Shout out to @taulun_art and her amazing Music AU which featured this song
Adrien lifted his hand to his head. It felt like his brains were being squeezed through a vice and his mouth was as dry as the Sahara. Slightly opening one eye, he closed it quickly as light pierced through the curtains of his suit on the Bourgeois hotel.
He thought he was ready to come back. He thought he could handle seeing her again, but even after two years since he left Paris, and three since his father had been unmasked as his notorious arch nemesis, maybe coming back had been a mistake. Holding his head again Adrien let out a groan, but it wasn't his head that was hurting now, it was his heart.
He had turned his back on everyone, caught up too far in his own pain. For almost a year afterwards he had tried to battle through his demons, trying to convince himself that it would be alright. As the weeks passed though he spiraled more and more. At first he just couldn't get out of his own way, then he was missing meetings or appointments, not answering his phone, and shutting himself off from everyone until eventually one night he found his father's wine cellar. After that all he did was drag everyone else down with him. In the end he left Nathalie and his cousin to pick up the pieces of the Gabriel brand and he ran away to New York. For two years he hadn't spoken to anyone - not his friends, not Nino… and not Marinette.
Marinette. That was the pain that hurt most of all. Marinette. His Ladybug, his fiancée, his everything. They had their whole lives planned, she even had already chosen the names of the future children they hoped to have. He had it all, until his father ripped it out from under him as he always did. Marinette tried to help him. She would be the one to come and pick him up off the floor when even Chloé had to have him removed from the bar in the hotel. It was Marinette who held him when he would cry out in the night, and it was Marinette who bore the brunt of his angry, booze fueled tirades.
She deserves someone better than the son of a villain, deserved better than a partner that had failed to recognise the evil that was living under his own roof. A roof where had brought her under many times for dinner with his father, where they had studied together, laughed together, made love to each other. He had tried to blot out the memories of her soft skin and the smell of her hair and erase the sound of her heartbeat from his brain. He tried to let her go.
Adrien clenched the pillow with his hand and buried his face into it, his Miraculous conspicuously absent from his finger. He had renounced Plagg in front of her, handing it over the night he had walked away, the same night he had broken off their engagement and left her in tears broken on the floor. Plagg had pleaded with him not to leave, or at the very least take him too. Adrien wouldn't listen though. He didn't deserve to wear a Miraculous, and he didn't deserve her. He had never deserved her and he had no right forcing her to stay with him because of a promise they had made when they were only 18. They were so young and so in love. It was foolish to think that they could just stay that way forever. She should have all the happiness in the world which he could no longer offer her.
Everything was gone. The company, his parents, his contacts. Even his name wasn't worth anything except its association with a villain. Adrien forced himself to sit up, his head spinning. The last he had heard from Chloé was that Marinette was spending a lot of time with Luka. It was really for the best. Adrien wanted to hate him for it, but he couldn't. Luka was a good guy and Adrien knew he loved Marinette. She would be safe with Luka, and that was what was most important.
The door suddenly opened without warning and Félix walked into the room, looking at Adrien in the bed with disdain. "Damn it Adrien, this room smells like a nightclub."
"Who let you in?" Adrien groaned, flopping back into the bed.
"Chloé gave me a key. She's already been up here twice to check you weren't dead in here."
"Might as well be." Adrien grumbled, holding his head again. "When people hear the name Agreste they don't exactly look at you fondly."
Félix took out a bottle of water from the bar fridge and gave it to Adrien along with some pain killers. Adrien accepted them gratefully, downing the whole bottle before laying back down. Félix threw it in the bin before sitting on top of the other side of the bed, crossing his legs at the ankles and folding his arms across his chest.
"You've been in Paris for one night after no one seeing you for two years and you do this to yourself. Give it time Adrien. No one blamed you for what Gabriel did. He screwed all of us over, Nathalie included. Speaking of which, you should have at least called her last night. She was worried about what had happened to you when you didn't answer your phone."
Adrien let out a heavy sigh. "I know. I was fine, really. Chloé let me have this room. I just needed to forget."
"Right." Félix mused as he pulled out one of those mini bar bottles of Johnny Walker out of the bed. "And so this is what you are spending your cut from the sale of Gabriel on. Great investment cousin."
"Shut up." Adrien growled with his back still to his cousin. "And no, I haven't touched that money and I don't intend to."
