14 Happier

Adrien's POV

~~~

Straightening my tie one last time, I looked myself up and down in the mirror and sighed. Lifting my wrists, I set my cuffs in place and took in the whole white suit and shook my head, "Chloe was wrong, this suit doesn't look good at all."

I waited for Plagg to fly out from somewhere and tell me how much black suits me better, but he never did.

"Hey, dude! Are you almost ready, we're gonna be late if we don't leave now!" Nino walked in wearing a black jacket with a green shirt underneath. "Why so dressed up, trying to impress someone?" He winked and hovered over me in anticipation.

"No, Chloe said I should wear it." I looked back in the mirror and confessed, "probably shouldn't have taken her advice."

"Yeah dude, you look better in black anyways..."

Groaning, I followed Nino out of my room and house into the street. "Do you know who's gonna be there?"

Nino looked over to me and smirked, "come on Adrien, you can tell me if you're looking for a certain designer girl being there!" He winked and laughed at me as my cheeks burned.

"N-no! I just, well I just wanted to know..." I looked down at the ground and kicked a stone as we walked.

He stopped laughing and excitedly said, "see for yourself dude, we're here!"

Looking up, the hotel Mr. Bourgeous owns towered over the two of us as loud music could be heard from nearly a block away. Walking in, we were both greeted by Chloe's butler and fancy chandeliers and even fancier dressed people. Most of them were from our school but others looked like they came from another country altogether. Looking around, I spotted Marinette talking to Luka and laughing. ]

"Hey dude, do you care if I leave you to go find Alya? She's not answering her phone."

Snapping out of my paralysis, I shook my head and smile, "yeah text me if you need help." He smiled back then left to find her while I was left alone dreading the sight of the one girl I've ever had a real relationship with talk to and laugh with another boy.

Look at his stupid piercing and blue hair! What kind of hooligan dresses like that to a party, a-freakin' gray shirt under a black blazer with J E A N S! Sometimes I don't understand guys these days.

I walked closer to try and hear what they were saying when I caught sight of Marinette's dress. The black deep-V that was paired with a dangling black necklace and nude lipstick clashed with the glitter at the bottom that rose to her hip creating a beautiful ombre look. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her smile though. She kept me entranced as they moved with her soft eyes. She really looked stunning at this moment, I just couldn't let the opportunity slip by.

Making my way across the crowd, my heart started to rapidly beat out of my chest as the two of them came into view. My blood boiled as I watched Mari doubling over in laughter while Luka looked down at her in contempt while softly laughing. I stopped a couple of feet away and cleared my throat. The two of them looked up and I saw Marinette's smile drip off of her face in a matter of milliseconds. Luka on the other hand... "hey Adrien, what's up?"

"I was just wondering if I could talk to Marinette for a quick sec."

Before she could say no, Luka shook his head yes and turned to Mari with a smile, "I'll be in the ballroom, Nino just texted me saying they were there, I'll see you later, okay?"

She smiled at him and with a hug, he walked away. Before she could even turn around to ask me what this was about, I was already dragging her through the crowd and into the elevator. I pressed a random floor then stopped it. "Adrien! Why did you drag me here then stop the elevator? I told you I didn't want to talk--"

"I lost my miraculous."

"W-what?" She stood there in shock, obviously not knowing how to respond.

Taking both her hands in mine I looked into her eyes and sighed, "I don't remember where or how, but all I remember was that I was following Ladybug after the Kitty Contour but lost her and for some reason, I saw you walk into a dojo so..."

She looked up in anger and whisper-screamed, "YOU FOLLOWED ME?!" She started pacing the elevator shaft anxiously biting her nails.

"I did, and right now I've never regretted anything more in my life! I should've just gone home after the attack but Ladybug never told me who Rena Rouge really was and where she came from!" Frustrated, I grab my hair and pulled it, "I've been looking everywhere for the past week, please Marinette...I know that you know Ladybug. Please tell her to keep an eye out for the ring!"

She looked at me shocked for a moment before softly saying, "of course I'll tell her. I'm sorry this happened, you must be so distraught without it." She looked down a little depressed for reasons unknown.

