Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.

I'm not a native English speaker, so I want to thank Bluejay and Slkworm for making this chapter readable for you.

Chapter 1

Marinette and Adrien were a team. There was no problem that they couldn't solve together. They could tackle anything that life threw their way, from fighting evil supervillains to finding Marinette an apartment near her new university–The latter of which they were trying to solve presently.

Adrien and Marinette were sitting on the Dupain-Cheng's couch together, browsing on their own laptops, trying to find a place that fit Marinette's harsh criteria.

A few months had passed since they had to give their miraculous back to Master Fu. A few months since the threat of Hawkmoth mysteriously vanished. The butterfly and the peacock miraculous were anonymously delivered to Master Fu. Nobody knew who Hawkmoth was, and it was unlikely anyone would ever find out. Unless of course, Hawkmoth would confess, but that was as unlikely as Plagg ever giving up cheese.

The lack of a confession was bothering Adrien. Now, please don't get him wrong, he was glad to have Hawkmoth gone as much as the next person, but it was so anticlimactic.

Adrien always figured that after years of fighting akumas, eventually, they would have to fight Hawkmoth himself, in a great final boss battle. But in a final jerk-ish move, Hawkmoth had denied them the pleasure of defeating him and finding out his identity. In a bonus jerk move, he decided to do this when Adrien was a few months from finishing Lycée.

The months that followed were pure insanity, the only reason he didn't have a nervous breakdown was thanks to Marinette.

The word "shock" would be an understatement of how the two miraculous holders felt when they realised it was each other. Adrien was beyond disbelief; disbelief, that he didn't see who was in front of him the whole time. Marinette was completely mortified, to say the least. Was the guy she'd always turned down the one she'd been chasing after?

Despite their early preconceptions, Marinette and Adrien were inseparable.

They mourned together when they had to say goodbye to their Kwamis and return their Miraculous to Master Fu.

They studied for finals together.

She was there for Adrien when he fought with his father over his degree. because Adrien wanted to get a degree in physics, while his dad wanted him to get a dual degree in business administration and fashion designing. The debate lasted for so long that he ended up missing the deadlines for Universities' applications, so he was going to keep modelling for six more months and start University the next semester. Sadly, his dad and he were yet to reach an agreement on his degree.

Adrien was there to celebrate Marinette when she got accepted to study Fashion Designing in the university of her dreams.

They endured the craziness of graduation together (along with Alya and Nino).

He was there for Marinette when Alya moved to England to study journalism and improve her English.

She was there for him when Nino decided to move with Alya.

Adrien had spent more hours with Marinette than without her in the past few months.

Marinette let out a frustrated groan when she found the place she was checking was no longer available.

Did she have any idea how gorgeous she was with her hair in a messy bun, an oversized shirt and her mouth pouting in frustration?

"If I don't find a place to stay soon, I'm going to just live on the streets. I saw a nice bridge near the campus and…" Marinette trailed off to stare at Adrien. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He was not sure what expression he had, but he could bet it was obvious he was an idiot in love. There was no point in denying it.

"Bug, have you ever been in love?" When he was around her, his mouth had the tendency to speak before consulting with his brain.

The question caught her by surprise. She looked at him as if he had grown a second head before replying.

"Um… yes." She blushed, and then added, "What does that have to do with my upcoming homelessness?"

He was not sure what he expected when he asked that question. He hadn't exactly expected her to reply.

"I don't think your parents are going to let you live on the street. Worst-case scenario, they will insist you keep living with them and you will have wake up two hours earlier to be in class on time. "

"I signed up for seven am classes!" She exclaimed in total desperation. "I'll have to wake up before five am!"

"We'll figure something out, we always do." He replied comfortingly. Then he added, "So, who are you in love with?"

"You are such a gossip, kitty." She said playfully. "Why do you even want to know?"

He was not expecting her to sound so defensive.

"Just curious… So, who is this person?"

"He's a friend of mine."

That wasn't' vague or anything.

"And you love him? Are you sure?"

She seemed annoyed that he was asking this, but replied anyway.

"Yes, of course, I am. I don't know why, since he can be such a jerk sometimes" She said. "Sometimes he can be really irritating, and he has a horrible sense of humour." She rolled her eyes. "But most of the times he is the sweetest boy I have ever met. His kindness and bravery know no bounds. And it doesn't hurt that he is really attractive". She smiled playfully, but Adrien didn't feel like smiling "I love him, l love him… and I don't think I'll ever love anyone else…" She finished dreamily.

Hearing Marinette talk about another guy like that... It would have hurt less if he was kicked in the stomach several times in a row... by Hulk wearing the Iron Man suit.

"And this guy you love…" The last word tasted bitter, but he needed to know "Does he loves you as much as you love him?" He couldn't imagine anyone not loving her. If the boy she loved did not reciprocate her feeling, then he was officially the stupidest person on the planet.

The smile was wiped of Marinette face, and replaced with a thoughtful expression.

"No, he doesn't." She said but she sounded unsure "Or yes? Maybe? I don't know?" She was avoiding his gaze. "He used to have a huge crush on me when we were younger, I rejected all his advances. Now I'm no longer sure how he feels about me. Most likely, he moved on. I don't know for sure since we haven't really talked about this."

