A/N:
I realized that my author's notes were getting excessively long. Sorry about that! I'll try to keep them shorter! So, straight to the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters, only the plot of this work.
Chapter 7. Loss of Honor
"Parisians all over the internet are taking to social media, sharing these images and videos of our new mystery hero. But witnesses that were at the scene of the attack continue to speculate the relationship between this unidentified man and our beloved Ladybug and Cat Noir…"
Ever since that guy showed up in his white suit, the internet and the news had been buzzing with rumors and theories. And of course there was the constant comparisons between him and Cat Noir. Memes of the two side-by-side had already started floating around, calling the new guy "Mr. Steal Your Girl".
People everywhere were already accepting this man as their newest superhero, here to save the day. If only they knew how lethal this cat really was—how he completely disregarded the safety of others and threatened them. Of course, witnesses that were there got the picture.
But maybe the biggest slap in the face was that the unknowing Parisians gave him a name, since he neglected to share it.
They were calling him Chat Blanc, a play off the other hero's name.
And Cat Noir was visibly seething.
He sat on a rooftop overlooking the city lights and the Eiffel Tower which stood proudly in the night.
When Chat Blanc* took off with the akuma, Cat Noir and Ladybug were going to go after him, except that Ladybug was about to detransform, and Charmer had reverted back to being Charlene and she still had the massive gash in her arm. They unfortunately had to let him go, but they agreed to meet tonight to talk about the whole ordeal.
Cat sat with his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms folded across his chest. A deep frown was set into his face as he was still angry and concerned with how today had turned out.
He heard the light footsteps of someone landing behind him. He didn't need to turn to know that it was Ladybug, as expected. She walked up next to him, but didn't say anything for a few moments.
He finally glanced at her. "Cat got your tongue?"
She snorted and made eye contact with him. "You wish you did." Ladybug sat down next to Cat with a sigh. "So…Chat Blanc then…"
Cat rolled his eyes and groaned. "No, not you too. He's obviously a tiger! If anything they should be calling him Tigre Blanc, or something like that." The frown set back into his face as he pouted.
Ladybug raised a brow incredulously. "That's what you're upset about?"
Cat shook his head. "No, I'm—ugh, never mind that. What's really concerning me is the fact that he got ahold of the akuma before you could purify it."
Ladybug then frowned. "You're right," she agreed. "We didn't even get a chance to fight Charmer long enough to figure out how her powers work."
"He's got that rippling blue light that he uses when he touches things," Cat Noir noted. "I only saw him use it on the buildings that had crumbled, though."
"Buildings? As in plural? I only saw him use it on the one right before we got there."
"Right. He also used it on my apartment building. That's where I first saw him," Cat said.
"Oh so that's why you asked me about a man in the white suit." Ladybug put her hand to her chin in thought. A second later she looked at him with a bit of surprise. "I didn't know you lived in an apartment, Cat."
"Yeah, I finally got my own place," Cat stated proudly, sitting up straight with his hands on his hips. He waited to see if she would react the same way as Marinette. He eyed her expectantly.
"Well, look who's growing up." Ladybug smirked and crossed her arms. "Is that supposed to impress me?"
Cat's face deadpanned.
Her reply was much more enthusiastic as Marinette. Why was she so drastically different with him when he was Cat Noir? Maybe because she really didn't like him as the hero? Or maybe she was only being polite to Adrien?
Either way, he was finding it rather irritating.
"No, just thought I'd let you know in case you wanted to drop by for a visit sometime."
Ladybug giggled. "Sorry, Kitty. I don't take cat calls." She winked at him and then went back to her thinking pose.
If only she knew how much that innocent wink actually made his heart flutter. Or how in one moment he could be totally serious and in the next he would be trying to dazzle her, yet to no avail. He really was proud of the fact that he was moving forward in life, but talking with her sometimes brought him down from his high.
That thought upset him. He couldn't remember ever thinking about Ladybug like that.
He realized that she was talking to him. "Oh, uh, could you repeat that? I was thinking about something." He scratched his head sheepishly.
Ladybug sighed. "I was saying that maybe we could identify him somehow. He looked around your height, had a more muscular build, and had dark hair. I think it was brown or black."
"Well, you sure got a good look at him," Cat mumbled, but continued. "When we were fighting, I noticed the sclera of his eyes were blue. But I don't know if that says anything about his real eye color."
