Note: Posting a day early since I will be traveling all day tomorrow. Enjoy x
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"Hey! You!" a voice called out several feet away from where Marinette was sitting in one of the classroom buildings at ESMOD.
She looked up, pulling her thoughts away from her sketches, and saw a familiar brunette girl walking towards her from down the hallway with a shorter girl trailing behind her. Marinette remained sitting on the couch in silence and confusion as she watched the girls march up to her with a tablet in the brunette's hand. Her expression wasn't exactly defined. She looked mad but excited at the same time. Maybe malicious would describe it?
When the girls got closer, Marinette recognized the front girl from one of her classes last semester.
"Can I help you?" Marinette asked once she stopped strutting.
The brunette wasted no time before spewing out her question. "Are you and Adrien Agreste a thing or what?"
Taken aback by this abrupt question, Marinette shifted uncomfortably in her seat, clutching her sketchbook tightly to her chest. "Er, I mean, yeah. How did you..."
Before she could even finish her thought, the brunette flipped her tablet over so that Marinette could see the screen.
Lo and behold, the pictures that Vincent took of her and Adrien at the coffee shop were now being displayed in an online article from a news outlet. Marinette hadn't expected the pictures to be so public so suddenly, but then again, she should've anticipated media outlets to quickly fight to be the first ones to cover it. And it shouldn't have surprised her that students at her fashion school would recognize a picture of a famous fashion designer's son and his friend. In this case, girlfriend.
Marinette continued sitting awkwardly in her seat, waiting for the brunette to say something. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stare at the picture of her. The particular photo that was placed in the article was after she had loosened up and seemed to be laughing at something Adrien said.
"What's your deal?" the girl finally said as she pulled her tablet back into her arms, giving a glance at her friend beside her.
"What do you mean?"
Her eyes narrowed. "You think you're so much better than everyone else, don't ya?" she accused, her tone quickly turning bitter. Marinette wouldn't be surprised if she started spitting when she spoke.
"Er, no? Why do you think that?"
The brunette scoffed while her friend stayed silent. "So it's just a coincidence then that a fashion student is sleeping with the son of Gabriel Agreste?"
Eyes widening, Marinette stiffened, unsure of how to answer such a brash question. "W-what? It's not, um, it's not like that–"
"Oh, don't be so modest," she interrupted. "None of this makes sense. You barely even spoke in class, and now all of a sudden, you're headlining media outlets. What are you planning?"
"I'm not planning anything."
"Then how did it happen, huh?"
This stranger was really starting to get on Marinette's nerves. It's not like she owed this random girl any information. Perhaps she was just jealous that she wasn't getting the attention of the public eye.
After taking a deep breath, Marinette calmly responded, "It's not really your business. I don't even know you. Adrien has been a close friend of mine for a long time, so I don't know why this is a shock to you."
This was the first time the brunette had ever heard Marinette speak like that, and it showed. The girl's eyes widened ever so slightly before peering over at her friend who remained silent. The friend's face only expressed the same discomfort that Marinette was feeling at that moment.
The girl scoffed. "Whatever. Can't wait to see your 'relationship' crumble online."
Leaving no room for a response, she pivoted on her heels and marched back down the hallway, her shorter friend glancing at Marinette one last time with an apologetic expression before trailing the brunette's steps.
Marinette sighed once they were out of sight, feeling tense after that unexpected interaction. She wasn't used to being approached so nonchalantly, especially in that tone. What even was her deal? Why did Marinette's life affect her mood so much? If anything, that girl reminded her of Chloe Bourgeois.
She thought that those arrogant bullies would be last seen in lycée, but here she was at the ripe age of 20, almost 21, having to deal with another one. At least Marinette had more of a backbone compared to when she was a teenager. There was honestly too much on her plate to be even at least a bit bothered by people who acted like that.
Now, there was another thing that entered Marinette's mind that clouded all of her previous thoughts she had before that girl approached her. The photos.
One of the photos had already been posted to a media outlet article. Were there more circulating the internet? What were people saying about her?
She wasn't able to get a good look at the website that the photos were from. Then again, she could probably look up her name along with Adrien's and get results, but that scared her. There was no telling what she would find online. Marinette was rarely active on her social media nowadays to begin with unless she was seeing her friends' posts. Even then, she would just leave a like and move on.
She needed a social media expert.
She needed Alya.
»»————- ♡ ————-««
Alya stood completely still as she peered down at Marinette who wrapped a measuring tape around her waist and hips, taking a pencil to lightly mark certain points on the tape. It was later in the day and Marinette was exhausted from her day in class but she really wanted to get these measurements down to start pinning the fabric for the dress.
