The next day went smoothly. Lila and Luka had left, it seemed after the verbal attacks on Adrien and Marinette, the gang wanted them gone. They were no longer welcome on the weekend, or at the wedding. Adrien and Marinette had missed it all. Once the yacht docked they exited hand in hand, making their way back to their room as the drama on board began. Surprisingly to both of them, Kagami and Chantelle were still there. They had been allowed to stay.

Marinette needed TLC following the day's events, and Adrien willingly gave comfort to his girlfriend. They'd spent the evening snuggled up against each other in silence. Neither willing to break the comfort and support they found between them. They would have to talk about it, to talk about their fears, but not at the moment. For now, they just needed each other.

As the following day broke into the night it was time for the last of the arranged activities before their journey home began in the morning. The boys were out separately to the girls and Adrien had felt uncomfortable allowing Marinette out of his sight. He was obsessed, he knew he was obsessed, and he never wanted to be cured.

Once again he sat in the lounge area of the annexe waiting to say goodbye to Marinette. They'd just managed to have a quickie in the shower, and he wanted to see her in her dress before she met up with the girls. She'd been teasing him about it all day, telling him it was designed so that he'd think her and only her whilst he was out. After what she just did in the shower for him though there was not a chance in hell anyone could break through those thoughts.

He stood up and made his way to the full-length mirror checking over his outfit for the evening. Black jeans and a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just under his elbows. He looked at his forearms and smiled. They were her favourite part of his body, along with his butt that was. He turned around to give it a quick viewing, followed by a little smack.

Adrien couldn't help but laugh at himself, and the vision pulled his attention. He turned to look into the mirror again and checked his face. There was something so different about it. His smile was natural, the most natural it had in years, and it was thanks to his Lady. It was all thanks to Marinette.

His phone chimed indicating he was tagged in a post on Instagram. He looked at the name of the author. Maribug🐞.

Adrien opened the post and looked at the picture. It was him. Just him. Leaning on the railing and looking out over the beach in his swimming shorts, hair slicked back from the pool water and shades on. He looked every inch the model he once was, and he couldn't help but grimace when thinking about his past.

MariBug🐞 : Most people are stronger than they know. They just forget to believe it sometimes ❤️

He couldn't stop the feeling in his heart. The feeling of such longing and love. He knew Marinette cared about him, she showed that every single day they were together with the littlest things. But now and then she could find a way to take his breath away. He needed to prove she meant as much to him. He was trying. He was trying so hard, but he knew it would never be enough for the way she made him feel. He pressed the heart icon and commented back against it.

AdrienAgreste_Official: They are only as strong as the people who believe in them 😘

He opened up a new post screen and scrolled through the pictures he'd taken that day at the pool. He had so many of her, so many were beautiful and he was tempted to change his phone home screen to one of her. Adrien scrolled back a bit further to in the morning. He'd found one of Alya and Marinette sitting on the sunbeds feasting on ice creams. They both looked so happy and the smile on Marinette's face was mesmerising.

AdrienAgreste_Official: There's a day when you realize that you're not just a survivor, you're a warrior. You're tougher than anything life throws your way ❤️

It was cryptic! He knew that. But he also knew she would understand. He began to look through his photos again and found a full length one of just her. He couldn't help zooming in. Zooming in to the scar marking her perfect white milk skin, he placed a hand behind his neck and began to rub.

He still was beating himself up about it. He could have saved her. He could have been her hero, but he was selfish and self-centred, and he most certainly didn't deserve her love.

"Stop looking at it, Adrien." Her voice pulled him out of his depressive thoughts.

"I'm just looking at pictures of you." Adrien was a horrible liar, and she rolled her eyes walking behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"It happened, you can't change time. You're not magic, and there's no Doc Brown's to create a Delorean for you."

He let out a laugh and shut his phone down. He hadn't looked up yet, he'd been so engrossed in her picture to take notice of the real model behind him. He sucked in her scent and placed his phone in his pocket. Finally, his eyes lifted to meet hers in the mirror. He gasped.

Standing behind him was a goddess. He wasn't overreacting either. She was beautiful, stunning, sexy, incredible ... there weren't enough adjectives in the dictionary to match the woman behind him.

The midnight blue of the dress matched her hair and emphasised the light blue of her eyes. Her sun-kissed skin added a shine to her body and glowed in the lights currently illuminating the lounge. Her dress was halter neck with two panels covering over her small, pert breasts, allowing the indent of her cleavage to be on show for the world.

Just below her belly button, the panels hit the statement of the dress. An ostrich feather skirt. It left her hip, protruding out due to the blue netting underneath the fragile feathers. She finished her look with matching blue heels, strapped in a cross over her ankles.

"When I think you can't make me want you more, you step out in a dress like that."

She giggled as she spun around giving him a view of her completely bareback. Her hair was the only object gracing her spine, as it rolled down her back in curls.

"Do you like it then?"

"You're incredible, Princess. Come here." He signalled her to come and stand next to him as he grabbed his phone back out his pocket. Stretching out, he flicked the phone into selfie mode and pointed it towards himself and Marinette. Lifting his arm to try and get as much of her dress in the picture as possible, he aimed the lens and began to snap away.

Adrien wrapped his other arm around her waist, as she leaned into his chest and placed a hand on his taut stomach. She loved being this close to him, she loved his smell, his body, his face, his soul ... everything. As he went to take another picture, both herself and Adrien had the same idea. They turned their heads and kissed. Both aiming for a cheeky cheek kiss and ending in a full lip lock. Adrien continued to take pictures as they laughed and rested their foreheads together, knowing this was going to be his new favourite selection of pictures.

