Adrien stared up at the ceiling and his mind wandered back to when he was little.
His mother and father had invited Chloe over for a play date. She was his only friend and he was more than excited for her to come over to visit.
Chloe ran into his bedroom and caught Adrien playing with his cars. She pointed at him with her hand on her hip. Her pale yellow dress swayed as she smirked at him with her hair in a high ponytail. "You're going to play house! So, put down your cars and play with me!"
"Alright, Chlo. I'll play." Adrien didn't really care what he was playing, as long as, he was playing something with someone. He wasn't too picky. "Who do I get to be?"
"The daddy, silly. You're always the daddy and I'm the mommy. This is our baby." Chloe pulled her bear from her yellow backpack and Adrien smiled up at her.
"Okay." Adrien got up from the floor and stood with his hands behind his back, mimicking his father. He had never seen how other kids' fathers acted. He only knew how his father acted and Chloe's, but it wasn't enough to really show him anything. And Chloe's form of parenting quickly followed the lines of her mother. So, again, it didn't really give him a good perspective of parenting.
"Now, you watch Sophia and I'll go shopping. I have to get a new dress for my flight." Chloe threw the bear at Adrien and he rolled his eyes with a sigh as she left to his bathroom for a moment.
Adrien looked at the bear with saddened eyes. He wondered how it felt to be left by its mother. How it felt to be alone. How did it like being with only him? Did it miss its mother? Did it care about its mother? Should it care?
His bathroom door slid open and he quickly pretended to rock the bear.
Adrien slipped out from under Marinette's grasp. She softly hummed and rolled over as he tiptoed away from the bed. Over the years, he quickly grew to despise Chloe and everything she stood for. She had spent years controlling him and telling him what he should do, along with his strict father. And when his mother passed away… it only got worse for him. His father began to keep him indoors at all times, only letting Chloe visit him. She'd spend days pitying him and obsessing over his money and fame. She was one of the women that wanted him for his name and money, not because she really loved him. At least, that's what he had always believed about her.
He slipped on his shoes and creeped out of their apartment and made his way to his car. He climbed into the driver's seat and a vision hit him. He was sitting in his bedroom, at his desk, with his head in his folded arms. Tears streamed down his face and his dark grey suit felt constricting. The maroon tie strangled him as it snaked beneath the collar of his black button down; while his tears stabbed at his throat like daggers. His heart ached and throbbed in his ribcage and his stomach flipped. He had never felt this broken in his whole life.
"Adrikins?" Chloe knocked on his door and he didn't say a word. She pushed on the door and it opened. She looked into the dark room to find Adrien hiding under the desk. "Adrien?"
Chloe walked up to the sounds of sniffling and moved his computer chair out of the way.
"Go away." Adrien weakly spoke and hid further into his arms with his knees against his chest. "I don't want to talk."
"I'm so sorry about what happened to your mom." Chloe crawled beneath his desk to sit beside him. He pressed his body against the wall of his desk, trying to escape her grasp. "Do- do you want to talk about it?"
"I said no, Chlo! Just- just leave me alone! I'm okay, okay? She disappeared! She's not coming home. Even I know it." Adrien sobbed and glared into the darkness.
"She- she might come back. You don't know that." Chloe touched his shoulder and he shook his head.
"Stop giving me lies, Chlo!" Adrien shrugged away from her and crawled out from under his desk. He stopped walking towards his bathroom and set his jaw with a sniff. He turned around to point at her as she crawled out from under his desk. "You know what? I'm sick of the lies! I'm sick of people playing with me! I'm sick of people playing with my feelings and my emotions! I'm tired of people pretending to love me, Chlo! I'm tired of- of my father making excuses for why he won't talk to me! I know she's dead, Chlo! He claims she disappeared, but I know she's never coming back! Don't you see? He's toying with me! Always has and always will! He- He-" Adrien burst into to tears and fell to his knees with his hair in front of his eyes. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes and fell to the ground in a fetal position as he lost control of his emotions for the first time in front of her.
