Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

A name that circulated in Adrien's head for days after it was abruptly forced into his inner workings. Memories floated in and out of his conscious and unconscious brain, as he tried to forge an image of this girl who he once knew.

A girl he was going to marry.

Adrien sat at his desk, staring at his paperwork, only half completed.

I'm going to marry Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

Adrien buried his face in his hands. The prospect of marrying someone he once knew was little better than marrying a stranger. He hadn't seen her since they graduated from high school, so many what ifs detonating within all his doubts and anxieties.

What if she changed? What if she wasn't the sweet, caring girl he knew in high school? What if the fashion industry had changed her? What if she really did only agree to marry him for part of his father's company? No, no, Marinette would never...right? But what if I'm not good enough for her? Can I really be a good husband to her? How can I pretend to love her without hurting her? What if I hurt her? Does she even care? Does she still like to bake? She did like to bake, right? Does she still hang out with Alya? Does she still like the color pink? Did she ever even like the color pink? Does she--

Adrien's eyes widen as he was struck with a sudden thought.

 Did he ever really know Marinette at all? Did he ever even know the girl who sat behind him? Who blushed and couldn't get two words out around him? The girl whom he only knew from observations?

*Knock* *Knock*

He was jerked out of his musings by a loud knock on his door.

"Adrien?" Natalie's voice hesitated as her head poked into his office.

Adrien sighed heavily and lifted his face from his hands.

"Come on in, Natalie."

"I just came to inform you that Miss Dupain-Cheng had to cancel the meeting on Sunday due to work issues," She already flaked, Adrien thought bitterly.

"But she has proposed that if you aren't busy, you two could meet now for lunch." Natalie finished, standing silently awaiting his reply.

Now? I thought I had until Sunday to prepare, I'm not ready now! I can't, I'm no--

"Sure, Natalie. Please tell her to choose the place and I'll meet her there in half an hour.

"Alright, Adrien." Natalie's voice and face, neutral, as she walked out of the office. Adrien waited until he could no longer hear the clack of her heels against the tiles to bury his face into his hands once more. He let out a bitter laugh that if anyone would have heard, they would have feared for his sanity. 

It seemed he had a lunch date to meet his fiancée. 

Adrien's leg bounced as he looked out the window of the limo. For the third time, he took off his suit jacket and tie in the limo, before looking at it again, trying to decide what would look best. 

"Adrien, calm down," Natalie said in a firm voice as she glanced over at him in annoyance. Her gaze softened before she continued; "Leave the jacket and tie off, and unbutton the top two buttons. It looks best." 

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye before unbuttoning the top two buttons on his white dress shirt. He continued to stare out the window as the silence in the car began to become smothering. 

"Natalie--" Adrien started before he was interrupted. 

"We here, monsieur. " The driver called back. Adrien turned to face his impending doom. A small cafe, squeezed between two incredibly important, but unnecessary to mention, businesses. It looked a little strange, with its red brick contrasting with the cream colored stone surrounding it. Yet somehow, if you didn't look hard enough, you would never had known it was there. There was a small table out front, with two chairs, and a sign directly above it. The sign read Le Chat Café Noir.

Adrien stepped out of the car and took several deep breaths as he stared up at the black cat entwined on the sign. The cat's green eyes seemed to flash and sparkle, even as the sun was beginning to retreat behind the darkening clouds. 

C'mon, Agreste. You're a model for heaven's sakes. You've met thousands of people and have endured thousands of uncomfortable conversations! You can endure one lunch date with the girl who you will marry in three months. 

He took another deep breath, before letting the courage from his internal pep talk wash over him, and opened the door. 

He heard a bell ring, and looked around the small cafe. There was a counter at the back of the cafe, with a few tables and chairs in neat lines, parallel to the counter, perhaps ten in all. What took up most of the ground space was the couches, reclining chairs and coffee tables, that were  randomly strewn across the room; some placed against the walls, some in circles, some even in isolation against a window. Books and magazines filled book shelves and magazine racks. Everything was placed in an unconcerned matter, as if this place was out of reach of the frightening phenomenal that was reality. Adrien couldn't help but close his eyes and breathe in. Though messy and disorganized, this place felt warm and safe.  No father to control him, no superiors to berate him, no thoughts to torment him. 

Breathe. In. and. Out. 

Away from people, away from the world; here he could just breathe. 

