"I'm really sorry, Als...I can't tonight. I promised Micah we'd do something-"

"Seriously, girl? This is what, the fifth time this week? I miss our homework sessions."

"Me too...and I promise we'll get back to them...my life's just super busy right now."

Alya sighed, "Okay, okay...I understand...but I'm holding you to that promise!"

"See you tomorrow, Als," I said, giving her a quick hug, then running towards home.

I ran up my stairs and into my house, "Hey honey, how was school-"

"Amazing mom! Sorry, I have a ton of homework due by tomorrow. Love you!" I hurriedly said.

"Do you want dinner at least-"

"I'm not hungry...hey, can you send Micah up? Thanks, mom!"

I ran into my room.

Quickly, I took down my pigtails and brushed my hair. Putting it back up, I touched up my make-up.

"You going on patrol...again?" Micah asked, standing in my trapdoor way. (Like doorway, but with a trapdoor)

"Ya...with me and Chat working together, we'll have the entire city done in less than two hours-"

"Homework?"

"I'll get it done. I always do."

"What about social time? Just because you're a superhero doesn't mean you have to give up everything you love just to do your job."

"I will be social. Chat is a very good conversationalist."

"Hmm."

"Love you too, Mic! I'll see you tonight. Pollen, buzz on!" I was so quick to leave, I didn't even hear Micah say, "Mari... I need to talk to you about someone."

...

"Little kitty on a roof, all alone without his Queenie," I heard Chat Noir softly sing.

"Good evening, Chat Noir!" I said brightly, sitting down.

Chat Noir stopped his singing, and smiled, "Hey Queenie."

"Queenie?" I giggled, "Yesterday it was Beeutiful, the day before it was HoneyGold, and the day before that it was Flower."

Chat Noir shrugged as he took the cup of coffee from my hands, "What can I say? I like nicknames...besides, I haven't found the right one for you yet...but I'm still looking," He winked.

I giggled again, bumping my shoulder against him.

"Careful! You'll spill my coffee!" He mock scolded.

"Please, you'd sooner let Paris be destroyed then lose a drop of your coffee," I teased, taking a sip of my own drink.

"So...how do you wanna do it tonight? Split up, watch from the Eiffel Tower, or do Guard Walks?"

"Hmm...What about just watching from the tower tonight? We did Guard Walks last night, and split up the night before."

"Sounds good, Nectar...nope...that one's not working for me," Chat sighed at his inability to find the perfect nickname.

We stood and headed for the Eiffel Tower. Once we landed on the very top, I tossed Chat Noir a bag.

"It's gonna be a long two hours."

He opened it and squealed in delight, "CROISSANTS!"

"You squeal like a little girl."

"And you give out croissants like a winged angel!"

I laughed.

As Chat Noir began to dig in, I sighed, "So...did you see Scar's interview?"

Chat grumbled, "She puts superheroes to shame."

"We need to find a way to stop her..."

"I know that tone... Whatcha thinking?" Chat asked.

"Well...it's kinda crazy...but you know that super famous blogger, Alya Cesaire? What if we did an interview with her. All Scar does is talk about how amazing she is. We can talk about what Parisians can do to defend against, and better prepare for Akuma attacks...and make sure all of Paris knows that Marigold and Chat Noir are here to save the day...crazy?"

"No...I think it's a great idea! Genius even!" Chat Noir complimented.

I blushed under his praise, "Th-thank you, Chat."

I looked out at the sky. It was gonna be a beautiful sunset, "Chat...do you...do you ever wonder what people...nevermind," I blushed.

Chat Noir turned to me, "What?"

"That...Kitty...what do you need most? You know, the thing that makes you tick. I...I've been trying to figure it out...because, I'm trying to figure out what it is I need. I feel like my head and my heart are always conflicting...I thought...if I knew what you needed most...it might help me...sorry, I'm being-"

"No. Don't apologize...Marigold, you should never apologize for what you think...Umm...I don't know. I've never thought about what makes me go...I...I'll have to think about it."

"Do your head and your heart ever tell you to do two different things, Chat Noir?"

"...No."

...

While walking towards my locker, I suddenly bumped into Marinette. Her arms had been full of books, and stuff went flying everywhere.

