When our eyes meet again

He had known Marinette since he was around 5 years old. They met purely by chance when he and his mom had come to the bakery to order a cake for his father's birthday. He could still vividly remember how she sat atop the counter wearing a pretty yellow dress and with her hair up in two small buns, the rest of her hair framing her face. She had turned around and looked at him, but without ever letting go of her stuffed ladybug-figure. He didn't remember much of what else happened around him that day, but after that he made sure that he and his mom would visit the bakery as often as possible. He still remembered the way Marinette had teased him when she found out she was the reason why he did it.

As time went by they got closer and closer and they ended up becoming best friends. Adrien would visit her at every chance he got. Marinette would visit him as well, but it would become tense when his father was home, so they mostly stayed at Marinette's place.

He treasured all the memories he had made there. Marinette making designs and Adrien drawing some amazing stick figures (if he may say so himself), gaming for hours on end (Marinette almost always won, but she taught him quite a few tricks so it's cool) and so much more. Oh, and he would never forget her dad's face the day they had taken one of his shirts and used it as material for one of Marinette's designs. Her dad showed up while Marinette was in the middle of cutting off the sleeves for it to fit Adrien. He took it rather well, after Sabine made him calm down a bit that is, and afterwards that they bought supplies for them to use. Tom apparently didn't like the idea of waking up one day and having no clothes.

He treasured all his memories with Marinette, especially the memory of how he slowly but surely fell in love with her... which is why it hurt so much more when he had to leave.

-

While he and Marinette became closer, his parent's had been drifting apart bit by bit. It wasn't something he really thought about in the beginning, his father had always been distant and cold, but it still shocked him when they told him they were getting a divorce. If he had thought it was tense before then boy oh boy were he in for a surprise. The air felt completely stagnated and instead of arguments flying through the air, there would be nothing but cold glances. His mom really tried her best to cheer him up, but with everything taking its toll on her, it sounded hollow more than anything else. He spent even more time than before at Marinette's after that. He could tell she knew something was wrong, but he brushed it off as it nothing was amiss. He had really hoped nothing would change for them.

-

When Adrien turned 13 years old, his mom told him she felt like she couldn't stay in France anymore. She needed a fresh start far away from his father. And he understood how she felt and therefore also why it was necessary to her; after all, he had lived with him as well. But it still broke his heart because it meant he had to leave Marinette behind.

-

He tried his best smile when he and his mom met up with the Dupain-Chengs before leaving. He didn't want Marinette to remember him being sad before he left. He wanted to reassure her they were both going to be okay even though they wouldn't be able to see each other anymore.

"Stop that! You can use that fake smile with everyone else, but you are never allowed to use it on me". Adrien was taken aback by her outburst, he really shouldn't have been, she could always see right through him.

"You're leaving, so at least don't do it while looking so insincere."

He wanted to do nothing more than to wipe away the tears collecting in her eyes.

"I'm sorry"

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault, but..." her smile wavered and he could tell she was holding back tears "I'm really going to miss you."