An Unlikely Intern | Miraculous Ladybug

Chapter 4 - The Competition

After a night of well-deserved sleep, Marinette sprung from her bed. She looked at her clock and realized that it was 5 am and that she had woken up two hours before her alarm. She laughed to herself and then got dressed and put her hair up in her signature pigtails. She prepped her mannequin and made sure everything was exactly perfect. She practiced what she would say to Gabriel Agreste in case he asked about her outfit. She also made sure that every single piece did have her signature in their correct places. She always signed her pieces in subtle ways to ensure that if anyone asked her to prove that she made it, which often happened, she could show them easily. She opened her window and watched the sun rise and listened to the birds chirping for the first time in the morning. She breathed in a sigh of the warm summer morning. She felt confident in her abilities and she felt like she had a strong chance of winning. However, something was troubling her mind.

'My father probably would never let my friend win, he'd think that they would be too young or that it would be a conflict of interest or whatever.' Adrien's words echoed in her mind. She really hoped that he was wrong or that she was talented enough to capture his attention with her designs.

When Marinette's alarm went off, she packed up everything in a box and ran to the park. The designers had to be there at 7 am and set up and prepare and then Gabriel would show up and judge them at 10 am.

At about 9:30 am, Marinette had finished preparing her mannequin and she decided to look around at other people's designs. Most of them were really well crafted and had beautiful designs and Marinette began to get a little more nervous. Just then, the TV crew came running in the park. They set up cameras, lights, and other equipment in a flash. Makeup artists had also arrived and one of them pulled Marinette aside to put on some simple stage makeup to ensure the lights didn't wash her out. Marinette had almost forgotten that the competition was televised. Marinette spent the last 10 minutes or so calming her nerves while a woman hurriedly applied some foundation a shade darker than Marinette's skin tone.

Adrien sat alongside his father in their limo on their way to the park. His father hadn't told anyone, but Adrien would be a featured judge for the design competition. Adrien was actually really excited because he would get to meet so many new people and he got to spend time with his father. However, the excitement about those opportunities was challenged by the nerves he had to calm. He knew that Marinette was entering the competition and he would have to every ounce of strength he had in order to keep from just pulling her closer to him and kissing her. He wasn't Chat Noir, the man she had been talking to and, he hoped, falling in love with. No, he was Adrien, the one whom she hadn't talked to since stuttering "H-have a summer, good," to him on the last day of school. Adrien took a deep breath and tried to clear his head as their limo parked nearby the park. He and his father climbed out and were immediately greeted by makeup artists and TV crew members. Adrien was used to spending hours in makeup and hair so he just sat patiently. While a woman was quickly applying some blush to add color to his face, Adrien looked around at all of the designs and smiled. He was actually very excited to go around and see them all, especially one in particular.

At 10:00 exactly the TV producers began the countdown until they started filming. Gabriel and Adrien stood next to Alec to perform the introduction and then began to walk down the line of designs. There were about 20 or 30 other people there and each had a number for what order they were in. Marinette was #19. She took a deep breath as she watched the two judges walk calmly down the line, talk to the designer at each spot, whisper to each other, jot down something in their notebook, and move on the next. She didn't know that Adrien would be there, and she prayed that she would be able to compose herself and speak in coherent sentences. Finally, the reached Marinette's station.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, tell us about your design," Gabriel requested as he inspected it. Marinette surprised herself when she realized that she wasn't blushing, and she felt confident that she could talk with minimal stutters.