Hey guys, back from vacation and back to our Tuesday updates.

Content warning: Therapy, characters with issues, implied self harm, guilt, characters being triggered, anger issues, scars, self doubt, and control issues.

Chapter 24

Snips, Snails and Fairy Tales

About two weeks had passed since Adrien's kidnapping and things were slowly improving. Adrien had made his statement to the police and held it together until he got back to the limo where he threw up. Thankfully the trial date wouldn't be set for a while and Jacques's lawyers were trying to get a plea deal for a shorter sentence. The family had mixed feelings about that. The man deserves to rot in jail but a plea would also mean Adrien wouldn't have to testify. For the time being they would just have to wait.

Adrien was talking to his friends on the phone again but he noticed they were all avoiding the kidnapping drama. He suspected Varian was playing mediator so he wouldn't be bombarded with questions. That was fine with him. He knew he'd have to tell them about it sooner or later but he just wasn't ready. He had seen a few doctors before they found one the whole family approved of. Daphne was nice and let him go at his own pace but knew when to push him forward.

He had even gone out as Chat Noir a few times although breaking out with everyone hovering around him was more than a little frustrating. Thankfully Shadow Moth and Tanuki were playing it light as if they weren't really into it for some reason.

Marinette was worried but was also being very patient. She said she didn't mind waiting until he was ready before going on their first official date. She'd waited this long; she could wait a little longer.

Adrien had talked to Daphne about his fears and wanting to face them so he could get back to school and get back to his life. She warned him not to try and hurry the healing process but the steps he was taking was an encouraging sign. She also warned him there may be setbacks and that was OK too.

He kept Varian out of their conversations but it was hard not to talk about this strange cuddly little mad scientist who just showed up at his house one day. He hadn't even gotten to his issues with his Father, his Mother, Nathalie and his isolation for most of his life. It was only now as he was making his therapy checklist he realized how much this all bothered him but one thing at a time.

He did tell Varian she recommended getting together with a small group of friends so that the transition to school wouldn't be so overwhelming. But given how overprotective his father was he was hesitant to even ask. Varian offered to ask for him. He was grateful to the other boy but as talented as he was not even he could talk father into the impossible.

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"You did WHAT?!" Adrien exclaimed sure he had heard Varian wrong.

"I got your Dad to let us have a small get together this afternoon." Varian said with a big satisfied smile on his face.

"Dad's letting you throw a party?"

"No! No parties, he was VERY firm on that one. Just 4-5 people, no more. No girls, no loud music, and everyone leaves after dinner, no sleep overs." Adrien threw his arms around the other boy, taking him by surprise.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" he let go and did a little happy dance. "I can't believe you talked him into this, you really are a genius!" Varian waved him off but was still smiling and soaking up the praise.

"It wasn't easy, let me tell you. It helped that he owed me a favor but somehow I now owe him a favor only to cash it in-anyway, long story short just keep to the rules and as long as half of Paris doesn't show up again he might be willing to be more lenient on the rules regarding having friends over."

Adrien was overjoyed. His friends would be coming over and it was all thanks to Varian.

"Now I already called a few people and unfortunately some of them were busy but I got Nino, Ivan, Nathaniel and Marc confirmed. Think that's OK for a start?"

"More than OK."

"Oh and you might want to call Nino and remind him of the rules before coming over. I already told him but…" Adrien understood. Nino did like to bend the rules a bit and he didn't want his father to regret this decision.

After a stern warning from his father reminding him of the rules the guest started to arrive. Nino was the first and Adrien welcomed him with open arms and he high fived Varian for achieving the impossible. Ivan was next shyly waving as he came in.

Varian did have to run out and stop a badly disguised Marinette (seriously how did that fake mustache fool anyone last time?) explaining she could blow this for Adrien if she came uninvited. It took a little convincing but he managed to send her home before Gabriel saw. He was pretty sure Nathalie caught on but didn't say anything much to his relief.

Marc and Nathaniel came together with Marc furiously scribbling things in his note book only to cross them out a moment later.

"Hey look Varian, it's you from two weeks ago." Adrien commented and Marc looked up and realized he was being rude and reluctantly put his notebook away.

"Sorry Adrien, I've just been stuck on this assignment for my creative writing class like you wouldn't believe." Nathaniel put a comforting hand on his boyfriend's shoulder.

"That's why I told you to put it down for a little while while we visit Adrien and Varian. Let your brain rest, have some fun and I'll bet it'll come to you when you've stopped staring at it." Marc sighed.

"You're right, you're right. I just haven't been this stuck on an idea in a long time."

"Well, since we're all here why don't we turn off our brains with a round of video games." Adrien suggested and everyone in the room cheered. As they made their way to the gaming area Varian smiled. It was worth the headache of arguing with a very stubborn Gabriel for this, he thought as he went to get a controller for himself.

