I followed Adrien into his home, staring in awe at the white and black marble floor, and just... White and black everything. Except, it seems, for the walls. The wall were such a light blue they almost looked white. Either way, the mansion was too clean and orderly for it to feel homey. It had a cold feel to it, making it feel even more like it wasn't really lived in. Which made sense, if only Adrien and his father lived here. A mansion for just two people? That's too much space, no matter how you look at it.

At the top of the stairs stood a man in a candy cane colored suit; red pants, gray vest with red buttons, white jacket, red and white cravat*, and white undershirt. He had pale blonde hair, possibly graying, and round, black-rimmed glasses, and his arms were folded behind his back. Behind him, was a portrait of him and Adrien in all black, taking up a really large portion of the wall.

That's a depressing picture... I thought, looking up at it and studying it. It seemed like it was taken at a funeral or something, and Adrien really didn't look happy in it, which made me sad as well.

"Father, you remember Nino." Adrien motioned to Nino, who gave a small wave, his father giving a curt nod in response.

"Ah, yes, the young man who came to get you a birthday party last year." He said, tone dry and unfeeling, if not a little hostile as he came down the stairs to stand in front of us. I stepped a little closer to Adrien on impulse.

"Right... And this is Jasper, the boy I was telling you about." Adrien motioned to me and I flipped my notebook to the page with my greetings on it, pointing to the one in he middle.

"Hello."

I looked around my notebook to see Adrien's father raise an eyebrow, curiosity in his face. "Do you not speak?" I quickly nodded and flipped to the page talking about my condition again, showing it to him. "I... See. Well, I must get back to work now, so I'll come and get you when I need you to model, alright boys?"

The three of us nodded, Adrien and Nino giving vocal responses as well, and as Mr. Agreste went up one flight of stairs, we went up the other. My jaw dropped when we reached Adrien's room, and I wished I could speak and express my amazement that way.

"Dude, your room is still freaking amazing every time I come in here."

Adrien laughed slightly and shrugged. "Yeah, well, I guess father thought he could get me everything I could ever want in this room instead of just letting me hang out with people my age." Adrien said with a small sigh before smiling. "Anyway, what would you guys like to play?"

I shrugged, and Nino thought about it, watching as Adrien got out some of the games he owned that weren't the arcade games in the corner of his room.

"How about Ultimate Mega Strike 3?" Nino suggested, grabbing the game and waving it around. I nodded in agreement, smiling and sitting on Adrien's bed.

"Alright. Jasper, do you want to play winner?"

"Wait a sec, dude, you should play winner. You were second place in the rankings for the school champion!"

Adrien flushed slightly in embarrassment and I silently giggled, shaking my head. I flipped my notebook to an open page and began writing. "I agree. You should play winner, because I'm pretty sure you'd be the winner no matter which of us you went against. No offense Nino."

"None taken. I got fifth place, after all." Nino smiled proudly at that, making me silently giggle again as he and Adrien laughed.

"Then I'll get this set up." Adrien went over to his computers- seriously? Four computers?- and he started to set up the game.

I wrote in my notebook, showing Nino what I wrote, "Mr. Agreste looks a little like a candy cane."

Nino laughed, grinning. "You're right, he does!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Adrien asked as he came back over. I showed him what I wrote and after a moment of shock, even Adrien laughed, making me grin. "How come I never noticed that?"

"Well, he is your father, and a fashion designer. It just never crossed your mind."

"That's true. We probably shouldn't tell him that, though." Nino smiled and we went over to the computers, each of us taking a controller as Adrien sat in a chair next to us. "Two out of three, Jasper?"

After a moment of thing, I shook my head, holding up four fingers then five. I then mouthed "practice" and held up two fingers. It's been a while since I played this game, after all, so practice was necessary, and I wanted to make sure that there was more than one round to decide the winner.

"Four out of five, two of them practice?"

I nodded, and Nino smiled. "Sounds good to me. Let's start!"

After a few hours and a few different games, Adrien's father came into the room after knocking on the door. "Jasper, are you free to model now?" He asked in that same monotone voice he spoke to me with earlier. I looked at the others, and they nodded, so I did too.

"Father, is it alright if we watch?" Adrien asked, as I stood up and walked over to his father. I looked up at him, hoping he'd say yes. I don't think I'd handle this well without them there to help me relax. After a few moments, his father nodded, and I visibly sighed before smiling brightly at Nino and Adrien.

They stood up as well and together we followed Mr. Agreste to his studio, certain outfits lined up and a small changing area set up for me to change in privately. "I can help you change if you'd like. Some of the clothes might be difficult to get into." Adrien suggested, smiling shyly and rubbing the back of his head.

