Chapter Text
Aizawa walked into the class, his usual grumpy self.
"Alright, everybody settle down…"
His students kept talking to each other about nothing.
"I said, settle down!"
That made the class shut up.
As he began going over the lesson plan, Yaoyorozu struggled to keep her eyes open. She had made the mistake of googling herself, or rather, Ladybug, online, and fell down a rabbit hole of debate on her and Chat Noir's fights with villains, most of it critical. She knew not to listen, yet she couldn't help fixating on it, and before she knew it the sun was up again.
"Psst."
Yaoyorozu turned to her side, where Jirou was nudging her elbow.
"You good?" She whispered.
Yaoyorozu gave her a smile. "Yep! Just stayed up a little late is all…!"
"Be quiet!"
Yaoyorozu startled at Aizawa's glare, and she turned her focus back to the front of the classroom. Well, as much as she could focus her tired brain, that is.
It wasn't long until Jirou nudged her again. Yaoyorozu turned to see her place an energy drink on her desk.
"Thank you," Yaoyorozu mouthed, grateful for the boost.
Jirou gave her a thumbs up.
Yaoyorozu opened the can, and winced slightly at the sound it made. Aizawa glanced at her, but thankfully didn't say anything. She proceeded to drink it. It was peach flavored. She enjoyed it a lot.
It didn't take her long to perk up after that, and she managed to make it through her next few classes without zoning out too much.
"Ugh, that had to be the longest morning of my life," Jirou complained as the girls went to their lockers.
"You're telling me," Yaoyorozu groaned.
Jirou looked at her as she opened her locker. "Oh yeah; what was it that kept you up so late anyway?"
Yaoyorozu rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh, nothing really, I was just looking through some forums talking about Ladybug and Chat Noir…!"
"Are you guys talking about heroes?" Midoriya asked, appearing between the two of them.
"Jesus! It's like you're programmed to react to that word or something!" Jirou exclaimed.
"What?! It's not like that at all! I just… really like them…" Midoriya told her, his voice starting high but trailing off by the end.
Jirou laughed. "Yaomomo said she was researching them last night."
Midoriya's eyes sparkled as he turned to Yaoyorozu.
"Don't get the wrong idea, I was mostly just browsing reddit threads instead of conducting actual research-"
"Ugh, reddit-" Midoriya's mood shifted- "I wouldn't pay attention to them, most of the people there are only trying to stir up trouble!"
"To be honest, I didn't peg you as a reddit user, Midoriya," Jirou commented.
"Well someone has to defend Ladybug and Chat Noir's honour!"
Jirou nodded slowly while Momo smiled awkwardly.
"Hey!" Kaminari called, waving at them from the other end of the hallway, "what're you guys up to?"
"Midoriya's telling us about how he tells redditors to kys!" Jirou called back, earning some concerned looks from their peers.
"Hey!- it's not like that!" Midoriya insisted.
Having witnessed their lone defender on those sites, Yaoyorozu knew that wasn't completely true.
Jirou was smiling as she pulled another energy drink from her locker. "Hey, Kaminari! Catch!"
She threw it at him, but the blond failed to catch it. It instead flew over him and hit Aizawa right in the back of his head. The teenagers winced as he turned around, his eyes immediately landing on them.
"Detention after school, the four of you."
"What? But Midoriya and I didn't even do anything!" Yaoyorozu insisted.
"I don't care, now get to class," their teacher retorted, before picking up the energy drink and walking away to the teachers' lounge.
Jirou slumped her shoulders. "Sorry guys…"
"It's not your fault," Midoriya assured her, though he was still watching Aizawa leave.
"Yeah," Yaoyorozu agreed. Sure, Aizawa was grumpy on the best of days, but usually he wasnt this unfair with punishments. She could only hope whatever it was didn't end up in something worse happening.
"I can't believe he stole my drink," Kaminari whined.
"Well, maybe if you had caught it we wouldn't be in this mess," Jirou jabbed.
"You threw it!"
Yaoyorozu sighed. She was in for a long day.
—[🐞]—
Aizawa regretted giving people detention. He just wanted to go home.
