Disclaimer: Don't own and never will.
AN: This particular pairing owes it's existence to the Fanfiction author Fragile Memories. She mentioned this pairing in her AN's to one of her fics and I decided to give it a shot.
Juleka twirled the black rose in her hand and she looked curiously at it.
It was a simple thing really, made of plastic and paper and easily bought in any Halloween shop. It was simple, inexpensive and was not made to last. And…
And it was left on her desk when she returned from lunch, with a handwritten note addressed to her and signed your secret admirer.
"Ooh that's so romantic!" Rose practically squealed when Juleka showed her the note, clasping her hands together. "You have a secret admirer! It's so romantic! I wonder who it is?"
"If I knew that, they wouldn't be a secret," Juleka said with a slight smile and Rose grinned.
"Who do you think it is then?" she asked and Juleka blushed slightly.
"I don't know. Who would notice me? I'm the invisible one," she replied, looking down at the rose once more. "Maybe it's just a prank."
"Don't be silly! Why wouldn't someone like you? You're amazing Juleka!" Rose paused for a moment "Maybe we can work it out together!"
"I swear, you're more excited about this than I am," Juleka said with a hint of amusement. Although she had to admit, it was a nice feeling, knowing that there was someone out there who liked her as more than just a friend. "Yeah, I guess I'm curious."
"What's that you've got there?" Nathanael asked curiously as he looked over at the black rose in Juleka's hand. Juleka shrugged.
"It's just a black rose," she said. "Something I found on my desk when we came back from lunch."
Oh and it had a note attached. Sweet Juleka has a secret admirer!" Rose added and Nathanael raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Any idea who it is?" he asked and Juleka smiled.
"If I knew who it was, it wouldn't be a secret admirer," she pointed out dryly and Nathanael nodded.
"I wonder who it is?" he asked, as he raised his pen to his lips and began sketching on his notebook. "Some tall dark stranger in a cape and mask perhaps?"
"And a suave, confident manner no doubt," Juleka added and the three of them chuckled. "A real heartbreaker who can charm the birds from the trees and the flowers from the soil. Or better yet, a vampire who can change into a bat a swoop in at night to drink my blood."
"That would be scary," Rose said with a slight shiver, before smiling at her friend. "You'd love it though."
"It would be pretty cool," Juleka said with a smile. "Slowly becoming an undead creature of the night. But they're probably someone in our class. Vampires aren't exactly creatures of the day."
"So which boy could it be? Could it be you Nathanael?" Rose asked curiously, looking at Nathanael with wide pleading eyes and Nathanael shook his head.
"No. Wish I had thought of doing that with…" he paused and blushed as he glanced over at Marinette. Rose gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder, but before she could say anything, the teacher finally walked into the class and the lesson began.
The next day, at exactly the same time, there was ANOTHER black rose, along with another signed note and a box of Thorntons Mint Chocolates. Rose was predictably excited, cooing away excitedly as she skimmed over the note.
"Oh this is so exciting!" Rose squealed. "I think your secret admirer is someone who has only loved you from afar and has only just worked up the courage to admit how they feel."
"What makes you say that?" Nathanael asked as Juleka offered him a mint chocolate. Juleka raised an eyebrow.
"I'm allergic to mint. Not much point giving me chocolate I can't eat, except as a prank," she said as Nathanael took a chocolate from the box. "Maybe that's what this is."
"Oh don't be so negative Juleka!" Rose chided. "You're a wonderful girl and I'm sure it's just a mistake."
"What you got there Juleka?" Nino asked curiously as he walked over to their table and Juleka shrugged.
"Some mint chocolates. Want some?" she asked and Nino grinned.
"Sure would! Aren't you going to have some?" he asked as he took a chocolate from the box and Juleka shrugged.
"I'm allergic to mint," she said with a shrug and for a moment, Nino looked at her thoughtfully.
