As Sébastien had said, Marinette did not take long in appear in the dressing room. She ran inside as if she had left the stove on or something.
Adrien was still standing next to the rail with Marinette's dress on it. He had been tempted to peek and see the design she had brought to life –she had shown a few to Chat Noir in paper and he had been dying to see it in fabric since that day- but he had resisted, waiting for Marinette to show him.
"Oh no," Marinette sighed, throwing her head back and making a pout.
"Wha-at?" Adrien said with a little stutter.
"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it," She said under her breath, without answering to Adrien. She moved across the room and took her bag with tools, bringing it back to where Adrien stood. Without a warning, she opened Adrien's jacket and she started stitching the end of it.
Adrien didn't speak, it was not the right moment. So, he watched her work, it was always mesmerizing. But today he did not focus on the moves she made, but in the makeup and hair, she was wearing.
Her eyeshadow was also in plum colors, darker than his but plum still. Her eyeliner was ticker and ended in a long wing, making her eyes pop. Her lips were painted in a soft pink that helped the look not be so harsh on her delicate face. There was not much blush going on, maybe because Marinette tended to blush easily and didn't need help in that department.
Her hair was tied up in a low bun made of braids with the detail of a pale pink ribbon intertwining with her hair. Also, she was rocking fake bangs, which made her look younger than she was.
"You look beautiful, Marinette," It slipped from his lips. He was going to say it once he saw her with her dress on, he had been planning it so he wouldn't sound cliché or creepy, he wanted it to be perfect, but there he was ruining it.
Marinette stopped sewing and stood up straight, she looked him straight in the eye, calmer than he had ever seen her.
"Thank you, Adrien," A genuine smile appeared on her lips, cheeks staining with red color, confirming Adrien's theory. "You look handsome, too. Black is definitely your color,"
It wasn't what she said but the way she said it that made Adrien tremble.
"I don't think I can do much right now…" Marinette had shifted back to the suit, touching the fabric between her fingers she analyzed one more time the mistake that Adrien could still not find. "Did your father liked it?"
"Very much," He assured her with a smile. "He said you were incredible,"
"Do you think its incredible?"
"Absolutely," He nodded vigorously "I had seen it before but somehow it looks better than ever, and it makes me look soooo hot." Marinette let out a big laugh, she threw her head back a little, her nose wrinkled and she covered her smile with her mouth. "What? You don't think so?"
"You know you're hot, don't make me feed your ego, you will have enough of that once we are in the party,"
"They're gonna get to see you first, so I will be overshadowed by you, my ego will get hungry," Marinette clicked her tongue, a mechanism she used to stop her from laughing.
"We'll see, we'll see," She sighed, "I'm gonna go dress, you can wait downstairs if you—
"I'll wait here," Adrien interrupted. "We are a team, right?"
A dark shadow appeared over Marinette's eyes, Adrien saw all the playfulness of seconds ago evaporate, still she answered, "We are."
When Marinette disappeared behind the curtain, Adrien dropped the fake smile he had been putting on.
He had enjoyed the bonding moment they had just shared, but something inside of him didn't let him appreciate the moment as he wished he could have. Not as Adrien at least.
It was true that Marinette was opening up to him, he was nicer and kinder than she had been at the beginning, and he hadn't heard her curse that much for a while. But Marinette couldn't have changed her vision of him from night to morning. Yesterday, things were still off between them.
This wasn't the way Marinette acted around Adrien, that was the way Marinette acted around Chat Noir. Carefree, kind and playful, that was the girl that had become friends with his superhero persona, and while he loved the thought of Marinette acting that way to him –he loved the few seconds he had gotten just a minute ago- it didn't felt right because it felt pretended.
Maybe she was putting up a persona for the night, so she could hide all her fears and doubts behind, relying on Adrien to go through the night.
But that didn't sound like Marinette, she was straightforward and she did not use people. No matter how fake the attitude felt, there were no damaging thoughts or plans behind them, if she was nervous she would tell him, she would ask for help, she wouldn't pretend. This was something else.
