Perfect Night

"Adrien is coming back."

Oh, Crap.

You know when you are walking down the street, minding your own thoughts, and you miss a step? For that tiny bit of second, you feel like you will fall right on your face? That's how it felt for Marinette.

"W-What?" she heard herself saying.

Maybe it was the heat, but Marinette felt like she had to sit down. Oh, right! She was sitting already.

"Yup! He told me like a week ago!" Said Nino. "I can't believe I forgot to tell you!" He was so happy that his best friend was returning that he didn't notice what was happening in front of him.

Alya was eyeing Marinette with concern.

Marinette... Well, Marinette was losing it. She tried to calm herself down. She was with Luka now. And she liked him very much. Adrien coming back would not ruin it. She knew it wouldn't. Plus, Adrien was her friend! Even though they lost contact over the years, she was glad that he was visiting.

Alya felt confused when she saw Marinette recovering and smiling at Nino.

"When is he coming back?" Marinette asked.

"Sometime next week." Replied Nino still completely clueless as to what was happening.

"For how long?"

"Oh, he's moving back in! He's coming solo though. He even bought an apartment already!"

Marinette paused, eyeing Alya. She looked worried. Marinette decided that Adrien coming back wasn't going to affect anything. Her life was great as it was now, and she wanted nothing about it to change, she told herself. Even if she did want anything to change, Adrien had never shown interest on her before no matter what she'd do. So there was nothing to be worried about, really. It's not like he was going to fall for her the moment he saw her again.

She gave Alya a reassuring smile, "That is amazing, Nino! I'm so happy!"

Finally noticing the silent dialogue the girls were having, Nino had an epiphany. "Oh!" he said with his eyes getting bigger "OHHHH!"

Alya and Marinette looked at each other, worried Nino had lost his mind.

"Oh-oh, what?" said Alya.

Nino didn't answer. Instead, he leaned onto the table looking at Marinette with a suggestive smirk on his face. "You ARE happy he's coming back, aren't you, Marinette?"

Alya burst into laughter and Marinette got redder than a tomato. "N-Nino!" she stammered "It's not like that!"

Nino finally gave in and laughed with Alya.

Marinette crossed her arms over her chest, unimpressed. "Has it really been so long, that you don't know that I have a boyfriend now?"

The waiter arrived with the orders and said "That is too bad, miss. I'll leave you my number anyway, in case you have a change of heart." He winked at her, laying a piece of paper on her side of the table and left. Marinette was even redder now. Alya was crying with laughter. And Nino... was confused.

"Wait, you have a boyfriend?" Ignoring everything that happened with the waiter, he kept going "How did I not know this?"

"It's recent, but not that recent!" Marinette answered back, narrowing her eyes at Alya as if it was her fault Nino didn't know and trying hard to ignore the incident with the waiter, but failing miserably. "I guess we haven't seen each other for a very long time?"

"Guess so... Who is the lucky guy, then?"

"Oh, you know him! Luka. Juleka's brother. He goes to your college" Answered Marinette.

"Ah! I know Luka! He is an awesome guy. But isn't he a senior? Are you dating a senior, miss freshmen!?" Marinette was turning red again "I'm so proud of you!"

"Leave the poor girl alone, Nino!" Alya came to Marinette's rescue. "Eat your food! It's good."

Once she tasted it, Marinette had to agree. "It really is good. But I'm not coming back here any time soon" She said, discreetly peeking at the waiter that was serving the table next to them.

"If things with Luka don't work out, you totally should" whispered Alya mischievously.

"HEY! I can hear you, you know!?" said Nino with his ego hurt.

"Babe, you know my heart beats only for you." She said giving him a chaste kiss on the lips. "And Marinette, I'm still waiting for the description of yesterday's date." Alya turned to watch Marinette.

"It was perfect, Alya! I'm sorry for yesterday, I wasn't feeling well. But I have another date today!" Marinette squealed with enthusiasm and then she started describing yesterday's date. It had been a simple afternoon. They went to Parc des Buttes-Chaumont and had a nice picnic with food that she had baked. They had spent all afternoon sitting on the grass in the shade. Very calm, very romantic, a lot of kissing and talking, getting to know each other better. "And when it got late, he stood up, gave me his hand and helped me up too! His hands are rough! And then he hugged me and we-." Marinette paused noticing Nino's face. "But I will tell you more details later" She laughed, "Nino isn't looking very well."

Nino looked a bit out of place but replied "Oh, don't hold back because of me. I'm learning a lot today!"