Ladybug stared at Cat for a moment. Cat looked back at her but shifted rather uncomfortably. "Um," he started, "what is it?"
"Are your eyes green?" she asked simply, keeping eye contact.
Cat wanted to lean in to give her a better look, but he fought the urge and stayed where he was. "Now if I told you that, wouldn't that be a clue to who I am?"
Ladybug mashed her lips together, and then she said, "There could be tons of guys with green eyes…" She lifted her hand to his wild hair and caught a lock between two fingers. "And blond hair. How could I ever guess which one is you? I couldn't just ask."
Cat stayed perfectly still, save for his chest moving with each breath. "You wouldn't want me to answer anyhow, right?"
Ladybug slowly removed her hand from his hair but continued to look into eyes. A moment later she closed hers and faced away from him with a sigh. "No, I suppose not."
Cat looked away from her too, back to the city streets bustling with night life. Suddenly, it felt really cold.
"I guess we can't go around pointing fingers at every blued-eyed, dark-haired man around the city," Cat Noir said. And he wasn't about to go around town peering into the eyes of every man he saw. Talk about awkward. "We'll just have to wait until this guy reveals himself again."
"I don't like the sound of that, but I don't think we really have a choice," Ladybug replied. "I think I'm more concerned about the akuma. What if Chat Blanc decides to release it and it multiplies, like what happened with Stoneheart? We'd be in some serious trouble, especially since we don't know the extent of the power."
"We'd have a whole army of unknowns to fight."
They sat there in silence as the dread set in.
"Well," Cat finally said, "we haven't fucked up this bad since the first time." He laughed a good belly laugh that eventually had Ladybug joining him. They each had tears in the corners of their eyes they had to wipe away.
Cat managed to calm down a bit and said to Ladybug, "Someone needs to keep a close eye on Charlene then."
Ladybug nodded in agreement and stood. "It'll be hard, but I think that I can do it. We might need to go on some more night patrols too, if that's possible."
Cat got up from his perch too. "I think I can manage it," he said with a wink. "You be careful out there, my Lady." He gently lifted her hand to his lips and lightly kissed it. He then turned on his heels and ran back home.
He barely heard the "You, too" calling after him.
The next day, Marinette went to Charlene's house to help her pack. After the attack yesterday, Ladybug managed to reverse the injury inflicted on Charlene's arm. It worried her that Chat Blanc was so willing to cause harm to civilians for the sake of capturing akuma.
It worried her even more knowing that the akuma can come back to haunt Charlene. It was fortunate that they would be going to school together and that they would be roommates. It gave her plenty of opportunity to watch Charlene and to look for any signs of Chat Blanc.
She didn't like the idea of just waiting for him to reappear, but she didn't have much to go on besides appearances. He didn't really talk much either.
"You can put that in the box over there," Charlene directed Marinette. She wasn't saying a whole lot today, just a lot of simple instructions as they worked on packing.
Mari did as she was told and crossed her friend's bedroom to put away a small pile of journals. It surprised her to see that Charlene liked to write too. She had let Mari look at a few of them. They were just collections of short stories, and they were so eloquently written with very well thought-out characters and settings. She must have done quite a bit of research to complete even those short stories.
"I don't know why you haven't looked at publishing them, or even just sharing them with friends," Mari said to Charlene. "You never know the people you could meet. Maybe you could be a successful writer too!" She gave Charlene a smile.
The other girl blushed a little out of embarrassment. "Oh, no, there's no way I could do that. I don't have enough experience in it."
"You don't necessarily have to have a lot of experience to do something you like. I mean, if that first step is never taken, we'd have a lot less people fulfilling their dreams, you know," said Marinette.
Charlene replied, "You have a point. I just can't see people seeing much potential in me." She paused in stuffing the box in front of her. Mari stopped too, waiting for her. Eventually, Charlene sighed and pulled out a crumpled napkin from her pocket. Mari recognized it as the one from yesterday.
She held it out to Mari. "This was meant for you."
Mari looked at Charlene and then took the napkin in her fingers, unfolding it. There was someone's number on it.
"It's Adrien's number," Charlene clarified. "He said to give it to you. So he could get the details for the send-of party."
