Adrien couldn't help but stand there and stare at the girl sitting on top of the wall surrounding the edge of his house. Not only had she scaled the wall but she did it in a skirt. She hopped down off the wall and calmly brushed off her plaid skirt and strode over giving them all a bright smile. "Sorry I'm late I got hungry and stopped to grab a snack."
She held up a box from the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. She greeted the scowling man in front of them with a kiss on the cheek standing on tip toe to do so. "Sorry Big Brother I know I said I would be on time but it took me longer then I thought to ditch my bodyguards and then I got hungry but I'm here know aren't I?"
Her brother a man in his mid twenties almost seven years older then her was a famous graphic designer who developed his own video games as well as did the graphics for many famous companies across the globe. His father had invited him to a business dinner at their house in hopes of getting him to agree to working on his newest project with him.
Gabriel Agreste wanted his talent for the design of promotions for his new fashion line. Just doing cover shots were no longer working they needed to up it by adding in graphic affects and working out advertisements that would appeal to the masses and his father wanted only the best to do it. When he discovered that the very man he wanted had a younger sister who had wanted to see the world he extended an invitation to them to come see Paris and offered only the best of the best to convince them.
Adrien had no idea still what had changed the mans mind since he had rejected the offer at first but seemingly had changed his mind later. The girl in question was currently grinning impishly up at her brother. "Ohh come on Kei stop scowling at me like that you know how I am and you knew I would lose them sooner or later." She laughs
Kei Kohiro was only the worlds most famous graphic designer and known to be almost as cold and strict as Adrien's own father except for one tiny thing. It wasn't a very well known fact but he had a major soft spot for his only sibling his seven years younger teenage sister whose name was different from his which was why not many realized they were siblings.
Having been a child still when their parents were killed in a car crash she had been placed in the care of friends of the family which lead to a name change. She unlike her brother didn't look Asian at all with long dirty blonde hair and hazel green eyes she looked much like her name suggested English. Her brother while tall had dark brown hair and dark colored eyes and had Asian features.
Jennifer was the opposite of her brother and having grown up outside his self made fortune was a free spirit who did all she could to break away from the restrictions he put in place to keep her safe. She had started her first day at Adrien's school that very day and had caused an uproar when she laughing vaulted over the railing and landed in the court yard just as her body guards arrived through the main doors. No one knew how she got into the school other then not through the front doors. A Senior to his Sophomore she wasn't in his grade but she didn't exactly give off the impression of mature responsible adult at 18 years of age.
She wore her usual school uniform from her school back home instead of casual clothes like everyone else. Mixed with her unusual entrance she had made quite the impression on everyone and had already earned the watchful eye of their principal. Turning to him and his father Jennifer gave them a bright smile and a slight bow out of politeness.
"I do apologize for my tardyness this city is so large and beautiful I got a tad bit lost." She smiles guilelessly making Adrien hold back a laugh he hadn't really gotten to know her yet but he liked her already. He had seen her go racing out of the school with her bodyguards chasing her and vaulting her way around the city streets jumping over parked cars, darting and diving her way through pedestrian foot traffic on the side walks and hitching rides many times unknown by the operator on the backs of vehicles.
Roger, Sabrina's father had yelled at her upon spying her siting on the back of a truck causing her to wave and yell back that she does it all the time and not to worry. Jennifer turned her attention back to her brother batting her eyes at him innocently. "Well shall we go in now that I am here?" She asks. He grumbled under his breath at her causing her to giggle as he apologized once more to them on his sisters behalf and for her behavior.
"She is a handful isn't she?" Gabriel comments as they moved inside to finally sit down for dinner. The two adults talked with each other while the teenagers followed the girl hanging back to strike up a conversation with Adrien. "Want some?" She offers up her now open box of goodies from the bakery as they walked. Adrien looked longingly at the goodies inside but shook his head spying Natalie's watchful eye on him. "I can't I'm on a strict diet." He answers mournfully.
