Chapter 1

Adrien Agreste sat at in his study, unsatisfied and bored. Nothing new was happening, nothing exciting. Nothing to write about. He worked for a newspaper company, starting out as a newbie, stories had been hard to find, but with the city of Paris being boring with nothing exciting happening, it was near impossible to find a good story. What would make people interested? What would make for a headline? He thought he should just make up some fake story but he was never a good liar, and he was sure if the company found out about his "white lie", he would be out of a job. He sighed, running his hands through his hair, ruffling up his blonde locks. He got out of his seat, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor, screeching. Adrien had heard it too many times to flinch or cringe anymore, it was normal for him now. Even the floor had scrape marks from the multiple times of frustration.

He stood by his window, pulling back the drapes slightly just to peek outside, the same old waggons and carriages passing by, again, nothing happening. Maybe he should just move. Germany seemed to be getting exciting lately, or maybe Italy. Hell, even England would be better. Paris France seemed to be running smoothly, with the Eiffel Tower being built and all, which he had already written about in previous newspapers.

"Why must my job be so frustrating?" Adrien asked himself, releasing the drapes and pacing the floor, massaging his temples. Thinking too hard gave him migraines, which seemed to be happening quite often now.

Suddenly a knock on the door caught his attention, he cleared his throat and adjusted his tie, buttoning up his shirt collar. After double checking everything, he turned the door handle and peeked to see who it was, relief washed over him at the sight of his good friend.

"Oh, Nino, this is a surprise." Says Adrien, trying to hide the exhaustion from his voice. He swings open the door so his friend could come in, the young writer noticing a pile of letters in his friend's hands. "And so are those..." Mutters the blonde, his attention on the letters.

"These, my friend, are all for you." Explains Nino, setting the letters down on Adrien's empty desk and glancing up at him.

"For me? From who?" Asks Adrien, picking one up, Nino walks past him and collapses on a nearby sofa that sat against the plain white wall. Only a single picture hung on the wall, a portrait of a woman in a black frame. It seemed to be cleaned at least every day, dust recently collecting on the glass.

Nino leaned back on the sofa, letting out an exhausted sigh and loosing his tie. So much for formality. "Quote unquote, 'Fans'." Says Nino, making the quotation sign with his hands. Adrien glanced over at him then back at the letter in his hands. Fans sent these? What fans? And for what purpose?

"I didn't read any but all I know is you seem to be getting very popular around town- sorry let me rephrase that, very popular with the ladies in town." Explains Nino, a small smile crossing his face. Adrien raised his eyebrows, not sure if he felt flattered or confused, perhaps both.

"I don't have time for these, I have a story I need to write," Adrien says, taking a deep breath. He felt like he hadn't slept in weeks. Nino groaned in exhaustion, obviously, he hasn't gotten much either.

"Be thankful someone even realized you were alive in this flat, how long has it even been since you've been outside?" His friend asks, eyeing down the young writer. Adrien inhaled, thinking of a reasonable number, but any of the honest answers were laughable.

"3 days maybe? 4 perhaps?" Answers Adrien, shrugging and tossing the fan-mail back onto his desk. Nino laughs, his point being proven.

"You need to get out more my friend, or else you're going to go mad." Says Nino, joking. Adrien smiles slightly and glances over at his window.

"I think I'm already there."

Nino stands up and fixes his tweed cap then dusts off his pants though they weren't dirty. He walked towards the door and turned back to Adrien.

"It was good to see you again my friend," He says, tipping his hat slightly. Adrien smiles and nods back, then Nino closes the door and the young blonde is alone again.

Adrien fell back down onto his chair and let out and exhausted sigh, running his hands through his hair once more. Maybe Nino was right... Maybe some time outside would be nice.

Adrien strolled down the mellow street, it wasn't that busy out today, possibly because of the fact that Paris was just never that busy. Oh, the problems of being a journalist. No stories to write about. After walking passed bakery's and shops that sold random items for unreasonable prices, the young male reached an old park that children used to play at, now it was just for trees to grow and people to look at. He found a bench that was placed near an old oak tree and took a seat, taking off his top hat for a moment. He took in a deep breath, it had been a while since he had been outside, he forgot how nice it was to stare at the blue sky and feel a cool breeze, or even watching small animals like squirrels or birds pass by. It was all... Fascinating.

He closed his eyes for a moment and listened to the leaves rustle in the trees as the breeze blew by, it was such a peaceful sound that he hadn't heard a young lady come up to him.

