Archive of Our Own

“Maman, can I play?” little Marinette asked as they walked home through the park.

Sabine checked her watch and decided they could stop for ten minutes or so. It was never very busy at this time of day, and surely Tom could handle any customers who might come in. So they stopped by the playground, which was equally deserted except for one small boy and his mother, sitting on a bench.

Sabine sat down on the bench, leaving enough space between herself and the other woman to be comfortable. They exchanged smiles and then they both went back to watching their children play.

Marinette climbed to the top of the slide and paused.

“Maman! Maman, look at me! I’m a ladybuuuuuuuuuug!” she cried as she slid down with her hands up in the air. Sabine waved to her as she reached the bottom, and the little blonde boy looked up with his mouth hanging open. He got up from where he’d been digging in the sand, and ran over to the slide.

“Can I try?” he called to Marinette, who had already run back around to the ladder and was halfway up.

“Yeah!” Marinette said, grinning at him. “It’s easy!”

She slid down again with a whoop, hands again over her head. The little boy climbed up to the top of the slide and sat down, putting his hands over his head. He didn’t move. Marinette stood at the bottom of the slide and watched as he just sat there, looking around as if trying to figure out why he wasn’t sliding.

“You have to scoot! On your bum!” Marinette informed him. She demonstrated by sitting down and scooching forward in the sand. Sabine had to chuckle- it was just too cute for words. She glanced over at the boy’s mother, who was also hiding a smile. 

“Okay!” he said, and scooted. He finally overcame the friction between his pants and the surface of the slide and started down, hands still held up. “I’m a ladybug! Whooooooooo!” he cried- though not nearly as loudly as Marinette had.

By the time they had to leave the park, the children were best friends, and Sabine was bold enough to ask the woman if they came to the park often. As it happened, this was their first visit to the park, since they family had just moved to the area.

Sabine took a few more moments to introduce herself and learned that the woman’s name was Emilie and her son was Adrien. Naturally, the children hadn’t thought to actually introduce themselves. 

From that day on, Marinette and Adrien played regularly at the park, usually pretending to be some kind of animal or other. Sabine often caught Marinette referring to him as “Kitty,” while according to Emilie, Adrien often referred to Marinette as “Ladybug.”

It was like that for about two years, and the two shared candy and pastries from the bakery, and exchanged the usual childish knick knacks, made with popsicle sticks and crudely colored pictures, or cheap plastic beads strung on equally cheap yarn. Then one day, Emilie brought Adrien to the park, only for the little boy to burst into tears as soon as he saw Marinette and Sabine.

“Oh no, what’s wrong? What happened?” Sabine asked, eyes flitting between the little boy clinging to her daughter and Emilie. Emilie smiled, a mix of sadness and excitement in her eyes.

“Well, as it happens, we are moving next week, so we won’t be able to come and play anymore,” Emilie said gently. “But we wanted to come and play one more time, and say goodbye, didn’t we Adrien?”

“I don’t wanna say goodbye!” he wailed, still holding onto Marinette. “I wanna stay here and always come play!”

“Oooooh,” Sabine said, her heart going out to the little boy. Marinette was handling the whole thing surprisingly well, considering what she’d just heard. She kept patting Adrien on the shoulders and back, seemingly focused on comforting him without getting upset herself.

“Adrien, why don’t you and Marinette go build a sand castle under the slide?” Emilie suggested, when it seemed like he was finally ready to stop crying. Marinette led him away by the hand, though he still seemed very dejected.

Sabine and Emilie sat on the bench, and Emilie told her all about her new job offer, and her husband’s new position at Style Queen Magazine in London, and how she was looking forward to being closer to her sister, who was apparently her twin and had a son of her own just about Adrien’s age.

“I hope Marinette won’t treat you to such a performance,” Emilie said, watching their children with a little frown.

