So next part is here! Hopefully anyone who missed the red flags from the previous chapter will now see them. (But come on, I didn't really hide them) Please enjoy!=^-^=
Ch.2 - The Contract
"So, dude, I know this is fashion, and it's not like I'm complaining, but… why are all the interns girls?" He then leaned in closer to cover his whisper. "Hot girls might I add."
Adrien chuckled at his friend. It wasn't as though he didn't realize that himself, but designers did have to maintain an image. "You better hope I don't tell on you." He teased.
"Bro, don't even joke about that. Alya would skin me alive if she jumped to the wrong conclusion." Nino deadpanned with a shiver at the end.
"Sure, but there's actually 7 interns." Adrien pointed out. "One of them, Cyrano, is a boy according to Stephen."
Nino nodded as he continued to, not so subtly, look at the hot girls. "Yeah, and where's Marinette?"
Adrien raised a curious brow to that. "Marinette? Did you invite her?"
Nino turned to him in surprise. "Didn't she get accepted to this internship too? Alya told me it was a crazy big deal this year."
Adrien quickly pulled out his phone to find the text Stephen sent him with the interns' names. "She did?"
"Yeah… dude, right there, second from the top." Nino pointed out. "You seriously didn't know?"
Adrien gave him a sheepish expression. "I, uh… only got the list this morning actually."
"I'm surprised Marinette didn't tell you herself… Or… never mind." Marinette still had her bad tendency to short circuit around Adrien every so often. "I bet she was getting ready or something." Nino played off as they were approached by an older man.
"Good morning, Adrien."
"Morning, Stephen. This is Nino." Adrien introduced with a gesture to his side. "Ah, Mr. Lahiffe. I was told you may be accompanying Adrien at times. Like what you see?" Stephen teased as he glanced back at the girls.
Nino instantly straightened up. "I um… Taken. I'm taken."
"Too bad, I've been told they are all currently single." The designer informed with a chuckle before turning back to Adrien. "Once they are all here, Mr. Agreste has arranged lunch to start things off. After that, each intern will take time with their designer mentor for the afternoon. Feel free to drop in on any of us at that point. You know where our offices are."
"Sure thing, Stephen. By the way, who are you paired up with?"
Stephen grinned. "Curious to see who I picked eh? Well, I assure you, I selected quite a designer. She had, by far, the widest variety of pieces in her portfolio, and all of them were very well done. The very fact your father picked her despite not having a concentration was more than enough for me." He then turned back to the girls. "It's just too bad she's not here yet, or I would call her over. I'm sure the other girls can't wait to meet Adrien Agreste too." He framed his name with his hands playfully for Adrien. The boy was far too humble for his fame.
"Hold up… if she's not here yet…" Nino began as he connected the dots. "He must have Marinette!"
Adrien turned to him. "Huh? Oh… right, Marinette's the only girl not here."
"I'm here!" All three of them turned to the newly arrived, and very out of breath, Marinette. "I'm here… Not late… I hope…" She panted slightly, looking like she may have tripped a few times on her way here.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you ran all the way here?" Nino asked while walking up to her.
"I uh… yeah… huh?" She looked up to a surprising familiar face. "Nino? What are you doing here?"
Nino gestured to Adrien who was waving. "I'm my bro's plus one at the moment."
The moment she noticed Adrien was marked by a blush. "Oh, A-Adrien. Good morning…"
"Hey, Marinette. Don't worry, you're not late this time." Then he smiled at her, and she instantly turned away shyly.
Stephen looked between her and Adrien a few times before greeting her himself. "Morning, Ms. Dupain-Cheng. I'm Stephen, we spoke on the phone before."
"Mr. Prolux, right?"
Stephen shook his head. "Well, yes, but I'd prefer Stephen. I may be your mentor, but I'm not a professor or anything."
"Of course… and Marinette is fine." She responded before looking around. "Is this everybody? I knew this year was different, but only 6?"
"No, 7, but the last one hasn't gotten here yet. Lunch won't be served for another 15 minutes."