"Marinette...I'm so sorry, I never wanted things between us to be this bad. I really just wanted to console you at first, but when I realized that ladybug would never love me back..." I trailed off not wanting to finish my sentence after knowing that my words mean nothing to her.

But when I looked up I saw that she had a self-deprecating smile painted on her face. "I understand, but..." She looked up as her smile melted away, "why didn't you tell me sooner? You let me go up to you in school and say that I was fine with being friends...That I've moved on!" She looked like she was about to cry at any moment. "I trusted you, I really did! I thought being friends would be fine but no, now I have to ignore you and hate you because if I don't...!"

She trailed off and looked to the side, "how about just being acquaintances that are both trying to look for the same miraculous together?" Still holding her hands, I squeezed them tight to try and get my message across but when I did she pulled away.

"Adrien," a small smile forms on her face as she looks into my eyes, "I accept your apology. Or um...apologies." She giggled then sighed and stepped back. With a serious tone in her voice, "I'm just not ready to forgive you. As you said, we can be acquaintances, and I won't be hostile to you anymore, but I'm not ready to go back to how things were before..." She presses the button to start the elevator again and finishes with, "I don't think I'll ever wanna go back to how things were between us before you found me on the Eiffel Tower..."

I watched as the doors opened and she walked out just to walk into the elevator across from me. "Thank you, Mari." The doors closed as we both headed back down for the ballroom.

When I get there, I see that she is on the dance floor with Alya tossing out some old school moves while Luka is with her sister and Rose, and Nino is at the snacks table. I walk over to Nino with a huge smile on my face, "what's up Nino? Why aren't you dancing with Alya?"

He looked over to the two girls and sighed, "well I was but then Marinette walked over after ditching Luka and screamed 'GIRL'S NIGHT!' Now I'm just filling up the tank."

I looked over to Marinette and made eye contact with her, but she didn't mind. She just kept on laughing and dancing while I, standing here with my best bud again, just looked on from the sidelines admiring this newfound girl.

Acquaintances she says. I'll take it.

~~~

Marinette's POV

~~~

It's now 11:55 pm on December 31st and I don't think I've ever felt more alive! Looking around I see Nino and Adrien talking while Chloe and Nathaniel are partying it up awkwardly. "How long have they been a thing?" Laughing, Alya shrugs and sips on her punch.

"Well hello beautiful ladies, I hope you're watching the clock because we only have about two minutes left until we start the new year!" Luka came up in between the two of us and laughed.

"OH MY GOSH MARI HE'S RIGHT! Brb, I gotta find Nino!" She ducks through the crowd to drag Nino with her to watch the ball drop. I, however just turned to the screen to see less than a minute.

Yeah, I'm contempt on ending this year like this. I shouldn't regret anything that I've done because I know it was for the greater good in the end.

Sighing I came out of my trance and heard people counting down, "fifteen! Fourteen! Thirteen!"

Smiling to myself, I joined in with the crowd and got ready to hold my glass high to rejoice. "Ten! Nine! Eight!"

This is taking forever, just—!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Streamers and lights flashed all around as people cheered and jumped around. I turned to see Alya and Nino in their epic first New Years kiss. Before I could turn back to the TV, I felt a hand on my bare shoulder. Looking over, my eyes connected with Luka's as he softly spoke, "may I?"

I froze at the question unable to get clear thoughts through my head. He leaned down and touched my cheek, "Marinette...?"

Shaking off my nerves, I go up on my tip toes and wrap my arms shakily around his neck.

New year, new me.

He pulled me up closer to where he was and connected our lips to create a celebration of a new beginning.

When we separated, he smiled down at me as did I back. "Happy New Year Marinette."

"Happy New Year Luka." I blush and feel Alya tug me over to her.

"Don't think I didn't see that girl! How long has this been going on? I want all the deets!" She kept throwing question after question at me.

"Listen Alya..." looking over her shoulder I saw not too far away, Nino and Adrien talking with a few of our other classmates. "Uhm, why don't we go to the bathroom and talk before I go home?"

She shook her head vigorously then dragged me away. "Tell. Me. Now!"

Taking a deep breath, I looked back to her and rolled my eyes. "That kiss was just what a said, a K I S S! Nothing more nothing less! I told you, I'm not looking for a relationship right now." I looked in the mirror and sighed, "Luka is a nice guy, but I'm happier like this!"