Marinette's eyes widened. In her hand was the number of the guy that she had been crushing on since the mid-high school. She had been dreaming of the day that Adrien would give her any measure of attention, any hint that he was interested in her as more than just a friend.
She couldn't help the immediate feeling of giddiness that swelled in her chest. A smile broke out across her face as she hoped that maybe this could mean more for her.
Marinette looked up to see that Charlene had been watching her, her face passive.
It immediately squelched Marinette's excitement. Here her friend was, watching her get excited simply over a napkin with a number on it. She was even akumatized yesterday because Marinette was selfish. Guilt set in quickly as she looked back down at the napkin. Was pursuing something this trivial really worth hurting her friend?
Marinette's lips mashed together in thought, though it only took her a moment to make up her mind.
She held out the napkin to Charlene, who looked at it in confusion. Mari said, "You let him know."
Charlene's eyes widened in surprise. "What? I thought that you would want to talk to him yourself."
Mari shook her head. "No. Adrien gave his number hoping to get information about the send-off party, regardless of whether he got it from you or me. So you tell him."
"But…Mari, you've liked him for so long. Don't you want to talk to him? It's the perfect opportunity."
"For you, it is," Marinette said. "Yeah, I've liked him for a while now, but nothing has really happened between us. If anything, one of us should make something happen." She held out the napkin again, urging her to take it.
Charlene hesitantly reached out for it, but then pulled back. "Mari…are you sure?"
Marinette nodded with a smile. "Of course. Now, please take it and just worry about yourself this time."
Charlene returned the smile, and she was absolutely beaming. Mari didn't think that Charlene had ever smiled that genuinely since they met. She was so happy. She took the napkin and held it in her hands as though it was a little treasure.
"Now, let's get back to packing," Mari said. "We've got to keep this momentum going!"
"Right!" Charlene turned to her things with some newfound motivation. She even started humming.
Marinette felt a tightening in her chest. It hurt, letting go of that little piece of hope. But, with any luck, something good would come out of her moving on.
"Why am I always late?" Marinette whined to herself as she sprinted down the sidewalk. She stayed at Charlene's place for longer than she had anticipated and now she was late for her lunch outing with Nathan and…Matthieu.
She didn't have anyone joining her either. Charlene now had Adrien's number and it was too late to ask Alya. Hopefully this would go smoothly with just the three of them.
Dame Tartine finally came into view and she noticed a red headed boy standing outside. Marinette smiled and slowed to a fast walk. As she got closer, she saw another boy with a black beanie, making the smile disappear. It was Matthieu, of course. Not that she wasn't expecting him. She just really didn't like him.
"Hi," Nathan greeted quietly, a small smile on his lips.
"Well, hey there," Matthieu crooned in that low voice of his. "Glad you finally made it. We were getting worried."
Marinette looked right at Matthieu with a pout on her lip. She didn't want to start off lunch with a bad attitude, but she could tell he wasn't going to make that easy on her. "I got here as fast as my little legs could take me."
He smirked. "Might need to grow a few inches there." He turned on his heel and stepped inside the café.
Marinette ground her teeth and followed him and Nathan inside. They were greeted by a hostess that told them they would be seated outside, and soon their waitress came to take their orders, which were some simple sandwiches and sodas.
For a while, there were some awkward pleasantries about school and work, what they had been doing over the summer, although they had talked about that all before. So those topics were exhausted rather quickly, and she was having a hard time being candid with Nathanaël because Matthieu was around. But she managed to ignore him and his snarky remarks for most of the conversation.
Tikki's warning was still buzzing the back of Mari's mind. So far, he was just as annoying as she initially thought, but she was just waiting for him to say something that would give her a legitimate reason to hate him.
Suddenly, Nathan started coughing and beating his hand on his chest.
"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Marinette. "Are you okay?"
Matthieu lightly patted their friend's back as he kept coughing. "I'm fine," Nathan managed through another hack. "Wrong pipe."
After a while, his coughing fit still hadn't subsided and they didn't see their waitress anywhere nearby. Distraughtly, they looked at their table. None of them had asked for water and they had each finished their sodas. Nathan decided to excuse himself and awkwardly made his way inside, hacking the whole time.
"I'm glad to see you're still pleasant in person."
Mari looked at Matthieu in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The guy just shrugged. "Well, you just didn't seem so friendly over the phone yesterday, but I didn't want to make assumptions."
