Over 8,000 words! How did it get this long?! This was meant to be filler and shorter than the laster chapter! ERGH!
Okay, this chapter is sorta filler, and was going to be shorter than the last chapter but I got so caught up in it that I wrote longer than I planned. Plus it helps set up the mood. Thanks for all the reviews, they really make me focus on this fic (that and my obsession with this show coming in next month in the US). Anyway, sorry this took longer than expected, finals at my art college are coming up plus Thanksgiving break is in a few weeks and I've been prioritizing this fic over my school work. Anyway, let us get on with the show.
Chapter 3: Popularity
Much like Adrien's first day, it didn't take long for Hector Boucher to become an instant school celebrity. When class ended, every girl in class swarmed him. And once he exited the classroom, the entire female population surrounded him, asking who he is, what year was he in and if he have a girlfriend. Chloe, of course, had her arms wrapped around him and offered to escort him across the campus, stating how she would 'personally' give him a tour of their school.
Alya and Marinette were the only girls that stayed back as the sea of females followed the transfer student out into the campus. Alya snickered, "Wow, that sure didn't take long."
"What? The fact that the guy attracted more girls than honey with flies," asked Nino, "Or that fact that Chloe got her claws in him before any other girl did?"
"Both!" the blogger answered, slinging her backpack over her shoulders, "But you've got to admit, he's one hell of a looker. Might give you a run for your money, model boy?"
Adrien rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. His status as a model and son of the famed Gabriel Agreste had gotten him many admirers, both in and out of school. Just like his first day, he was approached by multiple girls, all fans of either his or his father's work, so he sympathize with Hector. Honestly, he really didn't care about popularity or how many fans he had, all he really wanted was friends, his dad's acknowledgement and the love of his Lady, but he could wait for that last part. He quickly packed up his stuff and left the room with Nino, both making their way towards next period class. Hector Boucher seemed like a nice person and he hoped that they could get to be friends before he leaves.
"What about, Mari?" asked Alya as she and her designer friend walk out the room and towards their next class, "Your thoughts on our new Swiss student?"
Marinette smile, but couldn't shake that crawling sensation she felt when he walked passed her, "He seems nice."
"Just nice?" teased Alya, "Nothing else?"
"I don't know him, Alya," replied Marinette, "I mean, sure he's really gorgeous and he was friendly at the beginning but it's not like I know him on first glance."
"Well you sure were different when Adrien transfer in," Alya smirked.
The young designer's face turned bright red. True, when Adrien first entered their class last autumn, Marinette felt head-over-heels in love and that love steadily grew as time pass and she got to know him more. He was just so perfect: handsome and kind-hearted, son of one of her idols, he was a shining star that she looked up to every night. Weird and somewhat obsessive, but she couldn't help how fast her heart beats when he's near or how she stutters when he looks in her direction.
Hector Boucher may be handsome and elite, but her heart would steadfastly remain to Adrien. "Come one," blushed Marinette, hooking her arm around Alya's arm, "We're going to be late for Calculus II."
"Please, Chloe, you've done so much," said Hector, his arm still ensnared by Chloe's hands, her fingers firmly wrapped around his bicep, "I shouldn't intrude."
Chloe laughed, "Oh it's fine! Sabrina doesn't mind," she turned to her redheaded assistant', "Leave!"
Sabrina squeaked but meekly obeyed and moved towards the back, allowing Hector to take her seat next to Chloe. Other females tried to find seats closest to the new boy, but only Rose and Juleka could claim the tablet behind them while Adrien and Nino had the table next to them. Discouraged, the rest of the girls made their way towards their own seats just as Alya, Marinette and their instructor entered the doorway.
Hector didn't disappoint his instructor with his intelligence. His La Rosey education was top-notch, getting every equation correct on the first try, making his popularity rise by each problem asked. His voice was melodic, having every female hung on his every word, shushing anyone that tried to raise their own voice. Despite his perfection, Marinette was more focused on the Sleeping Beauties case. During the lesson, Marinette had tried to go over her notes on the victims. So far, she only managed to make a link with Caitlyn and Barbara, seeing as they were both students at the same school with similar personalities.
'But what about the other girls?' she thought, chewing on her pencil's eraser, 'How did he go from one girl to the next? Was it random? Or did the victims know each other? Frequent the same clubs or went on similar dates? How did he get these girls alone to drain out their energy?'
"Miss Dupain-Cheng!" barked the Calculus II instructor, "Would you get your head out of the clouds to answer the question?"
Marinette let out a tiny squeak as she was snapped back to reality. Her ears burned as she heard her classmates snicker all around her. She stuttered with an answer before Hector saved her by answering the question, then asking a question of his own. Thankfully, the instructor took his attention off Marinette and back onto Hector, the two animatedly talking about parametric equations and curves. Marinate quickly slid down in her seat, shuffling the notes she had on the case back into her bag. She decided to put the case away while in school, just to avoid another humiliating scene like that.
