Day 1: Just Friends/Hide

"Come on out, Marinette. No hiding." Adrien extended a hand to the young designer as the school's auditorium swelled with applause.

He wore a rakish fedora, delicately hand sewn, with a matching vest over a tailored shirt and slacks. His forearm and fingers glowed under bright stage lights as Marinette contemplated the hand held out to her. She'd had to go as far as tucking a few stitches into the rolls of the sleeves to get them exactly the right length for her vision. She took Adrien's hand, nervous. He pulled her forward from the wings with a grin.

"As I was saying, first place in the design competition goes to Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" roared Alex, the announcer.

Marinette pasted on something resembling a smile as Alex shoved a bouquet of roses into her arms and flashbulbs popped. She felt a little weak in the knees. Not only had she won a competition, she'd somehow talked Adrien-Golden-Boy-Agreste into modeling her design and he'd just held her hand! This was the greatest day of her life, meeting Tikki notwithstanding. She cleared her throat, grimacing as another flashbulb went off in her eyes. Now or never.

"Uh, Adrien?" she muttered, not sure if he could hear her.

"Yeah, Marinette?" Adrien didn't look away from the cameras, but he leaned his head toward her as he waved and smiled.

"I was, um, wondering, maybe, ifyoudon'tmind, um…"

"I can't hear you, what was that, Marinette?"

Marinette lost her nerve and gave up. She would never, ever ask Adrien Agreste on a date. It just wasn't gonna happen.

As the last photo was snapped and the crowd began to gather their things, she walked silently off the stage deep in thought. So deep that she didn't hear a whispered hiss of anger coming from beside the stairs.

"Yes, Hawkmoth, I'll tailor my revenge just for you. Those tacky Miraculous are coming off - right after I get back at that hack, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Marinette was packing up her emergency sewing kit when she heard screams mingled with maniacal laughter. Another akuma! Her head shot up just as slow steps made their way down the stage stairs to the back of the auditorium where she stood.

On instinct, Marinette parted two outfits on a clothing rack and dove between them, hunching over to hide behind the runner-up designs. It was just in time. She nearly came forward when she saw Adrien come around the back of the stage, but something stopped her.

"Marineeette, where aaaare you? No hiding, Marinette." Adrien snapped off the "t" in her name with a malicious bite.

Marinette gasped as he glanced in her direction, a twisted smile on his face and eyes glowing greener than Chat Noir's. He scanned the backstage area, zeroing in on the clothing rack. His eyes were frighteningly bright and he moved without hesitation, coming right up to her hiding spot.

"Ah, there you are. I see you, Marinette."

Adrien shoved his hand through the overfull clothing rack, wrenching Marinette's wrist with his tight grip. He pulled her loose. Several pieces of clothing fluttered to the floor in her wake. Marinette had always admired Adrien's agile fencing physique from afar - something she'd gotten even closer to during his fittings for her show - but she'd never realized how imposing his musculature could be. Even as lithe as he was, his grip was pure steel.

"What are you doing, Adrien? We're friends!" Marinette cried as she struggled to free herself.

"Sartorina has a few alterations to make," he replied, the deadened glow of his eyes blazing.