"Oh my God girl, he gave you his office key!" Alya blurted out at the top of her voice. Marinette shushed her, looking around the cafe where they had met up, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"It's just for two days while the placement finishes. Really Alya it's no big deal." She said in a forceful whisper.

"Uh ha, yep, no big deal." Alya retorted sarcastically, this time at a more acceptable volume. "Marientte, my dear sweet innocent Marinette, a guy giving you his office key is like giving you the keys to his apartment." Marinette's mouth flew open.

"Alya! Adrien would never be like that. He's far too much of a gentleman, and he was just trying to protect me from Lila." Alya shook her head with a laugh.

"Okay, I'll concede that Adrien is far too much sunshine to get down and dirty in his office." Marientte really wished a whole would just open up and swallow her whole. "But that doesn't mean he hasn't thought about it. Besides, you still have that dinner date tomorrow night."

"It's not a date." Marinette clarified. "It's just a coffee catch up like what we are doing right now." Alya rolled her eyes and took her friend by the hand.

"Marientte, he sees you most of the day, he doesn't need to have a 'catch up' with you." She emphasised her point with inverted fingers. "He wants to be with you. He's pretty much treating you like a girlfriend without saying it out loud. I just wish I knew why he is holding back." Marientte slumped back into her seat.

"Chloé seemed to think that he is afraid to love." Alya narrowed her eyes at her.

"And why are we believing anything that super brat says?" Marinette could understand Alya's reaction. A year ago she would have probably said the same thing.

"She's not like that anymore and I know Adrien means the world to her. Honestly, I think she had a point. She believes he's afraid of loving someone and being left again, like his mother did." She lowered her eyes down. Alya grabbed her shoulder and gave it a gentle shake.

"Well then it's up to you to show him that his heart is safe with you." Marientte looked at her best friend with pleading eyes.

"But how Alya? How do I tell him that? These last few days being around him have been amazing and I feel we have gotten so much closer, but I'm afraid too. I'm still afraid to tell him how I feel. Afraid of being rejected." She sat back wrapping her arms around herself. "Will he ever know how much I love him?"

*********

Marinette raced down the stairs, stumbling her way through the bakery. She'd tossed and turned worrying so much about Adrien and how she was going to ever confess to him that she barely responded to her alarm. If it hadn't been for Tikki, she may not have woken up at all. Calling out a hasty goodbye to her parents she raced her way to the metro she reached the Gabriel Fashion House just in time. Making her way to the top floor, she walked into Adrien's office to find two tall cups of coffee sitting on the desk. Taking off her coat she placed it over a chair when she heard him call out.

"Good morning." Came his voice from behind her. She turned around to see him walking over with some papers in his hand. He threw them down on the desk before giving her a friendly hug. "Is everything alright, you look flustered?" Marinette wasn't sure if it was the run to the office or his intense gaze that was making her red.

"Yeah, fine." She reassured him. "Just overslept my alarm." She then noticed him looking her up and down. "What?" She asked as his smile collapsed into a giggle.

"Is that a new fashion statement or is your top on back to front?" Marinette looked down and realised to her horror that her top was indeed back to front and inside out! She was grateful she had at least had her coat on while travelling the metro, this was embarrassing enough. Adrien continued to chuckle. "Don't worry about it, just use the bathroom and fix yourself up. Nathalie won't be here for another ten minutes anyway."

Adrien watched as Marinette went red faced into the bathroom. He continued to chuckle to himself how adorable she is when she gets flustered. Sitting down at his desk, he sipped at his coffee thinking back to what Ladybug had said the other night. Maybe his life wasn't preordained to be trapped in this business. Marinette was following her own dreams, but then again her parents were supportive and loving, his father was only interested in profits and bottom lines. Truely, he would probably be happier working for Marinette's father in the bakery then here. It made him feel warm inside though having heard what his lady said about him making her a better Ladybug, the intensity in her eyes was almost like love. Almost. He was still wrapped in those thoughts when the office door abruptly opened.

"Father, I wasn't expecting you." Adrien shot up to his feet. His father rarely came down to the offices these days. Unconsciously running his fingers through his hair as the bathroom door opened.

"Adrien, you might want to get someone to look at that hot water tap, it's...oh." Marinette stopped suddenly in her tracks. Gabriel Agreste looked her up and down with a critical eye. Never in her life had she felt as small and insignificant as when she was underneath his towering steely glare.

"Father, may I introduce Marinette Dupain-Cheng..." Adrien began before his father cut him off with a raised hand.

"Yes, I know of Miss Dupain-Cheng." His tone was anything but friendly. "I understand you had an altercation with some of the models yesterday." Marinette's eyes widened. Had Nathalie said something?

"Sir, please..I..." she stumbled before Adrien came around his desk to stand with her. She almost fainted when he took her hand in his.

