#proc ml

✦ ✦ ✦

Alya tells her not to go, Nino says to trust her gut. Alya glares at him and he shrugs and says “hey, she’s an adult, Al. She can make her own choices.”

Marinette has been standing outside of the apartment building for almost ten minutes, just staring at it.

She’s been here before, looking at an apartment on the seventh floor. It was nice enough, relatively close to her work and within her budget. It’s smaller than her old apartment, but it’s large enough. The main problem is that it’s unfurnished and she doesn’t currently own any furniture.

She texts Adrien and he lets her in and she takes the elevator up to the eighth floor. It’s strange, she’s pretty sure that this apartment is directly above the one she was looking at the other week.

She hesitates before she knocks.

“It’s open,” Adrien says.

Marinette opens the door and peers inside. “Hello?”

Adrien is standing in the middle of the empty apartment staring out the window. He’s wearing his long black coat again.

For some reason, Marinette wonders if this is real. It’s strange, like they’re stuck in some sort of limbo. The contrast of white walls against Adrien’s dark clothing. The bright afternoon sun streaming in through the window makes everything look a little hazy and fake.

He glances over his shoulder at her. “Hey.” He smiles and Marinette’s breath catches in her throat. He’s real.

“Uh…hi.” Marinette takes a step inside and closes the door behind her. “How…how are you?”

Adrien tilts his head. “I’m… I’m okay. A little tired, but I’m good.” She can see it in the way he’s standing and in his eyes.

“This your new place?” she asks, gesturing to the space around her.

“Just got the keys today,” Adrien says. He pulls the keys out of his pockets and shakes them. “It…took a while to find a place.”

“I know what you mean,” Marinette murmurs. “I mean…I was looking at an apartment in this building last week.”

He blinks in surprise. “You were?”

She nods. “The one just below this one, actually.”

Adrien rubs the back of his neck and laughs awkwardly. “That is a really weird coincidence.”

Marinette hums in agreement. She rocks back on her heels. “So…uh, how is Plagg?”

“Annoyed,” Adrien answers almost automatically. “He doesn’t love the whole moving thing.”

“I can imagine.”

Marinette takes a long look around the apartment. Adrien always kept his apartment very bare, but having absolutely nothing in his space is…strange. Even though his style was ‘minimalistic’, there were always things on the walls. Random things tacked up— notes and scrap paper and sticky notes and scribbles of equations. Reminders to himself and quotes from books he read.

She misses the bits of Adrien’s mind scattered around his space.

In the past month, she’s gotten used to not having him in her life. He left it just as fast as he entered it. Sometimes, she’d think ‘Adrien would like that’, but as the month went on, those thoughts became rarer and rarer.

When Nino and Alya picked them up from the café after the fire and brought them back to their apartment, they gave Marinette and Adrien new clothes and let them pass out in the bed. When Marinette woke up just before noon, Adrien was still sleeping, and Alya was curled up on the couch. Nino had gone to work and Marinette had begun to panic.

“I called your work,” Alya explained in hushed tones. “I told them what happened. Your boss had seen the news about the fire, they were very understanding and just said to call in when you woke up.”

Marinette started crying and Alya tried to convince her to go back to bed. She managed to get Marinette to shower away the smell of smoke and eat some toast. When Marinette was sitting in the kitchen, Adrien stumbled in with bleary eyes and smoke clinging to his skin. Plagg, who had been sleeping in the bed with them, trailed after.

Alya gentled pushed Adrien into the bathroom to shower as she made herself and him something to eat, and Marinette let everything sink in.

Adrien looked more alive when he sat down at the table fifteen minutes later. He took strong coffee from Alya and then took a call from his father in the hallway outside the apartment. Plagg meowed and scratched on the door until Alya let him out to join Adrien.

“He’s been out there for a while,” Alya said, raising her eyebrows and glancing at the clock when it had been over half an hour.

Marinette shook her head. “He never talks about his family. I mean, he works for his dad, but he’s never said anything more. I kind of assumed there was something there that he didn’t like to think about.”

Alya nodded. “Got it. Speaking of parents…”

Marinette squinted at the time. “I think they’re both taking lunch right now.”

“Your phone is on the nightstand,” Alya supplied helpfully.

“Mhm.” Marinette made her way to the bedroom and called her parents. She sat on the side of the bed as she explained what happened. She started crying again at one point, and could hear her dad crying too. She said “I’m okay, really, I’m okay!” at least a hundred times.

When she hung up, she laid down and stared at the ceiling. She would’ve stayed that way for a few more hours if she didn’t remember she had to call in work. When she was done with that, she joined Alya on the couch and they put on a movie. Adrien finished up with his phone call eventually and sat on the chair next to them. They stayed that way until Nino came home, and then they had dinner and resumed their positions, with the addition of Nino.

At the time, part of Marinette had thought that maybe this would mean Adrien would become friends with Alya and Nino.

But she’d been wrong.

Later that day, Adrien had said that he had a friend in the city who had a free couch and was offering him a place to say and apologized for intruding on Alya and Nino, even though they kept insisting he hadn’t. He promised Marinette that he would text him, Plagg lept into his arms, and they were gone.

It’d be weird for her to tell Adrien that she had missed him, but she did. Adrien was — is — a strangely grounding and calming force in her life.

Marinette can’t say she was lost without him around, but she definitely felt a little less secure. It was strange to not be able to knock on the next door over and talk to him. It was strange not having him ask her weird question about cooking or what she had always assumed were basic adult things.

She almost hadn’t come to meet him today, because Nino had been right all those weeks ago. She is afraid of getting hurt again. Because she gives herself entirely to her relationship with Adrien, romantic or platonic. He could completely and totally shatter her heart.

And she would let him.

But she did come see him, because he reached out first and she is so very very weak for Adrien Kersey.

“Are you still staying with Nino and Alya?” Adrien asks, drawing Marinette out of her thoughts.

She nods. “Yeah. I haven’t exactly found myself a place yet. I’m working on it, though. Soon. Hopefully.” She swallows back her insecurities. It’s a relief that she wants to be able to talk about these things with him already, but she doesn’t want to open up that much so quickly.

“You’ll find someplace, eventually,” Adrien promises. “It just…takes a while.” He gives her a careful smile, and she can see his apology in it.

Marinette caves. “You’re probably right.”

Plagg leaps up onto the window sill and stretches out, closing his eyes once he’s made himself comfortable in the sun.

They didn’t talk for two months, but Marinette can’t find it in herself to be that upset at Adrien anymore. She missed him a lot when they weren’t talking, but there’s no real point in wallowing in that now that he’s back in her life.

At least, he will be back in her life if lets him be.

“Do you like it here?” Marinette asks.

Adrien closes his eyes and turns his face toward the sun. After a moment, he nods.

That’s enough for her.

✦ ✦ ✦

“I think I found an apartment today,” Marinette says as she puts her stuff down.

Alya looks up from where she’s painting her nails as Nino braids her hair. “Really?”

“Yeah. I really like it.”

Nino raises his eyebrows and smirks. “Went well then?”

“Marinette!” someone shouts.

Her head snaps up, eyes wide. She spots him stumbling out of the alleyway on the side of the building— he must have gone out a back exit.

Marinette knows she’s crying now.

She pushes through the crowd to him, barely holding onto her bag. She stop a few feet away when she seems the squirming ball of fur in his arms.

“Did you just run back into a fire for a cat?!” Her voice sounds weird, like it doesn’t belong to her. It sounds fake and airy and a little like it’s about to shatter.

Adrien hugs Plagg to his chest as Plagg meows in protest. Plagg bumps his head against Adrien’s jawline and paws at his face. “This grumpy butt might hate me and I hate him,” Adrien says, “but he’s the only family I’ve got and I love him for that.”

Plagg meows in a way that almost seems like an affirmation.

Marinette feels her heart breaking. She sighs and sags, reaching out to pet Plagg’s head. “Why am I friends with you?” she murmurs.

Adrien coughs and shrugs. “I don’t know, I always figured you liked me for my cat.”

