Chapter Text
~Bridgette~
“M-Melodie, do you know someone who’s good with ph-photo…” Bridgette started, interrupting Melodie while she took attendance for their homeroom class. Melodie looked over her shoulder quickly, her blonde braid whipping around before resting on her opposite shoulder. She furrowed her brow at Bridgette before resting her reading glasses on top of her forehead, smiling brightly upon seeing Bridgette clearly once more.
“Photoshop?” She asked, completing Bridgette’s question. “Max is pretty good with anything related to technology, you just have to be patient with him.” She responded brightly, gesturing to a boy in the back of the classroom with thick glasses and a buzz cut with a light fade. Melodie pursed her lips and met Bridgette’s eyes, freezing her in place. “Are you looking for another teammate for Ms. Bustier’s project?” She asked, voice ringing. Bridgette swallowed a lump in her throat, were Melodie’s eyes always this penetrating?
“U-um, y-yeah! How did y-you know?” Bridgette stuttered out to Melodie’s thin smile as she hummed happily to herself, leaning forward with her clipboard behind her back.
“I thought so!” She sang, giggling slightly at Bridgette’s confusion. “Fé told me you two were partners, and the groups have to be decided by the end of the week, meaning… you need one more person.” Melodie explained brightly, doing a single jazz hand to emphasize her explanation. Bridgette smiled at her, nodding twice to indicate that she was right. It wasn’t surprising that Félix would tell Melodie, since they were childhood friends, or the fact that Melodie called him that nickname. Those two really were close.
“Y-yeah, that’s right. B-but actually, w-we need a ph-photographer.” Bridgette managed, Melodie tilted her head slightly as she tapped her pen against her lips, deep in thought. After a moment, she smiled back at Bridgette.
“I know a couple of people whose focus is photography, but I’ll have to reach out to them to see if they’re still available. No one in this class though, can I get back to you at the end of the day?” Melodie asked, her eyes smiling at the corners, Bridgette nodded quickly.
“Y-yeah, great!” She managed as Melodie smiled, and hummed to herself as she put her reading glasses back in position to complete the attendance sheet.
Bridgette looked toward the back of the classroom to note Max. Though she hadn’t intended to speak with him regarding Ms. Bustier’s final project, there was another matter at hand that an expert in technology could help with. Bridgette took a deep breath and walked over to him, feeling her palms grow sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy, something something, mom’s spaghetti.
“M-max, you’re good with t-technology, right?” Bridgette squeaked in front of Max’s desk. He looked up from his laptop to observe Bridgette’s behavior. Bridgette managed a smile. “Please.” She mouthed, too nervous for the words to come out, Max smiled and chuckled. He looked back down at his computer and within moments, an automated voice came from its speakers.
“Affirmative. Bridgette, speak clearly. Your speech to text is… lacking.” The artificial voice stated, Bridgette blushed at the jab.
“R-right. I mean, right!” She tried again, Tikki’s laughing chimed in her ear as Max chuckled in unison.
“What can I do for you, Bridgette?” The robotic voice asked again, Max tilted his head to observe Bridgette dig through her backpack.
“Well, I got a disposable old flip phone that I was wondering if you could minimize tracking on.” Bridgette handed Max the phone as he frowned at the device, turning it over and disassembling the back with a small screwdriver. He exposed the circuit board and grabbed a mini flashlight attached to his keychain to observe the circuitry easier. He frowned and turned back to type something on his computer.
“Not exactly. Phones can be tracked through wifi and 4g/5g connection, though this phone has no wifi, it can still call without a cord. Best I can do is scramble the location so it appears as though it’s in another country. Like a vpn.” The voice said from Max’s computer. He looked back up at Bridgette as she chewed on the inside of her lip, then finally nodded.
“Yeah, that should work… I wanted a fake number to give creeps who asked, but also don’t want it to be tracked since I don’t plan on picking it up.” Bridgette smiled, Max smirked at her and typed something in his computer.
“Wouldn’t an actual fake number work better?” He asked. Bridgette flashed her practiced smile, if Félix could do it, so could she. Bridgette had already thought through all her lies as to why she wanted someone to bug the phone number she’d use with the government, but it was still difficult to lie, especially to a potential new friend.
“I once had a customer check to see their text in my phone before they left… not something I want to experience again.” Bridgette chuckled, scratching the back of her head. Max’s eyes widened as he stood up, signing rapidly. At Bridgette’s confused expression, he held up a finger and went back to his laptop to type furiously.
