Imagine a world where the only super heroes that excited were the super humans that help others stay afloat. Adrien finds an anonymous number written in the bathroom, but when the person begins to text him back, he feels a little less alone.
AU where Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't super heroes that save Paris.
Chapter One
Adrien does a once over in his full-length mirror. Again, this shirt makes his hips look too wide. He shucks it off, pulling on the next one he has lined up. He turns to look at himself, frowning when he sees the faint coloring of his binder beneath the shirt. He pulls it off and throws it onto the bed. As he dons a new shirt, there is a knock at his door. "Come in," he says as he looks himself over.
His father's assistant, Nathalie, opens his door "Your father is waiting for you downstairs, Adrien." She tells him.
"Please advise him that I will be down soon, thank you." When the door closes, Adrien stares up at his ceiling. He remembers a time when he did not have to attend these fancy dinners, meetings with designers, or any of the various other events his father wanted him to attend. His eyes land on a picture of a slightly younger him, smiling, within the warm embrace of his loving mother. She used to be the one that went to all of his father's gatherings, and as he thinks on it, Adrien begins to wonder how much she had enjoyed them. "Mother, where are you now?"
He takes the picture into his hands and looks over how happy he had been on that day. His mother had noticed his lack of appetite, loss of sleep, and fake smiles that had seemed to become a regular occurrence and had decided to intervene. Instead of asking him what was on his mind, she took him to the park to enjoy the sunny weather and some alone time with her. He remembers how at ease he felt with her that day, and how he had finally told her what had been on his mind for months.
She had been silent at first; he assumed she was taking it in. What surprised him most was when she smiled warmly at him and pulled him into her arms, saying that she would love her son no matter what. The hot tears that had poured down his face felt like a wave of relief and his heart felt lighter from finally coming out to her. When he had looked back up to her, she was keeping a composed face, but he could tell that she was ready to break as well.
Before heading back for home, she had taken him shopping, and to his delight, she had even offered to take him to get his hair styled before seeing his father again. "Whatever happens from here," she told him "we'll always be your family."
Adrien places the picture down onto his desk and walks towards the door. It has been seven months since she went missing, and his hope in ever seeing her again is slowly reaching its end. With one last look towards his mother, he leaves the room. Adrien walks down the stairs and catches the cold stare of his overbearing father. "It's about time you came around. Hurry now or else we are going to be late." His father turns his back to him and begins to head for the door with Adrien following close behind. "I can't believe that's what you decided to wear. It's quite unflattering. Please make sure to spend more time picking out something better next time." Adrien opens his door and keeps his eyes focused on anything that is not his father. He faintly wonders why nothing he does is enough for the man.
The ride to the restaurant is a silent one, not that Adrien minds much. Speaking with his father seemed to be more difficult than trying to please him. As they pull up to their destination, Adrien is not surprised to see that his father had spared no expense when picking out one of the most extravagant restaurants in Paris. Whoever they are meeting must be important.
Gabriel walks in front of his son as they enter the restaurant. He talks swiftly to the hostess about their reservations and she takes them to their table. When she seats them, another man is already sitting at the table. Adrien tries to remember who this man is, but his brain is at a loss and he discreetly eyes him from head to toe. "How nice to see you again, Gabriel" the man says as he waves at them to take their seats. "And is this your," he pauses for a moment and Adrien feels his heart stop for a moment "son?"
"Yes, this is Adrien" Gabriel responds.
"Oh, I didn't know Adrienne had a sister. Why didn't you bring her along? I see you were quite original with the whole naming thing."
There is a short pause as the two take their seats "Adrienne is with her mother, Francis." The man promptly closes his mouth as if knowing that he had crossed some sort of line with the two.
Adrien picks up his menu and tries to take his mind off the awkward start to dinner. As his eyes glance over the different options to choose from, he cannot stop thinking about the comment Francis had made about that name. Why did he have to bring that up. Distantly, he hears his father and his guest talking about some project they would be working on soon. It was not until he heard his name in the conversation did Adrien begin to pay attention to what they were talking about.