Marinette laughs weakly. “That’s definitely one theory. Here.” She pulls her purse up onto her shoulder and takes Plagg from him. Plagg nuzzles against her chest. “You should go get checked out. You were in the smoke for a lot longer than I was.”

Adrien runs his hand through his hair, making it stand up in all directions. “Good idea. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be here,” Marinette says softly as he moves deeper into the crowd. She holds Plagg close to her chest. People move around her, talking to each other and gossiping about the fire, panicking about what they might lose, laughing because if they don’t they’ll cry.

Marinette resists the urge to sink to the ground and curl up in a ball with Plagg and never move again.

✦ ✦ ✦

They stay for as long as they have to. When the fire is out and they’re told they can’t go back into the building, Adrien takes Plagg from Marinette and she leads them to a café she only knows is open twenty four hours a day because she has a horrific sleep schedule and sometimes needs a hot drink.

Adrien leaves Plagg outside.

“You sure about that?” Marinette asks as Plagg looks up at them from the sidewalk. “You did just run back into a fire for him.” She’s never going to stop feeling that terror. She’s never going to stop seeing Adrien turning around and going back into a burning building.

“He won’t leave,” Adrien promises. “I give him food, he’s always nearby.” He gives her a smile and pulls the door open. “After you, my lady,” he says with a little bow.

Marinette shakes her head and gives him a weak smile.

They look ridiculous, in their pajamas with messy hair and Adrien’s bare feet.

Marinette is relieved that she had thrown her wallet in her purse, because she would feel bad for sitting in the café without buying anything, even if the people working the graveyard shift never seem to care. She once bought a single pastry that she didn’t eat and then sat at one of their booths and drew for six hours. They didn’t even bat an eye.

Aside from her, Adrien, and the barista, the café is empty.

Adrien pulls out his wallet and orders a large black coffee and a large hot chocolate. Marinette is honestly surprised that he still remembers that she doesn’t drink coffee. She tries to pay Adrien back, but he shakes his head and says he’s making up for all the trauma he caused her tonight. He says it with a joking smile, but his eyes are apologetic, so she lets him buy her a single hot chocolate. It won’t be the end of the world. And she can always slip money into his pocket later.

“What time is it?” Marinette asks softly when they’ve sat down by the front window with their drinks. Plagg rubs against the window and looks up to Adrien meowing soundlessly on the other side of the glass.

Adrien squints at the clock on the wall. “It’s…about two fifty-five.”

Marinette groans and buries her face in her hands. “Not even three? It’s been too much of a day for it to not even be three o’clock.” Adrien hums softly. He takes a slow sip of his coffee.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Marinette says after staring into her cup for a long moment. “I… Like a dream that you can barely remember. It’s just—” She looks out the window. The streets are dark. People in the buildings around theirs woke up to the smoke and the flames and the sirens, but most of Paris is asleep and completely unaware.

Marinette doesn’t know where to go from here.

“I know,” Adrien murmurs. Marinette glances back to him. He’s looking past her at the wall, but he’s not really there. He has a distant look in his eyes and a crease between his eyebrows. “It’s hard to process.”

The café is too bright.

It’s too stimulating, even though the only sounds are them and the soft indie music playing over the speakers. The lights are too florescent, the seats are too hard, the hot chocolate is too sweet.

Marinette reaches across the table and takes Adrien’s coffee from him.

He blinks in surprise, brought back from whatever far away thought land he was visiting. He stares at her as she takes a long drink of his coffee.

She makes a disgusted face as she lowers the cup. “This is disgusting.”

Adrien smiles, small and sad. “Yeah, well, you don’t like coffee.”

Marinette studies the cup for a long moment. It’s disgusting and bitter, but it’s full of caffeine. “I have work at eight,” she says slowly.

Adrien gives her a worried look. “You aren’t going to call out?”

“I…”  She chews on her lip. “I don’t—”

“Mari,” Adrien says softly, “no one would fault you for taking a day off.”

“I know, I just…feel like it might be good to…go and…have a normal day at work before I have to deal with…” She gestures randomly with her hand. “Even if I don’t—” She groans and closes her eyes.

“What, what is it?”

Marinette opens her eyes to see Adrien leaning over the table to be closer to her, concern written all over his face.

“It’s silly,” Marinette mumbles. She pulls at her shirt. “I have no clothes.”

Adrien’s expression softens. “It’s not silly.”

“It is. I just want a normal day but— that can’t…”

“We can buy clothes,” he says. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure things out.”

Marinette nods wordlessly. “Where do we even go after this?”

Adrien shrugs. “I guess we’re going to have to figure that out as we go.”

She laughs weakly. “We might not be neighbors anymore.” The thought hurts more than it should. They’ve only really known each other for a month and a half, but Marinette doesn’t know what she’ll do without him just a step away.

She should probably consider that kind of pathetic, but mostly she just wants to cry.

“I should…” Marinette pulls her phone out of her purse. “Alya and Nino. They should know.” The three of them have always jokingly offered the others a spot on their couch, so it might be worth it to see if that offer still stands.

“Wait,” Adrien says before she can call Alya. Alya tends to keep her volume loud in case a story breaks, while Nino’s phone is almost always on do not disturb. “You don’t have my number, do you?”

Marinette hesitates before shaking her head. “I never really needed it.”

“You should have it.” Adrien pulls out his phone and unlocks it before handing it to her. “Here, you can add yourself so we have each other.”

Marinette takes his phone and gives him hers. She adds her number almost mindlessly, saving her contact as ‘Marinette (the Neighbor)’ because if they end up being away from each other, she doesn’t want to be that random name on his contact list that just exists without any context as her memory and face slowly fade from his mind.

She locks his phone, his phone screen is a default picture of Jupiter, and slides it back to him. When he gives her phone back, she sees his number saved as ‘The Cat Guy’.

Adrien stares out the window into the darkest for a long moment before he starts typing something out rapidly on his phone.

Taking a shaky breath, Marinette clicks Alya’s number and lifts her phone to her ear as it rings.

“‘ello?” Alya asks, sounding half asleep still.

“Hi, it’s me,” Marinette says, voice wavering.

“Mari?” She can hear Alya moving around. “Why are you up at… Shit girl, it’s like three thirty in the morning. Why are you up?”   

“I…” The words get caught in Marinette’s throat. “I’m in a café.”

“A café?” Alya seems suddenly significantly more awake. “Mari, are you okay? What’s going on, you sound—”

“There was a fire,” Marinette interrupts. She squeezes her eyes tightly shut. “A-a fire. In our building. Adrien and I are in a café, b-because there was a fire and… There was a fire.”

“Holy shit.” Marinette hears Nino say something on the other end. Alya must cover the speaker with her hand as she replies. “Are you two okay?” Alya asks, words a hurried jumble that Marinette can barely figure out. “What café are you at, we’re coming to get you.”

“We’re fine,” Marinette promises. “Just…tired. We’re fine. And you don’t have to, we’ll— it’ll be okay.”

“No, we’re going to come get you,” Alya says sharply. “I will search every café to find you if I have to. Please, Marinette. Please. We’re your friends, let us help you.”

Marinette rubs a hand over her face. “Okay,” she whispers. “Okay. Do you know that café that’s open twenty-four seven about two blocks away from my apartment building?”

“Yes.” Something crashes and Nino swears loud enough to be heard over the phone. “We’ll be there as soon as we can, just sit tight. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Marinette murmurs before hanging up. She takes a deep breath and puts her phone down on the table.

“They’re coming?” Adrien asks.

Marinette nods and stretches her fingers. She’s shaking. Now that she’s not holding something — a purse, a cup, a phone — she can’t stop shaking.

“How do you know there weren’t any?”

Marinette puts down the fabric. “Why are we friends again?”

“Because you love me,” Nino says with a smile in his voice. “And because I gave you crackers on our first day of school.”

She hums and goes back to her fabric. “I’m still pretty sure you’re seeing things that aren’t there.”

“And I think you aren’t letting yourself consider the possibility that Adrien likes you back because you like him so much.”

She scoffs. “If you say that I’m afraid of getting hurt—”

“Isn’t everyone a little afraid of getting hurt?” Nino asks. “I feel like that’s a very human thing to be afraid of, you know?”

