Age of Blanc: A Miraculous Story

Chapter 2: Pressured and Rejected

Nothing was getting better. Adrien looked at his schedule, shocked by the activities he's got to do. He's got multiple photoshoots. This'll have to possibly take him out of school. His Chinese and piano lessons were also pretty frequent, especially on the weekends.

He looked up at his father and Nathalie.

"This isn't cool, Father." he said, "It's just not fair, I've got plans this weekend!"

"I'm your father, son." said Gabriel, his stare lifeless as always, "You do what I tell you to do."

"But I can't just abandon my friends!"

His father then stood up a bit quickly. His chair almost tipped over. Adrien gasped for a moment. He felt himself backing away as his father stepped closer to him. Gabriel immediately gripped his son's wrist, yanking him forward.

"Ow, Father, you're hurting me!" Adrien yelled.

"Endure it, son!" shouted Gabriel, "I forbid you to leave your room! You are to have no phone, no computer, no fun until tomorrow! If you do it anyway, I shall do it for the rest of this week!"

He then shoved Adrien out of the office. The boy felt a tear roll down his cheek. He then walked up the stairs and up to his room.

Gabriel meanwhile sat back in his chair. Nathalie left the room shortly after. Gabriel knew that he was breaking his son's heart for him, but it'd be better this way. If he's going to get the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses, he'll need to think of more powerful akumas, one of them should be his son.

For his wife, and for his son's future, he will make sure it stays intact. He'll make sure that they become a family again, even if it means breaking his son's will. Adrien would understand what day. Love makes you do crazy things.

...

Adrien swiped his hand over his desk, knocking a lot of papers down. It wasn't fair. He felt himself wince as he took a look at his wrist. It almost looked as if a bruise was already forming.

Was this all because of him getting 1% lower in his last test? Is that the cause of it? What's making Gabriel Agreste basically abuse his own son? Was it all really that worth it? For whatever reason his father was doing this to him, it most certainly wouldn't spare him his anger towards him for who knows how long.

Adrien looked at his clock. It was time for patrol. He saw Plagg hover out of his pocket. Before he could say anything, Adrien called out:

"Plagg, claws out!"

...

A few days have passed since that event. The night of it went by uneventfully. Cat Noir's jokes were apparently still around. This time, to Ladybug, they seemed to be more heart-filled, only that he seemed to be flirting more than joking.

Marinette stood on her balcony. She wondered what was going on Cat Noir's side of Paris. He had dropped hints about his lonely life. There were times when Marinette wanted them to reveal each other's identities, but it was still better this way if they didn't know. And her theory came true once she met...him.

Cat Blanc was a pale nightmare. Their love destroyed Paris. Although she may not know the origins of his akumatization, but it was better not to know.

"Are you thinking about Cat Noir again, Marinette?" asked Tikki?

"Yeah..." Marinette admitted, "...I wonder if he's still having trouble. But I also worry more and more about Adrien."

"What do you mean?"

The girl then thought back to seeing Adrien's face, especially today. He looked sad and beaten down. He had bags under his eyes. He looked as if he got zero sleep last night, or any night before.

Marinette remembered about Nino getting Adrien to admit that his father was putting him under so much stress. There were so many times when she just wished she could just walk right up to Gabriel and slap his pretty face off.

She then thought back to a day sometime after this began to happen, mentioning her inspiration to Adrien himself.

...

Marinette and Adrien walked to the park. It possibly took her forever to finally get him to take her to the park. They sat on a bench and chatted for a while.

"So who was your biggest inspiration?" asked Adrien.

"It's...your father." said Marinette.

She was surprised that she didn't stutter. It was possibly because of the fact that she was trying to be more delicate and honest at the same time, dropping her crazy crush on him for a moment.

Adrien seemed to wince as quietly to himself as possible. Marinette could tell that he didn't like it. The Model turned to see her expression.

"I-It's not that you like him," he tried, "I-I just wished that he was more...friendly."

"Y-Yeah, I guess so..." said Marinette, then her mouth spoke for her, "...I did think about interning there."

Marinette tried to reduce the volume once it was being said. She prayed that Adrien didn't hear her, only to be disappointed when she saw the horror in Adrien's eyes. The Model immediately gripped her shoulders, making her look at them and at the face of the boy himself. Tears fell from his eyes.

"Don't go!" he begged.

...

That day's adventure ended once the Gorilla drove by in the limo. That was when Gabriel waited impatiently for his son. He gripped the Model's hair and yanked him inside. Marinette felt so terrible for not helping him.

Then there's Cat Noir. She knows that she hasn't been inviting him to the battles with the akuma. But she needed to be sure that he'll be safe. It's better this way.

She hoped.

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