Chapter Text
This was horrible. this was absolutely, positively, dreadfully horrible.How horrible exactly could it be that Adrien was panicing so vividly as to want to hurl from atop the tallest building in paris? Well, lets go down the list.
First, he made a huge mistake a few hours earlier. His father had come to his room to check on his son after a recent akuma tried to cross all of Paris in a rampage to get to Adrien. while checking on him, he stumbled into Chat Noir changing back into Adrien Agrest in the middle of his son’s room. really, he should have made sure to lock the door first on that one.
Second, Gabriel, his /father/, outed him as Chat Noir and demanded the ring. the argument that ensued pushed the fashion designer too far, and he slipped up on the words. Adrien discovered in that second two things that were very clear; his father was Hawkmoth himself, and he outed himself to Hawkmoth.
truly he was the epitome of observant.
third, he’d lost his miraculous. this was the second worst problem tonight. after Gabriel messed up, Adrien figured it out in a snap and accused him of his crimes. the two locked horns verbally for a short while before things escalated. Gabriel demanded the miraculous, to witch Adrien refused passionately, and the two brawled. thinking back, it was mostly his own fault for getting into a fisticuff with his father, Gabriel had made a passing threat at Ladybug and Adrien saw red. all he could remember after that was snatching the broach before being knocked down, the Butterfly miraculous skidding under the bed. Gabriel must not have noticed, because he grabbed at the Black Cat miraculous and tore it from Adrien, making a run for the exit with his prize in hand. he left his son huddled against the bed, rubbing his bruised face as he stared with empty gaze at his ring finger.
his father was Hawkmoth, he’d been imprisoning him for years in this blasted cold castle of a mansion, he’d been hurting people for years now and he’d been doing it all for gods know what reason. Adrien felt broke, betrayed and empty, all in one moment.
then the fourth item came in to play: Hawkmoth has the black cat miraculous. after the inevitable soul crushing realization of what transpired dawned on Adrien, he realized two things: 1 Hawkmoth had his Miraculous, which meant he could be Chat Noir at the drop of a dime, and second, Ladybug was in danger. His Lady was in danger! putting little thought into the brave plan to go warn his Lady, he dove under the bed to secure his prize, the glistening purple miraculous he’s claimed during the struggle. maybe Gabriel didn’t realize he’d lost it, maybe it wasn’t important anymore, he didn’t know or care. this was his key to warning his Lady!
Nooroo looked absolutely ecstatic to meet adrien, but when Adrien quickly explained the situation, he was more then happy to lend a hand. he explained quickly three things Adrien needed to know:
-first, he couldn’t fly, he could gain momentary lift before he glided down. always be mindful of your landings on that.
-second the change command is ‘wings rise!’
-third the butterfly is only meant to transform a normal person into a hero, but it must be willing. only an akuma will come from forcing it.
armed with as much knowledge could fit into a five minute cram session, Adrien called out to nooroo to transform him.
maybe, if he wasn’t rushing to save the life of his beloved Ladybug, he’d take a moment to admire his costume. lavender and silver mixed with violet made up the bulk of colors splashed tastefully across his synthetic tights. he still retained the gloves and books like Chat Noir, but lacked the cat-like details. the best part of this, aside from not looking like a bald old man though his hair was neatly combed back like he was going to a ball, was the wings. normally they floated behind him like obscenely large scarfs, but when he jumped they seemed to take on a life of their own, straightening out to give a few helpful flaps to get him onto the rooftop before turning rigid to glide. while more effective to get around then using claws and a staff, the can really didn’t do him too much and he missed his staff, especially when he missed a jump. that was a painful experience.
it didn’t take him long to find a familiar looking bakery, landing on the balcony to knock on the door to get someone’s attention. he knew the girl who lived here, a quiet and clumsy girl from his school room, or well clumsy around him anyways. the only reason he was here was because he couldn’t find Ladybug on the communicator. apparently being abused so long cut Nooroo’s connection to the other miraculous. he needed a way to get in touch, and he knew only one girl who knew where to find his Lady.
Marinette was quick to answer the knock, unlocking the trapdoor without looking as she spoke with sore words. “Chat, it’s late, do you really need to…” before Adrien could even explain his change in miraculous, Marinette managed to deafen him by screaming like a banshee before fleeing out of the room. he only managed to call after her once before the door slammed.
