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“Adrien, curtain opens in ten!”
Who on this earth thought it had been a good idea for the show to have music?
It wasn’t even the music itself, but the so careless way they had handled it.
The time he had managed to get Nino for a previous show, he had been careful. He had asked the models whether there was any style of music or sound effect they could not tolerate for whatever reason, but no judgments were made. He had asked Adrien whether the volume was alright, despite the venue manager’s instructions to keep it at a specific volume.
The moment Adrien had asked if he could turn it down only a few decibels, he had done it on the spot. He hadn’t needed to see the boy already trying to find a place to flee to, somewhere quieter where his senses would not continue to be heightened by a thousand until the point he would give anything to be able to crawl out of his skin and rest.
He had simply turned it down as much as he could.
Where on earth did his father keep on finding these DJs?
Adrien liked music. Contrary to what most people believed, he wasn’t a classical music snob. He enjoyed the piano, granted, but it was mainly when he could feel the vibrations as well.
He enjoyed the rock his friends made, and he enjoyed the pop all his friends seemed to love. He enjoyed the electronic Nino made, having taken a liking to it after a few songs.
One of the joys in his life was attending gigs, from his friends or concerts they invited him to. He adored it when the music he already loved was loud enough that he felt it in his veins.
What he could not take was the awful disposition of the speakers so that there, backstage, he couldn’t do more than feel the bass pulsing into his head.
None of the other models seemed to notice it, though.
It had to start just as Marinette was called into the other trailer to fix a hem.
Knowing her, she would be taking it better than him.
Only slightly.
~(X)~
They had agreed on a few things before accepting the show with Gabriel.
First, no strobe or flashy lights for anything more than a couple of seconds. Literally, a couple of seconds.
Second, no overly loud noises.
The curtains hadn’t even opened and it was already not going according to the plan.
If the noise itself hadn’t been enough to take over Marinette, it would surely be that.
The plan… Marinette had designed a very specific way for the show to go. She had the approximate times each model should go out, delays already considered.
She had the plan for the music, as much as neither she nor Adrien enjoyed the thought of the style of music they had been notified would play on such an already stressful night.
She had even already covered any last-time fixings the outfits for that night could present.
Marinette was more tired than she had been in a long, long time. Sleeping for barely more than a couple of hours before a show was definitely not going to go on her cheat sheet for future runways.
Everything was chaotic, but in the best way possible. She thrived in controlled chaos.
What she didn’t consider was the possibility of the worst attempt at noise cancelling walls she had seen in her life for the backstage.
She had requested for the volume to be kept at a volume that would actually allow her to continue thinking without feeling the need to elope as soon as possible. She didn’t know whether they had actually tried, or those walls were a horrible attempt at trying to get her to stay unaware of how loud it was out there.
Marinette needed to stop for a second. She couldn’t even see where she was going. Every single thump of the bass entered her system, practically deafening her. She needed to cover her ears, but her hands… If she had to stop shaking her hands to release tension she was pretty sure she would explode within seconds.
Maybe she could use something else instead of shaking her hands.
“Does anyone have any- Ugh. Does anyone have chewing gum?” she requested while trying (almost in vain) to cover her ears with her shoulders.
One of the girls extended a package.
“Mint or peppermint?”
Marinette didn’t even have time to check which one she grabbed. She took two pieces and started chewing furiously while mentally preparing herself to run to Adrien’s room.
Why did I have to leave my bag there?
At least he wouldn’t begin asking uncomfortable questions.
~(X)~
It had been a three-second run.
Still, it was enough to make her ears ring even after finally covering them properly with her headphones.
Marinette breathed in. She could still begin to feel how her skin touched every single fiber of her sweater, but at least she was no longer blinded by the sound.
As soon as she exhaled and opened her eyes again, she saw him.
“Adrien?”
Her boyfriend didn’t respond. He kept on repeating a series of paused, rhythmic whimpers as he covered his ears, eyes still closed.
A single tear traced its way on his cheek.
“Do you have your headphones here?”
He tried taking his hands off his ears, only to immediately cover them again and shake his head.
“Wanna have mine? I have an extra pair in my bag.”
She reached out for it, and extracted the other ones to replace hers. Sure, these were her favorite for bass sounds, but she figured Adrien would probably need them more right now, especially with so little time left.
As soon as she had the new ones, she tried putting hers on Adrien.
He quickly grabbed them and signed to her.
“Please… don’t touch me.”
“Okay okay, don’t worry. Mind if I sit with you?”
They still had a few more minutes, after all.