Adrien wasn't able to speak for a long time; that time was used by Marinette to keep shouting at him, using a good amount of bad words.
"I-I'm s-sorry?" Adrien whispered when he was finally able to form words
"You better are" Marinette said, this time not shouting but still with a frown on her face that showed that she wasn't over her rage just yet.
Adrien moved to his door, and placed the keys on the latch stopping just a second before opening it.
"You don't recognize me?" He gasped, turning to her "Do you know who I am?"
It made him really sad to have to ask those questions. They went to school together for four years, they were in the same group of friends, their best friends had dated making them go along in double dates. They were friends? Adrien had had a little crush on her so he spoke to her every time he could on their last year of school.
He couldn't believe he was that easy to forget
"Oh god" Marinette rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. The movement was so familiar to Adrien that he smirked at it "You are one of those"
"One of what?" Adrien asked confused
"I can't believe it, this is awful!" Marinette yelled frustrated "Look, of course I know who you are, but do you think it gives you any privileges? No fucking way.
"Excuse me?"
"I don't excuse you" Marinette pointed at him "Look I don't fucking care that you are Adrien Agreste"
"Why are you shouting then? You know who I am" Adrien smiled but confusion was still all over him
"Ugh" Marinette clinched her teeth. Her hands were in fits, her head down and it looked like she was counting "Who doesn't know you?" She said in a calmer tone, no more shouting but there was still a bit of poison on her words "Anyways it doesn't matter to me, I won't treat you different because of who you are or who your father is, I treat people equally and as they deserve it. You are being really rude to the whole building, especially with me your neighbor who needs to end a project… I-i-I'm sorry I shouted… but I'm still mad!" She huffed
"A-alrgiht" Adrien answered, taking a step away. She wasn't shouting but she looked even more intimidating now.
Marinette lifted a brow and crossed her arms on her chest, making Adrien focus on it
"Hey, Agreste, the music!" She clapped in front of his face
"Yeah, yeah, going" He opened the door and ran to the living room, where on top of the stereo was Plagg eating a big piece of cheese
"You are back!" Plagg exclaimed and spun on the air
"Damn it, Plagg, I can't never leave you alone" He gasped
He turned off the stereo and ran back outside to the front hall, but Marinette was already gone. Adrien walked to her door and watched it carefully. There was a sign written n Marinette's pretty handwriting with the word "Bienvenue"and the number of her door down.
Adrien shook his head and read the sign again. It was Marinette's handwriting and it was pink, her favorite color, and the girl who had yelled to him had black deep hair, and big bluebell eyes, her voice was the same (even when she was mad and shouting he could recognize it) and her face full of freckles had only changed a bit, only product of the years that had passed by.
It was Marinette. No doubt about that, he could recognize her anywhere, but then why didn't she knew who he was?
Correction, she knew him. She said his name and she knew who his father was, and by the way she had treated him, she surely knew about his modeling days. But if she knew all that why didn't she remember him? Because that was going on, right? She didn't have any memory of him at all. Or was that she was just faking?
Adrien always doubted of Marinette's feelings towards him. She was so awkward around him when they were in high school and he hadn't given the most amazing first impression, but along the years he thought that maybe he had grown on her. He never could really tell if she liked him or not, but he was sure that she didn't hated him. Or so he thought till today.
Maybe Marinette did hate him, maybe she just acted nice around him in school because Nino and Alya were dating and she didn't want to make her friend mad.
He could knock the door and ask her to make his doubts go away, but it didn't seem like a good idea after Marinette's fiery rage. Who knew she had such a pouty mouth? Not him that's for sure, Marinette was always polite and sweet when they were teens. He wasn't a saint either but damn, Marinette saying swear words was something to be surprised about, it didn't go with her personality; If she still had the same personality after all these years.
He went back to his apartment, he needed to sleep, maybe he was tired and it was all a dream. Absolutely that must be!
...
It wasn't a dream.
Next morning when he went out of the door to drive to the university, Marinette was going out of her own apartment. Adrien couldn't help but smile at the sight of his old friend.
Marinette had in hand three big rolls of fabric, two purple folders that looked like portfolios and a pinkish bag that was open making all the tools fall from it. And that was the reason why she hadn't noticed the blonde guy looking at her.
Adrien changed his bag to the other arm and kneeled to help Marinette. That made Marinette notice he was there. She frowned at him, making Adrien retract
"Just trying to help" He smiled nervously
"Thanks but no thanks" She huffed and hurried to pick up all her tools
Adrien stood up and looked at her while she did it. He felt sad that Marinette was acting like that around him. He had called Nino last night to ask if he knew something about it, but as it was obvious, Nino didn't heard a word from Marinette since Alya and him broke up.
