When I woke up this morning, I did not expect this day to go well. I had gone a blissful four years without ever having to think of monotonous photo shoots or being the famous model, Adrien Agreste. No one in China knew who I was, so I was able to actually live as a normal guy. I didn't even have the fame of being Chat Noir seeing as how there were no villains to fight. Even though I missed being Chat, it was nice to live a life out of the spotlight for a while.

The entire limo ride with the Gorilla was an unhappy one. I wanted desperately to be back on my bicycle with the freedom to go anywhere on my own. After the Gorilla dropped me off in front of my dad's building, I caught a glimpse of a girl in obvious distress. The Chat in me would not allow me to move on without trying to help her.

For some reason, my heart began to flutter when I realized that this girl was Marinette, an old friend from high school. I had not seen any of my friends since I had returned from China only a few days ago, and I was elated to run into one so quickly.

"So, you're going to be working for my father," I said after we had called the roadside assistance company. "I guess we will have that in common." I must have had a big, goofy grin on my face because I was so happy that I would be working in the same building as a friend which had never happened to me before.

Marinette just blushed as she looked to the ground, "that's s so cool, Adrien. M maybe we will see each other s sometimes."

"I'm sure we will," I smirked. We spent the rest of the time talking about the highlights of our last four years. I told her all about China and how she would enjoy visiting it someday. For some reason, I had the strange urge of wanting to be there with her when she did.

After she had gotten her car unlocked, grabbed her things, and I had walked her into the building, we stood in the lobby awkwardly together. We both had different places that we needed to be, but neither of us wanted to say goodbye. There was still just so much to catch up on. Marinette looked at me as if she wanted to say something, but nothing ever came out of her mouth. Multiple people walked around us as they headed off to begin their work day.

"Hey Marinette," I said shyly breaking the silence, "would you like to meet me for lunch?" Her face turned beat red as she crossed one of her arms to grab the other rubbing it as it still hung by her side. "I mean...it's just that...well, it's your first day working here, and you probably don't really know anyone else, and I... um... have been gone for so long that I'm not sure if I will know anyone here either."

Marinette looked really uncomfortable with my question. Maybe she already had lunch plans, or really just didn't want me hanging around her all day. I wasn't even sure why I wanted to spend time with her so badly anyway. I had never felt like that about her before. "It's okay if you don't want to," I suggested, "we could do it some other time."

"N no!" Marinette quickly blurted. "I mean yes. I don't want to do another time. I mean... maybe I would, but today. Today would be perfect, Adrien."

I couldn't hide my smile at her acceptance of my offer. Today was already going much better than I had ever hoped it would.

When I made it to the dressing area to prep for my shoot, I was scolded for being late.

"We only have fifteen minutes until the photographer wants to get started and you still look like you just rolled out of bed!" Carla, my new hair and makeup artist huffed. She shoved an armful of clothing into my arms and demanded that I get changed quicker than I could sing happy birthday. When I came out of the dressing room, she just rolled her eyes and plopped me into the chair immediately throwing a layer of powder on my face.

It had been four years since I had had to wear any make up and the foreign substance felt funny on my face. I looked in the mirror to see a boy that I didn't recognize and sighed at the thought of people once again seeing me this way. Being a model that showcased a fake sense of perfection was never something that I had enjoyed. I regrettably wondered which Adrien Marinette would prefer. The picture perfect model, or the down to earth normal looking guy.

The whole morning was taken up by modeling in many different outfits. The photographer was not pleased with my lack of practice and my distracted behavior. I kept thinking about where I would take Marinette to lunch and what we would talk about when we got there.

"Are you sure you are the same Adrien Agreste who I used to photograph?" Nico, the most prestigious photographer in the business questioned. "Get your act together kid or you will not last long in this industry. I'm only working with you right now because I know that you used to have talent."

My feelings might have been hurt if I wasn't so giddy about seeing Marinette again. Honestly, I could have cared less if my modeling career was a wash; however, I didn't want to disappoint my father. It wasn't that I was afraid of him, but honestly, I just wanted to make him happy. Plus, I needed this gig to work out until I found something else to do.

