Chapter Text
"Miss Dupain-Cheng if my lesson is so boring then you can leave." Marinette was shocked out of her sleep by her design teacher who was standing over her. "So...sorry I was up late working on a project." Well, that was a lie, but she can't really tell them what she was really doing because nobody can know what she was really doing. Telling her teacher that she is ladybug, and she was chasing bank robbers and a gang of gunmen all night would not go down very well. As the teacher rolled his eyes at another one of Marinette's lame excuses. "Well may I offer a word of advice and say to get some proper rest before coming to my classes." She could hear sniggers from her classmates as she apologised again before she heard the bell for lunch. Marinette walked to the cafeteria to meet Alya to enjoy her lunch before her next class. But something was different today, people were crowding around staring at their phones. Normally it was quiet as a lot of people went out to eat lunch but now it was busy, and Marinette couldn't find Alya anywhere. "Hey girl, you are never going to believe the scoop I have for you." Spinning around Marinette could see Alya who was grinning ear to ear and bouncing around. Alya grabbed Marinettes hand pulling her out of the cafeteria and into the hallway. "So, you are never going to guess who has moved back to Paris." Alya was slowly bouncing waiting patiently for Marinette to answer. Marinette just stood in silence. "Well as you haven't answered me, and you aren't excited, I guess you haven't heard the news. Adrien fucking Agreste is moved back." Marinette wasn't sure why Alya was so excited as nobody had seen or heard from Adrien since he left for London, after his father was discovered as Hawkmoth. Adrien had moved to London 4 years ago to move in with his aunt and his cousin. After that he didn't answer calls or texts from any of his friends from Paris. Well except Nino and Chloe, but as far as Marinette was aware Nino had stopped speaking to him 2 years ago. "Alya why would I care if Adrien moved back? Nobody has heard from him in 4 years." Alya's face dropped in shock. Marinette rolled her eyes and waited for the verbal attack she was about to receive from Alya. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. You have been in love with Adrien Agreste for the last 6 years and now you 'don't care' that he has moved back in Paris. This could be your happy ending girl and you are just going to shrug it off as it is nothing. You are chatting a load of bullshit if you think that you don't care. So, Marinette do you want to try answering me again?" Marinette opened her mouth to answer but them closed it again before shaking her head. Alya gave Marinette her 'I know your lying' stare and opened her mouth to speak only to be interrupted by the bell. With a smirk Marinette shouted bye to Alya and ran off to her next class, happy to have avoid that conversation, for now anyways.
After what felt like hours, Marinette was heading home when she got a text.
Alya: Meet me and Nino at the cafe in 5. And you aren't allowed to say no.
Mari: Fine but it must be quick I have a lot of work to do. And if this is going to be about a certain blonde model then i will leave straight away.
Alya: ok. ok. Hurry up and don't be late.
Mari: Ok fine 😊
Marinette was so focused on her phone she was struggling to avoid people walking down the pavement. "Ouch, I am sorry. Are you ok?" Marinette looked up to see a tall blonde man staring down at her. He offered out his hand to help her stand up and Marinette gladly took it as he pulled her to her feet. "Uh thanks. I'm sorry i wasn’t watching where i was going and oh no i really must go I'm late. Thanks, bye." Marinette ran off tripping over her own feet twice. Being late was the last thing she needed now. Marinette saw Alya and Nino sitting at their usual table. "I am sorry I’m late i was texting you and ran into some guy. Then I had to apologise and then me being my madly clumsy self I tripped over twice. Like i said sorry I’m late." Alya and Nino stared at Marinette before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. Marinette was confused wondering why the where laughing at her. After they finished laughing at their poor friend, they ordered some coffee and some snacks while Marinette questioned why they wanted to meet. "Well, Nino got a text earlier from someone asking if he wanted to meet them later. They told Nino to invite whoever he wanted and well we wanted to know if you wanted to come?" Marinette agreed and took her phone out of her purse to check the time before darting out of the cafe at how late it had gotten. Marinette had missed her patrol around Paris and now had to make it up fast. Marinette got back to her apartment and quickly transformed getting ready to patrol paris for crime. After a long patrol, Ladybug went over to the Eiffel tower to relax and watch the sunset. Even though it wasn't necessary for her patrols anymore it was a way to feel free. Feel free from schoolwork, from friends, and from everyday drama. "Well bugaboo, what has it been? Four years or something