I'm not waiting until it's Christmas to release this Chapter, and I'm also not going to make a bunch of fillers until then either. It's just how the timeline of the show worked out.
This concludes my Spring Break! New chapters will now be released again only on Saturdays!
Enjoy! :D
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"Mme Dubois sure gave you a lot of books to read for break, didn't she?" Fuko commented, playing with the twenty books, making some sort of fort out of them.
"Don't ruin them Fuko," I warned her under my breath. My mom was cooking in the kitchen, preparing our five course Christmas meal. Night had already fallen, and it was snowing gently throughout Paris. "You've already ruined the fruits and I had to go buy more!" I was lucky the food Mom was cooking had a rather loud preparation so she wouldn't hear me speaking to what appeared to be, thin air.
"I didn't mean to!" Fuko shuffled her paws apologetically. "The grapes were looking so lonely and they're so much fun to chase and play with!"
I rolled my eyes at the magical cat. Sometimes I swear, Fuko was an actual kitten.
Me and my mom had tried our best to decorate our meager apartment with some Christmas lights on the inside. We didn't really have a tree per say, but we had a very nice branch that was decorated, and around six presents under it. We were also planning to do a hilarious version of Secret Santa with just the two of us.
"Are you excited?" My mom asked me from the kitchen.
"Sure," I flipped the page of my book. Holidays had no meaning anymore to be honest. It felt like I only did them for the sake of celebrating every year. It made my mom happy at least, so I went along with it.
"I'm going to dress myself up!" My mom came and sat next to me, "I'd love it if you would too," she requested.
"I wear business casual everyday," I pointed out, "can't get much more fancy unless I got a tuxedo or something."
My mom affectionately ruffled my hair.
"Hey!" I complained.
She smiled, "You look better that way!" She left to go change in her bedroom.
I stared after her, and closed my book. I wasn't really going to change but I'd lost interest in it. I went to the window and opened it, letting the cold air come inside, and watching the snow drift down gently from the sky onto Paris.
"You're going to cause a power outage," Fuko warned flying over to sit on my shoulder.
"I'm not going to stay here long," I appeased her. There was just something different about the cold when it was snowing. It was a peaceful, silent sound. I wondered what Paws was doing for his Christmas. Probably something extravagant with a big ol' Christmas tree, all lit up, buried in presents. Maybe his father was even throwing a large ball or something with only the finest celebrities.
I huffed at my own idea. Right, Gabriel Agreste, the elusive celebrity throwing a party during Christmas.
My mom came back into the living room, wearing green dress pants and a fancy red shirt, "Hey I have an idea! Why don't you..." she noticed me at the window, "You're letting in a lot of cold air," she commented gently, and walked over. She began closing the window when Ladybug appeared on the roof in front of our window.
"Adrien?!!" She called out into the night.
My mom and I exchanged glances, "Hey Ladybug!" my mom waved at Ladybug, "What are you doing out here during Christmas?"
Ladybug looked in our direction, "A boy, Adrien Agreste has gone missing," she informed us, "I'm trying to find him." Ladybug leaped onto the next rooftop.
Fuko flicked my ear with her paw, "Congratulations, you didn't cause a power outage!" she mewed sarcastically.
"Oh dear, missing on Christmas?!" My mom fretted.
I stood up and walked to the coat hanger.
"Where are you going?" My mom asked me.
"I won't be long," I promised putting my coat on and grabbing some keys before leaving the apartment.
Everything had a small layer of snow to it. It seemed like a crime to disturb it, but alas, there were greater things to worry about. I looked at Fuko, "Can you sense him?" I asked her.
She floated up higher in the air, ears perked and whiskers stretched. Fuko turned her head from side to side until she snapped her gaze in one direction, "Yep! He's traveling around rather erotically, but he seems to be going in a specific direction!" she informed me, "Why the sudden interest?" she teased, "Could it be that," she gasped dramatically, "YOU ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT HIM?!?!?!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" I snapped, "Just lead me there!"
Fuko led me through some very suspicious alleyways as we zigzagged through Paris. I was only assured in following her because I had confidence in my martial arts skills. Granted I hadn't done it in the last three years or so, since my mom and I moved from Aixe, but it was still better than going down these alleys completely defenseless.
"Look!!" Fuko and I stopped just inside the small alley, and before us was the giant Christmas tree. "There he is!"
It took me a moment of frantically looking around before I spotted him.
Paws was running towards the tree with his cataclysm and he didn't show signs of stopping.
