Within the last month, after Marinette had seemingly bolted to her room crying for no reason, their little relationship deteriorated rapidly. Adrien hated it. Hated Marinette clamming up as she was and keeping quiet and even avoiding him at times.

It stung so bad. This was the girl that, frankly, he loved more than anything. Than anyone. She was the one person he could trust day in and day out. She was his soft spot to land after a crappy day. She was safety away from his father and all the fan girls and the fashion world, all three of which wanted their way with him.

And she… she had just wanted him.

He missed that.

"Adrien."

He looked up from where he'd been staring a hole into his paperwork to see Nathalie standing there. What scared him most was the fact she almost wore a bit of pity on her stoic expression. "I'm sorry," she said. "Unfortunately, we have an emergency at the photoshoot in Spain. One of the male models was injured due to an unfortunate fall. Your father was hoping to convince you to take his place."

Adrien sighed and rubbed his eyes. He hated modeling. Tried to avoid it whenever possible. It just brought on too much of a headache. However, the photoshoot had already gone two days over, and the deadline to submit those photos was fast approaching. "I'll do it."

Nathalie sighed, relieved. "Thank you, Adrien. We'll have you on the first plane tomorrow. I'll send you the information as soon as possible." With that, she turned and marched off.

Adrien sighed, shoving his face into his hands. Now, to tell Marinette he'd be gone for a couple days. He didn't know if this was a good or a bad thing, but he hoped that maybe a little space would do her well. At the very least, it would give him a bit of space to plan the very serious but unfortunately necessary conversation he needed to have with her when he returned.

It was lonely with him here, but Marinette was quickly learning that it was lonelier with him gone. He'd been gone just over a day, and she was missing him. She was hunched over the counter, staring at her phone, a message loaded but not yet sent out. Hope everything is going well for you. Call me when you can. I want to hear all about your day :)

And that was after she edited it, deleting all the I miss you's and anything else that sounded too… relationship-y.

Because they weren't in a relationship, even though Marinette wanted to be.

A knock came from the door, and Marinette perked up. She hadn't been expecting anyone. She opened the door.

"Nathalie," she greeted in surprise. "What brings you?"

Nathalie held out a stack of papers. "I'm sorry to do this, but you've been served."

Marinette's brow furrowed as she took the stack of papers. And that's when she saw it: divorce.

Adrien wanted to divorce her.

Her heart raced and the world was crumbling out from under her and she was left feeling numb.

Slowly, she shut the door, not even able to process how rude it was as she locked it behind her.

She bit her lip, holding it in as she walked to her bedroom. But the moment she shut herself in, the floodgates opened, and she sank to the floor. And sobbed.

Adrien was so thankful that they were able to wrap up the set quickly. The camera man was happy to "finally have a competent professional on set." Adrien was simply happy that they got the shots they needed to finish the set so he could head home.

He was nervous about the speech he had mentally prepared. One that would reveal that he loved her and actually wanted to become a married couple. He was willing to work on whatever needed to be worked on to make that happen. He wasn't foolishly optimistic enough to think she'd fall into his arms and say "I love you too, darling," but he was hoping that it would end with her wanting to give him a chance and step out on a limb with him into a true relationship.

On the flip side, he knew they could fall apart just as fast. She wouldn't chuck the ring at him, but heaven help him, if she returned the ring and the word 'divorce' dropped from her lips, he'd probably end up in tears with a shattered heart he would never care to fix.

He could only hope that wasn't what would happen.

He opened the door, expecting to see Marinette in the kitchen at this time, but he didn't. Heck, he didn't even smell anything cooking. He glanced at his watch again, checking the time. Considering it was close to their normal dinner time, the time he had said he'd be home by, it was shocking to see Marinette not in the kitchen. Not when she loved cooking.

"Marinette?" he called into the apartment. "I'm home."

Still no answer.

Slowly growing worried, he shut the door behind him and dropped his suitcase by the door. "Marinette?"

And that's when she came out of her room. It took a second to register that her eyes were blood-shot red and that there were tear trails on her cheeks.

