Chapter Text
"Marinette, can I ask you something?"
She looks up from her notes, a small smile on her lips. "Anything, Adrien."
"Do you ever feel replaceable?"
She just blinks at him, as if not understanding the question. Maybe she doesn't understand why he is asking her this. They aren't all that close, after all. But he can't ask Chloé, can't ask Kagami, and sure as hell won't ask Nino or Alya, so here he is. Explaining.
"I have this friend. My best friend, actually. Or I used to think of her as such for quite a long time. But lately, she’s been acting differently. She's ditching all of our meetings, she's keeping secrets, and it's really hur— I'm not a fan," Adrien says, running his thumb over the cold band on his ring finger. Over and over.
Marinette's expression darkens, her lips a single thin line as she searches for the right words. "You know, if this friend of yours doesn't appreciate you — I mean, I don't want to be too quick to judge, but secrets are a pretty serious issue. So, if you confront her about it, and she doesn't change anything…" Marinette shrugs.
She is clearly thinking of Chloé. Adrien won't correct her.
"You have to set your own boundaries. Sometimes, a friendship just doesn't serve you anymore, and that's okay. You don't have to stay friends only because that's how it used to be."
Adrien smiles at her, his fingers digging into the flesh of his palm under the table. "Thanks, Marinette. I'll keep that in mind."
And he does. But the first part of the advice can't escape his mind, because he can't help hoping, that somewhere, deep down, it hurts Ladybug just as well. Can't help hoping that she still cares, that he still matters, that they are still something to be saved.
But Adrien knows he's too much of an optimist for his own good. He knows he can't let go, so with a trembling stomach, he asks. After an akuma attack, he — as usual — barely contributed to, because patrols are a special occasion lately, just him and Nino.
"Ladybug, do you… Do you still think secret identities are inevitable?"
Her head whips up, her eyes searching his in a wild panic. He can see she's calculating how much he knows. So he smiles at her, his most reassuring smile.
Ladybug takes a sigh of relief. At least she has the decency to look guilty when she says, "now more than ever. I'm sorry, Chaton."
His heart breaks on the concrete in front of the Louvre. Adrien's sure, she can hear it too.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Plagg asks, for once paying attention, just as tired of the cheese as Adrien.
"Yes." Adrien nods earnestly, swiping the sudden dampness from his face. "Will you stay with me?"
"No one has ever asked that from me before," Plagg laments, his voice almost touched.
"Well, there is a first time for everything, right?" Adrien smiles weakly, pushing in the door of his father's office.
It's easy. Really. Gabriel is practically ecstatic to fulfill his son's wish, and enroll Adrien in a prestigious boarding school overseas.
It's the most batshit crazy thing, but maybe he'll get lucky. Even if luck is not his department.
He doesn't tell Ladybug, though. And he doesn't tell Marinette.
But they notice.
They must.
Because Hawkmoth does, and he rages and goes on a rampage, but Chat Noir doesn't show. Not like the heroes need him to defeat their enemies.
And then, just as swiftly as he started his akumatizations, Hawkmoth stops. And for once, unbeknown to all parties involved, he and Ladybug are of the same opinion.
Without Chat Noir, what's the point?