A.N.- I'm back, I'm so thankful for all the responses for this story, it's really blowing me away. I have a feeling you'll be pulling out some pitch forks after this chapter, but it was just as painful for me to write. I won't babble on forever, so here's the next chapter.

Satisfied chapter 3

So, this is what it feels like to match wits
With someone at your level! What the hell is the catch?
It's the feeling of freedom, of seein' the light
It's Ben Franklin with a key and a kite! You see it right?
The conversation lasted two minutes, maybe three minutes
Ev'rything we said in total agreement, it's
A dream and it's a bit of a dance
A bit of a posture, it's a bit of a stance
He's a bit of flirt, but I'mma give it a chance
I asked about his fam'ly, did you see his answer
His hands started fidgeting, he looked askance?
He's penniless, he's flying by the seat of his pants
Handsome, boy, does he know it!
Peach fuzz, and he can't even grow it!
I wanna take him far away from this place
Then I turn and see my sister's face and she is…

"Hi, Adrien." She parroted this time with more confidence, seconds before she was pulled into a tight hug. Her body only froze for a couple seconds before relaxing into the warmth and comfort, although that sensation was stripped when he pulled away.

"What are you doing here?" It would be fate's little joke that reconnected them after the years.

"Nino dragged me here to hear this DJ that he's been fanboying over, I lost him in the crowd." His head tilted, and his teeth dug into his lips. "What are you doing here? No offense but I can't imagine you here-not that you don't look great-" Marinette could listen to his voice forever. How was it even possible that he sounded cute tripping over his words.

"I'm only here to support my friend. It's her birthday. She left me to go get some drinks." An overwhelming feeling overtook her as her brain was trying to push out another sentence."It's been a while." Internally she wanted to kick herself for the simplicity.

"Too long," She had to stop herself when she felt her heart skip a beat at his response. "What have you been up to?"

"I'm in my third year at IFA, starting to look at internships so I can make the contacts for a job when I graduate. Everything looks promising if I manage to finish my current project." Juggling fashion school and being Ladybug was harder than she thought, but somehow, she always managed.

"Who would you want to work for?"

"Your father." She didn't know why the confession made her blush, she was stating a fact, and the ability to see Adrien would be a plus. "He's still the best in the business." She was sure that the Agreste family had various contacts that could propel her career, but she couldn't ask them to do her any favors.

"Well, if you wanted, I could talk to my father"-

"You don't have to," She was friends with him because of who he was, not what he could do for her. "What about you?"

"My father wanted me to capitalize on these years with him, after much begging I managed to convince him to let me attend ENS. I fell in love with physics, once I graduate I will have some job openings. I can't rely on modeling my whole life," A chuckle accompanied the last statement making her knees weak. "Marinette, I was thinking, maybe we could-"

"Mar-Mar, you won't believe what happened- oh, and who is your friend?" Amelie allowed her green eyes to wander the model's body.

Just her presence was enough to pull the two of them out of whatever trance they held on each other. Marinette shifted her weight, her hand awkwardly grabbing her arm as she fought the blush that was growing. Thankfully, the club's lighting was able to hide the color invading her cheeks, but she could never be too careful.

"This is Adrien Agreste." She felt silly introducing someone who had his face plastered on multiple billboards across Paris, but the blonde stepped forward and offered out his hand.

"Nice to meet you." It was fascinating just to watch him work, the charm was just oozing off him, her eyes drifted to Amelie who had on her signature smirk.

"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine." Her hand lingered longer in their greeting for Marinette's liking, but there wasn't anything she could do. "How do you two know each other?"

"We-" The two friends burst into laughter as they tried to answer at the same time. "We met at school, I was trying to take gum off her chair and she thought I was putting it there."

"Well it was actually when you lent me the umbrella that we became friends," she corrected. It almost seemed trivial to boil down their entire friendship to somewhere they were forced to go to every day, but it was just the beginning of all the memories that they shared.

"Wait… is this the guy you couldn't help but gush over when we first met?" No amount of lights or lack thereof could hide the red color forming on her features. Marinette couldn't do anything to signal for her to stop, so it was up to her to put an end before it got out of hand.

"I talked about all my friends." It was true, she had given Amelie a full rundown of every classmate she had grown up with, including the likes of Chloe.

"But you don't keep a bracelet from all of them and take it with you wherever you go." Adrien's eyes grew and his mouth dropped a little. She was sure he thought she was childish for keeping such a thing and the fact that it brought her comfort over the years.

"You kept it all this time?" He smiled as he sheepishly reached into his pocket and pulled out his. Their eyes connected, and Marinette couldn't help but feel the joy radiating off his body. "It's brought me luck since the day you gave it to me."

The two were caught up in the fact that they didn't see Amelie's eyes shifting between the two of them. What came next neither were expecting.

"So Adrien, when are you going to be a man and ask Marinette out?"

Marinette was positive that everyone could hear her heart rate increase over the pounding music. Had Amelie just lost her mind? This was worse than anything that Alya had done over the years. She forced herself to glance towards the model and his face reflected hers at her roommate's forwardness. She always hoped that if Adrien did have feelings for her that it would occur naturally, not in a situation like this.

"Amelie, I told you, we are just friends." She wanted the statement to be further than the truth, but those wishes would be kept solely for her dreams. Adrien was shifting uncomfortably, and Marinette wanted nothing more than the ability to read his mind at the moment. He hadn't said no straight away, wasn't that improvement?