"So we can all chill until then, huh, Marinette?" Nino proposed as he put an arm around Adrien's shoulder. "Plus, hanging with Marinette is actually doing what your dad told you to do, isn't it?"
Adrien raised a brow as the statement hit him. "Yeah… it is. Awesome!"
"Yup, too bad Alya couldn't be here. Sadly, she is busy being an intern herself." Nino revealed being overly dramatic. "Anyway, I'm going to go check the menu real quick."
"The catering is from that new café on Sorbe Street." Stephen informed after him.
"I heard they have great soups." Marinette recalled as she forced away her shyness.
Any further conversation they had was instantly drowned out by the squealing of several girls. "Ladies, please." The newcomer implored as he removed his sunglasses. "We're all on the same level here. While I'm happy my fellow interns are all lovely ladies such as yourselves, I'd like us to keep ourselves focused. We are interning with Gabriel after all."
"Oh my god… Is that Cyrano Stern?"
Adrien turned to Marinette in slight confusion. "You know him?"
The young designer nodded vigorously. "Of course! He's one of the biggest up and comers right now. Not only has he won a Gabriel sponsored design contest, but he's even designed for a famous musician!" She regaled only to be met with laughter a moment later. She turned back to Adrien, who couldn't keep himself together. "What's so funny?"
The model took another moment to calm his laugh, but still couldn't keep his expression straight as he answered. "Marinette, you've done those things too." Now Marinette wasn't only flustered, but embarrassed someone had to point that out.
By the afternoon, Nino had pretty much gotten his fill of designer stuff. He'd never really been big on designer clothes to begin with, but Gabriel was also not really his style. "So, dude, who's left?" He asked as they left another designer's office.
Adrien was making a point to at least spend a little time with each of the interns aside from Marinette who he already knew pretty well. "Uh… Cyrano." Adrien recalled double checking he'd counted all the girls.
"Oh, that guy…"
"What? Not excited anymore?" Adrien teased as he jabbed with his elbow.
Nino dodged and crossed his arms. "Well, not really to be honest. The dude is a chick magnet… and a dude. Unless his hobbies include music too, I can't really see much to be excited about."
The model shrugged as he turned a corner. "He's an artist even if it's not music…. Here we are." He announced as he found the door. Upon opening, both were surprised to find only one designer inside. "Huh?... Where's Cyrano?"
"Adrien? Oh, Cyrano went on an errand for me." The older designer explained as he looked up from his work table. "Stephen had some of the new fabric samples I needed for a design. He should be back shortly if you want to wait?" Adrien turned to Nino who only shrugged in response. "Uh, sure." Adrien moved to look around the office while Nino kicked back on a couch. As the boys waited, minutes ticked on.
It was only 15 minutes before Nino stood up and pulled down his headphones. "Okay, he must've gotten lost or something."
Adrien checked the time on his phone. "Yeah, maybe we should go to Stephen's office to check?"
"He's only been gone for… oh…" The designer trailed off as they checked the time. "He has been gone awhile… nearly an hour."
"Seriously? And you didn't notice?"
"It's alright, Nino, let's just go find him ourselves." Adrien encouraged as he led Nino out. "Grayson tends to get sucked into his work." He finally explained once the door was shut.
Nino rolled his eyes as they made their way down the hall again. "But shouldn't he be watching his intern?"
Adrien simply shrugged. His experience in years before usually showed interns working autonomously on set at photo shoots. "Either way, Stephen's office is right down the hall, plus we can drop in on Marinette."
"True." The DJ agreed.
When they arrived at Stephen's office, the door was slightly ajar. "Oh, not that, Marinette." A male voice they both recognized was heard.
"But I… want to do it." She responded.
Nino stopped Adrien from grabbing the door knob and peeked through the crack. "Cyrano's still here."
Adrien furrowed his brow at his friend's strange action and peeked as well. "Yeah… isn't that good?"
"Shh!" Nino implored as he watched.
They saw Cyrano from behind, and Marinette looked to be right in front of him. "Like this." He corrected as he leaned over her.
"H-Hey… Hold on a sec…" Marinette argued.
