Part 1 here
The blond model didn’t sleep much that night.
His anger was directed at one of the few people who didn’t deserve it.
He had snuck back into his room and stared at the ceiling as he tried to think of a way to apologize, eventually passing out from exhaustion. He was awakened by his phone buzzing.
Adrien picked up the vibrating phone and noticed 3 missed calls from Nino. Adrien quickly answered before this call could turn into a fourth missed call.
“What’s up?” Adrien yawned, his mind begging for him to call at another time, preferably when he was well rested.
“Dude! It is all over the news. Your dad called a press conference about it and everything!” Nino exclaimed through the phone.
“What news? Conference? Nino slow down.” Adrien tried to calm his friend so that he can understand what his bespectacled friend was trying to say.
“Just turn to channel 4.”
Adrien quickly went to his couch, picking up the remote and turned on the Tv, which was conveniently on channel four. Adrien felt his blood run cold as he saw the headline.
‘Cataclysmic Vandalism,’
“Oh no.” Adrien muttered under his breathe. His kwami getting up from a pillow and stretching. The black cat turned to see his chosen looking at the tv with a look of terror. Poor kid still wasn’t use to all the bad luck of being Chat noir.
“..While people have no clear footage of how the billboard was destroyed. After investigating the smoldering pile where the billboard once stood, authorities have named Chat noir the prime suspect for this billboard destruction. Gabriel Agreste has called a press conference to discuss the matter.” The anchorwoman explained as she then passed the events to her cohort at the press conference.
The camera showed Gabriel Agreste standing behind a podium, his anger conveying the few emotions Adrien had seen on his father’s face, anger.
“While I would like to believe Chat noir is not responsible for this blatant destruction of my property. I will say this, if Chat noir is responsible. I will not ask for compensation for the billboard, I will ask that he resigns as a hero, because clearly a child like him shouldn’t be trusted with that kind of power.” Gabriel stated concisely, his voice steady and showing his apparent disgust with the black cat hero.
Adrien turned off the Tv, and chucked the remote, which hit his rock climbing wall, causing the device to shatter.
“You don’t have to listen to him.” The black kwami said. “Besides, it is a billboard, not like it was anything valuable.”
Adrien took a deep breathe as he balled his fists. Anger swelled within him, he wanted nothing more then to punch his father square in the face. It would be so damn satisfying. Adrien knew how dangerous anger like this was, yet he didnt care. He kept it buried away for 15 years. He needed to vent.
“Even when I am chat noir, he still finds some way to demean me. Is it so much to ask for a little sympathy from him? Is that too much to ask, Plagg?” Adrien asked his kwami, his voice shaking from the negative emotions.
Plagg could feel the anger in his chosen. Adrien was Ideal akuma bait with all of this negative emotion. The miraculous had given Adrien a strong tolerance against akumatization, and even hid him from Hawkmoth noticing where he was. But the amount of negative emotion seemed so great that even the miraculous might not be able to hide it. If he transformed now, he could keep Adrien safe from getting possessed.
“Adrien, we need to transform.” Plagg stated uncharacteristically serious.
Adrien didn’t complain though, he wanted to be chat noir right now. He didnt care about the negative buzz he was getting. He would rather be chat any day of the week.
“Plagg, Claws out!” Adrien commanded.
The events of last night echoed in the blunette’s mind. Marinette could feel the pain of every heartbeat in her partner’s chest. He was hurting, and all she did was make it worse.
She laid in her bed, hoping that this was all a bad dream. But unfortunately, when her friend, Alya sent that news feed to her, she knew that the encounter was all too real.
She quickly turned on the news to find that Gabriel Agreste had really made Chat noir look bad.
She needed to find Chat noir, he was in trouble for vandalism against Gabriel Agreste, one of the last people you want to cross.
“Is there a way you can locate him Tikki?” The blunette asked her red kwami companion.
“I can sense his kwami when he is close by or if he is transformed, but finding him in a Paris will be difficult. He could be anywhere.” Tikki explained sadly, her chosen patting her head to cheer her up.
