Chapter Text
Adrien straightened the tie, staring at his dull reflection. His father was hosting a fashion show and had asked him to be there. Well, more like demanded instead of asked. He didn't have as much of a choice as he wanted, despite being an adult and not having to listen to his father but he was still living in his house until Adrien got his own.
He fingered the ring on the necklace around his neck. A gift from when Y/n had stayed the night once. He had mentioned how Adrien looked a little bare without any sort of jewelry-- even though his father forbade him from wearing any to keep the public from assuming he was gay or anything --and took his ring off his middle finger, looped it through a bare chain he was wearing, and hooked it around Adrien's neck. Y/n looked so pleased with it that Adrien refused to take it off. Not even to shower, not even while he was Chat Noir; it remained hidden under his shirt and suit as a reminder that Y/n gave it to him and will come back someday. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday.
The blonde sighed and tucked the necklace under his shirt and reached for the vest lying over the chair.
"You've got that look again."
Adrien glanced at Plagg from the corner of his eye, shrugging. "What type of look?"
Plagg flew over and sat on top of Adrien's hair. "The one where you're thinking about him."
"I'm not thinking about him."
The small snort that came from the Kwami caused Adrien to pout. "You were fingering the ring and staring at the mirror for like, seven minutes and you want to tell me you weren't thinking about him?" Plagg laughed as he fell onto his back, almost rolling off of Adrien's head. "Please tell me you're joking!"
Done with the conversation, Adrien plucked Plagg off his head. "I wasn't. Now drop it."
"Touchy, touchy," Plagg teased practically dead weight between Adrien's two fingers.
Adrien tossed Plagg on the bed and finished getting ready, fixing up his hair and the cuffs on his shirt, tugging the vest down. He checked his phone for any messages, staring at the lock screen wallpaper.
It was a selfie Marinette and Alya begged to take. Marinette held the phone with Alya and Nino behind her hugging each other and rubbing noses. Adrien was behind them, having picked Y/n up by his thighs and held him up to be seen by the camera, both their faces flushed bright red, Y/n staring at Adrien in embarrassment and Adrien smiling innocently at the smaller boy. After a few pictures were taken, Y/n hopped down and smacked his arms and chest multiple times, playfully. Adrien had been laughing the whole time, the hits not hurting him at all.
The screen went black and Adrien sighed, turning his phone back on to check the time. He had about a good half hour before he had to be there.
Best to probably get there early before his father killed him for being late.
~
If Adrien were to consider the show great at all, he'd have to consider homicide to be a good thing. Multiple different costumes weren't exactly... good. Their design was great but they just needed a bit more tweaking to actually look like they were made by Paris' #1 Designer. Most of the models seemed extremely uncomfortable wearing them and two almost tripped on their clothes and the high-heeled shoes. Adrien honestly felt bad for them.
Gabriel, with hands clasped behind his back while standing as straight as possible, stalked over to the younger. "Adrien, I would like your honest opinion on the show."
Fuck, he couldn't tell him what he thought. He didn't want to hurt his father in any way. Taking a deep breath, he conjured up a fake smile and replied, "It was an amazing father. The dresses were all beautiful." Besides the one made from plants, as well as a few others. He kept the comment to himself and continued to smile at Gabriel.
It seemed to satisfy Gabriel as he just nodded and walked away. Adrien let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, watching as the 6'5" man walked away. Compared to his 6'2" height, Gabriel still towered over him. It was kinda terrifying. Especially with how cold he was towards everyone.
Adrien sighed and turned to leave the building, avoiding everyone's eyes, especially those of Nathalia and Gorilla. He didn't need anyone following him at all, he could protect himself. He was Chat Noir after all.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, eyes remaining on the pavement as he strolled along without a set destination. He could wander Paris all day if he truly wished; his schedule was free for the rest of the day. Adrien made sure of that. There wasn't anything better to do at home and he needed a day off from work. Maybe a whole week. He should schedule for the whole month off.
