Adrien knew that what he was doing was wrong.

He didn't like when his dad called him and made plans with him only to ask for a favor, and here he was calling him to ask him if he was free today. He knew he probably would say no, so he was going to suggest passing by the office quickly, then he would say yes and Adrien's plan would end in success. Because the plan was all about going to the studios and see Marinette, without having to go to Marinette, it would all look casual and as a coincidence.

Last night Marinette had give Adrien, no, Chat, she had give answers to Chat Noir. She had open a part of her heart and shared feelings and memories with him, explaining a bit of what had happened to her, but not enough to figure it out the whole picture.

Adrien didn't want to see her to ask more questions or catch more clues, but he wanted to know if she was okay, because they hadn't crossed paths this morning. Adrien was a 110% percent sure that Marinette had changed her schedule to not meet Adrien at the stairs in the morning, or evening, or any other hour of the day.

In the middle of the second call, while the annoying beeping sound of the phone was making Adrien more and more anxious, a ring on his door made him hang.

He huffed, throwing the phone to the closest sofa. He made a sign to Plagg who was flying close to the refrigerator, at the sight of the sign, Plagg went to hide.

Adrien opened the door and his bad disposition went away

"No fucking way!" Adrien shouted. Well, it has been a while since he dropped the f-bomb but this situation deserved

"Yes fucking way!" Nino was in the front door laughing.

The friends leaned into a hug, both of them laughing.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were working on something new, and you were about to travel to that fancy festival!" Adrien said excited, making his way into his apartment, with Nino following

"I needed a change of airs, LA is not as funny as it was at the beginning, and let's be honest I have been homesick for years now. I'm gonna rent a studio here and do my thing" Nino sat on the couch and gave a sight to the living room "Nice room, dude"

"It is, isn't it?" Adrien said smiling.

"It has your vibe, which is why is so perfect for you, after years of extravagant things, kiddo finally gets what he wants, uh?" Nino smiled to him, and gave three pats on his shoulder

"Yeah, things have been nice" Adrien sighed. Almost everything was nice, there was still the Marinette problem, and of course, not a word or sight of his Lady.

"I thought you were going to be at work, good thing I gave it a shot"

"I don't give any class on Wednesdays" Adrien explained "Good thing because Tuesdays are a mess, I barely have time to catch my breath"

"I feel ya, last months have been exhausting. Let me tell ya about this whole PR stunt of my relationship" Nino said

"Oh yeah, Ashley is it?"

"Yeah, damn that girl is annoying" Nino put his hands on his head and pulled his hair "I don't know why I keep accepting this things, better said how my manager keeps convincing me to do this?"

"I don't know, I wonder that too" Adrien laughed "But she was nice, at least when I met her"

"She is nice, but she is clingy and I don't think she gets the whole point of a PR stunt" Nino sighed "Anyways no more ranting about my fake relationships when we can talk about yours"

"Mine? What are you talking about?"

"I'm joking… no maybe not, I was really hoping you were chasing after Marinette"

"Nino, she barely looks at me in the eye, and she is all awkward when I'm around"

"Sound like good old Mari to me" Nino laughed "Did you found out what was wrong with her?"

"She got in an accident, lost her memory; she didn't know who I was because of that, and apparently she is very impulsive now and she had a bad feeling about me or something like that. She is designing a few jackets for me—oh yeah she works for my father, and well every time I try to talk to her she gets all nervous and sometimes she is mean.. is like our first year of school together but instead of her stuttering, she is mean to me"

"That sucks. But she is your neighbor, have you tried to talk to her when she is not at work or you have been too afraid to knock on her door?"

"You didn't see all her rage when we first met, I mean met again for the first time?" Adrien recalled the memory, still very vivid in his head "It was a completely different Marinette"

"Well, we all change and if she was in an accident that made her lost her memory, I wouldn't expect any less" Nino said but it didn't seem to have any effect on Adrien.

Marinette was still old Marinette and at the same time a new Marinette, he knew that as Chat. They had conversations on rooftops, at her window when he dropped her home, and when they had fought a few thefts together. All of those times helped him see how Marinette was and wasn't the girl he knew, all at the same time. But he didn't want to know that as Chat, he wanted to know that as Adrien.

