The Mannequin

They got to Marinette's room with the mandatory box of pastries that Adrien attacked as soon as he was seated on her computer chair. They have not talked much since they left the meeting, both of them were in their own thoughts. The boy contemplated if this was a good moment to try and ask Marinette about his Chat Noir and Ladybug issues. The computer was right there and he could casually open a video on the Ladyblog and ask. But the girl looked nervous, distressed from the talk on the meeting and he really did not want her to be akumatized. She needed to play a game and he was there for her.

She concentrated on her steps first, she put one foot in front of the other. Happy thoughts. Ultimate Mecha Strike III. Maman. Papa. Pastries. Tikki patted her thigh through the purse. Marinette was setting up the game and turned around when an idea struck her.

"Adrien I can practice on this and you can tell me what to do." She motioned for her mannequin that stood in the corner. It was perfect. She could dress it and practice her act on the mannequin. Adrien could easily correct whatever she did wrong or instruct her how to do it. And she did not have to hurt him.

She glowed with pride. She was going to do it. She was going to help him get rid of those two nasty girls that kept attacking him. Yes. She had a plan. And the mannequin was not even red with black spots on it.

Adrien looked at the mannequin and knew it was an excellent idea. But at the same time he had to admit to himself that he was feeling slightly disappointed. Because he was looking forward to that practise? How strange was that. He was probably just overly excited about finally solving the issue. And then he started to feel guilty because he was disappointed. So she was uncomfortable about touching him. He was making her touch him by making her do this act with him and that was hurting her in the process. And now she found a solution in a form of a mannequin. He somehow felt sorry about that, he felt replaced. What kind of a weirdo was he?

He just nodded approvingly and reached for the papers in his school bag.

She was so happy that she found a solution. Somehow, he was not. He wanted her to practice the old fashioned way. But that was wrong if she did not want to do it. It just confirmed his idea that he was hurting her by making her do that act. It was complicated.

She walked over and stood next to the mannequin, she carefully took off her design and put on a t-shirt and an unbuttoned shirt over it.

"Okay so what do I do?" She asked ready to jump.

"Well you should clutch to the arm but there are no arms, just empty sleeves." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. He was not sure if he enjoyed to complain about the mannequin but the fact that he managed to find a flaw so quickly felt satisfying.

Marinette produced long stockings and filled them with some material so that they were almost resembling arms, then she pulled the filled stockings through the sleeves and added gloves in the end. She took a step left and right to observe the mannequin from all sides. There was not much space to do more.

"Here are the hands." She smiled. Then she took one hand and shook it gently. "Pleased to meet you." She greeted the mannequin. Adrien swallowed the strange feeling in his gut and decided to play along. He pretended that he needed to read the instructions to avoid eye contact. How was he going to do this, he remembered how Vincent issued instruction to him during photo shoots.

"Okay, now wrap your arms around his arm." Adrien instructed.

She did it, awkwardly, and she kept her distance to the mannequin, her arms were closed so loosely that the sleeve did not even touch her body. Marinette actually had no idea how to do what was required of her. She did not get herself into the role. That never occurred to her. Because Lila was so repulsive to her, her brain refused to suggest it. She merely followed the instructions mechanically.

"No, lean into him." He instructed. She did make a small move closer to the mannequin, but there was no effect, she was still not touching it. And she stood awkwardly stiff.

"Closer" He added. Her actions started to amuse him, but he knew that was bad. The girl was clearly not comfortable with what she was doing.

Marinette leaned over so she was touching the mannequin lightly. But it was obvious from her posture that she held her body in such a way to minimize the contact.

Adrien waved his head. The girl was awkward and shy with the mannequin too, he was feeling better already. It was not because of him, it was her and the act itself. He had to help her get into the role.

"You should use your whole body and press yourself against him." He encouraged.

"I will tip it over." She protested. She was holding a sleeve filled with a stocking filled with random cloth leftovers and she was swaying back and forth while she tried to avoid more physical contact with the mannequin. It felt awkward to do this to a mannequin in front of Adrien, let alone to do that to him.

"Okay, I will hold the other side." He approached and took a hold onto the mannequin. He held it from the opposite side. "Now lean onto the guy, come on, like you can't stand on your own two feet.

