DAY EIGHT: TEDDY BEAR

"This is definitely the one!" Rose beamed, her smile pushing her cheeks out like a chipmunk's. "It's so cute! Will you be able to make it?"

"Of course she will!" Alya said, slinging an arm around Marinette's shoulders. "She's one of the best sewers in the school!"

Huh, she used to say she was the best sewer.

"The pattern's not too hard," Marinette replied. The three of them were gathered around a desk in the library where Marinette was showing them the design for her next idea: a teddy bear.

It was juvenile, yes, but when she'd looked up Valentine's Day gifts on the internet, cuddly toys had come up a surprising amount of times. Too many times for her to ignore. And so, she'd found a pattern online for making her own.

"I'll have to get a few supplies though," she continued, scrolling down the page to the material's lIst. "I'll need some stuffing, and make a fuzzy fabric for the fur. What colour do you think?"

"Pink," said Rose.

"Green," said Alya.

Marinette had been thinking about a warm, buttery yellow, but now she was less sure. "I'll see what they have at the shops," she said. Perhaps the prices would make the decision for her.

After school, Marinette went shopping alone. Alya had offered to go with her, but ducked out last minute to help Lila with her homework.

"She sprained her wrist in PE," Alya said by way of explanation when Marinette phoned her from outside the school to ask where she was. "I said I'd help out by writing it down for her."

By the time Marinette reached her favourite fabric shop, she was in a bad mood. "Lila's probably going to make her do all of the work," she grumbled as she glared through the window. Her intention had been simply to look at what new fabrics they had in, but a foxy orange silk draped across a mannequin only made her gnash her teeth.

"Laser eyes not working?"

Marinette jolted in shock. Luka's face had appeared next to hers in the glass's faint reflection. He was grinning.

"Laser eyes?" she repeated, frowning.

He nodded. "With the face you were pulling I thought you were trying to break the window with superpowers or something. Presumably because it killed your family or some other tragic backstory?"

Marinette stared at him in bemusement but after a few seconds could help but let out a small laugh at his very serious expression. "No tragic backstory here," she said, looking back at the window. Now she thought about it, the orange silk was closer to Rena Rouge's costume. "I was just getting some supplies."

"What are you making?" he asked. "Something for Adrien?"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…?" His reflected grin broadened as he took a small step closer. She noticed a guitar case was slung across his back. "What are you making him?"

"It...It's embarrassing…"

"I'm sure it isn't," he said. Then, after a thoughtful pause, "Unless you're making a lingerie set or something…"

Turning bright red, Marinette lightly smacked his arm. "Luka!"

"I'm joking!" he laughed, raising a hand as if in defence. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to…"

"No, it's fine…" He'd found out eventually; if she didn't tell him, Juleka probably would. "I'm making a teddy bear—don't laugh!"

"I'm not laughing!" he replied. "I think that's a nice idea. Are you making it from scratch? I couldn't do that—wouldn't know where to begin. Then again, I can't even sew on a button, so…"

"Would you like to learn?" Marinette offered. "I've never done it myself either so it would be a new experience for both of us! If you're free, that is…"

"Yeah, I'm free. I was just grabbing some new strings from the music shop." Luka jabbed his thumb over his shoulder where a music shop was situated further down the road. "If you don't mind teaching me…"

"You'll be fine. Come on, I need to pick out fabrics."

Marinette grabbed his elbow and tugged him into the shop. She directed him to a column of fabric reams that she thought would work best for toys whilst she picked out a bag of stuffing. However, when she returned, he had moved on to the 'bargain bin'—a large basket full of tail-end scraps that the shop was selling for cheap.

"Find any you like?" she asked, beginning to rifle through as well.

"I don't even know," he admitted. "It's a little...overwhelming. There are a lot to choose from."

"Just pick out some colours you like," she said. "Most fabrics will be fine, and I can tell you if something won't. Silk puckers too easily so I'd stay away from that."

"No silk."

"No silk," she confirmed. "Can you hold this? I'm gonna look at the ones over there…" Marinette passed the bag of stuffing into his awaiting hands. "I'll be back in a moment."

Leaving him to continue sifting through cheap cuts, Marinette returned to the initial wall of materials. She quickly located the fuzzy ones in varying colours and thickness, and began going through them one-by-one in search of the perfect piece. The colourful options were too garish, too gimmicky, so Marinette was instantly drawn towards the more natural, neutral colours: browns and beiges.

Her favourite was a deep, chocolate colour, but she worried it was too dark. And the rich, mahogany undertones would clash with Adrien's room. The paler browns were too generic, and the whites too easily stained. Finally, she came across an attractive silvery one. The cool tone would suit Adrien's decor, and the neutral, inoffensive colour would look nice with a brighter accent. Emerald green, she thought, like his eyes.

She knew she had some green material already, and she could probably dig out some beads to use as eyes from the depths of her room too. She pictured the finished bear in her mind: stylish, classic, perfect. He was going to love it, and maybe he'd love her too. She just had to actually make the bear, hopefully without messing it up.

And, of course, she would be teaching Luka too. She had attempted once to teach Mylene how to make clothes, but the other girl hadn't taken to it. Marinette still wasn't sure if Mylene just naturally struggled or if she had been a less-than-adequate teacher. Hopefully, Luka would take to it much more easily. After all, they'd both be following the same online pattern she'd found.

