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As soon as the final bell rang for the day, Adrien excitedly packed his belongings away, collected his things from his locker, and as soon as Alya, Nino and Marinette were ready, Adrien eagerly led the group to Marinette’s place. Since his Chinese lesson was cancelled for that evening, Adrien couldn’t wait to get a head start on the group assignment Ms Bustier had assigned them earlier in the day.
As the bell chimed when he opened the front door of the bakery, he heard giggles from behind him.
‘It’s alright, dude, the assignment isn’t going anywhere,’ Nino chuckled with a playful eye roll.
‘You’re like a puppy eager to go on a walk,’ Alya teased as Marinette closed the door behind them.
‘How can I not be?’ Adrien asked, not bothering to suppress the little bounces he made on the balls of his feet. ‘A fun task and I get to work on it with my friends? What’s not to like?’
‘A fun assignment?’ repeated Madame Cheng from behind the counter, before turning her gaze to Marinette. ‘Why do you never describe your homework like that, dear?’
‘Because this one is actually fun,’ Marinette retorted. ‘For our social studies unit, we’re doing a group assignment where we look back on our own lives and find events, moments, people and/or items from our past and reflect on how they’ve shaped us as people today, and create a presentation on it!’
‘We figured that, since Nettie and I have known each other since we were supes young, that we’d start here and go to mine after, and see if anything connects, you know?’ Nino continued, and Madam Cheng nodded thoughtfully.
‘Sounds like a lovely idea - why don’t you four head upstairs to the living room, and I’ll see if I’ve got any memorabilia lying around,’ she suggested. ‘Tom, can you keep an eye on the front, dear?’
After greeting Mr Dupain and being given a platter of freshly baked goods as “study snacks” from the jolly man, the four friends headed up to the Dupain-Cheng apartment, and settled themselves on the couches in the living room. Marinette went up to the shelves adorning the walls and pulled a few heavy tomes out.
‘These are some photo albums Maman and Papa put together when I was little,’ she explained, handing one to each of them, ‘maybe we’ll find something in these.’
Just as Adrien opened the photo album, already cooing at the adorable photo of a toddler Marinette posing like a star for the camera at the beach, Madame Cheng returned.
‘I knew I had these lying around somewhere!’ she exclaimed as she approached them. ‘This is a box where I had saved of some of Marinette’s first pieces of art that Tom and I could see identifiable shapes and figures-’ she put the shoe box in the middle of the coffee table in front of them, ‘-and this is the journal the educators put together about Marinette’s learning experiences in preschool - considering you two went to the same preschool, I thought this might be a good place to look.’
‘I’ll take that!’ Alya declared with a grin, dumping the heavy photo album back into Marinette’s arms and relieving Madame Cheng of the A3 book. ‘I can’t wait to see what you two got up to as little munchkins.’
Marinette rolled her eyes good naturedly at Alya’s antics as Madame Cheng chuckled. With a parting “let us know if you kids need anything”, Madame Cheng left them to their own devices.
Adrien found himself just as curious about Marinette’s preschool adventures as Alya clearly did, but the sound of pages turning reminded him of the treasure trove that was the weighty album on his lap, so he contented himself with the snapshots of toddler Marinette. Each photo or set of photos was accompanied by a line of description and a date. Marinette looked absolutely precious as she was captured pressing a cookie cutter into some sort of dough, looking very determined to do it right. His heart melted when he spotted her in a parent-toddler swimming class, where Mr Dupain was laughing as Marinette’s feet splashed up a storm. He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Marinette looking sheepish, covered in paint from head to toe as she was caught “redecorating” the living room walls. What was initially a researching mission turned into sharing photos and excerpts from their books with the group, fawning over the undeniably cute antics of what they had dubbed “Baby Mari” - with the frequent appearances of “Baby Nino” and “Baby Kim” that were mostly found in the journal Alya had. Occasionally, he’d sneak glances at Marinette, comparing Baby Mari to the girl across from him; she really had grown up from a cute toddler to a beautiful person.
Adrien was just about to show the group a fun photo where Tom had spiked Baby Mari’s hair up into a mohawk during bath time when someone else spoke up first.
‘Damn, Mari, you might have a type,’ Alya murmured.
His curiosity piqued, Adrien leaned over his photo album to peek at the journal - as did Nino and Marinette, prompting Alya to present the double-page spread to the group. The pictures on the pages all featured Baby Mari with a blond boy, some included Nino and Kim too, but what caught his attention was the photo of baby Mari, dressed as a princess, kissing the furiously blushing blond knight on the cheek – a blond boy who looked eerily like him.
‘Baby Mari knows how to flirt!’ Alya said, nudging Marinette playfully with her elbow. ‘You should take some notes, girl!’
The group laughed as Marinette lightly swatted Alya’s arm, stating that she wasn’t “that bad…right?”, which only made Alya and Nino laugh harder; Adrien chuckled, too. Marinette was adorable. Adrien wondered what Marinette flirting would look like, and if she ever got over her stammering and randomly decided to flirt with him using all the confidence and sass he knew she had, Adrien was sure he’d be a goner. No wonder the poor kid was so red.
‘You know,’ Nino said through his laughter, ‘this blond kid sure looks like how I’d imagine Adrien as a kid, don’t you think?’
The observation made the others stop laughing and lean in closer, but Adrien brushed off the idea.
‘It can’t be,’ Adrien said confidently, ‘I don’t even remember going to preschool and neither Mother nor Father made any mention of me attending one. He sure looks like me, but it must be some sort of coincidence, right?’
Alya poured over the pages as Nino and Marinette pulled away from the book and pondered his words, looking unsure, until Alya cried, ‘Holy shit! His name is Adrien, too!’
All four heads immediately moved closer to the book, almost bonking their heads together as they desperately searched the page for his name and- there. There it was.
Princess Marinette thanks her loyal knight, Adrien, with a kiss on the cheek.
‘Oh my god,’ breathed Adrien, not quite believing what was right in front of him. He had always heard stories of people being friends since they were young, and while he had Chloé, a part of him had longed to have met his friends earlier, to have known them longer, and this evidence right in front of him was almost too good to be true.
‘Coincidence, my a- uh, foot,’ Nino said. ‘That’s definitely you.’
