The Meet Cute [An Adrienette Story]

Saturday 1st December [Adrien]

Adrien woke up feeling about as festive as a pumpkin in Easter. The fast approaching holiday was not one he looked forward to each year, and for want of a better word, he hated it!

Christmas was a time that filled him with such immense and overwhelming feelings he never knew which way to turn. Actually, that would be lying. The past four Christmas' had filled him with great joy, but this year ... there was no joy and no excitement. At the moment anyway.

Four years ago Adrien's mother disappeared. Four years ago Christmas as he knew it changed greatly, that was until his father gave him some freedom and allowed him to join the public school system.

He'd made some great friends who all cared and looked out for each other. Every Christmas since his first alone with his father, his group of friends would crowd around him and make sure they gave him a time to remember. Even if last years included an intoxicated Kim skinny dipping in his pool ... the only problem was Adrien didn't have a pool. Just a fountain out in the garden. To say Gabriel was not impressed would be an underestimation to the fuse the old guy blew. Kim was no longer allowed to the Agreste mansion, well that was until earlier this year.

In January, one month after the Kim incident, Chat Noir and Ladybug finally became victorious and defeated their arch nemisis, Hawk Moth. The Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous were back in the safe and beautiful hands of the Guardian. However, it did not come without a price.

Hawk Moth was Adrien's isolated father. His cling on assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur, was his partner in crime, Mayura. Ladybug had managed to hold them both down as Chat called the police and as much as his heart-ached that his family would be no more, he couldn't help feel the hatred towards his father for what he'd put himself and his Lady through as the police pulled him out his basement for a lifetime in prison.

The relationship between Adrien and Gabriel had ended almost a year before they took him down and saved the Miraculous'. Adrien never even batted an eyelid when his father was arrested and plastered all over the news. He held his head high and took over the company. Luckily, the brand wasn't effected too much and with a quick change to the name the sales had maintained their high productivity and the company was still very lucrative. However, instead of 'Gabriel' Adrien is now the CEO of 'Agreste'.

Adrien found that when it came to the business side he was fantastic. He's ability to work and manipulate numbers came in as a great attribute to the company and now he was almost a year in to his new job he couldn't imagine doing anything else. The only issue he had was his zero experience when it came to the designing aspect.

He had no ideas about complementary colours, silks, or patterns ... you know, the main skills you need to run a fashion house. Everyday he wished Marinette would appear and put her amazing skills to use. He wanted Marinette to come and work for him, but unfortunately she'd moved away and no one knew where, including Alya and Nino.

The ten months Marinette had been away had changed the fab foursome dramatically. It seemed Marinette was the glue, she was the bond that held the group together. Adrien had tried to remain in contact with Alya and Nino, but neither were being as social as they had been in the past. He hadn't seen Nino or Alya half as much as he would have liked to, and he had tried, he'd been trying so hard.

Life without Marinette just seemed ... dull! No-one had the optimism and carefree attitude she did. She was kind, caring, funny and, not telling Nino or Ladybug, his best friend. But she wasn't there, she wasn't around and, boy, was she needed.

At nineteen years old, Alya was pregnant, much to her dismay. They all thought that perhaps if Marinette found out she'd come back. Alya needed her. They all did. But it seemed her number was uncontactable. No one knew why.