“I’m not sure she understands what it means, yet,” Sabine acknowledged. “But I’m sure she’ll be alright, even if she misses him. And I do hope Adrien makes new friends quickly- he’s such a sweet little boy. I’ll make sure to explain to Marinette what moving means when we get back home, but I don’t want to ruin this last playtime for her. Why don’t you all come by the bakery the morning you’re due to leave, and we’ll send you off with plenty of good snacks for the journey.”

“That’s very kind, you don’t have to do that,” Emilie said, taken by surprise.

“Nonsense,” Sabine said. “It will give us all a chance to say goodbye one more time.”

And so, one foggy morning six year old Adrien and five year old Marinette said goodbye one more time with an exchange of hugs and paper bags full of pastries. They also exchanged one final gift- a pair of good luck charms. It had been Marinette’s idea, based on something the teacher at her preschool had read to them in a book, so that they could always have something to remember each other by.

Adrien gave Marinette a string of beads centered by a large flat green square, with the outline of a flower carved into it. Marinette gave Adrien a string centered by a yellow bird and finished off with a tiny tinkling bell. They each promised to keep them always, hugged each other, and then… Adrien and his family were gone.

—

“Why didn’t you just tell her that Chloe was the one to put the gum on her seat?” the boy next to Adrien asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Adrien squirmed internally. “Chloe’s my only friend here- I can’t just throw her under the bus like that,” he said quietly.

The boy raised his eyebrows, and it was like Adrien could feel the judgment emanating from him… but then he smiled and held out his hand.

“Sounds like you need some new friends,” he said. “I’m Nino.”

Adrien told him his own name and smiled back. “What do you think I should do about that other girl, though? I don’t want her to keep thinking I put the gum there… I’m here to make friends not enemies.”

Nino’s smile went crooked. “Marinette’s pretty cool. I bet she’d forgive you if you just explain that you were trying to take the gum off her seat.”

“You think so?”

“Sure! But I gotta tell you that she and Chloe don’t get along. Like, ever. So… yeah.”

“Oh.” Adrien wasn’t sure how he was going to navigate that, since Chloe was clearly determined to attach him to her at all times while they were at school. Still… he threw a glance at the other girl… she met his eye and positively glared at him. That made him feel a little sick to his stomach. 

Adrien knew he wasn’t good with interpersonal conflicts- back in London, Felix had often helped him navigate those treacherous waters- but maybe he could make a special effort just this once. If it meant gaining another friend, it would be worth it.

Unfortunately, the girl seemed determined to avoid him whenever he tried to get close enough to talk to her all day long. Not that he had much opportunity- Chloe latched onto him as soon as a class was over and stuck to him like glue until the next one had started, and his father had decided he should eat at home instead of in the school cafeteria so he didn’t even have a chance at lunch. 

It also didn’t help that his French was less fluent than he thought it would be, and that the French curriculum was different from what he’d been studying in England. Adrien found himself ahead in maths and sciences, but behind in literature, and completely lost in grammar. He’d hoped to catch Marinette after school and talk to her- it started raining just before the last bell, so he thought she might try and wait it out- but he also had to talk to some of his teachers about alternate assignments and by the time he was done the school was empty. He found the caretaker waiting by the front doors to lock them after his exit, and the porch under the entrance was empty.

She was gone.

—

“Nino, look what my father made for me!”

Marinette watched in stunned speechlessness as Adrien ran right past her and Alya, wearing her birthday gift, and claiming that his father had given it to him! 

“Are you serious right now?” she hissed between clenched teeth. It wasn’t as if the scarf had been made with a whole lot of love or anything, but she’d still spent time and money on getting the nicest yarn she could afford… Marinette marched in his direction, determined to get some answers, but Chloe pushed right past her, managing to shove her to the pavement in the process.

Marinette picked herself up, glaring impotently in their direction as Chloe once more threw her arms around Adrien’s neck and started loudly commiserating with him about how badly planned and decorated his impromptu birthday party had been. Considering that Marinette had put quite a bit of time and effort into making that party happen at all, that just made her angrier. And to think, if she had just resisted Nino’s pleas (and puppy dog eyes), she could have saved herself all of this.

