#adrinettemonthday6

On a normal July afternoon, most University students would be enjoying their small amount of free time they had over the summer. Unfortunately for Adrien, his entire summer consisted of working overtime for his father's company, even though they had both agreed that Adrien would not be continuing in the fashion industry after university. He had to admit, though, it was good money. Working overtime during the summer ensured that he wouldn't have to work during the semester and would provide a financial safety net to live off of. He would continue to be a quality model for his father's line until he graduated, and then he would finally retire modeling. 

The only plus side was that Adrien's father had taken Marinette under his wing. For the past two years, she had been working as his personal intern. Adrien had his suspicions that she would be named his successor. She had proven herself time and time again to be not only a talented designer, but excellent at time management, organization, and task distribution. She gracefully handled any challenge thrown her way. Watching her work made Adrien fall in love with her even more. Since Marinette was his father's shadow, even during the summer, it meant accompanying him on site to whatever events he attended. Adrien being the company's top model, as well as M. Agreste's son, and this being a major photo shoot for their upcoming fall line, Gabriel was on site attending to any and every issue, with Marinette at his side. 

Adrien watched from the corner of his eye as Marinette hand stitched a torn outfit while Gabriel chewed out the poor staffer who had torn it. He winced. That staffer would not be working with their company again. Once Marinette repaired the damaged garment, nearly seamlessly, she quickly retrieved her tablet--the one Nathalie normally carried around--to continue assisting with his father's checks. 

Adrien returned his full attention to his own shoot, feeling a bit more energized after watching his love bug at work. 

Suddenly, Adrien's shoot came screeching to a halt as his father's voice boomed through the warehouse. Adrien relaxed his posture and ignored the yelling. He glanced in his father's direction to see him shouting into his cellphone. He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath before continuing in more calm, quieter tone. After hanging up, Adrien watched his father turn to Marinette and pass her a few papers. She nodded frantically and waved him off as he walked away. 

Once M. Agreste left the building, the photographer called Adrien's attention back once again. 

"There is something missing," The photographer--Raoul-- said, "Where is Collette?" 

Adrien shrugged, "I haven't seen her all day."

Raoul spun around dramatically asking if anyone had seen Collette. He was always a very excitable photographer. 

Marinette and Nathalie approached the photographer briskly once they caught wind of the issue. 

"What seems to be the problem?" Nathalie asked.

"I cannot continue this shoot without a female model…"

Adrien tuned out the photographer's complaints. He was getting bored, and just wanted off of this set so that he could go back to his apartment and cuddle with his girlfriend. 

He caught Marinette's eye while Nathalie was distracted and winked at her. As expected, Marinette's cheeks reddened and she stuck her tongue out at him. It really stroked his ego that he was still able to make her blush all these years later. Holding eye contact with her, he grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, earning him a very exaggerated eye roll.

"…just have to use a stand in model." Raoul threw his arm in the air in an exasperated manner.

"We do not have any other models on site with Collette's measurements," Nathalie said, scrolling on her tablet, presumably through the list of the day's models.  "All of the garments were tailored to her body type."

"What about Mademoiselle right here?" 

Marinette's head whipped up, and Adrien turned towards Raoul. 

"Mlle. Dupain-Cheng is nearly the same size as Collette. A couple inches shorter, but comparable." Nathalie turned her serious gaze to assess Marinette's stature. "Are you comfortable with this?"

Marinette opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally answering, "Yes! Yes, I can do this."

"M. Adrien," Raoul shouted, "We have had a change in plans. You will model with Mlle. Marinette instead."

Adrien instantly perked up. This is not how he expected his day to go.

To say Marinette was nervous would be an understatement.  

It was her second year officially interning for M. Agreste, and her fourth shadowing him in the company. She could handle any order he barked out at her, any demand with ease. However, she had not expected to be stepping in front of the camera when she got up that day. She knew they needed to finish Adrien's shoot ASAP, so she had agreed, but she wasn't sure she had known quite what she'd been signing up for. 

Adrien stood by while the stylists pulled at her hair and applied her makeup. "You'll do fine, stop worrying," Adrien reassured her. He ran a hand through his hair and crossed his arms over his chest.

His hair was coiffed back, with a few strands falling over his brow. He wore a white button down with the sleeves rolled halfway up his arms, his jacket pulled off to be re-pressed before the shoot. She was furious that he always looked so good. 

"I'm just not usually the one in front of the camera," Marinette said. 

"Really? Because I seem to recall a few times you've been faced with the press and handled it just purrfectly." Adrien winked at her.

Marinette flushed at his insinuation. "That's a very different situation."

"Mmm, I don't think it was." 

Marinette felt her head get tugged back as the stylist started on another braid. "Okay, then, Monsieur Agreste, what do you propose I do to handle this situation purrfectly?"

Adrien's eyes sparkled with mirth. He loved it when she punned.  "You just have to channel that same confidence, My Lady," he used the nickname very deliberately, "You're the same person, so why shouldn't you have that same confidence in front of the camera?"

Marinette took a deep breath. "You're right. I can do this." 

Adrien smiled broadly. "I know you can. Don't forget that I'll be with you the whole time. Just focus on me."

Marinette barked a laugh. "You think that's going to make it easier? This is literally your job. I had your photos on my wall when I was fourteen." 

"And I love you for that, but I'm also your alley cat."

Marinette pouted, "Alright, I'll focus on doing this, just you and me."

"Great."

"M. Agreste," one of the stylists said, "We should do a touch up before you return to the set."

