Trust.
When it came to Adrien, he has always wanted to trust someone.
Trust is a word that carries a lot of weight.
Trust is giving up control into the hands of the one we consider to know better.
It was the acquiescence that fascinated him; letting someone handle things he never knew how to deal with.
It was what attracted him to Marinette. She had always known what to do. She had always been capable to do the right thing at the right time.
Adrien had trusted Marinette with everything he had.
And most importantly, she had trusted him back.
The model understood why he had reached out for Marinette. His yearning had always been made finding the one. He had always wanted to know what it felt like to entirely trust someone instead of bearing in mind the "what if's".
Because was completely frightening to let someone in, give them the permission to see the darkest fears of the deepest parts of your soul, the reasons you feel down, and what makes you feel happy. It's terrifying because this same person might flee away with your secrets and emotions and never return them.
There had always been this persistent voice in his mind that his relationship won't last. That the relationship would crumble and end up in flames.
These fears flared away when he met her. She showed him that he could trust fully. That he could love.
Marinette was love.
And Adrien trusted love.
However, Adrien didn't want to trust himself to find his way back to reality.
Everything was going great until Marinette started to play the detective.
One day he came back home and the look in her eyes frightened him. One day he came back home and she asked him if he was seeing someone behind her back. She has become obsessed with the idea that he was cheating on her.
That moment everything shattered. He stopped assuring her because she never listened after that.
It was when Marinette stopped trusting Adrien, she stopped being there, and she stopped helping. Similarly, Adrien stopped trusting her. Because it seemed like the logical thing to do.
It was when Adrien gave up.
He sighed and looked at her, she was sitting right next to him with a hopeful expression on her face.
She was waiting for him to talk but he was having an eternal war whether to open up or not. He knew if he started now, there would be no going back.
Marinette was literally running away with his secrets, she was doing exactly what he has always feared. Yet, here he was trying to find an excuse to assure himself that trusting her again wouldn't affect him.
"I…" he frowned. It was harder than he expected.
"You can trust me, Adrien." She said.
He didn't think twice when he answered.
"That's the problem. I can't trust you Marinette. Anymore."
His wife gasped, a painful expression replaced her hopeful one.
"Oh.' She replied.
"Yeah" there wasn't anything left to say.
He decided to break the silence, "besides, why do you even care? For all I know, you would've left me to bawl in my room if we were back in the future. Stop pretending Marinette."
She raised her eyebrows and pressed her lips together.
Then she narrowed her eyes and looked closely as if she was trying to make sure if he was serious.
'That's where you're wrong, Adrien. I know we're no longer together. But believe it or not, I still care about you."
"Right" he snorted
"Yes. I still want you to be happy as a friend."
He looked at her unbelievingly. "So I'm the one getting friend-zoned this time. Are you for real Marinette?"
She shook her head.
"Do you want me to be unhappy after we get the divorce?" she asked.
Adrien said nothing.
'Answer me honestly." She insisted.
"No", he said.
"Do you see my point now?" Marinette added.
All Adrien could do was nod.
"Besides, you came here with me. plus you actually laughed at something I said." She continued. "I might as well push my luck. You wouldn't have done that if you came back home and locked yourself up."
Adrien wasn't looking at her, he couldn't. She was actually saying something reasonable.
He didn't know how to respond.
Marinette sighed.
"You're right" Adrien whispered, as if Marinette was made out of glass and talking at a normal volume might destroy her.
It was hard for him to confess that he was wrong.
He sucked in a breath when his wife slid a hand in his.
It was strange.
The feeling of their hands clasped together. He hadn't felt that in so long.
"You know." Adrien started.
"yeah." She nodded expectantly.
"I'm looking back at my life. I realized how lonely I have always been." Adrien stated.
"That's not true." She tried to interject but Adrien didn't let her. He continued.
"My father gave me this illusive feeling that he was there while he wasn't. He was trying to get my dead mother back by almost killing you and everyone else in the city." His voice cracked at the end of his sentence.
He felt her hand squeezing his.
He knew she was encouraging him to continue.
And he did.
"He had always been so cold to me. He never cared."
She hesitantly wiped the tear that escaped his eye.
"He even didn't consider my feelings when he took his own life. All he was thinking was about a way to reach mother. Being here and seeing him hurts me."
He chuckled miserably.
"Do you know what he wrote in his letter before he died?" he asked her.
Marinette shook her head.
"He said that I'm in safe hands. He was referring to you obviously."
"Adri-
"It is funny really. Now, the only one I have left, you're leaving too."
Marinette was sobbing silently. Adrien was making her feel bad.
"You don't have to feel guilty, Marinette. I'm no stranger to loneliness. It's just sad how unfair life can be." He said. "Just when you think that you're doing great, life throws another rocket at you and it will throw you back to level 1."
Marinette shifted where she was seated on the bed.
"I'm sorry, Adrien." She muttered.
"Don't bother." He said.
Another minute passed where neither said anything.
"By the way. Before we officially part. I never cheated." Adrien wanted her to know, he needed her to.
"I heard you talking to her just today." His wife said, jealousy dripping from her voice.
"You went out with Luka! Besides, I needed to talk to someone. Luckily for you, Kagami is always busy." Adrien added.
Marinette only hummed.
"You never come back home early, Adrien. You're always out. You're busy as well." She accused.
"Well, Miss. I-know-it-all. Try handling a company all by yourself." He explained.
"You can always get help." Marinette insisted.
"I tried. Thank you so much for your thoughtful suggestion. No one is worth the position."
"You really need to work on your excuses, Adrien."
