Marinette sighed for what seemed to be the fiftieth time that day.
She was leaning over the glass counter, one of her cheeks being squished by her palm. The other hand toying with the hem of the white apron she was wearing. And a slight pout adding to the bored aura around her.
For the time being, she was helping an old friend of her mother's at a jewelry store. A brand jewelry store. She had the time, surprisingly, for a job. And some money of her own didn't sound bad on the slightest. While she didn't mind helping her parents at the bakery they insisted she should get a job to see how things went. An outside job. Not from the family.
It was pretty easy to be honest, she only had to stand there and wait for someone to walk inside, convince them to buy something, hand the product and receive the money. Not to complicated.
In comparison to the odyssey she had to go through in the bakery to prepare all the orders and hand them in time, making sure the products were edible and not mistaken when delivered, seemed to be pretty damn hard and exhausting. So if she were to compare that and standing for a few hours on the same place, giving some advice and receiving cash, she'd pick the latter.
Though the shop wasn't too far away from her house, she was already used to living literally on top of the bakery, and it became a task to picture the idea of having to walk to go to work.
The owner of the shop was an old gentle lady, freckled face, much like hers, and a patient ring to her voice. She had known her mother for ages and they were very comfortable around each other, so when she mentioned she needed help at her shop, Sabine offered to talk to Marinette about the job and promised to try and persuade her daughter.
And so she and her husband did. Getting the eighteen year old girl to get an 'outside job'.
So there she found herself at the moment. Leaning over the glass counter and staring at the necklaces that the glass separated her elbow from.
She used two fingers to open her purse, pushing the metal with her thumb and smiling down at Tikki when she saw the red kwami looking back at her with big round eyes.
Tikki offered her a reassuring smile and brought her little paw up in attempt to give her a thumbs up. Marinette smiled in turn, reaching down to pet the kwami's small head with two delicate fingers.
The endearing moment between the miraculous holder and the smaller ladybug goddess was shortly interrupted by the main entrance's bell ringing. Signaling that a customer had arrived and pulling Marinette out of her little world.
Her fingers left tikki's warm head, snapping shut her purse shakily and going up to tuck back a rebellious strand of hair in place.
She fixed the apron and pushed her body away from the counter, readying herself to greet the costumer and ask what it was that they were looking for.
"Salut Marinette"
The moment her eyes locked with the peculiar shade of emerald that she knew all too well her mind short-circuited and her heart stopped beating.
Adrien Agreste made his way towards the counter, walking as if he were on the usual cat walk, practically radiating.
His blond hair perfectly combed, and his clothes without a scratch or stain. He tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans and offered her a warm smile.
"W-what are you doing here?" Marinette blurted out narrowing her eyes disbelievingly at his presence.
He chuckled nervously at her reaction, put out of place by how he could make a blushing babbling mess out of her with just a greeting.
Her features rapidly changed and her eyes widened once she realized how rude that had sounded. She waved her hands in front of her face quickly dismissing her previous words in a tongue tangle.
Adrien leaned over the counter, letting the separation between them be the glass containing fancy accessories.
She retracted at the sudden closeness, almost jumping back when his face was merely inches away from hers and his intertwined hands were placed smoothly on top of the surface.
"I was on my way to your parents' bakery actually" He spoke softly answering her previous question.
The bluenette nodded her head in comprehension. "It's still open" She remarked cracking a smile and visibly relaxing. He could tell because she was not gripping her apron with the strength of the world anymore.
Marinette cleared her throat and internally pulled herself together. Standing straight and rubbing her hands together she reminded herself that she was still working and she had to keep her composure.
"So would you be interested in buying anything?" She asked him calmly with a different intonation that was not completely hers, showing around the place and naming the articles.
Before he could answer Marinette's question with a polite 'no' he was suddenly struck by a brilliant idea.
He pushed himself up with his elbows and stood up rightly, eyeballing the place for something in particular.
"Are you not going to ask why I was going to your parents' bakery?" he questioned, making his way to a shelf with purses and examining them before deciding to look elsewhere.
Marinette's dumbfounded expression made him wonder if he was being too pushy with her, perhaps by expecting a natural conversation with her?
He dismissed the thought but was quick to remember that even though they were friends as civilians they still had a hard time when talking. Which led to them not being able to know each other all that much.