like that." As she jumped up into a defensive position, she looked up to find a man with shaggy blonde hair and a black leather cat suit. She lowered her guard, watching him slowly walk towards her. After a few seconds he was standing right in front of her staring down at her with a smirk. Before she realised what she was doing she punched him right in the face. He stumbled back clutching his face and gave a slight hiss. "Ouch that hurt. Milady grew some claws while i was gone." He laughed removing his hand from his face to reveal his split lip and bloody nose. Ladybug grabbed his wrist flipping him over, so her foot rested on his chest, and she glared at him. "What the fuck Chat. Four fucking years and thats all I get. No explanation of why you suddenly vanish or where the fuck you decided to go. I find it funny how you were the one who always said we were a team but you were obviously full of bullshit. Your no team player. So why did you decide to come back? Did you get bored of no spotlight?" After all that he still stayed on the floor amd just grinned at her. Ladybug waited for his answer and this time he wasnt leaving until she got one. "Oh yeah, I'm great, thanks for asking. How about you, milady?" Chat could see how this annoyed her and she scowled at him, pushing down harder with her foot. "Ok well this was fun but I was only popping in so I must be going." Chat grabbed her foot twisting it careful to allow himself to get up and brush himself down. She went to throw another punch, but he saw it this time quickly grabbing her hand and twisting it behind her back and pulling in, so she faced away from him, and his spare hand went round her front. He gave a short laugh as she struggled to get away from him. "Bugaboo, calm down. I will gladly let you go, once I can assure my safety. I dont know why you care why i left and to honest with you its none of your business. Our mission was complete and therefore I had no reason to stay in Paris. I came back because I missed you." Ladybug refused to believe him but stopped struggling in hopes that he would let her go. But Chat still held onto her, only letting go when ladybug lifted her leg kicking him where it hurts. After his gripped loosed she slipped free punching him quick and hard in the gut. Chat crouched over in pain before laying down in a ball of pain. Ladybug walked up to him only to turn around to leave. As she threw her yoyo, she turned her head to look at Chat, "Why even bother coming back? I don't want or need you. Goodbye kitty." And with that she was gone leaving poor Chat noir all alone.
After getting home Marinette fell into her bed hoping to get some sleep before getting up. But as usual she couldn't sleep, but this time it was different. Chat was back. After 4 years exactly he was back. When she thought her life couldn't get any worse, he showed up and acted as if they were still 15, fighting akumas on the daily. So many questions flooded her head, why was he back? Where had he been? Was he in trouble? Is that why he came back? Why now? Was this a last-minute choice or had he been thinking about it for a while? Some of these questions would never get answers but she was determined to get some answers. No matter how long or what it took.
Not long after, Chat had gone home and detransformed and went into his on-suite bathroom to clean up his nose and lip. He couldn't feel the pain from his lip or nose as it had become numb. The only pain he could feel was the heartache in his chest. "Plagg, why did she react like that? I thought she would have been happy to have her partner back." Adrien walked over to his window and stood staring out at how quite Paris now was. "I tried to warn you. You abandoned her with no answer and the turned up 4 years later. And you didn't really deal with it in the best way." Plagg flew right up into Adrien's face, so he couldn’t look away. Adrien hated when Plagg was right. “But did she really have to bust up my face. How am I going to explain this one?” Adrien walked over to his bed and fell backwards. Plagg sighed and went to the mini fridge filled with cheese. “Well, to explain your lip you could just say you tripped. And you can take your mind of Ladybug when you meet Nino tomorrow. Didn’t he say he was bringing some lady friends?” Adrien just nodded his head and rolled over ignoring his Kwami.
Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep.
Adrien's alarm was sounding but he was already up walking to his wardrobe to get dressed to go for his morning jog. Plagg was mumbling about cheese like usual while slowly crawling towards the alarm. “You can stay here Plagg and go back to sleep. No akumatized victims are going to pop up while I'm gone so I you don’t need to be in my pocket anymore.” Plagg mumbled rolling over as Adrien walked out the door. For October, the air was warm and there was no breeze. As he was jogging, he went passed man familiar buildings. All of it was a harsh reminder of the past, of what he did. Adrien just wanted to get this jog finished so he could finally go home. Putting his earphones in he slowly continued his jog in peace.