I blushed darkly and shook my head smiling. "That's alright, I can manage. Thank you for the offer, though." I wrote, showing him my notebook before taking the first outfit offered to me and going to put it on. Neeks flew from his hiding place, smirking at me as I took deep breaths to stop my blush. I got way too flustered over that. I mean, come on, we're both guys, no harm, no foul.

As I started taking off my clothes, though, I remember that my body is really not one I'm comfortable showing. Just a little too thin for my liking, way too pale, and faint scars from my past from my chest up. I sighed silently and pulled on the outfit, glad that this one, surprisingly, had a scarf. I walked out a few moments later as Neeks hid himself again and smiled at the three, unsure of what to do.

Adrien and Nino smiled, "You look great, Jasper!"

Mr. Agreste hummed and walked over, checking some things and turning me here and there. "I see... So this color looks good with pale skin... But this one doesn't... Yet it goes well with red eyes." He studied the outfit more, making a few more notes on how it looked before sending me off with another outfit to try.

After changing into the next outfit, a simple black long sleeve top with a red logo on it, gray cargo pants and a studded belt mixed of silver and red, I stepped out from the changing room. The top was a little baggy on me, and the sleeves nearly reached my fingertips, but everything else seemed to fit really well. Almost scary well. I was glad I took mom's advice and covered the scars with concealer, though, because having my neck exposed made me uncomfortable.

Nino let out a whistle, grinning. "Wow, that looks great on you!"

Mr. Agreste nodded, studying me as I turned around for him.

I looked at Adrien, smiling shyly as I waited for his response. He was staring at me, mouth slightly open as he had been in the middle of talking to Nino when I came out. Adrien's father looked at him, eyebrow raised in confusion, and Nino snickered, nudging Adrien in the side with his elbow. "Dude, say something."

Adrien blinked and stuttered slightly, trying to come up with something. "Uh, yeah, you look, uh, great." He smiled nervously, which I returned, and after Mr. Agreste checked a few more things and fixed certain parts of the outfit, I was handed the third outfit and told to change again.

This time I changed much faster, the outfit a spring time outfit that had bright colors. It had a scarf as well, and I put on the scarf like I did all the other scarves I wore.

When I got out of the change room, Mr. Agreste hummed and walked over again. All these colors are wrong... They definitely don't look good, but you are wearing the scarf incorrectly..." His hands came closer to my neck, and memories started flashing. Hands rushed towards me, one empty, one with a bottle. They grew closer, reaching for my neck. Garbled words I don't recall.

I flinched and moved away, eyes wide as I looked up at Mr. Agreste with fear. His face was flashing, replacing Adrien's father. Blond became brown, blue and round became brown and slanted. The background seemed to change as well, replacing the black and white walls with dark moonlit halls.

"Jasper!"

I felt hands grab me, and I struggled, panicked and afraid.

"Calm down, hey, it's alright. It's just Adrien and Nino. Can you hear us?"

Adrien?

Nino?

Slowly, I nodded, starting to feel myself calm down as I tried to focus on their voices. Something was pressing against my side. Neeks? They sounded so far away. Focus, Jasper, focus.

"Breathe. Just focus on our voices. Can you come back to us now?"

I blinked once, then twice, my body relaxing as everything returned to normal. In front of me stood a shocked Mr. Agreste, hands awkwardly out in front of him before he slowly lowered them back to his sides. I looked to my left, seeing Adrien with scared, worried eyes, and then to my right, seeing an equally worried Nino. Each one had one of my wrists in their own hands, but now they let go.

"Young man... Are you alright?" Mr. Agreste said, voice softer in volume and tone yet words still sharp and precise. I slowly nodded, reaching up to adjust the scarf before quickly heading back to the changing room and quickly changing clothes back to my normal outfit. Neeks flew out from his hiding spot, his eyes sad and smile weak. I gave him my own weak smile and cupped him in my hands, nuzzling him. Neeks was here. I was in Paris. He wasn't. Everything was okay.

I folded the clothes Mr. Agreste had given me and walked out of the room with them, handing them back to him before beginning to write in my notebook. "I'm so sorry you had to see that. I really don't like people touching my neck, sometimes it brings up bad memories, and... I thought I was better, really. "

"...You have nothing to be sorry for. I thank you for modeling for me, however I think now it would be best for you to go home." As Mr. Agreste finished speaking, I nodded, and began writing again. "May Adrien come to my house to spend the night, then? As an apology for this?"

It took a long time for him to respond, but soon enough, he nodded. "Just tonight. Don't expect me to let him stay with you again."

*Cravat: (Clothing & Fashion) a scarf of silk or fine wool, worn round the neck, especially by men

[C17: from French cravate, from Serbo-Croat Hrvat Croat; so called because worn by Croats in the French army during the Thirty Years' War]