Review. I own nothing. Not even this computer.
Nino pokes at his sandwich. He sighs and pulls out a leaf of lettuce before chewing on it in disinterest. Alya has half of her sandwich already eaten and she is a slow eater. Nino had taken maybe two bites.
Alya sighs before leaning the side of her head against his shoulder. Their feet were kicking at the canal, the water flowing by the soles of their shoes. Their bikes were leaning next to each other just a little ways away. Alya glances at Nino out of the corner of her eyes. He does not say a single thing.
"You're worried about him aren't you?" Alya says gently prodding at her boyfriend. He nods keeping his mouth shut firmly. His eyes look full of tears that are ready to fall.
"This isn't the first time you know that this has-" Nino cuts her off shaking his head.
"He always texts me. Whenever his old man gets to be too much and he has to run out, or whatever. Hide for a few days...He texts me. He lets me know whats going on. What's up. He's like my best friend Alya. And he hasn't texted me. Not even once. It's only been a day and a few hours but..." Alya nods knowingly. A lot can happen in a day. Countries can fall in a day. And young men can be kidnapped sealed in an oil drum and shipped half way around the world to some scummy mans secret murder and torture cabin deep in the woods where no one can find you.
"We will find him. But we're not going to get anywhere if you fall over from exhaustion or hunger." Alya presses the bottom of his sandwich towards Nino's mouth forcing a little bit in between his lips. "Eat. It will make you feel better."
Nino took a chunk and chewed for a few seconds. He increased his speed when she glowered at him and soon he had polished off the entire sandwich. Alya nods in satisfaction before she takes a big bite of her own sandwich. The two sit side by side watching the water flow past. They could see a small group of people walking down the street some were holding flashlights as the day slowly transitioned into evening.
"Oh man! My parents! They are going to be freaking out right now!" Alya said fishing her phone out of her pocket and starting to tap furiously explaining to her parents where she had been and why. Although they had also been out all day searching and could probably understand their daughters fear and reasoning.
"We should get home right? I mean what else are we supposed to do? How are the two of us going to help?" Nino said bitterly as he stood up. Alya looked at him in confusion before standing up herself.
"Hey. Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure that the two of us searching is helping some-" She was cut off again when her phone gave a little beep and a news feed popped up. Alya followed all major news networks with an obsessive amount of attention. She raised one perfectly maintained eyebrow and clicked on the video with the mayor of Paris standing with a long line of police officers behind him.
"And just to be clear we want all children within the age range of seventeen to three indoors. That is correct, a curfew! It is in my expert opinion that with the streets clear then the police officers and adults can actually do their jobs without any sort of interference!" The mayor said with a wide grin that did not look at all real.
"Well isn't that just great." Nino mumbles rubbing his eyes. "Of all the things that they could do. And at all times." Nino mumbles as Alya wraps her arms around him.
"Hey. Calm down. It will all be okay. We might not be able to find him tonight. But we will find him. We will go out searching first thing tomorrow after class okay?" Alya gave him a calming rub to his lower back. Nino rested his hands on her hips and rested his chin on the top of her head before breathing out.
"Okay. I'm just so worried. I just can't imagine what is happening to him right now. I just hope that they're not hurting him .That they're not starving him. Or worse." Nino says as the two walk hand in hand to their bikes and bike back to their homes.
"Wow. This is...pretty good!" Adrien said forcing a smile as he chewed on another long thick piece of bread. It was burnt and soggy from all of the gravy, and he had no idea what sort of dish this was even supposed to be. But he chewed it up anyway and did it all with a smile on his face.
The gorilla's frown deepened. He knew that Adrien did not like this food. It was too rough, too uncultered for the upper upper class boys fine tongue. The Gorilla knew, he had been the one that cooked all of the meals at the mansion before the two of them had to go on the run. Gabriel had been too cheap to hire another chef so the Gorilla had taken over. It had taken him a long time to figure out how to actually cook anything and most of his cooking for the first few years was just take out from a near by hotel made by a Mrs. Cesaire. However he took a few classes and eventually got the hang of it. He had been doing the cooking ever since for everyone in the mansion, he wondered just who Gabriel and Nathalie had hired to take care of the meals afterwards?
And the Gorilla knew, that this was not fine food. This was good cheap food. It filled you up and gave you fuel and energy. But it was not a delight for the senses. Still better then when he had been stationed in Russia and had to survive off of wood chips and rancid meat.
Adrien chewed a bit more before swallowing. He winces and taps his foot. He had not had a meal with another person for a very long time. He was used to sitting alone and in silence, sometimes he would talk to Plagg, but he never listened to music. Or read a book. He might study a little but that was all he was permitted to do.
He felt like he had to speak, that he had to say something.
"So it's not safe for me to go home right?" He asked tentatively. The bigger man looked up and nodded slowly.
"I know that I'm in danger. But is my father okay?" The Gorilla took a deep breath his face stoic, nodded his head.
"When can I go home, when can I grow my hair out again? And why are you the one protecting me if-" Adrien cut himself off as The Gorilla's face twisted up. He grimaced and Adrien instantly flinched, expecting some sort of outburst some sort of comment about how he shouldn't speak unless spoken too. But the Gorilla opened his mouth and tried to make a noise.
"-" Went the Gorilla before wincing and clutching his throat. He tried again but still nothing came out.
"Are you okay?" Adrien asked as The Gorilla nodded and rubbed his throat and chest.
