"ALRIGHT, party people! Enjoy the drinks, enjoy the food, enjoy the music, and enjoy the disco!" Nino shouted to the attendees.

"Can you quiet down a little?" Felix scolded Nino.

"Hey, you're going to have to put up with me if you want the plan to work." Nino reminded, "This party's going to have to be a bit more lively than you originally planned for."

Felix scoffed and muttered under his breath, "The things I do for you, Agreste.." He shook his head and turned back to the group, "Okay, so we're all clear on phase one of the plan?"

"Yup," Alya answered, "Create tension, act weird, leave them alone, and stay quiet when it gets awkward."

"Correct. This phase may not be the most romantic one, but it's important, so no matter how much you guys want to open your mouths when the time comes, don't." Felix reminded everyone.

"Got it." Kagami noted. Felix smiled, and then turned his head to Marinette and Adrien, who were just chatting across the floor.

"Adrienette, get over here." Felix called, which summoned a weird glance, blush, and denying face from both of them. They hurried over, avoiding each others' eyes.

"Uh, what's up?" Adrien asked.

"Wanna play truth or dare?" Alya asked, her eyes sly.

"Okay.." Marinette agreed.

"I'm in, but only because Mari is." Adrien stated. Alya and Nino chuckled at this, realizing how cute it was that Adrien wanted to stick with Marinette.

"Alright, so," Felix leaned back against a table, "Alya, truth or dare?" He was starting the game out straight and simple, not wanting to cut right to the chase in fear that things would crumble to dust.

"Truth." Alya chose.

"Okay, do you wish Nino would have proposed earlier?"

Alya thought for a second, glanced at Nino, and then smiled, "Well, I guess maybe a part of me does. But I'm glad that he waited this long, because we're in our mid-twenties which is relatively early, so even earlier would've been a bit difficult. Nonetheless, I think it's for the best that things happened the way it did." Alya gave Nino a small peck on the cheek, "Two other people, on the other hand.. need to at least get on the road to love soon."

There was silence for a bit, and there was some sort of unspoken elephant in the room. But, there was no sound coming from anyone.

"Um.." Alya cleared her throat, "So, Marinette, truth or dare?" After Alya had gone, everyone was a little warmed up and it was time for the plan to take action.

"Dare." Marinette answered.

The group of four had already talked about what would happen if one of them said dare. They knew that they could make Adrienette kiss, that was a given, but it felt wrong. The whole point of the plan was to make them realize their feelings, not force it upon them. Something such as kissing should be an action that they want to fulfill when the time comes.

So, the group had all agreed that if one were to choose dare, they would just simply make them do something stupid and move on. They would wait until it was a truth for Marinette or Adrien.

Alya dared Marinette to just scream, "Let's go, party people!" out loud to everyone, and she did just that. Then Marinette dared Felix to tie his hair up in a ponytail. And now, it was Felix's turn.

"Adrien, truth or dare."

"Truth." Adrien answered. Thank god.

"Alright, Adrien," Felix started, "What was discussed out in the garden with Marinette at my engagement party?"

Adrien gulped at the question. He didn't want to think about that moment right now. Him and Marinette both felt like they were at ease with everything that's happened, and that they could just be friends. But remembering that conversation out in the garden just made his feelings come running back.

"Um.." Adrien gulped, "Well, Marinette told me how she used to like me when we were teenagers. And about how she, uh, wasn't ready for a relationship." He paused, "And I.. also told her that I love her."

Again, silence.

But, it was broken this time.

"Well, that's cool. The four of us gotta get going, but keep on enjoying the party, okay?" Felix said, and abruptly got up, dragging his other three friends and pulling them away from the couple that wasn't a couple (just yet).

"Now, is that good for tension?" Nino asked.

"For now." Felix responded.

•★★★•

The four involved with "Plan Adrienette" and the couple in question were all out on the dance floor, moving to the music.

But, as every beat passed, Alya slowly made her way towards Felix, and once she was in talking proximity, she whispered, "So, when's it happening?"

Felix chuckled, "I was going to go after this song."

"Okay, okay, good."

The song soon ended, and Felix left the crowd to approach the DJ.

"Hey, man. You think you could play this song?" Felix pulled up a song on his phone and showed it to the DJ, who just nodded his head. Felix hurried back to his friends.

"Did you do it?" Nino asked.

"Yes." Felix answered.

"Good." Nino said, and glanced at the DJ, "I still can't believe you wouldn't hire me for this gig."

Felix rolled his eyes, "Listen, I can't have you DJ-ing at my wedding instead of having fun with us."

"Fair point."

Soon enough, the entire vibe of the room changed, switching from being lively and energetic to slow and romantic. The song that played was the very one that was associated with Adrien and Marinette; The one that played at Chloe's party all those years ago, and the one that they had reminisced about at the engagement party.

Everyone around them paired up—Nino and Alya, and Felix and Kagami, of course. Marinette turned to Chloe and Sabrina, who were chatting off to the side. She didn't want to interrupt them and intrude on their conversation. So, she was left with Adrien, who was standing beside her.

She didn't really want to dance with him. Things had been sort of awkward, romantically, especially after that Truth or Dare session, so dancing to a slow song would just make things worse. But, Marinette couldn't just leave. That would hurt Adrien's feelings. So, reluctantly, she went to dance with him.

