The Convenient Marriage (MLB Fanfiction) COMPLETE✔

Chapter 66 ⚠️

Enjoy a Mini chapter that I wasn't initially gonna post today but figured I just would.

Sorry for the irregular updating schedule. Are people still reading this?

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There was a flash, and a loud thud.
 

  Adrien blinked, his pupils shrinking and he went blind for a brief moment as all he could see was white.
He didn't know what he was thinking. He didn't want to get up that morning, but Adrien knew that if he didn't report to the studio, he would never hear the end of it. 

  Adrien wanted to feel numb. He wanted to completely forget about what he had heard from Kagami the night before, but he simply couldn't. Adrien didn't understand, he knew he should have been used to it at this point, but he felt so angry. 

He didn't just feel angry at Kagami, but perhaps everything else. He was angry at his father, he was angry at Nathalie, he was angry at his mother for leaving him behind, he was angry at Luka for forcing him to see the truth, he was incredibly angry at Marinette and he was mostly angry at himself for being so stupid and naive. He was a doormat, he was too nice and in the end, he was the one who was possibly hurting the most.

  He had learned the hard way that if anyone was too nice, they lose.
Marinette hadn't answered any of his texts, and Adrien was well aware that they were both busy, but he was growing impatient. He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but Adrien recalled making a promise to her. 
If Marinette didn't fulfill her end of the bargain, at least he knew he would. 
At this point, Adrien truly felt like an empty shell, with a massive void that he didn't have desire to fill.

"Adrien."

Adrien blinked, Nathalie's voice immediately drawing him out of his dark thoughts of self deprecation. His green eyes moved away from the blinding light of the set. His skin felt hot as the high voltage of the light nearly burned him. 

He was modeling for his father's new design with a collab with Gucci yet again, and Adrien simply couldn't be bothered. All he wanted to do was lay in bed, and inwardly convince himself not to put his head through a window.

"Did you get enough sleep last night?" Nathalie asked, taking a step away from the set crew and moving closer to Adrien who suddenly felt like a puppet in a crowded room. "You don't seem like you're on your game today." 

  Adrien tried to shrug it off. He didn't mean for it to be so evident, but he was having a rough time. It wasn't like he could take some time off, simply because his father wouldn't let him. 

  His green eyes moved down to the ground and Adrien had began to feel small with the amount of eyes that were glued on to him. It almost felt like the walls were closing in around him.
He just wanted Kagami to go away, he just wanted Marinette to return his calls or his texts, and he just wanted a break from his tight and strict schedule. 

Hell, even Adrien missed Tikki and the way she'd pur in his ear when he tried to sleep, or the way she tried to groom his head when he wanted to lay down, and he even missed the way she'd climb and sit on his back when he was hunched over the sink to brush his teeth. 

Even through all of it, there was a spark of anger and frustration. Adrien was tired of being mopey, but he honestly didn't know what to do without Marinette. 

  It wasn't that she was everything he knew, but more of the fact that he couldn't be in the light that she looked at anymore, and that thought crushed him. 

   Before Adrien even knew it, he was simply looking into the camera lense in front of him. His eyes were wide and his lips parted almost as if he were a wild deer caught in headlights. 

  He was insatiable, and he was out of his mind.
But he knew one thing was true, and that was he never backed out on his promises.

  Before Nathalie could get a word in edgewise, Adrien immediately walked off the set, the unreleased and newly made collaboration collection his dad was about to promote remained on his back, and despite Nathalie coming after him, Adrien kept his eyes trained onto the doors. 

"Adrien!" She called out, her voice echoing awkwardly into the hallway as Adrien stubbornly made his way towards the elevators. "Where are you going? You know your father will be angry with you!"

  Adrien turned back, a solemn expression on his face as he was simply tired of doing what his father wanted and allowing it to meddle between his time of trying to fix things with his wife. 

  "Just...tell him you couldn't get to me in time," Adrien murmured, pressing the elevator button with an awkward stare. "I'll deal with it later."
  Nathalie sighed, shifting her weight as she kept her eyes trained onto Adrien with a firm frown. 

"Adrien, we really don't have time for this. If we get this done, I'll try and schedule you for some time off. You can use it to get the amount of sleep you need. I can talk it over with your father."

  Adrien sighed, shaking his eyes as his eyes lifted up towards the ceiling. He couldn't count the amount of times that his father and Nathalie made promises to him that they couldn't keep. He learned long ago not to get his hopes up, and if he wanted things done, he'd have to do it himself.

  "I'm flesh and blood. I'm not merch, I'm not a marketing ploy. I have relationships to maintain, I need to eat, I need to sleep, I need a break..." his voice trailed off as he ran his hand through his hair. "I just need a moment to be normal. I have personal issues that matter more than my father’s new line. He has me working nonstop and it’s interfering with the life I have going on at home."

  Nathalie remained quiet, her face impassive as the elevator doors finally opened. "I told you I'd talk to your father. You know he's a really busy man. I'm sure when his schedule isn’t cluttered I can talk to him about-"

"You really have to talk to him about it? Can't a father just assume or want to spend time with his child? Or know that his child doesn't always want to work for him? He's supposed to be the parent and I'm supposed to be the child. This isn’t a father/son relationship - it's a boss and worker relationship," Adrien explained, pressing the button to the first floor lobby.

"Adrien, wait-" Nathalie pleaded, reaching out to him. "You know your father will be upset!"

Adrien kept his eyes on her, shrugging it off as the elevator doors closed, immediately closing the two of them off. He sighed, feeling the elevator move down the shaft. 

  He was scared of his father at times, but other times, things were just far too important for him to care about those things.

   Adrien casually slipped his hands into his pockets, pressing his lips together the moment his chest started to grow tight. He was struggling to keep himself together, but if Marinette decided to go on a spree to not answer his text messages, then he'd have to fulfill his end of the bargain.

And that was to find her, just like he had promised