“That’s terrible, I can’t believe the nerve of some people! You didn’t deserve that happening to you, and I sincerely hope it doesn’t happen again. Regardless, if for your own peace of mind, I will hack that old flip phone for you, that said, it will run terribly.” Max looked up at her, clenching his fists. Bridgette smiled and waved her hand.
“Thanks for your concern, I’m okay, really.” She handed him the flip phone, “Thanks, Max.” Bridgette smiled as Max nodded to take the phone, putting it in his backpack.
“I’ll return it asap.” Max’s robotic voice said, Bridgette hummed happily, leaning over to look at his text-to-speech program. “This is MARCOV: Max’s Assisting Robot for Communicating Over Voice.” Max had typed out. When he pressed the enter key, the program read the sentence aloud.
"Woah, so cool." Bridgette said, watching her words being auto-typed at the top of Max's screen.
Ms. Bustier walked to the front of the class, clapping her hands.
"Get to your seats, we have a lot to discuss today.” She smiled pleasantly, words getting translated onto Max’s laptop. Bridgette squeaked as she rushed over to her desk. Allison waved Gavin back to his seat once Bridgette returned. The two seemed much closer nowadays, Bridgette rested her chin on her hand and leaned towards Allison, doing her best to wiggle her eyebrows. Allison rolled her eyes and lightly shoved a chuckling Bridgette before getting ready for the start of class.
~Félix~
“Point!” The referee yelled, Félix unclipped the cord from his back and stepped off the strip, which marked 15 points and the end of his practice match. Félix pulled off his helmet and unzipped his lamé, and jacket, taking the opportunity to get some water before starting the cool down exercises. His opponent had stabbed him pretty hard in the arm, though it was off-target, and not a point, Félix could still tell it was going to leave an impressive bruise. At the very least, his photoshoot on Friday afternoon was for winter clothing, so he should be sufficiently covered to not require a makeup artist and photo editor to retouch the bruising. Félix stood back up and stretched briefly before jumping into his five laps around the gym. Nathalie had given him a quick rundown as to the concept, it was an elegant winter jacket and scarf that was breathable, so he’d be posing as an ice skater. Félix frowned, they were really leaning into the ‘ice prince’ concept this year, it wasn’t surprising, but it sure wasn’t creative. His father knew what he was doing as far as marketing went, it was always best to be conservative and stick with what worked. Only when the public thinks they have a read on your next move do you throw out something new. That was the secret to doing well in this business. For his upcoming shoot, Félix considered going to an ice skating rink to brush up on his skills.
As for his fencing practice, Félix was getting bored. He was doing quite well in the local fencing circuits for foil, but those skills only partially translated over to Chat Noir. In foil, the target area was above the belt, excluding the arms and face. Points were only awarded for thrusting attacks, stabbing your opponent with the tip of the blade while creating a notable bend. Compared to the two other blades in fencing, epee and sabre, foil was the hardest since it had the smallest target area, strict type of contact, and a rule about right-of-way, meaning the first person to move in an attack had a right to that point. If the defender launches an attack after, but makes contact first and is still hit, they do not obtain that point. The defender’s priority is to always defend an attack, then launch a counterattack. This combination is often called thrust, parry, riposte. Thrust is the initial attack, parry is the defender’s move to block or misdirect the initial attack, and the riposte is the defender’s counterattack, when they have claimed the right-of-way since the opponent’s blade is no longer trained on them.
The only issue with this, is that as Chat Noir, such rules do not apply to combat. When fighting villains, the whole body is a target and it’s not about seriously injuring an opponent, only distracting them. Ladybug always requests Chat Noir to stall for time, and Félix’s best weapon is not the best way to help Ladybug. Right-of-way doesn’t exist when fighting villains, if he gets hit, it’s over. Ladybug took one hit from Pyromancer and was lodged in the wall of the subway station. That was a ‘normal’ attack, he wasn’t sure what would happen if either of them took a blast of fire. Félix finished up his stretches and walked over to his coach.
“Coach D’Argencourt, I’d like to change my primary weapon from foil to sabre.” Félix smiled, holding his helmet at his side. The lean young man looked down at him, and tilted his head slightly.
“You’re the best foilist our team has, and your sabre isn’t good enough to get you into any competitions right now.” He said plainly, waving over the head sabre coach.
