10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or any other copyrighted material.

Lucky Us

By: Princess Kitty1

Chapter 10

LadybugRE: 201527 minutes ago

Lately I've been really into interior design.

Interior design, and pseudoscience.

I'm going to attempt feng shui.

At this point putting something purple in the southeast corner of my bedroom is the only get rich quick scheme I haven't tried.

x.x.x

Adrien walked into Le Grand Paris at three o'clock in the afternoon. A security guard greeted him at the elevator and accompanied him to the floor where Andre and Chloe Bourgeois made their residence. Adrien thanked the guard, strode over to the third door on the left, took a deep breath, turned the handle, and entered the apartment.

He marched past the foyer. Ripped open the first set of plum colored curtains. Stopped by the bathroom to fill the tub with hot water. Resumed his march. Ripped open the second set of plum colored curtains. Lingered at the side of the four-poster bed for a peaceful moment before ripping the sheets away to reveal a sleeping Chloe.

"Get up," he said, "we're going shopping."

Chloe curled up into a ball. "Go by yourself," she spat.

Adrien leaned over and shoved his hands under her until he could scoop her into his arms. Chloe flailed and screamed all the way to the bathroom, where Adrien dropped her into the tub, pajamas and all. Water splashed over the side and ran in every direction.

"We're going shopping," he repeated. "It's nonnegotiable."

He walked out of the bathroom smiling as Chloe hurled verbal abuse after him. He had a fake date tomorrow. Ladybug had decided to enter the design competition. It was going to be a beautiful day.

An hour and a half later they strolled arm in arm through a shopping mall. Chloe, still fuming, glared at anyone who dared to look at them while Adrien took his pick of designer stores. "Do you think Father will kill me if I walk out of the house in Gucci?" he asked.

"I think you and your father need to drop whatever petty war you're fighting and talk to each other like grown men," Chloe replied. "But yes, Gucci will do."

Adrien stared at her. "Are you sure you're not my mother?"

She rolled her eyes. "Adrikins, as much as you try to make these little excursions about me, you're really not fooling anyone." They entered the store and she stroked a leather handbag hanging off the arm of a mannequin. "When was the last time you were truly happy? Don't"—she put a finger over his lips—"answer that, because you're going to say something stupid and I'm going to hit you."

Adrien blinked at her.

"You haven't been yourself since your mom passed away," she continued. "You rebel against your father even though you never bother to tell him why you're unhappy. You're stuck in a career you don't particularly care for. You run a parody Twitter account of yourself to broadcast your cries for help to the internet by laughing at how ridiculously rich and unhappy you are."

"I thought you liked my fake Twitter account," Adrien said.

"I hate your fake Twitter account! All it does is remind me that you're depressed!" Chloe snapped. She jabbed him in the chest. "Talk. To. Your. Father!"

Adrien pushed her hand away and rubbed the crease out of his shirt. "I'm not depressed," he said. Chloe glared at him. "Unhappy, yes, but nothing quite so drastic as mental illness." He didn't add that he wasn't the one being pulled out of bars completely wasted every other weekend. Which reminded him…

He followed Chloe as she wandered over to a display case full of watches. "How did your doctor's appointment go?"

Chloe's eyes narrowed. "Fine."

"Tests came out negative?"

"I said it went fine, didn't I?"

"You slept in until three," Adrien said. He nudged her arm. "People don't normally do that when they receive good news."

"What the hell does good news matter when your body's a ticking time bomb?" Chloe summoned an employee over and pointed out a rose gold watch. "Oh sure," she said, "we celebrate the negative tests now. And in the future, when some part of my body lights up like the Eiffel Tower, who's going to be the one laughing? Me." She snapped the watch into place around her wrist and held it out for Adrien to see. "How does it look?"

"A little big," he said. He wanted to argue with her, to tell her there was no guarantee that she would get sick again, that if she was so afraid of dying she shouldn't have been killing herself with alcohol. But ninety-nine percent of the time those arguments got them nowhere. Besides, he didn't think he was qualified to lecture someone on how they should feel about dying. He pointed out a different watch. "Try that one instead."

Chloe handed the watch back to the employee. "So are we out shopping for a reason, or are you just randomly trying to piss off your father?"

