Marinette had always had conflicted feelings about her hair and it's length. Long hair was pretty, could be styled and went with a lot of different outfits, which was of course important to an aspiring fashion designer. But short hair showed maturity and was easier to handle.
So her mind was in a constant debate about whether she should cut her mid-back length hair.
Short hair would mean she wouldn't have to spend as long brushing it in the morning before school, especially when she was running late.
Long hair would mean she could have more variety in clothing.
Short hair would mean changing Ladybug's signature look.
Long hair would mean hair in the face when flying between buildings.
And this is how it went, until a certain akuma used Marinette's hair against her.
It had been a particularly tough fight. Ladybug and Chat had already both used their powers, and had mere minutes left before their transformations wore off. So they decided to regroup.
Chat Noir left the scene. But just as Ladybug had been about to do the same, the akumatized villain grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back before throwing her against the ground.
Ladybug eventually escaped and regrouped before defeating the villain with Chat Noir's help, but that wasn't the point. Her hair had almost cost her a fight. Her hair had hindered her greatly and cause a bruised shoulder. The bruise was healed by Miraculous Cure, but again, not the point.
So the debate was over. Short hair was the winner. After returning home that night, Marinette asked her mum to cut her hair just above shoulder length. After spending quite a bit of time convincing her mum, it was done. Marinette's hair was cut.
"I think you're new look suits you Marinette." Tikki had said as soon as they returned to Marinette's room.
"I think it was time." Marinette said gently as she sat at her desk. "I wonder if Adrien will like my new hair." She sighed wistfully, staring at his face hanging on her wall. "Oh my gosh, Tikki! What if he hates it, what will I do?!" And cue the freak out.
Now sure, Marinette and Adrien had definitely become closer ever since Nino and Alya started dating, and sure she was now able to talk to him without stuttering that much, but that didn't mean that she didn't freak out over him when it was just her and Alya, or her and Tikki.
"I'm sure he'll love your hair Marinette." Tikki tried to convince the girl, but it wasn't working. So Tikki decided to go with a distraction. "Hey Marinette. You should go shopping tomorrow and find some new clothes to go with your new hair." She suggested happily.
"That's a great idea! And it's only Saturday! I have all of tomorrow to find the perfect outfit before I see Adrien again!" Marinette was now bouncing up and down in her chair.
"But for now it's late. You should get some sleep to have energy for tomorrow." Tikki said with a small cute yawn.
"You're right. But how will I sleep now? I'm so excited for tomorrow! I just can't wait!"
And she really hadn't been kidding. She even set an alarm to go off at eight the next morning. Marinette never woke up that early, sometimes not even on school days, let alone the weekend.
Waking up the the blaring alarm the next morning, Marinette quickly turned it off to refrain from waking her sleeping Kwami until absolutely necessary. Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, Marinette stood with a yawn before grabbing some clothes and heading to the bathroom for a shower.
After a twenty minute shower, Marinette came out wearing her usual clothes but instead of her normal black jacket, a black hoodie, which she quickly pulled over her hair. Just in case she ran into someone she knew, she didn't want them to see her until school on Monday.
Marinette then decided that it was time to wake Tikki. It wouldn't be a good idea to leave the house without her, just incase an Akuma attacked. Hawkmoth always seemed to have impeccable timing.
Marinette slowly shook the sleeping bug awake, and after giving her a few minutes to wake up, and giving her some cookies, the two left to go and find Marinette a new look.
And let's just say that the hood had definitely been a good idea, because almost straight away, Marinette had run into Chloe and Sabrina, who tormented her for no reason as usual, and then Nino and Alya twenty minutes later, who appeared to be on their first official, just the two of them, date. Which Marinette was able to use as an excuse to continue shopping and not join them for lunch like they so insisted, clearly embarrassed and not knowing what to do next.
Luckily for her, her snoop of a best friend had been too distracted to notice the change in Marinette's hair that was slightly visible from under the hood. She did however question her choice of jacket, to which Marinette responded with the classic, I was cold.
After that, it seems like Ladybug's luck finally started to kick in. Within less than an hour, Marinette had found numerous cute skirts and tops along with some nice accessories.
After another hour and a bit of searching and buying, Marinette was on her way out when she passed a gorgeous dress in the window of a store. Marinette did a double take, dropping her bags as she stopped to look at the dress.
The dress was a sleeveless ruffled dress with a sweetheart neckline. The top of the dress was white with the middle faded from white to violet at the bottom.
