WHAT A 'FEEL'IX!

Woah, woah, woah! Ladies of Paris hold onto your panties. Felix Graham de Vanily, 24, has finally decided to make the city of love his permanent home. In a recent interview with 'Mode Mania', Felix explained there was a new and special place in his heart, and here at 'Mode Mania' we believe that special place might actually be a special someone.

Felix has recently been over in Paris, taking part in promotional shoots for 'Gabriel's up and coming winter range, set to be released in November, taking over the lead model position from his hotshot cousin, Adrien Agreste, 24. The young model will be featured alongside Adrien's wife, Vivica Agareste, 24, as face of the brand.

A spokesperson for 'Gabriel' has finally been in contact with a statement regarding Felix's new position supporting the brand.

'Gabriel' are happy to announce Felix Graham de Vanily, as the new male face of the brand. We would like to wish 'Gabriel's son and Golden Boy, Adrien Agreste, all the best in his future endeavours as he separates himself from the brand and all associated with it. 'Gabriel' is about to take a new turn, with new trends and a new spirit. We have many exciting announcements to follow over the next months and we're looking forward to this new start.'

It seems Adrien has now severed his ties with his father's company, turning from the modelling world to acting. We will miss seeing the model's face regularly in our magazines, however, we look forward to seeing him on the big screen as Paris' super spy, Edward Collins. Gabriel Agreste, 50, has yet to make any public acknowledgement regarding Adrien's movie role, or Felix fronting the company. It has, also, been a while since we've seen the fashion connoisseur in public, which adds the question ... where is Gabriel Agreste?

In other news, Chloè Bourgeois has once again been arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour.

The Paris socialite had police called to her, after she was spotted outside her ex husband's house sceranding him with a rendition of Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love' and climbing on the outside wall. Unfortunately, the blonde glamour girl found herself in a spot of trouble when she fell off the wall and fractured a bone in her arm. We are yet to hear what community service will be waiting for her this time.

Check out 'Mode Mania's twitter, for up to date news.

•••••

Adrien was currently seated on his office floor; pictures, letters and yearbooks sprawled around him as he studied photographs of any girl that was in his classes between the start of collège and the end of lycèe. He'd been looking through the books since the first one fell out of his wardrobe the previous night, the bags under his eyes being evidence to that claim. He needed to find her. Something just nagged in the back of his mind that he needed to find her, to find out who she was.

He'd tried, numerous times, but he just couldn't get her out of his head causing sleep to be an impossibility. She was beautiful; but it wasn't just her looks. She was funny and easy to talk to, like someone he'd known for years, and, if what she said was anything to go by, then he had actually known her for years. Her blue eyes were dazzling and her black hair was so silky and shiny, he couldn't help but feel like he knew it, knew her.

Once he'd exhausted looking at his yearbook, he went on a search in his wardrobe for any other photographs or books, before realising, unfortunately, they were still at his house ... no Vivica's house. Waking up early he managed to head over, find the books and leave before she had woken up. She was a creature of habit, and he knew she wouldn't be up until late morning. The last thing he wanted, when entering the house, was for her to spot him and then question him about what happened last night. Their last phone call ended in another of their blow up arguments, and him, once again, slamming his phone down on the counter. The way he was going he would need to pay for either a replacement screen, or a replacement phone.

"Dude, what the hell? You look like shit!" Adrien looked up from where he was comparing two pictures, to meet Nino's wide eyes. Yes, he probably did look 'look like shit' with a hint of craziness, he was sitting on the floor with pictures of girls surrounding him. This was not a normal sight you'd see in Adrien's office.

"I'm looking for someone," Adrien crawled over to his right where an open book lay on a class photo, before picking up another of him and his friends in the park. Nobody seemed to be matching. There was no one with long dark hair, or anyone with her specific bone structure. He began to wonder how much make up she'd been wearing, but even with a professional painting her face, he was sure what he noticed was natural.

Nino walked over and sat opposite Adrien on the ground, picking up a picture of him and Alya before placing it straight back down, face down. Adrien stilled as he watched the pain flash through his friends eyes. He wished he could help his friend more, but Nino had messed up, and with Adrien's record of relationships, there wasn't a chance in hell he could help. He would only hinder. So he went with the only possible option ...

"You okay?" Award winning question asked by Adrien Agreste. He was fairly sure his friend would say no and then tell him to go fuck himself.

