I do not own anything
Why do you even care?
"I am afraid your father will not be able to attend your recital on Friday evening.", Nathalie told an obviously disappointed Adrien.
The boy let out a small sigh. "I somehow expected that.", he replied, "I know running a business is a lot of work, but he often seems to think work is more important than I am."
"I'm sorry Adrien.", the woman spoke, "But know even though he might not show it very often, your father still loves you."
"I know, it's just...hard sometimes.", Adrien admitted.
"I truly am sorry.", Nathalie repeated.
"You already said that, and I believe you.", he assured her.
She had already turned on her heel and was halfway through the door when Adrien spoke again.
"I think I am not thanking you enough."
"It's fine.", she told him.
"No really.", Adrien continued, "Father is already putting you under a lot of stress obviously, and then there's also taking care of my life as well. You're doing a lot of extra work you're not actually obliged to, so the least I can do is thank you for it."
Nathalie smiled, something she did not do very often, especially not in the presence of others.
"I am gladly carrying the responsibility for a boy as wonderful as you."
Her words made a flush appear on Adrien's face. Usually, adults would only compliment him when referring to his modeling or a good fencing performance.
It took him a second or so to regain his composure. There was something still coursing through his mind, and he could not help but let his curiosity get the better of him.
"But honestly, why do you even care?", he asked.
"You really want to know?", Nathalie questioned him.
Adrien noticed the slight, but still visible change in her look and started wondering if posing this question had been a mistake. Maybe he shouldn't be nosing around in other people's life. But it was already too late to steer back now, so he simply nodded. A shadow seemed to creep over Nathalie's face as she sat down opposite to him and took a deep breath.
"Before I started working for your father, my life was quite different.", Nathalie began, "I was living in a small flat with my fiancee...and I was expecting."
That took Adrien by surprise. Of course he knew that Nathalie was regular human being like anybody else, but she had never struck him to be someone to plan a family of her own.
"Sounds like the pretty average life.", he said.
"Well, life had other plans.", the woman replied, her expression growing even gloomier.
Adrien tried to brace himself for whatever would come next as best as he could. He didn't really like the direction this conversation was taking. If it didn't mean revealing his secret identity, he would totally transform into Chat Noir and escape through the window.
"As it turns out, the child I was expecting was not meant to grace this world with his presence."
Adrien gulped, and felt absolutely awful already.
"The premature delivery and the emotional turmoil that came after it was too much of stress on the relationship my fiancee and I were having.", Nathalie said, "So it did not take long until he and I went separate ways."
Even though he did not know him, Adrien somehow got angry at the guy who left the woman he had once loved simply because he could not cope with the loss of his child.
All Adrien could say was: "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
"No,", Nathalie replied, "it's okay. It gets better with time."
Adrien wanted to protest, but her continuing stopped him.
"You remind of him. Or rather, of what he could have become, had he gotten the chance to grow up."
It took the boy a lot of effort to swallow past the lump that had formed in this throat. "If...", he began, "If you don't mind me asking, did you name him?"
"His name was Antoine."
A/N: Sorry I'm such a sadist. Maybe some of you still enjoyed this, let me know id you did
