Since his mother disappearance when he was six, Adrien Agreste’s life became a product to be exposed to the world. There was no other way to describe it. His father became absent, only talking to him when it was strictly necessary and Adrien got used to barely seeing the man. Gabriel even became overprotective, homeschooling the boy and putting him under the care of people who taught him how to behave and who molded him as the image of perfection itself.
At some point, his classes started. Chinese, fencing, piano. In the beginning, Adrien hated them, but he also did his best to try to make his father proud. Gabriel, however, didn’t want Adrien’s best. He wanted perfection.
He wanted a perfect boy to sell Agreste’s name, and he wouldn’t accept less than that. But even when Adrien failed on what was demanded of him, the repression would come through his father’s assistant or through a screen.
That was why Adrien froze when Nathalie knocked on his door and announced that Gabriel was waiting for Adrien in his office.
Immediately, dozens of scenarios crossed the boy’s mind. What could‘ve he done to his father to demand to see him in person?
Putting Plagg under his shirt, Adrien walked towards the door, swallowing the lump in his throat.
Something was really wrong.
Maybe it had something to do with his absences at school, or all the times he arrived late, or that test in which he only got 83%. Oh god, he didn’t want to be homeschooled again! He had made friends and loved listening to the teachers. It was really fun.
And how could he sneak out and save the city if an akuma attacked while he was being tutored by Nathalie?
Chat’s Miraculous was the embodiment of bad luck, but it couldn’t be that bad to the point his father would stop him from going to school, right?
The boy stopped, staring at the door of his father’s office.
It was open.
Crap.
Bad sign.
Stepping inside and knocking weakly, the boy tried to put on his neutral expression.
“Father?”
Gabriel was on his desk, focused on a sketchbook in front of him and barely glanced at Adrien.
“Come in, and close the door” after a brief pause, he added “Lock it”
Meanwhile, Adrien’s mind was running wild. What could be so serious? His father had never asked him to lock the door for them to have a conversation.
As soon as he approached the desk, waiting for whatever was coming, Gabriel stood up and walked towards him. The silence was agonizing. And then, Adrien’s heart stopped.
“I know your secret” his father stated.
No way. What is he talking about? How could he…
“Huh?”
To make it worse, Gabriel smiled. A gentle smile. The last time Adrien had seen that smile was before his mother was gone.
Sighing, Gabriel went back to his chair and gesticulated to his son to sit as well. Adrien was still frozen in his place, though, because HOW DID HE FIND OUT?
“Adrien?” Gabriel’s voice was concerned - CONCERNED! - but Adrien thought he had also heard some kind of humor in the way his father called his name. Which was impossible, because Gabriel Agreste had no sense of humor. At all.
“Excuse me, father?” finally, the boy sat and stared at the man in front of him. He could feel Plagg squirming under his shirt. But surely his father couldn’t be talking about…
“I know you’re Chat Noir”
Oh.
Oh no.
It took Adrien a lot of effort to keep a straight face when he replied.
“What are you talking about?” and even so, his voice was way more defensive than he wanted.
“You know exactly what I am talking about”
What could he do? Adrien had never imagined what would he do if someone ever found out. And now his father was staring at him with a soft smile and comprehensive eyes, and Adrien didn’t know his father could hold such expression, and he also didn’t know what to say. Should he admit it, or was his father bluffing?
Noticing the lack of reaction, Gabriel took his glasses off and cleaned them as he spoke again.
“Sure, I could be wrong,” Adrien seemed to relax a bit, but then his eyes widened as he heard the end of it “and in this case, I can’t allow a son of mine to be seen with such an old-fashioned ring, nor ignore all your absences and bad grades at school”
Busted.
“Do you mind explaining how did you come to this conclusion?” when it was clear Adrien had no choice but tell the true, Plagg decided it was a good time to intervene, and he flew out Adrien’s shirt.
Gabriel didn’t seem surprised by the floating creature in front of him. If something, he was curious.
“Your kwami?”
Adrien nodded.
“Yeah, his name is…” wait, what? His father had said ‘kwami’. Adrien understood his identity had been discovered, but how could his father know what Plagg was?
Gabriel put his glasses back and his expression darkened.
“I recognized your ring, and after that a lot of things made sense” he explained “I’m disappointed, Adrien”
Yeah. Adrien almost didn’t notice the first thing his father said, as the last sentence got stuck in his brain. Of course his father would be disappointed. His son was a liar, considered a sidekick by a lot of people, and had a complete inappropriate behavior. He was wandering around Paris in a black leather costume, who was too tight! Shit. He wouldn’t be able to keep being Chat Noir. That was bad.
He was beginning to panic when his father cut his thoughts.
“I think this is my fault”
Adrien choked.
“Excuse me?”
“If I hadn’t homeschooled you for so long, you’d be able to approach a girl just fine. What’s with all that flirtation? You don’t do justice to your last name”
It made Plagg roar with laughter, while Adrien blinked, dumbstruck.
His father, who had been absent for nine years appeared all of a sudden wanting to talk to him, and one of the things he wanted to point was how Chat Noir was hitting on Ladybug? Adrien could just die.
“Sir, I…”
“Don’t you ‘sir’ on me. I should’ve taught you properly so you wouldn’t be embarrassing yourself like that. No wonder the girl pushes you away”
In your face.
“We have to fix this immediately. I don’t want you doing that to the family’s name”
Adrien glanced at Plagg, seeking for help, but his kwami was losing his shit.
Traitor.
“I think I should go back to my room” the boy managed to say. His father’s expression didn’t change.
“I’m not done”
The seriousness in his voice reminded Adrien that, although his father was acting extremely out of character, he was still Gabriel Agreste. Adrien’s embarrassment was not that important at the moment.
