Adrien was enjoying the reception and reconnecting with his highschool friends when he spotted Nathanael and Marinette exiting the reception room together from across the room.

He shifted in his chair, no longer listening to Kim and painfully willed himself to not to move. He should trust Marinette's judgment, despite his own very strong opinion on the matter. But he couldn't rid himself of the dread weighing in his gut. His feet itched to follow them, to protect her, to make sure no harm would come to her, but Adrien bit his lip and resisted. The last thing he wanted to do was to upset Marinette. She was twenty-two. She could take care of herself just fine. And she was mature enough to stay wary of her jackass of an ex.

He had no right to meddle in her personal life after his five-year-long absence.

Adrien spent the next twenty minutes or so halfheartedly listening to Ivan talking about his son's misadventures (Can you believe he actually had the nerve to go around telling all his classmates and teachers that he was the son of The Hulk and that I would go berserk on them if they bothered him too much at school? I wanted the ground to swallow me whole at that parent-teacher conference!) and Max's progress on the new videogame he was currently working on (We're aiming for a brand new kind of puzzle-based RPG. The player won't have any kind of weapon on hand, instead, he'll have to analyze the contents of each room and use whatever he finds in them to defeat each boss, protecting his secret identity all along. So far beta testers are 87% satisfied and we're ecstatic about the feedback we've gotten.) while trying not to focus on his concern for Marinette.

Years of half-listening to his father's guests during events finally paid off as Adrien listened politely and hid just how much his mind was wandering elsewhere. He managed to flawlessly entertain a few of the wedding guests without offending anyone, his eyes darting every now and then towards the door. He didn't want to be a bad guest at his best friend's wedding, but in the meantime, he was desperately worried about Marinette.

At long last, he spotted Nathanael strolling back into the reception on his own, with Marinette nowhere in sight. His fists tightening by his sides, Adrien's previous resolve not to interfere with their business completely shattered. Barely keeping the overwhelming feeling of dread in his stomach in check, Adrien politely excused himself from Alix and Kim's playful banter about who really won the last silly bet between the couple and headed toward Nathanael with determined strides.

He paused a second before briskly tapping on Nathanael's shoulder, barely reminding himself in time to put on his best, and fakest, model smile. "Hey, Nate. Where has Marinette wandered off to?" His eyes flicked over the party as if looking for the girl. "I thought I saw her leave the room with you earlier and I was kinda hoping to catch up a little with her tonight."

The artist frowned, fists clenching at his sides. "She wasn't feeling well so I drove her home," he responded flatly, anger fueling his words.

Adrien visibly deflated, not even trying to hide his frustration and his disappointment. "Ah well, I guess I'll have to do all the catching up tomorrow morning at the office then," he casually answered before forcing himself to turn his back on the redhead, trying with all his might to remain at the very least civil toward him. He scanned the crowd quickly, trying to spot either Nino, Alya, or anybody that could provide him with Marinette's number so he could check to see if she truly was as alright as Nathanael was implying she was.

However before he could even take a single step toward his best friend, the artist's voice stopped him dead in his tracks, cold as an iceberg. "Agreste."

Instantly spinning on his heels, Adrien faced his old classmate again. "Kurtzberg," he answered, raising a questioning eyebrow. Whatever Nathanael wanted with him, he was barking up the wrong tree.

"Stay away from Mari."

The words hit Adrien like a freight train. His fist clenched at his side and he had to summon all his will to answer evenly, trying his best not to cause a scene at his best friend's wedding. "Seeing as of tomorrow we'll be working daily in the same office in a ten-foot radius from each other, I don't quite see how I could."

The redhead snarled, all pretense of civility long gone by that point. "STAY. AWAY. FROM. HER."

Adrien's fists tightened with raw anger. After all he had done to her, after all he'd put her through, how dare Nathanael threaten him? When he answered, Adrien's voice couldn't have been colder even if he tried. "You have absolutely no claim on her. She's twenty-two. She's free to do whatever she wants with her free time, even if it involves spending it with me whether you like it or not."

"STAY. AWAY. FROM. MARI. You're only gonna hurt her, you selfish, spoiled brat!"

It was more than he could take. Adrien's blood boiled over, his fists balled up even tighter, his knuckles whitening painfully, and his grassy green eyes darkened a few shades further. "At least I'm not some pathetic jerk who tried to force himself on her."

Years of fencing at a competitive level had taught many things to Adrien, ranging from a very strict discipline to being thoroughly skilled at reading body language. The latter came in handy at that very second, as he managed effortlessly to gracefully dodge the punch flying towards his face.

His previous resolve to keep a fight from tainting Alya and Nino's big day at all costs was long forgotten as his own fist instantly cut through the air, colliding hard with Nathanael's jaw. The redhead stumbled back under the impact and fell back on the tiled floor. Holding his jaw with one hand, he stared at Adrien in disbelief for a split second. He obviously had never expected the polite and always composed cover model to actually retaliate. Ivan and Kim grabbed Nathanael by the elbows, dragging him kicking and screaming out of the reception room without further ceremony.

