Chapter Four

"You are a lover. Borrow Cupid's wings and soar with them above a common bound," -William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

He was fed up with it all. Adrien had been dating Marinette six months and, seemingly out of nowhere, his father was telling him he had to break-up with the girl.

His secret relationship with the raven-haired beauty had been discovered two months ago, when they were celebrating their four month anniversary. He had told his father two weeks in advance that he had made plans and to not schedule anything that would require his attendance on that date. True to form his father completely ignored him and scheduled something on that day. It seemed to Adrien that his father was doing this just to spite him. His father had even arranged a bit of extra security just to make sure Adrien didn't sneak out on that date.

There was one thing Adrien would admit he inherited from his father, and that was his father's stubbornness. On the outside it wasn't as apparent. Since Adrien was more mild mannered and personable than his father no one realized that if he wanted something then nothing would stop that. Being the romantic that he was that normally meant pursuing his romantic affair with Marinette. Nothing would stop him from being with her. Not his social standing. Not his affiliation with the Agreste business. Not his preference of cats to dogs (though he admitted he was rather fond of Tikki). And most certainly not his father. But he had inherited his stubbornness from his father. That's why the business was so successful, and why Adrien had learned to have backup escape routes from an incredibly young age, no matter how unseemly they were.

On their four month anniversary Adrien escaped the house through the trash chute. It was disgusting and he brought a backpack with a change of clothes so he didn't smell like rotten rich-people garbage when he arrived for his date with Marinette. He changed in the alley a black away from the mansion and risked a ticket in public nudity changing behind a random building. It would all be worth it though.

He practically ran to Marinette's place once he was changed. (He abandoned the backpack with the clothes in the alley, making a note to pick it up later after the date.) He stopped by a cart and bought a bouquet of pink gerbera daisies to give to her when he knocked on the door. He secretly hoped the meaning of the flower wasn't anything too forward or too casual, as he had forgotten to look up the meaning of the flowers before he bought them, like he usually did. He was in a hurry. Their reservations were creeping up.

Upon reaching the door of her apartment he knocked rapidly, only to feel a tap on his shoulder a moment later. He could feel the color drain from his face as he turned around and saw someone standing there. He had expected it to be his bodyguard, or his father's assistant, or possibly one of the hired security guards. He had not expected to see his father standing there, in the middle of a middle-class apartment building, arms crossed around his chest, face looking stern. "I thought I told you to remain home today."

Adrien sighed and looked his father directly in the eyes. He didn't want to disobey his father, but he wasn't going to give into his demands any longer. He had to stand up for himself. "I thought I told you I had plans."

At that moment Marinette chose to open the door. Her face, bright and cheerful, with a bright smile, suddenly became confused, a bit concerned as she looked at the two men standing in front of her. "Adrien? What's going on?" She asked.

Adrien sighed before mustering up the best smile he could fake. "Marinette, sorry for the lack of notice, but I didn't realize my father had followed me here. Marinette, this is my father, Gabriel Agreste. Father, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng," he paused, "my girlfriend."

He saw his father tense up fro a moment before taking Marinette's hand in his and placing a kiss on the back of it. "Well, it is nice to meet you, Miss Dupain-Cheng. I apologize for not telling you I was coming, but Adrien had not told me where he was going." He turned his attention to his son. "I assume this is why you've been sneaking around these past few months?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright. We'll talk about this when you get home." He turned his attention to Marinette once more. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Dupain-Cheng."

She nodded. "You too, Mr. Agreste."

It was an eventful anniversary to say the least. After their date, when Adrien returned home, backpack slung over his shoulder, he expected to receive an earful, but nothing was said. His father just acted like the whole event had never happened.

Now at six months it was all changing. "You're going to break-up with Miss Dupain-Cheng."

His father had called him into his office for a meeting. The moment Adrien sat down those were the words out of his father's mouth. No "how are you doing?" or "nice weather." It was quick and straight to the point.

