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Disclaimer:
I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or any associated content/property.
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Talking to Nathalie
Five Times Adrien Asked Nathalie for Romantic Advice and One Time He Didn’t
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1: Impressions
“Nathalie? Can I ask you something?”
Nathalie didn’t bother looking up from her tablet as the car pulled to a stop in front of the school. “You can’t skip your second day of school, Adrien. Especially since you fought so hard to attend.”
Not to mention the deal she’d been forced to strike in order to convince his father to allow it. When she’d agreed to act as an assistant to a fashion mogul-turned-supervillain, being vilified herself at some indeterminate point in the distant future had not been part of the plan. But Adrien wanted to go to school, and Gabriel would have probably akumatized her at some point anyway, so if her consent to the latter enabled the former it was no significant burden.
The boy was lonely. She remembered what that felt like.
“That’s not it. Believe me, I want to go to school. But…uh…how do you get people to like you?”
“People?”
“Yeah. People. Not any one person in particular. Just people generally.”
“I usually find social interactions are easier to manage when I first identify a need someone has and then seek to fill it. When you make yourself indispensable, others make an effort to accommodate you.” Nathalie answered casually, immersed in her device.
“But I don’t want her to accommodate me, I want her to like m—I mean, people. I want people to like me. People generally speaking.”
“People like you, Adrien.” Nathalie sighed. “Class is about to begin. You should go inside.”
“But—”
“If you’re really that worried about whether or not this girl likes you—”
“She’s not a girl! It’s people! Plural and non-specific!”
“—it wouldn’t hurt to demonstrate your assets.”
“What? You mean like money? I don’t think that would work…”
“No, I most certainly do not mean for you to flaunt your wealth. Your other assets, Adrien.”
Nathalie was referring to his kindness, his intelligence, his playful spirit.
“You mean like my muscles?” A bright grin spread over Adrien’s face. “Yeah! That could work! Thanks Nathalie!”
He jumped out of the car and ran into the school before she could correct him.
Nathalie shrugged and dismissed the conversation to the recesses of her memory, focusing on the next item on her schedule.
2: Confessions
“Nathalie?”
“Yes, Adrien?” Nathalie replied without looking up from her watercress salad. It was Sunday afternoon and they were sharing lunch together on opposite ends of the long, narrow dining table.
“How soon is too soon to tell someone you love them?”
Nathalie carefully rested her fork on top of her napkin and looked up at him.
“If you are dating someone, they will have to sign a non-disclosure form and pass a background check conducted by—”
“I’m not dating anyone.” Adrien interrupted, a blush rising in his cheeks. “I mean generally speaking.”
Nathalie arched an eyebrow. “Generally speaking, if you’re not even dating yet it is probably too soon to say I love you.”
“Okay, but what if…it’s complicated?”
“Life is always complicated, Adrien.”
“But what if—”
“How well do you know this person? Do you know if you can fit into each other’s lives? If you even want to? Do you know where they come from? What kind of relationships, what kind of places, what kind of events shaped this person you claim to love? Do you know what kind of future they want? These are all questions you ought to know the answer to before it is prudent to take that step.”
“So…you think it’s a bad idea?”
Nathalie shrugged. “Valentine’s Day is coming up. You could probably get away with it then, but at any other time your unidentified individual will most likely be perturbed by such a declaration—especially if it is not supported by a well-developed personal connection.”
“So…” His eyes sparkled. “You’re saying I should confess on Valentine’s Day?”
“No, that isn’t what I—”
“Thanks Nathalie! You’re the best!” Adrien leapt up from the table and dashed towards the door.
Nathalie shrugged and finished her salad.
3: Presumptions
“—Chat Noir and Ladybug are not a couple. Well, not yet, at least.”
Adrien happened to be walking by as Nathalie caught up on the news.
The Prime Queen episode had been…interesting. Professionally speaking.
“Hey!” The boy’s eyes flashed with excitement when he realized what she was watching. “That’s my friend Alya!”
Nathalie nodded with cool disinterest. She already knew that. She kept extensive records on all of Adrien’s social contacts. Alya’s file was especially detailed, since she also ran the Ladyblog and, Nathalie was almost certain, was in direct contact with the spotted superhero.
“So what do you think?” Adrien asked breezily. “Are Chat Noir and Ladybug wildly in love, or what?”
“I doubt they know each other well enough to be in love.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard your thoughts on the subject. You just don’t understand romance, Nathalie.” Adrien shook his head, smiling. “Didn’t you watch the interview last night?”
Nathalie nodded again.
“It sure seemed to me like there was something going on.” He sounded smug, as if he knew something she didn’t. “Especially when she flicked his bell. And later, during the battle, she even said herself that they were in love.”
“That was a trick to fool Prime Queen.” Nathalie shrugged. “It was not an indication of any deeper regard. All I saw last night on her part was discomfort.”
Adrien was quiet for a moment. “And what about him?”
“I thought Chat Noir’s behavior was highly inappropriate.”
Whatever he was hoping she would say, that clearly was not it. His brow furrowed as he frowned and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“What are you talking about?”
“I am referring to his attitude and language during the interview. The overly familiar designations. The physical contact. The suggestive phraseology. She needed to appear competent and responsible during that televised appearance, not an insignificant thing for a young woman in the public eye. He made that task much more difficult than it needed to be. Chat Noir’s decorum was exceedingly unprofessional, particularly in light of Ladybug’s repeated discouragement.”
