When Nino opened his front door to the sensible knocking, he was looking unsurprisingly dishevelled, but his surprise shone through.

'Dude, what are you doing here?' He asked, throwing a glance around behind him as if half expecting to see a SWAT team chasing the tousled blonde before him.

'Marinette's at work, and I made bread.' Adrien grinned, proffing the basket he held a little higher. 'Not to brag, but I think it's literally the greatest bread ever made in the history of bread. So you have to try it.'

Nino stood aside to let him in, his eyes wide.

It had been so, so long since he had seen Adrien with such a bounce to his step, or such a broad smile to his lips, that Nino half felt a lump in his throat.

'I see you've been having a good time at Marinettes, is her place alright for the two of you?' He said instead.

'Absolutely. She's the kindest, most generous person I know.' Adrien set the basket down on the table with a blush creeping over his cheeks. 'I don't know what I would have done without her.'

Nino didn't miss the blush at all, but flopped down onto his couch anyway. 'Dude, I'm sure there are plenty of cardboard boxes that would take you,' he laughed. 'But seriously, I'm glad you're staying with someone to keep an eye on you.'

'You're the one that suggested that,' Adrien pointed out. 'Sorry for blowing up your phone while you were busy.'

'Dude, seriously. You were in trouble, and you needed advice from the highest authority you know.'

Adrien smiled at him. 'Only the highest would do. Do you have a breadknife?'

'It's in the second drawer down, Alya keeps everything there.' Nino turned to hook his elbows over the back of the couch to look at him. 'Are you sure you're alright staying at Marinette's? I mean, sure, Alya and I are a bit crammed in here what with the spare room being soundproofed for my magic ways, but the couch isn't so bad,'

'I can't believe you DJ at work, and then come home for more DJing.' Adrien laughed. 'When I get home I don't even want to look a camera in the face. My bathroom mirror just makes me tired with one glance.'

Nino looked at him with sad eyes. '...what about now?'

'Well, my days are free while I'm playing hooky I suppose,' Adrien set the two plates down that he was holding. 'I'm not really sure after that.'

'It's still pretty fresh, I suppose.' Nino watched as Adrien settled the two slices thoughtfully on the plates. 'I'm pretty sure by now Nathalie will have made my excuses for the short term. I kinda feel bad for how much I'm putting onto her as I disappeared.'

'Do they know where you are?'

'No, I'm surprised they haven't called the police. Marinette mentioned that Nathalie had said that he wants to keep it in the family though.' Adrien shook his head.

'What do you mean, have Marinette and Nathalie been talking?' Nino frowned.

'Nathalie came by to Marinette's apartment this morning looking for me. I managed to hide, but...' Adrien trailed off. 'She implied they might have been following my phone.'

Nino blinked. 'Don't tell me you have it on you!'

'Of course not, I left it back at Marinette's.' Adrien held up the battery for inspection.
Nino shook his head. 'I can't believe it. I got a phone call from her pretty soon after you disappeared, but I wasn't there to pick up. Not that I'd want to,'

Adrien flopped down onto the couch next to him, and offered him a plate of bread and jam. 'What do you think I should do, oh highest power I know?'

Nino took the plate gratefully. 'My dude, I think that's a bit up to you. Do you want to go back to the mansion?'

Adrien stared at his own bread. '...I don't think so.'

'I mean, you're a grown adult now. You don't have to if you don't want to.' Nino shrugged slightly. 'It's not like back when we were teenagers.'

'That's true...'

Nino took a bite. 'I mean, Marinette, Alya and I can all help you find a place if you need-oh damn, dude, never move out you gotta take over the Dupain-Cheng backery ASAP, this is freakin' awesome.' He elbowed him for good measure, cramming more bread into his mouth.

'I was pretty impressed, I always thought making bread was super hard.' Adrien grinned, a flush taking over his cheeks. 'Marinette's a really good teacher.'

Nino chewed for a moment, a delighted gleam in his eye.

'Man, Alya is going to hit the roof when she hears about this.'

'Why? I thought she was already in the loop about everything?'

Nino shook his head. 'Nevermind. Seriously though, are you and Marinette roommates now?' He laughed. 'Oh my god they were roommates...'

'Well, maybe? She's given me an open invitaiton, and did you know she has a pull-out couch?'

'Uh, yeah, I've stayed on it before. ' Nino looked at him. 'Oh yeah, you might not've known that because of your curfew. Having it pulled out takes up a lot of space in that tiny little main room, so she tends to keep it put away until it's time for sleep.'

'She said she'd have a key made for me at lunch, I'll have to pay her back from it.'

Nino blinked at him. 'Oh my dude,' he breathed. 'I hope you're picking up what she's dropping.'

Adrien frowned at him. 'What? What do you mean? She hasn't even made it yet,'

Nino puffed out his cheeks, taking a moment to think. 'Alya'd kill me if I said, so you definitely can't tell her,' he looked at him intently, 'but you do know how she feels about you, right?'