"Marinette your alarm has been going off for 10 minutes. Marinette?... MARINETTE!" Tikki was flying on top of Marinette and was trying to wake her up. Marinette flew up out of bed. She had been going on daily runs in the morning to keep up her fitness, which was all part of her secret job. Quickly getting dressed she put her gloves and scarf in before shouting bye to Tikki. After starting her run she head to do her normal route, which normally ended at her parents' bakery. She unzipped her pocket and got out her phone and earbuds. She decided to select her favourite Jagged Stone album, and it gave her a push for the run. She was running down the street as usual as the fog started to slowly cover Paris. "I hate fog it makes my run so much harder." Marinette squinted her eyes to try see past the fog but had no luck. As she carried on, she decided that it was probably a good idea to let master Fu know that Chat was back in town. As she came to the corner of Master Fu's street she ran straight into someone. "Oh, are you ok? It's so foggy I didn't see you coming. I hope you haven't badly hurt yourself." Marinette got to her feet brushing herself off before looking up at the stranger who had spoken to her. It was still very foggy, and she could just make out his tussled golden hair and green eyes. She knew this stranger but from where? "Umm... Yeah I'm fine. I'm madly clumsy so it's not something new to me." The man smiled at her and apologised again. Marinette looked up to a new billboard and then back at the stranger. No fucking way. Marinette realised who was standing in front of her and before her mind had time to process it, she had screamed at him, "ADRIEN AGRESTE." Slapping her hands over her mouth she could feel the blood rising to her cheeks. He gave her a friendly smile and shocked Marinette with his reply. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, so now we have finished saying names, it's good to see you again." Marinette just stared at him with her mouth open.
'You know your drooling over the guy you don't have a crush in right. You said you don't have a crush in him so talk to him.'
For some reason Marinette had a voice in her head which sounded like Alya. It had the same voice, same tone and the same amount of sarcasm. It was extremely annoying and always right. "Umm... Yeah g...good to see you. It has b...been a while." Marinette followed with a chuckle while picking up her earphone which had fallen out. She could see a grin form on his face at her stuttering. "So, do you start every sentence with umm...? Or just when you are talking to me." Marinette just rolled her eyes and started running again. She could hear footsteps following her but still carried on. “So, are you going to ignore me? Come on Marinette I was kidding. You really haven't changed much, you couldnt take a joke when we teens either." This got Marinettes attention as she suddenly stopped. "I'm sorry but I don't remember asking for your opinion and to be honest with you I don't care. You left four years ago and i tried texting you, but you chose to ignore me then, so yes, I am ignoring you." Marinette knew that she was being harsh but she didnt care, she had places to be and wasnt going to argue with Adrien right now. As she continued her run she turned around to see Adriens face drop and he walked off in the opposite direction.
'What are you doing girl? Go apologise before he disappears again. You have to chose now, do you want him to go or stay? He is waiting for you.'
Marinette slowed down and turned around again and caught him turning the corner. She came to a complete stop thinking about it. Did she want Adrien? She felt happy seeimg him again or was that just coincidence? Marinette shook it off and carried on to Master Fu's place. It was still technically closed but she still ooened it with the spare key and made her way up the stairs, knocking before walking in.
After a lot of tea, Fu finally asked Marinette the normal question "How may i help you Marinette?" Marinette chewed her bottom lip between her teeth wondering how to break this to Master. "Well... I may have had a run in with an old aqatince last night... It ended badly and i feel really bad." Fu just stroked his beard as he always did which made Marinette worry. "So, Chat noir is back, and your reunion didn't go very well." This short statement brought only confusion. Only her and Chat knew that they had met up and the last she saw he was in a lot of pain. "For fuck sake yes. He strolled in like everything was going to be ok and then I punched him and made him bleed. Then i kinda pinned him but he managed to get up and then he held me. I may have kicked him and then punched him again leaving him in pain. He was being a dick. Like everything was going to be fine. That ass left me and thought it was going to be fine. I thought he was hurt or dead but no he just went on holiday." Marinette had her legs tucked up crying and swearing. Master Fu only nodded before giving her a hug. Master Fu wasnt a very affectionate man but he had seen her struggle with Chat disapperence for 4 years, he had watched her on her nearly lose it all for him. "Marinette it will be ok. I watched you nearly die for him. You starved for him. You did everything you could and now he is back you are having to accept that you arent alone anymore. Its ok to feel angry, to feel sad, to feel empty. You are strong Ladybug" Marinette thanked Master before she left. She walked to her parents' bakery to grab a quick breakfast before heading home for a shower.
Adrien had never felt so stupid. He thought he would come back 4 years later to find it all the same, but nothing was the same. Ladybug hated him, Marinette hated him, and he was now the owner of Agreste fashion. The only thing that was the same was him being a model. He walked the restof the way home feeling empty. Wherever he was people knew him as the son of Hawkmoth. He would never escape his father's shadow; he was never going to be who he wanted to be. “What the fuck Adrien. I thought you had got lost or done worse. You can't just leave and decide to come back and hour later without telling me.” Plagg was flying over to Adrien, waving his tiny arms all around. "You learned some new words. Just leave it Plagg." Adrien walked into the living room slumping down on the sofa and reached for the remote. But he was to slow as Plagg grabbed the remote throeing it over to the other side of the room. "We will be talking now, whether you want to or not." Plagg crossed his arms staring down at Adrien who just rolled his eyes. "Fine if you won't shut up then you can take a break." Adrien pulled the ring off his finger and the black kwami disappeared, leaving him in peace. Adrien rolled over and just laid there. But then his phone buzzed, and Nino's name flashed up on the screen. Adrien opened his phone to see what his friend wanted.
