Day 2: Ugly Sweater
Summary:The bane of all designers existence... the dreaded Ugly Christmas Sweater contest. While Marinette and Adrien have been rivals since middle school, Marinette's luck begins to run out and threatens not only her chances of winning the contest, but her livelihood all together.
What does this mean for the two budding fashion majors?
Adrienette with hints of Ladynoir if you squint.
"Dude."
"What?"
Nino smirked, "Dude."
Adrien tensed his shoulders and thrust his hands into his black leather jacket. "What dude?"
"Bro, you've been staring at Mari for the past half an hour. Go talk to her!"
Adrien's cheeks flushed and tsked, "Whatever. I'm keeping an eye on my rival, that's all. Keep your enemies closer, am I right?"
The DJ just rolled his eyes. His best friend may lie with his mouth, but his body language betrayed this not so secret crush on one Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The pair of them were fierce designer rivals since they were in middle school. They always wore the hottest fashions, made by themselves, just to try and one-up one another. Yet despite the blond's denials, Nino saw just how hard Adrien was crushing on the raven-haired girl.
"Sure, keep telling yourself that, bro. Word of advice though, make a move before some other dude sweeps her up and takes her off into the sunset." Adrien spared him a side-long glare before turning his eyes back to the girl in question. She was talking to Alya, her best friend and Nino's girlfriend about something obviously important. Mari only chewed her lip like that when something was really weighing on her mind. Before either of them knew it, Adrien was on the move in their direction.
"I just can't do it Alya!" Marinette whined. "They're so tacky!"
"But that first place prize isn't tacky. It's 5 G's Mari! $5,000! And you get a week-long behind the scenes look in next month's fashion line. Do you know how many designers, much less reporters like me would kill for that kind of scoop?!"
"But to put my name on it? It'll be in my portfolio for life! It's not something I can undo when I win, Als. If I want to get into Papillon Couture, I have to show them all of my work."
"Then don't do it," Alya snapped her gum with finality.
"But I really need that extra money or my landlord will kick me out!"
"Then sign on the dotted line and enter the contest. Girl, the designers at Papillon will be more impressed when you win the contest despite what you entered. Do you want to show them you can step out of the box right? Do something out of your comfort zone and enter the contest."
"Enter what contest?" Marinette's spine immediately straightened as she turned to face her greatest rival, biggest crush, Adrien Agreste. The blond smirked at her and winked. "DC, Cesaire."
"Agreste," both women greeted back. Marinette tried not to stare as she casually glanced at Adrien's current outfit. It was perfectly selected, as usual, from his black leather jacket to the dark-wash jeans and a pair of dark brown Papillion men's boots. Definitely, from this season's collection, she thought enviously.
"I'm just giving Mari the pep talk she needs to win the upcoming design contest."
"Alya," Marinette hissed, turning her ice blue eyes on her so-called best friend.
"Design contest?" Adrien asked, eyes darting around to figure out what they could possibly be talking about. What design contest? Then he saw the flyer that Marinette practically crumpled in her hand and snatched it away from her.
"Hey!"
"Whatever it is, I bet I'll trounce you," he goaded, green eyes twinkling as the raven-haired girl's face flushed a delightful shade of rouge.
"Pft, as if. I can beat you in any design contest in my sleep," Marinette waved him off. "I just don't know if it's worth my time and materials."
"Sounds like you're scared, DC. Are you backing out so soon? I bet you haven't even signed up yet. Give me your pen, Alya. I can't wait to enter!"
Marinette squawked in shock as Alya stepped away from the sign-up sheet on the Student Information board and watched as Adrien signed up without a second thought. He turned on his heel and clicked the pen shut with a smirk. Marinette looked genuinely surprised, which was both a good and bad thing for Adrien. Good because it means he had her full and undivided attention, bad because it meant he possibly did something foolish.
Alya whistled low and then snapped her gum again, "Gauntlet's been thrown Marinette."
Marinette knew and she hated Adrien for doing it. He never even looked at the flyer! Now she had to enter just to prove she wasn't chicken.
Papillion is looking for designers that are willing to step outside the box and be fresh, she reminded herself. In order to be fashion forward, you have to take a few risks to be successful.
