April 1st

Marinette walked along the Seine, hands in her pockets and face lifting towards the sun. Spring had well and truly arrived in Paris. The blossoms on the trees lining the streets in a precious pink, making her wonder how she was going to cope living somewhere else. Did London have the wonderful colours of Paris in bloom?

After a couple of days of gathering her belongings together, Marinette was taking a short break from packing her boxes and enjoying what time she had left in Paris. It felt so strange to finally be uprooting her life from the bakery and heading to a different city in a whole other country; something she wouldn't have considered only a couple of years back.

The sun reflected against the studs situated in her ears. The jewellery was placed firmly back in their home and her tiny best friend was back by her side. It seemed even in her apprehension Tikki was excited about the move, enthusiastic about being in London and working for the Agreste's. With the happy go lucky attitude of her small kwami, Marinette couldn't help but feel it rubbing off on her. Maybe this would be okay?

The days of Hawkmoth's reign were over and she was free to live . It was almost as crazy as it was true. She'd been holding back for years. Taking the easy way and the safe way, but it was time to move on, and this job was the most incredible change of circumstances.

Her superhero partner agreed with her kwami as he moved on with his life too. Though, both had no reason to fight anymore, that didn't stop them from being the best of friends, even if they didn't see each other as often as they wanted.

Continuing the steady walk down passed many houseboats, it didn't take Marinette long to spot the one that she wanted. The one housing the Couffaine's and, for the rest of the afternoon, all her friends too. Luka and Alya both pulled their resources together to give her a good send off from Paris and into the big, bad world.

It was time to step aboard and enjoy these last few moments with her friends.

As she crossed the plank, she could hear everyone already there; laughing, drinking... being one. Regardless of time and distance, the gang remained close, something she was definitely going to miss.

"Here she is! The woman of the hour!"

Applause broke out and Marinette dropped them all a curtsey as she reached the main deck of the boat.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she laughed, excited chatter lifting around her as she moved from friend to friend. Each offering her their congratulations and luck, a few tears spilling from her escape from Paris.

The mood was one of joy and happiness, until someone else came to join the fun.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Marinette hissed to Luka as Adrien Agreste sauntered onto the boat like he owned the place. He lived in England now... not Paris! Why the hell was he here?

"You need to hide me," Marinette begged Luka, as she grabbed his arm and pulled him over towards the back of the boat.

"Marinette, you're being a little unreasonable about —"

"Listen, Couffaine, you're either with me or against me!" She poked him in the chest to add to the threat, which only added to the musician's amusement.

"Seriously, Marinette, it's just Adrien." His chilled words made her want to scream. Out of everyone on this boat, Luka knew the issues she had with Adrien 'better' than everyone else, and yet here he was defending him.

What the hell was wrong with her friends recently?

After Kagami's deceit, now having Luka not backing her up was a heavy kick in the gut. Luka knew her dislike for Adrien more than anyone, so why did he want Marinette to be civil? He knew all about the practical jokes Adrien had played on her —- the sheer embarrassment of the statue trick being held strongly at number one..

"Luka, I swear to God –" Before Marinette could finish talking, she felt herself lose her footing.

In her heist to get away from Adrien's field of vision, her foot had become entwined with a rope on the side of the boat causing her to fall forwards and smack straight into Luka. The speed and strength of the collision, knocking her friend off balance and causing him to stumble towards the edge.

Marinette could only describe the next few moments as slow motion. Where she'd managed to gain her footing and straighten up, Luka had continued to move backwards and towards the lip of the boat.

He wasn't stopping — his eyes widening a little more millisecond by millisecond.

Instead, his feet left the floor as his bottom collided with the wooden edge, sending him backwards, over the edge and into the water.

Shit!

"Oh my God, Luka!" She couldn't see him. He'd disappeared completely underneath, submerged into the depths of the Seine. "Luka?" she harshly whispered. "Luka?"

With a loud gasp, and a shampoo commercial worthy hair flip, Luka reappeared from under the water and she could feel herself breathing again. Thank god!

