Dear Adrien,

I think the hardest part of love is finding someone to connect with. That one special person who understands you inside and out. I feel silly, really. I always thought that it would be easy to find love.

My parents make it look easy. Even after twenty years, they're still madly in love with one another. It's such a rare, beautiful love. I'm kind of afraid I won't find that.

I really want someone who I consider to be my best friend. A life full of love and laughter with someone to share it with sounds so comforting.

All my love,

Ladybug

P.S. That's totally fine if you steal 'lip virgin' from me

Maybe you can steal a kiss from me too

Maybe you can steal a kiss from me too

"Ugh, no." Marinette scratched out the line and threw down her pen in frustration, staring at the lipstick print she left on the page in horror. "No, this will never work. It's too forward."

She crumpled up the paper and tossed it on the table, littered with the other rejected letters.

Alya placed their coffees down on the table. "You know, I'm sure it's not too forward. Considering you guys have been writing to each other nonstop for like two weeks now."

The noise rattled Marinette enough for her to emit a startled, "Huh?"

Alya sat down, crossing her legs and drumming her fingers against the table. "Don't you think it's—"

"—weird that Ladybug hasn't written back yet?" Adrien wondered aloud, staring down at her most recent letter and smiling to himself.

Nino hummed noncommittally, standing over the "C–E" record section, sifting through the vinyls as he put the new arrivals away.

"It's been three days." Adrien swung his legs over the couch's armrest, laying his head down on one of the ugly, floral pillows that was probably scrounged up from the depths of some nineteen seventies home decor nightmare. "She should have replied by now, right?"

Nino grabbed another album, continuing to sort and restock. "Yeah. For sure, dude."

Adrien nodded in agreement, blinking up at the cream colored ceiling filled with band posters. "Do you think I—"

"—want to be a hot mess?" Marinette groaned, scratching out another line from her letter. "Do you know how hard this is for me? We're talking about kissing… kissing! This is new territory for me!"

Alya took a deep breath and schooled her features. "No, it's fine. We can totally go over this for the hundredth time."

Marinette widened her eyes, wincing from the harsh truth. "I'm sorry."

"I get it. You're nervous, but it doesn't mean you have to be scared of him. Both of you have opened up and shared some personal things. I think if he was going to leave, he would've by now." Alya shrugged, taking a sip of coffee. "Why don't you just—"

"—ask her out?" Nino suggested.

"And why would I do that?" Adrien asked nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as he shifted his hips, wiggling on the green couch.

"Uh, yeah. It's a real mystery, dude." Nino tipped his glasses down, gazing over the rim as he simultaneously called Adrien's bluff. "You know, usually when I don't stop talking about someone, it means I really like them. So, maybe, I don't know, you—"

"—should respond and get it over with. Tell him that you want more than just being penpals?" Alya suggested.

Marinette flippantly waved her hand as she blushed furiously at the thought of meeting her penpal. Would he be tall? Handsome? Brunette or blonde? Did his eyes sparkle in the moonlight? She sighed wistfully, getting lost in her imagination.

Alya put her chin in her hand, reading her easily as Marinette flailed, trying to cover her reddened cheeks. "No! W-what? Psh. I mean… I don't really... You know… like him like that?"

Alya rolled her eyes at Marinette's blatant lie. "Oh, wow. Yeah, you're really convincing me with that one there."

"Shut up!" Marinette could feel her face burning up into a flaming cherry red. "You've been with Nino forever! It's not like—"

"—me and Ladybug." Adrien exhaled, slumping further into the creaking cushions. "I like her a lot. I'm just nervous that she doesn't like me back. Maybe I was overbearing or too forward in my last letter."

"I'm sure you were fine, dude," Nino suggested. "From what I've heard, she loves your letters."

"Really?" Adrien sat up, settling his arms over the back of the couch and watching Nino as he worked. His heart warmed up as he thought about his lady, smiling dreamily. "She's just… There's something about her that's so comforting and caring. I can really open up to her, and I'm free to be myself with her. Even though we've never met, I feel like I know her. We're so close to one another now."

"Closer than you think, considering she's downstairs right now," Nino muttered under his breath as he picked up another stack of records, saying a bit louder, "I'm happy for you."

"Yeah. It's as if —"

" —he's not who I thought he would be. He's even better than I could have imagined! He's really sweet and sincere. And I don't mind telling him about the embarrassing things I've done or things that keep me up at night."

"Mhmm." Alya nodded, smiling coyly. "All good things: building trust, opening up, being vulnerable. It's almost as if you guys are dating already."

Marinette froze up, stammering, "N-no! That's not it at all."

Alya tilted her head. "Really? Because whenever you look at his letters, you look—"

"—like a lovesick puppy." Nino said, holding up a vinyl and examining the edges.

Adrien laughed, hopping off of the couch, walking over and leaning against the wall next to him. "I don't see a problem with that."

"Bro! Where did you come from?" Nino jumped, fumbling with the record. "You can't sneak up on a guy like that!"

