Adrien loved being back in Paris. After years away, he had never realized until his return how much he missed the familiar sights, smells, and sounds of the city. He went on long walks whenever he could, relishing the feeling of home.
Of course, now that he was done with his studying, he needed to find a job to pay the bills. That was what today was for, he was going in for a job interview at a local university, hoping to snag a teaching position. Adrien practically vibrated with glee at the thought as he got dressed. Ever since he had been a kid, he had always adored the idea of going out into the world, doing what he pleased and making his own living, getting out from under his father's strict thumb. And now he was living out his fantasy. Or, at least, he hoped he would be able to make it on his own.
His father had done his best to keep him from pursuing his dream of music, specifically playing his favorite instrument, the saxophone. He had practically disowned his son when Adrien told him that he didn't want to pursue a career in modeling and later running the family business. But he had begrudgingly allowed him to go his own way, with scathing certainty that Adrien would eventually come crawling back, unable to support himself. Adrien was dying for a chance to prove him wrong.
Brushing his teeth, Adrien looked down to see his cat, Plagg, rubbing up against his legs and meowing loudly. After rinsing off his brush, he bent down and scratched the feline on the head.
"Don't worry buddy, I'll be sure to feed you before I go."
Adrien glanced at the clock and realized he only had five minutes to leave. Eyes widening, he choked on his mouthwash. He spit it out and quickly combed his hair. Rushing out of the bathroom he barely remembered to put food in his cat's bowl and had to backtrack to do so. Perfect, I am not going to be late to this interview. Grabbing his keys off the counter, he rushed out of his apartment. Once he was in his car, he checked the time again. One minute to spare. He breathed a sigh of relief.
…
Nervousness only really began to set in once he was in the waiting room at the university. He tapped his foot on the ground and hummed lightly under his breath. A few minutes passed before a distinguished looking, balding man with a gray beard came out of an office door. "Adrien Agreste?"
Adrien stood up and accepted the man's handshake. "Yes sir."
The older man smiled. "Leonard Matthews. Good to meet you."
"Likewise."
Adrien and Mr. Matthews stepped through the office door and Mr. Matthew shut the door behind him.
"You've made some impressive accomplishments for your young age. A doctorate, in fact. Very impressive."
Adrien did his best to control the flush blooming on his cheeks and kept himself from rubbing the back of his neck. Instead he answered in his steadiest voice possible. "Thank you, sir."
"You've got remarkable references, hard worker, responsible, confident…"
Adrien wasn't sure he would be able to suppress his blush this time.
Mr. Matthews looked up from some papers on his desk. "From looking at this, I'd say the university would be lucky to have you. Why do you want to work here?"
Adrien cleared his throat. "It was always the plan to teach one day. I decided to come back to Paris because it's where I was born and raised, and after looking into this university I was impressed by the facilities and the faculty you have here. I'd be privileged to be a part of such a fine institution, and I think I'd be an asset here."
"Well," the balding man stroked his beard, "from what I can see I'd agree with you. But I will need you to come in and play a piece for a panel of our faculty, including myself, so we can appraise your ability in front of us. We have a piece lined up- it's a piano and saxophone piece. We can give you about a month to practice it yourself and with the piano player."
Adrien nodded. "I'll see what times are available for a piano player I know. Her name's Chloe Bourgeois, I've known her since I was young. She's a very talented player-"
"Dr. Agreste, we already have a piano player that we'd like you to play with. She's also very talented, a member of our faculty. Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
Adrien winced internally. "Sir, if it would be alright, I would rather play with Ms. Bourgeois."
Mr. Matthew's smile tightened. "I insist, sir that you play with Ms. Dupain-Cheng."
"Would it at all be possible for me to play with my choice?"
"Sir, we would much rather you play with our selected pianist."
Adrien sighed in his head. "Alright. I'll be sure to arrange to practice with her."