He bought his phone down as he pressed his lips to hers again. A small delicate kiss, taking her breath away.

"Perhaps if you're not too late back tonight, Kitty, we can try what you were telling me about earlier?"

"You sure? You've only just started with sex, I don't want to turn you off it."

"Adrien, I would try everything with you, mon Chaton. I feel safe and sexy, and I don't think I would mind you showing my body how to orgasm to a point of no return."

He groaned at her words feeling his trousers tighten at the hardening of his cock. She was seriously going to be the death of him. He may have mentioned earlier, as a joke, that it would be fun to try something a little more risky, dominating. Truth be told, he'd never done it before in his life and he had no idea why he said it or if he could do it himself.

Marinette smiled at him, as she grabbed his hand and led him towards the door.

"Come on lover boy, it's time to party."

"Hold up, Lovebug." He spun her around and pulled her body to him, slamming her into his chest. Her hands searched for stability and laid delicately over his pecks. Looking up into his eyes he enjoyed what he saw. As did she.

"Hummmm ... serial killer eyes." Marinette whispered.

He bent down and took her lips with his.

"When my girl is looking as sexy as hell I can't help myself."

She slid her hands up his body and wrapped them around his neck slowly brushing her groin against his., giggling as she kissed his neck, the reaction was delicious. Making Adrien go weak for her was her new favourite games.

"I want to promise you something, Marinette."

"It's never a good sign when you use my whole name, Adrien Agreste."

She kept her arms wrapped around him as she looked into his stunning emerald green eyes. She could stay like this for hours. She's felt the same way since she was thirteen years old. But there was something a little different, Marinette couldn't quite say what it was when she looked into his eyes? But she felt like she could read his soul. Every tiny detail that was playing in his body, his mind and his heart.

Adrien's eyes said more than any other part of his body and Marinette could tell the way he viewed her was changing. His eyes were softening to her and the way his eyebrows moved said it all. His expressions now were different to when he was a teen, he was more defensive of her, more caring and more open. That was until he continued to speak.

"No need to get so defensive, Dupain-Cheng. I'm just trying to make my point." Adrien folded his arms over his chest causing her to drop her arms from his neck. He peered down at Marinette.

"Go on, hot stuff."

"Ok, keep this up and you won't be going out tonight." She giggled at him, placing her arms over the top of his which were still crossed over his chest, and stretched up to place a soft, delicate kiss on his lips.

As much as Adrien loved her softness, all it did was make him want her more. He loved turning such a sweet caring girl into a loved up mess.

"Now, seriously Mari, I just want to promise that I won't do anything with another woman tonight. It's still me and you against the world, plus I don't want to mess up the family-friendly persona we've worked so hard on. You have nothing to worry about."

Marinette moved back from him, distancing herself from what he just said. Nothing to worry about? Is that truly the reason why he wouldn't do something with another woman? To keep their family-friendly persona from being broken. Marinette felt sick. After everything they'd been through and after everything they'd done, the true reason for their relationship was still there. It wasn't real. They were having fun and she'd let her heart get in the way believing that he felt the same way too. She had tricked herself into believing he was falling. His damn soft words, and his overly caring attitude.

"Of course not, I mean, we've done well making sure that you'll look good for your interview. I wouldn't want to jeopardise that now, especially as we're only a week away."

Adrien looked at Marinette as she backed away. The sparkle had left her eyes and he couldn't understand why she looked so sad. Had he said something? What had changed in the last minute? He thought they were getting somewhere, he'd just promised he wasn't going to do anything to screw this up, yet she seemed to be backing away.

"Well, I've got to go. I'll see you later." She swiftly turned on her heel and made her way out the door. Adrien stood frozen. What the hell had just happened?

Marinette could feel her heart palpating. She walked swiftly up to the main villa to meet the girls. Perhaps she was overreacting? Or perhaps her desires were getting in the way? She began to take deep breathes, having a very server conversation with herself.

As she stormed into the villa through the patio doors in a tornado of thoughts, only stopping when her name pulled her back to reality.

"Marinette? Can I speak to you, privately?" Stopping in her path of destruction, she looked to where the voice had derived from. Kagami stood in the kitchen area of the villa.

Not sure what she should do, Marinette stopped and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What do you want, Kagami? I'm not in the mood for a bitch fight."

"I don't know what you take me for Marinette? I know we had some issues in the past but right now I just want to apologise."

Marionette stood, mouth a gasp, staring at her once love rival.

"Apologise?" Marinette queried.

"Yes," Kagami responded. "I may have been misdirected by yourself and Adrien's current situation. I should have spoken to you two about it first and listened to you two first, rather than go straight onto someone's team. I sincerely apologise and hope we could restart."

Flabbergasted was the only word coming to Marinette's head at the moment. She was utterly flabbergasted. Kagami continued to speak as Marinette tried to find the words to respond.

"Adrien looks at you the way I look at Chantelle. It was my own selfish desires kicking in when I realised he's never looked at me the way he looks at you. He's always loved you, Marinette, it's just taken him sometime to realise it."

Marinette didn't know how to respond. Her mind couldn't comprehend the different information fighting for storage at the moment. Before she could respond a notification signalled on her phone. Instagram.

AdrienAgreste_Official: I've been searching for you ever since I heard my first fairytale 🥰

Marinette stood in complete shock. He was good. He was very good. Everyone looking at the picture would believe every word, they both looked like they were spiralling into the  perfect romance. The picture was one they'd just taken, forehead against forehead and smiled as wide as their faces would allow, ever so much the loved up couple. She needed to shake herself out of it though. This wasn't real. It was a family friendly love story. Adrien Agreste didn't love, he didn't commit. It was business with bonus', and in two weeks from now it would all be over.