You're home. [Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction] (Completed)

Chapter 24 - I miss you.

Gabriel pressed his chapped lips into a thin line.
"Very well then. If you hate this company so much, how about you leave it." He shot back.
"You can't do that! I own this business."
"Oh I think I can." Gabriel pulled out another file from his briefcase labeled "Classified". He opened it up and took out a company employer sheet. It was Gabriel's, and it was updated to that year. He was labeled as Director and CEO of the Agreste co. He then held up Adrien's. His was labeled "CO founder". Adrien's stomach did a barrel roll.

He had never been in full control of the company. His father was the whole time.
"How did you-..."
"I've bee running this business the whole time, watching you as you worked."
"Then were have you been for the past few years?!" Adrien yelled, voice shaky and uneven. Hurt filled his eyes.
"I can't tell you that." Gabriel said sharply. "Do you want to leave my company or not?"
"...No."

Adrien couldn't believe what was coming out of his own mouth. He hated this job so much and yet here we was, begging to stay? What was wrong with him.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow but didn't question what his son had to say. Instead he packed up his files and stored them nice and neat into his brief case.
"Then I expect effort. You are under my supervision now."

Gabriel walked out of the office, leaving a ghostly silence in the room. Adrien sat back in his chair, disbelief written all over his face. That conversation definitely did not go as planned.

The room somehow felt lonelier as soon as his father left the room. The same loneliness he felt when his mother died, the same loneliness when Ladybug left. The same loneliness he felt since the day he began working for this god forsaken business. Adrien's eyes shifted to a framed photo on his desk. It was of his mother. Pain stabbed his heart. He still remembered he day she died.

Her eyes were such a dull green, her skin pale. Her hair was in a messy pony tail that hung down her shoulders. Cancer took such beauty she honed and brutally massacred it. Her smile was even ruined by her illness. Even though she was ill and could barely move a muscle, her smile was the last thing he remembered seeing before he was forced out of the hospital room, nurses and doctors surrounding his mother.

A tear slipped down Adrien's cheek. He blinked in surprise and wiped it away with the back of his hand. Where had the time gone? It was the ninth anniversary of his mother's death the next day. And even though his father was back, he didn't want to visit her with him. He wanted to be with someone he knew loved him. He wanted to bring Marinette to meet her.

~

The next day.

Marinette was shocked to say the least when Adrien called her the previous night, inviting her to meet his mother. He explained that the next day was the anniversary of her death. And he didn't want to be alone. How could she say no? Marinette would never be able to meet his mother any other way besides this.

Adrien knocked on her apartment door in nice dark blue jeans, dress shoes and a black button down shirt. Marinette had her hair in loose curls. She had on a black dress that went down about mid-thigh. The sleeves went down to her wrists and they were an intricate lace pattern. The top opened up just above the breasts and showed her chest and collar bones before the lace connected with a collar-line right bellow her neck. Black heels completed the look. Adrien smiled weakly and held out his hand.

Marinette, in turn, reached her hand up and brushed his cheek.
"You gonna be alright?" She asked, her voice just above a whisper. He nodded and leaned into her touch.

The car ride was quiet, but that was to be expected. Marinette didn't think Adrien would be in the greatest of moods that day.

They arrived at the cemetery, Adrien helping Marinette out. He led her to his mother's gravestone, which he knew by heart. It was an angel statue, holding a bouquet. The bottom said, "Celiné Agreste. Mother, wife, friend. Your smile could brighten the sun itself. 5/3/77 - 5/19/14"