For Adrienette April 2019! I know I started late, I just wasn't feeling up to writing for the past months, but I think I'm slowly getting back in the flow. Other stories are on hold for now, I want to dedicate all my attention to this one since I didn't do Adrienette April last year! I will write my ass off to catch up, don't worry. So without further ado, enjoy!

August

As Marinette puts down the last box in her bedroom, she wipes the sweat off her forehead and sits down on a folding chair with a sigh. An apartment on the fourth floor isn't that bad, but it is when there is no elevator and you need to carry all you belongings in cardboard boxes up the stairs by yourself.

Not that no one wants to help her. It is just that summer is a busy time for her parents in the bakery, and they can't leave it unattended. Alya is still on her trip, backpacking through Southeast Asia to 'find herself'. Marinette was very supportive for her friend at the time, but she was never 100 % sure if quitting school all of the sudden was the best option. At least Alya will be back by the end of September and then she will start looking for jobs so she can earn some cash before re-starting school next year, as far as Marinette knows. She isn't sure what Alya's mindset is going to be after her return, but Marinette did know that even if she sometimes makes unwise decisions, Alya will find her way eventually. She has a good head on her shoulders.

Adrien isn't picking up either, but he has already told her he was going to be busy finishing something up for his father. He did promise he will come to their apartment as quick as possible to help her as much as he could. Not that there is much to do anymore, since all the boxes are all upstairs, but it is the thought that counts.

Her current reality is still able to astound her: Marinette Dupain-Cheng, 21-years-old, living together with the Adrien Agreste. Even though she can kind of say her crush on him has lessened the more she has gotten to know him – since truly becoming friends with him had showed her how high the pedestal she had put him on was – the nervousness never disappeared. "It just isn't meant to be," she speaks out loud, repeating the thought she has been saying to herself and others for years. Adrien never caught on to her feelings, which have vanished by now, but even if she deep down still felt something for him, she was not going to act on them. Adrien deserved more than a shallow, teenage, celebrity crush.

So yes, they were moving in together, but as just friends; roommates. They were going to be roommates.

Even though Adrien only came with the idea two months ago, and all the signing and rushing afterwards was hell, she doesn't regret it. She has been looking for apartments for some time now, but since Paris is not the cheapest, she has always assumed she had to wait until she was done with school and had a steady job until she could have her own place. Enter Adrien Agreste.

Her school has been expanding for the past years, and it so happened to be that the new section that would open next school year was the place where her classes would be. And of course it was at the other side of Paris, which meant her travel time to school would almost triple. Complaining about it at school with fellow classmates, she never noticed a mop of blond hair overhearing her conversation. She knew Adrien was studying fashion at the same school, but since she was more doing the practical side of fashion and he was doing the business side, they didn't pass each other regularly. A few hours later, and she had gotten a text from Adrien, explaining he had heard her talking at school that day, that he was looking for an apartment to escape his smothering father and asking if she wanted to join him. His budget was way higher than hers, but he said he wanted to look for something smaller, too, which meant that it didn't take that long for them for to find a cheap two bedroom, one bathroom apartment that fell in both of their budgets.

It isn't in the best shape, especially now that nothing is decorated yet and the walls are lined with stacks of cardboard boxes, but Marinette is convinced they can make it homey together. The neighborhood isn't the greatest either, but she knows Adrien can take care of himself, they guy didn't have fencing lessons for nothing. And she had been Ladybug. Petty pickpockets of muggers are nothing compared to an Akuma.

Despite that she never wants to return to her teen years, she does have to admit she misses being Ladybug. Having revealed Hawk Moth as Gabriel Agreste when they were eighteen, she had to hand in her Miraculous since it was no longer necessary for them to be active. "The more Miraculous' are active, the more dangerous it gets," were Master Fu's words. She understood at the time, but that didn't mean that she liked it. She has never seen her partner ever again. They didn't get the opportunity to formally introduce themselves to each other without the masks, which she regrets not doing sooner. If she had known what she knows now…

But that is the past. Of course, if she can find the time, she wants to hunt down Chat Noir, but she wasn't going to rush it. What is most important is that the city of Paris is free from Akumas, now that Hawk Moth is gone. That he was Gabriel Agreste was quite a shock to say the least. The city had taken him to court, but since Gabriel had a very good lawyer and there was no evidence or real damage due to her Miraculous Ladybug after every battle, it only ended up with him doing community service for two years and obligatory therapy to help with the now definitive loss of his wife. The second was offered to Adrien, too, but he refused.

Adrien has never really opened up about his mother or Gabriel being Hawk Moth, and Marinette wonders if maybe their new roommate situation can bring them closer to each other and make him trust her enough to share his thoughts and emotions with her. Adrien is good at hiding his feelings, but she knows he is a softie at heart. Perhaps he just needs someone he can talk to. Perhaps she can be that person.

Btw, pay attention to the months at the top. The story will be chronological, but then you'll know how much time has passed :) since I won't be adding years, only months.