A.N.- Thank you so much for being patient, I've done some major renovations to the story which I'm sure you all will like. With the help of my new beta Whimstories who is helping me become a better writer.

Why was she so nervous?

Marinette's fingers traced the edges of her cup. It wasn't like this was a date. Adrien hadn't even waited a week before reaching out about getting coffee. But she couldn't ignore the way his face lit up when he asked, and despite the butterflies fluttering in her stomach and her chest tightening, she managed to agree.

She had arrived early and scoped out the perfect seat next to the window. If words failed either of them, they could people watch until one of them made an excuse to leave.

The bell above the door chimed, drawing her focus from her mindless sketches in her notebook and her stomach turned at just the sight of the model. He ventured towards the counter and started ordering his coffee, she assumed that he hadn't seen her. Not that she minded, it gave her more time to collect her thoughts.

Adrien was either oblivious to the flirting of the barista, or he didn't care. When he turned around, he had two coffees in hand and she couldn't help but smile at his thoughtfulness. It only took seconds before his eyes landed on her and he hurried in her direction.

"Marinette, I'm glad you came." His tone slowed to a stop when his eyes landed on the cup that was already sitting in front of her.

"Me too," she managed to reply. The third cup of coffee was placed to the side as he took his seat.

The silence sat between them until Adrien and Marinette's voices collided in the air in an apology. Adrien's eyebrow rose, as his face contorted to one of confusion. He quickly motioned for her to continue. His eagerness gave her reason to pause, but if she didn't get this off her chest now, it might haunt her for the next couple weeks.

"I shouldn't have left the club that night," Marinette confessed, "I know we haven't really seen each other; I think I was just afraid that things changed between us, which is stupid, but when I didn't hear from you once college started, I just naturally assumed..." Marinette finally allowed her voice to fade out from her rambling, slightly embarrassed. She wasn't planning on admitting any of that to Adrien, but now it was too late to take any of it back. Her back slid down a little in her seat, wishing nothing more than to blend in with the floor.

"No, Marinette. I'm the one who has to apologize. There were so many times that I reached for my phone to text you, but everything I wrote was super lame," He released a small chuckle to himself only for it to fade, and his eyes darkened, and his gaze landed on the table. "Then school got harder, and Dad got more demanding with my model schedule, and time got away from me. It doesn't excuse my behavior, but I'm hoping to make it up to you. Just like old times."

"We did make a good team, didn't we?" Once she had gotten over her stuttering communication issue, she couldn't remember a time where they didn't hang out constantly.

Adrien grew a mischievous grin showcasing his perfect model smile. "Remember when we pulled that prank on Wayhem?"

She didn't know if it was the question or the way he was looking at her, but suddenly her nerves began to die down and allowed her to respond.

It hadn't gone unnoticed by Marinette that their hands were slowly inching across the table over the course of the last hour. She didn't know when it started, they were just volleying stories of the glory days back and forth. Maybe it was just her body's way of reacting to her suppressed feelings.

"You were always the charmer in high school," Marinette mused. This time it was Adrien's turn to laugh.

"I was the weird boy that always dreamed of getting out of his house, so he could have friends," Adrien stated. Was he serious? Did he not know how many girls doodled his last name in their notebook?

"Adrien, you had all the girls drooling over you." A small silence fell between them as his green eyes focused on his coffee.

"Even you?"

"I did." She took a sip to keep her composure.

"Did?" Adrien's eyebrows knitted together, pulling his hand back to his side of the table.

"It was just a silly school girl crush." He let out a polite laugh, but she knew him better than that, all the life in his eyes had died in an instant.. She eyed him silently, urging him to share his mind.

"I just wish I would have known. I had the biggest crush on you for most of high school."

"What?" Marinette thanked her luck that she wasn't drinking her beverage at that moment, otherwise it would have been sprayed all over the table. "W-what about Ladybug?"

It was no secret among the school of how he felt towards the red clad superheroine. In fact, Marinette had even considered stopping by Adrien's room as her alter ego plenty of times in high school, but she always seemed to lose her nerve. It was a gamble to bring up Ladybug, but her curiosity was too great.

"When I was younger, I thought she was my soulmate- my other half- but then things changed. Ladybug will always have a piece of my heart but..." he stopped himself fighting his own blush, "I slowly started to realize that you have always been there for me. You're creative and gorgeous. I tried to tell you so many times."

The news hit her like a wall of bricks. Adrien liked her? Her mind tried to comb through the memories to find any hints but came up empty.