Stopping in his tracks as his phone dinged in his pocket, he stepped closer to the buildings and out of people's way. Adrien practically dropped his phone reading the message from Alya.
Four-Eyed Beauty
We found Y/n and he's here in Paris. Right now
Nino, Marinette, and I are all on our way there and
we sent out a guy named Elijia, a friend of Y/n's from
what we know, to go and find you. He just said he's
somewhere around {a random address cause
author is lazy}. See you soon if you're able to meet
up with us.
Sent 20 Seconds Ago
Read Now
Adrien almost dropped his phone, rereading the message over and over, expecting it to be some sort of prank and for Alya to reply with a 'jk' or laughing emoji and just say it was a joke. He almost wanted her to send that. To just be messing with him.
Plagg barely poked his head out of Adrien's jacket pocket and, in a hushed whisper, said, "Heads up, 9 o'clock, straight towards you." He ducked back down when Adrien looked up where Plagg pointed out.
A dark skinned male, probably about 5'7, 5'8, in a tanned jacket, white shirt, and grease, bleach, and paint covered jeans, jogged towards him, waving and smiling brightly like he just saw the sun after months of rain. "Hey, Adrien right? Agreste?"
He slowed to a stop when he was a few few away, holding out a dirt and grease covered hand to shake. Adrien gave his hand a look before ignroing it and shaking his hand. "That's me."
The boy sighed a breathy laugh and dropped Adrien's hand. "Ph, thank god. I accidentally mixed you up with some other blonde guys and couldn't exactly remember what you looked like from the picture Alya showed me."
Adrien eyed the billboard with his face on it. "Uh-huh."
"I'm Elijia! I'm sure Alya texted you, I hope?" He beamed like he was visiting an old friend.
"Yeah, she said you guys knew where Y/n is?"
Elijia smiled brightly, showing off the gap in his teeth. "Yeah! He's back at my place. It's back this way." Instead of just pointing with his right hand, he turned half his body to point with his left hand back the way he ran up from.
"Let's go then." Adrien forced a smile and started to follow Elijia, remaining far enough behind to avoid conversation. Luckily, Elijia didn't try to make conversation and just led the way silently.
The walk wasn't that far from where he was. Elijia lived in a small neighborhood, his house a two story with an open garage. A raised car and multiple random car parts were strewn around in there as well as a bunch of tools. Elijia mentioned for Adrien to head inside through the garage, saying something about fixing something up first before heading in.
Adrien sighed and headed inside, thanking Elijia and stepped inside, closing the door slowly. The first floor, from what he could see, was nice. A bit messy with papers, books, games, and some cups here and there. Obviously not planned for people to come over. The blonde didn't mind it much, taking his shoes off by the door.
"Hey, Elijia, do you know where I put my-"
Glancing up at the voice, Adrien's eyes met with large blue ones that widened in... fear? Surprise? Adrien didn't know but Y/n was standing right there in the hallway wearing unbuttoned jeans that hung low on his hips showing off red boxers and without a shirt. He was a bit taller than he was when Adrien had last seen him and filled out a bit. Adrien could no longer see his ribs clearly and his face was more round. He wasn't fit, not at all, but he wasn't fat either. A bit chubby but it was barely there. If Adrien had to guess on how much he weighed it would probably be around 120 pounds, maybe 130. Compared to the 100 or less pounds he used to weigh, it was an amazing glow up. Both stared and neither said anything for a good minute or so, and Adrien took advantage of the time scanning over the person he had lost years ago and cared for.
He took a step forward, Y/n's name just sitting on the tip of his tongue as he opened his mouth to try and say it. The black haired male turned and bolted back up the steps, almost tripping halfway up, then disappeared from sight. Adrien didn't take it personally and sighed nodding to himself as he went to go sit down at the island table. He forced himself to think nothing of it and pulled his phone out, checking the few messages he got from Marinette, Alya, and Nino, replying to them all and setting his phone back down.
