A/N. Sooooo this hit me out of nowhere. Why why why am I writing another fic when I have so many WIPs?

Anyway, I am a huge How I Met Your Mother fan and I suddenly realized that the beginning of Ted and Victoria's relationship would make a perfect set up for Adrien and Marinette, so here we are. If I'm being honest, I don't really remember all the details of the episode, which is probably for the best since I don't want this fic to be a carbon copy of it.

So, sit back and relax as these two dorks find new ways to dance around each other through fanfiction.

-ONCE UPON A DREAM-

The fifth time Adrien sighs over his breakfast with a dreamy look on his face, Nino is close to losing it. "Okay, dude, are you going to tell me what happened last night or am I going to have to pull the information out of you?"

Adrien blinks as if realizing where he is for the first time. He casts a disappointed look at his soaked cereal and pushes his bowl away. "Nothing happened," he says.

"Right," Nino rolls his eyes and stuffs another pancake in his mouth, ignoring Adrien's wrinkled nose as he speaks with his mouth full. "Am I supposed to assume that lovesick expression on your face is from you remembering how awesome the cake from the party was?"

"Only you would get a lovesick expression from thinking about cake."

"Exactly. Which means yours must be about a girl."

A faint pink dusts the model's cheeks and he rubs the back of his neck self-consciously. Gotcha, Nino thinks smugly and feels a shit eating grin grow on his face. "So," he drawls as Adrien's flush grows deeper. "What's her name?"

"I don't know," Adrien admits.

"A one night stand? Seriously? You? I don't know whether I should be proud or mortified that innocent little Agreste—"

"No!" Adrien all but squeals as he waves his hands furiously in denial. "Dude. It's not like that," he says, eyes rolling as Nino raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Okay, okay, it happened like this—"

The party was grand, but Chloe's birthday parties usually were. However, as he stared up at the giant ice sculpture of his childhood friend, Adrien thought it was a little much. He leaned back in his chair, seriously considering heading home early and spending his night with his cat, Plagg. Nino was busy as the DJ of the party and for once, he couldn't even count on Chloe's constant, if not highly annoying, company tonight.

But he was an Agreste and if there was anything he had learned from being an Agreste, it was how to pretend to enjoy yourself at parties you didn't want to be at.

Glancing at the buffet table, he sighed and decided to get an extra slice of cake. If he was going to be miserable, he might as well break his diet a little and enjoy the delightful treat.

That was when the most amazing person he would ever meet came crashing into his life. Literally.

The girl let out a started squeal as she pitched forward—a blur of red and black heading straight towards him. Adrien didn't think twice as he reached out to grab the girl's arms to break her fall. Blue eyes snapped towards his own and Adrien felt his breath catch in his throat.

"I guess you could say I'm glad you dropped by," he said, surprised at the smoothness of his voice as he helped the girl regain her balance.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out, turning a cute shade of pink. "Someone bumped me and I'm clumsy enough on my own, so I just kind of tripped over my own feet and—"

"It's fine," Adrien interrupted with a smile.

"Okay," she said, relieved.

With slight blush, Adrien realized he was still holding onto her arm and let go awkwardly. He tried to ignore the slight disappointment he felt when she took a step away from him. "I like your dress," he said, taking in the sight of the cute red cocktail dress with black polka dots and black lace trimmings. Her waist was cinched by a black sash that ended with a bow behind her. He'd seen enough designer clothing to know when something was well crafted, and this dress definitely was.

Her smile brightened. "Thanks! I made it myself. It's one of my favorite designs."

"Really? That's amazing. You're very talented."

"Thank you, it's nice to have my work appreciated."

"Would you liked to dance?"

"Skip," Nino says with an eye roll.

"Why would I skip the dancing part?" Adrien looks personally offended by the suggestion.

"Because you gush. The story will never be over because you will spend the rest of the day gushing over how pretty she was or how perfectly in sync you two were or how perfect the moment was and don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you, dude, but I call for a skip," Nino says.

Adrien huffed and slumped in his seat. "Well, she was gorgeous."

"I'm sure."

"And we were totally in sync. Except for when she would step on my toes, but it was cute."

"I don't doubt you."