Mari narrowed her eyes at his audacity. "You know, I'd like to say the same thing, but you're awfully pushy." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Oh," he sang, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. "I did make the one assumption that you are quite bold, but, really, you're just blunt."
Mari opened her mouth to say he shouldn't be making such quick judgments, but she shut her mouth. It would have made her sound like a hypocrite. Matthieu cocked his head to the side and smiled haughtily.
The cry of a girl in surprise made the two of them peer back over to the door of the restaurant. It seemed that Nathan had opened it on a girl and spilled his cup of ice water all over her and the ground.
Instinctively, Mari rose up from her seat to help when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked back at Matthieu. "What are you—"
"Leave him be. He's a big boy."
She scowled at him and drew her arm back. "Why do you keep speaking for Nathanaël? You know he can speak for himself."
Matthieu rose a brow at her.
Marinette bit her lip. She rolled her eyes and sat down with a huff. "Shut up."
"So much attitude," he teased. "At least we're on the same page. Kinda." They glanced back at Nathan and the girl. He was apologizing and rushing back inside for napkins for her to clean herself. Then they started picking up ice cubes from the ground, since it was right in front of the door.
Mari mashed her lips together in thought again, folding her arms across her chest. "Matthieu."
"Yes?" he cooed with a smile.
She frowned at him. "Don't start that with me. I want to apologize."
He looked at her with a bit of surprise and then waved a hand in front of him as a gesture for her to continue. "Go on. What for?"
Gosh, he was making it hard to be sorry. "I made assumptions about you without getting to know you first. For that, I apologize."
He simply nodded. "Apology accepted. So, what other kinds of assumptions did you make about me?"
She briefly made a face of disbelief. He was just so…flippant. Like he didn't even care about the apology. Maybe he didn't need it. Some would call that confidence. Marinette was leaning more towards arrogance.
"Uh, well," she said, "besides thinking that you're pushy, I also thought you were domineering."
This time he was genuinely confused. He stated, "That sounds like the same thing."
Marinette shook her head. "They're not. At least not in my mind." When his expression didn't change, she sighed, struggling to grasp at the words she wanted to use. "Pushy people are a little more innocent about it. More like they're trying to help the other person. Domineering people try to get others to do things for their own benefit. The motivations are different."
Matthieu had listened to her intently, his hand at his chin. When she was done explaining, he grinned at her shrewdly. "Well, you'd be correct. So you don't need to be sorry about it."
Her eyes widened. "What? What kind of person just admits that?"
"An abnormal individual I would imagine." He shrugged again, acting all nonchalant about his blatancy. "I can tell that weirded you out. Did you want some explanation?" He popped the last of his sandwich into his mouth.
Her face was frozen in a state of uncertainty, but Marinette nodded.
"Well," Matthieu began after swallowing, "I am pushy. For the sake of my friends, as you can see." He pointed over to Nathan, who had picked up the ice off the floor and was now chatting with the girl he bumped into. They were smiling quite a bit at each other.
"Yeah, but you couldn't have known that was going to happen," Mari quipped.
"True. But if I hadn't stopped you, that girl probably wouldn't be talking to him tight now," he pointed out. "You were also right about me being domineering—although that really does have a negative connotation doesn't it?"
Mari nodded again, not really feeling comfortable saying anything. Matthieu continued, "Everybody has their own motivations. You want to be a fashion designer; Nathan wants to be a graphic designer; I want to be a photographer. I'm willing to get others to help me get what I want. Most aren't."
"That's…" Mari said slowly, "kind of manipulative."
"Not if it's for mutual benefit." Matthieu smiled and leaned forward against the table. His stare was pretty intense.
Mari narrowed her eyes. "What do you want from me?"
"I am so glad you asked!" he said with that kind of sarcastic enthusiasm. He was fairly loud and attracted the attention of customers around them. Mari was the one that awkwardly waved them off.
Matthieu had no problem ignoring them. "It's my understanding that you probably—eventually—want an internship or job in the fashion industry. Something that can lead to your big break in design, correct?" She nodded. "Well, have you created your portfolio yet?"
Her brows furrowed. "Portfolio?"
"Well, yeah. Don't tell me that you only have your sketchbook full of designs?"
Mari's eyes got huge and she sat there completely frozen. A portfolio? She hadn't even thought of that. Of course, it's just like her to only have a sketchbook! How had she gotten this far without even considering having a portfolio?