"Adrien?" A voice knocked him out of his introspection, he whirled around his eyes settling on the reason why he was here in the first place. 

She was wearing strappy nude heels, a navy pencil skirt that ended just above the knee. Tucked into the navy skirt, was a light blue button down blouse; with puff sleeves that barely touched the middle of her upper arm, a small ruffle on either side of the small, blue buttons and a rounded collar. A small, red belt tied the look together as it rested at her waist. As Adrien's eyes traveled upwards he skipped over her face, instead focusing on the bun she had tied her hair up in. Finally, his eyes came to rest on her face. Pale, pink lips. Small, button nose. Dark eyebrows. And then, of course, blue eyes. Blue eyes full of hidden eddies and pools, full of stars that he knew he could never fathom into constellations, eyes full of lights and darks, emotions roiling, changing and turning. 

"Adrien?" The voice asked again, a bit more hesitant and doubtful. 

Adrien's face burned as he realized he had been staring at her for a good minute. 

Shit! She probably thinks I was checking her out! 

"M-Marinette! How have yo-you been?" He managed to stutter out. 

To his surprise, she giggled. 

"I've been good, would you like to sit down?" She asked as she gestured to a table with a jacket and bag neatly sitting next to a chair. 

"I guess we're both a bit nervous, huh?" Marinette looked up at Adrien as they moved to sit down. 

Adrien sank into his chair. "Was it that obvious?" 

"A little. The only thing that gave you away was the stuttering and the blank, lost look in your eye." Marinette giggled again as Adrien groaned into his hands. "Its okay, though, this is all...a bit overwhelming." She finished in a soft voice while staring at her hands. 

"Marinette...are you really okay with all of this?" Adrien lowered his tone to match hers and leaned in closer, almost as if he was afraid someone was going to overhear.

Marinette looked up from where she was staring at her hands and in a steady voice, replied; 

"Yes." 

Adrien instantly tried to argue; to tell her that she shouldn't be okay with being used, that she shouldn't be okay with letting someone else make life choices for her but he was interrupted by what she said next. 

"I...this marriage is for protection. That is why I agreed to it. And not only my own protection but also for yours." Marinette said, not meeting his eyes. 

"What do you mean?" He looked at her incredulously. 

"The Monteau's want to destroy the Agreste company and you are the heir." She said simply

"Yeah, but what is marriage going to do about that?" He exclaimed, the anger festering within him causing his voice to sound harsher than he had intended. 

"Sorry." He muttered, glancing around at the other customers of the quiet cafe. 

"Marriage isn't really going to do anything. This is only a publicity ploy, by marrying the two most dangerous people in the Agreste company...we're biting our thumbs at them." She waved her hand as if to dismiss the subject as trivial.

"But sti--did you just make a Shakespeare reference?" 

"Look, Adrien, I know this seems wrong. Trust me ,when I say its not exactly how I pictured my wedding day, and I know that its been a long time since we've seen each other, we're practically strangers." Marinette avoided his eyes as her tone turned quiet. She sighed a bit before meeting his eyes once again. He drew back a bit as he saw the cold steel of determination, unwavering throughout the blue. "But this is to make sure no one else gets hurt in this petty fight between fashion companies, even if we're the only ones to get hurt." She finished softly, looking at him between her eyelashes with calm acceptance. 

"But why do we have to be the ones to get hurt?" Adrien whispered as he tried to lose himself in her calm. 

"Who knows? All we can do now is play along and hope that it'll somehow end up alright." Marinette said as she leaned back in her chair. Staring up at the ceiling, she seemed...pensive, almost.

Adrien snorted. "I've been doing that my whole life, I thought by the time I was twenty-five I would have some control over the ending." She gave him a sad smile. 

"Life doesn't work that way." 

"I know... I know..." He paused before continuing, "So we're getting married."

"Yup." 

An awkward silence followed, where two adults avoided eyes and shifted in their seats. 

"Geez," Marinette layed a hand over her eyes as a smile started to pull her lips upwards, "I feel like I'm back in high school. Were we always this awkward?" 

"It does feel like we're fifteen again. Speaking of high school, what have you been doing these last couple years? I haven't seen you since graduation." Adrien felt a small smile start as he watched the girl across from him. 

They talked about her fashion career, about her going to fashion and design school,  interning at Agreste and finally making her way up to one of the top designers. And they talked about him, how he had gone overseas and studied with his father to prepare him for taking over the company, about his modeling jobs and the places and people he had seen. 

