Despite setting several alarms at five minute intervals, each on at an increasing decibel, it took Sabine Cheng coming in and shaking her awake to finally rouse Marinette from sleep. Blearily she looked over to the clock and when her eyes finally focussed she gasped, sitting suddenly upright.
"Oh no! I overslept!"
Sabine shook her head with a smile as she turned to walk out of the room.
"Breakfast is on the table. Get dressed quickly, it's nearly time to meet Adrien. Hurry now," she said, and then was out the door.
Marinette threw herself out of bed and ran to her wardrobe. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She had deliberately set an early alarm so that she could spend a little time sewing before breakfast, since she wouldn't have time in the day any more. There was a cute dolls outfit that she had designed and she was itching to bring her creation to life.
Throwing on her clothes she ran out of the room. Breakfast was a hurried affair, just Marinette and her mother.
"You're father is already in his office with Adrien giving him a basic rundown. Once you've finished head straight there, no dilly dallying, okay?"
The teen popped the last bite of croissant in her mouth and kissed her mother on the cheek. Three minutes later she was out the door, pulling her arms through her jacket as she ran, narrowly avoiding tripping over or running in to several elves along the way. She left a wake of affectionate grumbling behind her, sorrys thrown over her shoulder like scattered snow flurries as she dashed across the estate.
With the briefest of knocks Marinette was through the door panting slightly, her cheeks flushed. Her father laughed in the booming way he had, deep and resonating but joyful. It was one of the things that made him such a wonderful Santa.
"Adrien, m'boy, this is my daughter, Marinette."
She turned her eyes on the person standing dwarfed beside her father. She had had no preconceived notions of what Adrien would be like beyond the nuisance his presence was to her own plans. With his blonde hair and brilliant green eyes he was the stereotypical golden boy. How did someone get their skin to glow like that in the dead of winter at the north pole, for goodness sake? And even though she could concede that he was objectively quite beautiful – there really was no other word to use – she wouldn't be won over by a pretty face. What made Adrien so special that she had to drop everything to babysit him?
The boy in question scratched the back of his neck, his eyes cast down and a steady tide of red washing over his face.
"Uh-um... hi, M-Marinette. I'm Adrien. Thanks for taking care of me."
She eyed his outstretched hand warily but with a pointed look from Tom took it, smiling.
"Hi, Adrien. It's not a problem, really. Part of my job is to help new people settle in. I hope you found your room to your liking."
It was as though her words broke through a dam. He looked up from the floor, pinning her eyes within the piercing gaze of his own and dazzled her with the brilliance of his smile.
"It's amazing! Thank you. I've heard so many great things about this place and I've wanted to come here for as long as I can remember. My father never wanted me to though. But Maman always talked about this place. She was an elf here for years and she said it was some of the best years of her life and all the stories she used to tell really made me want... ah, sorry. I didn't mean to give you my life story I'm just... I'm really excited to be here and to meet you, Marinette."
"You wanted to meet... me?" Marinette asked.
Adrien nodded his head enthusiastically. "I've heard so much about you and I just..." he spread his hands and shrugged.
The pink of her cheeks was no longer from the run across the compound. Tom clapped his hand on Adrien's back and the younger man stumbled. It went completely unnoticed.
"Excellent, excellent. Well now that the introductions are out of the way, it's time you showed Adrien around properly and started his training. No time to waste. Away with you both and I'll catch up with you later today!"
The door closed heavily behind them.
"Argh, alright," Marinette said, rubbing her hand across her face. "Where should we begin? I think maybe..." she hummed, looking at the map of the place outside the office. It was a large and maze-like complex and there were maps dotted around to help visitors and the occasional confused elf. She clapped her hands together decisively. "Gift wrapping. It's the simplest process but still really important. This way," she announced, waving her hand and striding off without checking to see if Adrien was following. "We have highly trained elves who specialise in taping, papering and ribbon tying. So, why do you think gift wrapping might be such an important aspect of the whole process?" She spoke as she walked, her short strides quick and purposeful.
"I-I... um... Well, it's because of the aesthetic. On Christmas morning when the children go to their Christmas tree the first thing they'll see is the wrapping paper and if it doesn't look good, some of the magic might be lost."
Marinette stopped briefly and Adrien nearly ran into her. "That's exactly right," she agreed, picking up the pace again. "The magic is the most important thing and we have to do everything we can to ensure the magic stays alive in the hearts of children for as long as possible. We take pride in every part of the process and everyone works really hard to make that happen."
Marinette pushed open the door to the cavernous room, hundreds of elves surrounded by masses of brightly coloured paper and long streams of ribbons filling the space in organised chaos. She lead Adrien over to a table with a stack of unwrapped boxes.
"We'll start you off with the basic box shape." Deftly, Marinette pulled a sheet of wrapping paper across the worktop, placed a box on top of it and and with just three movements, had the whole present neatly wrapped. "There," she smiled widely, inspecting her handiwork. "I went a bit slower so that you could properly see what I was doing. Take a moment to observe a couple of the other elves and then I want you to try yourself, okay?"
Adrien nodded curtly, his eyes already wondering around the room taking in the flurry of activity.
"Do you think you could show me ju-" Adrien started but Marinette was already walking away. Alya stood by the doorway waving excitedly, her phone clasped tightly in her hand.
"Sorry Adrien, I'll be back in just a minute. Have a look around, okay?"
"Oh, yeah... okay."