His problems had started the day before, when Nezu had given him a lot of paperwork to fill out in regards with the most recent villain attack. "It shouldn't take too long!" The principal told him. It had taken him practically all night. On top of that, when he'd woken up for school he discovered that his coffee machine was broken, meaning he'd have nothing to get him through the day.
His students were rowdy, and while he could keep them under control, the fact that he had to irritated him further. Jirou even threw an energy drink at him! He was at least grateful for the boost, though it hadn't done much. He'd probably overreacted, giving them all detention, especially as it meant he had to stay too. Well, he made this choice and now he had to stick with it.
"Alright, you have those worksheets to keep yourselves busy, I'm taking a nap," Aizawa told them. He then zipped up his sleeping bag, and lay down behind the desk.
The students looked at each other. With a sigh, Yaoyorozu got to work on hers, with Midoriya doing the same.
Kaminari leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on his desk.
Jirou raised an eyebrow at him. "That doesn't look like work," she whispered, amused.
"I'm just practicing for when I'm rich and- oh shit!" Kaminari leaned a bit too far back in his chair, which led to him crashing to the ground. Loudly.
Aizawa shot up at the sound, turning his attention to his student.
Kaminari sat up and grinned sheepishly. "Oops?"
Once Aizawa saw that Kaminari wasn't seriously injured, he scowled. "I told you to work on the worksheets."
"Hehe, well I was, but, uhm, well-"
As Kaminari struggled to come up with an explanation, across town someone was plotting.
"A teacher who just wants everyone to leave him alone…. go my little akuma, and akumatize him!!"
The butterfly flew across town with speed, diving in through one of the classroom windows, and burrowing itself in Aizawa's sleeping bag.
"Sleepy-Time, you want everyone to leave you alone so that you can rest, well I can give you the ability to make them do just that! In exchange, I want you to bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous!" Hawkmoth offered.
Aizawa was too tired to fight back. "Sure."
The students watched as Aizawa was engulfed in sludge.
"Mr. Aizawa…?" Kaminari asked.
Yaoyorozu went wide-eyed. "Kaminari, look out!"
Kaminari barely got a glance in her direction when Aizawa's scarf suddenly shot out and grabbed him.
"Woah!-"
Their teacher pulled him close, and whispered something in his ear. Kaminari then went slack, and Aizawa dropped his hold on him. The boy fell to the floor with a soft thud.
"Holy shit, he killed him!" Jirou exclaimed.
Yaoyorozu freaked out for a second, before realising that her classmate was still visibly breathing. Hopefully he was only unconscious.
Now that he wasn't holding Kaminari, Yaoyorozu could get a better look at the new villain. It seemed his yellow sleeping bag had gained a more jumpsuit-ish shape, with separate sections for his arms and legs. The ends of his scarf floated around his head, with goggles covering his eyes.
Suddenly, Midoriya threw himself in front of Aizawa. "Get out of here!"
The villain's scarf grabbed hold of him, and his attempts to break free were in vain. Yaoyorozu and Jirou made a run for it before they could see him suffer the same fate as Kaminari.
"We should split up," Yaoyorozu suggested as they ran, "in case he chases after us- that way, one of us will be more likely to get help!"
Jirou nodded. "Gotcha."
She took the next turn, while Yaoyorozu continued on down the hallway.
When Yaoyorozu ducked into an empty classroom, she groaned. "Why today?"
Tikki flew out of her bag. "You can't expect villains to work on your schedule, Yaoyorozu," Tikki scolded her.
Yaoyorozu sighed. "I know, I know- but we have no time for this, Tikki, spots on!"
In ten seconds flat she was Ladybug, and she sent Chat Noir a quick message before she sprung into action.
As expected, he had left the classroom, and Kaminari and Midoriya were both sprawled out on the floor. The heroine knelt down beside them and took their pulses. They seemed normal, and their chests were rising and falling at a normal rate, too. Midoriya then let out a sudden snore.
After getting over the surprise, Yaoyorozu laughed. Of course, she thought, they're sleeping! She was relieved she wouldn't have to worry about them dying, anyway.