"Oh, I see the problem" Nino giggled "Your "little" crush is back"

"Shut up" Adrien pushed him by his shoulder

"Adrien likes Marinette again" Nino singed "You are blushing! Oh, your crush is baaack"

"I said shut up" Adrien frowned but couldn't keep the serious face for long "If you saw her again you will be blushing too"

"I got Nath on Facebook, I know how she looks like"

"Oh" Adrien said surprised. So Nino knew that Marinette was dating their old classmate "Well, then you know she is still very pretty"

"You did not only like Marinette because she was pretty" Nino said

"I know, but right now my crush is only revolving around that, we barely talk" He lied, they had talked a lot, but he couldn't tell Nino that he was Chat Noir

"So you admit you have a crush? Interesting" The DJ laughed "I think you should try to speak to her, she is your neighbor and she works for your dad, is not like you don't know where to find her"

"I was thinking in passing by the offices and workshop today… In fact I was calling my dad!"

Adrien ran to the sofa where his phone was and saw on the screen two messages from his dad

DAD: Something wrong?

"Why does he always think something is wrong?" Adrien sighed and touched his forehead

"What do I know? Your old man's mind works in ways that I will never be able to understand"

"Yeah" Adrien nodded "I'm gonna call him again, want to come with me to the office?"

"Yeah, let's see if your father has finally accepted me" Nino grinned

"Hey, he is better now but let's not ask for miracles here" Adrien laughed and called his father.

"Adrien" He picked up really quickly which was surprising

"Hi, father. Are you busy?"

"Yeah, supervising the interns photo-shoot" He said

"You are what?" Adrien asked surprised. He never did that, he always called Nathalie for information

"Supervising the photo-shoot, you know how Vogue likes to show the three best of my interns in the December edition" Yeah, Adrien knew but it still didn't make sense him being there. He only went for longer than an hour if he really liked a designer's work.

"It's my free day, it would be okay if I go?" Adrien asked, something had clicked and he wasn't missing this opportunity

"It would be fantastic, Adrien, it's nice to hear you have a little bit of interest in my label." Gabriel said pleased "We are at Trocadero"

"Perfect, I'm bringingNinoiwillseeyouthere" He hanged

"Yeah, because talking fast makes things better" Nino shook his head in amusement

"I told him, if he didn't get it is his fault" Adrien laughed "C'mon, let's go see Mari"

"Do you think she remembers me?"

"Let's hope she doesn't"

"That's mean, dude"

Yeah, but if Nino was still in Marinette's memory, Adrien was not going to take it well.

...

Nino and Adrien made it to Trocadero. They joked around, catch up a bit on their lives, Adrien heard him rant more about his fake girlfriend and Nino teased Adrien with Marinette. It was like the old days all over again.

Both of them had lived in USA but while Nino lived in LA, Adrien was at the other side of the country in Cambridge. They were still best friends and saw each other more than any other friend but it was nice to know that they were going to be in the same city. The chances to hang out were multiplied by a thousand and that was something that the both of them needed.

Adrien still had his friends from college, who texted and called him once in a while, and he had gone for coffee the other day with Fleur and Greg, two old friends from the model gigs. But Nino still was the first person he called when something big happened and the best friend he wished was closer, and now he was.

They stopped talking only to answer to the security guards who didn't let them go closer to the tends that were obviously of the photoshoot. Adrien only had to show his ID for the guards to change their attitude and let them in.

Adrien saw his father and walked in that direction. He said hi to a photographer he knew and to a few of assistants of the company. Other people said hi to them, and freaked out because of Nino. One of the models came running with a napkin from the food table for him to sing, which made Adrien laugh. Nino hated to give me autographs, it was part of the job but he hate it as much as Adrien used to hate it.

The photographers were working with one of the boys Adrien had seen at the workspace a few weeks ago. He was tall and very skinny, his hair was long and curly and it was dyed in a bright red, which made him stand out more than needed.

The piece they were shooting was a long leather dress with touches of silver and gold, it gave the impression of a knight armor but delicate and light at the same time. Adrien knew that was really hard to do, leather didn't look delicate without any effort. And the model dressed it well too, that was important as well.

"Father!" Adrien exclaimed when they were closer

"Not now, Adrien" Was his reply.

Adrien frowned in confusion and stepped closer to understand what was going on. And there she was, the reason why he was there.

"Maybe I can sew the back of the jacket and—

"No, it will ruin the shape" Gabriel answered "Let me think"

"This is a nightmare" Marinette look like she was about to explode, her eyes were wide open and teary, she was biting her lips nervously and she curled her hands repeatedly

"What's wrong?" Adrien asked

"C'mon, let see the jacket again" Gabriel said to Marinette, both of them ignoring Adrien and leaving there standing

"Wow, I have never seen Mari so stressed before" Nino said.

