Chapter Text
Artwork by AuroraLynne (tumblr)
beta read by Mithos1987 and Dristi5683
Balancing a coffee cup in one hand, marinette fought her way through the early morning crowd on their way to work. In a sea of drab, dark coats and scarves, she stood out in her bright red cloak. The sun, just peeking over horizon, provided another touch of color to the drizzly day.
She glanced at her watch and bumped into someone, nearly losing hold of her cup. “Sorry,” she said to the person glaring daggers at her.
Marinette arrived at the police station and went straight to her new office, after she was told where to find it.
Leaving her coffee and her belongings there she went down the floor to report to her new boss, Valerie Bonheur, who was one of the youngest in the executive committee. It made Marinette a little nervous, but she reminded herself to calm down, at least this wasn’t a job interview, right?
The redheaded woman was focused on the monitor in front of her, and noticed Marinette just after several greetings.
"Oh, good morning, I’m sorry, this new case is holding us all in suspense, you must be Mlle Dupain-Cheng. I'm Mlle Bonheur. I guess you've already received the documents and read them, since this case is yours now... I bring you my full confidence that with your help, we will succeed in finally locking up Chat Noir."
Marinette nodded slightly. Her head was spinning from all the information and almost missed the invitation to sit down.
"Do you have any questions? Otherwise, we can start the morning meeting right ... "
The door flew open and Valerie was interrupted by a young man with bronzed skin, dark hair and green eyes.
"Good morning, Mlle Bonheur, I brought you coffee ... and cookies!" He grinned broadly at his boss and it seemed that both were very familiar with each other.
The red haired rolled her eyes and huffed. "Good morning, M Anéantir, how many times have I told you that you should not come into my office without knocking?" she asked
"Every time I get in your office?”
She shot him a warning glance, but all he did was give her a big grin and shove the bag of cookies closer to her before he winked at Marinette and left the room.
"Sorry, that was Thomas Anéantir, our profiler, he's just...He bursts in at the worst moments."
"It's alright, I think it's very kind of him to bring you coffee and cookies." Valerie sighed but moved on. They were already a little late for the meeting.
Both women made their way to the conference room, where Marinette was introduced to her team. Soon after they came to their main topic: Chat Noir.
There were no useful hints who was hiding behind the mask of the black cat, just some blurry photos and recordings, but more than a build, hairstyle and an approximate age, could not be seen.
Even the stolen works of art seemed to have no connection at first glance and his forays seemed arbitrary. How on earth could you catch a thief like him?
"No matter how good he seems to be, he's just human, and humans make mistakes. He'll make a mistake someday and then we'll be there to catch him.."
Marinette said and glanced over to find a blond man at the door, his green eyes locked onto hers. For a second she lost her words. Was he a colleague?
He waved at her before leaving and she shook her head to continue her speech.
Back in her office, she realized that her coffee had gone cold. Taking a deep breath, she took the cup and headed for the small kitchen.
On the way she saw the blonde man again, standing there, besieged by two colleagues trying to get an autograph from him, but he was really uncomfortable with that much attention.
Marinette was so busy, taking in the Blondes appearance and asking herself if she’d seen him before, that she bumped into a coworker and spilled her cold coffee over both of them.
"Aaah! E-excuse me, I’m so sorry!"
“Nevermind. I have some spare clothes here. You never know what could happen to you at work," the orange-haired woman replied, adjusting her glasses.
"I'll fix it right away, again...I'm sorry! I'll pay the cleaning of your clothes of course!" Marinette assured, but the other woman stopped her with a wave of her hand.
"Don’t worry, I can get the stains out at home, just promise me to pay more attention on your way the next time"
“Promised!” the dark haired reassured and went to the kitchen to grab some towels. Back in the hallway she started to clean the mess up.
"May I help you?" The blonde asked and leaned in slightly to compensate for the size difference between him and the woman, crouched on the floor, who was trying to mop off the coffee there.
Oh God! Marinette was so embarrassed by this whole situation! Still, she didn’t refuse the stranger's help and gave him a few stealthy glances. She had to admit that he looked damned good.
Together they got rid of the coffee on the floor and Marinette thanked him over and over again, when the man caught a glimpse of her ruined blouse. "I'm sorry for the good piece." he pointed at the stains on it.
"It's not that tragic, I'm owning a functioning washing machine, so the spots will be gone soon." she said, trying not to stumble over her own words as she pulled the jacket together.
“I'm just glad that not more clothes have fallen victim to the coffee.”
He tilted his head slightly, then took his scarf from his neck and put it around hers. It was a piece of silk and cashmere. Marinette felt the soft fabric around her neck and followed it with her eyes as it fell over her décolleté, hiding the coffee stains and her cheeks turned red.
Was that really happening? Marinette felt like she was in a cheesy romance movie. All that was missing was that some breeze moved his hair slightly ....
"Much better, you can give it back to me the next time we will meet, but better without coffee." He smiled at her as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, indicating that he was needed at the office.
"I have to go, duty calls. It was it nice to meet you, Mademoiselle ...?" There was a questioning undertone in his voice.
"Mademoiselle ....", she repeated the last part of his question, still unable to process everything he had said. It took a few seconds before she realized what he wanted from her.
"Dupain-Cheng! Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Today is my first day here," she replied, handing him her hand.
"Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng." He kept the friendly smile on his lips and took her hand to shake it.
"And you are?" Maybe she could also find out from which police station he came.
"Adrien Agreste is my name, I would love to spend some more time with you, but as I’ve already mentioned, I gotta go. Maybe there will be more time for a conversation next time." He apologized and made his way out of the police station.
Adrien Agreste ... The name remained in her memory for a while before she focused fully on the work again. For the rest of the day she was busy working on her new case.
Shortly before the end of her working time she received a message from her best friend Alya, who wanted to go for a drink with Nino tonight and invited her to join them. In addition, there should also be a friend of Nino there. Marinette pressed her lips together slightly.
That sounded like a new coupling attempt from Alya. Although she denied it and said that he was only rarely in Paris because of his position in a fashion company, Marinette couldn’t trust her. She had tried to pair the investigator too many times and each time it was a mess.
Nevertheless, Alya managed to persuade her best friend to come along.