I 77 I

'I've made a list,' I wave the piece of paper in Mari's face.

'A list of what, exactly?' She frowns, taking it.

'Of all the possible people who could be Hawkmoth,' I smile. She opens it, carefully scanning the surprisingly small list.

'Gabriel Agreste, are you serious? You think that Adrien's dad is Hawkmoth?' Marinette grins. 'Could be, I guess.'

'Yeah, well he's never been akumatized.' I point out. 'Plus he never really leaves his house...so...'

'Pffft, what, you think he has a secret basement full of butterflies that he turns into akumas?' Marinette raises an eyebrow sceptically. 'Besides, he has been akumatized before.'

'When?'

'He was Collector, remember?' Marinette reminds me.

I sigh. 'He could have akumatized himself.'

'Sure,' Marinette nods. 'Who else?'

'Um, well....that's actually the only main suspect I was going off of,' I tap my foot. 'I wrote Andre, and that skater guy, but I seriously doubt they're even close to being a supervillain.'

Marinette blinks. 'So we investigate your boyfriend's dad...sounds....risky.'

'How are we even going to tell Adrien?' I smack my forehead. 'I'm not entirely sure how he would take that piece of information.'

'He'll be fine.'

...

'WHAT?' Adrien's mouth drops open. 'You think my father's Hawkmoth?'

I pat his shoulder. 'Yep.'

He crosses his legs, tapping my pillow. 'I don't know...maybe.'

'We aren't saying he's...'I trail off. 'A terrible person.'

'But Hawkmoth is a TERRIBLE PERSON!' Adrien groans. 'What if he is?'

'Well maybe he has another reason for akumatizing people,' Marinette reasons, sitting across from me on my desk chair.

'An ulterior motive,' I smirk. 'Maybe he's trying to make everyone look like Adrien.'

Marinette scoffs. 'What?'

'You get one wish once you get both the Ladybug and Cat miraculous, right?' I ask. 'So, maybe he's going to wish for everyone to look like Adrien.'

Marinette rolls her eyes. 'Come on Y/n, be serious.'

Adrien laughs. 'Maybe he wants to design a new friend, cause he doesn't have any.' A new look dawns on his face. 'Or...wait. What if he wants to bring my Mom back to life?'

Marinette snaps her fingers. 'That could potentially be a motive.'

'Huh, what do you know, I actually came up with something good.' my smile fades. 'But this isn't good.'

'Why not? We have a suspect.' Mari frowns.

I glance at Adrien. 'But if Gabriel is Hawkmoth and he wants to bring Adrien's Mom back to life...Adrien how do you feel about that?'

Adrien sighs. 'As much as I want my Mom back, this isn't the way to do it. I won't...I promise I won't go along with his plans.' 

He wraps an arm around me. 'If he really is Hawkmoth, I'll help you defeat him, once and for all.'