Chapter 2: Right and Bearly
Adrien is excited to see Marinette in the morning, since today we'll start their official day as a couple. What other surprises await the newly formed couple?
Adrien woke up earlier than he normally did, which surprised Nathalie when she came in to make sure he was up; almost getting hit by Adrien as he passed by. "Morning Nathalie!"
Ignoring that his father was absent again, Adrien began going through his pictures, swiping back and forth between a candid photo of Ladybug and a recent picture of Marinette from *InstaFrance*.
"Eh hm Good morning, Adrien," Nathalie appeared at his side to deliver Adrien's itinerary for the day, "You have Chinese right after school and then piano practice after that. Oh, and don't forget about the fashion show in the next week, we need to tailor your suit."
Adrien rushed to finish his gluten free, all bran bland breakfast; he nodded before wiping his face and discarding his plate, "Thank you, Nathalie…" Adrien flew past his nanny and went to the foyer to grab his school bag, "Goodbye Nathalie!"
"Wait Adrien…" She ran after him towards the hall, "You're leaving awfully early, is there something going on at school?" Nathalie was hesitant to ask, she didn't want to overstep her role.
Far be it for Adrien to lie, especially to Nathalie for a second time this week, but if he told her the real reason he was taking off; it would be a whole thing with his father. So instead, "Um I just wanted to get some extra studying with my friend, Marinette…"
Nathalie retreated and smiled, "Oh being studious, very well then. Have a nice day at school."
Once Adrien had one foot out the door, he poked his head back and spoke quickly, "Oh and can you let my father know I won't be home for lunch? Thanks bye!"
"Adri-" Nathalie didn't have time to protest, by the time she made it to the front door Adrien had already taken off with his bodyguard in the family car. "Hmmm…"
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"Thank you, oh and don't worry about picking me up later, I'm having lunch here…" When Adrien arrived at school, he quickly rushed inside to put his bag away. At his locker, he was just in time to witness the band students putting away their instruments in the locker rooms.
Once they all vacated, he allowed Plagg to come out from hiding, "*Yawn* Ugh Adrien, why are we here so early, again? You know I can't function with no less than eight hours of sleep!" The teen soon pulled out a wedge of camembert, which caused Plagg to be silenced.
"Whatever, all you need is cheese to function, and you know it." He watched as the tiny kwami wolfed down the slice then belched loudly. "Gross Plagg!" Adrien waved the stink away from his face, "Plus you know why, we're meeting up with Marinette this morning…" He then fished out Marinette's beret and adjusted on his head.
Plagg rose his body to look Adrien in the eye, "Yeah about that, Adrien I think we need to talk abo-"
"Adrikins!" Both the occupants jumped at the loud screeching from the door, Plagg flew back into Adrien's pocket; turning around just in time to catch Chloe.
"What are you doing here so early? Who am I kidding? You came to see me!" After showering him with affection, Chole noticed the beret, "What are you wearing?" She removed the hat and examined it closely.
She placed it on her head then took several selfies with it, "I like the color, but I would've picked something else for a design choice." Chole grabbed Adrien and forced him into a selfie with her. "Still, I wouldn't expect anything better from the Gabriel line…"
"Actually Chole, Marinette made this for me…" Immediately, Chole pushed him away, before her jaw hit the ground.
"Dupain-Cheng made this for you?!" Chloe took the beret off and held it out away from her in otter disgust, "Ew! This is an atrocious fashion faux pas!" Chole handed it over to Sabrina who looked it over herself, "Now I'll have to make a hair appointment to get the commoner germs out of my hair!"
Adrien silently asked Sabrina for his present back then placed the beret back where it belonged, "Is she still trying to impress you with that little crush she has on you?" She asked, flipping her hair before she began to delete those photos.
"No, she's not trying to impress me," Adrien gave a sly smirk and closed his locker, "She already has…" With that he headed towards the door.
As he headed outside of the school, Plagg popped up from the inside of his shirt, "Adrien, as much as I like seeing you show up that snobby blonde girl, I really think we need to talk about-"
"Yeah yeah I know Plagg! I told you I would take care of it when the time is right; but not right now…" Adrien continued down the stairs until he reached the sidewalk of the school, where he saw that Alya, Nino and Marinette were all coming from down the street.
Plagg snapped, "Adrien, you say that, but as long as you're living in 'la la land', you're never going to 'handle it'."
