#actually two ideas combined... parismystere's fantasies and illusions

[parismystere]

no superpowers au in which marinette studies fashion design at university, but instead of doing part-time jobs, she supplements her income by having an online store called miraculous ladybug that is a hit among paris' young adults. not only does she sell unique handmade t-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, jewelry, but she customizes her creations based on what her customers have told her about themselves, and her work is always praised for that intimate touch. one day, she's on the métro, tired from carrying bags of supplies she needs for her work, when she spies a cute young man, probably her age, reading a natsume sōseki book with a furrowed brow. and just when she thinks that he looks kind of familiar, the métro abruptly stops, and oh no, her supplies are flying everywhere! cheeks red in embarrassment, she clumsily tries to gather her things, only to see that the cute guy is helping her and gently giving her back her stuff with a shy but very sweet smile. of course, marinette is going to ask him what is his name, if he'd like to grab coffee with her, if they can get married, et cetera, but it's his métro station and he has to get off :( she's lost him forever! at the last possible moment, however, she notices that he has a tote bag with a black cat and a cat pun on it - a tote bag she made!!!

marinette, of course, has lost the contact information of the cute boy who ordered a tote bag from her, so she's resigned to complaining to alya about how she'll die alone... only for alya to use her internet savvy to post from marinette's account on a popular parisian facebook group about a "very beautiful young man" that had a mdc tote with a black cat on it, who "very kindly helped me in a moment of need" and who, tragically, got off "at at champs-élysées–clemenceau at 5pm", and if he's on here, can he shoot a message? no way around it, marinette is definitely going to kill alya, but then this guy named nino tags someone named adrien agreste in the comment section, who apparently looked through marinette's links on her profile and seems totally smitten that he has found ladybug, the owner of the store he likes so much!