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#adrinetteapril2021
sketchy-panda · 3 years
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@adrinetteapril Day 11 - Truth or Dare
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bananagreste · 3 years
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oh, hey, it’s adrinette → day 126
(for @adrinetteapril‘s day 11: truth or dare)
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lavendercill · 3 years
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Adrinette April 2021 — day 2: Rebellion
dorks being dorks 🥺
// @adrinetteapril
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chicoriii · 3 years
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@adrinetteapril Day 25: Shooting Star
My previous art for the "sunset" prompt was supposed to be my last one for this year's Adrienette April, but on the Monday morning I've got another idea. And this is definitely my last work for the event! I'm happy I manged to finish it before the end of April.
It's been inspired by the New York special, Adrien and Marinette are eating magical hot-dogs again, but this time to enjoy a shooting star. Painting Adrien's hair was a pain like always, but I even somewhat quite like it this time.
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chocoluckchipz · 3 years
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Adrienette April Day 3: Game night
@adrinetteapril
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inkjackets · 3 years
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Kittens
written for @adrinetteapril day 21
The rain poured in Paris. It flowed from gutters and dripped from overhangs, spilled from eaves and flooded the pavements.
A single boy splashed through it all.
The rain soaked his hair, made his clothes cling, seeped so far into his shoes he might as well have not been wearing them. It hid the tears that streamed down his cheeks.
Adrien skidded to a stop at a red light, carefully holding the little bundle against his chest, standing in the downpour as it ran rivulets over his feet. Gazing at the warm golden light spilling onto the dark pavement. Spilling from the windows of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. 
The light turned green. He splashed forward.
As soon as his knuckles rapped on the door, it started opening. The soft tinkle of the bell could barely be heard over the downpour. Marinette’s eyes lit up when she saw who it was, but her expression instantly gave way to concern. She clenched the doorframe.
‘Adrien?’ she said, her voice quiet but filled with alarm. ‘What are you doing here? You’re soaking.’ She lowered her voice, ‘Why didn’t you transform?’
Adrien shifted and didn’t say anything. The little bundle in his arms gave a soft mew. 
Marinette glanced down as Adrien opened his blazer to reveal the little kitten huddled against his chest. Somehow, despite the rain, it had remained dry.
‘I found him in an alleyway,’ Adrien began quietly. ‘He was soaked to the bone.’ The little kitten gazed up at them with its wide eyes and blinked slowly. ‘I took him home but Father—’ Adrien cut off. Tears and rain poured down his face. ‘Father he—he—’ Adrien took a shuddering great and gulped back his tears. ‘He wanted to put him down.’ He squeezed the kitten tight, burying his head against the kitten’s soft ears; it gave a little mew and started purring. ‘He said—he said the last thing Paris needed was stray cats prowling around.’ He cuddled the kitten tighter. ‘Whether they be super or otherwise.’
Marinette’s hand slipped from the doorframe. Tears rose in her eyes.
‘I always knew my father didn’t exactly approve of Ladybug and Chat Noir,’ Adrien continued in a whisper. The rain poured and roared and splattered on the pavement. ‘But I never knew he hated me.’ 
Silence. 
The rain pounded between them. 
Then, with a single splash, Marinette leapt forward and engulfed Adrien in a hug. ‘It’s you and me against the world,’ she whispered into his ear as she pulled him in tighter.
Adrien choked. He buried his head into her shoulder. And the two of them stayed like that, holding steady against each other as the rain slowly soaked them.
The kitten in Adrien’s arms gave an indignant meow.
Marinette jumped back. The kitten gazed up at them, clearly disgruntled. Marinette collapsed into giggles and Adrien broke into a smile. 
Marinette took the kitten from him. ‘Come on,’ she said, holding it in the crook of her arm and tickling its tummy, ‘let’s get you something to eat.’ 
She held out her hand. Adrien took it. 
And she led her kittens into the warmth. 
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thenovelartist · 3 years
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Burned Beginnings, chapter 1
Novel decided to do Adrienette April on a whim. Each post until the end of April (or such is the plan) will have 3 prompts in it.
She also discovered she’s very rusty. Bear with me here. XD
Next>>
1. AU
Marinette had thought she’d grown used to Chloe’s bullying, having to had endure it since they were little. However, with high school came a new name that became a regular part of Chloe’s vocabulary, alongside “hot” and “sexy” and “dreamboat”.
“And Marinette would never catch the eye of someone so perfect.”
Honestly, Marinette had thought she was over it, but on a particularly bad day, she’d snapped back at Chloe.
“Well, clearly he isn’t that perfect if he fawns over someone whose only redeeming quality is pretending to be pretty.”
That had led to a fire alarm getting pulled and Marinette left to blame for it. Anyone who tried to come to her defense was shut down, and Marinette had been suspended.
Which had started an all-out war.
After being stuck at home, wrongfully, for three solid days, Marinette had snapped. She’d decided that if Chloe was going to build a bonfire and poor on the gasoline that she would be there with a match. By senior year, Marinette’s record had taken a hit for it but Chloe’s reputation was in the toilet.
Marinette would take what she could get.
However, she supposed she hadn’t fully thought out the consequences. As much as she played with fire, she should have realized she’d get burned sooner or later.
And she did. Third degree.
We regret to inform you your application has been denied.
Those were words she grew tired of seeing yet came back from every school she applied to. With that in mind, she’d called up her girl friends to tell them what had happened.
