Miraculous (Angel-Demon AU)

Chapter 2: Adrien

Chloé was at it again. She really did love her work. Had I just called it work? Her mission, I guess. I had lost count of how many people Ladybug and I had had to free from akumas because of her.

"Seriously? You won't be getting anywhere near me if you wear that dress."

"But... but I've already ordered it! Don't you like it, Chloé?" Sabrina pleaded.

"Hello?" Nino waved his hand over my face in order to attract my attention.

"Oh. Sorry." I focused on his face. His expression instantly became cheeky as he adopted a dramatic tone.

"Sooo... Who will be the fortunate girl to go to the ball with Adrien Agreste?"

"Wait, what?"

Suddenly, every piece of the puzzle fit in. Dresses, end of high school,... the prom. I dropped my head on the table.

"Dude, I had completely forgotten..."

"Yeah, I see... Well, you've still got a few days left to see if anyone is still free."

I knew who'd be still free; who my father would be expecting me to go with. I turned my face around just in time to see Chloé scoffing at one of the dresses Sabrina was showing as an alternative. I shut my eyes. God, no.

"You may have more than one option, Adrien." Alya snapped, joining the conversation. I looked up towards her, still sitting at the back row. For some weeks after they had began dating, she and Nino had been sitting together in the front row. I had therefore been next to Marinette but, apparently, she was too uncomfortable with the situation and begged Alya to return to her former sitting place.

"Huh?"

"Well, Marinette, of course!"

My eyes sparkled. "Really?"Maybe I wasn't lost after all.

Alya's big smile contrasted with Mari's reddening face.

"I-I'm not", she stuttered "Well, I mean, I am... that is... free, of course, but I'm not... uhm... I'll go!"

"Great!" I smiled. "Thank you, Marinette!"

I turned to face Nino, who had a glowing smile in his face. I was saved... for now.

A few hours later, I had no option but to face the situation. "How was today's day of school, Adrien?" Natahlie asked without looking up from her tablet, probably fixing up my schedule.

"Oh, fine. We haven't got much work to do, so most of the day was simply chatting with my classmates." Friends was too risky a word.

"Hum..."

She wasn't listening. Great. I could tell her now, and that would count as having told my father. I wouldn't be blamed for anything.

"And, since prom is coming up, I asked a girl out and she said yes. It's in a few days, so... um..."

I stopped right there. Nathalie's eyes had somehow banged in my direction and were now scrutinizing me.

"Who?" she asked.

"What?"

"Her name. The girl's name."

Shit. I'd forgotten girls can do two things at a time.

"Um... Mari. Marinette."

Her eyes narrowed. I was dead.

"Did you tell your father?"

"Well... I've told you."

Silence.

"Was Cholé going with someone else?"

There! My chance of salvation. Chloé may have wanted to go with someone else, spreading the forces of evil somehow (she had tons of imagination, nobody could take that away from her), and in that case I would have nothing to be blamed for. Say it. Just say yes.

"No." Really... what kind of demon was I?

A few seconds went by, and then came the inevitable. "Come with me, Adrien."

My head dropped as I followed Nathalie to my father's office, and could notice Plagg patting my chest, as in support and sympathy. But not even Chat Noir's powers would have given me enough courage or strength to face my father's rage.

-----

"We've already spoken about this, Adrien! I don't really care about Chloé or her dumb family, but we need them, you need them in order to save your image!"

I barely nodded to show him I was paying attention. I was unable to look at him directly so, instead, I tried to find patterns on the carpet.

"I've already been too indulgent with you, Adrien. I let you go to school, have... have friends." He almost spit out that word with displeasure "I don't ask anything from you, son. You don't have to do anything. But that's all I ask of you: not to do anything. How is dating the nicest girl in class going to keep up our reputation in the demon world?"

Against all expectations, I blushed and pointed out the stupidest point. "I'm not dating her, dad. I'm just taking her to prom."

"All the same, it's not helping."

There was a pause. Somehow the tension had been broken, so I looked up briefly at him to see his expression.

"Although... Maybe it's not that bad."

My heart fluttered. What if...? He looked askance at me.

"Maybe we could make some profit out of the situation. You could trick that girl into believing you like her or something (teenagers are so easy to cajole) and then... Our mission is done."

It took me some time to notice that my whole body was shaking and my hands had grown into stiff fists, trying to contain my rage.

"How dare you?" I spat out.

The air around us thickened.

"Excuse me?"

A million insults and long-repressed speeches dashed through my mind, yet I kept them shut, just like always.

"I don't ever want to be like you."

And I dashed out of the room.

----

It was late at night, but my sobbing had woken up Plagg. It wasn't the first time.

"Why did he choose me, Plagg?"

"You mean the Master?"

I nodded.

"Didn't he know what I am? Didn't he know what my father is?"

"He probably did", Plagg considered "He can make mistakes from time to time... But you were not one of them, Adrien. He must have seen the goodness in you, and that was more than enough to make you worthy of miraculous powers."

"But Plagg... I'm a demon..."

"You may be a cheeky cat..." he joked "But you've chosen to be a good person, and that's what makes the difference."

I considered his words. "I don't actually have any memories from before, you know. All I can remember is about this life. I wonder why that is..."

"Maybe you chose to start again, to have a blank page where you could be a whole new person."

"You mean I chose to be here? To... to incarnate myself? Can a demon do that?"

"Well, I don't really know. You're the first demon I've been with, after all" he winked at me. I managed to smile.

"Seems legit."

"Now go to sleep, you've got three hours until that alarm goes off, and I'm expecting my camembert cheese on time."

"You guzzler..." I teased.

"You dummy..." he answered, echoing one of Ladybug's favourite names for me. That finally soothed me out enough to make me fall asleep.

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