Chapter Text
“Plagg, I was just wondering, how does this work?” Adrien was lazing on his bed, bored out of his mind. Plagg looked over his shoulder at the gangly eighteen year old boy with a pencil perched between his nose and pursed upper lip. The little cat-like kwami sighed.
“How does what work, Adrien?”
“You know; Chat Noir,” he rolled onto his back and placed the pencil between his feet, raised above his head.
“Well, the Big Bad is defeated,” admitted Plagg. Ladybug and Chat Noir had finally put an end to Hawkmoth’s antics the winter of their senior year; it had all been very dramatic, with snow all around, but Adrien was talking now. Now is the night before graduation. Now is the night Ladybug and Chat Noir had agreed to meet for the last time to tell each other their post-graduation plans. Now is the end of an era, really, but somehow Plagg was still around. He looked out of the window at the hazy hot summer night. He was still around. It was almost as if Ladybug and Chat Noir were not yet finished with their jobs, here in this lifetime. From over on the bed, Adrien whined impatiently, obviously eager to go see Ladybug. Even after they stopped fighting evil together, after they stopped seeing each other, long after the Ladyblog stopped posting for lack of new content, he still held out. He still loved her, somehow. Plagg propped his head up on his tiny paw to observe his partner asininely flip a pencil around with his feet. It had been a long, long time since Plagg had seen Tikki, too.
“Okay, Plagg! Transform me!” Adrien mewed, bouncing up from his bed as an alarm buzzed from his phone. Unusual for Plagg, he flew over to Adrien’s ring and willingly disappeared into it. Even Adrien was a bit surprised—Plagg almost always had to be dragged into it—but he was Chat Noir now, and he was off to see his Lady; the light of his life. Even though the summer had been hot and sunny, it was always cloudy without her.
Bounding across the rooftops is always so relaxing, thought Chat Noir. He’d missed it, he really had. Not being Chat felt like a whole part of his life was missing. Well, it kind of was. Ladybug was one of his only true friends in the world. Sure, he could have tried more to make friends with people in his class for instance, but it was so hard to tell who liked him for him or for his fame. It was just easier to be pleasant and slightly formal with everyone. No enemies, no friends. Except for Nino, but Nino was always an exception. Chat Noir almost slipped from his staff as the sudden realization that he and Nino wouldn’t be sitting next to each other in class anymore hit him hard. Nino had been his friend for so long, he could barely imagine a world without him… or Ladybug. Chat stopped leaping and fell onto a roof, clutching his heart. Emotion was crippling; no wonder he tried not to form any close bonds. Everything’s got to end someday. He stood up with a shaky breath and walked over the roofs for the few blocks he had left between him and the meeting spot, only leaping when he had to cross a street. When Chat caught a glimpse of red streaking down to where he was headed, he sped up the pace. Forget cautious optimism, pretty much the only reason Ladybug could have for meeting him was to confess her long-restrained love, and say she’d follow him anywhere. Chat rounded a chimney, and there she was: her face had slimmed, and her body fat had migrated to a more adult feminine figure, but overall she retained a youthful shape. She turned to catch his eye and smiled, the romantic lights of the Eifel tower setting her aglow.
“Hi Chat,” she said. She looked back to the tower, smile turned wistful.
“Hi, Lady,” he replied, sitting down next to her. He leaned towards her and bumped his shoulder into her. She tilted her head to bonk it on his arm in recognition. Chat smiled, a bit nervous. “It’s… it’s been a while, huh?”
“It has,” she said, looking up where the tower scraped the sky. He followed her gaze up into the darkness that wasn’t ever quite black.
“I missed you,” said Chat, still looking up. They were sitting very close.
“I don’t think missing goes away,” said Ladybug, leaning away. Chat looked down at her, her weight propped up on her elbows. He leaned down on his side to remain on her level. She had a pained expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, nothing. Everything’s going right,” she exhaled. “But it’s still hard. It’s hard to leave. It’s hard to watch other people leave.”
Chat didn’t respond. She sure did hit the nail on the head with that one. He looked down at her hand, clenched into a fist, and gave up. She was young, just like him. And, just like him, she had plans for that youth that didn’t involve a superhero alter ego, or some pesky partner with a crush the size of Europe.
“Chat, I’m going to New York City for uni.” Chat inhaled, his eyes wide. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. Ladybug noticed and sat up. “Chat! Chat, are you okay?”
“I—” Chat gasped. Exactly one week ago, he’d received a phone call.