“Hey, Marinette,” Alya had said upon seeing the letters. “Don’t get me wrong, I feel really bad for you. But… I did warn you—”
“I get it,” Marinette had surrendered, knowing that Alya was completely right. “You tried to warm me of the consequences, and now I’m paying for them.”
The girls had slipped into a moment of silence before Alix spoke up. “Hey, I can ask Max if he can do a little digging so you at least know why, yeah?”
Marinette had raised a brow but agreed. “Only if he’s not busy with his own college stuff.”
“Oh please, he’s too smart for college. He started up some robotics company in his free time and is already making bank on it.”
It took a week for Max to come back with a full report. Marinette had to give him props for working fast as he did.
“Hacking into the system was the first thing I could think of,” he’d explained. “In the side notes, there was mention of your attendance record and suspensions.”
“They were all wrongful suspensions,” Alix had countered.
“Doesn’t matter to the school,” Max had said with a shrug. “But even then, I thought there had to be more to this than just attendance. There were other students who had the same notes yet were accepted. So I shifted focus to digging up background on all the directors of the school. After hacking a few emails, I discovered Audrey Bourgeois happens to know a lot of directors or administration members in all the fashion schools of France. Considering the contents of most of those emails, it has become clear that Marinette was wrongfully barred from every school she’d applied to. And that there’s nothing that can be done about it because we only discovered such scandal through highly illegal means.”
“So…” Alya had begun, turning her attention to Marinette. “Where does that leave you, M?”
Marinette’s lips had pursed in thought. It was funny how things turned out, because despite her anger, she somehow had been peace with what she was faced with. “I think that the last place I want to be is in an industry full of liars and people who use their words to manipulate anyone they damn well please.”
That was how she ended up working full-time in her parents’ bakery. They never said a word about it, but she knew they were disappointed. Of course they weren’t mad about her still being here and working in the bakery with them, and she knew her parents still loved her more than anything.
But she knew that with as many dreams as she had and had shared with them, they were disappointed on her surrendering it all.
“Sorry, Maman, Papa,” she whispered into the empty kitchen as she plopped the baguettes she formed onto a baking tray. “Just give me a little time to figure things out. Seems like lofty dreams are a lot easier to crush than I realized.”
 2. Rebellion
A son can only bear the world of their parent’s expectations for so long. He wasn’t Atlas, but after a few years of acting like him, Adrien decided to dump the globe. To hell if it broke. He’d smirk in satisfaction at his father’s disappointment.
At the very least, the fact he no longer had the weight of the world of his shoulders made the far-too-common disappointment lecture easier to bear.
His strategic rebellion had started harmless enough. At sixteen with a rapidly growing forced modeling career, he’d given his father an ultimatum: he gets to grow out his hair, or it all goes. It had been shocking the amount of power the razor in his hand had given him. It was the perfect harmless threat. His father had been furious, throwing a fit about Adrien acting like a child, but after being gaslit for so long, Adrien had finally come to realize the abusive techniques for what they were. And he wasn’t going to roll over and take it any longer.
That day had ended with Adrien being grounded but ultimately the victor of their stand-off.
After that, he’d begun ditching certain events. He’d always liked fencing, so he never ditched those lessons, but attendance for his home-school lessons, mandarin lessons, and piano lessons had all been decided on a whim. His father had hardly been pleased by this, but to Adrien, that was the point. The lectures soon washed into one another so much that Adrien could practically recite the words that roll off his father’s tongue verbatim. He’d come to realize they were strategically meant to hurt. To humiliate. And as such, he’d stopped taking them personally.
Then came the fun part.
He got earrings. Honestly, Adrien hadn’t really cared for the piercings one way or another. In one way, there were a hassle, and caring for new piercings was a pain in the butt. However, they had been worth it to see his dad so royally pissed off.
Then came the ditching of certain photoshoots. There was a reason Adrien had held off on this one for so long: he cared about the people running the shoot. There was no reason they needed to be collateral in this battle between him and his father. After all, they were just employees doing their job; Adrien didn’t want them to suffer for his rebellion. With that in mind, Adrien had planned out his absences of these photoshoots. Again, he didn’t want to drag anyone else into his mess, so he had always organized a replacement model. Shoot would always go on, just not as planned.
And that was enough to drive his father mad.
It always put a smile on Adrien’s face.
The last touch was an unexpected one. He hadn’t even thought about going this far. Yet, a friend of his not only put the idea in his head, but gave him the art to go with it.
“Is that a tattoo?”
Oh, how he wished he would have taken a picture of his father’s face. The large black cat surrounded in a green, wispy smoke that wrapped around his forearm was truly a work of art. He’d had to think carefully about this decision, but in the end, he quite liked it.
“Yeah. I’m eighteen; I can ink myself if I want to. Why? Is that a problem?”
Adrien might be wearing a cat on his arm, but the grin on his lips was downright wolfish.
Eventually, it all had come to a head and blew up in his face. Adrien couldn’t say he’d been surprised. In fact, he had been fully expecting it. He’d already found an apartment to rent and had begun sneaking most of his important things over there before his father could kick him out. So when Adrien found himself kicked to the curb as soon as he was handed his general education certificate, Adrien had been prepared.
But mostly, he was free.
What a joyous day it was.
However, now that he was free, he knew he needed a job. Not because he needed the money, per se, but because it was time he started acting like the average adult. He never got to go to school, so now, it was time to pick up a mundane, first job that everyone hated but would “serve him well later in life”. Mostly, it would just be something normal.