Adrien paced around the room, letting his thoughts run in circles, trying to find an explanation for today's behavior. Sometimes he wondered how much of it was a secondary effect of the horrific situations Mari had gone through and how much of it was actually the girl he once knew. If he knew that it would be easier to deal with her, to help her somehow. He never knew where he stood with her.
"Adrien," Marinette called. The curtain opened a bit showing half of her body to him.
"Yes?" He crooked a brow.
"Help me with my zipper?" She asked, and walked backward in his direction, with her hands on her back holding the dress.
"Is that the most comfortable way to walk?" Adrien chuckled.
"I want the dress to be a surprise," Marinette said between clenched teeth.
That was a good argument, so Adrien didn't tease her more and did what she had asked for.
From this side, he could see a see-through fabric on top of a soft lavender that only let the shape of Marinette's legs to be seen. The A-line gown was decorated with small Swarovski crystals reflecting the light across the dress in asterisk shapes –that could only be noticed at this distance, if not the dress looked like it had been covered by starlight-. The dress was backless, so the zipper was under the half of Marinette's back, only there to tighten it and hug her body better. And if that was the back, Adrien couldn't wait to see the front.
"Done," He announced once the zipper and the button were ready.
"Thank you," She said, turning her head to him "Now close your eyes, you've seen a little so you can imagine, but fake to be surprised anyway."
He chuckled and nodded, then he closed his eyes and waited. He heard the sound of heels hitting the ground -walking away from him- the sharp breathes and the click of her tongue before she spoke again.
"You can open your eyes now," He did.
In front of him, Marinette stood, and the vision was surreal.
The front of the dress continued with the amethyst and lavender colors with the Swarovski crystals, that he had already seen but her chest was made of galaxies. The crystals around her chest gave the illusion of the absence of fabric, it made it look as if Marinette's skin was engraved with stars. The open back was nothing with the deep cleavage on the front. It was connected to the back of the dress by a slim branch of starlight that fell like raindrops to the top of her chest and then there was a shower of cosmos all over her chest to the start of the skirt.
He realized that the scar on her chest was missing, probably work of the makeup artists. He did not want to comment on that, he wasn't even sure if Marinette had realized that he had seen it. He was going to focus on how incredible the dress was, how incredible she was.
"So? What do you think?" Marinette whispered.
Had he been staring too long? Was he drooling? Was he making her uncomfortable?
"Uh…" He shook his head, "It's incredible, you're incredible, it's… marvelous, I… it's like galaxies, I…
"I was inspired by them," Marinette interrupted, "When I woke up… of the accident, I thought I liked astrophysics –I don't know if I have told you before- I'm not good at it, but since then I've always been interested in it, and well… yeah,"
"As an astrophysics major, I approve," Oh, that sounded so cringe-worthy, but he had already said it, he would have to own it now.
Marinette giggled and looked at him with warm eyes.
Yeah, whatever reason was making Marinette act oddly was worrying, but right now, it didn't matter, because those warm eyes that had always welcomed him, that had always loved him were right in front of him. Those warm eyes were his lady's and when he watched those beautiful sparkling eyes, nothing could go wrong.
"Thank you," Marinette smiled one more time.
Too flustered to keep looking at her eyes, Adrien shifted his sight to her side, to where the clock was. It was time to go.
Adrien bowed in front of her and once up he offered his arm to her.
"Ready to go, my lady?" Adrien knew it was a dangerous choice of words, but he missed calling her that.
Marinette took his arm and stood beside him. "Ready to go."
xx
The party was exactly what Adrien was waiting it would be.
On his modeling days, he had attended to multiple types of celebrations thrown by fashion magazines, so he had a good idea of what to expect. And what he had expected from Vogue was the same elegance and modernism that was displayed right in front of him.
The party was being thrown in one of the biggest rooms of the Grant Ritz Hotel, and from the moment you put one foot on Palace Vendome, you could be able to know it.
At the entrance of the hotel, there was a line of guards who welcomed them with a polite head gesture, after them, there were two beautiful girls dressed in short sparkly-golden dresses that gave their greetings to the guesses as they arrived. Once you were inside the building, the show continued with big luxurious signs that showed you the way down the party room.
