Marinette receives an unexpected guest at their door. Out of all the people she expected to greet, she certainly didn't expect to be reunited with her cousin—the same cousin who had once wanted to marry her.

•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•

Marinette was many things... but patience was a skill she was still trying to master.

Charles had eagerly taken his seat at the table, delighted to eat his vegetables when he was promised a desert afterwards. But he gave her no fuss. He listened easily, even if vegetables weren't necessarily his favorite.

William, on the other hand, despised his vegetables.

So now, she was sitting in front of her two-year-old baby, eyes narrowed into slits at him. Ironically, the little blonde boy who looked like a spitting image of his father was glaring right back at her, having no intension of cooperating. The bowl with his veggies sat in between them untouched.

"Is he still not eating them?" Adrien asked as he walked into the kitchen holding a bag of flour over his shoulder. He had recently returned from the markets, and she'd been too busy having a staring contest with her son to notice he had returned.

Marinette didn't answer him. Not even William spared a glance at Adrien to acknowledge his existence.

She heard Adrien set down the bag of flour with a grunt. Then, his footsteps sounded as he moved across the room to ruffle Charles' hair before kneeling beside his wife.

"You were in this exact same position when I left." He said before placing a kiss to her cheek. "That was at least two hours ago."

"I am aware."

Adrien patted her knee in encouragement. "Let me try."

Marinette finally broke the staring contest with her son to shoot Adrien an odd look. "What makes you think he is going to eat them with you if I cannot get him to?"

He smiled at her. "It does not hurt to try, right?"

Grumbling something along the lines of 'good luck', Marinette stood up and allowed Adrien to take her seat. As she did so, Charles came bounding over towards her, revealing his clean plate. Marinette smiled down at him and rewarded him with a pastry from the bakery.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Adrien scoop a piece of broccoli into the spoon. He then started moving the spoon in crazy ways in front of William's face, making airplane noises as he drew nearer and nearer to the baby's mouth.

William looked absolutely unamused.

Despite the roll of her eyes, Marinette couldn't help but chuckle. She would give credit for Adrien's strange yet creative way to try and get their son to cooperate.

She moved into the living room, deciding to leave Adrien to it without her overbearing watch. Instead, she planned to tend to the laundry, knowing Charles was all out of his school uniform and would need a clean set by tomorrow.

She was halfway towards the back door with the laundry basket on her hip when a knock on the door sounded.

She paused, her head slowly turning to look at the front door.

They weren't expecting any visitors.

Adrien didn't seem to notice that they had company. She could faintly hear his voice from the kitchen and his aghast shouts as he struggled to get William to eat his vegetables. She could only presume William had knocked the spoon right out of Adrien's hand with a spalt. Charles' laughs after the fact had her believing there was remnants of vegetables all over Adrien's face.

Setting down the laundry basket, Marinette sighed and sauntered towards the front door.

Marinette expected a few people to show up to her house unannounced. Her aunt, for starters, would be one of the first people to show up without warning, expecting to be treated to a nice meal while she spent some time with her grand nephews. Her sisters too, were to be expected on the other side of that door, though she never minded their company.

What she didn't expect when she opened that door, however, was to be greeted by her own cousin—her aunt's only son, Alexander—standing right in front of her with a sheepish smile on his lips, all grown up from the last time she had seen him all those years ago.

Marinette blinked. Personally, the last time she saw Alexander, they were young teenagers without much of a care in the world. They were good friends and lived under the same roof for most of her life. But then... somewhere along the line, he claimed to have fallen in love with her and asked her if she would marry him. Of course, she declined, which led to him leaving his family home and disappearing.

As a young girl, she felt distraught about breaking his heart and their friendship shattering. As she grew older, she realized how... odd it was that her cousin had grown that fond of her. Truth be told, she never thought she would see him again.

And now here he was, right in front of her.

Instantly, she opened her mouth, the nickname she used to call him right on the tip of her tongue. "Atali—"

He shook his head, instantly shutting down the memory. "Not anymore. It's just Alexander or Alex now, okay?"

She wordlessly nodded, unsure of what else to even say to that.

He looked past over her shoulder. "Do you... mind if I come in?" He asked a bit timidly. "I will not stay for long. I just... wanted to have a word with you if that is all right?"

She silently opened the door wider and stepped aside, allowing him to come inside.

Alexander hesitantly stepped inside. His eyes were surveying every nook and cranny of her home, as if he were critiquing her living conditions. Thankfully, she and Adrien were extremely diligent in keeping their home clean, so when unexpected visitors did stop by, they had nothing to worry about regarding a mess.

"You have a lovely home." He said quietly. Marinette closed the door behind him, wordlessly following him into the sitting room. She took a seat on the opposite couch and waited for him to take a seat. After examining their family portrait above the fireplace for a brief moment, he took a seat and folded his hands in his lap nervously.

"Thank you." She breathed out.

"You have a lovely family too." He blurted out. "Are they all here?"

Marinette nodded slowly and straightened her posture. "They are having lunch."

Alexander cleared his throat and nodded several times. His eyes jumped from hers to all across the room, as if he were too nervous to keep eye contact with her.