"Father, Marinette didn't do anything wrong. Lila and Veronica were being nasty as usual and I suggested she should stay based in my office so she wouldn't run into them again." Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him.

"I see." He replied, darting his eyes between the two, his expression unchanging. "Well, I came to tell you that your cousin will be calling you soon with details on the London expansion opening. Nathalie can't take the call as she is tied up with shipping issues." Gabriel looked over at Marinette, his voice monotone and cold. "One of our Chinese silk orders has gone astray. If you could let Sasha know when you go down there."

"Yes Sir." Marinette responded timidly. Gabriel turned his glare back to Adrien.

"Adrien, I was far from pleased at your performance during that last photoshoot. I realise you have creative differences with Veronica but..."

"Creative differences! Is that what you're calling it." Adrien let go of Marinette's hand to fold his arms in exasperation. "She was groping my backside during the shoot, I'd call that a little more than just creative differences." Marientte looked wide eyed between Adrien and Gabriel, the latter not even batting an eyelid.

"Don't take that tone with me Adrien. Veronica is our leading female model. The shoot needed to be believable and you were not. Now you find a way to deal with it tomorrow." Gabriel went to leave when he caught the stunned look on Marinette. He narrowed his eyes at her as he turned and exited the room. Marinette let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"I don't think he likes me very much." She said looking towards the door where Gabriel had left. Adrien handed her over her coffee which she took gratefully.

"I don't think he likes anyone very much to tell you the truth, me included." Marientte looked surprised and concerned but he just shrugged his shoulders and gave a sad smile as he looked at the coffee cup in his hands. "Don't worry about it Marinette, It's alright, really, I'm used to it."

"No one should be used to that Adrien, least of all from their family." She stepped closer to him and looked up into his emerald eyes and could see that same broken look she had seen in Chat's eyes on Monday night.

"He wasn't always that way. At least I don't think he was. I'm sorry for the way he spoke in front of you and...." His eyes darted away from hers as his words trailed off. Without thinking about it, Marinette took the coffee cup from him and placed it on the desk with hers. She then took hold of both of his hands. In her mind she could hear Tikki's words echoing - be more Ladybug about it and right now, he needed her to be his everyday Ladybug.

"No Adrien, don't you dare apologise for the way your father acts." She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. "You are the most amazing and hard working person I know. You do everything that is asked of you and you do it with a smile, even when you hate it, even when you're breaking inside. You are not just some employee here. You are Adrien Agreste. Your name and face are on the building for goodness sakes." Adrien chuckled with her at that. "But you're more than that. Your kind and sweet and generous. When we first met I thought you were just a rich kid brat and accused you of putting that gum on my seat, do you remember?" Adrien smiled at the memory.

"Yeah, you were pretty mad at me." He smirked. Marinette could feel a blush creeping up on her, but fought past it and her pounding heart to continue.

"Well, you didn't let that stop you. You found me and explained everything. You even gave me your umbrella because it was raining and you didn't want me getting wet, even though you must have gotten soaked yourself. I saw you that day as someone beyond just a face on a poster, but as someone that is real." Adrien found himself completely lost in Marinette's bluebell eyes. Eyes that felt safe and warm, eyes that told him that everything would be alright, eyes that felt like he was home. As she spoke his own eyes drifted to her lips before back up to her eyes. He realised how close they had gotten and it would be so easy just to dip his head towards her lips and...

*ring, ring* He closed his eyes and squeezed her hands letting out a sigh. "That will be Felix, hold on." He went over to his desk to answer the phone. "Hello...hi Felix, I've just got to put you on hold for a moment, just hold the line...okay, I'll just be a minute." Marinette was still trying to recover from almost totally confessing her feelings when she was unexpectedly wrapped into a tight hug.

"Thank you Marinette. You saying that means more than you'll ever know." She relaxed into his embrace and he held her closer, enjoying her warmth. It was with much reluctance that he let her go, the faint smell of vanilla and cinnamon following her. "Here don't forget your coffee and I'll meet you down at design later okay." Marientte took her coffee, not quite making eye contact with him as she did. Adrien worried that maybe he had overstepped the line holding her like that but then at the door she turned back and smiled at him, a dusting of pink across her cheeks and he thought maybe he had actually died and gone to heaven.

Sitting back at his desk, Adrien put his phone on speaker. "I'm here Felix, how are you?"

"Slightly regretful I took this job on. Mother thought it might be a good experience for me but honestly I think she was just trying to keep me occupied." Adrien could hear Felix scoffing on the other end of the line. "Tell me you are coming to the opening, I need some kind of entertainment around this place."

"I don't have a choice, Father won't attend anything, not even a new store opening." Adrien rocked back in his seat, flipping a pen between his fingers. "If it bothers you that much tell Aunt Amilie you don't want to do it. I'm sure she wouldn't make you stay." Felix laughed down the phone.