Marinette glared hotly at Adrien before stepping up to the sign-up sheet and pulling out her lucky ladybug pen and signed her own name right below his. "I bet you'll back out of this one first, Agreste. I can't see you coming out alive in this kind of contest."
"Oh? Why's that?" Adrien leaned down so he was nose to nose with his rival.
Marinette steeled herself against the temptation to either smack him or kiss him. The jury was still out on which way she would've gone if those were her only options. Instead, she matched his smirk with one of her own. "It's Papillon Couture's Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest."
Slowly, all the color drained out of Adrien's lightly tanned complexion. "W-what?"
"See you on the catwalk, Agreste," Marinette waved and walked away, hips swaying slowly as she made her exit. Adrien couldn't even find the brainpower to watch as he turned his nervous gaze on the journalism major.
Alya laughed at his expression and snapped her gum. "You should really read the flyer before jumping into things like that lover boy," she advised.
Adrien hoped, prayed to all the fashion gods that smiled down on him, that this was some elaborate prank that the two girls had concocted to make him lose his edge. So, carefully he unfolded the flyer and smoothed it out. It was legit, right down to the prizes offered to the top three winners. His eyes zeroed in on the first prize opportunity and felt his blood fizz with manic energy. He could do this. He could do one ugly sweater and win Papillon's attention! He could even use the prize money to do something that would finally impress Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Yeah! He could do this! According to the flyer, they had two weeks until the deadline to submit their pieces. How hard could it be?
Apparently a lot harder than either fashion major thought initially. Purposefully designing a tacky sweater, despite it being a contest, was not in Adriens or Marinette's DNA. Yet, both designers were fiercely competitive and often found ways to check on their rival's progress. For one straight week, the two of them managed to sneak peeks at each other's sketchbooks and left critiquing notes in the margins. Trying to come up with an original ugly Christmas sweater idea was harder than it looked, and the two of them were clearly struggling to bring out their own originality.
However, Marinette's personal competition with Adrien was slowly slipping from her day to day attention. On Monday, her landlord, Mr. Damoclese called.
"I can only extend your grace period to next Friday Ms. Dupain-Cheng. If you do not have your rent paid in full by that date, we will be forced to evict you from your apartment. I'm sorry, there's nothing else I can do for you."
Marinette wetted her lips as she pressed her palm to her aching neck. "I understand Mr. Damoclese. Thank you, sir." When she hung up the phone, she shut her eyes and buried her face in Alya's shoulder to stop herself from crying. The red-head waited and counted to ten before breaking the tense silence.
"Well?"
Marinette pulled in a shaky breath. "I have until next Friday."
Alya's shoulders loosened minutely and she offered an encouraging smile to her best friend. "That's great! The fashion show is next Tuesday. You've got to submit your sweater next week, you attend the show, win the check and boom! Problem solved!"
"Yeah for now," Marinette bemoaned softly. "I don't know how much longer I can keep up with this, Alya. I can barely keep up with my commissions for my website, school and help at my parent's shop. I'm scared Als. What if I can't do this again? Designing custom stuff costs money. What if I can't enter another contest the next time?"
"Hey, hey," Alya hugged the raven-haired designer tightly. "You're doing great Mari. You're a Dupain-Cheng, daughter to the best and most successful bakers in Paris! You work harder than any person I know and you are a natural designer. It's going to be okay."
"I hope you're right, Alya..."
"I know I'm right."
Adrien waited impatiently behind the pillar, ready to spring when Madame Bustier finally dismissed her lecture class. He needed to talk to Alya immediately. His brain raced as he thought about Marinette. Something was wrong with his raven-haired rival, and he needed to know what it was yesterday. She was barely paying attention to him! She didn't even react when he played his sneak-a-peek game and looked over her shoulder at her sketchbook that morning. It wasn't even on a page with a working ugly sweater concept for the contest!
No, his Marinette was customarily laser-focused on all her projects and deadlines. It wasn't like her to be this spacey with something this important on the line. Her attitude change began two days ago, he thought. He had been hiding out in the shadows, waiting for another moment to pounce and peek at her sketches when he saw she was on the phone. Whatever she was talking about, it was terrible news.