Alya looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You notice everything, don't you? And then you tell EVERYTHING to your best friend! His hands are rough? And then, to make things worse, you discuss every single detail like it meant the world... And the guy probably didn't even think when he helped you up!" He was the one turning red now.

Alya chuckled silently "We don't tell everything, silly. We leave some bits for ourselves. But now I'm gonna shut up, or Mari will get curious." Nino facepalmed himself.

"Don't worry, Nino, a Lady never tells." Marinette said laughing, leaving Nino confused and redder.

Marinette was pondering if she should wear her new dress for dinner. Luka had told her it was a semiformal restaurant where they were heading. The dress was perfectly semiformal, but she worried that the baby blue color made her look like a child.

The week before, there had been a stifling day where you couldn't even leave the house. So, instead of procrastinating, Marinette had grabbed some old fabric and started to sew a summer dress. She was loving the way it fit her body. Since it was made of a fabric with such a sweet color, she tried adding a bit of sexuality to it. The dress had extra thin sleeves, showing her delicate shoulders. The neckline was a large V, not too revealing, just the right amount to tease. The waistline was simple and well suited for her body. The fabric was very flowy, so the skirt floated around her as she walked. It was a masterpiece if you asked Tikki. The best that Marinette had done so far.

"Marinette, it looks so beautiful on you!" Tikki insisted. "Please wear it tonight!"

Marinette kept eyeing herself in the mirror, looking for flaws. She was not sure it was the right occasion to use it. But she had grown to love that dress. She sighed admitting defeat.

"I'm gonna wear it"

Tikki cheered with excitement "Luka won't know what hit him!"

Marinette laughed softly. "I'm wearing my hair down, though. With the pigtails, it looks too childish."

Marinette's hair had grown over the three years that had passed. It was now down to her waist. She braided two small strands of hair, one on each side, and then brought them together behind her head. This was her way of not having to constantly be putting her hair behind her ear while eating. Hair this long, sometimes was a bother. "What do you think?"

"It's beautiful, Marinette!"

"Not too-"

"Not too anything Marinette! It's perfect! You look like an angel!" Interrupted Tikki, giggling.

Marinette smiled "Thanks Tikki." She looked at the clock on her phone. Around forty minutes before Luka come to pick her up "That was fast!" she said, impressed with herself. Normally she took ages to find the right thing to wear. "Now, we wait."

Without bothering to put her high heels on, Marinette went up to the balcony. It was a starry warm night. The floor of her balcony was still tepid and she rejoiced with that warmth on her bare feet. She loved to walk without shoes.

Marinette walked to the balustrade and leaned on it, pensive. There hadn't been many akumas in the past two/three years. Sometimes they appeared, months apart from each other. But when they did appear, they were really hard to fight. It wasn't because they were especially angry or sad ones... The reason why the Akuma's nature had almost completely changed was still a mystery. They were harder to fight because they were confusing.

When fighting with the old ones, the key was to determine where the Akuma was hosted, then find a way to take the item from the possessed person. Now, though the key was still the same, the items where the Akuma was hosted appeared completely random. So were the powers of the possessed person.

For example, back in the day, Marinette's grandmother got akumatized, after finding out that Marinette didn't like the candy she had gifted to her. Thinking that her granddaughter no longer enjoyed her company, Befana appeared. Her power was to approve or punish the good and bad behaviour by turning people into angels or coal. And the weapon she used was a gun, fueled by Marinette's unwanted candy. This made total sense, and all of the old akumas were easy to figure out with a bit of deduction.

The new ones were almost impossible to read. There was a battle, four months back, in which Ladybug and Rena Rouge had fought against the akuma for five hours straight. Clueless about what to do, they finally decided to start to break every item he had in a completely random way, hoping they'd hit the akuma! They weren't proud of it, but at the time they had cleared out all the other options. Plus, both of them had been sick of fighting the annoying Akuma. Marinette remembered thinking how the power of this particular akuma would have suited Martha, a colleague of hers that one week earlier had had a breakdown concerning a fashion project.

And this was the weird, confusing part. It appeared that the akumas were meant for someone else.

Perhaps, when they got to the person who was meant to be possessed, he or she was no longer feeling bad? Then they ended up taking over a different person's mind?

So, while the essence of the job was still the same, it was harder and longer to find the key to end the battle.

The minutes passed. She was looking at the moonless sky. Feeling the warmth of that perfect night in the air, the rare summer breeze in her hair.

Her Ladybug instincts caught some movement to her right. She turned her head to see what was responsible.

Her heart skipped a beat. Or was it two?

"Chat?" She breathed.

Green eyes met the blue.

Chat Noir smiled.