“I know, sir. I want to improve my sabre fencing at least. I can still compete in foil, but I would like to make the switch.” Félix pleaded. This was important, more important than getting bored of a weapon, this was one of the stepping stones on the path to becoming a better hero. He needed to be versatile in his attack styles to help his partner, Ladybug was the brains, he was the braun. Chat Noir needed to be getting better at his role. Papillon was trying to outsmart them, Ladybug was on his tail, and it was Chat Noir’s job to give her all his support. Coach D’Argencourt sighed in defeat.
“Very well, for now, we’ll split your fencing practice in half. You’ll continue working on foil with me, but will also get added instruction from Coach Tsurugi for sabre.” Coach D’Argencourt said, gesturing to Coach Tsurugi, who he waved over earlier. Coach Tsurugi smiled and bowed to Félix, Félix returned the gesture.
“I’m glad to hear you want to improve on your sabre, Mr. Agreste. Since you want to eventually compete in sabre, I take it. I'll have you practice sparring with my daughter, Kagami in your next session. She’s the best saberist on our team, but hasn't had the opportunity to go against someone left-handed yet.” Coach Tsurugi nodded to a girl with a bob cut helping put the fencing equipment away, she looked alot like her mother. Félix nodded and bowed appreciatively before departing.
Once outside the gym, Félix breathed in the fresh air, half way through with the day, he had afternoon classes, and then would have ballet. Nathalie had insisted he double up the ballet practice so he’d be more prepared for the figure skating shoot since he had to be in a variety of poses. Félix readjusted his hold on his bag and turned to go to the library, only to find Bridgette sitting on a bench outside of the gym, doodling in her sketchbook. That’s right, she promised to meet with him to discuss Ms. Bustier’s final project after fencing, he’d forgotten. Félix cleared his throat, Bridgette frowned, leaning forward to draw details in her sketchbook, she was completely zoned in. Félix walked over to her, standing right in front of her, she still didn’t see him. Félix clicked his tongue and snagged the sketchbook from her.
“Hey!” Bridgette exclaimed, jumping up to grab her sketchbook from him. Shorty. Félix smirked as he held the sketchbook up too high for her to grab, spinning to look at her drawings as he walked toward the library, Bridgette yapping at his heels like a chihuahua. Her sketches were pretty good, she was drafting men’s formal clothing, but it wasn’t innovative. Although… Félix smirked upon recognizing her model.
“I didn’t know you looked at me closely enough to know my measurements… ah, but it looks like you underestimated my front rise.” He said cheekily, Bridgette blushed so hard her ears turned red.
“I-I’m not that creepy!” She yelled, jumping again to take the sketchbook from him. Félix clicked his tongue and flipped through some of her other sketches. She had primarily been using herself as a model, which made sense, though there were a couple other people in her sketches too. It looked like Bridgette focused a lot on expressing an individual’s nature in the outfits, meaning she designed for people, not artistically. Félix stopped outside of the library, Bridgette ran into his back, grunting as she took a step back to rub her forehead. Félix tapped her forehead with her notebook, holding it still so she could reclaim it.
“I’m a model, not a client. I’m your canvas, use me as you see fit, don’t try to make clothes that I would like. Remember, Bridgette, the objective of this project is to make clothes that everyone could see themselves wearing. Whether feminine, masculine, formal, casual, loose, tight, concealing, or revealing, I can wear it all. There are no limits to your creativity, I expect something innovative, something worthy of the Agreste name.” Félix articulated, watching the way Bridgette’s eyes widened as she understood his meaning.
“You’d… you’d wear sheer fabric?” Bridgette blushed slightly at the thought, Félix smirked, she really hadn’t dug through his old modeling photos.
“Lèyì” Félix said, Bridgette frowned slightly, then her eyebrows shot up as she understood what he said, he still needed to work on his accent. Félix tilted his head, looking down at her quizzically. “We still need to determine who else is in our group.” He said plainly, Bridgette nodded.
“I’m aware, I set up a meeting with Melodie after school to ask for recommendations, since she knows everyone.” Bridgette said brightly, Félix nodded, he forgot how sociable Melodie was, but he didn’t want to be there since he was quite certain Melodie had a personal problem with Bridgette, even if Bridgette was unaware, the dunce. It was best to avoid drama when he could.
“Apologies, Bridgette, I can’t make it. I have extra ballet practice in preparation for a photoshoot this Friday.” Félix replied, Bridgette nodded in understanding.
“That’s okay, I can talk to Melodie on my own. Oh, but did you have any other input on the direction for the clothing design?” She asked brightly, Félix shook his head.
“Just don’t dress me like a Men’s Warehouse model, I’d rather shoot lingerie.” He scoffed.