"You're so incredible, Hector," purred Chloe, battling her eyes at him.
Hector flashed his Hollywood smile, "Thank you, Chloe. That's so flattering coming from a sweet girl such as yourself."
Alya struggled to keep in a laugh at Hector's naiveté while Marinette wanted to gag. Hector wasn't yet exposed to Chloe's true nature, thought that bit with Sabrina should have tipped him off. Chloe took this compliment in full and attempted to snuggle up to him, continuous flirting with him and bragging about her status as the mayor's daughter. Nino snickered underneath his breath while nudging at Adrien, who looked uncomfortable with Chloe blatant display of affection. Whether Hector liked the attention or tolerated it was anyone's guess, he kept a stoic but serene face on that made it hard to decipher. Hector's fan girls, the ones that were in the class, glared daggers at Chloe but didn't say anything due to her influence.
The rest of the day went about the same as in class: Hector showcasing his brilliance, Chloe shamelessly flirting with him, girls flocking to him whenever Chloe wasn't around, repeat. Marinette sighed in relief once the school day concluded and everyone started leaving the grounds. Marinate already made plans to visit the other victims' schoolmates and friends to see what they saw or if they notice anything different. Alya waited for the bluenette near the door, making small talk with Hector, ignoring the glaring Chloe hanging off him. From the tiny snippets she could hear, Alya was talking about her blog site and her plans on going on a 'Ladyhut', meaning she was going to follow Ladybug and Chat Noir to capture footage for her site.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir are quite the celebrities back home," stated Hector, "Switzerland doesn't have any superheroes or villains and seeing how close we are to France, many of my classmates are obsessed with them. We've read about them all the time in the papers and on the Ladyblog. Quite a surprise and an honor to be meeting the creator. You're incredible dedicated reporter."
Alya's cheeks darken, her smile more bashful and humble than what Marinette was used to, "Oh it's nothing. The Ladyblog is my personal project and the Lucky Duo are France's most important and mysterious figures. I've been trying to figure out their identities for almost a year."
'Don't we all know it,' thought Marinette, remembering all the close encounters she and Chat had with Alya's sneakiness and persistence.
"Well Ladybug has saved me countless times," bragged Chloe, tugging on Hector's arm, eager to get his attention back on her, "In fact, you could say that Ladybug and I are best friends! She had to protect me from all the villains, she even said I was adorable!"
'We had to protect you because you were the cause of so many akuma-ized villains!' Marinette screamed in her head, images of Kim, Nathaniel, Officer Roger, Mylene, Alya, Alix and countless others she has angered, sadden or humiliated to attract Hawk Moth's butterflies, 'And don't you understand sarcasm?'
Hector and Alya continued chatting for a bit before Chloe yanked him away from the blogger and dragged him out the door. Marinette couldn't help but notice the slight disappointment passing through Alya's eyes as Hector left. "He wanted to ask me if he could join in my Ladyhunts," she confessed.
Marinette winced, Alya was always super pumped when it came to getting the scoop of their city's superheroes. The problem was that she was often alone during these 'hunts' of her's. Most of her classmates were either busy or had other plans to do, Nino was usually the one that helped her but he had become busier these last months. Marinette had accompany her in a few of her stakeouts too, but with no results or sighting of her favorite red-and-black-spotted super heroine. They spotted Chat Noir once but he never did anything other than patrol the rooftops. After all, you can't really find Ladybug if she's right next to you!
Her blogger friend never made such a big deal about doing a solo stakeout, Alya kinda took pride in her tenacity. But she did confess that it was lonely when she didn't have anyone to share in her excitement when she did spot Ladybug. Marinette patted her on the back, "Chloe can't keep her claws on him 24/7. I sure he would love to see you in all your natural Ladybug-hunting habitat."
Alya laughed and gently pushed Marinette, "Oh, so now you're gonna play matchmaker with me? I though we agreed that's my job."
"Considered it payback for all those times you tried to push Adrien on me," sassed Marinette.
Speak of the devil, Adrien heard his name and turned towards the girls, "Yes," he said, his voice causing Marinette to freeze up, "You called me?"
"Oh, hey Adrien," replied Alya, wrapping her arm around Marinette's shoulder, keeping her blushing friend from escaping, "Marinette and I were just talking about your photoshoot this week. It's for your dad's Fall Collection, right?"
Adrien smiled, Marinette felt her insides melting, "Yeah, dad finished his collection early and wanted to do some early modeling so Natalie could start working on the spreadsheets for L'Officiel and Vouge."
"Meaning he'll be stuck all day with bossy photographers and whiny models," Nino concluded, mimicking Alya and tossing his arm around Adrien's shoulders, "Good thing he has me to help him out if things gets too wild for poor Adrien here."