Marinette knew the feeling, her legs did disobey and go on strike when Adrien was near. So sh leaned onto the mannequin, slowly and carefully, and she hugged the sleeve to her chest. Was that the place Adrien's arm should be? She blushed and stared at the sleeve she hugged.

"Now unlatch this hand and touch it over the chest and down." He instructed.

She obeyed, she felt the fabric of the t-shirt. She did not look at the boy, not once. Her hand trembled and she barely touched the fabric, but she did the move.

"Now sneak it underneath the shirt." Adrien sighed. Cold shivers passed down his spine as he remembered the feeling. He modelled with other models before. It was not always pleasant, but with Lila he felt disgusted. Ever professional, he kept his model smile, but inside he felt sick.

"Okay, I think that is enough." He sighed. "Now try it again." He repeated the instructions and suggested where to look and which expression to make on her face.

So Marinette did the whole act. It lasted about a minute once she got practised. She started feeling more comfortable with the mannequin.

"Do you think you could try to be Chloe now?" He asked timidly. Because he wanted her to stop that. He was reminded of Lila and jealous of a darn mannequin at the same time. It felt odd, really odd.

"I need a head." Marinette muttered quickly to herself. The sentence might have had a double meaning considering who was in the room with her. It took her only a moment, she was already digging through her boxes and produced something small and yellow. She inflated the yellow balloon and tied it up and fastened it to the neck with a piece of scotch tape.

"You are amazing Marinette." Adrien admired her work.

She grinned back.

"Okay, now you have to hold it." She told him as she took a step back.

Then she did the whole act and kissed the balloon.

Adrien laughed.

He looked around her room.

"Hey, do you think we could use one of those posters of me to glue my face on it?" The boy proposed as he motioned around.

She quickly produced another picture of him from somewhere. There was a reason sh was quick and why she did that while he was not looking in that direction. Because she had a lot of his photos stored in the same place.

"Here, I have it from some fashion magazine." She showed him the picture. He grinned approvingly. She fastened it to the balloon with the scotch tape.

"Wow." He laughed. He remembered Wayhem when he was running around with that cardboard cut out of Adrien. Well, if he had something like that, perhaps he could pretend to be present near Chat Noir? He decided to store that idea for later.

"Ta-dah. There he is, our resident supermodel." Marinette announced.

"He can go to photo shoots instead of me." Adrien grinned. They both laughed. He vaguely remembered the incident in the wax museum and the awkward conversation but shook his head. He did not want remind either of them about what happened there. He was not sure what happened there at all. And even later in the car, she was okay and he reassured her and then she was not okay any more.

The mannequin and what she was supposed to do with it reminded her about the incident in the wax museum too. Marinette remembered how she almost kissed him then. Now she had to act and try to do exactly the same thing while she had to pretend to be like Chloe, of all people, and she knew that she was actually hurting him by acting like that. So she knew she also hurt him in the wax museum too. None of them said a word for a minute.

"I think I had enough of this practice, how about that game?" Marinette asked and the two of them took the controls.

Later that evening Marinette practised all the different kinds of speeches with the mannequin. Tikki had fun as she munched on the cookie and watched her chosen dance around, make promises and sing praises. Then she repeated the two exercises while Tikki was reading the description. In the end Marinette wrapped her arms around the mannequin and closed her eyes. She wanted to hold the boy just like she did the day before, she wanted to tell him everything was going to be all right, she wanted him to get rid off the way he was treated, she wanted him to feel better, she did not have to have him herself, as long as she knew that he was happy.

Adrien stared at the script in his hand before a mirror in his bathroom. He practised Lila's expression. He already did Chloe plenty of times and Plagg confirmed he did it well, but he could not imagine how Lila looked while she was threatening Marinette.

"I am supposed to have feral look. How do I do that?" Adrien looked at the mirror.

"I would say that is exactly the look I have on my face when I see a juicy piece of Camembert." Plagg teased.

Adrien produced a piece of cheese and held it in the air but did not let it go and even moved it away when Plagg went after it.

Plagg made a feral face indeed. If the boy was not used to the tiny cat like god of destruction in all states of his cheese cravings, he might have felt cold shivers down his spine.

"Oh, that is the look I need?" Adrien said cheerfully and threw the cheese in the air. Plagg swallowed the piece in one bite.

"Thank you for your help Plagg." The boy smiled and continued to practice.