The easy places to apply were food shops and retail stores. He’d work one for a while before deciding what his next life step would be. Chloe had been quick to offer him a job at her father’s hotel, but Adrien was vehemently against the idea. Over the span of his rebellion, Chloe’s behavior and attitude towards him had grown notably worse, and he had a feeling cutting ties with her would be his next step in life.
In the end, he’d scored a job he definitely was underqualified for. He’d applied partly out of spite and partly because ‘why not?’ He’d heard about this bakery enough times from Chloe to know the “cruel bitch who did nothing but mercilessly harass her” lived here, and that was enough to pique Adrien’s curiosity. At a bakery as popular as that, though, he hadn’t been sure he’d get a call. And when he did, he knew he would do everything he could to present himself as a reliable and respectable man eager to work, but he never thought he’d end up hitting it off with the owner.
Which somehow ended up with him agreeing to work at Tom and Sabine’s Patisserie.
Going into that job, he swore to himself he would do what he could to prove himself worthy. He knew there had to have been better applicants, so Adrien didn’t want to disappoint the very kind owners who dared give him a chance. Soon, his days were spent working hard while covered in flour and surrounded by bread all day. Well, bread and all the sharp and hot objects in your average kitchen.
He just didn’t think that would include a wicked sharp and smoking hot young lady that happened to be his bosses’ daughter.
 3. Game Night
“Mama, Papa, please go. You two hardly ever get out of the house.”
Marinette watched her maman put a hand over the mouthpiece of her phone while her papa turned to her. “But I’ll be busy that night. We have a massive order scheduled for the next day.”
“I can handle that,” Marinette quickly countered with a grin. “You know I’m a night owl, anyway. I’ll get it done, and you two can go enjoy game night with your friends.”
Her parents spared each other a glance. “Are you sure about that, Marinette?” Maman asked.
“Positive. Papa already talks to the bread too much, so he really should talk to people for a change. And while you have to deal with people all day, I know you want more than to just have short conversations filled with small talk. So please, go out and have a social life for once.”
With one last look, her parents relented. With a smile, her mother took her hand off the phone. “We’ll be there.”
Papa turned to her with a grin. “I was going to spend that time teaching Adrien how to handle those orders. I can leave teaching him in your hands, right?”
Her grin fell. Adrien Agreste. What the hell a washed-out model was doing working at her parents’ bakery was beyond her. Admittedly, over the last month she’d been working with him, the most she’d say is that maybe he wasn’t too bad a guy. Papa certainly sung his praises. But that still didn’t answer the question of why he was working here of all places. After all, he was Chloe’s friend and suspected lover.
“Don’t think I don’t see that look on your face, Marinette,” her maman chastised. She’d hung up and set her phone down already, fully giving her attention to her daughter. “No matter your personal feelings, you really should give him a chance.”
“He’s a good kid,” Papa said. “Maybe a little rough around the edges, but I can tell he really does want to learn and do his best.”
Marinette sighed. This wasn’t the first time this talk had happened. She remembered having a talk with her parents after his first interview. There were a few other people who were far more qualified for the job, but Papa said he liked Adrien’s personality and spirit the best. So in the end, all Marinette’s objections had fallen upon deaf ears.
She sighed. “Fine. I’ll give him a chance.”
With a smile that made Marinette loath to disappoint him, her papa patted her head affectionately. “Thank you, Marinette. I think you’d like him if you got to know him.”
Not likely. “I’ll do my best, Papa.”
“Really, Marinette,” her maman warned. “Unless you have a valid reason, you need to put aside your feelings for the sake of the bakery running smoothly. Can you manage that?”
Appropriately chastised, Marinette bowed her head in embarrassment. Maman brought up a good point: Marinette shouldn’t let her anger towards Adrien affect the bakery. Her parents didn’t deserve that. “Yes, Maman. I’m sorry.”
With a smile, her maman came up and wrapped her in a hug. “Thank you, Marinette.”
Marinette hugged her back. “No, thank you, Maman and Papa, for everything. I won’t let you down.”
Papa wrapped his arms around both her and Maman. “Thank you, sweetheart. We love you.”
“I love you, too.”
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Adrinette April Day 7 - Homemade Gifts
@adrinetteapril
Ficlet for @sketchy-panda’s absolutely adorable entry. 
There was a loud, metallic crash. That of aluminum bowls obstreperously falling to the ground. 
Adrien hissed and swore at himself, panicking at the merciless ticking of the clock on the wall. He danced around the mess of runny dough that lay spattered on the ground like some sugary murder and scrambled to find something to clean it with.
“Where do they keep anything in this house?” Adrien exclaimed, desperate and realizing he ought to spend more time in his kitchen. 
He didn’t find the mop but found the drawer where the staff kept what he assumed were cloth napkins. They were silky to the touch and a plain, creamy beige. They seemed expensive, which might be the reason why he did not recall having ever used them. There were at least thirty of the same, probably meant for the dinner parties his father never bothered to host.
“Good as any,” he said, hurrying to grab as many as he could and proceeding to wipe the floor with them. 
Marinette would be here any minute and he had managed to produce but one meager batch of haphazardly baked cupcakes, out of which he was certain only two were edible, even if they looked like rocks. 
The kitchen looked like Plagg had used his Cataclysm by himself, there was dough on places he didn’t even know was possible. On the ceiling, for goodness’ sake. How did he get dough on the ceiling? 
It didn’t matter. He needed to focus. He had twenty minutes to try to bake another batch, clean the kitchen, and make himself presentable. 
Yeah, I can do this, he told himself if only to fight the panic of being completely out of his comfort zone and having completely failed at the task at hand: Baking Marinette some homemade cupcakes for her birthday. 
