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Marinette bounced up and down as she waited in the queue for the arena doors. Her excitement could barely be contained. Not only was she about to see her favourite rock star live in concert, but she was also finally being a rebellious teen!
Having been late or absent for classes nearly every day this semester had put her in her parents’ bad books and gotten her grounded, and no amount of begging, pleading or bribery had worked to bring them round to the idea of letting her go to this concert.
So, being the resourceful person she was, Marinette had snuck out. And to make sure no-one she knew was going to be there would rat her out to her parents, she had come with a disguise; a red and black costume complete with extra limbs and beetle-eye mask. It definitely helped that the concert was on Halloween!
The line moved slowly and everyone was impatient to get in. Some were beginning to get rowdy but thankfully no trouble had broken out so far. Marinette would’ve hated to have gotten stuck in the middle of something when she was supposed to be at home, quietly studying in her room.
One of the group behind her got a little too animated and slammed into her, sending her face first into the back of the person stood in front of her.
“Hey!”
“I’m so sorry, I got pushed by…”
Marinette’s apology trailed off as she looked up at the face of the person she’d stumbled into. Even with a black mask covering the top half, he had a gorgeous face. His jaw was both chiseled and rounded at the same time (how?) and his mouth looked like the softest lips in existence, twisting into an amused smirk as he watched her flounder under his vibrant green cat-eye contacts and killer winged eyeliner.
She cleared her throat and found her voice again. “I’m sorry-”
“Don’t worry about it. I can see it wasn’t your fault. You can’t help being a clumsy ladybug.”
Straightening with his help, Marinette was able to get a better look at him. He had messy blond hair framing one side of his face and the other side was shaved, with pierced black cat ears poking out from a headband. He looked like a punk, wearing all black except for silver spikes on the shoulders of his leather jacket and a gold bell hanging from the zipper. She smirked and gave it a flick, making it jingle merrily.
“Was the bell really necessary, Monsieur Chat Noir?”
“Pssh, you think you could make a better black cat costume? Without getting too realistic like you’ve done with yours…” He looked pointedly at her extra limbs and she snorted.
“Actually, yeah I do. I am a fashion designer, after all.”
Something flashed in his cat eyes and he leaned closer, wafting an enticing scent over her. “Is that so? What kinds of things have you designed?”
“O-oh, clothes. Y’know, dresses, hats, bags… All sorts, really.”
“What’s the most outlandish thing you’ve designed?”
“Besides this?” She motioned to her ladybug costume and he chuckled.
“Besides that.”
Marinette thought for a moment, crossing her arms and tapping a finger to her chin. Then she threw her arms out as the memory came to her. “I once had to design a knitting fairy costume!”
The cat laughed, giving her a bemused grin. “A knitting fairy costume? What on earth for?”
“It was for a school play a few years ago. I can’t remember what the play was, but I definitely remember spending many hours hunched in front of the tv with a pair of needles and about 50 yards of pink yarn!”
He laughed again and Marinette felt her pulse spike. The line moved closer to the doors and the cat turned to her questioningly. “Are you here with anyone?”
Ignoring the hitch in her breath at the hopeful tone of his voice, she shook her head. “Technically I’m not supposed to be here at all.”
He mocked a gasp of shock. “You mean you’re breaking the rules?” When she lifted her shoulders and gave him a sheepish grin, he winked back. “So am I. My father wouldn’t give me permission so I snuck out. I just hope my seat isn’t too bad since I bought my ticket so late…”
“Where are you sitting?”
“Lemme look.” He unlocked his phone and squinted at the screen. “Block two, Q47.”
“What?” He looked up as Marinette gawked at him in surprise. “That’s right next to me! I’m in seat Q46!”
His face lit up with the biggest grin and Marinette felt her heartbeat quicken yet again. This guy was gonna give her a heart attack if he kept dazzling her like that.
They finally arrived at the door where security were doing a ticket and bag check, then they were ushered inside to join yet another queue for their section of seats. The air was abuzz with people excited for the concert, and more than a few people were in costume despite Halloween not really being a thing in France. Then again, there were rumours that Jagged Stone would be taking to the stage in costume for this show, so perhaps people wanted to follow suit.
Marinette couldn’t help her own excitement building, as the promise of sitting next to someone as cool as this black cat guy whilst getting to see Jagged live was like a dream come true.
