Marinette took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell of the Agreste Manor. She had gotten there at exactly 9:00 am, which she knew would please Gabriel. The door swung open and Marinette saw Adrien at the door with a small smile on his face. She could see heartbreak in his eyes, but she also saw love. It was easy to see that he had hoped that she couldn't see through the smile, so she chose not to address it.
"H-H-Hey, Adrien," She stuttered, giving him a big grin.
He gave her a wave and she could see him take a small breath before replying, "Hey Mari. My father is waiting for you in his office. I think today he just wants to get to know your designing style and stuff, I'll be joining you guys, too." He put his hand on her back and led her inside and into his father's office.
Remember, you're Adrien now. Not Chat. She didn't leave you, she left him. You can build on your relationship with her now. You just have to be careful, he reminded himself. He glanced over at her and saw her marveling at how beautiful the house was as he led her through the foyer decorated in marble. To him, it always felt cold and lonely, but to anyone else, it would look quite beautiful.
He knocked on the door to his father's office and waited for his voice to echo from the other side of the door, "Come in."
The pair opened the door to meet Gabriel, who was standing behind a desk filled with sewing materials that Marinette could only dream about. She let out a long, delighted breath as she looked at everything before her.
"Ms. Marinette, how are you doing today?" He asked her patiently while beckoning her over to the desk. She quickly shuffled over to stand next to him and Adrien followed.
They spent the day sewing, talking about fashion, and Adrien talked about his photoshoots. When it began to get dark, Marinette had to go home.
"Adrien, why don't you walk Ms. Marinette home?" Gabriel suggested.
The two teens blushed, unknown to the other. Adrien nodded and led Marinette back out through the foyer and out the front door. He knew he had to keep himself from doing anything he'd regret, he had to take it slow with her. He decided to try to strike up a simple conversation.
"So, was it everything you thought it'd be?" He asked nervously. Luckily, she didn't notice his blushing.
"And more!" She said. "It was a dream come true to get to sew for Gabriel Agreste himself!" As she rambled on about how amazing it was and how happy she was that she won the contest, Adrien subtly reached over and grabbed her hand in his. She stopped talking for a second and looked down at their hands, which were now clasped together. They then looked up at each other and blushed.
Marinette felt her face grow hot as she intertwined her fingers with his. The silence was almost too much to bear, so she decided to strike up a conversation.
"Adrien?" She asked.
Adrien cleared the mind the best he could in order to hold up a conversation. "Yes, Mari?"
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Shoot."
"This morning," She stopped walking and turned to him. "This morning, when I arrived, I noticed something..."
Adrien looked down at his feet, nervously. "What did you notice?"
"Heartbreak..."
She tried to look into his eyes, but he turned his head. All he could do was nod.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked kindly.
He shook his head slowly. Marinette understood and kept walking, giving his hand a small squeeze, which he returned.
"So, how is your fencing going?" She asked to change the subject, hoping to cheer him up.
He took a deep breath to clear his head and gave her a small smile. They chatted and laughed for a while as they walked back to the bakery. When they reached the bakery, they stood in front of the doorway for a while, wrapping up their conversation on puns. When Adrien had finally given up and admitted that puns are awful, they hugged and said goodbye.
"Goodnight, Adrien," Marinette said sweetly.
"Goodnight, Mari," Adrien replied before leaning forward and planting a kiss on her forehead. He then turned around and walked away.
Marinette calmly walked through the bakery, said goodnight to her parents, and walked up the stairs to her room. As soon as she was alone, she flopped down onto her bed and squealed. She celebrated her success at talking to him without stuttering and she was so excited that he had kissed her forehead. The whole time, however, a thought was trying to force its way to the front of her mind. She glanced over at her window, half hoping to see his face peering in back at her, but she didn't. Instead, all she saw was the moon beginning its rise into the sky.
She sighed - although she wasn't sure if it was from relief, sadness, or joy - and went to her sewing desk to work on a midnight blue, knee-length dress that she had been working on for a few weeks.
RING! RING! RING!
Marinette tipped over in her chair and crashed to the ground. She sat up and peeled a piece of thread off her cheek. She slowly stood up and slugged over to turn off her alarm. She must have fallen asleep while sewing last night. It was a slow start that morning for Marinette as she got ready to head back over to the Agreste Manor for her second day of interning.