Adrien held up his hands. "Sorry, man. I didn't mean to."

Nino clutched his chest as his breathing returned to normal. "Seriously, dude, you're—"

"—procrastinating, aren't you?" Alya asked as she casually surfed Pinterest.

Marinette looked down at the blank sheet of paper. "Uh, pfft. No. Never."

Alya shot her a doubtful look as Marinette felt herself sweating under the heat of Alya's gaze.

"I thought I was supposed to be your best friend, not Denial," Alya said, holding up her phone and displaying a sweater.

Marinette tilted her head and scrunched her nose, not liking that pattern at all then sputtered when she registered what Alya had said. "I am not—" she laughed awkwardly, eyes looking everywhere but at the girl sitting across from her. "Nooooo. I'm not procrastinating. I'm trying—"

"—to keep my mind off certain things until she responds," Adrien said, picking at a paint chip on the wall with his nail.

"You're doing a super job of that, bro. I think you've only mentioned Ladybug about sixty-eight times since you're 'definitely not thinking about her.'"

"Thank you. I thought so, too." Adrien proudly stated with a nod.

Nino shook his head, looking up to the Jagged Stone poster above him. "Lord help me with this one."

"And maybe I would be able to write the letter faster if someone wasn't distracting me," Marinette chided, tapping her pen furiously against the paper.

Alya nodded absentmindedly, not bothering to look up from her phone. "That's me. One big old distraction."

Marinette gnawed on the end of her pen as she spoke. "See? Was that so hard to admit?"

"Painful, actually. You practically dragged me through the mud. I can still feel the dirt caked on my knees."

Marinette rolled her eyes, continuing to write and rewrite the same P.S. over and over again. "Why isn't this working?!" she moaned loudly, thumping her head against the table.

"Because you're overthinking again."

Marinette lifted her head, chin resting on the table as she sulked. She held up her coffee cup, realizing it was empty and sighed. "I'm going to grab some more coffee. Want anything?"

Alya shook her head. "Nah, I'm good. Thanks."

Marinette lazily got up and slowly made her way over to the café counter, taking her place in line behind a businessman, a family, and a couple. The younger children were tugging on their maman's skirt, pointing at the various cookies and pastries along the windowpane. Marinette smiled, remembering when she was small and her papa's white chocolate tartlets were bigger than her hand.

She wondered what her penpal's order was. What pastry made his taste buds sing? How does he like his coffee? Would he let her hold his hand? She sheepishly smiled, blushing at just the thought.

She glanced around the café, seeing all of the empty tables and chairs. It was a lighter crowd today which was weird considering it was the middle of autumn. Sundays were usually packed, but she chalked it up to the random warm front France was having.

Huh, Fu was right: Paris was expecting to have sunny days.

"Oh, hey there, Marinette. I didn't know you were here today."

She jolted upright, swinging her body around as she took in who it was. "Adrien!" She smiled, looking down at her empty cup with the coffee pun, holding it up and asking, "How are you brew-ing, today?"

Adrien snorted, smiling widely and throwing his hands in his pockets. "I'm brew-ing very well, thank you. How are you?"

"Good, you know, for a Sunday," Marinette said, smoothing down her sweater. "Um, what are you doing here? Don't you usually have photoshoots scheduled on the weekends?"

Adrien bobbed his head from side to side. "Yeah, usually I do, but my father's assistant Nathalie said that my father didn't think the sunny weather had the right ambience for the winter line, and since he's such a stickler, he canceled the shoot. So… I actually have the day off for once."

"Oh! That's really cool," Marinette beamed. "Wait—isn't The Gorilla usually with you?"

"He's here." He gestured over to his bodyguard. "He's right over there in his usual spot: the red leather chair."

Marinette furrowed her brow as her gaze shifted over to the large man sitting comfortably in the corner, eyes widening when she took him in. How deep was she into her letter that she missed him walking in? The man was practically a building!

But that brought up another possibility: maybe they could actually hang out for once! She excitedly asked, "Do you want to join Alya and I? We're not really doing much. Just hanging out while I write…" a letter back to my totally-not-boyfriend/penpal-Adrien.

"You write?" Adrien asked, turning his attention to look down at the pastries and poking his tongue out as he pondered today's selection. "I didn't know that. Is it something new you're trying?"

She rubbed her elbow as she contemplated how to worm her way around telling Adrien about her letters. "Y-yeah, it's a recent thing—a hobby that I've, um, picked up. I've only been doing it for a couple weeks." Marinette fixated on her sleeve, brushed a piece of lint away and tugged harshly on the end as he hummed, looking over at her with a glimmer in his eyes.

"I bet you're really good at it. You're so focused when you get into new projects, and you've always been insightful when it comes to literature." His eyes softened as she wearily smiled up at him, mindlessly twirling her loose ponytail curls between her fingers. "I'd love to read what you've written sometime," he added encouragingly.

