Chapter Text
Cover:
Marc came to a stop at a turn in the school corridor, clutching the wall for stability as he panted, trying to bring air back into his lungs. He cast his gaze backwards, but his eyes only widened upon hearing the soft footsteps return once again.
He pushed off the wall, feet pounding on the marble floor. His notebook remained clutched tightly in his gloved hands. As long as he could get out of the school, he’d be fine . . .
But then he ran into someone.
Stormy Weather grinned down at him, a glint in her bright eyes, her umbrella lifting from her side. Marc’s breath caught. Without breaking eye contact, he slowly stepped backwards, knowing full well that fear was evident on his face. And before he could think of a plan of escape, the soft footsteps came to a stop behind him.
Marc turned, now face-to-face with Lady Wi-Fi.
Before he could run, the second akuma swiped along the screen of her phone. He couldn’t move now, paused in place with his jaw open in a silent scream. Stormy Weather laughed, covering her mouth with one hand as she raised the umbrella up with the other and completely coated Marc in a layer of glossy ice. This was it, he was done for.
A fourth figure dropped from the rafters of the school. His mouth was curled in a grin, his dark aqua eyes narrowed as he twirled a pen in his left hand. He laughed, raising his head to reveal his side-swept orange and purple hair, his striped, ombre bodysuit, the tablet fixed to the side of his right arm.
The akumas froze. Before Stormy Weather could raise her umbrella again, the newcomer flipped his pen to its eraser side, messily swiping it along the screen and completely erasing the umbrella from her hand. Lady Wi-Fi charged at him with her phone, but one quick drawing of a glass wall, and she fell backwards to the ground. He dropped a newly-drawn box from the sky, encasing the two girls within a thick layer of glass. Ladybug could de-akumatize them later, but he had a different priority. And after another couple eraser swipes, the ice surrounding Marc completely disappeared, freeing the other boy.
Marc’s face lit up. “The Illustrator!”
“Of course.” The newcomer laughed, dropping his tough demeanor and letting the other boy run up to him. Marc relaxed into the Illustrator’s embrace, his lips parted in a smile. “I’ll always be here to save you.”
Marc rested his head against the other’s shoulder. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Marc.”
“I just wish I knew your real identity. Then we could be together forever.” Marc averted his eyes and frowned, causing the Illustrator’s heart to skip a beat.
He hated seeing Marc upset, especially with all of his powers and abilities he could use for the greater good . . . and for the love of his life. He did all he could to protect humanity, of course he did. But the boy currently clinging to his shoulders was the most important person in the world to him.
And as much as the Illustrator didn’t want to give up his secret, he would do it for Marc.
“I can tell you now.” the Illustrator spoke up, causing Marc to raise his head in hope. “I know you can keep a secret, so I’ll tell you who I am. Especially if it’ll make you happy, my love.” This sweet nickname made Marc smile, inspiring the Illustrator further. “And you’re right; we can be together forever.”
Marc nodded, his voice barely a whisper. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“In that case, I’m actually—”
“NATHANIEL!”
Nathaniel sat up, dropping his sketchbook and pencil, frozen in place as Mme. Mendeliev glared down at him and his open page of artwork. He desperately wanted to cover up the picture of his superhero OC—the Illustrator—holding Marc Anciel in his arms, but he couldn’t move under his teacher’s harsh gaze. His face grew hot, knowing full well that anyone who looked over would see his embarrassing expression of his secret crush.
“So this is why your grades are so poor!” Mme. Mendeliev snapped, picking up Nathaniel’s unfinished science homework. “You’ve gotten away with this long enough. Go to Principal Damocles’ office!”
Horror overwrote Nathaniel’s senses. The principal’s office? He never went there! But he couldn’t do anything other than attempt an apology to Mme. Mendeliev, which she didn’t hear, and gather his things so he could leave the class. He stuffed everything besides his sketchbook and pencil into his backpack, picking up the last two items and clutching his sketchbook in his arms. He figured it was safest that way.
However, on his walk of shame to the front of the classroom, Nathaniel’s foot caught on one of Marinette’s backpack straps, sending him crashing to the ground. A couple people gasped. Nathaniel could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment as he attempted to pick himself back up and find his things.
But he couldn’t find everything quickly enough.
“Ooh, what’s this?” came Chloe’s voice from the left side of the room. “Wow Kurtzberg, is that supposed to be you? It looks ridiculous! ”
Nathaniel stiffened, realizing that the one thing he hadn’t found was his sketchbook. And sure enough, his equally precious and humiliating sketchbook was now open in the hands of Chloe Bourgeois. She held it out for Sabrina to see, giggling, and Nathaniel would’ve given anything to spontaneously disappear at that moment. But he couldn’t move, frozen in shock.
“Aw, and who’s this he’s hugging?” Chloe cackled. “Wait—isn’t he that one weird kid who always sits under the stairs? What’s his name, Martin or Matt or something?” She cast her gaze upwards with a sly grin, meeting Nathaniel’s horrified gaze. And in that moment which seemed to last an eternity, she lifted the sketchbook into the air, proudly displaying one of Nathaniel’s drawings—the drawing of his OC and Marc embracing in a way that couldn’t be interpreted as anything other than romantic—to the whole class. “Ooh, does Kurtzberg have a secret crush on the stairs boy? That’s so cute .”
That did it. Nathaniel forced himself to stride towards her and rip the sketchbook from her grip, leaving most of the page she’d been looking at in her hand, but he didn’t care, he was so angry. “Shut up, Chloe.” he muttered, painfully aware of the fact that his face was so red from the humiliation of it all that it probably matched his hair at the moment.
“Chloe! Leave him alone.” Marinette spoke up, getting to her feet.