Alya and Nino were the first to break the awkward silence that had fallen on the reception. "Where's Marinette?" Alya hissed, worry seeping from her words.

Adrien sighed, massaging his knuckles. "I saw her leave with Nathanael earlier, but when I asked him where she had gone, he snapped at me. He told me that he had driven her home and that I should stay away from her. It kinda went downhill after that. I'm really, really sorry for making a scene," the blond sighed.

Alya didn't answer him, instead she pulled out her cell phone and dialed her best friend's number with shaky fingers. She frowned at her phone and dialed again. Her features fell. "She isn't picking up her phone…" She turned towards her new husband, resolve coloring her features, "Nino, we have to go and check on her! What if that piece of scum tried something again?"

The groom checked his watch, but frowned. "We're supposed to catch the train to Italy in about twenty minutes, we don't have enough time to swing by her place, and it's the last train until morning. I know you're worried but, she's probably just asleep and..." Nino cut himself off, shaking his head, "What do you want to do?"

"I can't leave her—" Alya began, only to be cut off by Adrien.

"Just give me her address and I'll check up on her. Go on with your honeymoon you two,and I'll text Nino to let you know what's going on and if she needs you, you can come back first thing tomorrow morning."

The brunette eyed him critically for a minute, visibly trying to weigh the pros and the cons of the current situation. "You better let me know everything that's going on. If she wipes her ass I want to know about it, got it, Agreste?"

Fingers shaking with emotion, Alya quickly jotted down Marinette's address on a clean napkin before handing it to Adrien, along with a single key she deposited carefully in his open palm, closing his fingers over it.

"If she has enough alcohol in her system to let Nathanael within twenty feet of her, she's probably passed out on the couch, snoring so loudly she won't even hear the doorbell. Let yourself in to check in on her, but don't do anything I wouldn't do," she said, eyes wet, but determined.

Adrien smiled reassuringly to the brunette. "Don't worry about it. Enjoy your well-deserved honeymoon. I'll take care of Marinette while you're away. I'll text you as soon as I make sure she's alright."

The newlyweds hugged him close, emotion palpable between them.

"Thanks, Adrien. It... It's completely my fault. Nino tried to tell me it was stupid, but I wanted the old gang together, for the sake of good times, you know? I shouldn't have invited Nathanael and Sabrina, to begin with. I should've known it would backfire so badly." Alya whispered, hot tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"You were only trying to do what you thought was right, Alya. You wanted the whole old class to celebrate your big day, no one can blame you for trying."

The bride looked intently at her feet and wiped at her eyes. "But still. Inviting the guy who tried to rape my best friend was way more than insensitive of me. Me and my stupid, stubborn brain. It's a wonder Marinette doesn't hate me."

"Nobody hates you,"Nino chimed in, stroking reassuring small circles in his new wife's lower back with his thumb. "It's already been four years, babe. We all thought it was way behind us. Mari herself assured us over and over again that she was totally over it and that it was okay. She's okay and Adrien's going to check in on her just to make sure."

Adrien smiled softly, carefully adding her key to his own set. "I'll take care of her, don't worry. This is your honeymoon, a once in a lifetime trip for both of you. Enjoy it one hundred percent., I'll hold down the fort, okay?"

Alya eyed the best man for a minute, for the first time seeing why Marinette was always so enamored with him.

It was crystal clear he genuinely and deeply cared about Marinette.

So, despite being fully aware Marinette was going to murder her once she'd sobered up enough to understand everything that happened, Alya smiled warmly to Adrien, softly squeezing his hand around the napkin. "Don't forget to text Nino. I'm worried as fuck about her right now."

Adrien smiled weakly. He was beside himself with worry; he couldn't imagine what it was for Alya. She and Marinette were obviously closer than ever. "Don't worry about it. Now go, and try to have fun. Your train is leaving in twenty minutes. I'll check on Marinette deal with the cleanup here. See you in two weeks?"

Nino grinned at Adrien widely, pulling him into a bear crushing hug. "See you in two weeks man. And remember, don't leave Madame Lahiffe hanging. That wouldn't be smart."

Adrien put his car keys back in his pocket, chuckling softly. "On it. Somehow I'd like to survive long enough to hear about your honeymoon. And try not to worry, Alya, I'll be at Marinette's place in fifteen minutes top. I'll make sure she gets into her bed safely and to leave her some water and aspirin."

A very grateful Alya hugged him warmly. "Thanks, Adrien. Thank you so much. I couldn't live with myself knowing she's hurt because of me."

"Neither could I, but don't worry, it's no one's fault." Adrien reassured her. His smile fell as they left the room, "Except mine," he whispered to himself, "I could've stopped them when they left the room."