Welcome back everyone! We're more than halfway through Season 1, time sure does fly. Speaking of Season 1 I'm still on track to keep up with the weekly updates. Season one is just about all written but I'll have to push to grind out the rest of the pictures pretty soon.

As for Season 2 there might be a little break before it starts. Not a long one but enough time for me to have a nice backlog again. Maybe a month or 2? If I get done what I want quicker I'll end it sooner but things tend to take longer than I think. So just a heads up.

Thank you all for reading so far. Enjoy!

Content warning: drugging, fighting

Chapter 16

Winds of Change

Marinette had several scenarios in her head about how Adrien would one day come in and sweep her off her feet while confessing his love for her. She had them all mapped out perfectly in her head with every detail accounted for. Each one more elaborate and lavishing than the last.

Adrien had practically stumbled in with ripped clothes, wet hair, a missing shoe all while covered in something that smelled…really weird. This scenario was nowhere near the top of her wishlist but somehow that fact that he must have gone through hell and back just to talk to her made her feel all warm inside.

Then Adrien sneezed and although he covered his mouth he still had snot dripping down his nose. Marinette offered him her handkerchief.

"Thanks." He said, hoping he wasn't catching a cold.

"What happened to you? You look like something the cat dragged in." Adrien let out a laugh that might have been a cough as well.

"It's nothing, really."

"It doesn't look like nothing." She looked him up and down worried that there might be injuries she couldn't see. He put his hands on her shoulders.

"That's not important right now." she froze, not sure how to react. "I've been trying to talk to you all week but you kept avoiding me. I'm only asking for a few minutes of your time, after that if you still don't want to see me, I'll respect your decision and keep my distance."

Marinette was touched. She had been so afraid of rejection she didn't even stop to think that maybe he felt for her as well. Now she felt bad for not giving him a chance. As she opened her mouth to speak however a phone was shoved in Adrien's face and Chloe was shoving herself in between them.

"Oh, Adrien, thank goodness. Your father was texting me asking where you were. I'm so glad I found-" Chloe recoiled seeing the state Adrien was in. "Ug! What happened and what is that smell." Marinette tried pulling the pushy girl away.

"Excuse you Chloe, we were in the middle of a conversation." Chloe glared back.

"Excuse yourself Baker Girl. Clearly whatever happened to Adrikins was traumatizing and he needs to go home right away." Suddenly a hand reached out holding a coffee cup.

"One skinny, half soy, sugar free Vanilla Latte for a Miss Chloe Bourgeois!" Without looking Chloe grabbed the cup.

"I didn't order a Latte. Well, I was going to, good to see someone is on top of things." she said, taking a large sip. "Now where was I? Oh yes, it's obvious Dupain-Cheng lured my Adrikins out and look what happened. He's-" She clenched her middle as her stomach let out a loud gurgling sound but she tried to ignore it. "He's needs someone to protect him from the likes of-" The gurgling feeling had now traveled lower and she realized she could no longer ignore it.

"I'll be right back! Don't-" but she was out of time. She quickly raced for the bathroom Sabrina trailing behind her. The two were a little unsure what happened but as they turned they saw Varian placing a small bottle of laxatives back into his pocket. He gave the two a smirk and a thumbs up as he walked away to give them some privacy.

Adrien smiled, thankful for Varian's interference.

"Is it wrong that I feel jealous that I didn't do that first." Marinette just smirked back.

"Oh I'm jealous too but at least she's out of our hair for a while." She turned back to Adrien seriously this time.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you earlier. I wasn't…I was afraid…" she paused and looked into Adrien's piercing green eyes. Taking a deep breath she forced out as many negative emotions as possible. "I'm ready. Just tell me whatever it is you need to say." She wrung her hands nervously as she awaited Adrien's response. Adrian himself had to take a deep breath.

"For the longest time you've been one of my best friends. I haven't had a lot growing up so maybe that's why I didn't notice you had…feelings for me." Marinette kept quiet even if her mind and heart were going a mile a minute. "I guess it must have hurt when I said I was in love with someone else. I know it hurt when she rejected me, I'm sorry for doing the same.

