This wasn't the first time Adrien had seen her.

It was just another perfectly ordinary day. Since the beginning of summer, Adrien had grown accustomed to a certain routine. Every afternoon he found himself on the steps of the Trocadéro and she'd always be there. Then only after the shadows casting along the walls began to stretch would she take her leave. It worked like clockwork. He didn't know her. In fact, he was pretty sure she didn't even know he was there which was fine. She was less of a girl and more a story, one that he distracted himself with sometimes when he wasn't lost in thought otherwise.

There was nothing to make him believe that this time was any different. The sky was clear and the day was hot, but it was nice and Adrien found himself enjoying the breeze and the normal bustle of people going about their day. A few feet away from him, comfortably adjusted on the steps below, the girl's head bobbed as she dipped over her notebook. Her pencil furiously scribbled, flipped to erase, then continued to scribble. Just like she did each time.

In the distance, the Eiffel tower stood cold and resilient against the horizon like a beaten soldier, its broken metal arms grasping for the skies. It seemed to be reaching, desperate to reach as high as it once did.

The Nova incident seemed so long ago, but in a couple of weeks it would mark nine years. The world was so different it was nearly unrecognizable. The memories were all fuzzy now, the past more like pieces of a dream that seemed to vanish the harder they were pulled on.

Back then it had been so simple. Happier. His family had been a family. His father had been a father. His mother...

The memories came unbidden then. The ghost of thin fingers pulling through his hair. He could hear the light, gentle voice that would soothe him when the dark was full of monsters. A constant presence that was warm, the way her eyes would light up when she would laugh, the way she always smelled of lilac.

He could see her and his father standing by the open door together, smiling. The last time he'd ever see him smile. Even then, he couldn't be sure if it had been a trick of the light. His mother's mouth moved, her eyes pinching.

We'll be right back.

Adrien blinked when the girl stirred, her dark pig-tailed hair bobbing. Shaking his head, he breathed deeply, swallowing the air. Even after all this time, his chest still ached when he thought about it.

Across the way, cars drove the streets, a man walked his dog, a couple was squabbling down the street, a peddler was life made art. Paris may not have survived, but it had been reborn into something new. Nouveau Paris was just as dazzling, if not more so. With the Nova had come destruction and change, but from the ashes they had moved forward. The sun still set, the Earth kept spinning, and life was lived. In that way, life wasn't changed, but it was impossibly different all the same.

Well... for most people.

Sighing, he checked his watch. It was about time to go which meant... On cue, the girl finally raised her head, reaching around to tuck her book into her bag and stood up to dust off her skirt. But she paused and turned to stare towards the side. Curious, Adrien followed her gaze.

What had previously been background noise was quickly growing in volume. His eyes trained on the bickering couple. They were seated a few feet away, but their voices had gradually grown into a full shouting match. And it wasn't only them looking now. People were beginning to pause and glance over to see what the fuss was about. Then there was a scream.

People were scrambling away from the couple. Only it wasn't two people anymore. There was the woman who had stood up, but instead of a man there was only a wall of rock. Or at least that's what Adrien was able to process before he realized it was moving. It was as large as a gorilla, scraps of torn clothing hanging from its shoulders. The woman, flushed an angry cherry red was frozen. The rock-man-thing shot up in a rage. There was a piercing scrape of metal as the chair, which had been previously bolted to the ground, was pulled straight out of the ground. And it was flying straight for him.

"Look out!"

The wind was knocked from him with a heavy blow as something plowed into his side. One moment he was standing straight and the next there was a loud crash followed by unbearable scraping of what sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

Struggling for breath, Adrien rolled onto his side with a wince. Right where he had been standing lay the crumpled remains of what used to be the chair, now sharing more likeness to a wad of paper. Black skid marks lined where the paint had scraped off against cracked stone. His heart was in his throat, his stomach almost on the floor. That could've been him.

Beside him, there was a moan of pain and he wheezed as a weight dug straight into his chest. A hand, he realized. His vision was a little hazy but he could make out the silhouette of his savior as they loomed overhead.

Then they looked at him and he was looking into the sky.

