(4 days later)

The rest of the week had passed with little to no incidents for the students of Françoise Dupont, but the same couldn't be said about Marinette and Adrien. Hawkmoth was putting them through the ringer, with an akuma every day, the previous night being the most recent. It was a miracle that 1) the victims were not anybody they knew, 2) they got any sleep, or 3) that Marinette managed to be there for her nightly calls to her brothers.

But at the moment, they were hoping for a nice, quiet day at school. And that all went out the window when Mr. Damocles came in to make an announcement that included a slideshow, which immediately piqued Marinette's interests.

"You only have one day to work on your fashion piece, and it must be your own design," Mr. Damocles explained as he faced the class as they listened, Marinette more than the others since she was the resident fashion designer.

"In ten hours your fittest presentation will be judged by none other than the great fashion designer Gabriel Agreste..." The principal announced as Ms. Bustier grabbed a remote and pressed a button on it to make a picture of the fashion designer appear on the projection screen, and Mr Damocles to adjust his stance to gesture towards it.

"... the father of our very own student Adrien Agreste," Mr Damocles continued, gesturing towards Adrien, causing the boy to scratch the back of his neck in slight embarrassment, and shyness.

"In fact, Adrien will model the winning design in his next photoshoot," The principal continues, explaining the contest while Nino softly jabs his elbow into Adrien, in an encouraging way, as Marinette's excitement turns into pure joy. Her pupils figuratively turned into hearts while turning to face Alya with a smile, to which she responded with a smile of her own, and a calming hand on her best friend's shoulder, as the principal continued talking.

"And now, to announce this year's theme:..." Mr Damocles began, getting to the requirements for winning the contest, causing Ms. Bustier to change the picture on the presentation screen, from the man who believes himself to be a decent father, to a picture of what looked like a...

"Derby hats," The principal proclaimed, which caused Marinette's joy to take a sudden drop as she glanced over at Alya.

"Derby hats?" Marinette asked, confused as to why the theme was such a... unique choice, before she glanced over at Chloé as she looked at them and made an exaggerated thumbs-down at her. Yeah... this was not going to be pretty.

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(Time skip)

Class had been let out early so the students could complete the challenge with ample time, but that didn't help Marinette. She paced in the courtyard, looking at her sketchbook while Alya sat crossed legged on a bench, watching her friend having a hard time.

"Derby hat? Derby hat? Derby hat? Derby hat...! I don't have any derby hat designs," Marinette frustrateidly exclaimed as she paced in front of the observing Alya.

"I've got top hats, caps, even two-horned hats! Need a beret? I'm your girl. A sombrero? No problem-o. But a derby?!" Marinette exclaimed as mimed the corresponding hats, causing Alya to giggle at her antics.

Marinette looked back down at her sketchbook in panic.

"You know what? It won't even matter, 'cause I'll probably make a total fool of myself at the event, most likely trip over my stupid derby and collapse on Mr. Agreste, give him a full-blown concussion with my hard head, and Adrien will hate me! I'll never be a world-renowned fashion designer. MY LIFE WILL BE OVER!" The poor girl wailed, spiraling as she imagined the most ridiculous worst scenario she could come up with.

She finally fell to her knees in front of Alya and dropped her head onto the reporter's lap, making her laugh once more.

'Leave it to Marinette to freak herself out,' the reporter thought to herself.

"All this over a derby hat?" Alya asked as she pulled Marinette up from her lap.

"Let me see your sketchpad, girl," The reporter insisted, to which Marinette immediately complied and handed over the pink book to her best friend.

"There must be something in here," Alya said as she started going through the book while Marinette got up from her knees, and sat next to her.

"Forget it, I'm a disaster zone. I'll probably mess everything up in the end," Marinette said as she brought her legs up onto the bench to hide her face behind them, while Alya rearranged her sitting position to place the book on the corner of the bench and lean over it to get a better look at the designs. All while both of them didn't notice Adrien as he walked over to them.

"Wow, Alya..." Adrien began, bringing both girl's attention to him as he leaned on the wall in front of Alya, as she and Marinette looked up to see him. Though Marinette panics and clumsily hides behind the other end of the bench.

"... those are some awesome designs. I didn't know you had such mad skills," The boy model said, impressed by the amount of skill it had taken for someone to draw up such unique designs. But unfortunately, his praise was going to the wrong person, so Alya had to fix that.