“We need to find him, before anyone else does.” Marinette said as she turned off the Tv.
“Tikki, spots on!”
Adrien realizes he may have been too hasty when he transformed.
As soon as he was a few blocks away from his home, people began to bombard him with questions.
Reports and civilians alike shouted questions at him, wondering if the report was true.
The cat hero ignored the peoples questions, he simply wanted to be left alone.
He ran rooftop to rooftop to avoid the questioning public. Eventually losing them by hiding in Notre dame.
“I think I lost them.” The cat breathed in relief. He should have known that everyone would be questioning him about that billboard.
Of course his father had to take action over something so meaningless. It was just one of the dozens of billboards his father had up already. It really shouldn’t have been surprising that his father would speak up though, he was not one to let small problems slip by, he was a perfectionist to his core.
Adrien looked about the cathedral and noticed that he had hidden where the bell was located. He had to admire the shine on the golden instrument. He walked up to is and saw his reflection as clears as if he looked in a mirror.
He looked different as Chat noir, his face was the same, and sure his hair was the same length, but he felt different.
His hair was wild yet still flattering. His green eyes even greener with the green scalara of his mask. His cheeky grin replacing his usual soft smile, he liked the way he looked. This was a look that suited him. It was him, as he really was.
His baton began vibrating, bringing him back to reality. He knew Ladybug was calling him. He held the baton in his hand, deciding if he should answer it or not. She had probably seen the news, and what makes matters worse, she knows he is guilty.
Chat noir decided it probably wasn’t the best time to answer. So he silenced his baton.
As he put his baton away, he looked at the bell again. Looking at the reflection.
“It is funny isn’t it. The world can’t get enough of you when you are the perfect self you hate so much, but when you make a mistake as your true self, everyone is against you.” The black cat spoke as he stared deep into the bell’s reflection.
He flicked the bell with his finger hearing a small chink noise. It was odd how amused that small sound was. He then flicked his own bell to hear the chime. Oddly soothing.
He was feeling much calmer, it was true that he was frustrated, but he could at least appear calm.
He de-transformed, allowing his kwami to leave the ring.
“Seems you have cooled off a bit.” Plagg observed as he floated about, before noticing the large bell in the room. “By the way, what exactly is with the large shiny bell?”
“We are in Notre Dame. It was the only place that seemed good enough to hide.”
“I see, and what exactly do you plan on doing? Considering that you are guilty of vandalism. Your dad is all but asking for your head on a platter, whether he knows it or not.”
Adrien looked at the ground, he knew that his dad would never let this go. A simple apology wouldn’t cut it either. He would need to figure someway of patching this up. Even if there were people in paris that wouldn’t be against him, his father has a way of making people’s lives horrible, something he knows all too well.
“You might want to just to beg for forgiveness, and move on.” Plagg stated as he looked at the reflection in the bell.
Adrien felt his anger rise again. Begging for forgiveness was something he had to always do. Something the “Perfect son” did, not what Chat noir did.
“Absolutely not! I would rather destroy a dozen more billboards before I do that.” Adrien huffed.
Plagg could see Adrien’s anger rising again.
“Okay, how about we take a break. Lets head out of the city for a bit. Clear your head before doing anything too rash. There is the farm a couple miles from the city that is suppose to make the best Camembert.” Plagg said as his mouth drooled at the thought of fresh Camembert.
Adrien rolled his eyes at the kwami. He need to get out of this bell tower, and he didnt care who he had to deal with. Chat noir wasn’t one to hide when trouble was knocking
“Plagg, claws out!”
Plagg was sucked into the ring and Adrien transformed back into Chat noir. He walked over to the bell at his reflection.
“If only there was a way I could stay as Chat noir forever.” The blond sighed.
As he finished the statement. His baton began to buzz, alerting him to an incoming call from Ladybug. But he ignored it just as he burst out of the Cathedral and land just outside of the building.
