"Miss Dupain, can we get your help over here?"

"It's Dupain-Cheng, but please call me Marinette. And sure. What do you need?"

Marinette was back at Glossotype despite everything in her telling her not to go. Daniel was nowhere in sight, which was just fine for her, considering she'd already gone two weeks without hearing from him.

"I need you to hold this light—no, to the left—my left—and don't move. Perfect. Let's get some pictures, yes, yes, that's how we do it here. Perfection."

"I thought you had to be a foreigner to be a little out of your mind," Marinette muttered in French. Too many Anglophone ears around to understand her, or so she hoped.

One of the camera guys started laughing and answered in French. "Not in this industry, darling."

Marinette shook her head, a smile forming on her own face. "Didn't realize you spoke my language."

"We French need to stick together." He winked at her, clearly amused.

"Can you two quit flirting? We have work to do!"

Marinette resumed her position with the light until they called for a break, hoping to find the stranger who'd brightened her day.

"Marinette, yes? Dupain-Cheng if I recall."

She jumped and turned. "Yeah. August, right? Mazet?"

"That's me." He smiled and held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you. You must be the girl Daniel was bragging about standing up. Sorry he's a colossal dick."

"It's no big deal. I'm sort of getting over another one, so it's nothing I can't handle." She shook his hand and gave him a once-over. "You know, you're not too bad for a camera guy."

"You're not too bad for a lighting lady."

"It's not my normal job, but I help where I can." Marinette threw every bit of confidence she had left in her body into the conversation. "Are you in England on business or because you live here?"

"Business. Here for a webzine in Paris, Belle Éléphant."

"Oh, no way! I'm here for Tendance Inspirer!"

"You wrote the article on the Agreste kid! I knew I'd heard your name before."

"And didn't you write one on the Bourgeois girl? I went to school with her." Marinette stuck her tongue out with a grimace.

"You read that anyway? Poor woman. You must be a glutton for punishment."

"I tried to convince myself that anybody could change. I was right, for the record."

"How, did she get worse?" August laughed, recalling the interview.

"Hey, I don't speak ill of people. But in some ways, oh yeah. Totally got worse."

"Glad to know it's not just me she was bitching at. What happened, anyway?"

"It's not really my business to share. As awful as she is, at least there's a reason. But it's not my story to tell." Mari shrugged. "So, when do you go back to Paris?"

"Next Thursday. It can't come soon enough, too. I miss my rabbit."

"I miss my hamster! What's your rabbit's name?"

"Maxence, Max for short. He's a little black and white thing, loves company. One of the most docile rabbits I've ever seen, which worries me sometimes, but it's usually alright."

"He sounds cute. My hamster's name is Tikki. She reddish and soft and likes to cuddle. I also found out that she loves my friend's cat. Oh, here." Marinette grabbed her phone from her pocket and found the most recent picture Adrien had sent her. "Plagg is the cat. They're apparently buddies for life." She laughed. "How long have you had Max?"

"About two years. My brother had him for a year before that, I think."

"What's your brother's name?"

"Okay, don't laugh. Our parents don't know what being creative means."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Try me."

"Julien."

Marinette bit her cheek. "Oh dear."

"And my sister's name is June. My mom's Canadian, hence the English versions of the names."

"That's pretty funny."

"It is when you don't grow up with it. Anyway, when do you go back to Paris?"

"Oh! Next Thursday, too. Maybe we're on the same flight!"

"Alright, let's get back to work, people!"

August gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'll catch you after the shoot, okay?"

Marinette smiled. "Sounds great."

"Oh, Alya, you wouldn't believe how much fun we had! It's really a wonder I haven't met him before. We like all the same places back home."

"Is he cute?"

"I'll send you a picture, and you can tell me." Marinette fumbled with her phone for a minute. "There, I sent it."

"Damn, Mari. He's crazy cute!"

Nino called from behind Alya, "I heard that!"

"Come look at him, and you'll agree with me!"

"He's cute, Nino. I promise. Oh, I'm gonna send you the picture Adrien sent me of Plagg and Tikki. He dressed them up with little party hats, and it's absolutely adorable. So precious."

"Damn! August is cute!"

"See, babe? I told you he was."

"Okay, we've all established that August is cute. Oh, did I tell you that we're on the same flight home? We somehow have seats that are beside each other, too! I can barely wait, honestly. He's so funny."

"You've known the guy for how many hours?"

"What? It's not like I've confessed my undying love for him. Our love could be quite dead already for all you know. Wait a second, no, that's not what I meant."

Alya and Nino were laughing so hard that they could barely get any words out. "We're happy for you, Mari! We promise."

Nino wiped a few tears from his eyes. "Hey, you should invite him to your coming back party!"

"I'm having a party?"

"Alya, you forgot to invite Mari!"

"Dammit, I did. I would've remembered when we picked her up, though. I'm not that oblivious."

"I hate to break it to you, but you didn't notice anything about me being Ladybug until I told you. Hell, Nino noticed and you didn't."

"I'm never going to live that down, but you'll never live down Adrien Freaking Agreste taking care of your hamster! Haha! Can you imagine the tabloids getting ahold of that?"

