💜🐻💜
💖Thank you for reading my story! If you have any questions about my fanfic you want answered, drop them in the comments below! 💖
A/N: Happy (early) Valentine's Day you guys! I was gonna post this Sunday, but I couldn't wait. :D
One Week Later...
September 9, 2015
66 Avenue Victor Hugo, Paris, France
11:00 a.m.
"Alright, you all have a week to collect your photos and videos for your patch today. You'll put them into a..." Mom cranes her neck to glance at me sitting on the other couch. "What are they called, Kai?"
"A Google Slides," I answer, looking up from my laptop.
Since the Parker Sisters are from England and don't live in France like Bella and I, we have to do our monthly Girl Scout troop meetings like this as opposed to other troops who have it in person. Even though we all wish we could meet in person, at least it prepares us for quarantining whenever the next epidemic decides to show up.
"We'll meet again in October, same time, 11 a.m.," Mom announces. "Do you girls have any questions before we head out?"
"No, ma'am," Bella sheepishly squeaks. "I-I'm good."
Even though six years of Girl Scouts brought her out of her shell, she's still a bit shy and awkward around people. So I doubt she's actually understood the project thoroughly.
"I do believe our annual Christmas meeting is approaching, Shania," Alyssa pipes up as she sips her peppermint tea. "Is this statement still accurate?"
Mom nods. "Yes, we're still meeting up the week after you girls get released for Christmas vacation. You girls vote on where we're gonna go, and I'll write it down in my calendar."
"This is amazing," Amanda adds. "I don't want to spend Christmas here with old gits constantly trying to hook up with me. I'd rather be at home memorizing the periodic table than dealing with old perverts."
"Sister!" Alyssa scolds. "I do not permit the use of such foul language in this meeting. It's absolutely daft."
"My apologies, sister," Amanda mutters.
"Oh please," Kaley interjects, tying her long, silky brown hair into a ponytail. "Your sister has a point, Lizzy. Just because your lot is English doesn't mean there ain't creeps lurking around."
Bella shudders. "There's plenty of creeps here in France. All these villains and strange people in costumes fighting them. It's kind of scary."
I straighten up. "Hey, those strange people in costumes are superheroes. And they're doing everything they can to help France out with their villain problem."
Kaley and Amanda wear identical smirks as they stare at me through the camera. "Hmmm...seems like you know more about that Hero Trio than you let on, Kai."
I laugh. "Well, yeah. I'm in Paris. I get to see these things up close. You're all the way in England."
They simultaneously shrug. "Fair point."
Kaley smirks as she brings her wrench into the camera. "Besides, even if those 'superheroes' do turn into creeps, knock a little sense into them and they'll back off."
"Like the time you two beat the crap out of that dude when we were walking home last Halloween?" I smirk.
She grins. "Exactly."
"In that case, we're gonna end the meeting here," Mom interrupts, preventing us from discussing more weapons to purchase for when we walk home. "Stay safe out there. And don't whack anyone with a wrench unless they hit you first. Your generation has cameras now, so you won't get away with it."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Shania," Kaley smirks, holding her hands up. "And I'm not making any promises."
The girls leave one by one, and Mom shakes her head with a smile. "Those girls."
I open Wattpad, head to my profile, open my Black Butler fanfiction, and get to work editing the chapters. "Hey, at least they're not brainless female pushovers that stand for nothing. Be grateful I didn't turn into a pageant queen."
"I'll be grateful if you get off your butt and get started on your project."
"Oh yeah!" I exclaim as I clear my browser history, close my laptop, and wrap my blue flannel around my waist.
"Can I borrow the camera for the photos?"
"What?"
"Mom, you know the camera on my Samsung sucks. It's tougher than the iPhone, but the camera's not as good."
Mom pauses, then reluctantly gets up and hands me her camera bag. "You break this, you're buying me a new one, understood?"
I nod. "Yeah, Mom. I know."
"You better hope she doesn't face any stairs or that thing's not coming back in one piece," Mato says as she relaxes on the sofa cushion reading The Shining.
I squint at her. "Thanks, Mato. That's very reassuring."
"And if something chases you, run."
"Mato, this isn't Jurassic World. I don't need your advice."
