"Want to be friends?" He looked up to spot a little girl probably around his age with her hand held out.
He wasn't quite sure how it was all that different than anything before, but he really, really wanted a friend anyway, "Sure." He chirped and watched as her face lit up with a bright smile and as she reached out and took his hand to give it a shake.
"It's what Daddy does with his not quite friends." She explained as she sat down beside Adrien, dropping his hand, "Besides friends talk as much as Daddy and his not friends talk, right? I'm Chloe."
"I'm Adrien." He responded to her, wondering if not friends were a lot like the designers and models that worked for his dad; they weren't really friends of his dad, but his dad always had to talk to them for very long and had so many 'meetings' with them where they discussed business deals and other important, 'adult' stuff. Adrien wasn't allowed into the meetings, so he mostly just guessed about them based off of what his dad and his mom said. His mom usually didn't attend them, because she wanted to spend the day with Adrien. Business meeting days were very dull after all.
"Okay, so do you want to play pretend or tag? I'm too young to go to school, and Daddy says the park is too dirty for little girls. He doesn't realize how grown up I am." Chloe smiled and leaned against Adrien, looking a little lost in thought.
"Sure, what's tag like?" Adrien had no idea how he ended up being the first one 'it,' counting up to twenty to the best of his abilities; his father told him that he was smart, so Adrien figured that he probably got it right even though he couldn't help but stutter a few times when he lost track of which number he was at. His father actually told him that he had to be smart, but his mom said that he was, so Adrien was pretty sure that it was the same thing. "Ready or not, here I come!" Adrien exclaimed, beaming when he realized that he got the phrase right, exactly the way that Chloe had said it.
He raced off; there were a lot of places that a kid could hide in the big building where movie sets took place; his mom was going to be famous! That's what Adrien told her everyday anyway, because only famous people landed in movies. His mother always laughed, but she looked so happy whenever he said it, so he'd always try to remind her so.
Adrien didn't like dress up near as much as he liked tag despite almost always being 'it.'
He liked playing pretend or playing with dolls much more than wearing cute, pink or light purple dresses and pretending to be fairies or princesses. His dad told him not to play dress up, and Adrien knew enough to not say that it was Chloe's idea or tell his dad about it. Since her mom left, no one checked up on Chloe in her room. Her dad always had meetings with his not friends nowadays anyway though he called Chloe, Princess, and Babydoll whenever he was around. Adrien figured that it was an adult thing to have not friends, so he never wanted to be an adult.
Friends played what their friends wanted to anyway, to be better friends, and have fun together, so despite clothes being boring, Adrien would play dress up. Besides, Chloe had only started wanting to play dress up this year anyway. She'd turned ten and wanted a pretty princess dress to look like her mother often did though she'd ended up wanting them more after her mom left three months after that.
Chloe hadn't cried since that day, but she always, always wanted prettier dresses though they never fit Adrien quite as nicely as they fit her. "Please. madame, rush off at once. We have a day to save." Days were saved with pretty dresses, good friends, and tea parties at Chloe's place, and Adrien figured that friendship was the best way to save the day, besides Chloe was his only one, and she was the best at playing pretend.
Adrien wasn't sure why being eleven was different from being ten, but now, Chloe wore princess dresses all the time and didn't want Adrien to play dress up with her anymore, and always wanted to kiss his cheek, the way that adults did.
"Kissing lips is so gross and wet." Chloe would whine, but Adrien didn't mind. Besides kissing someone on the lips really did seem rather gross. Chloe often acted weirder every now and again every month, complaining of pain, and talking really weird about blood and getting really angry for no reason. Most of the time though, she was normal, and they still played pretend, but now Adrien was a prince, not a princess, and Chloe was his princess. 'girl'friend as she called it. Adrien wasn't quite sure why girl meant more in front of friend than it had earlier, but he was starting to see that girlfriends kissed their 'boy'friends on the cheeks, and Chloe liked to read really weird stories called romances now.
It may have taken a few months, but Adrien got really curious over 'cuter' anime, and so they watched them together, and Chloe would snuggle up to his side and look at him all funny. Those boys, princes or not, had girlfriends that they loved, took on dates, and kissed. Adrien finally got it, but not all friends turned out like that, right? It seemed weird to imagine, but Chloe was still his only friend, and cheek kisses weren't too terribly bad. Besides, it felt like a boiling pot of love, and his mom didn't kiss him goodnight anymore, so he'd take what kisses he could get.