"Oh, that would be so good!" Nino put his arm around Alya and faked having a microphone in his hand. "And now, breaking news for Paris' hottest model, Adrien Agreste. It appears that his summer fling this year involves a fashion reporter and her hamster. Is she permanent? The hamster seems to think so!"

Alya leaned over and slapped her knee, laughing so hard that now sound came out, which prompted Nino to continue.

"We spotted the writer leaving the model's house with her hamster, Cookie, in tow. She seemed overjoyed to be getting her hamster back, so is she happy to leave? Find out more at seven!"

"Nino, be nice. He offered to have his driver take me home, and then he offered to pay for a cab when I said no."

"He'd probably pay for you to take a cab to his house, too."

"Quit it, Alya. If you guys are gonna be like that, I'll stay here in London with August. Scratch that. We'll come home, get our pets, and promptly move back to London. You won't get a forwarding address, either."

"Alright! Gosh, we'll be nice. Right, Nino?"

"That's us. Nothing but nice."

"You two are exhausting. Hey, August is calling me! I'll talk to you later!"

"Send him our undying love, Mari!"

"Whatever, Nino! Bye!" Marinette switched the call over to August. "Hey! How are you?"

"I'm doing alright. Anything new?"

Mari giggled. "Not in the last two hours. Oh, I take that back. My best friend wanted me to invite you to my coming home party she's planning. Actually, she forgot to tell me; her boyfriend was the one who mentioned it."

"That would be Alya? And Nino?"

"Yeah! Those two." Mari twirled her hair while she talked. "It's going to be next Friday, and it probably won't be very many people. Just some work friends, those two, maybe a few more. My parents for part of the night, maybe. I think my dad's making a cake, so they'll probably show up."

"Are we that far along in the relationship already?" he teased.

"I can text you when they're getting ready to leave if you want to avoid them. They can be a little overbearing. They mean well, but still. Take a chill pill!" She laughed, suddenly hoping that he thought her laugh was cute.

"I'll go on one condition."

"What's that?"

"I was calling to ask this anyway, but come to mine on Saturday. My parents are arranging it; they're a little overbearing, too."

"I'd love to. Your family seems nice, if a little uncreative in the names. What even made them think of that, anyway?"

"My mom's name is May, my dad is Mars."

"As in the month?"

"Oh, yeah. Guess when his birthday is."

"March."

"Bingo!"

Marinette switched positions, starting to feel a strain. "You guys are missing April! This is too funny."

"Actually, I had an older sister who died when we were kids. Her name was April. They don't like to talk about it."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. That must've been really hard on you all."

"Thanks. It was, but that's life. June doesn't even remember her aside from a birthday party or something weird, and Julien barely remembers more than that. I think it was easier on them."

"I'll bet."

"Enough about that, though. I'll come to your party on Friday, you're coming to mine on Saturday, and we'll meet everybody's friends and family and have a good time."

"What a way to come home! Oh, and Alya and Nino are ridiculous. Just ignore them when they start saying stupid stuff. It's, like, ninety-eight percent of the time, but you get the idea."

"My siblings are like that. I think they've already planned our wedding." He rolled his eyes, and Marinette could hear that the tone in his voice matched the gesture.

"Oh, just the wedding? I think Alya has our first child named. Probably after her, too."

"Makes sense. Friends are like that. Are those your only two close friends?"

"There's Adrien. He's taking care of Tikki while I'm away." Marinette blushed, thankful August couldn't see it.

"That's nice of him. He must know how important she is to you."

"Oh, yeah. He'll come over and feed her when I'm sick because he knows I can't even feed myself." She smiled sadly. "He's a good friend, but we're still navigating the friendship ropes."

"Did you date him?"

"I don't know if you could call it that. We kissed once, figured out it wouldn't work. He took care of my hamster anyway. Alya's not letting it go."

"This is why I have family taking care of Max. Nobody to make fun of me." He laughed, and Marinette found that she really liked the sound.

"That's actually a really good idea. Like, really good. I'm impressed."

"I'm glad to make a good impression."

"Hey, August, it's been great talking to you, but I really need some sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow. Can we talk more later?"

"Absolutely. If nothing else, I'll see you on the flight home."

"Awesome! Thanks. G'night."

"Night!"

Marinette hung up and stretched. Meeting his parents. Meeting my parents. This all feels fast, but I think it'll be worth it.

She plugged her phone in to charge and changed into pajamas before going through her nightly routine. When she returned to bed, she had a message from Adrien. Tikki was sleeping on Plagg, who was also sleeping. 'The snuggle bugs say goodnight.'

"Huh. I should invite him to the party Alya's having."

'the snuggle bugs are cute, give them kisses for me. Alya's having a party when I get back, I'll text you the details later. hope you can make it! also let's go out after and do the new piece, just surprise me. night'

She turned her phone on silent and put it facedown so the light wouldn't bother her and turned the lamp off. Oh, she really hoped that Adrien could make it.

A/N: This one was hard to write, and I hope it doesn't show that much. Please let me know what you thought! Thanks for reading! Also, THANK YOU for all the sweet reviews! They make me a very happy woman on a weekly basis. Love you all! xoxo -wwot