Under Oath | Ladynoir ✓

13 | oublie-la

LADYBUG TURNED HER LAPTOP AROUND to display a picture of the grimoire, laid on a metal table with an evidence tag below.

"This was in his safe, wasn't it? Have you seen this before?"

Adrien shifted in his seat, a knot forming in his stomach. He had been the one to hand Ladybug this spellbook, disguised as Cat Walker. He'd been the one to whisk it away from the mansion the night of Hawk Moth's arrest.

And years ago, he had discovered it in his father's possession. Ladybug herself had posited that Hawk Moth was Gabriel Agreste, but he'd looked for the first opportunity to dismiss the theory. He'd buried his head in the sand like a coward.

"I've seen it before. First time, I was fourteen. My dad said he found it on a trip to Asia with my mother. He said it was for artistic inspiration."

"Do you know where in Asia?"

"Tibet. The mountains. They went on a trek."

Ladybug nodded, folding her hands across her lap. At the last minute, she untangled her fingers and pressed them into the upholstered sides of the ottoman. "You know, around that time, I had a theory about who Hawk Moth was and it turned out to be right," she said. In a lower voice, "I still kick myself for not asking the hard questions that I should have."

Her expression was indecipherable.

Ladybug's features were relaxed in the manner of someone awaiting an answer they were owed—someone with enough time and power and security to feel safe. Adrien had no such luxuries. In her eyes was curiosity, suspicion that she tried to hide, and the same guilt that slowly squeezed his breath out of his lungs.

They had both been so close to outing Gabriel years ago. Both of them had failed.

She would not let herself fail again.

Adrien shrugged in a calculated show of nonchalance—innocent people did not fidget—and spread his hands. "Ask me. I know you want to." His palms landed on each knee, and he forced them to keep still.

Ladybug's eyebrows darted up. "You know what the protesters are saying about you. You're hiding the Peacock Miraculous or you're in cahoots with your father. But this will all go away if you have an alibi. Where do you go?" She cleared her throat. "Where do you go when you disappear from the camera records?"

He had to lie. Pre-shitstorm, Adrien had wanted desperately to spend time with Ladybug, to earn her trust, to eventually reveal their identities. Now, he wanted to take his identity to his grave.

Even if he could have bridged the growing distance in their relationship, Adrien couldn't change who his father was. Ladybug was an investigator. She was a harder woman because of all that she had seen, radiating a type of unwavering determination that told Adrien if he so much as appeared to have any secrets, she would come for them with a pickaxe and an apology.

If she found out, the conflict of interest alone would rip his Miraculous, and Plagg, away from him.

Hawk Moth stood between them before, and now it seemed he would always stand between them.

So, the only way forward was to lie. Pretend he had no secrets. Be vacuous and open and charming, showing Ladybug into the attics and basements of his life while hiding the trapdoors and vaults.

"Just, places. I guess. Whenever there's danger, I can't sit still. It doesn't feel right to let bad things happen and not try to stop them. Sometimes I go to call for help, or bring others to safety, or try to find a way to stop the trouble."

"And, coincidentally, you are never caught on camera doing any of these acts?"

"Coincidentally," he chuckled. Ladybug didn't react.