"Thank you, Nico," I said flashing him my most modelesque smile I could muster, "I'm sorry for being so rusty. I will work harder to up my game, I promise."

He just turned his nose up and sneered, "You better. I expect to find someone different the next time we work together or I can't promise that there will be a third time."

"Where did you want to go?" Marinette asked completely scaring me from behind. I had just changed back into my normal clothes and walked back down to the lobby. I had pulled out my phone to text her, but realized that I didn't have her number. When I heard her voice, I jumped and lost my grip on my phone dropping it to the floor.

Marinette just giggled and bent down to pick up my phone. "I thought that I was the clumsy one," she grinned as she handed me my phone. My cheeks flushed out of embarrassment as my eyes met hers. When Marinette caught a glimpse of my face, she burst out into full on laughter.

I wondered what she could be laughing at when I realized that I had neglected to remove my make up when I had changed clothes. I lifted my hands touching my cheeks only to find that they were burning hot. "Oh no," I groaned, "I can't believe that I forgot to take this off."

Marinette continued to laugh a beautiful laugh as she reached into her bag pulling out a packet of make up wipes. I could see a tear running down her cheek as she looked up to me and tried to compose herself. "It looks really nice," she said with laughter still in her throat. "I just wasn't expecting to see you like that." She pulled a wipe out and reached it to my face. "Here, use this to remove it. I'm sure you are uncomfortable." She held it there for a moment until I realized that I was supposed to take it from her.

Our fingers touched as I grabbed the wipe and we kept our hands there together longer than we should have. My cheek tingled and my heart raced at her touch. "Th thanks," I stammered as Marinette pulled her hand away with an intense blush on her face. I proceeded to scrub my face to reveal my bright red checks below. "Umm... there's a new Italian restaurant down the street that we could try out, if that's fine with you," I suggested trying to avert her attention from the make up that I was still struggling to rubbing at.

"That's sounds great!" she exclaimed as she pulled out another make up wipe and started massaging my left eye. "Man, this stuff is really caked on here. No wonder your pictures always look so flawless."She paused, but then we both just burst out laughing.

Once the make up had been successfully removed, we headed to the restaurant. Marinette asked me more about my time in China, and I asked her about some of her designs.

After we made it to the restaurant and ordered our food, Marinette asked, "Have you seen Nino yet?"

"No," I answered, "I'm actually planning on meeting him at the jewelry store right after work today." As soon as I said those words, I knew that I had made a huge mistake. How could I have forgotten that Marinette was Alya's best friend?

Marinette raised her eyebrow saying, "The jewelry store? What could two guys possibly be doing at the jewelry store?" Then all of the sudden it clicked. I could see the light bulb going off in her head. "No way! Nino is going to propose to Alya?"

Crap. Nino was going to kill me for this. I hadn't even had the chance to see him since I had come back, and I had already spilled his biggest secret. "You can't tell Alya," I pleaded. "Please tell me you can keep a secret!"

Marinette just giggled, "Me? Keep a secret? I am the master at keeping secrets." She leaned in and looked me straight in the eyes. "You have to let me come. There's no way I could trust Nino to pick out a good enough ring. He has no taste in fashion."

"That's why he invited me," I said proudly puffing my chest out a bit.

Marinette just gave me a blank look. "No offense, but you are just a model. One that is way out of practice even. Come on, you have to bring a fashion designer!"

She did make a valid point. The only reason I ever dressed fashionably was because my dad always picked out my clothing. I had never had to make a real fashion decision in my life. Just then, the waitress came with our food. I reached for my first bite of chicken linguini, but Marinette just stared me down expecting an answer.

"Fine," I conceded lowering the fork from my mouth, "I'll call Nino once we are done eating and ask if you can come. You happy?"

Marinette just shook her head with a mischievous smile on her face and took a bite of her spaghetti. This girl was something else.

"You did what?" Nino yelled over the phone when I mentioned to him that I had accidentally spilled the beans of his proposal. "When did you even talk to Marinette? Why did that even come up?"