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The whole group had fun that day even if the Mario Kart tournament got a little heated. They decided to take a break while Adrien called to have some snacks brought up since dinner was a few hours away.

Varian was putting away his controller when he noticed Marc kept glancing at his bag no doubt itching to break through his writer's block. Adrien had told him he was a very gifted writer so whatever this assignment was must be a tough one.

"What's the assignment that's got you so stuck?" Marc flinched and looked away from his bag as quick as he could. Nathaniel sighed.

"He's supposed to take an old fairy tale and rewrite it." Varian was surprised Marc was having so much trouble. Most fairy tales were pretty basic and he'd seen tons of adaptations around.

"That doesn't sound too hard."

"Except for the fact I was assigned the worst one! It's a mess, it doesn't make any sense and it doesn't really have a moral I can work around."

"Which one was it?" He hoped it was one he knew. The fairy tales in his world were different from the ones here and he'd only learned about a few through Disney movies.

"Rapunzel!" The controller in his hand snapped in two like a twig. Yep, he knew that one alright. He quickly hid the broken controller before anyone noticed.

"That…that's a bad one alright." Fortunately everyone's attention was on Marc so no one noticed.

"I need to keep the core elements of the story so it's recognizable but all I have is a girl with long hair trapped in a tower. Why was the witch even keeping her she didn't even seem all that attached to her?" Varian let out a laugh he hoped was covering his building rage.

"I know I mean she wasn't even magical." Marc paused for a second.

"You know if she had some kind of magic it would make more sense." he shook his head. "But she was just a peasant's daughter, nothing special."

"Yeah this one wasn't even a princess." Varian blurted out without thinking. Marc's eyes got wide again.

"If she was that could be a reason the witch had to keep her hidden." Varian could see the gears in his head turning and tried to backpedal. This was getting a little too close to the real one.

"But why would a royal family need to steal rapion, they were rich and surely the witch couldn't be the only one who grew it." His plan backfired.

"You know, it was kind of implied that the rapion helped the peasant woman get pregnant. What if the plant was magic too?" Uh oh. "What if the Queen was sick and this plant was the only thing that could help her?" Please stop. "And she passed that magic on to her daughter and that's why she kidnapped her and kept her locked up!" Marc was so excited he didn't notice Varian was shaking with rage but some one did.

"That's it! I have a new story now!"

A dark butterfly silently flew into the room and landed on the broken controller.

"Scary Tale, you-wait Varian?" The boy quickly turned around so no one would notice the Akuma mark on his face. "You don't have Ladybug's charm on you?"

"No." he whispered as quietly as he could. "It's in my lab where I'm still running tests. You seriously have to Akumatize someone now?!" Shadow Moth grumbled something under his breath.

"Think up a better plan than some rando before your son notices and wonders why I don't have my charm."

"Fine." he conceited. "What is it with you and fairy tales anyway?"

"I'll tell you later now GO!"

"Everything alright Varian?" Ivan asked as Adrien came back with the snacks. "I thought I saw an Akuma near you." Varian gulped and had to think up an excuse real quick.

"I'm fine. I think it was…" he eyed Marc's bag which was full of crumpled up paper. "One of Marc's discarded ideas." The boy in question saw several pieces of paper on the floor that fell out of his backpack and quickly picked them up embarrassed by the mess. Ivan seemed satisfied but kept glancing in Varian's direction.

Everyone helped themselves to snacks except Marc who was writing furiously in his notebook.

"Can't talk have to get this down." So much so Varian could swear he saw actual smoke coming from his pen. Adrien nudged him and pointed to the writer now back in the zone.

"You know that's you when you get a crazy idea in your head."

"It is not." he said indigently but also with a hint of concern.

"It so is." Nathaniel peaked over after making sure his boyfriend wasn't actually setting things on fire with his pen…again.

"Does he get so absorbed that he wouldn't notice if a giant monster punched a hole in the wall?"

"I do not-"

"He totally does." Adrien confirmed.

"Then yep!" Nathaniel exclaimed while Marc didn't seem to hear a word they said. "I'll shake him out of it before dinner. Best to just let this ride out." Varian sighed. Hopefully this new adaptation won't be too close to home.

Shortly after that Nino got a hold of the music (remember to keep it down) and they had an impromptu dance party. No one was really very good but that only seemed to make it more enjoyable. They soon started competing for the worst dancer over the best. Before the competition was over however Marc jumped in the air holding up a slightly smoky notebook and exclaimed, "I did it!" Only it was right in the middle of Ivan's turn. He crashed right into him and they both toppled over onto the pile of backpacks near the door.

"And I do believe we have a winner folks!" Nino exclaimed. "Marc takes the crown!" Ivan, who had landed on Marc quickly got off while the others helped him up.

