AN: Hi, so apparently Adrien angst is this hot new thing so…

(Sobs)

𝙻𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚜,

𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕.

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍

~𝙲𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚊 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚎

The sun was only just peeking out, a spot of distant light dipping just beneath the horizon, casting light flecks of a sunburnt hue to dance across the deep azure of the Seine.

Orange rippled, disrupted by a pebble, jagged at all edges and thrust into the waters with such a force that there was no way it could have possibly succeeded in being skimmed.

That said, Adrien did not cease his attempts, sending rock after stone after gravel to be submerged just as those had been before. It was somewhat calming for his mood, as if by doing this he was managing to throw his problems away, keeping the newly revealed truths as nothing more than pebbles, easily concealed and never seen again.

Plop.

But it just wasn't so, because sooner or later, he'd have to return. Face the facts. Accept it.

(He didn't want to. Was never going back an option?)

(No.)

Another pebble flew from his grip, harsher, with many more pent up emotions behind it.

How was this something he could possibly come to accept? Adrien figured he may as well have been sitting amidst an all out war, the sheer amount of bombshells having been dropped on him earlier having left him shaken to the core. The truth and the lies were beginning to grow difficult to differentiate from.

His father… Hawkmoth.

Nathalie… Mayura.

His mother… trapped timeless in an actual coffin of all things.

And him, all this time, all along a-

"Adrien."

He startled, lowering the arm half poised to throw as he turned towards the speaker, her voice a gentle warmth in the frosty air of that particular Autumn evening. Still, he remained exactly where he was, eyes trained on the other side of the bank, being unable to bring himself to stare his partner in the eye.

He knew exactly what he'd see in there.

"Adrien," She reiterated, softer this time as she came to a standstill. "Are you-"

"Okay?" He found himself wanting to laugh, though the sound only came out as strangled, hysteria ever so slowly creeping its way onto him, "We just battled against Hawkmoth. And despite everything, we won. Happy… I should be happy, shouldn't I? We've been waiting for this moment for years, but I-"

The pebble clattered to the ground.

"-I never imagined it to be him staring back at us. So many people in Paris! So many faces! And it turns it's my father?! It was never-"

Meant to be him.

(But it was.)

Ladybug remained silent for a moment, the quiet encompassing them feeling unnaturally still. The very essence of Paris itself seemed to be holding its breath for her.

"... You know that's not what I meant."

Adrien's lips quivered as he swallowed down her words with the ease of someone who had food caught in their throat, his windpipe suddenly feeling way too constricted to be comfortable.

"I…" He ducked his head. "I know."

But what was there to say? What could one possibly do given that they were in the same situation as him? How could he react to the fact that his father had straight up told him to his face that he wasn't even real?

He was a fake.

A copycat.

A memory of the son his parents had once adored.

A bitter reminder of what his father had lost.

(A sentimonster sculpted by his mother's hand.)

Hands wrapped their way around him, holding him in tightly as he melted into her embrace, hot tears he had held for so long now stinging his cheeks as he blubbered over her shoulder, words failing to be coherent. Yet, for once he couldn't find it in himself to care about appearances. This girl — his partner — she felt like home.

Warmth.

"I'm so, so sorry Adrien," She murmured in hushed tone, and had he had more time to think, he may have realised that she was crying too, "What was done to you cruel. They had no right, no right." Ladybug shook her head, blinking. "But you're still you, don't let this change anything. You're real. To all of us. To me."

He pulled himself back out of the hug, tear streaked face frowning. "I… I don't understand. I'm not-"

"You are! All these memories we've shared have been between us. You are the one who's Chat Noir, and you're the one who's my partner. You're real enough."

He opened his mouth in a lame attempt to argue, only to be hushed.

"Remember Bugette?" Nod. What had happened to her had been, well, horrifying to put it mildly. "She was her own person. Her own being — just like you are. And I wouldn't change anything about you." A bittersweet smile began to grow on her face, masked in the light of the setting sun. "And this is going to sound selfish, but… in a way I'm glad they did it? So I could meet you, Chaton."

"You-" He rubbed at his eyes, his whole world swimming in a bleary focus. "You mean that?"

Nodding vehemently, her cheeks took up a rosy hue. Though how much of that was the light, it was hard to tell. "You're too big a part of my life for me to not."

Oh.

Adrien swallowed, "You don't think I'm a monster."

If anything, Ladybug looked like he had personally affronted her. "No, you're way too considerate for that."

"And you still want me as your partner?"

"I can't think of anyone better."

All track of time had been lost to Adrien oh so long ago, hours seeming like seconds and seconds hours. An all round numbness consuming him. But this peculiar flux of time gave him time to wonder — wonder even as the last of the sun set behind the buildings, and the entirety of Paris was cast in the blanketed shadow of the night — if in time, he too could believe her words.

In time.

Now, whilst I find this an interesting concept to write with as a fic, I honestly hope these theories aren't canon. He's been put through a lot and this would be… well, too much to the mix.