Adrien took a deep breath as he looked at the raven-haired beauty who just came in. She'd been on vacation for two weeks, visiting her family in China and her friend, Kagami's, family in Japan while they were traveling.
They'd been what he considered to be good friends since she started at the company, as she was the designer that he'd worked with one-on-one the most. She didn't talk about her personal life very often but she'd been genuinely interested in learning about his. In the months they'd known each other, he'd learned that Kagami was her roommate.
While the girls were on their trip, Adrien spent a lot of time thinking about Marinette- whether she was having fun on her trip, how she was getting along with her family, and if she'd been inspired for any new designs while she was gone.
Meanwhile, he'd been trying to work up the courage to ask her out. In addition to being talented and pretty, he found her incredibly easy to talk to. He was inexplicably drawn to her as a person, wanting to make her smile or laugh, she appreciated his jokes more than the rest of the staff and would treat him as his own person, not just the son of Gabriel Agreste.
She hadn't seen him since she came in, almost instantly derailed by her colleague's desire to show her a design. She seemed much more relaxed than she had been before she left for the trip. He'd hoped that would mean that even if she'd turned him down, she would let him down gently.
He took one more slow breath, letting it out as he started walking toward her.
'Do you want to have dinner with me?' He knew it was a blunt question, but if he'd tried to practice more than those 8 words, he'd find himself fumbling constantly. The word 'date', specifically, made his voice raise almost a full octave- like he was still a teenager instead of being a 25-year-old man.
He was about two metres from Marinette when she was approached by her immediate superior, coming from the opposite direction as him. He shyly turned away like he was coming over to admire the design that she'd been previously looking at.
"So, Marinette," Colette began, practically sidling up to her, "did anything exciting happen on your trip?" There was an implication in her voice that Adrien wasn't able to place, but Marinette seemed to understand the underlying question when she replied.
"I got to go to my uncle's restaurant while it was open for the first time," Marinette responded, eye-roll almost audible in her words. "But, no. Kagami and I already talked about this before we left, we aren't ready to get married yet." Adrien felt his heart drop in time with Colette's previously bright smile.
"Don't worry," Marinette added with a light giggle, "when I do get engaged, everyone is gonna know, but I'll make sure to tell you personally."
"I suppose that's all I can ask. Welcome back, dear."