Nathaniel glanced up in relief.
“Principal’s office, Nathaniel!” Mme. Mendeliev shouted, drawing everyone’s attention back towards her. “Now!”
Nodding profusely, Nathaniel took off towards the door. He wanted to avoid any sort of confrontation if possible, and the humiliation he’d just experienced from Chloe was enough to get him to leave as fast as his legs could move.
Once in the corridor, he slowed his pace down, giving his mind time to toss and turn over the events that had just taken place. He bit his lip, clutching his pencil in one hand while combing his hair further over his face with the other, desperately trying to disguise his flushed cheeks. Chloe had revealed his crush publicly to the whole class. He was absolutely glad Marc Anciel was in the other class, but that did nothing to quell the anxiety that was starting to build up over the fact that she’d just done that.
Maybe they thought she was just messing with him, as a lot of people liked to playfully tease him and Marc about dating since they were often a bit affectionate with each other, so it wasn’t a random insult or anything. She could’ve overheard some jokes from others and chosen to use that as her smoking gun. But even then, she’d seen something that not only gave her bait, but confirmed that she was right, and she showed it to everyone. She’d just genuinely outed him in front of the whole class, all over an admittedly incriminating drawing of his ideal self embracing Marc. He hadn’t told anyone about being bisexual yet, and he also hadn’t been planning on doing it anytime soon. Mainly because the one and only boy he’d had his eyes set on at the moment was Marc, and there was no way his best friend was going to reciprocate his romantic feelings, so why bother with more possible harassment? Their class was very accepting of LGBT+ identities, but Nathaniel wasn’t going to risk anything, not around Chloe. And what about Marc’s class? He hardly knew any of them, only Aurore Beauréal, Mirielle Caquet, and one boy who had teased Marc before. The latter was someone who Nathaniel had gotten into an uncharacteristic fistfight with, just to defend Marc, though the school hardly cared about his reasoning. But getting in trouble didn’t bother Nathaniel; the only thing that he cared about was how grateful Marc was. And who knew if Marc’s other classmates were just as bad? If he confessed his feelings to Marc, maybe Marc would face more teasing, and it’d be all Nathaniel’s fault.
It didn’t matter anyway. Marc saw him as a friend and nothing more.
He couldn’t be more grateful for Marinette stepping in, though. Marinette was usually the one person that Chloe seemed to have it out for, and she was the person he’d crushed on for a long time before privately talking it out with her. She’d thought it was sweet and gently told him that her heart was elsewhere, which was a bit embarrassing and heartbreaking at the time, but looking back with the looming idea of Marc abandoning him over learning of his feelings, the way she handled the situation was incredibly kind. And she probably had thought of that when speaking up for him in class.
If only Alix had been there! As Nathaniel’s other best friend, she probably would’ve decked Chloe right then and there. Also, she was the only other person who knew about his sexuality, and given that she was aromantic, she deeply understood how upsetting it was to be outed like that. But Alix was sick, so she was absent for the day.
Not that punching Chloe would’ve taken back the words she said.
What she’d done could never be undone.
Nathaniel shuddered, causing him to drop the pencil onto the hallway floor.
He stopped walking to bend down and pick up the fallen pencil, but before his fingers made contact, something moving caught his eye. It looked like a black and purple butterfly of some kind, but it gave off a very distinct negative energy.
And with a jolt, Nathaniel scrambled backwards, trying to get away from the thing.
It must’ve been one of those akuma butterflies that the previously akumatized victims spoke about in hushed whispers, something that he probably wouldn’t have known about if it weren’t for helping Alix work through the whole host of emotions that came with being akumatized. She’d warned him to look out for butterflies like that if his emotions ever ran high.
And now, he was the next target. Even struggling through his own overpowering emotions, he attempted to scramble to his feet, picking up the pencil in order to throw it far away.
But he was too late. The butterfly dove forward and disappeared into the pencil. Nathaniel froze, his fingers instinctively tightening around the pencil and his senses dulling.
“Evillustrator.”
Immediately he recognized this to be his name. His new identity.
“Artists can be so emotional . . . and I can understand your pain, young artist. I too am a creative type, and being mocked for your masterpiece is a terrible thing. I can give you the power to overcome any who disregard you and your ambition.”
Yeah . . .
That sounded nice.
But if he could do that, then what about Marc . . . ?
As if his mind had been read, the voice continued: “And you’ll be able to protect and care for the one you love.” And before Nathaniel could say anything, he added, “But this power has a stipulation. Bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses, and you’ll be able to have your every desire.”
“It’s a deal.” Nathaniel nodded.
And then he closed his eyes, picturing himself as his own superhero character, how he’d be able to fulfill his dreams, just as everything faded to black.
“The first group will be Adrien, Nino, and Alya . . .”
Marinette sighed at Mme. Mendeliev’s words, watching Adrien and Nino exchange an enthusiastic fist bump from the desks in front of her. If only she got to join Adrien’s group instead of Alya or Nino! But then again, she’d be third-wheeling the whole time, and that wouldn’t help her talk to Adrien. Besides, their science project on particle physics wasn’t exactly a romantic topic.
There’d eventually be other chances to talk to him. She just needed a good group for this project, and with her classmates, the chances were pretty high
“. . . Kim, Max, and Ivan . . . Juleka, Rose, and Nathaniel . . .”
Wait, that was almost everyone. Everyone except—
“. . . and finally, Marinette, Chloe, and Sabrina.”
No! Anyone but Chloe!
Alya winced. “Yikes, sorry about that one. I’d trade, but . . . you know about me and Chloe.” She paused, glancing towards her friend for confirmation, and Marinette nodded her agreement. The Lady Wi-Fi incident had been only a few days ago, and Alya was still fairly bitter over Chloe getting her suspended and akumatized. And Marinette didn’t want to put that pressure on her best friend, even for Adrien.