Adrien went on instant alert and looked for every possible reason that would have his girl upset. Whatever it was, it wasn't anything her parents were aware of. He checked there first, half expecting to see one of the Dupain-Cheng bakers out sick, or worse, in the hospital. He sublty asked their professors if they thought that Marinette required extra tutoring in any of their subjects, all of whom declined and said that their pupil had straight A's like himself. So it had to be something personal... maybe Papillon had called her about her internship application. Had they shot her down? No, knowing Mari she'd be so distraught she'd pull out of the competition altogether. So... perhaps another design rival surfaced? Adrien bristled at the consideration before a worse one came to him. Had that rival stolen one of Marinette's designs out of her sketchbook? It had happened before, with Chloe when they were in middle school, and Marinette had been furious.
Finally, Madame Bustier dismissed her class and her students came out in droves. Adrien waited until he spotted Alya and grabbed her before she could get away. "Yo! Hands off dude-Adrien?" Alya yelped in surprise. "Dude! Let go!" she demanded as he dragged her out of the foot traffic. "What's your damage Agreste?!"
"What's wrong with Marinette?!" he shot back, ignoring the red-head's demands.
Alya didn't balk, but she did pause. Very little phased her, but Adrien did catch her off guard. "Why do you care?"
"Babe, just answer him," Nino made his way over to their side, brown eyes somber. "I just saw Marinette and she looks pretty out of it." Alya's hazel eyes jumped between her boyfriend and her best friend's rival. Nino sighed, "Believe it or not, Adrien is genuinely worried about Mari. Seriously Als, what's up?"
Alya reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of chewing gum and quickly popped a piece in her mouth. "Marinette... she's having some issues right now; money mostly, but housing is what's being threatened."
"What?!" Adrien yelled, hands clenching into fists.
"Easy there, tiger. Marinette's behind a full two months on her rent. Her landlord says she either pays up by next Friday or she's out."
"Mari can't be kicked out," Nino denied with a shake of his head. "Her folks live across town. The commute between here and home would be hell!"
"Which is why she needs to win this contest," Alya cut her eyes back to the blond, her expression remorseful. "I'm sorry Agreste, I would never ask you to throw a competition between the two of you, but Mari needs to win this money. SHe won't accept favors from me and she won't dare ask her parents for money."
"Can't she stay with you?" Adrien asked.
"With me, my three sisters, and parents all under one roof? I barely get my news reports done in peace, thank you very much. Marinette would never get any work done there. Those are her words, not mine. I already offered."
Adrien ran a hand over his face, "What about the school? Is there any room in the dorms?"
Alya shook her head, "I already asked and I've been checking every day. There's no room."
"Fuck," Adrien began to pace. "There has to be something..."
"Bro, I think Alya may have a point. For Marinette's wellbeing, you might need to bow out of this one."
"Marinette would be insulted if I backed out or if I didn't give my 110% to our competitions. It's... it's something I've always admired about her."
Alya blew a bubble and then snapped it. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, Agreste, but Mari's stress is at an all-time high right now. Her creative juices aren't flowing. If you don't back out, I think she will. You're her biggest competition there, hands down. But if she doesn't complete and submit a piece by Monday, all bets are off."
"There's got to be something..." Nino muttered, fiddling with the chord on his headphones.
"I think we all agree that Mari needs help, but she's too stubborn to ask for it."
Help. "That's it!" Adrien snapped his fingers and then pulled out his phone.
"What's it?" Nino asked, bewildered.
"I have an idea, all I need to do now is talk to Marinette- Hello, Pierre? It's Adrien Agreste. I- yes, yes I'm fine, thanks, Pierre. No, I'm happily attached, thank you."
Nino gaped and pressed a hand to his mouth to hold back his laughter. Alya peered quizzically at her boyfriend, wondering what was so funny. "Pierre is a photography major Adrien modeled for in the spring. He's a little... flamboyant."
"You don't say," Alya giggled, watching as Adrien's ears began to turn a little read.
"Pierre! I'm sorry, but I wouldn't call if it weren't important. I need to cash in that favor. Good, I'm counting on you. First, I need you to check and see if teams are allowed to present a piece to the Papillon Ugly Christmas Sweater contest..."
