Revealed in Time

The One I'm in Love With

 Adrien's heart thudded deeply within his chest as he sheepishly followed Marinette down the hallway. She was walking in what seemed to be a daze, stopping momentarily to gawk at every picture along the wall as she shuffled along. Nothing had been said between the two since she had figured out she was his wife - which was weird in itself seeing as how she still didn't know that he was Adrien.

How was he even supposed to deal with that?

Even though Adrien knew that, one day, he would be placed in this situation, he was not prepared for how awkward and completely uncomfortable it made him feel. Sure, Marinette had told him this was going to happen, but just like usual, he had brushed it off, saying it would be easy to handle a young Marinette. He had known her at that age; he knew what she was like. Heck! She was his wife! Certainly it wouldn't be hard to keep the young girl company. He knew everything about her. It would be a piece of cake.

But as soon as he inadvertently had spoken her name, and seeing the amount of stress and the shock that had caused, Adrien knew this was going to be anything but easy. Never once, when he imagined what this event would actually be like, did he imagine that everything he knew would be what worked against him. Instead of using his knowledge to his advantage, he had to keep his mouth shut - to keep their intimate life a secret, somehow letting off that he didn't know her as well as he actually did.

And to top it all off, Adrien had never expected being around younger Marinette to be so utterly confusing for him. That first moment, when he had landed on the rooftop behind her and seen her distress, all he had wanted to do was run to her and envelope her in a warm embrace. That's what he would normally do, and knowing that he couldn't comfort his wife in that way just didn't sit right with him.

She was hurting.

She was confused.

And he couldn't do anything.

Then, there was something else - a feeling in the pit of his stomach that had been entirely unexpected.

It had been building ever since he had first seen her, and no matter how much Adrien tried to convince himself this feeling was crazy, he couldn't just simply avoid it.

"I can't believe it," Marinette's voice pierced the silence, alerting Adrien to the fact that they had somehow already made their way downstairs to the collage of wedding photos hanging on their living room wall. "I'm really going to marry Adrien."

His pulse quickened.

Adrien watched her face, trying to determine just exactly what she was thinking. Was she happy about this, or was she having a hard time seeing herself with Adrien in an intimate relationship? If it had been him at that age, he knew he would have been thrown totally through a loop. He had been in love with Ladybug, and at that point, he hadn't thought anything like that about Marinette.

But... hadn't Marinette told him that she had always liked him as Adrien? There was nothing to worry about. Of course finding out about their marriage would make her happy. Wouldn't it?

"I think I need to sit down," her voice wavered. "This is all a bit overwhelming."

Adrien reached out, offering Marinette his hand.

She didn't respond, causing that uncomfortable feeling to rise back up in his chest.

Oh right. He pulled his hand back, scratching the back of his head. This is not my Marinette.

"The couch is over there," he awkwardly smiled, pointing towards the obviously placed sofa. "Feel free to sit down and look around."

Great job, Agreste. He scolded himself as Marinette blinked, slightly tilting her head. Why was he making her sound like a guest in her own house?