It was her fifteen birthday that day and Adrien had taken it upon himself to outdo not only his gift of last year, but also to take the opportunity to thank her for always bringing him macarons, croissants, and all kinds of tasty treats from the bakery. He wanted to impress her by whipping a couple of cupcakes from scratch, by himself, because he was convinced this would make her swoon. 
“Imagine how impressed she’s going to be with me when she shows up and there’s a whole basket of cupcakes made by yours truly,” Adrien had told Plagg when he came up with the idea. “She’s going to love it!” 
“You? Baking? Kid, you managed to burn a pot trying to boil water the other day. Just get her another bracelet.”
“No Plagg, this is my chance to impress Marinette; to show her how much she means to me!” 
Plagg rolled his eyes and muttered something about him knowing enough about destruction to predict how that would go. 
Looking at the chaos that surrounded him, Plagg may have been onto something. 
“And you didn’t even need me,” the little god said, amused at the disaster as he gorged on a wheel of cheese.
“Ha, ha. Do you think we still have time to go get her something else?” 
Ding dong.
Adrien yelped and scrambled to clear the kitchen, then hastily threw himself over the two lone cupcakes that stood victorious over his failed culinary attempts, and disposed to decorate them. He fumbled with the frosting bag, forcing himself to work as fast as possible.
“Hide, Plagg!” 
“Adrien?” Marinette gasped, taking in the picture.
“Marinette! You’re here on time. I mean, happy birthday!” 
Marinette seemed surprised, yet amused at the picture of him being completely out of his element. 
“What... what were you doing?” 
Adrien deflated on the kitchen isle, spreading over its surface much like his dough had on the floor, as he attempted to hide the hideous pair of cupcakes he had managed to salvage from his regrettable baking skills. “Nothing...” He sighed, finally accepting the defeat that not only he had not managed to impress her, but he also wound up with no gift whatsoever for Marinette. 
“Are those cupcakes?” she asked, smiling with endearment. 
“I’m so sorry, Mari,” he said with a sigh. “I was trying to make them for your birthday because you’re always giving me all these nice homemade gifts and I messed up, and now I don’t have a gift for you. I’m sorry. I’ll get you something later today, I promise. I just--”
“Stop,” she said, giggling and taking one of the cupcakes. “I love them.”
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you,” Adrien warned. “Let’s just say today I realized how bad I am at cooking in general.” 
Marinette paid no heed and gave the deformed cupcake a small bite. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Adrien waited expectantly for her verdict. “And?” 
“You want honest feedback?” 
Adrien nodded vigorously. 
“It’s not bad. Especially not for a first try. If you wanted to improve though, I could teach you a lesson or two and that could be part two of my gift,” she offered, beaming brightly at him.
“How is you teaching me how to bake a birthday gift, exactly?” he asked, perplexed.
“I get to spend time with you,” she said, pecking Adrien on the head before finishing the rest of her cupcake. “Besides, you’re the first person that has tried baking something for me. It’s pretty impressive.”
“Really?” Adrien said, lighting up brighter than the sun. 
“Hmhmm!” she said, grabbing the other lone cupcake. “Nobody tries because they think I won’t like it because they can’t bake better than my parents. But I think it’s the intention that counts.” 
Adrien smiled at her and in a sudden bout of courage, he said, “Well then, happy birthday, Marinette.” Then, quickly gave her a peck on the cheek. 
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purrincess-chat · 3 years
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Stupid Adrinette idea from your local simp:
Class tiktok AU
The class has been swept up in tiktok, doing dances, serving looks, following memes, and several of them invite Adrien to guest star in some of their tiktoks because of course daddy won't let him have one of his own.
Nino of course because they're buddies
Chloe because her tiktoks get way more likes with Adrikins
Alya secretly thinks he's Chat Noir so she has a series called "proving Adrien agreste is Chat noir" and it's just Adrien doing vaguely cat like things (stretching, yawning, drinking milk, etc) and Marinette is like Alya pls stop stalking the love of my life.
Alix features him in one whole tiktok, dueting the "does anyone have any random celebrity beef" sound and she's like yeah I do! Adrien Agreste borrowed my pencil for our maths test and never gave it back! I'm waiting, Adrien!
Marinette wants to ask him to be in one of hers but that would require talking to him in full sentences so she decides to drop hints instead by doing tiktoks with literally everyone else in the class-even Chloe, and Adrien goes to Nino like I think Marinette hates me. When nino is visibly confused, he explains and Nino is like dude just ask her to make a tiktok with you, I'm sure she'll say yes. So he goes up to her and is like so um my father won't let me have a tiktok so I've been having fun making them with my friends...maybe you and I could make one together? And Marinette immediately says yes! But then later she's like omg wait this means we have to work together what if I pass out in his arms wait that would be wonderful because then he'd have to hold me and oh my god I'm gonna pass out! Alya, help!
So Marinette's tiktok is mostly showing off her designs and doing crafts and artsy things, so she and Adrien decide to do one to the song Bang and have Marinette start it but when she swipes her arms, Adrien pops out modeling one of her designs, and their bffs are there for moral support and to make sure Marinette doesn't actually have a heart attack.
They make the tiktok and it turns out great, and Adrien is like wow this was so fun thanks for letting me be in one of your tiktoks! And Marinette is like yep, any time. Adrien gives her a hug and tells her he feels differently about her now, and Marinette is like omg okay it's happening. "Yeah, before this I only saw you as a friend, but after...now you're one of my best friends."
