Marinette dutifully moves her hands as she cuts the silky jade colored iridescent fabric she just got from the shop. The woman who worked there knew her well and offered her several more yards free of charge, which she much appreciated. As she cut out her design she had previously drawn out, her eyebrow furrowed. She had been working far too hard to not win this competition next week.

A week previously, the class had a competition where she made a derby hat. And somehow, her design had reached the Gabriel Agreste. His approval of her design made her swell with pride and determination. Soon thereafter, Marinette started seeking out pamphlets for many opportunities in the fashion community to design competitively to put her name out there. Thinking about the expectations that people had for her made her sigh, as she put her scissors down and stared at the patterns she had cut out of the fabric. She was just plain old Marinette, how could she win these competitions?

Wishing that she could always be as confident and composed as Ladybug, Marinette sunk, hunching over. It's not like she wanted to be the way she was, but saving Paris was completely different from following her dreams.

"My lady, you seem rather tired lately. Are you not feeling well? There's nothing you can't tell this kitty cat." Chat Noir purred as he said this, but you could see the genuine concern on his face. The past week had been the pair fighting one akuma after the other, keeping the young designer entirely too busy to finish more of her work before the competition's deadline.

Ladybug shrugged, dismissing Chat's question. There was entirely too much on her mind for her to waste time complaining. Not to mention her civilian life was something she liked to keep private.

Disheartened by her obvious dismissal, Chat touched her shoulder in an act of reassurance. "Just know that I am always here when you need me, my lady." With that he took his leave, jumping off of the roof before his transformation wore off.

She took his lead and threw her yo-yo to swing her home as quickly as possible, loathing all the work ahead of her.

There were only three days left before her dress was due, and it was still in disassembled parts on her floor. Pinning and sewing, she carefully started to assemble her creation, working late into the night. Deciding to sacrifice her health, she only got two hours of sleep that night before having to prepare for school.

As she walked haggardly to school Tikki whispered to her from her purse.

"Marinette don't push yourself too hard, please."

She nodded absent-mindedly, and whispered, "You know I have to get this done, Tikki. In a few days, it'll be over."

Her kwami's concern made her happy, but she knew that this project had to be perfect so she could send it off to be judged.

Slumping into her chair next to Ayla, she groaned as her eyes wanted to close out of pure exhaustion. Ayla touched her arm reassuringly as the lesson began, knowing she was up late last night working on her dress. If only she knew about the rest of what I have to do, Marinette groaned inwardly.

The day went on very slowly, and with each minute, Marinette grew more tired. As they reached physics, she was concentrating on simply remaining conscious, with Ayla nudging her every few minutes to wake her in class.

Suddenly, she was being jolted awake by a harsh voice.

"Ms. Cheng!"

Her eyes flew open and her body jolted up in her seat, as her professor called her name.

"If you think my class is so boring as to sleep through the lesson, maybe you should leave." the professor said coldly. "I don't care for students who don't care for my class."

Ayla mouthed an apology for not noticing that she had dozed off, but Marinette wasn't angry and gave her a weak smile in return. Nodding slowly at the professor, she packed her things away in her bag and walked out of class. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chloe laughing at her, but she was too exhausted to care for the blonde girl's attitude at the moment.

Secretly, she was pleased she was dismissed from class. Though it was not the best of circumstances, she could now go home and work on her dress to send to the competition. The more time she had, the better.

As she walked out of the schools corridors back to her home, thoughts of her final design swirled in her mind, making her excited. This dress has to be perfect, she thought. Even though she was Ladybug, Marinette still had to make a name for herself, too.

Luckily when she got to the bakery, it was very crowded. She stealthily worked her way around the customers, avoiding her parents looks as to why she came home so early.

Running up her stairs to her pink-clad room, she threw her bag onto her bed.

"Oooph!" squealed Tikki as the purse hit the bed.

"Oh no!" Exclaimed Marinette. "I am so sorry. I- I completely forgot about you in there." She picked up the small red kwami and cradled her gently in her hands, before gently placing her on a pillow.

"It's okay," the kwami mumbled. "Just don't run yourself down too much. You still have a city to protect too, Marinette." At this the girl nodded slowly, understanding her responsibility was far more than to herself, but also to all of all Paris, so long as Hawkmoth threatened peace.