"Yeah, me neither, if they could only tell me what's going on" He sighed

"Let's go with them, we'll get the information we need and you can start flirting" Nino said in a laugh.

But before they could start walking someone pushed them away

"Let me pass, let me pass" The girl ran and stopped in front of Marinette "Girl, I got your tea and my assistant is on his way to the fabric store, you just tell and we get you what you need"

"Is that…" Nino whispered, his eyes on the girl in front of Marinette

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked, and he was ignored once again but this time by his best friend. It was to expect, Nino never got over Alya and now there she was, in front of him after six years.

Nino started walking in the girls' direction; Adrien knew he was doing it without realizing it, because his eyes were only on the beautiful girl with the red hair styled in a cute ponytail that Adrien knew took long minutes and skilled hands to style.

"Mr. Agreste will come out with something, don't worry, Mari"

"I should come out with something, is my design" Marinette shouted back "I can't believe this is happening!"

"Try to take deep breathes, don't freak out and you will come out with something"

Nino and Adrien were beside the girls, but they were so involved in their own world that they didn't look at them.

Nino apparently was still in shock, because there was no way he could keep his mouth shout for so long and Adrien really wanted to know what was wrong with Marinette, so he spoke

"What's wrong with your designs?" He said, making the two girls turn their heads to him

And again they ignored him

"Nino?" Alya and Marinette said at the unison

So Marinette remembered Nino, great, just great. Why was him so forgettable?

"Hi-hi girls" Nino said and waved awkwardly

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in a festival" Alya said, her confidence irradiating from her voice as it always had but her eyes showed all the nervousness that was hidden inside her.

"I needed a break, new air, I'm back here in Paris… I thought you were travelling around Asia?" He said

"You keep tabs on me?" Alya lifted a brow and a quirky smile appeared on her lips

"Well what can I say? I enjoy good journalism" He answered smiling "And apparently you also keep tabs on me"

"I gotta stay informed, you know, to write good articles" Alya huffed

"Sure" Marinette whispered, surely it wasn't meant to be heard by anyone but Adrien did and laughed at it

"Oh, look at me being all rude" Alya said and opened her arms "Hello there, Agreste"

"Hello there, Césaire" He said back and found her in a hug "Hey you grew"

"Nah, Mari only lent me a pair of heels" Alya pointed at her shoes. Then something sparked in Alya's eyes and turned to Marinette "Need help?"

"No, I know the essentials" Marinette nodded "Hi, guys"

"Mari!" Nino exclaimed, finally acknowledging her "My boy told me about that "accident", so is there anything you need to ask? Because I'm all here for you girl"

Marinette laughed and Adrien felt betrayed. Why did she act so nicely around Nino? It wasn't fair.

"As I said to Alya, I know the essentials and if you stay around my memory will do the rest for me" She answered

"Cool" Nino hugged her by her shoulders and Marinette crossed an arm on his back "So what's the drama here?"

"Mari's stupid male model can't make it" Alya explained and leaned closer to Nino, which made Nino lean closer to her.

"You can't use any other model?" Nino asked

"They don't fit in the outfits or they are not the aesthetic Marinette is trying to portrait" Adrien answered, three pair of eyes looked at him surprised "I mean, I suppose is that… right?"

"Yeah, both of those things; your father said we could work out the aesthetic with one of Sébastien's models but they are too skinny for my designs and Marceline's models are too bulky" Marinette sighed "It's a mess"

"Can I see the designs?" Adrien asked "Maybe I can help, I haven't been around this world for a while but I did learn a lot as a teen"

Adrien was expecting for Marinette to reject the idea, but she nodded and guided him to her workspace inside of the tent. Adrien looked back to seek for Nino's support but he was too busy talking with Alya to remember him. But that was good too; it was nice to see Nino happy, especially if it was the true love kind of happiness; because that was what Alya was to him.

He focused once again on Marinette, which wasn't a hard thing to do. She looked stunning today, she was wearing maroon high waisted trousers and a white crop top with a turtle neck, her hair was in a fancy braid which made her look younger and her lips once again were covered in red lipstick.

Why is she so pretty?That was a question that Adrien would never be able to answer.

"So these are the jackets and the shirts, I have these black pants I designed and this green trousers, none of them fit perfectly, I can work with that, but the jackets are the problem because—

"Because of the tailoring" He finished "It's a time problem then… because you could fix this

"Yeah but the photoshoot is now and I need more time and more fabric if I want to do it right, I mean at the end is designing a completely new jacket"

Adrien took a closer look at the jackets, one of them being familiar.