“Um, Mme. Mendeliev?” Chloe exclaimed, raising one hand in the air and waving it around. “I can’t work with Dupain-Cheng. I only work with Sabrina. Can’t you just put her with Césaire or something?”
“Miss Bourgeois, this is a group project! Meet with your group and figure it out!”
As Chloe fumed, storming out of the room with Sabrina close behind, Alya turned back to Marinette and gave her a sympathetic smile. “That’s too bad. Hopefully they’ll act better for once, so you can get a good grade?”
“Nah.” Marinette frowned. “You’ve never had to be in a group with them, but I have. If they act anything like they used to in group projects, it’ll be a disaster.” She paused. “You’ll put in a good word for me with Adrien, won’t you?”
“Of course, girl.” Alya agreed. She glanced around, then whispered, “So Nathaniel’s not coming back to class, you think?”
And Marinette realized her friend was right; he hadn’t come back. Class was almost over, and a trip to Mr. Damocles’ office should’ve only taken a couple minutes unless he was suspended or expelled, but drawing in class didn’t exactly warrant such a harsh punishment. Then again, maybe he was just hiding after the embarrassment of what Chloe had done. He’d been pretty embarrassed when he’d talked to Marinette about his crush on her, and while she’d tried really hard to be kind and not humiliating, he was an easily flustered person. Thankfully, they’d moved on and were still friends now.
She’d hoped that Chloe had learned from the Lady Wi-Fi incident not to mess with people for fear of what an akuma might do, but it seemed that this was clearly not the case. And while she hadn’t gotten Nathaniel expelled, she’d either outed him or made a disrespectful joke about his sexuality in front of everyone.
“Don’t know.” Marinette whispered back, just as the bell rang. “He might just be upset.”
“Not that Juleka and Rose are gonna mind having a group to themselves.” Alya joked, glancing back at the girls with a smile and a wave. Rose waved back cheerfully, while Juleka lifted one hand in acknowledgment. And with that, Rose grabbed onto Juleka’s hand and the two left the classroom together.
On their way out of the classroom, Marinette picked up the torn remnant of the drawing that Chloe had discarded and slightly scribbled over. Sure enough, it was a drawing of Nathaniel’s OC, a character that he’d drawn a couple times during art club and shyly agreed to having it displayed. The ones displayed were mostly drawings of his character fighting akumas or teaming up with Ladybug and Chat Noir. But this drawing depicted him closely embracing someone with messy dark hair, a hoodie, and a black choker and nail polish. It couldn’t be anyone other than her friend Marc Anciel. And after taking a second look, both the little doodled hearts on the edges and the boys’ dreamy, romantic expressions confirmed that Chloe was indeed revealing a deep secret that Nathaniel hadn’t wanted to share.
The two boys were best friends that liked art, but nothing more. Marc, though, was Marinette’s childhood friend, and he’d revealed his feelings for Nathaniel to her the same time that she’d told him about her feelings for Adrien. Marc was still relatively new to the school, as he’d lived in Spain for a while, so he didn’t have many friends. He was also a very private person who mostly kept to himself, only occasionally being more open around Marinette or Nathaniel, the latter having become fast friends with him after being introduced to each other. All of this meant that not many people knew much about him. And with Nathaniel being his only other friend, he didn’t want to risk anything.
Marinette, while thrilled on Marc’s behalf at the prospect of his feelings being reciprocated if he ever wanted to ask, was absolutely horrified over the way that Chloe had so blatantly outed Nathaniel to the whole class. Not that anyone in their class was homophobic, the opposite actually, but Nathaniel’s secret crush being a boy seemed to be something he had no intention of revealing. She planned to find Nathaniel as soon as possible to give him his drawing back, reassure him that she’d keep his secret, and hint that he should tell Marc without openly stating anything incriminating about Marc’s feelings. Then everything—barring Chloe and her drama—would work itself out.
“I can’t believe she’s making us work with Dupain-Cheng! Can you imagine how much better our project would be if it was just us as usual? Ugh! I hate this class!”
Speak of the devil.
Marinette stuffed Nathaniel’s drawing into her bag and approached Chloe and Sabrina, both who were standing against the lockers with Chloe having a death glare plastered over her face. She turned her nasty look towards Marinette upon hearing her entry. “Ugh, what do you want?”
“What’s going on?” Marinette cast a glance over at Sabrina, who seemed slightly on edge. “Are you making plans to work on the project? It’s due in two days, so we probably should get started on it.”
“Don’t worry about it, Marinette.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Sabrina’s just gonna do it.”
This struck Marinette as odd, though she wasn’t unaware of the ways that Chloe would use her friend for her own personal gain. In fact, she’d always felt fairly bad for Sabrina, but since Marinette and Chloe had been at each other’s throats since the first time they’d met, it was hard to talk to Sabrina without Chloe turning it into an issue. But now . . .
“Is that what you always do? You do the work and Chloe gets the credit, too?”
Sabrina nodded. “It works for us!”
“But that’s not how a group project is supposed to be. You’re supposed to work together as a team. Does Chloe really make you do all her work for projects like these? That’s not okay, Sabrina.” Marinette cast a furtive glance towards Chloe, who just crossed her arms and glared.
“It’s fine, Marinette.” Chloe spat. “You heard her. It works for us, right Sabrina?”
“Um . . .” Sabrina hesitated, glancing downwards. “Right.”
Marinette sighed. “Sabrina, I know you have more self-respect than that. You don’t have to work with someone who just uses you, even if they’re your friend.”
