27. Aesthetic(2)

Until now.

Marinette caught his gaze when he gasped, and he stared at her, taking in that knowing glint in those bluebell eyes…

Bluebell eyes he had fallen in love with eight years ago.

“Adrien? Are you all right?”

He startled; he had quite forgotten that Noah and Desiree were still there. And he could feel himself turning red, damn it.

“Fine,” he mumbled, answering Desiree's question as he rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand and glanced away. “Just…it’s a cool parasol.”

“…Thank you,” Marinette said, but when he glanced back at her, she was turning away from him, closing the parasol and returning it to its original position. Her ears were red, he couldn’t help but notice.

“Well! I believe that was everyone!” Desiree said, giving Marinette a not-so-subtle wink as she turned her back and called to the room at large. “All right, kids: the judges will now deliberate! There are snacks waiting for you in my classroom, so help yourselves! Please leave your work here so that we may keep it in sight as we make our decision! Once a decision has been reached, we’ll head over and announce it, and then you can pack up your stuff and head on your way! Remember: all of you did a fantastic job, so no matter who wins the competition, you’re all basically getting full marks anyway.”

A ripple of laughter sounded through the studio, and Desiree waved the students out with grand sweeping gestures of her arms. Adrien smiled at Marinette as she passed, and she returned it, though it appeared that her nerves were beginning to get the better of her again; her teeth moved to worry her bottom lip as she looked away from him, picking up her pace to answer the summons of a couple of her classmates. Adrien watched her go, a myriad of emotions swirling through him at her retreat. It seemed like he was always watching her race away from him, one way or another…

“Adrien? If you would?”

Adrien sighed and turned to face Desiree and Noah. Right—his personal issues would have to wait. Right now, he had a job to do.

“Well,” Desiree began, clasping her hands together for a moment before she folded her arms. Adrien blinked as she did so; he thought he saw something silver glint on her hand, but now he couldn’t. Hmm…maybe he imagined it. “What do you think, Mon. Dumont?”

Noah blinked.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Well…to be perfectly honest, I think Adrien and I are already decided,” Desiree spoke candidly, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow. “All that’s left to figure out is whether or not we can convince you to agree with us.”

Adrien made a face. As much as he wanted to deny these words and claim that there was room for deliberation for the other candidates…he couldn’t do it. He should’ve known he couldn’t be as objective about this as he needed to be…

Noah glanced between him and Desiree, speculation in his expression.

“…So you two are already decided on Mme. Dupain-Cheng,” he guessed. As if it wasn’t painfully obvious.

“Yes,” Desiree answered for the both of them, making shushing noises when Adrien tried to interject. “Well? Is there another line here that has impressed you more than Marinette’s? To be perfectly honest, I doubt it.”

“Do you?” Noah asked idly, as if the answer mattered little to him.

“Oh, yes,” said Desiree with a nod and a knowing smile. “You see, with all my other students, who are perfectly talented in their own right, you did not hesitate to cut them down at the knees. You seemed to pick up on whatever they were insecure about immediately, and then you went for the jugular. There was no mercy…”

Despite her vicious words, Desiree’s smile only grew wider.

“But Marinette did not give you that opportunity. Every flaw you tried to pick at, she explained without missing a beat. And she took your criticisms in stride even when she didn’t have a ready explanation. See, you were lucky—Marinette has razor-sharp teeth, but she kept them hidden, and kept her calm demeanor the whole time, despite your attempt to knock her down. She has a will of iron, nerves of steel, and a spirit made of titanium.”

Desiree stepped forward, into Noah’s space. In her heels, she was the same height as him, and he seemed to realize that, if the frown on his face was any indication. Still smiling sweetly, Desiree continued.

“Admit it, Noah—you know she has what it takes to survive in this business. My other students…they might need a little more work. But Marinette is already standing on her own. She has the talent to create her own boutique and be much more successful than you could ever hope to be—”

“All right, all right, enough with the speech,” Noah huffed, cutting Desiree off as he stepped back from her, scowling. “No need to bully me; I’m not so jaded that I don’t know talent when it’s staring me in the face.”

Desiree stepped back as well, looking satisfied, but now it was Adrien’s turn to frown.

“You really, truly think Marinette is talented?” He wanted to check, ignoring the clucking of Desiree’s tongue as he looked at Noah. “Seriously, don’t let Desiree talk you into voting for her if you don’t completely believe that she has what it takes.”

Noah raised his eyebrows, as if he was silently questioning why Adrien was protesting.

Adrien didn’t have to explain anything to him, though—he just wanted to be sure that Noah truly believed in Marinette’s talent. He knew the one thing she was worried about was being accused of cheating her victory in this competition, being doted on by one judge and dating the other. Noah’s opinion was just as valid as his and Desiree’s, and Adrien needed it to be a serious opinion, not a peace offering.

Noah met Adrien’s searching gaze for a few more seconds before he looked away, huffing.

“The girl’s headstrong,” he said bluntly. “And she’s inconsistent—the Ladybug outfit was a lot fancier than all the others, even more so than the Peacock outfit, and it just didn’t fit with the rest of her designs, Chinese inspiration or not.”