Without exchanging any words, the two wrapped their arms around each other and started to dance. Stepping in and out, right and left. Marinette avoided Adrien's gaze and looked off to the side, as she didn't want to see the expression on his face or have any sort of conversation with him.

But, of course, it was hard to keep her eyes off of him. So, she flicked them over and looked at him. Their eyes met, as he had been staring right at her. Her heart fluttered, and she had a feeling that his heart did, too. They stood there for a bit, just staring into each others' eyes which gleamed in the light. The sun hadn't even set yet and things felt so romantic.

Alya and Nino watched the whole scene from afar.

"What the hell? Is one of them going to make a move, or what?" Alya whispered. But, she may have been too loud, because Adrien's head whipped around.

Must be his strong cat hearing.

"Fuck." Alya muttered under her breath. She and her fiance continued watching as Marinette and Adrien's arms fell off of each other and their faces flushed red. Adrien scratched his neck in embarrassment and the two seemed to have just shrugged off the moment that just occurred.

"Great." Alya said, "Back to square one."

"No," Felix replied, him and Kagami dancing towards Alya and Nino, "We still made progress. There's so much tension between them now; there's bound to be some sort of revelation or confession tonight."

•★★★•

Later that night, Marinette excused herself and wandered off into the venue. The wedding had been outside, on a hill that overlooked the city but still had buildings and such around it. So when Marinette explored, she stumbled upon the edge of the hill that was covered in grass, with a view so gorgeous that it was unexplainable.

The sun was setting, and the sky was an assortment of colors—Red, pink, purple, orange, and yellow. Marinette sat down on the grass and looked up to admire the sky, just thinking about her day and recapping over everything that's happened in the last few months.

Soon, she heard footsteps behind her. They were partially muffled because of the grass, but she could tell who it was. She'd heard these footsteps multiple times before, them as a civilian and them as a superhero. Marinette didn't turn around to face him, and just continued staring out as he sat down next to her.

"Where the fuck is Marinette and Adrien, we need them for phase three—" Alya said, but then she turned a corner and saw the couple on the hill, "Um, guys."

Nino, Felix, Kagami, Chloe, and Sabrina all looked at the scene playing out in awe and without a word, shied away to give them privacy. There was no need for phase three anymore; Adrien and Marinette had created their own part of the plan and were executing it right now.

"Marinette?" Adrien asked, turning to his left and looking at the lady before him.

She continued to gaze at the view, just zoning out. She wasn't even thinking anymore. She was just there.

Surprisingly, though, Marinette leaned on Adrien and rested her head on his shoulder. The shoulder that she had been lying on for so many years.

Adrien didn't even flinch at the contact. He let her head lay there, and together, they both admired the view.

But the moment couldn't last for long.

Marinette's head suddenly lifted up.

She looked at Adrien, then at his ring, and then at Adrien.

Love beats anything.

Their love will cause Shadow Moth to beat them.

"Marinette.." Adrien slowly said, wondering what was wrong.

"Adrien." She replied, taking a deep breath, "You don't know how hard this is for me to say."

Adrien's heart stopped, "Mari, what are you talking about?"

"Please, don't call me that right now." Marinette couldn't bear to hear him use that nickname. It would make things harder.

"Marinette, what's going on?"

"You have been the most amazing friend I could ask for. And I really love you, I truly, truly, do. And that's the problem."

"What are you talking about—?"

"I love you too much, and I know you love me, too. And I don't know if I can be 'just friends' with you. I can't continue hanging around you and not being able to just kiss you." Marinette felt tears travel down her cheeks, "I can't be friends with you. I can't be anything with you, frankly. I just can't."

Marinette stood up and started to walk away, knowing that she wouldn't be able to handle Adrien's reaction. If she stayed, she would have taken back everything she just said, hugged him, and done the complete opposite of what she has to do for the sake of Paris.

Adrien chased after her, grabbing her arm and pulling her back, "No, Mari, no!" Marinette didn't even look back at him, but she knew that he was in tears as well because of the quavering in his voice.

"I told you, to please not call me that right now!" Marinette continued to walk forward.

"I'm sorry, please, Marinette, don't go." Adrien struggled to keep up with the girl, as she was charging away quickly.

"No, I can't, I have to go, Ch- Adrien." Fuck. She really chose now to almost screw up?

Luckily, Adrien didn't seem to notice with how much commotion was going on, "Marinette, I love you so much, I won't deny that, but I would rather live without your unconditional love than live without you."

"Stop, please, I can't handle your love. I can't."

"It's always, 'I can't', Marinette, why don't we try to move past that? Together?"

"No, please, we'd be such a mess, things would be such a mess, Paris would be—"

"I love you, Marinette."

"No—They would do things, they would ruin everything, I can't—"

"I love you, Marinette."

"Don't!" Marinette yelled, not wanting to hear those four words again or she would be pulled back into old habits, "I can't do this, Adrien. Please."

"Marine—"

"We can't be friends anymore, especially anything beyond that. I'm sorry." Marinette rushed off, hopping into her car and driving away.

She felt so upset. Upset because she couldn't be with someone she loved. Upset because Shadow Moth was still lurking around and affecting her life. And upset because Adrien was upset.

Adrien just stood there for a bit after she left, confused but aware of everything that just happened.

But to both of them, it felt like their worlds were crumbling down. 

-

the sunset scene is for the people who watched/read "little women" and remember jo and laurie's scene at the hill..

also wait till yall find out that the original plan for this chapter was for adrienette to kiss at the end.