an ordinary miracle ⏤ mlb

001.

Adrien awoke to the sound of rain. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.  

Adrien groaned and reluctantly opened his eyes, rolling out of his bed. Last night had been a long night for Cat Noir, given that Rena Rouge and Carapace had showed up just before midnight. 

It hadn't exactly been fun. 

In fact, his body still ached a bit from all the leaping he'd had to do. He didn't want to harm them, given he knew that they were just trying to do their job..... but he was too!

If only they'd stop getting in his way. 

A loud knock interrupted his thoughts. He immediately recognized it as Chloe's knock, so he ran down the stairs and opened the door. 

"Finally," Chloe snapped. 

Her bright yellow suit and hot pink flats were speckled with rain, but most criminally, her white sunglasses had spots of water on them. 

"Sorry, sorry," Adrien said. 

Chloe pushed past him, still annoyed about her sunglasses getting wet. 

Adrien shrugged and closed the door. 

"Weekly report?" Adrien said. Despite his name being on the brand, it was really Chloe who did so much of the work. In fact, he only went into the Paris Office occasionally, normally after receiving the weekly report– along with a few fashion shows and various other events. 

"Our new designer is doing well," Chloe said. "Her designs are rather innovative."

Given that Adrien wasn't a fashion designer, the AA brand was different. Now, every year, they hired new designers to what Chloe liked to call the Fab Four in a competition. The designers each covered a season: Fall, Winter, Summer, Spring. 

The Fab Four stayed for only a year, then moved on. Generally after a stay at the AA brand, they tended to do well in the world of fashion. Adrien had been to many shows of successful designers that were "alumni" of the AA brand. 

Adrien glanced over the papers and nodded. He might not have been a designer(he was not going to be like him), but he knew fashion from all the years he'd spent as a model. Years he was still technically in now. 

It wasn't like when he was younger, he didn't go to a photoshoot almost every day, but he occasionally covered magazines and tended to show off one design a year. The job had grown comforting to him, as a daily routine might be like. It was perhaps one of the few pieces of his past he wanted to keep. 

That, and the friendships he'd made. 

Speaking of friends, Chloe, his oldest friend, rolled her eyes. "Are you done?"

Despite her spoiled upbringing, Chloe had settled into work easily. Her ruthless attitude got her through the business world. 

Adrien nodded. "Yeah." 

"The spring show is in a couple of days," Chloe said, starting to pack up. 

Adrien felt a twinge of sadness for being left again so soon, but he shook it off. "Any reporters I should know about?"

"Mostly the usual. Mummy dearest will make it for the summer and winter show this year, and maybe Cesaire will show up for our sustainability feature." 

Adrien's heart warmed at the possibility of seeing one of his childhood friends again. It'd been too long. "And designers?"

"Marie Blanchet, a few years ago Ms. Spring, might be coming. Besides that...... nobody, I think. Oh wait, maybe, Dupain-Cheng is coming." 

Adrien wasn't sure how to feel about that. Marinette? He hadn't thought about her that much.... well, that was kind of a lie. 

After all, Marinette had built a fashion empire herself, the Mari brand. Mari was one of the biggest competitors AA had, so of course Adrien had to think about her at some point. He'd seen her a couple times at various shows but they'd never actually talk. And of course, she was still Alya's best friend, so she was mentioned sometimes in conversation.. but that was about it. Really. 

Chloe shook her head. "I still can't believe she's one of our biggest competitors..... but oh well."

Chloe grabbed a croissant from the counter then opened the door. "And that's everything, Adrikins, so-"

"Wait!" Adrien hadn't realized it'd slipped out until Chloe looked back at him, a confused expression upon her face. 

"I mean-" Adrien wasn't sure what to say now. He just... didn't want to be alone. 

Recognition colored her eyes, and her face softened. Something curled up inside of him, something painful and shattered and horrible. He looked down at the floor, at the broken man he was. 

Chloe put a warm hand on his shoulder. 

Adrien could see Chloe's face, tense with worry, in the reflection. Adrien hated that worry. He'd never wanted to worry his friends. "Don't worry. I'll be back tomorrow and we can have lunch, okay? When's the last time you got out of this place?" 

It'd been a while, not that Adrien was telling her that. He wasn't yet ready to move out of his childhood home. The cold tiles were still somewhat comforting. The icy chill always brought him out of confusion when he needed it—though he'd removed all the butterfly designs from the mansion, and destroyed all of his father's rooms. He'd kept only his room and portraits of his mother. Sometimes he wanted to burn the place down, just like it'd been that night. But not today. No, he couldn't. Even with his father locked away, he still managed to have a hold on him. Yet another weakness of Adrien Agreste. 

Chloe sighed. "Adrien, have you looked at the pamphlet I sent you?"

"No." Adrien was broken, but he wasn't going to let a stranger try to put the pieces together. 

"Adrien... it'll be good—"

"No." 

"Adrien..."

"I said no, okay?" Chloe deflated a little bit and Adrien felt horrible immediately. 

Adrien looked up and met her eyes. Tired green to arctic blue. To think that they had once been two sides of the same coin. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just-" 

He cut himself off, because he really didn't know what to say. He was lashing out because hhe was traumatized? He didn't know how to really communicate his feelings because his emotional intelligence had likely been stunted because of his lack of talking to people? Or that she'd been his only social interaction for the longest time?

All of those things were true. But Adrien wasn't willing to say it. 

So all he did was try to communicate his pain, his helplessness, through his eyes, in his gaze, his silent way of trying to communicate. But Chloe didn't seem to get it. Which was fine. After all, no one had really seen him since.... her. 

But Chloe seemed to see enough, for she hugged him and said, "It's okay, Adrien. You should go when you're ready."

Which he definitely wasn't. 

"H-honestly, I don't know what I'd do without you, Chloe," Adrien said, enveloping her in a hug.

Chloe returned the hug. "I'm always going to be here for you, okay?"

Adrien nodded and eventually pulled away. He had to learn how to be alone, sometimes. 

Chloe kissed his cheek and turned away. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Adrien forced his voice to start again. "S-sounds good."

The door closed, and Adrien was alone again. Just as always.