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“Truth or jump.” Alya laughe at the absurdity of the quesrion, even if they all agreed on that rule.
“Truth, obviously,” Adrien muttered as he peered over the edge of the Liberty, Juleka’s family ship. He shuddered as he thought about the icy waters below.
“Do you like anyone?” Alya asked, feigning innocence but he saw the way she smirked at a blushing Marinette. He frowned knowing that this isn’t going to go the way he wanted it too. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that Marinette liked him. It was obvious in the way she blushed and stuttered around him and only him.
For a while he questioned if she was just shy around new people but after seeing the girl, confidently talking to new students, first hand, he knew that it was just him.
He tried to let her down gently, always reminding her what a great friend she was and when Nino and Alya tried to hint, like they were doing now, he would alway remind them that Marinette and him were just friends.
“Yes, I do.” Adrien sighed, here we go. Adrien looked around the group to observe their reactions Juleka had a knowing smile on her face, Rose had the dreamily ‘this is so romantic’ gaze, Nino looked surprised and Alya and Marinette, they looked eager.
“Really?” Alya’s face split into a massive grin as she not so subtly threw a glance at Marinette. The black haired girl blushed heavily at her friends gaze but she looked nervous nonetheless. “Who is it?”
Blue eyes flashed in his mind that instantly gave him butterflies, soft dark hair that made his hand ache at the thought of not being able to touch it and a soft gentle smile that burned itself into the back of eye lids, something he saw so clearly every time he closed his eyes.
He barely contained a giggle as he realised how someone could easily mistake his description for Paris’ Heroine, Ladybug.
A few months ago, if he were in this situation, it would be her he was thinking of. But not now, not after meeting him.
His heart started beating harder just thinking about him, Luka Couffaine. They met through Juleka as he was a few years older. Adrien didn’t realise it was a crush right away, because of his obsession with Ladybug he swore he was straight.
After time, his feelings for the boy grew stronger and stronger and his feelings for Ladybug felt like they disappeared overnight. It really confused him.
It took him some time to realise it but he did eventually, I like Luka. He was sure that he never really had romantic feelings for Ladybug. He loved her, she was his best friend but that was as far as his feelings went. His infatuation with the girl was simply because he knew she was unattainable. His brain purposefully made him pin over a girl he could never have, so his brain wouldn’t explore for other options. He wouldn’t have to face his own fears of being gay.
Luckily for him, he managed to get through most of that just fine. It was hard, having no one to talk to (he didn’t have the first clue on how to court a boy) but he thought he was managing well.
“Ah, ah, ah!” Adrien tutted with a forced smile, zoning back in. “One question at a time, plus that’s not a yes or no question.”
Alya sighed dramatically but abided by the rules and signaled for him to take his turn. He gave her a big grin as he turned to Juleka.
“Truth or Jump?”
“Truth, obviously.” She smirked, repeating what he said earlier.
“Is Luka home?”
Juleka gave him an even bigger grin before nodding ‘yes’ at him. Alya groaned, throwing her head back.
“That was such a boring question. You could have literally asked her that out of the game.”
Adrien just shrugged as he motioned for Juleka to take her turn. The black haired girl then turned to her girlfriend, Rose.
Adrien sighed as he sat back and tried to tune out the game so he could recollect his thoughts. It was harder to do when he could feel Alya’s gaze boring into the side of his face.
He knew that when it was eventually going to be her turn again, she was going to target him. He knew Marinette was too shy around him and wouldn’t have the courage to directly ask but Alya did. He glanced at Marinette to see the girl already staring at him, she blushed and turned her attention to the floor, playing with her fingers. She was nervous. She had every right to be, Alya was too nosy for her own good sometimes. If she asked Adrien if he liked Marinette, he was going to have to say no, he couldn’t lie to her.
“Adrien!” Adrien snapped his head up, looking at Alya but confused to find she hadn’t called him, instead the girl was whispering to Marinette.
“Truth or Jump?” Nino asked, Adrien turned his full attention to his best friend, happy he wasn’t getting called out on this crush business.
“Truth, dude.” He grinned.
