A/N - Hiii, just so you know this fanfic is set in 2016 so Marinette would, according to background info, be 13 and would turn 14 in the holiday but imma switch things around so in this story she's 15, going on 16. Also there will be references to 2020 trends! ILYASM - Chase


"Oh! Marinette this is so exciting! An opportunity to show off your talent in front of your friends and Gabriel Agreste. You must be so excited! Are you?" Tikki squeaked as Marinette burst through her room. The pink clad girl twirled around in circles before flopping onto her Chaise, her mind was swelling with ideas.

"I am Tikki, but you will have to keep your patience on questioning me too, you've influenced me enough just through letting me become Ladybug, I'll share my ideas with you but I don't want input, only encouragement and advice on when to stop." Marinette was buzzing like the ladybug she was and her eyes were darting around her room. As she stood up to get a notepad from her desk Marinette realized something,

"You Know Tikki, my room, with a few exceptions, has looked like this since I was 4 and contrary to what others may think, I've outgrown pink. I still like it but, everything my parents get me is pink, if they buy me materials it is always pink. They even buy rosewood when I'm making craft pieces that require wood! I'm redecorating my room. Greyscale with vibrant pops of green, red, blue, yellow and maybe orange? What d'you think Tikki?" She saw Tikki's excitement muted by wariness, "This isn't my switching project Tikki, just a bonus. You can give your opinion."

Tikki Brightened,

"Its wonderful Marinette! I can help you too. Kwamis are all powerful, magical beings; we can do anything. I just forgot about it when I was trying not to overwhelm you about the whole thing about being a magical superhero!"

Marinette took a piece of isosceles drawing paper and mapped out her room quickly. As she drew she spoke to the tiny red goddess, "Tikki this is Brilliant. Once I have the materials and the design I can have you do the rudimentary painting so you are involved and aren't bored as I work on this years collection."

Marinette stood up after finishing her scaled down drawings of her walls. She looked up at her mounted bed and thought to herself, 'I'm going to need to talk to mum and dad about this' she turned to Tikki,

"Can you change the colors and quantity of things like paint?"

"Easy peasy Marinette. "

"Brilliant" said Marinette as she strode down the stairs to talk to her mum and dad as they worked the afternoon in the bakery.


Adrien looked up from his dinner at his father who, while admittedly still working on his tablet, was actually dining with him for the first time in weeks if not months. He had been mulling over what Marinette had told him earlier,

'Due to the rules that your father himself placed on this event, he is banned from interfering.'

He should be completely capable of talking about this. So why did he feel so nervous?

"Adrien." the brisk voice of his father rang out, startling him greatly, "You've been picking at your food and fidgeting excessively this whole meal. What is it?"

This was his chance, he took a deep but not excessive (his father would fins that annoying) breath as he began. "Father, I discovered today that my school's 'switching season' is about to arrive-"

"Ah yes, my little competition and scouting project, I had forgotten. I'll have Natalie get on that for you." He interjected with a tone of finality that usually sent Adrien back to his room, trying not to sulk. But not his time, he steeled himself once more,

"Actually father, I mentioned that I thought this would be how it was handled for me, and someone pointed out to me, that you yourself created a rule stating that no adult or outside influence could be permitted to alter my decisions." He looked up at him with something that Gabriel had not seen in a long time, almost as long as Emilie had been comatose. Confident, although muted, defiance.

Gabriel suddenly thought back to 10 months earlier and he saw the angry and hurt face of his son begging for him to go to a school and be normal for once. He almost choked on the sudden wave of regret and remorse that he felt, not from an Akuma opportunity, but from himself. Gabriel schooled his rapidly softening features and tried to put up a friendlier than normal front. Which was outwardly expressed as a lack of on extreme frown being replaced by a contemplative expression.

"Very well son, you will be permitted to chose your own ensembles. All I ask is this: be diverse, use whatever is offered to you and please do not combine multiple seasons without serious consideration. I am happy for you to do this but I do not want this to turn into some tabloid scandal where the son of a fashion mogul commits a fashion faux pas."

Adrien's face broke into a grin. Another expression he had no seen for ages, even longer than he had not seen determination. Adrien had stopped grinning and only smiled to comfort his mother as her health declined. As he thanked his father and excused himself to quote 'process this excitement without screaming excessively', Adrien could have sworn he saw the barest trace of a smile in his father's face. And as he left the room to call Nino, Alya and Marinette he almost swore that he heard his father choke or chuckle.


"You want to what?" Tom Dupain reiterated. He had stopped pulling a loaf out of his bread oven and it had flipped over at the sudden movement.

"PapĂ , you're ruining that poor piece of bread. And you did hear me correctly. I want to redecorate my room. I have a solid idea and I know what I'll need to do. The only things I may have trouble with are removing, storing and refitting my furniture if it's even necessary." Marinette intoned.

"Buy why do you want to darling? You've had that room your whole life an have never had a problem with it."

"That's the problem dad. My room has been the same for years and frankly I've outgrown the style I've had since I was a toddler. I'm not going to include pink in more than one outfit in my uniform design and honestly, if a designer looked into my room right now they would cringe at how garish it is to newcomers and would flee without even considering me for work. A designer's workspace needs to mirror their work ethic and their style and currently my room rolls a zero on both requirements." Marinette looked up at her dad and gave him the one thing he couldn't resist, patented Manon eyes (it was a weakness that the two shared however Marinette was a good copycat).

"Oh, alright. As long as your mother agrees I'll help you with the heavy lifting and the furniture will go in the attic beside your bedroom. Fair warning though sweetie, you will be sleeping on the couch and it will take roughly half of the time you have left in this school year to get it done. If this is going to stop you working on your school project, it will have to wait." Tom conceded.

Marinette pounced on him and squealed her thanks in such a rapid form that Tom could barely understand it. From the kitchen upstairs, Sabine Cheng called out,

"I agree with your father Marinette. In all of his points!"

Marinette rushed upstairs, Tom heard a distinct "Oh! Not too tight." from his wife and the slamming of a trap door before he chuckled and pulled a deformed loaf of bread from the oven.