Mr. Matthew nodded approvingly. "Here's Ms. Dupain-Cheng's contact information. I'll give her yours as well. And you two may use the university's practice rooms."
Adrien nodded and the two men quickly exchanged well-wishes and goodbyes.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien thought to himself. Just who are you?
…
Of course, Adrien looked her up on the university's website as soon as he got home. There was no way he was going to show up to their first practice blind.
His results did nothing to increase his confidence in her. Looking at her information, he was astonished by her age. She was just so young! Granted, that might have been a bit hypocritical, given that she was about same age as him and Chloe, but he knew himself and Chloe and he did not trust this woman. But, he resigned himself to the situation, knowing that Mr. Matthews wouldn't be happy if he pressed the issue further and that she at least couldn't be totally awful if she was part of the university's faculty.
His doubts remained.
He e-mailed the young woman that evening, and when she responded the next day they scheduled to meet two days from then, Thursday, in practice room three at 5:30. In the meantime, Adrien practiced his part on his own as often as he could, often only remembering to eat himself when Plagg would saunter into his room and wind through his legs, begging for food.
He could only hope that things would go well.
…
Adrien sighed loudly as he stepped into the building, heading to practice with the unfamiliar pianist. He may or may not having been sulking a bit that day, irritated by the fact that he was being forced to play with someone he didn't know himself. Let's just get this over with.
As he walked down the halls of the building, looking for practice room three, he heard piano music coming from the direction he was pretty sure he need to go in. Following the music, he eventually came to a stop outside of the door to the room he needed to be in. I guess she's already here, he thought.
Saxophone and music in one hand, he turned the handle on the door and stepped into the room. Looking in, he could see a figure sitting at the piano, playing. As he walked further in, he was able to get a good look at her face and…Wow. He could've sworn that just as the piece reached a crescendo his heart stopped beating.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was seriously beautiful. Sure, he had read her information on the university's site but there hadn't been a picture. She had gorgeous, captivating blue eyes, silky-looking dark hair, and the intensely focused look on her face combined with the slightest flush on her cheeks made her look brilliant. Were those freckles he saw splattered across her nose? Adorable.
Adrien wasn't sure how long he spent staring at her like an idiot, but he eventually realized that the piece was ending. Just as Marinette finished playing, he cleared his throat.
"Gah!" The young woman literally jumped in her seat at the interruption. She turned to look at him and the previous vibrancy in her manner was replaced by distant coolness. "Dr. Agreste, I presume?"
Adrien nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "And I assume you're Ms. Dupain-Cheng?"
She nodded politely, all while fixing him with a slight glare. Jeez. She's looking at me like I ran over her dog or something.
"Well," she turned back to her music, flipping the sheets back to the beginning. "I guess we better get to work. I hope you've been practicing, because we're hitting the ground running."
The edge in her voice made him gulp and he couldn't keep himself from muttering, "Yes, Ma'am." Seriously, Agreste? Yes, Ma'am? You are so fucking hopeless.
From there, the duo practiced over the course of the next two hours. Adrien occasionally tried to initiate conversation with Marinette, but she always brushed him off, speaking only the bare minimum.
As the two packed up and got ready to leave, Adrien commented on her skills with the piano. Marinette hummed in response, and then said, "Well, I'm sure I'm not as good as whoever you had in mind, but I do my best."
Shit. She must have heard about that. No wonder she hates me.
After a quick, "Goodnight, Dr. Agreste", she walked out the door, leaving him mentally facepalming himself. He continued to do this for the rest of the night. And the next day. And until Sunday, the next time they met up.
…
Their next four shared practices went about as well as the first. Musically, there was no denying that they were both very talented musicians, and they sounded well together from the start, but their interaction was kept cold and limited by Marinette. Adrien himself kept his distance after finding out why she was so irritated by him and just prayed for time to speed up and the actual performance to come sooner. Still, he couldn't stop himself from occasionally being distracted by the intense look Marinette would get on her face while she was playing, when she would totally lose herself to the music, be consumed by her playing. It was intoxicating. Unfortunately, this lack of attention would sometimes cause him to stumble and mess up, much to the young woman's annoyance, and Adrien really doubted it did much to increase her opinion of him.