"Oof!" She oofed and began picking up books. I hurried to help her, "Hey Marinette!"

"Oh, hey Adrien!" She said brightly...but she looked distant.

"I-I haven't seen you around much lately..."

"Ya, sorry...I guess I've just been super busy," She said sadly, focusing on me.

"Oh...well, I mean I totally get that. I'm super busy lately too," I said, trying to play it cool.

Marinette smiled, "I bet. I mean, you're a model, a student, a fencer, a Chinese speaker-"

"Superhero," I murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Well anyhow, you do so much! It's amazing. What don't you do?" I laughed.

I knew I must be blushing, "Th-thank you M-Marinette."

She smiled, standing, "I'm sorry, but I have to go-"

"What about lunch?"

Marinette suddenly paled, "Oh my gosh, I forgot about lunch...Oh my gosh! I haven't eaten lunch in three days...OH MY GOSH! I haven't eaten in three days!"

My eyes widened, "I-I've just been so busy...I...oh," She said, clapping her hands to her cheeks, dropping all her books again.

"THREE DAYS!?!"

"I know, I know...ohh...don't tell Alya...she'll never let me out of her sight again..." Marinette worried.

"I won't...now come on. We're getting you something to eat," I said, pulling her arm and her books.

"I-"

"No arguing miss. We're getting food into you," I said, doing my best Alya impression.

Marinette managed a giggle. We had around an hour for lunch break and another thirty minutes for study hall. This was the time I normally did a good majority of homework (I'd been taking lunch in the library) With all the akumas and patrols, I'd been having to work twice as hard on homework, squeezing in every moment I could get.

Little did I know that Marinette had been doing the exact same thing. I hurried Marinette out of school and towards her house. We went into the bakery. Marinette's parents weren't there right now.

I went toward the glass cases and grabbed out croissants (My personal favorite) and other pastries.

Then, I fished out a hundred dollar bill from my pocket, and put it on the counter, "Got any meat and cheese, Mari?"

Soon we were eating croissant sandwiches with cookies and lemonade.

Marinette was only picking at her sandwich though. She was too busy working on homework.

I frowned, then took the book from her, "You gotta eat, Mari...okay. Tell you what, whoever eats the most croissants has to do the other's homework a week. We're both A+ students so we shouldn't have to worry too much about grades. What do you say, think you're hungry enough?" I asked.

Marinette stared at me for a moment, then smiled, "You're on!"

In the end, I ate four sandwiches, three cookies, and two glasses of lemonade. Marinette beat me by one sandwich. We laughed the whole way through. In truth, I could've eaten at least two more sandwiches, but I wanted her to win. She looked like she needed a break from all the homework. Besides, I had a wild card I could play.

"Thank you Adrien...this was nice. Just what I needed," Marinette said.

We headed back to school and after splitting up, I found Nino, "Hey Nino...I need a favor. Remember the time I did both yours, and Alya's homework for the week? Well..."

...

"Chat Noir! Behind you!" I called. Chat Noir ducked and extended his stick behind him. The akumatized victim toppled to the ground.

"Venom!" I ran towards the Akuma and pierced him on the shoulder. The Akuma froze, unable to move. I was just about to grab the hat off his head when Scar swooped in, stealing the hat.

"Scarlet La-"

"No need to thank me, Marigold! All in a day's work!" Scar said sweetly.

I looked around, unused to her cheery demeanor, and sure enough, there was Nadia and her camera team.

Chat Noir came and stood next to me as we watched Scar rip the hat in half (RIP random hat)and catch the black Akuma in her yoyo.

Then, she hurried over to Nadia.

The Akumatized victim turned out to be a little boy. Me and Chat walked over to him, and bent down, "Hello, what's your name?" Chat asked the boy.

"A-Antony," The boy said shyly, wringing the bottom of his shirt.

"Hello, Antony. I'm Marigold...and you probably know Chat Noir," I said softly.

Antony nodded, but stood behind Chat Noir, blushing, "Are you okay?" Chat asked, concerned.

The little boy nodded, and pointed at me, "It's her."

My heart dropped. I was about to say I should go when Chat suddenly leaned down and whispered (LOUDLY) "Why?"

