"This may be the best one of my best poems yet," The ravenette said softly, smiling over at Chloe who was squeezing the fluffy white towel between her dripping locks of golden hair, a towel was wrapped around her hourglass figure making the males breath catch in his throat.

"I just find it so cheesy that you write poems," Chloe smiled softly, pulling one of his hoodies over her top and stepping into the shorts out of her duffle bag before sitting on his beanbag. "I think they'd make good songs though. You play the guitar donchu'?"

He hummed in confirmation, handing the small journal to the blonde to read over. A smile abrupted over Chloe's face, her cheeks tinting pink.

"Blonde locks like the sun enthral me,

Ocean blue eyes that set me free.

Perhaps in another life I'd only sit and wonder about her

But lucky for me, I get to call her mine

Or perhaps its the other way around, she owns me.

Our souls intertwining and twisting together life fine aged wine.

I look at her and all I can think is:

Home."

"It's–uhm," He coughs into his elbow, looking away from Chloe shyly, "It's a work-in-progress. Not good yet but it's…something."

Chloe stands and hugs her slender arms over his broad shoulders, sniffling as she nuzzles her face into the crook of his neck. "Ye-ah, definitely something."

"Do you think that boys are mean to the girls they like?" Angelica popped the question as she announced her entrance into the kitchen where her Au pair and mother were sitting at the table.

"What? Chloe questioned, patting Bianca's back softly as the woman tried to remember how to breathe after choking on her tea.

"Do you think that boys are meaner towards the girls they like than anyone else?" Angelica asked again, carefully puring the warm tea from the kettle into a thermos.

"Sometimes, why do you ask?" Chloe mumbled, looking up from her novel.

"Cassie says that Damien likes me, but I don't know if thats true because he's always a jerk," Angelica huffed, rolling her eyes as she sturred in some sugar for her tea.

Bianca hums, looking over towards Chloe with knowing eyes.

"That jus' means sometimes. But, ya' also gotta' think about it in the sense that boys can jus' be mean, ya'know?" Bianca asked, shrugging her shoulders softly.

Angelica hummed in confirmation, not saying anything else before walking out of the brightly lit kitchen with her thermos.

"Be more careful with your thermos this time, dear!" Chloe called after her daughter, sitting with a straight back before hearing the distant 'Okay!'. The last time she had brought a thermos up into her room she had lost it, then found it a few days later– the milk had curdled– then thinking it was okay to drink got sick.

"I wonder about her sometimes," Bainca said after a few minutes, finally having calmed down from her coughing fit, causing Chloe to look up from her book towards the woman.

"Hmm," She nods, placing her laminated bookmark in her book before closing the pages. "I wonder if she's having trouble with some boys at school."

"I wonder."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng sat down at the small table she and her friend group had labeled as theirs throughout the years, waiting patiently for Alya and Nino to arrive as she drank her tea. It was the best tea in all of Paris, not too sweet, but just enough to land a curve on her sweet tooth she had developed growing up in a bakery (Not to mention her husband now owned one of his own).

"Guuuuurl!" Alya called from a few feet away, a bright smile on her face as she held a small three year old girl against her hip. Marinette immediately stood from her seat, embracing Alya in a tight hug before reaching up to hug her giggling niece.

"Aunt Mari!" The little girl giggled, her bright chestnut eyes glinting with happiness as she sat on top of Marinette's lap, her mother sitting across from them.

"Where's Nino and Matteo?" The bluenette question, bouncing her knee softly to keep Rosalie entertained.

"They're up at the counter," Alya gestured with her hand, not looking back as she smiled at her best friend and daughter. "What's up with this 'emergency meeting'."

Marinette smiled at the airquotes and eyeroll Alya produced but nonetheless found it endearing to see her friend so carefree again, it had been a rough few years; Alya had fallen into postpartum depression after the twins were born, something no one in the friend group had expected.

Alya's light brown hair was styled in a pixie cut, blonde tips at the end as she sported the same glasses she had had in highschool. "Some Dudette's," Nino sat in the seat next to his wife, handing Matteo to Alya so he could set four drinks down, two for the twins and one for each of the adults. Alya grinned and kissed his cheek before turning back to Marinette expectantly.

"Well, you know how you told me very specifically not to call Chloe?" Alya's eyebrow shot up in question, tilting her head, "Well I did. And she offered to host the reunin at her house."

"Mari, you can't think that'd be a good idea," Alya apposed, shaking her head as she looking down at Matteo to give him his frozen hot chocolate. Rosalie, who was now in Nino's lap reached for the same thing, content smiles on both of their faces. "We haven't seen Chloe in almost ten years girl, who knows the kind of person she's become."

