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i. if this were a movie
Jagged Stone knows that Marinette is interested in this…boy, Adrien. He vaguely knows who Adrien is — model, Gabriel Agreste’s son, he thinks Adrien might be in Marinette’s class in school, too?
Well, he knows Adrien voice acted for the Ladybug and Chat Noir animated film — and Jagged has a ticket for the premiere.
He can try and talk to Adrien there.
It’s heartwarming to see that Marinette is there, serving food for her family. He makes sure to stop and grab a macaron from her — red. He takes a bite. Raspberry. He wonders what Chat Noir got for a flavor.
He could always grab another macaron. He doesn’t.
He lingers in the lobby, mingling vaguely with some of the other socialites there, but mostly just looking to get Adrien. Adrien’s already there, arm in arm with someone who isn’t Marinette.
Well, that is…interesting.
“Hey, Penny,” he says vaguely over to her, “remind me to talk to Marinette after.”
“About what?” she replies, but she’s already scribbling down a note.
“Mmmm…” He knows what he would talk to her about (romance, and healthy responses, and all that), but doesn’t want to say that out loud to Penny, who coordinates his PR and everything. He’s supposed to be a heartthrob, or something like that. And because being not interested in anyone is the great tragedy of it all to the populace at large, he kind of is.
Less of a letdown than being taken, but still one.
He’s not quite sure if he’s qualified to talk about it, but…he can try. He wants to see Marinette healthy and happy, not obsessing over someone that’s too far away for her.
Not that Adrien going on a single date with another girl means that relationship is going to be forever; teenage love rarely lasts.
He wouldn’t know, but he hears that a lot.
Jagged is pulled into some kind of weird occurrence with Chloe and Marinette. It doesn't get them anything except the consequences of their actions - the largest being the akumatization of the director.
Jagged is well and truly apologetic that he didn’t know what the director looked like — but he knows what a director does, at least, having directed some of his own music videos.
He hides, and waits for Ladybug and Chat Noir to come fix all this mess.
After the conclusion of the akuma attack, he sees Adrien sitting next to Marinette.
“Weren’t you going to talk to Marinette?” Penny whispers to him as the movie’s intro begins, showing the logos of the various production companies involved in the movie.
“After the movie. I want to sit back and relax,” he answers.
It could wait.
ii. after the accident
Jagged needs to find a new guitarist.
He goes to one of the only people he’s trusted with these kinds of things — Anarka Couffaine, an ex-partner and ex-guitarist of his. He doesn’t know how it’s been going with Luka and Juleka — they're not his because he and Anarka were always responsible when they were partners, but he knows that it wasn't just him.
(They both had some things in common — they would never let themselves be bound by love. But then they both found their families, her with children and him with Penny.)
It’s a coincidence that he’s there at the same time as Adrien. It actually is, he just intended on appealing to her. The kids all defend her, but in the end she’s…grown. She’s changed, and he hasn’t.
And when Marinette nominates Adrien, he’s slightly confused — but he can work with whatever. He trusts Marinette to have made the right decision.
Not that it matters, in the end, because the akuma ruins that. He doesn’t remember anything after the magical attack coming at him, it’s just dark — but when he returns, Vivica forgives him.
But he still hasn’t had the chance to talk to Adrien yet.
It’s almost as if the universe was conspiring against him.
iii. party time
Meeting Adrien, it seems, is more difficult when Jagged is worrying about his own business as a rockstar. He sticks around Paris for longer than he really needs to, but he can do the writing and recording and all the other album-making parts there.
Marinette’s here, too, and she’s designing his album cover.
It just makes sense to be here where it’s easy to talk to her.
(And if he still wants to meet Adrien to make sure he’s worthy of Marinette, well…no one needs to know all the reasons why, do they?)
He ends up at the mansion by accident. Really.
Despite his quest.
The mansion is…loud and busy. A lot going on. It is hard to find Adrien in the developing crowd — and even when he interacts with Adrien, he doesn’t get to really talk with him and figure out if he was any good for Marinette.
He just wants the best for his adoptive niece, after all.
iv. the height of fashion
A couple years pass, and he still hasn’t met Adrien. He knows the two are dating from both of their Instagrams, now.
“Hey, Jagged,” Marinette says, fuzzy over voicemail, “I just wanted to inform you that the first fashion show featuring my designs is coming up soon! The invitation should be in your PO box, that has all the information on it, but I just wanted to let you know personally, ‘cause we’re family. Hope to see you there!”
Well, if anything, he always appreciates seeing Marinette’s art.
Adrien is one of the models in the show. Of course he is. He’s strutting on the catwalk. Marinette’s outfit looks good with him — Jagged can’t tell exactly what’s being showcased, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Marinette had coordinated the entire outfit.
He doesn’t get to talk to Marinette after the show, unfortunately. He was looking forward to talking to her — everything looked great. And if he wanted to speak to one specific model, well, that still hadn’t been the point of his attendance — supporting Marinette was.
v. music for the soul
Performing concerts in his home away from home is always a good time. He might technically be English, but Paris is more of a home to him than the UK ever was. (Not that he would ever tell his fans there that, but Paris is more like a hometown show than London.)
He makes sure to send Marinette two VIP tickets — she and whomever she wants to bring. He includes in the note that he hopes she’ll bring his boyfriend for him to meet, but she can offer the other ticket to whoever she wants.
VIP tickets get a meet-and-greet after the show. He doesn’t look specifically for Marinette in the show — he performs to the entire crowd. The audience is active and excited as he plays through the set. The band behind him is great, as always — it’s eternally a pleasure to both of them.
And by the end of it all, he’s exhausted. He quickly gets a break before the meet-and-greet — and an extra change of clothes, because his old suit was all sweaty before.
When he goes to meet them, Marinette is with a girl that he vaguely recognizes as a friend of hers.
The girl introduces herself as Alya, and says that she’s a big fan, but this is her first time she’s ever attended a concert due to money.
And, of course, he can’t even be let down at that. Because he’s the first real concert experience for her, so it’s hard to be disappointed that he can’t meet Adrien when meeting someone who can be experiencing this for the first time.
+i. here comes the bride
Marinette is getting married to Adrien. Everyone’s been talking about it — but he’s a part of Marinette’s family, so he gets an invitation to what a lot of people are calling the wedding of the decade.
As if some royalty isn’t going to get married to upstage them, eventually. But everyone in the fashion world is watching Marinette’s dress so they can poach it, and all the fangirls are crying over Adrien being married — even though he and Marinette have been together since they were teenagers.
He never even got to meet Adrien. It’s a little bit of a travesty, still, but hopefully the wedding (which is a lot small, for being so high-profile — he understands Marinette and Adrien wanting their privacy, though) will give him the opportunity.
The wedding is beautiful, and other designers have every right to be jealous of Marinette’s self-designed dress — it looks amazing, a marriage of Western and Eastern themes.
And if someone spots him dabbing a tissue to his eyes…it was just some dust in his eyes — in no way sentimental.
But in the aftermath of it all, the party is well-planned — Adrien plays a song for Marinette, and it’s so, so sweet. There’s a lot of sentimentality among those giving speeches, and he even spots Chloe Bourgeois getting misty-eyed, next to the girl that Adrien brought to the movie premiere, all those years ago.
He talks with Marinette’s parents a bit — and he finally manages to get away and talk to Adrien.
“Hello, Adrien — how are you doing today?” he asks.
“Today,” Adrien answers, beaming, “has been the best day of my life.”