The Situationship

Beautiful Nightmare

Marinette was tired. Very, very tired. She'd been too anxious to sleep the previous night and now she was regretting it – even more so in the early hours of the morning as she attempted to cover up the black circles under her eyes. She didn't know whether it was excitement of finally being trusted, or fear of messing up.

She tried to keep her eyes open, the challenge sending her blurry-eyed as she typed notes for Mary as she spoke at speed, she didn't know it was possible for a human to talk this fast. They were currently in First Class on a train direct to London Euston, where Gabriel Agreste's personal driver would be waiting for them, taking them to the hotel before continuing to the main offices on the Strand.

It had been four years since Gabriel Agreste had moved his headquarters to London; four years since Paris had mourned the loss of the great designer as he and his son left to head to the United Kingdom.

There had been many rumours about the reason why they suddenly left, the eeriest being about his son finding his mother's body in the basement, and his father being a murderer. Obviously, nothing came from it, but the stories kept running for years. Their lycée constantly spread spooky stories of the Agreste Manor, with only Chloé Bourgeois to defend the unseen son. Some people were beginning to think Adrien was a robot, or Chloé's imaginary friend. Apart from the numerous shoots for magazines and tv interviews, no one ever saw or heard from Adrien Agreste. He was nothing more than a name and a smoulder...which she enjoyed looking at a little too much.

Mary rattled on. "Now listen to me, Marianne, we don't show weakness. Gabriel Agreste seems to have it in his little pea brain that we aren't pulling our weight. We need to go in there and show him exactly how amazing I am. He gets a hint that we are wobbly and he'll think we aren't worth collaborating with. Lillie has always been exceptional at showing the strength in the company and winning the clients over, so I expect you to do the same."

Marinette nodded, deciding to ignore the fact her boss of two years was still calling her Marianne. At least it wasn't Marty or Mert anymore. In Mary's eyes, she was probably in the wrong for having the wrong name anyway, and she was sure Mary would just tell her Marianne suited her more so she needed to change it.

"Who will be in the meeting? Just so I can make sure I have all the names correct."

Mary looked up from where she was typing frantically on her phone, her eyebrows attempting to lift through her fresh layer of Botox. "Are you that incompetent? We're going for a collaboration meeting at Gabriel...in London... Who do you think will be in the meeting? Versace?"

Considering Versace had been dead for over 20 years, Marinette was quite sure her boss was not impressed by her question and was being slightly sarcastic. Marinette knew they were meeting with Gabriel Agreste; she wasn't an idiot. But she was also sure, like Mary, a personal assistant or someone would be there too. There was no chance Gabriel would attend the meeting alone.

"I - I -" The hard glare thrown her way made Marinette swallow down any other questions. "Sorry."

Mary looked at her before rolling her eyes and placing her concentration back down onto her phone, obviously messaging one of her many male companions. She was always dating someone new, or 'deciding' between three different guys who would suit her the best, only to ditch all three and get a new one.

Mary was only slightly older than her – two years older to be exact – yet the aura around her really did give her the essence of someone who had been working in the fashion industry for years. Apparently, she'd started out as a model before opening her own design business. That being said, Marinette had never seen the woman design anything in all her years there. It either came from Lillie, one of the other designers, or a collaboration.