"Don't be stupid Adrien." Félix scolded. "Your father might have been a good for nothing SOB, but it was you and your pretty face that made him and that company's profits. If anyone deserved the money it was you."
"Félix…"
"No, you are going to listen this time." Félix said, grabbing Adrien's arm and pulling the former model around to look at him. "Fine, you've had your crash. I gave you space to process whatever it was you needed to process but this is enough now. You're not some washed up has-been having a midlife crisis, you're a 22 year old that still has their whole future ahead of him and a woman that cares about him."
"Tell Chloé I'll see her tomorrow."
Félix cocked an eyebrow at him. "You know I'm not talking about Chloé."
Adrien closed his eyes and turned away from his cousin. "I can't see her, Félix. I'm not ready to face her."
Félix let out a chuckle. "Well that's too bad for you then because she's on her way here now."
"What?" Adrien bolted upright only to instantly regret it and wither back down in pain. He'd almost forgotten his self inflicted torture. "How the hell did she know I was here?"
Félix stood up off the bed. "Lucky guess." He said flippantly as he threw open the curtain. Adrien hissed at the light invading his brain.
"Seriously Félix it's too early for that. And why couldn't Chloé mind her own business."
Félix smirked at Adrien's clear discomfort, holding up three fingers. "One, it's not early. It's almost four in the afternoon. Two, since when has Chloé ever minded her own business and three, she wasn't the one that rang Marinette."
Adrien sat back up and glared at his cousin through squinted eyes. "You called her, didn't you?" Félix nodded and Adrien held his head. "Why would you do that? I can't see Marinette now. Just look at me! And what would I even say to her? I was a total arsehole the last time I saw her. I broke off our engagement and broke her heart. Why would she even be coming to see me?"
Félix smacked his palms down on the bed. "She's coming because she's still in love with you, and for all your posturing, you're still in love with her. You weren't drinking in here alone last night because people balked at your name. Choose another one if it bothers you so much. Use your mother's maiden name, heck you can even use Fathom if you want. Choose one out of thin air for all anyone cares." He yelled, ignoring the way Adrien looked at him with wide eyes. "You weren't drinking to forget your father, you were trying to forget her because you're still in love with her."
"Okay, fine." Adrien snapped back. "You happy now? Of course I'm still in love with her. She's like a poison in my veins that I can't get out of my system." He collapsed against the back of the bed, resting his head on the bead head, his hair cascading around his face. He then let out a long, pained sigh. "At times I can hardly breathe without her, but there is nothing I can do about it now. She's moved on, and she's happy with someone else, someone who can love her in a way I can't. I can't ask any more from her. I can't keep holding her back because I can't deal with my own demons." He lifted his hands to cover his eyes. The last thing he wanted was for Félix to see how much the idea of that really affected him.
"So that's what you've convinced yourself?"
Adrien dropped his hand and gave Félix an indignant look. "I saw her with Luka last night. She was laughing and smiling and beautiful and full of life. I'm not going to take that away from her."
Félix pursed his lips. His cousin was being just as stubborn and irrational as usual. "Well, you can explain all that to her when she gets here."
Adrien huffed and threw off the bed sheet causing Félix to promptly cover his eyes and turn around. "Damn it Adrien, put some pants on."
"Get over it Félix. Our mums used to put us in the same bathtub together when we were kids."
"Okay, what happens when you're five, stays there alright. I have a reputation to maintain." Félix straightened his tie and acted indignant, but he was pleased to hear a little chuckle come out of Adrien. The old Adrien was still there somewhere, locked in a secret chest and buried deep down, he just hoped Marinette still held the key.
Adrien was trying to find his shirt and clean underwear when a knock came to the door and he cursed under his breath. "No. Félix tell her to go away."
"Not a chance cousin. Get in that shower so at least you don't smell like a brewery and I'll keep Marinette company until you come out."
The door knocked again and Adrien didn't have much of choice except grab his clothes and run into the bathroom, calling Félix several choice names as he went.
Félix rolled his eyes and as soon as he was sure Adrien was in the bathroom he opened the door.
~~~~~
Marinette walked nervously into the Bourgeois hotel. As she approached reception she was surprised to be greeted by none other than Chloé Bourgeois herself.
"Félix warned me you were coming. You took your sweet arse time getting here."
