"But Peter, how do we get to Neverland?"
"Will fly of course!"
I stood center stage facing Adrien, Alix, and Jean positioned behind me on one of the prop beds. The last few hours of rehearsal went as smoothly as they could besides small things going missing once again. The only serious thing was a carabiner used in my harness, which Louis had promptly flipped out on the stage crew for. Luckily Nino noticed when he was helping me strap in.
"Really?!"
Alix jumped from the bed to run over to me. Jean adjusted his top hat and followed suit.
"All you need is faith and trust..."
The hologram projection of a bright twinkling sparkle waved over the three of us. This was supposed to be Tinkerbell, on stage, it wasn't very convincing. But I've been told off-stage it's hyper-realistic.
" And pixie dust. Now come on!"
Adrien skipped over to the prop bay window at the back of the center stage.
"Are we sure this is going to work?"
Jean asked, gripping his prop umbrella close to him.
"Of course now come on!"
With that, Adrien jumped out the window, and one by one the three of us followed.
Normally the lights would drop and there would be harnesses for us to step into on the other side, for the next scene where we would be 'flying'. But this was the last scene that Mr. Laurent wanted us to straighten out before our lunch break, which after we would do a full run-through.
Mr. Laurent tapped on his microphone from where he sat with some of the cast not in the scene and some stage crew members.
"Alright that's a rap, I expect you all back here by one thirty. So in an hour and a half."
He stood from his seat, scribbling furiously into his notepad as he went towards the stage. The blonde looked up at me with a smile.
"Y/n your first for costume fitting so make sure you're back a little early."
"I'll have her back in time."
Adrien responded with a coy little smile, Mr. Laurent's eyes widened by just a fraction. The situation gives me a weird sense of deja vu when the boy meets the girl's father in all of the Western movies. But the blonde had a fond little twinkle in his eyes that gave away he wasn't much of the stern type.
"Have fun you two."
I nodded, rolling my eyes so that they would fall on Adrien when I was done. His eyes flashed over me quickly and the grin he wore gave away how excited he was.
"If you're ready we can head out. I just need to grab my things."
"Same here, I'll meet you in the foyer in five."
With that, we split ways walking. I power walked to the girl's dressing room where I left my things. Students were bustling all trying to find the quickest way to get home. Eventually, I made it to my destination and joined Rose in collecting my things.
When I couldn't find my bag I almost laughed. My belongings were going missing left and right. But I hadn't gone in the dressing room all day, besides when I was talking to Marinette. So it was undeniably swiped, including my phone. I started to become flustered, looking underneath the makeup tables and drawing the attention of Rose.
"What are you looking for?"
"My bag, I'm pretty sure someone stole it for real this time because I haven't even opened it all day."
Her brows furrowed, and her lips pulled into a pout.
"Is it your blue one?"
"Ya."
"I think I saw it backstage near the prop closet. That's weird though I hope someone isn't going through people's stuff."
I laughed a little, grabbing my winter coat to hold.
"What you got something to hide?"
"No! I just don't want someone poking around my things-"
"I'm just teasing ya. Could you tell Adrien if he's in the foyer that I'm looking for my bag?"
"Two different guys two days in a row, you're so lucky."
She sighed dreamily, which was ironic with her situation-ship with Juleka. I didn't respond simply rolling my eyes with a grin and walking off to find my things. The backstage area was void of people now, everyone leaving to get food or to stop home. The closet was wedged in the back corner of the backstage areas, I rarely was caught in the area myself; it was exclusively a stage crew area.
The door was left wide open which was already a red flag because the stage crew was very particular about props and keeping track of them. So for them to leave the door open for anyone passing by to just walk in was unheard of.
I could see my blue bag from the outside it was lying haphazardly on the ground, my charger and wallet strewn out next to it. If I wasn't sure that it was intentional before I know now. I didn't bother turning the light on, I simply walked in and started putting my things away.
It's only when the light from the backstage area behind me starts to dim that I realize what's happening. The door shuts before I can even get up from my kneeling position, footsteps trail away and I make myself flesh with the floor to see if I can recognize the shoes as they walk away. Through the gap between the floor in the door I can barely make out brown-heeled boots, they're familiar but not enough where I could conjure up a suspect.
All this time I hadn't made a sound and simply sat in the darkness. Maybe because I wasn't exactly surprised with the outcome of events. My back slid down against the door, bag between my legs as I hunted through it to call someone. When I found it at the bottom it was disabled for an hour.
'Wow, this person thought of everything.'
I couldn't even muster the energy to be super upset, the most I could manage was a tired sinking feeling. I let my eyes flutter shut for just a moment, the fatigue of the morning sinking into my bones and the hunger into the pit of my stomach.
It was a solid fifteen minutes before I could hear movement outside, speedy footsteps going back and forth. I turned sideways from where I was on the ground and started to bang on the door, balling my hand into a fist.
"Hey! Is anyone there?"
"Y/n?!"
"Ya, I'm locked in the props closet."
It took a few beats before the door swung up bathing the room with a warm light, my eyes squinted to adjust to the change. When they refocused a hand was held out in front of me. Adrien was looking down at me with mild concern, the stage lights behind him creating a halo around his body. I took a deep breath and let him pull me to my feet.
"How did you get yourself locked in here? None of my calls were going through to you."
"I don't know, I came in here because someone moved my bag. And when I bent down to grab it they locked me in."
Adrien's expression hardened, his gaze raked over me assessing me quickly.
"Do you have any idea who it was?"
"No idea. But whoever they are, they've been messing with me the whole production. And I'm starting to get really sick of it."
I bent down to pick up my things, collected everything in my bag, and started to put my coat on.
"I'm sorry we're going to be late for lunch now."
"It's fine. Unsurprisingly father canceled."