Adrien leaned against the display case. "Actually, yes, there is a reason. I have a fake date tomorrow and I want to make a good impression."

"A fake—" Chloe stopped and glared at him. "What?"

"Remember how I told you I'm trying to hook Nino up with a reporter?" Chloe made a disgusted noise. Yes, she remembered. "Turns out said reporter is Marinette's best friend."

"Marinette… from the bakery?"

"The very same," Adrien said. "We had to find a way to get them together outside of a working environment so they could get a chance to get to talk. I proposed fake dating, Marinette went along with it." He pointed to the second watch. "That's the one."

Chloe stared at him. She stared for such a long time that Adrien became keenly aware he had said something wrong, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what. Then, Chloe smacked his forehead. "Stupid!" she snapped. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Adrien knocked her hand aside. "What did I do?" he cried.

"If you have to ask, you're even stupider than I imagined!" She hit him once more for good measure, then unclasped the watch so the employee could ring it up for her. Adrien rubbed his forehead.

"Is there some reason I shouldn't be fake dating Marinette?" he asked. "Because she's been pretty cool about the whole thing so far."

"Gee, I wonder why," Chloe said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

Adrien followed Chloe to the register, thinking. There was an insinuation in her response, and it took him a moment to figure out what it was. "Oh," he said, "you think Marinette likes me."

"It is obvious that Marinette likes you."

Adrien crossed his arms over his chest and mulled it over. Marinette liked him. Marinette liked him? He considered her flustered expressions, her unwillingness to talk to him in the months leading up to their friendship, her clumsiness. But she wasn't that shy anymore. If she had a romantic attraction to him, wouldn't she still be nervous when they hung out together? All signs pointed to awkwardness around strangers, not romance. "I think you're wrong about this one, Chloe."

"And I think you're a moron," Chloe said as she took her purchase from the store employee.

Adrien grinned. "But you love this moron."

"I really wish I didn't."

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: 201530 minutes ago

Have you tried selling drugs? I hear that can be pretty profitable, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you want to end up dead in an alley somewhere.

Hey, isn't this email thread getting kind of long? We're almost eight months into 2015. Methinks it's time for a new one.

x.x.x

LadybugSummerJust now

Better?

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: SummerJust now

I give it an A for effort.

Random Question: How do you tell if a woman is attracted to you?

x.x.x

Marinette stood in the bakery kitchen with her phone in hand and a perplexed look on her face. She put her other hand on her chest, then moved it to the back of her neck, puzzled by the wave of dread that had crashed over her a moment ago.

Manon's head appeared in the doorway. "You want to come out here and help us, boss? There's a line."

"Just a sec." Marinette hit reply.

x.x.x

LadybugRE: SummerJust now

Depends on the girl.

Some may act quiet and shy.

Some may put the moves on you directly.

Some may kidnap you, take you to an undisclosed location, and force you to wed them at gunpoint.

Why do you ask?

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: Summer2 hours ago

My best friend's convinced that one of our mutual acquaintances has a crush on me, but I think she's just projecting her desire for me to be happy onto random people, which isn't fair to our mutual acquaintance. What do I do if she starts trying to set me up with her?

Scratch that. She would never try to set me up with anyone.

x.x.x

LadybugRE: Summer1 hour ago

Is she (the mutual acquaintance) cute?

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: SummerJust now

Well, yes. But you know my heart belongs to you. :)

x.x.x

Adrien groaned as he crossed a busy intersection seconds before the traffic signal changed. Why did he have to be such a Casanova? Why couldn't he keep his figurative mouth shut? He glared at the email he'd sent, willing it to disappear. Hopefully Ladybug would take that as more of his typical banter and wouldn't detect the truth lurking behind his words.

Hold on. Why did Ladybug want to know if Marinette was cute?

He forced that thought train to a grinding halt. No. He would not go down that path. Ladybug had teased him about finding a girlfriend before. This was nothing new.

After dropping Chloe and her shopping bags back off at the hotel, Adrien had decided to take a walk around Paris. An unexpected meeting cancellation freed up the rest of his afternoon, but without the work, he found himself bored. Nino had gone to visit his parents. Chloe, still disappointed by his incredible ignorance, claimed she didn't feel like looking at him anymore…

Which left Marinette, the subject of the afternoon's dispute.

