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“How long has it been going on?” Adrien asked, sitting down besides his girlfriend - no - ex girlfriend.
“A couple of months.”
He exhaled and looked at the hands joined together in his lap, one knee bouncing up and down. He began to nod and slowly turned his head to the side, meeting her water filled eyes.
“And are you sure this is what you want? That you want to be with him?”
She nodded back to him, sniffing and wiping under her nose.
“It’ll be for the best. I love you Adrien, I truly do … but this - us - it just can’t work.” Marinette felt her heartbreak a little. She hadn’t wanted to end this with Adrien, but she had no choice. She had been caught up in a whirlwind affair and her heart had been split. She had to decide, and she hadn’t chosen him.
“Does - does he make you happy?” Adrien questioned his once girlfriend.
“Yes,” she replied. She didn’t want to give anymore away. She didn’t want Adrien hunting down her other man, it just wouldn’t work out well for any of them.
“I just want you to be happy,” Adrien said, a small smile aimed at the wonderful girl next to him. “You mean a lot to me, Marinette.”
She broke down in tears and flung her arms around one of the most wonderful, kind and genuine men she had ever met.
Her close friend.
Her first love.
Her boyfriend of eight hard, long months where the secrets just got too much.
She needed to be with someone who knew, someone who understood and luckily, there was someone in that position who could help heal her heart.
“Friends?” He asked. Marinette spiralled into a flashback of her first failed relationship. Another time, another lie.
“Friends.” She agreed, moving away to wipe her face free of tears again.
“I better go.” Adrien said, standing up and moving towards the door. She wanted to stop him, she really did but there was no use, it was time to let go of Adrien Agreste, it was time to finally move on.
~~~~~~
It had been two weeks since Marinette had told Adrien about her affair, about the other guy who she had fallen in love with and she had been yet to bump into him. They were currently on break from school meaning Marinette wouldn’t have to stare at the back of Adrien’s head wishing she could run her fingers through his golden mane.
She still loved him and she believed she always would, but she had committed to another. She had kissed another numerous times whilst they were together and now that they were apart. She never thought she would be that type of woman and it sickened her to know that she was. What would her mother think?
Alya knew, of course, exactly what had happened and with whom, and as happy she was for her friend, she couldn’t help the hint of sadness she felt for Adrien. The poor boy just wanted to be loved, and he wanted to be loved by Marinette. Marinette had kept her distance from the group over the last couple of weeks claiming it was ‘guardian’ duty, however, Alya knew she was purposefully avoiding time with Adrien. The poor guy just couldn’t catch a break.
Alya and Nino were currently with the rest of the gang on the Liberty. Kitty Section had been rehearsing ready for their performance that evening at a charity gala at the school, and that’s when she saw them together for the first time since the split with Adrien.
He was lying in between her legs, as she casually stroked his hair, every now and then stopping to kiss him on the forehead. They looked so happy together, and Alya couldn’t help the feeling swell in her chest. Marinette looked the happiest she’d seen her in months, maybe even a year, including the time spent with Adrien.
She looked young and carefree, the stress lines eliminated from a face which had become that of a teenage girl again, the stress and emotions of her day to day life just disappearing, leaving behind sheer happiness.
Yes, Alya’s heartbroke for Adrien, but he would get over it. He was an attractive boy with a beautiful personality, girls would throw themselves at him. Alya finally figured out that her allegiance lay with Marinette, and seeing her girl this happy was worth it all.
She totally shipped it.
~~~~~~
A month had passed since the break up and it was time to return to school. Adrien had managed to avoid any social situations with Marinette since the break up, only a couple of close calls whilst he was Chat Noir. Her looks were always soft when she looked at him and he couldn’t help how his heart tightened in his chest.
He did miss her.
He missed her so, so much, but she was right this wouldn’t work, it couldn’t at the moment.
There were too many secrets, and he had another he was keeping close to his chest.
He walked into the classroom and saw she was already there, the sun bouncing off her raven hair making it look a lot more blue than black. She was beautiful, he would always think that, and he would always wish things could be different.
Adrien knew he needed someone who understood, someone who knew what his life was like, and someone who could support him with it. A selfish feeling ran through him as he thought about what he needed. He needed someone strong, someone who he knew could put up a fight and have his back.
