Once upon a time, the world was full of magic.

There was a beauty in it, and it was breathtaking; it made the world good.

But beauty is rarely ever pure, and in that beauty was evil, hidden behind a mask, until it found strength to reveal itself.

And so protectors had to be found, protectors to defend the beauty, the pure, the sacred, and the good.

Well, that's what you might read in a fairy tale. But life isn't a fairy tale; Adrien knew that all too well.

In fairy tales, the mother isn't actually dead, and the father isn't actually heartless, and the prince has heart of courage, and the princess… well, she had a heart of gold. But Adrien wasn't a brave-hearted prince, and his mother was dead, and his father truly did want as little to do with him as possible.

And he'd never had any luck at finding the princess.

So far, his only luck was Chloe, who was nice enough if you ignored the way she treated others.

No, fairy tales didn't exist…

XoX

In which Ladybug falls into Adrien's life… and through his open window.

Paris was full of sunshine the day it happened. The green of summer was slowly turning to the gold of autumn, and throughout the city schools were open and in session.

But Adrien wasn't going; oh no, how dare he even try. What most kids accept as required drudgery was a like a mere fantasy to Adrien. School, with all its schedules and programs, its teachers and faculties, and its buildings, but most of all: kids. There would be kids there—lots of them. He'd have classmates to do his experiments with, study groups to make the homework less tedious, maybe even friends—other than Chloe.

Alas, it would not be for him. He'd tried—oh, so many times he'd snuck out, only to be caught, again and again. His father had reasons, of course; he always had reasons.

Reasons didn't take away the loneliness.

It was on days like this that he really missed his mother. She'd made the world come alive—but better not to think about it.

Instead of thinking about it, he opened a window. The cool air flowed in; a smile crossed his face as it reminded him how the law of fluid dynamics described the flow of the air, and the possibilities of flight being made possible by this discovery…

Wait, what was the sound?

There was a whistling sound coming towards him, but he couldn't seem to identify the source. It was soft and then it was loud and it kept getting higher, so it could be coming from…

A flash of red confused his vision and suddenly Adrien found himself being thrown back by a body crashed into him.

Oh. It was coming from above. How appropriate.

He found himself staring up into the beautiful eyes of a stranger.

"I'm so -so-so-so- so sorry!"

The masked girl clapped her red-covered hands to her cheeks and her big eyes stared down at him.

Adrien stared into the very blue eyes; he traced the mask around the eyes and then took in the nose and the mouth—the mouth was moving… A girl. A girl in spandex. He should say something.

"Uh…Oh wow! Uh…who are you?"

Well, in his defense, he didn't get to talk with pretty girls in spandex all that often.

She blinked at him, and then her mouth snapped shut.

They stood there like that, staring at each other for minutes-hours- who knew how long.

Eventually she broke the silence.

"Can I… uh… need a hand up?"

She tentatively offered her hand.

He felt his heart melt just a little.

"Please?"

He grasped her hand, or she grasped his, and wow was she strong! She pulled him to his feet, and quickly let go of him, awkwardly bowing her head.

"Sorry, for, uh… crashing into your room. It's a nice room. Uh… nice… decorating."

"Uh, thanks. My mum did it."

"Oh. Is…uh, she a decorator or something?"

"No… And, she's uh… well, she died …a year ago."

She slapped a hand over her mouth and stared at him, horrified.

"… I'm an idiot."

She whimpered.

"S'okay. It's more my fault anyway. You didn't need to know."

"No really, I mean it! I'm sorry, I should never have brought it up, you're too pretty to look so sad—I mean cute… Wait… um."

They were silent for a few minutes until he finally had the courage to talk.

"What's your name?"

"Oh, me? I'm M-Ladybug. That's my name."

"Oh. That makes sense. Cool."

"Kind of."

"Why—"

"Am I dressed in spandex?"

"Yeah."

"Well… I'm a superhero. I guess. That's what I'm trying to be."

She swung her yo-yo in an attempt to catch the upper rung of his balcony, but ended up knocking a pile of books over instead. She winced.

"I'm not very good…"

Shocked, Adrien shook his head vigorously, as they re-piled the books together.

"What? No! You're amazing!"

Accidentally knocking something else over, she sighed.

"… All I've done is hit stuff and fall through a window."

"But you were flying!"

"No… That was my yo-yo; you see, when I throw it—"

In one graceful move, her arm and the yo-yo struck out; the weight of the yo-yo swung around his banister, and she pulled it snug before smoothly unwinding the chord.

"It will catch and hold, and I can swing, or I can twirl it—"

She drew it back to her, and then swung it around like a lasso over her head.

"And I can hover."

For a few moments she drifted above his floor before she let it drop.

Adrien was more than impressed.

"Wow, that's so awesome!"

"Really? I mean… I guess it is."

She looked down at her yo-yo and smiled.

"Thanks."

"I'm Adrien."

He said suddenly, realizing he'd forgotten to introduce himself.

Something about her cheeks looked a little warmer.

"I'm Mar—uh… Lady…"

"Mi'lady?"

"Ladybug!"

"You already told me."

"I guess I did…"

She trailed off, before catching sight of his clock.

"Oh my word, look at the time! I have to go! See ya Adrien!"

And she was gone.

Adrien leaned against the window, staring at her as she disappeared into the streets.

He hoped he would. See her again, that is.

He doubted it though.

His luck wasn't that good.

But he'd be okay, watching her from a distance.

Author's note:

This is super awkward; like, I haven't read this in a long time and it's super awkward.

Sorry. I wanted to try something with Ladrien, but I guess I just don't understand their dynamic.