(A/N) Happy New Year.
So just to clarify some things...
Since their ages and what Alya said about being in 10th grade I've made them technically highschool age in my partial flashbacks on their past. So technically that's Lycee. It's confusing cause here where I live our highschools are college lol
Another thing.
I have small children and still a baby brain when it comes to the little things so when I'm writing I might misspell a word or miss a letter. Atm my phone loves changing my A's to Q's lol so please bare with me.
It's hard to change things over 3 platforms from where I post this fanfic.
Thank you for reading.
Enjoy...
Boots sloshed through the puddles as Marinette made her way out of the subway and towards her work. Adrien's umbrella sheilding her from the heavy down pour, showering over top.
She could feel her ankles getting damp when the wind blew the rain towards her, gusty and piercing as she tried to protect as much of herself as possible.
The phone was clutched tightly in her free hand, hoping if she kept it out she was surely going to hear from Adrien sometime soon.
She had been worried for him when she left the hospital, giving him enough space so he could deal with his father's sickness and support what little family he had left.
So she sent a text this morning to check if he was okay. Not trying to smother him but to make sure he didn't need anything or if he needed someone to talk to.
It had been a few hours since her last message and still no reply, obviously noting that Adrien didn't attend his scheduled modelling session he had on this morning.
Not that she still knew that information, like she did when she was younger; but from the short conversation her and Nathalie had when they grabbed Coffee yesterday.
Checking over the device again she had no new miss calls or messages, even the text she sent to Alya was still unread.
Maybe it was just too early?
"He will call you when things settle! He's going through a lot Marinette." Tikki chirped from her bag, watching carefully at her chosens concern expression all morning.
"I sure hope so." Marinette bit the edge of her thumb, the habit seeming to be coming back.
The bluenette stopped short of the doorway to her work, fumbling with the keys while the wind blew into the umbrella almost sweeping her away.
It wasn't until she looked up did she discover it.
'Out of Buisness.'
"What?" Marinette gasped, trying to put her key in the lock with no such luck. "This is not happening!" She tried jolting the door handle, still not getting any result. "No, No, No!"
Her fist banged up against the door, followed by her forehead lightly leaning against it as she shed a small tear. This was the only thing keeping her above water and everything she ever worked for was in this building.
Even her outfits and Bethany's wedding dress was still inside.
Marinette turned and slid down the door, not caring the slightest now that her pants got drenched, it was the least of her problems.
The pitter patter of rain poured over Paris. The dullness the sky brought, only made things more perturbed in Adrien's opinion.
Marinette was messaging him, concerned for the very thing that had forbidden him to have a future with her; concerned over his mental state as well. He wanted her so badly, really wanted that future with her but knew it could never go anywhere or be anything more.
It was all just a fantasy, his happily ever after.
What he thought he had with Bethany wasn't love! What he thought when he saw Ladybug wasn't anywhere close to how Marinette made him feel.
Adrien could never have that. He had to be perfect!
"Please for the love of Cheese! Pick a girl and get on with your life!" Plagg whined from behind his cheese stack on the coffee table.
He had been dealing with this dilemma for weeks now and it was starting to get frustrating that Adrien couldn't decide on just one.
"Its not that simple Plagg." Adrien answered but didn't bother looking back at his kwami.
"And you think cheese is?" Plagg asked.
The front door swung open suddenly and the kwami zipped away just in time before he was seen. The motion startled Adrien but his gaze soften when he saw her pulling her bags in before she turned around.
"The weather here is just bizarre! Could you believe I was stuck in traffic for two hours?" She whined, plonking her bags on the lounge room floor. Bethany looked around, noticing the cheese mess on the coffee table. "I didn't know you liked cheese?"
"Uh, yeah... I guess." A furrow of her brow formed in confusion and Adrien nervously chuckled, rubbing his nape out of habit. "I thought you weren't coming back until next week?" He approached her, unsure in what to do next. "I could've gotten someone to pick you up."
"I was but when I heard about what happened to your father and how concerned he was for your well being." Bethany wrapped her arms around him and immediately Adrien stiffen up. She pulled back a bit and place a small kiss to his lips; that he didn't give back in return. "You could of called me! I would've come straight home!" She pouted at him.
