Chapter Ten – Trees and Flowers

Saturday morning arrives and with it another photoshoot at the park near the school and, Adrien can't help but notice, the bakery. He sits on the foldout chair, sitting perfectly still for the people doing his hair and makeup, his mind still reeling from last night.

As soon as it became apparent that Marinette was leaving, he made to go after her but Nino grabbed his arm, preventing him. By the time he had managed to free himself from Nino – it helped that he was slightly drunk, although nowhere near as drunk as Alya appeared to be – and go after her, he couldn't see her. Deciding it would be easier and quicker for Cat Noir to find her, he ducked into an alleyway and transformed.

Cat bounded over the rooftops in search of her, every second he couldn't see her making his heart beat faster, thoughts running through his head over what could possibly have happened to her. When he did finally find her, it was in the arms of Luka, and he came to an abrupt stop, suddenly unsure of what he was supposed to do. The longer he stayed on the roof, hidden from their sight, the more hurt flooded through his chest until he couldn't take it anymore and he ran off, his feet pounding as he sprinted and jumped along the surrounding rooftops until he was out of breath and his heart was beating hard for a different reason.

He circled back, of course. He wasn't about to leave his princess in just anyone's hands, but by the time he had gotten back to them they had begun walking towards the bakery, so he followed them. When they stopped outside the door to the apartments and Luka turned her to face him, he had to physically grip the edge of the roof to stop himself from jumping in and preventing what he knew was about to happen from happening.

He needn't have worried in the end, however, because no matter what Luka's initial intentions were, Marinette just gave his hand a squeeze and flashed him a brief, sad, smile before ducking inside quickly. Luka hung around for a moment, staring at the closed door in the hopes that it would open again, before he turned around and made his way back down the street.

The light in Marinette's room turned on and he smiled, telling himself that she wouldn't mind a visit from her favourite superhero Godcat. Without a second thought, he bounded across the street and up to her balcony. Last second, he decided to look through her skylight rather than simply opening it, and he is both glad and utterly embarrassed that he did.

Plagg couldn't stop laughing when he got home. He forgot that the kwamis have some sort of a sense of what is going on when their holders are transformed, but it never really worried him unless something embarrassing happened. Like seeing Marinette halfway through changing out of her clothes and into her pyjamas.

His cheeks flush at the memory but he forces himself to think about something, anything else so his cheeks go back to a normal colour. When he glances at his reflection in the mirror, he catches the raised eyebrow of his makeup artist and the amused smirk of his hairstylist. He flashes them a brief, innocent smile before dropping his gaze again. They both chuckle at the boy's blatant embarrassment.

"I don't even want to know what you're thinking about." His hair stylist says, spraying his hair with hairspray one last time before putting it on the caddy beside him. "But whatever it was it must've been good."

And there go his cheeks again.

"Hush!" His makeup artist says, using her index finger to raise Adrien's head so he's looking straight. "I need Mr Agreste's natural colouring, not the colouring of a fire truck. Leave the boy alone." His hair stylist rolls his eyes, but does as he's told. "Think of something . . . less arousing." Adrien chokes on his saliva, his cheeks flaming even redder. Oddly, she doesn't seem to mind that he now looks like a fire truck on fire. "Like trees. You can't go wrong with trees. Or flowers."

Marinette's underwear had flowers on it, his brain unhelpfully reminds him and he groans in annoyance, gripping the edge of his set to stop himself from dropping his head into his hands. His makeup artist laughs at his reaction. For the remaining time until he is released to change into the first outfit for the photoshoot – jeans, button–down shirt, jacket, he notes absentmindedly, not really caring what they look like – he keeps his mind strictly away from girls, flowers and the bakery across the street.

"Oh God, that was funny!" Plagg cackles quietly, darting around the small space to get some energy out before he gets stuffed back into Adrien's pocket.

Adrien rolls his eyes, replacing his jeans for the jeans for the shoot. He notes that those jeans are far tighter in the crotch area than his are, but after a brief moment of panic (because having that show up at a shoot is not something he wishes to happen. Ever.) he realises it's just the make of the jeans and finishes dressing quickly.

"Yeah, hilarious." He mutters, slipping his feet into the shoes and lifting his foot onto the stool beside him to tie the laces. The stylists will probably retie them once he's in position, but it saves him tripping on them or getting them dirty on the walk over. He looks up at Plagg and takes note of his smirk. Great, could this day get any better?

"Don't worry, kid." The kwami moves closer to his holder and drops his voice to a whisper. "All guys get caught up on the first girl they see naked."

Adrien splutters, cheeks flaming red again. "I didn't see her naked!" He hisses.

Plagg rolls his eyes, undeterred by Adrien's outburst. "Half naked then." He tilts his head, studying the boy with amusement. "What do you think your girlfriend would think of you seeing the princess in such a state of undress?"

Adrien groans, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair but yanking his hand down last minute. He has no idea what Kagami would think of him, let alone say to him, when he figures out what the heck he's going to do. He can't keep going out with Kagami when he lo–likes Marinette, but he can't just break up with her. She loves him, and he does like her. How could he not? She's passionate and confident and intelligent and beautiful and the kissing is great and they sometimes do a little more than kissing and they once almost did a lot more than kissing and he can't just break her heart. Can he?

