Marinette and Alya searched the racks in the charity shop, pulling out the strangest clothes they could find, and holding it up against them, like it would suit them. Alya's personal favourite was a mirror-effect blouse with a poet-fringe on the collar, and black feathers for sleeves.
"this is where fashion goes to die," she chuckled as she dropped it back in the bargain bin.
"Don't say that!"
"are you going to tell me that icy-fringe covered shirts are going to be the next big thing? Gator shoes? They're just knock off crocs!"
"Look, Leopard mink!" Marinette draped the huge fur coat over her shoulders and pulled a sensual face as she declared, dramatically. "Grandma it's me – ANASTASIA!"
Alya howled with laughter as the fur coat hit the floor and Marinette stood with one arm on her hip, and her other pretending to smoke a cigarette.
"Well we are together in Paris girl, but does it hold the key to Mari's heart?" Alya waggled her eyebrow suggestively.
"Oh Alya!" Marinette whined, "we said no boy talk!"
Alya groaned loudly as she reached over the racks to make hand gestures to illustrate her points. "Girl, we cannot go dress shopping for a dance and not talk about boys!"
"Dress shopping? I've only got twenty euros in my pocket," Marinette said.
Alya rolled her eyes and shook her head. She turned around to search through the racks behind her, facing away from Marinette. She found a cute jumper with embroidery ladybugs crawling up the stalk of a sunflower. She looked at the tag, and gasped in horror.
"Fifty dollars for a jumper- that's just some ignorant shi-"
"Fifty?!" Marinette gasped.
Alya grabbed it and held it up to show Marinette clearly. "Look at this! it's hideous! It's like something my grandma would wear!"
Marinette laughed at the comment, but she thought back to the box of clothes Alya's grandmother had sent her mother so she wouldn't have to throw them away. Somewhere in that box was a blue dress that – with some adaptions – could look just like the one Anastasia wore to the ballet..
Marinette gasped sharply, "THAT'S IT!"
Alya's head snapped up in surprise and hope. If she had found a nice, cheap, dress here than maybe Alya could too. "What is?!"
Marinette ran part the ranks and straight up to Alya, bouncing on the spot with a new excited energy.
"Has your mother thrown away that blue dress yet?!"
"my grandmothers dress? Mari don't do something you'll regret," Alya warned urgently.
"Having a gorgeous dress is all well and good, but have six other people in the same one is a no-no. instead I'll wear your grandma's clothes, and I'll look incredible!" Marinette's eyes gleamed.
To be fair to Marinette, she was certain she could adapt it to look gorgeous, and the colour would match her eyes and hair gloriously, even if it didn't fit with what Nathanael ended up wearing. But she could fix that with a text to make sure he wore something to fit with her. Alya frowned while Marinette thought of all that. Concern was growing in her expression.
"I worry about you girl."
"I won't regret it, can I have it, please?"
Marinette latched on to Alya's arm, and was willing to fall to her knees if it came to that. It didn't. unfortunately. Alya smirked at her friend's desperation, and shook her head.
"Sure girl, anything for you, but I think red's more your colour."
Marinette leapt upright extatically and threw her arms around her best friend. "Alya you're letting me save my money and I'm so happy!"
Alya laughed brightly. "Girl I'm still worried about you."
Tikki sat on top of a spool of thread and stared at the dress on a mannequin at the centre of the room. It had been brought for a wedding, and could have been mistaken for an ugly bridesmaids' dress. The sleeves came down to Marinette's elbows in one huge puff, with frills along the cusp. It came down to the floor, and fell shapelessly with heavy fabrics weighed down by bows that were weaved together by a ribbon around the hem. If there was one word to describe it, it would be hideous.
"Why did you want this again?" Tikki asked.
"Oh don't be like that Tikki," Marinette tutted.
Marinette was hunched over the desk, sketching what she wanted the dress to look like in the end. Her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth while she concentrated furiously. Tikki flitted over to examine the designs. She gasped. It was an entirely different dress.
"how would you make the skirt like that?" Tikki asked quietly.
"by removing the stitched in petticoat," Marinette said.
"both of them?"
"both of them!"
Tikki's eyes widened. The stitches on the petticoat were small, and fiddly. It would be easier to cut the skirt off entirely so pull them off, but tearing the fabric would defeat the point. Tikki pointed to the designs.
"and this bit?"
"I'm going to unfurl the sleeves and iron them out so they aren't puffy anymore."
"thank goodness, they look like macaroons!"
Marinette laughed brightly at that. Tikki beamed with joy. She liked when Marinette laughed, and she loved being the one to make her laugh.
"will you have time to finish it?" she asked.
"I'm doing it all tonight," Marinette explained.
She placed a can of red bull on the desk, pointedly. Danger alarms went off in Tikki's head.
"tonight?!"
"well you heard Alya! She's going to need alterations, and I'm sure Rose will make Juleka come here for hers, and Juleka won't want to complain, but Rose will have a list of things that are wrong, and I'll have to whittle down the things I can fix in time, while still going on patrol," Marinette explained.
"why don't you just say no?" Tikki asked.
"because I love those girls. They need help, and I like the practice."
"You're going to exhaust yourself."
"it wouldn't be the first time," Marinette muttered.