They continued talking during their wait in the second queue, gushing about Jagged, comparing favourite songs and sharing thoughts on the meanings behind some of his lyrics. They agreed on an awful lot and Marinette found him incredibly easy to talk to, despite her fumbling and stuttering. Something told her he didn’t get to talk about the things he enjoyed often, as he kept checking himself every time he got animated. She gently encouraged him each time she noticed and he eventually loosened up, allowing himself to get excited and ramble on for longer, even making terrible puns here and there.
He was like a ray of sunshine peeking over a hill and Marinette thought she might blind herself if she watched him for too long.
When they finally made it to their seats, Marinette was distraught to find that she had someone tall sat in front of her, so she couldn’t see the stage at all unless she leaned over her new friend. And though the idea of lying on his lap all night was tempting, she doubted he would appreciate it. She sighed unhappily and he turned to give her a questioning look.
“What"s up?”
Marinette gestured to her lack of a view and the catboy grimaced. “Do you want to swap seats? I’m a fair bit taller than you, so it won’t be as much of an issue for me.”
“Are you sure?”
He grinned. “ Purr fectly sure.”
She rolled her eyes and stood up, giving him a gentle shove as he chuckled at her reaction. They began shuffling round each other, both smiling awkwardly as the lack of space meant they were getting more acquainted than they bargained for.
It wasn’t long before the lights dimmed and the audience began cheering for the first support act. Marinette moved her beetle mask to sit atop her head and the catboy did a double take as he caught sight of her.
“What?”
“You-” He cleared his throat and gave her a lopsided smile. “Your eyes are beautiful.”
Marinette looked away as she felt her cheeks warm. He needed to stop that right now before she spontaneously combusted.
The first act was fun, nothing like how she had imagined, having not looked them up beforehand. She even found herself dancing along to the music with her new friend laughing as he joined in. The second act was less fun but the music was still decent and helped to build excitement for the main event.
When their set ended, her new friend turned to her and asked if she wanted a drink. It was probably a good idea before Jagged Stone took to the stage so she nodded and asked for a bottled soda of some form. She attempted to give him some euros but he refused, spouting some nonsense about being loaded, at which she rolled her eyes. It took him a while but he managed to return with a couple of lemonades with minutes to spare.
The screen at the back of the stage had started a countdown and they were now at just under three minutes. Marinette took a nervous swig of her drink before setting it down on the floor between her feet and shuffled to the edge of her seat, as if it would get her closer to the stage.
The lights dimmed once more and the sweeping orchestral intro of the first song on Jagged’s latest album began drifting out from the stage. Marinette gripped the arms of her seat in excitement, but snatched one hand back as she had accidentally grabbed the catboy’s hand. She threw him a mortified glance but he was grinning back at her.
He leaned close to her ear and murmured, “you can hold my hand if you want to.” As he leant back he winked, and Marinette felt her stomach flip.
Looking down at his hand she found that it was now palm up, inviting her to hold it. A silent war raged inside her as she weighed up the pros and cons in record time. Coming to a decision just before the crescendo and the guitars and drums started, Marinette grasped his hand tightly and trained her eyes on the stage, refusing to acknowledge her burning cheeks.
The band rushed out onto the stage as they began to play, and the audience went wild as Jagged Stone entered, dressed in a tattered version of his signature look and covered in blood and skeleton make up and carrying a guitar that looked like a battleaxe.
The music quieted as he began singing and the atmosphere immediately changed. No-one was screaming anymore. Everyone was singing in unison.
It was incredible.
Marinette felt her heart pound against her ribcage in time with the drums as she sang along, and she heard the cat joining in next to her. She’d all but forgotten that she was currently holding his hand.
During a lull in the song, she glanced at him and found him already looking at her. She thanked her past self for having the foresight to put a few layers of foundation and red bug make up on her face, because him being able to see how much she was blushing just from his gaze alone would’ve been majorly embarrassing.
She tore her eyes away from his and back to the stage, where Jagged was jumping across it and throwing his guitar around. Suddenly she was doubting the pros of sitting next to and holding this guy’s hand. Was he going to be this distracting the whole night?
After a raucous applause from the crowd and as the second song started, she took her hand away and turned to see him shoot her a sad questioning look. Oh boy. This was definitely a mistake. She gave him an apologetic shrug and picked up her drink to take a swig. His hand remained upturned as she replaced her drink on the floor and she felt she had no choice but to hold it again.
