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Light pierced through as Adrien groggily opened his eyes. God his head hurt. The world felt as though it was spinning. A swaying distorted dark blob was obstructing most of the light making it appear as though large specks of light were moving frantically from side to side. There was a quiet hustle to the world around him slowly coming to life as his head became clearer. It carried with it a light breeze that replaced the strange static sensation spreading throughout his body. And what had previously been muffled noises twisted into coherent words.
"Oi. You ok?" Someone said, as they waved their hand in front of Adrien's face.
Could've been a bit nicer, no? The person couldn't have stood much taller than Adrien did, they were young, blond, a teenager. "Felix?"
"Who?"
No Felix had a neater appearance than whoever was hovering above Adrien right now. This kid looked beat up, rough. His hair was fluffy and untamed, sticking out in all different places. It reminded Adrien of his own hair when he was Chat Noir. With nothing but a clip holding his fringe out of his face. Now that his eyes have adjusted and he can see better, he can see that this kid isn't blond at all. Matter of fact his hair is closer to a mousy brown than it is blond. He's older too, at least looks it. The very clear dark circles probably didn't help that, but his jaw was outlined by a thin stubble.
His clothes were roughed up too. His shirt sat over his trousers, it looked as if it had been tugged out of place, and was buttoned up sloppily due to missing the top two buttons. He had a satchel thrown over his right shoulder, probably his school bag. All in all, taking in his appearance, Adrien came to one conclusion: this kid was not having life right at this moment.
"God." Adrien pushed himself up into a sitting position, taking his head in his hands. "What happened?"
"You tell me." Adrien heard the boy's knees click as he crouched down to keep eye level with him. "I was just minding my business when. BAM! I turned around and you'd been pummelled into the wall out of nowhere."
Adrien found it peculiar how his hands seemed to follow his words when he spoke. Emphasising the way he'd watched Adrien ferociously get thrown into the wall. Wincing too as his hands collided together to imitate Adrien's less than graceful collision, his eyes bore both a concerned uncertainty and wavering level of admiration for how he'd come out of it so unscathed.
"I was,, fighting, when I- Wait where am I?" He promptly put up his guard upon realising he was nowhere near the fight and had just detransformed in the open. With the kid this close who else had spotted him detransform. He sat forward on his knees to look for any nearby bystanders but there was no one, unbelievably the street was empty and quiet. Even in his peripheral vision, as he tried to stumble on to his feet to turn, he saw no one.
"You're not going anywhere." A firm hand was now gripping his arm, holding him back from getting up entirely. "You don't even know where you are apparently."
Adrien scoffed, the stern tone and strong grip reminded him of his father. Adrien felt a strange discomfort knot in his stomach, he couldn't place his finger as to why but this situation just seemed strange. Though the kid was right in this moment Adrien didn't know where he was, he couldn't get himself to recognise the street at all. But surely he wasn't catapulted that far out from the fight. He'd hit the wall with some force though it wouldn't be impossible for his co-ordination to be a bit whack. "Well. Genius. If you know so much, why don't you take me back to the akuma attack."
There was a short pause. The boy stayed studying Adrien's features. His mouth fell open slightly before his lips pursed shut again. It looked as if he'd wanted to say something but couldn't get the right words out. He furrowed his brows and sighed. Keeping an uncomfortable amount of eye contact the whole time. His eyes wavered slightly as his growing concern became apparent.
"Not so smar-"
"—How hard did you hit your head? The hell is an akuma?"
What? Oh that's the last thing Adrien had wanted to hear. Without even realising it, that one small sentence just crushed Adrien's whole spirit. A chill ran down his spine and the strange feeling of discomfort that had previously woven in his stomach now clawed at and climbed up his throat twisting into pure dread for whatever situation lay ahead of him until he was found. If he was found. No. He would be found. This would all be over the moment his Lady reversed it all. How long would that be though? If he closed his eyes and waited for a few minutes would it all go back to normal? He'd feel that faint buzz he does every time Ladybug brings him back. The pink magic would flash in his eyes and scoop him up and take him back home. That's all it would take. Just a few more minutes.