“I don’t use her. I help her.” Chloe slammed her locker door shut, eye-to-eye with Marinette now. “And I don’t like Miss Goody-Goody coming in and telling me how I should treat my best friend. If it works for us, let it go!”
This wasn’t going anywhere, so Marinette just slung her backpack over shoulder and left the locker room behind. But she hardly got a few steps away before someone ran up behind her and hugged her tightly, almost too tightly to the point of nearly crushing her ribs.
“That was so brave!” Sabrina cried, leaping back with a huge smile on her face. “Nobody talks to Chloe like that, not ever! Now that you did, and since we’re real friends, we can go report Chloe for cheating on her assignments, and then she’ll get in trouble! That’s how this works, right?”
“Um, maybe.” Marinette took a couple steps backwards to be able to look Sabrina in the eye. “I think they would also get you in trouble for working with her to cheat. But if you really want . . . we could come up with something else?” She wasn’t totally convinced that this was Sabrina acting of her own accord, as Chloe could’ve convinced her to fake being nice for whatever sabotage-related reason. Sabotage wasn’t out of the question, most notably with the recent derby hat debacle.
“Sounds good!” Sabrina smiled brightly. “Let’s work on the project today, okay?”
Marinette agreed, “That works for me. Is meeting in 20 minutes at the library okay?”
“Yeah, perfect! See you later!”
And with that, Sabrina took off towards the exit of the school. It was strange to see her alone and not tagging along with Chloe, but if this was a genuine reconsideration of how Chloe treated her as a friend, Marinette wasn’t going to complain. Besides, she really wanted a good grade on the project. Alya was lucky enough to be working with Adrien and Nino, both because it was Adrien and because both boys were smart and good at working together. So why did Marinette have to get stuck with the most uncooperative group? The world must’ve hated her that day.
Oh well. She’d just have to figure something out so she could get a decent enough grade.
And after that, she could try to find Nathaniel to give him the drawing back.
“We’re not doing the project with you anymore!” Sabrina yelled, causing several students to stare. Marinette waved to them meekly, but it didn’t exactly help. The only one who didn’t seem too upset was Marc Anciel, who was standing at a nearby bookshelf and grimaced sympathetically, waving back. Marinette sighed. He was lucky he didn’t have to deal with this. “Marinette was right. You’re not a good friend, Chloe!”
“Ugh, she’s just putting stupid ideas in your head.” Chloe huffed, throwing the physics book onto the table. “I can’t believe you actually trust her when we’ve been friends for years. Ridiculous. And besides, she doesn’t do anything for you, does she? ” She cast Marinette a death glare. “I was just about to share my new beret with you! You know, the one I just got from Gabriel’s?”
As Chloe adjusted the new beret over her ponytail, Marientte rolled her eyes. “Chloe, I’m not trying to steal your friend. I’m just trying to get the project done, and since you don’t seem to want to do it, Sabrina and I need to work on it.”
“No, you said she uses me!” Sabrina slammed her hands onto the table. “And you’re right. Marinette and I are going to do the project alone, and we’re going to tell Mme. Mendeliev that I’ve been doing our projects alone for years!”
Marinette cringed. “Sabrina—”
“Drop it, Dupain-Cheng!” Chloe spat. “Haven’t you taken enough of my best friends from me? First Adrien, now Sabrina? Ugh! Why don’t you take a look in the mirror and see that you’re the rude one here? Thank goodness she already did some of the work.”
From the balcony above, a figure grinned, keeping his eye on Chloe Bourgeois with ideas filling his head. He twirled his pen in his hand, watching Chloe babble on and on at Marinette, the one person who’d been nice to him before. He couldn’t stand there and let this happen, nor could he let Chloe go unpunished for what she’d done to him. One swipe of the pen and Chloe’s one page of Sabrina-completed homework disappeared, completely erased from existence.
“Ah!” she cried, throwing her hands to her face. “My homework!”
Marinette glanced around, looking for the cause of the disappeared homework, but she couldn’t see anyone or anything that seemed like an akuma. That’s what it had to be, anyway. This kind of thing did just happen, but only when Hawkmoth found a new victim.
The figure on the balcony’s smile widened. He twirled his pen again, switching it to the drawing function and sketching a quick object. He selected a filter, then watched in delight as a giant hairdryer appeared in front of Chloe.
She screamed, scrambling to her feet and heading towards the bookshelves on the other side of the room, knocking her chair over in the process. Sabrina just froze in fear, while Marinette shot another sharp glance around. Even if Chloe was continuing to cause problems, she still didn’t deserve to be killed by an akuma, if that’s what this was. But she still couldn’t see anything. So instead, she ran off to transform in secret.
“Marinette, what about Sabrina?” Tikki asked.
Glancing back towards the table, Marinette shook her head. “No, it’s only going after Chloe. Someone has a vendetta against her, and honestly, I don’t blame them. Tikki, spots on!”
Seconds later, Ladybug took off at a running start and leapt onto the bookshelves, keeping pace with the hairdryer. It’d cornered Chloe at this point, trapping her against the wall and causing her to scream at the top of her lungs. Ladybug swung her yo-yo, looping it around the front part of the hairdryer and pulling it away from Chloe. It went flying, slamming into a row of bookshelves and smashing several glass picture frames on the wall. The bookshelves began to fall like dominos.
The figure on the balcony watched with a slight smirk remaining on his face. Just a couple drawings, and he’d created total chaos. Just like he’d planned.
But one stray scream caught his attention, as that one sounded vaguely familiar. And sure enough, his smile dropped and replaced itself with a gasp when he noticed the bookshelves falling towards one particular person. A boy his age with a red hoodie . . .
