This is my first MLB fic (first fic ever posted on this site) and I hope you enjoy!

No miraculous, coffee-shop, aged-up AU :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug

Adrien was the scum of the Earth. A no-good tomcat. A poor excuse for a gentleman.

Those phrases filled his head as he forced himself to pay attention to his blind date and not on the most beautiful woman he's ever seen in his entire life pouring his damn coffee.

His father had arranged this whole thing with the daughter of his mutual friend, believing that a successful relationship between the two of them could be good for the Agreste brand. Adrien, naturally, thought that was stupid, but he didn't have much say in the matter.

It didn't matter that he'd moved out from that cold mansion months ago, choosing instead to take his chances with a random DJ with a room to spare. Luckily, Nino Lahiffe turned out to be the best friend and roommate he could have ever asked for, and Adrien rarely had to interact with his father.

Until he, apparently, decided to set his son up on advantageous blind dates.

Adrien had gone on a few dates in the past, sure, but none that panned out all that well. Most times, he realized the women were only in it for his looks or his last name, and there was rarely a second date. But still, he knew how to act on a date.

He'd sworn to himself that Kagami Tsurgi would meet a gentleman tonight, regardless of how they'd been brought together. And who knew—maybe they'd actually hit it off.

Now he was just a man who couldn't keep his eyes off the waitress.

The café was one he knew well. He went there practically every Monday with Nino for coffee and croissants in between classes, but he'd never seen her before. It was a Saturday, so maybe she never worked on Mondays, but the shock of her raven hair and bright blue eyes sent the air out of his lungs.

He knew he'd looked like an idiot. Stuck in the doorway of a tiny Parisian café, finally understanding the phrase "love at first sight." She was a vision in a white button up tucked into a pink skirt that reached her calves, a tiny white apron cinched at her waist decorated with little ladybugs. Her raven hair was pulled back in two short pigtails, tied off with pink ribbons to match her skirt. She was laughing at one of her tables, freckles mixing with the pink that dusted across her cheeks, and he was a goner.

He would have stood there for an eternity. Instead, someone cleared their throat behind him, and he faced Kagami—his date. His date. The person he should be giving his entire attention to, the person he should care to learn more about.

A hostess popped up, a short girl also decked out in pink with a blonde bob, grinning at the two of them. Adrien dimly remembered her from his Monday visits with Nino—Rose. She led them to a table by the window, dropped off their menus, and insisted their waitress would be right with them.

And, of course, it was her.

Somehow, her voice was just as nice as the rest of her. Well, it probably was. Adrien pretty much stopped functioning the moment she opened her mouth, until Kagami prompted him and he ordered a coffee in a voice that was only a little hoarse. With a sunny smile and the nod of her head, the pink angel disappeared.

Somehow, Adrien would get through this with his integrity in tact, even if he'd lost all sense of respect for himself.. He would be respectful; he would be a good date. He couldn't care less about his father's opinion, but he owed it to Kagami to try.

He learned that she was a brilliant fencer—something they had in common. She was sharp-tongued, honest to a fault, and incredibly straight-forward. Adrien was used to people in their social circle dancing around questions, artfully crafting responses to persuade or manipulate. In that regard, Kagami was a breath of fresh air—a very blunt breath of fresh air, but still, fresh nonetheless.

Which made him feel even worse, because he couldn't seem to keep his gaze from straying to the freckled beauty behind the barista counter, chatting amicably with her co-workers and swaying on her feet to the soft music coming from the speakers. It was enchanting and distracting and making Adrien question his sanity.

"Adrien?" Kagami said. Adrien whipped his head back to her, knowing full well his cheeks were flushed beyond belief. Hopefully she'd blame it on anything but the obvious. "Did you hear me?"

"I'm sorry, Kagami, what did you say?" Adrien smiled his most polite model-smile. It appeased Kagami slightly, since her lips turned up at the corners. He wasn't sure if she'd given him a full smile since they'd sat down, so he considered it a win.

"I was just telling you about my boyfriend."

"Hmm, nice," Adrien replied. He was so focused on making sure his gaze did not stray for even a millisecond that the words registered a few seconds too late. "Wait, what?"

Kagami laughed lightly, surprising him. "I think you two would really get along. He's the lead guitarist of this local band, Kitty Section. Maybe you've heard of them?"

He had, actually, and had attended their latest underground concert with Nino. Adrien had been surprised they didn't have a larger following. But he was still stuck on the whole I have a boyfriend but we're on a blind date thing. "But—"

"Mother insisted I attend this date because she does not know about Luka. She would never approve," Kagami sighed, taking a moment to sip her coffee. "I thought mentioning him would put you at ease around Marinette."

"Huh?" Adrien had lost the ability to form complete sentences. Playing dumb was an option, but he'd clocked the waitress's name-tag from the moment he saw her. There was no one else she could have been talking about anyways.

"Marinette? The woman you haven't been able to keep your eyes off of since we walked in?" Kagami said with a knowing smile. Adrien's face burned bright red and he started to rattle off every apology he could think of before she cut him off. "Do not be sorry for your feelings. I walked into this date hoping to leave with a nothing but a new friend. Is that satisfactory for you?"

