Chapter 9

"Morning Marinette. And Happy Birthday darling," Sabine Cheng said when she came down the stairs. It was the morning of her birthday and Marinette was curled up on the sofa with a hot cup of tea, looking out at the slow breeze rustling through the trees outside. Her feelings were numb after a night of tossing and turning, kept awake by the memories of Gabriel's harsh words. "How was last night? Is Adrien sleeping? I set out the guest room for him but I'm guessing, if the news is to be believed, that it wasn't used."

Marinette just looked at her mum, a tear rolling down her face at the mention of last night. Sabine immediately noticed and rushed over to her daughter, sitting down next to her and pulling her into her arms.

"Oh baby, I'm sorry, what happened?" she asked, the question opening the floodgates of Marinette's heart. She recounted the entire story to her mother, not missing one detail. By the end, Sabine was also fuming, but tucked her fury away to comfort her daughter, stroking her hair until she was all cried out.

"It's ok," she soothed. "You did what you had to do. Adrien will understand."

"He won't mum because I can never tell him. As far as he's aware, I broke his heart because I'm not good enough for him."

"Marinette, darling, you are good enough for anyone. Your friendship made you both so happy, and when you grew older, everyone could see the connection the two of you had. It was magical. I'm so sorry that Gabriel had to go and ruin it for you, but the two of you are soulmates, you'll find a way. I'm sure of it."

Marinette just smiled at her mother, but internally she was crushed. They couldn't be together. It was done and over and nothing will change that. She stood up from the sofa, taking her mug over to the sink before wandering upstairs to her room. She then gathered up her blankets and went to sit on the rooftop balcony, wanting to breathe in the fresh spring air while taking in the views of her city.

She moped around the rest of the day, not wanting to join in the Birthday lunch preparations as she was absolutely not feeling the normal birthday joy. After coming down from the balcony, she took a scalding shower and got dressed into her outfit for the day, a pair of her nice blue jeans with a white shirt. She wasn't really feeling it but still wanted to look nice for her family when they came over later today. It wasn't until 12 noon on the dot that she was dragged out of her sadness, and her book, when they all heard a knock on the door. All three Dupain Chengs looked oddly at the door, not expecting anyone to arrive for another two hours for her Birthday lunch. Then the two parents stared at their daughter, their hands currently preoccupied by their cooking. Marinette groaned when she understood what they were asking her to do, brushing the blanket of her knees and placing her book onto the coffee table, then getting up from her seat on the sofa. She walked over to the door, swinging it open before checking who it was.

"Adrien!" she exclaimed when her eyes landed on the very familiar features of her best friend, his blond hair looking more tousled than usual. But it suited him, adding a casual effortless quality to his outfit of a light sweater on a pair of jeans with a light jacket to protect from the wind. He flashed her a nervous smile when she opened the door, making her heart ache.

"Hi. You left this at the cloakroom yesterday," he said, handing her her little black clutch. "I tried ringing you quite a few times last night, only to hear your phone buzzing inside this on my desk."

"Oh thanks," Marinette replied. "We're about to have lunch now and you really shouldn't be here," she added, lying a little. She caught her parents giving each other a look, choosing to ignore them and turn back to Adrien. Her heart was being yanked out of her chest the longer she stood there with him, so she waved goodbye and started to shut the door, only to be stopped by him.

"Wait! Can we talk for a minute?" he asked, pleading slightly with his eyes.

"I'm not too sure, I should really be helping out," she lied again. She would have loved nothing more than to talk to him.

"Please, just 5 minutes. And then you can go back to moping around and blaming yourself for not being good enough, which is garbage by the way."

"I wasn't moping!"

"Yes you were. You forget, I know you better than anyone."

Marinette conceded at that, finally nodding at Adrien. Her eyes then caught sight of her parents again, this time staring right at them expectantly.

"Fine. Five minutes. But outside." she answered, shoving Adrien into the hallway and shutting the door behind her, effectively hiding from her parents nosey eyes.

Adrien reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small wrapped box, fiddling with it for a second before handing it to her. She looked at it for a second before taking it from his hands and giving him a questioning look.

"Happy Birthday Marinette," he said by way of explanation.

"Wait, you asked to speak to me just to give me a birthday present. Do you realise what you risked by doing that?" Marinette replied, a little angrily. But Adrien just smiled.

"Yes actually. But you don't need to worry about that. You should never have had to worry about that." This took Marinette aback a bit and she just gaped at Adrien, not knowing whether to believe him. But then she looked him right in the eyes and immediately knew that he was telling the truth.

"So if you know, why are you here?"

"Open the gift, Marinette." There was a finality in his voice that made her look down at the box in her hands, gently twisting it round before deciding to just rip off the paper, revealing a black velvet box.

"Jewellery?! Really? You thought that you would risk all your dreams being taken away to come give me jewellery!"

"Open the box, Marinette."

So she did, opening it to find a stunning antique locket. One that she recognised. She gently took it out of the box, opening it to see two pictures, one of Adrien's parents on their wedding day, both of them looking so happy and radiant, and one of herself when she was 14. She looked up at Adrien with a tear in her eye.

"It was my mothers. She used to wear it all the time and tell me stories about the two pictures she had in there, the one of her wedding day that is still in there and one of me when I was a baby, all big green eyes and crazy blond hair. She left it to me in her will when she died and I changed the picture of me to the one person who meant just as much to me as my mother did, for different reasons of course. I've been wearing that locket nearly everyday for the past 6 years, keeping both you and my mother close to my heart," Adrien started to explain.

