Chapter Text
Austin Mcbroom loved her. She was the mother to his children, his partner, the woman who had stolen his heart at that dinner party all those years ago, and the woman who set down divorce papers in front of him this morning, Face straight, cold eyes, absent of any love for a while now.
He’s in the closet. Crying. Shaking. Alone.
“Dad I want my pjs”
He scrambles back like the eggs he ate this morning. Leaning as far away as the door as possible. There’s a knock, followed by a jiggle of the handle. He watches, frozen. He knew what he needed right now. His snap chat fam. With a shaky hand he fists his phone from his pocket and holds it up to his face. After a pause It shakes in denial, failing to recognize him. Funny, he hardly recognizes himself these days.
“Dad please I want to go to bed”
Austin locks in. He attempts to straighten his face through the overflow of tears that stream down each golden cheek. He can taste the salt, the loneliness, the divorce.
“Hey Snapchat fam” he says, voice shaky and just a little too high to belong to the Austin they all know and love. He wants them to hear him though, to see him. They deserve this much. He should smile and hit them with the hey Ace fam but he can’t. Ace fam is gone. Buried in a deep dark grave rotting slowly as the earth reclaims it. Channel demonetized.
Amongst his multifold of thoughts the one that sticks out the most is that He should have seen this coming. Now alone in the dark he sees that Catherine has been distant recently. No, That’s a lie. She's been distant for a while now. Standing far away in the I prank my wife into thinking I’m cheating gone wrong videos her smile while scamming fans isn’t what it used to be. Hasn't been for years. He is a fool. A stupid loving fool.
He knows he’ll have to leave this closet eventually and after that the house. He knows He’ll have to confront those cold, barren eyes when that door opens. But right now he can stay, he can cry, he can livestream.
Is everything ok? The white letters stick out sorely against the dark background of the closet. He opens his mouth but the only thing to come out is a choked sob. He shakes his head. There's an aching minute of silence before the next comment appears.
Mcbroom, I heard that you've been broken. I'd like to help you, if you agree to help me too…
Austin tilts his head, momentarily taken aback. Purple and blue cloud his vision, tears go from the continuous stream to an occasional drip. He's no longer drowning, no, he's burning. This is Rage. All these years all the videos were for what? A paycheck? A quick buck? Obviously.. Doesn't matter now does it, Not to Catherine. She'll pay, they will all pay.
Mcbroom, I am HawkMoth. I can give you the power to stop any family from being torn apart in exchange you will bring me Ladybugs and Chat noir's Miraculous.
“Yes HawkMoth”
Mcbroom fades away and in his place, Mcdoom emerges. Boiling to the surface from his stomach, ripping his way through Austin's ribs, and settling in his heart. A temporary glue to mend the shattered pieces. Austin embraces the warmth along with the new outfit. The pajamas he was wearing were gone and now he wears a checkered shirt and pants. Nice he thinks he recalls wearing outfits similar to this when he'd played basketball. Before he met that snake, Catherine. Speaking of which, he would like to talk to her. Have a civil chat about the divorce…
“Dad I'm tired please just open the door”
Mcdoom only has to dribble his shiny, magical basketball once for the closet door to tear off the hinges. Oh? wait till Catherine sees this. Mcdoom floats unharmed through the smoke and rubble. His eyes can make out the thin blurry outline of his oldest daughter. Her wide eyes meet his and for a moment he hears Austin somewhere deep down crying out to stop. But Mcdoom doesn't falter as he whips the camera out once again to live stream himself tearing a hole into the wall leading to the hallway. This is for her own good. For the good of family channels everywhere.
