CW: Marinette deals with a dissociative episode (depersonalization) for most of this chapter. I've marked the beginning and if you're not in a place to deal with that, I recommend skipping the rest of the chapter, just in case. I'll leave an A/N at the end of the fic with a brief summary of the rest of the chapter.

This is just based on my own experience, so I'm sorry if it isn't accurate to what others experience. Regardless, have a great day! I love y'all!

"My father wants to meet you," Adrien said in greeting when Marinette answered his call a few days after that night. From the tone of his voice, Marinette could tell that he was stressed. Marinette checked the time quickly and confirmed that Alya shouldn't be home for at least an hour, plenty of time for Marinette to have an honest conversation with her fake-boyfriend.

"Do you want your father to meet me?" Marinette's voice was clear and smooth. She was hoping to get him calmed down and she learned from years of being Ladybug that responding to stress with stress just caused more stress. "Buttercup, can you take a deep breath for me?" She heard a shaky breath come from his side of the phone. "A second?"

His breath the second time sounded calmer than his first and she took that as a good sign. "Feel free to talk when you're ready, but until then do you want me to talk about some stuff to try to help you calm down." He made a small affirmative sound over the phone and she accepted it as confirmation. She had made the offer before she knew what she would talk about and she didn't have a plan in mind.

"I think that Alya might have a crush on Nino," Marinette told Adrien and he let out a soft laugh, "she always talks about how 'great Nino is,' and how 'good his mixes are,' and how 'much he makes her laugh.' I just wish that I knew if he liked her back. I've been told I can be quite a matchmaker."

"Well, I have some bad news," Adrien said when his heart rate was back to a normal speed, "Nino's got a girlfriend already and he's crazy about her. They're collège sweethearts, I don't think he'd be willing to leave her for someone new, no matter how much your friend might be his type." Marinette couldn't help the smile that spread on her face in reaction to Adrien's comment.

"I'd be fine with you meeting my father," Adrien said after a brief sigh, "but he's pretty old-fashioned and will probably think that our 'relationship' is 'getting serious' if I bring you over to meet him." Marinette could practically hear the air quotes that he used as he spoke.

"If he wants to meet me when we're 'serious' why is he trying to meet me after we've only been dating for like 2 weeks?" Marinette joked in response.

"Mari, it's been like a month and a half," he told her. Marinette was stupefied. She opened her day planner and looked at the date at the top of the page. October 7, it had really been a month and a half, how did she not notice how much time had passed? "He saw some of your work and I think he might want you to be part of the 'future of the brand.'"

"What?" was all she was able to say for a brief time. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to make sense of Adrien's words. Gabriel Agreste saw her designs. Gabriel Agreste thought she was in a 'serious relationship' with his son. Gabriel Agreste wanted her to be part of the future of his company.

CW Start

"Deep breath." Adrien's words came through the receiver of her phone and she could barely hear him. "This should have been an in-person conversation. Do you want me to come over?" His voice sounded a million miles away and Marinette could vaguely hear a sound she thought might have come from herself. Adrien stayed on the phone with her as he tossed on a jacket and made his way into his bedroom.

"Princess, I need you to breathe for me," he said, trying to stay calm after everything he and Ladybug learned about stress not helping stress. He muted his microphone momentarily and put down his phone on his nightstand. While muted, he transformed. He picked up his phone and heard a shaky sound on the other end. He thought it was meant to be a breath, but he couldn't be sure. He unmuted his phone.

"I think Nino might fall for Alya," he said as he made his way toward her apartment. "I know I said before that he's been with his girlfriend for forever, but he would be a sucker if he didn't at least give Alya a chance. She could make him happy, just as happy as the girl he's seeing, plus I've always wanted to play matchmaker…"

If anyone heard Chat Noir talking about matchmaking over the streets of Paris, they didn't draw attention to it. He managed to drop unnoticed into an alley close to Marinette's apartment and didn't have a nice place to put his phone so it wouldn't get caught in his transformation. He muted it again and placed it precariously on a brick sticking out of the wall until he was back to being Adrien.

