Chapter Text
~Bridgette~
Once an accident, twice a coincidence, three times a pattern. It had been four weeks since the last akuma attack, and Allison wasn’t the only one feeling anxious about how quiet it’s been lately. Papillon—the name Bridgette came up with for the faceless villain, hadn’t made a move in quite some time, it was eerie. The name ‘Papillon’ was derived from the butterfly miraculous he possessed, it wasn’t terribly clever, like her own pseudonym, ‘Ladybug’, but naming things was not Bridgette’s strong suit. The first villain wielded fire and caused a lot of destruction, Papillon probably sent him out to gain a lot of attention and draw out other miraculous holders, knowing the kwami’s inside them would ask their users to take action. As for his second attack, he took a less destructive approach, trying to limit the number of people in harm’s way. Papillon might value the safety of Parisians, then again, maybe Bridgette was giving him too much credit. The first two attacks had been back to back, both catching the government off guard. A third consecutive attack ran the risk of government interference since the National Guard started moving on the day of the second attack, as Bridgette found out the following morning. Papillon was cautious, he had the tactical advantage and was not going to lose it to a mere slip-up. Bridgette already knew he was a middle-aged working man based on the testimonies of the previous victims and the timing of his attacks, but his actions now indicated he wasn’t acting on emotion and that he didn’t want to get many bystanders involved. A sense of responsibility for the safety of others and a cold sense of reason? Was he a manager, someone in charge of other’s livelihoods, or a father? Bridgette couldn’t be sure, as for the akumatized butterflies, did he have to catch them himself? Did they return to him, or were they just part of nature? Bridgette frowned as she looked down at the blank page of her notebook.
“Briddy!” Allison shouted as she jogged up to Bridgette’s desk, taking her seat next to her. “Wanna take a First Aid an’ CPR course with me!?” Bridgette blinked back her surprise at Allison’s enthusiasm, it was a lot of energy to adjust to this early in the morning. Allison smiled brightly as she pulled up the Red Cross website on her phone. “Ya know how I’ve been first on tha scene for these supervillain attacks? I was thinkin’ it’d be good to learn as a technical first responder. Wanna come with? It’ll be fun.” Allison said quickly, her American accent garbling her speech slightly more than usual. Bridgette furrowed her brow for a second, Ladybug was on the scene before even Allison, being CPR and First Aid trained seemed like a requirement to be a superhero. Bridgette smiled brightly.
“Sounds fun, I’m pretty sure the Majestia movie is coming out this weekend too. Let’s see that after the course, uh… Alli.” Bridgette said, trying out a nickname, Allison hugged Bridgette ecstatically.
“It’s a plan! I’ll text you!” Allison squealed, pulling up her phone to forward the course information to Bridgette. Félix and Gavin walked into the classroom at the same time, Félix set his bag on his desk and looked at Bridgette and Allison calmly.
“Allison, are you attending the course downtown on the 11th?” Félix asked clearly, Allison blinked back her surprise.
“Hell yeah!” She shouted, Félix flashed his practiced smile.
“I look forward to seeing you there.” Félix responded coolly, Bridgette looked between Allison and Félix, she knew why Allison wanted the certification, but not Félix. “Fencing can be dangerous, and I am quite accident-prone.” Félix elaborated upon seeing Bridgette’s raised eyebrow, she flushed upon being read so easily. Gavin spun to sit backwards in his seat and join in on the conversation.
“I couldn’t help but overhear that you’re going to see the Majestia movie this weekend. I’ve been counting down the days until its premiere. Hey Bridgette, can I tag along?” Gavin asked, smiling gently. Bridgette’s jaw dropped open, she had hardly spoken to Gavin before this. The day was supposed to be for her and Allison to hang out but it would be rude to decline. Bridgette looked frantically at Allison, a look of desperation in her eye. Allison provided a hearty thumbs up as encouragement.
“Um… yeah, sure, s-sounds grape! I MEAN GREAT!” Bridgette shouted, her face going red. Gavin and Allison chuckled at her nervous tongue-tied reaction, Félix frowned slightly and turned back to the front as Ms. Bustier took her place in front of the class, accepting the attendance sheet from Melodie.
“Good morning class, you may have noticed I uploaded the syllabus for the final project to the course website. It is a little early in the year, but trust me, it is better to start early than to cram it the last week. You know who you are.” Ms. Bustier said eloquently, looking pointedly over the entire class. “We’ll have five groups of three, each group must create a product and an appropriate ad campaign. Your supervisor can be any of your current or previous teachers here. Your product can be whatever you like, and your ad can be in any format. For example, if your focus is in visual arts, consider making a comic book, if your specialty is music, try composing a song for public radio. Depending on each group's success, your product might become commercially available. A sample timeline is available in the syllabus packet, as are more details. Per usual, there is no such thing as a silly question, and my door is always open. The first submission is due in two weeks and must include group member names, supervisor, and your project idea.” Ms. Bustier smiled as she wrapped up the major announcements during homeroom, leaving the students to either start working on the final project or finish up other school work. Bridgette’s mind swam with the possibilities. Although her focus was fashion design, she was a well-rounded artist and as such was able to help out in both visual and physical arts. She was versatile and able to adapt to just about any group. It would probably be best to stick with Allison since they got along well and Bridgette needed to be able to communicate effectively with her teammates.
