This is a birthday present to my adult friend CaulderPine, who I hope enjoys this little story I have written. The first chapter is tame, the second and third chapters... are not.

Total smut is coming your way folks, please do not read past the first chapter if it is not you thing.

"Hi Miss Sancoeur, I have Adrien's books he left at mine after the study session yesterday." Marinette spoke into the tannoy at the gate of the Agreste Mansion. As per usual, the little black box opened, prompting her to place them within, and be on her merry way.

That would have been fine, if it was not for the fact that she had the revised presentation on her memory stick, and no knowledge on how to send it to him. Alya had been little to no help, while Nino had shrugged, 'technology's a bitch, best go give it to him in case you lose the whole thing.'

"I'm really sorry," Marinette started, she was not wanting to go in as much as they wanted to keep her out. "I need to upload our presentation to his computer so he has the final copy for tomorrow."

Since they had inadvertently revealed while tackling a rather difficult Akuma, any exchange both in and out of the mask had been strained to say the least. The student, who shared business classes with Adrien, really did not want to run into him unless it was absolutely necessary. Even having Alya and Nino in the library, while they were doing the project, had not been ideal at keeping things pleasant. He had become cold, and Marinette had been too hurt by the sudden change to try and sort it out with him: the ravenette had been unable to shake the resentment building at his silent rejection. As Chat, he had even been way more serious during battles, there was no playfulness in his mannerisms, and her Kitty had become all business.

"I promise to be quick."

A few seconds went by where Nathalie seemed to be debating the best options. "I'm afraid Adrien is not here at this moment." The woman stated in her monotone way, "can you not just drop the memory stick in the box and he can give it back to you another time?"

Marinette was cursing her lack of forward planning, "I would, but I'm afraid I haven't uploaded it to my computer yet and I really need it for tonight to practice my part of the presentation."

"Very well."

The gates opened and Marinette felt her body tingle with dread, her pink dress swaying as she walked across the court yard with feigned confidence. At least the blonde was occupied elsewhere, so there was little chance of running into him while she was making sure he had a copy of the presentation along with the notes for his section. The big double doors opened and the design major stepped into the vast foyer. Not giving Nathalie a second glance, Marinette thanked her and made her way to Adrien's study.

Long ago, he had rearranged his room, procuring another to use as his office, and the aspiring designer had only one train of thought upon reaching the large wooden door: get in, and get out.

The way Nathalie had only replied with an ice cold stare the last time Marinette had spoken to her, was the only reason the ravenete did not ask her to upload the document. The thorough assistant had sometimes been approachable, but since Gabriel had been imprisoned for embezzlement, those occasions had practically disappeared. Adrien had benefited majorly from his father's incarceration, but it was obvious at times that he was missing the cold man. Marinette had been there for Adrien since the investigation had begun, and it seemed like they were finally making progress in moving their relationship to the next level, but the reveal ruined it all.

Stepping into the blonde's dimly lit office, Marinette was pleased to see the computer was logged on already and her task in uploading the file would be quick and easy, to a degree. The computer was old, as he refused to replace the last thing his mother had picked out with him before her disappearance, therefore, slow in it's functions. Taking a seat in Adrien's comfortable office chair, the budding designer plugged in the memory stick, placed the books down neatly and started the simple task of copying over the file. The room was quiet, and seeing the slow progress of the transfer on screen put her on edge.

'This is silly!' She sighed to herself and troubled her bottom lip while leaning on the desk and drumming her fingers against the hardwood. 'Why can we not just talk about it, and go back to how things were?'

As Tikki slept in Marinette's bag, the ravenette decided to occupy her mind and make the time fly faster by looking through the all too familiar range of books on Adrien's shelves. There were the usual ones, which had been set by his professors for classes, a few old looking ones with Chinese writing on the spines, and many novels which the blonde had inherited from his mother. The missing woman had been declared dead for almost two years, and Adrien had decided to read all the books his mother had owned to try and feel closer to her. He had explained to Marinette, at the time, why it was important to him, and she understood: his father was not willing to share too many personal details with the university student about his mother, so reading her favourite books allowed him to get to know her in his own way.

