The Other Part of Me

Aftermath

"Would you like to expand on that?"

Adrien was at his twelfth therapy session. He'd been having them pretty much everyday since he'd arrived in London. He was on the vulnerable children list, and to be honest, he wasn't surprised. He was a child of two supervillains, plus his father's assistant happened to be his surrogate mother, he was far past vulnerable.

"I had to order Nathalie's flowers and I knew she liked Gerbera's, so that's what I wanted to get. I used to get Marinette roses often, and she always told me she couldn't accept them because of the colour. At the time that was anyway, now she'd have any, I'm sure." He laughed to himself. "So it got me thinking about what the gerbera represents. My father would give them to her often, like weekly, especially when she was ill. Anyway, they mean cheerfulness, loyal love, innocence and purity."

A scoff came from his mouth as he completed the action with a roll of the eyes and throwing his head back.

"Loyal love, eh? My father was an asshole."

"You've mentioned Marinette again, twice, how does she link into this? I'm guessing she's more than just a friend?"

He'd been blocking talking about Marinette since he'd started therapy, knowing that was a whole other set of issues he had to deal with, perhaps it was time to open another can of worms? He'd already spoken to Ms. Bustier knowing Marinette would be too stubborn to ask for help and support. When he saw her briefly at their last press conference she looked worse than he did, and knowing how he looked at the moment, that wasn't a good comparison.

"How confidential are these meetings?" He asked his therapist.

"Well, everything you say stays in these four walls unless I see it as a harmful reason, then I do have to take it further."

He began to squeeze his fingers together, playing with the silver ring situated on his right hand.

"But if I told you, say, a secret?"

His therapist looked him over wondering what else the boy had to hold in.

"Then it stays between us."

Adrien nodded and looked out the window. Would Marinette mind? He looked at his reflection. He was gaunt, pale and messy. If it meant it could help him, he was sure she wouldn't mind.

"My relationship with Marinette is somewhat complicated, actually no, not complicated - complex." He kept his eyes on his reflection as he began to talk.

"We met when we were thirteen through ... work, anonymously, I didn't know her name or anything about her at the time. Then the next day, I started school and I met her properly. She hated me. She thought I was a spoiled, stuck up brat. I apologised to her and we became friends. She was the first friend I ever made myself. She has always been special to me."

He turned his head to face his therapist as he gave Adrien a nod to continue.

"Through our anonymous work I fell in love with her, so, so quickly. She was brave and strong, caring and bold, unsure yet so determined. I had to give her a few pep talks to help her pass her nerves, but she always did. She always came out strong. She's so wonderful. So I spent my time trying to woo her without knowing she was one of my best friends. If only I'd known."

"Why didn't you know?

"It was too dangerous. Hawkmoth or Shadowmoth, well, if he had got to one of us it would have put the other in danger. We meant too much to each other to let that happen."

He saw that he wrote something in his notebook before Adrien continued talking, giving the older teen chance to gather his thoughts.

"But he'd figured it all out before we did. Typical really. All the heartache for nothing."