"After your confession I had to basically stop and reevaluate a few things. Seems that everyone knew you had feelings for me but I was the only one out of the loop. Even Varian knew and he doesn't even go to school with us." He was a bit annoyed by that but more annoyed at himself if he was being honest.

"Thinking back maybe some part of me knew but didn't want to acknowledge it for fear it would ruin our friendship. But after being apart for almost a week I realized how much I missed I started asking myself if that was just friendship or something else." Marinette thought her heart was going to burst out of her chest. Was he saying he liked her or just wanted to be friends? The tension was unbearable.

"The truth is I'm still not sure but…" He took her hand in hers. "I think there's something there." Marinette's face was bright red and she had to keep reminding herself to breathe.

"I hope you don't think I'm playing with your feelings, the last thing I want to do is hurt you. The last time I dove in too deep I got my heart broken, but I think I'd like to try and see if we work." Marinette was sure her heart was sounding like a humming bird's right now. Was this really…Was he really…?

"If you don't mind taking things a little slow…Marinette Dupain-Cheng would like to go out with me some time?"

And with that Marinette's head officially exploded. This had to be a dream. No way Adrien Agreste had just asked her out on a date. It may not be the love confession she was hoping for but he wanted to take a chance on her. HER! Oh, she should probably answer she just been staring at him for almost a minute now.

"Y-YES!" That was probably too loud. "I mean, yes I'd love to go on a date with you. And it's perfectly fine if you want to take it a little slow. I waited ages to confess so I know I can be patient." Ah, that was terrible. Stop overthinking it and just be honest.

"More importantly, you're one of my best friends as well Adrien. I don't want to lose that either, so I think slow is good for us." Adrien beamed with such a warm and natural smile it made her heart melt.

"I'm glad, I'm so glad." And he was, maybe he felt more strongly for her than he realized. That was something he was looking forward to finding out together.

"Hey guy!" Varian yelled from across the room. They turned to see him and Alya trying to hold back the small crowd of their friends and Adrien's fans. "You might want to wrap this up soon. We can't keep them back much longer and Gorilla will be here any minute.

Adrien grimaced. "Oh, right." He turned back to Marinette. "I'm afraid our first date might not be for a while. I sort of left a modeling job to get here and I'm probably going to be grounded when I get home. He tried smiling so as not to worry her but she could easily tell it was forced.

"Oh no, is your Father going to take you out of school?" She fretted. "This is all my fault. I should have just talked to you sooner and not run away." Adrien took her hand again.

"We both needed to sort out our feelings and besides, it's time I talked to my father about a few things. Past time really." Just then Gorilla shoved his way through the crowd heading right for Adrien.

"Gotta go. I'll send a message through Varian if I can't call you, my phone broke and I don't know when I'll be able to get another." He waved as he went with Gorilla back to the car.

"Good Luck Adrien!" I Love you.

With Adrian and Varian gone everyone lept to their phones spreading the word that the obviously couple FINALLY got together. Alya came up and gave her best friend a congratulatory hug.

"You did it Girl!"

"If I ever get to see him again."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. He went through so much just to see you, he's not going to let his Father lock him up again." She smiled a little.

"I hope so."

"Besides, he's got Varian in his corner. If Gabriel doesn't listen to Adrien, Varian might be able to talk some sense into him." Marinette smiled remembering how he and Alya helped give her and Adrien some much needed time together.

"NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo!" Came a loud anguished cry from the girl's bathroom. Alya looked back concerned.

"What was that?" Marinette took Alya's hand and started leading her away, grateful Shadowmoth couldn't reakumatize Chloe or she'd be dead by now.

"Something else Varian did for us. I'll tell you on the way, we don't want to be here when Chloe gets out. Trust me."

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Adrien had some very conflicting emotions on the car ride back home. He was overjoyed at finally being able to talk to Marinette but he hated the looming sense of dread for the consequences of his actions today. They were dampening that wonderful mood.

Varian's phone was blowing up, probably because no one could call Adrien himself. He was almost grateful he lost it, even if it was only for a short time. After several minutes of trying to keep up with the hordes of text and questions Varian gave up and turned his phone off.