Marinette raises her eyebrows. “That’s very deep, Mr. Lahiffe.”

“I can be deep if I try.”

“Yeah I remember our three in the morning sleepover talks.”

Nino laughs. “Aw man, yeah those were great. We should do that again.”

“We’re grown adults,” she reminds him.

“And? Who cares. Let’s have a sleepover, Mar. Just like old times. You, me, Alya— hell, we can even invite Adrien to the fun.”

“Oh god no.” Marinette steps away from her kitchen table. “If you really loved me, you would never do that. I do not want Adrien witnessing the disaster that is me after one it the morning.”

“But after one in the morning Mari is the best Mari!” Nino protests.

Marinette collapses onto the couch. “Hard no.”

“We could play spin the bottle. Seven minutes in heaven.”

She snorts. “Okay, are we in uni again? I remind you that you have a very serious girlfriend who you love very much. Spin the bottle is very hard to rig.”

She can almost see Nino shrugging. “If some of the kisses don’t match up exactly it’s not the end of the world. It’s not like we’ve never kissed before.”

“True,” Marinette murmurs, checking her nails.

“Same with Alya. So really…to complete the square, we all have to kiss Adrien.”

“Is that what counts as initiation into our friend group?” Marinette asks. “Kissing?”

“Yes.”

She shakes her head. “If you didn’t scare him away before, you’d definitely scare him away now.”

“We were plenty nice!” Nino says. “It’s been two weeks since we exchanged names, you sure we can’t get his number or something? Alya is going to have a cow.”

Marinette huffs. “Don’t tell, Al but… I don’t even have his number.” She makes a face at the long silence.  

“Goddamn, Mari. Why not?”

She shrugs. “We live next to each other. I’ve never…needed it? I mean, would it be nice to have? Sure. But I don’t want to push him and he’s never offered so…”

“Do you need me to take on the Alya role because she’s working?”

Marinette sighs. “Is saying no going to stop you?”

“Get his number, girl!”

She clicks her tongue. “So many demands. Last names, universities, phone numbers— do you need his blood type too?”

“I’m sure Alya could find some use for that.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. We’re lucky she didn’t go into like, espionage or something. She’d be scary.”

“Are you saying she isn’t scary now?”

“No,” Marinette admits. “Alya is still very scary now. She’d just be way more terrifying in covert operations.”   

“She really would be,” Nino muses.

Marinette smiles to herself. “You love her a lot.”

Nino sighs happily. “Yeah I do. It’s a good thing I’m such a dumbass. Probably wouldn’t have gotten her attention otherwise.”

Marinette raises her eyebrows. “I’m sorry, weren’t Alya and I friends before you two started dating?”

“Yeah, but nothing really gets someone’s attention like chugging a Monster-coffee combo ten minutes before class.”

“Hm, I suppose that’s true. How did you survive lycée again?”

“A good question, my dude. A really good one.”

Marinette looks up as there’s a knock at her door.

“Is that the boyfriend?” Nino asks.

“Shut up,” she mutters. “I’m not sure, but I’ll call you back later, okay?”

“Sure thing, man. Remember all the details for, Al.”

“I always do. Bye.”

“Peace, dude.”

Marinette pulls open the door and Adrien holds out a book. She stares at it — the book, not the hand holding it out to her, definitely not — for a long moment before looking up at him. “Hi?”

“I totally stole this from you the other day,” he apologizes.

Marinette takes the book and flips it over to skim the summary on the back. “Honestly, I didn’t even know I had this book. I’m not sure if I ever read it. Was it good?”

Adrien shrugs. “It was okay. Kind of predictable ending, but it passed the time.”

“Hm. Not sure if I’ll ever read it, but I’ll keep your indepth review in mind.”

He smiles. “Thanks for letting me borrow it, even if you didn’t notice.”

“Of course, what’s mine is yours,” Marinette says before realizing that may be a little too revealing. “I really like your ring by the way.” She gestures to the silver ring on his right hand. She’s noticed him wearing it before, but she’s never really gotten a good look at it before. Plus she needs to change the subject as fast as humanly possible.

“This old thing?” Adrien asks, holding up his hand. “Thanks, it’s an old family heirloom. It’s sentimental, but it’s not really worth anything.”

Marinette shrugs. “Sometimes sentimentality is all that you need.”

“Yeah,” he murmurs, examining the ring. He shakes his head. “Anyway, I have to get back to work, but I’ll see you later?”

She nods and tries not to smile too widely. “Yeah, that sounds great. Have fun at your kitchen table.”

“Always do,” he says with a crooked smile as he turns to his door.

Marinette closes the door and cleans against it, clutching her book to her chest.

She’s so gone.

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette skips dinner.

She’s been working on an idea for a new line all afternoon and her mind feels like jello. It’d probably be a good idea to take a break and let her mind rest, but she’s kind of in the zone, and she doesn’t want to risk losing it.

It takes Alya sending thirty two texts about something that happened at work for Marinette to finally put down the pencil and grab a quick sandwich and a drink while she reads through Alya’s rant.

And then she goes right back to work.

Page after page of failed design and scribbled out notes. She resists the urge to scratch things out and rip pages out of her sketchbook so she can crumple them up and throw them away. She tries to keep everything she designs, even things that she doesn’t like that much. It’s good for learning.

But when she’s low on patience, she scribbles them out anyway.

She almost breaks her pencil crossing out a pantsuit that makes her want to quit her job and return her degree.

“I hate this,” she grumbles to herself, hitting her sketchbook against her forehead.

She stands up with a sigh, doing a quick stretch and pacing around the apartment for a few minutes. Then she turns on her laptop and finds some music to listen to it and plugs in her headphones because it’s too late to blast music aloud.

She starts a dress and gets halfway through the skirt before she realizes she’s already designed this dress.

Back to the drawing board.

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette drags her hands down her face and glances over at the clock. Half an hour after midnight.

Time to give up.

She packs up her laptop and tablet and puts them into her bag by the door. She thinks about her plan for tomorrow before adding her current sketchbook and some markers to it as well.

She wanders around the apartment for a few minutes, drinking a glass of water and trying to calm her anxiety. A little bit of artblock never killed anyone. She’ll get past this hurdle and be back to designing things she’s proud of in no time.

She’s looking forward to work in the morning. She’s looking forward to having some direction. Any direction.

Marinette flops on her bed and stares at the ceiling for a long time.

Tomorrow will be better. It has to be.

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette jerks awake as a loud beeping pierces through her dreams. She didn’t know what it was in her dream, she just knew it was annoying, but now her heart is pounding and she feels like she’s about to be sick.

Fire alarm.

For a moment, she wonders if it’s a drill (do they even have those anywhere other than school?) or was pulled on accident, before the alarms in her mind start going off because that doesn’t matter.  

She snatches her phone from her charger as she runs out the door, nearly tripping as she slips on a pair of flip flops she always has by the door and grabbing her work bag because her entire life is in that bag and she knows you’re not supposed to take anything in an emergency but it’s right there.

As soon as she throws open the door, she can smell the smoke and she doesn’t know how she didn’t notice it before now. She blames the adrenaline.

People are rushing out of their apartments. Someone’s child is crying and heavy footsteps echo through the stairway.

This is actually happening.

Marinette can’t move.

She gasps as someone grabs her arm and drags her along. She finds herself looking at Adrien with terrified eyes.

“We have to go,” Adrien says, running a hand through his hair. He has his phone in his hand and his long black trench coat on, but he’s barefoot and each time he drags a hand over his hair it gets messier.

She probably shouldn’t be focusing so much on him as they follow the crowd out of the building, but he’s strangely grounding. Him, his face, the pressure of his hand on his arm.

They always say to be calm and quiet if there’s a fire in school, but everyone is running and pushing. People are screaming and crying and yelling out to others.

The smoke gets thinner as they go down, but it’s still starting to burn Marinette’s eyes. A mother next to her covers her child’s mouth with her sleeve.

Marinette gasps as they step out into the humid night air. She feels like she’s about to start crying; there’s a lump in her throat and a pressure in the back of her head.

Adrien freezes next to her. He lets go of her arm and shoves her forward. “Go!”