"Exactly!" Marinette exclaimed, her hands flying up in the air before reaching down in her bag to grab her laptop, opening it up to show various tabs open all resembling something with the name 'Chloe Bourgeois', "I did some research before I called her– don't even get me started on how hard it was to find her number, I had to go through three different companies to find it– and she's literally no where to be found. And the only places she is found is with her husband."

"Woah, she has a husband?"

"Yeah! And her surname isn't Bourgeois anymore, it's Dumont. She has a nine-year-old kid, after she dropped out of high school she just…vanished," Alya pulled the bluenette's laptop towards her, one hand wrapping around her son as the other clicked through the tabs, stopping on one that was pulled up on a man.

"Pierre Dumont," Alya read a loud, looking up at Marinette in question, "Husband?" Marinette hummed in confirmation. Scrolling down the social media page, she stopped as she spots a little girl with shining black hair in two high pigtails, holding a trophy standing in front of a large canvas behind her, an woman that looked like a slightly older Chloe stood next to her.

Alya scanned over Chloe in the photo, noting the small smile on her face, she she leaned in towards her daughter, wearing a white blouse and a long flowing white skirt with daisies on it. Her hair was longer than Alya had ever seen it, and although she held a smile on her face, she looked sadder than she ever had been.

"It's interesting, don't you think?" Marinette's eyes held a soft look as she rested her face in her hand, glancing at Alya, "She looks so lonely. We always joked about her ending up alone, but I can't help but feel bad now that it actually happened. She was mean to us in highschool yeah, but we were also really mean back, and we got none of the backlash for it."

"Dudette," Nino interjected, "As much as I trust your opinion, I gotta' agree with Alya, she looks sad, yeah, but who knows what kind of chaos Chloe being back in our lives could bring. Alya finely got that promotion, and I'm settling into life as a stay at home Dad while also releasing albums. You and Adrian have a little one of your own on the way. Are you really willing to risk everything for your highschool bully?"

"Nino, I can't just sit here and watch as she becomes like that," Pointing to her laptop, Marinette clenches her teeth in desperation. She knew that if she could get Nino and Alya on board then the rest of the class would follow soon after. She had already gotten Rose and Julieka to agree to it, deciding to invite Luka along– if he was in France at the time of course. "Plus, wouldn't it be good for us all to get some reasoning over what happened all those years ago?"

"Look–" Alya started before stopping as Nino placed his free arm on her shoulder. A silent conversation seemed to pass between the two before Alya finally nodded, sighing as she looked back forward– "If you can get Adrian to agree then we're in. It's going to hurt him the most."

"Alright," Marinette nods, smiling at the conclusion they had come to.

Marinette stared at herself in the bathroom mirror that night as she brushed her teeth, eyes skimming down towards her stomach where a slight bump had begun to form. She remembered when she had first tolf Adrian that she was pregnant, the grin spreading across his face as he twirled her around, tears flowing from his eyes.

Adrian was due home any minute now, the blonde man had worked late working on an order of five hundred red velvet cupcakes and a three tier cake for a party across town. Marinette herself was still lulling through her thoughts about how the day had turned out, pleased that Alya and Nino had somewhat agreed to her idea of holding it at Chloe's house, but worried about what Nino had said.

Are you really willing to risk everything for your highschool bully?

Was she? Was this even a good idea at all? Chloe had put all of Paris through immense pain multiple times, pushing those that were weaker than her to the ground and spitting at those her were stronger than herself. After she dropped out of school a semester before graduation, no one had seen her again as far as Marinette knew.

Chloe's marriage had been announced a few weeks after graduation, seeing as Chloe's father had still been the mayor at the time, but after the wedding, all news on Chloe disappeared from everywhere. A few months after that, Marinette had decided to check in on Chloe (Although Chloe and she had been enemies, Marinette wasn't that mean as to not check up on someone that she had known since Primary school.) just to find that all of her socials had been deleted; her phone number disabled.

The Chloe Bourgeous that they all had known was gone.

"Mari!" Came the sing-songy voice of Adrian as he pushed off his shoes and walked into their room, flopping down onto the bed. Marinette spit the toothpaste out of her mouth before scolding him.

"Get off the bed! I just changed the sheets! I don't need flour all over the clean ones!" Marinette put her hand on her hip as she scowled at her blonde.