He checked his phone. The bakery had closed two hours ago, and Adrien already regretted not visiting on the last day before its August break. Would Marinette mind if he dropped in to see her outside of their usual schedule? Should he text her first? He was already close enough to the bakery; it'd be weird to stand across the street waiting for a reply.

The lights in the bakery were still on when Adrien approached. He saw movement inside: Marinette's employees, all dressed in nice clothes, holding champagne glasses and laughing. Adrien smiled at the happy picture, already taking a step back. Far be it from him to interrupt their—

Manon spotted him. "Hey, it's Adrien!" she cried.

Whoops. All the employees turned their heads to look. Adrien waved at them sheepishly. "Adrien!" they cried, raising their glasses in his direction. Manon ran to the front door and unlocked it.

"You're just in time to come celebrate with us," she said as soon as it was open, and pulled him in without waiting for a yes or no. "We need empty stomachs. See, we made Marinette a cake to thank her for being an awesome boss, but it turns out she'd made us a cake, so now we have two cakes and not enough people to eat it all." Manon gestured to a table, where a cake shaped like Marinette's head sat next to a chocolate torte decorated with colorful berries.

Adrien looked around, but he didn't see Marinette anywhere. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose…"

"We're positive. Look at all this cake! And anyway, we owe you for bringing in so much new business," Manon said.

A male employee, whose name Adrien couldn't recall, pressed a glass of champagne into his hand. "Have a drink, Monsieur Agreste! You're working hard on the design competition, right?"

"Do we know if Marinette's entering yet?" another employee, Sophie, asked as she poured herself a drink. "I love her but she sells herself way too short. Have you, like, seen the coat she made that doll of hers?" She pointed up at a shelf Adrien hadn't noticed before. "It's crazy detailed."

Adrien stared at the doll, remembering that Marinette had mentioned taking commissions for doll clothes. The ensemble was detailed: leather jacket, scarf, even a pair of knee-high boots. It looked like something out of a fall fashion magazine.

If Marinette entered his father's competition, not only would she give Ladybug a run for her money, but she might stand a chance at winning.

A clatter came from the kitchen, along with some colorful profanity. Marinette stumbled in from the back of the bakery wearing a polka-dotted party dress and heels. She carried a Bluetooth speaker in one hand and a drink in the other. "Alright guys, the music has arrived! Now we can officially get this party start—" Her eyes met Adrien's.

Adrien lifted his own drink in greeting. "Hi?"

"Look who we found standing outside!" Manon said, which made Adrien cringe. She made it sound like he'd been stalking the place.

Marinette handed the speaker off to one of the other employees and walked up to Adrien, wobbling a little. Was it the heels, or…? He looked at the drink in her hand. Ah. There was the culprit. "Oh my God," she said, "did they kidnap you? Are they holding you hostage?"

"No, I was just in the neighborhood," Adrien replied as Marinette turned him around to inspect him for injuries. "Didn't know you were having a party."

Marinette released him to play with the ends of her hair. "It's more like a small get together."

"You called it a party a minute ago."

"Did I?"

Adrien took a sip of champagne and willed his inner Chat Noir to stand down. He wanted to mess with her so bad. Unfortunately, his inner Chat Noir didn't feel like listening to him. "Gee, Marinette, if I'd known weekends at the bakery were so exciting I would have started dropping by on Saturdays earlier,"

Marinette let out an unladylike snort. "Why are you here on a Saturday?" she asked.

"Like I said, I was in the neighborhood." Adrien hesitated. "And bored," he admitted with an apologetic smile. "I was bored."

Marinette knocked back the rest of her drink. "Well, you have come to the right place." She put the glass on a table and motioned around the room with a broad sweep of her arm. "We have music, alcohol, and cake. The three most important food groups."

"Music is a food group?" Adrien asked.

Marinette stuck her chin out defiantly. "If pizza can be a vegetable then music can be a food group. You should try the torte, by the way. I completely outdid myself."

Adrien's smile widened as Marinette wobbled her way over to the cakes. Manon sidled up next to him. "So, Marinette says you two are getting to know each other better."

