Chapter Text
“You did this!” Evillustrator yelled, leaping to his feet and sending Chat Noir’s staff flying. “You ruined everything!”
Ladybug took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. She already felt terrible for Marc, whose overall sadness about the situation was clear, and hearing the akuma’s reaction—one that was clearly based on Nathaniel’s deep internal disappointment—made the whole thing worse.
“It’s not because of you or Marc. It’s because of Hawkmoth.”
But it seemed like he was far past the point of being reasonable, the way he’d been earlier when he was in her room. And it occurred to her then that he’d been akumatized for the whole day, which sent a chill down her spine. The situation with Ms. Mendeliev had happened so early that morning, and now it was night . . . he’d been under Hawkmoth’s power for so long. Were there any side-effects of long-term akumatization? There was still so much to learn about Hawkmoth and his akumas . . .
He marched up to her, seething with anger. “This is your fault! Why can’t you just let me be happy? I wasn’t going to hurt him, and he likes me!” He shook his head, breathing heavily but attempting to remain somewhat composed. “You hate me, just like everyone else. You’re just like Chloe.”
“No!” Ladybug held up her hands, as if to show a sign of surrender. “No one hates you, Nathaniel! Chloe’s a bully, and she was wrong to hurt you, but revenge isn’t right either!”
He grit his teeth. “It’s Evillustrator now.”
And before Chat Noir could grab the pen from behind, Evillustrator kicked the other hero’s shin and shoved him to the ground. Being a very inexperienced attack, it only stunned Chat, but that was enough time for Evillustrator to run away to the edge of his boat, clutching his pen. He’d figured out both the distraction with Marc as well as the backup trick, and now they had no plans left.
“You didn’t even care about me, did you? You just wanted this.” He held up his pen and twirled it between his fingers, as if to taunt them. “Too bad you’re never gonna get it. You two ruined my life, and now I’m going to ruin yours.”
Ladybug glanced over to her partner. “Chat . . .”
“No! You don’t deserve to get away!” Evillustrator screamed, eyes wide and teeth clenched. He roughly swiped his pen down his tablet, the eraser function dividing the boat in half in a flurry of red sparks.
As the two sides of the boat fell apart from each other, Ladybug ran and leapt, pushing herself into the air by using the edge of the boat as a sort of springboard, and landing on the higher level of the boat. Chat Noir pulled a similar maneuver, landing only a foot away from her.
Below them, the lit candles started rolling with the tilting floor, quickly catching part of the wooden boat on fire. The small inferno proceeded to quickly consume the bench, the string lights, and the rest of the carefully-constructed setting for Evillustrator’s date. Like it had never happened.
Evillustrator himself wasn’t as lucky as the heroes, clinging to the boat’s railing with a horrified expression on his face as the boat tilted in ways it wasn’t supposed to. The fire hadn’t reached him yet, but it spread closer and closer. Clearly, he hadn’t meant to cause that much damage to his artwork, or at least, not damage that would affect him as well. But he still held onto his pen with a fervor, as if it mattered more to him than his own life.
“We have to get that pen away from him before he accidentally kills himself!” Ladybug cried, dividing her attention between the disintegrating boat and the now-desperate villain. “Nathaniel, we want to help you! We don’t want you to get hurt!”
“Liar!” he yelled back. “You just keep taking everything from me!”
“No, I swear!”
But he ignored her words. Still clinging to the railing, he started to swipe his pen against his tablet erratically, the look in his eyes becoming more angry and desperate. And with each eraser line, chunks of the heroes’ half of the boat started to break apart. A slightly unhinged smile started to appear on his face as the boat quickly broke into pieces, many falling into the dark waters with a splash.
“And you can tell Marinette I’m taking back my promise!” His voice rang out over the chaos. “Chloe’s gonna get a little lesson that she’ll never forget!”
Chat Noir stumbled, falling towards the water and barely able to hold onto the side. Ladybug threw her yo-yo, attempting to hook it to the railing, but had to dodge a piece of the boat that nearly hit her square in the face. This caused the yo-yo’s string to miss. And within seconds, she fell towards the back and off the edge of the boat. She scrambled to reach the railing, but it had become slick from the water, and she fell, plummeting into the river below.
“M’lady!” she heard Chat cry out.
And then he was falling too. But not before she hit the water, shock running through her body at the sudden cold temperature. It took a split second, but she regained her senses enough to take out her yo-yo and hold it up to her mouth, giving her the ability to breathe, at least for the moment.
The boat was in what seemed like a million pieces, and she could hardly make out any of it in the murky river water. Nor could she see her partner, who’d fallen seconds after her. Did he hit his head on any of the boat pieces and get knocked unconscious? Panic filled her mind at the thought of it. She didn’t know if she could bring him back with the miraculous cure, and what if he was seriously hurt? What if he’d died?
She swam to the surface and looked around. The Seine wasn’t exactly quiet, but the boat was completely destroyed, with only a few charred pieces remaining on the surface, and Evillustrator was nowhere to be seen. Had he fallen in as well? Was he possibly unconscious or worse? If she couldn’t bring Chat Noir back from the dead with the miraculous cure, she definitely couldn’t bring Nathaniel back.
“Chat?” she called out, making sure to look in all directions.
No response.
She couldn’t fix anything until she got that akuma, she definitely knew that from Stoneheart and the subsequent Stoneheart clones. Just the mere idea of fighting a group of people with the Evillustrator’s abilities made her shudder. But how could she find his pen now? Where even was he?
“M’lady!”
Relief replacing the overwhelming grief in her mind, Ladybug turned toward the direction of her partner’s voice. And sure enough, there was Chat, desperately swimming towards her. His hair had completely been plastered to his face and neck, and the weight of his boots seemed to be trying to drag him back down. Without even replying, she grabbed his hand, and the two worked together to swim to the side of the river. Soon, they’d climbed to the cobblestone shore, shivering and wet.
“I thought cats didn’t like the water.” Ladybug teased, flicking a chunk of his hair out of his face. Then she frowned, glancing around. The Seine had gone completely quiet. “Are you okay? Did you see what happened to Evillustrator?”
“For your information, I’ve been taking swimming lessons since I could walk.” Chat replied. He attempted to tilt his head in a flirty way, though due to his wet hair, it just looked ridiculous. “But I’m fine, yeah. And I hate to say it, but . . . he’s gone.”
“ Gone? Like missing, or . . . ?”
“Oh!” Chat’s eyes widened in realization. “No no, not dead! At least as far as I know. Just can’t find him anywhere.”
“I figured, I just wanted to make sure.”
“Where do you think he went?”
Ladybug shrugged. “Either he’s looking for Marc—which would be the better answer, since it doesn’t seem like he wants to hurt Marc at all—or he’s going after the person that upset him in the first place. Who is . . .”
Instinctually, both of them looked towards the buildings bordering the other side of the river. Most were lit up, but one, slightly off in the distance, was more alight than any of the others. The mayor’s hotel—or rather, the place Chloe lived. Chloe had been Evillustrator’s original target, and after his parting message, it seemed like there was an obvious answer.
The heroes exchanged a glance.
Chat sighed. “I’m gonna guess that we’re not going to Marc’s house.”
“I’m just as excited to go back to Chloe’s as you are, trust me. But if he’s not willing to hurt Marc, and he’s very willing to hurt Chloe, then we have to protect her. If it turns out he’s not there, then we’ll go check on Marc. Okay?”
“Sounds good, M’lady. Let’s just stop him from getting away again!”
