On Point

Roles Revealed

By Rena Rouge

So the roles have been revealed and we've all been put out of our mystery. We now know, as expected, Zoé Lee (20) has bagged herself the lead role of Clara, Luka Couffaine (21) playing her Nutcracker – the role everyone had expected Agreste Jr to take. Along with this, Lila Rossi (20) and Lê Chiến Kim Ature (22) will be dancing the famed pas de deux of the 'Sugar Plum Fairy Suite'.

But what's most interesting is Adrien Agreste's (22) role within the gala. Though we are still waiting for confirmation, we have heard Adrien will be choreographing a secondary duet of the 'Sugar Plum Fairy Suite' with another of the school dancers, Marinette Dupain-Cheng (19). This is the first time the name has been brought to our attention and we are looking forward to finding out more and seeing the reason for Adrien's break away from the traditional formations of his father.

Only time will tell, but everyone here is certainly intrigued.

In additional news, Plagg Fu (38) has revealed a long time love, Tikki Fu (34) is expecting their first child early next year. As most dancers know, Tikki is now principal of the Miraculous studios after her father, Fu Wang (62), retired to Shanghai three years ago. We know this has been a hard uneasy road for the couple, and we look forward to meeting their bundle of joy in the new year.

*****

Adrien was late.

He'd promised his father and Plagg he would be there for the casting announcement, but unfortunately an old man fell in front of the building and he wasn't cold hearted enough to just leave him there alone. He'd called the man's family before waiting for an ambulance to arrive, making him over thirty minutes late. Shit!

Scurrying through the corridors, Adrien headed in the direction of the studio, hoping Marinette hadn't left yet. He needed to be there to explain, to make sure she knew she was good enough and that he was desperate to perform with her. He was certain it wouldn't go down too well that everyone else in the studio had parts yet her name wasn't even in the corps de ballet list. What was it with him and messing things up when it came to Marinette? As himself at least.

He spent a lot of time with her this week at the Miraculous studios, getting to know her better and really dipping in on her personality. She was fun... so much fun, and she deserved so much more than what his father could give her.

Hiking his bag further up onto his shoulder, Adrien continued to move at speed, rounding the corner... and crashing into something solid.

As the person he'd hit stumbled backwards, he felt all the air leave his lungs. How hard was this person's head?

Looking down, he noticed a mass over black hair flying out of a loose bun and a tear streaked face. He was too late! He was too late and the hurt had already been caused. He felt like the biggest jerk there was.

"Marinette," he said. Stepping forwards, he held out his hand in hope of helping her up, only to have it knocked out of the way.

"What do you want?"

She shuffled around on the floor before attempting to stand before falling down once again. She tried again, standing herself up and brushing herself off. She reached down to the floor, grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder hitting him in the chest as she swung it. She barged past him and continued her way towards the exit.

"Marinette?" he questioned again, following after her like a lost lemming. He was almost shivering from the coolness of her responses. She'd never been this cold to him before.

He'd seen women angry in the past – after all, he'd worked in a female dominant industry for years, and he'd been involved in a tussle or too, but the anger radiating off Marinette at the moment was more than he had ever seen.

"Marinette?" he called again. He almost crashed into her as she stopped abruptly.

Adrien stumbled back as she turned around in sheer ferociousness.

"What, Adrien? Have you been sent as the deliverer of the bad news?"

"B-bad news?" What had his father said now? Adrien was sure he said he'd leave it to him to explain.

"Yes, bad news! Didn't daddy tell you I'm not in the showcase. I thought you would have known, considering you're not in it either." Marinette turned to walk away, Adrien grabbing her by the arm and turning her back. She fought to get out of his grasp, pushing him away and her eyes telling him to back off.

"We are performing, Marinette. We're just not in that one." Adrien tried to explain, yet every word fell on deaf ears. She was seething! Her head shaking side to side as a laugh of disbelief shot out between her lips.

"We're not on the list, Adrien. Gabriel just came down to announce the casting."

She looked positively fuming.

"Marinette please, just –"

"I'm going home. There's no point –"

Before she could continue, Adrien grabbed her hand and pulled her into the closest empty studio, flicking on the light switch as he closed the door. She stood opposite him, her arms crossed and body ready to attack. She looked ferocious, like she was about to rip him away from the door in her bid to escape.

"You're not on the list for a reason, Marinette, but I need you to listen to me. So can you please stop –"

"I know what the reason is! The reason is you think I'm not good enough to be here. You said so yourself –"

Adrien interrupted Marinette this time, completely bewildered by what she was saying. When had he said that?