"Beautiful day out, isn't it Monsieur?" Asked a small and calming voice, Adrien snapped out of his thoughts and opened his eyes, greeted by a young woman wearing a light blue spring dress, the sleeves going past her wrists just a bit and the waist looking thinner than the rest of the body, obviously the work of a corset. Adrien had to admit she was a very beautiful woman, to say the least.

"Yes, indeed. It's nice to meet you, Madame...?" He replies, asking for her name with a simple sentence.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," She answers, Adrien smiles and stands up, holding his top hat in one hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Madame Dupain, I'm Adrien Agreste." He introduces himself, taking note of how stunningly blue her eyes were. Maybe it had been a while since he was outside...

"Well Monsieur Agreste, would you mind if I sat with you?" She says politely, Adrien smiles and nods.

"Yes of course, by all means." He replies, gesturing to the bench. She smiles at his kind action and takes a seat on the wooden bench, tucking in her dress to sit properly. Adrien sits down shortly after she is seated and glances over at her again.

A pretty woman with stunning blue eyes, hair a dark blue like the night sky and a smile that made him feel warm inside. He had seen that smile before, it was the smile that made him feel happy again like he was loved.

He snapped out of his daze and glanced away, feeling his cheeks heat up a bit. How awkward to stare at a total stranger, after just meeting. Luckily she hadn't noticed his awkward staring and was too entranced by the trees to focus. Adrien cleared his throat and glanced down at the ground as her eyes gazed at him.

"So, what do you do for a living?" She asks, starting up a conversation. Adrien snaps his gaze to meet hers and smiles.

"I'm a journalist- or at least, trying to be one... I'm kinda better at just writing fake stories." He replies scratching the back of his head nervously. He realized he hadn't actually written a true story before, all of it was just made-up, like a fairy tale. Except for the news report on the Eiffel Tower being built and all. Marinette smiled warmly, she thought his nervousness was adorable.

"A journalist . . . So you write news stories?" She asks, he glances over at her and meets her gaze, her blue eyes staring into his green ones. They sparkled in curiosity.

"Yeah, something like that..." Replies Adrien, smiling slightly.

"I work as a baker- well, sorta. I work at my parents' bakery so it's not exactly the same." Explains Marinette, rolling her eyes to the side. She tugged on her dress cloth slightly.

"Can you make anything?" Asks Adrien, curiously. He had a thing for pastries, although he didn't eat them much. Especially when he used to live with his father...

"Of course, I can!" Marinette exclaims grinning proudly, Adrien smiles and chuckles quietly. She sure was confident. "I can make lots of pastries; Cookies, cakes, croissants. Basically, foods that start with 'C'." She laughs, Adrien joins and keeps his eyes focused on her, for some reason she made his heart pound and his cheeks burn up.

"I could go for a croissant right now." Says Adrien, thinking of his favourite pastry, it had been a long time since he had one, he almost couldn't even remember what they tasted like. Marinette suddenly laughs and Adrien looks over at her and she giggled adorably.

"Well, perhaps we should get one." She final says after calming down her giggles. Adrien smiles widely in hopes that he could actually spend more time with this woman.

"Hey, Marinette!" Shouts a female voice somewhere in the near distance. The two snap their heads toward the noise and spot a tanned skinned girl running towards them wearing a plaid skirt and a white blouse. And a pair of black glasses.

"Alya! How are you?" Asks Marinette as her friend got closer, not seeming to notice Adrien.

"Amazing! I just found the best story ever! This is everywhere on the news!" Explains Alya, holding a newspaper. Adrien suddenly got curious seeing the newspaper and hearing the words 'Story' and 'News' in one sentence.

"It's some sort of hero that was spotted last night, and guess what. It's a heroine!" Continues Alya, very excitedly. Adrien perks up, getting excited himself.

"Wait, a heroine? In Paris?" Asks Adrien, finally, Marinette's friend draws her attention to him sitting right next to them and stares at him for a moment. Then smiles.

"Yeah, and you are?" She asks politely, Adrien draws back, realising how awkward this was.

"This is Monsieur Adrien Agreste, he's a new friend I made." Explains Marinette, Adrien's heart skipping hearing the words 'Friend'.

A friend...

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you, Adrien, I'm Alya Cesaire." Replies the friend, her attention on the young writer. Adrien smiles slightly, glancing down at the newspaper in the girl's hand. "Now that we got introductions out of the way, let's get down to business."