He would never, ever put Marinette in danger. He would never do anything which could lead to her possibly getting hurt, so this was for the best. He had to lose her to love her, and that’s the way it had to be.
“You ok, dude?” Nino came and stood alongside him, pulling his gaze from Marinette.
“I will be,” Adrien faked a smile and made his way over to his desk. The words leaving Marinette’s mouth cutting through him like a knife.
“He wrote me a song, I haven’t heard it yet but he seemed so excited about it.” Her words floated down from her conversation with Alya, her happy and chirpy voice squashing his heart, and he couldn’t help the soft sigh that left his lips. Maybe in a different life it would have worked out. Maybe in a different life she would let him in. But this wasn’t a different life and he needed to get over it.
She’d chosen the other guy.
She’d cheated on him with whoever this other guy was, he was too afraid to ask, too afraid to see.
He glazed over his shoulder and caught her bluebell eyes. She looked so happy and, for the first time in about a year, she looked content.
It was time to move on … tonight he would move on.
~~~~~~
Noone was surprised when Adrien Agreste changed his Facebook profile from ‘In a relationship with Marinette Dupain-Cheng’ to ‘single’, after all everyone knew she’d cheated on him with another guy and then chose that guy instead.
However, everyone was surprised when Adrien changed his profile back into ‘In a relationship’, only this time there was no name attached.
Marinette couldn’t help the tears prickling at the back of her eyes, it hurt, she couldn’t lie. She still loved him, she couldn’t help it. It seemed some habits just die hard.
Her body heated up as she saw him enter the cafeteria, the guys high fiving him and girls sobbing that Adrien was once again off the market, and not with any of them. Looks were thrown to Marinette in pity and in smugness.
She noticed he looked happy, the happiest she’d ever seen it. True happiness. She couldn’t help but note how he never looked that way when he was with her. She’d never put that kind of smile on his face, he was clearly on cloud nine.
Marinette watched him laugh and joke, as he got his hair ruffled by the other guys, but then she saw it. The moment that took her breath away and made her feel sick to the stomach.
A girl with hair similar to hers and blue eyes hooked her arm through Adrien’s and led him to another table, leading him away from his normal lunch spot with them. Marinette couldn’t help but continue to glance over at him and her, watching them talk and laugh, watching them share food and brush hands. Her stomach turned. Had she made a big mistake?
The girl spotted Marinette looking over and nudged Adrien to turn his eyesight too. He caught Marinette’s eyes with his own chartreuse ones and smiled at her, raising his hand to give her a quick wave.
She bit her bottom lip and waved back before standing up and leaving the room, tears pooling in the bottom of her eyes and descriptions of how fine she was being thrown at her friends.
Two months after they’d broken up, she wanted him back. She wanted him back so badly.
~~~~~~
It had been four months since the split of the century and Nino was getting nowhere with information about Adrien’s new girlfriend.
He’d asked questions, he’d gone through his phone (with permission of course), he had even stalked Adrien a couple of times and nothing. All that was on his phone was many, many, many pictures of Ladybug.
Ladybug with hearts around her, Ladybug with a pout, Ladybug angry, Ladybug smiling, Ladybug, Ladybug, Ladybug. Geez, there were even pictures he was sure Alya had never seen.
“Are you sure your new girlfriend doesn’t mind you having literally thousands of pictures of Ladybug on your phone?”
Adrien let out a laugh and pulled his phone away from Nino.
“Nah, she’s cool about it. She knows it’s just some celebrity crush.”
“She does understand you’re a celebrity too, right?”
“Of course,” Adrien responded, “she trusts me with her life, she knows I’m not going to run off with anyone.”
Nino thought for a moment on how to approach this subject, Adrien didn’t know he knew. Adrien also didn’t know that sometimes he talks in his sleep. Though when he does his voice sounds a little different; more high pitched and slightly nasally.
“But you cheated on Marinette.” Ok, it was out there now. Nino had said what needed to be said. Marinette was getting the slack for being a cheat yet Adrien wasn’t as innocent as he made out.
“How do you know?” Adrien stopped outside of the house they were heading to.
“You talk in your sleep, man?”
“No, I don’t.” Adrien replied, feeling the snicker of something in his coat pocket. Oh that kwami will be having processed cheese for a month. Adrien sighed in defeat. “Fine, I cheated on her too. It was just a couple of kisses though, it didn’t mean anything … at the time.”