"Is this one the jacket design you did for me?" He asked. The jacket was simple and yet unique, it was perfect for work and for the runway, and it made a guy look elegant and put together. He knew that's how the jacket was going to look like when she showed him the designs but now in a hanger it was so much more, it was absolutely perfect.

"Yeah… you don't mind, right? Because after all is my design and well your father liked it very much so he suggested to be on the photoshoot, and I accepted because I like it too, it's one of the best things I have done, obviously it had to be because it was for you and—" Marinette shouted her mouth. She was blushing and looking to the ground

Adrien couldn't be happier. Okay she did recognize Nino, that was sad, but now, right there, that was his old friend and that was something.

"It's fine, I love them" Adrien assure her "You made them based on my measures?"

"Yes, the design is your jacket…as I said" Marinette said low

In a swift move, Adrien took off his navy blue sweater and tossed it to the ground so he could take the jacket out of the hanger and put it on.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Marinette shouted scared

Adrien buttoned up the jacket and walked to the closest mirror. He smiled when he saw the jacket fitted him like a glove

"Don't I look handsome, Mari?" He winked at her and her cheeks turned a brighter red than they were.

"I-its looks good, I think" Marinette crossed her arms on her chest and rolled her eyes. "Take it off now, I don't want to mess it up"

"Yeah, you are right, better after makeup and hair" Adrien said and took the jacket off, handling it to Marinette

"What are you talking about?" Marinette asked confused but Adrien ignored her. She took Mari's hand and walked her to the end of the tent, where his father was making calls

"Dad" Adrien said

"I'm busy, Adrien, I need to find a model for Marinette" He said and turn the chair to not see him

He really likes her, he would never do this if he didn't really admired her.

"I found a model" Adrien said

"What?" Marinette asked and at the same time Gabriel stood up of his chair

"How did you found a model? One of your old friends is willing to take the job in such short notice?"

"Well, yeah—

"What if it doesn't fit with the measures we need, Adrien? Did you thought about—

"Father" Adrien cut "The jacket was designed for me, so I obviously fit. So, you got a model, Marinette can show her designs and you two don't have to pull your hair out"

Marinette and Gabriel opened their mouths in surprise

"You want to model?" Gabriel asked skeptical

"It's a beautiful jacket, I'm not gonna let anyone else wear it, I'm a jealous guy" Adrien said, no answer was gonna be enough for his father, so whatever, he was going to make a joke out of it.

Gabriel looked at his son, then at his hand holding Marinette's and finally to the designer's confused eyes.

"Alright, Marinette take him to makeup and let's get over with this"

...

Marinette couldn't believe what was happening.

She had treated Adrien so wrong and had been so awkward around him this whole time, and there he was, getting ready to shoot, and he was doing it for her. Were they really that close before? They had to be, because, according to Gabriel, his son hated to model or anything that was tied to the Agreste brand because his teaching job required a level of respect that, according to Adrien, vanished if he was a model. But now he was about do it, he walked in the middle of the set, smiling as the makeup artist ended his job (not that he needed much, the guy was practically perfect) not a sign of him hating what he was about to do.

She didn't remember a thing about Adrien, and she had been tempted multiple times to flip through her yearbooks or pictures, but at the same she knew it wouldn't work, it just never did, and she wasn't about to push herself for Adrien, no matter how much she wanted.

She had told Alya about the first encounter with Adrien, but Alya didn't said much about it, but after Marinette found out that they were friends, Alya did spoke, or at least as much as Marinette let her.

"Yes, we were all friends in school. He was new the same year as I was, he was really nice. He is Nino's best friend"

And then Marinette shut her up, if Adrien was Nino's best friend, then Alya knew a lot about him, and probably Marinette did too, and it was for the best if she started to remember without her help. The only person she had a lot of information, but still didn't quite remember, was Nino, because Alya talked about him in daily basics. She was still totally in love with her ex, no matter how many dates or how many times she had been in a relationship, it always ended in Nino, and Marinette had to hear all about him. It was worse when Alya founded an article about him, and one of his multiple girlfriends, then it was all madness, sadness and Alya saying "why am I doing this? I'm over him, nothing is gonna happen, we haven't spoke in years, this is ridiculous"

So by consequence, Marinette knew a lot about Nino. And now meeting him, he gave her a good feeling, and she reacted even better when she felt his emotions. Happiness, excitement and love,all those emotions, all directed to Alya. His emotions mixed with Alya's, that were almost the same, except Alya was more nervousness than anything else.