Alya and Nino let out a good laugh while Adrien looked bashful at his predicament. Marinette felt her legs quiver under her weight, mouth going dry and her heart ready to burst. 'Say something!' she screamed in her head as her eyes were trained on Adrien, the way his lips curled up, the twinkle in his eye as he spoke happily with Nino, how cute his nose crinkle when he laughs, 'Don't stand there like an idiot! This is your chance to make him notice you!'
"What about you, Marinette?" quizzed Adrien, turning his attention to the French-Asian bluenette, "What are your plans for the weekend?"
"Uh..." Marinette wanted to smack herself for that answer, "J-just helping my parents in the shop. Lots of orders coming in for the holidays so they need all the help they can get and I'll be on baking and delivering duties, nothing special or anything just carrying boxes of sweets all day all over town to house and parties..." She started to trail off, unable to think of anything else to say.
"Yeah, the Dupain-Chengs are swamped with deliveries for Armistice Day plus all the early catering orders for Christmas and New Years parties," pipped Alya, saving Marinette from further embarrassment, "Same goes with my mom who's been busy at the restaurant."
"Sorry to hear that," smiled Nino, "Maybe next week we can all go see a movie, unwind from all the negative things that been happening around Paris."
"Are you talking about the Sleeping Beauties?" asked Alya, "Didn't you hear? Ladybug and Chat Noir are already on the case. They'll probably crack the case before the police do."
Marinette groaned internally, she really hope Alya didn't post anything like that on her blog. Who knows how many of her followers were connected or related to the police? Nino and Adrien bid the two girls goodbye and left the room. Alya and Marinette soon followed suit and Alya continued to talk about her own theories on the Sleeping Beauties case. In the front of the school, like clockwork, was the Agreste limo waiting to pick up Adrien. Standing near it was Hector, Chloe, who was still latched onto the new boy's arm like a leech, and Sabrina, still holding Chloe's books and bag.
"Adrikins!" chirped Chloe, using her free hand to wave at her childhood friend, "Come here for a second."
Adrien reluctantly came towards her, "Hey, Chloe. What's up?"
"I was telling Hector here about your amazing modeling career and he's really curious about the business," cooed the blonde, "Why don't the three of us go to your modeling shoot this Sunday and you can tell him all about the business? Maybe Hector and I can do some modeling, after all they do couple shoots for magazine. Oh and we can do some too, Adrien."
Alya faked gagged as they passed them by, "She's not even trying to be subtle!" Marinette frowned, leave it to Chloe to try to string along two guys. The girl might as well be a walking target for the Parisain Incubus! Despite her bitterness, Marinette knew that if Chloe did become the next target, Ladybug would have no choice but to protect her until either her, Chat Noir or the police capture perp.
"Uh, I don't know about that, Chloe," began Adrien, looking uncomfortable. He had made the unfortunate mistake of bring Chloe to a couple of his photoshoots previously, every one of them becoming disasters! First, Chloe got incredible jealous whenever a female model had to pose with Adrien, claiming she was too 'comfortable' with him, then she got into arguements with the photographers and directors because of the female models around him. Chloe proceed to start bossing around the staff, complain to the guards and practically piss off everyone, causing one of the assistants to contact Gabriel Agreste directly and have Chloe banned from the shoot until it was complete. It was one of the most humiliating moments he had to suffer through, not counting the lecture he got from his father.
"Oh, it will be fine," smiled Chloe, patting Hector on the arm, "Plus I'm sure the photographers would want to get his hands on gorgeous Hector here!"
"Sorry, I hope I'm not being too much of a bother," said Hector, looking a bit bashful, "My mom used to have a short stint in the modeling business before becoming a magazine editor for Cosmopolitan. Just some curiousity of mine."
"Well...I guess it would be fine if you stay for a couple of hours," agreed Adrien, smiling awkwardly as Chloe shrieked in glee and Hector smiled. He made a mental note to warn his photographer in advance of Chloe's arrival.
"Great! Sabrina! Re-do my schedule for the week," she barked, her meek assistant fumbling for her notebook while balancing Chloe's things.
Adrien smile faded a bit, "Yeah, great...well I see you both later," he waved as he entered into his family's limo and drove off.
Marinette frowned, of course Chloe would hog all of Adrien's attention and free time. "Don't worry, either one or both of them will get tired of her eventually," chirped Alya, trying to cheer her discouraged friend up, "They can't stay oblivious to her nastiness forever."
"Yeah, you're right!" stated Marinette, trying to pump herself and keep her spirits high. "Come on, I'll give you some eclairs and macaroon for your Ladyhunt."
"And that is one of the many reasons you, Marinette, are my best friend," Alya tightly hugged her as the two headed towards the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
Ladybug raced across the rooftops until she reached her destination: the home of Patricia Harlow's, victim #10, best friend, Eleanor Walker. She had called the girl's mother to set up an appointment, which itself was a challenge since the mother thought it was a scam. After an hour of trying convince her, Mrs. Walker just hung up so Marinette found the address from tracing the phone call. The apartment was small but cozy, typical of a normal Parisian family.
