Miss Dial

Love Language

April 9th - Marinette

"Once we've done all the fittings there will be a rehearsal to check the outfits move right. I'm only modelling a couple of outfits so there might be quite a lot of waiting around. In reality, one run through usually takes about 6 hours from start to finish, and this show is all professionals, so hopefully we'll get it right on the first try. Then we'll be free for the rest of the day."

Adrien shoved a coffee cup into Marinette's hand, the designer looking at him before eyeing the coffee like he'd presented her with the Crown Jewels. Bringing it to her nose, she gave it a quick sniff. Damn, no added extras. A drop of whisky would have been great for calming her nerves right now. The more Adrien spoke about the show the more she realised she was ridiculously under qualified for this position. What the hell were they thinking?

Along with dressing Adrien, she had been asked to create an inspiration portfolio based on her time in New York; time it seemed she didn't have. How the hell was she going to get through two days of rehearsals before the main event and design a portfolio to the standard Gabriel Agreste would expect?

"Agreste, it's 5:30 in the morning! How the hell can you be so chipper? I'm not going to lie, I'm about to punch you in your perfectly veneered teeth." She took a rather large, unladylike swig of the coffee, impressed that he got her order right — six perfectly added sugars — before wincing.

Hot! Too hot!

"Are you okay?" His soft caring voice only added to the overall need to maul him.

Since the flight Adrien had been... different! She'd headed to the plane without him, the call he was on seemed important and by the look on his face the answers coming from the person on the other end of the line were not exactly what he wanted. The frown on his face was comical and she'd regretted not getting a picture.

"Yup! Randy — I mean — dandy." She took another sip, scalding her mouth again in a need to cover up her stutter. What the hell was that? Why had she just stuttered? Because Adrien had brought her the correct coffee? Please! She was better than that.

"How are you not more awake?" he laughed. "The jet lag goes in our favour, it's technically 9:30 back home."

Watching him walk around like it was midday made her want to kick him hard in the shin. Not only did he look like a frigging supermodel, he was also wearing that smile she so despised. The one which always featured on the front cover of magazines, and the one he always displayed when she fell over or yawned unceremoniously during class.

"Bite me!"

Striding off, she never heard the last remark, instead she pulled out her phone and selected her messages to Mr Unknown.

Miss Dial (5:34am): Ever wondered why people wake up before sunrise? It's insane, immoral and inhumane — they should all be sent to outer space.

She'd messaged Mr Unknown a couple of times since the kissing messages the previous day, yet she'd heard nothing. He seemed to have vanished from the face of the Earth.

Marinette had spent quite a while rereading the messages as she settled into bed that evening adding Chat Noir's face and body to the unknown texter. It seemed it was quite easy to do when she looked more closely at the messages. How had she not realised the similarities beforehand?

Her stomach knotted as she continued to daydream about her partner pinning her against the wall — out of costume and only partially clothed. This was wrong on so many levels. Maybe he'd figured out who she was too? That Ladybug was on the other side of the phone and as always he was the smart one and stopped it before it went too far...