He flipped his pen and started furiously erasing. He couldn’t let anything happen to the love of his life, he just couldn’t.
Marc cringed, throwing himself to the ground as the bookshelves fell too fast to get away. He could only hope that he was small enough that it would fall over him, but even that idea was ridiculous, especially given his height. He’d always feared an untimely demise from an akuma, but he hadn’t expected it to be so soon. He pulled his notebook towards his chest, his breaths picking up speed as he braced himself for the bookshelves to crush him, for the books to hit him in the face, for the wooden shelves to snap and bury him in debris.
And then . . . nothing.
It took a couple seconds for Marc to realize, and when he did, he quickly got to his feet and scrambled away from the scene. And that’s when he noticed that the bookshelves and books near him had nearly disappeared. Remnants of them fell around him like confetti, and other bookshelves were still falling as the hairdryer trailed Chloe with Ladybug desperately trying to drag it away, but the bookshelves and other library features around him were completely gone.
He’d been protected. But how?
Marc glanced upwards, and that’s when he caught sight of the figure on the balcony. It was an akuma, that much was obvious, but the piece that stood out was that the akuma was looking right back at him. The villain appeared mildly ominous, with messy red and purple hair, a drawing tablet of some sort attached to his outreached arm, and a dark butterfly mask that stood out against his light purple skin. But the expression on his face was unlike anything Marc would’ve expected. The akuma didn’t attack, just stood there, teal eyes watching Marc, lips parted slightly as if he was transfixed by the writer’s every movement. He seemed . . . mesmerized .
“T-t-thank you.” Marc whispered.
He wasn’t sure if the akuma could hear him over the background noise, but it seemed like he could, as the figure’s expression relaxed into a soft smile, a sense of warmth appearing in his dark eyes.
The longer the akuma watched him with that sappy smile, the more Marc could feel his face grow warm at all the attention he was getting. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he recognized the akuma from somewhere.
“Chat Noir!”
The shout from Ladybug caught the akuma’s attention, his face filling with fury again as he turned back towards the situation involving Chloe. Marc took the akuma’s change in behavior as an invitation to run, and he did, dashing from the library with his notebook safely hidden in his hoodie. But the memory started to eat him alive, leaving him with two questions.
Who was that? And why did he save him?
Meanwhile, the flying hairdryer seemed determined to get to the heiress, and Ladybug grit her teeth as her feet started to slip from the lack of friction on the top of the bookshelf. She decided to bite the bullet and jump onto it, pulling it away from Chloe with one sharp tug.
Chat Noir leapt onto a nearby bookshelf, neon eyes alight with excitement.
“A little help?” Ladybug asked, teeth still clenched.
“Ah, no thanks!” he joked. “I got my hair done yesterday!”
But even as he teased, he kept his eyes trained on the hairdryer, waiting for Ladybug to pull it closer. And when it was getting close enough, he backed up and pounced. While midair, he slammed his staff vertically into a notch where the switch would’ve been if it was a real, regular-sized hairdryer. Upon contact, the hairdryer exploded into pseudo-electronic particles.
Chat Noir cast a glance towards the balcony, then did a double take when noticing the akuma standing there with a pen poised in his hand. “That guy looks sketchy!”
Ladybug glanced to where her partner was looking, and without thinking, she took off towards the few standing bookshelves and used them as a springboard to reach the balcony. Chat Noir followed suit, both heroes landing only meters away from the akuma.
Chat Noir cast a derisive grin towards the akuma. “Let’s finish this, Picasso.”
“It’s Evillustrator to you, kitty .” the artist spat, quickly sliding his eraser along his tablet. The two heroes dashed towards him, but he slid out of the way, just as an avalanche of books from the half-erased shelves along the balcony came tumbling down on them. Ladybug pulled herself from the pile of fallen books with her yo-yo, but she swung straight into a huge glass sheet. The glass shattered upon contact.
“Where’d he go?” she asked to no one in particular, doing a once-over of the room. The only people there were students coming out of hiding, collecting their things, and leaving the library. And the Evillustrator had disappeared completely.
Where could he have gone?
Chat Noir groaned from underneath the pile of books. “Did we get him?”
“Not close.” Ladybug frowned, reaching out a hand to help pull him to his feet. “And it looks like he’s after Chloe, who . . .” She looked back to where Chloe last was, but she seemed to have chosen to make her escape when she had the chance. “. . . left. So our next step is to go find her.”
He grinned. “I’ll follow your lead, M’lady.”
“So,” Ladybug began, taking a reluctant seat on one of Chloe’s many chairs in her room. She really didn’t care for the idea of being here, especially with the impending project due date, but it was the best place to start with figuring out the mystery akuma. “Someone got akumatized because of Chloe. Again. Any ideas as to who?”
“Nope, no one.” Chloe said absently, examining her nails. “Oh wait, maybe Sabrina. Dupain-Cheng’s been putting some ideas in her head, and . . .” She shook her head, scoffing. “I don’t know, the akuma had red hair, right?”
“No, I saw Sabrina run out of the library when the hairdryer first appeared. Anyone else Chloe’s annoyed?” Ladybug asked. She started drumming her fingers against the arm of the chair, trying to focus despite Chloe’s attitude.
Chat Noir stifled a laugh. “You’re going to have to be more specific than that.”
“So funny.” Chloe rolled her eyes, throwing herself onto her futon. “Ladybug, you know there’s no one else, right? Wait, can we take a picture? Oh my gosh, wait, come here!” And before Ladybug could process what was happening, Chloe had stood up and flung an arm around her, taking a selfie with her other hand. “Thanks! We look fantastic together!”