"What?" Adrien would have been angry if he wasn't so shocked. Two months of not saying anything about Marinette and now his father was demanding he end his relationship? That was out of the question. "No! You can't just ask me to do that!"

His father was reading some documents. He hadn't looked up at Adrien once since he entered the room. "I'm not asking. I'm ordering you to."

"I refuse!" Adrien had never understood the expression seeing red, but he understood it now. "Why?"

"I have arranged an engagement for you," Gabriel slid the documents over to Adrien so he could look them over. "Chloe Bourgeois is the daughter of the Mayor of Paris, a very influential politician. He is practically guaranteed a spot in the French Parliament in the upcoming elections. Having the two of you be married would be beneficial to both our family and theirs."

"No!"

"Again, Adrien, I'm not asking you. I'm ordering you. You are going to break up with Miss Dupain-Cheng and marry Miss Bourgeois in a month. We have already planned the wedding. It requires practically nothing on your part. You just have to show up to the alter and say 'I do.'"

"Nothing but a lifetime commitment." Adrien stood up from the chair in the office and made his way to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Anywhere but here!" Adrien stormed out, went over to his room, threw some necessities into a suitcase, grabbed Plagg and placed him in a cat carrier, and went to a filing cabinet in his room where he grabbed a series of files.

That night Marinette heard a knock on her door. She was confused. She didn't expect anybody to come over today, but when she opened the door her face brightened. Adrien was standing there. She threw her arms around his neck, then saw the suitcase and the cat carrier. "Is everything okay?" She asked.

He shrugged in response. "Not really. Can I come in?"

She opened the door wide for him and let him bring settle in. "So," she began once he was settled and Plagg made himself home on the end of the couch, "what happened?" She took at seat next to him, forcing Plagg to relocate to a different spot, which happened to be Tikki's dog bed, where the black cat snuggled up next to the poodle with only slight hesitation.

"My father had arranged a marriage for me."

Marinette couldn't believe what she was hearing. Arranged marriages were still a thing in modern society? What about their relationship? "What?"

"Yeah. Some girl named Chloe Bourgeois she's the daughter of the mayor and my dad thought marrying her would be a great idea, or something." Adrien rested his head on Marinette's shoulder. "He wanted me to break up with you, and I couldn't do that. I love you."

Marinette felt her heartbeat rapidly increase. She had known she loved him for a while, and she had known he felt the same, but neither of them had voiced it out loud. "What was that?"

Adrien seemed to not have realized what he had said until Marinette raised the question. Then the tips of his ears began to turn pink. That didn't deter him, though. He took his head off of her shoulders and took her hands in his. "I love you, Marinette. That's why I can't marry Chloe and that's why I left my home."

She couldn't resist. She placed a kiss on his lips that grew deeper and deeper, both of them pouring out their emotions to one another. When they separated the two were breathing heavily, looking at each other with hooded eyes and swollen lips. "I love you too," Marinette said, and the two fell into the other's arms for the night.

I'm kind of surprised with where this story is going, but I'm not complaining. There is a complete chapter layout for this story so I know exactly where it's going, but it is the least detailed chapter layout I've ever created. Literally it looks like "Chap One- meeting, Chap Two- date, Chap Three- first kiss, Chap Four- I love you's, etc.," so there is a destination but the journey there is a mystery for all of us. I hope y'all are liking this story. The reviews I've gotten for this are very supportive, so I'm glad y'all seem to be enjoying it. Just a small little mini-project between holidays and events. Maybe I'll get a one-shot out or something.

The last day of this summer session for my college is this Wednesday, but then I have my first day on Thursday of session two, but I'm taking a class with the same teacher, so I doubt updates will be affected. I'm also back home from the lake so maybe I can get back to daily instead of semi-daily. We'll see. It will continue to be frequent updates at the very least.

Let me know when y'all's back to school dates are so I can begin to figure out the dates for that countdown, and let me know what y'all think of the story. I want to know what I can do to make this a better reading experience for you all!