When Marinette met with Emilié Agreste she couldn't explain the relief she felt when she'd been told she would be interning under her. If she had to work under Adrien for the next nine months she thought she might spontaneously combust. Just one look at him and her heart began beating a serenade of love songs rather than a regular beat.

She just couldn't control herself.

Marinette was still on a high from her conversation with Adrien, and even through Avery's digs nothing could wipe the smile off her face. Adrien had asked her out on a date.

Okay, maybe not a date date but he definitely wanted to take her out next week, to celebrate the internship at 'Gabriel'.

Interning at 'Gabriel', oh dear, that was a whole other can of worms. She would be interning at the top fashion house in Paris underneath her idol, this just didn't seem real, it was like she was living another life.

She made her way back to her apartment in an absolute trance. Her life seemed to be getting more and more interesting by the minute and she couldn't believe this was happening to her. Marinette - the clumsy, unsure, innocent girl from central Paris.

Perhaps good things do come to those who work hard.

Making her way to a cross road, Marinette stood waiting for the lights to change allowing her to cross. Her phone rang in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see who was messaging her only to be distracted by the old man suddenly walking across the road.

She looked up at the lights only to see that the crossing signal was firmly on red. The green man was most certainly not giving the signal to walk.

Putting the phone in the back pocket of her jeans, she looked up and down the road only to see there were two cars making their way towards the crossing, neither with the intention of stopping.

She needed to make a decision and quickly.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette ran into the road and grabbed hold of the man, pulling him to safety and tripping herself up in the process.

"Are you okay?" She stood up feeling the sting on her knees as she straightened them, they were most likely cut, but she'd sort that out later.

The signal began to bleep, alerting the pedestrians that it was now safe to cross. That she could continue on her way. Looking over her shoulder, Marinette noticed the walking stick the man had with him was laying across the middle of the road. She couldn't just leave this poor man alone without his cane.

"I'll be right back," she said, running into the middle of the road grabbing the cane and running back. "Here." She handed it back to the obviously shaken man and searched her bag for her bottle of water.

Finally locating what she needed, she handed it over to the man only for him to push it straight back to her.

"Thank you, but I'm okay." He was short, and, as Marinette noticed, had a serious lack of fashion sense. He was wearing a red Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants, which made no sense with the harsh autumn weather.

"Do you need help getting home?" She reached for her pocket to grab her phone only to realise it was missing, Looking again into the middle of the now moving traffic she could see it ... screen shattered into a hundred pieces. Damn! Turning her attention back to the man she plastered on a fake smile. That was an expense she hadn't budgeted into her funds.

"I'm fine, thank you for your help, and sorry about that." He pointed the cane into the direction of the smashed phone.

"Don't worry about it," she replied quickly, plastering a fake smile on her face, "better a phone smashed than you."

He laughed, and her smile transformed into a real one. She'd saved a life, that was more important than her phone after all. Even if that phone held three weeks worth of messages from Adrien Agreste, plus his phone number. Maybe her life wasn't as perfect as she thought.

He patted her on the shoulder, before turning and walking away.

Marinette made it back to her apartment, smashed phone in hand and tears in her eyes, and as if to tease her, what was left of the screen lit up and Adrien's name flashed across it. She needed to mourn.

Au revoir budding relationship avec Adrien Agreste.

Auf Wiedersehen the world's most beautiful eyes and face.

Goodbye another night of M&M's and movies ... they still had so many movies left to watch..

"Cheer up little one," Marinette looked up to see someone standing outside her door.

A loud squeal left her mouth and she rushed forward and jumped into the arms of none other than her best friend.

"Alya, oh my God! It's you! Aren't you meant to be in New York? You look amazing! How are you? What's your life been like? What's your course like? I can't believe you're here!" The girls shireked again, Marinette bouncing up and down with her arms joined onto Alya's.

"One question at a time Marinette, I'm still jet lagged and barely keeping steady on my feet."

"Sorry, I'm just so excited to see you. Come in, come in." Marinette scurried around her friend finding the keys in her bag and opening the door to her apartment before ushering Alya inside.

"Wow girl, this place is -" Alya stopped short as she entered the room, looking at the sofa before turning her head towards Marinette and raising an eyebrow.

Marinette noticed where Alya was looking before rolling her eyes and placing her bag down, "it's a long story."

Laughing, Alya walked over to inspect the piece of furniture, "I bet it is."

"Don't start, you've only just got here."

The two laughed and Marinette flicked the switch on the kettle to make them both a hot drink. "I can fix it, it was my plan for this weekend."

"Not anymore!"

"Nu-uh! Whatever you're planning, I'm out!"

