A/N: The title basically means older Adrien- well literally its Ancient Adrien but Dino ain't that old and I'm trying to be punny. Why am I like this. I have a final on Thursday orz

Marinette liked to believe she was actually just channeling Ladybug when she sent that snapchat .

Honestly, she swore her entire life post-Stoneheart was just her lack of restraint keeping her new identity a secret from the entirety of Paris.

Tikki would never admit it, at least not until a much later date, that while Ladybug was the symbol for good luck, Marinette as herself worked up quite a few cases in which her cellphone escapades would surely come back to bite her in the butt.

Case in point: her chosen's current predicament when the man she just snapchatted broke his conversation with her cousin.

Marinette watched in absolute horror as the man turned to her, a wide smile stretched upon his features and a string of words that left her scrambling for a way to somehow express how she had no idea what he was saying.

At the hearty age of seventeen, Marinette was quite proud to admit that she was much closer with Adrien Agreste now than ever before. And part of being friends with the famous teen model was watching various movies and tv shows with her miraculously-unbeknownst-to-him crush.

Alas.

Unlike him, there was not enough anime in the world for her to watch in order to achieve a level of comfort to actually confidently talk with people.

In Japanese.

Because she was not Japanese like her cousin.

(heck, the only Chinese she knew beyond family titles was "where's the nearest fabric store?")

So, in typical Marinette fashion, she fumbled for her phone and hoped she didn't delete her translator app.

Barely able to squeak out a tangible sentence, she listened as the mechanical male voice translated her rushed apology to the man and bowed in embarrassment at her cousin's less than impressed look.

The man only laughed and in accented French - though to his credit, it was actually really good French - said,

"It's fine. I didn't know our boy here," He wrapped an arm around the younger teen and blatantly ignored the death glare sent his way, "had such a cute family. You can call me Dino! What's your name?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng." She beamed, silently thanking Tikki for this blessing in disguise. Even if her face was still red from the fact she got caught taking pictures of this man like a pervert, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Monsieur Dino. I'm so sorry about earlier, I- um. You look like my friend so I- sorry!"

"Just Dino is fine," Dino waved his arms in a placating motion, laughter already bubbling through his words, "and it's alright, I don't mind. Who's your friend? I'd love to see my twin."

With a relieved nod, she tore through her phone for a recent picture of Adrien.

When the man leaned down to search through what looked like a younger version of him posing beyond a compilation of bushes and people, Marinette couldn't help but let out a loud laugh at the way his mannerisms sparked another memory in her. Dino arched an eyebrow and she was back to being a stuttering mess™.

"Sorry, I just. Your hair," oh man. Was she blushing now? She was definitely blushing. She could already hear Tiki's scowls. She was going to have to surrender the bakery if she could ever hope to make it back home alive, "sorry that was rude. Do you know of Chat Noir?"

While her cousin continued to give the two a bored look, Dino seemed excited to talk about France's resident cat hero.

If she was every part still sane, she would've noticed the leary look that flashed through his eyes when she pulled her phone back. Marinette, now consumed with the image of her partner, tried to ignore how this was sort of going against her policy about their civilian identities. It wasn't like she was betraying anything though, it's not like she was saying this man before her actually was Chat Noir.

"Chat Noir? Wow, that's a new one."

Oh, did she say that part out loud?

Marinette paled, nervously eyeing her cousin as if his inherent rudeness would somehow rub off her even further and get her out of this situation.

Meanwhile, Dino made a mental note to ask his father about any distant relatives.

"I'm a big fan of his work with Ladybug," he laughed, hand through his hair in a similar and familiar fashion Marinette was all but too used to. "I guess I'm used to being compared to horses."

If any more blood rushed to her head, she was scared she was going to faint.

Idly, she wondered if asking Tiki if there were any horse kwami was a good idea.

1 new chat notification from Snapchat !

ADRIEN

11:20AM ► my soul calls to be reunited with the l'Ancien moi 😂😂😂

double tap to reply!

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ME

11:53AM ► 😱

11:53AM ► go back to sleep adrien

ADRIEN

11:53AM ► my long lost brother

11:53AM ► i cannot sleep for i must find him

ME

11:55AM ► isn't it like 5am there

ADRIEN

11:55AM ►👬 he waits for me 👬