Adrien had always been suspicious of where his dad went off to. At first, he thought it was a quiet place for himself, which would make sense considering his mom's disappearance, but as the days passed by, he began to question whether he was actually grieving. 

Something was fishy, and it wasn't his cat nose.

He knew that he had to find out what was going on here, and this is what led the blonde model to follow his dad one fateful day, curious about what he had been doing in his workplace. 

When he saw his dad take out a Miraculous, he gaped quietly. What...?

Moreso when he activated it and used the Miraculous to transform into a villain. A very familiar one. 

"Nooroo, dark wings, rise!" 

Hawkmoth. 

Adrien suddenly felt like he was going to be sick. His pale complexion had gotten paler with this shocking discovery. 

All this time, he had been fighting his DAD?! The person behind the mask had been him, all this time...

He couldn't believe it, but at the same time, a part of him whispered that it all made sense. 

He gripped his ring, trying to keep his cool. If it was true... Then he had to leave. He couldn't stay. Hawkmoth was after his Miraculous, and he had to go, no matter how much it hurt to do so. 

With that resolve in mind, he headed back home and packed all the necessities he would need. 

He would have to inform Ladybug of this development, even though it meant that he was going to expose himself as Chat Noir.

But first, he would have to move out quickly. The sooner he was gone, the better. 

Thus, when Gabriel returned home, he would see a letter written to him as Hawkmoth, with a sentence scribbled in Adrien's handwriting. 

I'm sorry, but I have to go.

*****

"Dude, you're Chat Noir?" 

"Is that a shock?" 

"A bit, but I'm kinda glad. My idol's my best friend, after all," Nino shrugged. "Cool, dude! We're fellow Miraculous holders I guess."

"That's nice," Adrien chuckled quietly. He had told him everything about it, and Nino had even told him about him being Carapace, which had been a shock to him, but he didn't mind. It was nice to have a fellow Miraculous holder around to talk to. "But you don't get to keep yours?"

"Ladybug doesn't let me," Nino shrugged. "Not cool, since the two of you can keep yours, you know, dude." 

"I agree," he nodded. "That's kinda hypocritical. I'll talk to her when I see her again so she'll give you guys your Miraculous."

"Awww thanks, dude!" Nino gave him a one-handed hug. "You're the best!" 

Adrien waved it off, laughing sheepishly as he said, "It's nothing. You deserve it for always doing your best for me. Plus, you're my best friend." 

"Love you too, Drien," Nino teased. 

"N-Nino!" his cheeks flushed red, and he threw his hands into the air. "M-Must you always do this?" 

"Of course I do! Best friend privileges!" 

At that moment, Adrien wondered for the n-th time in his life why he was friends with Nino, but then remembered how they had met, and just resigned himself to fate. 

******

He would get to see Ladybug real soon because his dad was furious his son had run away. With Akumatising a civilian, he hoped that Chat Noir would come to the rescue so he could blackmail the feline hero to his will. 

However, the destruction this villain caused would mean that Ladybug would need Carapace's help. 

And so, she was surprised to see Adrien Agreste standing beside his best friend when she showed up. 

"Adrien? What's going on?" she blinked, landing gracefully on the floor with the Turtle Miraculous in her hand as she asked him this. 

"I would like to ask you the same thing, Ladybug. Why won't you let Nino keep his Miraculous?" Adrien had his arms crossed. "Because I am not happy. When did you become the Guardian of the Miraculous Box?" 

She gaped. How did...?

The answer came to her when he took out a familiar ring and yelled, "Time to transform! Plagg, claws out!" 

"You got it!" 

A few minutes later, Chat Noir stood in front of her, a frown on his normally playful face. 

"You're Chat Noir?" she gasped. 

"Yes, and I want you to let the other Miraculous holders keep their Miraculous. They're not Chloe," he scowled. 

"No way," she immediately refused. "I can't let anything happen to them. You too, Adrien. I can't let anything happen to you!" 

"You sound like my dad, and he ended up being Hawkmoth," he growled, eyes narrowed. 

"Wait what-" Ladybug's eyes then narrowed. "You work for him now?" 

"Wait, hold on Ladybug-" 

"Stay out of this!" the two chorused. 

"A-Alright," he backed away.

"I do not work for him! I left the moment I realized he was Hawkmoth!" Adrien hissed. 

"Either way, you using the Miraculous is no longer safe," the ladybug hero said, holding her hand out. "Give it to me, please, Adrien." 

"No," he refused. "I won't let you treat me like how you treat the others. I'll be the hero I want to be on my own terms, not yours, you hypocritical jerk." 

Her eyes widened, and maybe there were tears too due to what her crush had called her, but she soon returned it with a snarl, pushing down her romantic feelings, "Fine then! I guess I'll have to take it by force!" 

The two began to duke it out, even expanding beyond Nino's room as they got outside to fight. Punch after punch, kick after kick, neither seemed to back down from this fight. For Marinette, it was about keeping others safe, and for Adrien, it was about getting the freedom he had always wanted. 

Nino could only watch, fear clear in his eyes as he watched this. "Adrien..." 

But soon, Adrien got the upper hand and kicked Ladybug into a wall, getting the Turtle Miraculous before he walked away. 

"A-Adrien..." she stammered, hand reaching out to him. 

"You and Hawkmoth are just the same; delusional and arrogant," he coldly said before he jumped away, leaving the hero there. 

"T-Tikki, spots off," she stammered, and the hero returned to Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who curled up into a ball, sobbing. 

What had she done?

Requester: 

Prompt: Chat Noir finds out about his dad's identity as Hawkmoth, runs away to Nino's house, has a confrontation with Ladybug

Notes: The prologue for an upcoming story from the requester