It was only after their fifth practice that something changed. Marinette had left the room before he had, and as he came out into the lobby he saw her through the widows, standing under the building's overhang, looking out on the parking lot with distaste.
Adrien stepped out and realized then that it was pouring. It had been overcast for a couple days, and now the rain had finally come. He walked casually over to Marinette, who was biting her lip thoughtfully.
"Is something wrong, Ms. Dupain-Cheng?" The young woman's eyes widened and she spun around to look at him.
"Oh, it's you," Marinette's voice was cool, as usual. "Nothing much, except that it's raining cats and dogs, I planned to walk but forgot my umbrella, and my phone's dead so I can't call my friend to see if she could pick me up."
"…Oh." Oh? Is that all you've got, Agreste? "Well, I've got an umbrella in my bag. I could lend it to you so you can walk home."
"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly impose like that-"
"I insist. I was just going to take an Uber or something anyway, you need it more than I do."
Marinette chewed her lip again and Adrien wondered if it was a nervous tick of hers. Finally, she nodded and the man gave an internal sigh of relief. He rummaged through his bag for a second before fishing out the much needed umbrella and holding it out to her. She took it, and Adrien's brain nearly short-circuited at the warmth of her fingers brushing against his.
"Thank you, Dr. Agreste."
"Adrien."
"What?"
"You can…You can call me Adrien." At her blank stare, he was sure he'd made a terrible mistake, until she gave him a small smile, cheeks flushing (from the cold, he was certain).
"Okay, Adrien. You can call me Marinette."
The pair stood under the overhang for a few seconds, eyes roaming over each other's faces as if they were meeting for the first time again. Then the umbrella closed over Marinette.
Adrien gasped in shock while he heard a muffled "Eep!" come from the young woman. After a little bit of fumbling around and awkward attempts to help made by Adrien, she finally peeked out, and his breath got caught in his throat. He was intensely aware of how close they were, and how radiant the blush on her cheeks made her look…He eventually noticed how that flush was spreading and realized he had been staring. He hastily backed away and the two did their best not to look at each other as Marinette opened the umbrella up again.
This entire situation is ridiculous, Adrien thought. Stuck in the rain, with a girl who hates me because I wanted to play with friend of mine instead of her for a job interview, and she just got trapped by my umbrella… The sheer outlandishness was enough to make Adrien burst out laughing, practically in tears because of it. He heard Marinette join in, with a laugh that was smooth and clear as a bell and holy shit can we start acting like normal people now?
When the two finally calmed down and got their breath back, Adrien held out his hand to Marinette. "Hi, I'm Adrien Agreste. I know we got off to a rocky start, and I'm sorry for what I said, but I think you're a really fucking amazing piano player and I want to make it up to you."
The young woman smiled and shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I'm sorry about being such a jerk about the whole thing. I think I really misjudged you. And you're a pretty good saxophone player yourself."
The two smiled for each other for a few more moments before Marinette awkwardly waved at him and started walking away. "I'll see you this Thursday, thanks for the save!"
Adrien nodded, grinning. "No problem. Looking forward to it!" He really was.
He watched Marinette until she disappeared around a corner, surprised that his heart hadn't beat out of his chest.
…
Their next three practices went decidedly better than all the previous. Their playing was even better together than before, blending together smoothly and seamlessly until one could hardly be separated from the other. Not only did that improve, Adrien learned more about his partner (he finally allowed himself to call her that in his head) in those few practices than he had over the course of their first five.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the daughter of bakers. She had always dreamt of being a professional piano player, ever since she was a small child. She lived in an apartment not far from the university, alone aside from a cream-colored stray cat that came up the fire escape every so often for food and Marinette had affectionately dubbed "Tikki". She hoped to eventually get the cat actually in the apartment so she could adopt her and make sure she was spayed. Her favorite food was macarons, unsurprising given the family profession, and the one place she had always been dying to visit was China, where she had relatives.
