little by little

statues can cry, too

Adrien awoke on Saturday morning with dread bubbling in his stomach. His heart squeezed as he got ready for the long day of photoshoots ahead. When Nathalie had informed him that he would be spending the weekend working, he'd been pretty upset. But, he supposed, that was how the spring and summer season shoots always went.

He'd been waiting for a reply from Gabriel on whether he could bring Marinette or not; his reasoning was that she was an up and coming fashion designer and would kill to see everything fall into place. Gabriel, who had never been supportive of having Adrien distracted during shoots, would probably say no, but Adrien figured it was worth a try.

(Marinette's presence made everything more bearable.)

"Hey, Nathalie," Adrien greeted as he walked into the dining room, glancing down at his measly breakfast of granola and wheat sitting on the table. "Has father responded to my request yet?"

Nathalie adjusted her glasses and glanced down at her tablet. "Your father is a busy man," Nathalie reminded Adrien. "He has not had the opportunity to get back to you."

Adrien frowned. "Can I bring her, then?"

A sigh pushed its way out of Nathalie. "I would advise against it. I don't want you getting distracted by a girl."

Heat touched Adrien's cheeks. "I'm going to be around girls all day, though. Models, no less."

Nathalie quirked an eyebrow, and if her resting expression wasn't so monotonous, Adrien would say that she was slightly amused. "Yes, but these models hold no appeal to you." Her eyes returned to her tablet before flicking up sharply once more. "This Dupain-Cheng girl does."

"Wh—no," Adrien wheezed, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the table. "Says who?"

"You're not doing a great job of convincing me, Adrien."

Adrien perked up. "Does that mean I can get you to change your mind if I emphasize much of a"—he swallowed—"friend Marinette is?"

Nathalie eyed him before letting out a long sigh. "If anyone asks, I know nothing of this."

"Thank you, Nathalie!" He rushed her and enveloped her in a hug. "You're the best."

*    *    *

The day was hell. Everything that could possibly go wrong was going wrong.

One of the models tripped and tore the centerpiece dress; another model fainted from severe dehydration and was rushed to the hospital; one of the assistants bumped into the photographer and ended up breaking a $2,000 camera, and the memory card came out completely wiped; the lights the staff was using were so bright that the curtains the models were posing in front of caught fire, and the building had to be evacuated.

The only thing missing was an akuma attack, and Adrien feared that wasn't far off.

By the time Adrien was clambering into his limo, Marinette timidly trailing behind him, he was wiped.

He collapsed into the closest seat, swallowing the loud groan trying to force its way out of his throat. Somehow, he knew, his father was going to blame him for what happened.

"Are you okay?" Marinette asked quietly, shutting the car door behind herself and sitting beside him. "That was... very chaotic."

Adrien laughed, though the sound held no humor. "You're telling me." He lifted his head to look at her. "I'm sorry today was such a mess; this doesn't usually happen." Part of him wondered if it had to do with Plagg and the bad luck that tended to cling to him, or if it was all just a coincidence.

Marinette tilted her head and smiled. "Don't apologize. It's not your fault. You were the only one who seemed to be able to keep their head attached to their body." She giggled into her hand, and Adrien's heart turned over painfully.

"Maybe," he said lamely, cataloguing the different shades of blue residing in her irises. "But a large part of that had to do with you being there."

Marinette blinked, her face flushing a pretty pink.

He really hadn't meant to say that aloud.

"You're a very calming presence," Adrien amended, cringing internally. "I felt at peace." Better, but still a little weird.

"Thank you," Marinette said, a smile blooming on her face. "That means a lot coming from you."

Adrien's heart squeezed, and heat rose to his cheeks. She probably meant nothing by it, but the warmth that covered his chest like a blanket didn't seem to care. "Coming from me?" he dared to ask.

"Well, yeah," Marinette fidgeted. "You're a good friend of mine, Adrien. Your opinion is very important to me."

Adrien smiled wryly. "Right back at you."

They spent the remainder of the car ride talking idly about class and their personal lives. Adrien, who often had to leave out details of his life when talking to Marinette, enjoyed relearning small things about her and actually being able to give her small tidbits of information in return.

"Thank you so much for inviting me," Marinette said softly, reaching for the car door handle. "I had a lot of fun."

Adrien thought "fun" was generous, but he supposed that was to be expected from Marinette, who was a literal ray of sunshine.

"I'd invite you to every shoot if I could," he admitted, following her out of the car. Wow, he really didn't have a filter anymore, did he?

"I would be excited to go to anything you could invite me to," Marinette replied, beaming at him. "Are you still going to join the group call later for the homework session?"

Adrien tilted his head and returned her smile, pleased by the attention. "Wouldn't miss it."

They said their goodbyes, and Adrien briefly peeked through the door to wave to Tom and Sabine. When he settled back into the limo, he was alone with his thoughts.

He was torturing himself. He knew he was—knew he was going to continue to. In another world, at another time, if he were someone else... His thoughts never strayed too far from the musings that sat temptingly close to the forefront of his mind.

In another place, he could see himself admitting that he was completely and utterly in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

The thought brought tears to his eyes.