"Hu, winner of what?" No one was hurt, just a little embarrassed, Adrien leaned over and nudged Varian again but he was being stubborn.

"I am so not like that when I'm in the zone."

"V, you're exactly like that." Varian huffed as Marc rummaged through the scattered bag before finding his coveted notebook.

"Sorry Adrien, I know I've been a terrible guest but I just had to get this down." Adrien wasn't really mad he was just happy he got to spend some time with his friends.

"You want to run it by us before you turn it in." Marc beamed while Varian took a drink to hide his scowl.

"Really, that's great but I've already taken up too much time with this so I'll just give you the summary.

"There once was an old witch who kept a garden full of magical plants. Her prized cabbage blossom was by far her favorite. It could reverse time and she used it to keep herself young and beautiful.

One day the Queen of this land had an accident and she would soon parish. So the king sent his best knight to retrieve the blossom of legend. The witch gave him the flower to save the queen but asked it to be returned when the deed was done.

The flower worked and the queen was saved but the King went back on his word and kept the blossom for his own. He hid it away so no one else would be able to use its power but him.

The witch warned him she was still owed for her services and would one day be back to collect her payment. And not long after the queen gave birth to a beautiful baby girl with long golden hair. But before she could be christened the child was stolen away as payment for services rendered.

Without her precious blossom the witch was forced to use the child to keep herself younger for the power of the cabbage blossom was passed from the queen to her and now resided in her hair. Where it would grow unless the hair was ever cut.

Years passed with no sign of the missing princess for the witch had hidden her away in a tall tower deep in the forest when no man dared tread. The witch stayed young even as the princess grew into a young lady. But the princess wouldn't stay young for long so the witch planned to put her into an eternal sleep so she could use her power and stay young forever. When the princess overheard the plan she used her hair to climb down the tower and ran away."

He took a breath. "Sorry I was just supposed to give you a summary and I got carried away.

"She met a thief who recognized her as the missing princess and was going to turn her in for the reward. But on their journey he realized he was falling in love with her. After a few action scenes and a misunderstanding the witch tries to kill the thief but the Princess cuts off her hair destroying the magic that kept the witch young and she rapidly grew old and turned to dust.

When she was reunited with her parents they recognized the thief as the long lost prince of a neighboring kingdom. They got married a few years later and everyone lived happily ever after. The end."

Varian had shoved so much food into his mouth he almost choked. How could this have happened? How could correcting a few tiny details about a fairy tale give his arch enemy's story life? How did he guess so much of that correctly? Sure a few details were off like Eugene being a lost prince but it was still pretty close.

"Varian you OK?" Adrien asked and he realized he was now biting into his glove.

"Ah…yeah. It's fine, the story was just…fine." Marc closed his notebook and looked at the other boy concerned.

"Are you sure? It's ok if you don't like it, you know. Or is it something else?" All eyes were on him now and as much as he was trying to hide it he really needed to let this out.

"It's not your story per se, it's just…I hate Rapunzel!" Everyone looked at him confused so he tried to clarify. "Not the fairy tale, the person…I mean…AHH!" he rubbed his face trying to calm his nerves.

"I mentioned before that I had a friend who promised to be there for me but when I needed her the most she abandoned me. Well, she was a girl with really long blond hair and everyone called her…Rapunzel." They all called her that because it was her name so it wasn't a lie. "Sorry but back home everyone treated her like she was a princess but no one ever talks about the fact that she has a problem with boundaries, makes promises she can't keep or that she's dripping with toxic positivity." He covered his face in his hand pressing on his eyes to keep the tears at bay.

"Sorry I ruined your story Marc." But Marc quickly shook his head.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I got so caught up in making this stupid story that I didn't notice it was bothering you." He put the book back in his bag. "I can finish the details later." Varian shrugged trying to play cool.

"It's OK, you didn't know that was a…trigger for me. I mean who gets triggered by a fairy tale?" Ivan came up and sat down next to him.

"We can't always control what sets us off. The important thing is to find a healthy way to deal with it." Adrien nodded.

"That's something my therapist said as well." Iven turned to him.

"Oh, you're seeing one too?"

"Yeah after the…incident. I needed someone to talk to and it's been helping."

"I was going for my anger management." Varian ducked out of the room saying he needed to use the restroom. He was really trying to avoid the subject of the therapist. Part of him though it may be beneficial to him but realistically it wouldn't work. His backstory was full of enough holes as it is and he certainly couldn't tell them the truth. He'd just be locked up in a different prison.

When he came back he found the other sorting out the mess of bags and belongings that were scattered when Ivan and Marc collided. He silently grabbed his back and did a quick inventory of its contents. Everything was there except for one of his notebooks.

"Hey, whose book is this?" Nino asked and sure enough there it was.