“Hello, this is Adrien.”
“Adrien? Adrien?”
“Y-yes? Who is this?”
“Oh my god, it’s really you. Oh, Adrien,” a familiar voice crackled in broken French. It seemed to be a middle-aged woman.
“I’m sorry I don’t take fan calls on this line,” said Adrien, about to hang up.
“It’s me!” the voice cried. “Oh Adrien, it’s me. Mama.”
“Ma—” he stammered. He clapped a hand over his mouth.
“Yes! It’s me. H-happy birthday, sweetheart,” the voice said apologetically. Adrien gripped his cell phone so tight, it could have shattered. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“Mama, is it really you?” he said, visibly shaking. She had been gone for years now. Years and years.
“It is, baby! After the divorce and your father got custody, he wouldn’t let me talk to you until you were eighteen.”
“Divorce?” Father had never mentioned a divorce. One day she was just gone, and all the questions in the world would not get his father to budge on an answer.
“Yes, and I couldn’t take you, I was coming here, to New York, to be an artist, and I didn’t have any money to take care of you, so just hoped and prayed you didn’t blame me, because all I’ve ever wanted was to take care of you.”
“New York City?” Adrien stuttered. He’d had no earthly idea what had happened to his mother. She could have been dead or anything, and he wouldn’t have known. And now, here she was, on the other end of the line, in America of all places, telling him what had really happened. Of course she had divorced him, his father was a piece of shit excuse for a human, and of course he had gotten everything, he had all the lawyers, and his mother was an artist. And she was on the other end of the line. In New York City.
“Oh god, Adrien, I so am sorry, but I couldn’t go against the orders. I’ve been following your career and I’m very proud of you, sweetheart. And I know this has all got to be very sudden, but I, uh, I wanted to let you know that you are welcome here. With me, in New York. I don’t know what your plans are, but I just—”
“I want to go to New York!” he yelled into the receiver. “I want to see you.”
“Adrien, I—I know you do, but don’t give up your plans…”
“I don’t have any. I don’t care about anything. I want to come be with you,” Adrien’s voice cracked as tears began to stream down his face. He could hear small sobs from the other end.
“Oh baby, I don’t know if your father will let you.”
“He doesn’t control me! I have my own money. I can make money, too. I’ll go to New York City and I’ll model and we can live together and be happy.”
“Adrien, don’t you want to go to college?”
“College?”
“Oh, university. You should continue your education. What do you like to study? Modeling?”
“No,” said Adrien. He glanced over to his library crowded with scientific books, full of theories and equations. “I like physics.”
“There’s lots of schools in New York with physics! You could… I mean, I don’t want to push you…”
“No, that’s perfect,” breathed Adrien. His father and all his money be damned, he was going to New York City to study physics.
“I—” Chat gasped again.
“Oh my god,” said Ladybug, obviously thinking he needed medical assistance.
“No, no,” he said, snapping out of his reverie. “It’s just—I’m—I’m going to New York, too.”
“You—” Ladybug began. “R-really?”
“Yes!” Chat cried. He sat up and flung his arms around Ladybug’s neck, tears beginning to fall. “I really thought I’d never see you again.”
Ladybug haltingly put her arms around his back to return his embrace. Chat had known that Ladybug still would never agree to admit their secret identities, but now that they were going to the same city, they could still meet up in uniform, at least sometimes. His chest heaved with sobs, and Ladybug’s arms clenching tighter around him probably made it worse. Sometimes, he’d second-guess himself, that maybe Ladybug didn’t ever really like him, that he was just some useless tagalong, but it was moments like this one, where she was simply letting him cry on her shoulder, that told him she cared. Chat had pulled every string he had in his reserve to get into NYU so late in the process, as well as book a modeling contract in the city to get himself through school; his father had instantly disapproved and informed his son he would not support him financially if he made this decision. Though neither brought up Adrien’s mother, it was obvious she was why Adrien insisted on going. However, despite all adversity, Adrien Agreste was enrolled in NYU starting in the fall. His trust fund would be enough to carry him through until his modeling checks came in. Of course, he’d been saving his money from modeling for his father, but because he was under his father’s agency, very little of the money he technically made had gone to him. But no more; he was going to New York City, and he was going to study physics, and be with his mother, and now he’d see Ladybug too. His partner soothingly rubbed his back as he sniffled before straightening up. She held him at arm’s length, and he grinned at her, still hiccupping. Her face softened.
“Then I guess I’ll see you in New York, kitty.”