Fuko tugged on my sleeves with her teeth, "Félix! Hurry!!! We've got to stop him!!!" She tried pulling me out in his direction.
"He seems to have got that under control," I gestured at him with my nose. He had hesitated right before he actually touched the tree.
Paws turned around and used his cataclysm on the nearest thing he could find, a podium advertising his father's company with his face on it.
"Félix!! How could you just stand here and do nothing?!" Fuko scolded me. "He just destroyed property!"
I tilted my head, "He's grieving." This was unexpected...
"What??" Fuko stared at me blankly, "How can you even tell?"
Paws reverted back to his civilian self and seemed to be conversing with his kwami.
"IT'S THE DEAD OF WINTER AND HE'S WEARING SHORT SLEEVES?!?!" Fuko said exasperated.
I sighed shaking my head disappointingly. Honestly, for a Parisian superhero, I'd have expected him to have a little more common sense than that. I began taking off my jacket.
"Félix, what are you doing now?" Fuko complained. "You're just as bad as him if you're going to go around without a jacket!"
As I approached Paws with my jacket in hand, I saw that he had unwrapped a gift which appeared to be a Santa hat.
"You disappoint me Paws," I spoke to him.
Paws jumped alarmed and stared in my direction, "Félix!?"
"I thought you were more intelligent than this, but here you are, outside, while it's snowing, wearing summer clothes. You might as well be a tropical chicken who migrated too far north."
Paws hid his new hat behind him defensively, "Why are you here? How much did you see?!"
I held out my jacket.
Paws raised an eyebrow, "What's this for?"
"Put it on," I ordered him.
"What about you?" he asked, hesitantly accepting the gesture.
"I'm not the one wearing paper-thin, short sleeves."
"Oh um... Thank you," as he put it on, I noticed him trying to sneak his kwami under it.
"It's not a gift, got that?" I held out my hand to help him up, "I'm just lending it to you." I gazed at the tree, then at the destroyed podium, "So, year one I'm guessing?"
Paws accepted the help to stand, then tilted his head, "Year one?"
"Come with me," I told him, and began walking away from the tree.
"I don't feel like going home just yet..." Paws muttered when he didn't follow me.
"I'm not going to make you," I assured him, "I don't even know where you live. Just join me for a small walk."
Paws looked at me through furrowed, suspicious eyebrows before coming next to me, "So what did you mean by year one?" he asked me when we started walking.
I crossed my arms. It really was rather chilly without the jacket, and the occasional breeze did not help. I glanced at Paws, "Oh you know, the usual. Getting mad at holidays and symbols of happiness. How dare they remind you that everyone is having a good time right now with their families, and you aren't. That year one. Believe me, I get it," I told him bitterly, "but there are better ways of dealing with grief than taking it out on symbols of happiness that everyone else is currently enjoying."
Paws looked at me shocked, "You know I lost my mother?"
I couldn't help but crack a small smile, "I know it may seem that I have amazing psychic powers and that I am wise and all knowing, but I assure you, I am not. I only figured that you lost someone." My face straightened again, "The holidays will get easier eventually, but I can't promise you that they'll ever be the same."
We walked in silence as Paws seemed to digest what I just said. Then he asked, "Wait, have... have you lost someone too?"
I went forward a few more steps before I stopped walking. There was this odd, hesitance in my throat, but I looked Paws straight in the eyes, "My twin brother."
The only sound was that of snow falling. Paws looked at me, waiting for me to go on.
"I was about your age," I informed him, "We were... best friends." I know that the losses were vastly different, losing a parent vs losing a sibling. And... not just any sibling, half of me. But I, like he was now, stumbled through the grieving process at an age where so much was already changing. Sure, my mother grieved with me, but it was a different kind of grief. She was an adult, I wasn't. It's a very lonely feeling. Surely, the very reason he was out here alone now. He and his father just didn't grieve the same.
"I want to say I'm sorry..." Paws looked down after I didn't speak for a while. "But..."
I nudged him playfully with my elbow, "You're the one dealing with it now," and began walking again.
He looked up at me hopefully and followed, "So the hurt does go away?"
I shrugged, "Sorry," I shook my head, "You just have to learn to deal with it."
Both Paws and I heard a sound down the street we were crossing. There was a Santa giving some presents to two children.
"I've still got one family member though," I informed him, "Who I probably should be getting back to," Truthfully, I was also getting really really cold.
"Oh, here," Paws began taking off the jacket.
"Keep it," I tilted my head, "for now." I watched the Santa, and nudged Paws in his direction. Santas tended to be nice people, maybe it'd do Paws some good to talk to one. "Enjoy the night Paws," I told him, "but do actually remember to go home later, kay?"
