Half the point of a charity gala was the opportunity to show off. Black tie always looked the same but at least it looked good. He had hired a car and was now leaning against the side of it outside a dormitory of a school he didn't attend. Showing off was the point of the gala but standing here, as people walked by on their way to class and gawked, it was awkward.

He signed two autographs before he decided to give up and hide in the car. Marinette wasn't ready because he'd come to pick her up early rather than sit around in the apartment, thinking about Ladybug and trying not to ruin his suit. Not that sitting in his apartment and thinking about Ladybug wasn't wonderful but if he didn't force himself to think of other things then he would just spend the entire night wrapped up in memories and his rampant imagination.

His phone rang and he picked it up without looking at the screen.

"Good evening, M. Agreste," the voice on the other end of the line said.

"Hello," he said frowning. The voice was familiar but the words were too formal to be who he thought it was.

"I need you to help me with a project," she said.

"Did you really just call me Monsieur Agreste?" he asked smiling at the closed window between the driver and himself. His face was reflected back in the dark glass. He looked older than he expected. He looked a little too much like his father. He wanted to run his hands through his carefully styled hair until he had erased any evidence of Gabriel. Alya laughed in his ear, distracting him from that train of thought. Alya was a person who thrived on text messages and blog posts. It was rare to get an actual phone call from her.

"I did, I wanted to start off with the right tone of respect and seriousness," Alya said.

"I, unfortunately do not know who Ladybug is," he said.

"Not the goal of this particular project. This particular project is all about Mlle. Dupain-Cheng," Alya said.

"She's your best friend, Alya," he said.

"And you probably see her more than I do because she does nothing but work and you do nothing but work and you work at the same place. She will tell me nothing and so I need spies. You are now my spy," Alya said.

"I am not accepting a spy job," he said and then hesitated. Curiosity was gnawing at his mind. Maybe he was too much a cat for his own good. He sighed. "What kind of spying are you looking for?"

"I need to know who she's been kissing," Alya said.

Adrien coughed, that was not what he had been expecting, "She hasn't mentioned anyone to me."

"So it isn't you then?" Alya said.

"What? No. Marinette and I are not like that, I spend as much time kissing her as I spend kissing you. Which - unless I got a lot drunker than I thought at Nino's this summer - is not all," he said.

"You got pretty drunk but not that drunk. I would have taken pictures and sold them to TMZ if you had tried to kiss me. Remember that," Alya said.

"This is why our love will never last, Al," he sighed dramatically and she laughed at him. He glanced out the window and said, "I've got to go."

"If you find out anything, I will be forever grateful if you tell me, enjoy your fancy party!" Alya said.

He had seen Marinette coming down the steps and fumbled to hang up on Alya and put his phone away. She had a long jacket on so he couldn't see what she had done to the dress but she had done her hair up in some kind of fancy ponytail so it fell in waves over her shoulder. He climbed out of the car before the driver did. A few people were standing around and he ignored them.

She was blushing a little bit and he let himself wonder about this hypothetical boy who had been kissing her. She hadn't mentioned anyone but he shouldn't have been so surprised. She was adorable and motivated and that kind of smart that snuck up on you. He tried to imagine the type of person she'd fall for. Someone clever and kind and probably handsome.

"Why did you bring a limo?" she hissed when she got closer.

"Hello, Marinette, you look lovely," he said through a grin.

"People are staring," she said.

"It's because we're both beautiful. You more than me," he said with a wink, "And we can't pull up to the Gala in a rented Fiat. I don't think they'd even valet park it. They'd just push it into the river and claim they were doing us a favour."

He bowed and opened the door. She gave him a brief tight lipped look that was almost a glare before getting inside. He sat down across from her and she looked around the car with wide eyes. It was nice even by the standards of limos. He was showing off and her reaction made it worth it. He leaned back against his seat and reached out a foot to kick open the little fridge.

"I am not drinking before I get there, I cry when I'm drunk and I'm wearing enough makeup right now that I can't risk it," Marinette said.

"Welcome to my life," he said, "No emotion or you'll mess up the makeup. And my dietitian would probably be displeased that I was sitting this close to a bottle of wine. Do you know how many calories there are in wine?"

She studied him as the car started to move. She was all black and white except for those blue eyes. The black jacket and a pair of little black heels but her skin was pale. Her hair was dark enough that in the imperfect light of the limousine it blended into her clothing.

