A/N

2,161 words

This is literally the longest chapter I've written in my life. And it only took me a year and a half, lol.

Will the next chapter take just as long? I hope not.

I have lots of ideas on what I wanna do with this story and i can't wait for you guys to read them.

Thank you to cyiusblack for once again reminding me to update soon.

Also, I'm posting this literally the night before a major test so please wish me luck and pray that I don't fail.

"Well," said Marinette as she held up two dresses in front of Hugo. "Which way are we going?"

The almost four-year-old intently examined both outfits. The first dress was orange with leopard prints whilst the second dress was black and full of sparkles. "This one," Hugo said pointing towards the black dress. "It's pretty and super shiny."

"Alrighty then," Marinette placed the orange dress back into her closet. "The black pretty shiny dress it is!"

Hugo ecstatically jumped up and down at the fact that his mother decided to wear his choice for tonight. The young designer giggled at her son's excitement before sending him off to pack his toys and change into his pajamas so that she could take him to grandma and grandpa's house.

Whilst Hugo was busy packing up, Marinette began applying her makeup. She wondered if she would get to see Adrien again. Her mind then wandered off to what the former model had confessed to her yesterday as well as what Alya had said. As much as Marinette wanted to give her relationship with Adrien a second chance, her life was no longer just about her. Numerous What ifs ran through her head. What if Adrien doesn't like kids or he likes kids but just doesn't like Hugo? What if he likes Hugo but Hugo doesn't like him? What if Hugo gets attached to him but the girl that he left Marinette for comes back and he leaves them for her? Marinette's happiness forever lies in Hugo's happiness, and she would never forgive herself if Hugo got hurt because of her selfishness.

Noise. All Adrien heard at this point was noise. This meeting was supposed to last an hour but thanks to his bad luck, it had been two and a half hours, yet the meeting was nowhere near its end. The former model knew that one of the board members was talking about something important, but he could not bring himself to pay attention to what it was. All he could think about was that he would miss his best friend's party if this didn't finish soon. "What do you think Mr. Agreste?" asked the board member, disturbing the young man's thoughts. Just as Adrien opened his mouth to answer, the fire alarm suddenly began blaring. His bodyguard opened the door and immediately gestured for everyone to leave the room.

"What's going on?" asked Adrien, hoping that there was some kind of mistake and that it wasn't anything serious.

"Don't worry about it," whispered Nathalie. "Go quickly or else you're gonna be late for Nino's party."

Adrien looked perplexed until Nathalie winked and jerked her head in the direction of Gorilla who gave him a smile and a thumbs up. He smiled and ran out the door, thanking Nathalie and his bodyguard on the way out. He knew he wouldn't make it home in time to change so he drove directly to Nino and Alya's apartment as he and Nino had planned the previous day.

"Dude, why are you in a suit?" asked Nino as he let his best friend in.

"My meeting ran over, and I didn't have time to change."

"No, no, no, there is no way you're gonna try and impress Marinette looking like that," Alya shook her head.

"Babe we already late, there's nothing much we can do at this point."

"Nope," said Alya as she scanned Adrien from head to toe. "I can fix this."

Alya instructed Nino to take Adrien into the room and give his best friend a pair of jeans. Obeying his future wife, he handed Adrien the clothing item and left the room so that the former model could change. Alya knocked on the door two minutes later, making sure that he was decent before coming in. He took out his tie and opened his collar button before rolling up his sleeves. "So, how do I look?" he asked.

"Just one small thing" answered Alya looking at his slicked back hairstyle. She ran her fingers through his hair, loosening the strands to recreate the shaggy hair that he had back in high school. "Now it's perfect!"

Fifteen minutes later, the trio arrived at Nino's club. As they walked towards the entrance, Adrien started to get a little nervous. He was going to be meeting his friends after four years. No matter how much he wanted to keep in touch with everyone, taking care of the company left almost no time to do so. He couldn't help but wonder what everyone's reaction would be when they saw him. Would they be happy to see him or angry at the fact that he never contacted any of them? Would they see him as their old classmate or as the son of the man who wreaked havoc all over Paris? Would he be able to win them back if they thought negatively about him?

Nino turned to see his best friend staring at the ground with a doubtful expression. He immediately swung his arm around Adrien's shoulder just as he'd done in the past. "Don't worry too much dude," Nino reassured. "Everyone is gonna be absolutely stoked to see you."

Adrien smiled at his best friend. He felt really lucky to have Nino in his life. With a boost in confidence, the former model entered the club with Nino and Alya.

"Hey guys, check it out! Adrien's here too!" Kim shouted upon spotting the trio.

"ADRIEN!" the entire gang exclaimed at once.

"It's good to see you," said Ivan as he squeezed the blonde boy in a tight hug.

"Ivan, put the poor guy down before he suffocates to death," Mylene instructed her husband to which he complied.

"It's no problem Mylene, really," said Adrien with a chuckle before greeting the rest of the gang.

"It's really nice of you to finally take some time off Adrien," Rose smiled. "We really missed having you around."

"About time you left the horrible looking office. Your lack of a social life had become ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." Chloe commented as she sipped on her cocktail.

"I'm really happy to see all of you too," the former model said. He looked around to see almost all of his former classmates present however the one that he'd been longing to meet again was nowhere in sight. Adrien glance around to see if he could spot her at the bar or perhaps on the dance floor but was unsuccessful.

"She isn't here yet," Alix said with a mischievous smirk as she handed him a beer.