He wondered who this guy was. Every person who was into girls had had a crush on Marinette at some point. It could be anyone.

"Do you think I still have a chance with him?" She finally looked him in the eyes. For a second, she looked so vulnerable. Those blue eyes were beguiling. Adrien would give her the moon if she asked.

Why would she ask that and put him in such an awkward position? He evaluated what to answer, and at the end, he decided to go for honesty.

"You are amazing Marinette, you know that, right?" She nodded. "I can't imagine a guy not loving you." She blushed for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. "But you already rejected him, and there is a chance he moved on and you need to be prepared for that possibility."

"Well, you'd know" She muttered.

What a cold way to remind him she had already rejected him too. If someone would understand her mysterious boy situation, it was him. However, unlike the mysterious boy, he knew for a fact he didn't move on and that she didn't love him back.

She looked so sad. He hated seeing her sad. He wanted to hug her, he wanted to tell her his mysterious boy probably was still head over heels with her. But he didn't. He didn't want to give her false hope when there was a chance the guy had moved on. Besides he was not strong enough to encourage her to go after another man. So, he didn't.

They stayed in uncomfortable silence for the rest of the afternoon.

Marinette had seldom felt as desperate as she did when she was two weeks away from starting university. She was yet to find an apartment. The only apartments near the university that were available were either really pricey or cheap rat-infested places. After all, they were still available for a reason.

Adrien had offered his help on multiple occasions and in multiples way. Even going as far as offering to give her money to rent one of the expensive apartments. She didn't want to accept, she felt like a gold-digger. She knew Adrien didn't view it that way, he was just trying to help a friend and money was not a big deal for him, but she didn't want to accept his money.

Besides, after he had indirectly rejected her the previous week, things had been awkward between them. He basically told her that he had moved on, and she had to accept that. It was hard and painful, but she had to do it. She had rejected him, and he moved on. There was no point in telling him now that she had rejected him as Chat Noir just because she was in love with him as Adrien, after all, he was no longer interested.

The bright side of her apartment problem was that Marinette was so focused on finding a place to live that she had barely had time to dwell into her heartbreak.

Marinette hadn't expected an actual solution to come out of posting a long passionate rant on social media about how hard is to find a good apartment, near the university and within her budget; so it came as a pleasant surprise when it did.

Nathaniel commented, on her post, letting her know he was in a similar situation. He was getting his degree in arts in the same university than her and he was having problems finding a nice place. After a long comment's chain of Marinette and Nathaniel commiserating over it, Alix suggested they should just rent a place together.

Marinette was not sure if Alix was serious or joking, but the idea was not bad. An apartment would be more affordable if she could split the rent with somebody. Besides sharing an apartment with a friend sounded fun. Sure, maybe she was not as close to Nathaniel as to Alya or Adrien or even Nino, but they were friends. They had been classmates forever; she knew he was reliable and she trusted him.

Marinette texted Nathaniel, a few days later they were together hunting for apartments. After seeing and rejecting so many places, they finally found a good apartment they both liked.

It was extremely small; they didn't know how they would fit two drawing tables in their tiny bedrooms or their tiny living room. But it was within their budget and only five minutes away from the university. It wasn't a rat-nest either; actually, it was pretty clean. Before they knew it, they were signing the lease.

The Landlady was a woman in her late fifties or early sixties named Louise Bernard. She was really cheerful and sweet, but there was something really fake about her. Marinette didn't like her very much, but she really needed this apartment.

"If you don't mind me saying it, you make such a cute couple," She said with her fake smile.

"She isn't my girlfriend…"

"We're just friends."

Both Marinette and Nathaniel spoke at the same time. Madame Bernard seemed to understand them anyway.

"Oh, I see," She said in her overly sweet voice. "Well, If you are not a couple I'm afraid you can't rent this apartment"

"Excuse me?"

Marinette didn't know Nathaniel could be sassy, but the amount of indignation in those two words made Marinette want to burst out laughing, despite the situation.

"Renting an apartment to two people of opposite sexes that are not in a relationship would promote casual sexual relationships. And I can't have that perversion here. This is a decent apartment complex".

Marinette was tempted to just walk away; she didn't want to rent an apartment from this nutcase. But she was desperate.

She looked at Nathaniel trying to meet his eyes, to somehow make him understand what she was about to do. But she couldn't find his eyes, he was looking at his shoes with his face as red as his hair.

"I completely understand that, but you do not need to worry. Nathaniel and I are a couple" She said as convincible as possible. She sneaked a quick glance at Nathaniel and she could see he was looking at her now as if she had grown a second head.

"You just told me you weren't," Madame Bernard replied sweetly. "Please do not lie to me."

"I'm not lying." She was, and she hated it. But desperate times, desperate measures... "We were lying before when we said we were not a couple."

Madame Bernard was smiling again.

"Is that true Nathaniel?" There was something about the way Madame Bernard asked that question, that reminded Marinette of an elementary school teacher. Gosh, she hated this excuse for a woman.

