Marinette took a pair of scissors and cut the excess of black string in the needle.
She stitched the lapel of the jacket, watching her hands move as she pierced the needle through the thick leather fabric on the borders. She followed the thread sink like a swimmer in a pool, going down, going up, leaving its' marked path on the fabric.
Her hands, the needle, the black string: that was all it mattered right now. Or better said, that was all Marinette wanted to matter in that moment.
It had always been easy to lose herself in work. Once she started it was hard to make her stop, every project she worked had her full attention, all of her effort and her thoughts only revolved around it. That's how her working progress was—until today.
And it wouldn't have been a horrible problem if she knew how to hide her emotions, but that wasn't the case. Marinette had come to her workspace with a neon sign engraved on her forehead. And it didn't help that Adrien wore a matching one, on his face was plastered the confusion he had to Marinette's change of behavior.
She had tried to brush it off, play around and lie about it. When she walked to her workstation, and they asked for the first time if she was okay, she said she had been afraid of Gabriel's reaction to her being late –Nathalie had let it pass without thinking it twice, she even asked if she was feeling alright- Then when asked one more time after Nathalie's words, she said she was nervous about tomorrow, but only a few of her colleagues believed her, Marceline and Sébastien knew her better, and they had begged for the truth as Adrien changed clothes a few meters from them, behind a room divider. She created thousand of excuses, but deleted them as soon as they popped out on her mind, because none of them were believable, not for people that knew Marinette, so she had, to tell the truth—well, a half truth.
She admitted she was nervous about working with Adrien now that the suit was finished, she was scared that he wouldn't like it or that the suit wouldn't fit him perfectly –which was impossible, she had made more measurement test on him that she had done in any other model on her whole life-.
They didn't believe her, but they didn't say anything. Marceline went back to her workstation and Sébastien sat on a stool next to Marinette's as he sketched new wedding dresses and asked for her opinion.
But now they both had returned, because Marinette was working on the suit while Adrien was wearing it. They had their eyes wide open, following Marinette's moves, waiting for something to happen and reveal the true reasons behind her odd behavior.
The situation was ludicrous if she wasn't involved in the situation, if she was only a spectator, she knew she would be laughing, or dying of secondhand embarrassment. She was a wrecking mess and Adrien was stiff and clearly uncomfortable, and her friends didn't help the situation. Oh, dear, none of this would have happened before.
Before she started to realize that Adrien was a nice person; before she promised herself to get to know him; before she got to know him a little and saw how kind, funny and smart he could be. Before she decided to get on his car; before the stupid, stupid rain that made necessary the use of an umbrella; before her feelings fell on top of her like piano's did in old cartoons.
Before, before, before; How good did that sound?
It sounded perfect, but Marinette had already learned that life wasn't perfect.
She had to deal with these feelings just like she dealt with the daily strange and bold emotions that revolved around her. But this is about Adrien. Adrien is the strangest mix of feelings you had ever had to face…
Marinette sighed, losing her focus point and as consequence, the needle didn't pierce the fabric but Marinette's skin.
"Ouch!" Marinette shouted, bringing her finger immediately to her mouth.
"Alright, Marinette, you have, to be honest with us: what is going on with you today? This is the fifth time you have pinched yourself, that's unlike you,"
"Nothing is wrong, I'm just naturally clumsy"
"For everything but stitching," Sébastien shook his head "Marebear, let us help you, something is seriously wrong with you today. I can tell, 'Celine can tell and handsome boy can tell"
The chuckle that came from Adrien's mouth made Marinette arch her back like a cat.
"Please stop, " Marinette said. The cordiality of her words was only on the definition of them because her voice and her eyes had shot that as an order. Marinette's brows crashed together, she was biting her lower lip like she was trying to restrain herself from saying something else.
"We are sorry, Mari," Adrien whispered. He hadn't been so persistent on figuring out what had her so nervous, so it was a surprise that he was the first one to apologize "But something has been bothering you since we arrived here and it worried us. We will stop, but I think Sébastien will agree with me when I say that we are here if you need to speak about it" The designer nodded, assuring his agreement to the model's words.
"I know that," Marinette said, still defensive. "But you are overwhelming me"
"I'm so sorry, mon chéri" Sébastien's lips pouted, he wrapped Marinette between his arms, which made the girl's anger evaporate.
"Don't do it again and it'll be okay" Marinette patted his back before breaking the hug "Adrien can you turn around?"
"Sure"
Marinette
"Wow!" Marceline shouted from her workstation.