"So am I but that doesn't stop me." She snags a cookie from the box biting into it with a sound of pure bliss. A look back at his sister had Kei sighing knowing her diet wasn't going to last long in this city not that it ever did. Gabriel and him continued to discuss their respective teenager with Gabriel practically bragging about how well behaved and obedient his son was; usually.
"Oh by the way Marinette says hi and made this for you." Jennifer reached into her box and pulled out an extra large fruit tart drizzled with chocolate." I told her I was going to your house for a business dinner and she asked if I could deliver this to you she was going to stop by later but since your father is holding a important business dinner she didn't want to interrupt and bother him so I'm playing delivery girl."
Adrien's face lit up at the site of the tart. It looked delicious and knowing his friend had made it special for him made it even better. Nino had said Marinette often made goodies special for her friends and gave them to them and he had witnessed it first hand when she gave Alya a box of handmade macaroons that Alya ended up sharing with Nino and him.
It looked like it was his turn now. "I'll have it later it looks too good to eat in a rush I want to savor it." He whispers to her eyeing Natalie out of the corner of one eye trying to figure out how he would get it past her. Jennifer broke out in a grin. "Not a problem." She slipped the tart back into the box and sealing it back up.
"I saw you at school this morning by the way hanging out with Marinette and two others are you guys dating?" Adrien looked at her startled. "No! I mean Marinette is a nice sweet girl and all but I like someone else. We're just friends." He denies in a hurry not wanting her to get the wrong idea. "I actually don't have many friends so what few I have I cherish to much to ruin it by dating." He admits his eyes downcast. Because of this he didn't see the sneaky suspicious smile the older girl gave him.
He winced as he felt a pinch in his side from Plagg who was hiding in his jacket again. He poked his Kwami to get him to knock it off not wanting to draw the girl's attention to much. Plagg swatted at Adrien's finger whispering that he wanted cheese to him. "I'll get it later." Adrien whispers to him fiercely. "Get what later?" Jennifer asks her hearing sharper then he thought. "The tart. I'll get it off you later and eat it." He rushes out to cover up his talking seemingly to himself.
She didn't look all that convinced by him. They were interrupted by his father though. "We have some time before dinner is ready Adrien why don't you show our guest around while we discuss our business further?" His father suggests with a calculating gleam in his eyes. A gleam he well recognized.
Adrien sighed knowing it was up to him to try and convince her to convince her brother to accept his father's proposal. "Come on we can go to my room and hang out." He suggests gesturing towards the stairs. He escorted her up and into his room quickly letting Plagg out to hide away somewhere while she wasn't looking to busy looking around his room to notice a small black blur.
"Cool room I like your library." She comments pointing up to his row of bookshelves. "Thanks it's one of the few perks of having Gabriel Agreste as your father." He says with a sigh collapsing onto his couch. The box containing his fruit tart being set in front of him perked him up from his depressing thoughts of trying to convince this girl to go along with his father's plans.
"I know what your thinking and don't bother I have no control over my brother's business decisions." She says getting right to the point surprising him. "How?" He tries to ask startled that she had picked up on what his father wanted right off the bat like that. "My brother is the same way as your father and frankly Gabriel Agreste seems like the kind of person to want to use me as a tool to get what he wants. It worked in getting us here after all."
"But your brother turned down my dad's offer." Adrien protests. "Yes but I over ruled him by saying I would call up your dad myself and accept the offer if he didn't reconsider. I'm tired of being coped up in Japan or England he always finds a way of leaving me behind on his over seas business trips." She grumbles slumping down beside him fishing out another cookie from the box.
"If you don't eat that tart I will." She throws in in-between bites of her cookie eyeing his tart in a way that had him quickly pulling it away from her warily guarding his food. He only relaxed when she continued to munch on her own cookie instead of stealing his tart which he took a bite of nearly moaning out loud at how good it was.
"Do me a favor and marry that girl." Jennifer murmurs taking a bite out of a macaroon. Adrien rolls his eyes at her having heard that line before from Alya and Nino whenever Marinette brought food to school which was often. They chatted about various things having a few things in common mainly their dislike of being restricted. Jennifer's mother before she passed had always given her freedom which was just like Adrien's mother in a lot of ways before she disappeared.
