Chapter 2

Adrian made his way down the street, on his way to Marinette's house for his party. Usually, he would be super happy and excited to hang out with all his friends, and as of just an hour ago that was exactly the case, but now he couldn't even put on a fake smile. Stuffing his hands in his pockets he genitally kicked a rock out of his pathway, replaying everything in his head over and over again. His dad was Hawkmoth, his mom was still alive but in a magic-induced coma, and he pledged his loyalty to the one super villain he had spent years trying to stop.

A vision of a smiling Ladybug holding her hand out to him flashed in his head, making his stomach dropped. How could he betray her trust, there is no way she would ever forgive him once she learns the truth. How would he even get her miraculous when the time comes, it's not like he could just ask her for them, and he doesn't even know her real identity so it's not like he could just break in when she's sleeping and steal her earrings.

Making it to the bakery he tried to shake those negative thoughts away, to little avail. He wasn't going to let this bother him, he already made his decision. So now he was going to go in there and have a great time with his friends, and follow Hawkmoth's orders when the time comes.

Adrian slipped into Marinette's living room without drawing too much attention. All his friends were there with glowing smiles, having fun just spending time together. Nino and Alya were sitting on the stairs flirting amongst themselves. Marinette, Luka, Rose, and Juleka were standing in the kitchen munching on the finger foods that were laid out. Alix and Max were on the couch getting a little into a video game.

Marinette looked over to the door, her cheeks immediately turning a nice bright pink color as her eyes fell on Adrian. She could feel her heart beat quickly speeding up and her hands getting just a little sweaty at just the thought of her plans to confess today.

Luka noticing Marinette's blush and knew it could mean only one thing. Following her line of sight, he turned to face Adrian across the room. Luka raised his glass to him "There's our birthday boy! Was starting to think you wouldn't show, what took you? Had trouble getting passed the old man?" he asked as he waved Adrian over to join them.

Adrian let out a forceful nervous laugh "Yeah, something like that". He made his way over to them and stood between Marinette and Luka. Quickly grabbing a hand full of grapes and proceeded to munch on them, hoping food would help settle his stomach.

They all stood around talking, joking, and playing video games together for a few hours. Glancing over at the clock, Luka checked the time noticing that it was already getting close to midnight. "Damn it, if Marinette puts this off any longer she's gonna miss her chance." He mumbled under his breath to himself. He glanced over at Marinette who was sitting on the stairs with all her girlfriends happily gossiping, then over to Adrian who was sitting on the couch Nino playing a vintage fighting game as Max stood behind them shouting out the sequences for combo attacks. "Looks like it's time for plan B" he muttered before loudly clearing his throat.

"Oh damn it! I must have left my guitar at home, and here I wrote a special song just for today." Luka said giving Alya and Nino the signal. They knew that something like this might happen, where something would stop Marinette from seeing it through, so they came up with several plans and code words to ensure that a confession happened tonight, one way or another. A special song being the code for moving on to plan B.

Alya stood up and grabbed Marinette's wrist dragging her up the stairs into her bedroom. "Alright girl, no more stalling, it's now or never! Adrian will be up in a second. And I swear, if you chicken out this time I will tell him myself, and I won't leave out any details of your stalker-like behavior over the past five years!" She threatened as she poked Marinette in the chest, making sure she got her point across, before darting back downstairs.

As Alya reentered the room she caught Nino's eye and gave him a slight nod. Popping tapping his controller against his leg he popped out the batteries into his hand and quickly shoved them into his pocket. "Oh no! Dude I think my controller died. Adrian quick, run and grab some new batteries. I think they are inside the desk in Marinette's room."

Jumping off the couch Adrian ran up the stairs and darted into her room, quickly making his way over to her desk before spotting Marinette sitting on her long pink chair, nervously playing with her fingers. "O-Oh, sorry Marinette I didn't know you were up here. I just needed to grab Nino some new batteries."

"Yeah, sure… no problem." Marinette said as she stood up, walking over to a drawer and palming two AA batteries. "H-here" offering them out to him, but just before he took them she closed her hand "Wait… A-Adrian… I'm uhm…" she stammered out, not having this much trouble talking to him since her middle school days. Taking a long deep breath she let it out slowly, relaxing her shoulders a little before looking back up at him in the eye. "Adrian, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time… I like you…"

Adrian smiled down at her "I like you too Marinette, you're a very dear friend to me, and I could never replace you"

"Y-yeah… friend… wait no! A-Adrian, I mean I like you like you. I've been in love with you for a very long time, practically since we first met. There's been many times I've tried to tell you but I would get so nervous that I just couldn't." She practically yelled at him, her confession even being able to be heard downstairs.

Adrian stared at her in shock "Marinette… I had no idea." He muttered before turning away from her "I'm sorry Marinette… I just can't, not now… things are complicated and… Well, Marinette I'm just not good for you. I appreciate your feelings, but I can not return them… I hope you understand." he rejected her as genitally as he could before leaving the room.

Without saying anything or even making eye contact with anyone Adrian left Marinette's house. He knew that after turning her down it would be best for her if he wasn't around for a little while.