Marinette took a deep breath. Chloé had certainly expressed her opinion on Marinette's engagement to Adrien, and she doubted the socialite's opinion would have changed much considering what happened. "I had to get my nerves in order first."
"Pffft." Chloé scoffed, waving her off dismissively. "Still the same old Dupain-Cheng. Adrien's in the middle of a breakdown, but you had to get your nerves in order first. I never did get what it was that Adrikins ever saw in you."
"Really? Is that all you care about? Are we seriously going to do this again Chloé?" Marinette glared.
Chloé returned her glare for a moment before rolling her eyes and letting out a huff. "No. I care about Adrien and Félix thinks you're the one that can help him. I can't see how considering he went half way around the world to get away from you. I hope Félix is right though, for Adrien's sake." She then pointed her finger into Marinette's chest. "I'm warning you Dupain-Cheng. If you make him worse, if you break him tonight, then I'm coming for you. Now, Jean Pierre will show you up to his suite."
Chloé flicked her high ponytail and sashayed off. The hotel butler then led Marinette to the lift and took her right up to the suite door before leaving again. She raised her hand up to knock, but hesitated, her heart pounding hard in her chest and Chloé's words ringing in her ears. She hadn't had much time to prepare herself for this. Félix had called out of the blue that morning to say Adrien had returned to Paris last night and could she come this afternoon with only a brief explanation about Adrien's current mental state.
When she said yes, all she could think about was that she needed to help Adrien, but did he really want to see her? Two years… two whole years and not a single word. Not a phone call, not even a text message on her birthday or Christmas. Nothing. She wasn't even sure if he was dead or alive except for the occasional gossip column about his apparent "escapades" in New York. The fallen former darling of Paris fashion was now nothing more than a philanderer according to the media. She rested her hand against the door.
It hurt too much for Marinette to even think of Adrien being with other women. They had been each other's first and she really believed they would be their only. Still, Félix said Adrien was hurting and he didn't know who else to call that he might listen to.
"I don't think I can do this." She whispered, clenching her chest. "I don't think I can see him."
"Yes you can." A little voice spoke up from her purse. Marinette looked down to her Kwami who was giving her a reassuring smile. "You know Adrien better than anyone. You've been through so much together. If anyone can help him you can."
Marinette looked back up at the door of the suite. "And what if he doesn't want my help? He said he never wanted to see me again. I know deep down that he didn't mean it, but it still cut deep hearing it from his lips."
"He was hurting Marinette. He didn't know how to deal with it and he thought he was dragging you down with him. This is not just Adrien we are talking about, this is Chat Noir too. The same Chat Noir that would sacrifice his own life for yours. You know he would do anything if he thought he was protecting you, even if that meant he had to protect you from himself."
Gathering up all her nerves, Marinette balled up her fist and knocked on the door once… twice before the door finally opened.
"Marinette, a pleasure as always." Félix said smoothly, picking up her hand and kissing her on the knuckles. She pulled her hand confusingly out of his grasp.
"Félix? I wasn't expecting to see you here. Is Adrien alright?"
"Alright is a relative term. You can smell the room can't you?" Marinette sniffed and looked at Félix with panicked eyes. He then waved a hand around. "He will be fine when he gets out of the shower I'm sure." Félix assured her, offering her to come inside and taking her coat. Marinette immediately walked across the suite to the glass sliding door and opened it to air the stale, boozy smell. She paused with her hand pressed against the doorframe and gazed at the terrace that looked down at the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
"This is the suite we stayed in the night Adrien proposed." Her voice was soft, but sounded so broken as memories of that perfect night flooded back to her. He had gone all out that night, with rose petals and fairy lights. It felt like it had all been a dream now.
"I know." Félix said behind her. "Chloé said he asked for it specifically. I can't imagine why since he clearly couldn't handle it."
Marinette turned to Félix with a questioning look. Félix looked down at the ground with his arms crossed. "Look, I've got to warn you that the Adrien in that bathroom isn't the same one that proposed to you that night. He's still in there somewhere, but he's buried it deep down under booze and a bad boy reputation."
Marinette nodded and walked over to the couch to sit down while Félix went over to the kitchenette. "Can I get you a tea or a coffee?"
"I've tasted your idea of coffee, better get me tea."