"Come on, Plagg." He says instead of answering. The kwami darts into the pocket of the jacket Adrien is yet to put on, still laughing.

As soon as he emerges from the makeshift dressing room – basically a tent inside the tent – Adrien's ushered off to where Vincent is waiting for him near the fountain. Today he's modelling with another boy around his age, maybe a year or so older, and a girl, Eloise, who he believes is the same age as him. Both greet him politely and he returns the favour, before they focus on Vincent and his spaghetti instructions. A billion photos later – some individual, some with just the two of them co–consistently, and a few group – they head back to the tent to change into a new outfit.

"I hear you got a girlfriend." Eloise says, bumping her elbow against his to get his attention. Vincent's busy instructing his assistant on where to move the mirror to cast the best light over them, because apparently the sun isn't enough, so they have a moment to talk. "There's a lot of pictures of you guys in the tabloids."

Adrien rolls his eyes. "Yeah. I know." He scratches the back of his neck and glances back at Vincent. "I don't think she minds too much. Or maybe she just understands that I have no control over it."

Eloise snorts. "Or maybe she's just using you for her fifteen minutes of fame." Adrien starts to protest but Eloise waves her hand dismissively. "I'm not saying she's like that, I don't know her well enough to make that judgment, I'm just saying that chances are you're going to experience someone like that in your life and it's better to keep an open mind so you're not blindsided by them."

"Or get pussy whipped." Adam adds, not sparing either of them a glance. Eloise rolls her eyes.

"What's . . ." He doesn't really want to say the 'P' word. "That mean?"

"Pussy whipped?" Eloise asks and Adrien nods. "It's a derogatory term for men who are controlled by their female partner. Most people just say 'whipped' though." She shoots an unimpressed look at Adam.

"Oh." Adrien scratches the back of his neck again, glancing back to the ground. Before he can say anything else, Vincent calls their attention and they shift back into work mode.

Two outfit changes later, they break for lunch and change back into their regular clothes so as not to ruin the prototypes. Rather than eat the – limited – food available to them, Eloise plops down beside Adrien's chair, pulls out her phone and starts showing him pictures of her girlfriend and telling him stories he tries his hardest to be interested in (although, who really cares about someone else's girlfriend and their failed attempt at buying flowers for their elderly neighbour whose husband was in the hospital, but every store they went into only had orchids, and only orchids in pots for planting?)

"So, in the end she decided to get her a treat instead, like a cake or something like that, but she wasn't sure what kind of dietary requirements her neighbour had, so–"

"Could you shut it!" Adam exclaims, looking up from his own phone to glare at Eloise. "No one cares about your stupid girlfriend."

Adrien grabs her arm to stop her from hurling her phone at him. "I liked the story." Adrien lies, but Eloise still looks ticked off.

"You're just jealous because you don't have anyone in your life who cares about you!" She exclaims, before wrenching her arm out of Adrien's grasp and storming away.

"Bitch." Adam mutters, and Adrien frowns at him, displeased.

"You don't have to call her that. You've obviously hurt her feelings."

Adam scoffs. "She's just tetchy; she'll get over it." He lifts his gaze from his phone again and smirks. "How long have you and . . . whatshername been shagging?"

Adrien splutters, flushing darkly. "W–We're not shagging!"

He raises an eyebrow doubtfully. "Yeah, sure." He rolls his eyes. "Like I'm going to believe that Gabriel Agreste's son and his girlfriend don't get it on behind closed doors." He ignores Adrien's spluttering and stammers and leans forward in his seat so they're closer, dropping his voice a little so as not to be overheard. "What have you done? H on B? H on C? T on C? H on P? H in V? P in V?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Sex." Adam rolls his eyes at the blond's obliviousness.

"What are the letters?" He's not sure he wants to know, but he also doesn't want to be oblivious forever.

Adam gives him an unimpressed look, before sighing and sitting back in his chair, pushing his hair back from his forehead. "H is hand, B is boob, T is tongue, P is penis, V is vagina, and C is cl–"

"Okay!" Adrien says quickly, holding his hands out as if that will stop the word from emerging from his fellow model's mouth. "I get it."

Adam looks at him pointedly. "So? What have you done?"

"Um . . ." Adrien scratches the back of his neck and stares down at his half–eaten sandwich, no longer feeling hungry. "Nothing." His voice comes out too high. Adam will know he's lying and then word will get back to Nathalie, who will tell his father, who will pull him out of school and lock him in his room with no access to the internet so he won't have any contact with the outside world–

"Liar." He says and Adrien's heart falters. Adam laughs. "I'm not surprised; for someone who's only fifteen you're kind of a player."

Adrien frowns, momentarily forgetting his panic. "What are you talking about?"

Adam gives him a funny look, as if he can't believe Adrien's obliviousness. "I'm talking about your other girlfriends. Like that girl you modelled with who took a picture of the two of you in what was clearly your room, and PJ girl from when your perfume ad came out." He shakes his head and glances over his shoulder to check where Vincent is, wondering how long this break is going to go on for. A smirk comes to his face, however, when he spots something far more interesting. Or, rather, someone. "This is going to be awkward."

"What is?" Adrien's still trying to figure out how to handle this situation, because the first girl is obviously Lila, and the second is definitely, without a doubt–

"PJ girl is here."