She then left the room. She figured there wouldn't be much people left in the school, so if Mr. Aizawa wanted to put more people to sleep, he'd probably have left the school already.
She made a beeline for the exit.
Once outside, she found a few sleeping people by the bus stop, and she quickly went to make sure they were alright, and repositioned a few so that they wouldn't topple into the road. After she finished, she heard movement behind her and spun around barely in time to block Aizawa's attack.
Her yo-yo got tangled up in his scarf in the process, and she made an attempt to pull it back. However, Aizawa tugged as well, and he had better control of his scarf. From where Yaoyorozu stood, it seemed like he could move it as if it were another limb.
She gritted her teeth, jumped and pulled on her yo-yo. That combined with her teacher's efforts sent her flying at him. She kicked his torso, and while he stumbled backwards she flipped back into a standing positioned. His grip on her weapon loosened enough for her to pull it back. "It looks like we're two of a kind," she commented.
Her teacher snarled. "Just give me your miraculous so we can end this already!"
"Sorry, but I could do this all day," Yaoyorozu retorted.
She made an attempt to capture him, but his scarf made an another attempt to steal her weapon. This time she was prepared, though, and managed to retract it in time.
They went back and forth a bit, until Sleepy-Time lunged at Momo. The change in gears caught her off guard, and she fell backwards in an attempt to dodge. Focus, Momo! The girl thought as she desperately scrambled backwards.
Just as he was about to catch her, Chat Noir showed up, blocking the attack with his stick. Sleepy-Time tried to steal it, but his scarf couldn't grip its smooth surface.
"Sorry I'm late," Chat Noir apologised.
"You were just in time," Momo assured him.
The villain tried catching Chat Noir, but he dived out of the way.
"Alright, enough of this; Lucky Charm!" Yaoyorozu slung her yo-yo into the air, and in return she got a bicycle lock. "What the-"
"Look out!"
Yaoyorozu barely managed to dodge another attack, thanks to her partner's warning. She was really regretting the all-nighter now.
She flung a few attacks at Sleepy-Time while Chat Noir did the same.
"Are we meant to lock him to something?" Chat Noir theorised.
Yaoyorozu shrugged. "I don't see how, considering we can't get close."
Her partner raised an eyebrow, so she elaborated, "I saw him knock a few people out by whispering something into their ears."
"Ah."
As she fought, Yaoyorozu looked around for any idea on how to use her ability's gift, but nothing came to her. "Hey, Chat, pull back."
Her partner nodded, and the two started running away from their target. To Yaoyorozu's surprise, he didn't follow.
"Sleepy-Time, what are you doing?! Go after them!" Hawkmoth demanded.
Sleepy-Time yawned. "Nah- they'll be back. I'm gonna take a break." With that, he lay down on the ground.
Once the superhero duo were hidden, Chat Noir asked, "do you have a plan?"
Yaoyorozu shook her head. "Not really-" she turned the bike lock over in her hands a few times- "but we weren't getting anywhere with what we were doing. We need to strategise." She only had four minutes until she detransformed.
"What if one of us distracts him while the other goes after his akumatized object?" Chat Noir suggested.
"That could work- I suppose I'll be the distraction then?" The girl asked.
Her partner nodded. "That would be best."
The pair then jumped back into action, with Momo going back the way they came and Chat Noir taking a long way around, in order to sneak up behind their target.
As she approached, she noticed him lying on the ground. Is he sleeping? It was difficult to see his eyes through his goggles.
She waited for Chat Noir to make his way around, but he seemed to be taking a while. She was running out of time. After a moment, she decided to say screw it, and went in anyway. If he was sleeping, he wouldn't stop her.
She reached for his sleeping bag, her intention to rip it. She was wrong. In an instant he was sitting, his scarf wrapping around her. He pulled her down, and she yelped as she hit the ground. His scarf then pulled her closer to him.
She struggled, she fought, but she couldn't stop him as he whispered, "goodnight, Ladybug."
Her eyelids grew heavy.
"Ladybug!"
She needed to stay awake. To protect the miraculous, defeat the villain.
"Cataclysm!"
She was so tired. She felt herself fall. She really was off her game today.