"Does it hurt to talk?" Adrien asks pointing towards the Gorilla's throat. The Gorilla nodded and leaned back, the two of them looked around themselves trying to think of some way to actually hold a conversation. But neither had their cell phones, and there wasn't even a piece of paper in the small trailer. Adrien felt like he was playing twenty questions with a mute. Which he sort of was.
"Can you talk?" Adrien asked. The Gorilla pondered the question for a moment before nodding and then shaking his head before holding his hand up and wiggling it.
"Sort of." Adrien nodded understanding. "But it hurts. Why?"
Adrien winced he should keep it to yes or no questions that was going to be the only way to make this conversation flow smoothly. The Gorilla did not even seem to flinch. Instead he held his knife up and pressed it to his throat before pulling it off and mimed stabbing himself in the throat. He then placed it down and balled his massive hand into a fist and slammed it into his free palm a few times before tapping his bare knuckles against his throat. He made a gun out of his fingers and pressed it to the side of his neck and mimed pulling the trigger. And he finished it all off by wrapping his hands around his throat and sticking his tongue out and bugged his eyes out.
Adrien sat back in surprise as he tried to get all of the images straight in his mind.
"So...Just to be clear... You were shot, stabbed, punched and strangled so much that it now hurts to talk? How are you even alive if all of that happened?" The Gorilla held up one of his arms, it was the size of a tree trunk. He made a muscle and his throat muscles stood out. He slapped his bicep in delight and smirked.
"I didn't think that anyone could be that strong." Adrien raised an eyebrow before The Gorilla poked himself in the chest. Adrien chuckled. It was ridiculous but it was amazing. "What were you before a bodyguard? A circus strongman? A super solider? A secret agent?"
The Gorilla grinned and nodded once curtly. Adrien's eyes widened. Then he snickered and then he burst out into laughter. It was ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! To picture his driver, his bodyguard, a man who he regularily fought when they were superheroes...Being any of those things!
The Gorilla's mouth popped open and quick little breathless gasps popped out. It took Adrien a few seconds to realize that he was actually laughing. Adrien wiped away some tears and took another bite of his meal. He sighed and looked at his hand. He felt so naked without the ring. So open and vulnerable.
The Gorilla continued to chew his food and glanced out the window of the trailer. It was getting dark, the circus was not to be moved for a few days. So said the ringmaster, they would eventually pick up stakes and get on the road. The Gorilla hoped that they would be able to sneak unnoticed out of the country and then maybe catch a boat to some other country. Make it across the Atlantic. Or go the other way and head towards Japan. Any country would be safer then here.
He saw Adrien glance at his ring finger and winced. He wanted to give the ring back, it was not his to take. But he also knew that if Adrien took it back then he would transform and be far away within a few seconds. Probably to check up on his father and friends and to make sure that no one was worried about him. It was the boy's biggest weakness, how much he cared for people. And one of his greatest strengths.
The Gorilla stood up and stretched. Adrien watched wide eyed as The Gorilla picked up a kettlebell from the corner of the room and begin to casually do bicep curls while at the table and still eating. The Gorilla noticed him staring and set the large solid metal bell down beside Adrien's feet. Adrien leaned over and took it in one hand, he tried to lift it once and winced. He frowned and strained before wrapping both hands around it and straining with the effort lifted it one inch off the floor. He gasped and let it drop.
He leaned back and gasped for air shaking his head. His arms lined with sweat. His blisters from the elephant poop shovel were blazing with pain. The Gorilla frowned before chuckling again.
"Do you think you could help me? Teach me how to get stronger?" Adrien asks hopefully his eyes wide and searching. The Gorilla ponders it for a second before sniffing and nodding his head. His frown back. Those blisters on Adrien's hands were no joke. He would have to find the young man something for them, some sort of medicine. The Gorilla never developed blisters, his skin was too thick, even when he was young. It was a useful adaptation in his line of business.
Adrien grins. Sure he might be trapped at a circus against his will with a lot of crazy people that he doesn't know and a few of them might even be downright hostile. But he had The Gorilla here. And Plagg was hiding somewhere too.
Things really couldn't be all that bad.
A few hours later Adrien was laying on his cot staring at the ceiling. The cot was very very different from the extra large king sized bed that he had at home. He sighs and glances around the room. He is uncomfortable. He misses home and his family, or his father at least...sort of...It takes him a few seconds to realize that he hardly ever sees Gabriel. That his father is normally busy or shut up somewhere. In fact this is nothing knew. He once went two weeks without seeing his father and they lived in the same house!
Adrien rolled over and tried to figure out what this weird burning in his throat and chest was. Probably just a bit of heart burn, the food that they served was really just disgusting...But it felt deeper. He felt...lonely...
"I miss my friends." Adrien grumbles as Plagg floats above him with a frown.
"Hey! What am I? Chopped liver?" Plagg complains as Adrien shushes him.
"Nathalie...what is...this?" Gabriel asks as he picks up the sad soggy slice of greasy pizza that sat on his fine plate. There was a small pile of something wet and red and gross congealing next to it.
"I'm sorry sir. But that was all that we had...chopped liver...So I...ordered...a...pizza..." She said rubbing the back of her head. In her defense Gabriel had never once expected her to cook for him! And she had always been served delicious food while she worked at this place! She had never bothered to practice her cooking.
Gabriel picked up a piece of chopped liver and sighed in disgust. They would need a new chef. And a new maid. His socks were not pressed and he had a sinking feeling as to why...
"Could this get even worse? Or humiliating." Gabriel grumbles in disgust. Wondering when this thorn in his side will be plucked. And how he would be doing the plucking.
Review. I own nothing not even this computer.