Chat Noir landed clumsily in an alleyway not far from the hotel he was staying in. Coughing, he put his hands on his knees and leaned against the grimy brick wall, reverting to his normal self. Plagg floated up next to him, beaming, but the expression on Adrien's face was nothing short of panic.

"What's the matter? Thought you'd be happier to have the ring back." Plagg asked, as Adrien swallowed deep lungfuls of the cold winter air to catch his breath.

"What the hell have I done?" Adrien muttered, mostly to himself. Plagg tilted his head to one side and frowned.

"You stood up for yourself!" The kwami sang, "That's what I'd call it, anyway."

"First of all," The man began, pointing a finger at his kwami companion, "The goal of meeting her was reconciliation. Not whatever just happened."

"Reconcili…" Plagg stammered. "I thought you were mad at her!"

"I am mad at her! Obviously!" Adrien spat, "I'm also still in love with her!"

"Adrien." The black cat sighed, disappointment hanging on every syllable. "How could that be? It's been years!"

"Yeah! I know! I'm a messed up guy, okay?" Adrien yelled, holding his arms out defensively. "I've had a messed up life!"

"Some things never change." Plagg bemoaned, floating wistfully away, "Love is all you ever thought about. Look where that got us! Alas, if you weren't my best friend, I think you would be my worst enemy."

When Plagg turned back to see how this bout of dramatics was received, he found Adrien failing to light a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, cursing the shaking of his hands making it too difficult to work the lighter.

"What are you doing?" Plagg gasped. Adrien looked up, met his shocked look with one of confusion.

"I need one." Adrien professed. Plagg shook his head and crossed his arms.

"What a disgusting habit." He scolded. Adrian scowled. "The Adrien I know would never!"

"I don't want to hear that from you, you little hypocrite." He rebuked, pointing the cigarette at the kwami, still unlit."You are the picture of hedonism. I don't need to be lectured, I need to figure out how I'm going to stop Ladybug from kicking my ass."

"Oh, the language!" Plagg wobbled and pretended to go faint. "What a foul young man you've become."

"I'm twenty nine, Plagg."

"Oh, what a foul middle aged man you've become!"

Adrien discarded the cigarette and sighed, lightly pounding a fist against his forehead. Plagg landed on his shoulder and did the same, because he thought that was what solidarity was.

"I need…" Adrien began, pacing up and down the alley, "I need to stop Ladybug from actually murdering me."

"She wouldn't murder you." Plagg corrected him, unhelpfully. The man nodded, then stopped and looked at his companion. He considered this for a moment. He was right, of course, she wouldn't really kill him. But what would she do? She had all the power she needed to take it, so why hasn't she yet?

"Let's," Adrien began, rubbing the coarse hair under his chin. "Let's get back to my hotel and work this out. Maybe grab a bite to eat."

Fortunately it was not a long walk for them, but Adrien still kept his eye to the skyline, weary of ambush from above. He walked quickly, sticking mostly to side streets when he the crunch of snow under his boots made him wince and look around. Of course, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that if she wanted to follow him, there was nothing he could do to prevent it, but going through the motions helped him feel like he had control.

Nodding politely at the door man, he entered the lobby of the hotel and crossed quickly to the elevators, barely acknowledging the night manager's greeting. He was a VIP here (after all, the owner was an old friend), and the staff were always on their best behavior when he was around. Wordlessly, he made it up to the penthouse he was staying in, shutting and deadbolting the door behind him.

"That should do it." Plagg said, floating up out of his jacket. "No way she can get through a locked door."

The kwami turned around and took in the other side of the room, the wall of which was constructed entirely out of floor to ceiling, wall to wall windows.

"Adrien, you might have picked a better spot to hide."

The man swore under his breath as he crossed the room and pulled the blinds shut, which took a few minutes, as there were so many of them.

"Isn't this the hotel that Chloe girl used to live in? Won't Ladybug know to find you here?"

"Yes, Plagg, I expect she will." Adrien sighed, slumping down on the couch. "She can also teleport, and travel through time, so what's the point of hiding? She'll find me wherever I go."

"Then, what exactly is your plan, Adrien?"

"I don't have one, Plagg. I'm sort of banking on the fact that she hasn't found me yet, which is probably intentional. Maybe she's waiting until morning? So I have a little time to figure something out."

Plagg floated over and landed on the man's knee, lying flat on his stomach and resting his head on his hands.

"What do I want here, Plagg?" Adrien began.

"You want to keep the ring and me, and you want to make things right with the girl!"

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like I can do both."

"I vote for keeping the ring!" Plagg said, pounding his little arm against Adrien's knee. The man rolled his eyes, leaned his against the back of the couch and covered his face with his hands.