Ladybug nodded, attempting to grin even as her teeth were chattering from the river water. “That’s the spirit! He’s gotten away from us twice, but hey, the third time’s the charm.”
“The lucky charm.” Chat added.
As she covered her laugh behind her hand, the two glanced back over at the hotel, lit up in all its glory. It seemed relatively intact, but Evillustrator’s power wasn’t as blatantly destructive as some of the other akumas, so they really had no idea if he’d already gotten there.
They just hoped they weren’t too late.
“I warned you, boy.”
Evillustrator lifted his head, eyes still burning with river water and teeth clenched with anger over everything that had just happened. His hair hung in his face, dripping wet and obscuring his vision, making it far harder to draw.
The world hated him. Everyone wanted him to be unhappy, and he refused to accept this, refused to just shut up and take it the way he would as Nathaniel. He wasn’t a coward, he wasn’t a pushover, he wasn’t someone to take advantage of. Yet, instead of enacting his revenge, he was once again forced to stop and listen to Hawkmoth’s incessant nagging. Politely, too, for fear he’d lose the only power he’d ever had.
“I’m doing what you asked.”
“You’re doing nothing of the sort. I would have remembered if I had asked you to abandon your duties entirely and sulk about your silly little date. Remember what you promised me before?”
“Date’s over. Ladybug and Chat Noir scared away my beloved, and now they’re at the bottom of the river.” A small, wicked smile crossed his face. “I’ll go collect their miraculouses once I go give Chloe a little surprise of her own.”
“Good. I will not hesitate to take my own measures if you fail.”
As Hawkmoth’s voice faded away, Evillustrator glanced back to the river, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of Marc. The whole thing had been ruined by them, but maybe Marc would’ve come back. Maybe they could finally be together. He would run to the one and only special person in his life and embrace him, apologizing for the interruption, and proceed to take him somewhere safe. Then he’d get his revenge on Chloe, as planned, and come back to Marc, who would be watching for him with an expression alight with anticipation—
No such luck. The river-side was empty.
Evillustrator stared over at the river, reflections of light dancing on the water.
Reality smacked him in the face like a brick. Marc was terrified of him. He was scared of what had happened to the heroes, he was scared of what could’ve happened to him while on the date, and—Evillustrator grit his teeth, desperately ignoring the tears that swam in his vision—he was probably lying anyway when he said he loved him too. No one loved him; he knew that. He was forever doomed to love people who didn’t have the same feelings, and it stung.
The memory of Marc’s terrified face, right at the interruption of their date, was like a punch in the gut. Feeling even more irritated, Evillustrator turned back around to face Chloe’s hotel building, a smile crossing his face. His hands started to shake as his excitement built up. Chloe was the first to hurt him, the first to make him feel worthless. But not tonight. She was going to learn what happened to people who mistreated him.
And if all went according to plan, Marc would finally see how devoted Evillustrator was to him, how many risks he’d take just to make him smile, and how strong his love was for him. Then maybe, just maybe, Marc would truly love him back.
He’d destroy the whole world and reform it if he knew it’d make Marc happy.
But tonight, he had to settle for just this.
Evillustrator took off running, his grin widening as he drew closer and closer to Chloe’s hotel. “I’ll avenge you, Marc!” he cried, using the little breath left in his lungs. “They won’t get away with this!”
Nearby, Marc pressed his back against the side of a building, shaking and clutching the blanket that he’d been given around his shoulders. There was still a chill in the air, and his bangs kept blowing in his face, but he didn’t dare move. Evillustrator’s horrifying threat only made him want to stay hidden even more for fear of what his presence would do to the akuma’s erratic behavior. Who was he going to hurt, all in misguided defense of Marc?
What had changed Nathaniel so much within such a short period of time? At this point, his infatuation couldn’t possibly be true romantic feelings, just an obsession created by being akumatized. Like how most of the akumas became obsessed with revenge and stealing the miraculouses. Or at least, that’s what Marc kept telling himself as he sank down to his knees, pulling his blanket tightly around his arms.
He just hoped Nathaniel would be de-akumatized soon, and they could be friends again. And then they could pretend like none of this happened. Marc would give him the birthday gift he’d been working on, Nathaniel would smile and thank him with that stupidly cute expression of his, and they would walk to class, Nathaniel discussing his new art project or how much Chloe infuriated him with Marc nodding and listening intently, trying not to get distracted by the way Nathaniel’s fiery hair caught the light, or by the way he would narrow his striking aquamarine eyes and grin whenever Marc said something funny or nice. Rinse, repeat.
Yeah, Marc was sick of pretending. But the only other option was much worse.
He could nearly feel Nathaniel’s humiliation and embarrassment if he told the truth. The way that his only good friend would reject him kindly, as his good nature suggested he would, then find a way to leave soon after, not wanting to deal with the ramifications of his friend having a huge crush on him and going on a date with him as an akumatized villain. Or worse, Nathaniel could pretend like it was fine that Marc liked him and that they went on a date, telling him that they could go back to normal, but secretly feeling immensely uncomfortable any time they were together.
Both were terrible to think about, and yet . . .
Marc didn’t want to be a liar.
He wasn’t going to deny his friend the knowledge of what happened while akumatized.
But he also couldn’t find it in himself to reveal the full truth.
So he was going to tell Nathaniel about his time spent with Evillustrator either way. And then from there, he would just let things happen however they ended up happening, only admitting the full extent of their date along with his personal feelings if it became absolutely necessary. And if he could avoid that option at all, he would.
Marc sighed in defeat.
He could already imagine Nathaniel’s face upon admitting his crush on him.
And he could already sense his own disappointment.
Chloe Bourgeois combed her hair, furiously yanking through any tangled curls. How dare that akuma ruin one of her best features, her hair? It’s like the akuma knew exactly how to upset her the most, and congratulations, it worked.
It’d been the absolute worst day besides that, too. Marinette Dupain-Cheng stole her best friend, the only person in the world who ever cared about her—besides Adrien, of course—after her mother had left. Chloe had known that the baker girl hated her, but to go after her best friend? Over some stupid project? That was low, even for her. And it wasn’t like Dupain-Cheng was lacking in friends, either. Every single person in class liked her.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, some obnoxious akuma was after her, and she had no idea who it was. She’d definitely annoyed enough people that it could be anyone, not that she really cared. If people didn’t like her, that was their problem.
Chloe yanked a particularly frustrating knot out of her hair. If her hair looked hideous after she was done, she’d find out that akuma’s real identity whenever Ladybug decided to stop messing around and start saving the day, and she’d make whoever it was pay for her hair to be fixed. Not that she couldn’t afford it on her own, but after all she’d been through, she deserved emotional reimbursement. Besides, she could use that money and go on another shopping trip, hopefully with Sabrina, if Dupain-Cheng ever decided to stop clinging to her.
A knock on the door startled her thoughts and made her perk up. Maybe it was Jean-whatever with room service, or better yet, a package containing the new makeup palette she’d ordered. Or even Ladybug, coming to protect her from that akuma once again.
Chloe walked over to the door, slightly annoyed that no one had announced who it was yet, which was what people were supposed to do when they came to her room. She knocked back on the door, ear pressed against it to hear better in case the person on the other side was annoyingly quiet. “Hello? Aren’t you going to say anything?”
And then her heart dropped when she heard an unfamiliar voice from the other side of the door. “Oh, I’m sorry. I never introduced myself to you, did I?”