Chat Noir was running late but gave the go-ahead to her and stated that he would meet her at the Walker home later. Taking in a deep breath, Ladybug rang the doorbell, hearing the faint barks of a dog and rock music playing through the door. After a few seconds, a middle-age woman with salt-and-pepper hair, brown eyes and tired skin opened the door, wearing a t-shirt, jeans and an stained apron over it. She looked shocked by the superhero standing in her doorway, a little puppy-mutt was at her feet, barking and waving his tail up at her.
Ladybug gave a polite wave, "Hi, Mrs. Walker, correct? I called earlier."
"That was-oh, dear, I'm so sorry!" she stammered, "I thought that...please come in! Again I'm so sorry, we've been having issues with the police and the media and other people...would you like something to drink?"
"It's fine, Mrs. Walker, I don't want to be a burden," Ladybug said, crouching down to pat the little dog, the name tag read 'Molly', "I just want to speak with your daughter, Eleanor, about her friend's, Patricia's, incident."
"I-I'll go get her!" she stated, walking towards the back where the music was coming from. After a few minutes, the music abruptly cut off, followed by some shouts and footsteps retreating back into the doorway.
"Mom, please! I don't want to talk to the cops again...OMG, Ladybug!" Eleanor Walker was a bright eyed brunette with red stripes in her hair and smoky eye shadow makeup. She wore distressed jeans, beat-up sneakers and a bright yellow tank top, a similar fashion to her classmate and friend Patricia.
"Hello Eleanor," began Ladybug, "I just wanted to ask you about..."
"I can't believe it!" shrieked Eleanor, cutting off Marinette, "THE Ladybug in MY house, playing with MY puppy and wanting to talk to ME! This is like a dream come true! Oh those bitches in school will be sooo jealous!"
"Elli!" screamed her mother before turning to Ladybug, "I am so sorry about that! Eleanor just forgets her manner when she gets too excited. Please, please, come in. You'll catch a cold out there."
The Walker's apartment was very homey with the comfy couch, coffee table with magazine, cream color walls and dozen of wall planters filled with herbs and flowers, filling the air in sweet aromas. Eleanor plopped down on a lazy boy while her mother and Ladybug took to the couch. Mrs. Walker offered again the masked teen something to drink but she politely decline and thanked her for her offer.
"I know that you and your daughter were interviewed by the police but I would like to ask you some addition questions concerning Patricia Harlow," stated Ladybug, turning to Eleanor, "You two are friends, right?"
"Eh, I guess you can call it that," groaned Eleanor, "We've been neighbors and classmates since primary school and we hung out a bit, but we weren't really close. She's a bit too...spoiled, for my taste."
"Patricia was going through a phase," added Mrs. Walker, hushing her daughter, "Going out late, dating older men, stealing her father's credit card, drinking, her poor parents didn't know what to do."
"Have you met any of Patricia's dates or did she mention any boys to you two?" Ladybug asked.
The mother and daughter looked at each other and shook their heads, until Mrs. Walker spoke, "Wait! I remember talking to Patricia's mother, told me her daughter started seeing this nice boy. Real gentleman, very sweet, handsome, she was so proud and said that he would steer Patricia onto a good path. I can't believe I forgot about that..."
"Yeah, now that you mention it, she was bragging about snagging this really hot and wealthy guy before her incident," said Eleanor, "Wouldn't shut up about him and flashed his photo around like a trophy."
'Spoiled girl with handsome gentleman date, just like Caitlyn and Barbara,' thought Ladybug, then something popped into her head, "This boy that Mrs. Harlow talked about, was it just one date or was it a series of dates."
"Uh...dating! Yes, they were definitely dating for about a week before Patricia was attack," answered Mrs. Walker.
"Did Patricia act weird before her incident?" Ladybug asked Eleanor, "Did she look sick or started acting out of character?"
"Tired," blurted Eleanor, "Really tired, like she'd been up all night partying and got hit with a major hangover. Though it wasn't really strange for Patty, she did shit like that."
"Eleanor!" scolded Mrs. Walker, "Language! I'm so sorry, Ladybug, she's just..."
Marinette put up her hand in surrender, "Don't worry about it, Mrs. Walker. I'm not offended. Please, may we continue..."
Ladybug was cut off by faint arguing coming from outside, one female and one male, both extremely familiar to her. She and the Walkers exited the building to find Chat Noir, in all his leather-and-cat-eared glory, trying to escape from a camera wielding Alya. The blogger pushed the camera into his face, blasting him with questions about the case and their involvement with the Sleeping Beauties. Poor Chat looked confused and uneasy with the questions and was stumbling with his words.