‘B-But… how?’ Adrien floundered. ‘How do I not remember this?’
‘Or me?’ Marinette added, frowning at the book. ‘How on earth could I forget meeting Adrien?’
The emphasis she had on his name relieved him somewhat - she was just as thrown, just as curious, just as frustrated by the lack of memory as he was. So they searched through the notebook: Alya meticulously scanned through the book for mentions of his name, stating the dates of entries with him present for Nino to notate on his phone, while he and Marinette scoured through her photo albums to see if there was any non-preschool photos documenting them together. In the end, they were only able to find photos and dates with Adrien present at her preschool for the space of a mere two weeks before he vanished from the journal. Even more baffled than before, they scoured the entries that followed his “disappearance”. There were mentions of Marinette asking where “her Adrien” or “her knight” was, and when he’d be coming back in the numerous entries that followed until the inquiries faded away. Adrien’s heart clenched painfully for Baby Mari.
They decided to go back to the first entry “post-Adrien era”, and found a photo of Baby Mari, sitting on the ground, leaning up against a large tree, tiny hands clutching something desperately as her gaze is concentrated on some point beyond the photo’s borders.
Marinette was keenly missing Adrien today, not taking any interest in any of the activities or learning experiences the educators had set up for the children. Regardless as to whether she was inside or outside, she refused to play until Adrien arrived, and instead intently watched the gates and doors, waiting for him to come. She held a beaded trinket in her hand the entire day, never letting anyone else - including the educators - touch it, not bearing to part with it for even a second, saying, “This is a special present for my knight, my prince - no one else can touch it.”
Adrien’s eyes felt a little misty reading the story of Baby Mari’s first heartbreak; there was something so innocent, so pure about that moment, and it deeply resonated with him. As Nino stood to get something, Adrien’s eyes returned to the photo and to the trinket in her hands. Its vibrant colours stood out against her hands, its pinks, reds and greens comforting and…strangely…familiar…
He pulled his Marinette Lucky Charm out of his pocket and compared it to the trinket in the image, his eyes moving between the two repeatedly. Marinette gasped beside him and Alya sucked in a breath as they both clearly reached the same conclusion he did.
‘What is it?’ Nino asked as he settled back down on the couch, depositing a tissue box on the coffee table next to the shoe box. He leaned forward and looked at the charm and the photo. ‘Is that the same one? Why do you have it?’
‘Marinette gave it to me for luck when we were training for that UMS tournament for school, remember? Didn’t I tell you that story?’ Adrien asked dazedly.
‘Yeah, you did, it’s just- it’s crazy, you know?’ Nino replied. ‘Marinette has this trinket she wanted to give to this Adrien kid who I’m like 90% sure is you, and then, what? A decade later she gives it to you?’ Nino turned to Marinette. ‘What made you give it to him?’
Marinette shrugged, a look of confusion passing over her. ‘It felt right.’
‘Hey kids, how’s it going?’
They all turned to see Madame Cheng come through the front door, carrying a bundle to the kitchen. Too stunned by their discoveries to answer her, she looked up and seemed to spot the lucky charm in Adrien’s hand.
‘Oh, I haven’t seen that charm of yours in ages!’ she said brightly. ‘Did you know that Marinette made that almost completely all by herself? All I had to do was help her with the knots, and as soon as she was done, she didn’t let anyone touch it - not even me! She never went anywhere without it for the longest time, saying that it was for her prince and her prince only .’ She chuckled at the memory, oblivious to the stunned silence of the teens. ‘It was supposed to bring him good luck and fortune, if I remember correctly. Wasn’t that right, dear?’
‘Uhm, uh, yeah,’ Marinette agreed shakily, her gaze returning to the charm.
‘You swore you were going to marry him, remember? Your little prince,’ Madame Cheng said, and Marinette’s face flushed bright red. ‘Anyway, I’ll be downstairs if you need me.’
She closed the door behind her and the room fell silent; not that it made any difference to Adrien as his thoughts went wild. Could it really be him? If so, why was he only there for two weeks? What happened? Why didn’t he get to say goodbye to Marinette? Was there a reason he had nicknamed her “Princess” that day she met him as Chat Noir? What else didn’t he know?
‘Let’s go to mine,’ he announced, breaking the silence as he stood and pocketed the charm. ‘I need answers.’
‘Me too,’ Marinette agreed, and the four of them quickly stood and headed for the door, Adrien texted the Gorilla to pick them up and Nathalie to expect them all to arrive and Alya clutched the journal as they raced down the stairs. Marinette called out to her parents to let them know where they were going as they went out the door, into the Gorilla’s car and off to the mansion.
Adrien’s knee was bouncing the entirety of the short ride between Marinette’s home and his. There was this itching need to get answers, to find out, to uncover, to remember, because either this was a strange list of coincidences or he had known Marinette for a lot longer than he ever realised.
When the misunderstanding with the gum happened the day they met, something had burned inside him, yelling at him to fix it, to get out of her bad books and be her friend again, to make her smile again. As their friendship grew from that day, he yearned to hold her hand, to be close to her all the time, as though he belonged by her side, but there was no reason to do that, and she sometimes got skittish if he was close to her, so he respected that and gave her space, even though it made him ache. He even called her “princess” as Chat Noir one time! But did any of those feelings have anything to do with their past?
As soon as the car came to a stop, Adrien unbuckled and practically jumped out of the car, barely remembering the decency to hold the back passenger door open for his friends so they could get out before marching up the front steps to meet Nathalie in the open doorway.
‘Nathalie, have you ever seen a book like this?’ Adrien hastily asked, gesturing to the book that Alya now presented to her.
Nathalie frowned. ‘I… it seems familiar. What’s this about?’
‘Would Father know?’ Adrien persisted. ‘It’s important.’
‘I will convey your request to him if he’s able to spare the time,’ Nathalie replied. ‘Why don’t you take your friends upstairs to your room while you wait.’
‘Thank you, Nathalie.’ Wanting to stay in Nathalie’s good graces, Adrien led his friends up to his room in an outwardly calm manner, but as soon as his door was shut behind them, he couldn’t help but start pacing.
‘Uhh… dude, you good?’ Nino asked.