The sound of scissors falling, string rolling and the bench falling was loud enough to make everyone cringe but Marceline didn't bother to apologize, that was her and all her co-workers were used to it after ten months of working together.
"You like?" Marinette asked, with stars in her eyes. Marceline's opinion had become very important to her. Her style was different and the way she worked was a contrast to her, so to have a review from her meant the world to Marinette.
"Of course I do, it's elegant, perfect, black" Marceline leaned her head, giving Marinette an are-you-serious? look. "What I'm impressed is about handsome boy here"
"Do you guys know I have a name, right?" Adrien crooked a brow and displayed and amused smile that hid real worry behind it.
Marceline huffed.
"Do you, mini Gabriel?" Marceline chuckled.
"Hey, " Adrien answered offended.
"C'mon! I saw it from my desk, you look just like him!" Marceline rounded Adrien as he pointed him out in different embarrassing postures.
Marinette stepped down, too intrigued by her friend's comment to feel nervous checking him out.
"O,h mon Dieu! He totally does! The glasses are the top notch" Marinette laughed too.
Adrien looked embarrassed, face down, eyes on his feet and his hands curling at his sides. But still, he had a genuine smile on his face.
"You think so?" Adrien asked low.
"You don't see it?" Marceline asked back.
"Uh, I—" He said, giving a glance in the mirror to his left. He twirled on his heels and saw his reflection one more time "—guess I do?" Adrien answered, pushing his hair back; trying to increase the resemblance to his father "People usually say that I look like my mother"
"Oh," Marceline said in understatement "Well, I couldn't have guessed that. I've never seen your mom, you know"
Marinette's heart skipped a beat. She ignored it and focused her sight on following Adrien's steps to her desk, where he had left his phone.
"Here" He announced, coming back to her side and lending his phone to Marceline.
"She is beautiful" Marceline gasped "I can see the resemblance, but when you were younger you looked more like her… you have her colors and when you smile to Marinette you do that cute smile"
Marceline gave the phone to Marinette, pointing at Mrs. Agreste smile but that wasn't the first thing Marinette focused in.
She saw her long blond hair flowing with the wind, big green eyes full of sparkling joy –they shined like Adrien's did- then she saw the caring smile Marceline had pointed out. As a whole she did look like Adrien, she seemed to glow—
The only thing Marinette had been able to see were her hands, and only when she placed them close to her collar bone, from where purple light radiated. But now, it had changed.
The darkness of the place had been left behind and a bright incandescent white light, so instead of not being able to watch where she was going for the lack of light, now she was blind for the apparition of it.
Too nervous to continue she stood there, eyes closed and heart bumping against her chest as fast as derailed train. Holding her breath, she counted till ten.
She could do this, she could do this.
She touched her ears, an old habit of her to remain calmed. She did it to feel the energy coming from the earrings, the life inside of them that gave her power.
She sighed and got ready to keep going to where the light came from.
She took two steps first. Nothing happened, nothing changed.
She took two more and… the voice was louder. She took another one… louder, louder, louder.
"Marinette?" Marceline's hand was on her shoulder "Something wrong?"
"Huh?" Marinette blinked fast, trying to come back to reality "It's nothing, I spaced out" She smiled.
"Sure?"
"Yeah, yeah. What we were talking about?"
"Adrien's mom" Marceline showed her the phone once again, swapping through the pictures on the model's gallery "Now we know from all the pretty came from"
She saw the picture, a new one, but it was the same woman. She was wearing a light blue hat, her hair was down and her curls ran on top of her shoulders. On her neck she… what was that?
RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN!
Marinette couldn't move. The shocking revelation in front of her had caused all her muscles to go numb.
She knew who she was looking for, she knew it was connected to supernatural reasons and yet this was a surprise. She wasn't expecting this.
A powerful energy was pulling from her to come closer accompanied of a sweet velvety voice who invited her to take a step forward and hug her. She wanted to do that. it was the voice that had been tormenting her in her sleep, that sweet melody that had kept her awake at night because it was unknown.
RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN!
The other voice intercepted her mind once again, soft and warm, alike to the other one but more… human.
Because it was human! It wasn't a ghost it was a real person in front of her!
Well, looking it closely, as she narrowed her eyes trying for the light not to blind her she could see a woman, a beautiful woman. She was tall and thin and she was glowing.
The intense white light covered all of her body and it seemed to come from her. It was like the sun was burning inside of her and letting it colors burst through her. It would've been an alluring vision if the light hadn't been so bright, Marinette was sure of that.
It was the combination of the human essence and the supernatural one that made impossible to ignore the light and walk away. That's why Marinette couldn't move because the energy was telling her to take a step closer to it, but something inside Marinette's head was creating a warning sign, asking for her to go back to where she came from. And the human voice was fulfilling that instinct.