“Have you confessed your feelings to your crush?” Adrien’s brain short circuit for a second, he didn’t expect a dating question to come out of Nino’s mouth. He focused back in just in time to see Alya give him a thumbs up, that traitor!
“No.” Adrien solemnly answered. He didn’t even have to look at Marinette and Alya to see them getting excited. He glanced to his right and saw Juleka worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, she knew that this couldn’t end well either.
“Okay, my turn-“ Adrien began but got cut off.
“Why not?” Nino cut in. Adrien paused, turning to his best friend that was frowning.
“I didn’t know how to approach them.” He confessed, he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, he didn’t have to turn his head to know it was Juleka.
“That’s no fair! Nino got two turns.” Alya fumed as she raised her voice above the others to be heard. Adrien flinched at the volume.
“Forget the game for a second!” Nino hissed at his obnoxious girlfriend before relaxing and turning back to Adrien. “My bro needs dating Advice.”
“Hold on a second, wasn’t it you that came to me for help with Marinette?” Adrien laughed, playfully glaring at his mate. Marinette peaked up at the sound of Adrien’s name coming from his lips. Nino glared daggers at him, before crossing his arms.
“That was in the past, I’m happy with my sweet girl friend, Alya. Thanks to Ladybug, actually.” He smiled at Alya, the pair both held hands. Adrien smiled at the gesture, hoping to be able to do that one day with the boy that was holding his heart ransom.
“So, what you’re confirming is that you’ve never succeeded in a relationship without help? And thus, aren’t qualified to help another?” Adrien pretended to sigh.
Truth be told, he just didn’t need anyone digging around in his heart right now. Unlike others, he wasn’t fond of people knowing about who his heart desires or they end up like Marinette. He glanced at the girl who too was staring fondly at her friends, evertime Alya spoke out to someone other than her and Nino though, she’d get jumpy.
“Hmm, well I’m sure one of the girls can help.” He grumbled, crossing his arms.
“Believe me when I saw, I’m fine.” Adrien smiled coolly. “I’m happy sorting this out on my own.”
“But what if the girl you like is waiting for you to make a move?” Alya cut in, glaring at Adrien. Marinette’s face was bright red as she elbowed her best friend in the side. Adrien clenched his jaw and averted his eyes from the two. “I’m just saying, she could be crushing on you too.”
“I doubt it.” Adrien mumbled under his breath.
“Pardon?” She raises an eyebrow at him.
“Nothing.” He smiled cheerily, checking his phone. “Do you guys wanna do something else? My curfew is in another 3 hours and we haven’t done anything but play this silly game.”
“No wait a min-“
“Yeah, let’s go watch a movie!” Juleka suggested, quite loudly for the girl.
“That’s a great idea!” Rose cheered as she snuggled into Juleka’s side.
“Movie it is.” Adrien cheered as he stood up from the deck floor and stretched, his didn’t miss the way Marinette's eyes were glued to his midsection, where his shirt rid up ever so slightly. He blushed and pulled the material down, staring at her with wide eyes. She shook her head as her ears tinged pink, she hid her face in her hands, trying to hide from his shocked stare.
“Hey, what was that?” Alya whispered to Marinette as they all started to walk inside. Adrien was directly in front of them and could hear them clearly but he was pretty sure they didn’t realise.
“What? Nothing!” Marinette squeaked.
Adrien rolled his eyes, did they seriously think he couldn’t hear them? They’ve done this in class for as long as he's been in school as well. He could constantly feel Marinette's eyes burning into the back of his skull and he constantly heard their whispers and gossip about him.
“I saw it with my own eyes. You were totally staring at each other and got all blush and bashful.” Alya excites explain, her voice raising in volume slightly before she lowers it once again. “He totally likes you!”
“Really?” Marinette's voice was so hopeful it hurt Adrien's heart.
“I swear!” That was it Adrien was done. He didn’t want to confront the situation like this but he couldn’t let Alya lead her onto him any longer, he liked Marinette, she was an awesome friend and she sure as hell didn’t deserve this false hope.
He suddenly stopped walking. Both girls didn’t realise and walked straight into his back. They all staggered for a second, almost losing their balance before stabilising themselves on the cabin walls.
