"Jason! Marinette!" Dick comes bounding into the living room, shoving his phone into their faces. "Coccinelle is having a fashion show! And they invited the entire family to go see it!"
Marinette and Jason share a knowing smile. "That's great, Dick!" She exclaims. "Who knows, maybe you'll even get to meet them!"
Dick gasps. "Ohmigod I forgot to tell Timmy. TIMMY!" He runs for the Batcave.
Marinette grins. "I'm not putting an announcement up on the website about the reveal. I want it to be a complete surprise."
Jason kisses her forehead. "Of course. What's your cover again?"
"Coccinelle is inviting certain aspiring designers, mostly interns, backstage to see how things work. I'm also modelling because they want to give the fresh ones in the industry a head start." Marinette blinks innocently up at him. "They'll never know what hit them."
____________
The day of the show arrives. Dick, Tim, and Steph are vibrating with excitement as they arrive at the venue. Marinette breaks off from the group when they find their seats.
"This is where I ditch you guys for the length of the show."
Cass smiles. "Go. We will cheer for you."
"It's so cool that Coccinelle invited fashion interns from all over to help!" Dick gushes. "They're not only the best designer ever, but an amazing person to boot! I'd marry them if I knew who they were!"
Jason tenses, almost imperceptibly, and Marinette presses a kiss to his cheek while whispering in his ear. "Not yet, mon chou. Afterwards, you can rub it in."
"I'll see you after the show!" Marinette calls to the rest, before heading backstage after flashing a pass to the security.
____________
Coccinelle's first fashion show is simply stunning. Every model is an aspiring designer or model in the industry, wearing the exquisite creations made by Coccinelle.
Marinette is last to model, and the entire family erupts in cheers when they see her. Her waist-length blue hair is left loose, and her dress is something magnificent. At first, it looks like a pure white off-the shoulder dress with billowing sleeves and a floor length skirt, but when she reaches the middle of the runway, the embroidery that took her three months to finish comes into view.
The beautiful mountain valley scene on her skirt was made by weaving metallic colored threads into the fabric of the skirt, so that it would only show properly when the runway lights were strong enough. It nearly drove her nuts to make, but the end result was definitely worth it.
To everyone's surprise, sans Jason, Marinette doesn't go back in after posing on the end of the runway. Instead, someone hands her a microphone, which she tests before speaking.
"Hello everyone. Thank you for coming tonight. My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I am the designer known as Coccinelle. It's been my dream since I was six, and my parents bought me my first sewing machine, to be a designer one day, and I am very thankful to those who have helped me along this journey."
"First, thank you to my parents, Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng, for supporting my hobby when I was younger, even though it was very costly and the bakery did not earn quite enough money to fund it."
"Thank you to Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling, for being the first ever to commission me. I met them by pure chance on a class trip, which is an extremely long story that I will not dive into tonight. They got me on my feet in the fashion world, and for that, I will be forever grateful."
"Thank you to Audrey Bourgeois, who suggested I go by an anonymous handle after a couple of my old classmates decided to spam my previous website with bad reviews. She has always been there to guide me through the cutthroat world of fashion. I'm sorry, Audrey, for never taking you up on that offer to go to New York, but I wanted to make an impact on my own."
"A huge thank you to my fiance, Jason Todd-Wayne, for putting up with me when I randomly stop on the streets to sketch when inspiration hits, for taking care of me while I'm on a designing spree, and for trying to wrestle me into having a normal sleep schedule. He does so much for me, and I will forever be convinced that I do not deserve such a wonderful man."
"Lastly, thank you to the entire Wayne family, who came out to see me today under the impression that I was another intern recruited to model for the show. I am really sorry, Dick, Tim, Steph, Cass, Bruce, and Alfred, for not telling you, but I wanted it to be a surprise. Well, scratch that, Alfred and Cass definitely knew already. They know everything. It was really funny though, to see you guys worship me. And no, Dick, you will not get a chance to marry Coccinelle like you said earlier." Marinette grins at the family in the front row and raises her left hand, where a ring glints in the bright light. "Your brother got there first, I'm afraid."
"Anyway, this is Coccinelle, of Coccinelle Designs. Thank you for attending this show."
In the front row, Jason snickers. "World's Greatest Detective, my ass."