"Bye, bye, little butterfly," Ladybug waved to the now cleansed akuma as it flew off.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" She threw the jar of glow-in-the-dark paint into the air, watching it disperse into ladybugs and undo all the damaged cause by Night Watch. Hawkmoth's most recent villain had covered Paris in a blanket of darkness, so Ladybug had to rely on Chat Noir to take lead on this mission.
"Pound it"
Chat Noir glanced back toward the man who had been akumatized, but his gaze was quickly drawn back to his partner. "We should do that again sometime, my ladybug," he grinned.
Ladybug sighed at his flirting attempt, but she couldn't keep a small giggle from escaping her lips. "Hopefully not too soon, but thanks for the assist," she winked playfully. The silence was broken by the sounds of their miraculous' beeping, signaling the end of their transformations.
"See you around, my lady," the black cat bowed to his lady and ran off before his identity could be revealed.
Ladybug shook her head at his silly antics and threw her yo-yo onto a nearby building, swinging onto it and heading back to the bakery.
She landed on the rooftop patio and dropped her transformation as the last spot disappeared from her earring. Tiki flew out of her miraculous and followed her chosen one as she retreated into her bedroom.
"That sure was some fight!" her kwami exclaimed. "It was a good thing Chat Noir was able to handle the situation."
"I know, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to defeat Night Watch and speaking of Chat Noir, I still have to finish those designs for the fashion show tomorrow!" Marinate sat at her desk and continued to work on the outfits.
A few days ago she had been asked to design outfits for Ladybug and Chat Noir for an exclusive fashion show and as luck would have it she was the best person for the job and not just because she was Ladybug herself. It just so happened that the person organizing the fashion show was an old friend of her parents and they had just so happened to show him some of her designs while he was visiting.
Marinette worked diligently the rest of the day on the outfits, carefully cutting and sewing the fabric, making sure it would fit comfortably on her and her partner. When she was finally finished she took a few steps back to examine her work and smiled proudly.
Tiki peeked over her shoulder to take a look at the designs as well and flew around them in excitement. "They look amazing Marinette! Chat Noir will be very impressed and so will everyone else"
"I hope so, but we should probably head to bed. It's getting pretty late and we have to be at the location early in the morning," she said, placing the outfits in their garment bags and hanging them up before getting ready for bed.
Marinette was up bright and early the next morning, even before her alarm went off. She was already in the kitchen making breakfast when her parents woke up.
"Marinette, you're up early," her mother noted as she got a carton of milk from the fridge.
"Well, I do have to be down at the location of the fashion show early. After all, I have the featured pieces," she said rather nervously.
Her father chuckled, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Marinette, everyone will love your designs, especially Ladybug and Chat Noir."
Marinette shot up from her seat, almost knocking over her breakfast and chair at once. "Well, I better get going," she ran upstairs to get the garment slips and rushed out the door, yelling a quick good-bye as the door closed behind her.
It didn't take long for her to reach the location of the fashion show, which of course was right at the base of the Eiffel Tower.
Marinette weaved through all of the people getting ready for the show, almost tripping over her own two feet a few times from how little room there was to move around. Once she was back stage she felt like she could finally breathe again, but the moment of rest didn't last long. She suddenly felt very nervous and self conscious about her designs, worried that the fashion designer wouldn't approve.
"You must be Marinette," a voice called out from behind her, causing her to jump a bit.
She quickly spun around, her jaw dropping slightly as she stared at one of the greatest fashion designers, next to Gabriel AgresteAgreste, in her presence. Her only other thought was, how did her parents know this guy?!
"Y-yes!" she stood up straight, trying not to fumble over her words. "Marinette, that's my name, yup."
The man chuckled and took hold of the garment bags, taking them from her hands before she dropped them on the floor. "I'm so glad that you were able to do this on such short notice Marinette, you truly are amazing," he said, hanging them up on an empty rack. He carefully unzipped the garment bags and stared at her designs.
"These are amazing! I'm sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will be pleased as well."
"I know Ladybug will," she mumbled to herself, hiding a smile.
"What was that?" he turned to face her.
Marinette stiffened, choking on her words as she tried to form coherent sentences. "I said, I'm sure they will. Well, see you at the show!" she bolted off the stage before any more damage could be done and headed straight for home.
