"You know you're being selfish..." Plagg muttered, watching as Adrien brooded over a photo he had of Marinette and Louis.
   Adrien perked a brow, his green eyes shifting to scowl at his kwami.
  "I'm selfish?" He asked, feeling completely dumbfounded at the observation. "That's quite of a bold statement coming from you, Plagg..."

   Plagg glanced up at him, crossing his arms as he peered away.
  "Exactly. If a selfish being is actually calling you selfish, that should mean something. You don't care for me, you don't care for Louis, you don't care for any of your friends. You're allowing this to eat at you. Everyone sees it..."

Adrien frowned, Plaggs words hitting close to home.
  "Louis thinks I don't care about him?" He asked, reaching up to nervously rub the back of his neck.

"Of course!" Plagg instantly retaliated. "You completely ignore him, you never come out of your room and last time he came to you for a bedtime story and you threw him aside." The kwami shook his head at the memory. "You're being completely cold to him, treating him the way your father treated you when you lost your mom..."

Adrien rolled his eyes, turning over to face Marinette's old desk. He was going through her old items that Nino and Luka had brought back from her old office at work.

   "Plagg, I was having nightmares. I didn't mean to push him away like that. I got up to help him and he ran away from me. I don't come across as my father, I'd like to think he was a lot more unreasonable when he was grieving..." his voice trailed off. He sighed, realizing how much his father was probably grieving. "But it could always be worse. I love Louis no matter what..."

Plagg turned, looking at Adrien in disbelief.
  "Denial at its finest..." he muttered, floating up towards his chosen's ear.
"Keep telling yourself that. But if you end up lonely with no one to turn to, don't come crying to me or admitting I'm right. It'll be too late because you pushed away everyone whose ever loved you...." Plagg moved, floating towards the door before pausing and looking back at him
   "I'm sure Marinette would be dissapointed to see what you've been up to..." He uttered out before eventually leaving.

   Adrien glanced over, staring at the door as Plagg left him completely alone.
   "I don't ignore Louis. Do I?" Adrien asked, turning over to look at Marinette who lay on the bed, hugging her pillow.

   "Our baby has been feeling empty lately..." Marinette conceded, moving to the center of the bed. "This is one thing I can't agree with you on." Her blue eyes looked up at him. "But I am dissapointed..."

Adrien frowned, glancing at the mirror where he failed to see Marinette. He sighed, reaching up to run a hand through his hair as he allowed it all to set in.
   "You're dissapointed in me?" He turned back over to look at her.
  Marinette was a scrambled mess, her figure fading in and out as Adrien became less and less focused on her.
   Her figure appeared in front of him and she sat on the desktop beside him.

"I wouldn't say in you...but in the promise you made me. Louis always came first..." she explained. "I died so that we could protect him, so that he could continue to live a happy life. Our son is not happy..."

Adrien looked up at her.
   "He's not happy because of me..." He sighed, shaking his head.

   "My love..." she murmured, lowering herself to meet his gaze. "Louis is apart of me..." she whispered. "My blood and your blood runs through his veins. I live through him...."

Adrien reached up, rubbing his chin aggressively.
  "I fucked up..." He muttered, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
How could he have been so stupid?
He didn't mean to neglect Louis. He was so preoccupied in wallowing in his misery he was pushing his loved ones away.

   "It's not too late..." Marinette assured, she reached over to touch his face and Adrien felt nothing.
  The moment they touched one another she began to fade away.
As much as Adrien missed her touch, he simply couldn't have it. She was not here with him. His imagination could not touch him, and that was all she was.
  She was a figment he subconsciously used to comfort himself.
   "You can make it right..." she whispered, her voice now disembodied as she was now nowhere in sight.
Adrien reached up to touch his cheek. He felt a horrible sense of wanting.

  He glanced at himself in the mirror, judging himself.

  The blonde stood up, exiting his room. He wandered over to his kitchen, grabbing the coffee pot.
Plagg sat on the kitchen table, ushering Louis to eat his food, but Louis wasn't feeling his appetite.
   It was late at night and he wasn't looking forward to crying himself to sleep as he always had.
His nuggets were cold, his juice remained untouched and his applesauce remained at room temp.
  Adrien poured himself a cup of coffee, glaring down into his mug as he tried to come up with the right words to say to a toddler.
  Louis looked up at Adrien quickly climbing off the chair and leaving him behind.
Adrien watched with a grimace as it was very obvious that Louis didn't want to be around him.
  Plagg shook his head, instantly levitating off the table and following the little one to his bedroom.

  Adrien remained silent, tapping his fingertips on the sides of his coffee mug as he contemplated.

   The model placed his mug on the kitchen table and followed the pair to his room.
   He reluctantly opened the door, peering his head inside.
Louis lay in bed, facing the other way. Plagg nuzzled himself into the pillow beside the toddler.
   Adrien felt so defeated he was almost ready to just close the door and hide back in his room.

   "It's okay..." Marinette stood behind him, she shyly tucked her hands behind her back as she glanced up at him.
   "He's your son. He'll love you no matter what..."she assured, her voice a soft whisper.

Adrien pressed his lips together. He opened the door, carefully stepping inside.
    Louis sat up at the sound, looking up at Adrien.

