Chapter 4

His eyes darted down to the page, and back up to the material in his hand. The page was covered in incoherent and meaningless -for everyone else- letters and numbers. Smiling confidently, he set down the dress and spun in his chair, sighing.

"Everything alright?", he jumped and almost tipped over the chair. He warily looked over to his bed where Marinette was analyzing him curiously. The blonde blushed, realizing that he had forgotten she was there. Again. In all honesty, he was surprised she was still here. He expected her to leave as soon as he started working, or suddenly say she had to hurry off at some random point, but he was happy she was still here. Nervous, anxious and self-conscious, yes, but glad all the same. Adrien was glad she was comfortable, she seemed relaxed and looked happy with what she was doing. Then he realized Marinette was still looking at him, waiting for some kind of a reply. He blinked himself out of his reverie and he heard her laugh. It was a sweet sound. He smiled sheepishly at her and his hand subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ah, yeah. Fine. I, uh, I'm actually f-finished", he cursed his nervousness. Her eyes lit up, and she was leaning over the dress in the time it took him to blink. She held it up and inspected it, turning it around.

"Completely finished?. He nodded, staring up at her. She grinned, something he hadn't seen before, but it made his heart flutter.

"Cool, I'll go try it on!",

"R-right n-now?"

"Well, I was planning on. Unless you don't want me to? That's fine, by the way", he blushed and shook his head slightly.

"N-no, that's f-fine", the bluenette smiled at him and starting walking away.

"Sorry, which one's the bathroom, again?",

"Uh, s-second on the l-left", there was a second, and then,

"Thanks", she called up. He blushed furiously as soon as she left, burying his face in his hands. He heard a high-pitched giggling from behind him. He felt Tikki land on his shoulder and pat his head comfortingly.

"I'm such a mess around her, Tikki..."

"I think it's cute, and you've definitely gotten better. Although... She is about to come back wearing one of your designs...". He blushed again.

"Tikki ", he groaned. She giggled, before zooming back where she was. He heard a knock.

"Hey, sorry, I left the choker in here". She walked in and he turned to face her. And his heart stopped.

She was wearing the dress. She was wearing his dress. Marinette was wearing his dress. He didn't realize how good Marinette would look in his dress. He stared at her. He couldn't look away. Beautiful. She was always beautiful, but this was something else.

Three-quarter length sleeves, coming just past her elbows. A white bodice, and a wide neckline, exposing her collarbones. A thick black, satin belt, in a simple bow at the back, trailing down. The green skirt came just below her knees, black embroidery reaching as far as three inches maximum in some places. He stared at her.

"You look beautiful.. " he whispered, not really thinking about it. She gave him a genuine smile and picked up the choker.

"Adrien? Can you give me a hand with this?", he looked at her for a second before realizing what she meant.

"S-sure", he muttered, trying and just barely managing to keep his voice at normal pitch. He walked over and hesitantly took the neck-piece from her. The blonde nervously wrapped the satin around her neck gently, asking,

"Is t-this o-okay?", she hummed positively in reply and he hooked the latch with anxious, fumbling fingers. The bluenette was leaning her head forward, and holding her hair out of the way, he was sure she could feel his breath on her skin. ASD soon as he was done, he stepped away and internally let out a sigh. She turned to the mirror, and then back to him.

"Should my hair be up? Or down?", it was an innocent question, one she was used to as a model, but it made a warmth spread in his chest. He looked at the dress, and then back to her hair.

"I don't know, whichever you prefer", he answered, although, something about the pigtails looked, right... The designer cleared his head and looked back to the girl, to see her leaving her pigtails in, he almost smiled.

Then there was another knock at the door.

"Hey guys, are you done the cookies? I'll just take the plat-", Sabine stopped when she saw Marinette, who smiled at her.

"Oh, dear. You look absolutely precious", she said, a soft smile on her features.

"Beautiful, dear, just beautiful", Marinette gave her a sincere smile and did a curtsey. Sabine laughed lightly.

"Can I show Tom?".

"Of course!", she replied with a nod. Sabine's smile widened and she held out her hand for Marinette to take. She took her downstairs, Adrien followed after debating it for a minute.

"Tom?"

"What is it?", he asked, walking out of the kitchen, flour-covered apron on. He saw Marinette and a around smile lit up his face.

"Good work, son. She looks good".

"Just good ?", he laughed at his wife.

"Great. She looks great", Sabine gave him a mock-approving nod and he prentended to wipe sweat off of his forehead. Marinette giggled at them. She couldn't imagine her Dad messing around like that. Adrien admired the dress from the stairs, he had to admit, he was proud of it.

There was a loud ringtone coming from upstairs, Adrien noticed Marinette's face fall the slightest bit, but maybe it was just the light. She walked back up the stairs and answered the phone. She talked and listened for about twenty seconds before coming back down and vbowing.

"I apologize, I have to leave now. Thank you for your hospitality", Tom laughed,

"You don't have to be so formal", she smiled at him.

"I need to change", she said, turning around.

"If you're in a rush, you can just wear it". The words were out of Adrien's mouth before he could think them through. He internally cursed him as she turned back around and stared at him stunned. Then as huge smile crept onto her features.

"Thank you, Adrien", the blonde tried desperately to hide his blush in front of his parents. She ran upstairs and grabbed her pile of clothes. When she came back down, Sabine was holding out a bag. She thanked her and walked out the front where a silver limousine was parked. Adrien followed her to the door and waved. She waved back and clpsed the car door.

As soon as he turned around, his parents were there with big grins on their faces.

"Isn't that the girl on all those posters?"

"I didn't know you were designing clothes for her, that was a very nice dress "

"Do you design dresses for all your female friends?", he sighed and pretended to ignore his parents, while walking up the stares, making sure to keep his red face out of their view.

Nathalie raisedx an eyebrow at the young Agreste's outfit, but said nothing.

"You're father is in his office, waiting for you", Marinette nodded, her bag had already been taken up, and she suddenly wished she could change clothes.

She knocked on the door, and walked in. He finished writing something and looked up at her, if he noticed her clothing, his expression didn't show it.

"I just wanted to tell you that tomorrow's photoshoot has been postponed until the day after, although this means that it will be a double shoot". Surely that's not why he wanted to talk to her. He could have just got Nathalie to tell her that.

"Yes, father". He went back to writing and she turned to leave.

"Marinette", she turned back around.

"Your outfit", her breath hitched in her throat.

"Where did it come from?", she gulped and hesitantly opened her mouth.

"A classmate made it for me, father, a friend", she swore she saw something behind his eyes, probably just her imagination.

"Who?"

"Adrien Dupain-Cheng, he was the one who won the bowler-hat competition", there was that glint again.

"I remember", she turned back to leave again.

"This Adrien, I remember his design, quite impressive. How long did it take him to make what your wearing"

"He made it in an evening, to my knowledge. And he spent an hour and a half adjusting it to my measurements". Was that, interest, possibly?

"He possesses talent. Tell him that".

"Yes, father", she nodded, and turned to leave, for the third time. Once outside of the room, with the door closed. She stood still in amazement. She had complimented Adrien. She had said he had talent. She wouldn't have not told him if her father had asked. A small smile wasx on her face as she made her way up to her room.

She checked the time. Two hours until patrol with her Lord. She admired the dress in the mirror. It really was beautiful. All of her clothes were hand-made, but there face just something... Different about this outfit. The bluenette smiled and smoothed down the skirt. She really did love it.

A/N: That's chapter 4. I possibly spent too much time on the dress thing, but, hey. Sorry for how long this took. Please review, I want to know your thoughts. -Crys