‘No, I’m not,’ Adrien admitted. ‘I- I don’t remember any of this! How did I forget meeting you and Kim and Marinette? Why wasn’t I allowed to continue at the preschool? I know it wasn’t because of my health, because that’s always been fine; and it clearly wasn’t because I was struggling socially, since Marinette’s book proves I made friends and things were good. So what happened? There had to be a reason I left without saying goodbye to Marinette, there has to be.’
He hadn’t even realised he had closed his eyes until he felt arms wrap around him in a hug.
‘It’s okay,’ said Marinette, as he hugged her in return. ‘We found each other again, didn’t we?’
He let out a huff of a laugh as he rested his cheek against her head. Marinette was amazing no matter what, but when she spoke without stumbling, her words felt like magic to him.
‘And that just means that your friendships with Kim, Nino and me are now extra special because of this discovery, doesn’t it?’ she continued, and he watched as Nino nodded along with her words.
‘You’re right,’ he agreed, ‘thank you, Marinette.’
‘You’re welcome, Adrien,’ she replied, pulling back just enough so he could see her smile. He couldn’t help but smile back.
There was a flicker of movement from over Marinette’s shoulder, and he thought he saw Alya pocketing her phone. He couldn’t recall her taking out her phone in the first place.
‘Alright then, Miss Princess and Mister Knight,’ Alya teased, and he and Marinette separated from their embrace, ‘as sweet as that moment was, there’s more important matters to address.’
Marinette frowned. ‘Like what?’
‘Like the fact I don’t get to have a super cool secret history with you guys, too!’ Alya exclaimed with mock exasperation. ‘Maybe the real surprise was that I’ve been Marinette’s bestie all along!’
Adrien dramatically gasped with a hand on his heart as Nino snorted humorously.
‘Are you trying to usurp me, Alya Césaire?’ Adrien demanded.
‘More like reclaiming my rightful place in the royal court, Adrien Agreste,’ Alya retorted, eyes gleaming mischievously. Marinette seemed caught between giggling at the absurdity and facepalming at their antics, as she did both with a cute little shake of her head in fond exasperation.
‘Outrageous!’ Adrien cried. ‘The nerve! I see no alternative - we must duel for the honour of being Princess Marinette’s bestie.’
‘By sword?’ Alya asked.
‘Naturally,’ Adrien agreed. ‘Nino’s my second.’
‘Oi!’ yelped Nino. ‘I’m not going anywhere near Alya with a sword!’
‘That’s your objection?’ Marinette asked, flabbergasted.
‘Fine, Kagami’s my second,’ Adrien amended.
‘Then Nora’s my second,’ Alya declared with a devilish grin that made Adrien gulp. ‘Marinette adjudicates.’
‘And as the adjudicator,’ Marinette proclaimed, stepping in between Adrien and Alya with her hands on her hips and chin in the air, ‘it is decided that Adrien’s my knight-’
Adrien grinned victoriously at Alya from around Marinette.
‘-Alya’s my lady-in-waiting-’
Alya smugly smirked back at him, making him pout.
‘-and Nino is my bestie.’
Adrien and Alya gasped as their heads whipped around to see Nino bowing at the waist towards Marinette.
‘It’d be my honour, Princess,’ Nino said, before returning to standing while Marinette walked over to him and rested her arm on his shoulder, as she turned to regard the two of them.
‘Betrayal!’ Alya wailed, flopping onto Adrien melodramatically.
‘The audacity!’ Adrien bemoaned, leaning into Alya as he theatrically rested the back of his hand on his forehead. ‘Our honour, besmirched! Deceived by the one we trusted most!’
‘What a cruel, cruel world we live in,’ Alya lamented as they sank to the floor in a puddle of limbs.
This seemed to be too much for Nino, who tried to hold back his laughter, only to create a strange, strangled snort. The sound made Alya huff out a “ha!” before Marinette let out a small giggle, which made Nino cough out another laugh. Adrien looked up and made eye contact with Nino and Marinette, before playfully narrowing his eyes and mouthing “betrayal” accusingly, and watched as both their cheeks puffed out with air from held laughter before it burst out of them. Nino doubled over at the waist as Marinette wrapped her arms around herself to keep her from doing the same. Adrien and Alya sat upright, only for Alya to collapse over herself as she cackled, pounding the floor with her hand. Adrien’s own hearty laughter was spilling out of him, but he soon became distracted with how pretty Marinette looked as she laughed, free and light, which made his stomach flip.
‘What should we do while we wait?’ Alya asked as the laughter died out. ‘I don’t suppose we’ll find anything that might help us here in your room, right?’
‘I don’t suppose there’d be any harm in looking,’ Adrien mused, ‘but I doubt we’d find anything.’
‘I’ll text mum and ask her if she’s still got my book, and I’ll try and ask Kim about his,’ Nino said, already bringing out his phone.
‘And I’ll ask my mum for mine,’ Alya added cheekily, making them snicker.
‘Alya and I could probably look through these bookcases here by your desk if you’re cool with that,’ Nino continued, fondly rolling his eyes at Alya.
‘Sounds good. I’ll go upstairs and see if I might have anything like Marinette’s book on my bookshelves,’ Adrien said, before turning to Marinette. ‘Do you want to come with me? There’s two ladders up there, so we should be able to cover the bookshelves quicker with both of us looking.’
‘Sure!’ she replied, and they headed up the stairs to the second story of his room. The two of them spent a good while quietly scanning his bookshelves, and it was near the top of the bookshelves as they examined the final rows before he turned to her.
‘Hey, Marinette?’
‘Yeah?’
‘What do you remember of preschool?’ he asked.
Marinette paused from running her fingers along the book spines and froze, her eyes looking distant.
‘I remember running around. I remember the big tree from the photo. I remember going through the front gate. I remember there being a sandpit and a locker space with my name on it so I could put my backpack away,’ she listed, her voice full of memory. ‘I kind of remember Nino and Kim, and vaguely remember the teachers, but…’
‘Not me,’ he finished softly, and she shook her head. He pushed his ladder so it slid along the rails until it met the corner where it met her ladder, and he held out a hand to her. ‘Well, it’s just like you said, right? We’re in this together.’
She took his hand with a smile.