I explained to Nino everything that had transpired with Marinette that day and he seemed to calm down a little. "Dude, I'm seriously glad that you have had a good time, but a little discretion would have been nice." He sighed and then added, "Oh well, if she already knows about it anyway, then I guess it would be nice to have her there. Just promise me that you won't tell her anything else."

Marinette was extremely cute at the jewelry store. She tried on just about every ring they had and listed detailed reasons on why each one didn't work. Everytime Nino found one that he thought was perfect, she shot it down. I just stood there watching as she scrambled around from case to case with excitement.

"Hey man," Nino sighed as he patted my shoulder, "I thought you were here to help."

Of course that's why I was there. I had just gotten so distracted by watching Marinette, that I had completely forgotten to look around myself. "Sorry," I apologized, "I'll start looking."

I walked over to a jewelry case that was tucked into the far corner of the room. It was filled with a plethora of unique looking rings. There were rings that would spiral up one's finger and rings with beautiful Celtic designs. One ring in particular caught my attention. It was silver and had a delicate fox head with a tail that wrapped around only to curve slightly below the head with the two ends not connecting. I knew that this did not look like an engagement ring, but something about it screamed Alya.

"What are you looking at?" Marinette asked as she peered over my shoulder. Her unexpected close proximity sent chills down my spine.

"Um... well, I kind of like that fox one," I said while pointing at the ring. Marinette's eyes lit up as she motioned for the clerk to come over and open up the case. She placed the ring on her finger and danced over to where Nino was standing.

"Adrien found the perfect ring!" she jubilantly proclaimed. "This is so Alya. She will love it!"

Marinette removed the ring and Nino payed for it. As we walked out the door, she elbowed me in the chest saying, "I really underestimated you, Pretty Boy. I guess you do have some fashion sense after all." We both laughed.

After we said our goodbyes to Nino, I walked Marinette back to the parking lot where her car was parked. She would not stop talking about how much Alya was going to love that ring the entire walk back. I thought it was adorable how much she cared about her friend.

When she reached towards the handle of her car, I stopped her by leaning against the door. I didn't want my time with Marinette to end. I hadn't enjoyed spending time with someone so much in a long time.

"Adrien," she sighed, "I really should go help out at the bakery. I promised my parents I would be there an hour ago."

Of course she had to go. What was I doing? A gust of wind came through throwing her loose hair into her face. I realized that I had never seen her hair down before and I really liked the look. It had also grown significantly over the years stretching a good bit past her shoulders. Now that I was paying attention, a lot had changed about Marinette making her no longer look like the young girl that I remembered. Her features were definitely more womanly and I nearly lost my breath gazing at her beauty.

I reached up brushing her hair from her eyes saying, "I love seeing your hair like this, Mari. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing it that way again during lunch tomorrow." I flashed her a big toothy grin.

Marinette's face brightened like a tomato as she tightened her grip on her purse. "Are y you inviting me to lunch a again?" she stuttered.

I smirked enjoying seeing her all flustered. "Well, I guess I am. What do you say?"

Mari closed her eyes and blurted out, "I I'd love to!" The she opened her car door and jumped in shouting, "See you tomorrow! Bye!"

After Marinette drove away and I headed towards the limo, Plagg flew to my side. "Adrien! Did I just witness some Chat Noir flirting going on?"

I hadn't even realized that I was being all that flirtatious, but once Plagg mentioned it, I couldn't deny it. "Uh... I guess so," I shyly responded.

Plagg just burst out laughing. "Good for you kid! Good for you!"

I joined him in his laughter. Who cares if I had acted like Chat Noir. I am Chat Noir! The only reason I ever acted any differently in the suit anyway was because I felt more at ease when I was in that form. Maybe I was finally beginning to feel comfortable with just being Adrien. The flirtatious, pun making, fun loving cat always felt like a more honest representation of who I truly was. If that was beginning to slip out as Adrien, then I wasn't going to stop it. I would embrace who I was and hopefully those around me would accept that part of me as well. I am Chat and Chat is Adrien.