"Aunty Liz was always nice to me and let me do as I wished believing that I should learn about the world my own way and learn from my mistakes so living with my brother can be stifling at times with him and his whole 'I'm just trying to keep you safe' thing. "She grumbles earning Adrien's complete understanding. He actually spilled his own complaints about his father and all the restrictions he had to keep Adrien safe from harm which basically meant no having fun to her as they talked and laughed together.
They were in the middle of an all out battle of video games with Adrien just barely beating her arguing anime and manga favorites and what series was the best when Natalie knocked on the door to inform them diner was ready. This earned a groan from Jennifer. "But he's beating me I can't let him beat me Accalia will never let me live it down." "I imagine you two will have some time after dinner is over to continue your game but your brother and Mr. Agreste are calling for you two to come down now and you really shouldn't make them wait." Natalie says emtionlessly as per usual for her.
They paused their game and made their way down with Jennifer leaving her school bag in his room while they ate. They each greeted the adults with perfect smiles falling into their polite perfectly behaved roles expected of them Jennifer knowing just how far she could push her brother in front of others before going to far. It had been something they discussed while playing their game.
They had compared lives with each other with Adrien heavily editing what he did in his free time not mentioning his Chat Noir activities of course. He had learned she too had a small group of friends and could be rather socially awkward around strangers preferring to keep to her group. She had had a large group of friends back in England and had been perfectly settled in and happy until her brother had called for her to come home feeling he could better protect her and give her a life of luxury.
The move had been hard on her struggling to keep up with conversations in a language she hadn't spoken in years and following a new set of social rules and customs and struggling to make friends. She didn't look Asian despite being half Japanese so she didn't exactly fit in at her school the best of the best a top of the line school of course. It was only after she transferred to a elite private school after being bullied at the other school that she finally found a group of those who didn't exactly fit in in which to fit in herself.
They took their seats their plates already in front of them loaded with luxury foods. Adrien snitched the camembert cheese off his plate to feed to Plagg later not noticing when his dinner companion did the same with the fruits stealthily filling her pockets with bits of fruit. While conversation at the table was sparse and polite what little there was at first Adrien silently wished he had Plagg with him to distract him but he didn't want to draw attention to himself and there had been no chance for Plagg to hide in his jacket again.
Noticing that Jennifer was pushing aside her scallops and picking out her mushrooms from her salad he leaned over to whisper to her. "Don't you like those?" He asks her pointing to the food she was ignoring. "I'm allergic." She whispers in return offering him the cast aside food which he took. "Sorry didn't know." He offered her the fruit off his plate instead since hers was bare of it thinking she must have eaten it all.
"It's alright." They started up a soft conversation again as they traded food back and forth much to Natalie's disapproval of their sudden pickiness of eating but neither seemed to care and the adults were discussing business with each other while they ate ignoring the teenagers so long as they didn't do anything to embarrass them.
While they talked the two continued to slip food off their plates and into their pockets careful not drawing any attention to the fact. Adrien glad he was wearing strong cologne at his father's request to cover up the smell of the cheese. "By the way you mentioned someone named Accalia earlier who is that?" He asks curious. She hadn't mentioned there being an Accalia among her group of friends so it made him wonder about them.
"Accalia is a special close friend of mine she is almost always with me she was the one who gave me this." She tells him tapping a small metal disk that hung from a thin band around her neck like a choker with a charm. The bronze circle hung from the thin leather choker around her neck much like a collar tag. "Her name means she-wolf." Really? Cool I have someone like that too except he's kind of annoying in all honesty."
They exchanged little stories about their special friend with Adrien being careful not to let it slip about who Plagg was exactly. He was just telling her the story of how Plagg once got his head stuck in Chloe's bracelet not letting on it was a bracelet and his struggle to free him earning a laugh from the older girl. "It took cheese to free him? Cheese?!" She laughs drawing attention to them as they finished off what was on their plates. "And I thought Accalia getting chased around the block by a cat was bad."