His action seemed to draw a lot of attention. But this didnt phase Chat noir at the moment. He just used his baton to quickly extend himself to a nearby rooftop.
“Maybe Plagg was right, a vacation would do me some good.” he chuckled as he ran across the rooftops, until a flash of red stopped him in his track.
It was Ladybug.
“Follow me. We need to talk.” Ladybug stated, she needed to have a private chat with her partner
The red clad hero noticed the cat running from Notre Dame. She had been searching the entire city for the cat. He refused to answer her calls. She quickly lead him into an abandoned alley way, where the two can talk about the situation.
“Where have you been? I have been worried sick looking for you!” Ladybug yelled. Her eyes conveying her worry.
Chat noir didnt respond, he simply watched as Ladybug continued.
“The news has been talking non stop about how you destroyed the billboard. You need to apologize.” Ladybug stated.
This was the final straw. She was his partner, and yet she was just as against him as the rest of Paris, over a stupid billboard.
“No.” Chat noir muttered as he looked at his feet. He could feel his head pounding as his mind was a medley of emotions.
“This isn’t the time to act like this. Just say it was accidental, I know that the report looked bad. But as soon as you fess up, everything will be back to normal.” Ladybug explained.
Adrien looked at Ladybug with an expression that made Ladybug back up.
“I am not apologizing.” Chat noir said, louder then before. “Tell that jerk to get over it. It was a billboard out of the countless ones he has all over the city.”
“Chat noir, you need to apologize. We are heroes, and heroes own up when we make mistakes.”
Chat noir’s glare felt like it was looking right through Ladybug.
“Well we all can’t be perfect.” Chat noir spat. He turned his back on his Ladylove and began walking away. But Ladybug placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Chat… Please tell me what is wrong.” Ladybug pleaded “I want to help you.”
Chat noir looked over his shoulder, his cold glance made Ladybug shiver. This wasn’t the chat noir she knew. He was so angry and bitter.
“I am not going to apologize. If you are my partner, you will back me up.” Chat noir spoke.
“You committed a crime Chat…”
“If I was Adrien, you would have had my back.”
Ladybug backed up, Adrien turned to see how hurt she looked by the comment.
“Is that what this is all about? Jealousy?” Her voice conveying hurt and frustration.
Chat noir regretted saying that, but he knew that his words weren’t a lie.
“This isn’t what this is about.”
“Then tell me what it is Chat noir? What has got you so mad that you are acting nothing like who you are.”
“Because Gabriel Agreste is a cold emotionless man that is an absolutely horrible father that expects nothing but perfection even from his own son regards of how much anguish and stress he goes through and I refuse to give the man the satisfaction of my apology!” Chat noir roared, tears began rolling down the cheeks of the teen hero.
Ladybug looked at chat noir in surprise. Her heart shattered as she watched Chat noir fall to his knees and have an emotional breakdown in an alley way. Everything started to click. His destruction of the billboard, his anger over Gabriel’s actions. His inside knowledge of Gabriel and Adrien’s relationship. The fact that he and chat noir have never been seen together. The hair and the eye color. Chat noir was Adrien Agreste.
She got down to his level and she hugged the crying cat boy.
“Chat… I had no idea.” Was all she could say.
Chat noir felt the warmth of his partner. He could feel that she knew the truth. he all but said he was Adrien Agreste. But his identity didnt matter, because his cold words to his Lady began haunting him, reminding him of how his words hurt her.
“I am sorry. I am so sorry.” Chat noir wept into Ladybug’s shoulder. Ladybug cradled his head in her arms. She should have seen how her partner was hurting, she was the one that should be apologizing.
“You don’t need to apologize.” Ladybug whispered as she pet his head to calm him down.
“I guess the cat is out of the bag now.” He joked through his tears. “Are you disappointed?”
“You are perfect no matter who you are behind the mask.” She said with a comforting smile.
He could tell she meant every word, and for once, the word perfect sounded pretty nice.
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