"What are you trying to say?" Marinette asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"I'm trying to say that I love you Marinette. I've loved you for so long that I don't even remember when I started loving you. You are my everything. You asked earlier why I'm risking my dreams, well I'm not. My dream is you." Adrien was crying now, tears slowly dripping out of his eyes.

"Oh Adrien," Marinette whispered. "I love you too. So damn much that I really can't let you do this. I can't let you give up on your life goals so you can be with me."

"I knew you'd say that. That's why I come bearing the great news that I confronted my father, in the middle of his opening gala ball, finally giving him the piece of mind you've been trying to get me to give him. And it worked. He's backing off and actually letting me live my own life however I want to and with whoever I want to do it with. And I want you, my wonderful best friend."

The tears were properly running down her face now and Adrien stepped closer to her, tentatively reaching a hand towards her. She moved closer, allowing him to take her face into his hands and use his thumbs to gently brush away the tears. Their eyes then met, an understanding passing through them both at the same time as they leant closer together, their lips meeting in a mindblowing, yet salty, kiss.

"Best friend huh?" Marinette whispered once they broke apart, resting her forehead against his. "We may need different titles now, you know because of the love."

"Hmmm, I don't know. I think best friends sums it up," Adrien joked, earning a glare and a shove from Marinette. But he caught her hand before she could pull it away, placing it against his heart. "But seriously though, you have my entire heart, and no title will ever sum up how deep my feelings for you run."

"You're doing it again," Marinette whispered in response, her eyes screwing up a little. Adrien just looked at her a little confused.

"Doing what again?"

"Saying super cringy things with such sweet sincerity that my heart melts into a puddle."

Adrien laughed, dropping her hand and wrapping his arms around her waist, leaning closer as he said, "I guess I just have a way."

"You're an idiot," she laughed, unable to hide her smile at the return of their dynamic.

"Yes, but I'm your lovable idiot." He closed the gap between them once again, only breaking away with a laugh when they heard a loud cheer from the other side of the door.

The rest of the afternoon was amazing. They spent the day together just as planned, joking and enjoying all the celebrations with Marinette's parents and grandparents. After a delicious lunch, they gave Marinette her gifts, Adrien gladly finding out that the driver from last night had left Adrien's bag, with his actual gift in it, downstairs in the bakery. So, when it came to his turn, he handed her two, one that he had gotten her a week ago along with a small envelope he forgot to give earlier.

She opened the envelope first, intrigued to find out what else he planned to give her before confessing his love. Inside, she found two small pictures, one of them a goofy selfie of them as teenagers, and the other a cute one from the party last week, picturing them with their heads close together, Marinette looking into the camera and Adrien looking at her. Together they both perfectly captured their relationship.

"They're for the locket," Adrien explained. "I didn't think you'd want to keep the current pictures, it may be a bit weird."

"Wait, the locket's for me?"

"That's kind of what a gift means."

"That's not what I mean, and you know that. I mean that I thought it was something you were showing me to show that your feelings aren't from this week of acting closer, they were always there. You know, like the movies?"

"I do know. And it was partly for that reason, and for the reason that your other Birthday present was in my suitcase. So yes, the locket is for you."

Marinette looked shocked and touched at the same time, resisting the urge to kiss him as they were with her family. She got up and retrieved the locket from the box she put on the side before lunch, efficiently changing the photos, then handing it to Adrien to put on for her.

"There," he said once he closed the clasp. "It suits you much better anyways."

Marinette guffawed and shoved his shoulder, continuing to laugh as she sat back on the floor, picking up his other gift. She laughed even harder when she opened it, earning some very confused looks from her family.

"I was right," she said, her wide smile threatening to break her face. "You are an idiot." In her hands was a small string of blue beads threaded onto a red string, replicating a charm she gave him years ago.

"I had no clue what to get you this year, and then you made it even harder when you forced me to agree that we were both going to hand make each other gifts this year, so I thought back to a gift that made me so happy and the answer was a no brainer," Adrien explained, reaching into his pocket to pull out the good luck charm Marinette gave him the day they became best friends. It was her show of selfless kindness when she noticed how nervous he was for his first day of public school that made him realise that he wanted to be friends with her forever, and they have indeed been inseparable ever since.

Marinette's face softened when she saw it, closing her fist around her new charm and holding near her chest, lifting her head up to beam at him. "Thank you. I love it so much. And I honestly can't believe you still have that thing after nearly ten years."

"Of course I do, it was the first thing you gave me."

A small grateful smile stretched over Marinette's lips as she leant towards Adrien, meeting him in the middle to press her lips gently against his in a chaste kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Awww," four voices cooed, making the two of them blush before turning to see Marinette's family staring at them with matching grins stretched over their faces.

The day finished with the two of them bidding goodnight to Marinette's parents after a spirited game of trivial pursuit, her grandparents having left hours ago. Marinette pulled Adrien up to the balcony, loading them both up with blankets before they sat down on the deck chair in each other's arms, wrapped up in all the blankets. They talked in the quiet privacy of the balcony for ages, Adrien properly filing Marinette in on what happened after she left the ball last night after she told him everything that his father had said to her. They were both shocked at the situation, but chose to put it behind them, instead enjoying each other's company while looking out over the picturesque rooftops of Paris, the perfect way to end a great day and welcome a world of new possibilities. Together.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope this chapter didn't get too waffly at the end and the resolution didn't come too fast, I just don't think I could bear them being separated for too long!

I have written an epilogue that I'll post latest next Saturday (26th). I just want to make sure that it fits with the story. I love the chapter, and I really don't want to change it, but we'll see.

Thank you again and I hope you enjoyed the story! Please leave a comment to let me know what you thought!