He sounded dejected, a ghost of a smile gracing his perfectly chiseled face. I hated it when he was upset, it made my stomach churn in an uncomfortable way that I couldn't quite place. My arm made its way to his bicep without me even thinking about the action.
"Why don't we pick up some food, and find a place to chill here?"
He perked up at this and nodded in agreement.
That's how we ended up sitting together in an empty opera box, high above the stage, gorging on sandwiches from a local cafe. Mine was something similar to a BLT with an overly fancy name, Adrien's was a pesto, mozzarella, tomato concoction. We sat on a plush red loveseat overlooking the grand theater.
"Whoever it was had to have malicious intent to disable your phone like that."
I nodded, swallowing the bite I was chewing.
"I caught the shoes they were wearing through the gap under the door, brown-heeled boots."
"Will confront whoever it is when they get back then."
"It's not worth it. The less drama before tonight's show the better."
The model stayed silent, eyesight trained on the stage with a look of disgust. I decided to pick a new topic.
"So why'd your dad cancel?"
"Some meeting he had to prepare for, not sure with who it was last minute though."
He pulled a tomato out of his sandwich and ate it in one bite.
"Guess he's missing out then. I'm assuming he's not coming to the show?"
"You'd be right."
"Poppy isn't either, I'm not even sure she'll make it in time for Christmas."
I shot him a comforting smile which he mirrored. Two kids lamenting about their lack of a family. A routine Adrien and I fell into comfortably many times in the past. The blonde broke the silence first.
"So you give any thought about the kiss?"
I pushed my sandwich to the side. Slumping down into the seat I kick my feet up to rest on the balcony ledge. A lazy grin pulled at my face.
"Careful Adrien all this talk and I might think you actually want to kiss me~"
He settled back so his arm was draped over the back of the seat, almost leaning over my slumped form.
"And what if I said I did?"
My eyes widened by a fraction, and the space between us seemed smaller than before. Our voices are barely above a whisper now.
"I'd be wondering why you haven't yet. You seem a little bolder than that."
"Maybe I was waiting for the right moment?"
The tension was becoming palpable once again, this time with a different guy. His face felt as though it was becoming closer by the second, barely illuminated by the light down below on the stage. I turned my head away from him, at the last second.
"Adrien I can't give you what you want-not like kissing I mean like an actual relationship-"
"Who said that's what I want?"
"Well I'm not really the hook-up type either-"
"Y/n you know I love to listen to your rambling, but please. Shut up."
With that, he brought his hand up to my chin and tilted it up so he could bring our lips together. I had a split second to breathe before we were kissing, slow and sweet. He was gentle and surprisingly patient, there wasn't that savage hunger that had come from Luka or Chat Noir.
'Dam three guys, I'm really getting around. Caleb is going to tear me a new one when I tell him.'
When we separate, he looks at me adoringly, his hand traveling down to rest on the side of my upper neck. I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off.
"I know about the other guys, I'm willing to wait it out even if you don't choose me. You don't have to freak out, I just want you to know how I feel."
I must have looked at him like a lunatic because he barked out a laugh, and I caught myself staring at how angelic he looked when he did. After a few seconds of this, I slapped his arm, sitting up straight in the seat.
"Stop it, how are you reading me so well? And how did you know about the other guys?"
"I'm observant like that, and you're not very mysterious."
That statement made me burst into a fit of chuckling, and the worst part was he didn't even understand the irony. His smirk widened a single blonde eyebrow shooting up.
"Oh, you find that funny?"
"Yes but seriously how did you know all that stuff? And how are you so chill with all of this? Also, how come you knew exactly what to sa-"
He forced me to stop in my tracks by drawing me in for a deeper kiss. My brain short-circuited as he pulled our bodies closer to one another. When he inevitably pulled away I decided to tease him a bit.
"Do you really need this much practice?"
He smiled down at me devilishly and I felt my heart suddenly skip a beat.
"I'll take any practice you're willing to give me."
We both were walking down the steps to the stage area when my phone was finally unlocked. I was bombarded by text messages from different people in the cast. So many that I paused on the steps and looked at Adrien.
"Somethings going on, let's hurry up."
He nodded in concern and we both picked up the pace. What we were met with when we made it back to the stage was what could only be described as utter chaos. People were sitting around in the seats and on the stage looking sad, some crying others on the phone. I sucked in a breath, my eyes sliding over to meet Adrien's.
I caught Aurore's arm. She was the closest to me and was practically in tears halfway through dialing a number on her phone.
"What's wrong? Is someone hurt?"
She sniffed and shook her head.
"It's the weather- they're calling for a blizzard for the whole weekend. Mr. Laurent canceled all of the other shows."
"Are you serious?!"
The blonde nodded grimly.
"I gotta go call my parents, I have family coming from out of town that I need to tell to turn around."
She took off backstage before I could make a move to console her, I felt my shoulders sag under the weight of the situation. All of the work we did the last few months went down the drain because of something we can't control. I felt like I wanted to scream, or throw something.
"I can't believe this is happening, it wasn't even snowing that hard when we picked up our food."
Adrien put a comforting hand on my shoulder, but the expression on his face gave away sheer disappointment. Alya and Marinette came up next to us both in similar forms of distress. Nino and Rose followed, the former offering her a crumpled tissue from his back pocket.
"W-Where's Mr. Laurent?"
"Don't know, he took off after making the announcement. Said he needed to make a few calls before we started the final dress rehearsal."
I rubbed my face tiredly, not even conjuring enough energy to cry. Unlike Rose.
"Is Louis with Mr. Laurent-"
I couldn't finish my question, the stage was suddenly engulfed in a mix of blue and purple smoke. I couldn't see two inches in front of me, my friends gone in a blink in the swirls of cool colors.
"Greetings Actors and Actresses, I am Drama Queen!"