DISCONTINUED | Black Cat In A Box ☂ ML

13 ☂ Cold Confessions

13 ☂ Cold Confessions

UNREVISED

"Oh, Théo!" Marinette cried happily when she lent around Adrien, catching sight of the brown cat in the doorway. "I missed you, baby! Where were you last time I – "

She was surprised when Théo cut her off with another long, angry hiss. His tail looked like a big brown bottlebrush, tall and rigid as he stalked further into the room. Towards Adrien.

"Oh come on, bubba," she cooed as she crouched down, trying to placate him. "It's okay! Adrien's my friend, he's not..." Mari trailed off as she became aware of the animosity rolling off Adrien's statue-still form in waves. She glanced up in confusion, only to see his handsome features twisted like some sort of vengeful angel's – lip curled, teeth bared and green eyes flashing.

Like the Morning Star before the fall, she realised with detachment. Debauched, decadent.

"A-Adrien?"

It was like her voice shook him out of his stupor, and suddenly he burst forward and scooped Théo off the ground with one hand. He threw a brilliant smile over his shoulder, contrary to the cat spitting and yowling under his arm, and said: "Sorry, Marinette. Looks like this little guy's a bit constipated."

"Adri– "

"I'm gonna take him to Markl. Be back soon!"

  ☂  

Adrien stormed out of the backroom, barely suppressing the urge to slam the door behind himself. It wasn't Marinette's fault, no, it was this heinous, terrible little –

"Maaaaarooooooow!" Théo swore in Adrien's vise-like grip, thrashing around and throwing claws like it was going out of fashion.

"Oh shut up, you tiny little – "

Markl coughed loudly from where he'd been leaning behind the counter, levelling a chastising stare on the pair, before pointedly looking around the café. Adrien bobbed his head sheepishly at the twenty-strong-or-so of the lunchtime crowd who'd fallen silent, staring with wide eyes at the disturbance.

He took the still-yelling cat behind the counter, ducking into the kitchen to return his tray and Marinette's glass. But he didn't stop there: Adrien powered past the other two waiters like a man on a mission, and straight into the freezer room.

Where he dropped Théo on the cold ties.

And shut the door behind them.

"What is your problem?" Adrien turned Théo's previous taunt back on him, but this time it contained a lot less arrogance and a lot more frustration. "Can't you see that Marinette – "

Théo's form began to rapidly expand, uncaring of the cold as his paws on the tiles turned into hands, the fur disappearing to leave pebbled skin in its wake. It was disconcerting for Adrien to watch another shapeshifter change; almost like he was having an out of body experience. But it didn't take the other man long to push himself up off the ground – in all his naked glory – and get up in his grill as a human.

"Can't I see?" Théo spat, his brown hair falling loose around his face like a lion's mane as a wild fire burnt behind his brown eyes. "Can't I see the fact that you were just kissing Marinette – who you've barely even met, who I love, with absolutely no regard for the people around you? Can't I see that – "

"You might love her," Adrien said and stepped forward, forcing Théo back a step, two. "But so do I. And asked to make sure she really wanted to – "

"Oh, you asked and that makes everything okay, doesn't it – "

"Well I don't see you asking about anything for that matter! You were just going to out yourself as a shifter, and you talk about me disregarding – "

"For fucks sake, what would a stray like you know – "

"I'm not a – "

The sound of the freezer door opening cut off their raised voices, and both men whirled around to face decidedly poker-faced Markl.

"I was gonna tell you to get your ass out here, Adrien... but it looks like you're busy already," he said coolly, and if the full-frontal he'd just received from Théo shocked him (hell, even just Théo being in there in the first place), he didn't show it.

"It's not what it looks – " Théo began, but Markl merely closed the door again.

And in the those next few tense seconds of silence, Adrien could hear the muffled sound of Markl warning the other staff not to open the freezer unless they wanted an... unpleasant surprise.

"I'm... not a stray," Adrien finally said and turned back to Théo. The bubble of aggression that had been building before had popped, leaving him feeling weary and apprehensive. "I'm an Agreste," he confessed.

Théo laughed out loud at that, and the sound echoed off the cold shelves as he slid to the ground and sat with his back against the wall. "A fucking fashion kid? Get real. I don't care if you're – "

"It's true!" He insisted. "But first, could you please put something on?"

"Embarrassed, Mr. Agreste?" Théo snorted before shrugging with his palms up. "You're the only one with clothes in here."

Adrien tsked and untied his apron, before tossing it at him.

"Now..." He started again. "Yes, I'm an Agreste."

"And I'm Vincent van Goh," Théo muttered drily, but Adrien chose to ignore it.

"Gabriel and Emilie had raised me since I was a kitten – I'm housecat, you see – but – "

"I really didn't ask for your life story."

" – but," Adrien enunciated the t and cast Théo a look that said shut up and listen. "They kept me inside my whole life to protect me. Being a shapeshifter and everything." He took a deep breath. "Father told me about how people would react if they found out I was a shapeshifter. That I was different and others would punish me for it... they homeschooled me. I hadn't even met anyone else like me before you."

They shared a long look at that.

"But I couldn't live like that. I couldn't live in that gilded mansion for the rest of my life... I wanted to experience life. University, work, love, sorrow: life."

"Ergo, you ran away." Théo finished dully. "Pulled a quick one on your doting parents and started fishing through bins for a living. Fan-tastic. If only the Agreste Empire could see their son now...! And while I so thoroughly enjoyed that narrative, I still don't – "

"You missed my point," Adrien growled. "I'm worthy of Marinette. I'm of a pedigree, I love her and I'm not about to use her like – "

"No," Théo cut in smoothly, and rose to his feet again slowly. He levelled an unreadable gaze at Adrien, before pulling off the apron and tossing it back. "You missed my point. I don't give a shit about your upbringing, stray. You know nothing about Marinette."

Théo pushed past Adrien to lay a hand on the door, barely glancing back.

"You might say you love her, but you haven't even known her for a week." He scoffed with a sad smile. "You don't know how she wants to design for your dear papa, or how her parents have worked their asses off to send her to that university – you haven't seen her tears, her strength, her vitality.

"She might kiss you back, but she doesn't really know you. The feelings will pass," he finished, pushing the door open.

And then he was gone.

  ☂