Starlet • Lukadrien [Miraculous]

Chapter 11 | waiting rooms

Adrien was a grown adult now, he didn't need to ask Nathalie's permission for things. But if plans changed he'd still let her know, just in case.

So she had no issues when Adrien has texted her he was staying the night at Luka's the other day. The next morning he showed up back home in some of Luka's clothes, tired and under the collar of his shirt several hickeys were slightly visible. Nathalie didn't say anything, but she knew...

He slept most of that day, clearly exhausted from a lot of... physical activities. Nathalie wasn't one to pry though, so even though she knew that there was absolutely something going on between those boys, she kept quiet. Until now, two days later sitting in a doctors waiting room.

She was a grown adult, but Adrien always insisted on coming along to her appointments. He'd sit outside if it was something personal, but most of the time, Nathalie was ok with him sitting in with her during the appointments. She knew he was just worried, he'd already lost his mother to a similar chronic illness turned terminal. And while Nathalie was stable enough she wasn't going to drop dead on a random Tuesday, the sickness had rendered her immunocompromised and very fatigued. There was obviously no documented condition linked to the broken miraculous, the miraculous were largely a secretive thing after all. But the symptoms were similar enough to documented conditions that treatment was possible.

She's just be stuck with the symptoms forever, at least she could ease them.

The sit in the waiting room was quiet, it always was. But Adrien spoke up, quietly so only Nathalie could hear him. And in French, so none of the local Italians nearby could eavesdrop.

"Hey mum-" he began.

Even though it'd been years, something always clicked on Nathalie when Adrien called him mum. It was like a sense of pride in a way, that she'd taken care of him like she'd promised Emilie all those years ago, well enough to be seen as a mother.

"Hm?" She muttered.

"You know how I stayed with Luka the other night?" He asked.

Ah, here it came.

"Yeah, what about it?" Nathalie replied.

"There were a lot of words that night. Everything that happened has me thinking... if... if I'd dated him back in high school, and dad found out..." Adrien began.

"I'd have covered for you"

That made Adrien smile a little, he had a feeling she would have.

"Thanks. But... would dad have been against it because of the fact dating a middle class person would be 'bad for the brand'... or because he's a boy?" Adrien asked.

"Honey I won't sugarcoat it, probably both. I mean he tried to set you up with Kagami for the brand image, just because of the collaborations with her mother. He was very... exact about his image. He'd never really spoken about queer issues to me at least, but I do know he deliberately avoided them" Nathalie explained.

Somehow, Adrien had a feeling his father was homophobic in some way. How the hell his mother, the worlds most accepting and caring person, married his shit box of a father Adrien could never wrap his head around.

"Try not to think about him Adrien, he's gone now. It's all in the past, you're an adult. You date whoever you want, regardless of gender or what people think" Nathalie assured.

"I know... it's just all the talk of the past me and Luka have been having kinda... made me think I guess" Adrien replied.

"So I'm not just seeing things am I?"

"No, you're not. We... laid everything out on the table that night. We're dating"

She knew it. She knew it the second he'd walked though the door wearing Luka's clothes. In fact she had a hunch things would go that way since the two had reconnected. Even back in his high school days, Nathalie had her suspicions about their relationship. She was just waiting for them to realise it.

"You have much better taste in men than I ever did" Nathalie teased.

"You've got a better taste in women than I ever had" Adrien snickered.

Like mother like son in opposite ways, Adrien had a habit of falling for the wrong girls and Nathalie for the wrong men. But when it came to boys, Adrien only ever had eyes for the sweetest of them all. Maybe it was just the bisexual urge to be with someone of the same gender that made one seek out only the best for their perfect little gay relationships.

"I know it's early in the relationship, so I don't mean now but... do you think you'll tell him?" Nathalie asked.

Adrien immediately knew what she meant, and he looked down at the ring that sat above his miraculous on his finger. His ring... his very life source.

"I... don't know. I don't want him to view me as less of a human..." Adrien replied.

"This is Luka we're talking about" Nathalie assured.

"True, it's just... scary I guess. It's like coming out but on a whole different level"

That was understandable, Nathalie wasn't going to push him. Especially when he was still dealing with the whole senti thing as it was. Adrien really wasn't sure how to feel about it. When he first found out he was shattered. He felt like a monster, that's what they'd always called them right? A senti monster. After some long tear filled talks with Nathalie though, he'd come to understand that he was no monster, but he still felt... inhuman. Like an imposter, or a wolf in sheeps clothing.

He knew logically, that he was still a person. That's what he was created to be, a human. His mothers miracle baby. He was made out of love to be a bright young boy that Emilie would raise into a wonderful person. But that nagging feeling that he wasn't birthed like a human, didn't develop in the womb like a human, didn't even share DNA with his own family... just was made to look like them... it got to him sometimes.

He knew logically that he was a person, a senti-human. A regular person who was just born differently. But the nuances and details of his existence... it got to him at times.