He didn't hesitate to rush up to her, only to be stopped when she took a step back.

His heart sank. "Marinette?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, her voice broken and weak.

His brow furrowed, but his heart raced nervously. "Tell you what?"

She shook her head. "If you regretted being married to me, then why didn't you tell me?" she said. "Instead you have me served while you're out?"

Now, he was completely lost. "What do you mean 'served'?"

She held out the crumpled papers she was clutching tightly. "You could have told me you wanted a divorce," she said, her voice whispery and weak.

His eyes widened as he snatched the papers from her hands and glanced them over. Divorce stuck out and had his heart pounding like a drum, causing the world to blur out. Finally, he found his tongue. "Who gave this to you?"

She refused to answer, refused to look at him. Her head was turned toward the floor and her arms were crossed. She sniffed and dabbed her nose just as more tears fell from her cheeks.

Adrien dropped the papers and reached for her hands. But she shrunk back and angled herself away from him. "Marinette," he said softly, getting onto his knees to attempt to put himself in her line of sight. She shut her eyes instead.

"I lo… I care for you, Adrien," she said, her eyes still shut. "You're my best friend and I thought… I thought we could make this work." She sniffed once again. "But apparently, this can't even be a mutual agreement."

"Marinette," Adrien said, shuffling closer to her and reaching for her hands again. Considering they were crossed tightly to his chest, the most he could do was put his hands on her elbows. "I would never. I hoped you'd know me better than that—"

"I feel like I hardly know you anymore," she countered. "You've been so distant and working late—"

"I thought you wanted to be alone because you were never happy with me here."

"I was happy with you here."

"I didn't know," he said. "I'm so sorry. I really didn't know. Otherwise, I would have stayed."

And that's when she finally, finally looked at him.

"I think…" he began, "We need to sit down and have a heart to heart."

She sniffed before nodding. "Okay."

He got her a box of tissues and sat her down on the couch. He then pulled out a blanket—her favorite blanket—and wrapped it over her shoulders, holding it there before taking a seat beside her on the couch. And then he cradled her face and wiped her cheeks free of tears.

She leaned into his touch, letting her eyes drift shut. She'd craved it so much. If he was giving, she would take. Even if it broke her heart in the end.

After a long moment, she realized he never let her go. Her eyes fluttered open again to see him there, still there and holding her and looking at her with concern and worry.

"Marinette," he said. "I think that this proves I really can't not be truthful with you any longer."

She sniffed, knowing that she couldn't not be truthful with him either. "I want a marriage, Adrien," she blurted out. "A happy marriage and a family with kids running around like they did in that movie and…" The tears choked her up again before she could continue.

He shifted close before pulling her against him. She pressed her face into his shoulder and cried. Sobs wracked her body as tears poured out of her. And he was patient and held her in his arms against his side as he waited for her to calm.

"The movie," he mumbled once her tears had subsided. "The one that had you running away and crying."

She nodded, then took a deep breath. "Adrien, let's face it: we're roommates," she said, her voice so weak she felt pathetic. "And roommates don't have kids together."

He sighed, then wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her fully into his lap.

And she was so weak and needy for attention—his affection—that she crawled into his lap without a fuss. Imminent heartbreak be damned, she wanted him to hold her for as long as possible. For as long as this fairytale lasted.

Which she doubted was much longer.

They were silent for a while, Adrien snuggling her tightly against his chest in that tender way she loved so much. His looks could draw many a woman, but if they knew his heart, he'd have all of Paris seeking his affections. Which was why she felt so honored to know what was back behind the barbed wire and stone walls and constant hesitation and fear. This man wasn't just her best friend; he meant the world to her.

"So you ran," he said, his voice worn and tired, "because with this arrangement, you knew you were never going to have that."

"It's my dream, Adrien," she said. "I never told you, but yes, I want a family. I want kids. I want to be a mom."

"And I took that away from you."

She sniffed and nodded. But slowly, her mind actually began thinking. "But I don't want a 'friends with benefits' type thing," she began.

