A/N: Hello Miraculous fandom! For those who never read any of my stories, I usually primarily write for the Marichat square but since so many people requested it, I decided to turn this prompt into a full Adrienette story. I hope you guys will enjoy it :3

Original Prompt: Originally a request from tumblr for the forced living together trope between Cop!Adrien and Criminal!Marinette.

Setting: Modern AU

Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug!

Chapter 1

Adrien Agreste ran a hand down his face, watching the woman thrash about wildly, knocking out the seventh police officer of the day since her capture, glaring threateningly at the three uniformed men circling her, trying to calm her down.

The blond rose calmly, motioning for his colleagues to stand down as he put his gun on his desk, "Hey," his tone was soft, gentle, "It's alright, nobody will hurt you. We just want to know who really tried to steal from that store." The woman focused her attention on him and if he hadn't dealt with hard criminals before, he would've been slightly intimidated by her bluebell glare.

"I told you it was me alone!" she cried out when an officer sneaked up behind her, harshly tugging against the chain to her handcuffs and pulling them up over her head.

"Enough!" An authoritative voice boomed through the bustling office, stopping any and all activity in the area with it's cutting quality and volume alone, "Release her, now."

"B-but Mr. A-"

"Now." The green in his eyes looked like poison to her, "Before I release you from your rank."

Without any hesitation, the man promptly released her chains, causing the woman to hiss in pain, craning her head to try and inspect the damage done to her stinging wrists.

Adrien moved forward, mentally cringing at how the criminal woman drew back, before taking off her handcuffs and bringing her hands to her front, rebinding her wrists, frowning at the reddened skin, "This is a police station, no matter on which side of justice the people that come here are, we don't treat them like animals." He could see how the woman stilled in surprise beside him, "Furthermore, I'll personally see to it that the woman temporarily resides in my residence while her case is being handled."

His fellow colleague, Luka Couffaine, a more calm, reasonable individual among the pack of the people in the office, placed a hand on his shoulder, "Are you sure? You know how this place is with rumours, besides, she's the main suspect in this theft." His light blue eyes met the woman's own blue ones curiously, not accusatory like the rest, but with genuine curiosity.

Adrien already suspected him of having the same suspicions as him, that she was covering for her friends who had managed to flee from the scene. Still, he shook his head, "The cells we have here are filled with male criminals, you know as well as I do what that means." While the criminals they held here weren't of the same calibre as some held in high security prisons, most of them were rapists, burglars or the like and Adrien didn't even want to think what would happen putting a woman in there with them, one suspected to be coerced into a crime.

It seemed the woman shared his thoughts, if the tremor that washed over her was any indicator. The chains on her hands was also shaking slightly.

Luka, ever the observant one, noticed it too and shared a look with his friend before sighing, "Talk it out with the chief, but as far as I'm concerned, it's your case and you can do what you want." He glanced at the woman again, a calm, slight smile on his face, "You don't have to be scared, this guy is a diamond among the rough here." His gaze turned icy at the police officers behind the woman, "As for you, I assume you need a bit more training before you can handle criminals. Your skills are as polished as the grimy surface of my boat after a trip to the swamp, now return back to work."

The officers quickly spread, not daring to look back at their two formidable senior officers. Adrien shot a quick smile Luka's way, "You still have a sailor's mouth despite changing directions."

Luka smiled, "They're not such different occupations. There are idiots in both departments, the difference is you can throw them into the sea on a ship." Both men chuckled, even the woman seemed slightly more relaxed after the rest of the men moved away and at Luka's joke.

Adrien shook his head, "You can be really rude."

Luka shrugged, "I don't take it kindly when women are mistreated. If Kagami was here, she would've done far worse." The dark-haired man left, smiling reassuringly at the dark haired captive before entering his office.

Adrien took his duty gun and strapped it to his belt, taking his keys and bag, before grabbing the woman by the arm, far gentler than his colleagues had and leading her to the exit of the police station.

The ride to Adrien's home was quiet as the woman sitting at the back stared outside, refusing to look in his direction or engage in any type of conversation.

Adrien sighed softly, "Miss Dupain-Cheng," she didn't move, but he could see her eyes sliding in his direction, "I know you're not the one who stole the money or the equipment from that store, it's only a matter of time before we find the criminals that were with you." His hands on the steering wheel tightened, "There's also the fact that this was your first crime, you were never in our register before, not even for a speeding ticket… It'd be easier for you to confess before going to court."

Despite her earlier hostile demeanour, she didn't seem the type to commit any sort of crime, let alone theft. Adrien had worked this job well over seven years, he became good at looking for tell-tale signs when a suspect was lying or behaving suspiciously, and this woman only behaved defensively, especially when his colleagues became physical.