"RUN!" That wasn't inside her mind anymore. Though the voices she had been hearing didn't belong to her, they had never felt like actual voice, but the kind of voice you hear in your mind, you can know what they are saying and feel how they sound but you are not really listening. Now, she was listening.
"Go away! Run, before it's too late!"
"But—" She extended her to the light
"No!"
A powerful force held her arm. It pulled so strongly like it was ready to rip her apart like she was a little rag doll ready to fall apart piece by piece.
In little jumps, the energy ran from her arm to the rest of her body and pain began to grow, pumping through her veins and dancing on her skin like if she had been stepped on with shoes made of pointy glass.
Little needles all over her, pressing at the same time against her skin, piercing deep into her skin till they reached ligaments, muscles, veins, and arteries. Every part of her that could hurt was hurting.
She didn't move her feet, but she stepped closer than before. The energy was pulling from her like a strong magnet.
"NO!" The voice shouted and the energy weakened.
Marinette could feel and control her body again. She took a step backward, still curious of what magic entity was in front of her she kept her eyes open hoping she could see the woman inside of the light with more precision.
"What are you doing?! Run away from here! Run, run, run! Forget about me!"
"I ca—" One more time the energy took over her, this time it was pushing her away.
"Run!" The energy struck, so quickly, hitting Marinette's chest and throwing her to the ground.
It was pulling, it was pushing, pulling, pushing.
Marinette had hit her head against the floor, that had hurt, but the burning sensation on her chest was what hurt the most.
A purple light was in front of her, crashing against the blinding white. It was beautiful to witness, but she knew it wasn't meant to be seen as a show, it was a fight.
"Run, Ladybug! Forget about me! Forget everything!"
One moment there was so much light, the other it was all darkness. Darkness and pain.
xx
He had heard that scream before. In a different scenario, in a different time of the day and probably for a different reason but it had been that same voice that had screamed with the same desperation.
Her scream had echoed through the room like a sonic bomb. It had been loud and it had been painful.
Marinette had been up one minute and the next her body dropped to the floor like a dead weight. The knees crashed against the ceramics but she didn't show any signs of the pain a person should have felt. Her hands reached for her hair, pulling pieces of her scalps and all her body trembled just like an earthquake would. It didn't take long for the tears to begin stream down her eyes and for the screams to continue.
Marceline stood in her place like a statue, Sébastien came running from his workstation and Adrien took a step to get close to Marinette.
"Take off the jacket"" Marceline and Sébastien said at the same time.
Adrien snapped his head back at them, surprised by the request. How could they still think about clothes when Marinette was shaking and crying in front of them?
But they didn't back off with the request. Marceline had her hands extended, ready to help him.
"We can't mess up her work…" Marceline said what sounded like an explanation to her weird request. He understood that said explanation had a deeper meaning than just the surface of taking care of the clothes she had sewed.
Without taking off his eyes of Marinette he let Marceline helped him out to get out off the jacket. And every second of it felt like a millennium.
He ran to Marinette and kneel in front of her, counting to ten and keeping a steady respiratory rhythm, he couldn't allow his brain to mess up things and send him to a panic attack too.
Adrien didn't touch her. He didn't know how she could react.
When he got panic attacks, he felt safer if Plagg touched his forehead, reassuring him he wasn't alone, but he didn't know if Marinette felt well being touched, maybe, on the contrary, it could make things worse.
So he didn't do anything. He was kneeling in front of her, waiting for a sign to let him know how to proceed.
"Do any of you know what to do?" Adrien asked, lifting his gaze to the other three designers on the studio, whose names he didn't know, he remembered Marinette naming them once or twice, but their names didn't make much of an impression to stay in his brain. The fact that they looked entertained by Marinette's situation made him want to know their names, badly for them, he didn't have good intentions with that wish.
They shook their heads, fear washing over their faces.
"Then—"Adrien inhaled deeply, trying to keep his cool but looking back to the three designers, he decided he didn't care "—get the fuck away from here!"
Sébastien let out a nervous laugh.
"Has this ever happen before?" Adrien asked, looking up to catch Sébastien sight, he seemed to be in better shape than Marceline.
"Not like this" He answered scratching his green hair. "Alya always talks to her…"
"About what?!"
"Anything, she says hi, describes clothes, the pla—
Adrien wasted no time.