“And after ruining the entire aesthetic, I bet Dupain-Cheng didn’t even get you a gift!” Chloe continued, throwing Marinette a malicious look. “I know, because I looked through your presents to make sure no one was giving you anything too awful.”

Even as Adrien claimed that the party was enough of a gift and made an obviously half-hearted attempt to scold Chloe for insulting it, Marinette decided to just let it go and cut her losses. But it would be a very cold day before she would ever do something to help Adrien Agreste again, no matter what Nino said.

—

“Alix, wait! I can’t hold your watch, I have to hold the sign!” Marinette called out after the rapidly retreating skater. Next time she was definitely going to design some easier way to hold the sign, but as it was, she really needed both hands.

“I can put that in my pocket until the race is over, if you want,” she heard someone say. 

Marinette stifled a groan. Of course it had to be Adrien who offered… but the sign was difficult to hold all by herself and she didn’t have enough room in her purse for the watch and all of her other stuff… and she’d worn pants without pockets this evening!

She found herself actually considering Adrien’s offer. To be honest, he hadn’t done anything to anyone else in class, so he could probably be trusted with the watch.

“Okay, just… be careful with it,” Marinette said, carefully maneuvering to place the beautifully detailed pocket watch into his hand while keeping hold of the sign. 

Almost as soon as it dropped into his hand, he pulled it to one side. It did look like he was going to put it in his pocket, but Chloe snatched it up before he could do so.

“Chloe!” Marinette cried angrily, then blinked as she realized the same exclamation had come from Adrien as well.

“What’s so special about this stupid watch, anyway?” Chloe scoffed, ignoring them and holding it up to her disdainful nose. “There’s no gold on it at all- it’s not even plated! Ridiculous- utterly ridiculous!”

Chloe tossed it over her shoulder, and Marinette and Adrien both lunged for it- she almost caught it, but then Adrien crashed into her and they fell in a tangle of limbs.

Horrified, Marinette watched the heirloom bounce, dislodging the cover and shattering the crystal face inside, before rolling onto the racecourse. For a moment Marinette thought she’d be able to save it, and pay to replace the face and reattach the cover…but then Alix, focused on nothing but winning, skated right over it, scattering bent parts in all directions.

Naturally, Alix was heartbroken, and though Marinette and Adrien both promised to pay for the watch’s reconstruction, Marinette couldn’t help but feel like it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t tried to interfere, and she equally couldn’t help informing him of her opinion. He looked just as chastened as he always did after she yelled at him, but since he’d never yet changed his actual behavior where Chloe was concerned, Marinette didn’t have high hopes.

Later, over the phone, Alya said, “You’re not wrong to be angry, Marinette, but I really don’t think this was Adrien’s fault! To me it looked like he was trying to catch the watch, too. I don’t think he bumped into you on purpose.”

Marinette shook her head, tired of this conversation. “Look- I can admit that, to most everyone else, he seems decent enough. Alright? I admit that. I just… Chloe actually bragged about being his friend, and he doesn’t seem to have a problem with the way she acts.”

“He had a pretty big problem with it today!” Alya interrupted.

“I’m just saying,” Marinette pressed. “Chloe has it out for me, and always has. He’s Chloe’s best friend - and don’t talk to me about Sabrina, because we both know that relationship is really unhealthy. I just don’t think I can afford to trust him. Which is a shame, honestly.”

Alya raised an eyebrow. “A shame? And why, pray tell, is it a shame that you don’t think you can trust him?”

Marinette felt herself flush a little. “Well… I’ve just always liked blonde hair on guys, alright? It reminds me of a friend I had, a long time ago. It’s just too bad this blond-haired boy is contaminated by being friends with a blonde brat.”

—

“Wait, Chloe! That’s not yours!”

Adrien watched Marinette charge down the stairs after his other friend, heedless of the danger. He didn’t know what was going on between them now, but Marinette was definitely frantic. He glanced behind him to where Chloe was closing the door of the limo her father always sent for her, and knew Marinette wouldn’t be able to catch her in time. So instead, he moved to intercept her when she inevitably fell- he’d seen her fall enough times to be sure she would again.