He gave her a Chat Noir grin, the kind that Ladybug would punch him for. He was expecting another glare but instead, in one fluid motion, she leaned over pulled out the first bottle she could reach and dropped down on the seat beside him.

"Do you think the dietitian has an invitation?" she asked.

"I doubt it," he said.

"Then let's break some rules, let the make up run," she said.

"Are you having a rebellious day?" he asked.

"Yes, I suppose I am," she said. She leaned over and poured him a glass of some white wine and held it out. He took it carefully, without touching her fingers. She turned back and poured herself one as well and then sat back beside him to take a sip. She did dainty surprisingly well for someone he had seen fall up the stairs on more than one occasion.

"Tell me about this rebellion," he said.

She cut her eyes to him. They were rolling along through rush hour traffic and her campus was far from their destination. He could see the cars moving by through the window behind her. The glass was tinted. No one could see them and it was a little like having their own little bubble where the rest of the world couldn't affect them.

"Do you think you know what you want?" she asked.

"Some days but mostly no, I have no idea," he said.

"I thought I knew exactly what I wanted. I had my career planned out, I had picked myself out a husband and even if we hadn't gone on a date yet, I thought I was sure," he laughed at that and she shot him a glare over her wine glass but it was more self deprecating than annoyed. "I had already decided what colour I would paint the bathroom in my first house, I knew exactly what I wanted."

She fell silent for a moment before looking out the window and continuing, "And even after everything that happened, even after moving away, I was still sure that my plan was the best one and everything else was secondary. Then I came back and the other thing, the one I thought I didn't want was waiting for me. The life and the person I thought were just responsibility was right there and I had missed it so much."

"Is this about the person Alya says you've been kissing?" he asked.

She sputtered into her wine.

"Sorry," he said, "I think it was meant to be a secret."

She pulled out her phone and typing one handed, shot off a text message. He didn't have a good enough angle to see what she said but he could guess. It probably involved calling Alya some sort of name. Once the phone had binged to tell her that it had successfully sent, she turned off the sound on the phone and shoved it into her purse.

"Yes, it is about him and no I won't give either of you horrible gossip mongers any details," Marinette said.

"Is he jealous you have a date tonight?" he asked.

"I thought this wasn't a date. You're the one who said it wasn't a date. What about that girl you like to send dirty text messages too?" she asked.

"She probably wouldn't be jealous unless she saw you, you are truly beautiful tonight," he said raising eyebrow.

She blushed at him and some of her tension came back. She had relaxed once they'd started talking and there wasn't anyone to stare at her and wonder if she was someone famous but now her shoulders were drawn in again and she had stopped looking at him. It had seemed like a harmless comment until he had made it. Why was it only with Marinette that he was incapable of keeping a conversation going?

She shook off the nervousness and took another drink of her wine before she looked back at him. She tilted her head rather than turning around and it was adorable.

"You're cuter than he is but he still doesn't have a good reason for being jealous," she said.

"I don't know whether the correct response to that is to feel flattered or to be disappointed," he said.

Marinette elbowed him and they both laughed. He pulled out his phone and made a show of angling himself so that she couldn't see the screen. He said, "If you're keeping secrets, I'll tell you nothing," as he sent Ladybug a message. It didn't really say anything. A joke about pawtographs and not much else. He didn't get a response back but it was nice just to know he could reach out to her while they were apart.

"Is this party going to be fun?" Marinette asked, pulling him back into the conversation.

"Probably not but the food will be fantastic and I'll make sure to introduce you to the guys who work for Chanel. If it's Yvette and Martin, and it's usually them who come to these things, they'll make the price of admission worth it. They're hilarious," he said.

"Just like that, an introduction to the guys who work for Chanel," she said in a mocking tone.

"Stick with me and I'll see if I can't wrangle Armani and Dior as well though the last man I met from Dior tried to seduce me and it wasn't very successful so I'm not on the best terms with that house," he said.

She giggled and asked in a petulant voice, "Are we there yet?"

"No, have more wine," he said.

It made her laugh again but she didn't pour another glass. They rode the rest of the way across the city, shoulder to shoulder and teasing each other for keeping secrets.


Author Notes:

School is in full swing and kicking my ass, and I'm waiting on results from an interview and I struggle to write through stress but once we catch up to everything I've already written (I'm a good 10 000 words ahead but nothing I have written is the NEXT chapter), updates will even out for a little while.

I'm going to try for once a week but I am not going to make any promises.