He transformed back into a civilian and went into her building. Thankfully the resident who happened to be leaving as he entered was Marinette's neighbor from across the hall who had seen Adrien coming and going with Alya and Marinette multiple times. He went up the stairs as quickly as he could and stopped at her floor.

He heard another small sound coming from her end of the phone as he arrived at her door. He would usually knock, but this time he just silently hoped that luck would be on his side for once and he could just open the door. He sighed in relief when the door opened with no problems and he wasn't ready for the shell-shocked Marinette he saw standing in the middle of her kitchen.

He hung up the call and made sure to move slowly. He walked across the kitchen to make sure he was in her eye line before he tried to get closer to her. In the weeks they'd been talking, she had mentioned dissociating a few times and it seemed like that was what was happening. He made a slow movement closer to her and she didn't react.

"I'm going to take your phone and put it on the counter," he said, barely loud enough for her to hear. He didn't know if she'd be able to register his words or if they'd help her in any way, but he didn't think it would be a bad idea to explain the actions that he took. He did as he said that he was going to, slowly and carefully to hopefully not make the situation worse.

He held out a hand slowly, hoping that he wouldn't accidentally overstep any of her boundaries if he took her hand. He wanted to get her over to the couch so that she could sit, but he was scared about accidentally making her uncomfortable. He winced at the knowledge that he had already probably crossed a line by coming into her apartment without permission.

He figured that after this situation was over, he would beg forgiveness if he had to since he couldn't ask permission. He explained what he was doing and moved to her side to pick her up in a princess carry. He carried her over and placed her on the couch in a sitting position. He opened a door that Marinette and Alya had that led to a small balcony.

His voice was just as quiet as it had been before when he told her that he was going to hold her hand. He took it in his and after a short while it sounded like Marinette was able to take a normal breath. Adrien's immediate reaction was to want to rub the back of her hand with his thumb, but he knew that it wouldn't be helpful and it might just overwhelm her more so he didn't.

She slumped over toward him and he wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not. He swallowed and hoped for the best. He wrapped his arms around Marinette as she seemed to lean towards him. It didn't immediately solve the issue she was having and he didn't expect it to, but she took another breath a short while after and that was all he needed from her at that point.

It took about 25 minutes of holding her for her to have a physical reaction to him being there. He felt a small twitch of her muscles and he gave her a gentle squeeze in an attempt to be reassuring. He specifically didn't try to make her move more than she was ready for, but he took every small movement as a win.

Marinette felt her heart rate start to calm down and she gave Adrien the closest thing to a squeeze she could manage at that moment. When she was able to come back into herself, she heard him quietly talking. He sounded like he was telling the story of an akuma attack, but from the perspective of one of the heroes.

She couldn't immediately identify the akuma he was talking about until he mentioned the name Multimouse. He didn't know why he was telling her about the akuma attack that he suspected she was one of the heroes for, but it was the only story he could think of and he was hopeful that he would be able to continue using the excuse of seeing the attack on tv.

"Thank you," were the first words she managed to say. "This helped." She tried to give him another squeeze for good measure, but it was weaker than she wanted it to be. "I love you," she added after another second.

"I love you too, princess," he said, still whispering to her. He knew that she seemed to be mostly okay, but he didn't want to risk accidentally overwhelming her again.

"I don't think I want to meet your father right now," she said, trying to make a joke. Adrien didn't think it was funny given the circumstances, but he was happy to smile along if that was what she needed from him.

Summary: Adrien transformed to get to Marinette's apartment ASAP. One of the people who recognized him let him in and Marinette's front door was unlocked. He just helped keep Marinette safe during the situation. He held her and just talked to her to offer her a grounding presence. It seemed like he was telling her about the Kwamibuster attack from the perspective of one of the heroes? Weird choice, but that's probably not relevant.