"Luka?" she shouted down. "Are you okay? Oh – um – April fools."

Pursing his lips, he spat the water out of his mouth like a fountain, his eyes burning into her with clear indication he wanted to know what the hell that was all about.

Meanwhile, everyone who'd heard the splash were making their way over — Adrien Agreste included. Marinette winced knowing full well Luka had every single right to drop her in it right now. To let one of her boss' know what an idiot she was and therefore fire her there and then on the spot with no need for her to move to London anyway.

She could just go home, unpack and allow Tikki to console her the way she had many times. Maybe she'd even go and see Chat Noir? He gave great hugs after all.

"Luka, are you okay?" Nino and Adrien leaned over the side and shouted down to their aqua haired friend.

She... was... going... to... die.

"Oh, um, I—" Marinette saw him look at her once more before shaking his head. "I just fancied a quick swim." He began to move around the area in a half breast stroke, before heading towards the portal hole for his bedroom. "I'm all done now so I'll just get changed. Marinette, could you come and help me with something please?"

Wolf whistles and laughter sounded as she watched the main group holla down towards Luka and herself; obviously each thinking the two of them had rekindled their romance and Marinette was heading down to the bedroom for a little one on one time.

Could today get more embarrassing?

Clearing the majority of the group and heading to Luka's room, she breathed a sigh of relief as she glanced at Adrien looking in the opposite direction; his jaw taut and masculine as he looked out over the river. Hopefully she could make it past him without realising. Just a few more steps...

"Not dressed as a watermelon today then?"

Damn!

Turning her head, she noticed Adrien was still looking out into the distance. Did he have a sixth sense for her or something?

"Said by the Daniel Craig wannabe." Adrien was once again dressed in a suit. Today's suit was grey and once again he was wearing the glasses which turned his face into a magnet. Why couldn't she just look away?

He turned and stepped towards her, his smell nothing less than incredible. Why did he have to affect her so much? It was interfering with her insults.

His eyes twinkled as his head tilted to one side. "Don't tell me you don't like the look because the way you're getting all defensive tells me something different."

"Seriously, Agreste, why are you here? You wouldn't have flown all the way back from England just to spend some time on a houseboat, unless you've come here to celebrate my leaving? Which in any case would be stupid because unfortunately for me, I'll be getting to see your pretty face everyday."

"Pretty face, eh? That's the nicest compliment you've ever given me," Adrien teased.

"And the last, now excuse me, Luka needs my help."

"I did come to see you, actually. We've got to go to New York." He called after her, stopping her before she moved more than six steps away.

"Now?" she shrieked, her outburst turning everyone's attention to her. She looked around waving her arms and attempting to smile. "Sorry," she stated. "Everything's fine, nothing to see here."

The eyes remained on her until everyone shrugged and carried on with their conversations; Marinette realigned with a rather amused Adrien.

"Yeah, now, my choppers parked just over there," he pointed off towards the Eiffel Tower. "I thought we'd ditch the party, hop onto my Harley and ride away into the sunset. Of course not now ."

"No need to be an ass about it. It was a reasonable question."

He shook his head, the movement irritating her in ways only Adrien Agreste was capable of.

"We're leaving in a week. There'll be a couple of days in New York before you'll be needed at the London office."

"Why am I needed in New York?" She frowned at him.

Marinette had heard whilst she was in the office for her interview there was a charity event on 5th Avenue at the end of the month, but as far as she was aware it was for the most prestige of staff and models.

"I needed a dresser and they were impressed with the fit alterations you made during your interview." His eyes plagued her. The glistening daring her to question him further.

"So they're sending me — an absolute nobody — to fit their star models' clothing."

"My last fitter quit. Apparently I'm a hard model to work for —"

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Sometimes I feel you've got the wrong impression of me. I'm not just some rich, arrogant arsehole."

"How are we travelling to New York? Economy? Economy plus?" Adrien's head turned away as she stretched on her tiptoes and whispered the last choice in his ear. "First class?" She pulled away, a smugness taking over face as she looked at the tense face of her boss and wiggled her eyebrows. "I thought so."