He was right.

“Aaah!” she cried, slipping on the last few steps and falling forward. She smacked into his chest, pushing him back a little, but fortunately he was able to catch her arms before she fell completely to the ground.

However, instead of thanking him for catching her, she huffed with annoyance and stood, shaking her arms out of his grip.

“Why didn’t you stop her?” she yelled at him. “Or at least get out of the way so I could catch her?”

“I-”

“Ugh!” Marinette cried, throwing her hands in the air in that spastic way she had that fascinated him. 

Even after just a few weeks of being in the same class, she was the most random person he’d ever met- obviously talented in a lot of areas, but very random. Sadly, Nino had been right- Chloe and Marinette did not get along, but he couldn’t tell yet if it was simple dislike or if there was something else behind it.

“What happened this time?” he ventured to ask, hardly knowing if she would snap at him, or actually answer his question.

“She stole the little doll I made for this girl I babysit. I only brought it to school to show Alya in case her sisters might want one- I promised Manon I’d have it for her the next time she comes over, but now I’ll have to start all over!”

“Oh,” Adrien said. “Um… how do you know she stole it?”

Marinette’s face turned red and she glared at him. “It fell out of my bag in the locker room when I tripped earlier, and she just scooped it up. I told her it was mine, but she just said ‘finder’s keepers,’ and left!”

“Ah.” Adrien wasn’t really sure what to say, or to do in this situation. Was he supposed to offer to try and get it back? Marinette glared at him for a moment or two before huffing again and marching off. 

“She’s never going to like me, is she?” Adrien sighed, and Nino patted him on the back. 

“You just have to give her some time,” Nino said. “She’ll eventually see that you’re not a bad guy.” Nino paused and adjusted his cap, looking away for a moment before asking. “Why do you care so much, though? I mean, Marinette’s cool and all, but… why do you care if she likes you or not? Everyone else seems to be coming around…”

“I… don’t know why,” he said. “It’s weird, but…” 

Adrien’s car pulled up to the curb as he was trying to come up with a reason that made sense. They both turned and something small and colorful caught Adrien’s eye. It was a short string of beads, centered by a large, flat square of green, and threaded with a thick red cord. He picked it up and looked at it, wondering where it had come from. It looked oddly familiar, like something from a half-remembered dream.

“Oh hey, Marinette’s lucky charm,” Nino commented. “She must’ve dropped it when she fell.”

“It’s hers? You’re sure?” Adrien asked, still looking at it.

“Yeah. She swears by it, even though it’s never helped her with Chloe- or with you, apparently,” Nino gently teased. “Want me to give it back to her?”

“No,” Adrien mused. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to be the one to give it back.” He flashed Nino a grin. “Who knows- maybe this could be the peace offering I’ve been missing! I’ll give it back to her tomorrow, first thing.”

“Okay. Good luck, dude!” Nino gave him a thumbs up and turned away toward the metro station entrance.

Adrien climbed into his car, still holding the lucky charm and thinking. 

At home, he put the charm on his desk and started on his homework, fully aware that he was still behind in some subjects and knowing that the mystery of the charm would come to him more easily if he didn’t try and force it.

It wasn’t until after a solitary dinner that Adrien remembered. The beads were familiar because he’d strung them himself. The sensation of fingering the beads brought back the memory of picking out each one and stringing them in that exact order, before proudly showing his mother what he’d done. He remembered picking out the central green bead because it had a flower carved into the surface that reminded him of his best friend- the little girl he used to play with, before they moved to London. Her name escaped him, but he thought he remembered that she used to like ladybugs. He also remembered the last day he’d seen her, when they had exchanged ‘lucky charms’ so they could remember each other.

He pulled open his desk drawer, fishing out his own little string of beads, centered with a yellow bird with a bell at the end. It had always comforted him, knowing that there was someone out there who had promised to remember him… He held the two strings together in one hand and stared at them, faded memories flooding back into his brain.