Nino’s eyes grew wide.
“You cheated on someone you love, Adrien. This is bad dude! Everyone’s calling her names and being horrible to her and yet you were just as bad.”
“Don’t you think I know that!” Adrien shouted before hushing his voice, “I still love her Nino! I love her so much it hurts me to let her take the blame, but I can’t hurt her more by telling her I was unfaithful, she’ll hate me.”
“Yeah well, I don’t like you too much at the moment either.” Nino knocked the door and waited to be let in. Alya’s sister was throwing a housewarming party and of course Nino, Adrien and Marinette were invited along to join the fun. “You have a week to tell her, or I will! Marinette doesn’t deserve this.”
The door opened and Nino walked in ahead of Adrien.
One week to tell her.
He couldn’t break her heart, it would break his too.
This whole love thing was a tangled, complicated mess.
~~~~~~
“So, what is she like?” Alya had sided up to Adrien, cornering him in the kitchen.
“Who?” Adrien asked naively.
“Your new girl. You've ditched lunch with us for a couple of weeks in favour of her. She must be something really special.”
Adrien looked over to the doorway just as Marinette entered. Gone was that girl from a couple of months ago that was happy and full of life. Her smile was fake and he knew she was doing it just to placate him.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” he said, eyes firmly on Marinette, “she’s a forgien exchange student who I’ve been asked to help. She doesn’t know much French, hence the time she’s spending with me.”
He turned his gaze back to Alya and plastered on his own fake smile. If she could fake it, he could too.
“Tell us about the real girlfriend then,” Alya teased, “if she’s real, which I bet she’s not, or she’s just some airhead model you’re using as a rebound.”
“Oh, she’s definitely real,” Adrien saw red, no one insulted his girlfriend. “She is beautiful and smart, caring, creative, intelligent, the smartest girl I know, actually. I love her, and I’m so lucky she’s chosen me. She’s gorgeous inside and out, and I couldn’t ever be with anyone better, there is no one as good as her.”
Alya cringed as Adrien spoke the last words.
Slowly, she turned towards Marinette and saw the silver tear streaks run down her face, the intake of breath behind her was indication that Adrien had seen it too.
Marinette turned on her feet and walked out the kitchen, out the apartment and out into the night.
Sudden fear hitched in Adrien’s heart. It was late, she shouldn’t be out alone and most certainly shouldn’t be out when she’s that upset. He pushed his way through the crowd and out into the streets, he needed to find her, to apologise for what he said and to tell her the truth.
~~~~~~
She had curled herself up into a ball against a chimney, hiding in the shadows. She didn’t want anyone to see her. Ladybug shouldn’t be weak. She should be strong, she shouldn’t be crying over her ex boyfriend.
The ex boyfriend who she cheated on.
The ex boyfriend she was still madly in love with.
The ex boyfriend who had clearly moved on.
The sound of boots hitting the concrete roof pulled her out of her state of despair. She stood up and ran towards the newly arrived person and launched herself into their arms, allowing the tears to run free.
“Everyone’s looking for you,” the voice was smooth and calm as he caressed his hands down her back.
“I don’t care,” she said.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” A second male landed on the rooftop and walked over to the two heroes already there.
“I think I made a mistake, Kitty.” Her voice was small, and weak.
Viperion gave her one last tight squeeze before walking her over and into her boyfriend's arms.
“I’ll get back to patrol. I think you two need to talk.”
Ladybug wrapped herself in Chat Noir’s arms as she contemplated what she was going to say to him. She couldn’t be with him. Not when she felt like this.
“I’m still in love with my ex,” she whispered, burying her face into his chest.
“So am I,” he whispered, placing his lips to the top of her head. “But I love you too.”
“I love you too, Chaton, so much!”
“We’ll work it out.” He stroked her head, pressing another kiss in her hair, “it’ll all work out.”
Both heroes sat cuddled for the remainder of the night on the rooftop considering where to go from here. Both knew they couldn’t be with anyone else, but both hearts yearned for another.
~~~~~~~
Another couple of months passed and school was finally over … complete … finished … they were free. Lycée was over and university was mere months away. They’re grown and matured, and tonight they were celebrating that.
Marinette had received her internship at Gabriel that morning and couldn’t wait to celebrate.