Marinette quickly grabbed the bags she had dropped and raced inside the store. However then she began to get nervous. How does one going about asking how much a dress is exactly?
"How may I help you toda- Marinette?" A voice caught her attention. She quickly spun around, grabbing her hood when it nearly fell off, only to come face to face with Adrien Agreste in a fancy dress shirt with a name tag on.
"U-Um, Adrien. What are you- I mean, Ummmm. Hi?" Marinette stuttered and stammer, having not prepared herself to be able to talk to him. He let out a nervous laugh and shyly rubbed the back of his neck while avoiding eye contact.
"Uh, I kinda got a job here a couple of weeks ago." He let out another nervous laugh while saying this. "I kinda really wanted to earn some money myself and get a bit of independence, you know?" He blushed slightly at this, clearly embarrassed.
"Oh. Well, t-thats nice. Congratulations." Marinette smiled up at the boy.
"Y-Yeah, Uh, thanks. Hehe." 'Annnd another nervous laugh, nice going Chat Noir, real smooth.'
A cough behind him brought his attention back tot he real world and away from Marinette's gorgeous smile and shining eyes- 'No! You like Ladybug Adrien. But then again Marinette is just so cute- Gah! How is it possible to have a crush on two people at the same time?!'
"Uh, anyway. How can I help you today. Because. I work here. And, this is my job. And now I'm blabbing. Sorry. Um, What's up?" Adrien's face just got redder and redder with every word he said, or more stuttered.
"Ah, I was actually wondering how much that dress in the window was." Marinette said, pointing over her shoulder at the dress, now slightly more at ease after seeing Adrien's minor freak out. 'What was that about anyway? And how did he look so cute even while stuttering non stop?'
"Oh, right sorry. Um, let me just check that for you." Adrien finally got his cool back and smiled at her before walking over to the computer and motioning for Marinette to follow him.
"That dress is actually only $30, everything in the window is 75% off." Adrien smiled at her after checking the dress. "Would you like to try it on?" He asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.
"Oh. Uh, yes please."
"I can get that for you Adrien." The female worker standing at the counter nearby told the boy.
"Oh, are you sure Sam? I can get it, it's no big deal." He blinked in surprise. Despite him working there for two weeks, him and Sam hadn't really talked much at all.
"I've got no customers anyway. You just stay here and keep your girlfriend company." With those words and a quick wink to the now blushing teens, the girl was gone, going to the back to get the dress.
Adrien and Marinette stood in absolute silence, both still trying to get over their embarrassment. And it remained that way for the full five minutes until Sam came back.
"Here you go sweetie. I took a guess at your size, so I hope it fits. Come back and let me know if you need another size, okay? The dressing rooms are on the left." She told Marinette, pushing the dress into her arms with a gentle smile.
"Oh, thank you. I appreciate it." Marinette smiled warmly at the girl. She gave a quick wave to Adrien before heading to the changing rooms.
With Marinette
Marinette closed the curtains of her dressing room and quickly undressed, Tikki flying out of her hoodie pocket to float next to Marinette. Marinette then began putting the new dress on. Looking in the mirror Marinette could help but feel embarrassed about how much her legs were showing.
She quickly went through the bags she had luckily bought in with her and grabbed out a pair of black leggings, before quickly putting them on. She turned around and looked in the mirror, almost not believing what she saw.
"Is that me?" She whispered to herself.
"You look beautiful Marinette." Tikki smiled at the girl. "This look really suits you."
"Thanks Tikki." Marinette blushed under the bugs gaze.
"Marinette, are you dressed?" Adrien's voice rang from behind the curtain. Tikki let out a squeak and quickly flew into Marinette's discarded hoodie, just as the curtains were pulled aside.
With Adrien, a few minutes prior
"So Adrien, who was that cutie?" Sam asked with a sly grin, watching the boy's face erupt in flames at the simple question. "Is she your girlfriend or something?"
"No, no, no! S-She's just a friend of mine! I swear, you've got it wrong! Marinette is just a friend." Adrien shook his head, waving his hands back and forth, his face turning redder by the second.
"Marinette hmm? So, you haven't told her that you like her, so you're just friends. Interesting." Sam mumbled, putting her hand on her chin in thought.
"I. No. I don't. Um. I-I don't like her like that." Adrien mumbled, now looking down at the ground with a slight frown and very red face. Even he knew that was a lie.