—[🐞]—
Todoroki destroyed the villain's scarf, but he was too late. He managed to catch Ladybug as she collapsed and move out of the way of Sleepy-Time's attack just in time. He propelled the two of the away, landing on UA's roof.
He gently placed Ladybug on the ground, and tried to shake her. "Ladybug! Wake up!"
He got no reaction from her, other than some incoherent mumbling. She was down for the count.
Damn it.
Her earrings beeped unhelpfully. She'd detransform soon, and he'd follow soon after. He wondered why she hadn't stuck to the plan, she was generally the more level-headed of the two.
With a sigh, he went to move the bicycle lock to his belt, when an idea came to him.
He gingerly picked his partner up again, and pushed open the door into the school. He descended the steps and found what he was looking for: A storage room. He walked inside, made sure it was empty, and put Ladybug down again. He then stepped outside, pulled the lock around the door's handles, and locked it.
He noticed a flash of red under the door.
He knocked on the door, calling out her name again, just to make sure she hadn't woken up. There was no response.
A part of him wondered what she looked like under the mask, but he knew better than to look.
His ring flashed, and suddenly he was out of his costume.
"Woah, whats going on here?" Plagg asked.
"Ladybug fell asleep, I put her in here to protect her identity," Todoroki explained.
Plagg furrowed his eyebrows. "You locked her in a closet?"
"Don't make this weird, it's not like that!" Todoroki insisted.
"You're the one who made it weird by locking your unconscious partner in a room."
Todoroki frowned. Plagg then stuck his head through the door.
"Plagg! What are you doing???" Shouto demanded.
"I got curious as to who she was! I'm a kwami, I'm allowed to know these things."
Todoroki clenched his fists and opened them again.
"Anyways, feed me cheese so we can get back out there!" Plagg instructed.
Todoroki froze. He'd forgotten about the villain.
"…Shouto?" Plagg questioned.
Todoroki leaned his back against the door, and slid down to the floor. "I don't know how to defeat him; Ladybug was the one who came up with the plans, not to mention her being a distraction was vital to getting close to him the first time!"
His kwami hummed. That sure was a toughie.
Todoroki put his head in his hands.
"I know! Shouto, I have someone to introduce you to!"
Todoroki raised his head. "Huh?"
Plagg jerked his head to the side. "Come on- won't ya trust me this one time?"
Todoroki sighed, though it wasn't like he had any other options. He got up and followed Plagg out of the school, making their way through the streets of Tokyo until they arrived at a set of apartments.
Todoroki raised his hand to knock on the door Plagg led him to, but the kwami waved him off.
"Don't bother, he leaves it open." He then flew through the door.
Todoroki paused fo a second, before taking the kwami's advice. Once inside, he closed the door behind him, and followed Plagg down the narrow hallway. It opened up into a larger room, where he saw a man who's probably seen better days.
"Ah! Young Todoroki, welcome!" The man greeted.
Todoroki frowned. "You know my name…"
The man smiled. "That I do."
Todoroki stared at him.
"Well, I'm assuming Plagg brought you here for a reason. You can call me All Might." All Might then stood up, and made his way to the gramophone that stood by the wall. With the press of a few buttons, it opened up to reveal a box filled with different kinds of jewellery.
"Woah…" Todoroki walked up to it, and he recognised Tsukoyomi's hair piece and the choker Bakugou stole that one time. He was rich with options, but Todoroki needed something that would distract his opponent long enough so that he could break his akumatized object.
He picked up a necklace with a foxtail on it.
"You must be careful- choose someone you trust to assist you in this mission," All Might warned.
"I will," Todoroki assured him, and he made his way to the door. He knew who he'd choose.
"Oh, and one more thing-" Todoroki turned towards All Might- "try not to lose it, will ya?"
Todoroki thought back to the whole Dragon King debacle, and gave All Might a thumbs up. The older of the two smiled, and Todoroki left again.
—[🐾]—
Uraraka was in her room, trying to get some homework done.
"Uraraka."
The girl screamed. She spun around to face Chat Noir, who had broken into her room. "What the hell!?"