Not that she was complaining.
Except that she was complaining because her attention was being torn between him and the stage and ohmygod she was holding hands with a really hot guy whilst at a Jagged Stone concert!
Marinette attempted to pull herself together and focus on the now bunny hopping singer. She had saved a lot of money and risked getting in a lot of trouble to get there, she was going to damn well enjoy it. After a minute or two of telling herself to calm down, she finally settled into enjoying the music and found herself dancing in her seat by the third song.
Peeking out the corner of her eye showed that M. Noir too was getting lost in the beat, swaying his shoulders side to side and bobbing his head. It wasn’t quite headbanging, but it was clear he was having fun. She laughed as she joined in and they began dancing in sync, bouncing in their seats.
Her shoulder got prodded a few times by the spikes on his jacket and he apologised profusely before deciding to take it off entirely. Marinette tried not to stare as extremely toned arms and torso under a tight black t-shirt suddenly came into view.
The layers of foundation were useless at this point. She felt like she was melting it off with how hot her face was.
Looking back up at his face made her wish that she herself would melt away, as he was smirking flirtatiously at her. “Like what you see, my lady?” He flexed a bicep and Marinette felt all her blood rush somewhere other than her brain.
Pulling her beetle mask back down over her eyes made him crack up laughing and she crossed her arms over her chest. This wasn’t fair. He wasn’t allowed to be that hot when she was so desperately trying to watch the show. It was almost like he was trying to compete with the band for her attention or something.
She kept her bug eyes trained on the stage, ignoring the now bare arm nudging hers, and began belting along as obnoxiously loud as she could. She was determined to not let him win.
A song she absolutely adored from an older album started and Marinette removed her mask again, leaning forward as if she could be enveloped by the music. The bass and drums reverberated in her bones as she danced and sang along, matching both the low and high notes as best she could. A warm up beforehand would probably have been a good idea; she would definitely lose her voice after this.
She allowed her hand to fall back onto the one she knew would be waiting and felt his fingers entwine with hers. Despite him being a slight distraction, she was glad she had someone to share this memory with. It felt like they were experiencing it in a similar way and feeling similar things.
As the song quietened and ended, a slower song began. Maybe not slower, exactly. The sort of song you would dance to with someone you liked at a school disco or something. Nostalgic sounding guitars and lyrics you probably wouldn’t want to think too much about if you were trying to avoid daydreaming about a life with the person you’re dancing with.
Marinette glanced at the guy next to her and found his cat eyes yet again trained on her, their lids heavy and suggestive. Was he doing that on purpose? He had to know the effect he had on her, otherwise he wouldn’t be so blatant with the expressions he wore.
She tried to control the pace of her pulse and untangle the knot in her stomach, but as his smile grew during the first line of the chorus, she knew she was well and truly screwed.
She was falling ridiculously quickly for this catboy.
Some pyrotechnics went off on the stage and the pair returned their attention to the band, though their entangled hands were always on the edge of her thoughts.
Marinette felt so many emotions all at once.
Excitement and anxiety.
Exhilaration and apprehension.
Expectation and alarm.
There were so many memories from her past that should have been warning her against this, but she couldn’t help wondering - hoping - if this would be different.
That’s if he even felt the same.
The next song started. Slow and quiet. Sweeping notes on a keyboard and softly sung lyrics, gradually building up and up and up into the first crescendo. Lyrics that set Marinette’s veins aflame. Jagged sung in a sultry tone, as if he were speaking directly to the couple sat desperately trying not to look at each other with these kinds of words being released into the arena.
Marinette could feel it.
There was a tension between her and the person beside her.
It was palpable.
Electrified.
All those other clichés she never thought were real.
The song built up again, this time louder and with more instruments. Still, she refused to look at him, though she could feel her eyes straining to move of their own accord. Their hands were gripping each other almost painfully at this point. The guitars and drums struck her very soul during the second chorus.
Then the bridge began and she couldn’t stop herself. Her head gradually turned to face the one beside her. So gradually, it was almost as if time had slowed down.
Her eyes flicked up.
His cat eyes gazed back.
They stared and stared for what seemed like an eternity…
Until something snapped.
Marinette didn’t know exactly how it had happened, but suddenly their lips were attached. The final chorus erupted around them and enveloped them. His hands were on her face and back and hers were gripping his hair and shirt, both desperately pulling the other closer. The feeling was so intense and Marinette had never felt anything like it. He smelled of sweat and leather and sandalwood and tasted like lemonade, and his arms were just as strong as she had imagined they’d be.