For the rest of the day Marinette was nervous. She didn't know how her designs would look compared to the others being showcased that night or if anyone would even like them in the first place. Even if she was going as Ladybug, she was sure she would mess up somehow and embarrass herself infront of all of Paris! Scenarios of the inevitable disasters played on repeat in her mind and she relayed every last one, down to the tiniest detail, to Tiki. The ladybug kwami only smiled and offered her words of advice which calmed her for the most part.
While Marinette was nervous, Adrien was not. Having done modeling for his father multiple times he wasn't going to stress over being on the cat walk. Usually he would be against any kind of modeling outside of his fathers business, but going as Chat Noir was totally different than going as Adrien. Especially since he'd be heading the fashion show with his trusty partner and love, Ladybug.
"Take a load off and relax," Plagg said casually, floating by Adrien's head in a rather relaxed manner. "And while you're at it, I wouldn't mind a bit of camembert."
Adrien signed and pulled out a small triangle of the cheese from his coat pocket, handing it to the black cat kwami. "You know, saying please wouldn't hurt once in a while."
"Don't you have better things to be doing besides commenting on my table manners, which by the way, happen to be very refined," the kwami retorted, throwing the cheese into the air and catching it in his mouth. He watched as Adrien sit at his computer monitors, sighing dreamily as he stared at the Ladyblog, which was pulled up on every monitor he had.
"I can't wait for tonight."
As the sky became darker, all the people of Paris stared to gather at the base of the Eiffel Tower hoping to catch a glimpse of the fashion show.
Well, all of Paris except for Adrien and Marinette of course.
It took a bit of persuasion, but Adrien had managed to convince his father to let him stay home from the show, even though Gabriel tried multiple times to get him to go and scope out the competition.
Marinette however had a harder time, being the one who designed the show stopping pieces her parents insisted she be there to check them out once they were showcased. She put on her best sick face and faked an illness, which seemed to buy her some time as neither Tom nor Sabine tried to force her into it again.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Ronaldo Fernand's fashion show!" one of the men announced, causing a roar of applause from the crowd. More words were exchanged before the show would officially start and everything seemed to be going according to plan. Backstage people were rushing around, frantically changing and preparing for their part in the show. Makeup was hastily applied and dresses were being hemmed last minute.
"Looks like things are getting messy back here," Ladybug said as she landed back stage, retracting her yo-yo and attaching it to her waist.
"You can say that again, it's a catastrophe," Chat Noir landed beside his partner, retracting his baton.
Ronaldo easily spotted the superheroes in the crowd and rushed toward them, grabbing the garment bags and shoving them into the duo's hands. "Quickly, go change, we are in a bit of a hurry," he said, moving them to the make shift dressing rooms.
It didn't take long for either to get ready and they stepped out of the dressing rooms, almost in sync. And while Ladybug was examining her handwork on Chat Noir's suit, he was star struck by his lady.
"Ladybug, you look…pawsitively purfect," he grinned, knowing the pun was going to get to her.
Ladybugs' dress was simple and yet elegant with a sweet heart neck line, off the shoulder straps and an open back. The fabric was deep red ombre, her signature black spots being added as it went past her hips and around her waist was a black belt. The back of the dress split like a ladybug's wings, the fabric under that frilly white until it touched the floor. Even her hair had been done, no longer in their signature pony tails but up in an elegant bun with two strands to frame her face.
Chat Noir's outfit consisted of a black tux with lime green trim over a green vest and black pants. The back of the tux extended further than the front and easily showed off the lime green fabric on the inside. The cufflinks holding the sleeves of the suit had Chat's signature green paw print as did the stone in the middle of his tie. And of course, being Chat Noir, his hair just hung in his face, but it was a little more neatly styled so it stuck to one side instead of being all over the place.
"You don't look too bad yourself Chat Noir" she winked. Chat Noir could feel his heart beating faster in his chest and his face heat up from how badly he was blushing.
"And for our featured guests, Ladybug and Chat Noir!"
"Ready to go my lady?" Chat extended his elbow, which she gladly held onto.
"Always kitty," Ladybug smiled in return as the curtains were drawn apart and they began their debut down the run way.