‘Yo, dude!’
‘You’ve been holding out on me, Agreste!’
Adrien and Marinette quickly descended their respective ladders and looked over the balcony railing to find their best friends in front of his computer set-up, each screen displaying a different article from the Ladyblog. He had been researching the site to prove a point to Ladybug the next time they had patrol, but evidently he hadn’t closed the tabs after he was done last night.
‘Been bitten by the Love-Bug, have you?’ Alya teased with waggling eyebrows. Adrien couldn’t help but blush.
‘I’ve had a bit of a celebrity crush on her, yeah,’ Adrien admitted, and Marinette made a surprised squeak beside him, face flushed a pretty pink. Adrien thought the colour suited her.
‘Dudette, it looks like Baby Mari’s promise to marry my bro is facing some competition,’ Nino added, looking decidedly too smug as Alya snickered beside him. Adrien opened his mouth to retort when Nathalie entered the room.
‘Adrien. Your father has five minutes to talk to you and your friends.’
Not needing to be told twice, Adrien took Marinette’s hand and led them down the spiral staircase and joined Alya and Nino, the former once again holding Marinette’s book, in following Nathalie to his father’s atelier. They made the descent in silence only broken by the echo of their footsteps in the marble foyer. Once they were all in the atelier, it took his father a few moments to stop toying with the screen in front of him to give them his attention.
‘Adrien, I hope you have a worthwhile explanation as to why you’re interrupting my work,’ Father said from behind his desk.
‘Father, do you know if I have a book like Marinette’s?’ Adrien asked, as Alya once again presented it. ‘I should have one just like it if I went to preschool-’
‘You’re interrupting my work over a preschool book,’ Father said dully, cutting Adrien off. ‘If you’re done distracting me with utter nonsense, I-’
‘It is not utter nonsense!’ Marinette took the book from Alya’s hands, opened it to the pages of photos of him with Baby Mari, and all but thrust the book under his father’s nose - Adrien was both in awe of Marinette’s determination and in fear of the potential consequences. ‘We know Adrien went to preschool with Nino and me, and here’s the proof of it! All we need is his book!’
Father took the book from Marinette’s hands and examined the photos. ‘Where did you get this?’ he asked, his tone indecipherable.
‘As Adrien said, that’s my book,’ Marinette stated. ‘When you go to preschool, you get a sort-of journal, where the educators create entries about the child’s learning, growth, development, and social interactions. Every child gets one, and from what we could tell, Adrien was there at the preschool with us for at least two weeks before he disappeared.’
‘And we need my book for our class assignment,’ Adrien added.
Father hummed noncommittally before closing the book and returning it to Marinette. ‘Adrien, take your friends to your room. Nathalie?’
Nathalie silently opened the door for them, and the four friends filed out of the room and headed back upstairs. As the door to his room shut behind them once more, Nino turned to face him.
‘Do you reckon your father might find it, dude?’ he asked. Adrien shrugged.
‘Beats me. But the fact he asked me to bring you guys here without mention of the book might mean he could be looking for it, right?’ Adrien asked his friends, who all looked as uncertain as he felt.
Ding!
Nino pulled out his phone from his pocket. After tapping at the screen a couple of times, he stated, ‘Mum found my book-’
Ding!
‘-and Kim has found his. He’s wondering why I’m asking.’
‘Just tell him we’re trying to figure something out, so we need to borrow it for a little while,’ Alya responded, and Nino typed out his message.
‘While we wait for your father, should we take another look at my book?’ Marinette offered. Adrien perked up at this; they only skimmed her book before hunting down his own, and he wanted to explore the adventures of Baby Mari and her friends, and hopefully his younger self, too.
‘Yes please!’ he agreed, scooching closer to her as she opened her book on her lap, flicking through the pages, with Alya and Nino joining them on either side.
Just as the four of them huddled around to read more about Baby Mari, Adrien’s door opened. They all quickly sat up straight as his father stalked into the room, not saying anything as he approached and stiffly held out a book for Adrien to accept. His book.
‘I expect you to take very good care of this book, Adrien,’ Father instructed. ‘Once you are done with it for today, I need you to give this to Nathalie so she can make a digital copy of the book’s contents, after which she will return it to your possession. I trust you will not damage it in the meantime.’
‘Yes, Father! Thank you, Father!’ Adrien exclaimed, carefully taking the book from his father’s hands. It was thicker than he expected it to be for only a fortnight’s worth of entries.
His father said nothing more as he turned on his heels and briskly exited the room, the door shutting behind him. But Adrien’s attention was all on the treasure in his grasp. His book. His very own book about him in preschool! He never would have imagined that such a thing would have even existed when he woke up this morning, but here it was. He was both desperate to open it and devour its contents, and couldn’t bring himself to open it, anxiety gripping him.
‘Take your time, dude,’ Nino reassured him, putting his arm around Adrien’s shoulders comfortingly.
Adrien drew a shaky breath before tentatively opening the front cover of- of his book. The first photo that greets him is of him holding hands with Baby Mari as she led him about, arm extended to point at something out of frame as his younger self had his eyes trained on her. Perched on her head was the same pink glittery plastic tiara she had worn in the photos from Marinette’s book, with a pink top and layered pink skirt that looked as glittery as the tiara.
Adrien has made his first friend in Marinette, whom he dubbed “Princess Marinette” on introduction due to her tiara, and they have been inseparable since. Marinette took great care to give Adrien a full tour of the facilities and her favourite spots. Adrien gave her his full attention, hanging on to every detail she told him as though he was committing it to memory. During nap time, Marinette had been picked up for an appointment, so when Adrien awoke, he was inconsolable when he discovered his princess was missing. We tried explaining to him that she was picked up early, but it did little to soothe him. He seems to have taken to his new friend very quickly.
Based on the cooing noises his friends were making, they had just read the extract he had. Below it were two photos where Baby Mari and Baby Adrien were in dress-up as a princess and knight respectively, his own outfit complete with a foam sword tucked into his belt. The first photo was of Baby Adrien bowing to kiss Baby Mari’s hand, and the second of Baby Adrien standing defiantly in defence of Baby Mari with his sword outstretched, aiming it towards a very amused Tom Dupain.