"I'm not looking for Marinette," replied Adrien before taking a sip from the bottle.

"I didn't say you were."

"Oh" Adrien chuckled, nervously reaching for the back of his neck.

"What happened between you two anyway?" asked Alix.

"Huh?"

"Come on, you guys were head over heels for each other. Everyone thought that you guys were gonna get married and everything. I still don't understand what happened between you two and why you guys ended like that," Alix confessed.

"Ended what?" asked a well-known voice. Adrien smiled as he instantly turned around to see Marinette standing behind him.

As always, Adrien was completely awestruck at how absolutely breath-taking she looked. Effortless beauty was the term that came to his mind as Marinette stood there in a simple shimmery black spaghetti strap dress, matching heels, silver hoop earrings and a messy bun. Alya tackled Marinette in a hug, giving the former model a few seconds to gather himself. Despite having regained his composure, he could not stop admiring his ex-girlfriend's beauty.

"Might wanna wipe that drool off your face," whispered Alix, bringing Adrien out of his stupor.

"Wow M, you look super gorgeous," complimented Alya

"Thanks Alya," the young designer smiled. "Hugo picked it out."

"Hugo has definitely gotten his fashion skills from his mother." Alya playfully nudged Marinette with her elbow.

"Yes, he did," Marinette let out a light chuckle.

Thanks to his modelling experience, Adrien was able to hide the slight jealousy that had washed over him. Why didn't he realize that Marinette had a life - a life that included guys that were less oblivious than him, and of course they would try to win over Marinette. She was a gorgeous and talented woman with an even more beautiful personality. How could anyone not fall for her? However, Adrien was not going to back down. He'd let her go once before and he was not going to let her go again.

"Hey Marinette," he greeted with a smile. "You look really beautiful tonight."

"Th-thanks Adrien," she stuttered.

He pretended not to notice her cheeks turn pink as she turned to talk to Alya.

The night turned out to be more of a success than Adrien had expected. For the first time in forever, he actually had a chance to enjoy himself and catch up with his friends. He was surprised at how so much had changed over the years yet at the same time so much remained the same. Chloe was still as bossy as she was during her teenage years, however she had become less arrogant and had clearly matured over the years. It was strange seeing her sitting and laughing with Marinette and Alya considering how much they hated each other when they were younger. He was even more surprised to hear that she was letting Nino and Alya have their wedding at her father's hotel for free as a gift from her side. As strange as it was, it was good to see that she'd become friends with the rest of his former classmates. Ivan and Mylene were still just as madly in love as they were in high school and were currently expecting baby number 3. Marc and Nathaniel's comics were still a huge hit, and they were currently in the midst of turn one of them into a movie with Juleka as their lead. He was happy to see that Juleka had finally come out of her shell and was living her dream as an actress.

He'd managed to catch up on the lives of all his classmates, except for Marinette. His eyes searched until they found her sitting on a sofa watching her friends dance. He walked over and took a seat next to her.

"So, are you having fun yet?" asked Marinette as she turned to him with a smile.

"Honestly, this is the most fun I've had in years" Adrien leaned back whilst returning the smile. "It feels so good to finally catch up with everyone. I can't believe so much has changed."

"Yeah, a lot has changed over the years" Marinette drifted into a deep thought for a second.

"What about you?" asked Adrien curiously.

"Me?"

"Yeah," he turned to face her. "What have you been up to over the years?"

"Oh, well, I-"

"MARINETTE!" Alya shouted as she ran over with Nino right behind her. "Come on, let's dance"

"Yeah, come on dude" Nino said patting Adrien on the shoulder.

The soon-to-be-wed couple pulled their respective best friends off the sofa and made their way to the dance floor.

A couple hours later, the party had come to an end, and it was time for everyone to go home. One by one, everyone left until only Adrien, Marinette, Alya and Nino were left at the club.

"Thanks for taking out the time to come to the party Adrien," Alya said with a smile.

"Yeah Dude, we really missed having you around," Nino added.

Adrien smiled at the couple. "I missed hanging out with you guys as well."

"Well, I guess we should go home and hit the hay," said Nino. "Don't you have that interview with the mayor tomorrow, babe?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that." Alya opened her phone to see what time she had to be in studio. "You're right, I have to be there at 8."

"You guys are still gonna drop me at home, right?" asked a concerned Marinette.

"OMG, I'm so sorry Marinette. It totally slipped my mind that we were gonna drop you off," Alya said with frown.

Marinette knew exactly what her best friend was up to and there was no way that she was gonna let Alya make her go home with Adrien. Not, when she still wasn't sure how she felt about him even though she knew how he felt about her.

"I could take you home if you'd like" Adrien instantly offered.

"It's okay, Adrien," Marinette hid her stress with a smile. "I don't want to bother you. I'll just take a taxi."

"I highly doubt you'll get a taxi at this hour and it wouldn't be a bother at all." reasoned the former model.

"Yeah, let Adrien take you home Marinette." Alya smirked.

Marinette refused once again explaining that she was actually going to her parents' house for the night and that it would be too much of an inconvenience for him, to which Adrien responded with "You could never be an inconvenience, Marinette.

"Okay fine," Marinette sighed in defeat. "You can take me home."

Okay, so I know not much really happens in this chapter but I kind of wanted Adrien to just enjoy himself and catch up with his friends. Also, I know y'all wanna know what happens with Adrienette on the way home and I did want to include it but I feel it would be better if it happened in the next chapter.

So, what do you guys think? Let me know in a review or PM. ;)