"Ouch...hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?" It was the girl. The girl. And it was with shock that he realized that he'd never actually seen her face before. This close, he could make out the subtle freckles that dusted her face, her dark hair spilling out of her pigtails in a windswept mess. Blue, bright eyes gazed earnestly into his and he found himself barely able to utter a sound.

Her forehead pinched in concern. "What's that?"

"... Hand."

She blinked, confused. A beat passed.

Never had Adrien seen someone flush so deep and quickly in his life.

The girl made a choking sound and ripped her hand off of him as if she had been burned, flinging herself away. Adrien coughed as he rolled up, taking in a lungful of sweet, glorious air. To make matters worse, his back also ached and he was sure he would find a nasty bruise there later, but as he looked over the remains of the wrecked chair he'd gladly take bruised back over dead any day.

"Oh my god, I'm so, so sorry. I just moved without thinking. I can't believe- I-" The girl looked like a cherry bomb ready to pop. Adrien was stupefied all the same. She had just saved his life and she was apologizing? But before he could get a word out, a series of approaching crashes like smashing boulders drowned him out.

"Are you two alright?" It was the woman from the couple. Her eyes were wide and full of terror, darting between the two of them frantically. Behind her, stood the rock giant, a gaping hole fixed on its face that could only be its mouth. Glowing eyes were pinched in concern, and even on the rocky surface Adrien could read the concern marking the grooves and shadows of its face.

"We're fine." Adrien assured them despite the look of apprehension still on the pigtailed girl's face. However, the worry melted away when she turned on the couple.

"That was really dangerous! You could have seriously hurt someone. Or worse." She snapped. The woman's face paled, but it was the rock giant that bowed its chunky head.

"I am so sorry." When the rock giant spoke, it sounded like he was crunching on a mouthful of gravel. "It was an absolute accident. I didn't even realize I had morphed. I completely lost my cool back there." Adrien was alarmed to find the woman close to tears. She stepped forward, clutching her chest in shame.

"I'm equally at fault here. Our argument got out of hand. You're absolutely right, that could have gone very differently and we're responsible. Again, please know how very sorry we are. If there's anything we can do, or someone we can call—"

"There's really no need." Adrien said quickly, despite his protesting back. "It was an accident, it happens. I just got lucky. No harm done." His savior went pink.

Besides, if he let them call his father... he would rather not think about it. He noted the girl's small frown, but she only sighed and didn't make another comment.

Convinced that he was alright, the duo sighed in relief though it sounded more like a mini avalanche coming from the rock giant. The woman grabbed the rock giant's arm tiredly even though its elbow reached her head. Whatever they had been fighting about earlier seemed long forgotten. With a final apology and a last-minute insisting of taking their phone numbers to call if there was any trouble, they took their leave. They watched the two lumber off into the distance, the sound of his heavy stomping fading in the distance. The people around him had lost interest a while ago and if not for the broken chair behind them, it could've been as if nothing had happened.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Her eyes were down and she twiddled her fingers. Her ears were still pink, but she still seemed concerned. "It may have been an accident, but still, that miraculous could have really hurt you." Adrien rubbed his neck to soothe some of the soreness that was creeping up into a headache and waved the small slip of paper with their phone number.

"Yeah, I've never seen a miraculous become something like that, so it kind of took me by surprise. I promise I'm alright though. If anything comes up, I'll call them." He lied, but smiled. "But the one who saved the day was you! I was almost smashed into a pancake."

He chuckled, but she winced.

"I ended up almost doing the same. I'm still really sorry about that." She said.

"Don't be. You saved me. I'm a little sore, but it's nothing that won't go away in a couple of days." Adrien internally slapped himself. He'd always known he wasn't the best conversationalist, but this was just pathetic. He almost thought she was about curl in on herself.

"Oh my god, I'm such a klutz."

Shit.

"No, no—" They jumped as a shrill ring cut him off. With a fumble, she managed to yank a small pink phone of her pocket and stared at the caller. Adrien watched in real time as her eyes bulged and her face flushed.

"Oh my god, I'm really late!" She cried and whipped around. "I really have to go. Um, bye, sorry!"

"Yeah... bye." He'd barely raised his hand before she'd grabbed her bag and vanished down the steps.