“A-Adrien?” she asks, twisting around to look at him.

“Just go!” he shouts.

He turns and pushes back inside of the building.

Back into the smoke.

Back into the fire.

“Adrien!” Marinette screams, her voice breaking.

The crowd drags her forward. Someone crashes into her. She can hear sirens down the street above the screaming.

“Not much,” Marinette murmurs. She closes her email and goes back to the apartments she was looking at. “Still looking at places. I am…struggling.” She pulls on her pigtail as she chews on her bottom lip.

“Hm.” Alya places a dish in the sink. “You know you can stay here as long as you want, right?” she asks, turning around to face Marinette.

“I know,” Marinette answers, keeping her eyes on the screen.

“Mari.” Alya sits down across from her and slowly pulls the laptop away.

“Hey! I was—”

Alya closes the laptop. “The world won’t end if we talk about this.”

Marinette sighs. “I am definitely intruding.”

Alya scoffs. “Shut up, Mar. You’ve been my best friend for like a decade now. Which, one, holy shit we’re old. Two, you will always have a home with me. You’ve known Nino for even longer, trust me, he doesn’t mind.”

Marinette rubs her temples. “I just…”

“You don’t want to be a bother. You don’t want to overstay your welcome. Blah blah blah.” Alya grabs one of Marinette’s hands and squeezes it. “Remember when we were starting university and we both thought we were going to be jobless and homeless and I promised I would share my box with you?”

Marinette nods.

“This,” Alya taps on the table, “is my box. I am sharing it with you. I swear to god, Nino and I are more than happy to let you stay here as long as you need to. As long as you’d like. We want to help you. If you feel that bad about it, you can buy groceries every once and awhile. Give us a few euros for the rent.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Marinette mumbles.

“I know you don’t want to back to your parents, but they’re there too,” Alya reminds her. “Even if they are a little bit further from your work. You might have to figure something out since they totally renovated your space, but your friends and family are here to support you. But you have to let us help you.”

Marinette sighs. “I know. I just… I don’t want to feel like I’m leeching off of others.”

“You’re not,” Alya says firmly. “We all know you can provide for yourself. Right now you just need some help and that’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Marinette takes a deep breath. “I know.”

“You don’t have to keep looking for an apartment if you don’t want to,” Alya says softly. “Or if you want to take a break from looking for a few weeks. But don’t stress out about this too much. We’re here for you.” Alya leans across the table and presses a kiss to Marinette’s forehead. “I have to go work on an article, but let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Mhm.” Marinette stares at the table as Alya gets up and goes back into the bedroom. Marinette reaches for the laptop before she stops and unlocks her phone instead.

She opens up to a text conversation she keeps opening up to, like that will change the messages that have and haven’t been sent.

From: Marinette (the Neighbor) To: The Cat Guy Hi this is Marinette Just checking to make sure we put in the right numbers and everything

From: The Cat Guy To: Marinette (the Neighbor) Yup! Numbers are right, this is indeed Adrien How are you doing?

From: Marinette (the Neighbor) To: The Cat Guy Im doing ok Im going to be staying with Alya and Nino until I figure out what to do Ho w are you?? Are you able to stay with your friend?

From: The Cat Guy To: Marinette (the Neighbor) I’m doing pretty well, Plagg isn’t loving it though And I am, yeah! Hopefully I’ll be able to find my own place soon enough

From: Marinette (the Neighbor) To: The Cat Guy Thats good!! Hopefully Ill find a new apartment soon too, Id love to get my stuff out of storage you know??

From: Marinette (the Neighbor) To: The Cat Guy If you need any help looking for apartments, let me know! Ninos surprisingly good at it andhes been helping me out

From: Marinette (the Neighbor) To: The Cat Guy I hope youre doing well

She closes her messages and locks her phone. She looks desperate. It’s been over two weeks since Adrien last responded to one of her texts. She didn’t think he’d fade from her life that fast, but apparently she was wrong.

She needs to move on. She has bigger things to worry about. Like finding an apartment.

Marinette apartment hunts for about twenty minutes before she switches over to YouTube and starts binging random YouTubers.

Goodbye, productivity.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Has he texted you back yet?” Alya asks as Marinette and Nino lounge on the couch.

“Not yet,” Marinette says, keeping her eyes on the action on the screen.

“Hm.”

Nino pauses the show. “Did you ever find his social media, Al? You were pretty determined.” Alya groans and drops onto the couch, laying across Marinette and Nino’s legs. “I tried. And I did find an instagram, but it’s just pictures of his cat.” Marinette smiles a little, even though it kind of hurts. “I can’t believe he has nothing else.”

“He’s not a very social person,” Marinette points out.

“Whatever,” Alya mutters. “He’s kind of a jerk anyway.”

Marinette looks away. “He might just be busy.” She can feel Nino and Alya’s eyes on her.

Yeah, she doesn’t really believe it either.

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette tries to leave the apartment whenever possible. She goes to work and stays out for lunch and gives Alya and Nino as much space as she can. She loves them and believes that they would let her stay for the rest of time, but she still wants to give them privacy sometimes.

She would get sick of herself too.

She visits apartments. Some that are too expensive, ones that she hates, ones that are too far from her work, ones that are falling apart. She finds a few that she likes. There’s one she sort of has her eyes on, but she’s also, strangely, a little worried about moving in. Or out. Or…on.

She’s getting lunch at a café when she looks out the window and sees a black cat sitting on the fire escape of the next building.

She finds herself thinking of Plagg.

Marinette goes back to eating and tries not to think of Adrien too much, but part of her knows that all she’s going to draw tonight will be Adrien’s face. The curve of his nose, the line of his hair, the sweeping lines of his hair— 

That reminds her that she still needs to buy new watercolors and colored pencils. Unfortunately, of the things to survive the fire, most of her art supplies was not on the list. The fire had started on the floor above hers, and had just reached her apartment when it was put out.

Honestly, she’s relieved that anything of hers survived.

On her way back to work, she stops at the art store. She shells out on a new set of watercolors and some paper and a brush set. She hesitates at the copic markers before getting a single green that reminds her of springtime and nothing else.

As she exits the store, a black cat rubs against her legs. Marinette looks down and the cat looks up at her, meowing.

She sighs and reaches down to scratch behind its ears. “I have to get to work.” That cat headbutts her hand. “So I can only be here for a minute.”

The cat meows in protest when Marinette stops petting it and stands up. Suddenly struck by inspiration, Marinette takes a picture of that cat at her feet.

She opens a message thread that hasn’t been active in over a month.

From: Marinette (the Neighbor) To: The Cat Guy [image sent] I met a cat today and thought of Plagg I hope youre both doing well

✦ ✦ ✦

Nino turns up the music as he cooks dinner, rocking back and forth and singing into a spoon. Marinette rolls her eyes and maneuvers around him to get to the cabinet with the spices.

“Marinette!” Alya shouts from the livingroom. “You’ve got a text!”

“A text?” Marinette yells back. “From wh—”

“Holy shit!” Alya screams. “A text!”

“That sounds important,” Nino says, raising his eyebrows.

Alya trips overself as she runs into the kitchen, shoving Marinette’s phone at her.

Marinette takes her hot chocolate and makes herself comfortable on her couch with a sketchbook and some old markers that she needs to use before she can justify spending an outrageous amount of money on new ones. She really should be working on designs for work — the head designer had a theme for a new line that they were throwing around — but she finds herself reverting to old styles that she played around with back in collège and lycée. There’s something familiar and comforting about the draped evening dresses and elegant suits.

Men’s wear is boring and Marinette intends to fix it.

She’s scribbling out a jacket design that she absolutely despises when there’s a knock at her door. She sits back on the couch with a sigh, twisting up her hair and shoving her pencil in it to hold it in place.

She’s surprised to see Adrien standing in her doorway with an awkward smile. “Oh, uh, hi!”

He lifts a hand in greeting. “Hi, I’m here to, um…borrow a cup of sugar?”

Marinette raises an eyebrow. “You…are?”

“I…” Adrien rubs the back of his neck. “Would it be weird that I kind of just needed an excuse to come talk to you again?”