She had a whole theme planned for her portfolio and this dress would make a great addition if she was able to finish it this month. Then again, it was hard to find time to even breathe nowadays. Not like Monarch was making it any easier for her. It wasn't unusual if she was alerted in the middle of the night by Alya that an akuma had been spotted somewhere in the city. She would just have to force herself to wake up and jump into action. Luckily, it seemed like Chat was barely bothered by it. Did he even sleep at all?
"Couldn't you use the same measurements as last time?" Alya asked once Marinette had finished.
She scribbled down the numbers on her sketchpad as she responded. "Sure, but I'd be worried it wouldn't be accurate. It's been a couple of months since I took your measurements. I want to make sure they're as accurate as I can get them."
"Ah, I gotcha."
As Alya took a seat on the chaise, Marinette sat rather stiffly on her computer chair after she finished jotting down her best friend's measurements. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"Yeah? Go on."
Marinette sighed. "This girl approached me at school today and practically shoved a picture of Adrien and me in my face. She was kinda rude about it, but that's not the point. I haven't gotten a chance to look it up. Are the pictures starting to circulate or something?"
Judging the 'are you kidding me' look that was smeared all over Alya's face, Marinette had a feeling she was about to witness one of her friend's internet craze. "You have to be joking. Have you not been on the internet at all these past couple of days?"
When Marinette shook her head, Alya wasted no time to stand up and head over to her with her phone in her hand, quickly typing something on her screen.
"Look at this," she said as she handed over her phone. "Even I have been getting questions about it at work. How did you not know about this? Did Adrien not tell you anything?"
The first thing Marinette saw on Alya's phone screen was the big, bold title of the article 'Adrien Agreste Is Now Off The Market?'.
Right under the title were two pictures that were taken from their fake coffee date. She remembered thinking internally during this staged shoot whether or not her body language was convincing enough for the camera lens, but now looking at the photos clearly in her room, even she was fooled by her own expression.
Adrien was leaning on the table in the first photo, clearly invested in whatever Marinette was talking about at the time. It was probably something along the lines of the classes she was currently enrolled in at ESMOD and how her professional life was going.
However, the second picture was more lively than the first one. Adrien was smiling broadly, his perfectly straight teeth on display as he looked at Marinette who was mid-laugh. She never thought she could look this decent mid-expression.
If she hadn't zoomed in a little, she would have missed how close Adrien's hands were to hers.
The text below the article merely goes into depth about the speculations the paparazzi and Adrien's fans were beginning to have after these photos had been released. That part wasn't as surprising.
What did surprise Marinette is spotting Adrien's recent Instagram post of the two of them a few more paragraphs down. How recent was this damn article?
"You two are the stars of every celebrity headline," Alya said, her arms crossing over her chest. "I mean, have you even seen the comments on Adrien's post? Fangirls are going cray-cray."
Marinette's heart tightened just a little bit. She completely forgot about the comments.
"Oh god," she exhaled. "I don't know if I even want to know what his fanbase is saying. This article was overwhelming enough," she said as she handed Alya's phone back.
"No, no, it's fine! Trust me, I read through them this morning actually."
"Are you stalking us or something?"
"Anyway, just check, girl. Sure, there are a couple of those internet trolls that hate whenever someone posts anything remotely happy, but that's just the internet. Take a look!"
Rolling her eyes, Marinette defeatedly pulled out her phone from her own pocket and searched up Adrien's handle on Instagram. Though, it was very quick to pop up since that was the last account she viewed before going to bed last night.
Hesitantly, she pressed on the photo of her with him and opened up the comments. She felt like she was holding her breath for an eternity as she scrolled through the thousands of comments that people had left. It always amazed her how fast Adrien received traction on his page.
[@adrienswife]: heartbroken
[@lilygarciiee3]: YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE💗
[@DailyChatNoir]: omg are they finally getting together?!?!?!
[@everyone.loves.rena.rouge]: OMG <3333 <333 <3333
[@fasanomia]: the only girl i approve adrien with
[@Adrienlover4_]: this is so fake lol
[@m1ssyagreste9]: ohhh? Stan. ✨
[@hawkdaddy_luv66]: I CALLED IT AHHH 😍
[@jessirabbit]: this is prob a pr stunt guys. Aint gabriel releasing a new line soon?
[@casey._.bug]: cute friends ☺️
[@theladyblog]: I ship it ;)
Other than the casual disapproving comment, Marinette was shocked to see so much support and acceptance by the public eye. This had been her best-case scenario, and it was actually happening. It was becoming real. It was real.
