Marinette sat at a small table, outside of the restaurant that Alya had texted her to be at, and drummed her fingers against the table top in anticipation as she wanted for her friend to arrive.

Twenty minutes went by and Alya still hadn't arrived. Marinette's hand started inches towards her phone but she quickly realized what she was doing and shoved her phone into her purse. Since morning, the new of Ladybug's possible return had made it's way all over Paris, and the whole town was buzzing about the news. It was impossible to go on any social media or news station without hearing something about Ladybug, whether it be theorists who were trying to disprove the picture or random people claiming to be close friends with the superhero.

The whole thing was a big mess, and for once, Marinette just wanted to push it to the back of her mind and not think about it for a while. Speaking about things that she didn't want to think about...Chat. Last night she hadn't been about to properly tell him that she would be leaving in 2 weeks, she just hadn't been able to bring herself to do it, but she knew that she would have to tell him eventually. It pained her, the thought of hurting him once again, but she was going to have to do it.

"Hi, Marinette! Sorry, we're late!"

Alya's voice startled her and all thoughts of Chat Noir and Ladybug flew out of Marinette's head as soon as she heard the familiar voice of her friend. Smiling, she looked up to greet her, happy to have something to distract her from all her worries. "It's no problem, Alya..." Marinette's voice trailed off and she took a sharp breath when she looked up.

Standing right behind Alya, looking just as handsome as ever, was Adrien Agreste.

"Surprise!" Alya cried, clapping her hands in excitement, completely misreading the shock on her friend's face. "Adrien's gonna be joining us for lunch!"

"...H-he is?" Marinette managed to squeak out, her heart was beating so hard it seemed like it would burst out of her chest. How was she supposed to forget about Chat Noir if he was going to be sitting right in front of her?

Adrien smiled, shyly and nodded. "I hope you don't mind, Marinette, that I'm intruding on your lunch plans." He tried to seem apologetic, but there was no mistaking how his green eyes shined with delight. "But it's been so long since I've seen either of you, I couldn't pass up this opportunity when Alya invited me."

"It's fine." Marinette said quickly, while shooting a glance at Alya. Later, she was going to have a talk with her friend. She turned back to Adrien and gave him a small smile. "It's nice to see you again, Adrien."

Alya quickly spoke up before Adrien could. "Guys, don't act like such strangers! Hug!" She gave Adrien a small nudge towards Marinette and mimed the motion of a hug. "It's been five years!" From behind Adrien, she gave Marinette a quick wink.

Marinette blushed before she could stop herself, her cheeks heating up to impossibly red colors. "That's not really-" Before she could even finish her sentence, she felt two warm hands wrap around her and she pull her towards his chest. She froze in horror when a single thought popped into her head. Chat and Adrien's hugs are exactly the same.

It felt nice though, comforting. It wasn't until Alya cleared her throat that the two of sheepishly separated pulled apart and took a seat.

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"Sorry that we didn't get here earlier," Alya said again, once their food had arrived. She looked over at Adrien and jokingly pointed an accusing finger at him. "He woke up late."

Adrien smiled sheepishly. "I was up late last night," He shrugged apologetically. "That's why I overslept."

"Doing what?" Marinette spoke up, before she could stop herself.

"What do you mean?" Adrien gave her a confused smile, although the tone of his voice seemed a bit off, almost robotic.

"What were you up doing last night that made you oversleep?" Marinette said each word slowly, carefully studying Adrien's face to see if there was any reaction from him. She just wanted to see how he would answer the question, to see if there really was any hint of Chat Noir in him.

"I was just up doing some work for my father." Adrien finally answered, his eyes were looking down at his food, and the way he spoke made it seem like even he doubted that excuse. He finally looked up and cleared his throat, "He's looking for a new intern and wants me to help him with the process."

"A new intern? What a coincidence!" Alya suddenly cut in, shooting Marinette an eager look. "Marinette was just thinking about finding an internship..."

"Alya, you know that I'm leavin-" Marinette tried to scold her friend, but she had no luck. Alya clearly had Adrien's attention.

"Marinette, you should try out, I think you'd be a great intern." He seemed thrilled at the idea.

"See?" Alya gestured towards Adrien and looked at Marinette with puppy dog eyes. "Adrien's thinks you'd be a great intern."

"But, Alya,-"

"If you want, I'll even set up an interview date for you." Adrien offered, he too was looking at Marinette with pleading eyes, and it was definitely working on her.

"Well," Marinette sighed and nodded. "I guess an interview couldn't hurt."

A huge grin spread across Adrien's face. "Great! I'll call you and let you know when..." He trailed off as a important detail that he had forgotten popped into his head. "...I actually don't have your phone number.."

"Oh...you don't..."

"Don't worry about that, she'll give it to you." Alya assured him before turning towards Marinette. What are
you waiting for? She mouthed.

"Just a minute, I know I have a pen in here somewhere..." Marinette quickly dug through her purse, making a mental note to later clean up all the junk that she had in there. "Here it is!" She said, triumphantly pulling it without realizing that something had gotten hooked around the cap. She wrote out her number on a napkin and then pushed it towards Adrien.

"Thanks..." Adrien tucked the paper into his pocket, although his eyes remained strangely fixated on Marinette's hand. "What's that? On the pen?"

Marinette looked down at it and saw that a large string with beads on it had gotten wrapped around the pen. Her good luck charm, her gift from Chat Noir, she had forgotten that she had placed it in her purse for safekeeping. "It's nothing," She laughed breathlessly and shoved it back into her purse. "It's just an old good luck charm, I just have so much junk in here...I really should clean it out."

Adrien continued to stare at her, a strange look was on his face. "But...did you buy it somewhere, or did you make it, or..." He hesitated for a split second. "...did someone give it to you?" He was looking straight at her, as if he was trying to look through her. A look of realization suddenly dawned on him, and his eyes widened in shock.

Marinette froze and she almost wanted to kick herself when she realized what a big mistake she had made. "I really can't remember, it's just some old string..." She assured him, desperately hoping that he would just drop the matter. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Alya get up and she quickly followed as well. "Alya, are you going to the restroom? I'll go with you!"

Alya looked at her strangely. "It's alright, I can go by myse-"

"Nope, I insist, let's go!" Marinette quickly grabbed Ayla's arm and raced inside the restaurant, towards the restrooms. As the door closed behind her, she felt as if she could still feel Adrien's questioning eyes on her, and she almost wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. What was she going to do now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the table, Adrien sat quietly, in stunned silence as his mind replayed everything that had just happened. He knew for sure, that he had seen that good luck charm before, in fact he was almost 100% positive that it was the exact same charm that he had given to Ladybug so long ago. The implication was clear...

"Marinette is...Ladybug..."