Félix's lips curled up a little. "Fair enough. But you better make him a coffee when he comes out, I think he's going to need it after last night. Adrien and alcohol don't make a great mix. I guess at least he didn't puke on the bed or something this time"
"That bad huh?" Marinette wondered out loud. "Are you sure I'm the right person to be here? Maybe you should have gotten Nathalie or something."
Félix shook his head as he poured the tea. "No, it has to be you Marinette. You were always the only one that could ever reach him. White with no sugar I believe."
Marinette took the cup from his hand and looked down into the milky liquid. "I heard rumours… about New York…"
"Don't believe everything you hear about New York."
Félix cut in. She looked up at him and he sat down beside her, stirring his tea.
"Félix, he was working as a bartender in some backstreet nightclub. What else am I supposed to think?"
"He makes one hell of a cocktail. You should ask him to make you one." The blond sipped his tea, ignoring Marinette's dagger glare. He put his tea cup down and took one of her hands in his, his countenance more serious. "Look, Adrien had never rebelled in his life. You know as well as I do he was groomed by his father to be the perfect child that always did what was asked of him and never to question it. He was just blowing off some steam in New York, that's all." Félix let go of her hand and picked his tea cup up again, leaning back into the couch and crossing his legs. "He'd hardly had a childhood and he wasn't exactly the rebellious teen. I mean, he proposed to you at 18 for god's sake. Who the hell does that?"
Marinette sipped on her own tea. It wasn't like she could explain to Félix that Adrien and her had been Ladybug and Chat Noir. Very few people knew the truth about that. Their reveal when they were 16 was accidental, but it had only made them closer. At least until it all fell apart. It came as a shock to everyone when Adrien broke their engagement and left Paris, most of all those who did know about their secret identities.
After a few moments, Félix got up and banged on the bathroom door. "Your visitor is waiting for you. Aren't you going to say hello?" Félix laughed to himself at the sting of profanities Adrien grumbled through the door at him.
"You're welcome." Félix said, completely unfazed. "I'll see you tomorrow then cousin."
Félix wished Marinette luck and left, closing the suite door behind him with the intention of looking for Chloé and leaving Marinette alone on the couch.
~~~~~
Adrien gripped the edge of the basin, looking at the mess that was reflected back at him in the mirror. He hardly recognised himself anymore. Maybe if she saw him she would realise how much better off she was without him. He knew she was sitting out there alone and waiting for him. Screwing his eyes shut he could feel his chest start to constrict. He was nothing more than a ghost of the Adrien she had loved but he wasn't sure he was strong enough to walk away from her a second time if he saw her.
"Adrien?" Her sweet, concerned voice drifted through the closed door. "Are you alright in there? Please, I just want to talk to you."
Adrien stood up and looked back into the mirror. There was no escaping this. He had to see her, even if it was just this once to remind her that she was better off without him.
Adrien opened the door and his heart stopped. There she was every bit as beautiful as the day he had left her. Her hair swept back with a floral clip, her eyes wide and her lips as red as the roses he always gave her. It took every part of him to grip the door frame with his hand and stop himself from scooping her up into his arms.
"Adrien…" His name escaped from her barely parted lips as she looked up at him. His hair hung at the top of his shoulders, still wet from his shower and longer than she remembered, but it was his eyes she couldn't look away from. Those crystal emerald eyes she had fallen in love with. Eyes that were now flanked by dark circles from booze and a lack of sleep. It broke her heart to see him like that. Yet, the feelings she had for him couldn't help but bubble back to the surface.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Eventually Adrien walked past her and over to the couch.
Marinette stood awkwardly for a moment before she followed him and cleared her throat. "It's…ah…it's good to see you." She stuttered. "I um, I promised Félix I would make you some coffee when you came out so… I'll um, just go and do that."
She turned and moved towards the kitchenette. Adrien's eyes followed silently as she poured the boiled water into the mug of instant coffee granules. "I don't know what this stuff is going to taste like." She said, keeping her voice light and talking as though she had just seen him yesterday. "But it's all caffeine right? It should still do the trick. I mean I know when I've had a bit too much I like a nice cup of hot coffee, although I prefer the cafe variety over the instant stuff. I'm sure this will do though, right?"
Adrien knew what she was doing. She was running off at the mouth trying to hide her own feelings protect herself. Damn Félix for dragging her back into his mess.