Chloe worried her bottom lip and didn't know what to do. "Adrien?" Nathalie ran in and fell to her knees beside him. Chloe watched her pull him into her lap and calmly sifted through his soft hair with her fingers. "Shh… it's okay. Everything will be alright. She'll come back some day. She will. Your father-"
Chloe clenched her hands into fists as anger filled her. "She's not coming back is she?" She peered up at Nathalie with a stare full of daggers. "SAY IT! SHE'S NOT COMING BACK!"
Adrien was too lost to hear anything they were saying. Too lost in a deep hole of darkness and looping thoughts. Nathalie took a deep breath and covered Adrien's ears. "She's not coming back." She gave in and softly spoke with sadness in her own voice.
"THEN TELL HIM! WHY ARE YOU HIDING THAT FROM HIM? HE ALREADY SUSPECTS IT SO TELL HIM! HE'S A TEENAGER, NOT SOME LITTLE KID!" Chloe burst out in anger and Nathalie sighed.
"Don't you think I have? I've told him more than once, Chloe." Nathalie glared at her and took her glasses off to pinch the bridge of her nose. "He chooses to believe what he wants."
"But he believes you're lying to him!" Tears threatened Chloe's eyes and Nathalie put her glasses back on as Adrien got up from her lap and cleared his throat.
"You can stop talking like I'm not here. I'm just gonna go take a shower." Adrien wandered off to his bathroom. He stalled in the doorway and looked down to sollumly speak. "I know she's gone. I- I just don't want to believe it. I'd rather be lied to, I guess. I'd rather believe what the media says about her. I'm angry at my father for lying to me, but Nathalie did tell me the truth. I just- I wish my father would be honest with me is all." He shut the door behind him.
The sound of the sliding door brought him back to reality and he started his car. He wiped the tears from his eyes and backed out of the parking space.
It didn't take him long to get to her apartment and before long he was banging on her door with his fist. "Chloe we need to talk."
Nate opened the door with a collar around his neck, a black dog muzzle, and leather ears. He wore a harness and tiny leather shorts with boots. "Who is it, my pet?" Chloe called behind Nate and he stepped aside, growling, for Adrien to walk around him. Adrien clenched his fists and stared at Chloe with anger in his eyes. "Oh, Adrikins! What can I help you with? Your father needs more advice and ideas? I got a million of them." She flipped through Marinette's sketchbook like nothing was wrong.
Adrien stormed up to her and pointed behind him at Nate. "Tie him up because by the time I'm through with you… he's gonna want to kill me." Adrien sneered and Nate charged at him. He flung his hand out and caught Nate by the throat. He grabbed the man's collar and yanked him towards him. "Sit! I'm not done with your Mistress yet, mangy mutt. And don't think I don't know what the fuck you did to my girl." He threw the man to his knees and turned back to Chloe. "You gonna put that mutt on a damn leash or not?"
Chloe rolled her eyes and got up from her chair with the sketchbook under her arm. Adrien took his hand out from his crossed arms and did a 'give it here' motion with his hand. He gave her a steely gaze as anger filled him. Chloe rolled her eyes and handed the sketchbook over as she hooked a leash to Nate and took him into a room down the hall. She came back and brushed her hand along Adrien's chest.
He glared and yanked her hand from his chest. "Enough, Chlo! I've had enough! I've spent years dealing with your crap and when Marinette finally has something you steal it. I knew you were an awful person, but this? You'd really stoop so low? You have tons of money in your accounts. Why did you need to take everything Marinette has? WHY? TELL ME!" Adrien gripped her wrists and shook the woman that was smirking at him.
"Wow, you're really taking control, Adrikins. Why don't you throw me on my bed and show me what you got?" She flirted with him and let her breasts kiss the air as she looked at him through her lashes.