By the time she had gotten to the front gate, though, she had woken up and was very excited. They spent the day learning about different fabrics and threads. Most Parisians would be bored by this, but it was so much fun for Marinette. Adrien would occasionally chime in with little tricks that he had learned throughout the years, and from reading Marinette's books as Chat Noir, and stories that his costumers had told him.
Adrien, throughout the whole day, kept having to catch himself and stop himself from staring at Marinette. She was so beautiful. It only felt like minutes to Adrien, but suddenly he was interrupted from his thoughts by his father telling him to walk her home. He smiled and nodded his head. He led her out through the foyer and out the gate.
As the pair strolled down the streets of Paris, they chatted and laughed before they had gotten to the door of the bakery. They said goodbye, Adrien gave Marinette a quick kiss on the cheek, and they parted ways.
The days carried on like this. Every morning Marinette would go to the Agreste Manor to intern, Adrien would hold himself back, Marinette would learn, Adrien would walk her home, and repeat.
Finally, the Thursday of the second week that Marinette had been interning, Adrien had a photo shoot, the first that Marinette could go to with him. She had watched many of his photoshoots from afar but never gone to one with him. The photoshoot wasn't in the park like most of them were. Instead, it was two towns over in Nanterre, for a collaboration Gabriel was doing with another designer and would be staying in a hotel for the night. They didn't leave until 2:15 pm, so Marinette spent the day packing. When her alarm rang at 1:45, she dashed off to the Agreste household. She calmly walked to the gate only to be met by Nathalie.
"The limo is waiting for you over this way," She said calmly as she led Marinette to a white limo. She opened the door for her and Marinette climbed inside, finding herself sitting in the seat right next to Adrien. He looked over at her and smiled. Nathalie closed the door and walked over to the limo that she and Gabriel were sharing. The two teenagers spent the 12 - hour car ride chatting and laughing. Eventually, it began to get dark and Marinette began to get sleepy.
Adrien smiled as Marinette leaned down and fell asleep in his lap. He let out a quiet, loving laugh as he carefully reached down his hand and pet her hair and watched a peaceful smile spread across her face as she fell even deeper into a happy sleep. Adrien watched her for a while, loving the feeling of her navy-blue hair between his fingers. Once he was sure that she was completely asleep, he slowly leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. He closed his eyes as he felt like time slowed down. He had missed the feeling of her lips on his. He slowly pulled away and opened his eyes when he felt her stir. He saw her smile even wider, still fully asleep. He looked out the window and watched the rain fall on his window until he fell asleep himself.
At almost 3:00 am, they arrived at a large, elegant hotel. Adrien gently shook Marinette awake and she smiled and blushed when she saw his face looking down at hers. "We're here, Mari," Adrien whispered. She nodded and sat up, rubbing her eyes. They climbed out and took their bags from the trunks, insisting to the driver that they could carry their bags themselves and that he didn't need to. When they got to the front desk, they were told that the adults would all be sharing a three-bed suit while Adrien and Marinette would be sharing a two-bed suite. Gabriel stated that he knew that they were good kids when he noticed the surprised looks on both of their faces. He, Nathalie, and Gorilla all went to the elevator to go to the top floor, where their room was, and Adrien and Marinette went to the stairs to the third floor.
When they opened the door to room 217, they gasped at its beauty. The room was white with gold details, such as trim and bedding. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room. There was a desk with a laptop and a chair in one corner, and there was a large kitchen area. Each of them chose a bed and took turns changing in the bathroom into their pajamas. Once they were both dressed, they both got into their beds.
"Goodnight Pr- I mean, Mari" Adrien whispered, glad that he had caught himself from calling her his loving nickname for her.
"Goodnight Adrien," Marinette said with a smile. And with that, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
BOOM!
Thunder clapped and Adrien let out a small cry of fear. The thunder had been raging on all throughout the night as the storm had been getting worse. Adrien winced at each clap. He glanced over in the dark and saw that Marinette was fast asleep. She looked so calm and happy.
BOOM!
Adrien instinctively flew out of his bed and curled himself up on the end of his friend's bed.