"That's right," he said. Had Marinette told her about the fake dating thing?

"Did she tell you she used to babysit me when I was a kid?" Manon leaned in as if she were divulging a big secret. "Between you and me, her babysitting skills? Not that great. But she still tried," she said. "Marinette's the kind of person who always gives a hundred and ten percent. That's why all of us like her so much." She and Adrien watched Marinette cut a slice of both cakes and heap them onto a plate. "We want to see her happy, not just getting by, you know?"

A routine life where everything is safe and familiar… It's stifling, isn't it? Some days I can hardly breathe.

Adrien did know.

When was the last time you were truly happy?

He had plenty of firsthand experience with just getting by.

You're killing me, dude! When did you become such a pessimist?

"Yeah," he said to Manon. He stared at what was left of his champagne for a moment, then drank it down.

Marinette returned with enough cake for all three of them. "Manon, I hope you're not over here telling Adrien anything embarrassing."

Adrien's inner Chat Noir jumped back in the game, determined to push his blues away. "What's this about you being a crappy babysitter?" he asked.

Marinette groaned. "I was fourteen," she said. She handed him a plate and a dessert spoon. Manon wandered off to join the other employees, presumably to let them be alone together. Smooth, Adrien thought. "At fourteen the only thing you're supposed to be good at is sleeping and playing video games," Marinette complained.

"I don't know, when I was fourteen I was pretty good at fencing. And piano. And Chinese, and basketball, and modeling, and sleeping…" Adrien dug his spoon into the chocolate torte. "But I sucked at video games."

Marinette put a hand on her hip. "Hey, handsome boy, the cost of making the rest of us look bad is more expensive booze."

"Yeah!" Manon chimed in around a mouthful of cake.

"Yeah! Whatever Marinette said!" the male employee crowed from across the room.

Adrien raised an eyebrow at Marinette. Handsome boy? Her lips pulled up into a smirk and he almost forgot the cake in his desire to think up an adequate comeback. But instead he sampled the chocolate torte and nearly wept as the cocoa and berries came together in a glorious symphony of flavor. "This is delicious," he said.

Marinette's cockiness turned into a flush of pleasure that, to Adrien's tired eyes, seemed to make her entire body glow. "Really?"

Adrien took another bite. "Absolutely."

She bit down on her smile and tapped the corner of her mouth. "You got some on your face."

"Hmm?" Adrien swiped at his cheek with his finger. "Where?"

Marinette put a hand on his shoulder, leaned in, and kissed his cheek.

Adrien's eyes shot open.

"Putting on a show, fake boyfriend," she whispered. She drew back, winked at him, then turned and walked to her group of employees with only a slight wobble in her step.

Adrien resisted the urge to laugh out loud. Of all the things he would have expected from Marinette, that was not one of them. Did he blame the alcohol? No. Perhaps it helped, but he'd seen hints of impishness in her before. In fact, he almost would have said that Marinette had an inner Chat Noir of her own.

Which would make tomorrow's fake date endlessly entertaining.

x.x.x

LadybugRE: Summer17 minutes ago

You have got to stop saying that.

Speaking of happiness, how are you these days?

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: Summer5 minutes ago

Me? I'm doing well. Better. Busier than ever, but maybe all I needed was to feel more productive?

I don't know. It's hard to say. Things aren't perfect (if they were, I'd be dating you by now) but they're not terrible either.

…which is exactly how I would have answered this question two months ago.

How about you?

x.x.x

LadybugRE: SummerJust now

Considering that I am seriously thinking about feng shui?

My approach to life has officially changed from "keeping a low profile" to "winging it."

(With mixed results, I might add.)

x.x.x

Chat NoirRE: SummerJust now

Hey, as long as you're winging it, you want to go out to dinner next weekend? :D

x.x.x

LadybugRE: SummerJust now

Nice try.

To Be Continued

A/N: The first draft of my thesis novel is done, my Tumblr exclusive Winter Sonata fic is done, and my winter break is just around the corner. Expect consistent updates from now until mid-January! Thank you everyone for your support, encouragement, and understanding. It really helped me get that schoolwork done!