"Don't have attitude," Mom warns. "There's now twenty foot monsters trying to kill you. It might as well be."
"Don't worry, I can handle myself. I'm going to the park, not the Dagobah system."
"You got your pepper spray? And your hand sanitizer? And your cat claws? And your birdie?"
"I need to do my project while I'm still young and able to walk, Mom. I'm heading out now." I glance at Mato on the sofa. "Come on, Mato! You need some fresh air!"
She sighs. "I'm coming."
Mom crosses her arms. "Don't stay out too late-"
"Bye Mom."
After locking the door with my Disneyland key, I start walking down the street, putting in an earbud in to listen to This is Queen on Spotify.
Mato pops her head out from my satchel. "You do know what you're going to do for your badge, right? Because if you don't, I have a few ideas of cool things we could do."
I laugh. "What's a bisexual teenager and a cute, wittle tomahto gonna do in Paris?"
She grits her teeth. "Don't call me cute."
I continue walking down the street. "Since I needed to make a collage of 'nature's beauty' for the patch, I figured I'd head over to that park where the little merry-go-round is. They have a lot of cute little squirrels and birds over there," I chirp excitedly.
"If we're lucky, those 'cute birds' won't mutate and kill everyone in the park. We don't need a reboot of The Birds today. It's your first day off since school since the attacks started."
I shrug. "That's the life of a Girl Scout superhero. Always on the move."
Walking through the gates, I notice a cart filled with balloons of two teenage girls from the beauty pageant that aired today. I roll my eyes in disgust. Just because I think it's stupid and sexist to rank girls from best to worst like they're a bunch of toys, simply based on how pretty their perfect, skinny, unrealistic bodies are.
That's right, I'm looking at you, Miss Congeniality. Sorry, Sandra Bullock.
Spotting a shady spot under the row of trees, I sit down on a bench against the fence of the park and take out my camera. Looking around, I spot lots of things to take pictures of. Vibrant purple flowers softly dancing in the wind. A group of lazy squirrels eating their nuts. Gorgeous birds of every color singing in the trees. I feel like I just walked into the Land of Oz.
As I'm taking pictures, Mato nudges my thigh. "I know what else you can take a picture of."
"Hmm?"
"Handsome bird at twelve o'clock with pretty green eyes."
My head eagerly snaps to look in front of me, but I realize it's not a bird. It's Adrien Agreste by the water fountain in the middle of a photoshoot.
I glare at her. "I thought you said there was a bird, not a boy."
She crosses her arms. "What's the difference? They're both loud and stupid."
"You know, you kind of got a point."
Adrien slightly turns his head, smiling when he sees me. He waves and I give him a small smile, waving back.
His photographer looks at the two of us suspiciously. "No time, Monsieur Agreste! Here for ze photos, not ze girlfriend!"
Adrien sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, gives me an apologetic smile and turns back to the camera man. Cheeks turning slightly red, I tell myself to get over the fact they automatically assumed I was his lover.
"Stop staring at him, girlfriend. You've got work to do," Mato smirks.
I scoff. "I'm not staring at him, and I'm not his girlfriend."
"Sure, Jan."
Rolling my eyes, I check out my photos and write down my observations my patch journal. As I describe the behavior of the animals in the park, my brain starts to reminisce about Adrien and I.
I'm still shocked that after everything I did, he still wanted to give back something he knew was mine. That definitely makes him either the kindest or most oblivious person I know, and it's actually really sweet. But then again-
"A hamster! I love hamsters!" a voice shrieks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
What do you know? It's Marinette and Alya standing literally five feet from me. But Marinette for some reason looks like she's been on too much Caprisun and Jolly Ranchers.
My eyebrows furrow. Being that I battled a twenty foot rock twice, this isn't the weirdest thing I've seen.
Alya suggests, "Let's just start with 'happen to be passing by' and see if we can get to that smoothie." Then she notices me and waves. "Hey girl! Awesome to see you here! What brings you?"
I hold up my camera. "Girl Scout business. Gotta take pictures of nature's beauty for my patch."
"While you're at it, can you take a picture of Adrien for Marinette to add to her collection?"
"I don't have a collection!" Marinette fusses.
My eyebrows furrow. "What?"