The wood around her began to disappear in a shower of pixels and red light, revealing the akuma from the library, pressed up against the door with a smug smile. She took a step backwards, otherwise frozen in fear from the deranged look in his eyes. He was dangerous, and he knew it all too well.
“Don’t hurt me!” she shrieked.
Before he could respond, she ran into the rest of her room and fell to the ground beside her bed, immediately crawling underneath. Thankfully, her bed was considerably raised off the ground, so she was able to fit beneath with ease. This wasn’t going to be like the Lady Wi-Fi situation from the other day, where she’d been helpless. She wasn’t letting an akuma capture her twice in a row, not in her own room.
“Chloe . . .” His voice echoed through her room, taunting her, daring her to make an escape and reveal herself. “Oh, are you playing hide and seek now? That’s so cute. ”
Frozen in fear, Chloe could barely make out the sound of something being erased, then a low laugh from the akuma.
“Well, you can run, but you can’t hide from me. ”
The thought to call for her father’s security team crossed her mind, but deep down, she knew they couldn’t do anything. Not against an akuma, definitely not against one as powerful as him. And she couldn’t even call out for someone, since he’d hear her. And then . . .
“Chloe . . .”
She could hear him pacing around the room. Walking closer.
“I know you’re under the bed.”
And her heart stopped.
The bed began to erase above her. She sprang to her feet and frantically backed away from her hiding spot. He didn’t move or even react, just staring at her in mild interest with his pen poised to his tablet, though he seemed to be waiting to see what she was going to do next. Problem was, no matter what Chloe did, she knew he’d figure out a way to hurt her. He was hunting her down like he was a cat and she was the helpless mouse.
She hated to admit it, but she was terrified.
After waiting a bit for her to act, he seemed to grow tired of that, turning towards her closet. With a grin, he spun his pen once and began to erase through the closet door . . . and then kept going. Chloe’s heart plummeted as she watched her designer clothes, shoes, and jewelry disappear into thin air, all of her most prized possessions. That stupid akuma! How did he know what she liked so much?
“M-my new dress! And the necklace Daddy got me!” Chloe stammered, unable to hide the anger in her words. “You—you’re a monster!”
He ignored her, drawing something else on his tablet that appeared in front of her. If it had been under any other circumstances, she would’ve laughed at the giant high-heel, measuring about twice her height. But it was moving towards her, fast. Chloe bolted away, slamming her body against the wall in her hurry to escape.
“You like to walk all over people, but you don’t like it when they walk all over you.” the akuma scoffed, watching from the sidelines. His voice was slowly sounding more and more unhinged, something that was starting to scare her, though she’d never admit it. “Do you, Chloe? Do you?”
There was nowhere to run. She braced for impact.
And then, just in time, the shoes disappeared in a shower of sparks. He’d erased it himself. Chloe let out the breath she’d been holding, but her feeling of dread didn’t leave. This was far from over.
“Aw, why are you so scared?” he asked, a devious smile on his face. “I thought you liked it when people show how much power they have over others! You do it all the time. In fact, you did it earlier today!”
“Just go away, you freak!” Chloe screamed, reaching for her hair straightener, an object she’d left lying nearby after fixing her hair from the library. He didn’t seem fazed by this, however. Instead, he just rolled his eyes, trying to look as bored as possible by overdramatically crossing his arms and sighing. So she added, “I don’t know why you’re so mad at me, but I’m gonna call Daddy and get you arrested!”
She opened her phone. But she only had time to press her father’s contact information before the whole phone disappeared in a shower of sparks and light, just like the high heel had. Now left without a way out, she turned back to the akuma.
She was against the wall. There was nowhere to run.
“Oh, Chloe. Don’t you remember me? Don’t you remember what you did?”
His smile was nauseatingly wide.
Trembling, she shook her head. “No.”
He turned his attention to his tablet, drawing something in a fervor. Seconds later, a piece of paper appeared in the air, floating down until he caught it. He held it out towards her, tilting his head with a smug smile plastered to his face. “Now do you remember me?”
The paper had a familiar drawing on it, one that she’d seen earlier that very day. A pencil sketch of someone—someone that looked exactly like the akuma standing a meter away from her—hugging a boy wearing a hoodie and fingerless gloves.
The boy who sat under the stairs.
She’d taken that drawing from Kurtzberg!
She took another look at the picture, ignoring the akuma tapping his foot impatiently. It was totally sappy, but the two looked like they were really in love, with little hearts and everything.
And if he was actually in love with Stairs Boy . . .
She’d told the whole class.
Now the whole class knew that Kurtzberg liked boys.
No wonder . . .
Chloe glanced up, meeting eyes with the akuma. He was staring at her with a fury that she’d never expected to come from quiet, awkward Nathaniel Kurtzberg. But behind that anger was something else. Some sort of deeper emotion she didn’t have a word for, but was clearly visible by the way his hands were shaking and his teeth were clenched. And she knew why.
“Kurtzberg?”
He grinned, twirling his pen between two fingers. “That’s me.”
Now slightly unsure but still cautious, Chloe straightened her posture and watched him for a moment. Now that she knew who he was, it dawned on her that he hadn’t hurt her yet, just scared her a little. Did Kurtzberg actually have the drive to do anything? But the doubt that remained kept her from calling his bluff. He didn’t move either, so it was just the two staring each other in the eye, both waiting to see what was going to happen next. Finally, Chloe broke the silence by asking, “What happened to you? You’re usually so . . . weird . . . and quiet , and now—now you’re like this .” She gestured to him.
“What happened? You happened. ” he snapped, inching closer. Instinctively, she backed up against the wall, her heart picking up speed. “You’ve made it your goal to hurt me and tease me for years, treating me like the ground you walk on. You’ve called me names for years. You’ve mocked my artwork and my passions. And I just took it all. But now . . .” He shook his head, his smug smile shifting to a hardly-restrained fury. “You told everyone about me. You know what you did is wrong, and you don’t even care, do you? You’re a bad person, Chloe Bourgeois.”
Desperate, she cried, “I’ll give you anything! Do you want money?”
“I can create anything I want out of thin air. Why would I want your money?” He shook his head, laughing slightly. “No, Chloe. I want you to pay for what you’ve done.”
His grin widened as he pressed his pen to his tablet again.
This was it.
She was done for.
And then, like a saving grace, the end of a yo-yo flew towards him and wrapped around his left wrist. He froze for a split second, then attempted to pull his arm back, turning to see the two heroes entering the room from Chloe’s balcony. His attention diverted from Chloe as he faced his new opponents.
Chloe finally let out the breath she’d been holding.
But the pit in her throat didn’t go away.
It looked like they’d gotten there just in time. When Ladybug and Chat Noir got to Chloe’s hotel, they’d seen a light from her balcony, so they went there right away. And this choice turned out to be the right one, as they’d arrived to see Evillustrator cornering Chloe against her wall, about to use his pen. The question of whether he was about to erase her or draw something to attack her wasn’t clear, but either way, their entrance has distracted him from his goal. For the time being, anyway.
“Oh, Ladybug!” Chloe cried. “You saved me!”
Ladybug ignored her, focusing all of her attention towards Evillustrator. He looked livid at the interruption, glaring at her with grit teeth and a fist around his pen. She couldn’t believe that he was the same reasonable, calm person that had been in her room earlier that day. Even his earlier moment of intimidation was nothing compared to this. But she could try . . .
“Nathaniel, we don’t want to fight you.” Ladybug attempted again. “I know that Chloe hurt you, but you don’t have to do this. You have so much good in your life, and you shouldn’t let her make you do anything.”