"Guess we have rotten timing." As much as she tried to use her upbeat tone it came out flat.

"Marinette-" Adrien was interrupted by his phone ringing. His eyes jumped down to see his father's name flashing on the screen. "I have to get this."
Marinette watched as he started to pace- whatever his father was telling him was causing him to stress. After all the years that passed, she still could study his mannerism and facial expressions for a lifetime.

She was deep in concentration about his confession when she looked up and Adrien was standing at his chair, which caused her to jump.

"I hate to do this, but I need to go," Adrien said.

"Oh." It was hard to keep the disappointment from her voice, but she still offered her best smile.

"I'm really don't want to go." His hands gripped the chair tighter and his eyes fell to the floor.

"Your father needs you. I understand completely."

"Rain check?" Her mouth grew dry, so she nodded in response. He grabbed his things and hurried out the door.

There was a new-found confidence running through her veins after her cafe meet-up with Adrien. She could take on the world right now, or at least be able to tell Amelie how she really felt about the blonde. The consequences would be messy, but at least she wouldn't feel whatever it was that she felt when she saw the two of them together.

She never kept secrets from her roommate, besides the one where she was Ladybug- that was better off untold. Not that she didn't want to expose Amelie to that part of her, but she had never shown a real interest. Every time Marinette had brought Ladybug, Chat Noir, or the Akuma attack to the forefront of their conversation, it would always get derailed. This time she hoped that her lucky charm bracelet would give her the extra boost that she needed.

Adrien had no idea how much those beads would come to mean to her. They were always on her when it came to big decisions, and she had a mini panic attack when she had lost the bracelet for a week during her high school years.

High School.

Adrien's words echoed in her mind and everything started to blur once more. How could she not notice that he had a crush on her? Weren't they supposed to be too obvious that you couldn't miss it? There were so many instances where he had looked at her as if he knew.

"Mar-Mar, is that you? Where did you go?" Amelie called out as Marinette stepped into the apartment. She hadn't expected the red head girl to be there, she had to come up with an answer quick.

"I went to get some coffee with an old friend." It was a partial truth, she just omitted who the friend was.

"Oh?" Amelie's eyes lit up as she took a break from blowing her nails dry. "Is he cute?"

'More than you can imagine.' Her mind retorted dryly.

"Amelie, I have to tell you something." Her lack of answer was lost when her roommate released an excited shriek.

"Guess who finally agreed to escape for a weekend to my parent's summer home." Marinette's heart sunk inside her chest, all the confidence in her was gone. Now she knew she was imagining things this morning, they were only friends, she had to keep reminding herself of that.

"Adrien was the best mistake that's ever happened, and that includes ordering that wrong material for the dress I made for my midterm project." The word caught the Marinette's interest.

"Mistake?" She parroted. Adrien Agreste had been referred to as many things, but a mistake was not one of them.

"I have a confession to make." She didn't waste a second taking the seat next to Amelie. "The night we met him at the club, I thought you were lying…about having feelings for Adrien."

Instantly, Marinette felt her whole body tighten. Maybe she had gone on a little excessively when they first met, but she had never mentioned a name. The fact that she pieced together Adrien was the guy from her story in a matter of seconds left other questions unanswered.

"Then why…"

"Did I ask him out?" Amelie finished for her with a small smile. "I thought that if I put you in a position where you would want to speak out, it would force you to address your feelings. But you didn't, and I'll admit that I read you wrong. Then the more that I spent time with him, I realized how much I liked him. He's so down to earth, funny, and when I look into those eyes I feel so …" Amelie trailed off dreamily much like a younger Marinette did when she was 14.

Marinette on the other hand was trying not to become sick. Her roommate had only pursued him to push her towards him? She could have spoken up and Amelie would have stepped back and then Adrien and her could have been together?

"But what did you want to tell me?" Amelie asked. There was only a list of things that Marinette could not tell her roommate at the moment. The top two were that she had went to get coffee that morning with Adrien and that she was sure that she was still in love with him.

She was trapped.

"I-I" Her mind raced for something, anything to say but she just kept drawing a blank. At this point, she would be content bringing up something as mundane as the weather. A weird look from Amelie was better than whatever she was feeling right now.

Suddenly there was a loud boom that shook the apartment. Within seconds an automated message started playing on their television that Paris was under attack. It stated that everyone needed to remain calm and get to a safe spot until Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Rena Rouge could take down the akuma.

