Message from: chatnoirxx

Re: Meeting

How about meeting Saturday? 4 PM. There's a bench near the north side of the Eiffel Tower. You'll find me waiting.

Marinette's heart pounded in her chest. Saturday. After all this time, they were finally going to meet! She tried calling Mylene but got her voicemail, leaving a detailed message. She got Nathanael's voicemail too. Oh well. She could talk about it with Adrien when they met for lunch. He was so much nicer than she had expected, given what he'd said to her during the battle for Masson. Maybe he'd been just as stressed as she had been.

Truthfully, he was nice, funny, and extremely handsome. He'd been so kind to her during her time at Agreste and made her see that working there wasn't the end of the world. Sure, she didn't have that tight-knit way of things she did at Masson, but she had Adrien. He was a good friend.

When they met at the sandwich shop he greeted her with bright eyes and an even brighter smile. "It's good to see you."

She returned the smile almost shyly. "It's good to see you too."

After chatting about pleasantries for a few minutes Marinette got to the heart of the matter. "I'm meeting Chat Noir today."

"Today? Whoa."

Marinette nodded in the affirmative. "I know. Near the Eiffel Tower."

"Isn't that amazing? Maybe I've seen him and don't even know it," Adrien mused.

Once lunch was finished, they strolled together through the streets of Paris, continuing their conversation about Chat Noir. "He could be the Zipper Man," Adrien said.

"Who's that?"

"This guy near Notre Dame who repairs zippers. You'll never have to buy new luggage." He leaned closer to her with a silly look on his face to emphasize his point. Marinette laughed and pushed him back by the nose with a finger.

"Stop teasing."

Adrien shrugged. "Timing is everything. He waited until you were primed. Until you knew there was no other man you could ever love."

Marinette's heart constricted. She did love Chat Noir. All of this made her realize that she needed him in her life. He meant so much to her. She couldn't talk like that with anyone else. "Yes."

"Sometimes I wonder…" Adrien trailed off.

"What?"

They stopped walking and looked at each other as Adrien continued. "If I hadn't been Agreste and you hadn't been Masson and we'd just met—"

Marinette didn't like where this was going. "Don't." Adrien was too good of a friend to lose. She needed a friend at Agreste and he was the only one she had.

Adrien continued anyway, heartwrenchingly serious. "I would have asked for your phone number and I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours before calling and asking, 'How about coffee, drinks, dinner, a movie, for as long as we both shall live?'"

He looked at her with his heart in his eyes and Marinette couldn't take it. "Adrien…"

"And then we never would have been at war," Adrien said softly.

"No."

"The only fight we'd ever have is what video to rent on Saturday night," he continued.

"Who fights about that?" Marinette demanded. This had spiraled out of her control too fast. Adrien was just a friend, a very good friend, but still a friend. She was in love with Chat Noir. And even though he was such a good friend, Adrien was still the one who separated her work family for selfish reasons.

"Some people. Not us."

"We would never."

Adrien speaks up wistfully after a long pause. "If only…"

"Please, I have to go," Marinette says but her feet are rooted to the spot. Why couldn't she just walk away? What did she owe Adrien Agreste? Nothing!

"Let me ask you something? How come you'll forgive him for standing you up and you won't forgive me for a little tiny thing like putting you out of business?" He was rolling on the balls of his feet, looking so repentant and so adorable that Marinette had to shake her head to clear her thoughts.

"Oh how I wish you would," he said earnestly.

Marinette gave him a tortured glance before looking away. "I really do have to go." Her meeting with Chat Noir was in an hour and a half and she needed to be ready.

"You don't want to be late," Adrien said sadly. He put his hands in his pockets and walked away without another glance in her direction.

She stared after him a moment in agony before walking in the other direction. Adrien had offered himself to her, laid his heart bare, and she rejected him. How could she do that, even to someone who blacklisted her? The wounded puppy look on his face as he walked away tormented her all the way home. No matter. She had to look nice for Chat Noir. Too bad the ladybug dress was gone forever. What to wear?