And if the path to get to the party had been luxurious, the party itself was just ridiculous. The hotel salon was big enough to have that much decoration and still let people get inside of it.
The first thing you would notice as you stepped the room, where the big platinum capital letters that spelled "VOGUE" at the end of the room. They were so big and shiny that they didn't let you see the other diamond-like decorations around the room. There were big chandeliers in gold and silver with fashion motives hanging from them, mirrors at the walls with black signatures of famous people of the couture industry, and where there weren't mirrors there were posters of old VOGUE covers.
Every piece of decoration did not seem to go with each other, except for the fact that they were all shiny, but somehow it still worked as a whole.
Inside there were more girls dressed in sparkly dresses, entertaining the guests with a coordinated dance routine. The waitresses were dressed in gold shimmery tuxedos with spiky masks that only covered one of their eyes. The music was loud but not overwhelming and the lights on the roof changed colors every once in a while, hitting the fake diamonds and shine surfaces, turning the salon different colors too.
It was too much for Adrien and Marinette didn't seem to like it either.
"It's so… bright," She whispered, blinking a few, trying to adjust her eyes to the light.
"It is," Adrien agreed. "Are you ready?"
"You have been asking me that non-stop, you're more nervous than I am," Adrien looked down, trying to check out if Marinette was looking as tense as her words sounded.
"Maybe I am… it's been a while," He lied. He wasn't nervous anymore, but Marinette was, so he could pretend to make her feel better.
"Uh," Marinette took his hand between hers, "It's going to be great, if I can do it then there's no doubt that you can do it too. Maybe no one will remember you,"
Adrien grinned.
"With such a gorgeous lady by my side, I don't think they'll see me," Marinette punched his arm, flustered by his comment. "You're right, it's going to be great. Let's do this."
Adrien offered his arm, Marinette took it and stood close to him that what he had anticipated, but it was nice, nothing could go wrong now. He escorted her down the hall and they went to greet the first guess.
x
Two hours passed and Adrien wasn't worried anymore.
Marinette was smiling and Adrien was impressed with how no one had ambushed him yet. Yes, a few designers and photographers he had worked with before had recognized him, but they had been nothing but polite, asking about his whereabouts and congratulating him on his comeback to the fashion world while being a professor at a prestigious school.
But, he wasn't the center of attention, Marinette was, and he couldn't be happier about it.
He called the attention of people but once they saw Marinette's stunning dress, he passed to be an accessory to her, focusing only on the beautiful woman with the incredible talent, just like Gabriel had planned.
Marinette handled the guests as the professional designer she was, explaining her inspirations and her techniques, giving away details that made them want more, details that kept them wondering. They would shower her in compliments and work offers, but Marinette was humble and centered, she didn't give away her excited emotions and she answered to all of those words with the politest smile.
It was only a matter of time for Marinette to get her eerie behavior back. It started slowly, with her stepping back from him, being less sincere with the guests and putting on a fake smile.
When Adrien got one of the rare moments when they got to be alone, he whispered in her ear.
"Are you okay?"
"Just a little headache, nothing to worry about," Marinette sighed, shouting her eyes closed and ducking her head.
"You want to rest somewhere? It won't hurt anyone if you disappear for a few minutes," Adrien suggested. He placed his arm around Marinette's shoulders and squeezed her tightly.
"No, it's okay—"Marinette massaged her temples with her fingertips. She didn't look well.
"You don't look okay, Mari,"
"Is just the decoration… everything is so bright, it must be hurting my eyeballs,"
"You sure?" Adrien rose a brow.
Marinette smirked, it wasn't as convincing as other times because the pain was still all over her face. "Totally. Let's get a glass of rosé, I've been wanting to try this expensive one for a while now,"
"Alright," Adrien accepted.
Marinette took Adrien's hand and guided him through the crowd, trying to find one of the waitresses who had the long glasses of rosé. In the middle of their path, they were ambushed by Marceline.
"Nette," She whispered, it was obvious that all the emotion and enthusiasm she had when jumping in front of them had disappeared when she had seen Marinette's face. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Just a little headache, is nothing," Marinette said between her teeth. "Is something going on?"
