Famous Love ✎

Chapter 3

Silence.

Adrien blinked once, twice, nothing. No expected nodding, no expected squeals that he had spoken.

Absolutely nothing came out from the crowd before him as they just stared at him. He turned his head to the side to see Ladybug's face that had become pale and almost... horrified.

This was the time he wished that he could just evaporate into thin air, or maybe disappear into a black hole of self pity or something. For once he wished that his mom was here, to get him out of this, or at least someone to comfort him.

Adrien glanced around, catching the glimpse of his father with probably the most angered face in the world and Nathalie, who looked like she was about to faint on the spot but somehow managed to still hold the tablet containing his angered father.

All too soon, the darkness that was eating the blond alive turned into a sudden burst of squeals, millions of photos and people trying to rampage up to him.

He was utterly confused, he didn't even know what was going on until someone shouted, "Adrien is in love with Ladybug! OH MY GOD!"

His mind stopped functioning as his brain sorted and scanned every possibility to why someone would know that.

But all thoughts dissipated as he felt tears prickling his eyes as the image of his angered father to the side floated in his mind. He messed up the image of the Agreste brand and there was no way to undo it now that everyone was practically posting stuff on social media.

He didn't even know he was crying or even something of that sort until he felt his feet moving him, at first slow, but quickly faster as he felt himself pick up the pace and dash down the stage, nearing the exit to the room, pushing past crowds that were trying to get ahold of him.

"ADRIEN!" he then heard that sweet melancholy shriek, but that's when everything turned black.

—

Adrien quickly locked himself into a storage room from inside Mont Parnasse tower and slumped himself to the ground, shrugging off his suit jacket.

Plagg floated out and began speaking, but the model heard nothing of it and wrapped his arms around his knees, rocking gently back and forth as Claustrophobia slowly crept into him, as he only saw black, more black, and just... black.

Black here, black there...

Black.

He sat there, not even daring to cry as tears were threatening to spill out of his eye lids. He immediately rubbed them away, feeling the dry tear stains that slid across his cheeks.

He tried to envision that his mother was there, that someone was there, but nothing came into his mind as he just felt cold, empty and alone. Adrien had just added more darkness to his boundless solitude, he added more pain to his father's image and well, embarrassment towards his lady.

He hadn't meant to say it, but again, he was just being a lovesick teenager that didn't pay enough attention to his surroundings.

He gripped onto his hair, mentally cursing for messing everything up... again. Whatever his father expected of him... now was gone. The only chance he got to model with Ladybug... was gone. The last time he could probably go to a public school... was gone.

He felt like whatever he did was a mistake. Almost as if everything leading up to this moment... was a mistake.

The green-eyed boy began teary-eyed blinking, trying to clear his vision of the darkness around him, but yet to no avail.

It was almost as if all of his life was darkness. He had no light to it. He once did, his mother once shown him light, but then she was gone.

Why wasn't the world kind to him? Why wasn't the world kind to him when he was kind to the world?

"Come on, kid. So you didn't hear the question properly, but there's still a way to clear things up."

"Maybe with them..." he sighed, finally being able to see the piercing neon green eyes of his kwami who was floating beside him, "But not with my father."

He knew that he was right. There was no way his father would ever forgive him. There was no way in the universe that his father would let him have free time now.

There was no way that he expected anything... no way that he could free himself from this closet as he started shaking violently with fear.

Then he began to cry. Not just because of the photoshoot or stupid Claustrophobia, but about everything. About the future, the past, the present. All three of them, and what had become of him.

Ladybug knew. His father knew. Everyone knew...

That he was dumb enough to say that.

Before he could even collect himself together, he heard a gentle knock on the closet door.

—

"Adrien?" Ladybug slowly questioned as she knocked onto a closet door.

She was worried sick, worried sick that Adrien may have locked himself in something when she clearly knew that he was scared of being locked up from Riposte.

So she began to try and get into every tight space.

She knocked again, but no sounds came out. She tried opening the door knob, but it would budge.

"Adrien?" she tried again, pressing her ear against the door to hear the gentle hum of sniffling.

"Adrien!" she gapsed, immediately trying to open the door again, but with much more force than the last time. It didn't budge. She rushed down the hall and to a service desk, scaring the living daylight out of the woman who stood behind the desk.

"L-Ladybug!" she gasped, the bluenette nodding quickly as she pointed over to the closet.

"Do you have the key to the storage room?"

"Y-Yes." the blond nodded as she immediately began searching her post of keys, until coming across a small silver one.

"Here." she handed the heroine the object, Ladybug nodding thankfully as she rushed over to the doors of the room and began fiddling the key into the lock.

"I'm coming, Adrien." she whispered, turning the metal key into the slot one more time before it squeaked open with a click.