Work Text:
Marc walked towards the park near the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. He and Nathaniel were meeting there for a date.
A girl wandered up to him, “Excuse me? You’re Marc Anciel, right?”
Marc blinked, surprised, “Yes?”
She held out a comic book. He recognized it as the first issue of the Mightyllustrator and Reverser series. “Can you sign this?”
“Oh, sure!”
With a quick scribble using the pen he always carried around in case of a sudden burst of writing inspiration, the comic was signed and returned to the girl.
“Here you go!” Marc cheered.
“Thank you!” She replied, placing it back in her bag, “You know, I really don’t know why you stick with your current illustrator.”
He froze, “Excuse me?”
“Yeah, your dialogue and storylines are all so amazing,” She waved her hand in the air, “He’s just some talentless hack that can only draw low budget anime shit.”
Marc felt his anger spike at that, “Hey, don’t say that about him!”
Her face suddenly filled with pity, “Oh no, he totally has you tricked his art style is good, doesn’t he? What a shame. Wasted talent if you’re sticking with him.”
Still seething, Marc simply watched as she walked away. His hand reached up to fiddle with a heart charm Nathaniel had bought for one of their anniversaries attached to his choker.
He never noticed the black butterfly flying into the object.
“Appraiser, my name is Hawkmoth. You have been disrespected and so have your loved ones. Let me help you make the world a better place. All you have to do in return is bring me the miraculous, do we have a deal?
“Okay Hawkmoth.”
A flurry of purple clouds covered the boy before disappearing. The akuma that stood there looked virtually the same as his regular self, besides the clothing change. Instead of Marc’s usual red hoodie and skinny jeans, Appraiser was wearing a modified form of both clothes. The hoodie had shortened to the length of a crop top and had its sleeves removed. His pants were replaced by shorts, although they were of the same material.
Appraiser quickly hurried to the girl, turning her around by her shoulder, using his free hand to tap the heart charm which still hung from the choker around his neck, the object flashing green.
“What?”
The girl’s question was cut off by Appraiser tapping her on the forehead, “Your dislike is now flipped around.”
She blinked, before pulling out her phone, “Oh my god, Nathaniel Kurtzberg’s art style is so well drawn!” As she bought merch from the comic’s website and texted all her friends about the artist, Appraiser smirked and walked away.
This power was great.
---
Alix leaned over the back of a park bench, showing her phone to Nathaniel. It played news footage of Marc wearing revealing clothes and reversing people’s likes and dislikes. Most of it wasn’t really all that bad. He was switching people’s approval of distasteful stuff like homophobia, catcalling, and so on. The akuma was also making people like respecting others’ boundaries.
All in all, it wouldn’t be a huge loss if the akuma was never purified.
Although, Alix wasn’t really sure if Nathaniel was paying attention. She was pretty sure he was just drooling over Marc’s exposed skin.
“So, an akuma?”
“Marc… in shorts,” Nathaniel responded, dazed.
Alix placed her head in her hands, “You are such a disaster.”
“Hey!” A familiar voice chirped. Both teens looked up.
Marc, still wearing the modified version of his clothes, walked up to them, holding a flower in his hand. He sat down on the bench, placing the flower on Nathaniel’s ear. The petals of the flower were enough to shift his bangs out of the way and keep them there. Needless to say, Nathaniel, being a huge romantic at heart, was practically swooning.
Alix tugged on his shoulder, “Nathaniel, Marc’s an akuma.”
“A cute one,” Nathaniel replied, still going heart eyes over his boyfriend.
The skater stared at her best friend with the most tired expression on her face.
Marc placed a kiss on Nathaniel’s hand, “Hey, come with me. Name’s Appraiser now.”
“He’s not gonna-”
He tapped his heart charm, flashing a red glow, before tapping Alix on the arm, “You dislike interrupting people’s dates.”
“Shit, you right.” Alix shot the duo a peace sign as she skated away, “Have fun.”
Appraiser looked to make sure she was really gone before turning back to Nathaniel, picking up his hands like they were precious treasures, “I know we agreed on going on the date now, but I need to get the miraculous for Hawkmoth.”
And just like that, Nathaniel was reminded his boyfriend was currently a supervillain at the moment.
“You’re not getting them!” A female voice called out, very obviously Paris’ superheroine.
Ladybug landed a few feet away from the two.
Appraiser growled, standing up, “If you’d rather come to me to make this quicker, that’d be great.”
She didn’t move from her spot, obviously knowing his powers are touch based.
He lunged towards her, the heroine dodging away from the attack. She glanced around looking for Chat Noir. No dice.
“Time for a Lucky Charm!” Ladybug shouted, an object falling from the sky into her hand. “Chapstick?”
She looked up, dodging another lunge from Appraiser. As she thought of a plan, the world went gray, the chapstick, Nathaniel, and Appraiser’s choker lighting up in a ladybug pattern in her vision. Behind her back, Ladybug tossed the chapstick to the artist.
“Wouldn’t you rather go on your date first?”
Appraiser paused in his attack, “Excuse me?”
Ladybug gestured to Nathaniel who was staring at the chapstick in his hand, confused, “I mean, your boyfriend waited all this time for you. I can totally wait until after the date to fight you.”
Appraiser squinted at her, “You telling the truth?”
Ladybug nodded.
He did the ‘I’m watching you’ motion with his fingers before walking towards Nathaniel. Ladybug pointed at her neck and mouthed the words ‘get the choker’ at Nathaniel, whose mouth slowly opened into an ‘O’ shape.
As Appraiser approached Nathaniel, the artist yanked him down by his hood, connecting their lips in a kiss. The akuma’s eyes widened in shock before melting into the kiss. Nathaniel reached up to remove the choker. Thankfully, Appraiser didn’t notice, even as his boyfriend slipped it off his neck, tossing it to Ladybug.
She caught it in her hand, “You’re over!” Appraiser jolted out of the kiss, turning to Ladybug. The heroine slammed it onto the ground, stomping on it for good measure.
Nathaniel caught Marc as Ladybug captured and purified the akuma that flew out of the choker.
“Are you okay?” He asked his boyfriend.
Marc made a disgruntled noise, looking up, “Where am I?” He noticed Ladybug standing a few feet away. “Did I get akumatized?”
Ladybug cast the cure, fixing the shards of the charm on the ground. She picked up the choker, handing it back to Marc, “Unfortunately, so. But it’s okay. It happens to the best of us.”
The writer took back the item, holding it close to his chest. Nathaniel walked up, placing a hand on Marc’s arm, “Did something happen? Well, that’s a stupid question. Of course something happened. Do you want to talk about it?”
Marc put the choker back on his neck, turning to Nathaniel, “Some girl came up to me and insulted you and I just…” He bristled, “Got angry. You’re one of the most amazing people I know and she just came up and told me you were a bad artist and a trickster!” Marc huffed, “Sorry, it’s just… she’s stupid if she can’t see how good you are.”
Nathaniel laughed, “Thanks. Never really thought anyone would get angry at someone for me.” He took the flower off his ear and handed it to Marc, “Shall we go on our date?”
Marc smiled, blush already spreading across his face as he accepted the flower, “Yeah. Let’s go,”
The two boys waved goodbye to Ladybug before walking away.
She smiled.
Making sure the citizens of Paris could exist happily was really all her job was about.