Marinette stood with twenty nine other women who were all waiting for a chance to get on a date with some random guy. Every one of them was standing behind a table on which lay the red buzzer. If you pushed it, the light illuminating the table would switch off, signing that you were not interested in going out with the bachelor.

She was bored to the core as all the guys, who had entered the room so far, had been disappointments. Was it so difficult for them to clean up for once and wear something other than gym clothes? Not to mention their stalking tendencies and clingy ex-girlfriends.

They had been filming for a whole day, so she couldn't wait to go home and forget that she even competed in the show.

"Are you ready? Here comes the boy!" exclaimed the showrunner, annoying balding guy.

The door lifted and Marinette prayed for someone decent, so she wouldn't have to turn off her light that quickly. She swayed a little and almost stumbled onto her table as she saw that the one who entered the show room was none other than Adrien Agreste.

The crowd clapped and Marinette gaped. He had surely grown up well. She hadn't seen him for a few years, but all the advertisements reminded her of his existence.

"Are you turned on or turned off?"

Surely, no one would turn their light off after seeing that literal supermodel had gone on a dating show to take one of the lucky ladies out. The show needed to boost their ratings after all. Surprisingly, one had turned her light off.

"Twenty-nine beautiful ladies want to go on a date with you!" said the showrunner Paul Duval and walked to the woman with short black hair who had pressed the red buzzer. "Gisèle, why did you turn your light off?"

"I'm just not attracted to blondes."

Marinette had to hold back her snort, some people were just too shallow. Paul exchanged some other words with the woman and walked across the room, towards where Marinette was standing. He stopped few tables away.

"What do you see in our man?"

The really young-looking woman answered enthusiastically, gushing about Adrien's good looks. She often tuned out what others said about the contestant, because she didn't want her opinion to be influenced by other women.

"Why is your light still shining, Nicole?" Paul asked another woman, this time the one with pale freckled skin and wild red hair.

"He's gorgeous, what else is there to say?"

Paul Duval spoke with Adrien, requesting him to introduce himself.

"I'm Adrien Agreste. I'm a model and have been since I was a child. I love to play video games and I love to eat sweets, although I can never have as many as I want due to my job. I can fence and play the piano. I'm also fluent in Mandarin." The public cheered.

"Thank you, Adrien! Let's see what the girls are saying about you!"

Only few lights went off after his introductory speech and the competition was still going strong. She turned to look at Adrien after hearing one woman sigh at Adrien's model career, only to realize halfway that his eyes were fixed on her. Did he recognize her from school?

After graduating collège, Adrien's father had him back to home-schooling as his schedule was getting tighter with him growing up even more gorgeous. Every magazine wanted him on their spreads.

Marinette became aware that her hands were shaking. He looked away just before they started playing a video, in which his friends described him and his dating habits. A relief washed over her as his model colleagues spoke of him as humble and kind, but hardworking.

She saw few lights turning off at those statements. To her surprise, Nino spoke in the video as well, remembering their school years and how they had fell out of touch, but sometimes still met up. Marinette blushed when Nino mentioned that the only woman Adrien had ever talked about in romantic sense was Ladybug.

"We lost 12 girls, but 18 are still in a game! Let's get out there and see what these ladies didn't like!" announced Paul happily and went to ask the remaining girls for their reasons, why they were still interested or why not. He hadn't asked her anything yet.

"When does he have time for me!" short curly haired woman whined.

"I just feel like if he hasn't really been in a serious relationship before, his standards are probably high, no one can compete with Ladybug anyway," another one said.

Paul strutted across the room towards Adrien and put his palm on his shoulder. "I give you 30 seconds to impress our remaining girls. Ladies, stay away from your buzzers until I tell you to vote!"

To Marinette's astonishment, instead of showing off some of his many talents, Adrien started telling jokes – puns, to be exact. She already got enough of them from Chat and now Adrien, too?

Well, it wasn't a dealbreaker by any means. If she could put up with Chat's puns, which were not actually all bad, then she could deal with Adrien. Her light would stay on as long as Adrien didn't push the button in front of her himself.

"Seven gone and eleven people left, this means, you got a date! Turn out nine lights and leave two. Go and break people's hearts. You have to narrow it down to two! Audience, what do you think?"

The public was roaring and giving Adrien directions which girl should stay and who should leave. Adrien was going from table to table, switching off lights in front of hopeful women with apologetic expression.

He didn't even look at her direction, steering away from her table. Her heart had never pounded as loudly in her chest as it was right now.

"One more light!"

After he turned off the last light – the girl pouting – Marinette realized that she stayed in the competition with another woman who had her brown hair in a braid, stylish glasses sitting on her nose and who seemed to be jumping on her place from anticipation.

The balding showrunner approached her table, his wide grin almost reaching his ears.

"Marinette, why didn't you turn off your light before? Why would Adrien choose you?"

Her mind turned blank as she tried not to stare at Adrien who was tilting his head and peered at her curiously.

"I used to be in collège with Adrien," the public started chattering excitedly, "I knew him then and I had nothing bad to say about him. I see that he has only changed for better. I would love to get an opportunity to go on a date with him." She glanced at Adrien, who flushed red from the praise.

Paul Duval asked the same question from her opponent, who couldn't stop saying how amazing Adrien was.

"Adrien, you can now ask one question and one only from the two you left in the competition. Go ahead!"

Adrien looked at Marinette and the other woman, Rébecca, separately.

"What would our date be like to make it perfect?" he addressed Rébecca first.

Her eyes were glistening with happiness. "Romantic dinner with candle light, we would eat the most delicious food and there would be music playing just for the two of us, we are completely alone. I think it's perfect, because of the atmosphere,which creates the right mood for the date."

"And Marinette, how do you imagine our perfect date?"

She bit her lip and tried not to look away from his intense gaze. "It can be sitting on the roof and talking with each other or heck, even playing video games and I would still think every single date is perfect, as long as I'm with you."

Adrien smiled warmly and Marinette couldn't ignore how her cheeks felt warm from his attention. She believed that her answer had accidentally become personal.

Paul proceeded to thank both of them for their answers and granted permission for Adrien to choose his date.

"Turn one off and we'll see who will go on a date! Who are you going to take out tonight?"

The studio public started yelling Marinette's and Rébecca's names, trying to persuade Adrien to choose the woman for their liking. Adrien looked at Marinette for few seconds and then walked towards Rébecca's table and pressed the buzzer, engulfing her table into darkness.

"Congratulations, Adrien and Marinette!" Paul ushered Marinette to the front of the room, next to Adrien. She was blown away by the cheers from the audience and the look on Adrien's face, expressing his joy to stand there with her.

"So, you chose your childhood friend. I have to admit, it is a wonderful twist of fate. I'm sure you will enjoy your date fully. I have a question to you though, Adrien. Did seeing Marinette here in the lineup with all the other amazing ladies influence your decision? In other words, did any of the other women even have a chance or was this a lost cause from the beginning?"

"I wouldn't say that. I considered every single one of them, who I'm sure are great and will make someone really happy in the future. But, I have always been curious about Marinette. I'm glad that I chose her."

He held her hand and smiled gently.

"I hope you don't find this awkward." He whispered in her ear.

Not at all.