"Kind of," Marceline shrugged "Vogue wants a picture of us together,"
"Now?"
"Now,"
Marinette sighed. Then she turned to Adrien.
"Where should we meet after this?" Marinette asked.
"Nowhere, I'll go with you and wait in the back,"
"But it's going to be boring," Marinette protested
"I don't mind," He grinned and stepped in front of her, following Marceline.
Marinette smiled too. She wasn't feeling good but he somehow made her forget that.
When Marinette arrived at the fast-set they had prepared, Sébastien was already there, but by her surprise, Gabriel Agreste was not. Well, maybe he had gone back to his old habits, or he was greeting more important people than their interns -which was highly probable and the most real excuse to his absence-.
"Oh, you must be Marinette!" The photographer shouted at her when she saw her, "Finally, we've been waiting for you for so long,"
Marinette put a fake smile, she wasn't in the mood to speak back. She greeted her with a handshake and took her place for the picture, beside Sébastien.
"Are you feeling okay, mon cherié?" Sébastien asked, stroking her hair when she was close.
"A headache, nothing big," She answered, trying to hide her annoyance. she knew they worried about her, but getting the same question over and over was tiring.
"Alright, let me know if it gets worse, I have medicine if you need it,"
"Thanks, Seb," She genuinely thanked him.
"Alé, alé! Let's take this picture fast!" The woman said, who Marinette couldn't name because she had no idea who she was and she hadn't introduced herself to her "Marceline move a little bit to the left!"
Marinette took a step closer to Sébastien, fixed the wrinkles on the skirt of her dress and looked up to the photographer one more time. She was still directing Marceline to move forward and asking people who were watching to step back, so Marinette didn't look at the camera, she looked at the man behind the photographer.
Adrien was smiling at her, it wasn't an amused smile, but a reassuring one. When he noticed she was watching him, he smiled wider and winked at her. He knew she was nervous. For how long had he known? The whole night? Probably, she was being a fool by not noticing earlier, how could he not notice? He always did, he always took care of her…
The flash of the camera erased every thought inside Marinette's brain, the juxtaposition of Adrien's face and the light were the only things that she could see. She felt like all the strength of her body was evaporating and leaving her, she felt dizzy and nauseous. She couldn't tell if she was still standing or had fallen to the floor.
She blinked a few times, her headache becoming stronger as the seconds passed. She felt Sébastien's hand on her arm and without knowing how she looked up at him, he was talking to her but she couldn't understand anything. As if it was instinct, she looked to the front one more time and put on a smile. The flash came once again, and it made everything worse.
Marinette couldn't breathe.
The dark walls were staining on the light, following her like a wave would. She kept running, the voice on her head screaming to do it faster, to call reinforcement.
"He can't know!" She screamed back. She wheezed and coughed, she was getting tired and the air seemed to be disappearing.
"Marinette!" The pitched voice screamed her name in utter terror.
"Marinette!" Marceline snapped her fingers in front of her.
She still felt lost but she wasn't in the dark anymore. Chills were running up her back and her body felt like an electric wire.
"It's over?" Marinette gasped.
"Yes… Mari, you look awful you should— Marceline stopped. Marinette looked up. Adrien had his hand on Marceline's shoulder, he gave her a look that she seemed to understand and took a step backward from Marinette.
"We are going outside," Adrien announced. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer in an abrupt move, something unusual coming from him.
"I'm—
"Don't you dare," Adrien warned between clenched teeth, looking at her over his shoulder.
She didn't say anything after that, not because she didn't want to, but because she couldn't. Her breath was stuck in her throat and the dizziness was becoming overwhelming; the shiny decorations of the party weren't helping her at all.
Adrien took her out of the salon as fast as a bullet. He managed to dodge anyone who could have become an obstacle to them, and he guided her to one of the terraces of the first floor. This terrace had little fairy lights decorating the plants and a lamppost every few meters, but that was it, which made Marinette think that she would feel better in a few seconds.
She did not.
The lack of air was becoming unbearable and her nausea now made her vision go blurry. Adrien was holding her arms and standing in front of her, whispering something that she could not understand. She tried to focus on his words so she could go back to normal, but the voices and images inside of her head were messing up with reality; one second she could see Adrien's blurry face and the other she was back at the mysterious and dark place, where a light was trying to reach her.
