It's ok Marinette its just an interview for an internship… an interview with Gabriel Agreste… King of fashion… an interview that may impact my entire future… I'm going to die." Marinette was pacing around in the empty lobby of Agreste fashion; all other applicants had already entered and left, except the person in there presently. "I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to-"
Suddenly two comforting arms worked their way around Marinette's neck; causing her to freeze in place and making her face heat up. "Oh give it Agreste my lady, mew got this."
Gaining her bearings and snark back she shrugged off the boy's arms before turning around to look at the model. "It's bad enough that I had to deal with your horrible puns as Chat but now I have to deal with them from you too?"
Adrien Agreste, model for all 19 years of his life and Chat noir for 3. "Me-owch my lady you wound me." He playfully held a hand over his chest. "But fur real, you shouldn't be so stressed, your purrtfolio is amazing. Plus I bet the hot model modeling your clothes will give you some extra points." Adrien wiggled his eyebrows at Marinette
"Stop it with the cat puns or I'm never speaking to you again." Marinette leaned up and flicked Adrien's forehead, causing him to wince slightly.
"What? It's not like I get to be Chat much anymore to use them as I usually do. I don't think I've transformed in… 4 months? Mew-I mean, You haven't in 6." Marinette rolled her eyes.
"What's wrong kitty? Did you actually enjoy the entire city being terrorized by Hawkmoth just so you could use your awful puns?" She teased, falling back into their usual rut of banter, helping Marinette relax, something she actually appreciated the silly cat for.
After Hawkmoth's strange disappearance, Marinette and Adrien went back to their normal lives, which though dull in comparison to their superhero lives, was still somehow overwhelmingly stressful at times. Marinette dove into fashion, excelling as far as self-teaching could go before looking for extra learning. Adrien dove into schooling and Modeling, actually starting to develop a liking to it after his father started letting him pick what to model, taking his personal tastes into account and starting to design clothes around his style.
"Of course I don't want the city to be terrorized by Hawkmoth…But I do kind of miss being the hero, I also kind I miss spending time with you. Listen, we didn't get a chance to really talk much after we re-"
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng" Spoke Nathalie with a bemused smirk that quickly turned downward into a false stern face. It was only then that Marinette realized how close she was to Adrien, she promptly stepped back with a light pink in her face that turned to a full on red as she realized both Nathalie and Gabriel could easily see how close they were.
Adrien's face was also tinted a light red as he stepped away to let Marinette conduct her interview in peace. "Hey text me later ok?" Marinette gave a small nod before entering Mr. Agreste's office, accompanied by Nathalie.
"Miss Dupain-Cheng? It is a pleasure to meet you. Please take a seat." Gabriel gave Marinette a small smile and offered her a handshake and a soft chair, both of which she accepted with a polite bow of her head.
"Th-Thank you very much - I-I mean Mr. Agreste." Marinette felt like dying then and there but kept a small, somewhat wavering smile up.
"You know my son well?" Gabriel picked up Marinette's portfolio and thumbed through it looking at the photos and drawings as he waited for a reply.
"W-Well no… I-I mean yea I know him and we go to the same school and we've been good friends for a while but I mean I wouldn't say I really know him. Does anyone really know anyone 'well'? I'd say not. … We're friends." Marinette finished with a breathy sigh.
"Hmm I like your work. Who is this you're modeling on? The face is cropped out but they're modeling fairly well, reminds me of Adrien slightly, bit more moxy than Adrien usually uses in front of the camera though." Gabriel gently plucked out a tuxedo photo that Marinette had borrowed chat to use as a model for, and placed it in front of her.
"Uh…Chat Noir." Shit did she just say that out loud? Better than saying Adrien but still not the first person she should've said
Gabriel's eyes widened slightly. "You got a retired superhero to model for you? You must have some nice connections… Well let me put it bluntly Ms. Dupain-Cheng, you've got talent, you are a very good designer and I recognize you're earlier work from the hat competition I had a while back." Marinette's face was widening with a grin with every word.
"But," Marinette's smile froze and her eyes widened in slight horror "you're unrefined which I expect from young designers. You need practice seeing modeling in work and some pieces in person where you can speak with other designers. You are going to be a personal assistant to my son much like Nathalie is to me and you're going to work very closely and listen to other designers. That is all. You may go home for the rest of the day, come back tomorrow. We will provide lunch as well as a notepad and pencils. I might check in from time to time to see how you are progressing." Gabriel closed the portfolio, filed it away, and stood up with a small twinkle in his eye as he watched Marinette hesitantly stand and walk out.
"Sir did you do that just to tease the kids? It's obvious they're nuts about each other." Nathalie rolled her eyes and spoke casually to her boss.
"I absolutely did not Nathalie and I resent your implications." Despite saying so, Gabriel gave his assistant a slight wink. "Make sure Adrien is ready to model swimsuits tomorrow and inform him that he has a personal assistant to shadow him…. Leave out the name though. It'll be more fun that way."
"Sir you are too cruel…" Nathalie began jotting down some notes before walking out of the office to speak with Adrien.