Mom said that he was growing up anyway, and Chloe was his childhood friend who didn't seem to think that growing up meant far less kisses.
Adrien wondered why Chloe started decorating her face, trying to figure out makeup, and started wearing stuff that smelled funny, usually nice, but always a little different. She told him that she was growing up, and soon, they'd be adults and get married and have kids. Adrien just wasn't sure why he started feeling distant with her, why the years had made him start to think that friends needed more in common than just being friends.
Chloe went to school though and had another friend, but Adrien did not. He only had Chloe who now wore makeup and liked perfume and wanted to kiss him on the lip all of a sudden, because one day, they'll do that all the time like adults do. Adrien wasn't sure anymore where playing pretend became some kind of mix of reality, but he did know that he didn't have a crush on her, because kisses on the lips still seemed kind of gross, and he was getting older and taller, and kind of wondered if it was possible to crush on fictional characters, because some of them were really pretty and really nice.
He'd always seen Chloe as some kind of best friend, his only one, and now, he felt like it was a lot harder to just hang out and be friends. Being twelve felt like a nightmare, because when they were younger, playing pretend was as simple as fighting dragons and laughing at weird storylines that they came up with. Now, playing pretend meant play weddings, and Adrien started to think that Chloe was closer to Sabrina than she was with him, but he had no one else to share really funny jokes or watch a show with other than Chloe and his parents.
His dad didn't understand anime and thought that cartoons were childish, and his mom just watched with him to be supportive and spend time with him. Chloe watched with him, because she usually liked the show and was okay with talking about it a lot or telling jokes, but now she liked strange, romance movies with lots of jokes that sometimes went over Adrien's head, but Chloe said were definitely funny. She wanted to watch them all the time with Adrien, but she didn't close her eyes at the kiss scenes anymore, just sort of squealed. Adrien wasn't sure if they were growing apart or if friends could do that, but he hoped that they wouldn't. He loved Chloe as a friend, but now she said, 'I love you,' in a really funny way, and her eyes stayed on his as if she was waiting for something that Adrien wasn't sure that he wanted. It felt far more serious than playing dress up. He kind of missed the old game though he hadn't really liked it to begin with.
He wanted to go to school though he still missed his mother like crazy and kind of wished that he could still talk to her somehow like Chloe still talks to her mom though Chloe likes to play with an attitude now, as for a while, but she still lets it drop around Adrien, because she loves him. That's the reason that she always gives him anyway; he's too worried to ask if she still loves her parents then.
Now though, she's figured out how to not give herself black eyes with makeup, but she's still learning a lot, and she watches less movies with him, usually inviting Sabrina over instead, and she likes going shopping with dad's credit card though usually it's with Sabrina and not Adrien. Every once in a while she invites Adrien over, and he holds her bags, because she always looks so weighted down with them, and he's sure a gentleman would. It's what he's wanted to be like for a while though he still isn't sure if it's normal to have crushes on characters in the anime that he watches, but they're strong women, and he kind of likes seeing that strength. It feels much different than the way that Chloe acts sometimes, but she's his friend, his first one, his childhood one, and she's always been there. He never wants to lose her.
Finally, he gets to go to school, and he has Nathalie to thank for that one, and he feels like a balloon fast deflated to see the way people treat Chloe and the way that she acts at school. It's like her bravado never falls away in public, and is so unlike the girls that he kind of likes in anime, but he loves Chloe as his friend, and so he'll forgive her easily enough, just the others might not, and that's kind of sad.
He's older now and as friends who will watch his shows again, and that don't wear makeup and go on long shopping trips though he still tries to spend time with Chloe, because she's always been different with him. Adrien still thinks of her as his childhood friend, his best one when he had no one else, and he still wants to hang out with her though she tries harder than ever to kiss his lips and while it isn't gross to see two people kissing each other's lips, he doesn't want that with Chloe, he likes someone else now, someone real. Chloe's his childhood friend, and he loves her, but he doesn't love her like that. Either way, though they still feel rather distant, he's trying to be the best friend that he can for her. Besides, she had always been the best at playing pretend and still is whenever she feels like it again. He'd never want to lose her unless he was pushed to the point where distance becomes too distant; he'd probably still forgive her anyway, because he loves his childhood friend, and she's always been there for him through everything.
In a way, she understands like no one else.