"Giving her the ring is out of the question, Plagg. It's my ring. I want it." He said, mostly to himself. "I think we, she and I, just need to talk about this again. Like adults this time, no more beating around the bush, you know?"

"Adrien," Plagg began, sheepishly. "Why did you give her the ring the first time?"

Adrien looked down at the kwami. He looked shy, almost scared, as if he was dreading the answer. The man reached down and patted the kwami's head reassuringly.

"Nothing personal, Plagg." He started. There was a heaviness to his words that caused them to come out slowly. His thoughts drifted back to that time, and he sighed again. It was a dark time in his life, perhaps darker even then when he lost his mother. Thinking about it now still made his head hurt. He felt so much despair and anger in those days, that even now, thinking back, he could feel the remnants of those emotions deep inside.

"You remember, after I found out about my dad, I went kind of…" He trailed off, searching for the right way to word it. A way that was kind to himself and yet true to what happened. "I was kind of self destructive."

"I remember when you announced your identity to all of Paris!" Plagg pointed out. Adrien grimaced.

"In that interview, yeah. I didn't care who knew at that point. Why should I? Papillon was done in, and look! It was his own son who did it. I think now, maybe I was looking for sympathy. Or something like that. Maybe I was confusing attention for affection."

"And that's when she took the ring back?" Plagg asked, eagerly.

"She told me it was for the best. That now that our mission was done, the ring should go back in the box." He continued. "I know now of course, that she was thinking of Paris. She saw how flippant I was, how reckless I was being. She didn't want me to hurt anyone."

"That's not her call to make!" Plagg protested, but he was silenced by another gentle pat from his friend.

"It's fine, Plagg." He whispered. "She was right."

Plagg grumbled, but said no more.

"I thought she would hold herself to the same standard. If I gave her the ring, she'd give up her earrings, and then I'd finally know the truth. I would see this person I loved for who they truly were. And maybe they would love me back, now that they knew. I don't know, I was desperate, I think."

There was silence in the room. Neither Plagg nor Adiren made another sound, and dared not look at each other.

"I was wrong, though. She didn't love me back. I don't know if she ever will. Not now, anyway."

"Oh, Adrien," Plagg started, but he couldn't find the words. Adrien shook his head in response.

"It's fine, Plagg. It's been years. I need to get my head out of the past. Move on, you know? Take this ring, and just go."

"She's not going to let you keep it," Plagg reminded him. "She'll follow you."

Adrian rose to his feet and shambled over to the window, parting the curtains to peer out of the window. The skyline twinkled against the softly falling snow outside. No sign of anyone out there. "Man, what happened to her? When did she get so cold?"

"She's always been that way!" Plagg meowed, rolling onto his back, lazily trying to get comfortable on the couch cushions.

"No, no, something happened. Something bad," Adrien continued, walking over to his luggage and pulling a laptop out of a sleek case. With it in hand he returned to the couch and flipped it open. "I think if I find out what happened to her, I can maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Plagg urged, half buried in the plush upholstery.

"This sounds a little manipulative." Adrien noted, looking down at Plagg, "Don't judge me."

Plagg shrugged. "What right have I?"

"Well, if I find out when she became all cold and obsessive, maybe I can better understand her, you know?"

"That's not manipulative!"

"And maybe I can leverage that understanding to convince her to let me keep the ring."

"Ah, there it is."

Adrien typed away at his laptop for a little while, long enough for Plagg to finally get bored waiting for him to explain himself and ask what he was doing.

"I am reaching out to a mutual friend. Via email." Adrien explained. Plagg peered over his shoulder, reading what he was typing.

"Oh, her? Good luck."

"I think I have a chance! She's Ladybug's friend, she's my friend, and you know. I know her boyfriend."

"Those two still haven't tied the knot?"

"They're 'focusing on their careers' for now. Obviously, her idea, not his. He wanted to seal the deal years ago." Adrien said, smiling softly. "She travels a lot, so I personally just think she isn't ready to be tied down."

Plagg shrugged and nestled back into the upholstery of the couch. Adrien gave his correspondence one last read.

"Alya,

Hope things are going well! Been a while!

I am in Paris now, and if you are somewhere in this part of Europe I would love to come have a chat and catch up!

Obviously, I can travel, it's no big deal. :)

Have a great day,
Adrien Agreste"

Adrien stared down at his screen. There was a sort of casual tone to the email that didn't communicate the urgency he wanted. He discarded this draft and started again.

"Alya,

Adrien here. Hope all is well.

I have something I needed to speak to you about. I'm in Paris now. If you're in the area, let me know. Otherwise, please call me at your earliest convenience.