~Félix~
Félix sat in the library at lunch again, pondering Ms. Bustier’s final project. It was due at the end of the school year, but it was still a lot of work. He modeled professionally, but his specialty was fashion modeling, which meant he was accustomed to showing off outfits. Félix wasn’t a parts model, meaning he would struggle with close ups of his hands if he was holding a product or showcasing shoes. To tailor to his strengths, he should partner with Bridgette to sell clothing items, but they’d need someone who understood photography in order to succeed. A good outfit can be ruined by a model’s presence, and that combination can be ruined by bad camera work. Félix groaned, he was certain Bridgette was thinking the same thing he was, but he was also unsure of who in their class had a talent for photography. Allison had no idea about camera work, seeing how sloppy her interview footage with Chat Noir and Ladybug was, and he knew for a fact that Melodie never used a camera in her life. He doubted other students in his class knew the importance of getting the right type of model to do the job, and he was not going to wait around for his classmates to ask him to start hand modeling. This left him with only one solution, he had to ask around and see who had an eye for photography. Félix frowned at the thought, he’d have to talk to more people while acting charming, only this time he wasn’t telling them to leave him alone, he’d be asking them for favors. There was only one thing worse than talking to people, and that was being in debt to them. People you are in debt to take that as an opportunity to exploit you. With Félix’s family background, there was a lot that could go wrong.
Félix flipped to the next page on the Mandarin textbook he was reading. He would have to see Allison and Bridgette at the First Aid training this coming Sunday, which wasn’t all bad since the duo weren’t particularly annoying so long as they kept their voices down. Félix had already avoided the worst of it by managing to dance around Bridgette’s unvoiced question. While he had recognized it was a good idea for Chat Noir to know some First Aid, he didn’t plan in advance for why Félix Agreste wanted to learn CPR. Even if Bridgette suspected something was amiss, she was polite enough not to ask. He and Ladybug had to keep their identities secret at all costs to prevent their enemy from taking their miraculous.
The door to the library clicked open, right on time, Félix thought, looking down at his book again so he didn’t appear fazed when Bridgette inevitably walked up to him. The person stood next to him, staying silent, that’s different, Félix thought, maybe he’d start the conversation first. After a second, Félix flipped the page, speaking Mandarin.
“Xiàwǔ hǎo.” Félix said, knowing for certain his pronunciation was better this time around. Nathalie had made good on her word and found him a tutor. Bridgette had better be impressed considering how she had mocked him the last time they spoke Mandarin together.
“Excuse me?” A deeper voice responded, that wasn’t Bridgette. Félix looked up to see Gavin standing over him, he couldn’t help the frown tugging at his lip.
“Good afternoon, it’s Mandarin.” Félix felt the bitterness in his voice and forced himself to smile. “How may I help you, Gavin?” He managed to recover, he had to be careful, his guard had slipped for a second and he’d almost made another enemy. Gavin smiled shyly, scratching the back of his head as he invited himself to sit down across from Félix.
“Well, see, the thing is… I need a favor.” Gavin gestured towards Félix, who looked down as he bookmarked the textbook to give Gavin his full attention. “Y’know… Bridgette hangs out at the library with you a lot, and when she’s not, she’s with Allison. I can’t really ask Allison for advice ‘cause, but since you’re not busy, I thought I’d come to you.” Gavin looked up at Félix hesitantly, his own words slowly being processed. “I didn’t mean that, I’m sure you have important things to do.” Gavin tried to regain his composure. Félix cleared his throat to get Gavin out of his own head, at this rate, Félix would be stuck here until the school closed.
“Take a deep breath and think about what you want to say. Keep it brief.” Félix offered patiently, Gavin wasn’t usually this nervous, so whatever it was must be important if he needed to ask Félix for help. Gavin breathed quietly for a moment, giving himself a chance to calm down.
“I like someone, romantically. Bridgette spends a lot of time with you, so I was hoping maybe she told you something.” Gavin said, chuckling in embarrassment. Félix tilted his head to observe Gavin’s peculiar behavior, what did Gavin see in Bridgette anyway? Gavin’s eyes widened at Félix’s expression. “My apologies! I didn’t think you two were dating. Ugh! I’m so stupid, I should’ve seen it earlier!” Gavin raised his voice slightly, covering his face with his hands.
“We’re not.” Félix said sternly, standing up as he did so, his face flushed and he cleared his throat, sitting down again. He was in a library, he had to be quiet. “I’m not dating her, as far as I know, she’s single.” Félix stated clearly, smiling at Gavin, who had started to relax.
“Oh, I see. That’s good then. So… can you help a guy out? Please?” Gavin repeated resting his forearms on the table. Félix nodded once, this was a good thing, if Gavin and Bridgette started dating, he could enjoy his peace and quiet in the library again. Félix crossed his arms as he recalled everything he knew about Bridgette.
“She is very shy around people she doesn’t know, and she doesn’t always say what she means. She cares deeply about everyone around her and is quick to forgive. So keep that in mind as you talk to her.” Félix recalled plainly. Gavin raised an eyebrow at the insight Félix provided.
“One last question.” Gavin insisted. Félix's eyes darted over to where Plagg floated next to a wall-mounted clock in the corner of the library, he still had a little time until his ballet practice. Félix nodded quickly as he stood up, packing up to leave.
“What would you do if you were me?” Gavin asked, watching as Félix slung his bag over his shoulder.
“If I were to ask her on a date, I’d ask for her friend to subtly excuse herself from the movie tomorrow, either have her sit somewhere else discreet, or skip the showing.” Allison seemed to pick up on Gavin’s interest in Bridgette during homeroom; it shouldn’t be terribly difficult to convince her to be a wingwoman for them. Félix thought, continuing “Granted, it’s probably too soon for that since you two—dammit, best of luck.” Félix said hurriedly as he jogged down the stairs of the library, already late to his ballet lesson according to Gavin’s watch. He should know better than to trust any clock Plagg has touched.