“Oh, like Marc, the love of my life?” he countered, his balance becoming unsteady at what seemed to be a bad memory. He righted himself before continuing, though his expression was still distraught. “You’re the reason I’m not with him right now. You made him leave. And since you ruined my birthday party, the one thing that made me happy, you’re all going to pay.”
“We don’t want to separate you and Marc!” Ladybug exclaimed. That was genuinely the last thing she wanted, on both his behalf and Marc’s, but she couldn’t tell him that. “We just want to keep Paris safe from people who’ve had their strong emotions taken advantage of by Hawkmoth, and unfortunately, that includes you.”
“That’s not fair!” he screamed, stomping his foot in rage. “You’re not going to do anything about Chloe , the real villain here? I wouldn’t have done anything if it weren’t for her! She outed me in front of the whole class and made fun of the one person who actually cares about me! And now you’re just going to hurt me too!”
“We’re not going to hurt you if you’re willing to talk.” Chat told him. “But you don’t seem like you want to.”
“What’s there to talk about? She hurt me and you’re letting her get away with it! You’re trying to stop me when she’s the one always causing problems!” He cast a glance backwards at Chloe. Ladybug couldn’t see his face, but judging by the way Chloe cowered in fear, he must’ve looked furious. And dangerous.
“Oh, we know what she did, and yeah, it’s seriously messed up.” Chat agreed. “But we can’t do anything about it until we’re sure that no one gets hurt.”
“'No one gets hurt?” Evillustrator grit his teeth. “Then you won’t be doing enough.”
He immediately scribbled something on his tablet, and before Ladybug had time to react, giant buzzsaw blades appeared, suspended in the air. She made eye contact with him, but gone was any resemblance to Nathaniel, or even the person that had gone on a date with Marc just a few hours ago. His whole expression was hardened and fiery, save for his eyes, which indicated that he was on the verge of tears.
Sensing that he was about to snap, Ladybug gave a last-ditch effort to reason with him before he acted. “Evillustrator, please. You don’t have to do this. I know you’re hurting, and we can help you, but we can’t let you attack Chloe. I understand wanting justice, and believe me, I think it’s unfair that Chloe keeps hurting people and causing all these akumas that we have to fight without receiving any consequences.”
“So you agree! You think she’s in the wrong!”
Despite keeping most of her attention on Evillustrator, Ladybug noticed Chloe’s expression fall, though the mayor’s daughter seemed to be trying to hide how she felt. She did idolize Ladybug, and it probably stung to hear that her idol didn’t like her much. But nothing said was untrue. Chloe had caused so many akumas by mocking or bullying her classmates, and Ladybug was sick of it. Her friends were suffering, and no adult seemed to be in a hurry to do something about Chloe’s behavior.
“I think that she hurt you in a way that can never be taken back. And I’m so, so sorry. You didn’t deserve that any more than any of your other classmates deserved to be hurt by Chloe. But if you try to kill her, you’ll be worse. And we can’t let you kill anyone, so if you try, we’ll have to stop you.”
“Then you’ve made your choice.”
Ladybug looked up just in time to see the blades spinning towards the two of them. “Chat, look out—!”
Chat’s head shot up, and in a split second, he dropped to the floor. If he’d reacted any later, he would’ve gotten hit. And the blades certainly seemed . . . sharp. Another blade spun towards Chloe, but Ladybug flung out her yo-yo and caught its edge, sending the blade flying into the wall. As soon as it made contact, it disappeared in a shower of red sparks.
Chloe let out a scream. “Fine! I’m sorry, okay? Is that what you want?”
“Too little, too late.” Evillustrator snapped. He slashed at his tablet, creating two lines in the wall next to Chloe. She screamed again as the debris exploded into sparks on either side of her. “You had your chance to apologize. You’re not sorry you hurt me, you’re just sorry that I’m not letting you get away with it.”
He scribbled something on his tablet, and huge boxing gloves appeared in the air next to him. Before Ladybug or Chat Noir had a chance to react, the gloves hurtled through the air. One of them hit Chat Noir and sent him flying backwards. Ladybug dodged the others, then glanced back towards her partner.
Chat gave her a thumbs-up, still lying on the ground. “I’m okay!”
Ladybug didn’t have a chance to respond, however, as Evillustrator had sent another wave of buzzsaw blades at Chloe, a dark smile on his face. Without time to make a better plan, she swung her yo-yo, catching Chloe’s leg, and pulled her towards their side of the room. The blade stuck in the wall, right where Chloe’s head was a moment ago.
“Ladybug, wait!” Chloe cried, but Ladybug ignored her, motioning for her to run towards the back of the room.
By now, Chat Noir had gotten to his feet. He ripped his staff in half and flung both halves at Evillustrator. This actually caught him off guard, and he wasn’t able to dodge in time before half of the metal staff smacked him in the face. The other half didn’t have as good of aim, as it hit the light behind him, thrusting half of Chloe's room into darkness. Evillustrator reeled backwards for a moment, giving the heroes a chance to advance towards him.
“Nathaniel, please.” Ladybug pleaded. “You don’t have to do this anymore.”
He glared at Chat, a hand covering his face where he’d been hit. “You don’t know anything about me! You’ll never understand! And you don’t even want to try!”
“We do want to—”
“Get away from me!” he screamed. He looked down at his tablet, frowned, then dashed over to the side of the room that was still lit up. From there, he started to scribble furiously on his tablet, holding his arm up to the light a couple times. And that’s when Ladybug remembered something that Evillustrator had told Marc earlier.
“Chat Noir, the lights!” she cried. “He can’t draw in the dark!”
Nodding, Chat cried, “Cataclysm!”
He dove for the lightswitch on the wall, attempting to destroy it. But Evillustrator was faster. And with one swift movement, he erased the lightswitch in front of their eyes. Chat crashed into the wall, crumbling it to pieces. Fortunately, the cataclysm also destroyed the other light, sending that side of the room into a near-darkness. There was still another light on the other side of the room, but where Evillustrator was standing, it wouldn’t have helped him much.
“Nice!” Ladybug exclaimed. Chat turned towards her and grinned.
But Evillustrator didn’t react the way that either of them expected. He just rolled his eyes, tapping a couple buttons on his tablet. And Ladybug watched, horrified, as his tablet turned completely white and very visible in the darkness of the room. A dark grin crossed his face.
“You don’t know much about drawing tablets, do you?” he asked. “I do draw better with dark mode, but this can work, too.”
Now Ladybug was left to consider what to do. The darkness was their only clue, the only weakness he’d shown. Without that as a factor, how could he be stopped? He clearly was beyond reason.
“Still . . .” Evillustrator continued, more-or-less talking to himself at that point. “Nothing is brighter than my love for Marc and my hatred for Chloe .”
If only Marc were here! Marc was the only one he refused to fight, but she couldn’t leave Evillustrator here with Chloe in order to get Marc again, nor did she want to put Marc in the line of fire. Left without many options, she decided to bite the bullet and use her power.
“Lucky charm!”
The object that landed in her hands was what seemed to be a flashlight, but slightly bigger. She stared at it for a second, frozen in indecision. What could she do with it?
“A flashlight?” Chat Noir asked. “But he likes the light! And I’m gonna transform—”
She sighed. “I know, I’ll figure it out. Can you distract him for now?”
