Chapter Text
Halloween wasn’t that big of a deal in Paris. It was pretty much just an excuse to eat more chocolate than normal and have fun with friends. For the students at Collège Françoise-Dupont that’s exactly what they thought their Halloween would be this year.
They shouldn’t have underestimated Chloé Bourgeois.
No one knew where she got the idea from but one day she had marched into school, gone straight to M. Damocles, and told him that the school was going to have a Halloween Gala to celebrate the event. She took the time to spew some excuses about socialising being good for morale, the school’s public image, and learning about another culture, but as she dictated the evening to M. Damocles everyone knew she really just wanted a party.
And a party she got. M. Damocles caved in before she even reached for her phone.
Every class was asked to contribute something to the extravagant celebration and every class was asked to dress up according to a theme. Chloé had wanted royalty but Mlle. Mendeleev drew that out of the hat for her class. Mlle. Bustier drew the theme akumas and heroes.
As the class with the most akumas they had their costumes set… but no one liked that idea at all.
It was sad faces all around for weeks before Marinette took charge and, one by one, dragged her classmates home with her to do their own personal design. Class morale improved significantly after that, even if everyone was keeping their new akuma-sona design a secret until Halloween.
And judging by the way Alya could not keep her eyes off Nino it was certainly worth the wait. Either that or she was scared.
Alya snorted. “Scared? Me? Do I look scared to you bubble brains?”
Nino grinned at her and deliberately avoided letting his eyes linger on her own stunning costume. “I don't know babe,” he drawled. “You were staring at my costume for a while.”
“I'm admiring Marinette's work. Honestly that girl is amazing, turning our akuma-sonas into such awesome Halloween outfits!”
“Not gonna lie, I was totally dreading seeing myself as the Bubbler again, but this,” he stepped back and spread his arms, doing a terrible impersonation of their model friend that had Alya in stitches of laughter. “This is so frickin’ awesome!”
“Everyone else agrees.”
The whole class did indeed agree. Everyone was ignoring the fact that they were supposed to be setting up tables and chairs in the gym for when the buffet opened later and stood to one side gushing over each others outfits.
Marinette had taken Chloé’s desire for a beautiful ball and meshed it together with their akuma designs to create fabulous works of art. The boys were all in suits, with not even Kim and Nino complaining about the lack of casual attire, and all the girls had gorgeous gowns tailored to their personal tastes.
Rose was in a real princess gown that merged her love of pink with her Princess Fragrance colouring and created a gown fit for royalty that was just so perfectly Rose. She had done the inverse with Juleka, matching the girl’s preferred darker colour palette with the pink of Reflekta, and creating a stunning counterpoint to Rose. They looked breathtaking together. The two had posed for hundreds of photos before leaving for the party and were still posing for more with their friends.
Mylene’s transformation was nothing short of Miraculous. With perfectly coiffed hair and carefully applied make-up, Marinette’s designs hinted and the fierce and scary Horrificator while showing the true kindness of beauty of Mylene off to the world. The heart within the monster that helped to bring Horrificator down. Ivan hadn’t wanted to overshadow his gorgeous girlfriend and so had gone with a simple stone grey suit, with his pocket square actually being the song he had written to Mylene, kept safely over his heart. They proved that love conquers all.
The rest of the class were in similar clothes, dresses and suits that they were comfortable in, highlighting the parts of their akumatisation that made them feel good about themselves.
Nino’s was the perfect example of that. His suit was high-end, something he would seriously expect to see on a runway one day, and the first thing he thought of when he saw it was Adrien. His best friend, the friend he had been akumatised for because he wanted to help. The friend who said it was still the best birthday party he had ever had. The friend who didn’t treat him any differently than before. That was what Nino preferred to think about whenever his thoughts strayed to the Bubbler. His friendship with Adrien.
His suit was the blue of the Bubbler’s outfit, highlighted with yellow, and paired with a casual red jumper. It was comfortable, stylish, and easily the best outfit that Nino had ever owned. He loved it.
Nino gestured to both of their outfits. “She did this to help us, didn’t she?”
Alya’s gown was exactly to her taste. Comfortable, easy to move in, and it had pockets for her phone everywhere. Marinette had kept the black and purple colour scheme of Lady Wifi, and the overall silhouette of her suit, but there the similarities ended. The top was cut in a cold shoulder design, purple trimmed with black, and fell to just above her knees in a tunic style. It was cinched at the waist with lace and beading reminiscent of Lady Wifi’s power symbol belt. Dark leggings and lace up leather boots in Lady Wifi purple completed the look.
Alya was stylish, comfortable, and drop-dead gorgeous in this outfit and she loved it. She knew that was Marinette’s intention from the start.
“I know my girl,” she finally answered Nino. “That’s exactly what she did for all of us. I never asked you how you were coping, did I Ni?”
Nino waved her concerns aside. “You were coping with your own, its fine.”
“You haven’t touched bubbles since that day.”
“And you can’t bear to be away from your phone and have avoided your Lady Wifi colours until today,” Nino was quick to point out. Being akumatised so close to each other didn’t allow them to help each other much, not when they were going through their own issues, but it didn’t prevent them from noticing the changes their friends had gone through. He suddenly grinned then. “You look smokin’ hot, babe. Those colours are awesome on you!”
Alya smirked. “Flattery will get you everywhere bubble boy,” she winked, chuckled at his blush, then quickly changed the topic. “Hey, is it just me, or do Marinette and Adrien seem pretty close right now?”
“They are… but I’m not helping you with another set up.”
“Oh come on. Just one. Please?”
“Nope.” Nino shook his head and did his best to ignore his girlfriend’s pout. He was far too weak for that. But he absolutely did not want to get roped into another ‘push-the-oblivious-dorks-together’ scheme. Not after the last one involved a fire extinguisher. “Besides, we won’t need it. Adrien’s been all over her since she agreed to make him a Ladybug costume for tonight’s Halloween party.”
“I still can’t believe she didn’t want to be Ladybug.” Alya shook her head. Who wouldn’t want to be Ladybug? Marinette’s attitude towards the heroes was incomprehensible to her. “She would be awesome as a superhero.”
“Hey, they’re both happy with their choices. Plus, this way they’re part of the class theme.”
Alya nodded. Nino was right. Marinette was happy going as Chat Noir and Adrien was happy going as Ladybug, and that was all that mattered. All that was left for them to do was to celebrate together tonight.
It was just another day in Paris when the superheroes did what they could to help akuma victims overcome the trauma of their change and learn to have fun again.