Alya and Nino face palm, and Marinette is just like :') yep, such good friends you and I, I and you. I'm only crying because the power of our friendship is so strong and it's really touching. And Adrien is just like welp, see you tomorrow best friends! Nino officially decides it's time he and Adrien had "the talk." Alya abandons her Chat Noir theory because Chat is a way better flirt and there's no way he could be that oblivious. Marinette just needs to lie down now.
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sketchy-panda · 3 years
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@adrinetteapril Day 6 - Anime
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Just one more thing...
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lavendercill · 3 years
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Adrinette April — day 1: AU
(because we all love a good hogwarts AU....)
This is my attempt on following this year’s @adrinetteapril ! Probably will skip half of it but I will try my best to keep up lol
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chicoriii · 3 years
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@adrinetteapril Day 23: Sunset
I've been planning doing this for ages and when I've seen "Sunset" prompt for Adrienette April 2021, I knew it's time. This art is mostly about the scenery, as I wanted to learn how to paint sunset at the sea so much. It's definitely my best thing (and the last one) I made for this year's Adrienette April and it haven't even taken too much time.
This is post-reveal established relationship. You can think about it like sequel to my art for "First Date" prompt.
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chocoluckchipz · 3 years
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Adrinette April 2021 Day 1 - AU
A little sneak peek into the universe of my next project “Dreams of You” (Modern Royalty, Ancient Powers AU). A sole heir to the French throne Adrien has been kept out of public eye because {spoilers}. When the appointed time for him to break free nears, he’s met with {spoilers} that will change his whole life for the worse should he fail to find a certain someone and make her fall in love with him by the end of the year. That’s only a few months’ time but that shouldn’t be an issue because he’s been meeting that certain someone in his dreams his whole life. In fact, they’ve been dating in their dreams for a few years already. The only issue standing in his way - she doesn’t remember him once awake. He does.
Most of my Adrinette April pieces will be for this AU. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
@adrinetteapril
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inkjackets · 3 years
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Game Night
written for @adrinetteapril day 3
‘Hah!’ Adrien slapped down his draw four card. But the grin was wiped from his face when Nino put down his own draw four.
And then Alya’s wicked grin made his eyes widen with worry. She too put one down.
Adrien jerked his head towards Marinette. With her cards fanned in front of her face, all he could see was her furrowed brow. She peeked over her cards and slowly met his gaze.
‘Don’t you dare,’ he warned her.
She bit her lip. 'I'm so sorry,' she whispered, and placed down a draw four.
Alya and Nino burst into laughter. Marinette giggled.
‘I hate you all,’ Adrien said. He reached for the draw pile and started counting out cards.
‘You brought it on yourself bro,’ Nino said, wiping a tear from his eye.
‘It was supposed to be payback for all those plus two’s you gave me earlier!’
‘Heh, yeah those were pretty mean of me.’
Alya grinned. ‘Karma clearly isn’t on your side, sunshine.’
‘Clearly,’ he muttered, arranging the mass of cards in his hand. ‘You, though!’ Marinette squeaked as he turned to her. ‘I didn’t expect you to turn on me like that.’ He shook his head in mock disappointment. ‘I thought I could trust you.’
Marinette squeaked. ‘Ah, I had no choice! It was either that or pick up eight cards myself--!'
'Save it!' he said, turning away melodramatically, 'I don't need to hear your excuses!'
Marinette hunched over and pressed her cards against her face so only her eyes and the edges of her pink cheeks were showing. 'Please forgive me?'
Adrien heaved a fake sigh. ‘In a situation like this, the only person I’d ever forgive is Ladybug.’
‘Good thing I am Ladybug then.’
Adrien blinked. ‘What?’
‘What?’ Marinette replied so quickly she practically spoke over him.
Nino and Alya stared.
‘What?’
‘WHAT!’
'Hah hah hah!' Marinette waved her fanned cards dismissively. 'It was a joke! You can't actually believe I'm ladybug! Hah hah… hah?' She gave an unconvincing grin. The others all stared at her, mouths agape in shock.
The cards slipped from Alya’s hand. ‘Holy shit.’
'No way, bruh.' Nino's hand flew to his head, dislodging his hat.
Meanwhile, Adrien just stared.
Because of course she was Ladybug. How had he not realised? Terrible excuses for absences perfectly timed with akuma attacks aside, she was clever and creative and strong-willed, and his lady—!
'Go out with me,' Adrien blurted out.
The stares turned to him.
Adrien turned bright red when he realised what he'd said.
'Okay.' Marinette turned a brilliant shade of red to match.
'Cool beans.' He immediately cringed. Cool beans?!??!?
Adrien cleared his throat. He looked down at the Uno game. 'What, uh, what colour do you want?'
Marinnette blinked. 'Oh, um, blue.'
Adrien flicked through his cards and placed down a blue three. He turned to Nino. 'It's your turn.'
Nino just stared at him. Then, in a fit of recovery, he slapped the cards out of Adrien's hands; they scattered all over the floor with a soft fluttering.
'What the hell, dude?'
Adrien glanced at Marinette. She raised her cards to her face and bit back a smile. He grinned back. And then they both started laughing and couldn't stop.
Alya and Nino bombarded them with questions and shook them by the shoulders, and begged them to give them serious answers. But Adrien was so giddy and happy he couldn't speak properly. Because Marinette was his Lady! He'd found her at last! And not only did he love her...
He shared a glance with Marinette; she stuck out her tongue and collapsed into giggles, cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling, flooding his heart with warmth.
...but she loved him back.