Then I look at Marinette's helpless eyes and it hits me.
"Lemme guess, she's here to see Adrien on his photoshoot because now she's got the hugest crush on him."
"Pretty much, girl."
"I'm not stalking!" Marinette retorts. "I just happen to be passing by to see our very good friend whose eyes make me forget how to breathe and whose beautiful face was carved by angels. That's all. It's not like I'm totally in love with him and love watching all of his videos on repeat," she nervously giggles.
"Uh, okay," I say, weirded out. "You know that's weird, right?"
Alya raises her eyebrow. "Yeah, like repeatedly watching edits of Sebastian Michaelis and Howl on Instagram isn't weird either?"
My entire face turns red. "Shut up," I grumble.
Marinette shushes us. "Time's a-wasting! I'm gonna hang out with him today if it's the last thing I do!"
I glance at her, clearly weirded out. "You start stalking him, I'm gonna call my mom on you."
Marinette gives an overexcited thumbs up and starts...I don't know if I should even call it walking, behind him, clearly panicking. I'm just trying my absolute best not to laugh, biting on my flannel sleeve.
Alya crosses her arms. "Uh, we couldn't be more invisible."
Marinette freaks out. "Okay, let's start over."
She pushes the three of them backwards but Adrien turns around, waving at the four of us. His photographer exclaims loudly and quickly ushers him back to the photoshoot.
Marinette excitedly gasps. "Did you see that? He waved at me!"
"Yeah, I saw it too. Pretty normal since we're in the same class," Alya points out, smacking down Marinette's energetic hand.
She doesn't hear her as she continues to gape at him, her mouth hanging open while Alya repeatedly tries to close it.
When that fails, Alya shakes her head and looks at me. "I think she's too far gone at this point to listen to us, girl."
I chuckle. "You think?"
"Marinette! I want a balloon with Mireille on it!" the little girl standing beside her suddenly shouts. "Marinette? Marinette!"
The photographer, probably fed up at this point, angrily turns around. "Silencio, mademoiselles!"
Alya tries to calm the little girl down. "Come on, small fry. I'll get you that balloon."
"No, I wanna go with Marinette!"
Marinette sighs. "I'll deal with it. I am her babysitter." With the little girl attached to her leg, she hobbles over to the balloon stand I saw earlier.
"But what about Adrien?" Alya asks.
"He's not going anywhere," I pipe up as I finish writing my observations in my journal. "Besides, I think if she would've stayed, she would have became a Michael Myers level stalker."
"I know," she sighs.
She sits in front of a tree, taking out an apple. "I mean, Marinette's my friend, but sometimes her...situation gets a little out of control. And I know a thing or two about people getting out of control. My two little sisters are a bunch of little troublemakers."
I lean back against the tree trunk. "I mean, as long as she doesn't keep photos of him on her pillow or repeatedly stalk him throughout the city, then she should be fine."
Alya cringes as she chews. "Yeah, about that..."
My eyes widen. "Oh my gods, you're kidding me!"
Before I can ask questions, that same photographer from earlier jumps in front of us, making me jolt. "You! I need you to pose with your boyfriend for ze photoshoot!"
My cheeks flush. "Sorry sir, but I'm not his girlfriend."
"Ha, that'z a good one. Come on, it'z will be quick."
I look at Adrien staring at me, then back to the photographer. "I, um, well-"
Alya interrupts. "Oh no, you don't want either of us." She starts to pretend her tongue's swollen. "I'm getting an allergic reaction to thif apple, and she'th too buthy with her thomewurk. But I thnow the perfect perthon fur you guyths. I'll be right bacth!"
She races off to get Marinette and leaves me alone underneath the tree. I'm about to add additional notes to my journal when I look up and realize how lonely Adrien looks. My heart sinks a little bit as I observe his saddened, distant eyes. I snap my journal shut and walk over to the blonde.
"Hey Adrien," I call.
His eyes light up. "Hey (Y/n), how's it going?"
"Besides the fact that there's an edgy butterfly man lurking throughout Paris and I'm getting hungry, I'm doing okay. What about you? Sitting for hours on end getting just a little boring?"