“With pleasure.” Chat charged towards Evillustrator, who instinctively began to take steps backwards. To Chat’s apparent delight, the akuma actually seemed worried by this, clutching his pen with wide eyes as he moved back towards the wall. He probably realized he had nowhere to go. Still, even if Chat had him cornered, he no longer had his cataclysm as an option, while Evillustrator had full use of his tablet.
Ladybug just hoped that Chat had a plan ready. In the meantime, she wracked her brain, desperately trying to figure out how to use the flashlight as a way to stop Evillustrator. C’mon, think! It can’t be that hard! But it was hard to be creative under pressure, and she was rapidly running out of time.
A thunk interrupted her train of thought. Chat had Evillustrator backed up to the wall, his face centimeters from the villain’s. There was absolutely nowhere for Evillustrator to run or hide. Still, it all just seemed too easy . . .
“Ready to give up?” Chat asked triumphantly.
“You wish.”
Ladybug glanced over at Evillustrator, and her heart sank. His fearful expression had transformed into a devilish smile.
In a split second, Evillustator whisked out his pen and furiously scribbled a circle on his tablet. The floor under Chat Noir erased, sending him falling through the ceiling of the room below. He frantically reached for the edge of the floor, and was able to grab onto it with both hands.
Clenching his teeth in anger, Evillustrator walked over to Chat and stepped on one of his hands. Chat instinctively let go of the floor with that hand, now barely clinging on with his remaining hand.
“Chat!” Ladybug cried.
“I’m fine, M’Lady, but I can’t hold on much longer!”
Still fuming, Evillustrator stepped back and drew something on his tablet, causing a prisoner’s ball and chain to appear on Chat’s leg. This caused Chat to fall further, desperately reaching for the edge of the hole with his free hand. Ladybug attempted to run to him, but Evillustrator drew a glass wall right in front of Ladybug’s path. She slammed face-first into it and recoiled.
He’d gotten better at using his powers since they’d seen him last.
And now he was far more dangerous.
“Well, well. Here you go, kitty . Now you have a ball and chain to play with, just like a real cat.” But before he could say anything else, Evillustrator froze in place. He looked to be listening intently, probably to Hawkmoth inside his head. “But before you go, I’m going to need your miraculous.”
Without thinking, Ladybug bolted around the wall and ran towards the akuma. She tossed her yo-yo, catching his arm and pulling him away from Chat. But she had no clue what to do from there. In her panic to come up with a plan, Evillustrator pulled free from her yo-yo with an angry shout.
At least he was further from Chat, but what was she going to do now?
Ladybug looked down at her flashlight and clicked it on. What was the lucky charm for?
It was tiny, but it was bright. Really bright.
And if Evillustrator needed to see in order to draw . . .
Ladybug looked up, just in time for Evillustrator to turn to her with a smug smile on his face. “So, are you still planning to stop me with that?” He motioned to the tiny flashlight. “Feel free to try! It wouldn’t hurt to have a little extra light.”
And in that moment, she knew what to do.
“Oh? It’s pretty bright.”
Evillustrator paused. But he recovered right away, his momentary confusion morphing into his more familiar smug demeanor. “That’s not important. Go right ahead!”
Perfect. He fell for the bait.
Ladybug offered a fake, sappy-sweet smile. “Gladly.”
And before he could react, she strode forward, raised the flashlight, and clicked it on. The full brightness of the flashlight hit him directly in the face.
“Aughh!” He quickly covered his eyes, but it wasn’t quite quick enough. The bright flashlight caused him to stumble backwards towards the wall, falling to his knees and dropping his pen in the process. He furiously rubbed his eyes, muttering something unintelligible.
Without saying anything, Ladybug picked up the pen and hooked it on the string of her yo-yo. She’d purify the akuma, but not before fixing everything. Otherwise, Nathaniel might have lasting damage to his eyes. So instead, she tossed the flashlight in the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”
The usual wave of tiny ladybugs swept through the room, restoring Chloe’s room to its original state. The hole Chat had been clinging to disappeared, and now that he was on solid ground with the ball and chain hooked to his leg gone, he let out a deep breath. The two of them exchanged a smile in relief.
As soon as the miraculous cure reached him, Evillustrator dropped his hands to the floor and looked up, his expression now cold. He seemed to know that he’d lost, but he still wasn’t happy about it. And honestly, Ladybug couldn’t blame him. From his perspective, he barely got any time with Marc, and Chloe had gotten away with it. But what he didn’t know is that she made an internal promise to herself: from now on, Chloe would be held accountable for her actions. As for Nathaniel and Marc’s relationship . . . she’d do her best to help them, one step at a time.
Ladybug waited until nearly everything in the room was fixed and the tiny ladybugs made their way through Chloe’s window, presumably to restore her room, the library, and the Seine. Then she snapped Evillustrator’s pen in half and quickly purified the dark purple butterfly that flew out of it, turning it snow-white again. She waved as it flew away. “Bye-bye, little butterfly.”
Chat tapped her shoulder, and when she turned, held out his fist with a tired-yet-triumphant grin. A clear signal that they’d won again. She completed the fist-bump as the two exclaimed in unison: “Pound it!”
The usual purple-black smoke formed around Evillustrator, and then disappeared just as quickly, leaving Nathaniel on his knees. He blinked in confusion. “Ladybug? Wait, what happened? Where am I?”
Ladybug knelt down beside him. “Chloe’s house. It’s a long story, but before anything else, I have to make sure: do your eyes or head hurt at all?”
“I don’t think so . . .”
“Yeah, that’s good.” Chat nodded. “And you’re feeling okay?”
“Yeah . . . I guess. Just tired.”
Chat glanced over at Ladybug. “Well, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna make my exit here. I’d love to stay, but I’m about to transform back, and let’s just say that you’d both be purr-tty shocked to see my real face.”
“Very funny. Oh hey—wait! Before you go, could you sign your name?” Ladybug picked up the drawing and now-fixed pencil that Evillustrator had discarded, flipped the drawing over, and handed both to Chat Noir.
“My autograph? I’m flattered.” Chat wrote his name across the back of the paper, then handed it over to Ladybug, who did the same, then gave it back to Nathaniel. He glanced up, confusion written all over his face.
“It’s still your birthday.” Ladybug smiled. “I know it’s not much of a gift, but we don’t usually do autographs or anything like that. It’s pretty unique.”
He looked down at the drawing, incredulous. “Wow, thank you!”
Chat cut in with, “I’d love to stay and talk, but I’ve really got to—”
“Yes, go! Get out of here.”
Chat dashed towards the balcony and leapt into the night. Just as quickly as he’d first arrived in Chloe’s room, he was gone. Reminded of how she’d left the same room in a hurry without much explanation earlier, Ladybug bit her lip, a small sense of guilt making itself known. She’d remember to work on communicating. Chat was her partner, after all, and she didn’t want to accidentally upset him.
She could deal with that later. Right now, she had to get going before she transformed back. And she wasn’t the only one who needed to head out.
“Are you ready to go?” she asked Nathaniel. He nodded wordlessly, staring down at his drawing as if he was in a trance.
Before the two of them could make it to the door, however, Chloe was suddenly in their way, having jumped up and ran over upon seeing that they were about to leave. For once, she looked slightly frantic and disheveled, her hair falling out of its signature ponytail.
Chloe clutched her hands together. “Ladybug—”
“Not right now, okay?”
“But I—”
“Chloe, I’m about to transform back. Not now .”
Without giving it a second thought, Ladybug pushed past her and out into the hallway. Nathaniel followed, narrowing his eyes at Chloe as he passed her. She just stared back at him with a completely blank expression.