"Relax! I changed before I left work, Love," He stood nonetheless, taking a few long strides before grasping Marinette in his arms, lifting her chin up to plant a soft kiss on her lips, "but for you, I will go shower before getting into bed, alright?"

Marinette hummed in satisfaction as she leaned into his touch, laying her head on his shoulder contently. Marinette had grown up working in the bakery, where the smells everyone seemed to enjoy were her every day life. The smells had grown into a thing that immediately made her feel safe, and having her husband smell like it was heaven.

"Go shower Chat, I'll be in bed after I finish brushing my teeth," Adrian salutted her, giving her one last peck on the lips before walking past her into the shared bathroom. Marinette finished up in the bathroom before leaving, walking through their small house into the kitchen to get some water.

Despite being an upper class couple, Adrian had admitted early on in the process of finding a house that he didn't want anywhere that was bigger than necessary. After moving out of his fathers mansion, he he reluctantly admitted to Marinette that he had problems with empty spaces, it brought back memories of the empty house that he had been forced to call home for many years before beginning to stay at Marinette's parent's bakery.

Their walls had been decorated with art that Marinette had done throughout the years, photos that Adrian had done when he had taken up photography in university, pictures of their friends and family members. Nicnacks decorated the shelves where multiple books from all different eras and genres lay, a separate bookshelf for CD's that the two loved to keep and play on nights where it seemed fitting.

A grand piano was set in one of the rooms that had multiple mannequins and fabrics, splashes of paint covering the walls from when Marinette and Adrian had decided to go crazy with that room because they knew that no one was ever going to see it. A small office space for Marinette to go during Zoom meetings with someone overseas was in another room.

Then of course was the main bathroom, and their room that had another bathroom attached to it. Lastly, was the nursery. Marinette and Adrian had taken on the task of making the nursery as child like as possible, painting the walls full of little cartoon giraffes and elephants.

Marinette smiled at the home that they had created for themselves before finishing the cup of water, placing it in the empty sink to be cleaned in the morning before work or in the evening after they had both gotten off work.

A few minutes later Adrian and Marinette were lying in bed next to each other, staring up at the ceiling in contentment before Marinette turned towards her husband, looking over his sharp features. "How would you feel about having our highschool reunion at Chloe's house?"

Adrian's jaw tenses slightly as he turned towards his petite wife, concern laced through his face. "What?"

"I called Chloe a few days back to invite her to the reunion," Marinette murmured, tracing her fingers over the tanktop Adrian was wearing, "And she offered to host. Alya and Nino said that they would be fine with it as long as you gave it the okay…"

Adrian sighed, wrapping his arms around Marinette and pulled her inot his chest, resting her head in the crook of his neck as he placed his chin on the top of her head. "Okay."

"Okay?"

Adrian sighed, "It's fine with me. I think it'll be good to see her again, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Marinette didn't feel as happy with the response as she thought she would. He sounded tired all of a sudden, as though all of the energy had been sucked out of him with simply just saying okay. No doubt seeing Chloe again after all this time would bring up memories of his childhood, some more of the darker ones that he hadn't told her yet.

Marinette's and Adrian's relationship was based solely around their trust for one another. But that came with a few exceptions, Marinette knew that Adrian's childhood was a sore spot for the blonde beauty, he just wanted to leave the past in the past; exactly where it belonged.

"Are you sure?" Marinette couldn't help but whisper after a few minutes of silence, the darkness of the room blanketing over the heaviness of the question.

"Yeah, I think it'll be good for me. After Fa…Gabriel was arrested, I saw her once, it was with her newborn girl, so we didn't have a chance to really talk. Gabriels trial was the same day Chloe and her husband were at the court to get their marriage certificate signed. I think…that seeing her and getting some confirmation that she's okay too…that she got out as well as me, will help me."

Adrien looked down at Marinette, his eyes nearly glowing as a thin sheen took over them, "I love the life we've created together, and I fully intend to leave the past behind. But I need to bring it into the present one last time to really finish healing. Yes, having Chloe there will help."

His tone was absolute, so Marinette just nodded, cupped his cheek softly and placed a his on his forehead before snuggling into him with a soft 'I love you' before deciding it was finally time to sleep.

If Marinette had known that this was going to be the last time she would be able to have a late night conversation with her husband like this, then perhaps she would have talked with him for just a little longer.

CHAPTER END

Buh buh buhhhhhh. What do yall think is gonna happen?

Sorry for like abandoning this for...4-5 months. I'm finally on winter break though so I got a break to finally finish writing this. I hope everyone had a happy holiday, and if I don't post again before the New year, happy 2023!

-ODDBAll08-