When Adrien arrived this morning, he was ecstatic to discover Marinette was back, running over to her immediately to hug her. This morning’s class activity was a book reading of an adventure story featuring a princess and her knight, and when it came to free play time, Adrien and Marinette dressed up as a knight and princess respectively, mimicking actions and dialogue from the fairy tale, which led to Adrien bowing and kissing Marinette’s hand in greeting, when thanking her, in goodbyes, and just because.
They maintained their imaginative play and princess/knight roles all the way until it was time for Marinette to be picked up, Adrien defended his princess from “the giant”, Marinette’s father, who took it in good humour and offered to help Adrien defeat the giant. Adrien learned that, like himself, Marinette goes to her home at the end of the day and will return tomorrow. After packing away their dress-ups, Marinette had to leave, so with a bow and hand kiss, Adrien bid her goodbye, much calmer than yesterday. He waved to her until she was out of his sight, and got picked up shortly after.
On the next page was the first photo of him and Baby Nino, playing with wooden blocks and toy trucks together, followed by a photo of Baby Nino, a pink-cheeked sword-wielding Baby Adrien and a rose-holding tiara-wearing Baby Mari.
Adrien was dropped off early this morning, and made friends with Nino, who came up to him and asked him if he could help him build a road, and Adrien readily agreed. They manipulated the wooden blocks to build a road and some houses, engaging in imaginative play as they described the world they were building and the residents of their world. When Marinette arrived, Adrien greeted her with his bow and hand kiss, like yesterday, and invited her to play with him and Nino, and the boys told her all about their world as they played until the morning class time. The three continued to play together throughout the day, though it was clear he and Marinette have a very strong bond.
After nap time, Adrien spotted the vase of roses in the staff office and asked Miss Marie very politely if he could have one. Miss Marie removed the thorns and cut the stem before granting Adrien’s request, and as soon as Adrien had the rose in his hand, he thanked Miss Marie and made a beeline for Marinette (followed by a curious Nino), and asked Marinette very sincerely if she would marry him when they were bigger. She accepted both his rose and his proposal, saying that once they were married that he’d become her prince, which pleased Adrien. Miss Marie, when taking the photos, asked Adrien if he would also like to wear a crown, but he refused, citing that he’d only wear one once he married Marinette and became her prince.
‘Oh, that’s just adorable,’ Alya said sweetly, and Adrien felt his cheeks warm. One glance at Marinette confirmed she was just as flustered as he was - were… were they engaged? Would she want to be engaged to him? Did she still want him to be the prince to her princess? The heat in his cheeks grew stronger by the second.
‘As part of my future Best Man duties, I need to make sure you two have crowns the day of your coronation- I mean wedding,’ Nino proclaimed, and Adrien’s cheeks burned as his mind imagined the scenario…and how Marinette would look really good in a tiara.
‘Great idea, Nino!’ Alya exclaimed. ‘This is why I love you, babe.’
‘I thought it was my musical talent and great personality that won you over,’ Nino retorted lightly, and Alya rolled her eyes.
They returned their attention back to Adrien’s book, reading all about his week in preschool. Apparently the princess/knight dynamic was a firm fixture in their routine, that after both of them had arrived to the preschool for the day, they would go over to the dress-up box and don the tiara and sword respectively (Baby Adrien had claimed that as a knight he needed to be ready to protect his princess), and when one of them had to leave, they would both return their props to the their proper place. There was even a photo one of the educators took of him placing the tiara on Baby Mari’s head with utmost concentration, and her entry on the moment reporting the utter gentleness he had in crowning her, ensuring he didn’t hurt her or get her hair tangled in the teeth of the toy tiara that secured it into place. Another common occurrence was holding hands; in most of the photos, they could be seen holding hands, and according to one entry, they slept in cots next to each other with their clasped hands bridging the gap between them.
There were plenty of photos depicting him playing with other children, frequently including Baby Nino and Baby Kim, and occasionally Baby Juleka (amongst other children he didn’t recognise), happily interacting with them, but without fail, every single photo had Marinette present. One of the educators had commented that Adrien had a strong sense of his own autonomy, and when he followed Baby Mari’s lead, the educator believed it was Baby Adrien’s choice to do so because he wanted to, and voiced suggestions to build upon her ideas, which she always took on. The educator remarked on how well they worked together, and it was as though they had known each other since birth, not the reality of meeting mere days ago.
‘Wait,’ Alya said suddenly, jolting them all out of reading the entries in his book. ‘This date here is Friday, the last day Baby Adrien was present in Marinette’s book; so why are there pages of entries after this?’
Adrien looked back down at the book and had to agree with Alya. There were more entries, lots more entries. Curiously, Adrien turned the page- his breath caught in his throat and his eyes were blurring from the tears that were rapidly forming.
‘Adrien? What’s wrong?’ Marinette asked, her voice full of concern as she placed a gentle hand on his arm. Adrien tried answering but he couldn’t speak. ‘Adrien?’
‘M-My mo- that’s m-my mother’s ha-handwriting,’ he choked out, his voice warbling as he spoke. ‘She wrote s-something in here.’
He tried to force himself to stop crying, eager, desperate to read his mother’s words, but the tears refused to stop as he rapidly blinked, and the urge to cry grew stronger with every furious swipe of his sleeves across his face to wipe up the tears.
‘It’s okay,’ Marinette said softly, her voice soothing him, ‘take your time. We’ll read it together when you’re ready.’
With that reassurance, he turned and hugged Marinette and let it out. He felt Nino’s hand on his back as Marinette’s arms wrapped around his waist and Alya’s hand carded through his hair. He felt cared for, loved, safe, and let himself break, cry, mourn his Maman and all the moments he couldn’t share with her. He wished he had more time with her, more to remember her by. He wished she was here with him to marvel how wonderfully fortuitous it was that he reunited with Marinette, Nino, Kim and Juleka after all these years; he just knew in his heart that she’d love them and all his friends as much as he did.
He didn’t know how long it was until his tears began to ease, but he felt stiff as he pulled away from Marinette’s shoulder, belatedly realising his tears had soaked her clothes.
‘I-’ he began.
‘Don’t apologise,’ Marinette cut in gently with a soft smile, ‘I’m more than happy to be your shoulder to cry on whenever you need.’