She wondered what he would do with his bear. Perhaps he'd give it to whoever he'd been daydreaming about in Juleka's Instagram picture...

Marinette made a note of the fabric code so she could ask an assistant to cut her a piece at the till then returned to Luka, who now held not just the stuffing but had also fished out a selection of scraps.

"Do you think any of these will work?" he asked, shifting his hold on the items as he tried to grab another piece. "I liked the colours and some of these had some pretty cool patterns."

"They'll work fine," Marinette replied. "How many are you planning on making though?"

"One, I guess," he said. "But these are quite small so I thought maybe I could stitch them together?"

"Like a patchwork bear? That's a cute idea."

A short while later, after Marinette paid for their spoils—Luka had tried to pay for his odds and ends but she wouldn't let him—they set off down the darkening streets to Marinette's house. Her parents were too busy getting ready to close the bakery to say more than a brief hello.

In her room, they set up a crafting circle in the floor with their fabrics and stuffing spread between them, along with beads, thread and needles which Marinette procured from her sewing supplies. She pulled the instructions up on her tablet, which she propped up against a box of glittery threads.

First, they had to measure and cut out pieces of fabric, which was easy enough for Marinette using one sheet of grey fur and one sheet of bright green for the feet and ears, but Luka had to first stitch together a few of his chosen scraps to get pieces big enough from which to cut the pattern. He didn't seem too upset by this extra work, and instead relished arranging different patterns and colours in a way he found pleasing.

Fortunately, nothing clashed, and he'd kept mostly to a palette of pink, teal, and black. When he had pieces big enough, he carefully chose where to cut out the pattern so as to have the correct amount of each material in the correct parts of the bear. He particularly liked a printing fault on one section, where a black dot on a piece of blue had smudged into a lopsided heart.

"I want that on the front," he said, using a piece of seamstress' chalk to draw around the stencil Marinette had prepared before school. "On its chest."

"Make sure you know that's the front, then," she said. "You'll sew it inside out to hide the seams."

"Right…"

With everything cut out, they fell into the menial task of sewing everything together. Marinette, being far more experienced, stitched her parts together quickly and neatly, but next to her Luka was struggling. His needle kept unthreading, and he hadn't put his pins in as they constantly fell out. Eventually he got the knack of it, and as Marinette began on her teddy bear's arms, they fell into light chatter.

"Do you know what you're going to do with yours?" Marinette asked, forcing a handful of stuffing into the furry tube she'd made.

"I haven't thought that far ahead yet," he admitted. "Name it Hamish and force it to listen to my music, probably."

"Hamish, huh? Do you want to make a kilt for him too?"

"Aye," he replied, slipping into an outrageous Scottish accent. "And a wee sporran too."

She giggled—though in truth she had no idea what a sporran was. "Seriously, though. Have you got someone in mind to give it to?"

Luka didn't reply. At first, she thought he was just concentrating on a particularly fiddly stitch, but when she glanced across at him she found a thoughtful, slightly uncomfortably, frown on his lips. His fingers had paused mid-stitch.

A touchy subject, perhaps. "Sorry, you don't have to answer."

"It's okay," he said. "Just, uh, took me by surprise."

Marinette didn't bring it up again. After a few awkward seconds, she asked what a sporran actually was.

They passed most of the evening making bears. Marinette didn't even realise she was hungry until her dad came up to her bedroom with a plate of tiny quiches and a bowl of salad, which they snacked on whilst applying the finishing touches, which included sewing together the various body parts, and adding eyes and a mouth.

Soon enough, two toys sat before them. The first was immaculate. Silver-grey with verdant accents and neat stitches. If Marinette hadn't just spent the last few hours making it, she thought it looked as if it could have been bought from a shop.

The second didn't. It was made well enough, and she knew the seams were strong, but it was definitely hand-made. From the mismatched fabrics to the slightly wonky eyes and one leg being a tad longer and slightly less stuffed than the other, it was far from perfect. But it did have a certain charm about it, and the more she looked at it the more she decided it was one of the best teddy bears she'd ever seen.

Not that she often went around rating cuddly toys.

Whoever Luka gave it to would be very lucky to receive it. She nearly said as much, but judging by his previous reaction, that would be a bad idea.

"What's your one called?" Luka asked, smiling fondly at the toys. "Adrien junior?"

Marinette snorted and gave him a light shove. "No. That's a stupid name. I'll let Adrien name it."

"What if he calls it Adrien junior?"

"He wouldn't!"

"He might."

When Luka left not long later, after he realised he'd missed a fair few texts from his sister, Marinette set about tidying up their supplies. Luka had refused point blank to take the remnants of his fabric home with him. "After all," he'd said, stuffing Hamish into his bag, "what am I going to do with them?"

With her bedroom as tidy as it had been before they'd arrived—which wasn't very tidy—Marinette placed the grey bear on her desk and tied a green ribbon around its neck.

No note, she decided. Just give it to him and tell him you love him.

Tikki, who was in a rather irritable mood as she'd been forced to spend the entire afternoon cooped up in a small handbag, chewed on a cookie as she floated over to sit on Marinette's shoulder.

"It's good," she said. A stray chocolate chip fell onto the floor.

"Thanks."

"Adrien Junior."

"Shut up."