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“So, Rose and her partner are meeting us here?”
Marinette nodded, as Kim sprawled on her chaise. “We’d have gone to Juleka’s to meet them, but with both her and her brother being sick, Juleka doesn’t want any of us there.” Getting paired with Kim for this assignment was a good thing, Marinette decided. He was a bit blunt, and seeming clueless, but he at least knew how to ask questions.
Which is the whole point of this, I guess. Miss Bustier had given them all partners and challenged each pair to interview another pair and find something the other set had in common, which they would then present to the class. To that end, friends were broken up and paired with someone completely different. Marinette hoped Rose’s partner wouldn’t go with the easy route of saying that she and Kim both had Asian heritage; Chinese and Vietnamese were more different than people thought. Rose wouldn’t do that, she thought, but-
“Who’s Rose’s partner, anyway? I didn’t catch that in class.”
Kim looked up from the notebook he was holding in front of his face. “Oh, it’s-“
“We’re here!” Rose came running up the stairs into Marinette’s room. Oddly enough, she was alone.
“We?” Kim looked around. “I thought Adrien was coming with you.”
Marinette dropped her pen. Adrien? She’d been trying to get over him, but it was a slow process. While her collection of photographs on her wall had thinned to only a few (okay, maybe a dozen) of the best, if she’d known Adrien was coming, she’d have taken them all down. He didn’t need to see that! He’d think she was some sort of crazy person, stalking him when he had a girlfriend, and he’d never want to see her again, they wouldn’t be friends anymore, and-!
“Oh, he’s right here!” Rose showed Kim the screen of her phone, where Adrien waved. Marinette let out a breath. Okay, okay, I can work with this. So long as the camera was set in the right place, Adrien would never see her collection.
“Hey, man! Good to see you!” Kim sat up and swung his feet to the floor. “The old man keeping you on lockdown?”
“Pretty much. Like usual.” Adrien’s face was a whole mood; Marinette thought she saw annoyance, regret, love and longing all in one look. “But we can still meet this way. What are we starting with?”
The four classmates settled down on the floor near Marinette’s desk, with Rose’s phone propped up against a few books. Marinette was careful to position them so Adrien couldn’t see her wall of photos. As the afternoon went on, she relaxed. My secret is safe…
When Rose and Kim got into a discussion on hobbies, Adrien got Marinette’s attention. “Hey, can you tell me something?”
Rose’s phone had moved slightly from the position it had been, Marinette picked it up to talk with Adrien. “Sure; what?”
“Those photographs on your walls. What made you pick those ones?”
He sounded genuinely curious, but Marinette’s mind blue-screened in panic. He SAW! He’s going to think it’s weird! Hurry up, say something! “Oh, uh, those! Um, I liked…some of the details in the clothes! The…pockets and…the cut of the shirts…and-“
Rose and Kim had stopped their conversation to listen. Kim laughed. “Really? C’mon, your massive crush on Agreste had nothing to do with it?”
Marinette froze as she saw Adrien’s face morph from curiosity to confusion. No, no, nonono, Kim did NOT just say that! She fumbled the phone, and Rose caught it before it dropped to the floor, shooting a angry look at Kim while putting the phone back against the books. Marinette could feel the heat climbing her neck to her face. “Kim…” she managed.
“Oh, it’s not like the whole class doesn’t know; it’s old news.” Kim put his hands behind his head, the picture of relaxation.
Marinette ground her teeth. “He didn’t know, and he has a girlfriend,” she hissed to the jock. “Who’s a good friend of mine! I’m trying to get over it!” She blinked hard, trying to keep her embarrassment from leaking out her eyes.
A small cough brought her attention (reluctantly) back to Adrien. “It’s okay, Marinette; I’ll forget he said that if you want me to. But, for the record, I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Huh?”
Adrien turned slightly pink. “Kagami’s nice and all, but she’s not the one I love. Plus, there are other reasons why dating her would be a bad idea.” He shook his head. “But I was asking about those photos. You really picked them for the details on the clothes?’
Marinette slumped in on herself. “No- I mean, I picked them for that too, but-“ She twisted her fingers together; Rose put a hand on her shoulder. “These were the ones where-“ She took a breath. “Most of your pictures have your model smile. Not a genuine expression. These seemed… different. Like you actually were feeling something.”
Adrien smiled softly from the phone. “I’m glad you picked up on that. Most people wouldn’t- or shouldn’t, if I did my job right. But you really do see people, don’t you?”
“I guess…” Marinette looked away.
“But the reason I asked is because you picked the shoots where interesting things happened.”