Adrien Agreste"

He stared at this. Again, something about it wasn't right. It was almost too urgent.

He added a smiling emoji after the word convenience. Perfect.

He sent the email, shut his laptop, and looked down at Plagg, who had fallen asleep. Smiling, he scooped up the little creature into his hands, and got ready for bed.

Early the next morning, Adrien was awoken by a buzzing on the table next to him. Blinking, he grabbed his glasses from the table and hastily put them on, nearly jabbing himself in the eye. Clumsily, he grabbed his vibrating phone off the table and leered at it. Unknown number.

"Hello?" He stammered groggily into the phone.

"Hello? Adrien?"

"What? Adrien?" he began, catching himself. "I mean, yes. Yeah. This is me. I mean, I'm him."

There was silence.

"Yes, hello." Adrien tried again, clearing his throat. "Adrien Agreste speaking, may I ask who's calling?"

"Oh my god," the voice replied. "I'm sorry, I called so early. Y-You must have been asleep."

"What? No," he answered. "I mean, yes, I was, but no, it's fine. I'm here. What's up?"

"This is Marinette! Uh, M-Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Her voice was bubbly and enthusiastic, just the way he remembered. So full of kindness and warmth and nervous energy. He smiled.

"Hey Marinette, how are you?"

"I'm so good, so good. I'm sorry I missed you at the bakery!" she replied. He smiled and shook his head, a gesture that could only mean anything to him.

"No, no, it's fine."

"Well, hey," she began, slowly. "I'll be closing up tonight, so why don't you swing by again. I-If you have time, that is."

Adrien clenched his teeth. Yesterday, this would have been a welcome proposition. Now? He didn't exactly have time to go catching up with old friends. He had to take care of this Ladybug situation.

"Ah, well," Adrien answered, hesitating. "You know, there have been a few things. Been a weird night."

"Oh," Marinette replied. She sounded defeated. It made Adrien feel bad; after all, he was the one who left her the note. Told her to get in touch.

"Oh, but, no, it's fine!" Adrien stuttered. "I can stop by! Let's catch up!"

"Oh really? You sure it's okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'd love to."

"Oh, wow, great! That means so much to me. I rarely get to see old friends. Come by around six, okay?"

"Uh-huh. I'll be there. Six on the dot."

"So exciting! Okay, s-see you then!"

With a beep, the line closed and Adrien was left sitting in bed, holding the phone in his hand. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly and bit his bottom lip. "Fuck."

"Who was that?" Plagg asked, bleary-eyed as he dug his way out of the various blankets and comforters on the bed.

"Marinette," Adrien replied, not opening his eyes. He tapped his knuckles against his temples and groaned. "I told her I wanted to meet up while I was in town."

"Oh no. Adrien!" Plagg exclaimed, flying up to his shoulder.

"I know! With this Ladybug thing, it's terrible timing."

"No, Adrien, do not go to see her!" Plagg insisted, pulling at his arm. The man opened his eyes and gave him a look that made him back off a bit.

"Why? It'll be fine, I just have to resolve this thing with Ladybug before six tonight."

"Because!" Plagg exclaimed, looking around the room desperately. "Because Marinette is—"

Plagg hiccupped and groaned.

"You okay, little buddy? Too much cheese last night?"

"Marinette is a bore!" Plagg continued. Adrien scowled at him. "And if you go to her house, she'll bore you. To death."

"That's not cool, Plagg," he replied. "Marinette's an old friend! It'll be fine, she's great! I'm just on a time crunch now is all. Can't go making social calls around Paris if I'm being hunted by a superhero."

Plagg moaned and threw himself down on the pillow. Adrien watched this pitiable display and rolled his eyes.

"You've always been dramatic, Plagg."

He got up, showered, shaved, and got something to eat brought up to his room. When he was fully dressed and had eaten, he checked his emails. Sure enough, among a number of business-related emails was one from Alya. He opened it.

Adrien,

Things are good. Not in Paris this time of year. Covering this dumb event in Monaco.

Video call me at noonish?

3

Alya

"Monaco?" Adrien read aloud. That was just far enough to be too far. Not that he could leave Paris at the moment anyway. It was about eight fifteen, which meant he had some time to kill before their call. He fiddled with his ring, thinking about how to spend the time.

He thought about why he had come back to Paris in the first place and swallowed anxiously. He had come to reconcile with the past. And so far, that had failed spectacularly. But there was more in Paris for him than just Ladybug and some old friends. There was someone else he had come here to see.

And he really didn't want to see him.

"Yeah, okay," the man sighed, rising to his feet. He sucked air in through his gritted teeth, steeling himself for what was to come. "Let's go pay a visit."