Adrien nodded his head fervently. "Yes, that is satisfactory with me. Yep. But it doesn't excuse the fact that I didn't know about Luka and—"

"And yet here we are," Kagami cut him off again. "I am happily taken, and you have a waitress to woo. I will send you the details for the next Kitty Section concert and you can meet the band, if you'd like."

It was all Adrien could do to nod so sharply that his neck ached as Kagami stood up, pulling on her coat with a half-smile. "And Adrien?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't leave without asking her out." And with that, the fantastic, much-too-good-for-him Kagami Tsurgi left the Ladybug Café behind.

Adrien didn't know how to feel.

Guilty? Of course. Sure, Kagami turned out to have a boyfriend, but Adrien hadn't known that when he'd been so thoroughly distracted by Marinette.

Nervous? Considering that Marinette was on her way to his table right now, her smile not quite as bright as it was earlier? Definitely.

"Would you like the check, monsieur?" She asked, casting a glance at the empty chair across from him before softening her smile. Because she felt bad for him. Because it looked like his date walked out on him before he even got the check.

So, like the idiot he was, Adrien opened his mouth. "She has a boyfriend."

"Oh," Marinette said. She swayed on her feet, but it wasn't because of the music anymore. She seemed stuck between hanging around and leaving to fetch his check. Suddenly, her curiosity seemed to get the better of her and she threw waitress etiquette to the wind. "So it wasn't a date."

"It was." Adrien wanted to slam his head on the table out of frustration with himself, but he restrained himself. Barely. Marinette's pretty face screwed up in confusion as she tried to figure out what he was saying. "It was, uh, a blind date. Set up by our parents. And her mom doesn't know about her boyfriend."

Now that he said it aloud, he felt even more ridiculous. He was twenty years old, admitting to a blind date set up by his dad? One where the girl showed up even though she was in a? At least the confusion fell away from Marinette's face.

Instead, she started giggling. She was literally trying to kill him.

She covered her mouth with a blush, making the freckles dotting her cheeks to stand out even more. "Sorry, I'm being unprofessional, it's just… that's the first time I've ever heard of that happening."

Adrien laughed too, if only to release some of his nervous energy. He was talking and she was talking back and it wasn't a complete dumpster fire.

But, because he is the embodiment of bad luck, it was bound to go wrong.

Which was what happened when he opened his mouth again without thinking. "She caught me staring at you so figured I wouldn't feel as bad if I knew it wasn't a real date."

The words were out there and there was nothing he could do about it. They stared at each other, blinking, as both their faces turned as red as the ladybug sign out front. He couldn't believe Nino even let him out of the apartment anymore if this was how he went about speaking.

He knew he stopped functioning as well around pretty girls, but come on Agreste, this was a whole new embarrassing level. He would sprint out the door if he had already paid his check. Which he had not. Which meant he was stuck.

Marinette was still staring at him, arms slack at her sides. "Oh," she said, her blush fading to a fainter pink as she chewed on her lip in thought.

"I just mean that you're beautiful." Worse. "Not that I was checking you out or anything creepy." Yes you were. "I should probably stop talking."

Her blue eyes were blown wide as she looked down at him. They were stuck maintaining eye contact as Adrien's face slowly transitioned from lightly flushed to resembling a scary tomato. Marinette chewed on her lip and offered him a tentative smile, like a ray of sunshine poking out from behind the clouds. "Thank you? I'll be right back with your check." She turned swiftly on her heels and walked away.

This time, Adrien did let himself fall forward onto the table, his forehead hitting the wood with a satisfying thud.

No good tomcat, through and through.

It only took a few minutes for her to return, sliding the check to rest beside his head. He turned to the side, too embarrassed to care how about how ridiculous he looked, to find her shyly smiling at her. She tugged on one of her pigtails and watched him with curious eyes.

Adrien realized too late that she wanted him to pay right now and he sat up quickly, shoving his debit card on the check and pushing it toward her without opening the book. Marinette sighed, frowning, and didn't take the check.

"Aren't you going to look at it?" She asked, slightly put-out.

Honestly, Adrien wanted to run for the hills. The faster he paid the faster he could scream into his pillow. "I trust you got our order correct."

Marinette's frown deepened—how did she look just as pretty frowning as she did smiling—but took the check anyway. Adrien readied himself for a quick escape, pulling on his coat and wrapping his scarf loosely around his neck. Sure enough, Marinette returned in a moment, handing him the checkbook with his card inside.

Unless he was mistaken, there was a sly sort of mirth in her eyes. She was smiling like there was some secret joke she hadn't shared with him yet. "Just sign, monsieur, and then you can be on your way."

Adrien nodded quickly, opening the checkbook, grabbing his card, and lifting her pen to sign his name right where—

Her number. For the twentieth time in the past hour, he lost his breath. A string of numbers, most definitely a phone number, staring him right in the face. No way was he that lucky. He looked at her again, and her sly look had been replaced by a grin. "Any problems?"

Adrien cleared his throat, mind whirling with the change of events.

She didn't think he was creepy. She didn't think he was scum of the Earth. Marinette, the beautiful waitress, wanted him to have her phone number. Reverently, he pulled his phone out and added her number, along with her name, before signing his name on the dotted line.

He met her gaze one last time, melting into her sky-blue eyes. "I look forward to hearing from you." She winked as she took the check from his hands, disappearing into the back kitchen.

Adrien didn't bother waiting until he walked out the door before sending her a text.