[Chat Noir] Good morning Princess! What kind of day awaits you?
[Ladybug] A long one it would seem.
On Thursday morning, Adrien found their joint office to be empty upon his arrival despite being almost half an hour late. He smiled to himself as he mentally noted that punctuality was definitely a trait they both lacked cruelly. The young man hung his jacket on a hook and noticed that her purse was oddly already hanging on the next hook making him reconsider his previous statement. Spinning around on his heels, he quickly scanned their office a second time as if he could've missed her. Surely enough, she still was nowhere in sight, even though now that he took his time to analyze his surroundings, her drawing table was totally cluttered with drawing supplies, and scraps of fabrics were laying around everywhere on her working table. Curious about the mess she had created, probably in a time of great inspiration, he crossed the room to check which design she was currently working on, only to be stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the approved, loved and nearly perfect (in his opinion though) female cinema-date design hung on her drawing table, circled by arrows and angry notes. He didn't have a clue about where the young designer might have vanished to, but it was very clear Marinette had found something she didn't like in her previous design and was currently on a quest to fix it.

The blond smiled fondly at her obvious dedication to their upcoming collection. She took this project very seriously despite their rocky debuts. The missed kiss from the day before replayed yet again in his lovesick mind. At first, he had been mad at himself for trying something that forward on her and expecting a positive reaction from the scarred girl. But the more he thought about it, he couldn't help but notice she hadn't outright rejected him. The blackette had just dodged the kiss without even mentioning it, making it obvious she wasn't anywhere ready for such a mark of affection, and had instead kissed him on the cheek before retreating back in her apartment. And he would get to see her again out of professional context on Saturday, which she had initiated. Maybe there was still hope for a little more than friendship between them after all.
[Chat Noir] Lots of work?
[Ladybug] Yeah, and I just made things worse
[Ladybug] My boss' gonna kill me
[Chat Noir] if he does, I'll avenge you my lady!
[Chat Noir] Super Kitty to the rescue!

Suddenly recalling he was supposed to text Marinette his address for the upcoming video games session he was dearly looking forward to, he pulled out his phone and started scrolling down his contact list. Adrien frowned in frustration when he noticed there was no contact listed between Césaire, Alya and Dussault, Adam. Where in the world was Dupain-Cheng, Marinette ? Right on cue, the door opened, and he breathed softly without bothering to look up:
"Good morning beautiful. Your timing is perfect: I was about to text you, but it seems I don't have your contact info yet."
[Ladybug] … I bet you would be wearing thighs. Just to annoy me even in my grave.
The high pitched voice that answered him was definitely not Marinette's:
"What are you talking about Adrikins? I've had the same number for the past ten years or so, there's no way you don't have it already."
Dreadfully looking up from the small digital screen, Adrien found himself staring into the icy blue gaze of Chloe Bourgeois, his childhood friend that also turned out to be an adulthood nightmare. He tried to hide the shiver that ran down his spine as he walked toward her.
"Chloe! What are you doing here?"
Crossing her arms over her chest, the blonde glared down at him:
"Well, I was over at Sabrina and Nate's the other night, and guess who forgot to tell his best friend in the world that he was back in Paris?"

Adrien internally cursed Nathanael with all his might. Without any doubts, this was his petty way of coming back at him for the little brawl they had at the wedding. It wasn't a secret for anyone, apart from Chloe herself it seemed, that Adrien wanted nothing more to do with the mayor's daughter. Ever since she had married some random rich brat she had pulled out of nowhere, she had become even more spoiled and insufferable that she had ever been to begin with.
"Sorry Chloe, I've been really busy lately."
She snorted inelegantly:
"Too much busy to let your oldest friend know you were back in town?"
The blonde woman tied her arms around his neck in a weird embrace like she had done countless times before. But for some reason, this time it really ticked Adrien off. That was wrong, on so many levels he didn't even know where to begin with.

Right on cue, loud knocks resonated on the closed door as a voice he had grown really fond of lately came slightly muffled through the wooden panel:
"Adrien, are you in there? I've got my hands full, could you open the door?" Marinette's soft voice came through the wooden panel.
"Right away!" the young man answered as he ripped himself from the blonde's clutches before darting toward the door in one soft motion, ignoring Chloe's indignant huffs. He swung the door open, revealing his partner's lithe figure buried under various rolls of fabrics. The young designer smiled at him apologetically:
"I kinda want to rethink the female cinema-date. It isn't nearly as feminine as I would like it to be. Is that okay with you?"
Forgetting Chloe was in their office, watching their interaction with more than an interested eye, Adrien let his mind focus entirely on Marinette as he took the fabric rolls from her arms:
"You're the genius designer Mari, not me. This outfit was a little under budget anyway, so I think you can pull it off. What did you have in mind?"
"Well, Marinette answered softly with a radiant smile, lace would really add a nice touch to it and I've been thinking… CHLOE?"
The shriek that escaped Marinette's throat told Adrien he really should have warned his partner about their unexpected guest. The heiress eyed the newcomer disdainfully, her hands on her hips over her designer jeans:
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng. What an unpleasant surprise."

