You breathed deeply, inhaling the smell of freshly baked croissants. After months of preparation you were finally in Paris for your student exchange. It'd be strange to be away from everything you knew, but you hoped it'd be worth it. Eyes darting to the bakery at your side, you contemplated buying something, but quickly dismissed the idea. You couldn't be late for your first day at the Arts and Design University.
Making your way through the front gate, you admired the sculptures that decorated the vast garden ahead of you. Some modern, some classical, it was a nice atmosphere. And since it was summer, many students were laying around on the grass, some drawing, others chatting and smoking. Readjusting your backpack, you headed for the main building.
Your mouth opened in wonder as you walked inside. The place was gorgeous: the old architecture elements side by side with modern furniture, creating a beautiful combination. You were so engrossed by it that you almost jumped when someone touched your arm.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you." A girl said, retreating her hand quickly. "Are you one of the new exchange students?" She had short, black hair and her blue eyes were kind as she smiled at you.
You nodded and she extended her hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Marinette."
After you said your name and from where you were from, Marinette began showing you around the campus, since she was one of the responsible for welcoming the new exchange students. And she was really good at it; answering all your questions and making you feel less nervous about being in a completely new place all by yourself. Her cheerfulness was contagious.
You were now laughing at her comment about a modern sculpture as you both walked in front of the design building when someone shouted her name. Turning around you saw a girl walking in your direction. She had reddish-brown hair and black glasses that matched the headphones around her neck.
"Hey Mari, found a new student already?" The girl said to Marinette as she got close.
Marinette smiled and introduced you to the girl. "This is my best friend, Alya. She studies Design and Multimedia."
"Nice to meet you and welcome to Paris!" Alya said shaking your hand.
"Thank you." You said, chuckling as she was still shaking your hand.
Marinette then looked at her watch and gasped. "Wow, it's almost lunch time! Why don't we go to the cafeteria for lunch?"
You quickly agree, your stomach more than ready for a bit of food.
At the cafeteria, the three of you sat in one of the tables after getting your meals. The place was full of students, all chatting between themselves.
"Oh, look who's there." Alya said, a mischievous smile on her face as she pointed to a table with her head. You looked to where she was pointing and saw a blonde boy talking with his friends. "Isn't he cute, Marinette?" She put her hand under her chin and batted her eyelashes at her friend.
Marinette rolled her eyes. "You're never letting this go, are you?" She huffed. "That was years ago."
You had no idea what was going on as you looked at them. Alya saw your expression of complete loss and laughed. "She used to have a huge crush on him, right Mari?" She nudged her friend, who only looked to the side, annoyed. "But now she only has eyes to those Japanese boys of her."
"They're Koreans, Alya." Marinette sighed like she had said this many, many times.
Alya laughed once again and put an arm over her friend's shoulders. "C'mon, don't be like that! I'm just teasing you."
"In front of the new student." Marinette deadpanned.
You quickly shook your head. "I promise I won't say anything!" The two friends smiled.
Alya then waved her hand. "Don't worry about it, she never tried to hide it anyway."
Marinette rolled her eyes but you saw her smile, and soon they changed the subject, talking mainly about the difference between Korea and Japan.
You smiled at their antics as you ate your food, but soon your eyes wandered a few tables ahead of you, where the blonde guy was sitting. He was fairly handsome you had to admit it, especially with the light from the window reflecting on his hair. Maybe he was a model? You tried to imagine Marinette gawking over him and laughed quietly to yourself. You couldn't picture that. The boy then turned and looked in your direction and you quickly looked at your food, cursing inwardly. Damn, you must have been staring for some time. After a moment, you looked up tentatively but he had gone back to talking to his friends. Sighing in relief, you hoped he didn't think much about it.
----
It had been two weeks since Marinette gave you that tour around the campus. She still talked to you, always helping if you needed something and since you had some classes with her, you had lunch together sometimes.
Time passed quickly as you got used to your life in Paris. The city was basically an open-air museum, with many things to see and places to be. And things were getting better: you were getting less lost at the metro station (a huge improvement, you must say) and was getting used to living in your apartment. The place wasn't big, but it had a cozy feeling, and you loved sitting on the windowsill on your bedroom to feel the sun on your face or to look at the lights of the city when it got dark.
Now it was the weekend, but you had to hand over some landscape sketches to one of your classes on Monday, so in the afternoon you left your place with some papers and a pencil case.
You decided to go to a calm park a few blocks from your apartment and sitting on a bench on a more secluded area so you could concentrate, you began to draw. The weather was nice. Birds were singing and a soft breeze swayed your hair as your pencil flew across the paper.
The sunlight was then blocked and you looked up, seeing the sky completely grey. "What the..." You put your pencil down. It was blue a few seconds ago!
You heard a noise and saw something flying past above the trees. A car.
A car?!
