A/n: kind of like a follow up to sensory overload, bc those two establish Adrien being autistic as fuck and learning to unmask. From here, he gets to be himself.

Adrien always had a very particular way of doing things, he'd always thought he was just a particularly organised person, but now he knew more about how his brain worked, he realised it was an autism thing. He liked predictability, sudden change was stressful for him and he craved knowing what was going to happen so he could mentally prepare for it. So everything had its spot, everything had to be scheduled, things had to be done a particular way. Since his father was basically never around, Nathalie had noticed this years ago and tried to keep things predictable for Adrien to avoid meltdowns. As a kid, they both assumed it was just the tantrum phase a lot of kids went through, that eventually he'd grow to be more flexible. Ha, wrong. He'd grown even more ridged in his need for structure as he'd gotten older.

So becoming Cat Noir was an adjustment. On one hand he was PUMPED about it, it meant freedom and cool powers. But it was also an unexpected and big change, for those first few months as Cat Noir, he was quite stressed. But as time went on, even his life as Cat Noir became structured in a way. He may not have any control over when he'd have to jump into action and fight, but he could control a few other things about it. He couldn't exact help being tossed into the dirt and during a fight, but when he got back home the first thing he did was wash up. His baton made for a good fidget toy, spinning it or clicking the buttons over and over. And gods, his tail. Spinning it his favourite stim as Cat Noir. So did the bell, flicking it to make it jingle tingled his brain. Luckily his suit covered his whole body, so he didn't have to worry about touching and icky textures, he couldn't really feel it through the suit. And luckily the earbuds that came with his baton could be used to block noise out when it got too loud. So being Cat Noir wasn't too bad autism wise. And because he didn't have to put on the 'polite rich boy model' act as Cat Noir, he was always able to unmask and let himself be freer. Recently as he'd been working more on unmasking in his daily life, it'd bled into his life as Cat Noir too. And people had stated to notice. Compilations on YouTube of clips from interviews or news footage of him had started popping up with titles like 'Cat Noir being unable to sit still for 8 minutes straight' and 'Cat Noir infodumping compilation'. People were starting to notice his symptoms, and he was oddly elated about it.

Because this was the real him. He didn't have to hide it, and people seemed to like this open version of him. Sure, there were assholes in every comment section. But the support and memes about his tail spinning habit overwhelmed the negativity. And thanks to his relationship with Luka, whenever Viperion was called to action, he felt even more comfortable unmasking. Because Luka was there, right next to him. Luka was the first one to know he was autistic and the first one to help him understand and accomodate to his needs more. If there was anyone he could be 100% himself with, it was Luka. And gods that boy was so in love. Luka only fell deeper and deeper in love with Adrien each time he spilled endless hours of exited infodumping, flapped the sleeves of his jacket around, even the cringe reaction he had when he touched something with an icky texture was amusing.

Naturally, people began to notice.

The compilations went from collections of 'Cat Noir walking around in his tip toes', to 'Viperion dealing with Cat Noir's infodumping for 10 minutes straight' and 'every time Viperion and Cat Noir hold hands'.

And finally, thanks to the overwhelming support he'd been seeing from fans in all these posts, he wasn't scared to admit the truth.

Because the nature of Viperions power, he was an allusive hero. It was hard to catch a good glimpse of him. So when after this fight, he actually stuck around since he didn't have to use second chance like the heroes thought they'd need, the interviews took their chance.

"You have such a complex power, does it get stressful to use it?"

"Do you wish you could join the battles more?"

"Are you close with the rest of the heroes despite not being part of every battle?"

Each question he answered, giving his true opinions on the matter. He was used to the rapid fire yapping from Adrien. Finally, the question he knew would come up did.

"You and Cat Noir seem very close, do you have a deeper relationship than with the rest of the heroes?" One of the news presenters asked.

"He'd definitely the one I'm closest with. I'm friends with everyone of course, but Cat Noir and I... there's a level of understanding we have because of... circumstances I'm unsure if he wants me saying on live TV" Viperion replied.

Overhearing the question, Cat was quick to slide into the conversation to be his usual cheeky self and seeing a chance to finally come clean to the world.

"Oooh, we're gossiping about me?" He teased.

Viperion chuckled and shook his head, leaning an arm up on the shorter boys shoulder.

"Always" he replied.

"You and Viperion seem very close, are you two the closet in the group?" The same interviewer asked Cat.

"I'm friends with everyone, and as you can imagine Ladybug and I have a particularly unique connection as the two main holders. But scales? He's my man. He couldn't get rid of me even if he wanted to" Cat explained.

"Oh yeah, you're a parasite. I can't get rid of you, ever" Viperion laughed.

"But you love me"

Cat gave him an overly dramatic doe-eyed look, just making Viperion sigh with a smile and shake his head. 

"Yeah, I do" he replied.

Given Cat's tendency to use flirtatious humour, no one could really tell that was a genuine admission of the true nature of their relationship.

"Is there any particular reason you two clicked so well, so quickly?" The interviewer asked.

"He took one look at me and went 'oh he's definitely autistic'. And he was right" Cat laughed.

Viperion gave him a proud smile and loving gaze, hearing that he was so confident and comfortable with himself now just made his heart swell. He'd come so far, and he was very clearly happier now he understood himself better and accommodated to his needs.

"You're autistic?" The interviewer asked.

"Yep! Diversity win, Cat Noir has a funny brain! But for real though, I'm like... a level 2 on the spectrum, there's a heap of stuff I just can't do. But hey it hasn't stopped me, it's about finding the right people to support you and understanding your own mind. Accommodating yourself makes things so much easier. And scales here, he knows how to tickle my brain" Cat explained.

"I know a thing or two about autism, I know people I see practically daily. It's really not that hard to be a good supporter. Just getting to see someone you care for be truly themselves and genuinely happy is worth everything. You couldn't pay me to make this kitty mask his symptoms, that's like cutting the wings off an angel" Viperion added.

"Aww, you looooveee me"

"We've established that Cat"

Before they could go any further, the familiar sound of the miraculous beeping altered them they had to bounce, so with a quick goodbye, the impromptu interview was cut short. When they were will hidden and back in their civilian forms, the first thing Luka did was pick Adrien up into a tight hug.

"Raaghh I'm so proud of you!" He praised.

"Oh my gods it feels so good to get that out there, I was getting so sick of tiptoeing around it" Adrien smiled.

One big, dramatic kiss on the cheek made Adrien giggle. And Luka just wanted to squeeze him half to death in a response of cuteness aggression.

"You've come so far, you really are amazing you know that? Luka smiled.

"I eagerly await the fan compilations titled 'Viperion being Cat Noirs caretaker for 10 minutes straight" Adrien snickered.

"More like 10 minutes gay... I wonder who'll pick up on the fact your flirting wasn't a joke that time?"