The heroine missed their silent evenings of just sitting in each other's company; Marinette missed the way Adrien would gently trace circles on her arm while they watched the film versions of his mother's favourite novels. The design student leaned her chin on her fist as it was propped up on the arm of the chair, sadly pondering how their relationship had been so close before everything turned upside down. Sometimes, she would find herself drawing the blonde as he sat reading, both simply feeling comfortable enough to not have to force anything about their interactions. Cuddling on his sofa, and even in either of their beds, had become the norm, finding whatever book to film story to watch as they sometimes lay there all day. Pride and Prejudice was the last one they watched together, and they had been planning on binge watching the TV series but then the reveal happened…

When her last attempt at a relationship had broken down, Adrien had been the one who made himself instantly available to come to her house with ice cream and crap romcoms. Picking her up and unintentionally keeping her hopes up that one day he would finally see her in a romantic light. Even his last girlfriend had picked up on whatever they were to each other, and the brunette had accused Marinette of trying to 'steal her man'... they never saw what's-her-face after that, and Adrien did not speak about it.

Alya and Nino seemed to be leaving the two of them to it, gone were the days of their meddling ways, and Marinette would put money on Alya already thinking they were 'at it'. The amount of times they had been awoken next to each other at university parties was countless, and that included times when they had been dating other people.

Marinette collapsed back into the chair with a frustrated grunt and placed her hands over her face. 'Why did everything change when the masks came off!?' She glanced at the screen and found that the file was taking a stupidly long amount of time and another grunt of frustration escaped her lips.

"Tough day?"

Marinette froze as the door closed behind the blonde who now stood in the same room.

"Adrien I-"

"Nathalie told me you were up here," the tired looking male cut across her, "I'm not surprised the file is taking so long as the machine is pretty old remember."

"Oh… yeah, it's, uh, taking a while yes." The ravenette replied meekly, watching Adrien closely as he awkwardly stood shuffling next to the doorway and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Are you okay Adrien?"

Marinette stood up cautiously, taking a step towards him, but she decided against getting any closer to Adrien, and her own reluctance boggled her. 'Why can't I just go to him? He's Adrien! My Chat Noir! Why can't I be close to him anymore?'

Green eyes traveled from the floor to briefly peer at her before wandering over to the bookcase. He breathed in deeply before letting out a long sigh, "I went to see my father today."

'Sod it.'

Marinette strode the whole three steps and wrapped her partner and friend up in a tight hug. When he tensed as soon as her arms made contact with him, Marinette momentarily panicked that she had made the wrong decision. When he relaxed however, and put his arms around her in return, Marinette sighed contentedly and Adrien rested his chin on her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She whispered with her cheek against his chest as she rubbed soothing strokes up and down his back.

Adrien silently shook his head and just wrapped his arms around her tighter, Marinette felt a tear form in her eye. Was it relief? Could it be that this was all it took, to remove whatever barrier Adrien had erected between them after finding out they had been fighting alongside each other for eight years? A simple hug? Burying her face into his shirt, Marinette did not care, she had missed having the closeness with the blonde outside of the mask and the playful banter with him under it.

There was no way she was going to let go unless he wanted her to.

Standing there for what seemed like a lifetime, neither young adult was showing signs of relinquishing their hold on the other. Adrien cleared his throat, and Marinette could tell he was feeling emotional. She wanted to comfort him, and tell him that everything would be okay, that his father would be back home in a few years and that she would be there to hold his hand every step of the way. Marinette could not bring herself to speak however, and just gave him a squeeze before leaning away from him slightly and looking up at him with a reassuring smile.

That was when Adrien put his forehead to hers, and her blue eyes saw the tear marks on his beautifully defined cheeks. "I can't lose you too."

The ravenette did not understand, there was no way he was going to lose her. "I'm not going anywhere Adrien."

He took a ragged breath before speaking almost too quietly for her to hear, "I'm sorry, Marinette. I am so sorry."