Gathering her supplies, she began to embroider her dress, adding the finishing touches to her design. The jade colored dress shown as brightly as ever as she added golden embellishments to the torsos neckline. Her eye for detail and elegance would hopefully push her simplified design through to win the competition. She chided herself slightly for not going out on patrol that day, but she was sure that Chat Noir would be fine by himself for just a day without Ladybug.

Chat Noir jumped hastily from building to building. He thought he had memorized his Lady's route, but today she was nowhere in sight. It wasn't extremely uncommon for one of them to miss a patrol every once in a while, but after so many akuma attacks occurred in the span of a week, he'd thought that Ladybug would be more wary of the possible dangers that could appear at any time. Hawkmoth was becoming for relentless in his quest to claim both of their miraculous, and the villains he sought after were getting harder to fight. The darkness that he sought after was no longer that of petty grievances between people, but between people with much more twisted anger than he could imagine. Lost in thought, Chat jumped down from the building onto the sidewalk to continue his patrol from a lower vantage point. Distractedly, he looked up at the Paris sky, full of life and light and decided to stroll and look around a bit more before ending his patrol.

"Ouch!" Chat felt a bump against him and he flitted back to reality to see a young woman sprawled out on the sidewalk, desperately shoving papers back into her bag.

"I'm so sorry ma'am," Chat murmured as he bent down and picked up the papers on the ground. Looking at them briefly, he could see many designs for clothing on them. He handed her the sheets, and she nodded gratefully for his help.

"Do you design clothing?" he inquired.

Looking up tentatively, she nodded once more. Then, after she seemed to gain a bit of courage she spoke, eyes glittering.

"Listen, I know you're a big-time celebrity here, but can you do me a favor?" Her lips curled slightly, knowing he had no right to refuse after making her fall. "My company is currently having a competition for junior designers and we'd like to have an amazing prize for the competition. How would you like to be our prize and model with the winner?" She stepped closer to him, moving against a wall.

He stayed silent, not knowing what to do. Even though Adrien modeled for a living, Chat was rather out of the spotlight when it came to hero work and it made him a bit uneasy.

"Er….. I don't think I can take that offer. You know, without exposing my identity and all." He said nervously, touching the back of his neck. The woman was getting increasingly closer, and slammed her hand on one side of him, giving him a start.

"You'll have the mask on," she sighed, as if it were obvious. Digging through her purse, she took out a card. "Unless you want everyone in Paris to think that Chat Noir doesn't have the time of day to repay a kind woman who he knocked down in the street, I'd consider coming."

With that being said, she leaned back and smirked at his shocked expression. Turning on her heels, she walked off briskly into the night, leaving Chat speechless near the wall. He didn't want people to think ill of him, but this favor was ridiculous. Examining the card he'd been given, he saw his father's company logo and sighed. Of course she'd be from Father's company, he sighed.

Tucking the card into his suit, he decided he might as well go. As a professional model, the favor would be easy and quick. Why not? Jumping back on the roof, he started back for home. Paris wasn't in trouble that night, but he sure had gotten himself into something.

If only Ladybug were there she could've got him out of this mess…

Marinette wiped her brow, rising up from her work to go to her desk. Picking up coffee, she grimaced as she inhaled the cup's contents, as if sustained her life. It was currently 4 AM and her project was coming to a close. The girl knew she couldn't hold out much longer, but luckily all she needed to do was grab a garment bag to put her dress in before she fell into the soft fluffy haven on the other side of the room. As she zipped the bag and hung it on her door to deliver in the morning, Tikki stirred ever so slightly on her pillows.

It's finally done! She smiled broadly. For all the time that she put into the dress (even with the countless amount of akuma attacks that week), she was proud of the result. It was near perfection to what she had envisioned and shone brightly with its embellishments and vibrant colors. The design was certainly a step out of her comfort zone, with the amount of time constraints, but this was it. Marinette would relish the moments when every aspect of her life was working towards her designs and possibly making a line herself one day.

Closing her eyes, sleep took the young designer instantly, and her dreams were happy ones.

A/N: Any reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading and I can't wait until you all see what I have planned for our favorite heroes!