She blinks in surprise.

“I’m not good at this friend thing,” he continues quickly. “I was… I was homeschooled and when I went to university I didn’t really talk to anyone I didn’t already know—” Adrien stops and buries his face in his hands. “I’m just trying to say I have no idea what I’m doing,” he mumbles. His ears are steadily getting pinker and pinker.

It’s almost unbearably cute.

If Marinette hadn’t already been completely sold, she is now.  

“Hey,” she says softly. Adrien looks up from his hands, face red. “I’m not doing anything today. Want to come in for a drink?”

He glances back into the hallway. “Not coffee, right?” he asks, smiling weakly.

Marinette steps to the side so Adrien can get through the doorway. “Coffee is disgusting.”

“You’re disgusting,” Adrien says. He spins in a slow circle, taking in her apartment. “This is nice,” he says softly. “I love your posters.” He motions to a Jagged Stone poster hanging in the center of the wall. It’s surrounded by other posters, ones she’s stolen from events when no one was looking or that Alya or Nino had bought her from the internet.

“Thanks,” Marinette says as she closes her apartment door. “I made it.”

Adrien’s eyes go wide. “You did?!”

She nods. “Back in collège. I entered one a contest where you had to design a poster for one of Jagged Stone’s concerts. The winner got two free tickets.”

“And?”

She smiles smugly. “Watching from the front row was incredible.”

“Wow,” Adrien murmurs. He looks back to the poster. “You’re amazing.”

Marinette ducks her head as she feels her face grow warm. “It was just some work in Photoshop, nothing fancy.” She had spent hours and hours on it, looking up tutorials on YouTube and asking for opinions from everyone she knew. It wasn’t nothing, but she has a million things she would do differently if she could redo it. “Anyway, I don’t have any coffee, but do you want anything to drink? I have milk and hot chocolate and like…water.”

“Water is fine if you don’t mind me invading your Sunday,” Adrien says. Marinette bites her lip as he wanders over to her couch, knowing her sketchbook is sitting open on the cushions.

She waves away her worries — if he hates or judges her for one bad jacket then they probably should stop trying to be friends immediately — and turns toward the kitchen. “I don’t mind,” she promises. “One sec.”

Marinette is pulling a glass out of the cabinet when Adrien calls out to her from the couch.

“Did you draw this?”

She blows air out the corner of her mouth and quickly fills the glass with water. “Yeah,” she says as she walks out of the kitchen. She hands Adrien the glass. “I did mention I was a designer, right?”

Adrien takes the glass from her, a crease between his eyebrows. “Why did you scribble it out?”

Marinette sighs and leans against the back of the couch. “I hate it.”

He frowns.

She reaches down and takes the sketchbook from him. She tilts it in the light, scrunching her nose as she studies it. “It’s too…” She points at the collar. “It’s just not working for me. It’s very…angular? But not…in the right…”

Huh.

“Can I have that pencil?” she asks, holding out her hand. Adrien hands it to her and she flips to a new page. “Give me like…less than…a minute…” she murmurs, scratching a new jacket on the page. It’s similar to the other one, but with better proportions, angles in different areas, a collar that isn’t so horrible.

She can feel Adrien’s eyes on her.

“You didn’t come here to watch me draw,” Marinette says when she’s got a basic sketch down. The most basic she can get, barely more than an outline. She tucks her hair behind her ear and looks up to see Adrien watching the paper intently.

“I don’t mind,” he answers almost automatically.

Marinette stares at him for a long moment. She tries not to get too lost in his eyes — she is, in fact, trying to read him and make a point right now — but it’s a challenge. “You said you came here for sugar,” she says eventually.

Adrien shrugs. “I needed an excuse. And I don’t have any sugar, so I figured that I might as well try that cliché.”

She furrows her eyebrows. “You…actually don’t have sugar. You drink your coffee black?”  He nods and she grimaces. “First of all, that’s disgusting. Second of all, what do you do when it’s two in the morning and, like any real adult, want a mug brownie?”

Adrien blinks slowly, mouthing the words back to her. “Mug brownie?” he asks when his brain has apparently decided to work again.

Marinette puts down her pencil. “You’re kidding, right?” She takes in his slightly dazed and incredibly confused expression. “You aren’t kidding.” She gives herself half a second to consider before she closes her sketchbook. “Come on,” she says, motioning toward the kitchen.

“What are we doing?” Adrien asks, trailing after her.

“I have to teach you how to adult.”

✦ ✦ ✦

“If you’ve got random chocolate chips laying around,” Marinette says, “this is where you’d throw them in.”

Adrien frowns at the chocolate bar she’s handed him. “This is a chocolate bar.”

“Yes,” she agrees. “It is.”

“What do I do with a chocolate bar?”

Marinette rolls her eyes. “You are so lucky you have me, because you’re hopeless. How have you lived on your own for…how long again?”

Adrien laughs awkwardly. “I get it. What do I do with the chocolate bar, oh All-Knowing One?”

“Watch this.” She unwraps the chocolate bar and puts it down on the cutting board she always has out on her counter just in case. She pulls a knife from the drawer and starts chopping up the chocolate bar. “It’s magic. Almost like chocolate chips and chocolate bars are made of the same thing.”

Adrien crosses his arm across his chest and leans back against the counter. “Okay, I probably should’ve been able to figure that out myself.”

Marinette gives him a pointed look. “You think?”

“Why do you add more chocolate anyway?” he asks. “You said it was optional.”

“Why wouldn’t you want more chocolate?” she counters. “Also, it’s fudgier.”

Adrien hums. “You just have this memorized?”

Marinette nods as as she splits the chopped up chocolate in half and puts some in each mug. “Eventually you just know that you need two tablespoons of cocoa powder, because it’s three in the morning, you’ve been prepping for finals since noon, and looking at a screen for the directions is too painful. Memorization is inevitable. Besides, how else are you supposed to get through university?”

“Uh… Willpower?” Adrien suggests.

Marinette makes a face. “I’ll stick to my double chocolate chip cookies, thanks.”

“You know to make double chocolate chip cookies?” he asks in surprise.

“How are you alive?”

✦ ✦ ✦

As the mug brownies cook in the microwave, Marinette teaches Adrien how to make chocolate chip cookies. Not exactly her original plan for her Sunday, but it means spending more time with Adrien. Also, Alya and Nino will never complain about cookies.

She tries to keep the conversation flowing as they measure out ingredients and mix them together in a large glass bowl. Adrien is twenty four, just like she is, and moved to Paris a few months ago. He never really wanted to go into business, but he doesn’t know what he would’ve gone into if his father hadn’t offered him a job. He did like physics when he took it and he goes off on a ten minute tangent about gravitational waves.

When Adrien is passionate about something, he lights up like the sun. His eyes sparkle and he gestures with his hands, brandishing the spoon in the air. He talks quickly, backtracking and making asides and random commentary the entire time.

Marinette finds herself turning away to hide her smile an awful lot.  

He asks her about designing and she somehow finds herself offering to show him some old designs sometime. He says he once could make a pillow. She laughs and says that she started out with a lumpy pillow that looked more like a very sad ball.

When the cookies are in the oven, the take their mug brownies and curl up on the couch in the living room.

Marinette flips on the TV and then looks over to Adrien. “What kind of movies do you like?”

Adrien pokes at the steaming brownie with his fork. “Honestly, anything. I’ll watch anything from bad Hallmark movies to action movies to Disney classics to comedies.”

She hums as she opens Netflix.

“What about you?”

“Whatever can act as background work while I design,” she admits. “I like to multitask.”

“That’s a good one,” Adrien says, pointing his fork at the screen.

Marinette stops on the movie he’s pointing to. “Anastasia?”

He nods. “Have you seen it?” She shakes her head. “Oh man, it’s a classic. Up there with Disney movies.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Really? What’s it about?”

“It’s a musical—”

Marinette scrunches up her nose.

“Hey, don’t make that face! Musicals are great!”

“Not usually my cup of tea,” she says with a shrug.

“Give it a chance,” Adrien pleads. “It’s about the lost daughter of the last Russian Tzar, but she doesn’t remember who she is. She’s just trying to find her family in Paris, she doesn’t realize she’s royalty.”