"...and you think my son would be a good model for your new swimsuit collection, is that correct?" Gabriel repeats. If he had thought his heart stopped earlier, then he must be completely dead now. Adrien could feel the colour drain from his face as he tries to keep a calm composure. A swimsuit collection? Model? For a moment his father is silent, and Adrien takes the moment to stand from his seat and excuse himself, using the bathroom as an excuse to quickly leave the restaurant for some air.
Once in the cool Paris night, he stares up at the sky, praying that his father would not force him to model. What kind of swimsuits would they even be? Why did it have to be him? He takes a few deep breaths and wanders to the end of the street, his head spinning. He did not see the rest of the evening going well. As he nears the corner, a small cafe catches his eye and he makes his way over to it, entering. The air is filled with a relaxing smell of freshly ground coffee beans and pastries.
Adrien walks up to the counter and fishes in his pocket for his wallet, ordering the first coffee he sees on the menu and handing the barista a few bills "Keep the change, please" he tells her as he walks to stand near the pickup. His father probably wondering why he was taking so long to use the restroom. That, or he did not care that his son was missing from the conversation. Adrien's chest tightens and he feels like breathing is impossible as his mind begins to scream that he is a failure of a son.
Before the barista has the chance to call out his drink, he rushes into the single stall bathroom and locks himself in. Adrien sits on the toilet and puts his face in his hands, taking deep breaths. "What am I doing," he whispers.
When he is feeling himself calm down, he looks up, seeing something scribbled onto the side of the wall. "A number?" He takes a closer look at the small message that read 'Call for a good time' with a number, winking smile and all.
Does this person know their number was here? Adrien takes his phone out and texts them. "I saw your number in a bathroom, and I thought I'd let you know it was here." His good deed is done for the day. He puts his phone away and decides to leave the bathroom. His coffee sits on the counter, but he pays no attention to it as he leaves the cafe and walks quickly back to his father and his guest.
The rest of the evening had passed by rather uneventfully. Adrien listened to his father as he arraigned the details of the swimsuit modeling campaign. Try as he might, he was not able to force the words out and tell his father that he did not want to partake in the shoot. He rolls onto his bed and does not bother to remove the outfit he had worn for dinner. His sides ache, but he makes no move to fix it. Adrien grabs his pillow and pulls it to his face, screaming as loud as he can until he shakes. His father infuriates him beyond belief.
From his pocket, he could feel his phone vibrate with a new text. He looks at the message, and to his surprise, it's the mystery number from the bathroom. "Again? Where? I already erased it three times this week" they respond,
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch the name of the café, but it's downtown somewhere." He responds back. Adrien shoves his phone to the other side of his bed and kicks his shoes off. He wants to scream again when he hears his phone vibrate. Why was this person still texting him?
"Not your fault, thank you for telling me! I hope your evening is going alright." Adrien almost hit the reply button, just to vent to them about how he had actually hated his evening, but he decided against it. Instead, he pushes the phone away from him and pulls his pillow back into his face. His shoulders shake as the pent of feelings from the day release themselves in the form of uncontrollable sobbing.
He rolls onto his side and looks to the calendar hanging beside him. Tomorrow he would be starting his first day of public education. Gabriel had been against it for the longest time, but it was only when his mother had finally intervened that his father accepted. They had taken the time to look into school that his father approved of, and he had finally settled on Collège Françoise Dupont. In the end, he had mostly settled on it because he remembered that his only friend, Nino, attended there as well.
Tomorrow would be the day that he would set himself out from his father. He would prove to himself that he could be different, that he could pave his own way. He was going to prove to himself that he was not just his father's domestic little house cat that he could parade around and keep safely indoors. Cats were free roaming creatures, and he is determined to prove just that.
With that last thought, he sits up and reaches for his phone one last time. He opens a new message to Nino "Tomorrow is going to be awesome!"