Nino took his glasses from his eyes and wiped over his tear filled lids, releasing a flurry of tears down his cheeks. Adrien's heartbroke as he watched. If someone had a more fucked up life than him, it was the guy currently sitting infront of him. "I'm okay." Nino placed his glasses back on and picked up another photograph. This time Adrien and Marinette.

Adrien watched as Nino took the photo he'd repeatedly come back to that morning. They were young on it, in his first year of collège and Marinette had surprised him at a photoshoot. She brought him a croissant and they'd uploaded a picture to his social media, just more fuel in 'pyjama' girls fire. Her smiling face was pushed against his shoulder and he could see the happiness in her eyes. Hope, and maybe love?

"Who are you looking for?"

Adrien's head shot up to meet Nino's, the thoughts of Marinette dissolving away just as their civilian friendship had all those years ago. "I met someone last night and they mentioned going to school with me. I feel bad because I don't remember who they are."

"So, this witch hunt is because you feel bad?" Nino let out a wet snort, "Come on man, give me more than that. Do you want her?"

"No, I just feel like I've lost sight of everything since I married Vivica. I've rarely seen the guys over the past three years, obviously I see you and Max, but everyone else is like a stranger to me. I've been a horrible friend."

"Well, it wasn't just your fault was it?" Nino picked up another book and flicked through it, finally arriving on the page of 'Who will be?' Adrien watched his friend scan the page, knowing exactly when he found the most heartbreaking sentence.

Most likely to be married by 21 
Alya Cesaire and Nino Lahiffe.

"Do you think, if I rang her, she'd talk to me?" Nino's voice was small and full of emotion, and Adrien would have loved to be able to tell him yes, yes she would talk to him. To tell him that she loved him so much she would be waiting there to get back with him.

Unfortunately though that wasn't life. That isn't how it worked.

"You know I can't promise you that man. You've hurt her, and unfortunately your excuse is awful."

"Do you think I'm a commitment phobe?"

"Honestly? Yeah I do. I think you looked for an excuse to get out and took it."

The two young adults sat staring at each other, an unspoken conversation passing between them. Before Adrien could speak again, Nino groaned, placed his hands over his eyes and fell onto his back. He'd never admit it to his friend, but Adrien thought that there was no way Alya would take him back. Not without serious reservations at least. Not only had he left her with the most pathetic excuse known to man, but he'd moved on to another girl, or so it would seem to any outsider. He hadn't spoken to Alya in years, so technically he wouldn't have been a good source of information when it came to her. Nino should speak to some of the others such as Ivan, Max, and Juleka.

After everything that had happened with Marinette, on the night of her twenty-first birthday party and the next morning, it seemed it wasn't only his friendship with Marinette that had broken. Alya wouldn't speak to him, she damn right refused, and who could blame her. Adrien had broken her best friend's heart, the only difference was Alya didn't know that his heart had been broken too.

That night was a constant repeat in his head; the morning he left her, right up to the night she'd found out about his betrayal. His heart squeezed at the thought and he had to focus himself to stop from spiralling. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to remember all the techniques he'd learned to sedate his panic attacks. Nobody knew about his meetings with a therapist, he'd kept it hidden, but the meetings had become a necessity in his life, and he couldn't wait for the day where he could remember his past without a full blown panic attack. He was weak back then, weak to do what was right. He should have been stronger, used his power wiser, but unfortunately it didn't go his way. He had no option. That one day changed everything.

"We're pathetic excuses for men you know. We're exactly what women don't want!"

"Speak for yourself," Adrien laughed, "I'm rich, attractive, a millionaire and soon to be an A list actor. It's the small folk like you that have the problems."

Nino shot up and looked his friend in the face. "I hate it when you have balls, Agreste. That was a shot below the belt."

Adrien started laughing before standing up and making his way to the computer. An email chime, pulling his attention as he sat in his chair and opened his email.

To: Adrien Agreste CC: Undisclosed
Subject: Collège Françoise Dupont Anniversary Celebration.

"Hey, Nino, come and have a look at this." His longtime friend stood from the carpet and headed towards the computer where Adrien was seated, resting his hands on the back of the chair, and looking over.

"New cologne?" Adrien asked, the sudden intoxication of whatever Nino was wearing severely assaulted his nostrils.

"I don't think so? But I can't smell it on myself."

"You stink man."

Nino pulled his top to his nose and sniffed, quickly moving it away. "She's fucking messed with my cologne again?"

"How the fuck did she get in you house?" Both knew the she they were talking about was psycho Frankie, and Nino was actually getting quite worried about this situation. She'd gone from social media hacking, to breaking and entering and Adrien was worried what the woman would do next.

