Miraculous (Angel-Demon AU)

Chapter 5: Adrien

"I can't force you into anything, Adrien." My father's words reverberated in my head as I made my way to the ballroom with Nino. "But keep in mind that this is a precious situation. You don't owe these creatures anything. Go and do as you're expected to."

Expected by whom? I kept as silent as I had remained in his presence during that last week, and made a considerable effort to push his metallic voice and all its warnings and hidden threats away from my mind.

"There they are!"

Nino's voice brought me back to Earth. I followed his gaze, eyes wide open and jaw dropping as he caught sight of Alya, dressed in a very long and slick black dress.

"Hey, close that mouth! You don't wanna eat any of these mosquitoes, do you?" she smiled at him "They've already bitten me everywhere, jeez..."

Nino didn't seem to hear a thing and instead kept staring in absolute awe at his girlfriend "You look beautiful" he mumbled, as if his expression wasn't enough proof. Alya and I both laughed at the same time. And so did Mari.

I turned in her direction, noticing her for the first time... and feared that the same dumb expression I'd just seen on Nino's face would now be on mine.

"No way!" I said. Mari smiled shyly as I swept my eyes over her knee-length, red yet black-spotted dress.

"Well, I've heard you admi- like- that you kinda like Ladybug, so I thought... I thought you'd like it."

I loved it. And I was 100% sure that she'd redesigned that dress herself. She really was talented.

"I love it." I smiled back.

"Come on, you two, let's get inside, we're already late!" Alya intervened, a big smile in her face as she looked in our direction. Alya was holding Nino's arm as she approached the entrance. I looked around me and realized that every couple was either holding hands or linked by their arms. I held out my arm towards Marinette.

"Shall we?" I offered

Her look became tender as she nodded and caught my arm. I thought it would be impolite and rather stupid not to say anything, so I did: "For the record, you look beautiful too."

She stared at me for a few seconds before her eyes dashed to the ground. "Thank you, Adrien. You look good too." As always, I caught her whispering, but I pretended not to hear her by suppressing a giggle. She was too cute.

Inside the ballroom there was... chaos. Lights flashed from every corner, and the place seemed overcrowded with people dancing, drinking or simply standing around and having a chat, but dressed up in a way that didn't match the rocking music that sounded in the background. Chloé –her father, really- must have convinced the headmaster to start the prom dance with Jagged Stone's music. It was no surprise, really.

It was one thing to hang out the four of us in a concert and dance however we wanted, I thought to myself, and another, very different thing was to dance in front of every single person in high school in the clumsy way I did. Mari seemed to have read my thoughts. "Don't worry, Adrien." she tried to encourage me "We're here just to have fun. And you don't dance as bad as you think."

"If you say so..."

"Come on." She gently pulled me by the arm she was still holding onto towards Nino and Alya, who had already started dancing. Once we were by their side, Marinette let go of me and started swaying to the music's rhythm. She closed her eyes as she let the neon lights turn her body from red to blue, from silver to gold... She seemed a different person when dancing, her shyness completely swept away. I had forgotten how much a fan of Jagged Stone she was.