Could it be? Had he been friends with Marinette before, and if so… could they be friends again? That… sounded really appealing, actually. To rekindle a lost friendship from a time when friendship had seemed effortless- or at least, it had always felt effortless with her. And she’d been his friend long before the modeling and the notoriety… 

Nino’s question from earlier echoed in his mind. He hadn’t had an answer to it then, but now he just might.

—

Adrien waited until Marinette sat down behind him before turning around and placing the lucky charm on the desk in front of her.

“You, uh, dropped your lucky charm yesterday,” he said. “So I wanted to make sure you got it back.”

He watched carefully for any sign of recognition on her face, or a hint that she might think better of him. And in fact, she did soften for a moment… and then Chloe laughed from across the aisle.

“You should’ve thrown it in the trash, Adrikins,” she jeered. “It’s not like that worthless piece of junk has ever helped her be less clumsy… or boring.”

Marinette’s expression closed off again and she wordlessly closed her hand over the charm and put it away in her purse.

“Chloe!” he hissed. “Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any value,” he said, meeting Chloe’s surprised and outraged eyes.

Adrien turned back to Marinette and opened his mouth, ready to tell her all about their lost friendship… but Ms. Bustier chose that exact moment to begin class and, true to expectation, Marinette didn’t let him get close to her all day long.

—

That weekend Adrien had a photoshoot in a park not too far away from the mansion his father had bought. He was getting a bit tired of Vincent the Photographer’s constant references to spaghetti towards the end, and started scanning the area around the fountain for something else to inspire his smile.

To his surprise, he spotted Marinette and Alya walking along one of the paths with a young girl bouncing around them. He smiled genuinely for the first time that day, and Vincent immediately noticed and also started looking around.

“Ah! Have we found a different muse?” the man teased, when he caught sight of the girls.

“Oh- no, those are friends from school!” Adrien hurried to assure him.

“Ahhh,” Vincent sighed. “Young love… Julien! Go, bring those girls over here!”

“No, no, you’ve got it all wrong!” Adrien protested, even as one of the assistants took off at a run.

“I, too, once denied the true longings of my heart,” Vincent sighed again. “But then, after much travel and hunger, I returned home to my mama’s cooking… and I have never swerved from that devotion since.”

Marinette and Alya hadn’t been that far away, so they arrived at the fountain in time to hear that speech. Adrien wished he could hide in the fountain without getting into trouble.

“Now! Young ladies!” Vincent turned to them. “Monsieur Adrien here is feeling the ennui- would one of you consent to briefly be his light- his passion- his reason for existence?”

Adrien winced and almost facepalmed. This was not how he wanted an encounter with Marinette to go.

Vincent suddenly dropped the overly dramatic tone. “Just for the next half hour? I have five more shots to get before the light changes.”

“Sure!” Alya said, elbowing Marinette, who had been looking around at the setup with great interest. “We’re really into fashion, isn’t that right Marinette?”

“Um, well…” Marinette said, looking like a deer in headlights.

“You really don’t have to,” Adrien hurried to say. The last thing he wanted to do was pressure her into anything when they were still on such rocky footing. “Alya would be a great model!”

Alya facepalmed and Marinette’s expression froze. Then she gave him a fierce smile that made it clear he’d somehow offended her again. “You know what? She totally would! What do you say, Alya?”

“Oh no, I am not going on film next to a bonafide model looking like this,” Alya said, gesturing to her casual outfit. “Besides, Marinette’s the one who-”

“Can I do it?” a high voice piped up, interrupting her.

Everyone looked down at the little girl holding Marinette’s hand. She had halfway hidden behind her when they first approached, thus making everyone forget about her. But now she was smiling an adorable gap-toothed grin, and Adrien instinctively responded to her excitement.

“Yes! Bella mia, you may,” Vincent gushed, bending down to smile at her. Then he straightened and went back to being all business. “As soon as your sister signs these release forms. Julien!” he snapped his fingers and Julien, apparently prescient to the need, slapped a clipboard into Vincent’s hand.