Marinette jumped out of her seat and raced to the window. There was a small billow of smoke that clouded the air right by the bridge next to the Eiffel Tower.
Marinette's heart rate sped up, she needed to go. Paris was in danger, and she would have people counting on her. She couldn't let them down. The conversation would just have to take place at a different point in time, if she ever regained the courage to bring up the subject again.

"You know what I realized, I have an appointment with Mrs. Saint Clare. I had questions about the final project before it's due next week." Marinette was proud that she had come up with a plethora of excuses when she needed to transform, she credited all the years of time to think.

"You're going out there now, while Paris is under attack? Stay here Mari till the police handle everything. Mrs. Saint Clare will understand." It was touching to see how much she cared, but Chat Noir and Rena Rouge would be waiting for her already.

"I'll be fine; it sounded like it was on the other end of town. Besides, any minute Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, and Ladybug will be jumping in to fight whatever is out there. I'm sure this whole thing will be over by the time I reach school." She didn't wait for any more objections and bustled out the door. Tikki flew out of her hiding spot from her pocket.

"That could have gone better." Marinette's eyes narrowed, choosing to ignore her Kwami's words. There was a more important task at hand, none of which related to telling her roommate that she was in love with her boyfriend.

"Tikki, spots on."

"Ladybug, wait up." Marinette released a sigh allowing her best friend to catch up with her. When she had given Alya the Fox miraculous in the first place, she thought it was a good idea in the moment. But when Rena Rouge had returned, this time because of Master Fu, it had changed everything.

The first couple months were hard, she felt guilty. She knew Rena Rouge's identity and there was no getting around it, she even almost yelled Alya's name a couple times. So, she did the only thing that made sense at the time, she told Alya who she was. Meanwhile, in the back of her mind, she knew (even though he didn't bring it up) that Chat was patiently waiting for when his Lady deemed it the right time. Alya had kept her secret faithfully for the last three years, and Marinette had to admit it brought them closer than they already were.

"We don't have much time before we turn back." It was a weak excuse at best, but all she wanted to do was go back to her room, so the only thing she had to think about was designs and fabric.

"Forget the Miraculouses. I spotted that something was wrong from when you arrived. Talk to me." Sometimes it was scary how Alya could read her. She looked around to check if her Kitty had followed them. He would just use the information to tease her further.

"Did you know about Adrien's crush on me back in high school?" Her best friend's eyes widen, giving Marinette the answer she wanted.

"I'm going to hurt that boy the next time I see him."

"Don't." The last thing she needed was Alya to go into her protective mode, it would only draw more attention to her feelings. "It's...ok." The lie slipped from her lips so easily. Something seemed to click on Alya's mind probing more questions.

"When did he tell you this?" She rested her hand on her hip at the shift of information.

"We got coffee this morning." Marinette tried to reply as casually as possible. If she was able to convince her that it was not a big deal, then maybe they would drop the subject. Alya instead crossed her arms over her chest.

"And what does his girlfriend think about that?"

"Ecstatic. They're going away for a weekend to her parent's summer home," she mumbled bitterly. She chose not to tell her about the rest of her conversation with the redhead, Alya already disliked the girl for obvious reasons.

"This is a terrible idea."

"I know, isn't it too early in their relationship for a weekend trip?" Her contribution earned a glare.

"That wasn't what I was talking about. As much as I hate to say it, you either need to stand up and tell Amelie how you feel, or you need to stay away from Adrien. This is going to hurt you in the end if you don't." Stay away from Adrien, the thought caused goosebumps to form underneath her suit.

"But he's my"- Marinette only managed to get a few words out before Alya cut her off.

"Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't have any feelings for him?" Marinette's shoulder slouched in defeat, even if she attempted to deny the fact, it wouldn't be convincing enough. Alya reached out and rested her hand on her friend's shoulder. "He's still your statue to your compass, Marinette. Until something changes, I would attempt to move on." The moment was broken by their Miraculouses beeping again.

"Thanks, Alya." There wasn't much else she could say, and as much as she hated to admit it, her best friend was right.

When it came to decision making regarding the blonde there was hardly much thought process behind it. She glanced up at an old billboard for the "Spring Edition Adrien cologne" and sighed. How one boy could make her so confused was beyond her. But for the sake of Alya and Amelie's happiness, she would attempt to move on.

A.n.- The next couple chapters set things up for the rest of the story. Tell me what you think! I've already started on the next chapter so it shouldn't be too long before I post the next chapter.