She begrudged taking one of her arms from around his torso, but Marinette needed him to look her in the eye. Bringing her hand to caress his face, watery green eyes were brought to look into her searching blue. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Adrien took another shaky breath before lifting his head and averting his gaze to look around the room once more. As he spoke up again, his strong hand found the back of her head and drew her into his chest again. "I do, I tried to distance myself from you because I can't lose another person I, c-care about." The crack in his voice was telling, and the ravenette in his arms was certain she felt a tear on her shoulder as he buried his face into her neck.

Marinette's heart was racing in her chest. Pounding hard at being that close to Adrien after what felt like so long being separated from him, the cologne she bought him at Christmas tickled her nose and a sad smile spread her lips. Just hearing his raw emotions and the distress in his words broke her heart, Marinette held him tighter.

The height difference between the two of them now was evident by the way he towered above her, but Adrien still managed to keep her close while nuzzling into her. "I've lost my mother, I've lost my father, and to find out that you were the two people who mattered most to me made the prospect of losing you that much more unbearable. I. Can't. Lose. You."

"You won't," she whispered in response, "I'm here." She pulled away to clutch at either side of his face to make sure her teary blue connected with his saddened green. "I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere."

"But Akuma's-"

"Have become worse, yes," she kept Adrien's focus on her, "is that why you've been so serious? During battles? Is that why you-"

"Yes."

Marinette took a sharp inhale, "why didn't you just tell me?"

Adrien closed his eyes and shook his head, "I couldn't, I didn't want to acknowledge that you were you at first."

"I don't under-"

"I love you god damn it!" He growled as his breathing became more irregular and shaky from pent up emotion and frustration. Adrien's green eyes opened and stared at her shocked blue with resolution. "I. Love. You. All. Of. You… before I knew, before I saw you replaced with, you… I don't know…" he gulped and took a deep breath as Marinette felt tears trickling down her face, her heart thumping in her throat. "As Ladybug, you are invincible, but I've always caught Marinette, you've always been strong, even without your suit, but Marinette isn't invincible, which means that Ladybug isn't either." He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and held the sides of her face when he put his forehead to hers. "I'm an idiot for pushing you away, but I thought if I could separate myself from you, it would be easier to focus on defeating Hawkmoth, I let my emotions get the better of me and I make stupid mistakes because of it. I get distracted, and impulsive, so I had to do something to make sure I could keep my head in the game… this…" he inhaled shakily, "has been torture, I'm an idiot M'Lady."

Marinette wanted to shout at him for how he handled the situation, but she understood his logic. It still hurt though, but the heroine could sympathise with why he did it. Besides, it was not like she had pressed him to find out what had been going on either.

Pulling back so she could gaze up at him she cupped his face while affectionately rubbing her thumb along his cheek to wipe away the tears present on his skin. Kissing his other cheek, she nuzzled Adrien's face, "I understand Kitty."

Marinette could feel the warmth in her face rising as his face slowly turned as did hers. They were close, their noses almost brushing as their breath mingled in the small space between them. There was one more thing she was desperate to tell him, something she had never truly understood until the moment that he had attempted to shut her out. The moments that she missed him most, were the moments she realised the love she claimed to have for him all those years ago was nothing but infatuation. The immature and blinded fourteen year old self, that had no way to comprehend ever feeling this way about anyone, was long gone, and the unconditional love and compassion that consumed her being was itching to be unleashed on her soulmate.

The hesitancy in their almost brushing lips, was only matched by the uneven breaths that preceded what Marinette knew was about to happen. They were on the verge of taking the next step, the step that would thrust them into the unknown.

The words were on the tip of her tongue, and Adrien seemed to be waiting for a sign that this was what she wanted.

Marinette wanted Adrien more than life itself. She needed him more than the air that filled her lungs and caught in her throat.

"Adrien," she whispered almost silently, "I love you too."

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Next update will be tomorrow, please let me know your thoughts so far =^.^=

Take it easy!

Lady Rhi X