"Juleka's secret admirer gave them to her!" Rose added and Juleka blushed. Rose however pressed on. "We're trying to figure out who it is."
"Cool. Good luck," Nino said as he turned to walk back to his seat just as the teacher walked into the class. "Gotta go ladies, duty calls."
"Hey, do you think that Nino's your secret admirer?" Rose asked, her eyes widening. "Maybe he's trying to find out if you liked his gift."
"Nino likes Alya. Even if he doesn't want to admit it," Nathanael said as he began sketching once more. "I don't think that it's him."
"And I'm pretty sure that he came back to school after me. I don't think he would have had the time," Juleka added.
Had the little group been paying more attention to Nino, they would have seen him talking to a person who was smacking their forehead.
Over the next few days, more black roses appeared on Juleka's desk, all with a note signed Your Secret Admirer and all accompanied with a small gift of some kind, be it chocolates (not mint) or lipstick (an interesting shade of black) or even a book. (A nice little gothic horror that she had been planning to get anyway.) Yet for all these gifts and speculating with Rose and Nathanael, they were no closer to working out who her secret admirer was.
"So who do you think it is?" Rose asked as the two girls walked home and Juleka shrugged.
"They wouldn't be a secret admirer if I knew," Juleka pointed out dryly and Rose gave her friend a gentle slap on the arm.
"You know what I mean!" she protested with a smile. "Do you have any suspicions at all? Any idea who your hidden Romeo is?"
"No idea at all. It's kinda sweet, but whoever it is, they're keeping quiet."
"Ah, he's too shy to confess, steeling himself for the moment when he reveals his true identity! Isn't that sweet?" Rose trilled and Juleka smiled.
"Yeah, I guess," she paused and shrugged. "Still would like to know who it is though."
"You have to wait Jules," Rose said with a typical Rose smile. "You can't rush true love!"
"True love has taken the slow train stopping at all stops on the way to me," Juleka deadpanned, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Hey, it could be a girl for all you know though."
"It could be," Rose said, nodding in agreement. "It could be. You'll find out eventually."
"The real question is when really," Juleka said wistfully as she twirled the latest black rose in her hand. "It's nice, but I would love to put a face to the person writing the notes."
"Don't worry. I'm sure they'll reveal themselves soon," Rose said comfortingly as she patted her friend on the shoulder. "They can't stay hidden forever after all."
"Or they could decide to stay hidden and just vanish into the mystery they came from," Juleka replied with a slightly downcast look. "Leave me wandering the Earth as a ghost trying to find my long lost mysterious lover."
As it turned out, Juleka's long lost mysterious lover was not going to remain that long lost mysterious lover and Juleka's ghost was NOT destined to haunt the school trying to find him. In fact, she discovered who they was the very next day.
It was a normal sunny school day. Nothing to suggest that it was going to be any different from any other day really. There was no new akuma to terrorise Paris, no sign of Ladybug and Chat Noir and no sign that anything at all was going to change.
It was only when Juleka and Rose walked into the classroom that it became apparent that this was NOT a normal school day. At least, not for Juleka.
"A bouquet of roses for my princess," a familiar boy's voice said with a flourish as he presented to her a bouquet of black roses and Juleka smiled. As she took the bouquet in her arms (this thing was practically as big as HER!), she finally set eyes on the face of her secret admirer.
"Adrien…?" she asked, a look of surprise crossing her face and Adrien smiled at her.
"I hope you're not disappointed," he said, a look of uncertainty crossing his face. "Only…I wasn't sure how to approach you and I swear I didn't know about your allergy to mint and-"
Juleka leaned forward and kissed him, a kiss he returned. Somewhere in the background, she could hear Chloe screaming, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
AN: Okay, while I don't really go for this pairing (I prefer Mari/Adrien and Juleka/Rose) I thought that this idea wanted me to explore it. (Actually, it sat up and practically screamed. I'm still waiting for my hearing to return.) And no, I'm not planning on making this a regular thing.