So he decided to change topics.
“I can’t stop being Chat Noir” it had to be said. Because the overprotective Gabriel Agreste wouldn’t be fond of the idea of his son running across rooftops and fighting akumas. But Adrien couldn’t abandon Ladybug, and he wasn’t planning to, even if that meant he had to stand up against his father.
However, he didn’t have the need to.
“I know I can’t stop you… even if I don’t like to see you risking your life like that” truth to be told, Adrien couldn’t picture his father worrying about him. Gabriel had hugged him after the Jackady incident, but still, Adrien wasn’t used to it, and he was afraid there was something under all that concern. Gabriel took a deep breath and glanced at Plagg “You two wondered why I knew what you are. I never thought I’d be telling you this, but you and your Ladybug weren’t the first Miraculous Holders in Paris”
It was a simple sentence that could imply a lot of things. Adrien had never heard about other Miraculous Holders, but the look on Plagg’s face showed it was true. But still. There was no way his father knew about the source of the power of a Miraculous Holder. Unless…
No. That was ridiculous.
His father couldn’t have been a Miraculous Holder, right?
Gabriel Agreste doing a ‘magical girl’ kind of transformation and walking around in tight suits?
No way.
The boy was frozen in his seat. Plagg, however, was staring at Gabriel with a cryptic expression that Adrien had never seen before.
“So you are that Gabriel” the kwami’s voice was full of recognition “Duusu’s chosen. After everything that happened, I’d never imagined it was Adrien’s father. But that would mean your wife…”
“I think you got the situation here” Gabriel cut the kwami, but Adrien’s world had already stopped.
His mother?
What could’ve happened to her? Because clearly, it wasn’t a mystery just like his father had made him believe. It had something to do with the Miraculouses.
Something that even Plagg knew.
“Wait, what happened to mom?”
Plagg and Gabriel exchanged looks.
“It’s not the time for you to know” Gabriel explained, much to Adrien’s frustration and despair “But I think you’ve already assumed that that is related to… the reason why I don’t like the idea of you being Chat Noir. But I am still going to help you and your partner with everything I can. By the way, do you know each other’s identities?”
Maybe it was Adrien’s impression, but his father glanced at Plagg when he asked that. Nevermind. The point was… WHAT THE HECK? The truth about his mom’s disappearance was so close, and yet so out of reach. Was it something he could learn about from Plagg by giving him the right amount of Camembert? And his father had not only allowed him to be Chat Noir, but had also offered to help him and Ladybug? What the heck?
“He doesn’t” Plagg replied, making Adrien remember that his father had just asked him a question. He was too confused to ratiocinate, though “But if Tikki didn’t do anything so far, maybe it’s for the best”
It was awkward to see Plagg being that serious. Adrien was used to the goofy and glutton Plagg, not to the ‘I am a wise and really old god’ Plagg.
Gabriel nodded.
“Just make sure they don’t make… the same mistakes” he said “Things are about to get serious. And maybe I should pass my Miraculous to someone”
The same mistakes? Adrien blinked, confused, but Plagg was nodding in agreement.
“That would be wise. I can make sure it goes to the right person” the kwami offered, just to be turned down by a polite decline.
“I’d rather do that by myself. I have someone in mind already” he confessed “One of Adrien’s classmates seems to have the qualities to be a great Miraculous Holder, so I might give it to her”
“Her?” Adrien frowned “Who do you have in mind?”
“You have more urgent things to worry about” Gabriel dismissed Adrien’s worries with a wave “I’ll probably have to hire someone to teach you how to behave in front of a girl”
Oh no, not this again.
“Father, I…”
“That girl is someone I would approve as your girlfriend, so I don’t want you to mess this up” the man smiled fondly, making Adrien choke and blush. At least his father liked Ladybug. But was him really trying to be supportive? “I knew I shouldn’t have allowed you to watch anime. They were a bad example”
Plagg was laughing again.
Adrien, on the other hand, had the feeling his head was going to explode. What the hell was happening to his life? He had never seen his father act that way, and he had had way more revelations that he thought he was able to handle. Plus, the superhero side of him had noticed when his father said that things were about to get serious. What was that about? Maybe Paris would even have a new hero… Adrien needed to warn Ladybug.
Ladybug.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
His father had acknowledged how Adrien used to pursue a girl he liked, and he had even said he was disappointed. And hire someone to teach him? What kind of people would even give this kind of lesson? Adrien’s panicked mind was afraid to think about it. But at least it was better than his own father teaching him, because honestly, that would be awkward as hell, because Gabriel didn’t seem the kind of person who knew how to approach people either. In fact, he seemed more like someone who would hire a doctor to talk to Adrien about sex.
Ugh.
“Adrien?” Gabriel was staring at him expectantly. Oh, right. He had also said something about animes being a bad influence “Did you hear that?”
Before Adrien could reply, Plagg floated in front of his face.
“Kid, there’s an akuma outside. We should go” and Adrien had never felt that happy before because of an akuma attack. He could kiss Hawkmoth for freeing him from that torture Come on, Hawkmoth was actually an angel, and Adrien wasn’t that unlucky.
The only downside was that he had no time to leave the room, and the only option was to transform in front of his father. Adrien had no choice. But at least he earned something he would treasure forever.
“Be careful, son. Stay safe” his father said. And it sounded honest. That day wasn’t being that bad at all. He could live with that. He was definitely happy an akuma had attacked. He got away from the embarrassing conversation, and his father even worried about him.
However, when he was about to jump through the window and join the fight, Gabriel made sure to add a comment that made Adrien shiver and remember that no, he was still screwed.
“We’ll finish our conversation once you get back”