"You know you could have just told Félix where to go stick it when he called you. You didn't have to come here and babysit me."
Marinette didn't respond immediately, sitting the coffee mug in front of him and sitting down beside him on the couch. Adrien took a few sips of the hot liquid. It did taste like crap.
"I had to come." She said simply, gripping her skirt with her hands. "How could I not?"
"Because I'm not worth it." He said flatly as he took another sip.
"Let me be the judge of that."
"Damn it Marinette." He placed his mug back down and stood up. "Look at me. Just look at what I am. All I ever did was bring you pain and make you cry. I deserve this for what I did to you. You're better off with Luka."
Marinette frowned up at him. "Is that what you think? That I'm with Luka?"
"You don't have to deny it for my benefit. I saw you." He continued, his voice harsh. "Last night I saw the two of you together heading back to the bakery".
Marinette's mouth fell open. Adrien must have been nearby to have seen them. "I'd been out with Kitty Session celebrating their new contract. Rose and Juleka invited me because I designed the costumes. It was well after midnight and Luka was just being a gentleman escorting me home. That was all."
"It didn't look like that was all." Adrien continued bitterly with folded arms." That kiss he gave you on the cheek wasn't exactly giving off platonic vibes."
Marinette gritted her teeth and stood up angrily. "I can't control someone else's feelings. Yes, Luka is still in love with me, but he knows I don't feel the same and he respects that. Need I remind you Adrien you were the one that walked out on me. You don't get the right to be jealous about who I spend my time with."
Adrien gave her a foul glare and walked past her out onto the terrace, the cool air smacking his overheated face. Marinette followed a few moments later to find him lighting up a cigarette. "Since when did you take up smoking?"
Adrien took in a long drag and blew it back out again up into the air, the smoke mingling into the dying afternoon light. "Around the same time I discovered that hotel mini bars were a quick way to get wasted."
Marinette couldn't believe what she was seeing. Félix was right, this wasn't the same Adrien at all. He was bitter and cynical, tainted by his father's legacy. Well she wasn't going to just stand by and watch him self-destruct like this. Not anymore.
"So you've spent the last two years trying to escape from everyone and numb your brain? Is that it?"
"Trying to escape from myself, more like it." He glanced back at her, his eyes hardened. "That's what I do right? Run away and give up. How many times did I give up my Miraculous? How many times did I break your trust in me? I can't keep my promises."
Marinette took a few steps closer to him, her eyes fixed on his and her tone even and deliberate. "You might have walked away from your promises Adrien, but I didn't." She said, holding up the back of her left hand to him.
Adrien's eyes drifted from hers to the expensive diamond ring on her finger. The ring he had given her on that very terrace three years ago. "You're still wearing it?" He asked surprised, his guard slipping slightly.
"I never took it off, and I never will. I made a commitment to you Adrien, and that is why I'm here."
Adrien turned his back to her and gripped the railing he had been leaning up against. "I told you not to wait for me." He said, shaking his head and looking away from her. He could hear her soft footsteps coming closer.
"And I told you I would wait an eternity for you." She leaned her back against the rail next to him, looking up towards the darkening sky. "There wasn't anyone after you, there never was and their probably never will be."
Adrien looked down at his cigarette, flicking the ash off the end. "I'm not that Adrien, not anymore. You should just forget about me."
Adrien fixed his eyes down on the Eiffel Tower as the lights started to switch on, a place where they had spent so much time together behind the masks. He would have given anything to have wound the clock back to then, before the world caught up to them.
Marinette didn't believe him. Her Adrien was still there, she could feel it, and she knew he could too, but for some reason he was fighting what he knew to be true, that this was nothing more than a facade.
"Adrien, I have to ask you something."
Adrien took another long drag and waited for the question. "When you were in New York… I read stories about you and…"
"The string of broken hearts I left behind?" He rested his forearms on the rail, an almost smug look on his face. "Do you believe it? That I could break hearts and walk away without a second thought. Entertaining a different girl in my bed every night."
He was taunting her, she was sure of it. "I wasn't the one that tried to change and close my heart to the people I cared about." He could feel her eyes seeing right through him and he turned his head away.
Marinette came a step closer. "Talk to me, Adrien. I'm not here to judge you, I just want to know what happened. There must have been girls interested in you."