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thenovelartist · 3 years
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Burned Beginnings, chapter 2
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4. Best Friends
In the month or so he’d been working there, Adrien hadn’t worked much with Marinette. Tonight, though, he’d be running a night shift with her.
“Adrien, I would never say anything bad about my daughter,” Mr. Dupain said with a sympathetic expression. “But if she gives you trouble, don’t hesitate to tell me.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Adrien dismissed. “I’m pretty sure I know why she acts like that.”
“What was that?” Mrs. Cheng asked, entering the kitchen.
Mr. Dupain looked confused for a moment, and Adrien thought it wouldn’t hurt to explain everything to them. This was their employee and daughter, after all. If Adrien were in their shoes, he’d like to be in the know. “A childhood friend of mine is Chloe Bourgeois.”
In an instant, Mrs. Cheng nodded as though she understood. “I already see where this is going.”
“I don’t know all the details, but they were seemingly at each other’s throats often. And from what I can guess, one of those topics that set them off was apparently me. But that’s only my best guess.”
“As much sense as that makes,” Mrs. Cheng said, “that’s still no excuse for Marinette to act that way around you, and she knows it. If it continues, Adrien, I’ll have a talk with her.”
“Don’t,” Adrien cut in. “Really, she’s free to think that way. I don’t hold it against her.”
The two owners exchanged a look Adrien couldn’t quite decipher before turning back to him.
“Well,” Mr. Dupain said, a slightly forced smile on his face. “Maybe tonight will give you two a chance to break the ice.”
Adrien shrugged. “Only if she’s open to it. But don’t bug her about it, okay?”
“Sorry, Adrien, but I can’t keep that promise,” Mrs. Cheng spoke up. “Because no matter what you think of each other, this is a bakery that needs to function at its best. And it won’t be if she refuses to cooperate with you.”
“We won’t tell her what to think,” Mr. Dupain said. “But my wife is right: Marinette can be a bit stubborn at times. I feel like you two are somehow similar in that way.”
Adrien snorted. Him? Similar to Marinette? He doubted it. She had way more fire in her than he did, and he was not going to press his luck and get burned by it.
Still, upon seeing the earnestly worried looks on his bosses’ faces, he wouldn’t press the issue. “I’ll try breaking the ice, but I’m not forcing her.”
Mr. Dupain sighed, but his smile widened. “You’re a really good kid, Adrien. I knew I made the right choice in hiring you. Thanks for being such a good sport.”
Adrien wouldn’t deny how nice it felt to be complimented like that. “Thank you, sir.”
Adrien fully expected a mouth full of sarcasm and sass that night. Shockingly, it never came.
“So,” she said, holding the special-order sheet out for him to see. “I’ll run you through how orders like these are taken, and then I’ll show you how to plan for them and complete them, okay?”
He didn’t fully trust that she’d just dropped the cold shoulder overnight for no reason. Therefore, he wouldn’t push his luck. “Understood.”
Throughout the whole process, Marinette didn’t take it slow like Mr. Dupain would have. She ran through things quickly and efficiently, yet she paused frequently to ensure he understood.
“Okay,” she said, placing the special-order sheet off to the side once she’d finished explaining everything. “Then I’ll start on this portion of the order if you want to do this one?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Okay, I’ll let you get started. Tell me if you need anything or have any questions.”
Eventually, the two of them fell quiet as they each worked on their part of the order. Adrien could tell Marinette still held a cold shoulder towards him, but it wasn’t so bad as before. And after a while, he decided that maybe he did want to push his luck tonight.
“You hate me.”
Marinette froze, glancing up at him for barely a second before returning to her work. “What makes you say that?”
“You’re really cold towards me.”
She didn’t respond.
He saved her the trouble. “I know it has something to do with Chloe.”
Again, she spared him another glance. “Won’t deny that.”
Adrien paused in his work as he thought about the words he wanted to say next. “I don’t want to force it out of you, but I kinda want to know why.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because we’re co-workers and your parents are nice, so I thought we could at least get to a place we could cooperate well for the sake of the bakery.”
Marinette took her time thinking about it, turning on the giant mixer she stood by. “Yeah, my parents don’t deserve it,” she eventually whispered before turning to him. “And I know that.”
Adrien dropped the dough in his hands onto the counter. “How about this,” he said, leaning against the counter. “I’ll give you the next 30 seconds to spill any and all your beef with me. I won’t take it personally, and I won’t hold it against you. From what I understand, you and Chloe were practically mortal enemies, and so I can imagine me having been close to her doesn’t endear me to you.”
She huffed, bemused. “Well, you’re right about that.”
“So you can start whenever you’re ready.”
Marinette fidgeted for a moment before glancing into the mixer again to see how the dough was coming along. With a sigh, she turned towards Adrien and slapped her hands against the counter.
The fire in her eyes almost made Adrien regret this decision. Almost. He was both terrified yet turned on.
“Chloe was my school bully for almost every single year of my schooling,” she began, not bothering to hide the bite in her tone. “It is her fault I got my first suspension, and in some way, she was the reason for every one that came after. And then, because of all ofthat drama, I was barred from every single university I thought about attending. And it sucks when the rug is ripped out from under you like that. So forgive me if I’m not so willing to open up to the guy Chloe practically worshiped like a Greek god, because the last person I wanted to have started working here, excluding Chloe, was her lover.”
Adrien froze, listening to those words. They took way too long to register in his head, and when they did, he felt his stomach twist into knots. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he cried, backing up and waving his hands before him. “Who are you calling Chloe’s lover?”