"Oh that's mine." It was open to the page of notes he made on Gabriel's air purifier. I was actually designed not to work to help trigger an Akuma but Varian saw potential there as well. Nathaniel was looking for his pencil case when he spotted the book in Nino's hands.

"Are those your drawings Varian?" He asked, drawing the other's in again.

"Y-yeah, it's mostly technical sketches. Ideas for potential projects and stuff." Ivan recognized the air purifier as well.

"Are those plans for those wistful air purifiers?" Adrien cringed at the thought of his father roping him into a potential environmental disaster.

"Gabriel let me look at the original designs and I've been trying to improve them." Nino took another look at the page with notes and details.

"So…your plan is…to use trees? How does that work again?" Varian explained how his idea was to make a machine to amplify the trees natural air cleansing properties. He was still working out the details, mainly how to make them small enough that they wouldn't have to remove trees just to install them. That would be stupid but he felt the need to address it because people can be stupid sometimes.

"This is brilliant Varian!" Ivan exclaimed as he handed the book back to Varian. "This is something that could actual help with the pollution problem." He blushed, not expecting the compliment.

"Oh, well it's still just ideas at this point it'll be a while before I could even build a prototype and it'll need a lot of testing."

"It's better than half the cheap quick solutions that keep popping up. The environment took ages to get this bad. An overnight fix is just putting a bandaid on it. What we need are people thinking outside the box like you. Take your time with it and I sincerely hope it works."

The others were all in agreement but Varian didn't know what to say. When he came to this new world it almost seemed like there was nothing new to invent. All of his ideas had already been created and even improved upon. This was just him goofing around when he saw the design while studying up on Shadow Moth's past battles. He hadn't really planned to make this in real life at first but he realized this was a solution to a modern problem one he could potentially help with. But it also made him feel guilty for not using that time to find a way to free his Dad.

Kagami had told him he needed to start thinking about his future but he still wasn't sure if the path he was on was the right one. Lately he was wondering if he would one day have to choose between saving his Father or making him proud. He was starting to doubt he could do both.

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The day of fun was quickly coming to an end as everyone was seated at the dinner table where the chiefs made homemade pizza. Adrien knew his father would most likely have him go back to his healthier diet after today so he made sure to enjoy every cheesy bite.

While everyone was digging in, Nino noticed Varian was being weird and using a knife and fork to cut up his slices.

"Is that the German way to eat pizza or something?" He said as a joke but Varian froze.

"Ah…no, I just don't want my glove to get all greasy." He was hoping he let the subject drop but today just wasn't his day.

"So just take them off." Adrien stepped in.

"Nino it's fine just let it go." Varian had confided in him when they had their sleepover why he kept them on at all times. He hoped this wouldn't trigger him again. But to his surprise Varian addressed the table.

"It's alright Adrien. I'm…getting a little tired of hiding everything. And while I won't go into detail about it, the reason I wear gloves is to hide some…ugly scars." Everyone at the table paused and Varian feared they were misunderstanding what he meant.

"For the record they're not from me doing anything…foolish. But they are pretty bad and I'm honestly not ready for anyone to see them right now." He pushed his food away and stood up from the table.

"Thank you all for coming to support Adrien. I'd see you off but…this has been a bit much for me." He left for his room leaving the group in a stunned silence.

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He normally would have gone to his lab to work but he was just too emotionally drained. This was not the fun day he had planned for Adrien. How did he become the focus?

About an hour later there was a knock at the door. He was tempted to tell them to go away but he suspected it was Adrien coming to check up on him. He was right.

"Are you doing OK Varian?" Varian laughed as he sat up on his bed.

"I'm supposed to be asking you that. This whole thing was supposed to help you ease back into school. Sorry I took center stage with all my drama."

"Don't say that." he sat down beside the other boy. "Did it help at least? Getting a few things off your chest?" Varian thought for a moment and realized while it was terrifying at the time it was a few less things he had to keep in and he felt a little lighter because of it.

"In a weird way I do. I'm also nervous all over again now that some…unpleasant things about me are now out in the open." He had left dinner in a hurry but the next time someone looked at his hands…

"While I still think it would be good for you to see a therapist I'm not going to pressure you into it. Today made me realize that while there are still many things about you I don't know it's up to you to tell people when you're ready to tell them."

"Thanks for that."

"Also you'll be happy to hear I've decided to go back to school."

"Really? That's great!"

"I'm still a little nervous but I really want to try."

"Then it was all worth it." Adrien embraced Varian in a warm hug.

"Thanks for helping to set this up." He got up and headed for the door. "You're a good friend." Varian smiled back until the door closed and he was alone with only Ruddiger curled up in his pocket. He wished he could believe that.

To be continued…

Next time: Varian joins Adrien and his class on a trip to the Museum. He was hoping to find some information on the Miraculous but finds something more ... sinister.