Adrien finished off his cigarette, stubbing it out and flicking it into the bin beside him. "Yeah sure, there were girls who were interested, plenty of them. You meet all kinds working in a dive like that who slip you notes with the tip containing a phone number or a hotel room, usually the place above the club. There was one in particular who kept coming back fairly frequently. She was fake from head to toe, but she had all the guys after her. She kept hanging down my end of the bar, flirting with me and making her after hours intentions very clear. One night I took the bait and went up to her room at 3am after my shift had ended. I don't know what it was I was wanting. I stood in the hallway and the only sound was the traffic out on the street and the hum of a flickering fluorescent light above my head and I suddenly felt so incredibly lonely and lost. It almost overwhelmed me. I knew that wasn't where I belonged and in the end I couldn't knock on the door. That's when I booked a flight back to Paris."
He pushed himself away from the rail and closed the distance between them, cupping Marinette's cheek with his hand, his face only inches away from hers. "All I could see was your face. I could have had any woman I wanted, but they weren't you. It didn't matter how hard I tried, there wasn't enough booze in the world that could drown you out of my system."
There was a dark look in his eyes and Marinette felt her breath hitch in her throat and her blood pulsating through her veins. She almost whimpered when Adrien loosened his grip and stepped back away from her.
"So now you know the truth. I don't know who was telling all the crap to the press. I assume some of the girls just wanted their 15 minutes or were being paid for comment. I guess it was more salacious than the fact I couldn't bring myself to close the deal."
He had finally opened up a little. Marinette couldn't help the sense of relief that washed over her, knowing the stories weren't true. She was still his, and he was still hers if she could only make him see.
"You never left me, Adrien. You might have been on the other side of the world, but the essence of you always lingered in my heart because I always believed in what we had, that what we were was something real."
Adrien avoided looking at her again, keeping his eyes fixed on the dimming horizon. "It was real, Marinette. For a brief moment in time, it was the only thing that was real. You were real." His voice sounded like it was on the verge of breaking.
"Is that why you came to the bakery last night?" Marinette asked tentatively. "To find me?"
Adrien turned his head away from her. "I wanted to make sure you were okay, and you were. That's all." He said dismissively, the heat from a moment ago running cold again. Turning away Adrien began to head back towards the suite.
"Okay?" Marinette called, stopping him in his tracks. "You saw me with Luka and assumed that I was okay? Do you have any idea the amount of nights I cried myself to sleep not knowing where you were. Yes I read every trashy bit of gossip in those magazines because if they were talking about you it meant you were still alive. There were weeks at a time where even Nathalie and Félix didn't know where you were. You can't just turn up here after all this time and leave nothing but destruction in your wake and think the only one that is hurting is you."
"I was the black cat, remember?" He said coldly. "Destruction was a hazard of the job."
Walking back inside, he found the remnants of his cold coffee still on the table. Taking it over to the sink, he poured it out while Marinette came back inside and closed the door.
"How is Plagg anyway?" He asked her as he washed up the cup. He was deflecting, and she knew it, that cold persona taking back over again.
"He's fairly quiet these days." Marinette replied. "He just sleeps in my room most of the day."
Adrien suddenly turned around in surprise. "You still have him? But I thought you would have found another holder by now. What if another villain showed up? Ladybug has to have a black cat."
"I don't want another black cat." Marinette cried out. "I want my black cat. Don't you get it Adrien, I still love you, I have always loved you and I will continue to love you."
"Don't you think I know that." Adrien snapped back. "I'm trying to show you that you're better off without me." He gritted his teeth and let out a low growl. "I knew it was a mistake coming back to Paris."
"Why? Because people might see you? Because people who care about you might want to help you?"
"Because I can't be with you." He yelled out. He could see the hurt creeping across her face and he lowered his voice. "I don't… I don't want to still be keeping your heart hostage when I can't love you the way you deserve to be loved." He turned and leaned back against the counter. "Our hearts were too fragile, Marinette, like glass. We'll only shatter in the end."
His heart was racing and his head was pounding, but it wasn't from the alcohol he had consumed the night before. It was something far more intoxicating. She was consuming him with every passing moment she was still there. His body screaming for her touch and her lips to soothe his tortured soul. She should run away, flee the room and never look back while she still could.
