"You're up in 5!" the stage manager told Marinette as she quickly checked up on all of her designs. The models turned around as they saw the young designer approach them; hoping that she'll calm down. After all, everyone knew how she was when her designs were on the runway. For her, everything had to be perfect.

After what seemed like the 500th check, the designer checked her phone, hoping to see if there were any new text messages. Unfortunately and fortunately for her, there were none. She wasn't sure if she was disappointed or thankful. He'll come, he promised, Marinette told herself. Besides, she knew that he was a very busy man. He wouldn't have time to check his phone anyways.

Focus! Marinette gently slapped herself on the cheek. This was the last show of the year, and she had to make an impact on the fashion industry, or at least an impact for her last mark of the year. She doubled checked her design again; after all, triple checking everything never did any harm. She relaxed when she found no mistakes, as she reached for her bottled water on the floor and took a long gulp. After a pause, she looked around at her fellow designers and smiled. It was strange that at the center of all the chaos, she was able to find peace. Even if this show may or may not make or break her future, Marinette found that the atmosphere around her was very relaxing. Wait, why was she so nervous again?

"Ladies and gentlemen; Welcome to the Metro Academy of Fashion's Graduation Showcase!" the speaker announced as the audience cheered.

Oh yeah, that's why. She looked down at her leading dress and realized that one of her stitches tore off. She quickly set to work and hurried along towards the front of the backstage.

"Woah!" she yelped as some models wearing spring designs came rushing from the runway. Marinette quickly examined the pieces. Several girls had hats that resembled bird nests. Others had floral designed kimonos. It seemed a bit ridiculous, but the ravenette had to admit that the designs were paired together quite nicely.

Get it together, Marinette! She couldn't get distracted now! She only had less than five minutes before her designs were displayed!

She sighed in relief as she opened the wooden drawer where all the pins, needles, and other extra supplies usually were. She reached down one of the bins only to find that there were none left. She shuffled around again and found nothing.

"3 minutes!" someone called out.

Marinette panicked as she opened all the drawers. Just a bunch of buttons; great! After a few seconds gone by, still finding nothing, she went to the non-needed clothing racks. She was so sure that everything was all right earlier too! Just her luck! "Come on, come on!" she quietly whimpered as she nearly cried in delight when she found a pin attached to a red and black plaid skirt. After plucking it off, she began racing back to her design area.

"Last minute call for Aurore Beauréal!"

Marinette nearly tripped when she saw her leading model, only ten feet away. The model looked up at her, as she held the pin up. I got the pin! Marinette mouthed to her.

"20 seconds, Ms. Beauréal"

Almost there! Marinette thought until she felt a tug on her sleeve. She turned to see Aurore, who was in a clear state of panic!

"Oh thank goodness Marinette! I really need your help!" the blonde pouted. Her model, who wore a lot of blue and makeup glared annoyingly at her.

The blonde continued on, "It's a total disaster! She completely mangled the elastic-"

"Not my fault! You make it so flimsy!" the model interrupted back in a huff.

Aurore glared and looked back at Marinette. "Flimsy! It wasn't flimsy! You tore it with your stiletto. Who puts their shoes on first?!"

"Russians," the modeled rolled out her r's.

Marinette sighed, but didn't let anyone hear it. After all, Aurore has been with her for the past few years at the design school. And even though the ravenette was a perfectionist on the runway, her friends always came first. Besides, she was on in 10 seconds and Marinette had a minute…at most.

She took a deep breath, in and out. "Aurore, breathe. I'm going to pin it," Marinette decided. There goes your last pin for your own model, a part of her brain silently warned her, but she pushed that thought aside. She grabbed the fabric and slowly bunched it together, making it as good as new…almost.

"You're a lifesaver!" Aurore hugged her.

Marinette didn't linger a moment longer, having to get back to her own station. "Not your fault!" she replied as Aurore's blond hair got lost in the sea of people.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you're on in 1 minute," the announcer stated.

She quickly got in her designated area and waited patiently until it was her turn. "Where are the pins, you had them a minute ago," one of the models, the one with the torn dress, complained to her.

Oh right, Marinette almost forgot about that.

"Well, I don't have one. You're just going to have to hold it up," she calmly stated. She frowned when she realized that this was Clara Contard. She was one of her only models that seemed to give her an attitude. But somehow, Clara has always managed to pick up a fight with one of the other models.

She groaned. "I'm not going to remember that!"

Marinette huffed. She may tolerate this behavior any other day, but today was definitely not like any other day! "Are you serious? It's literally in 30 seconds," she deadpanned.

"You're on!" the speaker told Marinette.

Sighing the model went out and the others followed. At the last second she said, "I won't be able to remember!"

The raven-haired designer huffed as she paced her station. All she had to do now was hope for the best.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

The audience cheered as Marinette's piece was finally done. It turns out; Clara managed to hold onto the edge of the fabric after all. The ravenette gave herself a mental pat on the back until a movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention.