Getting changed into a classic little black dress, she made her way to Alya’s apartment where the class were gathering to celebrate their new found freedom.
She knocked on the door and waited for Alya to come and let her in. It was seven thirty eight which meant she was only eight minutes late for a change. A success if there ever was one.
The door opened and Marinette came face to face with the blonde haired model who plagued her dreams. He was looking away still conversing with someone, a bottle in hand, before turning back and catching her eye. She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling self conscious with what she was wearing.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” she responded, walking through the door.
She felt his eyes trailing her as she walked, and her heart fluttered. Adrien Agreste was looking at her, and deep in her heart she felt good about it.
As the night came to a close, Marinette found Adrien out on the balcony. He had his arms resting on the railing as he looked out over Paris. She cringed a little as she noticed the Ladybug and Chat Noir billboard straight ahead. They were laughing and huddled into each other and she felt the worst person in the world as she could only think about comforting the male in front of her. The male who was her ex boyfriend and the male who she still loved.
“A Penny for your thoughts,” she said, causing the blonde to let out a laugh.
“Just - relationship issues,” he looked at her slowly before looking away again.
“I know that feeling,” she sighed, settling next to him.
“How about we swap stories? Maybe an additional point of view could help?” She nodded in agreement, maybe he was right.
“My boyfriend is still in love with his ex,”
Adrien burst out laughing and Marinette clenched her jaw. He noticed the shift in her demeanor and coughed to cover the laugh.
“Sorry,” he said, “it’s just that’s the exact same issue I’m having. She loves us both, it seems one of us can’t make her completely happy.”
“Yeah,” Marinette said, keeping her own thoughts buried in her mind. He didn’t know she was still in love with him, that would just make everything even more messy. Taking a deep breath she stepped forward and placed a hand over his. “I'm sorry about everything.”
He looked her over, giving her a lopsided grin.
“Don’t worry about it, you were right. It just wouldn’t have worked, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss you.”
Her heart fluttered at his words. He missed her. He … missed … her!
“I miss you too.” She whispered back.
As if two magnets had entered their bodies, they pulled towards each other placing their lips firmly against each other. His hands on her waist, as she slid her own up into his hair.
This kiss was nothing like the ones they shared as a couple. This was hot, forbidden and primal. It reminded him of his first kisses with Ladybug. The kisses they had when the whole affair started.
Affair.
He grasped hold of Marinette tighter and pulled her flat against his body, tilting his head to kiss her deeper, harder. The sounds echoing from her throat inspiring him to push more. She felt so right in his arms, and he was loving every minute, that was until his conscience made a reappearance.
He pulled back and placed his forehead against hers. He didn’t regret what he did and he wouldn’t. It felt too good.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I’m not,” he went to kiss her again as the sound of laughter and the sliding door into the lounge opened.
“Oh, hey, you two ok?” Alya stepped out and looked between the two ex lovers.
“Yeah we’re great,” Adrien dropped Marinette a wink moving away from her and walking back into the apartment.
She turned to look at the billboard and sighed. She’d done it again. She’d cheated on someone she loved.
~~~~~~
Adrien backed Marinette into the supply closet just outside the photostudio. Within seconds her arms were locking onto him and her tongue was exploring his mouth. They’d been having this heated affair for four months. Stolen kisses and hugs whenever they could. Touches and gropes when no one was looking, and text messages that were deleted almost instantaneously. They just couldn’t stay away from each other.
“I want to be with you, Marinette. I will break up with her, I just - I need to be with you.”
His lips were on her neck as she began to remove his shirt.
“I love you, Marinette. We can be together again. No more secrets.”
She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him back.
“I can’t,” she said, “Adrien, I’m serious this will never work in the ‘real world’, there’s things you can never know about me, but what we have here it’s good, actually no, it’s great.”
He began to redo the buttons on his top trying to keep himself calm and to stop himself from exploding. She can’t be serious.
“You know what, no more! I’m not dealing with this anymore Marinette, you can’t have your cake and eat it. I either want all or nothing. When you’ve finally decided what, perhaps we can speak again, but for now I need a break.”
“A break? Adrien? A break from what?” She stepped forward to grab his hand only for it to be shaken off.