The following evening, when classes were dismissed, Marinette sat down with her sketchbook and her mannequin, willing herself to find the spark that would give her the drive to create. But thus far, nothing worked. She tried yoga, running, baking, cooking... nothing was working. The deadline loomed over her head, and she still had nothing.
Knock-knock-knock.
The raven-haired girl tensed, listening intently to see if it was Mr. Damoclese. Sometimes he would make house calls to check up on the progress of her rent situation. The old man had visited her twice already and she wouldn't put it past him to do a third. "Marinette?"
Marinette shot from her chair and ran to the door to look out the peep-hole. That was definitely not Mr. Damoclese. She unlatched the chain and opened the door just a crack. "What are you doing here Agreste?"
"Easy, Dupain-Cheng, I come in peace." He held up a handful of shopping bags, all bursting with supplies and material. She could see the festive gleam of gold glitter and fabric paints, tinsel, and fabric. She frowned and opened her door wider.
"How did you even know-"
"Alya." Marinette's jaws snapped shut and she swore to herself that Alya was going to get the ass chewing of a lifetime the next time she saw her. "Can I come inside? It's freezing out here."
She hesitated for only a second before opening her door wider to allow the blond passage. As he walked in, he took in her humble surroundings and hummed softly. "Can I offer you coffee?"
"Please, cream and sugar-"
"-with whipped cream on top," Marinette finished and walked into her tiny kitchen. Adrien's head snapped around to look at her, surprised she knew how he took his coffee. "Why are you here Agreste?"
"I heard you were having some... problems. And will it kill you to call me Adrien?"
Marinette flushed and tried to regain control of her racing heartbeat. SHe didn't dare hope that Adrien Agreste was having a change of heart about her. Out of all things to happen, that was not on her list to happen at this moment in time. She did not want his pity.
"Let me guess, Alya spilled her guts to you."
"No. Getting info from her is like pulling teeth from a baby goat," Adrien chuckled. "She's loyal to you. And she's scared for you."
"Well, when I win this design contest, it'll be worth it in the end. So be prepared to get your ass handed to-"
"-I pulled my name from the competition, Mari."
Marinette's breath hitched and she nearly dropped the cup of coffee she carried out to him. "What?"
"I pulled out. You won't be competing against me."
"Why?! Didn't you read the fine print? In addition to the prize money is-"
"-a backstage tour of the upcoming Papillion fashion show," Adrien finished. "I read it. I said I pulled out so you won't be competing against me. I want you to compete with me."
Marinette blinked and her eyes narrowed at him, "You're not serious."
"I'm 100% serious. I want to work together with me... you know, become partners."
"Bullshit," Marinette snapped. "You've always competed with me since we were in middle school. Every time I had an original design, you'd somehow come up with a killer one to-t-to," her voice cracked.
"I was trying to match your talent," Adrien admitted. "Mari, you have such a fire in you that I cannot ignore. You drive me to be the very best because you deserve the best. God, I've been competeing with you so I could impress you!"
"You do that by breathing!" she shot back. "Adrien, you come from two of the most successful people in the world. Your dad is already a fashion designer and your mom is a world class musician! You are born to stardom, have natural talent and godlike looks?!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Marinette wished she could pull them right back in, swallow them, lock them deep inside her soul and never let them see the light of day again!
However, she did say them and Adrien stared at her, stunned. Slowly, he got up from his seat on the couch and walked over to her. "Godlike looks, huh? Natural talent?"
"Shut up," Marinette backed away until she was pressed against the wall. "That-that didn't come out the way it was supposed to."
"Oh no, I have it on good authority that, that's the truth. You really think that. You don't stutter when you're honest and you ramble when you're frustrated or get mad. Mari, I don't think I've ever heard you pay me such high complements in one breath."
"You don't get to call me that."
"What? Mari?" Adiren boxed her in with both arms. "Alright, how about... Beautiful?"
"What?"
"My lady?"
"Adrien, stop-"
"Or how about Princess?"
Marinette blushed and put both hands on his chest as if to halt him. "Stop messing with my head," she ordered. "You... you don't-you never liked me."