"You know what." He detached their hands. "I thought you were understanding shit better now. Turns out nothing has changed."
He huffed.
She frowned at him.
"You are not being reasonable, Adrien." She almost yelled.
"I am. I'm working myself to the ground every day to come back home and find you convincing yourself that I was out with some woman." Adrien yelled back.
"Well guess what." He continued. " .not. I come back exhausted and tired. If you want excitement in your life then you can go back to fighting akumas!"
Marinette crossed her arms together and laid back on the bed.
"Lower your voice or my parents will hear us. I don't want that," she muttered.
He lowered his head to rest next to her.
"I'm sorry. You never listen to me Marinette." Her husband sighed. "I'm really tired."
"I can help." She suggested
He laughed.
"And how would you do that? Enlighten me."
"I can close my boutique and help you run the company. I can handle anything that has to do with the designs and you can be free to work on the business part of the company."
Adrien was taken back by her suggestion.
"You love your boutique. I'm not going to let you close it for me," he said firmly.
"I want to help you. I can always reopen it or add my own style to the designs. They're good don't deny it.'
"I'm not going to deny It." it made Marinette blush. "Don't you think it's a bit late for you to help me?" he inquired.
"Not really. If we're not a couple we can be business partners. Friends even."
"I don't think I can stay in touch with you. I need my space." He uttered weakly.
She looked at him unhappily, she opened her mouth to say something then retracted.
"What?" he asked.
"Adrien?"
He hummed.
"Do you… do you still love me.?" he didn't expect her to ask him that question.
Adrien panicked, he didn't know what to do.
'No," he lied, a witty lie to save his face.
"Oh." She looked disappointed? "Okay."
She turned her back to him and pulled the cover over her body.
Marinette didn't say anything after that.
She left Adrien lost in his own world.
Why did she ask him such a question? Why did she want to know anyway?
He let his mind wander. His father would be furious right now. He would be so angry that Adrien refused to go back home. He woul-
No.
His father was dead.
Adrien was here temporarily.
Gabriel was not there is Adrien's world.
All this grief had a gravity that pulled Adrien down and he found himself drowning into the darkest places.
As he was starting to think more about it, she moved next to him.
Marinette wasn't facing him.
Adrien slowly approached her and hovered awkwardly over her.
His wife was silently crying with her eyes closed. Her body was shaking steadily as if she didn't want him to notice.
He hesitantly put his hand on her covered shoulder only to see her shut her eyes more as if she wanted to hide.
"Marinette" Adrien whispered.
He wiped the tears from her face and cupped her cheeks to tilt her head upward so she would look at him
She slowly opened her eyes then shut them again.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"Come on tell me. Why are you crying?" he repeated.
"I just realized something." She said, her voice trembling and weak.
"What is it?" he questioned.
"When you said that you wanted to cut me off completely. That you don't love me anymore" a sob escaped her. "It hurt me"
"You told me you wanted that too before. You told me you don't want me in your life"
"I know I did. I don't know Adrien. It's just that tonight you told me how much you're suffering and it kinda changed somethings."
Adrien nodded understandingly.
"It's okay Marinette. You're just feeling bad for me. It's fine. Don't worry about me and don't feel guilty"
She shook her head again.
"I don't know."
"Sleep Marinette. You have to wake up early tomorrow." Adrien advised. He patted her on her hair and lowered her back to her pillow.
She closed her eyes and tried to relax and forget.
Adrien's presence next to her made her feel safe somehow. They hadn't slept next to each other in a year or so. She doesn't remember well.
She could tell that he was warm, she tried to resist the urge to hug him and lay her hair on his chest like the old times.
Marinette realized that night that she has been judging her husband all along.
Sometimes people make small gestures next to you and you find yourself drawn to them all over again.
Adrien hadn't opened up to Marinette like that in so long.
It killed her when he confessed that he doesn't love her anymore.
She realized that she messed up so badly.
She lost the most precious person she had.
And this time, there was no going back.
He woke up feeling great. There was a heavy pillow on him, it was so warm and soft.
Adrien yawned and realized that it wasn't morning yet.
It was dark outside.
He looked around the room to find that Marinette was snuggled up on him.
Her head was on his chest and her hair was everywhere. Her arms were draped all over him and one of her legs was thrown around his waist.
She was snoring lightly and he could feel that she drooled on his shirt.
This moment was precious to Adrien. It was everything he ever wanted. It was also the last time Adrien is going to have it.
As soon as they go back, everything will change. Marinette will throw the papers in his face like every other night and he would sign them because he knew that it was what she wanted.
She shifted in her sleep murmuring something unclear.
He smiled. She really was adorable.
He really wanted her to be happy. Even if her happiness wasn't with him.
Tonight Adrien realized that he wasn't ready to let her go.
But he had to because she wasn't happy with someone like him.
He snaked his arms around her and tried to cherish these last moments next to her.
As much as he felt bad for lying to her. He knew it was what she expected to hear.
He did love her still.
Because he knew that she wouldn't be happy with him.
Adrien trusted his decision.
He wanted what was best for Marinette.
Marinette was love.
And Adrien trusted love, even if it brought him sorrow
A/n:hello.
sorry for the delay in the chapter.
i want to say that im really not proud of this chapter, i think i tried too hard and i mixed everything together. tell me if it was confusing for you to read.
i have been dealing with a lot in my life lately and its effecting me. i kinda have a writer's block its horrible.
i couldnt really write when i have a lot of things to deal with. but i tried my best. please give me your opinion on my writing, and thank you for the support.
dont forget to leave follows and comments i would appreciate it