“She’s not my sister!” Marinette said. “I’m just the babysitter. You’ll have to call her mom- look, here’s the number,” she pulled her phone out of her purse.

The rest of the photoshoot was a lot more fun with Manon’s participation, but Adrien was disappointed that he’d somehow stepped wrong with Marinette again. She would smile and laugh at Manon’s antics, but as soon as he tried to catch her eye, her expression would drop again.

When the shoot was over, Marinette made sure to hustle Alya and Manon back out of the park before Adrien had a chance to ask what he’d done wrong.

—

Unfortunately, that would prove to be a recurring theme where Adrien’s efforts to befriend Marinette were concerned. He would try to say or do something he thought was helpful or at least innocuous, and it would just lead to further misunderstandings.

Like the time there was a special demonstration in science, where Marinette’s father came to school to demonstrate some of the chemical reactions he worked with every day in his bakery, and someone pulled the fire alarm while Marinette was out of the room fetching more ingredients. 

Even Adrien thought it was probably Chloe, who had been complaining about the lesson the whole time, and who had asked to go to the bathroom shortly after Marinette left. But when he reminded Marinette that she didn’t have any evidence against Chloe, Marinette didn’t take it well at all. Neither did the rest of the class, when they were all forced to spend an after school detention cleaning up the courtyard while Chloe got to waltz off home as if she was completely innocent.

Then there was the Class Representative election. Chloe had run for the position, which somewhat surprised Adrien since he knew by now that she did everything she possibly could to avoid doing any work whatsoever. He could tell that Ms. Bustier was surprised and relieved when Marinette announced she was also running, and everyone else in class had seemed to perk up, too. 

Frankly, he was planning on voting for Marinette, but when Chloe begged him to help her with her campaign, he didn’t think he could refuse. Poor Sabrina definitely needed the help. But somehow Marinette heard about his involvement, and added another layer of iciness whenever she was forced to speak to him.

Finally, there was the case of the Missing Bracelet. Chloe accused Marinette of stealing an expensive bracelet when it came up missing after Marinette tripped over Chloe’s purse, scattering the contents. Marinette, of course, vehemently refused the accusation. Chloe had turned to him for support, while Marinette shot him a challenging glare.

Adrien, thinking to get things settled quickly, suggested that Marinette just take everything out of her purse and pockets. Of course he knew Marinette hadn’t stolen the bracelet, but he also knew that Chloe wasn’t going to let it go without substantial proof. Marinette apparently didn’t or couldn’t see the logic of that. 

It turned out that the bracelet had been in a hard case that had rolled behind his own messenger bag, but Marinette refused to even look at him after that.

—

“Why? Why can’t I ever say the right thing? I was just trying to hurry things along! I wasn’t trying to imply that she really had stolen the bracelet,” Adrien lamented to Nino after the bracelet debacle. Nino was keeping him company over the phone since Adrien hadn’t been given permission to hang out that afternoon.

“I dunno, dude,” Nino said, rubbing his head and looking just as bewildered as Adrien felt. “I tried to ask Alya about it, but she just told me to let it go.”

“It just feels like anything I do to try and get on Marinette’s good side backfires,” he said, flopping onto his back on the couch. “Like, majorly backfires. And then it just gets worse with everything I say to try and explain. I just wish I could figure it out.”

“Me, too. Although, I think it’s Chloe that’s getting between you two, honestly. Like when she asked you to help her with her campaign? And then when she basically tried to make you choose between her and Marinette over the bracelet?”

Adrien sighed, but when Nino put it that way, he couldn’t deny it. “I don’t want to choose between them,” he said, after a period of silence. “Chloe was one of the few friends I made in England, and I always enjoyed being her penpal after her family moved here. But Marinette… I just think we’d really get along well if she’d give me a chance.” He hadn’t told Nino about them being friends when they were tiny kids- he didn’t want to in case things didn’t work out.