"How is company work? I hear you're already a senior member." Marinette asked, her fingers crossed underneath her chin. 

He made a face and she winced. 

"That bad, huh?" 

"It's not neccessarily bad, its just...boring. It's mostly paper work and deciding how, when, and who to advertise to." He sighed before looking up to see her raised eyebrows. "I-It's not like I don't want to take over the company, because I do! And I don't want to seem ungrateful, I've had so many amazing opportunities because of the company with amazing people! I just---"

"Adrien, its okay, I get it. Its just not how you pictured your life by now and you're kinda disappointed?" She paused as he nodded. " Sometimes, I can't help but think like that too. By twenty-five, I expected to have my own company and not still be underneath superiors. I thought I could create my own niche in the world, with my own designs. But as Alya is still always reminding me, its never too late, you just have to stop being a coward and do something about it."

"Did she really say coward?" Adrien asked after a moment in a disbelieving voice. 

Marinette laughed as she responded; "No, she told me to stop being a little bitch and grow some balls, but that's not exactly the most appropriate advice to give someone." 

Adrien laughed too, something about Marinette always made him happy and light. Whenever she laughed or smiled...that was one thing that hadn't changed. 

"So you still talk to Alya?" He asked eagerly. 

"Yeah, we're still really good friends. She's a journalist for the newspaper now, but is still a reporter at heart. She's actually doing research for a story in South Africa, right now. Nino went with her as her photographer." 

"I'd heard from Nino that he was going on a job, but he didn't give me the specifics. Are they still together?" He said, as he leaned forward, hoping to get another smile out of Marinette.

Marinette grinned and shrugged. "Who knows? I only video chat her every couple months." 

"Re--"

*beep* 

"Ah," Marinette looked down at her phone before looking up with a gentle, if not a little sad, smile. " I have to get back to work." 

"Right, sorry I kept you so long." Adrien apologized as he got up.

"It's fine! Don't worry, I'm happy I got to reconnect with an old friend." She said with another smile he couldn't quite read. 

Adrien returned her smile and helped her into her jacket. Marinette grabbed her purse as Adrien walked her to the door of the cafe. But as he held the door open, he then discovered the downpour that had gone unnoticed. 

"Oh." He said simply. 

"Oh." She echoed. 

"Well, it looks like I'm walking in the rain," Marinette said as she smiled up brightly at him. "We should have more lunch dates before the wedding, see you later, Adrien." 

Adrien watched as she stepped out into the rain before he was struck with an idea. 

"Wait!" He grabbed her hand, pulling her back under the protection of the awning. Marinette looked up at him questioningly. He let go of her hand and sprinted to the car that was waiting for him, he threw a "Wait there!" over his shoulder as he reached the car. He jumbled around in the bottom until he found what he was looking for. He walked back triumphantly, and with a happy grin, he opened an umbrella and held it out for Marinette to take. 

Marinette's eyes widened as she looked at the scene that met her. Laughing, she returned Adrien's grin with one of her own.

"You do know you're soaked now, right?" 

"But now you won't be." He said gently. 

Her cheeks blossomed pink as she reached out to take the umbrella. 

"You know, we became friends in sort of the same way." She started, just as softly as he had been. "You offered me an umbrella, while telling me something incredibly sweet, just like you did now."  

She looked up and hesitated for a minute before shaking her head and smiled. Leaning forward and standing on tip toe, she pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek.

"Thank you, Adrien." 

Marinette stepped out into the rain, rain droplets running down the black umbrella before sliding off to explode on the sidewalk. 

"I'll see you soon." She said over her shoulder as she disappeared into the crowd. 

Adrien watched her go, letting the rain soak him through. 

Maybe...just maybe, this won't be so bad. He thought as, he headed back to the car. 

It seems not everything had changed, after all these years it seems that Marinette was still a friend. 

Author's Note: I really didn't intend on taking so long to update, but I had the most trying time trying to write this chapter. (See what I did there?)  Oh and by the way, this fic is probably just a collection of a bunch of random head canons such as Adrien being a nervous wreck and Marinette mellowing out as they age.  We'll see how this story goes, so far it hasn't gone as plan but when does anything ever? Anyways, have a good whatever! 

Love, Cutesylittledemon.