"Just a Friend?" Book 1 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy (MLB FanFic) |COMPLETED|

Chpt 35: Marinette finally gets to go to a photoshoot

The bell rang signaling the end of Thursday's classes.  Adrien headed toward his locker to gather his things and meet Marinette so they could go to his photo shoot.  He hadn't heard too many details about what he would be doing today, but it usually wasn't too complicated.  The concept was something about him clearing the skies and making rainbows come out?  He wasn't exactly sure, but he was always given good direction, so it would probably make more sense when he did it.

Adrien was just shutting his locker when Marinette walked over.

"Ready?" he asked her.

"Ready!" she answered. 

They headed out of the school and walked the few blocks to the park where everything was already set up.  Adrien led Marinette around the barricades that were used to keep the park goers out of the photo shoot area.  He then walked up to a man who Marinette thought seemed to be in charge.

"This is my friend Marinette.  Is it okay if she watches the shoot today?" Adrien asked him.  Marinette smiled shyly at the man, who was looking down his long nose at her. 

"As long as you stay out of the way, I suppose it will be alright," he said curtly.  "Hurry up, Adrien!  We are on a tight schedule for this shoot!"

"I'll be just a minute, sir," said Adrien to the man.

"How do you not get nervous doing this?  That guy seems super intense!" Marinette said quietly to Adrien as he led her over to a bench that was out of sight of the cameras, but from where she should be able to see everything.  Adrien looked over at the man who was forcefully pointing at some piece of the set that wasn't quite right as another, younger man raced over to fix the problem. 

"He's not really as bad as he seems," said Adrien.  He then thought about her question as she settled on the bench.  "I guess I have been doing these types of things for a long time and it wasn't ever my choice.  My father expected me to do it well, and he scared me more than these shoots or these people did, so I did what they wanted me to do and then I just kind of got used to it, I suppose."

"I can't imagine being scared of my parents.  I guess I don't always appreciate them as much as I should," said Marinette. 

"You do have the best parents!" Adrien said to her with a smile.  "I am definitely jealous of your home and family!"  Marinette took Adrien's hand and looked up at him, returning the smile.  Adrien could feel the man glaring at him without even turning around and knew he needed to get going.

"Well, anyway, you should be good here.  Thanks so much for coming!  This is the first time I've ever had a friend here to support me" he said to her.  "If you get bored you can always go home and I can stop by before I head out.  I should go and get changed.  I'll see you in a bit. "  Adrien gave her hand a quick squeeze before releasing it and heading off to the set. 

"Bye!" Marinette called after him.  She then dug in her bag and got out her sketchbook and a pencil.  She figured she might get some good ideas for designs while she waited.  She heard a few of the staff teasing Adrien about having a girlfriend.  Marinette blushed, but noticed that Adrien seemed to take it well, giving the people a big grin in response.  She didn't exactly understand how he always knew the best way to deal with any situation- even people joking with him about having a girlfriend!  If people teased her about having a boyfriend, she would probably just blush and stammer!

Marinette noticed that the photo shoot was starting to gather a bit of a crowd.  Her bench was inside the perimeter that had been set up around the shoot, but there were a lot of people at the barriers trying to get a closer look.  Tikki poked her head out of Marinette's purse and noticed all of the people gathered.