Marinette's POV

It had been 3 years since we had defeated Hawkmoth and I still remember the look on Chat Noir's face when he saw that it was Gabriel Agreste. The pain and shock was heartbreaking. At the time it didn't make sense, but when Chat Noir and Adrien disappeared from Paris without a trace I grew suspicious and then I went to talk to Master Fu and he told me that when Chat Noir handed in Hawkmoth's Miraculous he had given back his own too. I knew then that Chat had been Adrien. Master Fu gave me Adrien's ring to look after in case he wanted to come back but he never did.

It didn't bother me to have the ring since I had moved out into my own apartment after school Tikki and Plagg had free reign which made them feel better. Although Plagg would never admit it I knew he missed Adrien.

A year later I had received a letter from Master Fu telling me to go to his house. I went to his house later that day and it was empty and cleared out except for a large black box similar to the one that held my Miraculous. On top of it was a note with my name on it. I opened it up and read it. He left me all of the Miraculous. The letter detailed that I was the new guardian and that I had to watch over them and choose new heroes should there be a need. He didn't say anything about what happened to him or where he went. I was worried at first, but my life really didn't change much besides all the new kwami flying around my apartment causing havoc. I only kept Tikki with me at all times while the others were hidden when I was at work.

I was an intern at a fairly popular agency helping with designing clothes, but the problem was being an intern meant no pay. With that many kwami living at my apartment you could only imagine the grocery bill. I had to look for a job I could work at night and weekends to make enough money to pay rent. I had been looking for a little while when I found this bar near my apartment called The Ladybug, named after me of course. I felt that it was as good of a place to work as any so I have been working there as a bartender for six months now when a certain disheveled blonde walk in.

He did not look in good shape. His clothes were worn and faded. His hair was greasy and went down to his shoulders. He had a 5 o'clock shadow going too. I wouldn't have recognized him if he didn't take off the sunglasses so I could see the familiar green eyes.

I couldn't help myself. "Look what the cat dragged in."

Adrien's POV

In the three years since it was revealed that my father was Hawkmoth I haven't really done anything with my life. I already had enough credits to graduate high school but I left before school was over. I had pretty much spent the time since using up my family money going from hotel to hotel drinking away my problems. I had turned in my ring because I was no longer the hero I wanted to be. It had dawned on my instantly that the reason everyone in my class was akumitized was because of me. My father had been targeting people around me. I thought it might have been because I was Chat but I don't think he ever found that out.

A year ago when I was in Paris I went to see Master Fu but his place had been turned into a flower shop and he was nowhere to be found. I wanted to see how Plagg was doing but he was probably across the world about now. There had also been no Ladybug sightings since Hawkmoth was captured. It made me feel alone. There was no one I could talk to left. Nino hadn't even said anything to me when he found out about my father. I can't blame him. After all the times he and Alya were in the middle of danger because of him, because of me.

I guess this feeling of being alone was the reason why I had decided to walk into this particular bar tonight to drown myself in alcohol and try to forget the pain. A place called The Ladybug had to make me feel a little better. I walked through the door and up to the bar and saw a girl with pigtails which I didn't think anything of since it was probably a requirement to have pigtails while working at The Ladybug.

"Look what the cat dragged in."

Was that a pun? Wait nobody knows I am Chat Noir. I looked up and saw that the bartender was Marinette. My old high school class mate. Why was she smiling at me though? She should hate me.

"Is that you Marinette?"

"It's been awhile hasn't it, Adrien?" I didn't realize how nice it would be talking to an old friend.

"What have you been up to? It's been three years since I have seen you." I really did not want to talk to myself.

"Right now I am intern for fashion design but I have to pay bills so I work here too."

"Congratulations! I am glad you could get to your goals. I always thought you would be a good designer. I bet one day you will have your own line and interns trying to work for you." She was good. I remember all the stuff she made at school. The dresses for dances. That hat for the contest. I even found her signature on the scarf that I thought my father had got me. I almost threw it away until I saw that.

"Thanks I hope so but I as long as I can make clothes I will be happy."

"That's a good outlook. How is Nino and Alya? I haven't seen them in a while."

"Alya is an investigative journalist for a news company and Nino works for a music company and does some DJ work on the weekends. They are living in an apartment not that far from the high school together." I am glad everything worked out for them too. I had hoped my families mistakes hadn't screwed them up too much, but I was always too scared to check. "You know, we all miss you."

"Yeah." She had that sad look on her face. She was always really nice. I knew Marinette wouldn't blame me, but that face made it seem like she's been worrying about me this whole time. I didn't know there could be a reaction that would feel worse than being hated.

"Do you still play video games?" That shocked me. She had a smile back and was talking to me like the old days. Like nothing had happened.

"A little."

"Well I haven't had time to play since high school. Maybe that means you might have a chance. That is if… you want to come over. I have to finish working, but it would be fun to hang out again."

"Sure." Why did I agree? Was it because she didn't treat me like a victim or a bad guy. She treated me as an old friend and I had really missed that.

"Good!" She smiled at me and it was mesmerizing. Was she always this cute? We spent the next hour and a half at the bar reminiscing about school. The gum incident, the umbrella, and more. She avoided talking about akuma incidents and she never asked anything about where I have been since I left. It made me happy because I was not ready to talk about any of that yet.

We went back to her apartment and over course she brushed off the dust to her copy of Ultimate Mecha Strike III. "Let's see if you are any better than before."

"Shouldn't be hard to beat an old rusty greenhorn like you."

"You mean the old rusty greenhorn that has never lost against you? What does that make you?"

This was better than high school. We were friends but we never got to banter like this together then. This nostalgia felt nice and I spent most of the night laughing and having more fun than I have had in a long time. Unlike before I won a few matches at the beginning, but then Marinette became unrusty and that was the end of my good luck.

I didn't remember leaving or going to bed. The last thing I remember was playing video games with Marinette. So when I woke up in a room I didn't recognize I didn't think much of it since I had spent so much time in a hotel. Then I saw a Jagged Stone poster on the wall. A bra was on the ground and I was on one half a queen sized bed. The other half was empty, but had definitely been slept in.

Gulp.

For the killing blow I looked down. I wasn't wearing any clothes. It all came back to me. The bar. Marinette. The video games. Marinette. Drinking a little too much wine. And Marinette.

"What have I done?"

Little did he know there was a small black kwami watching from a closet with an expression that was half amusement and half anger.

"You finally achieved your childhood dream you jackass. And you don't even know it."