Love Beyond Time and Space

The Meet-Cute

Adrien

When Chloe had invited Adrien out for coffee that morning, he couldn't have jumped at the offer any quicker. The previous night had been excruciating, and that was putting it lightly. Thanks to his fathers new 'idea' that 25 year old Adrien Agreste shouldn't remain single, he'd set him up on a date with another model — Lila Rossi.

Adrien didn't have anything against the girl, after all, he'd worked alongside her many times in the past couple of years; but that didn't mean he wanted to date her. In all honesty, he couldn't think of anything worse.

Adrien wasn't a dating guy. He didn't go out looking for women, or actively get involved with them. None of them were what he wanted... Well, maybe there were a couple of women who'd caught his eye: his best friend, for one — and no, he was not on about Chloe Bourgeois.

At the age of 14, Adrien had been thrust into a whole new world of magic and chaos. A strange change in his reality complete with an entitled black fur ball who had a worrying obsession with Camembert cheese, but that wasn't all.

The first day he became Chat Noir was the day he fell in love, and he was yet to fall out of it. His Lady. His partner. His Ladybug — was everything. Even though he'd tried to date other people his heart just couldn't separate from the amazing woman who'd stolen it. His last serious girlfriend had made it abundantly clear she was not there to be second best, especially when he admitted that she'd never be first.

Then, there was only one other woman in the whole of Paris who sparked his interest; yet he was still to find out her name. He'd only had the tiniest nuggets of information to go off, and for the second time in his life, a woman he wanted to know more about was hidden away from him. What had he done to become so useless in love?

"What if she's as ugly as a troll's doll? What are you going to do then? You're an A+, you can't go lower than an A." Chloé Bourgeois sure had a way with words. She said it as it was and never sugarcoated anything just to keep him on her side. Apart from Ladybug, she was his closest allie; Chloé had always been there, covering his back when needed and taking him for coffee when he needed the cheer up.

But this woman... this feeling... he just couldn't explain.

When he'd seen the cover of Jagged Stone's album back when he was 14, it was as though his whole world had been twist-turned upside down. It spoke to him in ways he'd only read about in books and he couldn't help wondering why such artwork was making him want to search the girl out... but he did! He so, so did!

He'd made Nathalie contact Jagged's PA, Penny, within weeks of the album hitting the shops begging for a poster print of the artwork. Luckily, no one said no to the heir of Gabriel Agreste meaning the poster was with him by the end of the week. Beyond his wildest dreams, the poster arrived with something unique on it, something he held close to his heart ever since the day he'd laid his eyes on it. The signature of the artist.

He'd prayed the signature was one he could read and then use to search for the girl; however, he was sorely disappointed when the artist's handwriting was indecipherable. The intricate twists and twirls of her letters made it almost impossible to read. So here he was, eleven years later — still waiting.

Adrien rolled his eyes, focusing his attention back onto Chloé. "You know it's not all about looks. Whoever designed it has a deep soul and a story to tell. It's obvious."

"You're such a sap! Honestly, Adrikins, sometimes I wonder why we are friends." Chloé grabbed her phone out of her bag and started tapping around on it, obviously the conversation was over as she marched her way to stand by the door and away from the waiting crowd.