Chloe was as flashy as ever in her shiny, yellow sports car. But he'd never been so happy to see said yellow sports car in his life.

Until she threw open the door and started stomping towards him. That's when he recalled why he sent off the occasional greeting. "Hey, Chlo,"

A sting engulfed his cheek, and that's when she realized she'd just slapped him.

He was frozen a moment. "I deserved that."

"Yeah, you did," she spat. "You do realize that families normally keep in touch, right? Oh, I'm sorry," she quipped, her voice turning sweetly sarcastic. "I forgot the whole spy excuse."

Adrien cringed at the bite in her words.

With a groan, she rolled her eyes and yanked him to her car. "Come on."

The drive back was silent and tense.

"So," she started. "You show up after ten years of the rare thirty-second 'happy birthday' phone call, and you're just like 'hey can you pick me up from the train station?' like the last ten years didn't happen. You, sweetheart, owe me a serious explanation."

Had he been able to reach Alya, he would have gladly bitten that bullet instead of this one. Unfortunately, no such luck. "Um… let's just say that my boss decided to let me go."

Chloe was silent for a while. "What?"

Adrien nodded.

"Let you go?" she asked. "Under what circumstances?"

"They didn't have to give me a reason."

"Bullshit!" she spat. "They better give you one, or heaven help me I will march to your boss right now—"

Her rant continued the entire car ride back to her home. Adrien only half listened, tuning out the points where she was just yelling aimlessly.

They pulled up to the hotel she lived in, and she tossed her valet her key. "Adrien can get his own bag," she said, directing her voice at Adrien even though she was looking at the valet.

"Very good, Madam Bourgeois."

"Madam?" Adrien asked, pulling his meager bag form the trunk.

"I own this place, Adrien," she snipped. "You would have known had you kept in touch."

Adrien tossed his head back and groaned in frustration, but he quickly tailed after Chloe.

"So," she said. "What now? With this fired thing."

"I don't have anything," he said. "I'm going to need a place to stay, a job, and time to get back on my feet."

"You have money stored up."

"My accounts are frozen until further notice," he said.

Chloe quirked a bewildered brow at him.

"They think I'm a traitor," he whispered, even though there was no one else in the elevator with him.

"What!"

He shushed her. "Voice down."

"No! I… I don't believe that."

Adrien shrugged.

Chloe stared straight ahead at the elevator doors. They opened with a ding and she marched down the hallway to her suite.

"Chloe," he said. "So… um… I mean—"

"You'll stay here," she said. "On one condition."

"And that is?"

"You'll help my friend with her work. She'll pay you."

"So… is that a job?"

She nodded.

Adrien's stomach dropped. "What's the catch?"

"That you have to help her or else I won't let you stay here."

"Yeah, but you offering me a job and a place to stay sounds way too good to be true."

Chloe frowned. "Adrien," she said. "This girl has become like a sister to me."

Adrien quirked a brow. "Like a sister?" he repeated doubtfully.

She nodded. "And you know I don't take that lightly," she said. "Took me long enough to call you a brother. However, in my world, she comes before you, meaning I don't really care about your discomfort level. 12 Rue Gotlib street."

"12 Rue Gotli—" Adrien froze in horror. "No."

"Yes."

"But she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"When we parted ways, she threw a knife at my head."

"If she hated you, you'd be dead."

Adrien frowned, unwilling to admit Chloe had a point.

"Grow up. Be a man and go ask for a job."

Adrien grumbled.

"Actually…" Chloe threw a set of keys at him. "Maybe take a nap first, then shower and shave. You look like crap."

Adrien wouldn't argue with that.

He stood in front of the door to a small fashion boutique, reluctant to admit that Marinette seemed to have done quite well for herself. Now if he only had the will-power to face her.

The door suddenly swung open to reveal a scowling teenaged girl with twin brunette ponytails. "Are you coming in or not? You're blocking the storefront."

Well, not much backing out now, was there. With a forced smile, he walked inside. "Um…" he started. "I'm here to see Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Is she here?"

The girl stared at him. "She expecting you?"

Adrien resisted the urge to cringe. "You can just give her this," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a black business card with a green pawprint on it.

The teen took it skeptically yet retreated into the back. In the meantime, Adrien spent his last few moments as a living and in-tact human being looking over the shop. She was always good at this, making things from nothing. She could fabricate weapons from seemingly thin air. There was a time she almost got him with a couple shotgun shells and a lamp. Expecting to turn on a light only to have lead pellets sprayed everywhere was fricking terrifying.

The teen appeared at his side. "Boss wants to see you."

He wasn't sure if that was comforting or not. "Where?"

She led him to the back then up the stairs to a small apartment. She knocked on a door then opened it.

"Thank you, Manon. Let him in."

Adrien entered, only to have the door shut immediately behind him.

The silence was tense.

"You have a nice shop," Adrien said.

"What are you doing here?" she spat.

"Well, nice seeing you, too."

"Don't you have some secret mission to run, Chat Noir? One where I'm not needed?"

He cringed at the bite in her words. Seemed like all the women in his life were determined to chew him out, and bitterly, he had to admit he likely deserved it. "I didn't want you on that mission."

"Why?" she challenged. "Because I was a woman?"