"Uh, thanks Adrien, but I can't take the credit. These sick designs belong to Marinette," Alya admitted, turning to gesture towards Marinette as she peeked up from her 'hiding place' and gave him a weak, embarrassed wave, with a tense smile.

"Off the chain, right?" The reporter questioned as she leaned back against the bench, looking proudly over at her best friend, while Adrien was immediately blown away by Marinette's talent.

"You're super talented, Marinette. You seriously have a good chance of winning," Adrien praised as she stood up from her hiding spot.

"Well, um, yeah! I... like-- um, designs that-- um," Marinette said, trying not to sound too much like a fool.

Alya gave an encouraging thumbs up to Marinette, who unfortunately thought it was a motion to interpret.

"go... upwards?" She supplied, confusing both Adrien and Alya. But Alya recovered quickly and tried to tell Marinette to stop with a crossed out gesture. However, that didn't go so well.

"Um, while stopping... I mean, uh-- uh, um, thanks?" Marinette finally managed to say, while Alya hid her face in her hands, not wanting to continue whitenessing Marinette's stuttering any more. But thankfully, Adrien-in his wholesome cinnamon roll self-just smiled and scratched the back of his head.

"Sure, and, uh-- good luck. Maybe I'll be wearing your derby at father's next photoshoot," Adrien encouraged, leaving a shocked Alya, and a goofy-smiling Marinette as he walked away, Marinette's gase following him as he did so. Once he was gone, Alya got up from the bench and walked up to Marinette as she snapped out of her patented 'Adrien Stare'.

"Girl, you gotta get a grip next time," Alya said, her hands on her hips, causing Marinette to embarrassingly rub the back of her head when Alya pulled her out of her staring. Only for Alya to excitedly clench her fists and bring them near her chest with a smile.

"But did you hear? Adrien thinks you're good enough to win!" The reporter excitedly squealed, as they jumped up into the air, and cheered.

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But unknown to them, Chloé and her 'friend' Sabrina had watched the entire interaction from the other side of the courtyard. And to say Chloé wasn't happy was an understatement... She was livid.

"Did you hear how impressed Adrien was with Marinette's desi–" Sabrina began to ask, only for her to be interrupted by the angry Chloé as she continued to look over at the two celebrating girls, leaning against a metal pole.

"Of course I heard! Her? Win the contest? As if," Chloé snarled, as she glanced at Sabrina, then back at Alya and Marinette while she spoke.

"When Adrien sees my design he'll convince his father to award me the winner. Hm!" The heiress said, turning to look back at Sabrina before pointing to herself, leaning down to get into Sabrina's personal space, before going back to lean against the metal pole, and looking back at the two girls.

"I'm sure he will, Chloé. You're a born champion. Your design will blow everyone else's out of the water!" Sabrina encouragingly praised, trying to continue being on Chloé's good side... if she even had one.

"Yeah, it will. As soon as I can get my hands on the sketchpad!" Chloé proclaimed as she watched Alya give Marinette her sketchbook back.

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As soon as Alya gave the book back, she checked her phone to see the countdown she had on it, changed into 09:00:00.

"Only have nine hours until show time," Alya reported as she watched the countdown continue, suddenly making Marinette nervous.

"Yikes! I'm off to my secret garden of inspiration," Marinette replied while she walked backwards as she spoke, not aware of her surroundings.

"I'll see you later," The designer exclaimed as she turned around, only to run into a wall. But she quickly recovered and ran towards the exit.

"AH! I'm okay. I'm okay, I'm okay," Marinette reassured as she ran past the door, almost running into another wall, then yelped before she changed directions, and ran out the door. All of this while Alya chuckled at the girl's antics.

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Hawkmoth stood in his lair as the window opened dramatically to let in a beam of sunlight, prompting the butterflies to stir.

"The time has come for us to find our next victim, my wicked little akumas. And to prey upon Ladybug and Cat Noir. Their Miraculouses must be mine!" Hawkmoth proclaimed, speaking to the white butterflies as they fluttered around the lair, using their presence as an excuse to talk to himself like he always did.

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(Time skip)

A little while later, Marinette had made it to her 'Secret Garden of Inspiration,' the Trocadero, and was sitting on the steps that offered a front row seat view of the Eiffel Tower, trying to get inspired to draw some designs. But as she finished drawing an Eiffel Tower inspired derby hat, she ripped the paper out and started again.

