One Miraculous Circus

Chapter 7

Marinette was sat on the bench that they always went to when she saw her friends walking down the path, heading in her direction. She stood up and waved and Alya made a direct beeline towards her, throwing herself into Marinette's arms.

"Girl! We've missed you!" Alya shouted, hugging Marinette close.

Marinette giggled, "Just glad to be back."

The others soon caught up and Marinette was welcomed back with hugs all around. Everyone kept asking questions about things like her move and her job hunting when Marinette saw Adrien struggling with his jobs new uniform. She walked over and laughed slightly at his struggle.

"Need some help there Adrien?" she asked, and Adrien shrugged and laughed awkwardly in response.

Marinette leant in and tied his red bowtie that coincidentally matched the small ribbon tied in her dark hair.

"There you go!" Marinette said once she had tied the small bow. Adrien looked at her and they got locked in eye contact.

Kagami came up behind Adrien and put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey babe, it's time to go to work now," she said paired with a passive-aggressive look at Marinette. Adrien broke eye contact with Mari and looked up at his girlfriend and they began walking away from their friends. Mari waved her friends goodbye and for a second met eyes with Kagami's glare.

Marinette's life was finally coming back together after the huge car accident. She had moved to a new house, she was going to go back to school, and she had a job interview. The acrobat job at the circus that is. After the visit to the park with all her friends, she was going straight to her interview with the people that run the circus, Gabriel and Emilie Agreste.

She slipped into a white button-up shirt and a black pencil skirt with a small red ribbon in her hair, taking her time to make sure she was in formal enough attire for an interview. Eventually - after hyping herself up in the mirror for a while - she found herself confidently marching towards the huge building that the circus abides within. When she was inside, she gazed at the apparatus that covered the whole room, silks that reached the floor and different types of aerial equipment including an aerial hoop and a trapeze stretched across the large room.

Mari's eyes lit up as she looked at what could be her new job. She imagined climbing the silks and jumping from trapeze to trapeze. As she wandered around the room, gazing up at everything, she found herself admiring every inch and almost forgetting there was an interview she needed to get to. She paused outside the door to the main office, brushed down her clothes and went inside the room.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, is it?" Mrs Agreste said, looking up from the papers she had in her hand, "Take a seat." Marinette nodded and sat down in front of the pair.

"You're here for the acrobat position, right?" Mr Agreste said staring into Marinette's soul.

She gulped at the glare she was given but focused herself and continued confidently. She answered each question with enthusiasm, imagining her mum was standing behind her, helping her along the way.

"Well, I actually really like the sound of you for this job. You've got all the experience we're looking for and seem really enthusiastic about it," Emilie said with a bright smile as she noted some things down in her notebook, "Are you Marinette as in the daughter of Sabine and Tom?"

Mari fiddled with her hands and held back tears as she forced out a laugh and looked up at Emilie, "Yep that's me."

"Old friends of mine," Emilie smiled, "I hope Tom and Sabine are doing well."

Marinette just smiled. She couldn't bring herself to talk about her parents, not like they are a 'was' and not an 'are', so she lied.

"Yep. They're doing well," Mari said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Work stuff again please, honey," Gabriel muttered to his wife and she flipped through her notebook as she nodded, tapping her pen on her notepad once she found the page she was looking for.

"Marinette, how would you feel about wearing a mask? We think having a masked acrobat could bring huge popularity to the circus! The only catch is we can't have anyone exposing your identity so you can't tell anyone. We would recommend you tell your friends you work as a stage helper, but as you're close with Adrien you'll have to tell them something else and we'll follow the same story, right honey?" Emilie said and Gabriel grunted in response, "You can tell your family and if there is someone you really trust you can tell them too but we would prefer it if it stayed between the people in this room if that's okay."

Mari wasn't sure at first. Another secret to keep? She tapped on the desk as she pondered, debating whether she should agree or not. She was about to refuse when she thought about what her friends would say if they found out she'd turned down her dream job for them. They'd want her to do what she loved, even if it meant begging for a little bit of forgiveness later on when they found out she had lied.

"I'll keep it a secret. I promise. Email me the details and I can make sure everything is ready for my first day."

Marinette was walking on air as she left the office with her new job but quickly fell back to reality when she saw Adrien walk into the main circus area where she was.

"Oh hey, Mari. What are you doing here?" Adrien asked, confusion lacing his kind smile.

Marinette panicked and didn't know what to say, "I- uh- I went to see if the acrobat job was free and it turns out they already gave it to someone."

"Aw, what a shame, I would've loved to work with you. Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow, right?" Adrien questioned.

"Of course. I'll see you then," Marinette said as she waved and rushed out the door leaving Adrien still slightly confused.

The next day rolled around and Marinette was preparing herself for her first day of school in person in weeks. She looked in the mirror and calmed herself down before leaving her new apartment and walking to school. She was hoping to return to normal school life as soon as she went back but she expected too much. As soon as she got onto the playground a day of pity head tilts and sympathetic smiles had already started. When Marinette saw her friends, she went straight to them so she could avoid all the pity - she just couldn't handle it anymore.

"Hey guys," Marinette sighed.

"I could see the pity head tilts from a mile away, Mari. I know you're dying inside," Alya laughed and Marinette stuck her tongue out and faked a death scene but laughed along when Alya lightly pushed her.

Adrien walked over to Marinette but Kagami trailed quickly behind, "Mari, I'm sorry the acrobat job was already taken, you would've done amazingly in the job."

"Thank you, Adrien, but I think it was for the best. I'm thinking of trying to get a job at that bakery down the street anyway," Marinette responded smiling lightly.

"Well I can probably get you a free ticket to the next show if you want it," Adrien asked.

Without thinking Marinette's feelings took over and she said, "Of course I'll go."

Kagami's face went from a passive-aggressive smile to an aggressive scowl with a protective look in her eyes.

"Let's go, babe. Class is starting soon," she said sweetly but scowled at Marinette, showing her true colours.

Marinette's smile faded a little, "I'll see you later Adrien."