Paws nodded, "Can I just ask you something? Why do you call me Paws?"
"Because you're just a little kitten who keeps tripping on his own over-sized paws," I teased as I turned to go back to my mom.
"Um..." I heard Adrien say, but I didn't look back.
I kept walking towards the apartment in the strangely silent streets of Paris.
"Aren't you going to try and let Ladybug and others know that he's okay?" Fuko asked me. "He's probably worrying a lot of people."
"He has to learn that for himself," I told her.
"I'm asking why aren't you telling the others that he's okay, not why you didn't tell him!" Fuko made a face at me.
"Well, from a technical stand point, I have no way of contacting them. Secondly, he needs to see for himself what he's causing others. If I tell them, the full effect might not be achieved."
"You ran away during the following Christmas too," Fuko realized.
"Yeah, and I now recognize that it was stupid and selfish of me. Although at the time, just like for him now, it was something I needed to do."
We had reached the apartment. It was just across the street.
I looked back down the way I came and stared at my own footprints in the snow. "It should be illegal to disturb freshly fallen snow," I commented crossing the street and going up the stairs. I noticed that there were one more set of footprints beyond my own.
"Why?" Fuko asked.
I opened the apartment door. "So..." I heard my mom's voice, "How was your night on the town?" she asked me, smiling rather suspiciously.
I stared at her, "You followed me didn't you?"
"What?!" She nervously grabbed a bowl and started stirring it with a spoon, even though there was nothing in it. "Pfffft no! What would give you that silly idea?!"
I glanced at the coat rack, and as I suspected her winter jacket was humid. Probably melted snow. "You're bad at lying," I told her completely and utterly deadpan. "You didn't get rid of the evidence, or even ask me where my coat was."
"You don't have your coat on?!" she feigned surprise, "I didn't even notice."
"Mom," I shook my head at her.
"No, please! Tell me about your missing coat!" she insisted, "Since it used to be your brother's I know you like to take good care of it and wouldn't casually just lose it!"
"Uh-huh, why don't you tell me what you saw?" I couldn't believe it, but I actually felt worried that she might have seen Paws detransforming as Chat Noir.
She put down the bowl, "What, I didn't see anything!" she waved her hand dismissively, "The power went out down the street! That's all I saw."
I grabbed the spoon from the table and waved it at her sternly, "Just because I'm your son, don't think I won't put you on time out on Christmas!"
My mom just lost it, and started laughing uncontrollably.
I cracked a grin and put down the spoon. Yes indeed, whenever she threatened me and Adrien with some sort of punishment, it was always with a spoon! It just didn't seem right to scold someone without one.
My mom was now doubled-over, still laughing. "My own son!!" she gasped, "Threatening me with a time out!!"
Hmmm... how far could I push this? I grabbed the spoon again, "And no desert for you too!" I continued, waving the spoon at her.
"STOOOOPPP!!!" she gasped. "I CAN'T BREATHE!!"
I pointed the spoon at her in a jabbing way.
Her laugh was now utterly silent with her just gasping in air, "You're too cruel!!" she said in between breaths.
"That's what you get for lying to me!" I smiled at her. Then I pointed the spoon at her one last time for good measure, "And for always using a spoon to punish me and Adrien! You've only got yourself to blame for me using a spoon right now!"
She pulled herself up to one of our lawn chairs, still laughing. "Alright alright!" She held up her hands in surrender.
I twirled the spoon in my hand in victory before setting it down, "I wasn't gone for too long was I? I hope the food's not cold."
My mom was wiping away her laughing tears, still chuckling, and glanced at the stove, "Nope! You're right on time, the food is just about ready!"
I glared at Fuko, warning her to stay out of the way while I tried to set the table. Fuko squeaked in alarm and zipped herself to my bed and hid under the pillow. Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration but as long as she didn't cause mischief I guess!
"To answer your question," she said as she began setting the first course of our small feast for two on the table, "When I arrived to where you were, I saw you giving the coat to a boy. Was that Gabriel Agreste's son you told me about?"
"Yep," I affirmed as I set some plates on the table and the appropriate silverware.
"Are you going to let him keep it?"
My eyes drifted to my ring sadly, "I dunno... I'd like to have it back, but I don't think I'll ask for it if he forgets."
My mom grabbed my hand, "I think you gave him the best Christmas present he's going to get this year," she smiled at me.
"A jacket?" I stared at her confused.
She shook her head and hugged me, "Merry Christmas Félix."