Adrien instantly saw Marinette tense up as she eyed their impromptu visitor carefully. Chloe, however, didn't seem to pick up on the sudden awkwardness, seeing she just scoffed:
"You must be elated Marinette. You managed to snatch yourself a job under Adrien's direct orders."
The young man didn't wait for his partner's reaction to cut in:
"Actually Chlo, Marinette and I are both working together under my father 's order on this project, he answered putting as much emphasis on those two words as he could. This is kind of a test, to see if I'm fit to manage the company when he retires someday. And since I couldn't be trusted to design hamster fashion, he had to hire someone to take care of the artistic side of the job. That's where Mari comes to play."
He fully expected Chloe to argue back, belittle Marinette a little further or come back with a petty remark. What he didn't expect, however, was the blonde nodding softly as she eyed them both repeatedly.
"I see." was the only reply he got from her.

The young designer checked her phone quickly before casting an annoyed glance at the mess she had created in the room.
"I skipped breakfast this morning Adrien, and I'm famished. I'm gonna hit the small cafe a few blocks away real quick before straightening my clutter up. You want anything from them?"
Unsure of what she was trying to achieve, he simply breathed in answer:
"The usual please."
"Of course. Goodbye, Chloe, it was good to see you again. It's been a while."
Before either he or Chloe could react, Marinette was gone, carefully closing the door behind her.

Adrien stared at the closed panel for a second too long, as it seemed to prompt his childhood friend to pry:
"Okay. What the hell did I just witness, and when in the world did it happen?"
Snapping back to his surroundings, the young man just shrugged as he booted up his computer.
"I don't have a clue what you're talking about."
The blonde sat on their desk, giving him a glare that hinted very clearly that she didn't believe him.
"Adrien, please. I've known you ever since you strutted your sorry butt around in diapers. Don't try to play dumb with me."
Finally daring to look up into the icy blue eyes he knew all too well, Adrien read nothing but disbelief in them.
"What do you want me to say, Chloe?"
She picked up Marinette's sketchbook from her side of their desk, and it took the blond all his will to not rip it from her clutches as she flicked it open curiously:
"All of a sudden sweet little Marinette manage to utter more than two words in a row around you? And you should have seen your face when you heard her voice through the door, you looked like a starving man facing a Christmas buffet."
[Ladybug] Do you have anything for pest control?

There was a minute of silence between the pair. Sure, Adrien had distanced himself from Chloe shenanigans over time as they both grew up. He was more of a dorky quiet geek, she was a socially perfect butterfly. But somewhere deep inside, they still both were the little rich kids with no one else to lean on.
"I-I'm confused, to be honest. What are you trying to imply?"
His childhood friend smiled sympathetically:
"Do you want me to spell it out for you? Honestly, hasn't any of your lame friends pointed it out to you already?"
Frowning, Adrien crossed his arms defensively in front of him:
"Nino is currently on a well-deserved honeymoon, so I won't bother him with my pathetic life. Marinette's pretty much the only significant human being which I interacted with in nearly two weeks, so it was inevitable we would end up closer. Why do you care so much suddenly anyway?"
Snickering, Chloe shook her head as she answered softly:
"My poor Adrien… You're so in love. Hopelessly head over heels, I'd dare to say."
He breathed gently, unable to refute the obvious accusation:
"I think I am, Chloe."

The blonde scoffed:
"Then would you care to explain to me why you two aren't already dating?"
He shook his head, eying his partner empty chair with longing clearly written on his traits:
"Things aren't like that Chloe. We're friends, and she wants to keep things at that."
"Oh please! I've been in the room for barely five minutes and it was painful to watch. There's obviously something between you two, you'd have to be blind to overlook that."
Adrien tried to stifle the flaming hopes Chloe's words had raised in him. After all, she didn't know Marinette that much, she could very well be horribly mistaken. Looking back at his childhood friend, he sighed:
"Even if you were right, I can't just pounce on her. I don't even know how to let her know how I feel about her without scaring her away."

This time, the smile Chloe gave him wasn't mocking nor condescending. It was a genuine friendly smile.
"Just be yourself, Adrien. She already loves you, it's crystal clear."
He scoffed gently:
"Yeah, because it has been really successful so far."
The blonde woman got up and planted an affectionate peck on his cheek before retreating toward the door. She paused with her hand on the handle, glancing back at him:
"You know, I'd like very much to be invited to the wedding, even if she hates me. Goodbye, Adrien."
And with that she was gone, leaving a stunned Adrien behind.
[Chat Noir] Of course I'd wear thighs to avenge your murder, what kind of superhero would I be otherwise?
[Chat Noir] What kind of pest are we talking about?
[Ladybug] The expensive one.

He still hadn't fully recovered from the encounter when Marinette came back from the cafe fifteen minutes later, visibly relieved to find their visitor long gone. When asked if he was okay, the young man only managed to blame his strange behavior on a headache. He spent the remaining of the day casting random glances at Marinette, Chloe's words replaying constantly in his mind.
"Just be yourself."

Readers apparently skimmed hardcore over a rather important line in the last chapter:
"Marinette was way too tired and wrapped up in her pent up emotions to pick up on the fact they had yet to exchange numbers, so she simply nodded and looked away."

They HAVE NOT exchanged numbers yet (and yes, he forgot to ask her after Chloe's departure. He's hopeless.).

I'm sorry if you were expecting a reveal in this chapter. The only thing I'm willing to offer about the reveal is that it won't be the end of the fic, I have things planned post-reveal. You can make what you want about that. We're getting there :)