i am certain i'm working harder on these visualisers for the social media elements that i would on my art assignments in school...
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••• at work •••
AS his alarm blared in his ears early that morning, Adrien stirred in bed, irritated by the unusually loud volume.
After blinking his eyes open, he took a moment to process his surroundings, swiftly picking his phone up from beside his head and turning the alarm off.
How did I even sleep last night?
Right when he was about to recollect his memories of the night before, he heard Nathalie sharply knocking on his door.
"Are you awake, Adrien? You have another photoshoot and interview today!" she called from outside.
"Awake!" he calls, so she doesn't have to walk in and check. This was their usual procedure when he had an early morning shoot scheduled.
Without wasting time, he got up and began to get ready for work.
➳
In the car, the boy finally had the chance to use his phone. He planned to snap a picture of the sunrise.
It was then he noticed texts from Marinette.
The new messages as well as the ones long before that were enough to explain what he couldn't figure out earlier at home. He had been texting Marinette the entire night.
Glancing out the window, he held up his phone without another thought to send a photo to her.
The raven-haired girl was busy brushing her hair out, getting ready to head out. She had a babysitting job for her usual client, Nadja Shamack at her office.
Typically, she would drop off her daughter, Manon at Marinette's house, however since it was early hours and the likelihood for her to be late to her job was higher, Nadja had decided to ask Marinette to come over to her office instead.
In her backpack, she packed colour pencils, paper, colouring books, and card games to keep Manon entertained. Despite being more of the mischievous sort, the seven-year-old could easily be kept under control if occupied.
A smile made its way onto her face as she read the text.
Taking a minute to fix up a yogurt bowl for breakfast, she sits down at the dining table before replying.
The name of the magazine was familiar to her, in fact she had often gotten copies of it from Nadja. Why? Because it was the company she worked with.
Adrien and her were going to be in the same studio, and now it hits her that these meetings, despite being completely coincidental and unplanned, had started happening ever since she had accidentally bumped into him that day.
What it meant? she had no idea.
Now, the early morning job didn't bother him as much anymore. Now, he didn't mind it. Now, he was grinning the rest of the car ride.
Nathalie had noticed the somewhat abnormal behaviour of the boy, but made no comment. She figured it would soon make sense when the time was right.
At the studio, Adrien was rushed into hair and make up. He didn't need much done, as the main focus of this photoshoot would be on the jewellery of his father's latest fashion line dedicated to his mother.
"Adrien, I'll leave your usual stylist in-charge of you. I'll have to go pick your father up from the airport, but I'll be back to pick you up after you're done," Nathalie informs while his hair stylist was working on his hair.
"Alright," he says, holding back a nod to prevent from undoing his hair stylist's work.
·◛·
Marinette takes the lift up to the fifth floor where the studio was located. Once out, she dialed Nadja to let her know she had arrived.
"Hi Nadja! I'm on the fifth floor now," she says.
"Perfect! You're right on time, it's almost my segment. Look for Studio 3," the woman on the other end says.
The teenage girl could just make out Manon's excited squeal, and smiled. "Alright, I'll see you in a minute then," she concludes their call.
Pushing open the heavy door, she surveys the entire studio. It was her first time in one of these big studios, so she was definitely curious.
"Marinette!" she heard that familiar child's voice from across the room, and when she looked up, she was met with a energized Manon running right towards her.
"Hi Manon!" she greets with a similar energy.
Little did she know, a certain someone was watching her from afar.
"Adrien! Let's go for one more shot on these, please," the director requests, leaving the blond model no choice but to divert his attention from the subject of interest.
So while he was busy with the photoshoot, and Nadja was busy with setting up her interview space, Marinette had set up a cosy corner for her and Manon to pass the time. She had been provided a coffee table and cushions, so the two were able to sit at the table comfortably
The child had wanted her to draw and colour with her, and so she complied to her request to ensure she would be at her best behaviour and not interrupt those at work.
She found herself taking glances at Adrien, who looked very compelling in the off-white turtleneck and jewellery he had been dressed in.
"Marinette, can I have a yellow colour pencil please?" Manon then asked, softly tugging at the girl's shirt sleeve. This draws her attention back to her.
"Oh! Yeah, of course! Here," she hands the wanted colour to the child, who thanks her politely before going back to her work in progress.