Then Antony 'whispered' back, "She's so pretty."

I smiled at the shy little boy when Chat Noir suddenly said, "She is, isn't she? The prettiest superhero in all of Paris."

I looked at him in surprise...did he just...I...AHHHH!!!! (And thus died Marinette Dupain-Cheng)

Chat Noir, to my surprise, seemed to be blushing a little bit too, and quickly turned to the boy, "Do you think you can tell me where you live so I can take you home?"

...

"So...what was that today? With Marigold?" Plagg asked, smirking.

"What with Marigold?" I asked innocently.

"The, 'She is, isn't she? The prettiest superhero in all of Paris!' thing...you getting a crush on the Bee?"

"What? No...Marinette's the only one for me...if I can ever get up the guts to ask her out..."

"Hhhheeerrrrrmmmm."

"Oh! Don't give me that look Plagg."

"Hhheeeeerrrrrmmmm."

"You're impossible!"

...

I took a deep breath, "How do I look, Adrien?" I asked.

Adrien gave me a thumbs up, smiling. He opened the door to his house and we walked in. Mr. Agreste's secretary, Nathalie, stood waiting to greet us, "Mr. Agreste will be with you shortly," Then she walked away.

Adrien led me over to his giant staircase, and we sat down, "Oh, I can't believe I let you guys talk me into this," I murmured.

Adrien took my sketchbook from my hands and flipped through the pages, "It was mostly Alya...and I'm glad she did. Just wait till my father sees your work! No doubt he'll be impressed...and if he offers you that highschool internship...I mean, you and Alya already won that hat contest-"

"But I'd forgotten you were allergic to feathers! I'm honestly surprised he still picked it...especially after Chloe dumped all that glitter on it, 'accidentally'."

"He could tell how talented you are! Don't worry. You're gonna do great, and if you don't get the internship, you don't get it. Then you keep working," Adrien said confidently.

I nodded, even though I couldn't quite the butterflies in my stomach.

Suddenly, the door to Mr. Agreste's office opened, light shining through, "Miss Dupain-Cheng, come inside."

I stood and Adrien gave me a thumbs up. I took a few steps toward the office, then turned back and hugged Adrien, "Thank you," I whispered.

I don't think I'll ever forget that day. I've never been so scared in my life. When I entered the office, Mr. Agreste had stood, hands behind his back. The first thing I did was walk up and offer my hand, 'Nice to meet you, Mr. Agreste' I had squeaked out.

He hadn't taken my hand. Instead, he gestured to a seat and I sat down. Mr. Agreste sat across from me. Then, he said coldly, 'Show me what you have. I wish to get this over with as soon as possible'. Silently gulping, I took out my sketchbook from my bag and opened it to several entrees. Then, I began speaking. To this day I have no idea what I said...but apparently it was okay because Mr. Agreste didn't send me away. After I was done talking about the sketches, I brought out a hat I'd sewn. I explained the kind of materials I'd used and began speaking about how I thought I could improve it in the future.

Eventually, Mr. Agreste took me to one of his dressed mannequins and had me tell him how he thought it could be improved. The outfit was simple enough. It was an ombre blue dress that came to the knees...The first thing I did was grab my sketchbook and lightly sketch a picture of it. I felt a little self-conscious because Mr. Agreste watched my every move, but in the end, I ended up forgetting all about him. Once I had the dress sketched, I began to really work. I had the dress come down in an ombre sheer color to the knees with a thicker fabric that came to the knees so that everything below was visible through the flowing sheer. Then, I had a neckline come into a strap that clasped in the back. Finally, I added layers to the dress.

Mr. Agreste stared sternly once again at me, and asked, 'Is that all?' I looked again, trying to find something I could add...finally, I gave up and nodded, 'Yes, that's it.' Mr. Agreste nodded, then went up to his work station. He pressed a button and spoke softly. In a moment, Nathalie came in followed by Adrien. Adrien walked over to me, smiling and had me follow him out.

I was called back to the Agreste house one week later, only to find a dress, the dress I'd sketched just last week, on a mannequin. 'I will see you every Thursday. You will ride home with Adrien from school. More instructions will be given later.'

And that was how I became the protege of Gabriel Agreste.