Chat Noir's boots landed silently against a neighboring rooftop, relief flooding through him at the sight of his house. His eyes scanned his lit-up bedroom.
The bedroom he specifically remembered leaving in darkness earlier that night.
The feeling of relief turned cold.
He could see someone standing in there, revolving their head this way and that, as if they were searching for something.
Searching for him.
The person turned to look in his direction and he caught the glint of Gabriel Agreste's glasses reflecting off the light.
"SHIT!" Chat gasped, darting behind the chimney and leaning against it, hand grasping at his thudding chest, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-!"
What was his dad doing? After months of never even bothering to check on him, he'd decided to do just that at the worst possible moment?
Chat dithered on what to do next. He could hardly jump back into his room and detransform (as was customary) with Gabriel standing right there.
What would he even say?
"Oh hi, Dad. Yeah, I'm Chat Noir, one of Paris's saviors, and I've been hiding my identity from you for months. But I suppose this is a pretty big revelation, so now you finally have a reason to pay attention to me-"
No. He was doing this without the stupid reveal.
But he knew, no matter what, he couldn't avoid the confrontation.
He leaped off the roof and snuck up behind the gates of his driveway. After dropping his transformation and whispering to Plagg to stay quiet inside his shirt pocket, he began the short ascent toward the front doors.
The door groaned as he pushed it open, loudly announcing his presence, and he watched it slam shut with just as much vigor. Sure enough, he soon heard footsteps approaching him from behind.
First Ladybug. Now his father. This night couldn't help but add insult to injury, could it?
He let his hand fall from the door and turned around, but kept his gaze stubbornly glued to the floor, watching his father through his periphery.
"Adrien." Gabriel hesitated halfway down the stairs. "Where have you been?"
Any incentive to face the music with rationale faded away, a sense of irritation prickling over him instead. "Why do you care?"
"Do you have any idea how late it is?" There surprisingly wasn't any bite behind his dad's tone. Just a tired voice, worn down by constant pressure. "It's freezing out there, and you're not even wearing a jacket-"
"All of a sudden you're worried about me?" he spat, voice echoing loudly through the gloomy atrium. He'd always found this place to be too large, too empty, too impossible to fill with anything substantial-
"Of course I worry. You're my son."
Adrien scoffed. "I thought fathers were supposed to spend time with their sons. But all you ever do is avoid me."
"I don't avoid you, Adrien."
"You can't even look me in the eyes!"
Almost to prove a point, Adrien turned his glare upwards, directly into his father's sharp blue eyes. Only to find him staring right back.
His heart shifted, clunking like a clock chiming midnight, as it released a trough of acid through his chest.
And he realized that the eye contact issue was a two-way street.
YOU ARE READING
Candle In The Wind - Miraculous Ladybug Movie Rewrite
FanfictionSomeone was screaming. A horrific, guttural sound that infected the entire night with sorrow. He wondered if it was the ghosts of the people he'd just killed. He wondered if they'd come back to haunt him, to follow his every waking move, to never le...