"Sketchbooks I'm sure are good for showing your creative process, but you need to be professional too." Matthieu chuckled. "How air-headed of you."
Mari glowered at him. "I'm sure you had a point in bringing up my air-headedness?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nathan was still talking with that girl, but now another girl, probably a friend, had joined the conversation. If he didn't get back to them quickly, Mari was going to bite Matthieu's head off.
"Why, of course I did," he said with a toothy grin. He pointed to himself. "Make me your photographer."
"Huh?"
"You heard me."
"I did. But you can't be serious?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" He looked at her earnestly. "You need a portfolio—as do I. I already have quite a bit of projects that I've pulled photos from. But I want to add some new material, and from what I've heard from Nathan, you have quite the talent. So, I want to photograph your designs."
Mari looked at him with suspicion, searching his blue eyes for any sign of deception. He met her gaze easily, that smile still on his lips.
Nathan then walked up to table, practically beaming. There was a flush on his cheeks and he was rather quiet, like he was thinking to himself.
Matthieu sat back and crossed his arms. "Looks like that conversation went well, hm?" He raised a brow at Nathan, who self-consciously cleared his throat and hid the silly grin on his face. Matthieu laughed. "Must have. Your face is beat red."
Nathan choked up. "S-shut up." He plopped down next to Mari, who willingly scooted over for him and patted his shoulder in consolation.
"I wouldn't get too comfortable there, friend," Matthieu said, taking out his cell phone to glance at it. "We've used up all of our lunch time. My uncle will be expecting us soon." Matthieu got up from his chair and waited for Nathanaël.
The red head slid out of his seat apologetically. He told Mari that he was looking forward to the send-off party next weekend and they hugged goodbye. Mari turned to Matthieu, but definitely didn't make a move to hug him goodbye.
He still smiled at her. "Just think about it, okay?"
Marinette fake smiled and waved goodbye as Nathan asked what he was talking about. Matthieu just gave some excuse to placate him.
Sure she would think about it. She'd think about how revolting working with such an egotist would be.
Adrien was surprised when he got a text message from Charlene.
Hi Adrien! It's Charlene. Marinette gave me the information for the party if you wanted it :)
He wondered if she even gave his number to Marinette. He thought for sure she would have, and probably did. But then why wouldn't Marinette text him instead of Charlene? She didn't strike him as the kind of person to ignore someone that asks her questions.
Maybe she was too busy and needed to delegate that task to some of her friends. But now he wondered just how many people were spreading her time and attention so thin. And if any of them happened to be guys…
Adrien sat at his dining table by his lonesome, strumming his fingers as he thought. He glanced around at his still-bare apartment. He hadn't really unpacked much, especially after yesterday. He had tons of boxes just sitting in his small living room and some more in his even smaller bedroom.
Even with his photoshoots paying him a decent sum, he wasn't going to be able to afford too extravagant of a home for quite some time. He would have to be paying for books and tuition and bus or train fare.
Plus, he was planning on leaving his modeling gig after he saved enough, which meant every purchase he made would have to be justified. He would be so tight, he'd squeak when he walked.
He had a shoot scheduled for today, so he wouldn't be able to tackle those boxes this time either. Adrien glanced at his wristwatch for the time. He was supposed to be meeting a few other models that would be at the shoot too. There was just enough time for him to stop by a certain bakery.
He felt his cheeks heat up.
"Ngh," he groaned and rubbed at his face, willing the blush away. He wasn't even there yet and he was already embarrassed.
"You worry about the stupidest things, Adrien," Plagg said. "Who cares about talking to a girl when you bought the cheap camembert?" Plagg was throwing chunks of his cheese around the table, whining and complaining about the quality.
Adrien sighed. "We're on our own now, Plagg. I can't afford what Father was buying." He pinched his nose. "But somehow this kind is smellier."
His kwami lay down on his back in star form, his chunks of camembert surrounding him. "I don't know if we're gonna make it…"
Adrien rolled his bright green eyes. "You're melodramatic this morning."
"Drama and chaos sometimes go hand in hand."
Adrien sighed again. "I don't know how this is going to go. I want to talk to her, but…ah…I don't know…" He dejectedly leaned against his chair and let his head fall back.