Marinette takes one look at his pleading eyes before she sighs and gives in. “I’ll give it a try,” she says, and hits play.

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      yup

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      First of all I talked to Nino about it last time you brought it up and its just a normal dinner      His moms just want to spend time with you two From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      ur sure From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      Absolutely      Alya you love Ninos moms      Theyve basically adopted you

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      ur right      im just tired      ninos really excited so i was worried im missing something or am gonna be surprised by something

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      As far as I can tell its just a normal dinner      No surprises just Nino being Nino      And the answer is to take a nap when you get home from work      Did you not sleep much last night?

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      nah i was working on a project      until like 3 cause i hate myself      nino had to drag me to bed

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      Thank god for Nino

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      yeah he haaated me last night      speaking of cute boys tho

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      Alya oh my god

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      im sorry uve been friends w adrien for how long now??      3 weeks??? more than a month?? literal years!?!!?!??!?!      u talk about him all the time when r we gonna meet him

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      Eventually!!!!!      I promise I just dont want you scaring him away

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      nino and i r great we dont scare ppl

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      uh huh

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      shut up      also get me his last name

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette puts down her sketch book. “Let’s go to the store.”

Adrien looks up from his laptop in surprise. “What?”

She’s gotten used to weekends with Adrien. He doesn’t expect her to look nice or even all that presentable, and she doesn’t expect him to, they just sit on the couch or in the kitchen and do their own thing. Adrien usually works, because he literally never stops working, and Marinette designs. She forces him to watch her favorite shows with her, even if it means that she has to explain to him who every single character is and the entire plot. In return, he’s managed to get her to watch some of his favorite movies. He randomly shows up throughout the week if he needs something from her kitchen because he always seems to be short something. Marinette is genuinely considering giving him a key to her apartment. Even if it’s just so he can steal from her fridge and cabinets.

“The store.” She pulls her hair up into a messy bun and grabs her purse off the back of her chair.

Adrien stares at her like she’s grown another head.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want, but if you need anything, you should.” She gestures toward the door.

“What do you need?” he asks, apparently having found his voice.

“Fabric,” she says, ticking things off on her fingers, “some thread, ribbon, watercolor paper, brush markers if they have any, and pizza.”

He laughs and runs his hands through his hair. “I do like pizza.”

Marinette picks up her keys. “So are you coming? Because if you aren’t I should probably kick you out.”

“What?” Adrien asks as he stands. “You don’t trust me?”

“You might steal my Jagged Stone poster,” she says with a shrug of her shoulder.

“Fair enough.” He pulls on his coat. “Show me the way.”

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette opts to walk to most of the stores. She asks Adrien if he minds and he just shakes his head and pulls his phone out of his pocket, sending a few quick texts as they make their way down the stairs and out of the apartment building.

“Where are we going exactly?” Adrien asks, pulling the door open.

“Fabric store first,” Marinette says, stuffing her phone into her purse.

He raises an eyebrow. “Don’t you have fabric at work?”

“Yes, but you’re missing the point— turn here. I don’t have fabric at home. At work, I do stuff for the head designer and my boss. I have much more creative freedom when I’m at home.”

“Huh.” Adrien flips his phone over in his hand. “Interesting. I know nothing about fashion so…”

Marinette smiles. “I sort of figured.”

He shrugs. “I don’t know much about how any sort of normal jobs work. I’ve got it relatively easy.”

“Working from your apartment and living off of take out?” she asks innocently.

Adrien rolls his eyes. “Yes exactly.”

Marinette elbows him lightly. “You’re very lucky you have me to teach you how to bake.”

It’s a nice day, not too hot and not too cold, without too many people walking around the streets. She finds herself wishing that she had more free time to spend outside, that she still had a balcony like she did when she was growing up. She misses having time to herself, where she could garden and sit outside and sew. It’s too nice to be stuck inside all the time.

Adrien accuses her of taking the long way and she doesn’t defend herself.

She holds the door open for Adrien when they get to the store, letting the far too cold airconditioning billow out onto the sidewalk.

Adrien wanders around in a sort of daze as Marinette pulls out her sketchbook and meticulously looks for the exact shade of blue that she needs.

“You needed ribbon?” Adrien asks, suddenly popping out of nowhere.

Marinette squeaks and jumps back with a start, dropping her sketchbook in surprise.

“Sorry about that,” he says sheepishly before bending over to pick up her sketchbook. He hands it back to her, rubbing the back of his neck. “Didn’t mean to frighten you.”

She takes a few deep breaths before taking the sketchbook from him. “It’s fine, you just surprised me. Easy to do when I’m concentrating.”

“What are you looking for?” Adrien asks, leaning closer, tilting his head to look at the page she has her sketchbook flipped open to.

“A blue,” Marinette murmurs, pointing to a swatch of fabric she stole from work and taped onto the page. “I mean obviously I have a type of fabric in my mind, I’m just really desperate for this shade of blue because—” Well…she doesn’t actually have a reason. She’s just attached. And that’s silly.

Adrien hums to himself. “Okay,” he says after a moment. And then he vanishes into another aisle.  

Marinette stares at the space he was occupying for a long moment before shrugging and moving on. She decides she’ll find the blue later and starts looking for white lining. She pulls a bolt from the shelf, feeling the fabric between her fingers. It’s a little heavier than she would like, but if she can’t find anything else, she can make it work.

Adrien steps out from around the corner. “Would this work?” he asks, holding out a bolt of blue fabric.

Marinette blinks and takes it from him, running her fingers over the satin-like fabric. “This is…this is perfect, actually.”

He shrugs and puts his hands in his pockets. “I have a lot of experience with lots of types of fabrics.” He ignores the confused look Marinette gives him. She has questions, but mostly she’s just glad she doesn’t have to rethink the entire color scheme of this outfit.

Adrien watches over her shoulder as she chooses ribbon and nods as she rambles on about what she’s making. He doesn’t look like he understands what she’s saying to him, but he’s listening and that’s enough.

Marinette estimates how much fabric she needs and Adrien hums to himself as they get the fabric cut and check out.

“What did you think?” Marinette asks as he pushes the door open for her.

Adrien blinks in the bright sunlight and glances down the street before looking back to Marinette. “It was nice,” he says. “Overwhelming, but strangely calming.”

Marinette laughs. “That sounds about right.”

“Where to next?” Adrien asks with a tilt of his head.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Know anything about art?” Marinette asks as she pulls open the door to the art store.

“Hardly,” Adrien says with a crooked smile. “I don’t know anything about most creative things. I know music and that’s kind of where my creative talents end.”

“Music?” Marinette asks. He’s never mentioned anything about music before, though he hasn’t mentioned many hobbies or talents in general.

“Piano,” he specifies. “Took lessons for years, my parents insisted.”

Marinette leads him toward the markers and paints. “So you must be pretty good, huh?”

“Eh.” He shrugs. “Nowhere as good as my father would like me to be, but I’m passable.”

She rolls her eyes. “So that means you’re fantastic.”

“It really doesn’t,” Adrien says with a laugh. “But thanks for your faith in me.”

Marinette studies the brush markers, trying to decide what brand to get and how much money she’s willing to shell out today. Adrien amuses himself by uncapping some of the markers and trying out the testing markers while she Googles reviews on the internet. He’s flipping through an anatomy book when she decides on a set of markers and moves on to paper. She’s running low.

Marinette wanders further down the aisle where the sketchbooks and papers are. She feels someone’s eyes on her, but when she looks up, she sees a worker at the entrance. Marinette picks up a pack of watercolor paper and hums to herself. She still isn’t sure if she likes this paper, but she has very few options she can afford.

Adrien holds up a copic marker. “Why is this seven euros?”

She blinks at him. “Because it is?”

He squints at it. “It’s just a marker?”

“It’s a copic marker,” she says, like that will explain everything. Judging by the expression on his face, it doesn’t help at all. Marinette takes the marker from him and puts it back with the others. “It’s alcohol based and fancy, that’s why it’s expensive.”

Adrien looks at the case of copics in wonder. “Why would you spend so much on a marker?”

