Miraculous Ladybug: The New Holders

Jade Turtle: Part Twenty-Nine

Nino woke up feeling warm. Which was strange. His parents never paid the gas bills, and he'd always spend the night shivering and in the morning he'd wake up with his feet numb. Going to school was almost a relief. Not today. Why was he so warm and comfortable?

Then he remembered. He wasn't at his parent's house anymore, he had spent the night at Alya's.

He saw that Alya was next to him, asleep. She looked so peaceful and calm, her chest rising up and down softly. After a minute, Nino realized he was staring and looked away, a blush creeping onto his face.

Nino crept out of Alya's bed as quietly as he could without waking her and made his way to one of his bags. He pulled out some of his regular clothes he could change into from the pajamas he was wearing. He saw Alya's bathroom was empty and chose to change in there.

Once Nino was in his regular clothes, he started to gather his things together. Looking at his phone, he saw that it was 4:56 in the morning. It wasn't really much of a surprise, he usually woke up as early as he could and left his house for school.

Once Nino had all of his things, he crept out of Alya's room and made his way to her living room.

"Who are you??" A high pitched voice asked. Nino whirled around to see a small girl who looked strikingly similar to Alya, except with braided hair.

Wait, didn't Alya mention she had siblings..?

"Uh-" Nino stammered. "I'm a good friend of Alya's."

The little girl squinted. "Are you her boyfriend?"

Nino blinked. "Um... Yes?"

The little girl grinned mischievously. "Mama! There's a boy here!"

A voice that Nino recognized as Ms. Cèsare answered the little girl's shout. "What?! You better not be making this up, Fille."

Alya burst out of her room and ran to Nino's side. She glared at the girl who had yelled out. "I'll get you for this, Aubrey." She turned her attention to Nino. "We are in so much trouble..."

Alya's mother stepped into the living room and crossed her arms. "Alya!" She exclaimed, and then proceeded to shout in a language that sounded like an obscure Creole tongue.

Nino had no clue what she was saying, but Alya obviously did. She flinched, and then proceeded to respond in the same Creole language.

Alya's mom looked like she was considering whatever Alya had told her, and then responded again, this time not as angry.

Alya groaned and rolled her eyes. She responded, exasperated with her mother's previous response.

The mother grinned and gave a teasing reply. Alya immediately flushed at whatever her mother said.

"Mama!" She turned away to hide her blushing face and dragged Nino towards the door.

Nino gave Alya's mom a confused smile, and then walked out the front door with Alya.

She shut the door behind them and let out an exhausted sigh. "I'm really sorry about all this, Nino. Aubrey's a little rat who'll do anything to get me in trouble, and my mom's just really stressed out lately."

"Don't apologize, I should be sorry about my family." Nino replied.

Alya smacked his arm lightly. "Don't you dare apologize for your parent's choices. It wasn't your fault. If I'm not allowed to apologize for my family, there is no way you can."

Nino rubbed his arm and gave a chuckle. "That's fair. So, I'll see you at school?"

Alya bit her lip. "You're leaving so early?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah.. The teachers will let me in, I usually show up early and use the gym showers." Nino paused. "At least the water there was warm."

Alya didn't know what to say. She wanted to bad to just let him live at her house, but she could never do that to her mother. She barely got by, taking care of four daughters and herself, one more person in the house would've been too much. Alya wanted to help, but she didn't know how.

"What language was that?" Nino cleared his throat awkwardly and snapped Alya out of her thoughts.

"Oh, it's Martiniquan Creole. I learned it when I used to live in Martinique, all the locals speak it."

"Interesting." Nino nodded. "Well, I should get going, I don't want to cause any more trouble with your mom."

Alya swallowed hard. "Yeah. I'll see you in a few hours." She shuffled forward and hugged him tightly.

He hugged her back, then pulled away. Nino waved to her and began walking to the school.

Alya stepped back inside her house and went back to her room. The clock read 5:26 AM.

Renard flew out from Alya's bag. "Hey Alya!" Then he noticed her crestfallen expression. "Are you okay?"

Alya flopped onto her bed and let out a long sigh. "Yeah, I'm fine... I just wish I could help Nino more. But I don't think my mom will allow him to live here. I just don't know what to do."

Renard's ears drooped at his holder's misery. "I'm sorry." But then, he thought of a way he could cheer her up. "Hey, what if you were to check the news! What if there's something good going on?"

Alya pondered this. "Well, it might be a good idea to check on the news for the Ladyblog, I haven't been on as much as usual..." She turned to her Kwami. "Great idea, Renard!"

Alya pulled out her computer and went straight to the Ladyblog. The first thing that showed up was a video link titled MAYOR DECLARES FESTIVAL BE HELD IN HONOR OF HEROES!

Alya quickly clicked on the link, and it went to a video of the Mayor giving a speech.

"Paris seems to have gained new villains, but we in turn have gained new heroes! I propose that a festival be held in honor of all Ladybug and Chat Noir have done, and to celebrate the appearances of Queen Bee and Volpina!"

Alya paused the video, trembling with joy. A festival in their honor?! And the mayor himself would be there?! This was so big, Alya felt like she could scream.

"Renard, look! They're throwing a festival for us!" Alya whispered excitedly to him.

"That's amazing!" Renard exclaimed. "But one problem. What about the Ladyblog? You have to be there as Volpina, but the watchers expected full coverage of the festival from you as Alya."

"I hadn't thought of that..." Alya thought hard on how to fix this. Then, she gasped aloud. "I have an idea..."

Alya pulled out her phone and started to record herself.

"Hey guys! Alya here! So, I just saw the news, and I'm sorry to say that I can't make it to livestream at the festival." This was where her plan came in. "I just got grounded, and I'm not allowed to go. But I'd be willing to find a co-host to get coverage when I can't! Leave a link to a video of you telling me why you'd want to co-host the Ladyblog, and I'll decide who won the day before the festival. Bug out!"

Alya stopped recording and uploaded the video to the blog.

Renard perched himself on Alya's curly red-brown hair. "Not bad!"

Alya stroked his little head. "Thanks, Renard."