Plagg grabbed a piece of cheese that was lying next to him and squinted at it. "You've been like this ever since you found out that Marinette is Ladybug. Why are you finding it so hard to talk to the same person?" He nibbled at the camembert and made a disgusted face.
The cat had a point, Adrien thought. It shouldn't matter at this point what he was saying, so long as he was talking to her. He had done that plenty as Cat Noir, but definitely not as Adrien. He smiled, feeling a bit giddy. It felt like he was meeting his Lady for the first time again.
Adrien sent a text back to Charlene, letting her know that he was stopping by the bakery today and that he didn't need the information, then he went to change out of his sweats. Once he got ready, he sent a message to Karoline, who would be one of the other models at the shoot today, saying he would meet them there instead.
Plagg hadn't finished his cheese, but Adrien grabbed him and the stinky chunks. He shoved them both in a shirt pocket and flew out the door.
The prospect of talking to Marinette put him in such a chipper mood, he was running all the way to the bakery.
"Hey, slow down, kid!" Plagg yelped from the shirt pocket. "Heavy breathing probably doesn't impress the ladies!"
Adrien wasn't worried about it. He was in pretty good shape from the time he spent as Cat Noir, plus he had been working out more and was still somehow in those fencing classes, although he suspected his enrollment in that would soon come to an end now that he was on his own.
He finally arrived at the Boulangerie Patisserie and tentatively opened the shop door to poke his head in. He wasn't even sure that she was going to be there this morning, but there she stood, behind the register. She perked up at the sound of the chiming of the bells above the door.
"Hello, welcome to—" Her eyes widened in a bit of surprise and she grinned. "A-Adrien! H-hi! What are you doing here?"
He stepped in and strode right up to the counter, full of confidence. "Well, I do live nearby though, so I thought I would stop in for breakfast." He smiled and leaned one arm on the counter.
"O-oh," she stammered. "We do have plenty of pastries. What kind were you looking for?"
"Hm, well, I do have a bit of a sweet tooth. What would you recommend?"
Marinette put a finger to her chin in thought and glanced around. "Uh..." She walked around the counter and over to a wall that had some pastries behind a plastic encasement. Adrien followed behind her with that cat-like swagger. "These ones are chocolate filled croissants. You like that, if I remember correctly."
He was surprised she remembered that detail, although it wasn't anything extraordinary. A lot of people liked chocolate, and this was just small talk that he was trying to move on from. "You'd be right. I'll take two of those."
She nodded and grabbed two, putting them in a small paper bag for him to carry and leading them back to the register to ring him up. He said to her, "I actually wanted to ask you about the party too."
Marinette looked up at him with a little confusion. "Did Charlene not give you the information for it?"
He shook his head. "She texted me, but I thought I'd ask you since I was coming in anyhow, and you were thoughtful enough to ask me."
Adrien thought she saw pink start to color her cheeks before she quickly looked down at the register and started pushing buttons. "O-oh. Um, the, uh, party is going to be this Saturday at three. It'll be at the park."
"Did you and Nino figure out if he'll be DJing for you?"
She nodded. "Yeah, he'll be bringing all of his equipment and setting it up before the party starts."
"And the other guests? Probably from Dupont?"
Another nod.
"I see."
Adrien was having a hard time talking to her, since she didn't really say much in return. It was so stiff and awkward. But he had an idea for how to change that.
"I was wondering," he started, "would you happen to want to go look at street art around the city this Friday, like how we did before? I found this great app that lets you upload and search for graffiti and things like that around Paris."
A barely audible gasp escaped Mari's mouth. In that moment she looked really excited, since art and all things creative seemed to be her biggest passion. But just as quickly as it came, the moment left and she was left looking highly pensive.
"Would it…be okay…" she mumbled.
He couldn't really hear and leaned in. "What was that?"
She immediately leaned back. "W-would it be okay if I invited Charlene to come with us? I don't know if you were just inviting me—I mean, that would be cool, too—but I know Charlene also really likes things like that. And it would be fun for a group of us." She laughed and scratched behind her head.
He observed her carefully, but put on that bright smile he showed to everyone. "Sure, the more the merrier right?"
That didn't really go as he intended. He was hoping to use the time to get to know her better.
Well, at least the group size is getting smaller.
The bells chimed above the door behind him, making him turn around. Marinette peered around him.