Adrien was no longer comfortable being anywhere near the house, much less in the house. Albeit he was tempted to leave, he rooted himself to the chair for his friends. He was gonna wait for them even if it meant being uncomfortable for awhile. Maybe he'll stay for a bit then make up an excuse to leave. He didn't want to ruin anyone else's day just because he was upset about something he couldn't control.
He was pissed about it, though. Someone that he had both given his virginity to and his friendship, someone he fell in love with after Ladybug, someone he cared for, just disappeared and reappeared with an old friend of theirs, still in Paris. He had turned the city upside down searching for the boy and here he was, in plain sight.
The blonde sighed as he glanced at the clock on the microwave. 4:19, meaning Marinette and them should be out of school and on their way. If anything, he could fake a text from his dad within an hour or so and run off.
The door to the garage slammed shut and Elijah sighed happily, wiping his forehead. “Well, got that out of the way. Where’s Y/n? He’s home.”
Adrien shrugged. “Came down looking for you and something and ran back upstairs. Haven’t seen him since.”
Elijah groaned and rolled his head back. “Dammit, shy kid. I’ll be right back. By the way, your friends should be here in a few minutes.”
Adrien thanked him and the boy ran up the stairs, shouting for Y/n. Adrien rolled his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek.
”Jeez, he’s... grown,” Plagg muttered from his spot within Adrien’s breast pocket. The boy nodded in agreement and rubbed his temples. He honestly didn’t want to deal with this.
He tried to swallow his anger and annoyance when the doorbell rang and three voices began whispering outside. Elijah practically threw himself down the stairs as he ran to the door, sliding a bit when he opened it a bit too quickly. Adrien stood from his seat, took a breath and forced a smile, squeezing Nino in a hug when the other boy walked over with arms stretched out wide. The hug didn't last long, about as long as their hug normally would. Too long would seem weird and too short would make it seem like something's wrong.
Marinette kissed both his cheeks (as he reciprocated) and laughed. "So how was the show?"
"As boring as any other one," he replied with a playful smile.
Elijah welcomed them all and called back up the stairs for Y/n to come down. It took a few seconds for another voice to respond, shouting back, "I'm good up here!" The Latino sighed and hopped back up the stairs.
Adrien swallowed, forcing down his sadness and annoyance, and laughed with his friends, talking to them about their own day and what they've done. Marinette accidentally broke someone's canvas at school while tripping over her own feet so now she was helping them recreate what she accidentally destroyed and getting a low grade. Marinette was understanding about it and didn't mind getting a low grade with them. Alya had the day off so she had been running around town for what reason Adrien already forgot and Nino had been DJing for a birthday party for the past few hours.
"Hey, you okay?" Marinette leaned over towards Adrien as Alya and Nino started arguing (playfully) about something Adrien wasn't paying attention to.
He blinked, squeezing his eyes a few times as he tried to regain his vision which had gone blurry from staring at one place for awhile. "Yeah, yeah, sorry. Just really tired."
"¡Vamos, no quiero bajar ahí!"
"¡Son tus amigos! Han esperado años para volver a verte."
"No me importa, no quiero volver a verlo."
Adrien tried to ignore the conversation upstairs, catching a few phrases . He had learned a bit of Spanish when he found out it was one of Y/n's first languages.
Something about 'friends' and 'they waited a year to see you' from Elijah. Y/n's response was something along the lines of 'don't care' and 'don't want to see him again.' "See him again". Did he mean Adrien? The only other person would be Nino if they were talking about friends and Adrien was the only one that had any sort of relations with Y/n.
Closing his eyes, Adrien stood from where they had all sat on the ground and apologized to everyone, leaving the house as fast as he could without looking back. He didn't need to see Y/n again. He didn't need the heartbreak to resurface.
Although, as much as he wished it didn't, it had resurfaced. Just 20 times worse.
Hot tears started flowing down his cheeks as he walked down the street. He had to turn off his phone, his friends calls and texts blowing up and bothering him.
He just wanted to be alone right now.