He laughs. "Just a little bit. But my photographer's out looking for someone to pose with me as an extra. And I think he picked you first since he thought you were my girlfriend," he sheepishly smiles.
"I had a lot of work to do, so I couldn't do it, I'm sorry," I lie, averting my eyes. "Besides, I don't think I'd look good in a picture anyways."
Giving me a soft smile, he replies, "I think you'd look really pretty in a picture."
"You think so?"
"I do."
I smile lightly as my heart beats a little faster. "Thank you."
"And hey, if you're still hungry after my photoshoot, maybe we can go get something to eat if you want."
My smile fades slightly. We're gonna go what?
"That...would be really nice," I whisper quietly. An idea pops in my head. "Maybe we can invite Marinette and Alya too! The more, the merrier."
Smile fading ever so slightly, he slowly nods. "Yeah, that-that would work too."
"What's wrong?" I ask.
He rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Well, I was wondering...if...if it could be just you and-"
Suddenly, I hear screaming from behind us. We both turn and see someone floating above the park, sending a blast of frigid wind at everyone. Things get worse when she encases the merry-go-round in a thick wall of ice with her umbrella, trapping the people inside.
I put my hands on my hips. "Wow. Mary Poppins looks like she had a really bad day."
Adrien looks at me with worry in his eyes. "You need to go hide. Run as far away from here as you can. I don't want you to get hurt."
I smirk. "What are you talking about? I'm a tough girl. I can take care of myself."
I race into an alleyway across the street and Mato quickly flies out of my satchel.
"You owe me money when we get home," she quips.
I scoff. "And why is that?"
"Because I predicted this would happen, that's why."
"Heck no! You're getting Monopoly money."
"You're giving me $15 when we get back."
"Fine. Mato, unleash the roar!"
Quickly transforming, I run back to the park where Ladybug is, trying to get Alya and the little girl out from the merry-go-round. When her yo-yo doesn't do anything to break the ice and whacks her on the head instead, I step up.
"Let me try," I tell her before turning to the girls inside. "You might want to stand back."
Analyzing the icy dome for weak spots, I sprint quickly towards the merry-go-round, leap up with both daggers raised, and jam them as hard as I can into the ice. When I slide back down to the grass after creating a jagged line down the center of the dome, the ice finally splits open like an egg.
I exhale a sigh of relief. I place my daggers back into their sheaths. "That was easier than I thought."
The little girl inside runs over to me. "Thank you, Makwa! You saved the day!" she giggles, tightly hugging my thigh.
Even though I internally cringe because she's hugging my thigh, I smile and kneel down to hug her. "You're welcome," I smile.
Alya's mouth hangs open. "That was totally awesome! That's gonna look so cool on the blog!"
I straighten up. "Just happy I could help."
The little girl looks around. "Where's Marinette?"
Right in front of you.
Ladybug kneels down to her. "She's somewhere safe. She hasn't forgotten about you, Manon."
"How did you know my name?"
Ladybug stutters, "Uhhh, Marinette told me. She's coming right back. But now I need you two to get somewhere safe, okay?"
They both nod and run towards the street opposite the action. Ladybug looks at me with a bewildered look on her face.
"That was pretty incredible what you did there," she gapes. "I've never seen anyone do that before."
"Why, thank you," I smile. "But all I- holy shoot!"
"WOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"
From across the park, Cat Noir's screams echo all the way from where we're standing. I don't know what happened, but all I see is his body helplessly hurtling towards the street. My legs instinctively sprint in his direction to catch him before he hits the pavement.
When I finally leap and catch him bridal style, his gorgeous eyes light up. "Hey there, Berry Bear! It's always nice to see you and your purr-ty smile."
I giggle as I land and put him down. "If I have to keep saving you, I'm going to make you pay me a dollar for each time I do. I'll have $100 by Christmas to buy you a big ball of string."
"Or buy me some mistletoe so I can stick it on your forehead," he smirks, leaning closer to my face. "And I'll finally get a kiss from the most paw-some girl in the world."
"From Ladybug?" I ask.
"From you of course, ma reine."
To hide the heat rising in my cheeks, I do my best Anakin Skywalker impression. "You will try."
He grabs my hips and pulls me against his body. "Right now? As you wish."