"I didnt want to pull you away from your job." Adrien answered, although that wasn't the real reason behind it all.
He wanted more time with Marinette, time he thought he had.
"That's sweet." Bethany cooed and pecked him on the cheek when he turned slightly away from her lips. Straight away she let go and wandered over to the kitchen, pulling two mugs out. "Coffee?" She asked him and Adrien nodded.
Pacing slowly towards her, he stopped short at the kitchen island, tapping his fingers against the cool marble. Before he could say anything she decided to speak again, irration clearly showing in her tone.
"Thank goodness your father gave me an excuse to get out of that clown show!" She piped. "One more photo shoot with Rossi and I'm calling it!" She paused as she poured hot water into the cups, but continued when she went to the fridge to grab out the milk. "I don't understand how you can work with her? She drives me up the wall!"
Adrien chuckled slightly and shook his head, knowing very well what the girl is like. If it was really up to him Lila wouldn't be working for his father, good thing he can change that once her contract is over and he's running the company.
"You're not the first to say that." He replied, Marinette was the first to come to mind thinking about it.
"Why does she still have a job then?" Bethany huffed after she placed down the milk carton, her lips lingering on the edge of her cup as she answered. "I just don't know why people fall for her games!"
Adrien walked around the island bench and cuddled Bethany from behind to calm her little outburst. His head resting on her shoulder as she was leaning her body partly over the bench and sipping the coffee she had in her hands. He took a hold of his coffee and took a sip as well.
Being in this position didn't feel right, like all the warmth he'd felt these past few days had disappeared. Adrien tried his hardest to soak in the feeling, closing his eyes so his other senses would take hold and hopefully give him something.
But nothing felt right.
"Oh that reminds me." She startled Adrien, making him open his eyes again and pull back away from her. "I have a surprise for you."
He weakly smiled at her, trying to hide it behind his coffee as he took another sip. "What is it?" He asked.
"That will be for me to know and for you to find out." She booped him on the nose and walked down the hall with her coffee, stripping off her wet clothes on the way down. "Just make sure you are free tomorrow cause we are meant to be somewhere at ten." Her voice faded away when she went into their room.
"Where are we going?" He asked, noticing from the corner of his eye Plagg gathering up the cheese pile while Bethany was out of sight.
"Silly!" Bethany laughed, her head popping out from their room at the end. "I told you it's a surprise." Her voice dipped like honey.
Adrien knew what was about to come next.
Bethany disappeared back into the room, her hand coming out shortly after with the underwear she had been obviously wearing dangling from her fingertips.
"I'm full of surprises." She purred from behind the door.
"Crap!" Adrien hissed and looked away, straight towards their front door.
He hadn't touched Bethany in weeks, feeling as though he was betraying Marinette if he did anything romantic with his fiance. Even though he couldn't be with Marinette he didn't want to start now.
"I have to go, sorry." Adrien back towards the door, ushering his kwami to follow in silence. "I have to feed Nino's... Turtle." He cringed lying, noticing that Plagg was giving him a deadpan stare. "Shouldn't be long."
Grabbing his jacket, he was out of the house in a heartbeat, not even noticing a word Bethany had said shortly afterwards.
"Feeding Nino's Turtle?" Plagg repeated sarcastically from inside Adrien's jacket.
The blonde ran down the emergency stairway, not even bothering to wait for the elevator in case she came out after him.
"That was literally the only thing that came to mind!" He explained. "What excuse did you want me to say?"
"Oh gee, I don't know. Maybe you had to fuel your cheese addiction." The kwami laughed, making Adrien roll his eyes.
They got to the outside of the lobby only to forget it was pouring outside. Adrien hadn't prepare to leave with an umbrella nor did he have a jacket that would protect him from the rain.
"Well it looks like you are going to face her after all." Plagg pointed out.
But a smirk formed on Adrien's lips. "Not if Chat Noir has anything to say about it."
"Chat, No-oooo!" Plagg protested but it was short lived as the blonde headed for the nearest alleyway, calling his transformation.