She pulled on her hair too harshly, wincing from the sharp pain. "Uhh—s-sure!" Wide eyed, she stared over at the coffee dripping slowly into the pot and paled as she imagined Adrien reading what she was writing about and to whom. She couldn't allow her former crush Adrien to read her letters meant for her penpal Adrien. That would be cheating! …right?

Marinette corrected herself quickly, squeaking out, "A-actually, you can't."

Confusion laced his face as Adrien frowned, taking a step forward as the café line moved up. "I can't?"

"Well, it's not that you can't because I'm sure that you can read. I-I mean, I know you can read." She twisted her head away and nibbled on her bottom lip, tasting a mixture of coffee and strawberry. "I just mean that… it's not—" Her pulse boomed in her ears as she tried to do the thing that made words come out. It wasn't easy to make a cohesive sentence explaining why she couldn't tell Adrien about her Ladybug letters. That was practically impossible! She could never tell him about that! There was no way, she would ever be—

"Ready?" Adrien thoughtfully added.

Marinette whipped around and snapped her fingers, pointing up at him. "Yes, exactly! That's the perfect way to say it. I'm. Just. Not. Ready." She physically relaxed, exhaling a breath of relief as she asked, "How did you know?"

He glanced over at the barista as she took out the freshly brewed pot of coffee. "My dad is an artist. I grew up with secrecy and avoidance of talking about 'new projects.'" He held up his fingers, doing air quotations as his kind, green eyes met hers. "I completely understand if you don't want to show anyone your work-in-progress."

Marinette nodded, drumming her nails against her "How are you brew-ing, today?" coffee cup, keeping herself from slipping up about her secret Ladybug identity. It wouldn't be a huge deal if Adrien knew—but there were already too many people in the know before her and her penpal revealed themselves. It wouldn't be right to add another person in the mix.

She distracted herself by observing the couple in front of her as they paid for their beverages, admiring them as they held hands and leaned on one another. She smiled, thinking that maybe she'd have that with her Adrien soon. …if she ever wrote back to him.

"But when you're done, let me know if you want someone to read it. I'd love to be your guinea pig," Adrien added, gently nudging her elbow with his.

She smiled up at him. "Of course. When it's ready, you'll be the first… to read it." Her smile faded as she glanced at the ground, feeling a deep sense of deja-vu.

"Marinette?" Adrien asked, tapping her shoulder.

"Yes?" She looked up at his curious face as he nodded to the cashier.

"Um, it's our turn."

Marinette looked over at the barista and shook her head, still a bit dazed. "Oh, right." She took a step forward, taking in the barista's nonchalant disposition. "Hi, another black coffee for me and—"

She glanced up at Adrien as he said, "A vanilla latte with an extra shot of espresso, a coffee with three sugars and oat milk, and two, no, three apple palmiers."

The barista nodded as she entered the order in the register, ringing up the total. "That'll be eleven, seventy five."

Marinette dug through her purse as Adrien laid his hand over hers and smiled. "I got it, don't worry."

She nodded, smiling up and patting herself on the back knowing that she didn't flinch or flail or blush at his touch. "Thanks, Adrien. I owe you."

"No, you don't owe me anything." Adrien shrugged as he paid for the order. "Besides, what are friends for, right?"

"Yeah, friends." She mused, smiling thinly to herself. Past her would have spiraled at the word 'friend.' But… that's what they were. They were friends, and that's what they'd always be. So things didn't work out between this Adrien. It wasn't the end of her world.

And it clearly worked out in her favor. Her penpal was so open, and from his letters, it sounded like they were heading in the romantic direction she was hoping for. And maybe… maybe this new person wasn't so taboo after all. Maybe her crazy Ladybug idea was her best idea yet!

She could get used to another Adrien. Lots of people share names. She imagined once they met, he would fit in with the gang. They could settle in together on the green couch upstairs like other couples did, sharing cookies as she laid her head on his shoulder, talking about everything and nothing, listening to music and being comforted by his presence.

Yeah… that sounded perfect.

The barista handed over the order, laying it on the counter for them as Adrien threw in some change in her tip jar.

Marinette grabbed her fresh cup of coffee, appreciating the heat radiating off the mug as she held onto the handle. "So, did you want to come hang out with Alya and I?"

"I'd love to, but I'm keeping Nino company while he works, and I think he'd get upset if his coffee became cold before I gave it to him." Adrien looked down at his two occupied hands filled with drinks and pastries. "I'll see you guys later though, okay?"

She pointed over to her spot and said, "Sounds good, if you change your mind, we'll be over—"

Marinette nostrils flared as she realized Alya wasn't at the table and both of their chairs were missing.

"What the heck happened?!" Her eyes darted across the room and watched as two Crotchet Cronies were carrying her and Alya's chairs back to their section of the café, snickering to themselves. Appalled, she gaped and glanced over at Madame Boucher who waved her boney fingers with a wrinkly smirk.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Marinette seethed, muttering under her breath. "Mark my words, those Cronies are going down."