Nino sighed, pulling out his phone and opening his to-do list. "I'll call her later and tell her to leave me alone."

"Make sure you emphasise it or I'll have to fire you for bringing insanity smells into my office. You really stink man. Anyway, did you respond to the celebration?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I'm going to go. Alya is covering it for 'Mode Mania' because, you know, so many of our classmates have gone on to be famous, they wanted a reporter there. You know, just in case there's any gossip, or snogging in the janitor's closets."

Adrien laughed, a private joke running through his head. The only making out he'd done in a closet was when Plagg had attempted to kiss him whilst he was unconscious in his locker. Most of the other time, he would only go there to transform.

Opening the email, Adrien scanned the details.

Dear Guest,

We are pleased to be welcoming you back to Collège Françoise Dupont to celebrate 65 wonderful years of education.

The event will take place Saturday 12th February in the main atrium of the school grounds.

The theme will be 'Fun and Fancy Free' and we ask for you all to attend 'dressed to impress' as a character from film or tv.

We look forward to seeing you at 7pm (Saturday 12th),
Kind regards,
Mr Damocles

"Fancy dress? Kim's going to go apeshit!" As though Nino could predict the future, his phone, and Adrien's, signalled a message less than a minute after they'd finished reading the email. Adrien lifted his phone, and there was Kim's name and a message in his inbox.

Kim
Guys, guys, guys! It's covered! Ms. Bustier's class will be returning to Françoise Dupont as the T-Birds and Pink Ladies. Grease is the Word, dudes! Make sure you spread it! Characters to follow ...

"At least we haven't got to think about characters. Are you taking Vivica?"

"Do I look like I want to have the worst night of my life? I've managed to keep her away from everyone but you for three years, there's no chance I'm letting her be there."

"Oh, wait ... wait ... I get it! You want to find your mystery girl?" Nino dropped Adrien a wink and moved around to sit in the client's chair opposite the computer. "Oh man, you fucked her didn't you? That's why you were so shady with your answers earlier."

"I didn't sleep with her! She just borrowed my phone."

"And now you want to have sex, I get it!"

"Say something like that again and you're fired!"

"I've told you before, Max is my boss not you."

"Yeah, well, that can be changed. Anyway, perhaps, two eyes looking will be better than one?"

"Are you asking for my help?" Nino leaned forward and placed his elbows on Adrien's desk, his hands cupping his chin.

"Will it keep you from stalking Alya all night?" He asked.

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Then yes, I am asking for your help." Adrien said, moving back to his pile of photographs on the floor, and placing them into piles depending on hair colour.

"You do realise the last time you asked me to do something like this for you, somebody ended up dead." Adrien's head turned to stare at a smiling Nino.

"What?"

Nino burst out laughing. "Sorry, I've always wanted to say that. I've been watching too much Netflix." Nino stood up and came to sit next to Adrien again. "So where do we start?"

"I'm going to separate them into categories based on hair, and then cross section them with eyes."

"So what colour hair are we looking for?" Nino asked, picking up a picture of Kagami. Even though she originally didn't go to their collège, she joined the group in lycèe. Nobody had seen or heard from her in years.

"Black hair, fairly long, fiery personality -" Adrien responded, before trailing off.

It couldn't be, could it? After all this time, he'd circled back to his first girlfriend. He stretched out and took the picture from Nino's hands, looking at the pretty face of his old friend. She was beautiful, just like the girl from the bar, she had dark hair ... but the wrong colour eyes. Maybe he'd gotten it wrong, or maybe he was just wishing he could find her. His eyes moved around the discarded paper on the floor before resting once more on a picture of Marinette, he would have recognised her, right? If it had been Marinette he would have known, right?

Her eyes were shining out of the picture and he didn't know how to react. If it had been Marinette, why hadn't she said anything? If it had been Marinette, why was she flirting with him when she should be ignoring him? He knew exactly how she'd felt after that night, he knew exactly how he felt too but he was helpless to do anything. He couldn't explain it to her and it was too late anyway, she'd already come to her own conclusions. She wouldn't change her mind now, would she? He couldn't be that lucky.

As his thoughts spiralled out of control, one thing was for sure ... in two weeks it was the reunion, and hopefully see her again.

The sound of another message from Kim sat in his inbox. A reminder for the weekend and the arrangements for his big day.

Little did Adrien know he was about to see her again, and sooner rather than later.