“You, of course. Unless you want to deny that.”
“The hell? Yes I want to deny that!” Adrien cried. “No. No no no! What the hell would give you that impression?”
She quirked a challenging brow. “Do you knowhow she talked about you?”
“No, but if the conversation is going to go the way I think it is, I really don’t want to.”
“She constantly was talking about how strong you were,” Marinette said, clearly ignoring him on purpose if that grin and her mocking tone was anything to go by. “As if she had personally run her hands over your body.”
Adrien felt like he was going to be sick.
“And then she talked a couple times about your bedroom and how she was adamant your silk sheets were the most luxurious of any she’s ever known. Oh, and before my thirty seconds are up, I’m going to toss in that she constantly bragged about how you were on her side, and how when you told all your friends about me, they all agreed I was the Queen Bitch of Paris. There, I’m done.”
Unable to do much more than hang his red face in shame, he took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts before meeting her gaze again. When he did, the bitter smile on her face proved how much Chloe had hurt her, and used his name to do it. “I am no longer surprised you hate me.”
She just hummed.
“Marinette, I swear on my dearly departed mother’s grave that never happened.”
Marinette looked mildly surprised at his words.
“Really,” he continued. “Chloe and I were childhood friends because our mothers were friends. I never saw her as anything more than that, and I never did… that with her. Never even consideredit. No. Just…” He grimaced at the thought. “No. And secondly, yes, I did hear a lot of stories about you from Chloe. That you were a ‘royal bitch’ and you harassed her and spread all sorts of nasty rumors about her around school.”
Marinette shrugged dismissively. “Well, in the spirit of being honest with you, I won’t deny any of that.”
Adrien paused for a second, surprised at her easy admission, before shaking his head. “And in the spirit of getting along with my co-worker, I’ll let that go. The point I was making was that while I heard all the stories about you, I never told anyone. I don’t really even have anyone I’d consider a friend. Co-worker or acquaintances, sure, but no friends. No, actually…” He held up a finger in realization. “I kinda lied there. I might, in conversation, have complained about Chloe’s constant complaining about some girl harassing her. I’m pretty sure that ended in my co-worker hoping you’d give her more hell because Chloe deserved it.”
Marinette snorted, the corner of her lips quirking up while a mischievous light in her eye twinkled.
Adrien had to take a moment to recollect his thoughts, pulling them away from ‘cute spunky bakery girl’ back to the current topic. “So, uh… there you go. Truth all out on the table. And I’ll work hard to prove that to you if you give me a chance.”
A short silence slipped between the two of them, one only broken by Marinette walking back over to the giant mixer to check on the dough again. She turned it off and pulled the bowl over to the counter. “Well,” she finally said, heaving the giant doughball onto the counter. “I’ll consider your request if you answer one more thing for me.”
A weight he hadn’t realized was on his chest lifted with those words. “Yeah, sure.”
She grabbed a bench scrapper and scale to begin portioning out dough balls. “Why does a model want to work in a bakery, of all places?”
“Normalcy.”
“Normalcy?”
“A life of glitz, glamor, money, fame, and girls throwing themselves at you gets old after a while, especially if you never wanted it in the first place.”
Marinette regarded him with surprise for a moment before she turned back to weighing the dough.
“I wanted out,” Adrien continued. “So, I rebelled a bit until my dad kicked me out. With no obligation to live that life anymore, I get to figure things out on my own. I get to be a regular eighteen-year-old who’s figuring out what he wants to actually do with his life and hold down a real job in the meantime.”
Marinette paused, listening to his words. “So, that’s what this job to you? Real-life experience?”
“Yeah.”
Her lips pursed in thought, but slowly, she nodded. “I can respect that.”
Adrien bit his lip. “So, um… can we call this a truce of sorts? A mutual understanding, maybe? For the sake of working together and your parents’ bakery running smoothly?”
She quirked a brow up at him before sighing. “I don’t think we’ll ever be best friends,” she began. She then extended a hand towards him. “But I guess I can stop acting like a ‘royal bitch’ towards you.”
With a smile, Adrien took her extended hand and shook it. “For the record, I never held it against you, ice princess.”
She scoffed, her lips quirking up to the side. Again, Adrien felt his chest tighten at the sight. “Don’t call me that, or I’ll go right back to ‘royal bitch’.”
He chuckled, a warmth easing though him. “Whatever you say.”
5. Jagged Stone
Help me
Those were the words Adrien mouthed at her as she passed the bakery kitchen.
It was her day off, and when she’d come back home after going out for the day, she’d passed a long line of customers who wanted their baked goods and wanted them now. Her maman looked to be handling things well enough, but then again, Maman was completely unflappable.
Adrien, on the other hand, looked to be drowning in work.
Day off she mouthed back with a wink.
That’s when Adrien had the audacity to look appalled, pantomiming being stabbed through the heart and slowly sinking behind the tall bakery tables.
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. What. A. Weirdo.
Popping back up from behind the table, he shot her a grin that looked a little tired before finishing assembling a tray of goods as quickly as he could.
Deciding she’d take pity on him, Marinette grabbed an apron and tied it around her waist. “I will only assist in icing and bringing goods to the front.”
Adrien’s grin brightened. “Your assistance in any capacity is something I will gladly take.”