Your eyes widened as you heard an evil laugh – like those from the movies, followed by the sound of the car crashing as it hit the ground somewhere. Before you could stand up you saw a masked girl wearing a red suit with black dots run past. Your face was probably priceless at this point, having no idea of what the hell was going on. Were you in the middle of a filming set?
"Chat!" You heard her shout from the limits of the park. She was outside your field of view now.
"Coming." A male voice said. Your eyes widened even more as a - also masked - blonde boy landed a few meters in front of you, dressed in a black skin-tight catsuit, with cat ears and everything. Yep, you probably shouldn't be there, this was some serious anime shit. You were sure a movie director would appear at any second and kick you out of there.
You tried to get up slowly without the boy noticing, but with so many papers to hold, your pencil slipped from your hand and fell to the ground. You winced as you saw the boy's cat ears stand up. Goddammit. Although you had to admit that was a really cool mechanism, making it possible for him to move the fake cat ears like that. What was the-
Your thoughts were cut short when he turned his head to you. That was it, now you would be sued for messing up the recording. You expected to hear a 'Cut!' shouted from somewhere, but not the boy turning his head to the side as he saw the drawings on your hands. He began to walk in your direction, grinning.
You stood there watching as he made his way over to you, walking in what you could only describe as a sinful way. Who was this guy?
He grabbed your pencil from the ground and extended it to you with a flourish. You grabbed it, but he didn't let go, making you look up.
"Can you draw me, ma chérie?" He gave you a half smile, his green eyes locked on yours. You looked at the fang that was visible from his smile and swallowed dry.
"Chat!" You heard the girl shout once again after another crash sound, reminding you of the current situation. Maybe they were still recording? Was this a live thing? Perhaps a promotion of the show? You had too many questions.
The boy turned his head to where the girl was calling and let go of the pencil.
"Sure." You blurted out. He turned to you again, eyebrows raised. You sat down on the bench and grabbed a blank sheet of paper.
"Err..." the startled cat boy looked between you and the girl. "Really?"
"Yeah," you said, already beginning to sketch. "Now stay still."
He blinked at you, his cool attitude gone for a moment as you made the quickest sketch you could - praying that it didn't look like total garbage, and handed it over to him. "Here. You can keep it."
His eyes lit up as he saw the drawing. He opened his mouth to say something but you heard a noise and a flying car crashed a few meters to your side, scaring you shitless.
"Chat!!" The girl sounded much more urgent now.
The cat boy made a hissing sound. "What's your name?" He asked as he walked backwards. You said it as if you were on a daze. He repeated the name again, a smile on his lips. "I'll see you later!" He shouted to you as he ran off in the girl's direction.
You stood there for some time after they left, blinking as your heart calmed down. After gathering your things, you went back home. You would have to watch the TV to find out which show this was, because you would watch the heck out of it.
----
It turned out that they weren't actors, but actually some kind of super heroes that defended Paris from evil forces. When you first read about it you laughed for some good minutes, but then you found a blog about Ladybug, the girl in the red suit, that had been going on for years and realized that it wasn't a joke. Apparently the boy was called Chat Noir and helped Ladybug in fighting bad guys and akumatized villains. They were famous in the city, being active for some time now.
It didn't seem like it had been a week since that incident happened. With all the projects you had to do, time went by quickly. Right now you were stuck with a figure drawing one. No matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't get it right. You sighed as you walked back home. Your classes finished earlier that day, so you decided to buy something at the little cafe near your house and eat at the park.
Sitting on the same bench from that fateful day, you closed your eyes as your savored your new bought treat. Bless France for its sweets.
"Finally." The hairs on your neck stood up as someone whispered on your ear.
You almost choked on your food as you turned around and saw the cat guy, Chat Noir.
"I've been looking for you for quite some time, my lady." He said as he leaned on the bench from behind and looked at his claws.
"Is that so?" You turned back and pretended to be very interested in your food. You read many times about how flirty he was, and you said to yourself that you wouldn't let it get to you.
"Yes." He whispered on your ear again and an involuntary shiver ran down your spine. What the-! You turned to him and his face was right in front of you. He chuckled at your shocked expression and backed up a bit.
"You see," he jumped over the bench like a damn gymnast and sat by your side. "I didn't thank you that day."
You blinked at him, still shocked about his dramatic jump, before it dawned on you. "Oh, about the drawing?" You waved a hand dismissively. "You don't have to thank me. It was nothing."
"I insist." He said, bowing his head and then leaned closer. "Tell me what you want."
You looked at him with a raised eyebrow, an idea coming to mind. "Anything?"
He leaned even closer until you could feel his body heat. "Anything."
"Be my muse."
He blinked. "What."
You turned to him fully and clasped your hands together, making him jump. "I'm stuck with figure drawing, but that day I was able to draw you so quickly and with some quality, so maybe I can do it again." Pleading eyes looked at surprised green ones. "What do you say?"
He looked at you with an unreadable expression but then a grin spread widely on his face. "It'll be a pleasure, my lady."