“I don’t know,” Marinette says. Adrien raises his eyebrows and she just shrugs. “I don’t usually use them. I don’t need nice markers and I don’t exactly have a lot of money to be spending on things I don’t need.”

“Fair enough,” he murmurs. He narrows his eyes at the copic. “That better be one magical marker if I’m paying seven euros for it.”

Marinette snorts. “Lucky for you, you’re not.”

Adrien gives her a lopsided smile. “Yeah, that’s true. I’m no Picasso. I think the best I can do is a stick figure.”

She elbows him lightly. “I’m sure you draw beautiful stick figures.”

Adrien laughs and for that moment, Marinette’s world gets a little brighter and her heart starts to sing.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Have you ever had pizza here?” Marinette asks as her and Adrien wait in line to order.

“Mostly I just get whatever will deliver,” he admits.

“You don’t leave the apartment much, do you?” she teases.

Adrien rubs the back of his neck. “I don’t usually need to.”

“Do you know what you want or do you just want the same as me?”

“Let’s go with the latter.”

Marinette orders her usual and pays before Adrien can offer, rejecting it when it does come. “My treat,” she says with a smile.

They sit in a booth by the window with their pizza and bags.

“Careful, it’s hot—” Marinette warns, just as Adrien burns his tongue.

“Ahhhh—” He sticks his tongue out and makes a pained expression.

She hides her smile behind her slice, but Adrien catches it and glares at her. She just shrugs. “I tried to warn you.” As she picks up her slice, someone catches her eye.

They’re watching her and Adrien out of the corner of their eye. They make eye contact with her and quickly go back to whatever they were doing on their phone. Adrien hisses in pain, bringing Marinette’s attention back to their table. “That was a mistake.”

Marinette opens her mouth to reply. The strange feeling of someone’s eyes on her passes through her and makes her freeze up and she looks back to the person who was watching them. They’re packing up their things and heading out the door.

“What is it?” Adrien asks.

Marinette shakes her head. “Sorry, I thought I saw someone I knew. I was wrong.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Been there, done that. I’ve walked up to people thinking I knew them before. I did not.” She winces. “It was incredibly embarrassing.”

“I can imagine,” she says, taking a careful bite of her pizza.

Adrien eyes her. “Am I going to burn my face off this time?”

Marinette snorts and lowers her slice. “I think you’re okay now.”

“If I die, my blood is on your hands,” he says seriously.

She rolls her eyes. “Pizza isn’t going to kill you, I promise.”  

✦ ✦ ✦

Adrien trails behind Marinette on the stairs, writing a quick email and carrying one of her bags.

“Come in for a minute?” Marinette asks as she pulls out her keys.

“Hm?” Adrien asks. He glances up from his phone. “Oh! Oh yeah, sure. I left my laptop on your table, anyway.”

She shakes her head as she unlocks her apartment. “You have to have more of your stuff at my apartment than your own.”

“It’s called minimalism,” Adrien says seriously.

Marinette frowns as the door swings open. She glances over her shoulder to Adrien. “I didn’t leave the TV on, did I?”

Adrien shakes his head. “We didn’t have it—”

“Hey!” Alya shouts from the couch.

“—on…” He trails off and hangs back by the door.

Marinette rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry, it’s one of my friends. Trust me, I regret letting her have a key to this place,” she stage whispers. She shuts the door once Adrien has stepped inside after a bit of hesitation. She leaves her bags on the table before joining Alya, and apparently Nino, in front of the TV.

Nino pauses whatever show they’re watching and returns to the Netflix home screen.

Marinette crosses her arms and leans over the back of the couch. “Why are you in my house?”

“Apartment,” Nino corrects lightly.

Adrien snorts from where he’s standing awkwardly in the kitchen. He puts Marinette’s bags down on the counter and closes his laptop before holding it to his chest.

“I’ve got a present,” Alya sings, holding up a box.

Marinette rolls her eyes. “Is this payment for breaking and entering?”

“It’s not breaking if you have the key,” Nino points out. He continues to flip through Netflix. “Can’t argue the entering though.”

Alya smiles brightly at Adrien, but Marinette doesn’t miss the way Alya’s eyes sweep over him, taking in as many details as she can. “Hey, stranger!”

Adrien lifts a hand awkwardly, still hanging back by the door.

Nino leans back and nods at Adrien. “Yo, join the party.”

“I should—” Adrien gestures to the door.

Alya jumps up from the couch and hops of the back. She grabs Marinette’s arm as she breezes by, dragging her over to Adrien.

“Alya,” Marinette hisses, attempting to dig her heels into the ground as Alya pulls her along.

“I’m Alya!” she announces, holding out her hand to Adrien. “Marinette’s best friend.”

Adrien hesitates for a long moment before he shakes Alya’s hand. “Adrien. Marinette’s…” his gaze slides to Marinette before snapping back to Alya. “Her neighbor.”

Marinette tries to keep her blush from burning too brightly.

Alya shakes his hand eagerly. “Great to meet you!”

“Nino!” he shouts from the couch. “But I was working all day and I’m tired so sorry, dude, I’m staying put.”  

“It’s fine,” Adrien promises. “I really should be getting back. Plagg needs to be fed.”

Marinette nods and pulls away from Alya. “Yeah, of course! Let me just— I’ll show you out.” Alya puts the box into Marinette’s hands winks. Marinette gives her a little shove toward the couch as Adrien pulls open the door.

“You didn’t have to show me out,” Adrien insists as Marinette quickly closes the door once they’re in the hallway. She leans against it so Alya can’t look out the peephole. “I’m sure I won’t get lost on the way home.” He gives her a small smile.

“I wanted the chance to apologize for…them.” Marinette waves at the door behind her. “Mostly Alya, but both of them. They can be a lot.”

“They seem nice,” Adrien says, and Marinette still can’t read him well enough to know if he’s being sincere or not. “What did they get you?” He gestures to the box Marinette is awkwardly holding.

“Pastries. They’re from my parents’ bakery,” Marinette says quickly. “Tom and Sabine’s— they’re my parents. That’s me, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, daughter of Tom and Sabine.” She swallows and glances down at her feet. That was a little too much rambling.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Adrien repeats softly. “You have a beautiful name.” He’s smiling when Marinette looks up at him.

She bites her lip. “Th-thank you. What about you, what’s your last name?”

“Kersey,” Adrien says, the corner of his mouth lifting in a small smirk. “Adrien Kersey.”

“A nice name,” Marinette says, running it over in her mind. Alya will kill her if she forgets it, but Marinette is fairly certain it’s burned into her brain forever.

“Thanks, my parents chose it,” Adrien jokes. “I’m just stuck with it.” He pushes open his door. “You’ll have to take me to your parents’ bakery sometime. I bet it’s great.”

“Sounds good,” Marinette murmurs as Adrien lifts a hand and disappears into his apartment. When the door clicks shut behind him, she sags against her own door and lets out a sigh.

She really doesn’t know how to handle this boy.

Alya and Nino are staring at her when she reenters the apartment. Marinette feels her face burn as she closes and locks the door.

“Not a word,” she says, putting the box from the bakery down on the kitchen counter.

Nino mimes zipping his lips shut.

“No words?” Alya asks. “Are you sure? Because I have so many words.”

“Yeah, he’s hot,” Nino says.

Marinette glares at him. “Thanks for not saying anything.”

“Alright, now that we are saying things,” Alya says, twisting around on the couch, “where were you? You don’t leave the house without us.”

“I leave the house!” Marinette protests.

Nino raises his eyebrows. “To have fun?”

Marinette turns away to put her keys back.

“Oooo,” Alya drawls. “Silent treatment.”

“It wasn’t fun, anyway,” Marinette says. “I had errands to run.”

“That you decided to run with a cute boy,” Alya points out.

“That sounds like fun to me,” Nino muses.

Marinette glances over her shoulder at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be on my side here?”

Alya gives her an offended look. “I’m his girlfriend.”

“I’ve known him longer.”

“Touché, Dupain-Cheng,” she says, narrowing her eyes.

