Chapter Text

She wished she was Ladybug once again, just to run from her problems a little bit, but she hadn't been in years.

And she missed Chat so, so much.

That was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. Losing Chat.

See, when they had finally defeated Papillon, amongst the chaos, she got separated from Chat. Before she knew it, her transformation wore off, and she was back to being Marinette, Tikki looking at her with sad eyes. She explained that she had to seal the evil forces that Papillon had let lose in the world, and it had to be now. Without much more in a way of explanation, Tikki hugged Marinette one last time with all the love and sorrow that should've crushed them both before she went off to her final task. Marinette never saw her again.

She'd been so raw with pain, it took her almost a day to realize that Chat's kwami would've been gone too.

And she'd never found out who he was.

That had been the worst day of her life: the day she lost Tikki and Chat.

Of course, she'd tried to find him, but every day different people came up claiming to be Chat and Ladybug, but it was never him. Marinette would know him.

The despair she felt now was nothing compared to those horrifying days, but it was nothing short of heartwrenching.

For the second time in the past five years, Marinette's world was falling apart.

She read the letter one more time, feeling as if strips of her heart were being torn up one by one. She crumpled the letter in her hand and dropped it on the cafe table before burying her face in her hands. Buildings could've been toppling over in la Seine, and Marinette wouldn't have noticed at this moment.

The letters were burned behind her eyelids.

'Sorry to report...... your loan application...... Rejected.'

MArinette squeezed her eyes tightly. She knew they were tear-stained, and all she wanted right now was to crash in a bed (that she didn't currently possess) and sleep for days.

You see, at this point, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was completely and utterly broke, and could most certainly not afford both college and living expenses.

Ever since her father had been diagnosed with a pulmonary disease from the smoke of the ovens, the Dupain-Chengs had sold their bakery, and Tom and Sabine had moved to the Nantes for a quiet country-side life, while their daughter remained in Paris, working on her design degree.

They'd felt so terrible about it, but they'd saved all their lives to send Marinette to college, which was all she could ever ask for. Its just that now, without their usual income, Marinette had to figure out by herself how to pay for living expenses. She'd been applying to jobs for weeks, but nothing could fit around her schedule, and now that the next semestre was coming up, she had no way to pay for rooming, and much less feeding herself.

She squeezed her eyes and a tear fell out.

"Marinette?" She heard, and rubbed her eyes hard before looking up, forcing a smile into her lips.

Crap.

Adrien.

"Hey," she greeted, hoping her voice wasn't as broken as she thought it sounded. "How are you doing?"

Adrien, Nino and Alya all attended the same college as her, though in different careers. Alya and Nino had been living together for a couple of months, and they were happy as they could be.

Adrien clearly didn't buy her fake smile, and frowned, concerned.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently, pulling back the chair in front of hers. His concern was almost too heavy for MArinette's weak heart right now. "You look..." he pressed his lips, not finishing his sentence.

"I'm fine," her smile was only a pull of her muscles, and every word was another gram of weight on her soon to break back. "Just stressed, is all."

But Adrien's gaze was too much, and the way his green eyes burrowed into her blue ones was more than enough to break her apart. He reminded her so much of Chat...

Marinette tried in vain to smile at him, but the pull of her lips simply broke her hold on her sanity, and the tears she'd been pushing behind her eyelids began flowing down her face as a sob tore through her throat. Her hands flew to her face once again, and she began crying disconsolately.

She didn't know how long her body was being torn in two before she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. Marinette raised her eyes and met Adrien's gaze full of concern and fear, and did her best to reign in her emotions.

"I-I'm sorry." She stuttered, so, so tired. "I'm s-sorry, Adrien."

He caressed her shoulder gently, reassuringly. "Its okay, Marinette, its okay." His voice was a warm breeze.

Marinette drew shuddering breaths until the tears stopped flowing, and Adrien handed her a napkin and she wiped her eyes. He waited quietly for her to be ready to talk.

Marinette drew a deep, stable breath. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Adrien's hand didn't leave her shoulder.

"There;s nothing to be sorry about." He assured her, and Marinette's heart warmed at his kindness. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Removing his hand, Adrien pressed his back against his chair, looking at her expectantly. She sighed.

"My student loan was rejected." Her voice sounded far, far away from her. "I literally don't have a home. The campus rooms are too expensive and I can already barely pay for school as it is... housing is twice as much as I have in my bank account."

How pathetic she must've sounded to the boy with more money than god, but it didn't matter. If he pitied her, Adrien did not show it. He looked at her compassionately, but without superiority, the way a friend does when he would change the world for you.

"And you have no options?" he prompted.

MArinette sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I checked online. Living arrangements is cheaper only for married couples and foreign exchange students. The rest of us are screwed."

Adrien blinked. "How so?"

"Well, they're elegible for some sort of financial aid. But since I'm neither of those things, I'm, for the lack of a better word, and excuse my french, fucked."

Marinette sighed deeply, hoping against hope that from the mind of her friend, a solution would be born.

She watched his mind turn over ideas one after the other, trying to figure out how to help her, bless him.

After a few seconds, Adrien seemed to come up with a solution. From the look on his face, he still wasn't convinced about it.

"What if I married you?" he asked lightly, as if the question in itself didn't hold the weight of Marinette's life on its letters.

Mari did the only thing she could.

She laughed.

She looked at Adrien, and realized his face was perfectly --and terrifyingly-- serious.

Her laughter died.

"I'm not joking." He added. Marinette stared.

"You must be."

"This would solve your problems right?"

"I mean, yes, but I could never ask that of you. You don't need it, and its just... such a big thing. I can't ask you to do that."

Adrien smiled disarmingly. "You're not." He said. "Mari, we've been friends since we were fifteen, and not once have I been able to do anything for you. I'm sure you're not going to let me loan you some money, so the least I can do is this."

"Adrien, this is not something small. You can't just wake up one day and marry someone." Marinette pressed.

"Why not? I'm sure I can get a lawyer to do the paperwork for us. As soon as we're done with college we can annul the marriage and we'll both go our separate ways."

Marinette bit her lip. If only his offer wasn't so tempting.

Adrien reached over the table and put a hand gently on hers.

"Marinette," he spoke softly and encouragingly, and Mari remembered how much she used to like him when they were younger. "The Agreste in me could never forgive himself if you were kept from the fashion world for such a technisism." He smiled.

Marinette's breath had left her lungs. For the first time since the conversations started, she dared to hope.

"You wouldn't be able to go out on dates."

"I don't date much, anyways."

"Your dad would blow a fuse."

He grinned. "That's sort of a win for me."

"Adrien, this isn't a game." She pressed. ADrien sobered up, but his eyes were bright.

"I know its not. But I'm willing to do this."

"Why?"

Adrien smiled gently at Marinette, and for a moment she was back to being that dumbstruck 15 year old.

"Because you're my friend." He said simply. "And I love you."

Marinette closed her eyes, and felt tears well up in her eyes, from a much different sentiment this time.

"Adrien, I love you too, but--"

Adrien raised his hand and cut her off.

"Then there's nothing left to discuss." He looked at her meaningfully and squeezed her hand. "Let me do this for you."

Marinette felt a tear escape her eye, and smiled at Adrien. He smiled back.

"So, Marinette Dupain Cheng," he said softly, and not without humour. "Will you marry me?"

MArinette felt her smile break through her tears.

"Yes."