"Why are you here, Alexander?" Marinette broke the silence with a question that would get her straight to the point. "Does your mother know you are back in town?"

"No, she does not." He answered lowly. He briefly made eye contact with her, shrugging, "I do not intend to let her know that I am here."

"Why not?"

He sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Could you imagine what she would say to me? She would belittle me until my ears bled."

Marinette found herself chuckling. Aunt Lillian would definitely nag her son for an eternity, and Uncle Bueford would most likely have a few select words of disappointment to express.

Alexander seemed to be more at ease when he saw her laugh. A small smile found a way to his lips, hesitant but still there. "Besides, I do not plan to stay for long. I plan to go across the sea for this year's travels."

Marinette considered his words briefly before she asked, "Have you been travelling alone all this time?"

"Heavens no." He shook his head, chuckling, "I usually have a fine group with me. We part ways as we all reach our separate destinations. This time, however, my partner and I will be departing for the Appalachians."

Marinette raised her brows in interest. Not because he intended to visit a mountain range she could only dream of seeing, but the fact that he had mentioned he had a partner.

He smiled sheepishly, as if he could read her thoughts. "Yes... uh... that is one of the things I wanted you to know. My partner... Philip and I have been together for three years now. I just thought you should know that I have always had affections for the... opposite sex."

Marinette simply blinked at him. She certainly hadn't expected that.

Her silence seemed to make him anxious, so he began to ramble. "I-I know this might all seem very confusing, especially after all that happened between us before I left. I just wanted you to know that my proposal to you was my form of desperation, in the sense that I knew I could be happy with you if I was forced to spend the rest of my life with a woman. I have always liked men, and-and I knew my mother would never approve so..."

He swallowed uncomfortably, deciding there was nothing left to do except await her response.

It took Marinette a moment to process his words, but when she did, a smile broke out on her lips, revealing her delight. "Oh cousin... why did you not tell me this when we were younger? I would have supported you. I would have helped you sneak out of that house myself."

His eyes brows furrowed, revealing his confusion. "You... you are not upset or appalled? You are not weirded out by my revelation?"

"Why would I be?" She asked, equally confused.

"I guess I assumed you would not approve." He explained, still looking extremely confused. "But I suppose you have an open mind."

She chuckled, deciding to lean back into the couch cushions and relax. She was no longer feeling awkward or tense in front of her cousin. "Believe it or not, you are not the first to admit to me that you are attracted to the same sex. My sister, Elizabeth, also shares this same affection. In fact, she is married."

"Really?" Alexander raised his brows in absolute shock. "Wow... that-that is wonderful, and how did my unpleasant mother react to this union?"

"She... does not even know about the union. My husband married them in secret."

Alexander laughed openly at that, revealing his teeth. "How amazing is that... wow. I will have to come back here and ask your husband to marry Philip and I when we are ready to tie the knot."

"Adrien would be more than happy to wed you both." Marinette said in all earnestly. "You are also welcome here anytime, cousin. Whenever you are back in town, do not hesitate to stop by for a visit."

"I will keep that in mind." Her cousin smiled as he stood from his seat on the couch. "And I will bring Philip next time so that you can meet him."

"I would like that." Marinette said, smiling. She then moved around the coffee table before her cousin could advance to the door and embraced him. Alexander was surprised and hesitant at first to return her hug, but then he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back with just as much longing.

They stayed that way in each other's arms for quite some time before she pulled away.

He looked down at her, smiling and on the verge of tears. "I am glad I was able to clear the air and rekindle our friendship. I was feeling a burden on my shoulders for the longest time when I thought about the way we parted. I knew I had to make things right."

"I am glad you chose to do so." She responded gleefully. "I hope you intend to show your face around here more often... or perhaps write me letters about your travels. I hear they have a thing called postcards now."

He chuckled, "I will be sure to send you one of those then."

With that being said, Alexander politely escorted himself out, insisting he was going to miss his train if he stayed any longer. They parted ways after sharing another hug... with Marinette also promising that she Aunt Lillian would never hear a word about his visit.

"Who was it?!" Adrien called from the kitchen just as she shut the door behind her cousin.

Marinette approached the threshold and leaned against the frame, watching Adrien with an amused smile on her lips. Like she had suspected, he was covered in chewed up broccoli and had gotten William to smile because of it.

"Remember when I told you about Aunt Lillian's son? My cousin who disappeared off of the face of the earth after her proposed to me and I rejected him?"

Adrien turned to look at her, a confused look on his face. "Yes... I remember that story. It was very weird when you first told it and it still is."

"Yes...well..." Marinette couldn't help but chuckle as she replayed the events of what had just happened. "It turns out he is actually gay and has been ever since we were young and only ever asked me to marry him for appearances sake, and he plans to come back here with his boyfriend eventually so that you can marry them... can you believe that?"

Adrien's eyebrows simply rose, revealing he thought he was going insane.

"Wait... what?"

_______________________________

Even the cousin briefly mentioned in Forbidden Love with the weird nickname needed a happy ending lol.

Stay tuned for the next one!