"Really?" She raised her eyebrow at me questioningly.

"Really, I am."

"Well alright, I won't press you on it anymore..."

She looked a little dejected...I wonder why? She shouldn't have to worry about me! I'm perfectly fine right now, I don't want to bring anyone into a position to ruin this happiness. I may sound selfish, but this whole year has been too much for me.

Looking into the mirror one more time before following Alya out, "it's a new year...but why do I feel like it's the same old me?"

"What'd you say, girl?"

"Oh! Uh, nothing!" I laughed awkwardly then ran after her. Walking back into the room half of the kids had cleared out. "Wow, this party is dead...and it's only 1 AM!!"

Laughing, the usual gang came together to say our goodbyes. "I love parties like this with you dudes!" Nino said then swung his arms around Adrien and my shoulders. He looked over to Alya and winked making me and Luka gag and her blush.

"Walk me home?" She pulled his hand in a sensually way that made everyone gag but he just shook his head vigorously. "See you guys at school!"

"See ya guys!" Luka waved at them and laughed then turned to me, "will you give me the honor of walking you home Marinette?"

I looked up into his eyes and giggled then did a curtsy, "why of course good sir!" I turned to say goodbye to Adrien to see that he was already taken away by Chloe.

"Are you ready?" He reached out his hand for me to take.

"Lead the way."

Walking out, I didn't feel awkward or nervous at all because I knew Luka and he knew me. He wouldn't want to make things weird between us as would I. It's the type of friendship everyone deserves with the opposite sex.

Turning corner after corner, we talked about how to play Gangnam Style on the guitar and wondered what that even meant. "I mean, it's probably just a quick Gugle translate search but..."

"We don't really know how accurate that would be!" I giggled and looked up to see that we were already at the front door of the bakery. "Wow, time flies when you're talking about lyrics you don't know the meaning of!"

He laughed back then slowly softened into a light smile, "I had fun tonight Marinette. More than I have in a long time, I can't wait to see everyone in school now."

His face lit up at the thought of it, "I'm glad you like everyone! They're excited too!" I giggled and thought of Alya freaking out every time I started talking to him. "Especially Alya!"

"Oh? Not the girl I was hoping to catch the attention of..."

"What! No, I mean she thinks you're a cool cat!" I laughed then realized what he said, "wait...You were trying to impress a girl?! Who! Who! WHO?!" I grabbed his collar and shook him back and forth.

"Alright, alright! Relax there squirt!" He nervously laughed and stepped closer to me. "The truth is..." His eyes gleamed as he whispered down at me, "she's this nice girl whose dream is to be a fashion designer. Her parents own this," he makes this grand gesture to the bakery then looks back at me, "amazing bakery that makes the best goods in Paris."

"Luka, I..."

"And she has these astonishing baby bluebell eyes that always blow me away when I catch a glimpse of them. And she has this secret, I'm not sure if it's true yet or not. She's mysterious but an open book all at once. That girl..."

I didn't want to hear what he was going to say next, the thought of losing this friendship was unbearable to me. It's only January first, how can I already have shit on another relationship with one of my friends.

"...Marinette?" He lifted my chin to see a tear rolling down my cheek, "Are you alright? Did I say anything to upset you, I'm so sorry..."

"N-no Luka it's just..." I didn't want to finish my sentence. Luka can't get akumatised because of me, he's too pure of heart.

"It's alright."

It felt like he was speaking to me from a far off place. His voice echoed in the shell I don't have the guts to call a human body of mine. "I-I'm sorry it's just," I took a breath before continuing, "I'm not ready to start a serious relationship with anyone right now. I've had a really rough year and would rather not start out with a romantic relationship..." I lowered my gaze to the ground and let another tear fall.

Luka is a very sweet boy, he always has been whether it be through his words, music or even his actions. I'd never want to hurt him, "it's alright Marinette," and I think he knows that. "I understand."

"I'm so sorry..."

"It's alright, really. We can still be friends but, if you ever change your mind," he leaned down while lifting my chin and softly placed a kiss upon my cheek. "I'll be waiting right here for you."

With one last longing smile, he walked off without another word. All I could do was stare off after him thinking of what could've been if I was the old me.