“Hey! What the heck dude?” Alya snapped, rubbing her forehead.
Adrien ignored her as he turned around and stared her down. She faltered a little under his glare. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. When he opened his eyes both girls were giving him questioning looks, although Alya looked slightly more annoyed.
“Alya, you need to stop.” He calmly said, the girl looked startled.
“What?” She asked confused. Adrien sighed turning his attention to Marinette instead.
“Marinette, you’re a sweet girl but I’m sorry, I just don’t like you like that.” He bit his lip, his brow furrowed. He felt extremely guilty but it was a necessary evil.
Marinette looked like a deer caught in headlights, she fumbled over her words for a second and Adrien could of swore she was going to try to deny her feelings for him. Instead she just clamped her mouth shut, averted eye contact with him and nodded. Adrien’s grimaced as he saw her shoulders shake, was she crying?
“What the hell?” Alya hissed, stepping into his personal space. “Why did you do that?” She glanced at Marinette who was obviously trying her hardest not to full on bawl.
“Because YOU keep leading her on. I don’t like her Alya yet you fuel her crush by giving her false hope.” He hissed under his breath, side glancing Marinette.
“Me? You’re the one that lead her on!” Alya snapped back, pointing an accusing finger at him. Adrien was completely baffled, how had he led her on?
“Excuse me?”
“You’re the one that gave her false hope! You were always flirting with her!” Adrien’s mind was reeling! When did he ever flirt with Marinette? Even when he was in denial about his sexuality, the only women he flirted with was Ladybug.
“When?” He weakly asks, he swore he never led her on but Alya seemed so sure of herself that he was starting to doubt himself.
“You’re always hanging out with us and being extra nice to her.”
“Wait-“
“And you made her that good luck charm!”
“But that-“
“And you always compliment her fashion and you even called her our everyday Ladybug!” Alya yelled, throwing her hands up in frustration. Adrien was thankful that they were the last three to walk inside but after her outburst he was sure everyone on the ship heard.
“I was only being nice, I wasn’t flirting nor did I mean to lead her on if I did!” Adrien finally said, lowly but as firmly.
Alya’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance, she opened her mouth, ready to tear him, a new one when Marinette finally spoke up.
“He’s right.” She whispered. Adrien and Alya both froze, turning their full attention to Marinette.
Marinette slowly raised her head and her watery eyes met Alya’s.
“No, no, no! Honey” Alya cried as she reached out to comfort Marinette but the girl flinched away from her. Alya looked really hurt by her action, her own amber eyes watering.
“He never lead me on. He was just doing nice things that you amped up in my mind.” She bit her lip and turned her face from Alya.
“I’m sorry, Mari! I swear I thought he liked you, I still think he does. He has too!” Alya growled.
“Don’t worry about Alya, he loves someone else.” A tear slid down Marinette's pink cheeks as she whispered that.
Alya’s face broke when she saw the tear and whipped her head back around to Adrien, fury in her eyes!
“Who is it that you like, huh?” She yelled. Adrien heard footsteps approaching, realising it was probably the rest of the group, he chose to ignore them and focus on the problem at hand, Alya.
“That’s none of your business.” He snapped back, thoroughly fed up with her attitude.
“Yeah it is!” She placed her hands on her hips “I think we have the right to know who you’re choosing over Marinette! So who is the mystery girl that’s apparently so great that you can reduce Marinette to tears over.”
Adrien grinds his back teeth together, a growl forming in the back of his throat as his anger built with every ridiculous word that came out of Alya’s mouth. Finally he snapped.
“There isn’t a girl!”
“I don’t believe you! You just said outside that you like someone.” Alya screamed, pointing to the door they just walked in from. She took a step closer to Adrien as she stared at him.”Who is she? What does she have that Marinette doesn’t?”
“First of all a dick!” Adrien screamed right back, absolutely losing his shit. Alya took a step back in shock, from his loud outburst of what he actually said, he didn’t know. “I’m gay! I like boys, okay?”
“I-I..what? No, no you don’t.” Alya furrowed her brow in confusion. “You’re straight you have to be!” She still tried to argue.
“Well, pity, because I am.” He spat. “I don’t like girls, I’m 100% Strictly dickly!”