He didn't really spoke to any of his high school classmates anymore so he didn't have anyone else to ask. He thought of searching through the internet for accidents, sickness and memory loss articles but he knew he wouldn't find the answers he needed. He had to ask Marinette or find someone close to Marinette (Alya was his first choice but he didn't knew if they were still close)
Marinette stood up once again, still looking like she was an accident about to happen
"Are you sure you don't need help?"
"Absolutely" She said "Look I gotta run, can you move?"
"Damn, I'm just trying to be nice here" He gasped frustrated
"Don't" Marinette gasped and passed him by, walking down the stairs.
"Unbelievable" Adrien said to Plagg "She is a whole new person"
A bang and an irritated scream ringed down stairs
"I don't know, she kind of seems the same to me" Plagg said looking downstairs with a grin
Adrien rolled his eyes and made his way downstairs
...
It was another good day at work for Adrien. He had the feeling that it was going to be a good year. He wasn't all sweetness today and he argued with a few students but nothing that wasn't part of being a teacher.
He could hear his female students, and a few males, swooning over him but he ignored it the whole class, not feeling awkward at all, and stood with a professional stand the whole day, which made him proud of himself.
It was a good day, yet he couldn't stop worrying about the whole Marinette thing. He replayed last night's encounter over and over again and tried to understand what was going on without any results.
At the end of the day, thanks to one comment of his students he got an idea: Social media.
He hated social media with his heart and soul. Being a teen model you would think he liked it but not at all, he felt that his privacy was corrupted, and since his life was so public all the time he liked to have a bit of privacy. Also his father had forbidden Facebook, Instagram and "any other stupid app that makes kids dumb and self absorbed"
Thought his father company was one of the most followed accounts on Instagram (and there were a few pictures of him on there)
He went to Facebook first and created a profile, adding Nino first so he could go through his friends and find something interesting.
He found almost every single classmate, except from Alya who wasn't friends with Nino (they probably deleted each other after the break up) and no sign of Marinette.
He sighed disappointed, but since he was already on it he decided to go through some of his old friends.
He found out that Kim was traveling the world making a TV show called "Extreme Bets". He laughed, he couldn't expect any less.
Juleka was a scientist doing an incredible research (Adrien didn't quite get what it was about) and she was still inseparable with Rose.
Sabrina wasn't friends with Chloé any longer and had moved to Hong Kong and married a big businessman there
When he clicked Nathanael his mouth opened in surprise.
He didn't paid much attention to the profile pic when it was tiny but now that it was a larger size he could see exactly who was beside him
Nathanël and Marinette smiled to the camera, faces close, Marinette's arm on his chest, and Nathanël's arm around her waist.
He kept scrolling to his profile to confirm (and re-confirm) that he and Marinette were an item.
Pictures of them kissing, paints of them made by Nathanël and many more were there, making a timeline of their relationship. They may had been dating for at least four years.
That made him upset and uncomfortable, and he couldn't explain why. Maybe his old crush on Mari was making a wild flash appearance.
"Woah, didn't he get akumatized because he liked her?" Plagg said coming out of the backpack
"Yeap" Adrien said in between a water mouth sound from his mouth (A.N: how do you call this?)
"Well it went well from him at the end, uh?
"Can't believe he had a crush on Mari for so long" But at the same time he totally understood why. At least with the Mari he knew, not this morning's Marinette. "C'mon, Plagg, back to the bag, I gotta go to my father's studio."
"Whyyy?" Plagg complained in a cry
"I told you this morning, I need new jackets for work, I would buy me anything but you know he will get angry if I don't wear something from his brand"
"Ugh… throw me tons of food, you are gonna take some time"
...
He dropped by his father's main store, where his studio was. It was a big store in one of the most important streets of Paris, and upstairs were the offices and sewing rooms.
He met Nathalie first, with whom he had a nice chat. Since he stopped being a burden for her work they got along better than when he was a teen.
Then the longest part (and usually the tiring one) was when he finally met his father at his office. They were on better terms, going away and Adrien being more independent had been a good thing for both of them, but that didn't change the fact that Gabriel Agreste liked to control everything.
Adrien told him about his job, about the apartment, he mentioned going out with Chloé and told him a few stories to add more material to his weeks in Paris. Gabriel listened closely, interrupting only when necessary (which made Adrien very happy), he looked really invested on his son story and even asked a few questions that didn't judge any of Adrien's decisions.
They ate a few pastries and took tea together while listening to Gabriel's stories (all of them from work and upcoming fashion lines) but it turned to be really nice.