"I know," he assured. "You're the type of woman who wants—no, deserves a loving, doting husband and happy marriage."

She settled her head into his shoulder and gave a nod.

"And I want to be that."

She may have gotten whiplash from how fast she pushed away from him to look him in the eye.

He never let her go so she couldn't crawl away from him. Not that she particularly wanted to. "Marinette, to be completely honest, the reason I proposed marriage was because… I was clingy. I just couldn't wrap my head around you leaving, even for a year. I see how ridiculous that is now, but… I still don't regret it because I get to see you all the time and I love being around you. You're the one person in my life I've ever wanted to consistently stay around. Even before we married, I never liked when you'd have to leave from a pizza night or a gaming marathon weekend. And then, when I proposed because I was needy and didn't want you to leave, I can't begin to tell you how excited I was that you agreed." He took a steadying breath, calming down from his clear excitement. "I know I'm a mess and I know that this, what we're in, is a mess, but I want to work at this. I want you to be my wife. I do. I love you, Marinette. I never thought I'd be saying any of this, but I love you and I want you here to stay with me."

Marinette had to blink several times. "Y… you…?"

"Want to make this work," he finished decisively. "And I know I've been doing a bad job at making this work. And I'm sorry. It's… it's not like just having you here all the time. It's more than that and I was an idiot but…" he sighed, hanging his head in shame. "I was so blind but I still want this to work because I still care about you more than I ever thought possible."

She swallowed, begging words to come. "And I care for you," she said. "A lot. I really… I lo…" she bit her lip, hesitant to say those words. But, she knew he needed to hear them. "I love you, too."

He positively lit up like a sunrise. His smile was wide, and there was a twinkle in his eyes, and he just looked so happy. She loved seeing him like this. Loved seeing the man who wasn't beaten down by the world and people. Most of all, she loved that she was the one who got to see it.

Maybe that made her a little more selfish than she would like to be, but frankly, she just couldn't bring herself to care.

"Then can we start working on this?" Adrien asked, tightening his hold on her. "Making this work?"

Marinette nodded, smiling all the while. "I think the first thing we need to work on is communication."

"What we're doing right now?"

Marinette nodded. "Let's keep doing that so we don't have another 'almost divorce' disaster."

Adrien's smile slowly faded. "Who gave that to you?" he asked. "Who told you I wanted to divorce you?"

Marinette bit her lip.

Adrien simply waited.

She sighed. "Nathalie," she whispered.

Adrien stiffened. "Nathalie?"

Marinette nodded.

There was a tense moment of silence before Adrien growled, squeezing her tight. "I'll have to have a talk with her," he mumbled. "Tomorrow. After I throw the papers back at her."

Marinette smiled at that.

They stayed curled up a while longer, his chin resting on top of her head that rested against his chest. She would have been perfectly content like that all night had Adrien's stomach not growled in hunger.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm kinda hungry."

"I'll make dinner."

Spaghetti was easy and generally quick. She tossed some bread with butter and topped with garlic and cheese in the oven, and they called that good for tonight. She wasn't up to making anything too fancy.

After dinner, one filled with tentative teasing and a little flirting, it was time to head off to bed.

Only Adrien stopped her before she could slip into her room.

"At the risk," he began hesitantly, "of sounding way too forward, can I ask that we share a bed tonight?"

Her heart suddenly started pounding and heat flared up in her cheeks.

"Not for, you know, sleeping together," Adrien assured. "Just snuggles and bedsharing."

Snuggles and bedsharing. A shy smile found its way to her face. "Okay," she agreed, liking the way that sounded. "Yeah. Your room or mine?"

"Either or."

In the end, they parted to their own rooms to get ready for bed before Marinette slipped into his room. Adrien greeted her with a smile and a dramatically outstretched hand as he lay on the bed. She swore that sometimes he was nothing more than a big child.

"Why do I like you?" she teased, grabbing his outstretched hand and letting him pull her into bed. He tugged her close, pulling her right against his chest and looping a protective arm over her.

Oh. She thought, letting her eyes drift closed as she snuggled against him. This is why.