"It's been four months since that night. I keep a count of all the things in my life, just to keep track of time. It's what prevents it all from blurring together I suppose. I like numbers."

"You like numbers?"

"Yes. And to be more exact, it's been 124 days since... Ladybug lost for the first time."

"Oh how-"

"784 days since Ladybug and Chat Noir first appeared."

"You remem-"

"1472 days since my mother disappeared."

"I'm sor-"

"And we started meeting four weeks ago."

"Yes, that is correct, Adrien."

"I'm sorry... that was all weird to say..."

"No no! It's perfectly alright, I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to listen."

"Right..."

Adrien was in therapy. He sat in a small quiet room with four walls, three chairs, a sofa with two pillows, six cabinets, and one window. Adrien wasn't lying when he said he liked numbers. Numbers were always reliable, and counting things he could see had sort of become a coping mechanism he'd developed not long after his mother's disappearance as a way to keep a handle on anxiety.

But it wasn't just counting he seemed to now do subconsciously. On his first week of therapy, his therapist suggested he make observations and study what was around him to find little details. If he was feeling anxious, she told him to try looking around for something specific such as anything he could find that was red, without having to move. Supposedly, it would keep his mind grounded and help to prevent falling into an anxiety attack.

So he studied this room every day. Aside from the numbers of things he'd counted, he took note of the medical posters (one of which was a diagram of the human throat and tongue), the box of fidget toys on the floor, and the jar of free condoms sitting directly behind the therapist.

"Adrien, are you paranoid?" His therapist asked.

"Er- what-?" Adrien was slightly caught off guard.

"You know, I won't be telling anything you say to me in this room unless I have to." She stated with a kind and welcoming voice.

"... and why would you have to?" Adrien asked.

"If you told me you had a plan to kill yourself or someone else, or if you're thinking about suicide..." she explained, "or if you reveal something to me about something that's putting you or someone else in danger. But even then, I'd tell you before contacting your father- or well... his assistant. Natalie, correct?"

"Yes, Natalie." Adrien but his lip.

"But trust me Adrien, I won't be telling your father, or anyone for that matter, about what you say in here. I'm sworn to secrecy." She said, leaning forward slightly.

"I know..."

"Tell me Adrien, what is this night you keep bringing up? You talk about it a lot but you don't actually tell me anything about what happened that night."

"Sorry."

"It's alright," she smiled slightly to reassure him. "This night was the same night Hawkmoth took over Paris in a way, correct?"

"Yes..."

"Does it have anything to do with that?"

"Yes..." Adrien admitted. "It's hard to explain though."

"Understandable. And you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. We can talk about anything YOU want."

Adrien went quiet for a moment, unsure of what he really wanted to say to this woman. Or rather, what he COULD say. But finally, he found something.

"There's uh... a girl I know..." he drew a heavy breath, "I used to sort of like her I suppose. But she's... everyone loves her. A little too much actually. It's like she can't do anything wrong and then people compare her and I and... she's always the better one. And I'm ... nothing."

"Who is she to you?"

"A uh.... Well I work with her." Adrien said. "I thought she was someone who actually liked me for me and not for being something I'm not. But that was never true. And I'm not sure if it's even true for my friends."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... what if I'm just a name to them? I'm an Agreste, to them I'm just some rich model dude who's the son of a big fashion designer." Adrien said. "But she didn't see that. I was actually myself with her so I was... happy for a bit. That's probably why I ever liked her in the first place... but I was wrong. I don't think I mean anything to anyone."

"There's people who love you Adrien. Even if you can't see it."

"No, I definitely see it. I see it everywhere I look because my damn face is plastered to every other billboard in the entire city of Paris and beyond! God, you know what?! I- this other friend of mine from my class- she-" Adrien began fidgeting anxiously with his clothes. "She was basically my first friend that didn't have to do with my father and his celebrity acquaintances. I thought we were good friends too cause like- I don't know. She was funny or whatever and it was nice being able to talk to her. I was under the impression she saw me as an actual person.

But she didn't, come to find out. She had my entire life schedule in her room because she apparently had a tendency of stalking me! Or just- finding an excuse to bump into me and I never caught on until like- a month ago! And on top of that, she's stolen my phone more than once before and found a way to unlock it, she's purposely put herself somewhere where she could watch me in my modeling campaigns constantly, she's found ways to get ahold of things that belong to me and hide them in her room, and in her room she has an absurd amount of pictures of just me next to her BED. I just want to be a normal person but not even my own friends can treat me like one!"

"Yes that is... strange. You're sure she did all that?"

"I know she does, I've seen it all." Adrien shook his head. "I don't think I actually mean anything real to anyone. Not even with the people I thought I could trust."

"Did you call the police on that girl?"

"I tried telling my other friends but they said it was just cause I'm famous and that I should just get used to it. I know they were just trying to defend her, cause she's their friend too but... I don't think they cared about how it made me feel. In fact, they'd been encouraging and helping her do it all."

"For your safety, you should have your father tighten security while your at your photo shoots. That behavior isn't acceptable and some of it is illegal."

"I can try and ask him but I hardly see him anymore. He's avoiding me more than usual now, I don't know why." Adrien said.

"Then talk to Natalie."

"I will."

"Thank you. This is for your safety, that's all."

"Right..."

It was Natalie who decided to put Adrien into therapy. His father approved of it, probably to give another excuse to keep Adrien away from him once or twice a week. It was Natalie who drove him to and from his appointments, and made sure he was taking his daily anti depressants. Natalie took care of Adrien, and Adrien had a feeling it was because after she'd raised him for so long, she felt almost like a mother to him. And he could see her as one too, in fact, he wished she would take him away from Paris and live with him as a mother. Natalie cared about Adrien, he meant something to her.