"Geez, it's hard to be creative under pressure," Marinette remarked to both her kwami and to herself as she re-drew the derby hat outline to start the process over again.

"Marinette, you save the world under pressure. I think designing a hat should be a piece of cake!" Tikki encouraged as she pokes her head out of Marinette's purse, trying to support Marinette.

"Hm, a cake derby hat. Stylish and tasty," Marinette joked right before they chuckled at the idea. Afterwards, Marinette kept drawing new designs in her sketchbook-sticking the tip of her tounge out in concentration, which was an unconscious habit she picked up over the years-but ripped them out, on the account that they didn't seem quite right, all while the discarded designs were crumpled up and formed into a pile.

When she thought about it, she had the career starting opportunity of a lifetime. On top of that, it was closely connected to Adrien and his father, who was a man who could make and break her future. Both with her fashion career, and her relationship with Adrien.

'Nope! Don't think about that. Shake it off and go back to panicking about your future career.' Marintette thought to herself, snapping out of her spiral.

After a while, she then checked the time to see it was close to noon, which meant Jim would call her soon. Probably with Toby since it was Thursday over on their end and they decided to have a sleepover for a project they were working on for class.

'Maybe they would have some ideas. Toby definitely had a lot of creative and fun ideas. Like during the summer when Jim was busy with helping Aunt Barbara, and Toby took me to the museum to see a rock and geode exhibit.' the designer thought to herself.

There had been some amazing pieces on display, Marinette even believed at the time she could make something inspired by them, like a dress, or a suit, or maybe a... hat. Immediately after the thought came to her, Marinette went into a frenzy, drawing out the outline for her idea.

"Whatcha drawing this time Marinette?" Tikki asked, as she peeked out of Marinette's purse, watching her draw out the derby hat idea.

When the kwami asked, Marinette outlined her thought process as she sketched out the image. Once finished, Tikki looked at her holder in amazement.

"That sounds amazing!" Tikki encouraged with a smile as Marinette continued drawing the 'Geo Hat' onto her page. She was well into the design when the clock turned noon, and right on que, her phone started buzzing.

Tikki was about to tell Marinette, but the designer beat her to it, and pulled out her phone from her purse with her left hand while she continued to flesh out the design.

Tikki watched as Marinette placed the phone on the unoccupied side of her sketchbook with what seemed like practiced ease and answered the video call, all without looking away from her project. A second after Marinette answered the call, both Jim and Toby showed up on the screen.

"Hey boys, how are you?" Marinette asked, as she continued drawing, much to the boy's fondness. This wasn't the first time they had called Marinette when she was designing. But this time, there was a little bit of confusion.

"Hey sis. We are doing well. Had another boring day at school. But what about you? Shouldn't you be at school?" Jim asked, seeing as the resting phone was angled to show Trocadero behind Marinette.

"Yeah, MariFairy. We know that Trocadero is your 'Garden of Inspiration' but it takes a few minutes to get there from your school. But you look like you've been there for a while? Are you playing hooky?" Toby wondered, making Marinette laugh and then explained the contest.

"The winner will have the hat featured in his next photo shoot, worn by Adrien!!!" Marinette finished, squealing in excitement.

"WHAT, NO WAY!! That's amazing!" Jim shouted, happy that Marinette has this opportunity to not only get her name further out in the fashion industry, but also get closer to Adrien. Hey... these two are disasters when it comes to talking to their crushes without looking/sounding like fools... they need all the help they can get.

"Yeah, Mari, you can do this! Your designs will outshine everyone else's," Toby excitedly encouraged, knowing that Marinette was obviously going to be the winner. I mean come on, who else?

"Thanks Toby. And you should know that the current design I'm drawing right now, is inspired by that rock show we saw during the summer. It's about time I made good on that," Marinette said as she was putting the finishing touches on the design.

Toby's excitement grew; he pushed Jim away from the screen and got close enough that Marinette could see the inside of his nostrils if she was looking at the phone, instead of focusing on her design.

"Really? You're really doing the illusive 'Geode Design'?" Toby asked, making Marinette giggle as she made the final stroke of her pencil, and looked back at her phone, only to be surprised to see the numerous boogers up Toby's nose.

"Toby, back up from the screen, please? I can see your crusty boogers," Marinette remarked, to which Toby backs up sheepishly, allowing Jim to appear on the screen again.

