#she's got gorgeous fluffy hair threaded with stars and silver

[merilles]

arwen 💫💜

[gigiree]

balanced with a bit of sweetness

A/n: based on a tumblr meet-ugly prompt. Coffee shop au adrientte.

There’s always been something to balance his blessed life. There’s always been a little something to make his near perfection imperfect.

So in the case of his good looks, it’s something entirely unexpected and uncontrolled.

It’s revealed on a particularly lovely spring day. The sun drifts lazily through the lush ivy vines that drape the cafe’s window.

It’s easy to forget the rest if the world when the strains of bossa nova float lovingly from the old record that spins merrily behind the counter.

There’s just the perfect amount of chatter to keep the atmosphere pleasantly alive and he finds it to be a blessed morning as he scrolls through his social media account, chuckling slightly at the memes he’s absolute trash for.

Now when Adrien is ensconced in the world of modern day dadaism, there’s very little he notices.

As a matter of fact, he has yet to notice the pretty little barista that stares at him with absolute awe in her blue bell eyes.

She’s a new hire by the name of Marinette. And she thinks she’s found her soul mate. He’s gorgeous, yes. But beyond that, he’s got a Naruto pin on his otherwise professional brown satchel.

And there’s the Hyrule symbol peeking just over the collar of his cream cardigan.

But she’s yet to gather the courage to speak to him. It had been Rose who’d managed to get his order. It had been Kim who’d served it to him.

The vanilla cake sits invitingly at his table. A wonderfully, delicately sweet dessert that she’d expertly made and she’s waiting with baited breath for him to try it.

But it’s been ten minutes, and in between sneaking glances and filling bakery orders, she’s a little harried.

Disappointingly, the beautiful man…Adrien as she gathered from Rose, seems to be too engrossed in his phone to actually eat yet.

“Marinette, we need more croissants, quick!” Kim chides her, juggling a silver tray laden with a teapot and colorful little tarts.

She merely nods, quickly turning to the counter top where the dough waits to be kneaded.

Unfortunately (or not), Adrien takes a piece of fluffy vanilla cake into his mouth, still scrolling through his phone.

And then, in a matter if seconds, his entire body freezes. The tendons in his arms strain against the table and his face turns red until from his mouth arises the most horrifying bray.

It’s decidedly something between a cough and a shout, and it’s repeated in earnest.

“HOLY SHIT. The potential father of my children is choking to death.” Seems to be the first thing that rolls through Marinette’s thoughts and she’s already leapt over the counter and wrapped her slim arms around his torso before anyone else can say a thing.

Now here’s the thing about Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She once took a CPR class six years ago when she was still entertaining the idea of becoming a nurse.

She’d never needed to use her decidedly rusty skills until now, but soon she’s tucking her balled up hands just under his ribs and shoving them in and then up his abdomen.

He’s awkwardly taller than her, and his awful hacking cough has turned into deep heaves as she pumps her arms and tries to dislodge what he’d been choking on.

But heavy as he is, her movements are uncoordinated. Her body arches away from his back and then jerks forward at intervals every time she pushes.

(It’s all her fault. She shouldn’t have made it so dry, she thinks.)

But after a few seconds of fruitless rescue, he says between her attempts..

“Uh…uh…excuse…me.” He bites out, and it finally dawns on Marinette that her red-faced dream boy is absolutely okay.

Her arms fall limply at her side as she lets out a shriek of embarrassment and hides her face in her hands.

He can make out the slight stream of muffled apologies, and god, he’s mortified and he’s embarrassed a sweet girl simply trying to help.

So there’s the thing that balances his good looks. It’s his absolutely terrifying, horrendous laugh that sounds like he’s choking.

The atmosphere in the cafe is compounded by the stunned silence of the other baristas and customers.

Everyone waits with baited breath, some barely holding back giggles at what had turned from a heroic rescue to a misunderstanding in less than a minute.

“I’m so so sorry.” Marinette finally manages clearly, teary eyes peeking past her fingers to look down at him.

He merely shakes his head, cheeks still flushed and a hand threading through his hair.

“It’s…ah…not your fault…thanks for trying to save me…” He answers. And he finds that despite the misunderstanding, there’s genuine gratitude in his heart.

He offers her a conciliatory smile.

“It’s good to know that your customers are looked after.” He offers her and that assuages her embarrassment long enough for her to drop her hands.

“R-really?” Her eyes are wide and disbelieving, but still, there’s a gentle curiosity in her eyes that makes his breath stop.

She’s pretty.

“Yep.” He answers quietly, and his smile turns sheepish as they both remain caught in a lattice of embarassment, curiosity and star struck humor.

He begins to chuckle again, softer this time and Marinette has the good grace to let loose a giggle that borders in hysterical.

There’s a distant guffaw that and the slight humor that roils over the rest of the cafe lets them know they’ve got witnesses.

Rose is giggling delicately behind the glass countertop, and she can hear Kim’s familiar shrieking laugh from the supply room.

Eventually, the rest of them settle down and there’s just the two of them again.

“Oh…” Marinette sighs, wiping her sweaty hands in the folds of her red apron.

Adrien gives her a sheepish smile, and with a jerky movement, grabs his phone from where it had fallen on the table and turns it towards her.

“This is what I was laughing at…Gabriel Agreste’s foray into the avante garde haute couture.” He says breathlessly, his laughter straining his composure once more and he has to bite his lips to prevent it from wreaking havoc.

And Marinette has to hide her face again when she sees what it is.

Here’s another thing about her. She’s an aspiring fashion designer. Gabriel is one of her idols…and she thought she’d been the only one surprised by his choices for this spring’s lineup.

Because really, the metallic purple suit that was draped on the model was flashy enough without the giant butterfly wings that were spread out clumsily behind the piece.

On its own, it would have been enough to make her giggle, but it was the fact that the poster had photoshopped Gabriel’s stoic face onto the model, and then proceeded to somehow make the arms flap in the gif that made her laugh. It was wonderful.

The caption being “And Gabriel’s collection takes off this spring.” wrapped the humor into a wonderful little package that threatened her composure too.

“Oh my god. It’s perfect.” She gasps through her giggles and Adrien’s smile is large.

“I know right?” He guffaws and their conversation devolves into a pleasant stream of things related to fashion and humor and anime after that.

When he mentions that Gabriel is his father off handedly, he’s surprised by her quiet acceptance and minimal questions.

In the end, she takes her break early and urges him to try the vanilla cake.

He savors the bite, and a look of wonder steals over his face as he finally takes the time to appreciate it.

“It’s perfect. Moist and balanced with sweetness.” He crows excitedly and she shakes her head.

“You’re lying.”

“Nope. This is the best vanilla cake I’ve had. Believe it.”

Marinette nearly bursts at the seams trying to contain her laughter, but she’s glad.

Because there’s something to balance her earlier embarrassment and it’s this tiny moment with him in this cafe.

Adrien thinks the same thing, and perhaps there will be future moments for the two of them.

But for now, they’ll savor this little slice of pleasantry between them.