"I'm happy to see that the two of you are getting along so well." Gabriel announces smoothly everything was going just as he had hoped he was making headway with Kei but the man was just as stubborn as his reputation spoke of. Even with the three year age difference between the two teenagers they were seemingly getting along.
He didn't care for the girl's brazen moves of rebellion against her brother who was in charge of her and she should rightly so listen to and obey him. But she knew what was expected of her and fell perfectly into that role when needed. While she may give Adrien ideas he didn't need about rebelling she was the key to getting what he wanted from her brother.
If Adrien got close to the girl then she would want to spend more time with him which would give him the opportunity to convince her brother to work with him on his newest project. She might just also convince him of doing it if things went even better then he could hope. She wasn't a stupid girl and was in fact very bright but she showed a stubborn streak just like her brother that would prove difficult to get past.
Dessert was served and conversation stopped long enough for them to eat it before the table was cleared and once more the teenagers retreated into the shelter and safety of Adrien's bedroom away from the adults where they could be themselves. He trusted Adrien just enough to not do anything foolish and ruin his chances with her brother.
Jennifer sighed in relief happy to be out from under that cold calculating gaze of Gabriel Agreste. Adrien and her returned to their game after carefully slipping their snitched treats out of their pockets without the other noticing. Tiny black paws grabbed the cheese from Adrien as little russet paws grabbed the fruit from Jennifer before darting back into her school back with a tiny growl.
Their game was resumed and the battle began again as they fought it out both determined to be the victor Adrien using his black cat character like he always did in games while Jennifer used a wolf like one. The female gave a defeated growl as Adrien trounced her at the game. "Fine you win this round but I'm winning the next one." With that she pulled out the newest game from her brother's company out of her bag and hooked it up. After a brief explanation about the game and how to play it they were off again.
Adrien using a humanoid black cat character this time while the girl used a humanoid wolf one as they raced through the dungeons defeating creature after creature that popped up before them trying to reach the very bottom of the dungeon where the door was to the next dungeon and level but first they had to get past the Boss monster.
"I win!" Jennifer sign songs happily as she defeated her third Boss on the third dungeon before he did having unleashed her special attack at the last minute and dropping the Bosses XP to zero. Her reward a new set of armor that boosted her strength and stamina. Adrien gave a groan of defeat flopping back in his chair a arm over his eyes. "I admit defeat. You are the champion at this game."
She laughs teasing him good naturedly about being new to this game compared to the one they played before. They were interrupted once more by a knock at the door. Natalie opened it to announce, "Miss James your brother is ready to leave now and request I come get you." "Aww already?Alright tell him I'll be right there." She responds with a sigh standing up to grab her bag.
"I'll get the game." Adrien says reaching for the game consul. "No it's okay you can keep it. I can get another one easy enough. Thanks for the great game by the way." They exited his room with Natalie behind them they chatted briefly about the games they had played exchanging complements about each other's knowledge and poweress at their respective games and offering up congrats on winning their game war.
"We should hang out again sometime so we can battle it out again next time I'll beat you at your game and who knows you might just beat me at mine." She teases with a wave dashing out the door to catch up with her brother who was no longer waiting for her having given up and started towards the gate.
Adrien waved back to her even though she was no longer paying attention. "You two seem to get along well." His father states not bothering to phrase it as a question. "I like her she's fun to hang out with and we have a few things in common. And she gave me a new video game." His father was no longer paying attention having gotten what he wanted acknowledgment that his son liked the girl enough to want to continue to see her and the knowledge that the girl had decided to come hang out with his son more which would bring her brother along with her.
Adrien sighed used to this from his father. He turned letting the door close behind him so he missed seeing the tiny russet colored wolf kwami fly out of the girls bag to perch on her shoulder munching on a strawberry as the girl caressed the kwami with a finger talking to it as she ran to catch up with her brother who was out of the gate by that point.