•••••

Marinette sat outside Peyton's office waiting to be called in. Vivica was with her boss at the moment 'discussing' the previous evening and where they went from there. She wasn't feeling too hopeful, after all, she didn't do what she was expected to do. Adrien barely even flirted with her.

She'd only worn a wire, so there were no photographs or other items to look through. Marinette guessed the recording had already been analysed and that was the discussion currently taking place in the office. Marinette didn't usually have to be there for this, but again Ms. Agreste did whatever the hell she pleased. It seemed the phrase was right, money does talk.

As Marinette set out on her run that morning she'd dropped the recording into the office only to be told to return four hours later. She seemed to have had a lot more pent up energy than usual, so went on a rather exerting run around the country's capital. She loved Paris, and loved the atmosphere. What she didn't love though, were the tourists stopping dead every few yards and, in her not so stable state, almost colliding with them.

When she arrived home that previous evening, her first point of call was a very, very cold shower. Seeing Adrien again, flirting with Adrien again had left her unhinged, although slightly empowered too. She'd played the trap well, she knew she had. From her outfit, down to the phone call with Alya, everything was set for the perfect trap, and then Vivica fucking Agreste had to text and spoil it. She was so close. So, so close.

Adrien had eaten her up, and she was quite sure he wanted to know more about her, his eyes indicating that more was actually her body. As she'd been sitting on the bar stool next to him she could feel his hungry gaze travel from the top of her head to the tip of her toes, memorising every inch of her curves. Vivica was completely right, he did have a thing for Ladybug's body.

As she lay in bed last night, the power of this trap made her feel immortal. She was finally getting one up on Adrien Agreste, finally giving him a taste of what it was like to be on the other side, on the wanting side. She was strong last night, she's been strong for a while, and to make it sweeter, he had no idea who she was.

In a way it disappointed her. Yes, her hair was different and her face had matured drastically, but in some deep depths of her heart she wanted him to realise who she was, to finally face what had happened three years ago, but in true Adrien and Marinette style one of them wasn't quite on the same page as the other.

She knew they'd have to face up to it soon, especially with Kim's wedding the weekend. She'd had it on good authority (from Alix) that both Adrien and Nino had responded with acceptance of the invitation. Her original plan had been to ignore him, and attempt to avoid any face to face interactions, especially as she also knew Vivica would be in attendance too, why wouldn't she be?

The door to Peyton's office opened and Marinette stood up, smoothing down her skinny jeans and moving her slouch, off the shoulder jumper to hang correctly down her upper arm. She walked forward, this time in her navy blue Jimmy Choo's and entered the office ready to go face to face with her new 'best friend'.

"Hello again, Maria."

"It's Marinette," two seconds in and she already wanted to pull out the brunette's hair extensions. It was no wonder she was best friends with Lila Rossi, they must have been an absolute hoot when they were together.

"So, Marinette, last night went well and I must take the blame for the way it ended. I got it completely wrong and just made him angry."

Marinette almost fell off the chair. She was apologising? This had to be a moment for the history books, perhaps she would get Alya to write a column together in 'Mode Mania'.

Duck pout Queen apologises for being a bitch.

"Well, you had pissed him off." Marinette said, crossing her arms over her chest and eyeing Vivica. The second time seeing the woman had been worse than the first. As Marinette sat besides her she was shocked by a number of different things. Firstly, how bad her hair extensions actually were and secondly how fake her breasts looked. They were huge, and Marinette couldn't help but feel self conscious about her own. Another joy of superheroing - teeny tiny boobs. "I'm not surprised he didn't go for the bait, seeing how angry he was at you."

"Pfft, he was only angry because I forced him there. He was in an important meeting ... and well, he loves his work a lot more than he loves me. It had nothing to do with me standing him up."

Marinette couldn't help but wonder why? She was such a delight. She had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. This woman was everything Marinette never wanted in a friend. The 'honey' scolded herself for the sarcastic thoughts. This really needed to stop. She was a professional and should act like it, but this woman just rubbed her the wrong way.

"I want you to try again,"

"Pardon?" Had she really just said that? Anyone watching last night could see Adrien wasn't going to do it. She'd tried every trick in the book, but a simple message from his wife had stopped anything happening before it started. Marinette had gotten a few smiles, heart stopping gorgeous ones, and they joked around, but apart from the overly obvious eye up, there was zero indication Adrien would have gone further with her. He was clearly just window shopping.