‘Thank you,’ he replied, before directing his words at all three of his friends, ‘thank you for that. I… yeah, thank you.’
‘Anytime, bro,’ Nino reassured, and Alya nodded in agreement.
‘Can… can we read this together? Please?’ Adrien asked, gesturing to his book.
‘Of course we can,’ Alya replied.
Adrien finally returned his gaze to his book, noting with relief that none of his tears landed on the precious memento. Though tears threatened to rise again, he managed to keep them at bay, instead taking in the content on the pages. His Maman seemed to keep the educators’ format of using a mix of photographs and journal entries. The first photo in his Maman’s entries was of him asleep in a car seat, hugging a foam sword close.
Gabriel and I broke the news on Saturday morning to Adrien that we would be going to live in South France for three months, and that we’d be leaving Paris on Monday afternoon. Adrien asked if he could bring his friend Marinette with him, but once he realised he wouldn’t be seeing her at all throughout my film shoot, Adrien became distraught. He cried about how it was too long away from his princess. He begged to stay, telling us that he needed to protect Marinette, that it was his duty as her knight. His words didn’t make much sense to me until I popped into the preschool early Monday morning to inform the preschool that Adrien would be absent for three months, and they let me borrow this book until we returned. After I read through the entries, I took Adrien to the shops and let him choose his very own foam sword, telling him he could practise his sword skills so that when he came back, he’d be an even better knight for his princess. That seemed to appease him, only after he made me promise that we would bring him back to Paris and to Marinette. We arrived at our accommodation in Marseille late Monday night, and even though we’ve been here for four days now, Adrien has been diligently practising with his sword whenever he can every day.
Adrien’s jaw dropped. That’s why he started fencing? He knew he started when he was young, but he thought he must’ve been inspired by his mother’s film shoots or something, not by the desire to be Marinette’s knight! His friendships, his nickname for Marinette as Chat Noir, his lucky charm, his love of roses, and now his fencing can all be traced back to this one fortnight in preschool.
Lost in his thoughts, he almost jumped when Nino piped up.
‘You know, I thought that you and Chloé had known each other since birth,’ he mused, ‘I didn’t realise that you two met later on, you know?’
Adrien blinked, replaying Nino’s words in his mind. ‘What do you mean?’
‘See here?’ Nino said, pointing to an entry further down the next page. There was a photo of Baby Chloé, clearly lecturing him on something (based on the hand on her hip and the index finger pointing skyward) as they and her teddy bear sat cross-legged in front of her play tea set. Baby Adrien tilted his head in confusion but paid attention nonetheless.
I was worried that Adrien would be the only child on set, so I was ever so relieved when Andre brought his daughter, Chloé, with him to Marseille as well. Chloé immediately welcomed Adrien and led him about (I was worried Adrien wasn’t going to keep up with her enthusiasm as she sped about the place, but they seem to be getting on well). Chloé seems to be a headstrong but respectful girl. I found them in my trailer “having tea” when I came back from my morning shoot for Solitude. Apparently she was telling him all the reasons why she hates soup.
‘I remember her saying she hated soup,’ Marinette mused, ‘back when Uncle Wang was partaking in The World’s Greatest Chef, remember?’
Adrien nodded. For as far as he could remember, Chloé had never been served soup in his presence, except for the show Marinette’s uncle competed in. He had thought that her distaste for the dish was a temporary thing, like most of her likes and dislikes, but it seemed that this wasn’t the case.
As he read on, he discovered how he and Baby Chloé hung out a lot together, but only became close friends after Audrey made a scene (an unscripted one that aired a lot of dirty laundry, if his Maman’s account could be believed), leading to the separation between her and Andre. Her father was still reeling from the shock of it all, so outside his gifting Baby Chloé a new bear, Mr Cuddly, he wasn’t always able to support her emotionally, and so Adrien and his parents helped support the broken Bourgeois family. Baby Chloé had reportedly been more open, kind and wore her heart on her sleeve, but since her mother’s departure, she began to build up walls to protect herself, which at times put strain on her friendship with Adrien.
Outside of his developing friendship with Chloé, his Maman wrote about how he continued to pine for Marinette, and how he never let up on his foam fencing practice. She wrote of how wistful he was without her, how much he missed “his princess” and that he couldn’t wait to marry Marinette. When activities and games weren’t enough to distract him from his longing for his princess, he would cuddle up with his Maman and tell her all about Marinette and their adventures together at preschool.
At one point, Adrien did end up playing dress-ups with the costume pieces and modelled them for his parents. This apparently inspired his Father to have Adrien model for the brand, though nothing was set in stone at the time. According to his Maman, Father was excited to see Adrien showing an interest in the fashion industry.
Adrien had hoped that the entries would have continued beyond the filming of Solitude, eager to immerse himself in his Maman’s writing more, when he came upon her final entry.
We had planned to go back to Paris, but some of my own personal side research has forced me to delay those plans. Gabriel, Nathalie and I will be off on a trip to Tibet, so Adrien will be staying with Amelie and Félix for the next little while. As much as I hate to part with him, I can’t take him where we are going - it’s too dangerous for him. I feel selfish for breaking my promise to Adrien and delaying his reunion with his princess, but time is of the essence. Hopefully we find what we’re looking for, and I also hope that with this trip, Gabriel will be distracted enough to let the modelling thing drop, or at least give me time to convince him to hold off recruiting Adrien until he is old enough to understand what modelling is.
Adrien heaved a sigh as he put down the book. That last entry gave him more questions than it did answers, if he was honest. It was a lot to process, and he could feel a headache forming.
‘What was she doing in Tibet? I thought your mother was an actress, but that vague mention to research and time constraints just doesn’t fit,’ Alya vented, waving her hands about. ‘Like, sure - actors do their research for roles and things, but why wasn’t she going with a member of the creative team or something if it was for a movie? The way she writes this is almost as if this is a personal thing, anyway. And the fact it was too dangerous to bring Adrien with them?’
‘I don’t know, babe,’ Nino huffed, flopping against the couch, ‘but it is weird.’
‘Maybe we can look into this another day?’ Adrien offered tiredly. ‘Today’s been… a lot.’