"Hi, Mari, it's me, Adrien, we are at my father's headquarters right now, where you work. You are working on a suit for me right now, it's black with shades of silver, I wear a black shirt underneath with a turtle neck, it didn't work on me at first but you fixed it!" He tried to sound excited while keeping his voice soft "I'm wearing it now and you are wearing a really cute outfit too! You are wearing black too, your sweater, it looks soft and it has a circle cleavage, it fits you quite well… you are wearing a skirt too, it's red, A cut, if I'm not wrong that's how it is called and—
Adrien stopped when Marinette's hands dropped to her side and she lifted her head.
She opened her mouth but whatever word she was trying to formulate didn't leave a sound, her mouth arched and her lips twitched but nothing came out.
"Marinette?" Adrien asked, staring right at her purple iris. Just like that night.
Marinette threw herself at Adrien's arms.
He gasped and could hear the same surprise gesture behind his back coming from Marinette's friends.
The girl was always reluctant to be around him, always looking uncomfortable and a little too careful. This hug didn't show any of that.
She wasn't hugging him to find comfort; she was looking for a safe shred. The way her arms wrapped around him were more than a simple show of affection, she was holding to him as if she was about to fall off a cliff's edge.
The way she was hugging him not only left in evidence how much she needed to feel love but that she could only find it in his arms.
This wasn't Marinette hugging Adrien. This was Ladybug hugging Chat Noir.
He had confirmed it from experience, a little part inside of Marinette associated him with Chat Noir and part of her brain knew that they were one and the same. That's what was going on in that moment. That little light inside of Marinette –that got the clarity all of her other synaptic connections lacked off- was moving and commanding her actions.
She was still shaking and tearing up, but now Adrien knew that it was safe to touch her. He hugged her back and let her hide her face in the crook of his neck. He caressed her hair and rubbed his thumb against her temple.
"It's okay, princess, you are safe" He whispered in her ear "You are safe, Marinette. You are in Paris, at your workplace, surrounded by people who love you and admire you. You are safe, you are safe, you are safe"
Marinette's grip turned stronger but her hard trembles began to fade away and as well did her tears. She was shivering, but it wasn't exaggerated as before, it was a consequence of her loud sobs.
When Marinette's breath turned back to slow gasps, Adrien shifted the position of his arms, he held her tighter from her back and passed his arm behind Marinette's knees and lifted her from the ground.
"I'm taking her somewhere quieter" Adrien announced to Marinette's friends.
Midway to his way to a conference room he hoped was empty Nathalie stepped on his way.
"What happened to her, Adrien? Why didn't you call me?" One of the funny things about Nathalie it's that it didn't matter how strict she wanted to look in front of him, she always ended up sounding like a worrying mother. She could fool him when he was a teenager, but not anymore.
"I could handle it, I'm taking her to one of the conference rooms, is that alright?" Nathalie nodded "If I need anything I promise I'll let you know"
"Better do" Nathalie gave a little smile. She guided him to the room and opened the door for him.
The room was wide and luminous, with an oval table made of glass and wood in the middle surrounded by chairs. At the left corner of the room, close to the windows, there was a white sofa.
"Can we close the curtains? Not completely, just a little" Nathalie didn't answer but she made her way to the window and did as he had asked. "Thank you, Nath"
Adrien left Marinette on the sofa, at first he wondered if to let her lie across it, but Marinette was more conscious of her surrounding at the seconds passed so he decided to sit her. He still kept close to her, holding her by her waist, her hands still on his shoulders.
"It's okay, Mari, I'm here" He kept whispering reassuring words, hoping they would find their way into Marinette's brain.
"Too… bright" Marinette whispered, and then gibberish phrases followed those words. Marinette's lips moved to fast and her eyes were wide open letting fear found shred on them. He tried to follow but she spoke fast and low, it was impossible to get something from it until she said his name. And she blinked once again.
"Adrien,breathless" Marinette said breathlessly. He felt how her hands moved around his shoulder before digger her nails into them. She was still a little out of the world.
"Yes, Mari?"
One more time, she looked ready to say something but nothing came out of her mouth and that coincided with the return of the blue ocean on her eyes, leaving the lilac skies behind.
"A…Uh…"
"Don't worry, you don't need to say anything if you don't feel like. No explanations, no excuses, if you don't want to talk that's fine"
Marinette gave a little assuring smile, eyes closed and feelings plastered on her face.
"Adrien… when you passed me the umbrella—"She gasped"—you triggered something and I think, I think I'm gonna start remembering you"
Those weren't the world Adrien was expecting for her to say if she decided to talk. She was brushing off the problems with happy conversation.
That was okay, Adrien wasn't going to push for more.
"Really?"