Everyone saw her as Adrien's new girlfriend.
"You're an overnight sensation, girl," Alya said. "Did you see my comment?"
Ignoring her question, Marinette brushed her fingers through her bangs as she continued to scroll through more comments before ultimately shutting her phone off. "There is so much happening at once. I didn't expect... I didn't know I'd be thrown out like this."
Alya tilted her head to the side. "Did Adrien not warn you?"
"Well, yeah. He did, but... UGH! I didn't think it would be like this! Is this what being in front of the public eye feels like?" She felt insecure for her own self in those pictures. What did they think about her outfit? Did they accept her as pretty enough to be with Adrien? What did they think about her makeup skills?
Her friend chuckled as she leaned against the desk. "What did you think it would be like?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe less overwhelming? Sure, I'm glad that most of these random strangers don't completely hate the fact that I'm supposedly with him now, but why do I still feel anxious? Stressed? I'm not even the famous one in this so-called relationship! How does Adrien cope with being shoved in the spotlight all the time?"
"Why don't you talk to him about it?"
"I can't!" Marinette immediately answered. "I mean, I don't think I should. It'll only make him worry and want to call it off."
"Do you want to call it off?"
She pursed her lips. "Er, not really..."
"Then stick with it!" Alya said with an enthusiastic smile. "I can help you deal with it if you'd like. I know I'm not as famous as that blondie, but with the amount of followers I gained from The Ladyblog and my job, I think I am a pretty locally known public figure."
"Would you really?"
"Of course, hun. And as my first recommendation as your agent–"
"I think that's a bit far-fetched."
"–I think you should leave a like on a couple of those comments that support you two."
Marinette raised a brow. "Why would I do that?"
"It implies that you agree with them. You know, be all mysterious and such. That way, you're not outright announcing your relationship, but you're giving the people the message they can continue to speculate with once they get the notification that you liked it."
"Hm," she hummed as she unlocked her phone again. "That's actually pretty smart."
Alya dramatically flipped a strand of her hair over her shoulder as she wore a proud smile. "Perks of working with social media all my life."
Going ahead with her suggestion, Marinette opened up the comment section once again and started pressing the outlined heart button on each side of the texts, hoping she wasn't being too obvious.
"You shouldn't like too many," Alya added. "Just a few should do it."
After nodding her head, she stopped after two more comments and then closed the app again, feeling a bit more confident than the first time she read through them.
"Now, if my plan unfolds the way I'm planning it to, those users will realize you liked their comment and maybe reply to their own comment saying, I don't know, 'Oh my god, she just liked this' or whatever."
Marinette giggled. "It seemed like you thought about this whole situation way before I even agreed to it."
"Hey, I'm just a planner. Besides, it's fun getting to watch the drama unfold from an outside perspective. Well, it's my day job, of course, but I can interfere if I want to this time."
"Mhm, sure. I just hope nothing bad ever happens–"
Her sentence was cut off by the sudden ringing coming from her phone in her hands. Marinette jumped a little at the noise and probably jumped again once she saw the caller ID belonged to her fake boyfriend.
The anxiety in her brain suddenly blasted through her skull and into the roof. Did he notice that she had interacted with his post the day after? Did he get notified that she liked certain comments? What if he wasn't okay with that? How did Instagram even work? She was rarely on it. Maybe she should start being more active.
"Are you going to answer it or not?"
"Yes! Uh, no? I don't know, you take it!" Marinette exclaimed as she tossed her cell phone over to Alya.
With a loud exaggerated sigh, Alya accepted the call and immediately put it on speaker. "You've reached Marinette. This is her agent speaking, how may I help you?"
Adrien's laugh through the phone speaker was a melody that could have put Marinette in a trance. "I should have expected Marinette to hire an agent after her sudden popularity."
Alya nodded even though Adrien could not see her. "Yes, well, she is very busy now with fans and her craft, so you're going to have to make an appointment."
"Ah, well, tell her that her boyfriend called and wanted to talk to her about the gala he's taking her to."
Leaving no room for any more words, Marinette jumped over to Alya and snatched her phone right out of her hands. "Marinette speaking."
"There she is!"
"Mhm. Here I am."
"So the gala."
"Yeah?"
"What color are you wearing? I need to call my tailor tomorrow to get my tux ready, so I just wanted to make sure I matched with you."