The next thing she knew when she looked up was Adrien Agresté was approaching her.
For a few seconds, her expressions are blank, but she manages to smile at him as he comes into earshot. "Oh, hi!"
The model returns her smile, waving softly. "Hi! I'm on break," he says as he takes a quick look behind him before sitting across from the two girls.
"This is Manon, the kid I'm babysitting," Marinette introduces, Adrien's eyes flickering to said child momentarily before looking down at the sketchbook they were colouring in.
"Wow, those are nice drawings!" he compliments. Manon looks up and flashes him a toothy grin. "I know! I'm very talented, as you can see."
While Marinette laughs, Adrien grins back. "Yes, I can see that."
After about a minute of silence, the boy hesitantly speaks up. "Could I...Could I have a piece of paper?"
Immediately, Marinette complies to his request. "Of course! Here you go," she slides over a paper, also placing a pencil and an eraser in front of him.
Thanking her, he begins to sketch. While she waited for Manon to finish drawing on a new page so they can colour together, she couldn't help but let her eyes trail over to Adrien, who was taking his drawing very seriously.
Watching the movements of the pencil against the paper soon turned into watching how his hands move so skillfully, which then turned into admiring the bracelets clasped around his wrist.
She didn't know what had made her do it, but her hand reached for the charms on the bracelet. Her fingertips brushed against Adrien's skin, and he instantly froze up.
"Oh! I'm sorry, sorry, I shouldn't be touching these, oh I'm so sorry," Marinette apologises profusely as she retracts her hand.
Adrien can feel his cheeks grow warm as he tries to dismiss her apology. "It's not a problem! Sorry, I'm completely fine with you touching the bracelet I was just shocked that you...um, that your...I..."
He raised his free hand up to facepalm himself. His entire face felt warm now.
"Here, you can take a look if you want," he ends up saying after regaining his composure, extending his arm out to her, resting his chin on the coffee table in the process.
She looks at him with uncertainty. "Are you sure?"
He nods, a smile of reassurance etched his face. "Go ahead."
Was he panicking internally? Yes.
Did that stop him from letting her do so? No.
Concealed under the table, his free hand was placed on his chest, feeling his fast-beating heart as he watched Marinette inspect the charms one by one.
Her touch was gentle, as she did not want to do anything to the bracelets as she didn't want to deal with the consequences of breaking Gabriel Agresté's jewellery.
"They're really pretty. The designs are so intricate, it's impressive," she remarks as she backs away from his hand.
"Yeah, really pretty."
She finds her heart skipping a beat as Adrien says those words directly looking into her eyes, but she reminds herself that he's referring to the charms and not her. How could she get ahead of herself like that?
The blond wasn't aware of what had just gone through her head as he too had plunged deep into his daydreams, gazing at the girl like there wasn't anyone else in the room.
When he did realise she was done and was simply staring back at him, he straightened himself and flashed a quick smile at her as an attempt to clear any awkwardness.
"You should continue your drawing, it looks amazing already," Marinette points to the paper in front of him that he had totally forgot about. His eyes follow her index finger as he recaps what he was drawing; a bluebell flower.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, okay, I will," he nods, picking up his borrowed pencil and resuming it.
By the time he's done, he was called for his interview next.
"Well, that was nice. Thanks for the paper. Here, you can have it," Adrien hands her his drawing as he gets up.
"But, it's your drawing, don't you want to keep it?" she objects, not wanting to take it home if he wanted it.
He shakes his head. "Take it as a gift. Maybe you could help me finish it, colour it?" he then suggests, and at this, Marinette's expression of uncertainty morphs into a subtle hint of excitement. "Okay then."
"Adrien!" the director calls, this time more sternly. Sheepishly, he smiles and waves at Marinette before jogging back to set.
➳
When Marinette read that notification first thing in the morning, she wasn't sure what was about to go down, but something definitely was.
The girl chuckled with a shake of her head. Her best friend was really something.
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it cant be just me who thinks adrien would be good at drawing right???? his dad is literally a fashion designer who has top tier drawing skills theres always a possibility his son has the same.
i have another picture i wanted to use as a visualiser for how the photoshoot turned out BUT i'm unsure if i should post it or not, so if you guys want it i can feature it in the next chapter so do let me know!
my flu is getting a bit better as well yay!! anyways, i hope you enjoyed this chapter <3