"Geez Marinette, who pooped on your parade. You're eighteen now. Young, free and single .... It's time to mingle."

Folding her arms over her chest, she looked down at her demolished phone. "Maybe." She said quietly, watching as Adrien sent a second text.

"Maybe?" Alya stalked over to Marinette, placing her hands on the breakfast counter opposite where her friend was standing. The timing was impeccable as Marinette's phone lit up once more with a third message from Adrien.

Damn, he was persistent today.

"Who's Adrien?" Alya asked, eyebrows creased.

"Why are you back in Paris?"

"Why do you have three texts from him?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Who said I wanted to know?"

"You did!"

"So he's your new boyfriend?"

The quick succession of questions threw her, and what came out of her mouth wasn't exactly what she wanted to say. "He will be soon."

Alya gasped, covered her cheeks, gasped again and then squealed doing a funny little run on the spot. God, her neighbours were going to hate her.

"I didn't mean to say that! Damn."

"Tell me about him and I'll tell you why I'm here!"

Marinette weighed the pros and cons to telling Alya about Adrien. She trusted her friend with her life, but all this with Adrien was uncertain and new, and Alya was a journalist, it seemed wrong to tell her more information than needed.

But she was her best friend, and considering Alya has always been open and honest with her she deserved to treat her friend the same way, after all pretty much everyone in their class could see what had been sparked between herself and Adrien today, including Adrien's own mother. Oh, this was a mess!

"Fine, Adrien is ... can you remember the pictures I used to have on my wall?"

"Oh my God! You're shacking up with buttercup! With Adrien Agreste!"

"I'm not 'shacking' up with anyone!"

"Is he the one who broke the sofa?"

"Technically, yes ..."

"What a dark horse!"

"It's not like that Alya. I shouldn't have told you anything."

"Yes you should. This is amazing, Marinette. He's gorgeous! I bet he's so cool too."

Marinette couldn't help the noise that left her mouth. Adrien was anything but cool.

"Yeah, you believe that. So, I've given you my news, time for you to give me yours."

Alya suddenly turned from uber confident to a shy little mouse and Marinette finally felt like she had one up on her friend. "I've met someone."

"That's great, Alya, but why are you home?"

Her friend sighed and started playing with her fingers in front of her. "He lives in Paris, and I decided to come back to Paris to be with him."

"I don't understand."

"We've been together for a while. Well, seeing each other, nothing official, and since I've been gone we've both decided we actually like each other a lot more than we thought we did."

"More than just 'shacking up'?" Marinette asked, causing Alya to laugh.

"A lot more than just 'shacking up'."

"You said you've been seeing each other for a while? How long?"

"Two years," Alya looked nervously at Marinette, watching her face transform into shock. Two years! How hadn't she known?

"Who is it?"

"Nino."

"Lahiffe?"

"Yeah."

"How did I not know this? We've all been hanging out for five years!" Marinette headed to her cupboard and took two cups out, placing them on the counter by the kettle.

"I know, I'm sorry. It just kind of happened and we didn't want you to feel like a third wheel."

Something still wasn't adding up in Marinette's head. "So, you're telling me you've ditched your dream university to come back for Nino?"

"I know it's stupid, my maman's pissed."

"I can see why."

"I can't let him get away, Marinette, if it doesn't work it doesn't work, but I won't let the opportunity pass."

She looked at the deadly serious expression on her friend's face. It seemed Alya had most certainly made her mind up. She couldn't believe her headstrong friend would give up her dreams for a guy. A guy who she'd been seeing on the sly and not exclusively? What was happening in the world today?

"Just don't throw the chance of your future away on a guy."

"I promise I won't, but I do have a favour to ask. I can get you a replacement phone as a thank you." Alya was practically begging Marinette to help her, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to get in the middle of a Césaire family rift. Last thing she wanted was Nore Césaire, Alya's older wrestler sister coming to knock the door down. She already had a broken sofa. "You don't want to leave Buttercup waiting."

Alya tapped Marinette's screen and the message count appeared again. "You're a mean negotiator, Césaire!"

"You know you want to see what he's messaged, and I could give you that phone in the next," she pretended to check a non-existent watch on her wrist, "five seconds."

Marinette looked between her friend and her phone, finally coming to a decision.

"Fine! What do you need?"

"I need a place to stay until Nino and I can find a suitable apartment."

Taking a deep breath Marinette closed her eyes and held her hand out palm up. "Get the phone!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Alya ran around the counter taking Marinette into a hug before running to her bag and finding the spare phone she always kept with her. She was a journalist after all.

"You're going to help me fix this couch too."