"Look, you said apartment 454. You said the key was under the mat. I went to apartment 454. There was a key under the mat. What was I supposed to do?"
"You didn't question it at all? His apartment is-"
"Atrocious! I know!" Marinette groaned, throwing herself back onto Alya's couch and collapsing against the princeton orange pillows. "At least your decor isn't tasteless." Marinette glanced around Alya's apartment, taking it all in once more. Alya and Nino had certainly done a much better job of decorating their apartment than their neighbor. Though Marinette wasn't as in love with the color orange as Alya was, her friend's usual color coordination was offset with accents of crocodile green- Nino's touch, she assumed- which really pulled the space together. It reminded her of oranges and leaves, something that appealed to her far more than the foxes that Alya had fallen in love with in lyceé. Though Alya loved foxes, she certainly didn't love them as much as her neighbor loved cats; She'd settled on a fox painting in the living room and a couple plush foxes and left it at that, something that Marinette appreciated after being in the apartment across the hall. "He was- he was-"
"So hot?" Alya finished with a grin.
"Yes!" Marinette yelled, throwing her arms above her head in frustration. "Why are the hot guys always snake wranglers and cat hoarders?"
"To be fair, Luka isn't really a snake wrangler. He just has a pet snake. And Adrien only has one actual, living cat. I don't think cat decor makes him a hoarder."
"It totally does. And yeah, maybe it was a pet but it was still a snake that he carried around in his pocket without telling me!
"Okay..but you have to admit it was really funny when you found out."
"I stuck my hand in his pocket to be cute and ended up with a snake wrapped around my hand. It was absolutely terrifying."
"But still absolutely funny." Alya opened the fridge and called over her shoulder. "You want anything?"
"I'm good." Marinette blushed, hiding her face in the pillows. "Adrien offered me a drink."
"Ooh now you're talking. He seem interested?"
"Alya- I was a stranger in his apartment. Any interest he had in me was more of a 'who are you and why are you in my apartment' and less of a 'who are you and can I take you on a date this weekend'. I have officially ruined any chance I could have had and it's all your fault for telling me the wrong apartment number." Marinette half heartedly sobbed into the pillow in front of her face and Alya defended herself.
"I haven't lived here that long and it was loud on my end! I could barely hear you. And besides," Alya hedged as she poured herself a drink and crossed into the living room. "He didn't seem to mind."
"He minded a scarily little amount. Where is the self preservation? The security? I was a stranger in his house and he was worried about his cat!"
"Well, If what Nino says is true, Plagg is super important to Adrien. Like the last thing he has of his family, I think. So can you blame him? You know who he is, don't you?"
"Adrien…?"
"Adrien Agreste. Gabriel Agreste's only son?" Ring a bell?"
"Gabriel-" Marinette's mind instantly connected the pieces. Her former fashion icon, his wife's disappearance, his conviction of her murder- "Obviously I didn't know who he was! This is a disaster! Oh my god. He- he looks so different! His hair is all shaggy and long and he was wearing-" Marinette shuttered at the thought. "Knock offs."
"I'll leave you to process." Alya laughed, patting Marinette's shoulder. "There's cake in the fridge whenever you come to terms with your actions. Not as good as your parent's stuff, but I'm sure you're gonna need some comfort food."
"I will never live this down. I insulted his decor, Alya. I insulted Adrien Agreste- to his face! His beautiful, cat-obsessed face!"
———
"She insulted me to my face, Plagg." Adrien sighed, looking up at his cat with a small grin. Plagg, who was used to his owner's antics, ignored the human lying on the floor and began to bat around one of his toys as his owner swooned. "It's so nice to hear people talk to me like a friend. Even if it wasn't really meant for me."
"Meow." Plagg answered, already bored with his toy and his owner's voice.
"I like her." Adrien rolled over onto his stomach and reached up to pet Plagg on the top of his head. "And I bet I can get her to like you too, if you'll be on your best behavior."
"Meow." Plagg flopped over onto his belly and Adrien happily answered his request for belly rubs.
"You're always on your best behavior, aren't you?" Adrien cooed, choosing to momentarily forget all the times Plagg had broken into the fridge in search of a snack or knocked all of Adrien's things off the counters or coughed up hairballs in his bed or-
"Meow."
"Yeah. You're a good boy, Plagg. A very good boy."