Beyond the Mask | Miraculous

viii. chapter 8

Marinette was amazed as she browsed through the beautiful array of colours, textures, and fabrics all around her. There were so many to choose from, how could she possibly figure it out? It was overwhelming, to have access to this many options right at her fingertips. Finally, she settled on a beautiful, cherry red silk for her cheongsam. With it, she chose a mellow mustard colour for the fleur de lis accents. She also found enough fabric to design an entirely new mime style outfit for Adrien.

Once the materials were purchased and Marinette returned back to her dorm, she immediately began working hard at making their dream come to life.

"Marinette, shouldn't you call Adrien so you're not working on this without him?" Tikki asked, sitting on Marinette's shoulder while her holder was busy cutting out each template carefully.

"He won't care about this part, Tikki. He'll appreciate the finished product more."

"But Marinette, you two are partners and should be working together. Plus, you had a lot of fun with him the other day." Tikki teased, making kissy noises.

"Tikki," Marinette rolled her eyes. "Come on, you already know it's nothing like that. We're just friends. Stuck working together on a project. That's all."

Tikki giggled sweetly before picking up Marinette's phone and bringing it to her. "Then at least let your business partner know you're working on your project so he doesn't think nothing is being done."

Marinette breathed out a sigh and accepted defeat, searching for and dialing Adrien up. When she shared the news, she was surprised to hear that Adrien sounded to excited. Immediately, he asked if there was anything he could do to help. There wasn't, but for some reason, Marinette invited him to her dorm anyway. Within minutes, there was a knock at her door.

"Come in!" She shouted, while pinning some fabric together. She was getting close to finished on her own outfit.

Adrien came in, a bright smile on his face. "Hey! Wow, that looks great so far!"

The two chatted for a moment before Marinette resumed her work. Adrien stepped in to help at every chance he could, and even got a few helpful pointers from Marinette. Soon, Marinette's outfit was done and the two stood back to admire their work on the mannequin.

"Are you going to try it on?"

"What? No, no no no. Absolutely not."

"Come on! Let's see your hard work!"

Marinette's cheeks were burning bright red. In all fairness, she wanted to try on the dress anyway to see how well it fit. She finally agreed, taking the dress off the mannequin and slipping away into the bathroom.

Once the dress was on, Marinette couldn't help but stare at herself in the mirror. It fit in all the right places, really highlighting herself in ways she felt too embarrassed to. It took some self convincing to finally come out from the bathroom, and when she did, Adrien was gone from her room.

"Adrien?" She called out. Then, she heard his voice from the other bedroom. When he came back in the room, he stared at Marinette, dropping his phone onto the floor beneath him.

"Woah, you look- Uh that looks- Uhm. You did a really good job on the dress." Adrien awkwardly complimented, stumbling on his words, for once finding himself in the same place that Marinette used to be around him.

"Thank you." Marinette replied, just as awkwardly. She then slipped back into the bathroom and quickly changed back into her normal clothes, which consisted of a pair of ripped black jeans and a baby blue hoodie.

Though, what Marinette didn't know, is that the person Adrien was on the phone with was his father. And he managed to set up a photoshoot for the two that would definitely earn them a grade way higher than they'd expect.

Marinette looked outside, gasping when she realized how dark it had gotten. "Oh wow, it's really late. I should really get going to bed now and I'll work on your outfit tomorrow."

Adrien agreed before saying goodnight, then leaving.

- - -

Marinette was startled by a soft tap on the glass window in her bedroom. When she looked up from her mannequin, she saw bright green eyes staring at her from the outside. Chat Noir.

She happily opened it, allowing the superhero inside.

"Chat? What are you doing here? How did you know I was here?"

"I saw a light on and it was my lucky guess! What are you doing, ma cherie?" Chat Noir observed Marinette's work. She was almost done working on Adrien's outfit. All she had left were the special touches and the beret.

"It's a project for one of my classes. The real question is, what are you doing, kitty?"

"Well, I guess Ladybug forgot about our patrol tonight so I'm out doing it all alone. I wanted to check up on the school because we don't want another Timewrather situation, but Shadowmoth is being calm tonight."

Patrol? Marinette thought. She pressed the screen on her phone, which revealed is was 2:34 in the morning. She mentally facepalmed herself, disappointed in not only the fact that she stayed up so late, but that she was so immersed in her work that she forgot about patrolling.

"So what's the real reason you came to visit me?"

"What, I can't visit a friend?"

"I don't even know who you are, kitty."

"But I've saved you a few times, and I've definitely saved the city a few times, so I think I'm someone you can trust."

Marinette grinned, implying she was just messing with her hero partner. Without preventing it, she let out a yawn, indicating she was tired from staying up so late.

"I'll leave you so you can go to sleep then. Thank you for letting me come in!" Chat said before jumping up onto the windowsill.

"Wait, don't go yet, I'm not tired."

Chat Noir laughed at her clear stubbornness. "Here, I'll make sure to come visit you again tomorrow. Is that okay?"

Marinette nodded and let out yet another yawn.

Chat Noir chuckled. He bid her goodnight before vanishing back into the darkness.