Day 6 | Jealous
Rated : T (Mild language)
Summary : Marinette realizes she can't shine like Adrien.
Marinette is not a jealous person.
She doesn't think she is. She is rational and understanding.
So she gets that Adrien has a lot of fans. She gets it. She was once one back when they were 14, she low key still is one, but she gets the admiration and love he inspires.
She gets that he's beyond gorgeous, he's a freaking model, and he has to come into contact with a good amount of equally beyond gorgeous people. She gets that they're older now and that what's expected of him has evolved into something a bit more mature and at times exposing. It's his job, she gets it.
She gets that he's famous and she has to share him with the world. It was something he was born into, something he feels guilty about, something she understands and assures him it's alright. She gets it.
She gets that she, still a struggling intern, will always be overshadowed by him in public. She understands that she's still seen as his attachment, even after 3 years, and she probably will always be the 'I don't know what he sees in her'. She gets it.
Now, what she doesn't get is the situation she finds herself in.
She's waiting for Adrien to finish up his shoot. She wasn't here for the shoot but she can only guess that intimates was the theme from the looks of it. As she waits she hears Adrien's laugh and her ears perk up. He must be near she thinks happily. All she wants to do is go home and throw herself on the couch, a bath sounds good too.
She frowns as she hears Adrien's laugh again and thinks that this boy better hurry it up if he wants to eat. They only have a few hours to be together before they have to repeat all of this again tomorrow, and she wants to just get home so she can enjoy him in the peace and privacy of their home. Also the bath is calling her name now.
The moment she sees Adrien coming out of his make-up room, her day has been made. No matter how long they've been seeing each other, he still manages to be the highlight of her day. So focused on Adrien, Marinette fails to notice the girl hanging on his arm until she actually hears her shrill laugh.
"Oh Adrien! You're so funny"
Her laugh is the highest shrill she's ever heard and it almost sounds unreal to be coming out of someone who is as equally attractive, and clinging on to her boyfriend, still partially naked.
Adrien, she notices, is stiff and uncomfortable and he laughs lightly again, his I-don't-know-how-to-deal-with-this laugh she frowns, and her mind flashes back to the many encounters he's had with Chloe. Her frown deepens and she sighs exasperatedly, why does Adrien have to be so nice? Adrien's gaze quickly finds her and he looks overjoyed at the sight of her that it makes her heart swell. Marinette smiles and think it's time for her to swoop and save her little Prince Charming.
She stops in front of where he and the other female model are lets greets him with a sweet "hey".
The blonde and still partially naked model, seriously go change, must have not heard her light greeting and if she did she completely ignores her and it's enough to irk Marinette. Adrien on the other hand, almost jumps on her, finally having an excuse to rip the model off his arm and hugs Marinette, quite tightly she might add.
"Babe, I missed you so much, ready to go?" He breathes out almost urgently and Marinette should have seen this as a sign to get out. But she doesn't and so she hears the nasally "who is she" come out of the model, and just keeps getting irked. Did she not hear him call her babe? Who does she think she is, his nanny?
"Excuse me?" Adrien sends her a cautious look that she can't really decipher and sighs again.
"Morgan, this is my girlfriend, Marinette. Marinette this is Morgan, I worked with her today, she just moved here." Adrien tries to introduce them politely, and he's trying to be nice. He's trying to avoid conflict, avoid problems, avoid
"Oh you weren't joking?"
That.
"No" He responds quickly. "We've been together for 3 years"
Marinette is trying her best not to let her face scrunch up like it wants to, this model still hasn't even glanced and her and she doesn't want her to think she's an absolute troll when she does decide to look at her. Instead she settles on looking over to Adrien, who is scratching his head nervously. It takes a minute, but Morgan does look over where Marinette is, still by Adrien's side, unimpressed and challenging.
"I don't see how; she looks like nothing special to me." Morgan walks closer to Adrien to wrap her arms around his neck as she continues. "Think about what I told you. Even the staff agrees that we would be great together, that's why they paired us up. One day with me and you'll forget about three years with her."
Marinette is frozen in shock and that's the only think keeping her from flinging this bitch over room with her petty ass self. She's right there! She's talking about and trying to basically seduce Adrien, while Marinette is right there! Marinette's blood is beyond boiling now, and if Adrien doesn't do something in the next second, blonde she-devil is going to get an ass whooping she will not forget.
Adrien has never been in this type of situation, but his limits are being passed and he wants nothing more than to let Marinette fight, he feels her ready to go next to him, but it's his mess and he doesn't want Marinette to get in trouble because of him. Carefully grasping her arms to unwrap off of him, her backs away again and goes for a stern look.
"Look Morgan, enough is enough. We worked together for this shoot, but I'm going to want to work with you again if you can't respect my girlfriend and I, and the fact that I'm happy in my relationship and that my personal life is none of your business."