And then it suddenly hit him that he hadn't even been able to say "Thank you."

Adrien felt his heart twinge and he took a deep breath. She would be here tomorrow.

He'd tell her tomorrow for sure.

~.~.~.~.~

The sky was cloudy and gray. Thunder rumbled across the city, but Adrien had come back anyways. Plagg had teased him incessantly about it all morning. That gluttonous cat of his had really gotten a kick out of the whole story and had laughed at him up till the moment he left. One would think he could show a little concern for his master and his near-death experience, but that was Plagg. It wasn't until after a slice of cheese that he managed to stop snickering.

He was early though. He'd been determined to beat her today. The only problem was that he had no idea what time she actually came around. He didn't want her to think that he'd been watching her—although he unintentionally kind of had. Or that he was expecting her— though he was. He had kind of hoped that they could just "happen" to run into each other again.

He scrubbed his face groaned, tapping his umbrella anxiously. What was he thinking? This was stupid. She'd probably just think he was strange and regretted ever helping his ungrateful self in the first place and probably would never come to the steps again because of how big of an idiot he was—

He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Despite the dark day, there she was, eyes sky blue with a sunny smile. Except, she wasn't carrying a sketchbook but a white paper bag.

"Hi." She said shyly. A pink sheen dusted her cheeks. "Did I scare you?"

"Hi." He said dumbly. He had to fight himself to calm his racing heart. "Not at all."

"So..." She drawled, holding the bag tighter to her chest.

Thank her, he screamed in his head. He needed to thank her! Conversation, Adrien, conversation!

"Looks like it's going to rain soon." He mumbled, staring at his shoes.

"Yeah." She said.

There was a moment of silence.

"I—I'm glad you're here today."

Adrien's head snapped up so quickly that he nearly popped his neck, but the girl didn't seem to notice. She sputtered.

"I mean, it's not like I was expecting you to be here, but I've seen you around here before so I just thought— and I'm not saying that I'm glad that you're here today. Wait no, that came out wrong, I'm not saying that either."

Thunder crashed. He took a deep breath, fighting off the burning in his cheeks. He had definitely already made things awkward between them. Just say it! Thank her for saving your life!

"Look, about yesterday— oof!" She shoved the paper bag into his hands so abruptly that he almost dropped it. It was… warm. Confused, he looked back and forth between the bag and her. She fidgeted with the ends of her jacket.

"I made these. For you, that is. It's not much, but I felt so bad about yesterday, and... it's not much. Sorry again." She finished, wilting. He peeked inside the bag. A sweet scent wafted out. Cookies. He looked at her, shocked.

Thunder rattled the sky again and a cold drop pecked his nose. Followed by another and another, until they were encased in a light sheet of rain. The girl covered her head as he scrambled for his umbrella.

"Well I just came to give you that, but I guess I should be on my way before it gets too bad out here. Bye—"

"Wait." She had almost been halfway down the steps before he could grab her. He'd managed to just open his umbrella and not drop the bag of pastries along with it and was staring steadily at her with wide eyes. She stared back at him with equal surprise.

"Thank you," He breathed out and stumbled closer so that she was shielded from the rain. "For saving my life. Yesterday... I didn't get to say it."

Around them, the rain picked up. The sound of thousands of water droplets shattering on the ground seemed to drown everything else out. A beat passed as they stared at each other, everything else seeming to fade away.

And then she smiled and his world was never the same.

"You're welcome. My name is Marinette by the way."

"I'm Adrien." He said, breathless.

It hadn't been a perfectly ordinary day at all.

Really, it hadn't been a perfectly ordinary beginning either.

Hello everyone! I'd like to welcome you to my Nova!AU... it's an alternate reality where there was a supernatural incident called the Nova that affected Paris. Nouveau Paris was created and the "miraculous" are people who developed powers after the Nova. I don't want to give too much away, so there's that for now. I'm hoping to reveal more as the story progresses. If you're ever interested in chatting or asking about the world, ask me on tumblr! bae-and-puppycat . tumblr . com

Anyways, that's it for now c: Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you enjoyed! I'd really appreciate it.