“A break from you.” His voice was poisonous as he walked out the door and slammed it shut. She slumped back against the wall allowing the tears to fall down. She was a horrible, horrible person.
She needed to decide, she knew she did, but it was just too hard.
~~~~~~
“We need to talk.”
Ladybug landed on the rooftop where they were due to meet to find Chat Noir already there waiting for her. He was serious. A complete opposite to the happy-go-lucky face she was used to seeing on him.
“Yeah,” she sighed out.
He held out his hand for hold as he led her to an apartment block in the centre of Paris. The area looked familiar but she wasn’t sure why. Perhaps she’d been here before, or someone had mentioned the place.
Chat landed on the balcony and opened the door, indicating for Ladybug to proceed.
The room was sparse, only a couple of items positioned, each covered in a white sheet. Paint cans and ladders lay around the room and the smell of fresh paint insulted her nostrils. Obviously whoever lived here hadn’t moved in yet.
“Listen, LB, I’ve done something I’m not -” Chat’s sentence was interrupted by the beeping of his Miraculous, which was followed swiftly by the sound of Ladybugs.
Before either knew what was happening their transformations dropped and their kwami’s flew in between them, blocking their face from the other.
“We’ve had enough,” Plagg screeched out, “this has been going on for the past year and it’s time it stopped.”
“We’re holding an intervention,” Tikki added.
“Tikki, stop. What is this about?”
“You know exactly what it’s about! You can’t keep cheating on each other, with each other.”
“What?” A male and female voice spoke at the same time, obviously not understanding what the little red kwami meant.
“I’m fed up with this, Ladybug, and so is Plagg. You’re making each other happy in one breath and miserable in the next. It stops today!” It wasn’t very often Tikki spoke her mind in such a way, and Marinette couldn’t help looking at her kwami in awe. “Plagg, turn on the lights.”
The blinding white light took over the room and Marinette closed her eyes tightly. They couldn’t know each other's identities, it was the rules.
“M’Lady?” Chat’s voice was nervous as he spoke and she could hear what she suspected were the soles of very expensive shoes making their way towards her. “Marinette, open your eyes please.”
She felt him take her hands in his and lift them to press a gentle kiss to her knuckles.
“I can’t,” a tear ran down her cheek and she wasn’t sure whether it was fear or relief.
“Yes, you can Bugaboo. It’s me. It’s just me.” He placed her hands onto his cheeks and allowed her to feel each detail on his face. His nose, cheek bones, chin, lips, eyebrows. “You know this face, Mari. You know it well. Just open your eyes.”
“I can’t,” she whispered out again. “What if it’s not real?”
“It is real M’Lady, my Princess, my love. Everything is real and it’s perfect.” She felt his hands begin to stroke along her own face and she leaned into his hand. “Just open your eyes, for me please, for our love.”
A whimper left her lips again, and she placed a hand over her mouth, slowly prying her eyelids open to reveal her shining blue irises .
“I love you,” he said, “it’s always been you.”
“I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.” She said, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.
He placed his arms around her too, pulling her in close.
“It’s ok, we’re ok.” They stood in silence for a fair amount of time revealing the weight of the other in their arms, knowing that they no longer needed to play this infidelity game. That they’d always been loyal, without realising. That they always found each other.
“I love you too,” she finally said, “all of you.”
Adrien positioned his hand under her chin and lifted her face to look at him, before placing a kiss of love and passion against her lips.
“Where are we?” She asked, as he pulled away.
“My apartment, which, if you want, you could share with me?” He looked at her with wide eyes and hope, so much hope.
“What about your other girlfriend?” Marinette asked through a shy smile. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer into his body.
“I think it’s fair to say we’re crap at cheating on each other.”
They both started to laugh, Adrien leading Marinette around the apartment. Showing each room and the decor so far.
“Though, I must make you aware, I do find Multimouse rather sexy.”
“If you get Multimouse, then I get Aspik. We need to make it fair at least.”
Grabbing hold of Marinette he flung her over his shoulder, holding onto her by her knees and heading to the one room in the house which was already complete.
He threw her down on the bed in their soon to be bedroom and looked at the most beautiful woman in the world.
“We’re idiots,” he exclaimed, smiling down at her.
“Yes we are,” she agreed, “now get over here so I can show you how much I love you.”
And just like that they managed to figure everything out.
The only problem now was, how would they tell Alya?