After turning off the faucet and shaking excess water from her hands into the sink, Marinette dried her now clean hands and went to work assembling the large pile of macrons. After that large bakery order they had to work together on last month, Marinette had been forced to swallow her pride and eat crow. Adrien wasn’t at all the model Chloe had used to brag about. Instead, Marinette was surprised to find he was actually down-to-earth. While his looks screamed ‘rebel’, he wasn’t a scoundrel. He took care to do his job to the best of his ability and was quick to pick up any new tricks or skills he was taught. For that, Marinette could admit her past prejudice and say he was a good coworker.
He also seemed to open up a bit more to her, as well, slowly exposing the fact he had a decent sense of humor.
No wonder he and her father got along well.
An hour later, the rush had finally died down. Marinette had bounced back and forth between the kitchen and the front, both retrieving pastries and boxing them. Currently, she stood in the kitchen appraising the situation.
“Wow,” she said, taking in the massive amounts of icing, crumbs, and white dust—who knew if it was flour or icing sugar—that covered the kitchen. “This… is a train wreck.”
Adrien simply nodded.
“Well, good luck with that!” Marinette patted his shoulder with a wicked smile before spinning on her heel and heading out of the kitchen.
“Whoa, hey! You’re not gonna help me?”
She looked over her shoulder, unable to keep her grin from widening. “You’re lucky I helped you in the first place.”
Adrien tossed his head back and heaved a sigh. “Fiiine.”
She couldn’t help but laugh as she took off her apron and replaced it on the hook by the kitchen door.
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you for the help,” Adrien said, giving her an earnest smile. “Seriously, you saved my butt.”
If it were her parents, she’d just shrug it off. But this was Adrien, and she found that she quite liked having the upper hand on him. “Maybe I should have told you before,” she began, not bothering to temper her teasing tone as she slowly stepped up to him, “but I don’t do favors for free.”
His grin grew, and his eyes got a little sparkly. He was onto her game, but he looked like he was going to play along. “Yeah? So I’m in your debt now?”
“Mm-hmm,” she said with a smile. “And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to abuse the privilege.”
Adrien laughed. “I’m sure you will, you little minx.”
She shot him a wink before spinning on her heel again and strutting out of the kitchen.
“One last thing before you go?”
She turned towards him, eyebrow raised. “Yeah?”
He pointed at her t-shirt, one she got from the Jagged Stone concert she went to last year with her girl friends. “You have great taste in music.”
She grinned. “Thank you,” she said with a wink. “I’m classy that way.”
6. Anime
“I’m sorry, repeat that for me?”
Adrien chuckled. “What? Don’t you know anime has ridiculous titles at times?”
Marinette gave him a look as though he’d grown a second head before shaking hers. “You know what, no. I don’t even know why I’m surprised. You…” She pointed her finger at him while trying to give him a look, but Adrien could see the hint of a smile on her lips. “You are weird,and I know this about you. Of course, you watch anime over regular tv.”
Adrien scoffed. “Please, regular tv is trash. Anime is an art form.”
Marinette rolled her eyes at him, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. Ever since the night they had to work together to complete a large special order, Marinette had defrosted her icy attitude towards him. While he was thankful because it helped to be on good terms with coworkers, he was rather happy to get to know the girl underneath the cold exterior. She was a natural spitfire, a total tease, and had a great smile he’d do anything to bring out of her. She wasn’t just a pretty face, though he couldn’t deny that he quite liked that, too. If this persisted, Adrien thought she might actually become trouble for his heart.
And times like this made him believe he might just be okay with that.
“You are a regular nerd, aren’t you?” Marinette sassed, grinning as she easily piped the icing on a cupcake.
“Total otaku.”
“I have no clue what that is.”
“If you watched anime, you would know.”
“I’m good.”
Adrien snorted, going back to his own work piping macron cookies onto a baking sheet. After four months of working here, he’d finally gotten the hang of piping perfectly circular and even cookies.
“Honestly,” Marinette continued, not letting up her sass. “I feel like a pair of glasses would suit you better than the rebel look. Pins you for the nerd you are.”
“Aww, but princess—”
“I thought we were over the nickname,” she deadpanned, shooting him an unamused glare.
His grin widened. “Not a chance—there is a rule in anime that guys with glasses are considered hotter.”
Marinette huffed, amused. “Really?”
“Totally.”
“You made it up.”
“No, but it is unofficial.”
“Knew it.”
“But the point stands that you would not be able to handle me in my glasses.”
At that, Marinette raised a brow at him. “You wear glasses?”
He nodded. “I wear contacts here because I don’t want them to fog up in the fridge or steam by the oven or get covered in flour. The point of glasses is to be able to see clearly, and therefore, the purpose is rendered mute if they get dirty in a kitchen.”
“Fair point,” Marinette relented, going back to her cupcakes. “Still don’t believe that glasses automatically make guys hotter. Isn’t it supposed to be the opposite? You whip off the nerd specs and bam!Instant hunk?”
“Tell you what,” Adrien said, putting town the piping bag in his hands so he could fully direct his attention on her. He was finished with the cookies, anyway. “I will come into work one day wearing my glasses, and if you take even a second to stare at me in surprise, you have to watch an anime of my choice.”
Marinette regarded him with a flat look for a minute before that smirk of hers came back. “You’re really working the anime angle, aren’t you?”
“Shamelessly,” he admitted, leaning ever closer to her. “So, what do you say?”
Marinette grinned, eyes gleaming with defiance. “Bring it on. Glasses or no, you’re not getting any reaction out of me.”
Knowing her, that would likely be the case, but deep down, Adrien did hold a little hope that she’d be surprised. He thought he was over wanting attention, but apparently, when it came to her, all rules went out the window.
And at the moment, he found himself perfectly fine with that.
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