Ladybug pops up beside us. "Come on lovebirds, stop ogling each other. We got work to do."
I untangle myself from him, my face red with embarrassment. She's right, I can't let my emotions distract me.
"You three brats are no match for me and my lightning!" a voice behind us bellows.
She raises her umbrella, summoning a storm and sending multiple bolts of lightning straight towards us. Before I can react, I feel Cat Noir wrap his arms around my waist, pull me out of the way of the strikes, and run down the street with me. He accidentally trips on the pavement when he evades the last lightning bolt, causing us to fall on top of each other.
Groaning and opening my eyes, I freeze when I feel something wide and hard between my legs.
I snap my head back and freeze. I realize I'm straddling Cat Noir's hips between my legs, with my hands positioned on both sides of his head. When I see Cat Noir staring up at me with an unblinking, flirty look in his slit pupils, my heart jumps into my throat.
"This is a nice view," he smirks, biting his lip gently.
My entire body stiffens. Please don't look at me like that.
Face burning out of major embarrassment and mind wandering to places it definitely shouldn't, I quickly get off him and try to focus on our job. Not on the fact the position we were in was very...suggestive.
"You almost hurt my Berry Bear! Now you've just won yourself a catfight!" Cat Noir yells when he gets up. He charges towards her.
"Black Ice!" Her umbrella covers the streets in slippery ice and hits us with a strong gust of wind, knocking us backwards.
Thinking fast, I yank out my daggers and plunge them into the ground, gripping them for dear life. The wind finally stops and I drop face first onto the cement. When the three of us groan and get back up, Cat Noir excitedly cracks his knuckles.
"A little Cat Noir will take the wind out of her sails!" he declares, running towards her again.
Ladybug grabs his tail. "Woah, kitty-kitty, you better think before you go charging in there. Remember what happened with Stoneheart?"
He rubs his tail after she lets go. "You got a plan?"
"Just follow my lead," she commands before running on the building's walls down the street.
"Sir Isaac Newton would be so disappointed with us," I joke, nearly slipping on the walls as I draw my weapons out, preparing to attack.
"Not you again!" the villain hisses before throwing another strong gust of wind at us, propelling us at least a mile backwards. After we avoid the raining cars that got swept into the air with us, we start running back down the street.
"You know, maybe this girl has some unresolved anger issues," Ladybug jokes.
"Or she didn't pass her driving test," Cat Noir suggests.
"Hello viewers," we hear from the shattered screens surrounding us. They flicker to life and there's Evil Poppins, standing against a map of Paris. "Here's the latest forecast for the first day of summer. Looks like Mother Nature had a change in plans. Summer vacation is officially over!"
I shrug. "Oh...no?"
"Already?" Cat Noir groans. "But I look so good in a swimsuit."
When we look at him in confusion, he wiggles his eyebrows. "You'd like to see that, wouldn't you Berry Bear?"
My cheeks flush. "Hold your horses, Cat Noir."
"In other news, at least now we know where to find her," Ladybug confirms.
We take off towards the news station where the beauty pageant was held earlier. When we enter, Cat Noir stops in his tracks and points at a cut-out of one of those girls from the show.
"Hey, that girl reminds me of someone."
"It's her!" Ladybug realizes. "The akuma must be in her parasol."
"I knew beauty pageants were always a bad idea," I mutter. "Look at Toddlers and Tiaras."
When we reach the room she's inside, we kick down the door and charge in. But we quickly realize that there's no one here.
"It's a trap!" I gasp.
Maniacal laughter erupts from behind us and the room goes completely pitch black. But luckily bears have excellent night vision, so I can see my surroundings clearly.
"Frosty the Snowgirl's getting away!" Cat Noir announces, grabbing my hand to usher me forward. "Wait a second, where's Ladybug?"
We hear her scream and trip over something on our right side.
"Let me guess, ladybugs don't have night vision, don't they?" I ask.
"No they don't," Ladybug sighs. "But I can manage on my o-"
Not waiting for an answer, we sweep by and I scoop her into my arms. I nod at Cat Noir to lead the way.
"Hey! Put me down! I can walk by myself, you know!" she protests.
"Would you rather trip over all these stairs in the dark?"