"Thank you. And yes, I am. Want to see it?" Marinette asked, making the boy's eyes light up. It was rare for them to see Marinette's amazing designs when she wasn't over in Arcadia during the summer. So obviously their answer was...

"Uh, is that even a question? Of course!" Both of them exclaimed, making Marinette smile as she picked up her phone, and pressed the camera button to switch from selfie mode to camera mode, allowing them to see the design she had made.

The derby hat drawing was covered in what looked like small drawings of flat Swarovski crystals, and shimmering embroidery made to look like real different size and colored geodes, placed on the hat to mimic an asymmetrical crown-to further express the uniqueness of geodes-with a miniature white Swarovski crystal geode as a little extra accessory on the left side of the hat.

At the sight of it, Toby's eyes lit up with joy, while Jim was blown away.

"So, what do you guys think?" Marinette asked, wondering what they-as well as Tikki-thought of her design attempt.

"It's AWESOMESAUCE, MARI!! I already knew that when you said that you'd create a geode design, that it would be amazing, but I didn't think it would be this amazing. It's going to win for sure!" Toby praised, making Marinette smile, and Jim nodded in agreement.

"He's right, it's amazing! I honestly want to wear it when it's done." Jim proclaimed, which made Marinette's smile even bigger.

"They are right. It's a masterpiece," Tikki agreed, while the boys saw Marinette smile at her purse and guessed it was Tikki.

"I'm assuming Tikki is telling you the same thing as us, and if so, she's right," Toby said, making Marinette switch the camera back to selfie mode, and smiled back at them.

"Thank you guys. I really appreciate it. But while it's a good idea, I only have a limited amount of time before the deadline. And if guys noticed, most of the details on the hat are..." Marinette trailed off, to which the boys immediately caught on.

"Swarovski crystals," both of them answered, considering that they had picked up quite a bit of fashion knowledge over the years Marinette had developed her skills.

"Yes, and those take forever to sew onto anything. It would take up a lot of time. I would love to make it for the contest, but I can't," Marinette pointed out, disappointed that she wouldn't be able to create this hat just yet.

"Fair enough. But at least keep the design for another project," Toby suggested, not wanting Marinette to throw away such a good design, making Marinette smile as she turned to the next blank page in her sketchbook.

"Don't worry. I'm not getting rid of this design. I'll get to bring it to life one of these days," Marinette promised as she looked back at her phone before putting it back onto the unoccupied side of her sketchbook, while Toby and Jim smiled.

"Awesome! But what are you going to do now?" Jim asked, worried that Marinette might not have an entry for the competition now.

"I'm not sure, but I know it will come to me. I just have to be patient," Marinette sighed, before she picked up her phone and brought it closer to her.

"In the meantime, you guys want to help me find some inspiration?" She asked, bringing bid smiles to the both of them.

Sure they did help inspire Marinette with her designs, but that was like a few designs over the years, compared to all that she had done. But like they would say no to helping Marinette create a new masterpiece.

"Of course!" The both of them exclaimed, making Marinette giggle at their antics with a smile before switching back to camera mode and moving the phone around so they could spot anything that they thought would help.

It was at least five minutes of searching that passed before a man walking like a bird sat down on a bench ahead of Marinette, leaving her curious.

"Hey guys, is that who I think that is?" Marinette asked as she moved her phone to show the... unique man on the beach in front of her as he took out a brown paper bag and a bird call whistle.

A second later, he brought the whistle to his mouth and blew out of it- the resulting sound of a pigeon coo-causing a cluster of pigeons to surround him, even making Marinette dodge one while Jim saw that it was indeed...

"Is that Mr. Ramier?" Jim asked, remembering the man from a past visit to Paris a few years back when he and Toby came from Arcadia. Long story short, it was one of their most memorable 'Arcadia's Unlucky Trio' incidents.

They accidentally barreled into him as he was feeding the pigeons in the park next to Marinette's house, which caused a bit of a panic among the birds, making them fly off and poop on unsuspecting park goers out of fear. Let's just say that he wasn't very happy after that.

But that was then, and this was now. And right now, he was happily throwing bread crumbs into the air, allowing them to land on the ground for the hungry pigeons.

"Well, happy day, happy day! Splendid is the afternoon day." Mr. Ramier cheered with a smile as a pigeon landed on his outstretched, bent arm.

