When the Phoenix Falls (Adrien Agreste)

Chapter 15: The Mime

Colette allowed her eyes to drift shut as she breathed in the cool morning air from her place just a few hundred metres away from her home. She did her best to ignore the photographer who was standing a few feet away from her, shouting random instructions every couple of seconds, but always snapping more photos before she could act on them. Adrien had warned her about how random his requests could be, so Colette had known what she was getting herself in for, but if Gabriel Agreste requested that she do a short photoshoot for him that morning, then who was she to refuse. Plus, it had meant she had a guarantee that Adrien wouldn't be by himself, which was worth asking Marinette to cover her shift at the bakery.

Speaking of Adrien, he was sitting on the edge of the fountain - almost posing even though he wasn't actually in the shot - and stuffing his face full of flaky, almond pastry. The broad grin he had given her when she had first arrived at the shoot with a huge bag filled with the pastries, was almost enough to drag her into smiling too, but she had been whipped away to change into her first outfit before he had been able to say more than a few words to her and they hadn't spent more than a few minutes together since.

Colette had changed outfit more times than she cared to remember. There had been racks of tops, skirts, trousers, jackets, and anything else you cared to name sitting inside the tent when she had arrived that morning and it felt as though she must have tried on more clothes than she actually owned herself. Every fifteen-twenty minutes or so she would switch again and they would change position slightly so they could get new pictures of her, but she hadn't actually modelled with Adrien at all yet. She was certain that Gabriel must be expecting them to do matching outfits at some point, but she wondered if he just wanted to get a better idea of her first. After all, he might decide that she wasn't the right person to model this range, in which case there was no point taking all the pictures and then having to discard them.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng," Nathalie's voice broke through Colette's peaceful thoughts, dragging her back to the real world as she turned to face the woman, blouse fluttering in the wind.

"Yes, Miss Sancoeur?" Nathalie had taken to using Colette's last name during the photoshoot - though she normally addressed her more casually - and so Colette had been doing the same.

"Your next outfit," Nathalie held out a neatly folded pile of clothes, which Colette took with a smile as she headed back towards the tent.

Colette realised as she fixed her outfit in the mirror just how similar it was to her own clothing. She had been provided with a white blouse, the sleeves billowing in the breeze which flowed through the tent, and a red waistcoat not that dissimilar to the one Marinette had made for her, though this one was a darker shade of red and had visible white stitches running around the edges of the material. The only difference was that her usual trousers had been replaced with a navy tube skirt and sheer tights hidden by tall, black, suede boots.

She wondered absent-mindedly if Gabriel had taken inspiration from her usual outfit, a suspicion which was only confirmed when she stepped out of the flimsy tent to find Adrien already waiting for her, all traces of pastry crumbs gone from his face as he leant against the fountain.

"We match," She grinned widely as she shifted to lean against the fountain beside him, pushing stray strands of hair away from her face as they escaped her braided bun. Her hair had been done for her by a professional when she had first arrived at the park, but the hours which had passed since that point had only served to pull the style to pieces as the wind wound its way through the midnight locks.

Adrien adjusted his stance to half face her, giving her a better view of his outfit. Unlike her, he had been provided with sleek, navy trousers, and his shirt clung to his slim frame rather than billowing like hers. The bold colours were striking against his pale complexion and vivid eyes, which sparkled in the sunlight as he smiled lazily at her.