‘Of course we can,’ Marinette agreed. ‘What would you like to do instead?’
‘Can we read through your book properly now? I think we all need more Baby Mari,’ he asked, sending her a little smile. Whether as her preschool self or her present self, Marinette always made his day infinitely better.
‘Sure!’ she said, opening her book for all of them to see. ‘Should we start from the beginning?’
~/~
Adrien flopped onto the bed with a sigh, exhausted. After spending the rest of the afternoon and evening going through Marinette’s entries and comparing them with his own, they all eventually had to leave, with Nino promising to pick up Kim’s book before heading home. Remembering the promise he made to his Father, Adrien had handed over his book to Nathalie to get a digital copy made, and was now awaiting its return.
‘Well, that was eventful,’ Plagg huffed from his pillow.
‘You can say that again,’ Adrien muttered, tiredly rubbing his face with his hand. ‘I still can’t quite believe it.’
Plagg hummed in agreement. ‘Neither can I, kid,’ he said, sounding a little dazed. ‘It’s almost unbelievable - I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.’
Adrien turned his head to look at Plagg, who was sitting up, a wedge of Camembert loosely held between his paws as he stared ahead with unfocused eyes, like he was caught up in his own mind.
‘Seen what?’ Adrien asked softly.
‘The connection between you two,’ Plagg replied in that same dazed tone. ‘The fact you two met as children and immediately formed such a strong bond, a bond that seems to have surpassed time and memory, having met again twice over nine years later with that bond just as strong between you two and growing stronger every day… I… in all my aeons, I have never seen such a thing between Tik’s and my holders, and I doubt she’s seen it, either.’ Plagg shook his head gently, as if in disbelief, before continuing to talk as though he had forgotten Adrien was awake. ‘We knew you two were special when Fu took us for a walk that day, but to think… heh, you two really are made for each other, aren’t you?’ Plagg asked as he lifted his head again to gaze at the full moon starting to rise outside his windows.
As Plagg fell silent, no doubt lost in his musings, Adrien’s mind went wild. Tik? Could that be short for “Tikki”, as in Ladybug’s kwami? Adrien wondered. But why would Plagg mention Tikki? Or Master Fu, for that matter. We were talking about Marinette and me, so why-
‘Do you think that’s why Tikki chose Marinette? Because of this bond we have?’ Adrien asked as gently as he could muster - he didn’t want to spook Plagg with the excitement that now ran through his body like lightning. Because if Marinette is Ladybug, and Ladybug is Marinette-
‘I suppose so; Sugarcube did say she felt a strong connection with her, just like I did with you,’ Plagg answered distractedly.
-then Adrien was the luckiest guy in the universe!
‘YES!’ Adrien cried, leaping off the bed and jumped about. ‘Yes! Yes! YES!’
‘Wh- what?’ Plagg asked, finally having broken out of his stupor. ‘What is it, kid?’
‘Marinette is Ladybug and Ladybug is Marinette!’ Adrien cheered. ‘This is the best day EVER!’
‘How, uh, do you figure that?’ Plagg asked, uncertain.
‘You told me!’ Adrien answered, beaming. ‘This is brilliant!’
Plagg blustered for a moment before conceding, finally downing his wedge of Camembert to console himself on his slip-up. ‘So whatcha gonna do now?’
Adrien knew that he had to tell her, but how? He started pacing back and forth, coming up with ideas only to scrap them almost immediately after. Going straight to her balcony as Chat Noir and greeting her as “m’lady” was just too jarring, unceremonious, and very unromantic. Surprising her with a bouquet of roses with the note signed “To: Bugaboo, From: Your Chaton” at school was romantic but also way too public for that kind of thing. Before, during or right after a battle were quickly vetoed - he didn’t want her ire, after all, or to risk losing to their longtime nemesis. Even plans he had created for this very situation seemed to just be lacking, now. A romantic letter to her civilian persona just wasn’t enough, and someone reading that letter who shouldn’t be would find out their identities, which was a no-go. Submitting a coded message on the Ladyblog for her to decipher seemed silly when he could just go up to her . He’d bake her a cake with ladybugs and black cats all over it, but he couldn’t bake - that was more her forte, anyway. Each idea had some sort of flaw, and he needed this to go well. He was starting to get frustrated when he heard a knock on the door.
Plagg ducked out of sight as Nathalie opened the door and returned the book to Adrien, before bidding him goodnight and leaving once more. With the door shut once more, Plagg re-emerged.
‘Can I see the photos?’ Plagg asked, and Adrien supposed it was a good enough distraction while he tried to figure out how to do the reveal with Marinette, so he walked back over to the bed and sat down, opening the book from the first page. Plagg floated to get a closer look.
‘Oh, would you look at that, kid, you were an adorable kitten,’ Plagg cooed, and Adrien openly gauped.
‘Plagg?’ Adrien asked, at a loss with this new side of Plagg. He had never seen Plagg this openly affectionate before.
‘What?’ Plagg retorted defensively. ‘Children are cute.’
‘I know,’ agreed Adrien, smiling, ‘it’s just I’ve never seen you like this before.’
‘That’s just because you haven’t seen me interact with a baby before,’ said Plagg, looking over his shoulder at Adrien with a prideful grin. ‘Sugarcube hates to admit it, but whenever we’re with babies, I’m always the favourite kwami.’
‘Oh really?’ Adrien enquired, as visions of a playful Plagg zipped about, making little babies giggle joyfully swam into his mind’s eye.
‘Yep!’ Plagg replied, before returning his gaze to the book. ‘Huh, guess that look of yours is nothing new, then.’
‘What, my good looks?’ Adrien teased, and Plagg snorted.
‘Heh, that too, kid. What I meant was that lovesick look you always give Marinette,’ Plagg said, pointing to the picture of him and Marinette with the rose he proposed with on his third day at preschool. Suddenly, an idea sparked in Adrien’s mind.
‘Hey Plagg, don’t we have patrol tonight?’
Plagg blinked. ‘Right, nearly forgot about that. Figured out what you’re going to tell your lady?’
Adrien smirked. ‘I think I might. Plagg, Claws Out!’