Marinette prayed mentally that he'd go along with it. To her relief, he did.

"Yes. It's true. I apologize for lying to you before. But Marinette and I are a couple. We didn't want to admit it before because we were embarrassed about moving in together before marriage".

"I understand. But you don't have to lie to me, I'm a very open-minded woman…" Marinette scoffed at that "I understand that a young couple would like to have their own place."

Marinette couldn't believe it worked, but it did. Less than an hour later Nathaniel and her were at a nearby Coffee Shop celebrating they finally got a place.

"I don't want casual sexual relationships in my decent apartment complex" Marinette was saying in a passable imitation of Madame Bernard voice. "but I also can rent to an unmarried couple because I'm open-minded"

"Also, what's the deal with 'two people from opposite genders'?" Said Nathaniel sipping his cappuccino "So only people of opposite genders can have sex now?"

"Apparently!" Exclaimed Marinette "It is unbelievable that we have to pretend to be a couple just to rent a place…. When they find out we are fake-dating…"

"You mean; 'If they find out'. I don't know about you, but in my opinion, this will go a whole lot smoother if this is just a show for Madame Bernard and we don't tell anyone else."

Sounded about right.

"I like how you think. Let's toast" She lifted her Iced Coffee cup and said "To our secret relationship"

"Cheers!"

Marinette had broken Adrien's heart once again, what else was new? He should be already used to it by now, she had rejected him multiple times since age fourteen. Ever since she told him she was in love with someone else, things have been awkward between them. Nevertheless, she was still his best friend, so the day she moved into her new apartment he was there to help her. Marinette's parents, Nathaniel's dad and Marc were also there helping carrying stuff.

Adrien was helping Marinette carry her desk computer back into the truck. There was not enough space in her bedroom to keep both the computer and her bed.

As they were carrying the computer back into the truck, they ran into the woman Marinette had to introduced to him earlier as the landlady.

Marinette had mentioned to Adrien that she didn't like the landlady very much, but she hadn't elaborated.

"Everything alright, dear?" the landlady asked sweetly.

"Yes, thank you, Madame Bernard." Replied Marinette. Even Adrien could hear the impatience in her voice.

"That's good to hear. And tell me, why are you carrying that computer outside the apartment?"

Maybe Marinette didn't like the landlady because she was such a gossip.

"Oh, it's just that I don't have enough space in my bedroom to keep it, and I have a laptop anyway."

"Oh, and why don't you just put it in the spare bedroom?"

Spare bedroom? Adrien had no idea what the landlady was talking about. The apartment only had two bedrooms, one for Marinette and one for Nathaniel.

"The apartment doesn't have a spare bedroom…" replied a confused Marinette.

"Well, you and Nathaniel are sharing a bedroom, no? So you have one spare bedroom." Explained the landlady as if there was any logical reason why Marinette should share a bedroom with Nathaniel.

"Why would they share a bedroom?" Adrien asked confused.

"Well, couples moving together usually shares a bed, dear" Explained the landlady as if Adrien was a little slow. Then she moved her attention to Marinette. "Aren't you and Nathaniel sharing a bed? I saw two beds being carried upstairs."

This woman was under the impression that Marinette and Nathaniel were a couple. Adrien wanted to tell her that was not the case. He wanted to put his arm around Marinette and tell the landlady HE was Marinette's boyfriend. But he couldn't. Marinette and he were not dating. She had rejected him again recently. She had told him she loved someone else. He just waited for Marinette to tell the landlady Nathaniel and she were just friends.

She didn't.

"Oh, yes. We are not sharing a bedroom because we saving ourselves until we are married."

What?

"Very admirable dear. But if that's the case, moving with your boyfriend is not the best way to avoid temptation."

"Well, we are moving together right now because we are going to the same university. But we'll sleep in separate rooms."

What.

"You're dating Nathaniel?" Adrien blurted before he could stop himself. He wanted to be sure he was not misunderstanding this situation.

Marinette looked at him and then at the landlady. She took a deep breath and said: "Yes, I am".

This was a game changer.

He thought he was helping her moving with her ex-classmate and friend and that their reason to move together was because it was convenient. He didn't know he was helping her move with her boyfriend. Suddenly he felt dizzy and he desperately wanted to throw up.

Nathaniel had to be Marinette's "Mystery Man". Marinette said her Mystery Man was a friend she rejected when they were younger. Nathaniel definitely used to have a crush on Marinette back in college, and while Adrien didn't know if Marinette had ever rejected Nathaniel, based on her lack of interest back then, it was possible.

"I didn't know. You didn't mention anything." Adrien said with more bitterness than he intended.

"It's fairly new…" Marinette replied looking uncomfortable.

Adrien nodded, not sure what else to say. What do you say when the love of your life tells you she has a boyfriend after you helped her move with him? He just wanted to be alone. Not for the first time he wished he still had his miraculous. He could really use some 'running on rooftops time' right now.

"I just remembered I have a photo shoot this afternoon–" He made a show of checking his watch. "– and I'm incredibly late! See you later! Bye!" He practically dashed away.