Ghosts Of Adrien's Past

Chapter 10: planned

Adrien sat comfortably in his hotel bed, quickly throwing together some sort of bachelor party for Nino. He had about three hours. He couldn't imagine the kind of stress case Marinette would be right now.

Luka went to sit down on the foot of the bed, but Adrien kicked him off with a hard shove.
"Hey!"
Luka shouted, Adrien only smiled to himself and continued planning.
"You deserve a lot more than a shove off the bed"
"Come on, I barely hurt you"
Adrien set down his plans and looked luka dead in the eye.
"You would've killed me if I hadn't had the suit there to save my life"
"Oh dear god no. The world would collapse if Adrien Agreste wasn't there to buy expensive suits and break his assistant's hearts"
A snort sounded in the back of adrien's throat and he rolled his eyes.
"At least I'm doing better than you ever could"
"Yeah well, I made my own life. I didn't inherit daddy's money when he finally kicked the bucket"
Adrien narrowed his eyes.
"You would probably benefit from shutting your mouth"
"Or what? I've already proved I can beat you in a fight"
"I'm one of the most powerful men in Shanghai, I could buy half the city with the snap of my fingers. Do you really think that I'm not capable of tearing down your career piece by piece?"
"Congratulations. I wonder if that's what Marinette is looking for"

Adrien thought he'd won, but somehow he didn't. Somehow luka had won this round as well.

Marinette scratched her head. She wasn't sure what to do for alya and her bachelorette party.
The bride-to-be sat on the bed, playing with a pillow. Mari was pacing and humming to herself. Her phone buzzed and beeped and rang. Alya groaned and buried it in the covers.
"Why is it going off like that?"
Mari scoffed and waved it off.
"It got leaked that I came home. Now everyone in Paris with over One Million in their daily spending account is inviting me to tea parties and fashion shows and everything to do with the high life"
Alya was silent for a little.
"Then take me"
Marinette stopped in her pacing.
"What?"
"I've never seen the 'high life' and I want to."
"I can't take everyone-"
"I mean just us. I want to spend time with my best friend. I want to see your life. I want to party and drink and shop in the expensive streets of Paris"
"Alya I don't know I- rich people can be mean. Ferocious, actually"
"And who better to be my guard dog than the top trending designer of New York City?"
Mari bit her lip.
"Don't blame me if you show up in every magazine by tomorrow morning"
Alya snorted and laid back in the covers.
"There's already rumours going around that you and luka have been seeing each other for months and that you might be pregnant. I'm pretty sure I can handle 'top fashion designer takes Paris blogger out for lunch'"

Mari pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips.
"Where did you hear all that?"
"What, the rumours? My blog has been blowing up since someone saw you"
"Saw me what?"
"Transform"
Her heart dropped to her stomach. To the very goddamn pit.
"Excuse me?"
"People are saying that the person who recorded you faked it, but some rando recorded you transform in mid daylight and take off somewhere. Don't worry, I took care of it. Wiped it off the face of the earth, but I can't always be here to clean up your messes you know"
Marinette slumped to the ground. Put her head in her hands.
"Mari I took care of it. Don't worry-"
"If master fu was still here to see me he'd slap me hard enough to make me pass out. I can't believe I did that"
Alya slid off the bed and onto the floor next to her best friend.
"Yeah well, if you didn't take that chance and expose your identity, Adrien would be in the morgue and the ring with yet another dead holder. Don't be so hard on yourself"
"I think being hard on myself is the only thing keeping me going"
"What do you mean?"

Marinette was silent for a long while.
"It was so hard- coming back here. I think I slipped into someone else's skin in New York, I became someone who would work long hours and please everyone and do whatever was asked of me. I became obedient. I lost that strong girl in the red suit"
Alya fumbled for words.
"Ironic, isn't it? One of the most influential people in NYC is basically a lap dog for her company"
Mari sighed and leant her head against alya's shoulder.
"I wish I was more like you. I wish I had your fire. I took a big risk in coming back when I did. And even staying this long is like gambling my entire social life. I postponed and un-postponable fashion show to buy me one more day"
"Isn't your solution obvious?"
"Hmm?"
"Just join adrien's company"
She said it like it was the easiest thing in the world. Marinette laughed a little and sat up straight.
"I can't just convert companies. There's contracts and deadlines and projects I can't ignore. That jerks that can fire me can also rob me for half of what I have"
"So what? I may not be a genius but I'm not an idiot. Say you lose half, you still have what's left. At best they get your current designs and most of your credibility"
"Gee Alya, you're really boosting my confidence"
"Hold on, I'm not finished. Adrien owns one of the biggest companies we've seen, he didn't just inherit Gabriel's fashion company, he doubled- no, he tripled everything. He branched out to everything that was worth branching out to. Cars, clothes, realestate, technology, anything with 'economy'"

Mari looked as if this was the first she was hearing of this. Alya's jaw dropped open.
"Don't tell me you didn't know any of this"
Mari shrugged.
"I stopped stalking him after high school"
"Oh my god- Mari, he owns everything. He didn't stop there, either, he has his people everywhere. He basically runs the most expensive city."
"And your point is?"
"And my point- Mari, he's your goddam ticket! If your company sues you for leaving just go to him. You won't just be designing for his fashion base, you'll be running his whole image. You were cute in high school, but now you're the most stunning, rich, influential single woman on the market. He wouldn't be able to turn you away"
Mari tilted her head back and thought it through. Them, together, would boost both their images. Working with him, running his company's image, becoming his exclusive designer alone, would be better publicity than either of them could get alone.
"I don't know if I could trust him again, Alya. I really don't know"
"Trust can come with time. Even if it's just a mutual agreement at first, who cares?"
Mari and tikki shared and odd look from across the room. Anything was possible from here on out.

Adrien glared holes through luka. The snake returned the favour. Adrien held out his hand.
"Hand it over, then"
"What?"
"I won the bet. Give me your miraculous"
"And if I won't?"
"Then I'll fling your ass off the balcony and you can take your chances of Marinette seeing you and saving you before you become chunks on the concrete"
Luka was about to say something else, when he realised he could no longer even use his miraculous. With a growl he dropped the bracelet into adrien's outstretched hand.
"Good reptile. Now go sunbath"
"You're not the boss of me"
"Should I just give myself a black eye and tell Marinette you did it? I'm sure she'd believe me. After all, I am her damsel in distress"
Luka crossed his arms over his chest with a sneer.
"You're no better than a spoiled child. Actually, even a child behaves better than you"
Adrien smiled sweetly.
"I'm rich. I worked my ass off the get where I am, I think I'm entitled to do whatever I want"
"You know, I think you might actually be in love with yourself"
"And who said that was a crime?"

An hour later luka was napping on the couch, and a knock sounded on the front door. Adrien got up with dizzy vision and opened the door to find his favourite tinker in tights.
"Marinette, how nice to see you. Both of you"
Indeed, he could see two of her. Overlapping and swaying. She scoffed and led him back to the bed.
"You should be in bed, not walking around"
"Oh no. What will you do? Smack me? Punish me?"
"You're delusional from your hit to the head. Lay down"
He chuckled and did as she said. He crossed his ankle over the other and tucked his hands behind his head. He was feeling a little more chat noir than Adrien Agreste at the moment.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"You're a little loopy right now, which is perfect for me so-"
"Oh god, are you going to take advantage of me and my weak state? I always knew you still wanted me"
"Shut up, would you. I have a proposal"
He gasped.
"Where's the ring? Is it sapphire? That's my favourite. But you're not even on one knee, how rude"
Her eye twitched. She had a feeling this deal she wanted to make would take longer than she wanted it to.