"Alright," Adrien pushed away from the counter and gave Marinette a wink before following the stylist to the men's dressing room.

Marinette sat back in the chair and closed her eyes to let the stylist apply her eye makeup.

The shoot had several female outfits, which meant they'd be on set for at least another three hours. While normally Adrien would be bored or indifferent towards the ordeal, but the thought of modeling with Marinette was exhilarating. He was on standby on set while she finished getting dressed.  

Adrien put his embroidered jacket on once again and watched the techs adjust the lights. He couldn't be happier with the theme of the shoot. "Dreamscape" was the perfect theme for Marinette's first photo shoot. Marinette herself was like a beautiful dream. He couldn't imagine a better setting. 

His stylist was applying the final layer of setting powder when Marinette finally emerged. Adrien had seen Marinette dressed up before, but every time he was struck by how stunning she looked. 

Today she wore one of his favorite designs from the collection. It was made to compliment Adrien's jacket exactly. It was a simple, classic silhouette with an a-line skirt and a sweetheart neckline. Her sleeves fell off the shoulder. Rather than being one single piece, she wore a crop top and high-waisted skirt in dark blue, featuring silver peonies embroidered into the skirt. She had on a pair of silver six inch strappy heels, and her hair was up with braids leading up to a thick bun. She had a dark blue smokey eye and jet back winged eyeliner on her top lid, and silver liner on her bottom. 

Adrien had never seen her lips so glossy and red, like a bright, ripe cherry. 

He wanted to kiss her. 

Marinette approached the set. Adrien couldn't figure out how to close his mouth. 

"Shit."

Marinette's eyes widened at the expletive. "Goodness, Alley Cat, watch your language, we are at work!" The edge from the reprimand was lessened by the laughter in her voice. 

Adrien snaked a hand around her back, "can it really be considered work if I'm having so much fun?"

He moved to kiss her on the nose, but the photographer interrupted them before he could make the move.

"Come now, love birds, let's get shooting." Raoul clapped his hands twice to catch their attention, and the two jumped apart. "Save the romance for the camera."

Adrien took Marinette by the hand and guided her to the set. “Just focus on us.”

The photographer positioned them at different levels at first, having Marinette seated below, with Adrien standing above her to the left. They took a few shots from those levels before switching. Adrien knelt below Marinette in a way that felt very LadyNoir. He took her hand in his and kissed her on the back of her knuckles the way he did when they were just kids. He missed the habit, Adrien thought, he might bring it back. Based on the way Marinette's eyes sparkled, he thought she might enjoy the comeback as well. 

Adrien found he wanted to touch her more, and prayed for the photographer to direct them to change their position once more.

After what felt like a century of itching to touch His Lady, Adrien got his wish. In order to show off the back of the ensemble, and to evoke the appropriate amount of intimacy for the campaign, Marinette was instructed to turn her back 3/4 to the camera. Adrien placed his hand at the small of Marinette's back and she rested both of her hands on his pectorals. She peered over her shoulder at the camera, but Adrien didn’t take his eyes off of her. As terrified as she said she was of the camera, she seemed to flourish under them.

"Maybe you should transition into modeling. You're a natural," Adrien whispered into her ear. 

"After listening to you complain about it for nearly six years? Not likely. I will stick to design, thank you very much."

"But Bugaboo, you could be the next top model of all of France."

"I don't think I'm quite tall enough for that. I appreciate your confidence in me, though."

Marinette gazed into Adrien's eyes, and for a moment they forgot the flashing cameras and hot lights. For a moment, they were just two people, in a dreamscape, in love. They were lost to the rest of the world. 

In that moment, Adrien finally took what he wanted. He captured her lips in his. He missed the rapid flash of the camera attempting to immortalize the moment. He was lost in happiness with the most beautiful girl in the world.

Their photo shoot didn't just make it into magazines. The marketing team had fallen in love with Marinette and Adrien's on camera chemistry and used their joint images as the promotional photos for the entire line. Marinette started getting calls from modeling agencies left and right when it came out that she was unrepresented. She turned them all down, of course. She was happy with what she was doing. All in all, the attention didn't really bother her.

That is, until the billboard went up.

There it was, right across the street from Marinette's university. The backsplash of the ad was the now infamous kiss image from the photoshoot. The front overlay was a close up of herself and Adrien post-kiss. Her eyes were still hazy from the kiss, and Adrien's were heated as he stared into the camera, red lipstick smeared across his lips. 

The image was sexy, heated, and embarrassing beyond belief. 

Despite their propensity to show their affection in public, their relationship had never been the focus of the press. Most of Adrien's fans had no idea that he was in a relationship, which suited Marinette just fine. As Adrien had pointed out, she got enough attention as Ladybug. The release of this ad-campaign, with this billboard in particular, though, unleashed the floodgates. Now the entirety of France, and the world fashion industry knew that Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were dating. 

Even with the new bombardment of publicity, though, Marinette and Adrien couldn't bring themselves to mind. Marinette got a bit more attention from her classmates, not 100% positive. Some of Adrien’s fan girls gave her scathing looks. Her professors looked on her with suspicion, and she was occasionally accused of riding coattails to get her internship. They weren’t totally wrong on that last bit. Even Marinette had hesitated taking an official position under M. Agreste. Though she knew he was not a biased man, and that he wouldn’t go easy on her. Besides, prestigious internships were hard and few to come by. If she sincerely wanted to make it in this industry, she had to take what she could get, no matter how they came her way.