“Whatever.” Ladybug frowned, then stood up and walked towards the balcony. She reached for her yo-yo, but instead pulled out a folded piece of paper. Curious, she unfolded it to reveal the drawing that Nathaniel had done of his character embracing Marc. And his superhero character looked awfully familiar . . . messy hair, tablet attached to his arm, striped bodysuit with an insignia of three circles . . .
She dropped the paper to the floor.
“M’lady?” Chat asked, tilting his head. “You okay?”
Looking at Chloe to make sure that she wasn’t listening, Ladybug walked up to her partner, close enough that she could whisper in his ear without the mayor’s daughter hearing.
“It’s Nathaniel. He’s the akuma.”
Ladybug glanced towards Chloe again. She obviously couldn’t reveal that she knew what Chloe had done to upset Nathaniel, but her irritation with the mayor’s daughter only continued to grow. Not only had she embarrassed and outed Nathaniel in front of the whole class, she’d also gotten him akumatized. And he was clearly beyond upset at Chloe, as he’d gone directly after her in the library.
“We don’t really know who the akuma is yet, but we’re working on it.” Ladybug said, watching Chloe’s reaction carefully. She wasn’t the best at lying, something she knew well, but hopefully Chloe was too distracted by everything going on to notice or care.
“Okay, and?” Chloe shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. When no one moved, both heroes watching her, she added, “Well, are you going to stop the akuma or not? It doesn’t matter who it is; clearly I’m in danger!”
“No guesses as to why.” Chat Noir muttered, earning a low laugh from Ladybug.
This only made Chloe more irritated, however. “What’s so funny? Aren’t you two supposed to serve and protect and all that? The akuma’s trying to attack me , so you should be trying to de-evilize it or whatever!”
“That’s it.” Ladybug threw her hands in the air. “I’m done here.”
“Wait, M’lady!” Chat Noir exclaimed, following her towards the balcony. She continued to ignore him, heading through the double doors and out into the bright sunlight. Chloe just watched them, eyes narrowed and arms still crossed, but eventually turned around and slammed the door when they both made it onto the roof. “You’re just going to leave? But what if the Evillustrator comes back?”
“Then you deal with him. I’m sick of her attitude. Do you even know what she did to upset Nathaniel?” And before she revealed that she’d been in Mme. Mendeliev’s class at the time, she took a deep breath and turned back to Chat. “It couldn’t have been good if he’s that upset. So I’m leaving. Bye.”
And with that, she took off back into the city.
Marinette transformed back while dropping through the trapdoor in her ceiling, landing on her bed with ease. Her purse fell off her arm, sending both its contents and Tikki flying. She grimaced. “Sorry, Tikki. It’s just . . . Chloe. She doesn’t even see that she’s the one causing all the problems!”
“I know, but you won’t solve your problems by being upset at her.” Tikki said, munching on a cookie. “First, focus on the Evillustrator since he’s the akuma. Then, you can focus on Chloe . . . and maybe Sabrina?”
“Sabrina! Oh no, oh no no no, I forgot about her!” Marinette cried, digging through her blankets to find her phone. And when she did, she saw that she had twenty new texts, a handful of missed phone calls, and two voicemails, all from Sabrina. “Oh . . . yikes.”
“ . . . wow.” was all Tikki could say. “Is that normal for a new friend?”
“Well . . .” Marinette frowned, reading through the texts. Sabrina didn’t seem too obsessive—well, maybe a little—but she really just seemed like she needed a good friend. And had a lot of pent-up rage against Chloe. Maybe Chloe wasn’t too far off when guessing that Sabrina was the akuma. “I don’t know, Tikki. What do I do?”
Tikki’s eyes widened as she stared over Marinette’s head. “Uh oh.”
Before Marinette could ask, Tikki flew underneath the bed, and an electronic-esque sound echoed from the window. She whirled around, only to see her window being erased line-by-line, a dark silhouette visible just outside. And within a split second, the Evillustrator stepped through the newly-created hole.
“You!” Marinette gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. “What are you doing here?”
He ignored her, striding over to her desk and picking up a picture frame. A little less scared but still on edge, Marinette watched carefully, noting that the picture in question was specifically the one of her and Marc from about a year ago with their arms around each other, Marinette doing a peace sign and Marc laughing. It was a nice picture. And if this akuma was actually Nathaniel . . .
“Do you . . . do you need something?” Marinette attempted, watching Evillustrator’s unchanging facial expression as he stared at the picture. She silently prayed that her parents wouldn’t walk into the room at that moment, as she’d have no idea how to explain why he was here, and she really didn’t want her father to try and fight poor akumatized Nathaniel with a rolling pin or another one of his breadmaking tools. She wasn’t exactly used to akumas breaking into her room. “You can take the picture if you want. I don’t need it or anything, and if you want it, well . . .”
He turned sharply. “I need your help.”
“My help?” Marinette asked, a little startled by the quick way he’d turned to face her. “I mean, yeah! My help! Sure, I can help! Just—what do you need my help for?”
Holding up the picture frame, he looked Marinette in the eye. “You’re friends with him?”
“I mean, aren’t you friends with him?” She regretted her words the minute they left her mouth. Why was she choosing to stand up to an akuma? Especially one that actually seemed reasonable and willing to have a polite conversation, breaking and entering notwithstanding. “But yeah, I am. Why?”
“He’s my friend, but um . . .” Evillustrator bit his lip, casting a dark glance to the side. “I want to invite him to my birthday party. But I think he’s . . . scared of me. And I want someone he trusts to tell him that I won’t hurt him, quite the opposite actually. That’s where you come in.”
It was Nathaniel’s birthday.
She winced. How had she completely forgotten?