Adrien felt his heart sink into his stomach.

It was a daunting kind of sadness. It was the same haunting look Adrien wore for years since his mother dissapeared.
   His blue eyes told centuries and centuries of sadness and silent stories of untold suffering of lonely.
   Adrien was inflicting that same kind of pain on his son.

The pain his father passed on to him, he was inflicting on his son.

As much as Adrien wanted to deny it, he couldnt.
He was ending up like his father.

His father was cold, his father never cared and his father always left him eating dinner by himself.

   Adrien looked down at Louis before he carefully approached the little one and crouched down.
  "Louis..." He murmured, reaching up to brush his fingers through his hair.
 
  Louis blinked, gripping on to his blanket and shifting to face him better.

"I'm so sorry..." Adrien murmured. "I haven't been around lately. I've been a little mean, but that's going to change..." He glanced up at Louis, his heart racing as Adrien realized just how similar eyes he and Marinette had.
  He definitely had his mother's eyes, and it brought him such comfort.

Louis blinked, a small blush on his cheeks as he glanced down at Plagg who looked up to him.

    "I say it's a trap..." Plagg whispered, floating up towards the toddlers shoulder. "I wouldn't fall for it...."

Louis shook his head, giving the kwami a playful reprimanding glance.
All Louis ever wanted was to have his father's attention, and for the first time in such a long time, it appeared his father was willing to give him individed attention.
   Adrien cupped the little toddler's face before he wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close.
  Adrien pressed his lips to the top of his sons head over and over again.

  "I'm so sorry for all the times I've hurt you. I'm sorry for all the things you've seen, I'm sorry for leaving you alone..." Adrien pulled back to look at his toddler.
   "I'm sorry I made you believe that I didn't love you..." the model brushed his fingers over his sons cheek.
  
  Louis glanced up at Adrien as he apologized, his eyes filled with curiosity.
   A small smile appeared on his lips as he carefully pulled away and reached under his pillow.

He pulled out his favorite nighttime story once more and carefully offered it to Adrien with a hopeful smile.

   "Babbit?" He asked placing it on Adrien's lap. "A mommy babbit!" The toddler smiled ushering Adrien to open it.

   Adrien chuckled, thankful for the kind heart that Louis was born with. He was definitely a piece of Marinette.

   "Mommy rabbit?" Adrien asked, climbing on to Louis bed and leaning back on the pillows.

Louis smiled, excited that his father was willing to read his favorite book.
The child climbed into Adrien's side, nuzzling into him before he grabbed the blanket and attempted to pull it against the both of them.

   "Mommy babbit!" Louis exclaimed, pointing at the photos he liked the moment Adrien opened the book.

  "Oh wow. That's a pretty cool rabbit." Adrien gasped. "That's the one you like?"

Louis nodded in response and then he pointed at the baby rabbit.
  "You like?" He asked, pulling back to look at Adrien.

Adrien chuckled and nodded.
  "Yes. I like the baby rabbit and you can like the mommy rabbit."

  Louis smiled, nodding proudly.

Adrien reached over and gently began to play with the little ones golden hair.
   "Did mommy use to make you warm milk?" He asked, looking over to the little one.

Louis reached up and rubbed his eyes as the memory.
  He nodded shyly, looking up at him.
Adrien turned the page on the book, pointing at another photo.
   "Is that the mommy bunny again?" He asked, smiling down at Louis who then reached for the book and glanced at the photo again.
   "Mommy bunny" he confirmed, placing the book back into Adrien's lap.

Adrien laughed softly, pulling Louis close to him once more. He pressed his cheek into the top of Louis' head before he pressed another gentle kiss to his head.

Adrien closed his eyes, feeling Louis reaching over and turning the page to have another look at the pictures on the other side.

Plagg floated between the two of them. He nudged into Adrien with a puckered brow.

"Perhaps some warm milk might help Louis feel more at home. When Marinette and Tikki were around they'd whip up some warm milk, bring me some extra cheese then tuck Louis in and read his favorite bed time story." The little kwami explained.

Adrien smiled, reaching over to rub his kwami's head tenderly.

  "I doubt that Marinette and Tikki loaded you with cheese, but I guess I can take that into consideration. Only because you've been putting up with me." He explained.

Plagg smiled obnoxiously.

"Of course!" He snorted, his tiny little body swinging side to side with anticipation.
   Adrien scooted Louis into his lap, ready to carry the little one to the kitchen if need be.
   The model paused, looking back at Plagg who was about ready to call it a night.

Adrien looked down, climbing off the bed with Louis in his arms.

  "Look-" Adrien sighed. "I'm not one hundred percent better. I'm still going through a hard time..." Adrien explained. "The last thing I want to do is make you feel like I don't care about you anymore..." Adrien nuzzled into his toddler, his heart aching at the thought of his little one believing that Adrien did not love him.
   "I'll have my dark days, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to truly feel like myself." The blonde looked back to his kwami.
  "But I'm grateful that you guys are still here. I'm sorry for what I've done and what I may do in the future..." Adrien murmured.
   He kept Louis on his hip before turning and leaving the room.
Louis held on to Adrien, his blue eyes watching Plagg who sat on his pillow, allowing Adrien's words to swim in his head.