Long Gone & Moved On

The world stood still in that moment.

All eyes were now on him.

He had said some words, but they had been faded out with the blood pumping through his ears. The words he had to say next were still sitting on his tongue.

Why couldn't he say them.

Why couldn't he say those two little words in response?

"Adrien?" Marinette spoke softly, looking towards him in question.

"I-I..." He stuttered.

Grabbing his hand to stop the sudden swaying, Her fingers grazed his ring, making her look down at the coolness that she had touched.

All he could see was Ladybug at the Altar. Marinette in the red and black polka dot suit staring back at him; Chat Noir, and waiting for him to speak. Waiting for him to say those two little words.

"I do."

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This should have been one of the happiest days, but Adrien woke up drained and battered, wanting nothing more than to just go back to sleep and forget about everything. It was just one of those days for him, finally dragging himself out of bed and into the shower to scrub up nicely for the day ahead.

He paused at the sink, gripping it with emotions he didn't think were possible to have. Hair was messy and drapped over his eyes when he looked up at the foggy mirror in front of him.

Who was he? Who was this person staring back at him? Surely it wasn't him. This wasn't the same man he saw in the mirror yesterday. How could he go on today even looking like this when he couldn't even recognise himself anymore?

Adrien had been living these past 2 years as a lie, a secret kept under wraps because he wanted the love of his life to love both sides of him, to accept him for what he is.

But the love he had for her got in the way, so he kept things hidden for the better good of their relationship. Now, however, he was having doubts, and it was too late to address them.

The akuma alert sounded on his device, bringing him back to the moment. Chat Noir's suit sounded so much better than the suit he is meant to get into in a few hours.

Maybe because it was the only form he wasn't living a lie in.

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Flashes of Marinette appeared in front of him, the girl covered in red appearing to be the clumsy classmate that sat behind him. How he missed that all these years sometimes got him on edge.

He couldn't unsee her face as she scolded him for not helping. He couldn't unhear that sweet voice even when she was angry. Those bluebell eyes were the exact same that looked at his cilvian self with pure adoration.

Why couldn't he see it before?

The smart thing was to tell her, to let her know he knew of her secret. But he couldn't. He fought with himself every day when he saw her without the mask, living a lie around her as life went on.

Then the engagement happened, Chat had to sit and smile as she told him all about being so in love and how her life was perfect and finally falling into place. He had to hear it all over again, experiencing that excitement and joy.

He was already there and was in the moment, but of course she didn't know that. As long as he kept his mouth shut, she would never know that.

It suddenly got him thinking if she was currently wearing the dress under her suit and how it would look on her. He already knew she looked beautiful in everything, even on her worse days.