She opens her mouth to protest but inhales sharply. She crosses her arms and pouts a bit. "Good point."
On the way, I realize that carrying someone and running up stairs as Makwa is way easier than I thought it would be. And it honestly feels cool to have this sort of strength. Ladybug clings onto me as we chase after our villain, finally reaching the top of the building.
"You airheads, you've fallen right into my trap!" she yells.
"You can't trap justice!" I holler.
"Party's over fools! There's no way out!"
I set Ladybug down and she's immediately ready to fight. "We're just getting started, Stormy! Lucky Charm!"
This time, she gets a bath towel. "A bath towel? What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Great. So we're about to be obliterated, but at least we'll be dry," Cat Noir says sarcastically.
"Just hold your whiskers!" she retorts, wrapping the towel around her wrist.
Just when I think it can't get any worse, balls of large hail start plummeting from the sky like meteors. Cat Noir pulls us underneath him and quickly twirls his staff to form a shield.
"So what's the plan for getting the akuma back? My arms are starting to cramp!" he cries.
Ladybug looks around for a second before her eyes light up. "See that sign over there? Check it out!"
"Alright. Cataclysm!"
"Makwa, you stand ready to catch and break her parasol."
"Got it."
"Hey Coldilocks, is that all you've got?" Cat Noir taunts, dodging her attacks and running his hand along the bottom of the sign that's behind the villain, making it fall towards her.
Ladybug takes the opportunity to wrap her yo-yo around her ankle, ducking under a pipe and leaping onto a fan with the open towel to reel the villain back in. Screaming, she drops her parasol and I grab it, snapping it like a toothpick.
"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma," Ladybug says, opening up her yo-yo. "Time to de-evilize!"
She throws the bath towel into the air and the beautiful ladybugs set everything back to normal.
"Pound it!" the three of us yell.
|~~~|
Later That Day...
1:15 p.m.
"It's a shame Marinette and Alya couldn't come with us." I wipe my mouth with a napkin. "Poor Marinette had to babysit that little girl and Alya was helping her 'tame the monkey'. Whatever that meant."
"Yeah," Adrien agrees. "But I'm glad you could come," he beams.
I let out a long whistle. "I needed a break. Nearly getting killed by Evil Poppins threw off my one day vacation."
"I heard Makwa saved two girls trapped inside the merry-go-round," Adrien says, devouring a chicken tender from our KFC bucket.
Once all the Stormy Weather business was done, we met back up at the park. Adrien shyly asked me what restaurants we should head to, saying he didn't eat anything outside of what his servants made for him. I suggested we headed to KFC and get the Tenders and Fries bucket for two. He even paid for my bucket despite my insisting the meal was on me.
"Yeah, I saw it," I smile. "It was pretty cool. That ice split apart like butter."
He dreamily sighs. "She's really amazing, isn't she?"
With a red tint crossing my cheeks, I stutter, "Uh, yeah, she's nice. She's really strong, that I know for certain."
He smiles. "Would you like another chicken tender? You've barely eaten your food."
I shake my head politely. "Oh no. One tender and a few fries is enough for me."
His eyes fill with worry. "You sure?"
I give him a fake smile. "Yeah, I don't get hungry easily."
His big green eyes analyze my face in confusion, but he slowly nods. "Alright."
We stare out into the sky for a while, brainstorming what to say next.
Adrien suddenly pats my hand softly. "Thank you. For having lunch with me. I've never eaten anywhere besides home or with anyone other than my assistant. And this feels less...lonely. I actually feel happy."
I squeeze his hand. "Hey, if you ever need someone to talk to about what you're going through, I'll always be here, okay? And if you ever want to meet up again, you let me know."
His head turns so his bright eyes can meet mine. "I will."
"I'll just make sure to bring my Millennium Falcon next time if we need to make the jump to hyperspace to escape any potential bad guys. Deal?"
He nods with a smile. "Deal."
And it's weird. The one thing we never notice while we laugh and eat is our hands, still resting on each other, feeling our heartbeats and the heat of each other's skin. That could have easily been by accident.
But looking back now, all I remember is that even though we eventually broke free from each other, I still held onto the warmth of his hand.
And how safe and happy it made me feel.