Ladybug sighed and walked over to help the poor kitty. Getting closer, Marinette could make out the questions that were being asked. "...any suspects that may be involved with the victims? Do you have any clue who may become a next victim? Have you and Ladybug discovered a pattern that ties the victims together? Are you and Ladybug in contact with the police..."
"Sorry! Can't divulge any info at the time," said Chat Noir, trying desperately to avoid Alya but the blogger was persistent!
Thankfully for Chat, Ladybug quickly snatched the camera, "I'm sorry but we're gonna have to cut this interview short."
"My Lady," smiled Chat Noir, quickly ducking behind his partner, "Your timing is impeccable."
"Wait, you have to tell me something," cried Alya, grabbing her camera back, "Come on, the people of Paris need to know if you've made any progress. Please! At least tell me if you're actually on the case."
Ladybug squirmed nervously under her friend's gaze while Chat Noir was glomped on by Eleanor, taking selfies with her partner. "I can't really tell you anything concrete but yes, my and Chat are trying to help the police find who is responsible for the Sleeping Beauties attacks."
Alya smiled, "Knew it! Anything else you can tell me?" She lifted her camera to Ladybug's face.
Marinette gave a weary smirk and gently pushed the camera away, "Sorry, can't tell you any more."
"You can interview me!" exclaimed Eleanor, moving towards Alya, "Ladybug already interview me and I would happy to talk to you. This is going online right? Let me freshen up a bit and I can tell you what I know."
Chat Noir and Ladybug looked at each other an 'are-you-kiddin'-me' look before they left inconspicuously, leaving Alya with the bragging Eleanor and the tired Mrs. Walker. The two made great distance until the neared the center of Paris and stopped to catch their breath. Ladybug quickly brought Chat up to speed, her interview with the twin roommates and her latest interview with Eleanor and her mother.
"So the perp is going after pretty girls with horrible personalities by pretending to be some handsome dream guy," concluded Chat Noir.
"That's the pattern I've found with Nancy, Caitlyn, Barbara and Patricia. Bet you a box of macarons and mendiants it's the same with the other girls," replied Ladybug, pulling out her compact yo-yo and pulled up the internet tag, "Did some research on some of the more influential victims: Sophia Labelle is a fixture on Paris's nightclubs, both good and bad depending on who you talk to. Goes in and out with different guys. Jennifer Marie Talbott is known as the 'celebrity dater', hooks up with models, actors and has three DUIs in the last two years. Amanda Bisset was difficult to check out, due to her father's connection, but I manage to find some news articles about her crashing some visiting movie star's party and getting arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct at a bar."
"Bad girls," whistled Chat Noir, "And now all in comas. Jilted lover?"
"For a week of dating? Don't think so," replied Ladybug, scrolling down the articles, "I'm not certain, but this has to be the work of an akuma-infected person. There's no way a normal human perp could seduce all these girls, put them in these comas and keep them all in that state without any of them waking up or having any trace evidence on them."
"So what do propose we do?" asked Chat Noir, sliding next to his Lady and taking a peek at her compact, "We can continue interviewing the people close to the victims but what will that get us? I think the pattern is pretty clear, plus it's not like a description will help up if the guy can change his appearance."
"You're right," exasperated Ladybug, "And it's not like we can warn people! What are we gonna say? 'Girls with personalities as cold as ice are being targeted so avoid dating hot, perfect guys?' Yeah, that will help."
The red-and-black-spotted superhero lead against a brick wall and slide down, exhausted with the limited information she had. Chat Noir, unable to see his partner in such a state, slid next to her, "Don't worry. We'll find whosoever doing this and free those girls."
"When? When he finds his next victim?" grumbled Ladybug, "And how long will that take? Amanda Bisset was found just a few days ago. How long until another girl is found in an alley or in some gutter?"
The next few seconds shocked Marinette as Chat wrapped his arms around her, comforting her. "We'll find him, My Lady. Don't worry," he stated, almost as if his words were the truth, then shifted to his teasing tone, "Who knows, maybe the perp in our own class?"
Ladybug laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement, "Yeah right..." she trailed off sarcastically, "And maybe the Parisian Incubus will go after me and you'll be the knight-in-shining-armour coming in to save the day."
"Don't knights-in-shining-armour save young princesses," teased Chat Noir, " My Lady, you are a queen and I your faithful King."
"Well 'King Noir'," she said, getting up and removing herself from Chat's arms, "How about helping your queen with the next interview. We'll be meeting Sophia Labelle's friends at their favorite nightclub in ten minutes. Oh, and do be careful, Labella and her friends are BIG fans of yours."
Chat Noir groaned at that information, he had meet Sophia Labelle as Adrien once at a function with his father and it was enough for him to never want to be withing fifty feet of the girl. She was like Chloe but worse! Age didn't bother the girl as she was nineteen when she met his thirteen-year-old self and started flirting with him, much to Mr. Agreste disgust and the Labelle's embarrassment. Plus all the heavy makeup, perfume and drinking was enough to have Sophia barred from seeing Adrien again. If Sophia's friends were anything like her, he was tempted to sit this one out.