Her brain had completely stopped functioning at his question. She was a fashion designer. An aspiring one at least, who was enrolled at one of the most well-known fashion schools. For every event that catered toward dressing up, she had at least three pages in her sketchbook planned and marked up with ideas of what to create and wear.
So how in the hell did she forget to plan her gala outfit?
Marinette urgently peered over at Alya who shrugged while motioning toward the phone–a signal to tell her to hurry up and answer his question.
She pressed her lips together. "Er... well. Maybe I can go with pink? No, not pink. That might flush me out in ballroom lighting. Blue? No, there's too much blue in my undertones. How about-"
"She's wearing red!" Alya called out, clearing over her best friend's indecisiveness. And Marinette couldn't blame her.
"Red? Classy," Adrien responded. "Is that your final decision?"
While Marinette only really ever wore red when she was transformed, it was a solid color for a gala. "Yeah! Sure! Let's go with red."
"Perfect. I'll let my tailor know to put some red in as the accents. Are you making your dress?"
"Oh, yeah. I am."
"Ah, of course you are. I can't wait to see it. What does the sketch look like?"
Marinette shot one more slightly worried look over to Alya who was mouthing something that she couldn't decipher fast enough.
"Um, well, it's a surprise! Yeah. It's a surprise so you'll see it when we go," she ended up saying.
He chuckled. "Alright, sounds promising."
Alya leaned over Marinette's shoulder with that sly smirk that always had her worried about what was about to escape her mouth. "Oh, don't you worry, Agreste. She's going to be the showstopper there."
Marinette silently hissed her to be quiet but she didn't stop.
"You're going to have one fine date~," she finished.
A hand rubbed the top of Marinette's forehead, begging for this phone call to end soon. She couldn't keep up with this conversation. Well, at least not mentally.
"I do, don't I?" Adrien said. "My father's colleagues will be very impressed with her I'm sure."
Colleagues? Gabriel Agreste? No.
Did she seriously forget that aspect of the gala?
"Oh, by the way. Nino mentioned game night earlier today and said you hadn't responded to his text about it," said Alya.
"Shit. I forgot to text him back. Yeah, I'm still down. I'll let him know right now."
"Cool."
And with that, Alya wandered back to the chaise and nonchalantly opened up her phone as if she didn't just backseat-called Adrien Agreste for Marinette.
"Well, I'll let you go then, Marinette. I'll talk to you later?"
"Yeah! Absolutely."
"Awesome. Bye, guys."
She ended the call before she could let out another word.
Immediately, Alya bursted out laughing with her hands cradled over her stomach.
Marinette frowned. "It's not funny."
As her laugh calmed down, she peered over with a wide smile. "Girl, whatever happened to just talking to him like a normal person?"
With a groan, Marinette placed her phone down and picked up her mechanical pencil, fidgeting with the eraser bit on top. "I don't know! It's like it comes in waves. Like, if I'm standing right in front of him and we ease into a conversation, it's fine! The conversation is linear and it's easy to focus on the words coming out of my mouth. But then once he's asking me about different things, suddenly my brain just goes... plat."
Alya chuckled. "You're getting better at it, though. At least from what I've seen."
"I hope so, but... UGH!" Marinette exclaimed as she plopped her head onto her desk with her hand underneath her chin to cushion it. "Now I have even more to think about when it comes to this arrangement with him. I didn't think about the gala dress I have to design, but that's not even the worst of my worries."
"Why not just buy a dress then?"
"That's the problem, I can't!" she said, gesturing over to Alya to emphasize the internal struggle she found herself in. "Gabriel Agreste's colleagues and personal connections will be there! This means not only would I be showcasing my relationship with Adrien, but it's also an opportunity to showcase my designer skills. Just another thing to worry about!"
With a sigh, Alya leaned against the armchair of the chaise with a small, but sweet, smile. "You could choose not to worry about it, though."
She raised a brow. "I'm not following."
"Just breathe," she said. "You overthink every single scenario that will ever exist when it comes to making decisions or impressions. Sure, it's nice to be prepared, but if it makes you this anxious, then it takes away from living."
As much as Marinette knew she was right, it was hard to break out of habits. It wasn't like she was oblivious to her overthinking. There was just hardly a time where she didn't use it to not get hurt. That's how she minimized getting crucified by Chloe, or heartbroken like she had been with Kim. Sure, those instances were light years ago, and sure, Adrien and this scenario will probably never end up like back then. However, she just couldn't help it. It had weaved into her mind as if it was just another vein.
Alya had brought this up before in the past, too. And Marinette would just say the same thing as always.
"I'm working on it."
And Alya replied with what she had always said.
"I know."