"And the moment was absolutely perfect like it was out of a movie or something. I would tell her a joke and she would roll her eyes, but I know she found it funny because the corner of her mouth would twitch up or sometimes she would let out this little giggle and it was just so—"

Nino shoots him a pointed look.

"Right." Adrien clears his throat. "No gushing. Anyway, and then I asked her if I could get her number and she told me that she just got out of this long term relationship and—"

"—and I don't think I'm quite ready to get back out there yet," she said and shot him an apologetic look. "Besides, in my experience meeting people at fancy parties and going out with them never end well."

"What do you mean?"

"It might just be me," she admitted," But usually, when we're at a place like this, it's almost magical, don't you think? It's easy to get swept up in everything." She makes a vague sweeping gesture with her hands. "The music, the lights, the fancy get ups—all of it is like this happy little bubble and then when it's over, it's not the same."

"It's like waking up from a dream, you mean," he said.

"Yeah," she agreed with a smile. "It's exactly like that."

It was crazy, he knew. This idea forming in his head was absolutely insane, but it was worth a shot, wasn't it? She was going to walk away from him tonight either way. He might as well make the most of it.

"What if we cut that part out?" he blurted out.

As she cocked her head to the side, she asked what he meant.

"Tomorrow. What if we just enjoy tonight? No expectations of anything after tonight. No relationship, no meet ups. What if we keep it exactly like a dream? We don't tell each other our names or exchange numbers or anything. We'll keep this as a beautiful memory that we can look back on without ever regretting it," he said.

With a bated breath, he watched for a reaction. He was afraid she was going to slap him and leave him there feeling stupid and disappointed. Or maybe she's fix him with that same apologetic smile and tell him she'd rather not. Or maybe she'd—

"Okay," she breathed.

"Okay?"

"Yeah," she repeated with a more confident tone. "Let's do it."

Adrien felt his grin threaten to split his face in half. He did an elaborate bow, took her hand in his, and pressed a delicate kiss to her knuckled. "What a wonderful evening it is. I'm Chat Noir," he said.

The girl pulled her hand away and poked his nose playfully. Smirking, she said, "I'm Ladybug."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Milady."

"Dude, you didn't," Nino face palms.

"It was an excellent plan! And it worked. We had an absolutely magical night that I will remember for the rest of my life with absolutely no regrets," Adrien defends himself.

Nino sighs and tries to muster all of the maturity and patience that he can possibly summon. "Adrien, you will regret it because if she's half as amazing as you say she is, you don't just let someone like that go!"

"She's not ready for a relationship, Nino! What was I supposed to do?"

"There's this new groundbreaking concept that would've been particularly helpful. It's called friendship. You know, that thing a lot of couples share before they actually become a couple?"

"Oh," Adrien blinks as if the idea had never occurred to him.

Nino has to remind himself that his best friend had been homeschooled his entire life and that basic social interaction is difficult for Adrien. He thinks of how of course Adrien thought of this convoluted plan because the boy hadn't been trained to handle anything like a normal person. If this Ladybug girl was actually insane enough to agree to it, it might be a match made in heaven after all.

He pities his friend. He truly does.

He also wants to shake him out of sheer frustration.

"I'm an idiot, aren't I?" Adrien says sadly.

Rubbing his temples, Nino says, "What was your first clue?" Nino begins a silent countdown. 3…2…1…

"Nino, what am I going to do?" Adrien explodes and runs his hands restlessly through his already messy hair. "I don't know her name! Oh God, I'm never going to see her again. I just met the most awesome woman ever and I don't have any way of finding her again."

Nino purses his lips thoughtfully and makes a face as the obvious solution comes to mind.

Adrien instantly picks up on it. "What? What is it?"

"It was Chloe's party. If anyone knows who was on that guest list, it's her."

Instead of the grimace Nino was expecting, a relieved smile breaks out on Adrien's face. "That's a great idea! Thanks, Nino! You're a lifesaver!" he says as he scramble to get his cellphone.

Nino watches him go with an amused expression. "Idiots."

A/N. Part one is done! I'm thinking three parts for this? The next part is Marinette and Alya's point of view which will describe the rest of the night, picking up from where Adrien left out. Then the third part might be something of an epilogue? Maybe, we'll see how things work themselves out.

Reviews are loved!

-Indy