Our Love Will Go On

The Blackmail

Nothing happened for a couple of days. Adrien and Marinette took any occasion they could to sit down together and brainstorm on setting up a plan to counteract whatever Gabriel wanted to do.

"I just wish I could contact Su-Han," Ladybug mused one afternoon after patrol. They were sitting in their usual spot, the one facing the Eiffel Tower where they had spent so many days and nights together.

Chat Noir winced. "What for? The man's caused more trouble than done any good."

"Chat," scolded Ladybug.

"What? He was only good at watching stupid kitten videos on YouTube. He created more tension between us and put an enormous amount of stress on you."

Ladybug sighed. "I know. But...he's the celestial Guardian and an adult. It may not seem like it from what we know of him, but he must have some experience that could be crucial to us. For instance, he may know a way to protect you."

"How?" Chat Noir glared at her. "Unless I can snap that ring off his fingers, there's nothing I can do to prevent my father from moving me around."

"Maybe," Ladybug said with a big sigh, "maybe he knows a way. To make you...human?"

Chat Noir gasped, his breath catching as his heartbeat sped. He looked down and fell silent for a while, but Ladybug didn't notice. Ladybug was busy writing stuff on her pad.

"Because there must have already been a case of a sentimonster created like a real human; I'm sure that in the course of the millennia there must've been. And if there's a way to change you..." Then, Ladybug lifted her head from her pad and looked at her partner, and her words died in her throat. "What's wrong?" she asked when she noticed his gloomy look. He shrugged and turned the other way but Marinette grabbed his shoulder and forced him to meet her gaze. "What's wrong, minou? Haven't we said we would tell each other everything?"

"I'm okay."

But Ladybug wouldn't have it. "No, you're not. Have I said something wrong?"

He shook his head but didn't speak and didn't look at her again, his arms hugging his shoulders. "No," he said eventually. "It's just...it's very silly, Milady, forget about it."

But Ladybug's frown grew sterner. "No, Minou, now you tell me. It can't be that silly if it's affecting you like this."

"It's just..." He gulped dryly, his Adam's apple bobbing, and then huffed. "I-I don't know if I want to."

Ladybug blinked. "If you want to?"

"To change." He looked at her and she looked back with a frown of pure disbelief. "It's just...this is what I am. It's what my mother created me to be. I mean...would becoming human change me in any way? Everyone's always wanted me to be different than what I am. My father has always controlled every aspect of my life. I don't want to be different, I want to be me..."

Ladybug's frown showed her confusion. "But if you've been created to be like a human, nothing would really change, right, except you not being able to be controlled with an amok or killed. Right?"

His silence was deafening. Eventually, he gave her a small smile and looked at her again, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Of course, you're right. It was silly of me. Forget about it."

They kept brainstorming, sometimes during patrol and some other times again during their school breaks.

"Agh, why can't we come up with a solution?" Marinette mused one afternoon, as they sat at the school's cafeteria in front of a discarded cup of cold coffee.

Adrien made to say something, but some of their classmates passed by, so he fell silent, wincing slightly when he noticed that Lila had walked past him. She'd shot him a look he hadn't liked at all.