There was no way he was going back inside the way he left things.
There was no use in sheilding herself from the rain anymore. Marinette's day went from bad to worse in just a spilt second. All her good luck came crashing down and stomped on.
So Instead of moping on the side of the street all the way back to her apartment, she transformed and sat under the down pour of the rain, hoping clear sky's would soon shed a light on her bad luck.
To no avail.
"I didn't realise Ladybug's liked the rain." Chat noir peeped from behind her, treading carefully as he spoke so he didn't frighten her away.
Ladybug didn't budge at all, knowing with her luck he was bound to show up sooner or later. "Could say the same about you Chaton." She replied quietly, the water dripping off her bangs and onto her lap as she stared out over the rooftops.
Chat didn't say anything, instead sat next to her, watching her shiver just a little, most likely from the cold. His own suit didn't help as he too could feel the chill.
Or was that just the guilt from lying earlier?
"What are you doing here?" Ladybug asked, her eyes just noticeable under her wet bangs as she looked his way, her fingertips gripping onto the edge of the roof for stability. "Aren't you meant to be... away from Paris?" He didn't quite tell her where he had disappeared to when they had that discussion.
Mainly for the sake of identities.
"I'm here to stay." He replied sheepishly. "If that's okay with you?" Was he really asking for permission?
"Yeah, sure." She said blankly, looking away from him.
"That's it?" He piped.
Her head snapped towards him again, the anger and sadness she had been holding in all morning threatening to burst out.
"What do you want me to say Chat?" She asked. "That it's great? That we can go back to the way we were? Because I think you destroyed that when you decided to leave me and find someone else." She snapped at him.
Ladybug was not meant to know that information, the knowledge of his relationship status was for Marinette's ears only.
A pause hit the air, unsure in what to say next. "So you care about my love life now? After you got drunk and tried to hit on me?" He snapped back.
"Doesn't stop you from hooking up with girls that you aren't in a relationship with!" Ladybug piped, getting really fed up with him now.
Did she mention that her day had just hit a new low?
His eyes widen and mouth gaped. He didn't know how she knew that information when the only person he told was Marinette, and they were on good terms.
Well with Chat Noir at least.
"How do you... I don't know what you're talking about." His head turned away finally and Ladybug knew the guilt and lies were eating him up inside.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about." She spat.
Getting up from her spot, she paced towards the opposite end of the roof, hoping and praying Chat didn't follow her or didn't say anything more.
But he did.
Of course he did.
"I couldn't wait for you." He spoke softly. The down pour of the rain hitting the roof were the only sounds that filled up the silent pause. "There was no point in hoping we could be something more when you clearly loved that boy."
She bit the edge of her thumb, knowing he was right. Adrien was a big part of her life back then and even now he clouded her feelings from letting anyone else in, including Luka.
He took a few steps towards her, his boots sloshing in the water running down the tiles of the roof. He stopped short behind her, almost feeling the shiver run over her body. This time he didn't know if it was due to his closeness or due to the rain.
Ladybug turned his way slowly, noticing when she looked up that his bangs were drenched and covering his green orbs. She softly moved away the hair to the side, hoping the rain wouldn't make it drop back over his eyes.
Her body raised a little, supporting all her weight on the balls of her feet. She was still staring at him, the tension in the air disappearing to now silence and her hand running down his face slowly, her thumb drawing his lip down softly.
His body moved closer to hers, absorbing all her warmth but not quite touching any of it. They were so close now, feeling their breath mingle under the down pour of the rain.
Rain had always been lucky for Marinette.
"I... can't!" He whispered, her hand falling to her side. He moved passed her, leaving her back alone in the rain.
But not for Ladybug.
(A/N) 2500 Words
Coming up next...
• "My brain just feels like fuzz and I'm hungry all the time! Like I can't even concentrated on my report for Adrien Agreste moving back to Paris..."
• "Yeah, he's out looking for houses right now. Nino was speaking to him about ten minutes ago."
• "Doesn't this place look great?"
• "I'm fine Nathalie, just need a minute."
• "In other news, Gabriel Agreste has died in hospital after suffering complications with his heart."
Shaz Out...