It was the head designer of one of her favorite brands; Chamack. As a teen, she admired Nadja a lot, since she was such a creative and inspiring fashion idol. Marinette always had a thing for kids, and her child Manon supported Marinette's claim. They were just such a cute family; how could anyone not love them. So, of course, seizing the moment, Marinette just had to introduce herself.

"Excuse me?" she nervously tapped Nadja on the shoulder. The woman turned around and gave the girl a small smile. Unbeknownst to the ravenette, she was more amused at how such an amateur designer like her had enough confidence to actually have the courage to talk to a big fashion celebrity such as herself.

Marinette blushed, not believing what she just did, but continued confidently anyways. "Hi, um, I just want to introduce myself. I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I was the last designer in the showcase tonight, and I just want to say that I'm a big fan of Chamack. I admired your brand for a lot of my teen years."

Nadja nodded, but Marinette had more to say.

"I was wondering if maybe you had a position availabl-"

"Dupain?" Nadja interrupted.

Marinette gulped. This was the part that she was nervous about. Almost no one could get past this part.

"As in Dupain clothing?"

The ravenette gulped. "Well actually that was my papa's business. But I actually want to work-"

"So, you're the daughter of the man whose business was built off of taking our designs and turning it into knockoffs? And you'd like a job?" Nadja huffed.

Marinette frowned, having a lot of things to say about this.

Maybe if people knew the whole story, they would be less harsh about things, but it was almost never that way. In fact, she and her father hardly spoken anymore these days. Not since she broke it off when she was first entering the Metro Academy of Fashion. Not since she lost her mom. Not since that woman came into her life. Not after that very same woman married her papa and faked getting along with her, ever though she spent every minute a part of the family trying to get rid of and torment her.

But of course, no one ever knew. Not even her papa knew. He was too busy.

"Yeah," Marinette smiled, but it was more out of politeness now rather than eagerness to meet her old idol. "That's actually the reason why I went to fashion school…"

Nadja laughed a little, but she had a strained smile upon her face. "Dear, you're obviously very talented. But who in their right mind would hire you with your family name?" Nadja scrunched up her nose for a second before turning around. "Nice meeting you, Marinette."

With that last note, she turned away from the poor girl. The people who witnessed this event just moved on and forgot about what happened.

Meanwhile, Marinette was still staring at the space where Nadja just stood a few minutes ago.

She sighed and took out her phone. She smiled when the app notified her that there were two new texts.

The first one was from her aunt Tikki. And the second was from…her best friend Alya. As Marinette expected, her papa never showed up. Yes, they had that fight not long ago, but Marinette and Tom were trying to patch things up now. But she hasn't seen him in nearly two years…And even though they had conversations on the phone, even though it was for a brief amount of time, he still promised her that he'd show up.

When she was little, if her papa made a promise, he would always keep it. Of course, that was before Mama died, but things changed now. It wasn't too hard to believe that he wouldn't show up, but deep down, Marinette really hoped…

Ring! Her phone chimed.

She looked down at the screen to see that she got another message from her aunt (well, godmother. But she was so close to Mama that she could be an aunt to the ravenette. The two older women were like sisters towards each other).

Tikki: How did it go?

Marinette smiled, but opened up her chat with Alya first.

Alya: Hey girl! Congrats on the showcase tonight. Sorry I couldn't make it, journaling. ;) U could tell me how it went on Saturday. Coffee at Sugar&Cream. Love u, and text me back! Ciao bella!

Marinette smiled, since she knew that Alya could always make her happy. She replied back saying that she was up for coffee. She had a lot to tell since Alya knew she had always wanted to meet Nadja Chamack since…well forever! But not anymore, at least, not with how she treated her tonight.

The designer entered back into her text with her aunt.

Mari: Not so good

She was happy when she heard another notification sound. Tikki always knew when to be there for her.

Tikki: Come home to Miraculous. You can stay here with me!

Marinette smiled. Tikki owned a little boutique called Miraculous. When she was little, her mama used to take her there all the time to visit. Tikki would always greet her with cookies, and her husband Plagg would always have a glass of wine and a plate of cheese, for himself of course. Marinette used to always complain about how the camembert smelled, but in the end, the three adults would always laugh it off saying she would get use to it. Only on a couple of rare occasions would Papa actually tag along with them.

Mari: I love you!

Tikki: That's what dogmothers are for. To take cats of you!

Tikki: *Godmother. *Care. Dumb autocorrect phone!

Marinette smiled as she put her phone away. It looks like she was going to stay at Miraculous tonight.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

The first chance she got, Marinette packed away all of her bags and called upon the nearest taxi to take her to the boutique. After all, it has been a long time since she last been there.

It was raining when she got to that part of town, but she didn't mind. Mama used to always love the rain.

She finally got to the front of the entrance as she set her luggage down. She looked at the sign that hung above the door.

"Miraculous: Vintage and Charming clothing, Boutique".

As she opened the door, a murky smell of cookies and camembert cheese filled her nose.

Yep, she smiled, I'm definitely home again.