AN: Tomorrow look for the sequel to "Along Came Anansi," which will be titled "A Jagged Ride with the Owl." It's my first time writing a comedy, and it was a ton of fun to write, so I hope you enjoy it! In the meantime, the beginning of this vignette should give you a bit of a taste…
To Guest: That's fair. I was thinking specifically of the scene when the eldila come to Earth and the guests feel their presence. The end of Perelandra is a good explanation for it, too. And now I want to reread those books again…
To anonymousfriend27: It was more like 5 different employees he wanted to throw through a window. But still.
"I'm telling you, Marinette, for this Egypt concert I want to look like a Rock Pharaoh!"
Marinette stifled a giggle as Jagged Stone stood up and spread his arms, mimicking a pharaoh blessing his subjects. The best part of these design consultations with Jagged Stone was also the worst part: his "suggestions." He might be a musical genius with more hits than Cat Noir took in an average Akuma battle, but he could not understand the visual arts to save his life. For his last London concert he had wanted to dress as Big Ben – not something inspired by Big Ben, but the actual clock tower! It had taken three redesigns and a call to Penny before Jagged finally agreed to tone it down and just wear a gigantic clock necklace. But that's why he had signed on as her first professional client. Marinette had to give him credit: he knew what he liked, and he trusted her to take his outlandish ideas and turn them into something both special and practical.
"I've got some ideas here," she told him, flipping the page in her sketchpad, "but I don't think pyramid-shaped glasses outlined with strobe lights are going to work. Won't that be distracting while you're trying to perform?"
"Ah! Right as always, love." Jagged put a hand to his forehead melodramatically as he fell backward into his seat. "The struggles of being a true visionary!"
"Visionary." That's… certainly a word for it, Marinette thought, trying hard not to laugh. She smiled and turned back to the blank page in front of her, picking up a pencil as she did so. "I'll see what I can come up with using your suggestions," Marinette finally told him. "Why don't you go down and help yourself to the coffee and pastries in the break room, and I'll come up with a rough sketch of something. It's not quite as homey as the bakery, but you can still have a couple of my Papa's pastries!"
"Ta, love, I think I will!" Jagged stood up and stretched his arms before leaving the client consultation room, shutting the door quietly behind himself as he left.
Marinette was glad Mme Legrand had insisted on redecorating the consultation room after taking over Agreste's design team. The room had been sterile, with white walls and a too-clean conference table when M. Agreste was running the company. Now, there was a hint of color on all the walls, just enough to stimulate Marinette's creativity. Some of the straight-backed chairs had been replaced with easy chairs and bean bags. Gone was the conference table; in its place were a smaller round table and a number of individual rolling desks. As a whole, the atmosphere was far more relaxing.
The door creaked open and Marinette glanced over, surprised that Jagged could have returned so quickly. When she saw who was standing in the doorway, however, Marinette had to fight back a groan. Or at least it was relaxing in here…
"Mlle Dupain-Cheng," M. Janet began. "I was wondering where you were and why you were not at your desk. After all, don't you have some skirt designs to complete for our summer line?"
"Did Mme Legrand tell you where I was and why?" Marinette asked, as innocently as possible.
"Yes, she told me you were here with a client," he replied, giving her a dubious look. "But I don't see the client. So who is this mystery client that you are supposedly consulting with?"
"Jagged Stone."
"Jagged–" Janet sputtered. He scoffed. "Jagged Stone isn't an Agreste client."
"No, he isn't," Marinette agreed. "Yet. He's my client."
"Jagged Stone? Your client? I'm sure. And now you're taking your own clients? While working for this fashion house?" Janet demanded. He threw his arms up. "Of course you are! Why should I expect a teenager to understand such things as 'non-compete clauses'? Do I have to do everything around here?" he muttered. He turned to Marinette and told her, "Your internship may not include a non-compete clause, stating that you can't take new clients independently while working at Agreste, but you certainly cannot use company resources to serve your own clients!"
"I think there's a misunderstanding here, M. Janet," Marinette answered, keeping her voice level. "I haven't taken any new clients since my internship started. Jagged Stone was already my client long before I started at Agreste. And I'm not using Agreste's resources to serve my own client; I'm using some Agreste resources to convince my client to follow me and sign as an Agreste client. M. Agreste himself actually gave me permission to do that when my internship started. If you look in my internship contract, it's laid out very clearly."
"You would give up Jagged Stone as a client? For an internship?" Janet scoffed. "I'll bet. And as for your contract, I'll be sure to–" He jumped as someone cleared their throat behind him. Marinette forced her expression to stay cool as Janet's eyes bugged out in shock at turning around to see Jagged Stone himself standing behind him, lounging against the doorframe with a half-eaten scone in one hand and a croissant in the other.
"There a problem here, love?" Jagged called out to Marinette, edging around Janet and dropping the croissant on the desk in front of Marinette before plopping into his seat.