'Well,' Adrien's eyes fell to his bread, a little flushed. He struggled with words for a moment, before hunching over his bread, and almost wheezed, 'but she's so fantastically out of my league!'

Nino rubbed his back soothingly. 'I know, I know, just let it out.'

'Did you know she's working full time on top of her internship?' Adrien managed.

'And yet she still finds time to support us? Her friends? All of us? And she helps out at her parents bakery sometimes still? And-' and she's Ladybug as well?

'Yep, Marinette stretches the definition of 'awesome', alright.' Nino grinned. 'I'm glad you finally noticed.'

'I mean when she offered that key to me this morning I could have,'

'Kissed her?' Nino teased, but Adrien flushed red.

'Why am I losing it so bad now, Nino?' He asked a little shakily. 'I mean I've had all weekend around her, and, and she's been so awesome about everything, but now,'
'Dude, I know exactly what you're going through. Don't forget, back when we were teenagers, I could hardly speak two words to her, before I landed the love of my life.' Nino stuffed the last of his slice into his mouth. 'It's probably because you're away from it all, so you can let it sink in.'

'And she protected me this morning, even though she could have gotten in so much trouble,'

'It's lucky her internship isn't at Gabriel with your Dad, so he can't threaten her job.' Nino pointed out.

'She's with Renée Couture, isn't she?' Adrien confirmed, and at Nino's nod he let out a breath. 'I knew, but I wanted to be sure. They're a leading competitor, Renée herself is almost as scary as Father.'

'There's no way she'd let him push anyone at her company around, so Marinette's safe.' NIno confirmed. 'But what about you? What are you going to do about her?'

Adrien blinked at him. 'I don't want to do anything to her, she can work wherever she likes.'

'No, no, no,' Nino flapped at him. 'Are you going to ask her out?'

Adrien looked, and felt, like a tomato. He took a breath. 'She said I should figure things out before I do anything else.'

Nino stuck out his jaw thoughtfully. 'Well, I think that might be wise. You don't want to get distracted from sorting your life out,' he pulled a face, 'but I gotta say. Your face when you walked through my front door,' he grinned, 'I think you're doing the right thing, whatever it is.'

Adrien stood, suddenly shy. 'You think?' He gestured to take Nino's plate.

'Yeah I think,' Nino grinned, handing it to him. 'As l see it, I think you need to sit down and figure out what you want. From there, if you need us, any of us three can help you.'

Nino watched as Adrien returned to the table to cut another slice each of bread.

'Hey dude, I gotta ask, are you still wearing the same clothes from Friday?'

'I did a little shopping this morning before I came over.' Adrien admitted, a little shamefaced. 'Before that, yeah. I did go out Saturday for a toothbrush and stuff though.'

'Kudos.' Nino grinned. 'Must've been hell for you, mr model.'

Adrien shrugged. 'I wasn't really thinking about it, at the time. I did realize it this morning and felt pretty gross though.'

'So that means your Dad hasn't cut you off,' Nino pointed out.

Adrien paused, halfway through the loaf.

'I hadn't even thought of that,' he said.

'I'll bet he doesn't think of it either,' Nino pointed out. 'He's never been a cheapskate about you being generous whenever we were together, his thing was just being a cheapskate with your time. Plus, you've never done outrageous stuff like buying sports cars and holidays.'

'I'm not Chloé,' Adrien laughed. Then froze. 'Oh crap, Chloé's probably worried sick,'

Nino snorted, but covered it with a cough. Even in their twenties, they still hadn't gotten along.

'If you want, you can borrow my phone,' Nino pointed out. 'I think I still have Chloés number, if she hasn't changed it since her last "reply-all" public dumping.'

'Would you mind?' Adrien implored, and Nino picked up his phone from the arm of the couch.

'Though I have to admit, that message chain was very enlightening about that guy,' Nino said thoughtfully. 'What was that creep's again?'

'Anthony,' Adrien replied, taking the phone from him. 'He was a Spanish surf instructor; they met while she was on holiday there.'

'I'm not surprised Chloé tore him to shreds,' Nino grinned. 'Chloé? The nicest thing I can say about her is that she's strong willed, not some wilting flower that he was talking about. I'm shocked he wasn't eaten alive.'

'He was, in a way,' Adrien smiled firmly. 'I doubt he'll be coming back to France any time soon.' His eyes were on Nino's phone as he typed.

'Is she with anyone now? Her instagram's mostly around Paris at the moment, I think.'

'As far as I know she's sworn off men. She insists it's forever, she said she wants to be like Meriyl Streep from Devil Wears Prada.'

'So like, her mom?' Nino pointed out.

Adrien glanced up at him. 'If you say that to her, it's your funeral.' He grinned. 'I'd be honoured to do your eulogy.'

'Oh yeah, her. Chloé hasn't seen her since she left for New York.' Nino shook his head. 'What is it with fashion and being a bad parent?'