"Fine then, ask me out instead." Adrien resembled a fish completely out of the water. He threw a glance at Marinette, but her eyes were stuck on her roommate.

"What?" He stumbled to get his words our as he leaned back on the soles of his shoes.

"If you're single, and you two don't have a thing, go out with me." She took a step forward with each phrase, slowly closing the gap.

"I-um-" Marinette swore she saw a pink tint spread across his face and her heart sank.

"It's a good thing you met me, you clearly need some fun between school and your photo shoots," She grabbed his hand as her eyes lit up at the music playing. "Dance with me!" Adrien had his eyes glued to Marinette and an apologetic frown as Amelie led them to the dance floor.

The first song, watching the two together was fine, but the second she pulled him closer for the second dance, Marinette was concerned that she would release the contents of her stomach on the floor. If this was any indication, she would rather just pay for a ride home. She clutched her purse tighter and stood up with every intention of leaving. It's not like Amelie would notice her absence, not with Adrien around her.

"Marinette!" The sound of the model's voice caused her to freeze. She was surprised that she could even hear him.

"Where are you going, Silly, the night is still young," Amelie said. Marinette grabbed her arm nervously.

"I'm just not feeling up for it. I think I just need to sleep." She tried to ignore the burning sensation of green eyes on her scrutinizing her words for any lie.

"Are you sure Mar-Mar?" Amelie ran her hands down the side of Marinette's face the slight stench of alcohol coming from her breath.

"I'm just going to go home." She couldn't bring herself to look at Adrien, the night couldn't have gone worse. She quickly excused herself to avoid any chance that they would continue to protest her decision.

"Marinette," Adrien was only igniting dreams that she had buried a long time ago. There were days where she would have given anything for him to call her name and chase after her. She took another couple steps hoping that she could just escape the part where the model had agreed to a date with her best friend.

The sudden water droplets trickling down her body caused her to pause. It had to be raining, she didn't know what was worse, the reminder or the wait for the taxi. The sensation abruptly stopped courtesy of an umbrella. She tried to ignore the urge to follow it down to meet its owner. His green eyes twinkled softly, and she heard him mutter something about things not changing. Although she knew it was supposed to be a kind gesture, it only brought back bittersweet memories.

"What are you doing, Adrien?" He should be inside with Amelie, she wasn't a very patient person. He would lose his chance.

"Well, I clearly watched the weather for one," he teased as she brought herself to look in his direction just in time to see his boyish smile

"Very funny," she replied sarcastically, causing him to falter.

"I thought you admired heroes who save damsels." His eyebrows knitted together in concern and she could feel the tension build between them. How could he bring down the walls in seconds that took her years to build?

"Bringing an umbrella hardly makes superhero status," she internally chuckled at the thought of Chat Noir carrying one around saving old ladies with it.

"I suppose I could leave you out in the rain like a drowned cat," Marinette's hand grabbed the handle like a crux of staying dry causing the blonde to chuckle. "But I really came out here to see if you're okay. You left in a hurry, and I thought..." If only she could drown in his eyes like the earth was getting soaked around them. "Were you going to say something in there?" His hands motioned behind them to the club, but Marinette's heart was racing.

His behavior was odd ever since Amelie interrupted their conversation and implied that there were lingering feelings from both parties but that could only be possible if her imagination ran away with her. If Adrien harbored anything towards her, he would have reached out more often during the years that separated them, or at bare minimum exchanged more than a two-sentence conversation. Clearly, Amelie was mistaken, any affection was purely one-sided. Her stomach churned at the thought.

"Tell Nino I said hi."

"I'm sure he would much rather hear it from you. Are you sure you don't want to join us for a drink? I'll buy." All Marinette could imagine was one drink leading to another and the eventual spilling of her feelings or worse her secret. A taxi pulled up, settling just within reaching distance. She knew if she went with him she would just be pushed aside once more because Amelie got what she wanted, and she had her eyes set on the model.

"I..." She fought the lump in her throat. "I don't think that's the best idea." It could have been a trick of the light as lightning flashed but she swore Adrien's lips shifted to more of a frown. The thought was pushed away as Adrien reached across her to open the car door for her.

"Well I hope you feel better," his voice carried some weight to it. "It was amazing to see you. Marinette, I'm sorry…" The small smile she offered hushed his apology as she handed the umbrella back.

"It was nice to see you too." She had to say something otherwise he might get the impression that she harbored ill feelings for him. At first, she couldn't bring herself to move, almost hoping that he would ask one more time. The sound of a grunt broke the connection enough for her to slip in the car. Adrien had his hand on the door, but he hesitated until the taxi driver asked for an address. After Marinette answered, the blonde gave a small smile before the car door finally closed.

She let out a sigh, allowing her defenses down for the first time of the night, she could still feel Adrien's eyes on her, but the tint in the windows allowed her the privacy. When the car started to move, a wet sensation hit her cheek, but instead of rain from the heavens, it was tears falling from her eyes. If she was paying attention she would have noticed how long his eyes lingered on her car until it disappeared out of sight.

A.N.-Soooo...that happened. I'm sure my muses goals is for you to throw the device you read this on at one point of the story. They have big plans. I'm am looking for a beta of sorts to help flesh out some of the details of the story, so if you are interested, please let me know. Also, let me know what you think about the chapter. Sorry, I couldn't actually post sooner, I'm currently a Maid of Honor in my friend's wedding, but I'm trying my best. I would love to hear thoughts on where you think this is going, so don't be afraid to comment, I respond back to almost all of them.