Marinette struggled to keep the amusement in her eyes from spreading any further. As it stood, it took a herculean effort to keep her lips from quirking into a smirk. She grabbed the croissant off the desk and bit into it to hide her newfound lack of control over her facial muscles.
"No, no problem at all, Jagged," Marinette told him. "The office manager, M. Janet, was just coming to check up on us. He's so considerate like that."
"Sounds it," Jagged observed. He gave Janet an appraising look as he wrapped an arm around Marinette's shoulder. "He sounds about as rock and roll as Bob Roth!"
Marinette stifled a snort at seeing the confusion on Janet's face at the comment. "I'm sure he means well," she assured Jagged. "This personal touch is just one of the many perks we can give our clients here at Agreste Fashion! Thanks for the croissant, by the way. Designing on an empty stomach always ends with skirts that look like oatmeal cookies!"
It was two hours later and the sun had already set when Marinette finally trudged out of the building housing Agreste's offices. Her brain felt like it had shorted out about eight redesigns ago. She groaned and massaged her temples as she turned towards the bakery and dinner. It was a long walk, but she was used to it. Alya's house was on the way, but she didn't have time to stop that night.
Marinette heard footsteps behind her and instinctively clutched her purse tighter. An unfamiliar car pulled over at the end of the block. Marinette narrowed her eyes and tensed, just as she felt someone touch her shoulder. Marinette spun around, swinging the purse with all of her might, and only the person's catlike reflexes saved him from being knocked out cold.
"Whoa, whoa, relax, Mar! It's me!" Adrien's voice cut through the mental fog.
"Adrien? What are you doing?"
"I – giving you a ride home?" he offered ruefully. "If you want a ride, that is. Everything okay, Bugaboo?"
"I didn't recognize the car," Marinette said lamely.
"My car needed some repair, so Gorilla got a rental," Adrien explained. "Sorry I didn't say anything, but normally you can tell it's me. What's got you so out of it tonight?"
"I – ugh – I don't want to talk about it right now, but I'd love that ride," she told him, following him over to the car.
Once they were inside, Marinette leaned over to rest her head on Adrien's shoulders and felt him wrap his arms around her. She sighed in contentment and closed her eyes. "Jagged Stone came in to work on the outfit for his next concert," she finally told him.
"What's so bad about that?" Adrien asked. "Normally you love working with him."
"Something felt… off… about it this time," she replied with a frown. "Each time I showed him a new design, he said it looked amazing, but he wasn't quite 'feeling it' yet. By the time we got to one we both approved of, I was this close to giving him something else to 'feel!'"
"Sorry it was so rough this time." Adrien squeezed her, and she nuzzled in closer to his neck.
"I don't know what the problem was," she continued, putting a hand on his chest. "I was tense in a way I'm normally not. He normally gives me ridiculously over-the-top, outlandish ideas, and I can always work them into something spectacular. Don't get me wrong; I'm happy with what we came up with. It's just that this time it just took a lot longer to get there than I expected it to."
Adrien was silent for a moment. "When we get home, what do you want to do?" he finally asked. "Do you want to eat with your parents, do you want to be alone, or do you want to just play video games until we both pass out in front of your computer?"
Marinette thought before answering. "Let's take dinner up to my room and play video games. Maybe I just need to kill some monsters."
"I suppose that's one drawback of not patrolling every night," Adrien whispered in her ear. "We don't get as many chances to let our anger out on the criminal element!"
"… Should I be worried about you, Agreste?"
When they arrived at the bakery, Marinette was grateful to find that Adrien had texted ahead, and her parents had already brought plates up to her bedroom so the two of them could eat by themselves and play Max's new game, "Super Akuma Battle Melee." They dug into the homemade pizza before starting the game.
Marinette tried to focus on the game, but couldn't get the day's events out of her head enough to concentrate. The accusing look in M. Janet's face. Jagged Stone shaking his head and frowning at her design for the fifteenth time in a row. Adrien whooped as Stormy Weather knocked her character, this time Lady WiFi, out of the ring for the fifth straight round.
Adrien gave her a concerned look. "You're still not okay yet, are you, Bugaboo?" Without waiting for her response, he took her hand, lifted her out of the chair, and pulled her over to the chaise. "Let's do something else for a while, then try the video game idea again."
Marinette lay down on the chaise and leaned into Adrien, resting her forehead against his chest. She sighed as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. She focused on the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Finally she allowed herself to relax when Adrien started rubbing her back in soothing circles. Whatever the problem had been this afternoon, it didn't matter. It didn't matter what Janet said to her, because Adrien was with her. As long as she had her partner by her side, she could handle anything.
Continuity Note: The Egypt concert mentioned here is the same one mentioned in "Tit for Tat" chapter 3, when Jagged Stone found the ankh necklace.
