Adrienette Love Story

Chapter 1

Marinette tapped her fingernails on the tabletop, putting the clean edges of her bright red nail polish at risk. The busy rush of people meeting and greeting at far-off tables only served as a stark reminder that she still sat alone.

Her date was very late.

She was usually the one running late since she was so often busy both at home and work. At least, when she was caught up in frenetic days, she rarely felt like she would have time to breathe; now, however, as Marinette waited, she couldn't stop her mind from racing with endless worries.

It would be a little easier if she could at least distract herself by sketching out design ideas. Unfortunately, the very well-dressed staff would probably frown if she asked someone to bring her a pencil and paper to sketch and keep herself busy. She just had to sit still and put up with this for half an hour more, and she would be that much closer to making her full-time dreams of a boutique a reality.

At least the restaurant her date had picked was quite fancy, with a lovely view out onto the Seine. Unfortunately, that was all she really knew about him. It would have been better if she had a name.... Or a number. Or at least some confirmation that this guy wasn't going to show up.

To be fair, Kagami hadn't wanted to come either, but it seemed pretty rude for someone to just bail on a date entirely rather than cancel.

Sighing heavily, Marinette reached into her purse for her cell phone to text Kagami.

Blind dates were the worst.

She didn't have to wait long for a response. Snorting, Marinette's fingers tapped her reply in annoyance.

The three dots from Kagami's end kept her smiling bitterly, as she could clearly see Kagami's irritation matching her own.

Typing her agreement before setting the phone down, Marinette glanced up to catch the waiter standing there. It must have been the fourth time he had stopped past the table in the past 20 minutes. "Are you sure there isn't anything I can get for you?"

"You know what?" Marinette's smile thinned over her clenched jaw. "I think I'll have a glass of wine now."

The waiter grinned for the first time. "I'll be back with that in one moment."

Leaning back in her seat, she typed out a quick update to Alya.

True to his word, the waiter promptly returned to set the wine glass before her and poured from the bottle she'd nodded at hastily, as she checked her messages from Alya and Kagami.

"Thank you," she murmured to the waiter before he stepped away again.

Alya got back to her again first.

Leave it to Alya to make her feel better: Marinette grinned, taking a solid sip of wine to bolster her own courage. She held up her phone, making sure that it get a bit of a view in the background. "There."

As she sat up to pose for the selfie, Marinette shivered as the open back of her dress pressed against the cool chair's back. Lace was extremely pretty, and she knew she had done an amazing job on the red and black overlay, but pretty wasn't always practical.

Alya's clap back was a momentary distraction.

Marinette pouted. She was pretty sure she was the only one suffering right now.

Sure, this look was exactly what the situation needed. Kagami had only been able to offer a little bit of intel about her date: he had been homeschooled and was a major weeb. It wasn't much to work with, but it would have been able to be done. Marinette knew a few weeks from her school days, and if he was as much as it was awkward as they had been, a stunning outfit would give her the advantage.

As a designer, it had been easy enough to raid her own closet, and this scarlet red dress with black lace on the bodice was one she had made for her boutique. The choice had been easy. Kagami was particularly fond of red, and since she was supposed to be Kagami for this date... The Ladybug-inspired dress sold very well (due, in no small part, to the nostalgia factor), but it was easily subtle enough that no one in this incredibly fancy place would be likely to recognize the reference. She'd only worn it once herself while modeling it for her website and then had a mask handy and photo editing to hide her identity.

Unfortunately, the outfit wasn't particularly as comfortable for her to wear outside of her own bedroom. The neckline was daring, and the asymmetric skirt hem on the front was a bit shorter than she was used to. Even the dramatic makeup she had chosen to match felt different on her face.

It was even less comfortable sitting here while being all alone with her thoughts waiting on someone who could literally make or break her whole career ambitions.

Worse, she couldn't deal with her growing discomfort here at the table without putting the whole ruse at risk, even if the ridiculous man had yet to show.

Straightening her shoulders, she glanced back towards the entrance, neatly tucking the front strands of the stacked bob wig of dark hair behind her ear. It was bad enough she had been waiting for almost half an hour already, but the wig made her own hair itch like crazy.

While frowning, Marinette absently ran her finger along the rim of the wine glass as she checked for any more messages on her phone. Maybe she could sneak off to the bathroom quickly to at least surreptitiously fix her wig without making the waiter panic about her running off?

Distracted as she was, she didn't notice the shadow beside her table until he stood directly in front of her. Noticing the dark suit from the corner of her eye, she assumed it was the waiter once again. She didn't even bother to look up as she automatically uttered: "Ah, you're back. That's lucky."

A warm chuckle was not at all what she was expecting, definitely not from the waiter.

"Lucky enough to have you as my date for the evening?"

Blinking, her gaze went up... And then up some more to take in the tall, blonde standing on the other side of the table.

She straightened, trying to recall every rule of good manners and etiquette she had ever heard in her life. Even dolled up as she was, he was making her feel a little underdressed. Her eyes darted around the room: "I don't think I've noticed anyone else in the restaurant sitting alone this evening."

Though it was meticulously tailored, his suit coat didn't exactly fully mask the line of his shoulders. Unfortunately, she knew that suit all too well: she'd designed it herself for Gabriel's Fall line, even if someone had swooped in and stolen her design credit.

His disarmingly sweet smile was enough to make her heart skip a few full beats as he offered a bouquet of flowers into her hands. "I'm afraid I must apologize: I had to stop by the hospital to visit a sick friend. It took a little longer than expected, and I didn't have your number to let you know I was running late."

Her brows rose automatically. "Didn't you have the number of the restaurant?"

He chuckled again, softly, this time. "To be honest, I didn't even know which restaurant my driver was taking me to."

"Ah," Marinette smiled, as her mind was finally catching up to help navigate through the situation. If anything, now she can breathe a little easier. "So you weren't exactly looking forward to this meeting yourself."

He tilted his head, glancing at her carefully for a surprisingly long moment before his eyes drifted back up to hers a slow smile curved his lips. "Well, I wasn't before."

Her jaw fell.