"You being a woman had absolutely nothing to do with it."

"Then why? Was I not capable enough?"

"I didn't want you on that mission because it was too dangerous—"

"Dangerous?" she repeated incredulously. "Are you serious right now?"

"You were the target of a hit three different people were hired to do."

"I could take care of myself."

"I wasn't willing to take that risk."

She scoffed. "Really?"

"And you know it."

"Do I?" she asked. "Because, if I recall, you left me. Alone."

His heart hurt at her tone. "I had to."

"Why?" she challenged. "What was so damn important that you had to leave me?"

The anger in her tone was now completely replaced by confused frustration. And Ladybug didn't do confusion. Ladybug was smarts and skill and a little bit of luck. She wasn't used to navigating the dark.

That was his strength.

"You were out of harm's way," he said. "I got to them before they got to you."

"But you didn't come back."

The realization clicked in Adrien's head. "I was pulled away for a mission," he said. "And then another after that. I couldn't exactly spend the time to look up a vigilante that the government wanted arrested. No matter if she did save my hide on ten different occasions."

"Nine."

"I'm counting Milan as two."

There was a flicker of a grin. A flicker. But he'd take it.

"Chloe sent me for a job," he said, changing the conversation back to the reason he was here.

"Oh?" she said, raising a brow. "And just what 'job opening' do I have?"

Adrien shrugged. "She didn't tell me."

She scoffed, though her smirk at least told him it wasn't a bitter one. Seems like the anger was over. For now, anyway. "Even if I was hiring, I'm not giving you a job just so that you can have a cover ID."

"I'm not looking for a cover ID."

Her brow quirked in confusion.

"In fact," he continued. "I don't think I'm going to need one for the foreseeable future."

She paused, staring at him long and hard. "Why?"

"I'm burned."

Silence once again reigned. He was surprised that it was a shocked silence, though, not a tense one.

"What?"

Adrien just nodded.

"Why?"

Adrien shrugged.

Marinette turned to stare out the window. "Fine," she growled. "For old time sake."

"Thank you for the chance."

"Afraid I was going to throw another knife at your head?"

"I was lucky that it was just a butter knife. I don't want to know what would have happened if it were a real weapon in your hands."

"You do know I could have still severely injured you with that butter knife, right?"

"You could do that with your bare hands."

She turned back to face him wearing a twinge of a smile. "At least you haven't forgotten that."

"Hard to when I'm still wearing a couple scars."

She hummed. "Swing by tomorrow morning at seven and I'll give you the run down on your job."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. I'm still deciding if I'm going to let you live or not."

"Fair enough."

A week of working for Ladybug wasn't easy. He knew she was making his life a living hell on purpose, which he probably deserved. Still, he did everything she asked without qualm or complaint.

Well, that he heard, anyway.

And that's when another blast from the past showed up.

"Heard you went and faced the bug."

Adrien grinned at the smooth voice. "Well, you know what they say about cats."

"Have you found satisfaction yet?"

"Nope, and I'm pretty sure I'm a life down."

"Well, that's what I'm here for."

Adrien huffed a laugh. "Really?"

"That, and because my own curiosity has hit the roof," Nino said. "People don't just burn their lucky black cat."

"Lucky?"

"Oh yeah. It's only the people you were assigned to that were unlucky enough to cross your path."

Adrien collapsed into the chair opposite of Nino. "Apparently, my luck ran out."

"Nah," Nino dismissed. "No way you were burned for no reason. You were a prime operative. Don't tell me it's not eating you alive?"

Adrien narrowed his eyes. "You think it's not keeping me up at night?" Because it was. It was haunting him. But where would he even begin to start plucking away at it? And how? He had to stay in Paris or else every French government agency would be breathing down his neck.

And then he looked at Nino.

Nino smirked.

Suddenly, a flicker of hope sparked in Adrien. "You think I could, say… cash in one of those favors you owe me and ask you to start digging?"

"Just gonna take some time and patience. And turtles are known to have that in abundance."

Adrien grinned. "Lucky I got you."

"See? You ain't outta luck yet. Maybe your little lucky charm rubbed off on you."

Adrien snorted. "Can we, like, not talk about her? Can we maybe talk about you and Foxy instead? How's she doing by the way?"

Suddenly, Nino's smile faded.

Adrien quirked a brow. "Um… did something happen."

Nino opened his mouth, then paused. "Honestly," he finally said. "I want to talk about that as much as you want to talk about Ladybug."

As curious as he was, Adrien kept his mouth shut.

"I'll just call in some favors of my own," Nino said. "And maybe, I'll find a little tail of yarn for you to start pulling at."

"I'd massively appreciate it."

With a nod, Nino stood. "You got it, bro." He slapped Adrien's shoulder. "Should I call the hotel with the info?"

"Got a phone," Adrien said, lifting up his outdated brick. He rattled off the numbers to Nino.

"Now get out of here before Chloe finds you and kicks you out."

Nino chuckled. "Okay, okay. I hear ya."

"Just one thing before you go?"

"And that is?"

Adrien pointed to the door. "How'd you get past the key-card entry?"

Nino just smirked. "I have my ways." With a finger salute, Nino slipped out the door.

A/N: Marked complete for now unless you guys bug the crap out of me about this one ;)