"I've always liked you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." The truth in his words struck her deep in her chest. "And I know for a fact you like me too."
Whatever spell he had Marinette under, broke instantly. Marinette pushed him back, "How-where would yo get an idea like that?!"
Adrien laughed and then pointed behind him towards her design corner. Marinette followed his fingers and gasped in realization. Her photos of Adrien, her wall to him, was in full display for the world to see. Her cheeks flushed crimson as her rival, and secret crush, laughed softly at her mortification. "We're both idiots."
"No, we're rivals. That's how... how it's always been."
"Princess, look at me." Marinette lifted her head, meeting his eyes squarely despite her growing embarrassment. "The whole point of a rivalry is to figure out how to beat your opponent. We're never going to top each other, and I'm tired of fighting. I know that when we put our heads together, we'll be an unstoppable force. In more ways than one," he winked. Marinette nibbled her lip, thinking and Adrien gently pushed her hair away from her face. "Marinette, I want to kiss you."
With that, the last shred of the raven-haired designer's resistance shattered and she grabbed him and pulled him down into a searing kiss. Heat surged between them and Adrien held her head in his hands, stroking down her cheeks and moving one hand to cradle the back of her head. His tongue gently sneaked out and swept over the seam of her lips, tasting hints of coffee and pastries. Marinette gasped softly and he slipped his tongue between her lips, coaxing her back into his own.
She moaned softly, carding her fingers through his hair. Adrien responded with a rumble of his own, almost like a purr, and she shivered at the sound. Finally, they parted, panting for air.
"Well, that answers that," Adrien grinned, pressing his forehead against Marinette's. "Now, will you accept my proposal and work together on this monstrosity of a sweater?"
Marinette giggled softly, "It is pretty terrible isn't it?"
"Why is this tacky thing a tradition?" he wondered.
"I don't know... so let's make sure we make the most original Christmas sweater to ever hit Papillion's catwalk."
"I like the way you think Princess."
Despite tacky being the running theme of an ugly Christmas sweater contest, Marinette and Adrien both felt honestly proud of their entry. The whole event was painful for both of them to watch. Colors clashed horribly, patterns were loud and obnoxious and downright hurt to look at.
When the time came for the winner to be announced, it was decided that Marinette would stand on the catwalk to await judgment. She was dressed beautifully despite the venue. In fact, it was a dress Adrien had designed and made himself. It was red with a black beaded belt that cinched around her waist with a ladybug buckle. It was asymetrical and draped against her as if the fabric had no will to hold itself up at all. Her hair was done up in a classic french braid, showing off her lucky ladybug earrings that her mother had given her years ago. To complete the look, she wore a new pair of kitten heels that were equally as red as her dress.
"Well, I say we've never quite a design competition like this before," the announcer began. "But the competition was diverse and the judges had a difficult time picking the winner. However, by unanimous vote, the winner of the 2017 Papillion Ugly Christmas Sweater contest is... Coccinelle Noir!"
The applause was deafening and Marinette was outright surprised that she did win the competition. A stagehand lead both her and her model to the front where photographers immediately began snapping photos of her winning design. "Congratulations Ms. Noir. Is there anything you'd like to say?"
Marinette smiled, "Actually yes. This design isn't possible if I didn't have my partner. He insisted that I take the stage today, but I find it only fair to give him credit as well. Come up her Chat."
It took a moment before movement in the crowd caught the reporters attention. Immediately questions were fired off over the use of stage names, the inspiration of the design, the pair's plans for the fashion world. Both Marinette and Adrien took it all in stride. They shared a look between them and smiled. Adrien's right, we do make an unstoppable pair.
I'm going to marry this girl, Adrien thought, squeezing his girlfriend's hand. Someday. I wonder how father feels about a Christmas wedding...
AGAIN! Why can I not write a normal drabble like the other one-shot writers? why is it so difficult? *puts head down*
Day 2 complete and BEFORE MIDNIGHT MY TIME! YAAS! *high fives self!* Alright, time to sleep and then off to Day 3 tomorrow.
Next episode of A Miraculous Christmas: Day 3: Peppermint!
What the heck am I supposed to write about PEPPERMINT?!
-Kestra