"Hi," Todoroki said, somewhat awkwardly.
Uraraka put a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god… Chat Noir is in my bedroom… Can I get you some tea or something?"
Todoroki shook his head. "No, I'm ok, I'm here because I need your help-" he pulled out the miracle box- "This is the fox miraculous, and it will grant you the power to create illusions, you will use it and then you'll give it back to me once the villain is defeated, do you understand?"
Uraraka was slack-jawed. "You want me to fight a villain with you?"
Todoroki nodded.
"Oh my god, yes-" she took the box from him- "you can count on me!"
She opened it up, and with an orange glow, a creature flew out.
Uraraka jumped back in shock. "What is that?"
"I'm Trixx, and I'm a kwami!" The creature explained.
Uraraka supposed it looked like a fox, in a weird way. "Hi… Trixx…"
The kwami did a few flips in the air. "Just put on the necklace and say 'Let's Pounce!' to activate it!"
Uraraka followed his instructions. "Trixx, let's pounce!"
Her outfit transformed to an orange and white superhero suit, her jacket longer in the back in a way that resembled a fox's tail. The tips of her hair went white, and a mask appeared on her face. Attached to her back was a flute. She also had fox ears coming out of her head.
"Woah!"
Todoroki climbed onto her windowsill. "We don't have time to waste, we have a villain to defeat."
Uraraka nodded enthusiastically. "Right!" She then followed him out the window.
They zipped across the city, back towards UA Academy.
"So, what's the plan?" Uraraka asked as they moved.
Todoroki's mouth form a thin line. "Well, he still thinks I'm alone, so… you can make an illusion of me in front of him to distract him while I go in behind," he thought aloud.
Uraraka nodded. "Sounds good!"
They stopped behind a nearby building, and Uraraka brought her flute to her lips, playing a tune before announcing, "mirage!" A ball of light exited from the end of the flute, and turned into the spitting image of Chat Noir.
"Creepy…" Todoroki uttered.
"It was your idea!" Uraraka reminded him.
"Right, sorry…"
Uraraka then sent the illusion to distract Sleepy-Time, who was were Todoroki had left him. As the clone bounced around him, the villain slowly rose. Since he didn't have his scarf anymore, he couldn't pull him close anymore, so he had to wait for the right moment to strike.
"Don't let him get away again!" Hawkmoth insisted, and Sleepy-Time rolled his eyes.
While this was going on, the real Todoroki approached slowly from behind, being careful not to make a noise. As he was going to reach for the sleeping bag, Aizawa turned around.
Crap! Todoroki thought.
Luckily for Shouto, Sleepy-Time didn't have his scarf anymore, so that made ducking out of the way of his grasp easier. He used his claws to rip a hole in the sleeping bag, and to his delight the akuma flew out. To his dismay, however, Sleepy-Time grabbed his wrist, pulling him up to his height. He leaned in close to Todoroki, who tried to squirm out of his grasp.
He needed to destroy that akuma, and then fix everything with Ladybug's lucky charm object. If he didn't, then they'd both be vulnerable.
He tried wrenching his hand free, but Mr. Aizawa's grip was strong. He ended up pulling them both to the ground, with Sleepy-Time pinning him down.
"Goodnight Ch-"
No, no, no!-
Sleepy-Time was knocked to the side, and Todoroki was dragged a small bit before the teacher let go.
"Huh?" He looked up to see it had been Uraraka who pushed him off of him, and she now had him pinned.
She smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
Todoroki didn't have time to waste, he quickly got to his feet and chased the akuma. "Cataclysm!" Todoroki silently apologised as the creature dissolved.
Dark sludge engulfed their teacher, leaving them with Mr. Aizawa once again. "Ugh… what the…?"
"You were akumatized," Todoroki explained.
"Of course…" Aizawa groaned, dragging a hand down the side of his face.
"It happens all the time," Todoroki said in an attempt to reassure him.
Aizawa got to his feet with a sigh. "I should probably go and make sure my students are alright." Without waiting for a response, the man trudged back into the school.
"That was fun," Uraraka admitted after a moment.