Adrien nodded, glad to hear these criticisms now, because as much as they had annoyed him earlier, the fact of the matter was that he was biased, so he needed to hear them, whether he liked it or not. Noah paused, as if he expected one of them to jump down his throat, and Adrien wondered if he was used to being shouted down when his opinion offended someone else. Desiree opened her mouth to speak, but Adrien shot her a warning look. She scowled and pursed her lips, but nevertheless remained silent. Something flashed through Noah’s eyes when he was not interrupted—surprise?—before he cleared his throat and continued.

“As someone who helps run a company that produces and sells casual styles to the world, I would say that Mme. Dupain-Cheng needs to re-work her definition of ‘casual’…

“…But with all that said…her talent truly is remarkable.”

Adrien felt his whole face light up, and he struggled to regain control of his expression.

“So, does that mean—?”

“Yes, yes, I vote for Mme. Dupain-Cheng, too,” Noah replied, with an air of a king being bothered with troublesome administrative tasks. Again, he lifted his travel cup to sip from it, and again, he realized that it was still empty. With a grunt, he tossed it off to the side, where a student’s sick bin was still sitting beside his spring line; the travel cup shot right into the can, rattling at the bottom before it became still. Adrien was impressed, considering the trash can was a considerable distance away from where they stood.

“Well, look at the time,” Noah said idly, checking his expensive watch before straightening his silk tie. “I should get going—I have a lot of paperwork I know I need to sort through. Today’s just all kinds of fun.” With a sigh and a shrug, Noah offered his hand again to Adrien, who shook it. “Tell your girlfriend I said congratulations.”

Adrien sputtered, turning red on the spot.

“Wha—who—I don’t—”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Noah, cutting through his babbling as he strode past, giving Desiree a nod. “Make sure she gets some sleep, too—she looks like she could use it.”

On that parting note, he was gone.

“…Well, that was interesting,” Desiree said, still frowning after Noah, though he had already disappeared. “He can’t be a very popular man over at AMI.”

Adrien smiled a little at that.

“Maybe not…but I bet a lot gets done with him around, too.” Brushing off Desiree’s questioning look, Adrien gestured grandly with a smile that was just a tad rueful. “Shall we break the rest of your hopeful students’ hearts?”

Desiree laughed, looking sheepish.

“Oh, I suppose we must…it won’t make it any easier on them to wait, will it?”

Surprisingly enough, however, most of Desiree’s students took the news with good grace. Only one student had burst into tears, but when questioned, she had sobbed that she was just so glad that it was finally over; the stress had been killing her.

The only person who reacted oddly was Marinette—upon hearing that she was announced the winner of Desiree’s competition, she stared blankly at her professor for a full five seconds…and then she laid her head down on her desk.

“Uh…Mari-doll?” Desiree questioned as she and Adrien edged closer, Adrien spotting that Marinette’s eyes were closed. “Are you all right?”

“…Yeah,” Marinette mumbled, her voice small. Adrien leaned over her, concerned, but she just gave a huge yawn, slumping over her desk. “I’m just so tired.”

Adrien laughed, moving to stand beside Marinette, sliding her arm around his shoulders.

“Come on. Time for bed.”

“I can walk,” Marinette protested feebly around another yawn, but despite this weak assertion, her eyes did not open, and Adrien shrugged at a grinning Desiree before he excused the both of them, lifting Marinette into his arms when they were no longer in sight of her classmates.

“My clothes,” Marinette muttered sleepily, her brow puckering as she clung to Adrien. God, she was adorable.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get someone to pick them up,” Adrien said, making a mental note to call Sylvia once his hands were free. “They’ll be the feature line of Agreste Fashion now. Congratulations, Mari.”

Marinette hummed, barely conscious. Chuckling to himself, Adrien slipped her into the passenger side of his car, strapping her in. She hummed again, her eyelids fluttering, but she did not open them, bluebell eyes still concealed behind the pink, eye-shadowed skin of her eyelids. Her chest rose and fell evenly; she was already deeply asleep. It warmed something in Adrien to know that she trusted him enough to be able to sleep around him. He knew he didn’t deserve it…not after everything he had done to her…

A stray lock of hair was escaping her bun, curling its way to the front of her neck. Adrien brushed it back, tucking it behind her ear for safekeeping. His fingers lingered there as he looked at her, simply adoring the way she breathed. She so had him wrapped around her little finger, even just like this. It was really unfair.

And Adrien couldn’t bring himself to care.

“…I’m unbalanced without you too, you know,” he said softly, though he knew Marinette could not hear him. But maybe that was a good thing; he didn’t know whether or not he wanted to have this conversation with her yet. And, despite her…telling design choices…maybe she wasn’t ready to have this conversation yet, either.

But they would. And soon. Too soon, considering everything they would have to discuss…everything.

That could wait. It could wait forever, if Marinette wished it. And Adrien would be fine with that, because she was here, with him, they were together, and they were happy.

The saying was ‘ignorance is bliss’, wasn’t it?

Adrien leaned forward, pressing a tender kiss to Marinette’s forehead.

“I love you, Marinette. My Lady, Marinette.” He whispered to her skin. She did not stir. When he pulled away, it was to find a slight, vague smile tracing the curve of her mouth, as if he had spoken a spell that would enable her to have sweet dreams.

Adrien smiled.

Ignorance was bliss indeed.