“You gotta find some way to prove that to her, then,” Nino said, after another silence. “I can’t give you advice about Chloe, though- she’s burnt too many bridges in our class, bro.”

Adrien lay thinking about that long into the night.

—

Adrien picked up the hat that Chloe had knocked out of Marinette’s hand, actually quite pleased with how that had gone. He’d just supported Marinette over Chloe to his father, since it was obvious that Chloe had copied the design. Surely that would win him some friendship points…

A small breeze blew across the hat and directly into his face. He immediately started sneezing- once, twice, three times… He dimly heard Marinette protest, and then the hat was yanked out of his hands as he kept sneezing. With his trigger gone, he turned away, pinched his nose, and mentally cursed his luck.

Unbelievable! Usually his feather allergy didn’t bother him, but this was twice in one day! What were the odds that a spilled birdseed shipment would draw in a truly astounding number of pigeons this morning, and then that he would encounter a feather-covered hat that he would eventually have to wear? I’ll have to ask Max about that, he thought hazily as his breathing finally cleared.

“Did you have to sneeze directly on it?” Marinette grumbled, and he looked over at her. 

“I’d like to see you try and control an allergic reaction! Did you have to cover the whole hat with feathers?” he shot back at her, stung into a retort despite his intentions. He watched as she tried to wipe sneeze droplets off the top of the bowler without damaging the iridescent feathers covering it.

She looked surprised, and then he swore he saw her expression soften for a moment before going back to her normal neutral.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were allergic,” she said stiffly. “I’ll replace the real feathers with plastic ones before the event.”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that,” he replied, almost as stiff as she was. For a moment they stood there, awkwardly staring at each other. Adrien was suddenly very aware that their other classmates who had either entered the contest or were there as support were being very quiet and still, watching their interaction. He bit his lip and then tried once more to break through Marinette’s stubborn determination to dislike him. 

“For what it’s worth, it’s a beautiful hat,” he offered. “The iridescence of the feathers is subtle- enough to catch the eye, but not enough to overwhelm. It would be the perfect accessory for many outfits.”

Once more Marinette stared at him, eyes wide.

“Thanks,” she said, after another extended pause. Then she abruptly turned on her heel and ran out of the courtyard, leaving her hatbox behind.

—

A few days after that, they had a work-experience day hosted at Le Grand Prix.

Chloe manipulated the situation so that all her least favorite people got jobs she considered humiliating, while giving herself and Adrien what she considered to be the “best” job of manning the front desk. But it was okay, because Adrien got to meet the famous rockstar Jagged Stone, and even recommended he ask Marinette for the ‘one-of-a-kind’ Eiffel Tower sunglasses he was looking for.

Marinette thawed another degree or two toward him.

—

Adrien got another chance to improve his image with Marinette the very next week. Alya called him to see if he could act as a translator between Marinette and her uncle, who had flown in from China. Since Adrien had an unexpectedly free afternoon, he convinced Nathalie that it would be good practice for him, and hurried over to the bakery. Marinette wasn’t precisely thrilled to see him, but admitted that she really did need the help as her Chinese was incredibly rusty.

As it turned out, Marinette’s uncle, Chef Wang, knew enough French that they could understand each other, but Adrien got to tag along to the hotel where he would be filming an episode for a cooking show anyway. Unfortunately, the hotel in question turned out to be Le Grand Paris… but Adrien did stand up for Marinette and her uncle against Chloe’s typical derisive and racist comments, and after it was all over, Marinette even smiled at him.

—

Adrien thought long and hard about what to give Marinette for her birthday. He’d noticed that she didn’t glare at him anymore, and he thought it might be time to see if she remembered that old friendship they’d had as preschoolers.

So he boxed up the lucky charm she’d made for him and wrapped it with Nathalie’s help.

At the party, he waited until all the other presents had been opened and people were eating cake and dancing to a setlist by Nino before approaching the birthday girl.

“Hey Marinette? I didn’t get a chance to put this on the presents table earlier,” Adrien said, pulling the small box out of his pocket. “Here you go- happy birthday.”

