Seeking Her

"To the great evils, great remedies."

Adrien owlishly blinked at the narrow-faced man who'd become a stranger to him.

"Adrien, have you not been paying attention?"

He yearned for his mother's presence. She would have looked at him with that fondness in her eyes. Offered reassuring words. The complete opposite of Gabriel Agreste who'd never offered anyone a carte blanche, much less his own son.

Gabriel's eyebrows skewed.

Adrien snapped out of his daze, "You're saying there's a way around this?"

"That's correct. Natalie has informed me that you've been performing well in...concealing the issue thus far. Therefore the 'allure' could be beneficial to your career."

Adrien held his breath.

Gabriel scrutinized him, "You may still attend school. But take note that on top of the schoolwork you still have your usual extra lessons. Also make sure to practice controlling your new urges. I will not stand for an indelicate son."

Relief and dread simultaneously overtook Adrien. "Thank you, father."

Adrien could feel several pairs of eyes pinning him into fantasies he wanted no part in. Such was his newfound curse of 'allure'. People, so long as their sexual orientation allowed for them to be attracted to him, now found themselves inexplicably perplexed by Adrien's beauty.

He could hear every whisper. Could smell even the subtlest of smells. Pinpoint who was where. Even feel the small vibrations of people walking from the soles of his feet on the ground. His newfound heightened senses could have branded him a superhero. At another time. Another universe.

Equanimity was his goal in this one.

With this in mind, he braced himself as the scent of expensive perfume and bubblegum made its way over. "Adrikens!"

Slim arms circled his neck and he fought the urge to gag at his childhood friend.

"I barely saw you during the summer! You promised you would call," she pouted.

Adrien gently removed her arms and smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry Chloe, my father didn't let me have a single break."

It wasn't a complete lie, his father did indeed allow for very small leisure. However this was mostly due to how he had been practicing to reign in the allure. To no avail of course.

"Did something happen?" Chloe narrowed her eyes and let them study him with renewed interest.

"No, why do you ask?" Adrien rubbed the back of his neck.

Chloe wasn't as self-absorbed as people thought, she could be observant of others. Sometimes.

"You look different." her lips quirked to the side, "A lot hotter."

Adrien forced a chuckle, "My mom's genes are finally showing up."

The hazy look that shadowed Chloe's eyes alarmed Adrien. "I think I saw Nino, I'll catch you later." he dashed off with his head ducked.

No matter how much he tried to make himself invisible it didn't work. He could still feel eyes digging into him from all angles in the courtyard, following his every move.

"Just saying hun, but jealousy is not a good look on you." Alya laughed at Marinette's incredulous expression.

"Everyone's been ogling Adrien all day! It's obvious he's uncomfortable from all the staring." Marinette grumbled.

Alya tapped Marinette's nose with her index finger, "I would think that also includes you ogling him."

Marinette's face turned scarlet, "Not so loud, someone might hear."

Alya laughed even louder.

It was obvious to anyone within a fifty-foot radius that Marinette harbored feelings for Adrien Agreste. She'd initially been unimpressed by the 'sunshine kid', claiming that any girl who liked him solely for his model status was shallow. But then the event that became known to Alya as the "Umbrella Incident" happened and Marinette's peevish heart started to kindle a small flame. Through months of denial, she eventually admitted, to the surprise of no one, that she liked Adrien.

Then everyone left for summer and Adrien's good looks made a fierce comeback. He grew taller, more fit, his eyes shined brighter, and even his hair was more silky than it appeared in the commercial from the previous year, and that was saying something because everyone knew those were heavily photo-shopped. If Marinette didn't know any better she'd call him a vampire as his skin practically glowed.

It was their first day back and people were stumbling to try and get a better look at Adrien. A fleeting thought made it's way into her head that everyone going crazy over him might hint that he is perhaps a...veela.

The thought was quickly dismissed and thrown away in a mental trash-can because it was a stupid thought. Veelas were rare and when found out they went into hiding. No sane person would send an unmated veela out into public school.

Thus Marinette shook her head and happily sketched out a new design for a dress in her sketchbook.

