First Order of Business | Adrienette

"...Idiot."

It's not hard for Marinette to see what a good mood Adrien is in after breakfast. Nothing can falter his smile, even in the main conference room where many people go to greet him. It's a little different here, though because people shake her hand as well. Adrien doesn't introduce her as his secretary, either. It's like she's one of them and not a last minute staff invite.

A president of some sort is giving a welcoming speech as Marinette tries to subtly go through the goodie bag they were gifted. A scarf, perfume, and what she thinks are sunglasses in a case. She refrains from opening it and tries to tune into the speech again, noticing Adrien looking at her and smiling. She rolls his eyes at him, but he doesn't seem to care.

Unfortunately, because she is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and these things always happen to her, her phone starts ringing loudly. Fortunately, because she is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, she has mastered quickly silencing her phone when it rings at an inappropriate time. People look around but only Adrien knows it's her. He's amused by it.

She silences her phone and watches her text message notification bubbles stack up. She raises an eyebrow and opens the app out of curiosity. She's not the only person on their phone to avoid listening to this older man drone on and on about the conference's history.

Alya: CONTACT ME ASAP

Alya: I'M SORRY IN ADVANCED

Alya: Also a heads up that you were going to the other side of the country would have been nice just saying.

Alya: ESPECIALLY WITH KIMOTHY

Alya: Kim*

Marinette decides that for now, this isn't important and puts her phone in the pocket of her romper she changed into after breakfast. Alya sounds panicked, but she didn't say SOS, so she assumes it's okay.

Adrien whispers to her, "Everything alright?"

"I think so," Marinette whispers back to him. "I'll call back later."

The man finishes his opening speech and finally dismisses them to go to workshops, Adrien leading the way to the ones Marinette had circled in a pamphlet. The first was almost two hours long and although Adrien might have started getting bored through it, Marinette was having a good time learning more about color theory and organizing collections according to trends and seasons.

When they walk to the second workshop, Marinette asks Adrien, "Are you bored yet?"

"I would rather be swimming right now with a glass of wine, but I am also learning. And it's fun to see you excited about these topics." Marinette hums under her breath and walks ahead of him. She hears him laugh to himself.

The second workshop is basically a sales pitch for mass production sewing machines which Agreste isn't about, but Marinette is curious about the "how it's made" process and Adrien doesn't get bored there. He is a fan of technical things in fashion. She won't tell him it's why she picked it as well.

They go to lunch in the hotel's restaurant where they had breakfast and find Kim there. They were invited to go sit with people that they had been in workshops with, but Adrien declined for them. Marinette thinks they're different than the people she's seen in the past, and she realizes it's because these are mostly creatives and she's only met with technical people like Adrien.

Kim asks them, "How are the workshops? I heard you are a rare treat in there, Adrien." She watches Adrien scrunch his face.

"Please don't call me a rare treat," Adrien says and gets a laugh out of Kim. "They're fine. A lot of the designers like Mari. It's like you guys have a magnet towards each other."