"I haven't said –"

"Yes you did! At the party."

Adrien studied her, his mind trying to pull the memories back of when he'd said something like that. Nothing was coming to mind. He was quite sure all his arguments with his father were pro Marinette, hence the reason he was standing here with her now. It wasn't that he thought she wasn't good enough – the opposite in fact. She was talented, and skilled and he wanted her to dance his choreography.

"Marinette, I don't know what you think you heard but –"

"Don't 'but' me, Agreste! I was there! I heard what you said! You can't just turn the conversation around to make out I was imagining things. That isn't how this works!"

He clutched onto his head, his fists tensing and fingers grabbing into his hair. Why didn't this woman just listen?

"If you stop interrupting me for two seconds you might understand why you're not on the goddamn list."

Well, that was different! Adrien Agreste, cool, calm, collected Adrien, had just completely lost it. With his partner...well, this was all going just swimmingly. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered talking to people. Maybe he should get a cat, he could cope with talking to a cat.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have said a lot," he quickly said, bringing his arms to his sides and looking into her deep, darkening eyes. Oh, she was surely going to slap him. "Just please. Marinette. Let me explain."

She crossed her arms over her chest, her bag dramatically swinging down and wrapping around her body. It stole the moment. The anger she was trying to display now looked like nothing more than a comedy sketch. Adrien felt his lips twitch, the moment being a lot more comical than it probably should be.

"Please, Marinette," he said again, this time softer as he stepped towards her.

He reached out, taking a strong grip of her bag and peeling it from her shoulders as her arms became undone. The fact she was allowing him to take the bag didn't go amiss. A green light to continue and a spark of hope igniting in his chest.

"Did you know I never liked dancing ballet? I always found it too structured and stiff. My mother, and Plagg, encouraged me to try different styles, to try and find which one was me."

Adrien walked to the piano and placed her bag on top of it before turning back. "Ballet is not my life, my style or my future, but my father doesn't agree with what I want. So he's giving me one opportunity, and hopefully you'll help me prove my point."

"Do I get any choice in this?" she asked. Adrien couldn't help but be glad she hadn't flat out refused.

"Well, yeah of course. You dance with me, or you work backstage. The choice is yours."

"Dance with you?"

"Yes. We will be performing a modernised version of the Sugar Plum Fairy suite. Me and You. My style. My choreography."

"And your style is?"

Adrien felt his lips twitch, she seemed interested now. He was sure he had her hooked on the end of his fishing line and all he needed to do was reel her in, and he was sure he had it with his next two words.

"Off pointe."

*****

Relaxing was something Marinette was always told to do. That it was good for her to get out of her own headspace once in a while, so that's what she was trying to do. Yet, she was failing fabulously.

After quite the whirlwind day, she was relaxing on Luka's bed — with Luka — after they'd been out for a quick 'celebration' dinner.

Luka was rightly excited. He'd scored the lead part and would be performing with one of the best ballerinas in the world. Marinette knew they were going to be amazing, but it was still bugging her that Luka hadn't confided in her about their past. Though they still weren't 'officially' a couple, Marinette knew they both were exclusive to each other, so why hadn't they taken that next step? Was it to do with Zoé's return?

Luka had put on one of his favourite movies —this without subtitles— but she couldn't concentrate, her head was spinning with Adrien's unexpected announcement.

The revelation about the possible new branch for the Agreste Company was interesting, especially as ballet extraordinaire, and perfect hip turn out, Adrien Agreste would be fronting it.

She didn't even know he could do other styles. She thought he was a one trick pony, which terrified her that he was putting himself, and her, on the line for something he couldn't do.

Like in a haze, Marinette's thoughts drifted to Adrien dancing, her mind unable to focus on the tv screen and instead think of Adrien rolling around on the floor. What the hell was wrong with her?

"This bit is legendary," Luka suddenly said, his voice causing her to jump out of her skin and almost punch Luka in the face.

She quickly looked at the screen, quite sure she'd missed whatever scene he was referring to.

Luka had been a true gentleman throughout the evening, especially after what had happened with the announcement. He told her he wanted to give her space, to allow her thoughts to collect and order before talking about it with her — when really she wanted a partner in crime to agree what a douche Gabriel Agreste was and help her plan his downfall. Kind of like Adrien had.

