unexpected feelings | marichat

chapter forty-eight

   tikki fluttered around the dressing trailer vanity nervously, distracting herself with the truckload of makeup the crew had been applying on marinette a few minutes earlier. she was especially intrigued by the dark lipsticks that the crew had decided were too strong. to tikki, they were perfect, and she partially wished they'd tried them on her owner.
   as she prepared to apply another layer to the mannequin, something threw itself on her, forcing her to drop the lipstick and smudging it in the process. "sugar cube!!!"
tikki groaned. "plagg! what are you doing here? you could have easily gotten caught," she scolded, and plagg grinned smugly.
"our owners have been too busy flirting with each other to notice anything around them. besides, if anyone did see me, i could simply use my powers and boom! problem solved." tikki must have looked terrified, or mad, or maybe a mix between the two, because plagg sighed and added, "i'm kidding! you're such a party pooper, sugar cube."
tikki scowled, ready to insult him back, but the door of the trailer abruptly opened, and the two kwami flew into a half-shut drawer. they watched as a crew member entered the trailer, setting down a huge garment bag on the chair beside the door.
tikki and plagg exchanged a nervous glance as she stepped closer to the vanity, but she didn't seem at all interested in the drawer. she made a beeline towards the jewelry box, unaware of anything around her.
   they watched in horror as the young crew member opened the jewerly box, scoured around it for a while, then pulled out the ladybug miraculous.
   the two kwami had been alive for millennia. they had seen and felt things that nobody could ever explain. but nothing could really compare to the terror they felt at this moment.
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marinette's pov
   the photographer oohed and aahed each time adrien and i changed our pose, making me feel like maybe i wasn't a complete disaster after all. i had adrien to thank, of course. each time i clammed up, he'd whisper encouraging things into my ear, making me slowly relax until i finally got the poses right.
   after a few minutes, we began to lose focus, and that's when the photographer became impatient. to his credit, he took pictures regardless of how ridiculous adrien and i posed. i'd have to ask for those later.
   "oh, you two are lost causes! go! change into your next outfit, you worthless children! when you return, be MATURE," the photographer snapped, sending adrien and i into a feat of giggles.
"sorry, giuseppe," adrien choked out, before breaking into laughter as soon as he turned around. he walked me to my trailer, both of us still doubling over in laughter every few seconds as we recalled giuseppe's blow up.
   "why can't you be at every shoot of mine? it makes everything so much more fun!"
   "because then you'd never get any work done! we've already got your poor photographer on the edge, and it's only been a few minutes," i giggled.
   "he'll get over it," adrien shrugged, smirking before sashaying away to his own trailer. i rolled my eyes and was just about to enter mine, when a crew member walked out of it. she froze when she saw me. no name tag?
   "oh, hello," i greeted, smiling. she seemed nervous, she must have been new. "is the next outfit in the trailer already?"
   she nodded, beginning to walk down the stairs quickly. i opened my mouth to ask for her name, but a glint from between her clasped hands stopped me.
   "are those... my earrings?" i questioned, slowly inching towards the crew member and trying to ignore how fast my heart was beating. she shook her head vigorously.
   "no, miss, these are mine! i dropped them while i was putting the dress in your trailer," she said, showing me the earrings. they were unmistakably the miraculous. i tried to stay calm as i attempted to get them back.
   "sorry, but those are mine. i would recognize them anywhere, given that i picked them out myself from a jewelry shop in... shanghai," i lied, keeping my voice steady. not like i could tell her how i really got them. she furrowed her eyebrows for a few seconds before her eyes widened and she began to laugh.
   "oh! i must have mistaken them for mine, they're so similar! i'm so sorry for the misunderstanding," she apologized, handing me the earrings. i sighed in relief as i put them back on, replacing the pretty rubies with my miraculous once again.
   "no worries! i hope you find your lost earrings," i smiled as she walked off, wondering where she could have dropped her own but relieved i'd caught her before she took mine. surely hers must be close by, or else she wouldn't have come all the way to my trailer for them. it wasn't like she knew these were a miraculous.
"tikki? are you in here?" i called out, shutting the trailer door. tikki shot out of the vanity drawer and hugged my cheek.
"marinette! some crew member stole your miraculous, i told yo- oh, you have them on?" her fear turned to relief then anger in a matter of seconds, and she scowled at me closely.
"the poor girl just thought they were her lost earrings," i explained, shutting the jewelry box. tikki removed herself from me as i changed, but i could still hear her fluttering angrily from across the room.
"then why did she look through the jewelry box specifically? she knew what she would find! isn't that a little strange?"
"well, maybe she just thought she misplaced them in there on accident. i don't know tikki, but the important thing is that i have them back, and this time i won't be taking them off anytime soon," i swore. tikki sighed.
"i hope you're telling the truth, marinette."
the photoshoot lasted for about another hour, before mr. agreste called the director to tell him those were enough photos. as adrien and i walked out the set, i remembered the lost earrings.
"hey, adrien? there was this girl earlier, she said she lost her earrings. did she ever find them?"
adrien frowned. "did she work with the crew?" i nodded, and his eyebrows furrowed. "the crew isn't allowed to wear any jewelry so they don't confuse it with the set wardrobe and props."
my eyes widened. that was strange. "but... she took my earrings because she thought they were hers! she seemed so worried about finding her own."
"maybe she was new," he suggested. i nodded.
"she did seem new. i just hope she finds her earrings again," i frowned. adrien smiled reassuringly.
"don't worry, marinette. it's a small set, i'm sure she'll find them." i laughed.
"you think this is a small set? i'd love to see one of the bigger ones!"
as adrien jumped into a story about one of the larger sets he'd been in, i looked back once at the set we'd been working in.
maybe the girl had just been confused on wardrobe protocol. but tikki's words were now reverberating in my head over and over again.
'she knew what she would find! isn't that a little strange?'

(a/n: i think the next chapters are gonna be fun, lol.)