Venom: A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Adrien-Chapter 24

He should have known. He should have expected it. As soon as his life took a turn for the better, the world had to come crashing down on him hard. Adrien shouldn't have been so naive to think that the universe had suddenly found favor in him. Life had always been difficult for Adrien, and it didn't seem as if that would ever change.

Adrien's shoulders slumped as he glumly swirled his milkshake around until the ice cream and syrup was all mixed. It was more of a pity treat than anything. After all, this was his third one today already.

"Dude, we have to talk about this!" Nino said as he slid into the booth across from him and slammed his phone down on the table, face up. "You and Marinette, huh?" His friend wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I never thought I'd see that day."

A heaved sigh escaped him as Adrien pushed the phone away, not wanting to see the kiss that Alya had unsurprisingly managed to capture. All it did was make his heart ache even more than it already did.

"I kissed Marinette," Adrien said quietly, surprising even himself. "She's my friend, Nino. I shouldn't have done it."

Nino punched Adrien in the arm. "No! Don't think like that. It's awesome! Forever the quad. Now we can go on double dates all the time! Besides, it looks as if you were pretty into it if you ask me. Told you asking Marinette out was a good idea. I hear she's been crushing on you for a while."

Immediately, Adrien hung his head with shame. His heart ached in all the wrong places. First Ladybug had to go and break his heart, and he felt cruel to have to go and do the same thing to Marinette. But she just didn't understand. Adrien would do anything Ladybug asked him to do, even if it meant doing the one thing he really didn't want to do. Marinette made him happy and he loved spending time with her. He'd probably never get the chance to try again with her after today.

"Speaking of Marinette..." Nino said slyly as he waved to Alya and Marinette who just walked into the ice cream parlor, and when Adrien made eye contact with Marinette, all color drained from his face. He couldn't do this to her. He couldn't.

"You invited Marinette?" Adrien hissed. "I thought this was supposed to be just us."

His friend laughed and shook his head. "After the other night, I thought you'd be eager to see your special little lady again."

Marinette and Alya took their seats in the booth, and Adrien couldn't even bring himself to even glance at Marinette as she sat next to him. He felt like a horrible monster—no better than the old Hawk Moth, himself. Maybe if he just dated Alyssa in secret, then Marinette would never have to know and he'd never have to break her heart.

However, the dishonesty of that option pained him. Unfortunately, he had to face reality—life was unfair and it was more unfair to him than anybody else.

"Hey, Mari," Adrien finally said as he lifted his head to give her a smile, but that smile didn't reach his eyes. Especially because his thoughts drifted to the bluebell necklace that matched Marinette's eyes perfectly in a silver box, wrapped up with green and red wrapping paper. He had wanted to give it to her for Christmas and move on from Ladybug to ask Marinette if she wanted to be his actual girlfriend, but he'd never get the chance now. Ladybug broke his heart in more ways than just one.

"Are you alright?" Marinette asked sweetly with a soft hand on his shoulder. "You look down."

"I'm fine."

"Yeah right," Nino broke in. "You've had like, five milkshakes. That means something's up."

"Three," Adrien corrected as his ears pricked with heat.