“that could have gone better…” adrien rationalized as he slumped against the open entrance to Marinette’s bedroom. “how long till she comes back…?”
ten minutes was the exact time it took oddly enough, though he wouldn’t know it. after waiting ten minutes for Marinette to return so he could explain himself, he heard soft steps on the balcony behind him. turning, his eyes were greeted with the beautiful visage of a lovely lady clad in red with black polkadot spandex. his breath hitched, eyes widening as he gazed at her long legs, firm muscles, dark hair, and very angry eyes- wait, angry? she was saying something and he was too out of it to catch.
“excuse me?” he replied dumbfounded.
“hawkmoth! what are you doing out here? come to finish us once and for all?!” she proudly proclaimed, and his heart hit the bottom of his feet. oh dear gods she thought he was Hawkmoth?! he tried to raise his hands to say no, but a swarm of white butterflies flew up to meet the command he’d unknowingly issued, buffeting Ladybug till she jumped back. oh dear him he was so irrefutably dead now.
Ladybug groaned before she started her assault, giving Adrien no time to try to convince her of the mistake she was making. no, instead of talking, Adrien was too busy fleeing across the rooftops of paris to avoid the harsh pain instilled by Ladybug’s furious Yoyo and harsh insults. really, this night couldn’t get any worse.
and it did. right on cue, a very tall, very upset Chat Noir jumped into Adrien’s path, a scowl adorning his dark face framed under short silver hair. Adrien skidded to a halt, sucking in a sharp breath as his worst nightmare came to life. Ladybug, in all her wisdom, didn’t see the difference.“Chat! you finally show up alley cat, help me round up this loose moth!”
she expected Chat Noir to crack a pun and throw himself at Hawkmoth. instead, he raged about getting her Miraculous and threw himself at her, completely ignoring Adrien who stumbled off the building and into a waiting dumpster below him. this pretty much catches us up to the whole ‘wanting to hurl’ part, though that may be partly due to the vibrant smell of the trash.
Adrien climbed out of the dumpster, muttering to himself about how oblivious ladybug is, how his father is stupid, and a slew of other things as he trudged out of the alley way to be greeted by the worst sight ever: an absolutely terrified Ladybug, screaming at the top of her lungs as she ran and leapt down the street, followed closely by an extremely livid Chat Noir yelling bloody murder after her. he needed to get help, Nooroo wasn’t designed for combat. what was it he said… oh, right, heroes. he needed a champion for the butterfly. there was only one person he could think of, and by luck, or the fact Alya was such a Ladybug fan that she was already running down the street after him with her boyfriend in toe, Adrien had his man. not thinking too hard he jogged up to head the duo off to get their attention.
once more, before he could even get more then a ‘hey’ out, Alya screeched like the second banshee tonight as Nino put himself between Adrien and the dj’s girlfriend, brandishing a taser. “get back Alya!”
“wait wait!” adrien called as they started to run. “WAIT NINO, I NEED YOU TO NOT RUN OUT ON ME!”
thank the gods above Nino skidded to a halt to look back at him in confusion, obviously not as oblivious as his Ladybug was. he tilted his head as Adrien tried to catch his breath. “uh…”
Adrien shot him a sour look. “I don’t have time to explain the details, right now i need you to take this butterfly, become a hero, and help me save Ladybug from Hawkmoth.”
there was a long pregnant pause before Nino responded, shying back from the white butterfly in Adrien’s hand. “uh… are you feeling well dude? if you think i’m gonna accept one of those again…”
Adrien groaned in anguish as he rubbed his temple with his freehand. “Please Nino, now would be a REALLY GREAT TIME if you could be feeling heroic right now. don’t make me ask Chloe, i am not afraid to try Chloe!”
Nino held his hands up defensively. “look dude, i don’t get what’s going on, but there ain’t no way i’m accepting one of those a second time!”
Adrien turned his ire to the Lady Blogger, who still had her phone up filming them this whole time. “Alya! you’ve always wanted to help Ladybug right? well now’s your chance!” he begged desperately.
and Alya was having none of it. “no way! do you really think i’m dumb enough to fall for some stupid trick like this? last time i accepted that, i tried to kidnap Chloe and oust Ladybug to the public!”
“you too?! come on people i need someone to work with me here! “
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