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But minutes passed and nothing happened. He'd sat there so still he'd completely forgotten about the person that had been stopping him from moving. That is, until they moved again, this time away from him. The thump of the boy's shoes against the pavement as he got up and started to walk away.
"You're a strange kid. I'd stick around but I'm expected back home."
"Wait." Adrien raised his head. It was still pounding against his skull but less severe now. He could walk, if it meant not being left alone here he could do it. He used the adrenaline pumping through his system to jump up on his feet and disregard any pain he may be in. "Can I– Can I come with you please. I don't know where I'm going."
Another long pause. God if this kid could stop studying him for just a couple seconds that would be appreciated. Adrien would usually be able to handle scrutiny. It came with the territory of being a model. But this kid bore so many similarities to his father that it just made him feel uncomfortable.
"Fine but only if you can keep up, I'm not going to be slowed down by some–" His eyes darted to Adrien's outfit before shooting back up to meet his eyes, "–weird, sunshine-looking boy."
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"So uh. What's your name?" They'd been walking in utter silence for the last 4 blocks. Maybe he found silence comfortable but Adrien didn't. Being locked up in your room for the first 13 years of your life with no one but yourself would probably do that to you.
"Gabriel. You?"
"Adrien… You have the same name as my father."
"That's nice kid."
And just like that it was silent again. Gabriel stepped over a short cobble wall and onto a stretch of grass grabbing the handle of the door and pushing it open. "Wait here." His voice was low as he disappeared through the door.
Plagg flew up out of Adrien's jacket within seconds of the front door clicking shut. "I'm staarviiing."
"God. Don't do that-" Adrien reached into an inner pocket on the opposite side of his jacket and retrieved a now almost empty tin of camembert. He barely had the lid off when Plagg flew through the tin and snatched the cheese, devouring it whole.
"You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"Not quite." Adrien turned away from the door and started watching the world pass by. There were a lot more people walking than there were cars on the road. All the cars that did pass looked like older models, most of which Adrien had only ever seen in images on the Internet, or in old-fashioned houses as he passed by in the car.
Maybe it was the rough look that took him so long to see it. Or the fact that he wasn't wearing glasses. Either way Adrien feels like an idiot now that it's clicked with him. Adrien had always been told he looked like his mother, and he'd thought it himself too. Which is why he'd been so caught off guard upon meeting his father, or well- the younger version, of his father. Who looked strikingly like him. Except for the darker hair and blue eyes.
"So, what now?" Plagg asked.
"Well we wait here." My father? Gabriel? "The Uh- the kid that just went inside he- We're going to follow him, he knows where we're going."
"And how long will that take?" Plagg was getting impatient, as always.
"I don't know. But I'm not wandering when I have no idea where I'm going."
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"Let's go." Gabriel came storming out of the house, hopping over the short cobble wall and breaking into a light jog to get away from the house.
Adrien buffered a little, adjusting to the swift change in pace. He started running to catch up with Gabriel who was standing a little further down the street, attaching something to his face as he waited for Adrien.
"Are you ok?" he asked after Gabriel had finished putting the plaster in his cheek.
"Yeah. A little scratch, nothing too bad, I just don't want it to get infected." He could tell that didn't do much to swerve Adrien's concern. His brows furrowed further and his mouth twisted into a pout, obviously displeased with Gabriel's answer. But Gabriel dismissed it and readjusted his shirt and turned to walk away. "Come on, we don't want to hang around here too long."
"What happened? That wasn't there before." Adrien broke into a light jog to keep up with Gabriel's broody sprint-walking.
"Cup fell out of the cupboard." He studied the small boy out of the corner of his eye. Slowing down slightly to make it easier for the kid. "Scraped my face as it fell."
Adrien stayed quiet, silently appreciating the fact that he'd slowed down enough to give Adrien's legs a break. Adrien couldn't ignore the aching feeling that Gabriel wasn't telling the whole truth. Old habits die hard apparently. Hiding his hands, it was a common tell of his father's that he was either lying or uncomfortable with where the conversation was going. If he was getting annoyed they'd scrunch into fists.
"Ok. So, where are we going?" Adrien saw Gabriel visibly relax at him letting the conversation go.
"No idea. I usually just walk around until I think of something."
Oh great an adventure.