Unclean Hands 🫴🏻 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction)

10 | The Plan

Three Hours After

Adrien and Marinette walked back into his empty house, tired and exhausted. They had just finished part one of their plan: abandon Gabriel Agreste's car in the middle of nowhere.

The two didn't think the first part through, though, and realized they had to take an hour bus ride back.

"Call Nathalie," Marinette instructed as they entered the kitchen and walked over to the counter. She took her gloves off and threw them away, and stood at the sink and washed her hands. "Now I need a pen and some paper..." She said out loud to herself as she looked around for what she needed.

Adrien nodded. "Right, part two." He grabbed his phone and dialed her number.

Nathalie answered on the second ring. "Adrien, is everything alright?"

He focused hard and channeled his deep, complicated, emotions and sobbed into the speaker. "Nathalie! Have y-you heard from my father?!"

"No, not yet. Why? What's wrong?"

"I'm worried about my father!"

"Adrien—"

His cries cut her off and he spat out, "Something's wrong! Something's wrong... I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do!"

"Adrien, deep breaths. Slow down and breathe. Tell me what's wrong."

"M-My father called me earlier on his way to the airport and..." Adrien said as he emphasized his crying and sniffling. "H-He said he would call me once he got on his flight, but the call disconnected! I figured he lost service or something, but I haven't heard from him! I think something's wrong! Father hasn't called me. What if something happened to him, Nathalie?!"

"Adrien, calm down," Nathalie told him. "We will get this sorted out."

His hand tightened around his phone. "NO! My father could be in danger, Nathalie! How can I calm down?!" He shouted at her, making sure his tone was more angry.

Nathalie was already in contact with Officer Roger as she said, "Stay home and let me take care of everything."

Adrien sighed. "O-Okay..."

"Adrien?"

"Yes, Nathalie?" He asked.

"I don't want you to be alone tonight. Why don't you have a friend stay over?"

Adrien glanced at Marinette and smiled. "That's probably a good idea."

Marinette tilted her head, wondering why he was smiling at her.

Nathalie quickly added, "Don't tell anyone else about this, Adrien. I will take care of it."

Still playing the part of caring son, he said, "What can I do, Nathalie? I can't just sit here and do nothing. I have to help! He's my... father."

Adrien felt disgusted to utter those words.

"Stay home and stay safe," Nathalie said. "That's all you can do, Adrien. I have to go now."

"Goodbye, Nathalie." He hung up. "That's done."

Marinette nodded. "Impressive. Nathalie definitely wouldn't suspect you at all."

"It's easy to act when that's all I've ever done," Adrien whispered as he shoved his phone in his back pocket. He noticed her standing at the counter, hunched over. "What are you doing?"

"The finishing puzzle piece of our—hopefully—foolproof plan," She whispered as she scribbled words on the paper.

"Then what?"

Marinette spun around and faced him. "We don't speak of this—ever. We forget this happened. Whoever Nathalie calls will definitely start an investigation right away, but that was expected." She grabbed his hand. "If we want to stay in the dark, if we don't want to get caught, we have to be extremely careful now."

"I need a distraction," Adrien mumbled to himself as he sat at the kitchen counter.

"When was the last time you ate something?" Marinette asked as she looked through the pantry.

Food is the last thing on my mind. "I sort of lost my appetite," He admitted.

"Right. Duh, that makes sense." Marinette closed the pantry and instead grabbed two glasses. She made them both ice water and sat next to him. "We should at least stay hydrated."

He chuckled. "Thanks." He took a long chug and sighed.

"What else do you want to do?" Marinette asked as she fetched an ice cube from her glass and munched on it.

Adrien looked down at Marinette and found himself staring at her lips. They look so soft. He met her eyes fast as she turned to him and he felt his cheek burn. "Uh... we'll think of something."

"What about a movie?"

"I can handle that."

Adrien grabbed Marinette's hand and they walked back upstairs to his bedroom. He glanced at the empty spot where his father was before. No one could tell what truly happened in here. He walked over to his closet and searched through his storage bins until he found what he was looking for: a blue scarf. A few years ago, Adrien had found out that it was actually Marinette who made the scarf, and not his father who had gave and passed off as his own to Adrien for his birthday.

Only another reason to hate him.

Marinette watched as he wrapped the scarf around his neck—to hide the bruises, she assumed—and frowns. I wish Adrien would have told me sooner. I could've helped him, somehow.

"Is something wrong?" Adrien asked, breaking her from her train of thought.

She shook her head. "No... not at all."

They sat side by side on the couch and put on a movie, taking their usual comfortable spots as they cuddled together. Halfway through the movie, they dozed off and their heads fell together as they both drifted off to sleep.