"Why isn't everyone texting me? What happened to your phone?"

"It was run over by a fire truck."

"How'd that happen?"

"I dropped it trying to get my shoe."

"Where was your shoe?"

"In the sewer."

"How'd it end up in the sewer?"

"I stepped in a sewer grate trying to avoid the second bike."

"Second bike? What about the first bike?"

"It ran over my foot."

"OK, but why were you in the middle of the road to begin with?"

"I had to get off the bus in a hurry. That's also when I got splashed with water from the overturned hotdog cart." So that's what that smell was.

"And why was the cart overturned?"

"It was hit by the bus I was on."

"Was that why you had to get off the bus in a hurry?"

"No, that was because the engine caught on fire."

"And that explains the fire truck." Varian concluded. "Good Lord, did you have a bad day?"

"Want to know the cherry on top? I didn't want to wait for the replacement bus so I started walking only for it to pass me halfway there. And that was only part two, believe it or not the fitting was even more painful. And those are usually the easier jobs." Varian listened patiently as Adrien ranted. He knew that sometimes you just needed to get some things out of your system. After Adrien finished his tale of woe he turned back to the other boy.

"Sorry for dumping all that on you."

"It's fine." Varian assured him. "Better here than with your Dad." Adrien huffed.

"I'll be lucky to get two words in. It'll just be a lecture about how I'm not being responsible and my friends are a bad influence." Varian thought for a moment.

"Why didn't your Dad want you going to the science fair?"

"I didn't ask him. I tried to get out early so he'd be none the wiser but…" he trailed off having already explained what happened.

"Why didn't you ask? I mean it was an educational even and it sounds like the fitting could have been done another time-"

"Because he doesn't listen to me, just orders me around. It was like pulling teeth just to go to the festival and since it was attacked by Tanuki he didn't think it would be a good idea to go out for a while beside my modeling jobs." Varian winched knowing it was kind of his fault that happened. He didn't exactly tell Gabriel what he was doing and even though the truth serum was harmless he probably didn't want his son in the thick of it.

"Maybe I can try and smooth things over a bit. He was pretty worried when he called me." Adrien snapped his head toward Varian.

"You told him?"

"He didn't know where you were. I didn't know where you were until you came in through the front entrance." Adrien scowled and turned away.

"He never would have let me go so I didn't ask him. It's easy for you, he doesn't care where you go."

"Hey I had to promise him a big favor just to go today. I have responsibilities as well, you know." Varian crossed his arms aware that Adrien was upset but still feeling the need to defend himself.

"Yeah you and Father and your secret project. You've spent more time with him since you got here than I have in years!" Varian was taken aback by Adrien's outburst but it would seem the other boy wasn't done yet.

"I do everything I'm told and the moment I step one foot out of line I'm a bad son. You just show up one day, no one ever bothered to ask me, and he lets you just run free while I'm stuck in a cage like a prisoner!" Varian actually slammed his fist on the car door in anger.

"You think you're a prisoner! You have no idea how good you have it." he seeth but Adrien just glared back.

"Just because it's a gilded cage doesn't mean it's still not a cage."

Varian looked at him like he wanted to say something else but just turned his phone back on and ignored him the rest of the car ride. He didn't ask who Varian was texting, probably venting to Max or Alix. He didn't really care.

The other boy had lived with him for a while now and he felt like he barely knew him. He kept so many secrets it was like he didn't want anyone to know him at all. In the back of his mind he felt he might have been a little mean. He did just help him and Marinette get together, but part of him wanted to stay angry even if Varian wasn't the intended target.

As soon as the car pulled up Varian bolted. He probably would have done so sooner if the car hadn't been moving. As expected his Father was waiting for him at the front door, his tall figure casting an imposing shadow along the pathway. But Adrien was not backing down, not this time. They were going to have an actual conversation even if he had to lock them in a room together. If he was going to get pulled from school well, he might as well earn it.

To be continued…

Next time: Adrien and his father have a long overdue conversation/fight. Adrien also learns a little more about the other boy living in his house.