“Unprofessional?!” Adrien knew how grave an insult that word was, coming from Nathalie. Even still, he seemed to be taking this more personally than she would have expected.
“That’s what I said.”
“Wha—buh—but he always acts like that!”
Nathalie gave Adrien a long hard stare.
“Does he always ignore her when she tells him to stop?”
Adrien looked stunned and ashamed. She didn’t understand why.
He was silent for a long time, and then she heard him whisper:
“What should he do?”
Nathalie arched a sardonic eyebrow. “It’s not my place to advise Chat Noir on his socialization.”
“You give me advice all the time.”
“All of which you either ignore or misinterpret. And you are not Chat Noir.”
“Pretend that I was.” Nathalie was taken aback at the urgency in Adrien’s voice. “Theoretically, hypothetically, if I was Chat Noir…what would you tell me to do?”
Nathalie thought about her answer before she spoke.
“I would tell you to have an honest conversation with your unidentified individual, because the two of you are clearly not on the same page.”
4: Communications
“Nathalie?”
“Yes, Adrien?”
“How do you get to know someone better?”
“By spending time with them.”
“Okay, let me rephrase that. How do I get to know someone better, seeing as how I don’t exactly have much time to spend?”
Nathalie sighed and wished the traffic jam would lighten up so that they could get home and she could focus on her work instead of Adrien’s constant drama with his unidentified individual. The akuma attack had put them all behind schedule, and Nathalie suspected her boss would be in a foul mood when she returned. Gigantitan had not been what they discussed at the meeting that morning.
At least Adrien was finally taking her advice and trying to get to know the girl instead of trying to sweep her off her feet.
“When a relationship is important, you find ways to make time.” She told him.
His face scrunched up, clearly unsatisfied with her answer.
“But how?”
“That depends entirely on you. As the source of the obstacle, it is incumbent upon those of us with tight schedules, such as you and I, to find ways to include important people in our daily lives. The opportunity will present itself if you are patient and conscientious.”
“Okay, but what if—and this is purely hypothetical—what if I see an opportunity but then the other person says they can’t because, for example, they have a coleslaw?”
Nathalie made a mental note to review the definition of ‘hypothetical’ during Adrien’s next after-school tutoring session. Then she noticed Adrien’s cell phone lying on the seat between them. She picked it up and handed it to him.
“If someone is important, you keep trying and you utilize the tools that are available to you.”
Nathalie wondered if she should give him Miss Dupain-Cheng’s number as well, since she wasn’t sure if he already had it or not, but she decided against it as it might encourage him to bother her with his love life even more than he already did.
5: Expectations
“Nathalie? I was wondering…”
“Is this a question about your history homework?”
“Er…not exactly…”
Nathalie sighed and put down her study book. She leaned back in her seat and crossed her hands in her lap, resigned to her fate.
“Um…” Adrien’s face turned pink as he struggled to form words. Nathalie felt a spark of interest. He was constantly badgering her with this stuff, and she’d never seen him act this shy about it before. “Have you…have you ever had…feelings…for two people? At the same time?”
“Not I. But it is a common occurrence amongst the general public.”
“Oh…um…what…what should I do?”
“Why should you do anything?”
“Huh?” Adrien appeared genuinely startled, as if this idea had not previously occurred to him.
Nathalie rolled her eyes. “You are young, you are in love, you are confused. That seems like more than enough to keep you busy for awhile. You don’t have to do anything.”
“So you don’t think…I’m betraying anyone or something?”
“Of course not. A person who only falls in love once is a person with limited imagination. Your sentiments are what they are, and there is no point in fighting them.” Nathalie frowned. “Do you feel as if you are betraying someone?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know. A little.”
“Why?”
“Because…I don’t know. I guess I always thought one thing was going to happen, but now I’m kind of hoping this other thing happens, but what would that mean to the first thing? And I don’t want to do the second thing if I’m just biding time until the first thing and so I’m…”
“Confused?”
“Yeah.”
Nathalie nodded with understanding. “You are confused by your own expectations. The solution is simple.”
“It is?” He asked hopefully.
“Of course. Disregard your expectations. They are holding you back from participating in the experience you are currently having. Communicate with your people and make time for them, and whatever happens, happens. You cannot predict the future, Adrien.”
“…okay. Thanks, Nathalie.”
“You’re welcome, Adrien.”
+1: Affections
Nathalie watched through the car window as Adrien bid farewell to his friends at the end of the school day. His friend Alya was teasing him about something while his other friend Nino chuckled good-naturedly. Adrien was blushing but he did not seem upset. In fact, he was smiling and laughing along. Then Marinette came out the front doors and both Alya and Nino dissolved into unbridled cackling as Adrien’s rosy blush flared strawberry. Marinette appeared momentarily taken aback by this reaction and tripped over the bottom step. Adrien caught her before she could hit the ground, which made their friends laugh even harder. Alya said something to Marinette that made her jump and squawk, covering her face with her hands. Adrien’s strawberry blush deepened to a dark cherry with embarrassment, but his happy smile returned with extra brilliance when he glanced at Marinette.
Nathalie watched as Adrien lingered over his goodbyes before walking to the car. He got in and clipped his seatbelt with a dreamy grin that he didn’t seem to realize he was wearing. No one said a word until the vehicle was well underway.
“Nathalie?”
“Yes Adrien?”
“I’m going to tell Marinette I love her. I just wanted to let you know.”
“Thanks for finally telling me, Adrien.”