Chapter Text
Adrien was acting weird.
Marinette had started to notice a few months ago that he seemed more distant and always on his phone. Whenever she’d ask who it was, he’d brush her off, or if she’d ask to see his phone, he’d quickly do something on it before giving it to her.
When she expressed her thoughts to Chole, Alix, and Kagami over brunch three weeks prior, they had all told her they were major red flags. But honestly, Marinette didn’t think so. She just thought they were going through a rough patch as most couples do, so she didn’t really think much of it at the time.
But as of recently, she was really getting worried. Now, in addition to always being on his phone, he would come home later, sneak out at night when he thought she was asleep, they were going out together less and he wasn’t acting like himself around her often.
Marinette tried to convince herself that she was just being irrational, that he was probably just busy. But what her friends said just came back to her, over and over again.
What if he really was cheating on her? What if he was telling another woman he loved her? What if it wasn’t just one woman, but multiple other women?
Suddenly finding it harder to keep her breath, Marinette flopped onto the couch, spiraling into the ‘ What if ’s and the ‘ Would he ’s? That is when the door to their apartment opened, revealing a messy-looking Adrien.
“Princess, I’m home,” Adrien’s voice rang through the halls and startled Marinette out of her mind. She looked behind her, over the couch, and into the kitchen, where Adrien was putting his keys in the bowl. He looked over at her and gave her a soft smile.
He slowly made his way towards her, his hair messy and clothes wrinkled, unlike they were this morning when he left for Gabriel . He cupped her cheek and kissed her lips softly. “Happy Anniversary,” He whispers as he pulls away.
“Happy Anniversary, sweetie,” Marinette whispered back before kissing him again, momentarily forgetting what she was so worried about. As she pulled away, Adrien put his hands on her hips, like he did before he started to act weird. Marinette smiled as Adrien laid his head on top of her head.
They both swayed in contentment. At that moment, Marinette forgot about her worries and was so caught up in how domestic everything seemed, that she almost missed the large mark on Adrien’s neck. Almost.
Her worries immediately flooded back into her mind. She squeezed her eyes and took a deep breath. She couldn’t keep doing this. She needed to know what was happening.
“Adrien, I need to ask you something,” Marinette said, opening her eyes again to look up at him.
He looked down, locking their eyes before saying, “So do I. Would you mind if I go first?” Marinette simply nodded, just wanting to put off her question as long as she could.
Adrien lifted his hands off her hips and pecked her lips again before he bent down on his knee. As he pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket, Marinette gasped. Tears pricked her eyes and Adrien smiled up at her.
“Marinette, when we met, I never thought that I would marry you, but looking back, I can’t believe I ever thought that. You are one of my best friends and the love of my life. I have never wanted anything more than you, and I don’t think I ever will want anything more. I want to have a family with you, I want to wake up next to you every morning, and go to sleep next to you every night. I love you so much. So will you make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?”
“Yes,” Marinette whispered, tears rolling down her face. “A hundred times yes.” She kneeled down to his level and kissed him.
Between the proposal and the kisses that followed, Marinette completely forgot about the mark on his neck, and all her worries.
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If you were to ask Chloe her thoughts on Adrien, she'd tell you she didn’t trust him at all. Sure, they had been friends growing up, but Adrien had changed and so had she.
She was no longer the bratty mayor’s daughter who threatened everyone. She was now a self-sustaining businesswoman who could make her own without the help of her father. And yes, while she still did threaten people, it was only when they offended her friends.
And while Chloe changed for the better, Adrien had changed for the worse. He was no longer the kind, golden-hearted boy he had been when they were children. No, now he was someone else.
Chloe couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he had started to change, but she knew it was sometime during lycée. In the beginning, she thought nothing about it, as people changed, but when Marinette had confessed her thoughts to her and the other girls in their little group, Chloe had a strong gut feeling, telling her to look into Adrien more.
The first few times she tried looking into him on a search engine, nothing came up, and everything seemed normal. She spent a few days trying to find something, anything really, that would make the feeling go away, But when she hadn’t found anything, Chloe was just about ready to give up.
As she closed her laptop, Kagami came up to her and handed her a cup of tea. “Is everything alright, Chloe?”
“Um, yeah. I’m just, I don’t. I guess I’m worried about Marinette and Adrien, you know?” Chloe sighed, rubbing her temples with the hand that wasn’t holding the tea. “I just hope I’m wasting my time. I don’t want to see Marinette heartbroken again.
“Marinette is strong. Stronger than all of us. But sometimes, she loses herself and I can’t,” Chloe took a sip of the tea and tried to gather her thoughts before continuing, “I can’t see her like that again, Gami. It hurt to see her go through that when Hawkmoth first came. I remember how she just shut herself off for months so she wouldn’t be akumatized.” A stray tear rolled down her cheek and Kagami silently wiped it away.
“What brought this up, love?” Her girlfriend asked a concerned look on her normally stoic face.
“Do you remember that brunch we went on a few weeks ago with Alix and Marinette? When she brought up how Adrien was acting,” Chloe asked, waiting for Kagami’s answer. When she nodded her head, Chloe went on. “After the brunch, I just had a feeling, telling me to look into the situation.”
“Have you found anything yet?”
“Nothing yet. But I just know that there’s something wrong. I just know. And I’m going to find out what it is. Will you help me?” Chloe gave the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster.
Kagami laughed before pecking a kiss on Chloe’s lips. “Of course I’ll help. But, I think we’ll need some help.”
As Chloe watched Kagami pull out her phone and call someone, she wondered how in the world she had gotten so lucky.
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When Kagami opened the door for Alix a few days later, she couldn’t help but gap the large bulletin board with red strings in the middle of the living room.
“What the actual fuck is that,” Alix asked, trying to figure out what the board was saying. All she could figure out was that it had something to do with Marinette, Adrien, and the blurred image of a woman.
Chloe came out from behind the board, looking exhausted and heartbroken. Alix walked up to Chloe and hugged her, asking what had happened.
“Adrien is cheating on Marinette.” Alix stilled, not knowing how to respond. She slowly unwrapped herself from Chloe and took a step back.
“W-what,” She finally managed to stutter out. “What do you mean he’s cheating on her?”
Chloe took a deep breath before explaining everything to Alix. From the brunch to not finding anything from normal search engines to Kagami contacting some private investigators and finally seeing Adrien meet up with the same brunette woman during the day and night.
“Do we know who the woman is,” Alix asked, after taking a minute to process everything.
“Neither of us knows for sure, but we have a sneaking suspicion on who it is,” Chloe said. When she didn’t say anything else, Alix motioned for her to finish the thought. “Do you remember Lila Rossi? From lycée?” The pink-haired girl nodded, suddenly seeing where this was going. “I’m pretty sure it’s her.”
Before Alix could say anything, her phone started to ring, blaring one of her favorite rock songs. It was Marinette.
As she answered and put it on speakerphone, the loud and cheerful sound of Marinette’s voice rang through the halls and haunted the girls in the room.
“I’m getting married!”
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“Have you done it?” A deep voice said from the other side of the room. The man was hidden in the shadows, the only thing that could be seen was his purple cane.
“Of course I have. Did you have any doubts?” The younger of the two remarked sassily. The older chuckled darkly.
“Of course not, my son. When it comes to your mother, I know you’ll do anything for her.” Hawkmoth stepped out of the shadows, his cowl hiding his face. But even then, the young man knew exactly who it was. “Now do me a favor, and call Rossi. We have some things to discuss.”