He scribbled something on his tablet, caught the scrap of paper midair, and handed it to Marinette. She skimmed over it, noting the cute little doodles that looked like the ones she’d seen Nathaniel draw on his test papers. She also noted his signature, a stylized exclamation mark. This was one of the most unusual and detail-oriented akumas she’d seen, but standing less than a meter as he watched her with his harsh gaze made thinking through her strategy a little more difficult, like her brain was filled with fog or something. And sure enough, he was staring, waiting for her to say something, anything.
“You want me to ask him to your birthday party?” she repeated dumbly. “I mean, uh, happy birthday! And why do you think Marc won’t want you to ask him? He’s your friend.”
Evillustrator made a face that she couldn’t quite distinguish, but something similar to fear mixed with guilt. Again, a very strange expression for an akuma to make, and something about him seemed to have a lot more diversity in emotion than most of the villains they’d faced before. “He is my friend, but I’m not asking him as a friend. And given the way he looked at me in the library, I’m not interested in testing my luck. You were so sweet when I talked to you about my feelings so long ago, and I was hoping you would help me again.”
Realization hit her like a truck. The picture Nathaniel had been drawing earlier . . .
He wasn’t asking Marc to a party, he was asking Marc on a date. And Marc had been in the library during the attack, so he’d seen the akuma before and had likely been afraid. So from Evillustrator’s end, there was a slight fear of rejection.
And while she definitely didn’t want to put Marc in danger, Evillustrator’s request could actually be useful in defeating him. If Marc kept him distracted, she and Chat Noir could sneak up behind him and steal his pen—that was the akumatized object, right?—and the rest was like clockwork. And something told her that Marc wouldn’t be opposed to it.
“I can ask him.” she told Evillustrator, whose expression had shifted from disinterested to attentive, his eyes lighting up and a smile crossing his face. But before she was fully ready to agree, she had to make sure that her attention wasn’t going to be divided when looking to stop the akuma attack. “On the condition that you stop going after Chloe.”
Evillustrator’s head shot up. “What?”
“Um, well . . . she’s my project partner, even if she’s terrible at it. And I know she was horrible to you in class, and I really hate that she did that, but I can’t get a bad grade in Mme. Mendeliev’s class. Believe me, I don’t like Chloe either, but I’m terrible at science, so I could use all the group members I can get for this project. And I really did try to find you and help, but uh, you seemed busy.”
This didn’t seem to satisfy him. He grit his teeth, shooting her another harsh glare. “And what if I disagree? What if I decide that showing Chloe exactly how she treats others is too important to me, much more important than this plan? What if I just choose to erase you from existence here and now?” He paused. “I don’t need you.”
“Um, I guess you can do that if you want.” Marinette could hear the shakiness in her voice, but she stood firm. “Though if you erase me, you’ll have to ask Marc yourself.”
He poised his pen to his tablet. Clearly, that wasn’t enough for him.
She quickly raised her hands as if to surrender. “And he might not want to go if you ask! You said he looked scared, so why would you want to test that? I really can ask him, I just won’t do it unless you leave Chloe alone. Trust me, I want her to get her karma as much as you do, but not today, okay? And then I’ll give Marc the invitation.”
Evillustrator considered this, his face completely blank. Finally he spoke, his voice a lot lower and quieter than usual. “Fine. Marc is much more important to me than Chloe, anyway. But—” He strode forward, catching Marinette off-guard as she backed up to the wall. Realistically, he was still about two meters away, but she wasn’t taking chances. “You better follow through with your half of the bargain. Or else . . .”
His smile widened into something that Marinette couldn’t describe as anything other than evil.
“It’s Chloe’s turn.”
“I understand.” She attempted a grin, even going as far as holding out her hand for him to shake. And he did, his creepy smile thankfully fading back to his usual neutral expression. He used his right hand, she noted, the same arm that had his tablet attached to it. His pen was still permanently gripped in his left, leading her to assume that the pen was the akumatized object to go for. Nathaniel was usually ambidextrous, but it seemed that Evillustrator could only use his left hand to draw. “I’ll talk to him as soon as possible. Where should he meet you?”
“By Notre Dame, tonight. Right at the blue hour.” Evillustrator tilted his head with another smile, this one a lot sweeter and not unlike an expression Nathaniel would make. The juxtaposition between this expression and the last one was more than disturbing, watching just how quickly he could change moods. But it seemed like Marc was a catalyst for his calmer state, so her tentative plan seemed to be a good one. At least for now.
“Got it! I’ll let him know.”
“I appreciate it.”
And before she could even think of how to reply, he’d leapt onto the windowsill and out through the open window, disappearing from her sight just as he had in the library. And all too late, Marinette realized that he hadn’t fixed her window that now had huge, eraser-swipe-shaped chunks missing from it. She’d have to deal with it until she fixed it later with the miraculous cure, it seemed.
“Marinette!” Tikki exclaimed, finally emerging from her hiding place. “What are you going to do? You can’t just give Marc over to him!”
“I know, but . . .” She thought back to the way he’d seemed so calm and gentle when Marc was the topic, a lot like Nathaniel’s true self. This was highly unusual behavior for an akuma, something she really hadn’t seen outside of the way that Stoneheart treated Mylene. If there’d already been an akuma that had a soft spot for his significant other, why would Evillustrator, who seemed to be similar in that way, be much different? They’d have to monitor the situation closely, of course, but it seemed highly possible that Evillustrator wouldn’t be violent or aggressive towards Marc at all. “I don’t think he'd hurt Marc. It seems like he really just wants to go on a date with him, and if Marc’s willing, it might help.”
“Be careful.” Tikki said, frowning.
Marinette nodded. “I will.”