Tikki frowned. She wanted to ask if she was still upset about missing half of the dance, even though she wouldn't be missing any of it since she'd be there as Ladybug. Tikki wanted to ask Marinette to tell her everything she was going to tell Chat Noir, but she didn't. Marinette had wanted to talk to him about them, not her. It was none of her business, even though it was her whole existence.
"Keep the ribbon," Tikki said.
Marinette glanced at her uncertainly. "The ribbon?"
"You can wear it in your hair. Maybe with a bow. It'll match your dress and not cost you anymore."
Marinette glanced down at the bottom of the dress. There were plenty of bows to tie into her hair, and the ribbon was long enough to tie twice.
"Tikki you're a genius," she beamed.
Tikki smirked to herself, proudly. Still, in a tone that suggested that she couldn't care less, she said, "I know."
Three streets down, on a building tall enough to see the bakery, chat Noir stared at the light coming through the loft hatch. He had finished parole and the rest of the city was safe and sound. Everything else was dark. Marinette was the only other soul still awake.
Adrien growled in frustration. He knew what she was like when she was tired. She barely knew up from down! The girl desperately needed sleep. He desperately wanted to go over and tuck her into her bed again, to make sure she was safe and soundly asleep, like the rest of the city. However, it was that sweet sleepy situation that had left her in his mind for almost two months now. If he had to face it again he would feel the need to kiss her goodnight.
He already felt a need to kiss her goodnight. Ladybug would never forgive him if he did. And yet something about this wouldn't let him pull away.
Why was her light on? Why wasn't she asleep? How long could she possibly stay awake for?
Adrien made himself comfortable, and prepared to stay up for a long time. He needed to know how little she slept. Something in him NEEDED to know.
By the time dawn broke Marinette had literally put blood sweat and tears into that dress. Tikki was curled up on the pincushion sound asleep. Marinette scooped her up gently and carried her in one hand up into bed. She settled Tikki gently on the pillow, safely to one side, and collapsed onto the bed beside her. Tikki yawned and rolled over to press herself against Marinette's side. The sun peered in through the hatch above her bed. She buried her face in her duvet and ignored it.
Chat woke up as the sun warmed his face, and found himself leaning against a chimney on a rooftop, staring at Marinette's bedroom window. His back ached and there was a crick in his neck. All of him just ached. Then it was cold. The early morning wind had chilled him. He stood up, stumbled, slipped, and yelped in alarm. Almost slipping to your death is not a good way to start your day. He shook off the pain, and leapt back home, to get a grumpy scolding from Plagg.
"We just came from her house, her dress is gorgeous," Rose said.
Juleka agreed. "It is and Alya's is so pretty too."
They had been showing off their dresses to Marinette so she could make notes on what alterations they wanted. She promised to get them back within the week, but they were prepared to wait until the night before the party. Marinette got busy with school and the bakery and whatever, and they understood that. Giving her a short time limit was unfair. They never did. But she'd still apologise a hundred times if it went past the one she made up.
Nathanael cracked his knuckles in front of his chest anxiously. "What colour is it?"
"Blue," Juleka said.
"Dark blue," rose added.
"What kind of dark blue?" Nathanael asked.
Rose and Juleka shared an uncertain look. It was dark blue. Dark blue is dark blue.
"Does it matter?" rose asked.
"I'm an artist! It matters to me!" Nathanael snipped.
The girls just looked bewildered.
"I don't know, what kind of blue would you say it was?" rose asked Juleka.
"I don't know!" Juleka threw her hands up helplessly.
Nathanael groaned inwardly. Why wasn't this easy? He glanced around his room and spotted the messy paint box he'd just been working from. Nathanael had a stroke of genius. He grabbed the acrylic paints from on top and held them out to the girls.
"look at my paints. Tell me which one is closest."
At first they looked doubtful, but they reached in and started checking the colours on the paints. Between themselves they talked about them, muttering like they didn't want Nathanael to hear.
"maybe… navy?"
"no I was too light to be navy."
"Colbat?"
"no that's too light."
"Admiral?"
"That's it, that's the one!"
Nathanael gasped and grabbed the paint from Juleka's hand like it was treasure. "Admiral? Are you sure?! I have to get a jacket the exact right colour to fit with her, so tell me you're certain!" He was going a little manic with the pressure he'd put on himself to make this perfect.
Juleka laid a hand on each of his shoulders, and said, very seriously, "Nath take a breath. You're worrying over nothing. she's already going to the dance with you, take a minute to enjoy it rather than pressuring yourself to death."
Nathanael heaved the deepest sigh and his shoulders sank, making him lose almost a foot of height. "I just want things to be perfect!"
"they will be. but real perfect is messy. It's the ups and downs. You can't plan perfect, and trying to will kill you," Juleka warned.
"We know what the dress looks like. Why don't we go shopping with you and find something for you to wear? That way you can stop worrying about it, and we'll take some of the pressure off you," rose asked.
Juleka grinned at the idea. She didn't much like shopping, but she liked spending time with Rose, and she loved making people wear dumb clothes that didn't suit them. this could be fun!
Nathanael smiled a real, true smile of utter admiration. "you two are the best friends I could ever ask for."
Rose giggled and linked her arm through his. "come on, let's get this done."