"We're not done," Todoroki replied, making his way into the school. He needed to wake everyone up.
Uraraka followed as he went back to the storage room and removed the bike lock from its handles.
He threw it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"
—[😴]—
Yaoyorozu blearily opened her eyes. "Ugh…"
She slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, confusion washing over her as she took in her surroundings. Was she… in a storage room?
"Ladybug…! You awake?"
She startled at the voice outside the door. "Chat Noir…?" She then remembered that they were fighting Aizawa, when…
"You fell asleep during the fight, so I put you in there to protect your identity," her partner explained.
"I see…" Beside her, Tikki was waking up. She pulled some treats from her pocket and gave them to the kwami, before transforming back into her hero costume.
Chat Noir smiled when she left the room. "Welcome back."
Yaoyorozu smiled. She then noticed the new hero standing next to him. "Who's this?"
Chat Noir turned to Uraraka. "This is, uh…"
"You can call me Fantasy Fox!" She interrupted.
"Well it's lovely to meet you, Fantasy Fox!" Yaoyorozu greeted.
"We should get going," Chat Noir suggested, having cast a glance at his ring.
As they made their way down towards the exit, they bumped into Midoriya and Kaminari.
"Oh my god, Ladybug and Chat Noir! And a new hero?!" The former exclaimed. He immediately started gushing over Fantasy Fox, and while she was busy, Ladybug turned to her partner.
"Sorry I wasn't much help today…"
Chat Noir waved her off. "Don't worry about it- you can't be perfect all the time."
Yaoyorozu frowned. "But that's the thing- I'm not though. I ignored the plan and went after him alone today, I lost a miraculous once, and on multiple occasions I let citizens get endangered due to my own negligence," she admitted, thinking of the comments she saw online again, "I just- sometimes I feel like I'm not cut out for this…"
Chat Noir stared at her for a moment. "Is this another one of your jokes?"
Momo shook her head.
Chat Noir grabbed her by the shoulders, looking into her eyes intensely. "Well you're wrong. I've let myself get captured sometimes too, and you've never critiqued me for it. Also, even when you mess up, you almost always come up with a plan to fix it. You might not think you're cut out for this, but we're the only heroes Tokyo has, and the only reason I've made it this far is because I have you by my side."
Yaoyorozu teared up. "You mean it?"
He nodded. "I wouldn't know what to do without you."
Tears started falling then.
Chat Noir went wide-eyed. "What's wrong, did I say the wrong thing? Are you sick?"
"No, I'm fine- you said just the right thing, actually," Yaoyorozu assured him, laughing through her tears.
Chat Noir seemed unconvinced, but Fantasy Fox turned to him. "I only have a minute left…"
"We should go," Chat Noir said.
"I'll see you around then," Yaoyorozu replied with a smile, wiping the tears from her eyes before the heroes went their seperate ways. From the looks of it, detention was cancelled, so Yaoyorozu went home to finally get some sleep.
"I suppose Sleepy-Time snoozed and lost this time, but I won't rest until I have your miraculous, Ladybug and Chat Noir!" Hawkmoth declared as his window closed once more.
—[🦋]—
The next day, Yaoyorozu was feeling a lot better about herself after having a full night's rest, not to mention she took Chat Noir's words to heart. Aizawa also seemed to mellow out, as he didn't get them to make up for their detention.
At lunch, she noticed Midoriya showing off a new page in his notebook to Uraraka and Iida.
"-She's called Fantasy Fox, and she can create illusions, isn't that awesome???"
"A new hero?" Tokoyami asked, approaching the group.
Midoriya nodded. "I wonder how many there are that we just haven't met yet, I really hope Ladybug and Chat Noir work with them again!"
Uraraka smiled. "I'm sure they'll show up again if they're needed."
Yaoyorozu hummed. Tikki had seemed surprised that Chat Noir's kwami had brought him to see All Might, but Yaoyorozu was glad he did. She also wondered who Fantasy Fox was, and Chat Noir, for that matter. She doubted she'd recognise them even if she did see their faces. Tokyo was a big city, after all.
Not that it mattered, she had bigger mysteries to focus on.
[End of Chapter 15]
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