Adrien patted Plagg in a caring, concerned way, "Don't worry Plagg, everything will be okay, I promise." He watched as his friends stopped just short of the school campus, it appeared as they were all talking.
Alya took a hold of Marinette's bookbag as she pointed in Adrien's direction, before he knew it Marinette took off in a sprint towards him. "Now quick Plagg hide, Marinette is coming!"
Marinette looked absolutely stunning with her hair down, the way her locks cascaded her shoulders; she looked like she belonged in a cologne commercial herself. She had a bright smile beaming with joy, her eyes were perky with delight and her tackling hug was full of love as Adrien inhaled the fresh scent of cookies on her neck.
Somewhere back in the school, a blonde girl and her red-headed sidekick watched in repugnance as the two lovers embraced, solidifying their relationship. "Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"
"Good morning my-" 'Lady? Princess? Bugaboo?' "Marinette…" Adrien chuckled; glad he didn't blow his cover.
"Y-yours? Um I mean you're wearing my beret; I mean it's mine cause I made it but it's your cause I gave it to you…"
"Oh, of course, why wouldn't I wear it? It's my favorite piece of clothing that I own!" He reached over and adjusted the material.
As Alya and Nino approached, the former handed over the backpack while the latter fist bumped his buddy; Marinette carefully opened her back to reveal a small white box that smelt of pastries, "Anybody hungry?"
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Nathalie took a deep breath before she begrudgingly descended the stairs of the Agreste mansion in order to reach her boss in his secluded office; she was making up the itinerary for Adrien for the next few weeks. When Nathalie got to the door, she held her fist up to knock, but was interrupted before she could, "Enter Nathalie."
Gabriel's atelier was a large room with black and white tile in a diagonal checkerboard pattern, ahead was his large touchscreen monitor in front of a large painted image of Emilie Agreste, done in the style of Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.
"Good afternoon, Sir, how are you doing today?"
Gabriel was nose deep into his monitor and didn't bother to glance over at his assistant at all, "Fine Nathalie, where are we as far as our gap analysis?"
"Last quarter, we experienced high levels of churn and as we roll out the new season's collection, we should be all set for next quarter, Sir." She continued to tap on her tablet as she sauntered over to her desk in the corner.
"Excellent." He responded in monotone, focused on his work; they sat in silence for a bit before Gabriel took a gander at the time. "Nathalie, I believe it's lunchtime, shouldn't you be preparing for Adrien's arrival?"
Nathalie stood up then stepped from behind her desk, "Unfortunately sir, he has decided to stay at school for lunch today…" She couldn't look him directly in the eyes, his stare was as if he smelled something so absolutely appalling that he'd gladly cut off his own nose just to relieve himself of the stench.
"What do you mean 'he decided'?" Gabriel immediately pulled out his phone and began to angrily dial, he was two seconds from pressing the "call" button before a slender hand stopped him from continuing.
"My apologies Sir, I neglected to inform you of the situation…" Nathalie knew why he was mad; Adrien was not allowed to change anything about his agenda unless it went through Gabriel first. The problem was that Adrien told Nathalie he wasn't coming home, instead of asking. "Sir, he said that was studying with his friends, it's just for today…"
Gabriel darted his head towards Nathalie, taking her in for the first time that day; her eyes were filled with unsophisticated innocence while her bottom lips were slightly puckered out. Breathing out a surrendering sigh, Gabriel grunted before he placed his phone back in his jacket pocket, "He should have asked earlier if he was going to be absent this afternoon."
Gabriel rubbed his temple with his free hand, staring back at his assistant who was still giving him puppy dog eyes behind her glasses; blinking a few times to solidify her concern. He placed his hand on top of hers, "Please make sure he still attends his after-school activities and we will forget this little oversight, Nathalie." He patted her hand then went back to his work.
Nathalie nodded satisfied; she began to walk away but was caught by her still attached hand. "Thank you, Nathalie, you're the closest thing he has to a mother…" Looking from their connected hands then back at her boss made Nathalie blush,
"It's my pleasure Sir, I would do anything for Adrien." She promised, Gabriel nodded as well then let her go. Nathalie walked back to her desk to retrieve her tablet then headed towards the office door.
"By the way, Nathalie, who were these 'friends' Adrien said he was studying with?"
"H-He only mentioned one specifically sir, a Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng I believe." With that she left.
"Dupain-Cheng huh…? Interesting…"
A/N: I know that even in the "Miraculous Ladybug" canon universe that Instagram is a thing, but I had a good idea for an InstaChat name for this fic lol.
