says brightly. “Namely, that we need more ways for students to report bullying from fellow students or biased teachers and curriculums without risking retaliation.”
“Sure, let’s talk about that,” Alya says, leaning forward. “You have ideas?”
--
Adrien comes out to Nino a few days later.
It’s… pretty much the best decision possible.
(Marinette gives them both a thumbs up when they enter.)
(She’s not even a little nervous.)
(Adrien hopes she stays that confident; the social anxiety was hitting her pretty hard earlier in the semester.)
(And hey, Adrien’s not making it worse, somehow, which had definitely been a worry.)
(Nino laughs when this opinion is voiced, and turns the conversation to the interview from earlier in the week, because he’s got lots of opinions on the religion stuff.)
Maybe Adrien can even come out to Gorilla sometime this… semester.
Not month. Adrien’s a bit overwhelmed by coming out so many times these past two or three weeks.
But… yeah, a few more months and… maybe.
Just maybe.