She hadn't really discussed Adrien's revelation with him, or anyone, just a quick mention that she needed time to process everything and once it had finally soaked in she would talk.

She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, Luka pulling her into his warm body. He was smooth, calm, not even a nervous twitch in his moves and she couldn't help but be jealous at how sure he was in himself. He never second guessed, he just cruised through life accepting the bumps in the road as nothing more than a bump.

She turned her head to look up at him. His smile stretched across his lips as he laughed openly at the tv. A carefree, natural response which lit up his eyes and caused her to smile back. He was gorgeous in the light of the screen.

She snuggled into him more, wrapping an arm around his waist and pushing out the insecurities. For tonight it was just the two of them. No Zoé. No Adrien. Just her and the sweetest guy she'd ever met.

Regardless of what was happening with Adrien, she needed to remember this was here and this was real. Dancing was just that, dancing. There really was more to life than tutus and pointe shoes.

A glance in her direction, and Marinette was lost in the deep blues of Luka. Her heart sped up as his pupils began to dilate and his eyelids began to lower. He was looking at her in a way nobody had ever before.

"Your eyes are beautiful," he whispered, a hoarse tone in his voice as he spoke.

"Thank you," she replied.

She felt her teeth begin to scrape over her bottom lip, her tongue darting out to follow it, and Luka's eyes homing in on the action. The darkness in his eyes grew wider, and she was sure he was going to kiss her. The look of great desire in his eyes made it certain that she wanted to kiss him.

He began to rub his thumb up and down her shoulder, moving himself closer, the warmth of his body encompassing her and taking the confusion off of the day's events. His lips began to edge closer and closer, inching towards their target magnetised by feelings. Her eyes fluttered closed, her lips parting slightly ready to be caressed and cared for. Taken in a need of lust and want. A kiss to –

She felt the warmth evaporate, her eyes opening just in time to see Luka moving back away from her, his eyes returning to their normal colour as he put distance between them.

"Sorry," he said. Shifting over a little, and wrapping his arm around her more tightly. "I don't know what came over me."

Marinette wanted him to kiss her... she was sure he was going to. What had happened? She couldn't help but think her breath was stinky, or maybe she had a cold sore coming she didn't know about — not that she ever had them. But one thing was for certain, she felt deflated. Two rejections in one day, she wasn't sure her heart could take more.

Marinette moved freely and rested her head against his chest, her glazed eyes hidden from him. She brought her other hand up and placed it on his heart — his normal beating heart. As hers was still rapidly battering against her rib cage, she couldn't help but feel deflated by the way the night had gone.

It seemed clear — she liked him, a lot more than he did her.

As the credits began to roll, she shuffled from her position slowly, not wanting to wake Luka who'd seemed to have crashed out. He had been working extra hard in classes, along with taking on extra tuition that week. The whole audition process was an important one for him.

She checked the time on the clock beside his bed. It was 8pm which meant, if she could get ready quickly, she could make it to Tikki's 8.30 commercial class. The thought of seeing Chat Noir again brought a welcoming warmth in her damaged heart.

Marinette gently sat up and leaned forward, placing her lips to his cheek. A tiny pull lifted his lips. Awkwardly shuffling out of his arms, the silence in the room was broken by the sound of his phone buzzing on his side table.

Her eyes caught the name on the screen, 'Sweet Pollen' complete with a yellow heart following her name with a bumblebee.

Sweet...pollen?

Frowning, she ignored the fact it was still vibrating against the desk — message after message coming through. The jealousy swirled in the pit of her stomach. First he didn't kiss her and now this?

A sick feeling grabbed hold of her gut and squeezed it tight, her stomach threatening to empty its contents. Was this comeuppance for spending so much time in the studio?

Quietly, she made her way out of the room and headed towards her and Alya's across the corridor. There's no way Luka would be cheating, right? He wasn't that type of guy.

After entering her bedroom, she closed the door and looked for her sweats. She had about 15 minutes to get ready and a load of anxiety to burn off.

She began to move around, collecting belongings and putting them back into the correct place as she looked up into the mirror and noticed Alya making her way out of the ensuite.

How long had she been in there for?

She didn't even acknowledge Marinette, as she wiped the back of her hand over her mouth and moved to her bed, tucking herself in and turning off the light.

Alya loved to talk, she loved to gossip even more, so to see her so consumed by her own thoughts was so out of character, and if Marinette was being honest, it was worrying.

She made a mental note to speak to her friend tomorrow.

Just another thing on the 'to do' list...