"You heard me. There was something there last night between the two of you. The jokes, the way he let you use his phone. No one ever uses Adrien's phone, he must have been taken with you to allow that to happen. If he's like that in a few minutes, imagine what he would be like in a few days."

"What do you mean?"

"As I said, I want you to try again." She pulled an envelope off Peyton's desk and handed it over to Marinette. Marinette looked over at Peyton who had been unusually quiet for this whole exchange, noticing a look of something like pride in her eyes. "Five weeks -"

"Six," Marinette countered back.

"Six what?" Vivica asked.

"Six weeks, for six figures. It's that or I walk." Marinette glared at Vivica as she watched the model move her head from Marinette to Peyton, and back again. She'd made her nervous, good! Marinette watched as Vivica pulled her bottom lip with her top teeth, and her leg bounced up and down.

"Six weeks max. No running over!"

"Done."

"And you respond directly to me."

"No," Marinette stated, "we communicate via Peyton. I want to keep this professional. She'll pass the information on to you. Oh, and I have a few other conditions."

"I don't see how that is necessary, but go on."

"I want to do this my way," Marinette stated, after all she knew how to play Adrien, she'd done it before, she could do it again. "No wires and no cameras, it'll be bad enough that we're in the public eye anyway. I want to develop this naturally, I'm sure he'll get suspicious if suddenly a woman comes onto him so strong."

Vivica started to laugh. "Have you met his fangirls?"

"That's the reason why it needs to be a natural progression."

"Fine, and how do you expect me to get the evidence I need?"

"Texts, emails, phone conversations. I'll take pictures, myself, on my phone."

"Fine," Vivica stood up and took the folder out of Marinette's hands searching through for the contract before finding it and grabbing a pen from Peyton's desk. She wrote down in beautiful cursive handwriting what they discussed before turning back to Marinette. "Anything else?"

She skimmed through her thoughts and wondered if she should tell Vivica that it was her he lost his virginity to, that she'd already managed to seduce Adrien Agreste once and get him into her bed. "Not right now, no." Maybe now wasn't the time.

"Okay, my turn then. I want frequent encounters. No less than twice a week. I'm not paying you six figures to just sit around and wait for him to come to you, I need to be proactive. You must see through the entire six weeks unless you trap him sooner. You back out and it voids the contract ... no money and a possible lawsuit will be coming both your ways."

That was no biggie. Six weeks of seeing Adrien twice a week - easy.

"Finally, you need to sign this."

"What is it?" Vivica slid two copies of something over to both Marinette and Peyton, they looked curiously at the array of writing on the white paper.

"It's a non-disclosure agreement. Nobody finds out about this."

"That would suit me just fine, I don't really want to be found out either, or I'd be out of a job. I won't say a word." Picking up the pen, Marinette began to sign and date the form, before handing the pen to Peyton who mirrored the action on her own. "I'll need one for my friend, Alya. She already knows about this."

"Fine," Vivica stated, but something in her eyes changed and became a little more shifty. Had she recognised Alya's name? She guessed the two would have met at some point. Adrien and Nino were still best of friends, and she last heard Nino was working within the same company as Adrien and Max.

"Peyton, I refuse to do any other traps whilst I'm working on this one, I hope you respect that."

"Of course," Peyton responded, signing her own copy of the contract and disclosure before handing it back to Vivica.

"Six weeks then Marinette," Vivica slipped her documents into her own folder and stood up, heading towards the door. "I expect my first catch up with you in three days."

Peyton quickly stood running towards the door and opening it for the tornado that was just exiting. Once Vivica was gone Marinette finally relaxed in the chair, looking at her boss with a straight face.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Marinette asked.

Peyton sighed and made her way over to her desk chair, flopping into it like she'd just ran a marathon.

"It's good for business," Peyton spoke in a voice which blatantly said she didn't believe a word of it herself.

"Pfft, yeah okay, whatever."

"You can talk! You're the one that accepted this trap."

"It's as much personal as it is business."

Peyton looked over at Marinette, face willing the young woman to continue only to be met by a shake of the head.

"Less you know the better." In response, Peyton gave Marinette a friendly nod and watched as Marinette stood up, stretching her arms over her head and heading towards the door. "If she asks, let her know I'll be seeing him on Saturday."

Marinette opened the door and made her way out into the corridor. Saturday was going to be an interesting event, not only would she need to keep Alya away from Nino, she'd have to make a point to get up close and personal with Adrien Agreste.

How had her simple life suddenly become so complicated?