He heard someone snort behind him and he normally would thrive in the presence of someone enjoying his jokes but he was too busy staring Alya down.
“Who do you like then?” She smirked, one eyebrow cocked up like what she just asked was a challenge.
“Why do you care so much?” He groaned, “why can’t I be happy with being who I am and be happy with who I’m attracted too? Do I need to pretend to like girls and force myself to date Marinette for you to leave me alone? Are you that homophobic!” He took a step towards her causing her to take one back.
“I’m not homophobic!” She growled. “You know I’m not! I just don’t believe your gay. I think you’re making this up because you don’t want to tell us who you really have feelings for! Is it Kagami?”
“No.”
“Lila?”
“No!”
“Chloe?”
“No, no, no!” He threw his hands in the air in frustration. “You can guess as many girls as you like but you’ll never be right! because he isn’t a girl!”
Alya opened her mouth again.
“It’s Luka!” He screamed. “I have feelings for Luka!”
Everything was quiet after that. Adrien thought Alya finally believed him, especially by the shocked expression she was wearing. That was until he realised she was looking behind him, oh god.
Adrien sounds around to see Juleka, Rose and Nino, like he expected but between them was Luka who had a very shocked expression on his face. Adrien’s face heated up as tears gathered in his eyes.
“Adrien..” Luka softly said but it was too late. Adrien spun around and faced a guilty looking Alya once again.
“Are you happy?” He yelped before shoving past both her and Marinette and running up deck again.
Cold wind stun his tear stained cheeks as he ran over to the edge of the boat. He growled in frustration as he realised the plank wasn’t set up so he couldn’t cross back to land.
He felt movement in his breast pocket, a reminder that Plagg was here and he wasn’t alone. He was about to open his jacket and talk to his Kwami when a voice called out his name, stopping him.
“Adrien!”
His whole body froze as he instantly recognised the voice, it was Luka. He refused to turn around, too embarrassed by the tears that were still falling. At this point in time he didn’t even know why he was crying, he just had too many emotions swirling around inside him and his tears were their only outlet.
“Hey.” Luka whispered above him as he appeared right next to him, pulling him towards the older man and wrapping his arms around him. “Shh, let it out.”
Luka rubbed his back as he sobbed into his chest. If he wasn’t feeling so distraught right now, he’d properly feel ashamed of the way he desperately clinged onto the other lad, the way his tears stained his cheek and the way he cried out his name over and over again. But he wasn’t in the right state of mind to question comfort when he needed it, especially from the person he craved it the most from.
All he cared about now was the fact that his friends didn’t accept him. After all the time of worrying about what everyone would think, that his Father would disown him, his friends would hate him and Luka would be disgusted in him, it was finally all coming true.
“I-I’m Sorry.” Adrien hiccuped.
“What are you sorry for?” Luka whispered in his hair.
“For being gay a-and” he sobbed, “sorry for liking you.”
Luka sighed, squeezing his tighter.
“Don’t you dare apologise for that! You never, ever apologise ever again for being who you are, darling!” He pulled back from the boy, only slightly, keeping him within arms length. “I have feelings for you too Adrien. This isn’t the way I ever wanted us to admit them to one another but I’m very happy that you return my feelings.” Luka kissed his forehead and Adrien melted into his touch.
“Do you really?” Adrien whispered quietly, almost childlike. Luka smiled down at him, his gaze so soft and for fondness for the younger boy.
“I really, really do.” He confirmed, kissing Adrien’s nose, then his left cheek.
Adrien blushed at the affection Luka was giving him, his past troubles momentarily gone.
“Please let me be yours.” Luka whispered, kissing his right cheek now. Adrien blushed from his neck upwards, his heart beating rapidly and butterflies forming in his stomach.
“Only if I can be yours as well?” Adrien whispered back, a surge of confidence taking over his body. He leaned onto the tip of his toes and pressed his lips against Lukas. The older boy gasped in surprise but soon fell into the rhythm of the kiss. After a few soft and blissful seconds the two boys pulled away.
“Is that a yes?” Luka breathlessly laughed. Adrien giggled and nodded his head.
“Yes.”