“Oh, um, thanks Adrien,” Marinette said, taking the box with a hesitant smile. She opened it while he watched her face intently. Would she recognize it?

She tilted her head, frowning a little as she pulled the string of beads out and looked at it. “Another lucky charm?” she asked.

“Well… it’s actually one that you made for me,” Adrien said, glad that the darkness in the park hid the way he was flushing.

“One that I made for you?” Marinette asked. “When?”

“So, um, you and I… we were actually friends when we were really little. You might not remember because we were really little, but I remember- maybe because I’m almost a year older? But we used to play together all the time- maybe even in this same park, although I think it’s changed a lot over the years…” he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as she looked at him, still puzzled. “Anyway, when my family moved to England, we… we made these for each other, so we would have something to remember each other by. When you dropped it a month ago- remember?- I picked it up, and the memories just came flooding back. So… yeah,” he finished lamely, heart in his throat as he wondered what she would say.

Marinette moved her puzzled gaze back down to the beads in her hand. She stroked them gently with one finger.

“I think… I think I remember. The bird- I picked that because you were always talking about wanting to fly. And the bell… I think there was something about magic related to that. I don’t remember what, though.” She paused for a moment and closed her hand over the beads. 

“Is that why you’ve been nicer to me lately?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Because you remembered that we used to be friends?”

“No!” Adrien yelled, then frantically looked around to see if he’d drawn anyone’s attention. “Well… look, I never meant to be mean to you- or to anyone! I just… I met Chloe right after I moved to London, and I was sad and alone, and she just kind of took over from you- being my friend, I mean. And then a few years later, she and her dad moved back to Paris, but we could both write by then, so we became penpals.”

He stopped and sighed. “I know she’s changed, and not for the better. But you have to understand that she was never like that with me- not until I moved here, anyway, and saw what she was like to everyone else. And for the record, I did not put gum on your seat the first day of school! I was trying to take it off .”

Marinette giggled unexpectedly. “Seriously? You’re bringing that up now?”

“Well, you never let me explain!” Adrien protested. “Every time I tried to talk to you, about that, or basically anything else, you ran the other direction!”

“Okay, but what about all those other times- like at the photoshoot in the park, or helping Chloe with her campaign for class representative, or… or so many other times. It’s only the last couple of weeks that it seems you’ve really changed…”

“I don’t know,” Adrien admitted. “I never meant anything to be hurtful, even before I knew about us being friends way back- I was just trying to be… fair, I guess? I didn’t want to have to choose between two of my oldest friends. It just… seemed to me like you put the worst possible interpretation on anything that happened. Not without cause!” he hurried to add. “I know now that Chloe’s been absolutely awful to you. So I guess you had reason to doubt my motives.”

“So what changed then? If you were trying to be fair before… and now you’re not…”

“No, I’m still trying to be fair,” Adrien said. “It’s just that I finally realized being fair means more ‘showing Chloe she shouldn’t treat people like that’ and less ‘giving Chloe the benefit of the doubt.’”

Marinette laughed at that- a genuine laugh- and Adrien felt himself relax a little.

“So what do you think?” he asked. “Can we be friends again?”

Marinette looked down at her hand before extending it back to him. He reached out and she dropped the charm into his palm. For a moment he thought she was rejecting his offer of renewed friendship, but then she smiled at him.

“Well, we can at least try,” she said with a shrug, her smile going crooked. Adrien smiled back.

“So, tell me what you remember,” Marinette said, leaning back against the tree. “Because pretty much all I can remember was your blonde hair and that I used to call you ‘kitty’ for some reason?”

Adrien laughed. “Really? Because I remember you wearing red so often I called you a ladybug a lot.”

They stayed under that tree for a while, telling each other what they remembered, and then moving on to their various experiences while Adrien had been away. When they ran out of new things to say, Adrien even invited her to dance- to a fast song.

And later, they both went to bed warmed with the thought of their renewed friendship.