Marinette began her call to Marc, letting the phone ring several times as she stared through the hole in the window and ignored Tikki’s uncertain gaze. She herself was becoming less and less sure of this plan as the questions piled up. How would she know if Evillustrator had kept his word? If he really was going to leave Chloe alone? The news would only report on it if something happened, so it looked like she was just going to have to trust him. Which was a lot like how he was trusting her.
The phone clicked, indicating that Marc answered from the other side.
“Marc?” she asked, cringing at the way her voice wavered. “Can you come over? I have a really urgent question for you . . .”
Marc froze, staring his friend in the eye. “He wants me to what?”
“The akuma wants to go on a date with you. Well, he didn’t exactly call it a date, but it’s obvious that’s what he wants based on what he said to me. He’s in love with you.” Marinette was watching his expression carefully, making sure he didn’t panic. Marc could be prone to worry, and while he’d gotten better at working through his fears recently, she knew that his romantic feelings tended to be a prime source of anxiety for him. “Ladybug stopped by afterwards, since she was following him and saw him head here, and she has an idea for how you can help her and Chat Noir by going on the date with him. They’d be watching the whole time, and they’d make sure you get out of the area before anything bad happens.” She paused. “She says you can say no, though.”
Biting his lip, Marc frowned as he thought back to the library and the way that the akuma had saved his life while disregarding everyone else. That strange series of events would make a lot more sense if the akuma really was in love with him, but it didn’t make the idea any less weird. And random. Who was this guy? At least it was a guy, anyway, because if it was a girl . . . he wasn’t sure how he’d handle it without upsetting an akuma further.
“Wait, you know who he is, right?” Marinette asked. “Like, his civilian identity?”
Marc shook his head. Was he supposed to know?
“It’s Nathaniel.”
Marc’s notebook dropped from his hand and clattered to the floor. It was as if someone had just drug him underwater.
“You’re wrong. He’s not in love with me. And there’s no way that he ever would be.” Marc rambled on, ignoring the burning feeling in his cheeks. “Maybe his akuma is, but not him. And even then . . .” He paused, thinking of the way that the akuma had saved him in the library. He’d seemed genuinely caring, and the look on his face was clearly filled with adoration, but . . . that was Nathaniel? It just didn’t seem realistic. “I’ll go on the date, just to help Ladybug and Chat Noir, but he’s not in love with me.”
“He is, Marc. I promise you. Look—” She picked up a crumpled piece of paper, unfolding it and holding it out towards him. Marc took one look at it, then felt his face flush even further. It was a pencil drawing of the akuma that had saved him in the library, but with that soft smile on his face, his arms wrapped protectively around another person. And not only was that person resting his head on the akuma’s shoulder with a content smile on his face, but he also had dark, wispy hair, a hoodie, fingerless gloves . . .
“That’s me.” he said dumbly.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. He likes you.” She folded the drawing and placed it in his hand, closing his fingers over it with her own. “And Ladybug agrees, based on what I said. Maybe you can give this to him when he’s de-akumatized?”
“Yeah. Maybe. It doesn’t matter, though.” Marc insisted, the heat lingering on his cheeks. “I’ll go on the date either way. What am I supposed to do to help Ladybug and Chat Noir?”
She sighed. “Okay. So Ladybug gave me her number and told me to give it to you. She wants you to call her as soon as you get home so that she can go over the plan with you, and then she wants you to meet Evillustrator by the riverside at sunset, just before the date.”
“Can’t I call her here? With you here to listen?” Marc asked.
Anxiety wracked his brain. He was supposed to talk on the phone to Ladybug? But he was just . . . him. He’d never asked to get involved in an akuma situation, and he especially wasn’t used to an akuma being in love with him. The image of the drawing was burned into his mind, the way that the akuma had his arms around him like he wanted to whisk him away and protect him. Was it the akuma that had drawn it, or Nathaniel?
“No, sorry. Ladybug said that she didn’t want too many people to know about the plan.”
Marc frowned, biting his lip. “Okay. But will he . . . uh, be dangerous?”
The thought of Nathaniel hurting him would have been silly, as Nathaniel was one of the sweetest people that he knew. But Marc knew other people that had been akumatized and became extremely violent, like Nathaniel’s other best friend Alix, who had murdered most of her friends as Timebreaker. So who knew?
“He promised he wouldn’t do anything to you. Actually, that’s why he came to talk to me.” Marinette explained. “He said that he thinks you’re afraid of him, and he wants me to tell you that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”
“That’s . . . nice.”
Marc couldn’t lie, he had been afraid of the akuma back in the library, mostly due to his outlandish appearance and his fury when fighting the heroes. But even though he knew it was stupid, he did feel a little guilty for being scared now that he knew the akuma noticed his fear, especially after finding out that the akuma was Nathaniel. The fact that the akuma was worried about Marc being scared of him seemed unusual, but maybe a little sweet. Maybe.
Marinette nodded. “He seems a little different from some of the other akumas. And I really don’t think that Ladybug and Chat Noir would let you go without making sure you’ll be safe if something bad happens.”
“Then I guess I’ll be okay.” Marc said, more for his benefit than Marinette’s. “Okay. I’ll go home and call Ladybug, I guess. Can I have the phone number?”
She handed him a sticky note with the number written on it, and he carefully stuck it to one side of the drawing he was still holding.
“Good luck! I just know everything will be alright.”
Marc stared down at the note, the numbers starting to swim in his vision. Even if everything went well tonight, what would his and Nathaniel’s relationship look like after this? Would Nathaniel want to continue his friendship with someone that he’d gone on a date with as an akuma? Would things just get gradually more awkward until they never spoke again? Or would they just ignore the whole thing and progress as usual? It was like he was trying to put together a puzzle without all the pieces.
“I hope so.”