~/~
‘Good evening, Chaton,’ Ladybug greeted as she landed on the rooftop in front of him. His heart fluttered at the sight of her, before it melted like butter from her smile. Knowing his lady was his princess just made her all the more magnificent in his eyes.
‘Good evening, m’lady,’ he replied, keeping his left hand behind his back to hide his surprise gift for a moment longer. ‘How are you this fine evening?’
‘Wonderfully, kitty. I’ve had the most extraordinary day,’ she said, and he had to smother his chuckle. Today had been extraordinary, for all the best reasons. ‘How about you?’
‘Funnily enough, it seems we both have had pretty miraculous day today,’ he punned, and she giggled, before her eyes flickered down to his left arm hidden behind him, and it was only then he noticed that she was curiously doing the same with her left arm. ‘What are you hiding there, Bugaboo?’
‘Depends,’ she evaded playfully, stepping closer, ‘what are you hiding?’
‘Something,’ he answered just as elusively as he stepped forward. ‘Besides, m’lady, I asked you first.’
‘But curiosity kills cats, Chaton,’ she said with faux concern, taking another step, ‘so I think you should go first instead.’
‘Satisfaction brings curious cats back, you know,’ he rebutted, stepping closer again, ‘so ladies first.’
They were less than a metre apart, and she was grinning just as widely as he felt he was, with a confident glint in her eyes as though she thought her surprise would be able to trump his; but he wasn’t going to back down. He knew he had this in the bag.
‘How about we do it together, on three?’ she offered.
‘Sounds purrfect,’ he agreed. ‘Ready?’
‘One,’ they counted together, ‘two… three!’
From behind his back he presented to her a red rose… only for a red rose to appear before him as well.
‘A rose? For me?’ he asked her, confused but delighted all the same.
‘You proposed to me with a rose, my knight,’ Ladybug responded, her cheeks rapidly flushing pink as she seemed to fight some embarrassment or self consciousness she was experiencing, ‘so I thought it was my turn to return the action.’
His cheeks were starting to ache from the strain of his wide grin, but he couldn’t care less. She knew it was him!
‘Great minds must think alike, Princess, as I was about to reenact my proposal to you,’ he managed to say as he accepted her rose, for as soon as he uttered his nickname for her, her smile became so bright it knocked the air from his lungs.
‘We really are quite a pair, aren’t we?’ she said, accepting his rose, and his heart pounded in his chest.
‘We really are,’ he agreed, before sweeping her up in a hug and spun about, delighting in her bubbly giggles. With her in his arms, holding his rose, Chat decided that patrol could wait.
~/~
‘Right this way,’ Adrien heard Marinette say, as she led the guests of honour, their former childhood educators, into their classroom.
It had been three weeks since the assignment had begun, and today was their turn to present. The group had agreed to keep tight-lipped about their presentation, telling their classmates that they’d just have to hold on, because it’d be worth the wait. It didn’t help that his and Marinette’s relationship drastically changed practically overnight, and they were nearly inseparable, which only made their classmates hound them for answers. But now, as he, Alya and Nino prepped in the room next door, Adrien couldn’t help but feel jittery with nerves.
‘Hey, dude, relax,’ Nino soothed, ‘we’ve got this.’
‘Yeah, I know,’ Adrien said, fiddling with his clothing. ‘It’s just… well… I don’t know.’
‘Look, there’s still ten minutes left of lunch time,’ Alya reasoned. ‘Once we’ve finished putting on our costumes and Marinette comes back, we’ll do a run-through. Sound good?’
Adrien nodded, but kept throwing glances at the door.
‘I… I just want this to go well, you know?’ he said, looking back at his friends. ‘This story, this whole experience means so much to me and I want to do it justice.’
‘I know the feeling,’ Alya said, walking up to him and putting her hands on his shoulders. ‘I feel the same whenever I’m about to post a really important article, or go live for an interview. It’s a bit scary, but a bit exciting, too. But we’ve prepared for this! We all know this presentation inside-out, back-to-front and upside-down. We’ve got your back.’
Adrien took a deep breath and exhaled, already feeling calmer. Alya had hit the nail on the head.
‘Thanks, Alya,’ he said with a smile, receiving one in return. Just as Alya dropped her hands, Marinette rushed into the room.
‘They’re all here!’ she declared excitedly as she ran behind the divider to get changed into costume. ‘I’m so glad Ms Bustier allowed us to bring them in for this!’
‘Yeah! I didn’t think we would’ve been allowed to, let alone how many people we brought in, but I’m certainly not complaining,’ agreed Alya.
‘Hey, Alya? Can you help me with the zipper?’ Marinette called out. Alya ducked behind the screen, and after a moment, the girls re-emerged, and Adrien’s heart soared.
Marinette had made replicas of their costume pieces from their childhood photos for them to wear for the presentation, making Alya and Nino similarly styled costumes to fit the theme. Adrien might be biased, but he thought Marinette looked simply regal in her pink princess dress, the faint sparkles of glitter catching the light, making her shimmer. Her hair was down, which only made her even more stunning in his eyes, but she was missing something important.
As best as he could without taking his eyes off of her, he reached down and picked up the pink costume tiara - the final piece to her costume - and walked towards her. As gently as he could, he placed the tiara on her head, careful to place it gently on her head and bobby-pinning it into place without messing her hair.
‘There,’ he said softly, meeting her eyes, ‘you’re ready, Princess.’
‘Thank you,’ she replied with a smile. ‘Are you ready?’
‘Now that you’re here,’ he answered, returning her smile.
‘You should’ve seen the mess he was just a few minutes ago.’ Alya’s voice startled them both and they spun to face her. Alya grinned behind her phone, which she held up in front of her face, no doubt filming. ‘He was a nervous wreck.’
‘Yeah - Als gave an awesome speech, but it didn’t nearly have as much effect on him as you walking out dressed like a princess,’ Nino added.
‘Traitors,’ Adrien playfully scowled, making a point of resting his hand atop the hilt of his sabre that sat comfortably in the scabbard Marinette made for him. Nino and Alya raised their hands in mock surrender, grinning unrepentantly all the while. Turning to Marinette as the end of lunch bell sounded, he offered her his arm. ‘Ready, m’lady?’
She took his arm. ‘Ready, my Knight.’