"I know, but I don't like to quit something part way. At least if I see it through I can say I did it right? Besides, it's a good excuse to see you again." Adrien smiled. He and Felix had gone through a rough patch at one stage, both trying to deal with the loss of a parent in their own way, but they were in a much better place now and Adrien was really looking forward to seeing his cousin again. As they talked, Adrien took the photo of Marientte out of his wallet again.

"Listen Felix, can I ask you something? It's about a girl, well, actually it's about two girls." Felix groaned.

"Good lord Adrien, can't you hit up one of your friends about your love life." Adrien rolled his eyes as Plagg decided to park himself on his desk with a fresh chunk of Camembert.

"No, I need to talk to someone who's unbiased in the situation." Adrien had considered talking to Nino about his confused feelings, but being Marinette's friend he knew Nino wouldn't be entirely objective, not to mention Marinette was also his girlfriend Alya's best friend.

"Alright fine, I'll listen." Adrien looked over at Plagg who had a face that would have better matched a bucket of popcorn rather than cheese.

"Okay, there's this girl I...ah...work with..."

"Adrien lay off the models, they are bad news, trust me. I've had enough of them while working here and I swear they are hanging off me because I'm related to you. Seriously if they try to goad me into asking one of them out again..."

"No, no, she's not a model." Adrien jumped in. Plagg was hardly containing his laughter. "She's...an...ah... an associate. Anyway it's not important. The point is I've been in love with her for the last 4 years, or at least I thought I was, but through our whole time together she has insisted on keeping our relationship professional so it's really a dead end while we keep working together."

"Sounds smart to me." Felix replied flatly.

"Not helping Felix." Adrien was trying to suppress his frustration.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Who's the other girl then?" Felix was a good one for keeping emotions under wraps, but Adrien pressed on nevertheless.

"The other girl I go to school with. She's been a friend for as long as I've known the first girl. We hang out a lot with our friends and she's always kind of been there for me, although I'm only just realising that now. Recently we have started spending more time together and have been getting closer and..." Adrien looked back at the photo in his hand, a warm tingling feeling washed over him. "I think I might be falling for her."

"Okay." Felix said, thinking over his cousin's dilemma. "So what exactly is the problem?" Adrien sighed.

"The problem is, there might be a glimmer of hope with girl one if I wait it out. Girl two though, she's...she's..." Adrien suddenly felt overwhelmed with an array of feelings he couldn't explain. "She could be everything I've ever wanted. There's competition though, another guy I know likes her and she sees him quite a bit due to working with him sometimes." Adrien hoped he wasn't being too vague, but he didn't want to give too much away. He was surprised though when he heard Felix begin to chuckle.

"Then you better make your move cousin before she gets away." He said playfully. Adrien looked at Plagg who raised a knowing eyebrow at him.

"Wait, you think I should go with girl two?" Adrien was surprised "Even after holding out this long for girl one?" He heard Felix clear his throat before he spoke again, this time he was more serious.

"Look Adrien, you know I'm not into mushy romantic stuff but let me ask you this. If I said to describe girl one in three words, what would you say?"

"Brave, Incredible, Amazing." He blurted out without a second thought.

"Right." Felix drawled. "And girl two?" Adrien swung around in his chair to face towards the windows. The grey clouds had begun to intensify and rain was on the way. It reminded him of that day on the school stairs when he gave Marinette that umbrella. He remembered every detail of that moment in the rain. He thought he had found a friend, but maybe he had found so much more.

"Soft, Sweet, Warm." He said softly and a feeling bloomed in his chest he couldn't explain. All at once it was like a lightbulb went off in his head. "Felix...I am in love with her, aren't I?" He could hear Felix laughing at him down the phone.

"Adrien, I can only offer you my opinion from afar. I don't know these girls but I believe that if you really loved the first girl the way you thought you did, you never would have fallen for the second." Adrien could see now that all this time he had been so focused on Ladybug, he couldn't see Marinette right there in front of him. He had simply been too blinded by his partner to see it, or perhaps there was just a heavy dose of denial. Ladybug had dazzled him with her brilliance, but he now realised that Marinette was the one that had been creeping into his heart. Yes he still cared for Ladybug, he always would, but it wasn't in the same way. They were partners, with a bond that could never be broken, but this? This was different. This was something he could hold, something that was real, and he wanted it, more than he ever thought he could want anything. He knew without a doubt that Marinette was the one he really wanted to be with and he hoped that he hadn't left it too late.

Once the call had ended, Adrien stood up to stand by the window. The clouds had finally broken and the rain hit against the windows, streaking down in wavy lines. Plagg floated up next to his chosen. Adrien smiled to himself before turning his head to his Kwami. "I know, I know. You don't have to say it." The black cat refrained from telling him I told you so.