It was hard to tell what was going on since both of them were facing away, but they did see Marinette's arm trying to bar his. "Dude… I think something…" It was hard for the DJ to get out what he meant, but the slight blush Adrien sported showed he may have come to a similar conclusion.
"Are you boys going in?" Both teens jumped up at the sudden question. Stephen was now behind them with an amused expression.
"Uh… yeah. We were…"
"Looking for Cyrano." Nino cut in when Adrien's words didn't come.
"Hmm? Is he still here? Grayson did need those samples today right?" He asked as he went around them and into his office.
Both interns turned around to show Marinette with a pen that Cyrano was trying to pull from her hand. "Yes, but when I saw what Marinette was designing, I had to see how it would turn out. It's very nice, though the colors could use a bit of an adjustment."
"The Chat Suit, correct? What's wrong with the colors?"
Cyrano let go of the pen to pick up the picture. It showed a rough sketch of a three piece suit done up with a little green trim. "The green is so… absent. It needs a bit more wouldn't you say? Here perhaps?" He asked while gesturing to the collar.
"No, Chat Noir doesn't have that much green in his suit. The design is supposed to reflect his style." Marinette argued as she held up a rough sketch of the hero's suit she'd made.
"Well, you heard the miss, Cyrano. Her design, her choice." Stephen decreed as he gestured to the fabric samples on the table next to them. "And, while Grayson may not notice how long you are gone, he will notice if you never go back. If you want to make a better suit, I'm sure you can find the time."
Cyrano let out a sigh and shrugged with a smile. "I suppose you have a point. I'll be seeing you, Marinette. I look forward to seeing the finished product." The young man said as he took the samples and left the office.
Adrien made no point to follow despite the reason he'd come. Instead, he walked up to Marinette and took a look at her sketch. "This is really good, Marinette."
Marinette blushed at the praise as she took it back. "Um, thanks, Adrien."
Akuma attacks had been in a lull, but nothing lasted forever. The Friday marking the end of the first week, was graced with a rather interesting akuma in the form of a ribbon mummy. Ladybug was first on the scene as she watched the akuma adorn everything it touched in ribbons of various colors. "Looks like this one might wrap itself up." Chat joked as he hopped down from a chimney to stand with his partner.
Ladybug rolled her eyes with a mild grin. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Chat Noir. We don't want to get ourselves tied in that ribbon." She gestured to the car that had been caved in when the akuma wrapped it.
"Oh… me-ouch. Right as always, milady." He straightened up and pulled out his staff. "So what's the plan?"
"Don't get hit and find the akumatized item." She responded since that was their basic battle plan. "This one doesn't seem too complicated. Just keep your guard up, Chat."
Chat Noir gave a loose salute as he leaped off to start his distraction. Ladybug turned out to be right. The akuma's only ability was to wrap things in ribbon despite the ribbon being as strong as steel. The item was a large wheel of ribbon attached to the akuma's waist which Chat Noir was able to destroy as soon as Ladybug jumped it with her lucky charm in hand. "Miraculous Ladybug!" She announced as the cure swept the over decorated streets. To the surprise of both heroes, the girl under the magic was a familiar face. "Are you okay?" Ladybug asked while covering the fact she knew the girl.
"I… I'm sorry…" The girl responded as she held a bag of ribbon close to her chest.
"What happened?" Chat asked, especially curious since this was one of his father's interns.
Lauren, from what he remembered, was very shy, but also very kind and passionate about ribbon. She had it on every design he'd seen when he went to visit her. "It… she just… Destroyed it…Said it was ugly…" Lauren's tears had both heroes giving her sympathetic expressions.
"Was it a dress? Someone messed up your dress?" Ladybug deduced from what she knew of the girl.
Lauren nodded as she stood up. "Yes… this model I was working with." She wiped a tear as Ladybug's earrings reminded her of a time limit.
"We've got to get moving, Ladybug." Chat added in as he showed his final two paw pads.