But as his beloved Lady started swinging across the Parisian sky teasing him into a race, he followed suit, unable to resist. 'Maybe I can convince her to play couple with me while we're there.'
Sunday come far too quickly for Adrien's liking. The interview with Sophia's friends had been a nightmare as they were all obsessive and were attempting to flirt and rub up against him. As Chat Noir, his senses were heighten to that of a cat, so he nearly drowned in stagnant smell of perfume the girls wore, forcing him to leave the room halfway through for air. Ladybug didn't get much luck either as the girls were too defensive about themselves and proceeded to bash on Sophia to save face. Though they did confirm the pattern they already had: spoiled girl dating handsome guy. Once home, Plagg spent an entire hour hissing at him for the torture his nose and ears went through and only a bucket, a literal bucket, of camembert was able persuade the kwami to shut up. Yet despite the nine hour sleep, Adrien was still drained.
But, ever the loyal and obedient son, he followed schedule like clockwork: wake up, shower, dress, eat breakfast and head to the photoshoot location. Nino had already texted him, stating that he would meet him at the photoshoot later and planned on picking up a few things on the way. Same with Chloe, who told him that she had Hector with her and were in her father's car and heading towards the shoot.
Natalie was seated inside the limo when Adrien entered, sending last minute files and texts to the head photographer and warning him of the 'guests' they will be having. Yes, Natalie found out about Chloe's 'invitation' and had informed both the shoot director and his father who, surprise, was greatly upset by this and told Natalie to tell his son to keep an eye on the Bourgeois girl.
"Why did you invite her?" questioned Natalie, the angry undertone was audible, "The last time she came one of our prime photographers blew up and walked off the set! The entire thing would have gone to piece if he didn't have that extra photographer there! Your father asked you not to invite her to the shoots anymore."
"I didn't!" argued Adrien, "She...sorta invited herself and a classmate."
Natalie shook her head, mumbling about the ridiculousness of the situation and start texting the staff to have a separate trailer room ready for Miss Bourgeois, if only to keep her out of the way until the shoot was done. Since he was modeling the new Fall line, the location would be set in the Luxembourg Garden which had started reflecting the changing seasons beautifully with the orange and yellow trees and autumn flowers. The entire place was roped off for the shoot and only badged staff, security and models were allowed to roam the place.
Standing near the entrance, arguing with a burly security guard, was Chloe who was decked out in an expensive white tennis dress with yellow bolero jacket over it and a pair of yellow pumps. Behind her stood Sabrina, ever the faithful assistant, and Hector, who was dressed more comfortably with jeans and a polo shirt. Adrien groaned, leave it to Chloe to dress up way too fancy, cause a scene and drag her classmates into it.
"This is unacceptable! I was invited here by Adrien Agreste himself!" proclaimed Chloe, hands on her hips and stomping her feet, before turning to Sabrina and Hector, giving them this pathetic display of submission, "Please, tell him it's true! You were there when Adrien begged me to come!"
Sabrina, readily agreed, adding that the security guard was overstepping his boundaries as he wasn't 'official' and Chloe was a lifelong friend of the Agreste and the major's daughter. Hector, smartly, stayed quiet and let the two girls do all the talking, staying a safe distance away from the fuming guard who looked ready to burst. Thankfully for them, Adrien and Natalie walk up and waved Chloe, Sabrina and Hector inside. Once inside, Chloe took Adrien in one hand and Hector in the other.
"Adrikins, you came just at the right moment," chirped Chloe, "You should really fire that security guard, he obviously doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, he didn't even recognized me! Major Bourgeois's daughter! That should tell you something. Poor Hector and me were stuck outside for hours in the hot sun!"
Adrien apologize to Chloe, much to Natalie's distaste, and told her about the trailer they ordered for her and that she could stay there during the shoot. Chloe happily agreed but stated that Sabrina could just stay there and guard her stuff as she refused to leave Adrien alone. Plus, she reminded them that she promised Hector to show him around the shoot and get him connections. Chloe then turned to Natalie and asked if she could do couple shots with Hector and Adrien, to which Natalie bluntly said no as there were limited film. A lie since they used digital but no one, not even Adrien, was going to tell her that.
The shoot went smoothly during the beginning, Adrien went into his makeup trailer, got him dressed and had him pose in front of the Medici Fountain for some full figure shots. Another wardrobe change and he started walking along the pathway, his shoes crunching under the fallen leaves, giving the photographer nice background shots. But halfway into the shoot, Chloe had gotten bored and dragged Hector away to give him a 'tour' of the place.
Hector was painfully aware that Chloe was clueless about the modeling business and basically made general statements about the people and places. "That's the makeup trailer where the makeover artists do the hair and face to make the models perfect for the shoot, as if they need to do anything to Adrien since he's so perfect," chattered Chloe, before waving towards another trailer, "And that's the equipment trailer where they keep all the camera and tripods and stuff. That over there is the wardrobe trailer where all of the Agreste clothing line is being held..."