She was healing from whatever sickness had taken hold of her just a year ago. She was gaining the use of her legs again and her own physical therapy had helped her build up her strength, which was why she was now able to take him to appointments (though not driving the car herself).

Everyone had their secrets though and for Natalie it was her inability to bear children. He knew she was a care taker, she had a nurturing nature about her personality, even if she tried to act like that wasn't so. She would never say it but she wanted her own child. But Natalie was stuck working for the Agreste family and somehow, she became Adrien's unspoken mother.

She was quiet that day when she came to pick Adrien up from his appointment. She looked troubled and Adrien could only assume that his father had said something to her. He'd been irritated by Natalie a lot these past few months, and often picked fights with her when she was only trying to help him.

Adrien didn't ask her about it. She seemed anxious enough as it was, he knew it wouldn't be wise to poke a stick at whatever was causing her this pain.

"Turn right." Natalie said to the gorilla driving the car. Ok, he wasn't an actual gorilla, but that's what Adrien liked to call him because he looked very much like an ape. The gorilla nodded and took the turn. Adrien was confused by the sudden change of route at first, until he saw what as happening outside.

"Another attack?" Adrien sighed.

"Unfortunately." Natalie stated. "Just illusions this time."

"How do you know?"

"I don't. I'm just hoping those are illusions." She said before going quiet once again. Adrien could see Ladybug out on the rooftops, trying to protect civilians from falling debris. It seemed like space was coming to earth, the sky was falling.

Chat Noir would have to help out with that later. Adrien couldn't exactly transform right then and there in the car.

When he got home he was dismissed for the rest of the day. Natalie was tired and needed rest so he was sent to his room. Adrien gladly hurried up the stairs to his bedroom and quickly made his transformation. He locked his door, putting a note on it that made up some excuse for him in case someone tried to come in while he was gone, and then left through the window.

Chat raced to the scene of the attack, trying to find Ladybug so that he may join her. The sky was collapsing, or so it seemed, and there she was, frantically trying to get civilians to safety.

"Sorry for the wait Ladybug," Chat said as he caught up to her, joining her side. "I was caught up in something."

She shot him a nasty glare. "Oh were you now?! You're my only option left for help and you hardly ever show up half the time?! Why do you think I had to trust so many people with miraculous?!"

"I was busy." Chat grit his teeth. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah yeah you say that all the time. Now help me out already, I've been waiting on you for an hour!"

"My apologies." Chat said bitterly. "You know it's just an illusion, right?"

"And how do you know?"

"I'm hoping."

"Oh fuck your hope Chat!" Ladybug said and swung her yo-yo at a high building, zipping herself away from him.

"What the hell?!" Chat exclaimed. He didn't bother to follow her, redirecting his attention on civilians.

The sky leaked down from the heavens like a waterfall, pooling down into the streets of Paris. Chunks of rock, small meteors and other space rocks fell in great chunks from the clouds, breaking through windows and rooftops. The atmosphere was shallow and sinking, the layers of the sky itself seemed to have a hole ripped straight through it.

Chat just couldn't think of a way to make it stop.

So all he could do was protect the people. He rushed Parisians and tourists away from the main fall of sky debris. After seeing it strike the road and crash through the walls of buildings, Chat Noir realized that these were definitely not illusions like he'd hoped.

Suddenly Ladybug materialized beside him as he was helping fit people onto an escape bus. "Chat!"

"Gah- what?"

"What are you doing?!" She barked.

"Getting the people out of here..?"

"Yeah well I found Hawkmoth so, let's go!" She snapped and disappeared once again.

Chat sighed and shook his head. He helped an old woman onto the bus and sat her down in the last open seat before stepping out of the vehicle and sending it off. He then went to find where Ladybug had gone.

He jumped up upon the ledge of a Thai restaurant where Ladybug now also stood. "You said you found Hawkmoth?" He said questionably. Hawkmoth hadn't been akumatizing people all that much lately. Now that he had the other miraculous, he had other means of terrorizing the city. But in order to do so, he had to go out of where he usually hid and do the dirty work for himself.

"He's using the miraculous of the horse." Was her response. "He's not here anymore."

"So he's teleporting space into Paris...?"

"Unfortunately, yes. And he's also transporting himself all over the place so I lost him already." She said. "If you had just followed me and I did have to go find you then maybe we wouldn't have lost him."

"I'm sorry but I was trying to keep people from dying."

"Yeah Chat, that's all I've been doing while you were 'busy'" she snapped.

"Well excuse me for having a life."

"Chat! The sky is falling! What the fuck were you doing that was more important than this?!"

"I didn't know this was happening!"

"Answer my fucking question!"

"What question?!"

"Where were you!"

"It's personal!" Chat growled.

"People were dying Chat! Is that personal?!"

"It's my civilian life!"

"And these are the lives of thousands at stake!"

"I'm sorry Ladybug!"

"You don't seem very sorry!"

"I WAS AT THERAPY!" Chat finally caved. Ladybug went silent for a second.

"...what for?"

"And why the hell does that matter to you?!"

"You just don't seem very depressed." She shrugged and spun her yo-yo. Before Chat could say anything, she'd already flown off with it, maneuvering from building to building in search of Hawkmoth.

"Bitch." Chat muttered to himself and followed the direction she went.

Chat Noir and Ladybug only worked together for one reason, obligation. Chat could only wonder how much longer that was going to last.

A/N
Ladynoir shippers after reading this: 🪦
-Peter