The day dragged on and Adrien cursed his mother's genes. He hadn't lied when he said to Chloe that his mother's genes had surfaced, the veela mutation came from her. Now here he was in science class with a buzzing at the back of his head making him feel slightly dizzy.

"Oi, bro, don't look now but Chloe's staring at you again," Nino whispered. There was humor in his amber eyes because of course, he would find it funny. "You've been a serious chick magnet all week. You've got to tell me your secret," he winked.

Adrien ducked his head, hoping his collar would hide him better. If only you knew. "Has she stopped staring?"

"Nope. Seems Sabrina's joined in on the fun too."

"Great." Adrien gave a small sigh.

Nino's expression changed as he realized Adrien's prominent discomfort. "Hey, dude, you know I've got your back. If any of these crazy fangirls get any ideas, I'll stop them."

Adrien smiled, grateful for his best friend's support.

Nino spun his pencil in between his fingers. "But seriously, it's almost supernatural how much they're attracted to you. I mean last year they were too but not to this extent."

Adrien's smile drooped. He could only guess it was going to get worse. But if it meant he could still go to school and not be at home, he'd suffer through it. Anything was better than feeling like a caged animal.

He nearly took back his words a few days later as he was quite literally getting chased by girls. Nino, the absolute traitor, had left to go look for Alya. As soon as he was gone girls had surrounded Adrien and gripped him with hands as sharp as talons as if they were the ones who were veela and not him.

They professed their greatest achievements and skills, not dissimilar to jobless people presenting their resume to an interviewer, except all they wanted was his attention.

"I won a basketball tournament!"

"My parents have a lot of money!"

"Adrien, I can fight well! And I speak three languages."

"Adrien-!"

With newfound agility, he evaded the crowd and ducked behind a pillar. The rush of footsteps told him they'd passed by and he released his breath.

The library door was across from him now. He stared at it for a long minute.

A strong force urged Adrien to enter it but he couldn't pinpoint why it was there to begin with. Every part of him was pulling him towards it, and he gave in, he probably shouldn't fight back his instincts.

With a sure push, he strode into the library. Quickly forgetting to be wary.

For the most part, it appeared to be empty anyway.

He figured now that he had a break he could get started on his physics homework.

Adrien could have easily chosen one of the empty tables near the entrance, but his feet carried him further into the library as if they had a mind of their own, physics homework quickly forgotten.

His mind began to buzz again, but not unpleasantly. A smile started to uncontrollably take over his face and he had no clue why he was starting to feel so giddy. Then, the sweetest scent he'd ever smelled overtook his senses, overwhelming him and causing him to close his eyes in bliss.

As he made a swift turn he crashed into something, or rather, someone. Their papers and books went flying dramatically before crash-landing in a disheveled mess around them.

He dropped down to his knees and he hurriedly began to pick up their stuff.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see where I was going and-"

He lifted his face and his jaw slacked as he found himself staring into deep cerulean irises.

She went as wide-eyed as he was.

"Adrien, I- you- Its problem is no, I mean! It's no problem!" she fumbled as she took back her stuff from him.

As she did, her hand brushed against his, and suddenly Adrien felt a rush of adrenaline course through him.

The skin where her hand brushed against his prickled with pleasure, his face flushed, and his heart hammered. But worst of all, he could do nothing to stop the embarrassing bird-like squawk he screeched at Marinette's face.

I've be reading too may Draco Malfoy veela fics so this monstrosity came out lmao. For those of you who don't know veela are creatures with the appearance of unearthly beautiful people, though they can take on a more bird like appearance and can get wings and even a beak. Their 'allure' is pretty much weird heightened pheromones that causes those around them to be attracted to them, and profess their greatest achievements to try and impress the veela. They are from the Harry Potter universe. For this story's sake I made it so that veela are a strange phenomenon of people that rarely happens but happens enough that most people are aware they exist. There is no hero plot here but there will be references. You may have noticed that I changed a few things like the development of Marinette's feelings for Adrien and their friendship as well. It will develop more though.