She didn’t want it to end, but as the song came to a close and the audience surrounding them cheered, they broke apart and breathily laughed in surprise.
So he had definitely been flirting. Marinette could at least tick that off the list of maybes.
They continued holding hands as songs of apocalypse and enduring hope unfolded around them. It was almost as if the music was glueing their souls together as they sat side by side, shooting shy glances at each other and laughing at the absurd romance of the situation.
Marinette had certainly never imagined that this was the way she’d meet someone and immediately feel how important they were to her.
She hoped he felt the same way.
The band played song after song, with Jagged Stone leaping and spinning his way around the stage with gusto. Marinette and the catboy sang and danced and laughed and not once did their hands let go. She couldn’t have hoped for a better evening.
As the final song and encore came to an end and the crowd erupted into ecstatic applause, the band took their final bows and exited the stage. It took a few minutes and the lights to come on for everyone to come down from their high and begin to vacate the arena. Eventually, Marinette turned to her companion with a question. “Are we going to-”
“Do you want to-”
They both stopped and laughed in surprise. He gestured for her to continue but she shook her head and motioned for him to go first. “I would like to exchange numbers, if you’re okay with that?”
Marinette nodded enthusiastically. “Of course! I would love that!”
He beamed at her then stood from his seat. “Perhaps we should do so after powdering our noses, eh? That lemonade has been sitting in my bladder for a few hours now and I don’t think it can wait any longer!” He pulled his knees together and Marinette laughed, nodding in agreement and following him out of the seating area and to the nearest toilets, separating for the gendered stalls and agreeing to meet back at the entrance in a few minutes.
The queue was horrendous. Of course everyone had done the same thing because no-one wanted to miss a single minute of the concert, but it made waiting a painful experience. Marinette hoped it wouldn’t take so long that her new friend assumed she didn’t want to meet back up again. She briefly wondered if she could hold it a little longer to find a McDonald’s or something outside, but quickly dismissed that idea as the queue shuffled closer to the toilets. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to be desperate for a pee when talking to the love of her life.
Finally, feeling relieved and exiting the toilets as quickly as she could, Marinette made her way to the entrance to try to find the catboy. She searched the pockets of people milling around outside, but most were in groups of friends, excitedly going over the events of the evening. Pulling her phone out of her handbag, she checked the time. It had been a fair bit longer than they had agreed.
Was he still in the bathroom? Had he assumed she wasn’t coming and had left already? Or had he been lying when he said he wanted to exchange numbers?
She checked her phone again and realised there were several missed calls and texts from her parents.
Uh oh.
Weighing up her choices was agonisingly difficult. Did she continue waiting for someone she could only hope would keep to his word? Or did she make her way home as soon as possible and attempt to apologise to her parents?
Watching the throngs of people spilling out of the doors slow to a trickle and the security begin readying the doors for locking up made the decision for her.
He wasn’t coming.
Sighing and attempting to blink back the tears that threatened to spill over, Marinette opened the group chat with her parents and informed them that she was on her way home.
—————————
“Are you sure he was real and you didn’t just daydream him?”
Marinette rolled her eyes as she gathered up her design sketchbook. “I will hang up, y’know.”
Alya chuckled from the other side of the video call and raised her hands defensively. “I’m just saying! He sounds a little too good to be true.”
“Ugh, just tell me if you got any replies!”
Her friend shook her head. “Not any relevant ones. A couple people just wanting to brag about having gone to the concert. There was one person who said they were stood behind him in the queue for drinks, but that’s all they saw.”
Marinette groaned and dropped her head on the desk. “I’m never gonna find him, am I?”
“I only posted it a couple weeks ago. We might still get someone come forward with some good info! I’ll keep sharing it on my socials until we do.”
“What’s the point? What if he doesn’t want to be found? What if he just told me what he thought I wanted to hear?”
Alya shrugged, unable to give her friend any of the answers she needed to hear. Marinette sighed and picked her phone up. “I’ve gotta go now, Alya. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Sure thing, girl. Enjoy your first day at your internship!”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks.” Huffing a sigh as she hung up and stuffed her phone in her handbag, Marinette made sure she had everything then made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Her maman was there, humming to herself as she packed a box with food and filled a thermos with tea.
