A/N: With the tumblr purge and what not, I've been persuaded that it's okay to transfer my 'not worthy' stories to archiving sites. This hurts me, but it's also a good exercise on not being a perfectionist and letting others see that.
This was posted Aug 2017, un-betaed.
Over the fierce hangover, Adrien catches whispers and giggles, but this is not abnormal when he usually enters the building.
Last night, the Gabriel brand had an end-of-project party to celebrate their new Miraculous fashion line. A new team of designers and marketers joined the company for the project and their work was phenomenal. They committed hours of labor that was well deserved for a celebratory break. Adrien remembers next to nothing of the affair. Which he assumes should be a bad sign, but his heart was so devastated that he refused to consider the events.
Nino Lahiffe, his best friend and stage manager, is leaning against the door frame of his office. His head and right foot bounces to a beat in his headphones, brows furrowed and shoulders tense. His hair is a mess of ruffled locks, like his fingers ran through them habitually today. He runs his hand through his hair before spotting Adrien.
"Hey, Nino." Adrien mumbles. Nino shuffles to the side as he walks through the door, past his desk, and slumps into his chair.
Nino lowers his headphones and greets, "Hey! Wasn't sure I'd see you, buddy. You didn't answer my texts. You doing alright?"
"Nothing traumatizing. I managed to wake up only 3 hours late. I drank us out of a few thousand, huh?"
"Man, I knew you have balls of steel but, hell, I would be holed up in the Alps for weeks after the show you pulled."
Adrien squints and tips his head. "Show? Did we have an impromptu runway walk?" Considering his reasons for getting drunk, he wouldn't be surprised if he did a show to boost his self-esteem.
"If that is new runway choreography, people will storm our venues like another French Revolution. I didn't know you're such a great dancer. For a minute, I thought I turned the other team." Nino laughs.
"I-What? I'm not following."
Nino's fingers twitched to a beat on his forearms, matching earlier motions. "Dude…please tell me you remember something about last night."
"I remember entering the party, waiting for Marinette, seeing her walk in with...well, and then deciding to improve my knowledge of our available alcohol stores. Not much after that." Adrien admitted. Nino stares in his eyes with an impression of viewing the beginning of the end of a friend's life. Adrien's instincts are alert in that moment. "If you had to rate it from 'Luke kisses his sister' to 'Red Wedding'..?"
"Let's say you have inspired material for many future rom-coms. Raunchy rom-coms." Nino emphasizes.
Adrien sighs in frustration. "Show me."
"I think it's funny that you would assume I documented it." Adrien stares blandly in return. "Otherwise you would be wrong for the first time in your life."
Nino takes no time to pull out his mobile and swipes into his media. He walks around the desk and places the phone in front of Adrien-the screen shows a video file waiting to be played.
"It's so bad that you knew to take a video. Not a brief moment of ridicule, but a definitive flick of humiliation." Adrien considers the screen a moment. "I'm scared to press it."
Nino looks sympathetic and presses the button. The screen shows the runway stage, a long strip of white that ends in a rectangular arch. Adrien can see himself with a vaguely familiar male, standing on the stage edge and gesturing at the crowd. The audio is jumbled by the voices surrounding the camera during the video but someone is walking towards the stage.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng walks to the edge with a bemused smile and a pink face. Adrien and the male on stage reach out simultaneously to pull her up. Adrien's face glowers at the other man's gesture but then looks at Marinette with the most besotted and forlorn face, as if he never gazed upon a female face in his life. He lifts her hand to kiss it when she is standing on stage.
The video is not past fifteen seconds and Adrien is mortified. Marinette joined the Miraculous line three months ago as the head designer and Adrien could not have fallen harder for a woman. Not only is she gorgeous, but she is talented, dependable, a quick thinker, and has the most attractive stubborn personality he has ever faced. Though they interact during fittings and photo shoots, Adrien never found the time to approach her beyond professionalism between all their work. This party was his opportunity to do something, to make an impression on her.
Two chairs pass amongst the crowd on the camera and placed on stage for Marinette to sit. The men make another gesture to the crowd and another female walks up to the stage. Adrien recognizes her as Chloe Bourgeois, part of the marketing team that always finds an excuse to be part of on-site projects. The other man pulls her up stage, stares at her like he caught the biggest fish of the day, and Chloe sits in the other chair.
The camera moves closer and the crowd falls to a hush as Adrien begins to speak, "This is not just a dance between mere men!" His voice carries through the room and his words barely slurr. "This is a battle of love. And I have a lot of love to give."
Adrien realizes if he were not winking at Marinette, this sounds like a gay outing. The Adrien on stage points his finger to the right and a blare of music begins.
Adrien recognizes the song immediately and his Ipod must be hooked up to the sound system. It's "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summers, and Adrien could not be more horrified. His face flashes hot.
The next four minutes are the longest of his life. The first seconds consist of innocent dancing, he is proud of his hip-hop style of improv choreography, but it is fast apparent that he is not dancing to win but to impress. He is running his hands down his white dress shirt, he is caressing Marinette's shoulders whenever he passes, and—most importantly— pumping out his hips every time "Hot Stuff" is played on the track. The other man is giving as much as Adrien, his moves are pretty good, but it is hard not to pause and notice the flamboyant fervor being thrown by Adrien.
