caught up with finals but here's a little chapter bc i have english tomorrow so i practiced my writing!!
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••• pretty •••
NATHALIE ushered Adrien out of the car once they pulled up to the park where the photoshoot was going to be held.
In midst of the hustling, a snaking line around a particular building caught his eye, making him loose track of where he was going.
The smell coming from the bakery was tempting, and the long line that was out the door made it even more convincing that whatever pastries they were selling very tasty. He gulped, licking his lips as his mouth watered at the thought of eating a hot chocolate croissant or a cupcake.
Bump!
"Ouch, oh, sorry! I'm sorry, so sorry!"
He snapped out of his daydreaming to see a raven-haired girl reaching down to pick up what seemed like keys she probably dropped when she bumped into him. "Wait, no you don't have to be sorry, I'm the one who should be--"
She got up, now looking at him and for some reason he felt his breath hitch. "Sorry," Adrien abruptly choked out the end of his sentence, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously. The girl simply shook her head. "No no, it was my fault I was rushing and I didn't look where I was going and I--" her bluebell irises widened alarmingly at the sight of the bakery, to which he also turned to, wondering why she was so panicked.
"Oh, God, Mama's going to kill me, uhm.." she turned back to the boy, smiling sheepishly at him (which he swore made his heart race), before dashing off to the bakery.
He watched her figure grow smaller, as it weaved through the crowd and finally disappeared all together.
"Adrien Athenese Agresté!!"
➳
"I'm very displeased with your work today at the shoot, Adrien," Gabriel spoke solemnly through the screen attached behind the driver's seat of the car. "Not only, were you late, but you also weren't focusing on the shoot one bit. We're going to reshoot every single photo first thing tomorrow, understood?"
The poor boy let out a sigh under his breath, nodding. "Yes Father," he said.
If he were being honest, he was distracted, and that was his fault.
It was also that pretty girl's fault.
➳
Marinette could not believe how stupid she was. She had bumped into the Adrien Agresté and made a complete fool of herself. And he thought he was the one who was supposed to say sorry?
She brushed a part of her bangs out of her face, before taking yet another customer's order. It had been an hour since she had darted in here to start her (late) shift, but the line had barely gotten any shorter. "Hi, welcome to the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, what can I get for you today?" she greeted probably the thirtieth customer since her shift.
And so the rush continued, only dying down around twelve. When it did, Marinette caught her breath, letting out a tired huff. Her pigtails were loose from all her moving around and the running back earlier, so she had to undo them and tie them up again, but of course in the middle of this process, her mother tells her to grab some pastry cream out of the chiller.
Frantically tying up the second one, she called back, "Okay!" and shuffled her way into the kitchens.
➳
While 'the pretty girl' was working hard in the bakery, Adrien was just finished up with fencing practice, tired and out of breath.
Do you know what else was out?
His water. He had finished it the round before.
"Kagami, I'm going to go to the convenience store right around the corner, I'm out of water," he cupped a hand over his mouth so it acted like a megaphone almost. "Be careful, there could be paparazzi!" she mimicked his action. "Don't worry, I'll handle it!" he made a final call as he jogged out, still in his fencing gear, only his phone and wallet in hand.
"Adrien? Adrien Agresté it's Adrien Agresté!!" he heard as soon as he entered the store. He let a quick breathe of regret escape his lips as a group of girls came up to him, asking for an autograph and a photo; he just wanted water.
The girls had taken three photos with him, and he was grateful they were the type that respected personal space as they had stood about half a meter away from him as they took the selfies.
They paid for their things right after, leaving the store whispering giddily. It wasn't an odd sight for the blond model; he came across this almost if not every single day he was out.
"Is this all, Mr. Agresté?" the man at the counter grinned kindly as he placed the single one litre bottle of cold water on the counter. "Yeah, and, please, just call me Adrien."
The man at the register raised his eyebrows slightly at the statement as he scanned the bottle. "You sure? Your father has implied we refer to the family as--"
Abruptly, Adrien cut him off. "He's not here, how would he know?" he pointed out with a smirk, handing the man €5.20 when the total was only €2.20.
"I think you may have given me an extra--"
"Keep the change, please, I insist."
Adrien exited the store, paparazzi crowding him with cameras flashing.
"Adrien! Adrien, where's your bodyguard? And your father, did he send you out here?"
The blond couldn't help but sigh once more; he really should've rethought coming out without a disguise of some sort. "I ran out of water so I came to buy some, no big deal," he said, about to squeeze his way out when another reporter blocked his path.
"Adrien!! Adrien please, what's your favourite colour? Do we have an answer today?" she asked.
The boy thought back to the pretty girl, and he thought of the colour of her eyes. They were such a beautiful blue; blue like the ocean, yet also blue like the sky. The girl had vivid bluebell eyes that he didn't think he would forget anytime soon.
"My favourite colour is blue. A pretty, bluebell blue," he answered, an uproar of murmurs following. He was lucky that the reported had been shoved aside though, because that let him escape the attention.
➳
Marinette was simply minding her own business, practicing some hand sewing with a coin pouch she was making to keep tips she got while working down at the bakery, when her concentration was broken with the ringing of her phone; Alya was calling.
She jumped, letting the needle poke right through her index finger. "Ah!" she winced just as she picked up the video call. "What happened this time?" Alya eyed her through the screen, and the raven-haired girl brought her pricked finger to the screen. "You calling, that's what," she chuckled with yet another wince as she waved the hand to numb the pain. Her best friend winced along, quickly apologising, and Marinette dismissed it.
"Did you hear the news though? Adrien has a favourite colour now!!"
"Is that what you called to tell me?" the injured girl raised an eyebrow skeptically, and the brunette sighed. "I mean, yeah? I never forgot the fact you had a massive celebrity crush on him since you were like, what, twelve??" At this, she scoffed, shaking her head. "Yeah, no see keyword, had, I mean, he's good-looking yeah but now I really don't--"
She paused at the sight on her screen right now; it was Alya showing a picture of Adrien with some fans on her desktop. He was in his fencing gear, blond locks all messed up.
"Oh God you're so gorgeous," Marinette muttered, completely forgetting what she was saying earlier. "Mhm, mhm, now see what I mean?" Alya raised her eyebrows matter-of-factly at the camera, and the raven-haired girl had to admit defeat. "Yeah, fine, but what is the favourite colour anyway?"
In response to this, Alya pulled up a clip taken by a fellow paparazzi member.
"My favourite colour is blue. A pretty, bluebell blue," said Adrien, and the brunette paused it right there. "It's funny, your eyes are a bluebell blue," she then said. "As he put it, pretty."
Right there and then Marinette's cheeks warmed up at the remembrance of what happened this morning. A part of her felt the strong urge to fill her friend in, but another part was fighting it. She kind of wanted to keep it a secret; not like it was any special planned meet up or anything, but, you know.
She just felt like it was necessary, especially if she wanted that celebrity crush to fade away.
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