"Yep, that's him. Mr Pigeon seems to be doing fine since that incident," Toby noticed as Mr. Ramier scratched under the pigeon's beak while it was perched on his arm.

"Ah, Edgar, you fancy one," Mr. Ramier happily eclaimed as he fed Edgar the pigeon a couple of bread crumbs before the bird jumped up into the air and flew in a circle leaving the man giddy.

"Fantastic, dazzling performance," the man that Marinette and her brothers often referred to as 'Mr. Pigeon' gushed as said girl and boys watched him with a fond smile.

But when a police officer-Officer Roger-approaches him, startling the surrounding pigeons, things started to take a turn..

"Scram, you winged rats!" Officer Roger shouts out as he walked up to Mr. Ramier, scaring the pigeons as he did so. He then stood in front of the bird loving man, arms behind his back, looking down at him.

"How many times do you need to be told, Mr. Ramier? No! FEEDING! The pigeons!" The officer exclaimed, while firmly pointing at the man as he did so, before grabbing the bag of food from the bench.

"It's strictly forbidden. If everyone feeds them, they'll leave their waste everywhere!" Officer Roger said, as he once again held his arms behind his back, hiding the bag of food with it. Marinette, Tikki, Jim and Toby could only watch with pity from their spot on the steps.

"But, who's going to feed my poor pigeons?" Mr Ramier asked, trying to speak up against the stubborn officer.

"All the park keepers know about you, Mr. Ramier. You're banned from every park in Paris. Leave now or I'll call the authorities. Oh, wait. I'm the authorities. GET OUT!" Officer Roger shouts at the man, before Mr. Ramier walks away sadly.

Marinette and her brothers could only watch as the goofy man they knew since they were kids, left so disheartened.

"Sheesh, I almost feel sorry for him," Marinette admitted, as she watched Mr. Ramier leave, guiding her phone to follow as well.

Meanwhile, Tikki had watched from Marinette's purse, somewhat interested in the bird man.

"What a unique character!" Tikki exclaimed, drawing Marinette's attention.

"He was like... a human bird. All he needed was a feather jacket to complete the look," The red kwami pointed out, unknowingly giving Marinette just the idea she needed.

"A feather jacket, hmm?" Marinette thought over, before putting her phone back on the unoccupied side of her sketchbook and started another design frenzy.

"Nice thinking, Tikki," She prasied as she started drawing again, much to her brother's amusement.

"What did Tikki say?" Jim asked, curious as he and Toby watched Marinette start to flesh out her new idea.

"She made a comment of how 'Mr. Pigeon' was like a human bird and only needed a feather jacket to seal the deal. But why not make it into a hat?" Marinette explained as she continues to focus on the details of the new design.

"That sounds amazing already. Tikki is a genius!" Toby exclaimed, making Marinette smile as she continues to focus on the design.

"That she is." Marinette agreed, making the adorable kwami smile brightly at the complement while Marinette continued her designing frenzy.

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Mr. Ramier-known as Xavier to his close friends-had walked well enough away from Trocadero and sadly sat down on a bench that was on the banks of the Seine river. He felt hopeless as he hunched over himself, his bird call hangs limply from his neck.

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But unknown to him, his despire was like a magnet to a certain villain that terrorized the city on a daily basis, who was watching the poor man in his lair with the window open while the white butterflies lazily flutter through the air.

"Poor Mr. Ramier, the feeling of injustice, such easy prey for my akuma." The man that could give Joker a run for his money in the 'most iconic villain dressed in purple' department said as he held out his open left palm, allowing one of the butterflies to land and be coated in his dark magic.

"Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!" Hawkmoth said as the akuma flew through the city, and to Mr. Ramier.

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Soon, it finds the despairing man, and flutters to his bird call, and immediately infecting it, creating the psychic link between the pigeon lover and the twisted man.

"Mr. Pigeon, I'm Hawk Moth. Neither this police officer, nor any other of the park keepers, should stop you from taking care of your friends. What would Paris be without pigeons? What would pigeons be without you?" The purple clad psycho convinced, causing Mr Ramier to chuckle and spread out his arms like wings.

No sooner than he did, the telltale black and purple aura surrounded him, and soon disappeared, to reveal the transformed . He laughs triumphantly, flapping his arms, and making pigeon noises, before he runs off down the length of the Seine.