A group of three entered the bakery—a girl and two boys. At the front was one of the guys. He had a darker complexion and stood well over six feet tall. He wore a maroon pullover and bluish pants and had a beard that was given a clean cut. He looked older than the rest, but probably not by much.
Behind him was a strawberry blonde with amber eyes and freckles—Karoline—who decided to wear a high-fashion crop top and patterned skirt. Around her neck and wrists were some dainty gold jewelry. She stepped with a sort of grace that always seemed to escape Marinette.
Last to enter the bakery was a young man that looked in his early twenties. The first thing anyone would notice about him was his scowl. But even with that frown, he was quite handsome. His hair was a pale blond, his eyes were a light blue, and he was fairly complected. He wore a grey button-down, dark grey vest with a black tie, and black dress trousers—more professional looking.
Marinette offered a welcome to the new customers. Adrien offered a smile and waved at them. "Oh, hey guys. What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the shoot?"
Karoline ran up to Adrien and jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. It threw them off balance and he had to steady them. "We thought it would be more fun to walk with you there."
"Except for doom and gloom back there," the tall, dark man said with an Australian drawl. He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the blond who hadn't moved too far from the door.
He was glancing around at the items in the bakery and said to himself, "Our nutritionist would have a heart attack if she caught us in here…"
"Cooper." Adrien smiled and greeted the tall man with a pound hug. Cooper Thompson* was from Australia and had started modeling around the same age that Adrien had, so he had been in the business long enough. He trusted his advice. "I didn't know you were going to be in this shoot."
The man named Cooper shrugged. "It was a last-minute thing. I guess they needed someone to appeal to older customers so they buy stuff from the clothing line. That's also probably why they recruited the grouch over there." He peered over to the other blond again. "Hey, Félix! Get over here and start being social."
The young man's frown somehow deepened. But he did stroll over to them. He stopped when Karoline grabbed a hold of his arm and hugged it close to her. She sang, "Oh, Félix. Why are you being so disagreeable this morning?"
He huffed. "None of you seem to have a sense of urgency. It's unprofessional."
Cooper playfully punched their friend's shoulder. "C'mon, you stiff. Learn to live life while you're young."
"You're not much older than us," Karoline stated, puffing out her lips. "You say that with the wisdom of an old crock."
Minus Félix, they all had a good laugh out of it. Even Marinette was giggling from behind the register. Adrien suddenly realized that he hadn't introduced her to everyone else. "Mari, these are some friends that I'll be modeling with today." He pointed to each person as he named them. "There's Karoline Mercier, Cooper Thompson, and Félix Dubois*. Everyone, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
Mari shyly waved at them, a goofy smile adorning her lips. Adrien couldn't find it in himself to look away from her. Her awkward manner was so adorable.
He happened to miss the way Karoline looked her up and down. Marinette didn't.
Félix eyed her briefly before he rolled up his sleep to check the time. He sighed in annoyance. "Because of you all, we are now late. I'm leaving with or without you." He easily broke loose from Karoline's vice on his arm and strode swiftly out the door. Cooper and Karoline laughed between themselves and followed after him without a backward glance.
Adrien made eye contact with Marinette and shrugged with a smile. "So I guess I'll see you and Charlene this Friday, then?"
Marinette offered a small grin. "Ah, y-yes. We'll see you then."
"I'll text you a time," he said with a wink before walking out the door.
A/N:
I have introduced my own version of Chat Blanc! :D This is the reason I decided to use "Cat Noir" instead of "Chat Noir." I'll be using Cat (for Cat Noir) and Chat (for Chat Blanc) to differentiate between these two characters in future chapters.
I mentioned before that I have a minimum for my chapters (4,000 words even though I go well above it), but I also try to set a deadline for myself because I do better under pressure. I've been trying for two weeks, but that might not be enough. I'll be trying three weeks this time. You can always check my status (if I'm on hiatus or something) and my deadline on my profile if you're ever curious.
I also colored all of my character sketches if you wanted to see those too!
*Chat Blanc- This character has a sketch on DeviantArt! My username on DeviantArt is tayram. I have a whole folder (entitled "Vanish") dedicated to this fanfiction for you to look at character sketches.
*Cooper Thompson & Félix Dubois- These characters share a sketch on DeviantArt!
Please review and critique! It really helps me! Thanks for reading! :D
-Ram 8/14/2016