The most unexpected thing that came with the new found acquaintanceship was how easily they fell into light teasing and banter. He would joke about her insatiable sweet tooth, she began to call him "pretty boy" after finding out he used to be a model, and it was almost too much for his poor heart to handle.
"I hope things go as well as they did in here today tomorrow," Marinette commented as they got ready to leave the practice room for the final time.
Adrien waggled his eyebrows playfully. "Well, with you on the piano, I'm sure there's note a chance we'll fall flat."
Marinette groaned and smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "God, I regret becoming your friend already."
"Ah ah ah, you can't get rid of this stray that easily." The two brushed shoulders as they walked through the halls and out of the lobby, and as they stepped out to under the overhang, both gazed back at the building. In a short amount of time, they'd fallen into an easy routine, and now there was the dreadful feeling that something was coming to an end. As Adrien snuck a glance at Marinette, who had nearly made him faint when she walked in wearing a baggy sweatshirt and hair in a messy bun, he hoped that it would also be the start of something new.
…
Adrien was sure to arrive early the next day, not wanting to almost be late again. He sat outside the designated room with his saxophone and music on the ground next to him, dressed up in his suit and playing with his tie. Right on time, Marinette arrived, and the strange combination of his nervousness and seeing her in her beautiful, modest blue dress made his stomach do somersaults. She smiled at him brightly.
"See you clean up nicely, pretty boy."
Adrien flushed. "S-same to you, Marinette."
They talked for a while before a stranger emerged from the room and called them in. Marinette put a hand briefly on Adrien's shoulder and squeezed it lightly before entering, and after sucking in a deep breath he did the same.
The duo made their way up to the small stage, bowing before readying themselves to play. Mr. Matthews sat in the front row of seats with five other judges and motioned them to begin. Adrien caught Marinette's eyes briefly, before turning back to the audience as she began to play. The notes rang out clearly, even more beautiful in an actual concert hall than in their small practice room, and Adrien quickly fell into the familiarity of playing with her, making it seem like instead of being in front of a panel of judges that would be deciding whether or not he got a job, he was alone with Marinette again, goofing off and doing what they both loved. After about a minute, he joined in, the sound of his saxophone swelling and dancing with the piano. It was a softer, slower piece in the first movement, but passionately intense at the same time. In the second movement, things came to a head, fast and loud, and Adrien was consumed with single-minded focus for the music, and conveying the deep emotion in it. He could feel Marinette doing the same, their two instruments twining together as they reached the climax of the piece. With a final, ear-deafening finish, the two bowed to the panel who applauded.
Mr. Matthews stood up and walked on stage to shake Adrien's hand. "Dr. Agreste, that was a marvelous performance. Congratulations. And congratulations to you as well, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, impressive as always." After a few more congratulations from the other judges, the duo exited the concert hall. They stood outside in silence for about a minute while Adrien was uncertain of what to say. Now or never.
"Well," he coughed. "That went well."
Marinette hummed, and Adrien saw in her face an unsureness of what to say herself.
"Now that it's over, I won't have an excuse to see your lovely face every few days, Princess," he continued.
She chuckled at the new nickname. "Maybe we should do something about that."
"I think we should. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you do this lowly fellow the honor of going out for a coffee sometime?"
"Are you asking me out on a date, Agreste?" her voice sounded confident but she wore a blush matching his own.
Adrien smirked. "I am, My Lady. Do you accept?"
"I do," she replied, snorting as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it dramatically.
"It is with great displeasure that I part with you, but alas, I must. Text me Princess."
Adrien felt as though he might burst as he walked away, having to consciously restrain himself from screaming in glee. Oh yes, this was the start of something amazing.