The mood was set. Fancy restaurant, candles, corsage, nice suit, hair combed… Adrien dashed a bit of cologne at the base of his neck, adjusting his shirt collar. There.

It had been long since his teenage years, since he sat beside Nino and in front of Alya and… Marinette.

His date arrived, wearing a silky black knee-length dress, black heels, and a loose, curly bun.

Lila smiled. "Like what you see?"

Adrien stood up, smiling. "You look wonderful."

Tikki flew around Marinette in a circle, smiling. "This looks great, Marinette!"

Marinette tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, grinning. "Thanks, Tikki. Don't think it'll look too gaudy in the display, do you?"

After graduating from school, Marinette had pursued a career in fashion… and it was turning out well. She had her own boutique, which had a fair amount of business. Slow days happened once in awhile, but even so, there was always a handful of people in the shop. The organization was taken care of by Marinette's assistant, who had moved there from Jordan. She wore a blue hijab, with a blue floral blouse and grey jeans. Her dark brown hair was barely seen, but you could just see the hairline underneath the hijab. She was pretty, and she and Marinette had grown close over the few months they've known each other.

"Not at all."

Traci, the woman from Jordan, smiled. She and Tikki had accidentally met one day, while Marinette was out. Traci happily kept Marinette's secret, covering for her when needed.

Marinette grinned. "Hi, Traci."

The door chime jingled, Alya grinning. "Hey, Traci, Marinette. How's it going, girls?"

Marinette smile widened. "Alya! Everything's great; how're you?"

"Well… keeping busy, as usual…"

Traci smiled, looking behind her. "I see that…"

Elsa, Alya and Nino's little girl, sheepishly came through the door. She had Alya's wavy hair, reporter instincts, and Nino's sharp brown eyes. She had a camera around her neck, and a microphone in hand.

"You just might be the next Lindalee, huh?"

Elsa grinned. "Mommy and I are hunting for Ladybug soup!"

Marinette's smile faltered. "Ladybug soup?!"

Alya laughed, patting Elsa's shoulder. "Honey, it's scoop, not soup!"

Marinette relaxed. "Oh…" She chuckled. "Still chasing after your heroine, huh?"

Alya nodded. "She's still out there, saving Paris… although, I haven't seen Chat Noir in a while… doesn't it seem a bit… odd?"

Marinette shrugged. "Maybe he's… on vacation! Or… he's married! Or… he's not Chat Noir anymore…" Her voice cracked on the last word.

Alya patted Marinette's shoulder. "I know, honey, I know… we will all miss his rippling pectorals…"

Marinette sighed. "Yeah… wait." Her face flushed. "ALYA!"

Alya and Traci shook with laughter. Traci snorted. "Oh, Marinette… pining after Chat Noir! Who'd have…" She trailed off.

Alya, still heartily laughing, walked out the door. "I'll see you two again… good luck today, Nette!"

Marinette waved, smiling. Traci winced. "I just realized… oh, Marinette…"

The bluenette shrugged. "Ah, you know, he's probably just… taking a break. A three-month-long break…"

Tying her hair in signature pigtails, Marinette opened the sliding glass doors on her balcony, transforming into Ladybug. She swung past many different buildings before landing cleanly on top of Notre Dame. Scanning the horizon, she waited, hoping to see a sign of the black cat.

Twenty minutes passed, and nothing. She sighed, about to whizz away on her yo-yo, when finally, she heard footsteps. She smiled. "About you time you got here-"

Lila was standing just in front of her, smiling devilishly. "Hello, Ladybug."

Chat Noir landed with a backflip next to them, grinning. "Good evening, Ladybug."

Ladybug's cheeks puffed ever so slightly. "Chat. Why is Lila on the roof with us?"

Chat huffed. "You're still not over that incident, huh?"

Lila rolled her eyes. "Forget it, minou. She's just jealous."

Ladybug snorted. "Yeah, right! Jealous? Me? Of Chat Noir? Please. I'm happy for the two of you… hey, who are you calling minou?! That's my line!"

Chat gently stepped in front of Lila, who was offended by Ladybug's outburst. "Ladybug, hey, listen, I know the two of you are not exactly good with each other, but we didn't come here to fight."

Ladybug nodded. "Right, well, yeah, kitty. Let's patrol."

Chat clenched his teeth, wincing. "Actually, Ladybug… I came to say goodbye."

Ladybug frowned. "What?!"

"Lila and I are… well, we're engaged, and we're moving and everything and… well, it'll be hard to keep up with everything, and eventually, well, y'know, we'll probably settle down, raise a family… Ladybug?"

Ladybug felt betrayed. Hot, angry tears fell down her face. "You've been gone for so long! And now you're telling me I have to face Hawkmoth alone?!"

Chat bit his lower lip. "Ladybug, I meant to tell you earlier, but-"

"But you've been romancing Lila instead. Fine. Whatever. Go you. Fine. Hand over your miraculous, then, and be on your way."

Chat's eyes widened. "Wait, Ladybug-" He paused, trembling. "Okay." He slid the ring off his finger, a single tear falling from his eye.

Closing her eyes tight, Ladybug held out her hand. Adrien bit his lip harder, drawing blood. Shaking even harder than before, he placed the now silver ring in her waiting palm.

