Miraculous: In Another Life

Chapter 2. Home and Heroes

Adrien P.O.V

    Nino and I walked out of our last class together and began heading for the front doors of the school. With the first day of school over and having fencing practice at four I still had some time to get home and read for a bit. Nino and I waited at the bottom of the stairs for Alya and Marinette. Alya and Nino hung out pretty much everyday after school so they left together and I had gotten in the habit of walking Marinette home and getting picked up by my bodyguard from there. While we waited we talked about Ladybug and Cat Noir’s latest battle against an akumatized villain. Nino and I loved to talk about them because I thought Cat Noir was pretty awesome and Nino was basically in love with Ladybug. Alya and Marinette arrived a few minutes later. 
    “Hey guys” I said with a wave. Marinette waved back and Alya and Nino gave each other a quick hug. 
    “How was your first day Adrien?” Marinette asked.
    “It was pretty good,” I replied “I have chemistry with Nino so that’s lucky. How was yours?”
    “Mine was good,” Marinette answered quickly. Hearing the conversation, Nino and Alya came over to talk before they left.
    “Dude, chem with you is gonna be a blast!” he said excitedly, gently punching me in the shoulder. I laughed and nodded. Alya looked at the time on her phone and leaned over to whisper to Nino. He nodded and she said “Sorry guys, we’ve got to get going.” Marinette and I said goodbye as they started leaving and we started walking to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. 
    “I wonder what they do after school,” I said with a laugh. 
“I really don’t know,” Marinette replied with a small laugh “I’ve asked Alya before and she always comes up with some lame excuse.”
    “They probably just makeout,” I said gently bumping into Marinette’s shoulder “I bet they would want to do it in private.”
    “But they do that enough in front of us!” Marinette said bursting out laughing. I snickered before saying “Can’t argue with that.” We finally reached the bakery and said goodbye. Marinette went inside to work on her designs and my bodyguard picked me up a moment later. The car ride back to the manor was quiet which wasn’t a bad thing. I personally enjoyed the little bit of silence after a long day at school. Upon reaching the manor, my bodyguard let me out in the front. I walked up the steps and entered the cold house. The main room was empty, I slowly started walking up the steps toward my room. Father was probably designing in his private study. I was almost to my room when Mom came out of Father’s study.
    “Adrien,” she said walking over to me “back from school already?”
    “Yes mom,” I said. She cleared her throat and stared at me.
    “Oh, sorry. Yes Mother,” I said again. 
    “Much better,” she sighed “no fencing today?”
    “We didn’t have it because it’s the first day of school. But we have it every other day the rest of the week because of the competition next Tuesday,” I said.
    “Well, I want you to go practice piano a few hours before dinner,” she said. “Practice makes perfect Adrien.”
    “Yes Mother,” I said with my head down as I slowly started heading into my room. I closed the door and collapsed on my bed with my head on my arms. My bed felt cold to the touch. I couldn’t help thinking about all that had changed in the house. Mother and Father used to be happy. We used to go out to the park or go and get dinner somewhere nice. But two years ago when Aunt Nathalie died from an accident, everything changed. Father became closed off and dedicated himself to his designing. Mother became cold and emotionless. They had let go of most of the staff and stopped going out. They claimed it was from the new danger of Ladymoth and Pallua. But Ladybug and Cat Noir always deal with them fine. I personally think they’ve gone so long without others now, they don’t know how to interact with people. I’m glad I’m not trapped in the house. I couldn’t imagine not being able to spend time with my friends. Still I wish Mother and Father could be happy again. I got up and walked over to my piano. I gently pressed the ivory keys, letting the beautiful melodies cascade through an empty room and lost myself in it.