As they walked down the hallway, Ladybug looked over and noticed that Nathaniel was still holding his artwork in shaking hands. “I like your drawing.” She lightly tapped the pencil rendition of Marc. “You should talk to him about how you feel. You know, tell him you like him? I’m pretty sure it’ll go better than you think.”
“I can’t. But thank you.”
“You’re welcome! But seriously, give it a shot. He seems really nice.”
Nathaniel shrugged, and Ladybug wasn’t going to push it any further. So instead, they walked through the hallways and down into the lobby of the Bourgeois Hotel in silence. As soon as they’d gotten outside, she asked Nathaniel, “Do you think you can get home from here?”. Her earrings were nearly screaming for her to transform back, and as much as she didn’t want to be rude to a recent akuma victim, she really had to go. And he seemed okay, maybe a bit shaken, but she couldn’t blame him for that.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Okay, see you later! And happy birthday!”
If Nathaniel replied, she didn’t hear it. Instead, she swung into the night, heading straight for the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Her parents were surely asleep by then, even though she had no idea what time it was. So after she transformed back to Marinette, she made sure that she was quiet when sneaking in through the balcony’s trapdoor and climbing down to her bedroom. No one seemed to stir, so she gave Tikki a couple macarons and went to get ready for bed.
“Is Hawkmoth getting smarter, or are we just getting worse at this?” Marinette complained, changing into her pajamas. “Defeating Evillustrator felt a lot harder than some of the other akumas, like Bubbler or Copycat.”
Tikki shrugged. “He was very emotional. That could’ve made him stronger.”
“Maybe.” Marinette yawned. “I’m just glad we were able to stop him.”
“You should get some sleep, Marinette! You don’t want to be too tired for school tomorrow!”
“Good idea.” Marinette agreed. Then she thought of something else, something she wished she’d done about a day ago, but better late than never. Besides, a lot had happened that day. “Wait, I can’t go to sleep yet. I have something to do.”
“Marinette . . .”
“I know, I know! But it’s important, I promise.”
And with that, she motioned for Tikki to follow her as she headed down the stairs.
Nathaniel couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning in his bed. He’d been so tired when he first woke up from being akumatized, but now, he couldn’t shake the intrusive thoughts from his head long enough to fall asleep. He didn’t remember much from being Evillustrator, but he had a couple disjointed memories that felt more like hazy dreams.
Good. Not knowing was even worse.
He’d watched Nadja Chamack’s coverage of the situation, but there wasn’t much that the news knew either. All he learned from that was what Evillustrator looked like, which was exactly like his OC he’d created so long ago. Under any other circumstances, it would’ve been interesting to see his OC in real life, but after being possessed and becoming one of Hawkmoth’s minions, it was more horrifying than anything else.
There was very little news footage of Evillustrator in action, which was fine, as the short video that they had of Evillustrator in the library made Nathaniel feel sick to see. So he’d turned off the TV and turned back to his memories.
He could recall standing in the library, talking to Hawkmoth, falling into the Seine, nearly drowning, walking up to Chloe, and most of all, the overpowering emotions of anger, hatred, and rage . But even amongst all that, he could remember one thing that brought him joy.
Marc.
He couldn’t remember the details of how Marc was involved with his akumatization, but he was everywhere in Nathaniel’s memories, constantly changing the remnants of Evillustrator’s turbulent emotions that Nathaniel could still feel. It seemed like Marc was the only person that could calm his akuma’s anger and pain.
Ladybug was probably right; he just needed to tell Marc how he felt. But she didn’t know Marc, not personally, and she didn’t understand how much his friendship meant to Nathaniel. Besides Alix, Marc was the best friend he’d ever had. And Nathaniel didn’t want to take any risks, especially after Marc had been somehow involved with Evillustrator.
A thought occurred to Nathaniel, which filled his mind with panicked fear: how exactly had Marc interacted with Evillustrator? Did he try to hurt him? Did he do something that he could never take back? His thoughts raced as he came up with a host of possible outcomes that all ended with Marc hating him and wanting nothing to do with him ever again. And he couldn’t wait for the next day to find out if his anxiety was correct.
Almost without thinking, Nathaniel reached for his phone and sent Marc a quick text:
“Hey Marc, I’m not akumatized anymore. Are you okay? I’m so sorry for anything I did to hurt you.”
He wasn’t expecting a response that night, as he assumed Marc would be asleep, but within the next five minutes, his phone buzzed with a new message. He opened it right away.
Hi Nath, I’m okay! How are you doing? And don’t worry, you didn’t hurt me :)”
Nathaniel breathed a sigh of relief. He still wanted to talk to Marc in-person when he could, but for now, his friend’s reassurance was enough to bring his anxiety down to a lower level. And he was touched by Marc asking if he was alright as well. He wasn’t exactly sure how he felt or if he was okay in the first place, but Marc’s response was enough for a temporary relief from his feelings.
And it seemed like he’d done the same for Evillustrator as well. Whatever that meant.
Nathaniel didn’t want to unpack that now, though. Instead, he smiled and lay down again, just barely managing to write out a reply before sleep finally took over.
“I’m okay, thanks for asking. I feel a lot better now.”
The next day, Marinette walked into the locker room, still half-asleep from the late night before. Not only had she spent half of the night awake and fighting an akumatized villain, but even after she’d gotten back, she stayed up a bit later. She’d felt terrible that Nathaniel spent his whole birthday akumatized and hadn’t gotten a chance to celebrate, so she’d made an extra batch of macarons before bed. By the time she was done, she could only get a couple hours of sleep. But it was worth it. Tikki certainly appreciated the extra cookies, anyway. She yawned and opened her locker, slowly pulling books out and putting them in her backpack.
“Sabrina.”
Marinette glanced in the direction of Chloe’s voice.
“Um.” Chloe bit her lip, her expression showing that she’d clearly rather be anywhere else. “I’m sorry if I made you upset or whatever about you doing all the work. Do you want to be friends again?”
“Really?” Sabrina asked.
Marinette cringed at the way Sabrina seemed to light up at the half-hearted apology. After all Chloe had done, something this small made Sabrina come back to her? She couldn’t help but wonder if Sabrina felt some sort of pity for Chloe. It’s not like Chloe would have many friends without Sabrina, probably none other than Adrien. What else could’ve pushed Sabrina to stay friends despite how much Chloe hurt her?
“Yeah. Really.”
“Okay! Thanks, Chloe!”
“And you can borrow that hat you wanted. It’s out of season anyway.”
Marinette could help but roll her eyes as Sabrina took the beret from Chloe and put it on. Sabrina was way too forgiving of Chloe’s poor behavior, especially with all that had happened the day before. If Nathaniel hadn’t gotten akumatized and she could’ve picked up Sabrina’s phone calls, would Sabrina have forgiven Chloe? She’d never know. Still, it was Sabrina’s decision to forgive Chloe, not hers. And Chloe wasn’t going to change overnight, but this was a start. A small start, but still a start.
She also was highly aware of the fact that she couldn’t judge Sabrina too harshly for forgiving Chloe’s lack of work on the project, as Marinette herself didn’t do anything for it either. She had a much better reason, sure, but calling Chloe out for ditching the project would look hypocritical.
Still, she’d have to remember to have a conversation with her teachers about Chloe’s behavior. She still wasn’t sure if she’d do that as Marinette or as Ladybug, but it had to happen either way. Evillustrator had been correct when he said that Chloe kept getting away with her actions, and Marinette couldn’t let that happen now that she was more aware of it.