When the guitar solo hits, Adrien straddles over Marinette's chair and leans over with his face next to hers. The camera catches a clear view of Adrien's hips rolling to the beat suggestively. Marinette's face is flushed red and she waves to the crowd, laughing at his antics. She turns her head, like she is listening to him speak, and raises her hand to her mouth and her eyes are shining.
Adrien is backing away from the chair, bouncing on his heels to the beat, and reaches to the buttons of his shirt. Of course, the shirt is removed and lassoed until it is thrown into the crowd, where people are cheering on his antics. There is some sounds of women tittering and running in the direction of the shirt.
The song ends with Adrien twirling on his knees and crouched before Marinette. The other man is in a similar position before Chloe. Adrien's lips are moving but the video does not catch it as there is insistent whispering behind the camera and Nino's voice says, "Alright, shows over buddy!" and the video stops.
Adrien sits with his elbows on the desk and his head leaning into his hands, trying to hide his mortification. He threw himself at her. He didn't walk up to her with respect and grace like he planned, he announced it to the world like some impulsive tomcat. What could she think of him?
"Where was my father in all of this?" Adrien says glumly.
"Well, and don't get too impressed, I had a feeling what was about to go down and left someone outside to wait for him to arrive. I pulled you out of that joint as soon as I got word. I'm assuming no one mentioned it to him."
Adrien grumbles incoherently, considering that the only good news next to ruining all his chances with Marinette and losing some of the respect of his coworkers.
"Anything else I've forgotten?" Adrien braces himself.
"Well," Nino leans forward and swipes his phone, "I have some of the before-the-incident pictures. Here is you getting drunk. Here is you being passive-aggressive with— and I'm quoting you— 'the man who stole your love'. Here is you challenging him to a dance-off. Then here is you crying in the cab, telling me how you'll never feel anything ever again."
Adrien groans and begins to stand. "This is horrible. Yes, I should have gone to the Alps. I shouldn't be here. I should leave right now."
"Aw, man, come on—"
There is a body at the doorway and Adrien jerks his head up before he can collide with them. Marinette stares at Adrien with a shy smile and a hand ruffling the back of her hair.
"Hi, Adrien" She started.
"Um, hello." Adrien stumbles. His face is still hot, his memories too fresh of the incident. Marinette is looking at him intently and suddenly covers her mouth and smiles at a corner of the room. Marinette can't stand to look at him.
"Do you have a moment?" She turns back to him.
Adrien looks back but Nino is already running out the door, giving a good luck signal. Adrien gestures Marinette to enter his office and closes the door. They stand in silence and Adrien's complexion tempers down as he prepares for a telling off.
"Look, um, I'm not sure if you're interested, or maybe it was some inside model joke or maybe Alya put you up to it and she already talked to you, but—" Marinette is stumbling over her words struggling to keep direct eye contact with Adrien. "I have the results for last night."
"The…results?"
"Yes. It was unanimous and I'm here to return a message."
"Yes, of course? What message would that be?"
Marinette blushes and ducks her head. The pink hue on her cheeks always entices Adrien to kiss her senseless.
"You asked that if you win the dance competition, that I repeat something to you today. Not that you needed to win to ask." Adrien almost doesn't catch the last sentence and his stomach flutters, waiting. "'Will you go on a date with me?'"
"You want to go on a date. With me?" Adrien asks astonished. Marinette laughs.
"Yeah. Yes, I do." Marinette declares, smiling at him with confidence. Adrien is unable to resist and smiles back. "To be clear, I am also repeating the message of you indirectly asking me first."
"But yesterday, I thought…you walked in with a guy."
"Yes? I brought my friend Kim, who was hired last minute for the upcoming show and brought him to introduce to the gang." She leans in to whisper, "He's in love with Chloe, if you couldn't tell."
Adrien remembers why the man in the video looked familiar and why he glowered at him for half the video. He walked in with Marinette, acting familiar, and Adrien made fast assumptions and pouted at the bar for the rest of the night. Well, most of the night.
"Wow. I'm the biggest idiot."
"They say there is a first for everything, when you're in love. " Marinette teased and poked at his chest. Adrien flushes once again.
"Wha-what—"
"I'm not sure if you remember, but you whispered a lot of things to me last night. How I'm gorgeous, you think my laugh is lyrical, and then there was the 'I think I'm in love with you' a few dozen times. Also a lot of bad pick-up lines. "
"Please Mari—" Marinette presses a finger to his mouth to silence him.
"Trust me, Agreste, every word you said to me could have come out of my mouth and been just as true."
Adrien is breathless and cannot bottle his wide grin in response. He stares at her in wonder and grabs her hand to entwine their fingers. Their foreheads lean forward and touch; they begin to chuckle at the inane moment.
Adrien looks down at Marinette's mouth and glances at her expression before being encouraged to lean forward.
"That includes the words you said to me that are not to be repeated outside a bedroom." Marinette whispers in a laugh before they are kissing and Adrien knows she is worth more than a million embarrassing moment.