"You are hungry and want croissants?" Marinette asked from her place in the counter making a simple guess. Successfully bringing Adrien's attention towards her and out of his mental equations.
He looked Marinette's way and pondered over the possibility of her exploding if he was too forward again. But if he played his cards right he might finally hit the jackpot with her. A smile curved his lips upwards as he settled for taking the risk.
"I wanted to see you" he commented simply as though not interested at all in the necklace he was eyeing just briefly.
"I kinda have something important to talk to you about" he approached the counter with a slow but sure kind of pace.
"Oh"
Came the girl's reply after a solid minute. Struggling to process the first thing he said and now running over the possibilities of why oh why he wanted to talk to her. He mentioned important, maybe-
"OH THIS." Marinette jumped at the sound of his voice and was startled when he suddenly let out a high pitched noise. Adrien pointed excitedly to an item on the side of the glass, accidentally smudging his fingerprint over it.
"You want this one?" She asked while noticing his outburst of emotion. He looked like a five year old being treated to ice cream, shifting from one side to another in anticipation as his face lit up.
"YES ITS PERFEC-" he began praising the necklace, coming to a stop when he realized he was making a scene.
He coughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, entirely hoping the redness of his cheeks would disappear.
She smiled fondly at the young man clearly trying to hide his excitement. Taking sympathy on him and relating a ton due to the terrible amount of times she felt like he was feeling she decided to change the subject.
"You like cats?" She asked referring to the cat pendant of the necklace he had picked.
"Yes" He answered wholeheartedly "but it's not for me." He said pointing to the product that she was wrapping in a soft looking paper.
She grinned at his clarification and tucked the wrapped necklace in a small bag with the brand's logo written on it elegantly.
As she was checking the price tag she was suddenly hit by a rather important question.
Who was Adrien going to give the necklace to?
And why did he have to talk to her?
Or two important questions.
Her eyes widened and she almost dropped the product when she read the amount of money he was going to pay for the necklace.
"It's going to be one thousand five hundred dollars" she swallowed hard and spoke firmly.
"Alright, here" he handed her his credit card, not even batting an eye at the awful amount of money.
She stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds before shaking her head and snapping back to run his credit card through the cashier.
The girl got lost in her thoughts again, wondering who the gorgeous necklace was for. It couldn't be for his father right? The man had money to buy himself things, and sadly his mother hadn't been found yet, Nino wasn't into cats and neither was Chloé if anything.
A knot formed in her throat when she realized he was probably going to gift that to a girl, since it was very expensive and the design while open to all, was meant to draw female attention.
He considered her a friend didn't he? Just like he did Nino and Alya.
Maybe he had news to tell them, that's why he said earlier that he had to talk to her about something important.
She handed him back the credit card once she was done and turned to grab the bag for his new girlfriend. The thought made her feel a painful pang in her heart as she clenched her teeth together to keep from asking him when he had hooked up with a girl.
"Here's your necklace, we hope you come back soon and enjoy our products as much as we do serving you." She recited in practiced and fake cheeriness, her voice cracking slightly and her eyes growing red and puffy.
What was she expecting? For someone as great as him to notice her? It was just a matter of time before he found someone as breathtaking and painfully kind as him. He wasn't going to wait around until she gathered the guts to tell him how she felt.
She was caught off guard when he took the necklace from the bag and started to undo the paper it was wrapped in.
"W-what are you doin-?" She was asking but was cut off by him.
"This has to do with what I want to talk to you about" He firmly stated, gazing right into her oceanic eyes with something Marinette couldn't quite comprehend.
"Ah right" she mumbled quietly while readying herself to hear the groundbreaking news. No matter how much it hurt she had to be happy for him and supportive, just as he possibly expected.
She unconsciously closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, Adrien took the chance and walked behind the counter where she was. When she reopened her eyes she was confused to see the spot he'd been standing at, now empty.
He heard her hum dumbfounded and decided to carry on with his plan. From behind her small form he placed the necklace delicately in the middle of Marinette's collarbones, the pendant making a beautiful contrast with the milky pale of her skin.
She gasped loudly when she saw the necklace going over her head and onto her neck, not quite processing the situation in her mind.
Her eyes widened when his hot breath came in contact with her ear and both his hands searched for her's in order to become intertwined.
"Black really does suit you my lady"