"Miss Marinette, we are ready!" Nathalie called her, and she ran to the shoot.

Adrien was leaning against one of the walls and looking at the camera with intensity. Marinette felt how her heart stopped, if that's how he looked in the adjusting frame, she was going to die in the next ones. No, don't think that, he is just a guy, a handsome guy, but nothing else, you have a boyfriend.

"Move to the left, the lighting is better" The photographer shouted, and Adrien obeyed, looking gorgeous as he did.

"Can you turn to your left side, and look up your shoulder? The back of the jacket will display that way too" Marinette said and Adrien winked in return, doing as she said.

The whole shoot, even in between change of clothes, Adrien's sight was on Marinette, making Marinette a ball of wrecking nerves. She had tried multiple times to call Alya, so she could be by her side and calm her down, but Alya was laughing and flirting with Nino, and she felt like a bad friend if she dared to interrupt, so she had to deal with it herself. But it was weird, Adrien was gorgeous, that was a reason to make her feel uncomfortable, but the bad feeling all over him didn't disappeared, she didn't know what to think about him. Besides, everything was bolder when he was around, that only had happened with three people before. An old man who had been in the bakery a few years ago, Adrien and finally Chat Noir; being more aware of the world was a good thing when she was fighting and protecting Paris, so she didn't complained when Chat was around, but when she was trying to relax and not feel like the world was shouting in her ear, Adrien didn't help at all, she couldn't do much since he was her neighbor, but today he had doubled the intensity of the feelings.

Adrien had her in alarm mode,the whole time,she was ready to jump at any word he could throw her, and he wasn't helping if he looked at her in the way he was.

"Okay, it's done! Prepare the girl!" The photographer shouted and Adrien was out of the set, walking to her. Marinette jumped and turned to the photographer, running away from him

"Can I see the pictures?"

"Of course"

He looked at the roll and was about to punch herself on the face, because she knew that if she punched Adrien, Gabriel was going to fire her, no matter how much he liked her. Adrien looked fantastic in every single picture, he made the clothes look elegant and desirable… he looked desirable. No, Marinette, no.

"Woah, I look a-zoom!" Adrien said, appearing behind them

"Did you try to make a photography pun?" Marinette asked and looked at him frowning

"What do you mean try? It was good!" Adrien laughed "A-zoom, awesome, they sound similar"

"No, they don't" Marinette shook her head but heard the photographer laugh. "It wasn't funny"

"C'mon, Mari" He smiled but Marinette didn't said a thing "At least don't look at me like you are about to shoot me" He grinned an Marinette squealed

"You saturate me"

"Was that a pun?!" Adrien asked in enthusiasm "I knew you had it inside you"

"Don't freak out, Agreste" She smirked and returned to the tent, with Adrien following her.

"Where are my clothes?" Adrien asked and Marinette pointed at one of the chairs "I really like your clothes, I feel bad taking them off"

"Thank you" Marinette said and then realized that it wasn't just for the compliment that she had to say thanks "Really, thank you, I don't know what I would have done without you here"

"Hey, it's no problem. What are friends for?" Marinette turned in surprise, and her sight crashed in to his intense eyes "I still care deeply about you, you just have to remember that you did too"

"Is not that easy" She whispered, the guilt was eating her out

"I know, I don't care, I will wait as much as you need" His smile was so sincere that it made the world stop. Sadly not the weird feelings that surrounded him.

Marinette really wanted to like Adrien, then why was there a wall in between them? Oh yeah, she had built that, but why? she couldn't understand it.

"Mari, girl!" Alya was back, and Marinette's focus went from Adrien's beautiful face to her best friend "I'm so glad everything worked out, I'm sorry Nino and I were catching up"

"Yeah, sorry, M" Nino put his hand behind his head and shook his hair "But hey, now that everything is fine and you have the rest of the day free, I think we all should go for lunch, like old times"

"I-I don't know, I still have to watch the shoot for my woman line" Marinette answered and gave a fast look to Adrien "And I was meeting Nath after that"

"He can come, c'mon, it's on me" Nino said

Marinette was about to refuse again but one look at Alya changed it all. Alya wanted to go, she was almost begging with her eyes for Marinette to say yes, because she wanted to go but not alone

"Alright, I'll tell him" Marinette nodded and heard a squeal from Alya, who draw her closer and gave her a bear hug

"Adrien you are in, right?" Alya asked

"Sure, like old times" Adrien gasped, he didn't sound that convinced.

Marinette understood the feeling perfectly. She didn't knew how old times were, but this was going to be everything but old times.