Appreciating Chat Noir

Chapter Eighteen

Marinette had spent the last couple of days over the weekend crying, avoiding everything, and working on her next project – this one was a dress for one of the kids she used to babysit for. Nadja Chamack had hired her to make it and she accepted – grateful to get some work. Anything to currently distract her for a couple of days.

But today was the first day of her internship with the infamous Gabriel Agreste. And unfortunately, she was no longer looking forward to it, but downright dreading it. Talk about going right into the Lions Den.

When she had first signed up for the fashion competition, she had been so excited! The opportunity to get to show off her work for a crowd or even intern for such a successful fashion designer was very exciting!

But that was before she had found out that Adrien is also Chat Noir – her now ex-boyfriend and current partner in fighting crime. And now this felt like she was a gazelle about to head into a lion's den. She was about to intern for Hawkmoth, and the one person who might be able to help her - Chat Noir – was not currently on speaking terms with her.

She could only hope that all will go well today. And that she wouldn't have to pull out her alter-ego. Hopefully they wouldn't get that far.

But one thing is for sure – if she was going to do this, she was going to do this well. She would have to put her best foot forward. She was not Ladybug for no reason. This wasn't the first thing that was messed up because she had to keep a secret.

Marinette had put on some fishnets that went with her thigh-length dress, black pleather jacket – a Christmas gift from her grandmother a few years ago – and some sunglasses. She tied up her hair with a red ribbon, applied some matching red lipstick, and tried her best at applying matching winged eye-liner. She put on some red stud earrings and called it a day.

She and Tikki had discussed this a lot over the last couple of days and both had come to an agreement that as uneasy as this arrangement was, this was actually a really good opportunity to possibly find out more about Hawkmoths secrets.

So, keeping that in mind she would have to put her best foot forward.

The plan was first she would go to school, and then she would leave an hour early for the internship. The internship would last a short while but as uncomfortable as this was, she planned on making the most of it.

She put on her black combat boots – she decided to fully embrace the 'idgaf' look and was secretly loving this alternative side to her style – and grabbed her backpack, heading downstairs to eat breakfast.

"Oh, this is new! What's with the new look, Marinette?" Sabine, her mom, asked.

Marinette smiled, feeling self-conscious. "Sometimes to get through a tough situation you need to dress up in a way that makes you feel good, and hold your head up high. It helps make you feel more confident than you really are."

Tom looked concerned at their daughter. "Are you feeling nervous for your first day?"

The two parents shared a look. She had barely left her room all weekend and now she was trying a new – bold - style. For Marinette this was... strange to say the least.

"Something like that." She quickly grabbed some breakfast before heading on her way to school.

They would just have to check on her later.

-

Once she had gotten to school, she had gotten her fair share of strange looks as well but she ignored them and made a bee-line to Alya who was standing there with Nino. They were chattering and as she walked closer, she overheard them say; "he was acting very strange-