"Father I need to ask you a favor" Adrien said when he realized the conversation was dying
"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked
"Oh, no, nothing" Adrien shook his head in negative "I just need a few jackets for work and I thought you could recommend me a style or something" He giggled
"Oh, surely, I'm not with much time at the moment but I'm sure one of my interns can work something for you"
"Oh I don't want to bother them, they must be really busy. I only need you to point me out like three nice jackets"
"Are you insane, Adrien? I'll order them to design you something unique, if you are going to be a teacher instead of part of this empire at least I would like you to represent the label somehow, and this is the perfect opportunity"
Adrien bit his tongue to keep the words on his mouth, it didn't make any good if he refused, his father had already decided
"C'mon, follow me. This is good, I've wanted to introduce you to my interns"
"Why?" Adrien walked behind his father.
"It's a good thing" His father answered. Adrien couldn't see why, he wasn't involved not even a tiny bit in the company "This year I have a good group, very talented people"
"I'm glad, last year you were angry at the group you chose"
"They only wanted to please and make money, fashion is not about that" Adrien knew his answer was going to be something like it and smiled at it.
Gabriel and Adrien entered to the room where there were six desks and working spaces, they belonged to his six interns. Three girls, three guys, just like every year.
Two guys and a girl turned to them and made a line to welcoming them, almost like they were landing on the airport and were about to give them gifts.
"Good evening, designers" Gabriel said. Adrien had to keep it together, the thought of Tim Gunn saying that on Project Runway was too much for him.
"Good evening, Mr. Agreste"
"Where are the other three?" No names, of course.
"At the dying room" The girl with grey hair answered
"The three of them?" His father asked but didn't give them time to answer "Call them please, I want you to all meet my son"
The three of them smiled at him, Adrien waved.
"Mr. Agreste" A girl and a boy entered the room, their faces were painted in baby blue paint and light pink
"What is this mess" Gabriel asked mad but a second later he was smiling "Don't tell me, she has a new project"
"Yeah" They nodded
"Well, anyways. This is my son Adrien, I hope you all treat him well when he comes around, since he is an important part of this company" Since when? Adrien thought "You have not only to impress me but also him"
"Of course, Mr. Agreste" They said in a chorus "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Agreste"
"Oh, just Adrien" He giggled
"Mr. Agreste will do" Gabriel said and the designers agreed with him "Follow me, Adrien, I will introduce you to my last designer"
When they were out of the room and walking down the hallway, Gabriel spoke again
"She is the perfect option for your jackets. Such a talented girl, a little bit clumsy and always seems to be in other space, but surely one of the most brilliant designer I have seen in years"
If his father was talking like that about an intern, the girl probably was near perfection.
The dying room was one of those rooms that had always caught Adrien's attention. It was a little room with a few windows that let the natural light get in and also the room counted with two kinds of lighting, one was the normal kind of lamps and a blue/white lights that helped to see the pigments in the dark or worked for glow in the dark paints.
The last lights were the ones turned on and in the middle of the room there was a mannequin with what seemed to be a red carpet dress. The dress was black and in a fading effect in the middle it was blue and green. The dress was absolutely stunning, it was not finished that was obvious and it was still one of the most beautiful designs Adrien had seen.
"I'm I interrupting something, Donatella?"
"Please, sir, don't call me Donatella" A muffled voice came from behind the dress
"You said you wanted a designer name" Gabriel laughed.
Adrien turned to him so surprised that he really thought his eyes were about to go out of their orbit. He not only thought this girl was brilliant, he liked her, and he didn't really liked people.
"Come out, Miss, I have work for you" Gabriel said and changed the lighting for normal yellow lights
And the dress changed. It wasn't black anymore but white and the center red and pink
"Wow" Adrien gasped
"I told you she was brilliant" His father said to him, smiling.
"This is more than brilliant" Adrien replied.
"You like?" The girl came out of under the dress, she was obviously lying on the floor and the only thing visible was her face and hair. But that was enough for Adrien.
"Marinette, I would like you to meet my son, Adrien" Gabriel pointed at him "You are gonna design some stuff for him"
Marinette's mouth hanged open, and Adrien could feel the tension between them growing.
"I'm gonna leave you both so you can discuss about the designs. I'm sure both of you are gonna have a great time" Gabriel said
"Yeah, great" They said at the unison
"Perfect, I hope to see your designs on paper before you sew them, Marinette"
"Sure" Marinette said and when Gabriel left she sighed and rolled her eyes "Fan-fucking-tastic"
Yeah, Adrien felt the same way.