Marinette sighs. “Speaking of last names…”

“You got it!” Alya shouts, jumping up from the couch. Nino tries to shush her, and she grabs a pillow and covers his face with it. “Tell me tell me tell me— I want to Facebook stalk him.”

Nino pulls the pillow away. “Who uses Facebook anymore?”

Alya turns to Marinette with wide eyes. “Is he secretly a wine mom?”

Marinette stares at her for a long moment. “Why are we friends.”

Alya throws the pillow across the room.

Marinette bats it away and says, “If you want Adrien’s last name, maybe you shouldn’t be throwing things at me.”

“She has a point, babe,” Nino agrees.

Alya sticks her tongue out at him before patting the cushion next to her eagerly. “Come on, Mar! I’ve waited a literal month for this.”

“Hm…” Marinette taps a finger against her lips. “Maybe I should keep you waiting.”

“Marinette!”

“Fine!” She drops down between Alya and the arm of the couch. “His last name is Kersey.”

Alya yanks her phone out of her pocket and starts typing rapidly.

Nino leans forward to look Marinette in the eye. “How long do you think she’s going to be at this?”

“A long time,” Marinette admits.

“Wanna see what Disney movies are on Netflix?” he asks, picking the remote back up. “We put some takeout in your fridge for later tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” Marinette says. “I need to do a lot of nothing before work tomorrow.”

Nino types in Disney and starts scrolling through the results. “Are Zoé and Dorian still arguing about that thing?”

“If you’re talking about that jacket thing from a few weeks ago, they’re over that. If you’re talking about fake leather, they spent like an hour ‘debating’ that on Friday.”

“Fake leather,” Nino says in wonder. “Why were they debating that? I thought this collection was all like…dresses and stuff. Flowy soft things. What does fake leather have to do with that?”

“Nothing.”

Nino stops clicking through movies for a second. “I don’t understand you people.”

Marinette looks up in surprise as she spots movement out of the corner of her eye. She blinks as a black cat leaps up onto the sill of the window at the end of the hall. The cat sits up and licks it paw, shimmering gold in the morning light.

“Huh.” Marinette stuffs her keys into her bag and inches closer to the cat. A golden cat, that’s…odd. She didn’t even realize anyone on this floor had a cat. She glances over her shoulder as a door swings shut and someone swears. She sees the cat jump down from the window out in her peripheral vision and run toward the stairs. Marinette takes another step into the center of the hallway with half a mind to follow it.

Instead, someone crashes into her.

Marinette stumbles backward, her legs tangling with theirs. She groans as she hits the floor hard, banging her elbow on the ground. She winces as the person above her apologizes profusely.

“I-I’m so sorry, so sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Marinette stares at him, heart in her throat. His face is flushed and his blond hair falls in his eyes, eyes so green that spring itself would be jealous.

He stops talking and she forces herself to look away from his eyes. Instead she studies his coat, long and dark with impeccable stitching. She tries to come up with a price range for a trenchcoat of this quality to distract herself from the fact that his hands are bracing either side of her head and they’re incredibly close for two complete strangers.

“H-hi,” she stutters.

He blinks. “Uh…hey.” His eyes go wide as a meow echos through the stairwell. “Shit!” he whispers, scrambling to his feet. He runs a hand through his hair, making it puff around his head like a halo, and offers Marinette his other hand. She hesitates for a moment before taking it, letting him tug her to her feet. “Nice to meet you, I have to go!” he says as he sprints toward the stairs. He hooks onto the wall and skids as he turns the corner into the stairwell.

It takes Marinette a moment to realize her bag has spilled all over the hallway floor.

She tries to shake the stranger and his sparkling cat from her mind as she picks up her things and hurries to work. She drowns herself in fabric and sketches, but she can’t get his face out of her mind. When she picks up a pencil to work on a dress design, she finds herself itching to trace out his profile and the curl of his hair.

Marinette groans and puts her head down on her sketchbook. She’s twenty four! She’s a grown woman with a job and an apartment and a social life. She should be over the collège crush phase, but here she is. Obsessing over someone she hasn’t even exchanged names with. Strangers have caught her eye before, a smile making her heartstrings twinge or bright eyes causing butterflies to flutter in her stomach, but she hasn’t experienced something like this in years. All feelings and mush and sudden wooshes of emotion that make her feel like she’s floating.

This is ridiculous.

Marinette texts Alya, because she needs to be grounded, stat. She doesn’t have time to be moon eyed over a guy, no matter how tall and handsome.

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      Are we still on for lunch???      Like 1000000%??      (I know you confirmed earlier I just need like. Another confirmation sorry)

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      of course!!!      arent u at work? 

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      :P      Yes

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      something up??

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      Yes but Im saving it for lunch      The usual??

From: the Most Beautiful To: fashion goddess      gotcha      yes!!      see u in a bit! <3

From: fashion goddess To: the Most Beautiful      See you then!

Marinette puts down her phone and gives in. When she returns to actual work, the stranger’s face covers two pages of her sketchbook. 

✦ ✦ ✦

Thoughts of the stranger vanish from Marinette’s mind as Alya practically collapses in the seat across from her.

“Are you alright?” Marinette asks, reaching out to touch the back of Alya’s hand.

“I hate my job,” Alya groans. She drops her head down on the table with a thump.

Marinette rolls her eyes but pats the top of Alya’s head anyway. “You love your job.”

“Not today,” Alya mutters. “I’m going to set this entire article on fire.”

“That bad?”

“Yes. I just— words? Sources? Journalism? It’s all horrible.” Alya sighs and wallows for another moment before sitting up. “Didn’t you have something you wanted to talk about?” she asks.

The stranger’s eyes appear in Marinette’s mind and suddenly, under Alya’s gaze, it all seems incredibly trivial. Marinette knows Alya would willingly listen to her talk about the weather and be completely invested in the conversation, but she can see the way work is weighing on Alya’s shoulders. Marinette can feel it weighing on her own. She wouldn’t be lying if she said thinking about the stranger was a good way to procrastinate.

Marinette glances down at the menu, even though she already knows exactly what she’s getting. “Same as you; work. This new line is possibly going to kill me.”

Alya nods in agreement. “Right there with you, girl.”  

✦ ✦ ✦

Marinette stands in the hallway in front of her apartment for much longer than she usually does. Usually, she’s dead on her feet and ready to sleep. Recently, she’s been working longer and longer hours to work on the newest clothing line. But today she’s wired and awake. And has been standing in the hallway fumbling for her keys for almost ten minutes.

She shakes her head as she slides her key into the lock and twists it until she hears the click. She’s an adult, not a teenager. She needs to pull herself together. She also needs a glass of wine and Netflix. She pushes the door open and flicks on the lights in her apartment. Just as she’s stepping inside, the apartment door next to her opens and a tall, blond man steps out, holding a phone to his ear and keeping his eyes cast to the floor as he locks the door behind him.

Marinette scrambles to shut her apartment door, her heart beating in her ears. She feels like she was just caught staring, even though he hadn’t even glanced her way.

Right. So her immediate next door neighbor that she never bothered to meet is her handsome stranger from earlier. Of course. That makes sense, she knows almost everyone else on the floor.

She sighs and rests her forehead against the door. “You’re ridiculous,” she murmurs to herself.

She toes off her shoes, changes into pajamas, and collapses on the couch with her laptop, her tablet, and a glass of wine. The bottle sits on the coffee table in front of her and she’s sorely tempted to just drink straight from the bottle. The past few weeks have been overwhelming and dealing with a crush on top of it— 

Marinette isn’t sinking that low. Not yet.

(She hears Alya in her head insisting that drinking wine from the bottle isn’t a low point. She hears Alya say it as she hands Nino and Marinette their own glasses before taking a long sip from the bottle. “I feel like a teenager again,” Alya says with a bright smile and knocks the bottle against Nino’s glass.)

Marinette turns on the TV and chooses a show to start binging at random. Then she makes herself comfortable with her tablet and computer and lets her mind wander as she draws whatever comes to mind. Dresses and jackets start to form on the blank canvas of her screen. The swoops of skirts and the curls of hair. The straight lines and sharp curves forming themselves into clothes and people and expressions and accessories.