Kim leaned over into the camera; Marinette was glad to let him. “Interesting things? Like what?”
“Well, most shoots are pretty boring. Show up, get dressed up, take a bunch of photos, and leave. But sometimes- like, see that one? The brown shirt from the Mode horoscope line?”
Marinette didn’t have to look. The ‘Leo’ look was one of her favorites, with Adrien nearly smirking out of the page; his eyes... She shook her head to clear it; Rose threw her a look, but the boys ignored her.
“There was a reason I was smiling like that. The photographer was one we hired before Giuseppe; I only had the one shoot with him. He was- not very nice to the assistant assigned to him.” Adrien huffed a laugh. “Or to anyone, really. I think he was only barely nice to me because he had to be. Jenna, on the other hand- he was really nasty to her. I’m sure she thought she was going to lose her job any second.”
“Really?” Rose was captivated by the story. So was Marinette.
“Yeah. This was just before Hawkmoth, though, so it wasn’t dangerous to get mad at people. And Jenna solved her own problem, in a way.” Adrien’s face was a near-match for the photo as he recalled the day. “She found a large house spider somewhere and put it on the camera right before he picked it up after a break. I was watching to see when he would notice it crawling all over, but he didn’t- until he’d already gotten a few shots and it started crawling on his hand. He freaked out, flung the camera away, and ran screaming to the restroom. I don’t think he ever did find out that she was the one behind it, and it was the last I saw of him.”
“Wow, that’s awesome!” Kim seized the phone and pointed it at another photo. “What about this one?”
Marinette cringed. It was a night shot, with Adrien in a hoodie looking up towards the sky with a soft expression. Adrien groaned.
“Night shoots are awful. That one was bad, because it was cold and a little cloudy and foggy. I’m sure Giuseppe was trying for a slightly darker ambiance, but I was just having a hard time staying warm. Not a lot of couture is built for comfort. But then, I looked up- and the moon was surrounded by a rainbow. I’d never seen anything like it. It completely changed my mood. And I guess Giuseppe caught me looking, because that was the shot they used.”
“That’s so cool! I wish I could have seen it!” gushed Rose. She pointed to a third photo; Kim swung the phone obligingly to the new position. “What about this one?”
It was a full-body shot of Adrien in a similar hoodie and jeans, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the ground.
Adrien laughed- ruefully, Marinette thought. “That one was only memorable after that photo was taken. Giuseppe had me kicking that floor for nearly fifteen minutes, before he got the bright idea to give me a rock to aim at. So I did. And I ended up launching that rock across the room, hitting a poor intern and startling her.”
“Oh,” Marinette winced. “I’m sorry for her.” Adrien chuckled again.
“Feel sorry for all of us, because that was just the beginning. So, she dropped the coffee she’d been fetching for someone, and it splashed on the other model and Chad, our makeup artist. He jerked, flinging a brush across the room and hitting the wardrobe lady, who accidentally sent the cart of clothes rolling towards a light pole. The cart hit the pole, which fell over and would’ve hit Giuseppe if I hadn’t shoved us out of the way.” Adrien shook his head. “It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Couldn’t stop it. At least no one was hurt, and we all had a good laugh after, but Giuseppe has never let anything potentially projectile near me since.” He sighed; Marinette caught the subdued look on his face. “And I think that’s one reason Père insists on minimal staff at shoots now. Less people, less to go wrong, I suppose.”
Marinette looked again at the photos on the wall. “I didn’t realize that before…”
“Realize what?”
“Realize that- I mean, for most people, photos in a magazine or a billboard are just pictures. Something nice to look at, maybe buy, but no real meaning behind them.” She touched one of the other photos along the edge. “But to you- these are memories. There’s a story there. Like the ones Rose puts in her scrapbooks.”
“Hey, that’s what you two have in common!” Kim burst out. “Both of you have memories kept in pictures!” He puffed out his chest. “That’s going to make an awesome presentation!”
It would, Marinette thought. And maybe- she glanced over at Rose, who was picking up the conversation with Adrien and Kim- there was something else she could do.
She tugged Rose to the side as the boys discussed swimming versus fencing as exercise, and whispered her idea into the blonde girl’s ear. Rose squealed softly, and nodded. This would be great!
And it was. The scrapbook of photos- both from magazines and class activities- and stories that Rose and Marinette presented to Adrien after their presentation nearly made the model melt on the spot. His beaming smile was caught on camera by Kim, who made sure to send Marinette a copy. For her wall, he said.
She sighed, half exasperated and half amused. Yeah, this one deserved a place on the wall. Adrien’s happy expression couldn’t get any more real than that.