He long since tuned her out and stared scoping the crowd. Majority of the staff were male, but there were a selected group of females, the model extras that were showcasing the Agreste line for females, walking about near the trailers. As one of them passed by, he could tasted her life-force: vain, jealousy and full of pride, identical to his former victims. While Chloe was blabbering away, he brushed his fingers against the female models exposed skin, a gentle caress too light to notice and absorbed a sliver of their energy. Not enough to feed his bottomless hunger but enough to satisfy him temporarily and not cause comatose, though they did feel more drowsy and appear visibly tired.
Another amazing ability he possessed, the mere touch of his could suck the life out of his prey. Holding hangs, soft caress, as long as it was skin-to-skin contact, he could force the energy out of them. However, the more intimate the contact, the more energy is drained. In fact, Chloe was visible getting paler, her eyelids growing heavier and began dragging her feet towards her trailer. Sabrina was already seated in the back as per ordered by Chloe when the blonde and Hector walked in. The redhead gasped as she saw her friend walk in, white in the face and visible tired.
"Oh my gosh, Chloe!" cried Sabrina, helping Chloe to stand steadily on her feet, "Are you okay?"
Chloe sneered and batted her away, "Do I look okay?" she hissed, "Ugh, I'm so tired. It's probably this long shoot that's taking forever. I need to lie down!"
Sabrina was puzzled, they had just arrived two hours ago and most of the time was just Chloe watching Adrien with Hector in the shade. Hector stayed silence as Sabrina helped Chloe to a pull-out bed and snuck out as soon as the blonde started barking out things she wanted. Once away from the two girls, Hector made his way towards the front where Adrien went through his nth's outfit change and doing a couple pose with a female model.
"Ugh, what is wrong with you!" chided the photographer, glaring at the female who was slouched over Adrien, "Someone get that girl some coffee or splash some water on her face! Or get me a new model! If you're not going to work, I can replace you."
The threat alerted the model and begged not to be let go. Hector recognize her as a model that had the unfortunate luck of walking passed him earlier, her posture showing how much of her life was stolen. Adrien calmed the girl down and quickly finished the shoot before the photographer could have another meltdown. Hector continued his feeding frenzy as the models flocked to him, a handsome male sans the company of a whiny blonde, and tried to become 'friendly' with.
Near the end of the the shoot, all the female models appeared drunk and hungover, causing the photographer on duty to verbally bash them. Hector walked over the Adrien who was setting down his latest partner who could barely stand on her legs without shaking. "Are you okay miss?" he answered in a gentle voice.
Looking up at him, a streak of red painted the model's cheek, "Y-yes, just very tired. I don't know why, I just had a cup of coffee an hour ago."
Adrien carefully set her down on a nearby chair before being pulled back towards the wardrobe trailer, Hector trailing close behind. Passing them was Natalie who was frantically trying to calm down Mr. Agreste who was informed about the problem, "Yes, sir...no, no we'll get the girls up and running...NO! No need to come down here! I'll take care of it!"
Adrien sighed, he has heard that threat multiple times but knew his father wouldn't act upon it. Too busy with his own work and just trying to scare Natalie into fixing the issue, a tactic that never failed. A few feet away, strolling down the set with a small box of pastries, was Nino who had gotten pass the burly security guard and heading straight for them. Adrien couldn't help but notice that the once angry guard was now happily munching on a eclair.
"Dude, what happened?" questioned Nino, motioning towards the models all laying limp in the pull-out chairs, "Everyone looks like the walking dead."
Adrien shook his head, "Don't know what's going on with them. One minute they're fine, the next they can barely stand up."
"Do you think it was something they ate?" chimed Hector, "I saw a lot of them hanging around the buffet table, maybe one of the dishes got spoiled."
One staffer overheard the suggestion and started barking to the caterers at the scene to taste-test the food in case of food poisoning or contamination. Natalie came by, looking frazzled as she ended the call with Mr. Agreste, "We going to cut the shoot early today and just finish with the male clothing line and do the female tomorrow morning with new models."
At this moment, the models started complaining and begging for another chance, but seeing how weak and tired they were, the complains were more moans and whines than anything else. Natalie hushed them with a glare and pushed Adrien back onto the shoot to wrap up the session. Nino sat next to Hector by the fountain, offering some of his treats. "Guess that means we have the rest of day free for us to hang out. Maybe we can go to Marinette's family bakery. I know they're busy but they have the best sweets in Paris."
Hector laughed, "Don't you think you've had enough," he said, pointing to the box.
Nino opened it to reveal only two, lone eclairs, "I only had enough to get one for the three of us, but had to bribe the security guard to let me in. Plus, I'm a family friend of Marinette and her folks, so I also get some stuff for free."