"Adrien?" He heard a voice sleepily question. He lifted his head slowly and gave a sheepish smile to Marinette, who was rubbing her eyes.
"Sorry, Mari... I don't really like thunder," He explained, shrinking down into the sheets and curling up tighter as another clap of thunder boomed as if to prove a point. Marinette laughed and scooted over to one side of the bed and patted the bed next to her.
Adrien graciously slipped under the covers, thankful for the warmth of the sheets and of the company lying next to him. Marinette smiled and played with his hair and chatted to him about how things had been going in the bakery to calm him down. Eventually, she felt his chest rise and fall at a steady rate as he drifted off to sleep despite the thunder. She continued to play with his golden mane, intertwining her fingers throughout it, loving how soft it was and closed her eyes.
There was a loud knock on the door and Marinette startled awake. She began to jump out of bed when she saw Adrien sleeping so peacefully beside her. She slowly climbed out of bed, leaving him to sleep with a smile on his face. She quietly went to the door, rubbing her eyes, and opened it.
"Good morning, Ms. Marinette. I trust you and Adrien slept well. Here is your schedule for the day," Nathalie said before immediately rushing off. Marinette let out a small laugh and closed the door again. She went over to the kitchen, setting the clipboard on the counter, and looked through what ingredients were already stocked in the kitchen. After careful consideration, Marinette quickly whipped up some crepes with a buttermilk frosting spread. She lay everything carefully on the table, setting it as neatly as she could, and served them up. They were still too hot to eat so Marinette had enough time to examine their schedule. Their day was free until noon when they had to leave for a photoshoot that would last them all day. After the photo shoot, they would go straight to the TV station and Marinette actually had an interview. When she read this, she let out a small scream of surprise before immediately shrinking down in her chair and shushing herself, hoping that she hadn't woken Adrien.
Marinette quickly scanned the paper for an explanation and she found a short description. It said that Marinette would be interviewing with a TV show to talk about how her internship had been going so far. Before continuing to read the schedule, she took a deep breath to calm herself down. She saw that after the interview the three of them, Marinette, Adrien, and Gabriel, all were going to dinner before leaving for Paris.
"Wow," she whispered under her breath. She had never had such a full schedule before. That's when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.
"Good morning, Mari" greeted as he took his seat on the other side of the table where Marinette had laid out his plate of breakfast.
"G-Good morning Adrien!" Marinette returned the greeting. "How did you sleep?" She asked with a subtle smirk.
Adrien saw the smirk and laughed sheepishly. "I slept well, thank you. Sorry about last night..." He answered embarrassedly. She laughed even harder before explaining that the crepes were still hot but that he could eat them.
Marinette rose her mug of hot cocoa to her lips as she took one last look at their schedule, making sure she had it memorized.
"Oh, is that today's schedule?"
"Yeah, Nathalie dropped it off about an hour ago. At noon you have a photoshoot until three and then I have an interview about the internship until six. After that, you, me, and your dad are all going to dinner before heading back to Paris at eight."
"Wow, that's a really light schedule!" Adrien rose his eyebrows in surprise.
"Maybe to you, Mr. Model!" Marinette joked back. They laughed and both began to ate and chat. Their laughter and occasional teasing made them oblivious to the growing storm outside.
Adrien and Marinette were in the process of getting dressed, each in separate rooms when they heard another knock at the door. "Who's more clothed?" Adrien called through the bathroom door.
"Me, probably," Marinette replied, pulling her jacket on over her shirt. She rushed over to the door and opened it to a seemingly annoyed Nathalie, who handed her a new clipboard.
"Both of your schedules have been cleared for the day due to the storm. We will be staying another night, as well. The schedule I gave you this morning will be the same tomorrow morning. Until then you are free to do whatever you please, just be careful of the storm." Nathalie, not unlike earlier, quickly rushed away.
"Who was it?" Adrien called as he walked out of the bathroom fully clothed while using a towel to dry his damp hair.
"It was Nathalie, because of the storm, both of our schedules are cleared. She said that we're free to do whatever we'd like for the day." Marinette replied with a smile. Adrien gave her a wink and a mischievous smile spread across his face as he extended his hand to her.
"Well, in that case, would you want to go explore the town with me?" He offered with a grin.