Nino : Sup Dude, me and my mates are 10 minutes from the restaurant.
Adrien : What are you on about???
Nino : Dude you are ment to be meeting me for lunch. You didn't forget, did you?
Adrien: Shit yeah. I will get ready and be there in 15 minutes.
Adrien ran up the stairs to get changed before grabbing his wallet and keys before going to his car. Once he was in his car he stared at the ring before finally putting it back on. "You little bastard. You think its ok to take your ring off just to shut me up. If I didn't like you, I would use my cataclysm right now on you." Adrien made his way towards the restaurant to meet Nino and whoever his guest was.
After pulling up Adrien walked into the restaurant and saw Nino sitting on a table by himself. After he greeted nino he looked around for who the guest might be. "They're in the bathroom. They should be back any minute now." Adrien looked at Nino and just nodded before turning his phone off. "So what happened with you and Alya? Are you guys still together?" Adrien said while fixing his hair. "Yeah, we are going strong. We actual got engaged last month but what about you? Any ladies catching you eye or are you more of a one-night stand kind of guy?" Adrien's face turned red at Nino's very personal question, but Nino just laughed claiming that it was a joke and he needed to loosen up. After that they made general conversation for a while before deciding to sit in silence. "Well Agreste it good to see you. Dont seem like you have changed much though." Adriens head turned to find Alya and Marinette walking over to the table. Marinette just rolled her eyes muttering something to Alya before sitting in the seat next to him. "Oh thanks. Well, i've heard that you got engaged congratulations." Alya thanked him before calling a waiter over to order. Adrien turned his head to look at Marinette who again rolled her eyes before continuing her conversation with Alya. After a few minutes their drinks came over and Alya turned to Adrien and asked, "So Adrien do you have a girlfriend?" Adrien choked on his drink while shaking his head. Nino and Alya just laughed while Marinette threw a menu at them, which hit them. "Thats perfect dude, Nette's single to and refuses to go on a date with any guy she doesn't know and since she had a huge..." Before he could finish his sentence, Marinette had said his name and scowled which made him come to a very quick stop. "I am 20-year-old guys, I do not need you two trying to set me up with anyone. And I'm way too busy for a relationship anyways." Alya opened her mouth to say something only to quickly shut it when Marinette grabbed another menu. Everyone went quite even after food was brough out. Everyone ate in silence and only Nino spoke when he payed. As they all walked out Alya and Marinette walked ahead while Nino stayed behind to talk to Adrien. "Sorry about the whole girlfriend thing back there. It must have been a bit awkward. How about to mame ut up to you I'll buy you a couple of drinks at the club tonight, if you want." Nino looked genuinely sorry. "Well, I've never actually been to a club before." Adrien immediately regreted saying this as Alya stopped dead in her tracks, spun round to face him and then wakked right up to him. "Adrien clear you schedule for the rest today and tomorrow. Tonight you are going to lose you club viginity. I can't believe you havent been to a club, me and Mari started going when i turned 16." Nino was pushing his girlfriend along while trying to get her to be quiet. "I thought you had to be 18 to go clubbing? How did you get in?" Alya just smirked and turned to Marinette who sighed and gave him a reply. "Well as I was 15, I paid for a fake ID and then added a tight dress and a bit of makeup. And yes I was drinking alcohol not juice." Adrien was shocked my the attitude in her answer. Over the years Marinette's confidence had grow a lot and she had begun to embrace her ladybug side.
Nino had gone home with Adrien to pick an outfit suitable for clubbing as all he seemed to own was suits. After searching through Adriens wardrobe, they finally decided on a pair of tight jeans and a casual tshirt. They all decided to meet at the club as nobody wanted to be sober but when they got there the line was atleast 20 metres long. Everyone sighed until Marinette pulled them to a side door where she lead them in. Marinette knee rhe owners and was allowed to skip the queue. Adrien was looking Marinette up and down, She had a burgandy red halter top on with a tight black skirt and heels to match her top. Her skirt reached half way down her thigh and had pockets in them. He knew that she had made the outfit as both peices had her signature on them. Only people who knew what to look for would find her signature. He was only brought back to reality when Alya whispered in his ear. "Do you like what you see Agreste? You know if you keep staring your jaw might actuallt hit the floor." She closed his mouth and smirked before running off to Nino's side. Nino ordered a load of shots and evryone took turns to see who could do the most and it wasnt a suprise when Adrien backed our first. They spent hours at the club drinking, dancing and occasionally running to the bathrooms to throw up. But nobody rembers anything after 10pm. What happened?