Unclean Hands 🫴🏻 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction)

1 | Behind Locked Doors

One Month Before

Adrien Agreste was the perfect son.

He never disobeyed his father or went against his wishes. He never talked back or raised his voice. He always did what he was asked, even if he didn't want to. He couldn't help it. All his life, he always wanted to make his father happy.

Over the years, Adrien's father had grown distant and cold, and all the more bearing and over protective. It was ironic he claimed to love his son, yet he couldn't say his son's favorite color or his hobbies or how he really liked his pancakes.

Adrien tried to understand. His father turned this way after his mother disappeared all those years ago. Her body was never found and no one could give an explanation for her going missing. Adrien had found a way to move on and keep living, but apparently his father didn't. He couldn't, and the son desperately tried to help his father.

But nothing worked, nothing helped. Gabriel Agreste couldn't bear to look at his son anymore. He only saw glimpses of his lost wife in his son's eyes, and it pained his heart to live another day without her by his side. So, he locked himself away in his office, away from his son, and spent years searching for a cure, for special jewels.

Gabriel still loved Adrien, deep, deep down in the void his heart was lost in, and he swore to Emelie to always protect him. Somewhere over the years, though, he mistook protection for imprisonment, and the definitions for 'son' and 'puppet' blurred together.

"Adrien?" Nathalie, Gabriel's assistant, called out as she knocked on his bedroom door. "You don't want to be late. Your photoshoot—"

The door swung opened and cut her off. Adrien stood there, wide awake, with a glare meant for her. "I'm awake," He snapped, pushing past her as he slumped downstairs.

"Your father isn't available for breakfast this morning," She explained as she followed the young model. "But he is free for dinner."

With his back turned, Adrien rolled his eyes. "I already lost my appetite."

"Once your photoshoot is over, you have the rest of the day free. You... you should do something fun. Go hang out with your friends."

"Oh, Father will allow it today?"

"Your father is busy with meetings all day, and since you've kept your grades up all school year, he's rewarding you with a day out."

He snickered. "Rewarding me? Right..." Before he left, he turned to Nathalie and said, "My grades have always been excellent, just in case you forgot."

"There was that zero your science teacher gave you," Nathalie reminded him. "Just in case you forgot."

Adrien remembered that day all too well. He was supposed to be working on a science project with his best friend, Nino, and he couldn't focus when Marinette ran out of the classroom, crying her eyes out. He chased after her to the locker room and comforted her, and learned that her pen pal in China had passed away. They talked in the locker room for an hour, missing the rest of class, and their teacher wasn't kind or forgiving for skipping the lesson. Marinette and Adrien received a zero for their assignment and the model was grounded for a month.

"T-That was—" He started to defend, but stopped. It didn't matter what he said. His father didn't listen before and he didn't expect Nathalie to now. "Nevermind."

"Oh, and Adrien, your new diet starts today," She told him as she checked something on her tablet. "Your nutritionist has been informed, so when you get to set, they'll have a special breakfast set aside for you."

Great, another diet. Adrien didn't say anything. He walked out and slammed the front door shut.

***