"Marinette!" The voice called her name once again.
"Where are you?!" Marinette kept running, not knowing where to go, it felt like she was running in circles "Tikki!"
"Marinette, run!"
"Not without you!"
"Marinette, go! I can't only hold him a little longer!"
"No!" She screamed back, jumping to dodge the ray of light that had almost caught her. It was easier than it had ever been, to run, to jump and to keep fighting, but she knew this wasn't a good thing. She put her hand against her chest and whispered "Thank you, just hold on a little longer,"
She jumped one more time but a ray surprised her.
"Marineeeeeette!" She heard Tikki's voice again before she fell into the dirty ground of the cave.
The energy took over her. Again, it was the pain of not feeling all over again, it was the pain of moving without commanding her own body. It was over… she had failed.
He can't know, he can't know, he can't know.
"Mari! Princess, please!" It was Adrien's voice.
Marinette opened her eyes, she was still seeing a little blurry but it was impossible not to recognize the face in front of her.
Adrien was right in front of her, calling her name, asking her to answer to him. He was cupping her cheeks and rubbing his thumb on her skin. His voice sounded calmed and controlled, his face did not show the same emotions: he was suffering, he was worried and he was tearing up.
What could have happened to her to get this reaction out of him?
Marinette thought about his talk with Nathanael.
"Are my eyes purple?" She whispered.
"Pu-purple?" Adrien blinked a few times, he looked as he was trying to decode what she had just said.
"Yes, purple…" Marinette looked down, avoiding his sight, worried that he would answer with a yes.
"No… they are not," Adrien said to her happiness. He put his hand on her chin and made her look at him. "Are you feeling alright?"
"No," Marinette started tearing up. "No, I'm not. I'm tired! I'm so, so tired!"
Adrien wrapped his arms around Marinette in a hug that made them fall. He quickly changed their weights so she could fall on top of him, instead of him in her as it was about to happen.
Marinette was surprised but she didn't complain, she needed a shoulder to cry on. She let all her anger and confusion out in that moment. She held Adrien close and she let the rainfall. She was sobbing uncontrollably and trembling, but Adrien never said a word, she just let her cry. He held her back and rubbed her back in slow calming strokes. He kissed the nape of her head and played with her hair
Marinette cried and screamed, she hit Adrien's chest a few times, she mouthed intelligible words, and Adrien just kept holding her, and that was enough. It was exactly what she had been craving for years, she just didn't know it until that moment.
When her tears started to fade away and she was only a mess of sobs and hiccups, she let Adrien go. She sat down at his side and started taking big breaths, trying to make her breathe steadily once again.
Adrien, without taking her eyes off her, sat down in front of her.
"Marinette…" He whispered carefully.
"Yes?" She asked in the middle of a hiccup.
"What you…. your… the purple eyes, thing…" Adrien sighed, "For long have you known?"
Marinette crooked a brow "For long have you known?"
Adrien was taken back, he gasped. "I…Thursday," This time Marinette was the one who got surprised.
"Thursday? Are you telling me the truth?" She asked but in her mind, she was making counts, and it did make sense that he had found out about this Thursday. He was there when she woke up and she couldn't remember what had happened. It made sense with the facts Nathanael had told her.
"I am." He assured her. Marinette nodded.
"Nathanael told me about it last night," She finally answered. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well, I… I didn't know if—" Adrien stopped, his eyes wide open as something clicked inside his head. "You aren't asking how I know…"
Marinette couldn't hide it any longer. She had promised to not freak out and act like she was oblivious as she had always been, but the moment called for the truth.
"I know you're Chat Noir, Adrien,"
xx
Hi everyone! Just wanted to thank you all for reading this fic, it means a lot to me. I wish i could answer to every comment but I don't think FF has a function to do that? If you want that you should comment on my ao3 :)
This chapter took me so long, so I hope you enjoyed it, now the good things are supposed to come lol. You can find me on tumblr btw my url is buginettte (yeah with 3 T)
