I love the support, but please do not be afraid to tell me ideas or what I could have done better. It is all greatly appreciated. Thank you.
The butterfly flutters near and nearer.
Chat bounds off to his home.
The butterfly waits another day.
It shall have its chance soon.
Very soon.
Adrien groans as he wakes to the sound of his alarm clock. He knows he was extra work today because he missed quite a bit yesterday. Extra lessons, extra photos, extra… Well, everything. He dies a little inside at the thought. He puts on his mask and gets dressed. He doesn't get ready for school, yesterday being a Tuesday, resulting in him having the day off on Wednesday, as all French students do. He walks to Nathalie's office, walking in, and asking her what he had to do today. She looks up, sympathy obvious on her face as she sees Adrien. If she's showing such emotion, then he must have a lot of work. Yay.
"You don't have any work today Adrien… Although your father wants to see you in his office."
Mon dieu.
Mon dieu non.
Adrien starts to sweat, a look of fear visible on his face, mask dropping. Nathalie's look of sympathy doubles. He quickly makes his way to his father's office, standing in front of his desk.
"Adrien."
"Yes sir?"
M. Agreste sighs and presses his thumb to the bridge of his nose.
"God, this is going to make us lose so much work time because of this."
"What is Father?"
"A law has been released in France that it is illegal for someone to model unless they have a health check-out proving they are of a healthy BMI. I have scheduled you for an appointment today, in about an hour Nathalie will drive you to a doctor nearby. Be ready."
"Yes father."
Adrien was scared. He didn't want to disappoint his father.
But he knew he would.
"Could you stand here so I may measure your height?"
Well. Here he was. The doctor's appointment feeling more like a test than an examination of his health. The doctor was a nice woman, although she clearly felt very strongly of the mistreatment of models and people's rights and health. She reminded Adrien of Alya. Quite a bit, actually. He didn't really like her nurse though. He was a bit mean-looking. Although Adrien banished this thought, he didn't want to be rude.
"Adrien?"
"O- Oh, um, yes?" Mon dieu, was he nervous. The doctor gave him a look a mixture of concern and sympathy. Adrien was fairly uncomfortable, and it was pretty obvious.
"Could you stand on this scale for me?"
"Y- yes ma'am."
"Please, just call me Dr. Blanc."
"Yes Dr. Blanc."
She smiled warmly at him as the scale beeped, signaling him to get off the electronic scale. She checked the weight, and her smile faded into a mixture of anger and sadness.
"Adrien, I'm going to ask you some questions, alright? Please answer honestly."
"Alright Dr. Blanc."
"Do you make yourself sick because you feel uncomfortably full?"
"No."
"Alright, and do you worry you have lost control over how much you eat?"
"…Yes."
"Okay then, and do you believe yourself to weigh too much when others say you are too thin?"
"Yes…"
"Are you satisfied with your eating patterns?"
"No."
She swallows, and writes something down on her clipboard.
"Adrien, I cannot legally let you model as I find you to be underweight and anorexic."
Adrien pales significantly, clearly nervous beyond all belief, glad that this isn't public, but terrified of what his father would think.
Adrien was waiting outside his father's office, wondering how he would explain to his father that he could no longer model until he was of a healthy BMI and the fact he was diagnosed as anorexic of all things. He knocks anyways.
"Come in."
"Hello father."
"What is the result of the doctor's appointment?"
"I… I cannot model. I am underweight and the doctor said…"
"I haven't all day Adrien."
"I'm anorexic."
"…"
That silence broke him. More than anything could. To him it was the silence of disappointment. A silence, yet deafening. Because as his father stayed silent, Adrien's thoughts ravaged his shattering mind and heart. The stress starting to overtake him, he struggled to keep his mask on, anything to keep himself from breaking down at the foot of his father's desk.
"We will simply keep this from the public. Now, I will have your dinner remade accordingly to combat this as quickly as possible."
"Yes father."
Adrien left his room and slept, not knowing of what comes the next day.
Adrien got to class right before the bell rang, sighing in relief that his wasn't late. Traffic was heavy that day, probably a car accident or something. He was exhausted after yesterday's events. He put on the mask knowing, today would never be any different, like ANY day was any different, nothing is going to change he would keep suffering. He's in a dark place and he knows it, but until someone throws out a life vest, he's going to keep drowning. Maybe Ladybug. She- No, that would be stupid that would be insane, he can't risk losing the light of his life, the last bit of oxygen he had as he chokes in water.
He walks into class. He looks sick. He gets looks of pity, why is he getting looks of pity, did they know, they couldn't know, they CAN'T KNOW, why would they know, be logical Adrien, everything will be alright someday, not today, but soon, probably soon.
Soon.
He lies.
Ladybug waits for Chat during their night patrol. Is he even coming? She doesn't know. She hopes so. She wants to confront him, plead with him to tell her what's wrong, anything to keep him from drowning. She knows what drowning is. Being bullied by Chloé does that to you. But her family gave her a life vest to hang onto. She's on dry land, far from drowning ever again, but what if Chat doesn't have that? What if his family is the cause of his problems, what if-
Chat lands on the Eiffel Tower, where they always meet up.
"Hey Ladybug."
That's strange for Chat.
"Hello Chaton."
He looks to her, a serious expression on his face. Something is wrong.
"Ladybug, I- I don't want to waste your time, but do you have a minute to spare?"
"You are never a waste of my time Chaton, go ahead."
"I feel awful, all the time."
"It's hard for me to sleep, hard for me to EAT, it- it's i- impossible for me to do ANYTHING, I always have to wear a mask, everyone THINKS I- I'm h- h- happy, but I'm NEVER happy-"
He hiccups.
Tears are rushing down his face.
He goes into full blown crying.
Ladybug- Marinette comforts him. He buries his face into her shoulder, pouring out his fears and insecurities to her. She doesn't pity him. She listens, comforting him, ridding him of a portion of his pain. Being the morphine to a cancerous disease. She eases. Not cures, but helps make bearable. She helps him get through it. She promises to be there for him. No more teasing about certain topics.
She'll be there for him.
And she does NOT lie.
