Marinette didn't consider herself a petty person. She had her moments, mind you, especially with specific people. Adrien wasn't one of those people that she could be petty with. Some may argue that her actions in the limo we're petty. She saw it, as necessary. His father was in the car after all and she was sandwiched between the two.

So, when he reached for her hand to thread his fingers through hers like he likes to, her deftly moving the said hand to her lap was not being petty for earlier.

So, when he tried to start a conversation with her that would mostly be teasing and compliments, she pressed Nathalie in the front sear about how she organizes her stuff.

And when they arrived at the haute couture fashion house and Adrien got out and offered to help her; she chose to do it herself. Not because she was still feeling prickly about this morning, it was because his father was right there, and she feared that if Adrien were to hold her hand...

Bottom line, she wasn't being petty.

Nathalie escorted them through the building all the way to his office on the top floor. Once their M. Agreste informed them on what they were to there.

"Adrien you will take Marinette down to meet Luciel. Then you will go to fitting to prepare for the upcoming fashion show."

They were then dismissed as he turned to some paperwork. The way down to the designing floor was long and awkward. Silence prevailed in the gilded elevator. She made a concerted effort to look everywhere except at the blond next to her.

Alya's words rang through her head. Was it really time for her to move on? The concept wasn't foreign to her. Obviously, she had done it before. She was blissful with Luka and not once did she think of Adrien like anything but a friend. A nagging part of her said that it had a lot to do with him also being in a relationship around the same time, but that was semantics.

So lost in her world she jumped when Adrien lightly touched her shoulder. That's when she noticed that she noticed that the elevator doors had opened. She shot him a timid smile not saying anything while following him to her destination.

He sort of gave her a tour of the floor with the promise that she'd love it there. The floor was filled with designers and their ideas. The fabric was haphazardly strewn over the place sometimes accompanied by manakin busts at the centre of the floor. Gabriel, the company, had evolved over the years from being just M. Agreste's designs and clothing to absorbing other smaller designers and attaching them to the brand.

There were 10 stations in all lining around the room. Large open spaces with people bustling in and out. It was her dream to be in an environment just like this, but it was hard to take it in with all the gawking. Marinette guessed it was because of the details of their presence.

M. Agreste had been a recluse since his wife died and he preferred to work at home. Then roughly 2 years ago he just left the manor and returned to his office, once a month that is. However, he had already been to the company for the month no one was expecting him to come, especially with his son and his friend. They may be wondering why she was there.

They stopped by a green-haired man talking rapidly with a woman about cloth. He was about the same height as Adrien, meaning he towered over her by almost a foot. He had soulful grey eyes and long blond hair tied back in a ponytail. He wore a simple white shirt with a popped-up collar and rolled up sleeves showing off his strong forearms, a suit vest, and tight pants. The hand he was using to point at the paper in the other woman's hand had on a fingerless glove.

"Wouldn't organza work better than georgette for that design?" she said eying his mini skirt design. it was part of a bigger design to accent the top which was a magnificent piece of embroidery and lace that radiated a soft yet punishing sex appeal.

"But organza would be too flowy and would not be able to withstand any heavy hand embroidery that I plan to do."

"Then keep your georgette on top and then do your ruffled layers in organza. You'll still have that sheer look that you're going for and it won't need a cancan to hold it up."

He gave her an appreciative look from the corner if his eye while he thought it over. He quickly scribbled something on a paper and handed it off to the lady he was speaking to.

"Adrien, now who is this cutie?"

She blushed at his words, slightly preening by his compliment.

"Lucien, this is my friend Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Marinette, Lucien Anciel, the youngest designer with Gabriel."

Anciel? Was he somehow related to her friend Marc? They had similar looks except his eyes were silver to Marc's jade green and his hair wasn't as messy.

"Just friend? Does that mean this delectable girl is single?" he asked with a sinful smirk, grabbing her chin in his gloved hands. His eyes slid leisurely across her rapidly heated face as if he were slowly drinking her in. that was until Adrien slightly pulled her back with a smile too tight around the edges and eyes without its usual glow. Lucien just chuckled at this.

"Relax Adrien. I've just met her, although from what my cousin says, she's just wonderful, and she's Gabriel's little protegee. I don't want him to think I'm distracting her"

"Protegee? I think you're confused. I'm just an intern."

He chuckled at her correction, as if he knew something that she didn't.

"Adrien you can leave her here with me, we're just going to have some fun. Right Marinette?"

She nodded enthusiastically, already feeling the room get to her. She tossed a quick reassuring smile Adrien's direction and he returned a small one to her before heading to the elevator with hesitation.

She spent the next 2 hours with him. Lucien was funny and flirtatious and so easy to get along with. He explained to her that she really wasn't an intern, at least not in the traditional sense. Interns were usually with the seamstresses and the tailors, the fabric makers or just getting coffees for the designers, not learning haute couture sewing tips and techniques from the master himself. She was even assisting him in creating that skirt design she advised on earlier.

It would have continued like that if it weren't for the akuma.

Yes, Hawkmoth disappeared roughly 2 years ago. However, akumatizations still occurred. Without Hawkmoth to control them, they were free to do fulfilled their desires without having to first get the Miraculous. This made them more dangerous.

Today's akuma was Lie Detector. Lame name, but still powerful. His power was finding liars and bringing them to himself for punishment with the paper in his hand. His target was Lila Rossi who was actually in the Gabrielle building. While everyone was in a panic Marinette snuck out and transformed meeting up with Chat Noir on the roof. Within 20 minutes the battle was done.

"MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"

As the ladybugs faded away, Ladybug made her way to the man on the ground. He was older than her and scruffy looking.

"Call the police, I deserve it."

"Hey, you're overreacting. You can't help that you were akumatized. You just need to learn to control your negative emotions. Whatever you did that caused you to want to attack Lila is not worth it" she said as she rubbed his back. Chat Noir stared at him with something close to vague recognition.

"It is. And she should go to jail too. After all," he gave a sarcastic smile, "She's the one that paid me to attack Adrien Agreste."