"Really" She nodded. Pressing her hands against her face, she rubbed her forehead with her fingertips.
"Your head hurts?" Adrien asked. He extended one arm to touch Marinette but stopped midway, unsure if that was the right thing to do. Yes, she had hugged him and he had carried to a silent room but that didn't mean that he had the right to touch her. Not as Adrien, not yet at least.
"Yeah, it always happens when… well you, know" Marinette waved her hand around her, the gesture made Adrien smile in amusement. "For how long I was out?"
"Didn't count but it could've been around ten minutes" He answered, Marinette didn't seem to hear, she was still rubbing her forehead, eyelids pressed together. "It used to happen to me. When my attacks lasted longer I always ended up with horrible headaches"
Marinette eyes popped open with wonder and looked at him astonished.
"You?" Adrien nodded "Why?" Marinette covered her mouth with her hands. "I'm sorry, that was rude, I shouldn't have asked"
"It's not rude, you didn't ask with malicious intentions" Adrien grinned at her. "Do you want an aspirin?"
"No, I'm fine or I will be after an hour. I'm used to it so it's not a big deal anymore"
"Is the—
"Marinette" The new voice in the room interrupted him.
On the doorstep stood his father, displaying a stiff posture and worry in his eyes. Marinette on the other side was mortified, the blush on her cheeks spread to her nose and the rest of her face.
"Sir, " Marinette said, standing off the sofa and brushing the inexistent dust on her skirt.
"I heard what happened. Do you think you can still work today?" Adrien rolled his eyes. That phrase showed how much he cared about Marinette, it really did but still, he wished his father could have selected a better phrase. Was it really that hard to say "are you okay?"
"Of course, sir" Marinette nodded furiously. What Adrien considered a bad choice, since she had a headache.
"I see you took off the jacket,of," Gabriel said to Adrien "Good call, we can replace the shirt but not that jacket" He walked closer to his son. Grabbing the neck of the black shirt Adrien was wearing and then following the path of Marinette's tears and little stains of makeup on his shoulder.
"Yeah, Marceline and Sébastien ordered me to" He explained. He wouldn't have given that much importance to that comment if Sébastien and Marceline didn't benefit from the explanations.
Gabriel nodded.
"Please go back to work Marinette, I'll ask Francesca to get you an aspirin and something to eat"
Marinette looked ready to refuse, but she realized fast that it hadn't been a question, it had been an order.
"Thank you, sir" Marinette nodded and walked to the door, turning around once she was out "Thank you, Adrien"
"It was nothing, Mari"
Gabriel only waited for Marinette's step to fade away to begin talking. Adrien was surprised that he had been able to wait for that long.
"What happened? Nathalie comes to my office and says you are carrying an unconscious Marinette and then two of my best interns come to me looking as pale as ghosts asking if Marinette is okay"
"She wasn't unconscious" Adrien lifted a finger, marking the point "But something weird happened indeed… it's better if I tell you when Nino and Alya arrive, father"
"Your friends are already here," Gabriel said. "Mademoiselle Césaire is having a meltdown in my office and has threatened me with cutting my head off and yours if something bad had happened to Marinette"
"I thought you were lying there for a moment but that sounds like Alya" Adrien grinned.
"Should we go then?" Gabriel lifted a brow at his son.
"I'll change my clothes and I'll go"
"Don't waste time flirting, it seems like we have more to talk about that what we planned"
Adrien left the room without answering and with his cheeks burning in scarlet.
xxx
FLASHBACKS! Yes, we are in that moment where I need to write flashbacks!
Sorry to everyone who thought something major was going to happen between Adrienette, not yet, not yet ;)
There're a few things I wanted to clarify/say :
1) You may have noticed (or not) that Sébastien's hair color changes, that's not because I don't remember what his hair color is (on his firs appearance it was red) but bc he changes it, he uses wigs.
2) Someone said Gabriel was too ooc, and yeah maybe he is, but we STILL don't know much about him, and I really believe that he loves Adrien and that they only need to adapt and grow to build a better relationship, and that's what happened, that's why Gabriel acts more like a parent here (and bc i can't stand Adrien to be ignored or feel like he is not loved)
3) Next chapter may be betaed
4) I won't abandon this fic, I'm too busy to write as I used to at the beginning of the year, but I'm not leaving this fic unfinished don't ya worry !
And that's it! I'm going on a little travel so I can say when I'm gonna post the next chapter, maybe I get time to write or maybe i don't, can't tell!
Thank you for reading, the kudos and the lovely comments you are so great guys!
find me on tmblr - buginettte (sometimes i post previews and ramble about the writing process)