She tapped him on the chest before continuing down towards Luka's room.

"See you in a week, Adrien. Email me the details."

Because there was no chance in hell he was having her personal number, he could wait for her business phone to be connected before that connection was made.

Feeling pleased with her one up on Adrien, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and found Mr Unknown's number.

Miss Dial (4:32pm): So today consisted of me tripping over my own feet and colliding with one of my friends, resulting in him being pushed off a boat.

Placing her phone back in her bag, she fisted her hand and knocked on Luka's door.

"That better be Marinette with the world's greatest apology."

With a little push, she stuck her head around the doorway and smiled sheepishly at her friend; her feet still firmly planted outside in the hall just in case she needed to turn and run.

"Please don't kill me," she said, edging into the room and closing the door behind her, before backing up against it.

"That would only be fair considering you just tried to kill me."

She sighed and rubbed her hands over her face. "I don't know what's going on with me. I haven't been this frazzled since lycée."

Luka continued stripping off his wet clothing, not a care in the world that she was standing there, and he was growing more and more naked by the second.

She turned to face the door, a buzz in her pocket indicating that her anonymous friend was messaging back.

A scramble to her bag had her misjudging the strength she'd used to pull the phone out, ending by throwing it across the room and watching it land at Luka's feet. A Luka who was wearing nothing more than a curious smile and black boxer shorts?

"Mr Unknown? Oh, Marinette, what are you doing now?"

Reaching down to pick up the phone, Marinette beat him to it, running and sliding between his legs, snatching it from the floor and opening up the messages.

"Is that a new tattoo?" she asked, pointing the phone at his back. "Because the whole... snake thing really suits you."

Tucking the phone back in her pocket, she crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. Well, she attempted to smile. Luka turned around to face her, his own arms folded in front of him.

"Don't change the subject," he huffed, grabbing a new pair of jeans from his bed and pulling them on. "You're texting some internet weirdo, aren't you? Come on, Marinette, I wasn't born yesterday."

"It's not what it seems okay? And put your top on."

Luka burst out laughing and Marinette headed back towards the doorway, itching to respond to her phone buddy.

"Three years ago you would have loved to have seen this," Luka laughed, stretching his arms out and presenting himself to Marinette. She rolled her eyes and moved to the wardrobe, grabbing the top tee and launching it at his face.

"Three years ago, you pulled yourself out of the running for my heart claiming your music had changed and you no longer saw us as a compatible love match. In other words you couldn't cope with me having a male best friend."

Luka burst out laughing again, pulling on the tee and moving towards where Marinette was standing. "Firstly, that is not how I talk, and secondly, damn right I pulled myself out of the race. I have more dignity than to chase after someone who is in a pretty strong relationship already. I'm not stupid, Marinette. There is no chance I, or anyone else, can compete with what you and Chat Noir have. It's special and unique. Even if you claimed to like someone else you'd only be using them until you finally opened your heart."

" I don't know who he is! And I never will," she interrupted. "Listen, Luka, you have a heart of gold and I love you, as a friend, but me and Chat Noir are not going to happen. I rarely see him now and I have zero idea about who he might be."

Luka studied her for a second before shaking his head. "Fine, whatever! But dating random men off the internet is not going to fulfil your dating needs."

"I'm not dating random men. He accidentally texted me the other day and we had a good conversation. He's funny!"

"He could also be a 52 year old serial killer," Luka stated, Marinette rolling her eyes again and placing a hand on the handle.

"I'm going back up," she sighed, heading towards the staircase and back to the main deck.

"If you're going to date," he said, chasing after her. "Why don't you just date Adrien? Everyone can see the sexual tension there."

"There is nothing between me and 'model boy'," she hissed, turning around on her heel and pointing her phone at her friend once again.

She looked down at the object in her hand, pulling it back quickly and firing off her next message to Mr Unknown.

"Plus," she continued, tapping away on her screen. "My contract has a no date clause. Adrien is a complete no go zone."

She walked away from her ex-almost-boyfriend and headed towards Alya, not even giving Adrien a second glance as she walked past him.