Ladybug nodded in response as she turned back to the girl. "Sorry, but we're short on time. You obviously love your work, and even if it will be hard, I'm sure you can fix it. It might even turn out better the second time around." The heroine encouraged as she made to swing away. Chat dashed away after and the heroes split off to change back.
"So what did your dad say?" Nino asked once his friend returned to his room.
The young model had to go and meet with his father over the interns, and had insisted he could do this on his own. "Hmm… I couldn't really figure out what he thought. I just told him a little of what I saw this week."
"Yeah, but it's not like he can expect much after one week. The only one you really know is Marinette."
Adrien smiled at that. "Yeah, I suppose if I only had one week, I would pick her. I still need to take this seriously though, and give all the interns a chance. Since my father is serious enough to make a contract for it, I plan to follow it to the letter."
Nino nodded as he looked over to the document on Adrien's desk. "Right. You pick a designer to help you run the company, and your dad let's you do what you want after graduation. It's kinda messed up you need a contract for this, but whatever it takes I guess."
Adrien shrugged and sat back on his bed. "Yeah, but I can see why my dad's so serious about it. This designer will more than likely be the future of Gabriel even if he still expects me to run the company in the end. I can't say I really mind that part really, but I know my dad's been pretty disappointed for years about me not being a designer. He built the company up himself, and I guess he just wants to keep it in the family."
Nino rolled his eyes. "Selfish if you ask me."
Adrien couldn't stop himself from internally agreeing. Plagg had been saying the same thing for years. "Yeah, but in a way, he wants me to be successful. He may not do it the best way, but he wants what's best for me."
Nino sighed at his friend. Adrien was such a cinnamon roll, and it was a wonder he and his father were even related. His mom must have been some kind of saint, and Adrien took after her. It was the only possible explanation. He picked up the contract and flipped through it still feeling like the whole thing was thoroughly messed up. "Whatever, dude, I think I'll take a look at the part that talks about what you get in the end."
Adrien sat up and shrugged. "If you can understand it all. Some of it is super wordy, but I'm pretty sure it starts on page 8."
"Adrien." Nathalie called from his door.
"Yes, Nathalie?"
She opened the door and adjusted her glasses. "I need to go over tomorrow's shoot with you for a few minutes. Stephen is waiting at my desk, and it shouldn't take very long."
"Of course." Adrien complied as he left the room to speak with her.
Nino flipped through the document without bothering to follow. "Let's see… page 8…hmm? Proposal Clause?... What the hell!?"
Adrien couldn't help feeling exhausted after only 10 minutes of the meeting. Lila had wormed her way into his photo shoot tomorrow. He wasn't supposed to do couple shoots this summer, but this technically wasn't. She would just be having her shoot at the same time and place. Stephen had pleaded with Nathalie after what happened with Lauren, and she was, unfortunately, able to get Gabriel to budge ever so slightly. Now Adrien would have to deal with Lila hanging on him, but at the very least, Lila might ease up on everyone else. He couldn't do what his father wanted if Lila had all the interns running away, after all. He could deal with this. "Besides, I could get Nino to hang with me. Lila wouldn't pull anything in front of him." Alya would know in a heartbeat. Upon opening his door he saw Nino looking a bit flustered over the contract. "Sorry about that, Nino. Are you okay?"
Nino sat up stock straight. "A-Adrien? Oh… uh, yeah. I'm good dude. Just uh… you're right, some of these words are pretty confusing." He explained while he pointed at the document. "So uh… Did you read this whole thing before you signed it?"
Adrien gave him a sheepish expression as he shook his head. "Not really. I skimmed mostly aside from the last part. I was double checking what my father said he would do, and even that part was hard. Nathalie had to explain several terms to me, and had set aside hours for me to go through the whole thing. I made sure of the general terms with her before I signed though. It's a contract so Nathalie wouldn't lie to me about it."
Nino raised a brow at him before looking back to the document. He couldn't decide if Adrien was too trusting or misunderstood…. Maybe both. Either way, he couldn't be aware of the whole deal if his attitude was any indication. "I guess… I can see that…" The DJ finally responded while wondering if he should bring it up. "So… You still got that crazy crush on Ladybug?" Nino probed as a sort of test. "I mean, you still have her as your wall paper." He tapped Adrien's computer mouse to show it.
