Marinette blinked, realizing a moment too late that she'd zoned out staring at Nathanael's abs. And perhaps a bit lower…

She blushed scarlet, tumbling off the wall in possibly the most ungraceful action she'd ever attempted.

But Nathanael caught her, a strong arm steadying her.

His smile widened, and he set his surfboard against the sea wall, all the while maintaining eye contact. "It's been so long," he breathed. "How have you been Marinette? Are you still living in Paris?"

Her mouth was still open, the shock of seeing him here of all places rendering her speechless.

"I - I've been great!" she finally said, hand reaching unconsciously to meddle with her hair. Damn she hadn't even thought to brush it- "I, uh – actually just moved back to Paris a few months ago. I was living in New York for school…" she trailed off, staring at the black piercing in one of his ears. "How've you been?" She blurted, eyebrows knitting together. "I had no idea you lived here."
"Yeah!" He exclaimed, hand scratching behind his neck. "What are the odds of seeing you here…" His eyes finally left hers, drifting to the waves. Suddenly he cleared his throat, seemingly remembering her question. "I moved here around 5 years ago…I uh, opened a custom board shop not too long ago. It's been doing pretty good," he shrugged.

"Oh!" Marinette exclaimed. "So you, like, paint custom boards for people?"

"Skateboards and surf boards," he clarified.

"Ah," her smile stretched wide, eyes drifting to his board. "And it seems you surf…?"

Nathanael chuckled softly, putting a hand on the tip of his board. "Yeah you could say that…I go out most mornings…"

"At 6 am?" She asked politely.

Is that fucking normal here?

"Nah, this is a bit late for me," he shrugged.

Late? She internally shrieked. What time do you get up!

"I try to get my shop open by 7 in the mornings, but…" he glanced at the sunrise. "Evidently that's not going to happen today."

Marinette snorted, dismissing her earlier thoughts. "I guess that's a perk to being 'the boss.' You get to decide the hours."

Nathanael smiled back. "Yeah, I guess so." He gave a breathy sigh, leaning against his board. His hair was reflecting brightly in the sunlight. "I never thought I'd be running my own business, but…" he trailed off. "Life's good here in Cali."

He looked over to her, a soft smile on his lips. "What about you? Did you ever find that dream job you were drooling about in high school?"

He paused, seeing her expression freeze. "How about we get some coffee," he picked up his board. "You look about ready to collapse."

Marinette gave a breezy chuckle, face frozen in a smile. "Coffee sounds lovely," she said, following Nathanael down the boardwalk. It had been so long…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"-well the conference was completely boring," Marinette rolled her eyes. "As expected. But," she began again, "I did rather enjoy my lunch, which was a, uh…" she trailed off, chewing on her lip.

"Hang on a second," she muttered, unlocking her phone. "I made a note of it somewhere…"

"Take your time purrincess," Adrien chuckled, voice cracking over the Skype call.

"A California Burrito!" She declared, holding her phone in the air triumphantly. "It was a bit strange, to be honest." She put her phone to her lip. "There were French fries in it…"

"…French fries in a burrito?" Adrien asked, one eyebrow raising skeptically. "That honestly sounds disgusting."

"Well," Marinette sniffed. "To those of us who have less refined tastes, unlike you model snobs, it was positively delicious."

"Eh," Adrien shifted on the bed, screen wobbling with his computer. "That still doesn't sound quite like my definition of 'delicious.'"

Marinette stuck her tongue out at him. His face suddenly stretched into a yawn, taking up nearly half the screen.

She chuckled. "Why do you keep yawning?" She asked. "You've yawned like at least twice in the last minute."

Adrien shifted his gaze to the screen, a subtle look of disbelief gracing his features.

"You do know that it's 9 hours later here, right?" Adrien grumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

Marinette's eyes widened, realization dawning on her. She chuckled nervously. "Oh, heh. I completely forgot, actually." Her eyebrows knit together suddenly. "Wait, are you telling me it's 3 in the morning where you are?"

"Uhuh," Adrien nodded, giving her a flat glare.

"Why are you staying up so late!" She practically shrieked. "Go to bed, you idiot!"

"I wanted to see how your day went," Adrien smiled, sleepiness making it lopsided.

"That's-" Marinette hissed. "…so fucking sweet…" she trailed off. She glared at him, willing him to sleep with her eyes.

"Well," he said, one eye already closed. "If that's all for today, I actually wouldn't mind getting some sleep, Purrincess."

"Yes, please do," Marinette instantly agreed. "I'll make sure to call you earlier tomorrow," she said.

"Alright, have a lovely evening Purrincess," Adrien called. "I will chat with you soon."

"Bye," She said, blowing him a kiss.

He smiled, his face freezing for a moment before the call ended.

She sat there a little longer, staring at the screen.

"Oh shit," she said, fist hitting against her thigh. "I forgot to tell him I saw Nathanael…" she grumbled. "Oh well, I guess that'll have to wait until tomorrow."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note: Alright, so now Marinette's "dual" relationship has officially been set up! It is to my understanding that Nathanael and Marinette are old friends (they had their artist pen pal gig thing going back in high school) whereas Adrien wasn't a part of that…

As always, feedback and commentary are appreciated! I hope you enjoyed!

Oh, and in case you are not familiar: "Cali" is short for "California."