"Uh-huh. Sure you don't. Keep telling yourself that buddy." Sam patted him on the shoulder which only faired to make him even more embarrassed. "Anyway, you should go check up on her and see if she needs anything." Sam pushed him in the direction of the change rooms before going and attending to another customer.
Adrien shrugged and slowly walked towards the change rooms, taking his time to make sure that his face wouldn't be red when he saw her. But, that didn't exactly work.
"Marinette, are you dressed?" He called, not even thinking when he pulled the curtain aside without waiting for an answer. As Marinette spun around to face him, he could feel his breath catch in his throat as he looked at her.
She looked beautiful. Adrien always knew that his friend and secret -constantly denied- crush was pretty and cute, but this. This was just… Wow. It was then that he noticed her hair. It was a lot shorter now, and it really suited her. He couldn't look away.
Meanwhile Marinette's brain finally caught up with what was happening, immediately her face went so red, she could be mistaken for a strawberry.
'Why isn't he saying anything?! Why is he just standing there? Does he hate it? Oh God, kill me.' Her heart was racing a million times a minute, so loud that she was sure he could hear it.
"Y-You look amazing Marinette. That dress really suits you. And you hair. Wow. It-It really suits you. Did I say that already? Well it does. Just, wow." Adrien stuttered and stammered. His heart now threatening to jump out of his chest. Then he noticed her rosy red cheeks, and that make his heart beat even harder.
"T-Thank you Adrien, thats really sweet of you." She mumbled shyly, now looking at the ground. The two stood in silence for a few seconds before a cough bought them out of their stupor. It was Sam, smirking at them with her eyebrow raised.
"Wow. You look so pretty. That dress really suits you, Marinette. And it's nice to know that it's the right size." Sam winked at the blushing girl.
"O-Oh, thank you very much. Um, I might just get dressed again, then buy the dress if thats okay with you?" Marinette asked looking at the girl, her face slowly calming down. At least, until she looked at Adrien again. Bad idea.
"Sure. I'll handle lover boy over here." Sam winked, pushing the blushing boy away by the shoulder, her words turning Marinette's face red once again.
Marinette returned a few minutes later, now wearing her old clothes but with her hood down. Adrien had already seen her hair, no point in trying to hide it from him. She came over to the checkout where Adrien and Sam were waiting, and the three stood in silence for a few seconds before Sam rolled her eyes.
"I'll ring that up for you, seeing as Adrien's clearly too distracted to do his job." She sent a teasing glare his way which made him blush again, only for the colour to get worse when Marinette giggled at him.
"By the way Adrien. You're shift ended ten minutes ago." Sam said said with a straight face while ringing the dress up, clearly trying not to laugh. Poor love sick fool didn't even realise that he was free to go.
"O-Oh. Did it? I uh, didn't notice." He nervously chuckled. What was wrong with him today? Oh, right. Marinette. That's what.
"Okay, you're all free to go Marinette. The dress is all yours. Thanks for coming, and it was nice to meet you." Sam smiled at the girl.
"It was nice to meet you too. Thank you by the way." Marinette smiled as she pulled her hoodie back over her hair. "G-Goodbye Adrien, I-I'll see you tomorrow at school." She looked up at him and into his eyes, that was a mistake on both of their parts.
"Yeah sure. Oh, I'll, uh walk you back to your house." Adrien smiled gently at the girl.
"Oh, Um, thank you, but you don't have to do that if you're too busy." Marinette blushed, waving her hands around slightly.
"It's okay. I want to." He smiled at her and she smiled back before they said their last goodbyes to the smirking Sam and headed out.
They then walked the entire ten minutes back to Marinette's house in absolute silence. It wasn't until they got to her front door that either of them said anything.
"Thank you for walking me Adrien. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye." Marinette smiled up and him and he smiled back, before she turned and moved to open the door.
"Marinette wait!" Adrien said suddenly, reaching out and grabbing her hand to stop her. She turned back to him and looked up at him with confused eyes. "I uh."
A sudden burst of confidence kicked in and Adrien took a deep breath before looking Marinette in the eyes and saying, "I was wondering. Would you want to go to the amusement park next weekend? As a…. As a date?" There, he said it.
Marionettes eyes widened as she gazed up at the boy, who's confidence began to slowly fall apart, the longer she was silent. Then she smiled. And that smile put all his worries at ease.
"I'd love to. It's a date." She smiled brightly, and he matched her. They said their last goodbyes before she went inside and closed the door. Marinette let out a loud squeal from inside, which luckily went unheard by Adrien, because at the same time he let out a loud whoop.