Marinette though had no intention of running away from him. Instead she closed the distance between them and grabbed his face with both her hands. Adrien's eyes widened as she looked up at him with determination.
"Not glass Adrien, you and I are like crystalline. A love that was rare and beautiful and powerful, but fractured under a pressure it was never meant to be put under. But we don't have to throw away the pieces Kitty, we can mend them if you'll only let me."
Adrien could feel the heat of her touch spreading from his face and down his chest. Hearing her pet name for him only made his heart ache more for her. She was too close, far too close and he couldn't breathe, but if he gave in, if he claimed her once again as his… Grabbing her wrists, he pulled her hands away from him before letting go of them.
"It's too late to save us." He said angrily. "Stop wasting your time on me and just leave already." He tried to walk away from her, but she followed him across the room.
"Then look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't love me."
"Damn it Marinette." Adrien folded his arms across his chest. He should say it and free her from this. "Just get away from me already."
"Say it Adrien." She continued to provoke him, her voice and emotions rising. "Say it and I'll walk out that door and never look back again. You can just keep running and hiding from everyone if that's what you really want, but the one person you can never hide from is yourself. This Adrien standing here isn't you, it's a construct of everything you think your father would have hated, and somehow you factored me into that, just another fragment of your past that you regretted."
"That's not true." Adrien said, his voice starting to crack. "I never regretted what we had. I never regretted getting engaged so young or planning a life together. I wanted that. More than anything I wanted that life we dreamed of, but I'm trying to protect you."
"From what Adrien? You? I don't need to be protected, I need my partner back. I need my fiance back. But if I'm not what you want, if you really don't love me anymore then I need you to look at me and say it. I need…mph."
Marinette was cut off when Adrien suddenly turned around, grabbed her by the waist with one hand and the back of her head with the other and crashed his lips into hers. Momentum pushed Marinette back against the wall and it only took a moment for her brain to catch up as she buried her hands into his thick blond locks and hungrily gave back as much as he was giving. Barely gasping for air, Adrien lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, as he frantically attacked her neck before coming back to devour her lips.
Finally breaking away, Marinette rested her head against the wall he was still holding her against. Their chests rising and falling in tandem as she looked into darkened eyes.
"Does that answer your question?" He asked, running his thumb across her red, kiss swollen lips. "I can't fight you anymore. My heart has only ever burned for you m'lady. I'm locked in your heart and I don't want to escape. You're the only thing that's real in my life, the only thing that's true and I love you. I never stopped loving you."
Marinette bit down on her bottom lip, trying to hold back a rising tear that came to her eyes at hearing him call her m'lady. It had been so long since she had heard it. This time it was Marinette who brought their lips together. Gently, languidly she moved her mouth with his. Her soft touch soothed the frantic fire from their kiss before, but kept the flame ignited.
Adrien slowly slid her down until her feet once again touched the floor, his forehead resting against hers. "Where do we go from here?" He asked her. "How do I fix this?"
"You've already taken the first step." She smiled, taking his hand and placing it over her heart. "We can repair our crystalline hearts together, starting by you coming to live with me in the bakery."
Adrien suddenly looked panicked. "But your parents! They must hate me for what I put you through."
Marinette shook her head. "They don't hate you Adrien. They understand the pain you've been through and they want to help you through whatever it is you need to get through. Plagg too, he's been waiting for you to come back."
"Marinette, I don't deserve…"
She took his face in both her hands, reaching up on her toes to kiss him quiet. "Don't ever say I don't deserve you again. Do you hear me? You're still the man I want to marry, Chaton. When you're ready, I'll be there standing beside you like always."
For the first time since she had arrived in that suite she saw a glimpse of the old Adrien in his eyes. Pulling her body into his, he hugged her, burying his face into her hair. "I don't want to be alone anymore." He whispered, against her ear.
"I told you once before Kitty, I will never abandon you, and I never will."
Adrien moved back just enough to be able to see her face. Even in the twilight, he could count the freckles across her nose and cheeks. He had counted them in his sleep a hundred times over, the sound of her heartbeat ringing in his memory, but now setting his own heart on fire under his fingertips.
"Stay with me tonight." He asked, almost pleadingly as his arms slid around her. "Let me love you the way I used to."
Marinette looked up at him through her lashes. "No." She murmured, her lips ghosting his. "Love me like you do now."