The model blushed at the question. "Nino… What's with that all of a sudden?" It was at times like this he wished he could dawn his Chat Noir mask. Ever since Nino figured out his crush, he liked to tease him with it.
"Oh, nothing really. Just figured I'd ask since uh… Alya, right! She was gushing the other day over how perfect it would be once Ladybug hooks up with Chat Noir. I'm sorry, dude, but if anyone stands a chance of getting Ladybug, it's Chat Noir."
Adrien hid his knowing grin and shrugged. While he'd backed off, he still hoped it was true. "I can't really disagree with you there, Nino. They do make a perfect couple."
His calm at admitting that was odd to Nino, but this might be a good thing. "Well, if that's the case, have you thought about getting a girlfriend? I know you and Kagami didn't really work out, but you are a famous model. Girls are practically lining up to date you."
Adrien crossed his arms as he sat back down on his bed. "Sure, but those girls are just fans. It's not like they really know me. Kagami and I broke it off because we knew each other well enough to see it wasn't the kind of relationship we wanted."
Nino chuckled at that. Who's the rare guy that can get away with the 'just friends' break and actually be friends? Adrien Agreste, that's who. "Okay, but what about one of the interns?" Nino proposed hoping he wasn't pushing too far. He still hadn't decided to straight up tell him. "If you think about it, working with them to run the company will no doubt make you close. Who's to say you won't fall for one and get married?"
"Seriously?" Adrien nearly scoffed. "You're starting to sound like a tabloid reporter."
"Harsh, dude, but you have to admit I have a point. Would it really be a bad thing? What about Marinette, hmm? You've already dubbed her our every day Ladybug."
"Marinette?" Adrien couldn't help thinking back to when he said that, and then Multi Mouse popped into his mind. She'd looked adorable in that outfit.
Seeing his friend's expression morph into such a goofy grin had the DJ holding his sides. Nino knew Marinette's crush wasn't as one sided as she thought, but looking at this? Maybe this wasn't so crazy. "Dude… your face right now says it all."
"Huh?" Adrien snapped out of his thoughts at Nino's laughter. "W-what are you talking about? What's so funny?"
"I don't know? What daydream were you having about Marinette?" Nino teased back.
That instantly flustered the model as his blush grew. "Daydream? About Marinette?" He was just thinking back on her time as Multi Mouse, but it's not like he could tell Nino that without giving his secret identity away. "Marinette and I are just friends, Nino."
"Whatever you say, dude." Nino appeased without really meaning it. "But take a look in the mirror next time you think about whatever you were thinking about before."
The model rolled his eyes while quelling his blush. "Can you get any more ridiculous?"
"Sure, dude. How about you and Cyrano? Two hot guys would be sure to take Paris by storm." Nino broke out laughing again at his own ridiculousness.
"Oh? You know, that's not a bad idea. He is pretty hot you know."
Nino stopped his laughing at turned to see the smirk on Adrien's face. "Dude… that one was a joke."
Adrien shrugged. "Joke or not, you do have a point. Wouldn't we look good together?" He struck one if his sexier model poses to reinforce his statement.
Nino's laughter was replaced with wide eyed shock. "D-dude?..." He slipped from the chair right before Adrien started laughing.
"Of course not, Nino. Just a little payback." He walked over and let out a hand to his friend. "Now, can we drop it? You've got Alya, so if anyone should be talking about getting married, it's you. Do you really want to keep this conversation going?"
"Uh… No. Let's drop it." Nino finally agreed, though it made something completely evident. Adrien missed a very important detail in that contract.
Yes, Adrien is completely dense on the subject, and yes Nino has decided not to let it slip just yet. This will be explained later. I'm sure I've made it quite obvious what the contract entails by now so only Adrien would have missed it. Remember kids, always read contracts before you sign them! Also, I won't put in too many details on side characters, but if you want to know what I see in my head as I write, I'll include a basic description in the next chapter for Cyrano, and Stephen. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!=^-^=