“Marinette?”
She turned at the sound of her name to see Nathaniel, standing at the locker next to hers and awkwardly fidgeting with a pencil. “Nathaniel! Hi! Oh wait, happy belated birthday! I have something for you, hang on a sec—”
“You don’t have to do that.” he protested, his face growing red.
“No no, it’s fine! I have something I made specifically for you.” Marinette continued to dig through her bag for the small box she knew she’d put in there earlier that day. And sure enough, there it was! She pulled out the box and hand handed it to Nathaniel with a flourish. “Sorry about yesterday. Hopefully this helps, at least a little.”
“Thank you.” He took the box and placed it in his satchel. “Um, I actually wanted to ask you about yesterday. Sort of. I mean, do you know where Marc is?”
“He’s not at his locker? Probably under the stairs, then.”
“Oh yeah. Thanks.” He hesitated for a moment. “Do you know what happened yesterday? I only remember bits and pieces, but I know Marc was involved, and I’m worried I did something horrible to him. Is he okay? I’m a little scared to talk to him.”
“He’s okay, but I think that’s his story to tell, not mine.” In reality, Marinette wasn’t sure how Marc wanted to handle the situation with Nathaniel, and chances were, Marc’s absence from the locker room meant that he was currently avoiding him. So she didn’t want to speak for him or set the narrative before he got a chance. “You could go talk to him now, though. He’d probably be relieved to know that you’re alright.”
“Okay. Yeah, I’ll do that.” He nodded. “See you later, Marinette. And thanks for the cookies.”
“Of course! Good luck with Marc!” Marinette waved as Nathaniel walked away. She then shut her locker, only to jump backwards in shock upon seeing Adrien standing on the other side. He was just leaning on the locker next to hers, probably waiting to talk to her, and she’d completely missed his presence in her half-asleep state. “ Adrien! Sorry! You just scared me, but it’s okay! I’m fine!”
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Adrien scratched the back of his head awkwardly, attempting a smile. “I just heard that you and your friend Marc worked with Chat Noir last night! That’s so cool!”
“Oh, yeah! Right! Yeah!” Marinette stammered. How was she supposed to answer that statement properly when she was exhausted, trying to keep her other identity secret, and looking directly at Adrien’s very beautiful green eyes? “It was cool! Though I didn’t really do much—Marc helped a lot more than I did—but it was fun—I mean, interesting—uh, you know what I mean?”
“Sure!” Adrien agreed. He was great at responding to her ramblings, she had to give him a lot of credit for that. “And how was Chat Noir? Was he cool?”
An image of Chat trying and failing to flirt with her and Marc entered Marinette’s mind, and she forced herself to stifle a laugh. “Uh yeah, he was cool, but not as cool as you! You’re the best—I mean, the coolest. But working with a superhero was—something! It was something, that’s for sure!”
Could she have been worse at responding? She didn’t think so.
Adrien just smiled and shrugged. “Okay! Good to see you, Marinette.”
She waved, an awkward grin plastered on her face. “Good to see you too!”
Fortunately, Adrien didn’t seem phased by her behavior, opting instead to just nod and keep walking, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as he passed. Marinette stiffened. He was just trying to be nice, she knew that, but that reminder didn’t stop her heart from thumping.
As soon as he left, she nearly slammed her head against the nearby lockers in embarrassment. How humiliating. If she’d ever talked to Adrien like a normal person, surely this mess of a response canceled those times out. He must’ve thought she was going crazy or something equally concerning.
“At least you answered him?” Tikki suggested, poking her head out of Marinette’s shoulder bag. “It could’ve been a lot worse! Besides, you’re tired. Don’t be too hard on yourself!”
“Maybe, but still.” Marinette sighed, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. Maybe if she got to the classroom early, she could avoid arriving at the same time as Adrien and having to talk to him again. “I mean, at least he touched my shoulder, right? He’s never done that before . . . and now I’m never washing this jacket again!”
Tikki’s disapproving face said it all.
“Okay, yeah. You’re right.” Marinette nodded grimly, her embarrassment catching up to her exhaustion. She didn’t need to figure out everything with Adrien that morning, and she definitely needed to wait until she was well-rested. “I really need to get some sleep.”
She just hoped Marc was doing better talking to his crush than she was.
Nathaniel took a deep breath. This was it.
He had to talk to Marc. No matter what his feelings were, whether platonic or romantic, Marc was his friend. And he didn’t want to lose that friendship. Marc was one of his favorite people in the world, and their friendship meant everything to him.
He could only hope that Evillustrator hadn’t ruined it all.
Nathaniel slowly approached the stairs on the right of the courtyard. A figure that was unmistakably Marc sat beneath them, writing something in a journal. He hadn’t noticed Nathaniel yet, as he was very focused on his work, occasionally stopping his pen to brush wisps of hair out of his eyes. The light from the sun was barely present in the dark area underneath the stairs, but the few beams that shone through the stairs reflected on Marc’s dark hair. His face was mostly in shadow, making his bright green eyes look more striking.
Nathaniel’s breath caught. As usual, Marc was absolutely gorgeous.
Stop thinking of him like that!
Man, he was so pathetic. He seriously had to get his feelings for his friend under control. It was bad enough before, but now? After Chloe outed him to the whole class? So much worse. He was lucky the worst thing that happened was getting akumatized.
So instead, he opted to move forward without thinking, approaching Marc before he could even think of what to say to him. Marc looked up, his expression first one of surprise, then . . . something else. Nathaniel couldn’t pinpoint the exact emotion on his friend’s face, but it was something adjacent to fear. Which sent his stomach turning. Did Marc actually hate him now? Was the text he’d sent just to make him feel better after being akumatized all day?
“Hi Marc!” Nathaniel waved as he took a seat next to Marc underneath the stairs, attempting to hide his rollercoaster of emotions. He seemed to do well, as Marc visibly relaxed upon hearing the casual greeting. Though he did quickly shove his journal away, out of Nathaniel’s line of sight. “How’s it going?”
Stupid, he knew. But he couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“I’m good, how are you? Oh, wait!” Marc reached into his bag and pulled out a full gift bag. “I nearly forgot, but this is for you. Happy birthday.”
“Oh, thanks! Should I open it now?”
“You can if you want.”
After taking the layers of tissue paper out of the bag, Nathaniel reached into the bag and pulled out a new sketchbook, a pack of fineliners, some oil pastels, and a graphite pencil set. The cover of the sketchbook was decorated with stickers of paintings and bands Nathaniel liked, and Marc had written a message on the first page.
Nathaniel leaned forward to read Marc’s loopy handwriting:
“Happy birthday to the best artist I know! Your art inspires my writing every day, and I hope this sketchbook can inspire you too. Thanks for being such a great friend, and have a fantastic birthday! -Marc Anciel”
“This is so sweet, thank you!” Without thinking, Nathaniel reached forward and hugged his friend. Right away, he felt Marc tense up. Nathaniel let go like he’d been burned and instinctively moved backwards, not wanting to make Marc any more uncomfortable than he already was. “I’m so sorry, I just—”
“No, you’re fine. I just—don’t worry about it.” Marc turned his head, but Nathaniel could still see his face, which was tinted crimson. “I’m glad you like it. I know you already have a lot of art supplies, but you mentioned needing a new sketchbook, and . . . yeah.”
“I could always use more!” Nathaniel assured him. “Seriously, thank you.”
“Of course. Sorry I couldn’t give it to you yesterday, but . . . you know.”