Adrien growled in disgust and shoved her back into the armchair. "You're sick! Sick, Chloe! I wish I never had become friends with you! I wish our parents never made us be friends in the first place!" He walked up to her and slammed his palms onto the arms of the chair. "You're a complete, ungrateful, heinous bitch! You're going to give back everything you stole and put it in my hand, right now!" He touched her chin and shoved her face up to look up at him. "GOT IT?" He sneered through his teeth as he clenched his jaw.
She swallowed hard as she clenched the arms of the chair. Her gaze turned to his shoulder. Adrien caught on and put his hand in his pocket to press a button. "Call Marinette." Adrien spoke loud enough for his phone to respond as a shot rang out and Adrien fell to his knees.
Chloe panicked and looked over at Nate, who was holding a black pistol in his hands. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" Tears fell from Chloe's eyes as she fell to her knees and cradled an unconscious Adrien. She checked his pulse and put her ear to his chest, feeling and listening to him breathe shallowly.
"Got rid of the problem." Nate shrugged and cleaned his pistol of prints.
"I NEVER SAID TO SHOOT HIM!" Chloe screamed and got up. She walked over to him and pulled the gun from his hands. She pressed the cold barrel to his forehead and cocked the gun. He raised his hands beside his head and trembled. "You don't DESERVE to live." She pulled the trigger and he fell back against the ground.
She dropped the gun with a shaking hand and ran back over to Adrien. He slowly opened his eyes for a moment before they fluttered closed. His body shivered as tears fell from his eyes and he weakly touched the wound. She ripped her dress and applied pressure to the wound, pulling her phone out. She was beyond consoling and she was beyond livid. Dispatch picked up as she called an ambulance and gave them their location.
Marinette burst through the door with the emergency personnel and pushed Chloe away from Adrien. "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY FIANCE! GET AWAY! ARREST HER! DO IT! SHE STOLE FROM ME AND NOW SHE HURT HIM! SHE HURT MY KITTY!" She burst into tears and cradled Adrien in her arms and rocked back and forth as she fell into hysterics. She was not only upset and heartbroken, but she was angry that Adrien had lied to her. She had told him not to go. Yet, he still had. But her anger was short lived and filtered into despair.
"Mademoiselle, we need to get him stable. They'll arrest and question her. If you could just give us some room, please." One of the emergency personnel gently touched her shoulder and Marinette let Adrien go slightly enough for them to work around her and on him as Chloe screamed and fought to stay in her own apartment. The loud slam of the door brought silence. They made sure he was breathing and that his airway was secure. "Where's the entry wound? Do you know?" Their voice was frantic as they looked at Marinette.
Marinette moved her hand out from his back and a metallic scent filled the air as her hand shook, coated in blood. His blood. She swallowed back vomit and let more tears fall. Her voice trembled. "His back." She burst into tears and Adrien weakly clutched her hand, swallowing hard with a grimace. Letting her know that he was still with her as he shivered.
"Good, good. Alright, stay with me…" The paramedic checked his eyes.
"Adrien, Adrien Agreste." Marinette filled them in on his name as they put a breathing mask on him to up his oxygen. The medic cut his shirt from his body and then his pants to look for more wounds.
"Alright, there is only one entry wound and one exit. Which is good." The medic put pressure bandages on both of the wounds, strapped him to a backboard and put a cervical collar on him. He slipped a blanket over Adrien's body and they lifted him to carry him to the ambulance. Marinette followed them as she texted Nathalie with her phone.
They loaded him into the vehicle and immediately ran fluids, while Marinette sat beside him with his hand in hers. She clenched her hand tightly around his as her phone rang. "He-hello?" Her voice came out in a tremble.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SON?" Gabriel's voice rang out in a frantic and angry tone. Marinette burst into tears as she explained what she had heard over Adrien's phone. The medics continued to monitor Adrien, while they informed the trauma unit in the hospital of their arrival and what was wrong with the patient.