"Honey, we're ho-"
Tom stopped mid sentence to stare at his daughter and the superhero who had his arms around her. Sabine managed to mutter,
"At least you're over Adrien...", before sliding to the floor in a dead faint. The pair glanced at each other, and then at Tom. It was going to be a long morning.
When Sabine had been revived the two were sent to the living room while
"the adults had a discussion".
The silence was overpowering. Marinette was staring hard at the floor, cursing her forgetfulness, and Chat kept glancing at his ring, which had gone down to two bars. They were worried. Marinette's parents were having a whispered argument in the kitchen, although most of what they were saying could be heard.
".... should be grounded Sabine! This is ridiculous! She is much too young to be dating!"
"She's eighteen years old Tom! Legally an adult!"
"Barely! She still gets tucked into bed every night!"
Chat started to giggle but Marinette shot him a knife of a glance and he was silenced.
"Only by you! She doesn't want that or need it anymore! It's not that she doesn't love us, it's just that she's growing up. I'm scared too, I'm terrified of her out on her own in the world, but I have to accept it. You do too. Look... we should have talked about this sooner. You have to stop treating her like a little girl, honey. Yes she's our daughter but she's also her own person. We have to let her make her own decisions."
A pause. Then he replied,
"She's my baby girl, and always will be... But you're right. I need to let her grow up. Let's go talk to them."
There was silence, and Marinette heard her father sigh. The battle had been won, but the war was just beginning. Her parents came into the living room and sat down across from her and Chat, with grim expressions on their faces, although Marinette could tell her mother was trying hard not to smile.
"So you two are dating?",
Tom blurted out, unable to control himself. The teenagers glanced at each other.
"Yeah Dad, we're dati-."
"Yes, sir."
Marinette raised an eyebrow at Chat's sudden politeness but ignored it and continued,
"We've only been together a few days, that's why I haven't told you both. I know I've never dated anyone before so this might be weird for you, but I'm sure you'll be able to handle it."
Sabine smiled at her daughter and Chat, nudging her husband so he did the same. He managed a tiny grin, but then got straight back into the questions,
"So, do you know his true identity? Who are his parents? Where does he go to school? What age is he? Wh-"
"What Tom means is, tell us something about yourself, uhh, Chat Noir. What's life like as a superhero?"
Chat looked at Marinette for help, and she squeezed his hand reassuringly. He took a deep breath and said,
"Well, it's not all fun and games. Sometimes we're the difference between life and death, and it's scary. I-I know you want to know who I am, but I can't tell you. Not yet. Same thing goes for my parents and school. I can tell you I'm eighteen though, so don't worry about that, haha..."
Chat looked to the ground and sighed, ignoring the beeping of his ring.
"Listen... I really like Marinette. A lot. She's like a ray of sunshine in a very dark room. She's incredible. I owe her a lot. I hope you'll allow me to continue dating her so I can repay her."
Marinette's cheeks flushed at his words and she smiled warmly at him, a fuzzy feeling inside her chest. She turned to see her parents reaction and was pleasantly surprised. Her father was smiling genuinely, and her mother was leaning in to hug her.
"What a nice young man you've got there honey. Be sure to keep him!", she whispered into her ear. The girl nodded and hugged her mother tightly, not realising how much she needed it. The past few days had been stressful. When they broke apart, they first thing she noticed was Chat's ring. Tom was talking to him about everything from curfews and how to make the perfect pastry, and he obviously hadn't noticed the last paw print blinking away to nothingness.
"Dad, Mom, he's about to transform, we have to go!!"
Chat snapped to attention immediately, and stared at his ring. He had less than 20 seconds. Marinette locked eyes with him, yelled,
"Run!",
and followed him out the door into the street, her heartbeat thumping loudly in her ears. The pair skidded down an alley way and barely managed to conceal themselves before Chat de-transformed. Plagg flew out of his ring, exhausted from staying in that long, and fell into Adrien's waiting hands. The couple looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief. They were ok. They were safe. For now.