“Good morning, sweetheart. Are you ready for your first day at Gabriel?”
Marinette shrugged. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Her maman smiled reassuringly. “You’ll do great, dear. Now, I’ve packed you some lunch and some tea. Make sure you actually take a break to eat it! And remember that you are to come straight home afterwards. You’re still grounded for that stunt you pulled with the concert.”
Shoulders sagging, Marinette nodded. “Yes, mère.”
“You understand why you’re being punished, don’t you?”
“I made you worried because you didn’t know where I was or if something had happened to me.”
“Precisely. I’m sure you would have felt the same if we or your friends had snuck away without telling anyone, right?”
Marinette hated this. Her mère was absolutely right and she knew she shouldn’t have done it, but she was so desperate to go to the concert that she had thrown all rational thought and consequences out the window.
She gave her maman another solemn nod which elicited a satisfied smile in response. “Alright, dear. You’d better be off otherwise you’ll be late, and that won’t look good on your first day!” She piled the box and thermos into her daughter’s arms and ushered her through the apartment door. “Have a good day, sweetheart!”
Juggling her lunch in order to throw a wave through the closing door, Marinette made her way downstairs to say goodbye to her père in the bakery, then exited the building. The Gabriel office was only a short bus ride away so she didn’t have to worry about carrying her things for too long.
The nerves began to bubble in her stomach and she couldn’t help her mind starting to make up devastating scenarios that would immediately get her into trouble or make her a laughing stock in the fashion world.
Attempting to calm her breathing as the bus pulled up to her stop, she told herself that everything would be fine and that she just needed to do this one step at a time. She staggered through the front doors as calmly as she could, but by the way some of the employees were eyeing her, she knew she’d already made a bit of a scene.
The bored looking woman at the front desk handed her an intern badge and explained where she would be going and who she would be talking to, before vaguely gesturing to the elevators and turning back to her computer screen. Marinette squeaked out a “thank you” before turning to find her way up to the third floor, clutching the badge tight.
When she arrived, a cheerful flamboyant man greeted her and explained that he would be her supervisor for the duration of her internship, then went over some of the details she would need to remember while she was there. She was then introduced to the rest of the department and told to drop her things at a desk before being whisked away for a tour of the rest of the building.
The tour was fascinating. Seeing a fashion company’s inner workings was a dream come true, and it set off a fire within Marinette to work even harder to make a label of her own.
When they came to the photography studio where a photoshoot was currently in progress, Marinette stopped dead in her tracks. The model was tall, lean and muscular, with blond hair shaved on one side and grass green eyes.
Could…
Could this be him?
She hadn’t seen the catboy’s real eye colour but… This was too much of a coincidence, right?
After waiting for the photographer to be done with his set, Marinette’s supervisor introduced her to both men. “This is our lead photographer, Vincent Giuseppe, and our star model and son of the boss himself, Adrien Agreste. Boys, this is our newest intern, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
Marinette’s heart skipped a beat as Adrien locked eyes with her, an intense but unreadable expression on his face. Did he recognise her? Should she say something?
The photographer shook her hand first then Adrien offered his, smiling pleasantly but nowhere near as friendly as Chat Noir had been. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng. I take it you are an aspiring designer, then?”
It took a moment for Marinette to find her voice, especially as their hands were still connected. “I-I… Yes! I am.”
His smile widened ever so slightly and she felt her pulse spike yet again. “What sort of things have you designed so far?”
“Um, cl-clothes… Dresses, hats, b-bags… That sort of thing.”
Something in Adrien’s verdant eyes flashed and he took an almost imperceptible step closer, his grip on her hand tightening a little. “What’s the most outlandish thing you’ve ever designed?”
Marinette stopped breathing.
It was him.
It was really him!
A small smile began to spread across her face. “A-apart from a ladybug costume I made for a concert on Halloween, I once made a knitting fairy costume for a school play.”
She only caught a small glimpse of his lips stretching into a huge grin as he stooped down to envelop her in his arms and pick her up. “It’s you! I found you! Or, I guess you found me, but you’re here! I nearly hired my own PI to find you.”
Unable to supress the giggle bubbling up in her chest, Marinette couldn’t believe her luck. She’d found him! And he was the son of her fashion idol! And he’d wanted to find her!
He put her down and held her at arm’s length in order to look at her properly, still grinning from ear to ear. “We are exchanging numbers immediately .”