"Also, I apologize for my colleagues earlier, despite you being a suspect, you shouldn't have been treated like-"

"Why am I going to live with you, officer?" her tone wasn't angry, not even rude, just curious and a bit apprehensive. He could understand why, she would be living alone with a man who'd captured her.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, "I apologize, but this was the better alternative to you sharing the cell with the other male criminals." Silence settled over them, before Adrien spoke again calmly, "Also, the few female officers we do have are either still in training or currently on undercover missions and can't watch over you. You may not be a dangerous criminal, but you're still a suspect in need of supervision."

The woman scoffed softly, her earlier spitfire attitude coming back, "If you think I'll tell you anything about the theft, you're mistaken, officer."

Adrien grimaced, detecting the bitter tone in her voice.

He sighed.

"Plagg, I'm home." Adrien called out, guiding the woman through the threshold of his small apartment.

He was taking his jacket and shoes off when he felt small scratches on his leg, "Hungry, huh? Just a second." Adrien took his shoes off first before kneeling down to take off the woman's until she suddenly stepped back.

"W-what are you doing?" her face was flush with colour, eyes wide in surprise.

Adrien grinned reassuringly, trying to calm her nerves, "You're handcuffed, so I wanted to help you take off your shoes." He was kneeling on the carpet, patiently waiting for her to stretch her foot out, until he felt a furry warmth lean on his leg, "Plagg, not now."

The woman looked down at the pure black cat, who stared up at her curiously with its tail raised.

It raised its fur slightly, lips pulling back to bare fangs when the woman suddenly blinked, very slowly, a few times.

Plagg calmed down significantly, cautiously nearing the chained woman and sniffing her ankles, before rubbing his head against her legs, leaning his whole body against her now.

Adrien stifled a chuckle at the display, "You speak cat, I see."

The suspect meekly confessed, "I…love cats."

Adrien grinned, "Me too." She was slowly opening up to him it seemed, he had no idea it would be thanks to Plagg of all things that would make that happen.

The blond held his hand out, smiling up at the wary female, "May I?"

Hesitantly, she stretched her foot out towards him and Adrien hid a smile while Plagg purred loudly and rubbed his head against the woman's other standing leg. He helped take both her shoes off, before leading her towards his kitchen, "Are you hungry by chance? I can cook you something if you like."

"…You…know how to cook?" her cheeks were oddly pink and Adrien worried she might have a allergic reaction to Plagg.

"Well, I'm not the best, but I can brag about my omelettes and home-made croissants!" He felt mildly embarrassed, but the unexpected, soft giggle made him turn around in surprise.

The woman froze, closing her mouth shut, until Adrien laughed, "You're allowed to laugh. I know this isn't very comfortable, but I promise you to be the perfect gentleman. An officer will bring in your stuff later this afternoon and if you need anything else I'll buy it for you since you don't have any relatives." He waited a beat for her to process this, before continuing, "If-"

"You t-thank!" Adrien's eyes flew open at the exclamation and the woman raised her chained hands nervously flailing them around, "Ah-I-I meant thank you!" she bowed her head, cheeks a blazing red now, "T-thank you for…for taking me in despite…despite what I d-did."

Heavy silence settled over them after her outburst, only occasionally interrupted by Plagg's purring before Adrien slowly walked over to the woman and smiled down at her, "You're welcome." He knew he shouldn't do this, she was a suspect after all, but they lacked any evidence in her leading the theft, merely being used as a distraction while the real culprits escaped, "You can call me Adrien."

He could see the clear hesitation in her eyes, the way she bit her lip and looked to the side, "You don't have to-"

"M-Marinette…" she shyly met his gaze and he noticed what a lovely colour her eyes were. Not a dark blue, but not a light one like Luka's either.

"Well, Marinette, I hope your case gets finished quickly so you won't have to be forced living here for too long." He looked down at her meaningfully, "That is, if you're ready to-"

"I won't!" he was startled by the determination in her eyes, a blazing tornado of blue, "I won't sell out my friends! I-I don't care how s-sweet you are to me!"

Adrien's own cheeks suddenly heated. Sweet?

Marinette froze, covering her face, "Uhm, I-I-"

Adrien stifled his chuckles, "It's…alright. It's your choice, however, I can't take these off you until you're proven innocent." He motioned toward her handcuffs, "But if you need some ointment, I have medicine in my bathroom for the bruises on your wrists."

A small smile lit Marinette's soft features but she was looking away, "…Thank you…"

Adrien nodded, turning to grab the medicine from the cabinet and Marinette stared down at the black feline meowing up at her.

She glanced quickly towards the bathroom, before crouching down and petting the cat lovingly, "You're really cute Plagg, just like your human."

Adrien willed himself not to believe he would suffer a heart attack. His heartrate just sped up a bit. It was nothing.

Certainly not because of the cute woman – suspect – in his living room calling him cute.

Thanks everyone for reading! Hope you enjoyed!