Marinette lets out a deep breath in effort to gain control of her emotion and the ugly feeling settling in her stomach. This should be the end, it's done, time to go home. Adrien did a good job of handling the situation in a civilized manner, and she's ready to put this past her and head straight for the bath when they get home.
"No I cannot accept how someone like you settles for a nothing special like her. Look at us, Adrien, look how beautiful we are. She's not like us." Morgan turns again to Marinette, and Marinette decides she liked it better when she was being ignored. Morgan's eyes run critically over her and Marinette knows what she is doing. She's picking out all the flaws she sees. Marinette decides she doesn't need this, as she makes the mistake of looking at some of the pictures on the monitor. They are beautiful, and look great together, and she might be a bitch but she shines on camera. She shines just as much as Adrien does and Marinette realizes, with feeling in her gut consuming her, that she'll never shine. Not when she's just Marinette.
So she runs.
It's not one of her proudest moments, and she thinks that she probably proved that model right but if she doesn't run, she'll do something she'll regret. And as she's running, she realizes the feeling she had when looking at those pictures. She was jealous.
She wishes she could shine for Adrien. She wishes she could finally be something worth his time. She wishes he could go through the day without being questioned about why he settled with her. She doesn't even know why he settled when he could have any girl at his disposal. Prettier girls, smarter girls, funnier girls, gorgeous, sexy girls.
She's no longer running, but now wandering around the city until she stops at the sight of the bakery. Her heart jumps and in a flash she finds herself inside staring at her mom racing into her arms.
There's a comforting silence, her mother is not bombarding her with questions, and she needs it. They stay like that for a while until she pulls away and smiles at her mom.
"Are you alright Marinette?" Her mother asks her in a soft voice.
"I was just walking around to clear my head. I thought I'd stop by to see you and while I was here, pick up some croissants, no one makes them like papa. Where is he?" Marinette questions as she starts to pick some of Adrien's favorite pastries out as well as Tikki's favorite cookies.
"Oh, he's upstairs cooking for me tonight! Why don't you go up and say hi, you know he'll get pouty if you don't." Sabine laughs a bit, and Marinette's about to respond when the door chimes and she sees Adrien, who looks relieved to see her.
All of the sudden she feels to many things happening. She feels Adrien observing her, looking for signs of anger. She feels her mom searching for remnants of a fight, she feels the dark bubbling come back in her chest. She doesn't want them.
"Mrs. Sabine! How have you been?" Adrien asks while hugging Sabine, and the height difference had always been a comical cute to her, and it still is.
"Well, how about you, my sweet boy?" Sabine chuckles as she pats his arms affectionately. "Still modeling?"
There's a sharp silence as Adrien stiffens and he glances over to see Marinette also tense and Sabine has hit the nail with the hammer, she thinks.
Adrien is quick to recover as he laughs it off and jokes. "It's all I'm good for, you know it's pretty empty up here"
"Don't say that boy, you're both so talented. And you're more than just your handsome face Adrien, remember that." She pats his cheek and smiles. "But now since you're both here, why not stay for dinner? Marinette, I mean it, your father will get very huffy if you don't at least go and see him while you're here"
"Maman" Marinette groans playfully "You know we won't be able to leave after papa gets ahold of us!" Sabine just smiles at her daughter and starts to clean up.
"That's the point Marinette, and you better put that wallet away, you know I don't want you to pay me for food, you're my daughter. Adrien, my dear boy, haven't you two worked enough to today, you don't have to help me, you two go up and check on Tom!"
Sabine is trying to swat them away, but Adrien's already wiping down the tables and Marinette's sweeping so she just shakes her head. "Stubborn!" She smiles as she goes to the back to take care of the kitchen leaving them to work in silence.
Adrien's done cleaning the tables before Marinette so he stares at her while she finishes the last section. After she's done she makes her way over to the door and locks it officially closing the bakery. When she turns around to look at him, he can see she's lost she can see that she's nothing but worried.
She takes his hand and she squeezes it, hoping he'll understand that she's not mad at him. She doesn't think she can ever be mad at Adrien; he's never given her a reason to be. Adrien does understand, and he pulls her into a hug and holds her tightly, flush against him like he's been wanting to the whole day. He hopes that she understands that he needs her, and she's the world to him, and that he'd always fight for her.
Marinette kisses his cheek and pulls back first. "Let's go up before papa starts to accuse me of avoiding him." And she's tugging him along, and he can't help but to realize that she doesn't.
She doesn't understand what she is to him.
His heart has never hurt like this.
This is a two parter, the next prompt is dealing with jealous people, so it'll be the continuation of this piece. Enjoy!
Also, I'm loving the feedback, Thank you guys so much!