Lila took his hand afterwards. "C'mon, hun, let's go home before Lady-freak decides to do anything rash."

Ladybug, casting her yo-yo to wrap around a chimney, left the scene, sobbing.

Gabriel sent another crumpled ball of paper past Nathalie's head, Nathalie swiftly dodging it. She sighed. "Still upset about the engagement, hmm?"

The designer's blue eyes slid under lowered lids towards her. "I don't understand what my son sees in her! She's a liar, she's… well, okay, she's a fairly attractive woman, but what good is that when she doesn't have a good head on her shoulders?! I've seen what she can do. She's petty, she's cunning, she's…"

Nathalie stirred her coffee with a tentative look on her face. "Downright evil?"

Gabriel nodded. "Yes…" He removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What is a father to do?"

Nathalie shrugged. "You could disown him. Cut him off."

"He's a full-blown working man now, Nathalie. Cutting him off won't affect him that much."

"Don't attend the wedding?"

"The wedding still happens, though."

Nathalie tapped a finger to her lower lip. "Introduce him to a really nice, smart, pretty girl that you like that he'll like. They'll fall in love and he'll forget all about Lola or whatever her name is."

Gabriel smiled. "That could work…" He sighed. "But what if it doesn't? This isn't Hollywood after all."

"Then, well, the wedding bells will chime for her and Adrien."

Adrien, surprisingly enough, knocked on the manor's main door. Gabriel noticed that Lila wasn't there with him. He allowed him inside, slipping his glasses on simultaneously. "Son. You're… here."

Adrien smiled. "Father, I've come to ask a favor of you."

Gabriel attempted a smile. "Yes?"

"As you know, Lila and I are to be married in about a week… we were wondering if you'd be so kind as to design and create a dress for her."

Nathalie sputtered, coffee dribbling down her chin. She quickly composed herself, dabbing her chin with a napkin. "One week for a wedding dress?! Impossible."

Gabriel nodded. "I'd need at least two weeks to merely get the concept done! You'll have to seek help elsewhere."

Adrien's face fell. "Father… it wouldn't be just any dress… it would be one you made."

His father held up his hand. "I'm sorry, son. It's not enough time."

Adrien huffed a sigh. "I understand. I'm… sorry to trouble you…" Solemnly, he left without another word.

Marinette stuck out her tongue, sketching out a rough design. The doorchime tinkled, alerting her to a customer entering the shop.

"Hello, how may I help y-"

Adrien Agreste stood in front of her, his face red. "Er… Marinette?!"

Marinette blinked. "Adrien… gosh, it's been a while… how've you been?"

Adrien's face reddened even more. "I've… uh, I'm f-fine! You are how… I mean, uh, how you are-how are you?!" He yelled the last part a bit, clenching his teeth afterwards.

Marinette chuckled. "I'm great." She set her pencil down next to her sketchbook. "Now, I know you don't just show up if you didn't even know this was my shop… you want something."

Adrien nodded. "My fiance, Lila, wants a custom dress for our wedding…"

Marinette nodded without hesitation. "When's the wedding?"

"Next Friday."

If Marinette had coffee, it would've been all over the floor and Marinette's sweater. "You want a wedding dress in ONE WEEK?!"

Adrien nodded.

Marinette sighed. "Alright. Have her come in tomorrow. We can look at some of my original designs, and figure something out. But, you better have a high budget, Agreste. One week's work is not cheap."

Adrien nodded. "Whatever the typical price is, double it. You will have the money the day it's done."

"Seriously, is this the best you could do? It's way too ruffly!"

Lila was complaining about every dress it seemed like. Marinette was exasperated.

Adrien sighed. "This is the last one?"

Marinette could almost feel one eye twitch. "The last one."

Lila humphed. "These are practically potato sacks. You know, when my father used to tour the world, he found these great white silks. You should really use those."

Marinette's eyes narrowed. "Well, unlike your father, who probably has oodles of money, I am a nearly-broke design student that's trying to keep her small business going. So, if you don't mind, Lila, stop trying to be better than everyone else for once and live in the real world!"

Adrien was taken aback. He had never seen Marinette this mad. Not even at Chloe.

Lila challenged Marinette by saying, "You don't want to know how badly I can screw up your little business plan. My father can and will make sure that this boutique goes down the drain faster than rain water on a sunny day."

Adrien's brows furrowed with concern. "But, er, Lila, your father's a-"

"Shut up, Adrien! Anyway, have fun with your stupid dresses. You'll never get to wear any of them, since no one will ever love you… Adrien, get me out of this thing!"

Adrien reluctantly helped Lila out of the dress, with only a slip on, and guide her to a changing room. After she was surely in there, he turned to Marinette, to the verge of tears.

"I'm so sorry she's like this! She's always been a liar, but she was nice to me and her parents wanted me to marry her so they would have money and I couldn't just say no and- well, I didn't realize I'd ever see you again, so I gave up hope and agreed to marry her."

Marinette's mind tried to process everything that had just come out of Adrien's mouth. She failed miserably.

Well, that ended... miserably...

This was just an idea floating in my head, IDK where it will lead... possible two-shot?

-Jordan

P.S. Feedback is always appreciated! :)