The Swiss student laughed before going silent and this pondering look, "Marinette...is she a student in our class?"
"Yeah, she the black & blue haired girl that sits next to Alya,"answered Nino, "Tiny Chinese-French girl with big blue eyes, wears black, white and pink."
"Oh yeah," said Hector, remembering the petite female, "Yes, Alya mentioned her. Never got the chance to introduce myself to her. She seems sweet."
Both boys were cut off when the director of the shoot barked out that the session was over and they would finish the female line tomorrow. Staffers ran around, packing the equipment and tending to the models who were slowly gaining their momentum and trying to convince Natalie that they could still work. Adrien, used to the fast pace of the modeling world, had already change back into his casual clothing and met up with the two, looking happier now that the shoot was over.
Running up to them, bumping and almost crashing into some of the workers, was Sabrina. "Sorry but Chloe has to go home now," Sabrina gasped, trying to catch her breath, "Her father has called for her driver to pick her up. It's awful Adrien, she practically fainted! She claims that one of the models must have poisoned her water out of jealous!"
While Sabrina ranted on about the ridiculous accusations Chloe had, Adrien looked a bit concerned. While Chloe wasn't the kindest person, she was still him childhood friend, "Maybe I should see her..."
"NO!" shrieked the redheaded assistant, "You can't see her! She'll be fine, she just wanted to let you know that she'll be leaving early and she was so sorry that she had to leave you and Hector alone."
She ran off towards the trailer, telling the guys that Chloe doesn't need visitors as she was very weak. Now while that part was true, the real reason Chloe didn't want anyone, especially not Adrien and Hector, was that her face had gone horrible pale and dark bags had appeared under her eyes, so dark that she couldn't cover it up with the concealer she had on her. After all, she had an image and reputation to protect and couldn't have two of the most attractive and wealthiest boys in Europe see her in such a state.
Left alone, Nino smirked, "Guess it's just the three of us. Oh how shall we ever do with her royal highness," he said in a sarcastic tone before pipping up, "Come on, let's go the Dupain-Cheng's bakery, they have some awesome holiday macaron they've just started selling and I want to try some."
Adrien and Hector looked at each other and shrugged, agreeing with Nino's plan and started heading towards the exit. Adrien called out to Natalie to tell her that he was leaving but was too preoccupied with setting up another shoot for tomorrow and rearranging the schedule than to acknowledge him. He sighed and followed his friend and the new student out of the gardens and into his limo, giving the driver the directions to the bakery.
Every female at the collège flocked to him within his first week, making it easy to see who was worthy and who he could toss away. Chloe Bourgeois was immediately crossed off his list. The girl was a parasite, latching onto him the second she could, beating away any other females that could have been potential candidates and overall making his intended mission difficult. Her loyal assistant was no better, Sabrina was like a pathetic dog that always begs for scraps, a human doormat. Utter useless, the both of them.
Alix, Juleka, Mylène were crossed off as well, the three of them, though kind and somewhat attractive, weren't what he was looking for. Aurore Borell was dismissed too, her personality slightly selfish and prideful. The fans of Agreste were also eliminated as they fell in love based on looks and status, not personality. Rose and Mireille seem to fit his profile though, so he kept an eye on them, that Alya girl as well. There were also a few older girls that needed to be looked at too but he had doubts.
Then he remember something, or rather someone. In front of his class, as he was introduced, a small, seemly invisible girl staring at him, not in lust as the rest of the females, but in confusion and apprehension. An French-Asian female with rare and piercing blue eyes, fair skin and bluish-black hair tied back in pigtails. While her friend next to her swooned, she just started at him, no love or lust in her eyes, just curiosity at him. How cute and tiny she was, easy on the eyes and looked as sweet and innocent as a newborn fawn.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," he said out loud, her name rolling off his tongue.
Unlike the rest, she didn't flock to him, didn't flirt or attempt to seduce him. In fact, she hardly glanced at him! He had never meet a female so disinterested in him before, was she playing it cool or was she really indifferent with him? 'A challenge?' he thought, 'Might be worth looking into.'
If Marinette was like the rest, selfish and cruel, he'd toss her away as easily as he did with Chloe and the others, but if she was the one...
"Let's see, Miss Dupain-Cheng," he purred, holding up a class photo and zoning in on the bluenette, "Are you a monster with a pretty mask or a genuine rose among weeds?"
Damn! Thst was way longer than I intended it to be! Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews as they really helped me with this fic. Also I posted this story on Ao3 as well so if you want to follow me there. Again, please tell me if you see any spelling or grammar errors so I can fix them and some help critic or just show your love + Read & Review.
Now, can you please give a moment of silence to the people of Paris who have suffered a horrific attack on Friday, November 13th. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Parisians, their friends and families who been affected by the attack in the Bataclan theater. For those that don't know what is happening, look it up and send your condolences.