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Plagg had seen so, so many things happen ever since he arrived to the Agreste mansion. He had seen Adrien grow and change, for better or worse.
He was resistant. It took a lot to begin to break the boy, a lot to even begin to get under his skin. As pale as it was, it wasn't easy to make it bruise, both metaphorically and physically as Plagg had had many opportunities to prove. Far more enough than the amount necessary to start worrying him.
From all that he could gather from Adrien though, the first time he saw something happen was most likely not the first time. As highly as Adrien spoke of his late mother, with each day that passed Plagg doubted more and more whether the kid's memories really had been as he claimed.
He loved the woman, maybe more than he loved anyone else in the world. Plagg couldn't understand how that love never seemed to be tarnished by the lack of action Emilie Agreste took. Was an apology before passing worth as much as Adrien said it did?
Gabriel never talked a lot. Emilie did.
From what Plagg knew, apparently, Adrien had gotten not only his mother's looks, but her way of responding too.
Taking the punches, one by one. Never crying, not a tear in sight even when no one was around.
Never fighting back.
"But why?"
"They're the ones that gave me life, Plagg. I am my parents' child. It's the least I can do."
Plagg wasn't sure if the sentence meant what Adrien claimed it did in the depths of the boy's mind.
He was good at lying.
"Mom basically lived off that, Plagg. She became an actress and helped my aunt Amélie with anything she could. Father says I look like her, but I think my eyes are as if the color of hers was in my father's."
It hurt Plagg, not being able to tell anyone. Not being able to put into words why the way Gabriel treated his son didn't feel right. Knowing there had always been someone watching the way things were inside that household.
Emilie, and now Nathalie.
She knew so much, she saw so much. Yet never did anything at all.
She could have changed the way things were around so long ago. Plagg had a feeling Adrien knew that as well as he did, but he never dived into it.
The first Christmas he spent there, it hurt the little Kwami, the way Adrien's mood dropped with every hour as the dinner approached.
"Mom used to make things so much better."
"Mom used to cook sometimes on Christmas."
Mom.
When Gabriel appeared in the dining hall, silence.
Plagg saw the longing look on Adrien's face every time he saw kids at the park while he had a photoshoot for his own.
He saw the way sadness took over his features when everyone's appeared at the career exhibition at Francois Dupont, while Gabriel's voicemail was the one to answer.
He heard Adrien muttering in his sleep. Why. Why. Why
It took everything in him not to Cataclysm Gabriel the next morning.
He heard the one time Adrien voiced it between tears, when he was intended to sleep.
"Plagg, what did I do? What did I do to deserve this?"
Every day, he could think of less reasons.
Why. How. When.
How could anyone hurt his kitten? Why?
When had it actually started?
He noticed patterns. Emilie, Nathalie and how they both knew, saw everything, and refused to do anything out of fear or whatever the inscrutable face of Gabriel's secretary had behind.
How any word Ladybug said had an impact on Adrien, a harsh word meant to be a joke made him laugh while deep inside he wondered if it was actually a joke, or if there was anything he'd be blamed for and constantly reminded about for the next few weeks.
How Chat Noir's green eyes turned into watery ponds when Ladybug turned her back after a discussion, even if she always came back.
It was far too much for the Kwami's acceptable standards.
"Adrien, listen. Please."
"It's my father you're talking about, Plagg. You know as well as I do that he loves me. He cares about me."
"You try to undo anything that could be considered as wrong as soon as you notice it. Most of the time, it's you setting boundaries. That's not wrong, kid. It's healthy."
"If it's as healthy as you say, then why does my father hate it? Why does he keep on punishing me for that?"
"It's been like this forever, Plagg. Even if I tried to erase it, what would it be good for? It would all stay the same."
"It doesn't have to, kid."
"But my father loves me."
"The only thing you share is one last name. He's taken so much from you already. What's going to be next? Now, will that be cash, credit or memories? He already owns everything you earn"
"It doesn't have to stay like this forever."
"How, Plagg? How?"
"You can start by reclaiming your own life. I can help with that."
"What?"
"You don't have to stay here forever. You can even go against him. All the things I've seen. All you have experienced. It doesnt have to stay like this. You can leave."
"Wait... I can?"
"You can"
"Where would I stay?"
"Wherever you want, just not here. Not anymore."
"But my father..."
"He has done enough. You deserve your own life, kid. He doesn't have to have everything of yours, you know. It doesn't matter what he will think. Only what you think, right here and now."
"Only me?"
"Only you."
"I... I don't really know. I don't like many things, but I love my father."
"Adrien, someone who loves you wouldn't do this."
"But..."
"If it sounds wrong in a partner, why would it be any better from your father?"
"He... he..."
"Someone who really loved you wouldn't do this."