“Yeah.” They were both silent for a moment, then Nathaniel asked, “Um, I don’t really remember anything from yesterday, but I know you were involved. It’s like . . . sparse memories. Bits and pieces. But I don’t know what happened to you or anything, so . . . are you sure you’re okay? Did I hurt you?”
“No, no! You didn’t hurt me! Not at all!” Marc shook his head frantically. His cheeks were now a bright shade of red, and held up his hands as if he was surrendering. “You didn’t try to hurt me at all. In fact . . . you actually saved me. You were trying to—uh—attack Chloe in the library, and some of the bookshelves were going to crush me, but—”
“I’m so sorry, I’m sure I didn’t mean to—”
“No, Nath, I know. You erased the bookshelves just for me. I’m okay, promise.”
Nathaniel considered this. If he hadn’t tried to hurt Marc, and he’d actually tried to protect him, had he gone too far the other way? Had he revealed his feelings at all? He sincerely hoped not. “Oh, that’s good. But I’m still sorry that I put you in danger. Did I do anything else? Anything . . . unusual?”
If possible, Marc began to blush even more. “No. Nothing else.”
“Are you sure? I really don’t remember—”
“You were nice to me and upset at Chloe. And you wanted to celebrate your birthday with me, but that didn’t last long because Ladybug and Chat Noir tried to stop you, so you started focusing on them. You didn’t do anything to me, and I’m okay. I’m just worried about you . . . are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m okay, yeah. Sorry. I don’t want you to worry about me.”
“I won’t if you don’t want me to.” Marc attempted a smile. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”
“Like, why I got akumatized?” At Marc’s nod, Nathaniel’s thoughts began to race, trying to figure out how to explain the situation with Chloe without telling Marc how he was involved. He wanted to be emotionally open with his friend, and it would be relieving to talk to someone about what had happened, but he really didn’t want to tell Marc how he felt about him yet . . . or ever. Finally, he settled on a condensed version of the story. “I got in trouble for drawing in class, so I was supposed to go to Mr. Damocles’ office. On my way, I tripped and dropped all of my stuff. Chloe stole my sketchbook and saw some of my art, so she started to make fun of it in front of the class . . .”
“Oh no!” Marc gasped. “I’m so sorry, Nath.”
“Yeah. Thanks. And it was worse than just that because . . . the drawing that she saw . . . there was something I was trying to keep secret, and she revealed it to the whole class.”
“Something secret—?”
“I’m bisexual.” Nathaniel blurted. “And now my whole class knows . . . or at least, they know I like guys. And I didn’t want them to find out like this—I wasn’t sure if I wanted anyone to know—ugh, sorry. I’m just rambling now.”
He didn’t know how he expected Marc to respond. At the very least, he was sure that Marc wasn’t homophobic since he’d helped Aurore and Mirielle get together. But other than that, he had no clue what Marc would say. But he certainly hadn’t expected Marc to lean forward and hug him once again, which turned out to be exactly what he needed. With Marc holding onto him tightly, he was finally able to let go of the tension in his shoulders and calm his racing heart.
“I’m so sorry.” Marc said softly. “That’s awful. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m okay now.”
Now that you’re here.
No, no! He couldn’t think of him like that.
Marc dropped his arms and leaned back to look him in the eye. “Okay. Still . . . I can’t believe she would do something like that. And I can’t imagine how you must’ve felt . . .”
“It was bad.” Nathaniel agreed. “But, um, you’re okay with that? With me?”
“That you’re bisexual?” At Nathaniel’s nod, Marc grinned. “Yes! I am! I mean, yeah, of course! I’m completely okay with it! I just feel bad that Chloe outed you to the whole class. Besides, I . . um . . . .” He shrugged, obviously attempting to look nonchalant, but it was clear that he was becoming flustered and struggling to hide it. “. . . I’m, uh, gay—I also like guys . . .”
Oh . . . ohh.
Nathaniel hadn’t been expecting that.
Though he couldn’t let himself get too excited; just because their sexualities were compatible didn’t mean their feelings were. He couldn’t assume that Marc would ever like him, and depending on what had happened with Evillustrator, the possibility might be too far gone.
But still . . . now there was hope.
“Really? I mean, awesome! I’m so glad you told me!” Nathaniel attempted, then sighed. Responses were definitely not his strong suit, and he was so new to people coming out to him, which made his lackluster response even worse. “I’m sorry, I’m not good with words. But, uh . . . thanks for telling me. I don’t know many other guys who aren’t straight, and . . . yeah, thanks.”
“Me neither. And yeah . . . thanks for telling me, too.” It seemed like Marc was about to say something else, but before he could, the first bell rang for class. “Oh. I should get going so Mme. Mendeliev doesn’t get upset with me. She hates it when people are late—”
“Yeah! I should get going too.” Nathaniel replied, sounding a lot more shaky than he expected to. The two of them crawled out from underneath the stairs and stood up, not really speaking to each other while doing so. And Nathaniel finally broke the silence with, “I’ll see you at lunch, though?”
“See you then!” Marc offered a small smile and waved. “Bye, Nath!”
He still felt like there was something Marc wasn’t telling him, something that was a key piece to understanding the full story of what had happened while he was akumatized. But he wasn’t going to push too much. Marc had been involved with Evillustrator one way or another, and the events that transpired might've been genuinely upsetting to him, so Nathaniel didn’t want to hurt his friend any more than he already had.
No, he would try to move on. And wait for Marc to reveal it on his own time.
He could be patient.
Later that day, Nathaniel made it to the art club before anyone else. The girls in his class were planning some sort of sleepover, and Mme. Mendeliev often ended class a couple minutes late, but they’d all be here before long. To take advantage of his short time alone in Room 33, he pulled out his sketchbook and opened it to the recent drawings he’d been working on. While he felt a little strange about doing art after all his akuma had done, it’d be worse if Hawkmoth ruined drawing for him forever. And he decided that the only way to feel comfortable with art again was to keep drawing.
But as he looked over his recent drawings, he realized that it was going to be harder than expected to get right back into his artwork. Most of his recent drawings were of The Illustrator and Marc . . . and looking at them gave him an immediate sense of revulsion.
He resisted the urge to rip the drawings into a million pieces, instead flipping to a blank page. He began to draw, the pencil moving faster than his thoughts and making lines and shapes that eventually formed themselves into people. First Marc . . . then The Illustrator . . . then more details . . .
Before he knew it, he had an image of The Illustrator standing in front of Marc, shielding him with his powers and protecting him from an akuma butterfly sent by Hawkmoth. If he couldn’t protect Marc from Hawkmoth and from himself in real life, at least he could in his artwork. He could be the hero he’d always wanted to be. And under his watch, Marc would never experience the pain of being akumatized.
By making Evillustrator into a hero again, Nathaniel almost felt like he could control the impact being akumatized had on him. He wouldn’t let Hawkmoth ruin his creation. Taking it back was the only way Nathaniel knew to reclaim what Hawkmoth had done to him and his imagination.
The name had to change, though. It was too similar.
Instead of Evillustrator . . . why not something more heroic?
What about . . . Mightillustrator?
Perfect.
Nathaniel smiled, adding the finishing touches to his drawing. Now it was his again. Hawkmoth had no power over his creativity or his passion, and he would still be able to formulate stories and ideas that he could utilize in his art. Admittedly, he could use a writer since his storytelling skills weren’t the best, but he’d cross that bridge later. For now, this was enough.
And if he could help it, Marc would never be akumatized in real life, either.
Endcard:
