It had started before this hot, blistering day; it had started with an Akuma and one semi-heroic DJ.
He didn't have a Kwami or any special abilities, just his own quick witted thinking and a desire to help.
Nino Lahiffe wasn't one to back down or let his friends be harmed though the nervous twinge within his veins spiked cold ice like sensations through his veins and though he knew that he wasn't really a superhero.
He refused to let anyone harm a hair on any of his friends: Alya, Adrien, and Marinette, his best friends, were to be protected at all costs no matter what anyone had to say about that.
It started with a well aimed punch, knocking Professor Fearful off the building for a moment, giving Cat Noir and Ladybug just the right amount of time to slip away carefully and transform in order to arrive next to the potential future hero.
Professor Fearful despite her name and nervous agitation wasn't afraid in the least to attack Nino with a large red ink gun, leaving a giant 'F' on his forehead and letting defeat creep into his veins.
Nino's eyes slid closed, and he even slumped on top of the building that he was on; Cat Noir carefully caught the suddenly defeated and dazed teenager to bring him carefully to the sturdy ground and hid him behind a different building though he made no sign of at least being aware of what Cat Noir had did.
Cat Noir had returned to Ladybug's side with a graceful seeming leap as his friend slumped against the building and did not return to his normal self until Lucky Charm relieved him of the minor burden.
His first course of action upon recovering was to check up on his best friends, finding Alya safe moments later with an awesome video of the fight, including Nino's instantaneous attack of Professor Fearful, and the way that the favorite two superheroes of Paris successfully defeated her by breaking her red ink pen.
Nino was only more relieved when he caught sight of Marinette and Adrien who had for some reason or another left him behind as well some time after the attack had broke out.
Alya's video had skyrocketed to success through her Ladyblog even gaining the attention of Master Fu though he hadn't made it all that apparent at first as a week or two passed by without even a hint of Nino being acknowledged as somewhat of a hero by the man that gave the current Ladybug and Cat Noir their Miraculouses.
Nino had carried on with his ordinary life other than the fact that now random people stopped him on the street and in the school's halls to thank him for his heroic attempt at saving the day.
While his rise to fame, made him feel as if he'd somehow became a greater, more acclaimed citizen and much more confident than before, it also left little pressing bits of insecurity in its embrace, because he should have done more.
The chance to accomplish much more should not have happened the way it did as far Nino Lahiffe was aware when the time did arrive.
About twelve days after that incident with Professor Fearful and many Akuma attacks later, Nino found himself staring at a small ladybug like creature as she tried to explain to him for what could have been the millionth time how to save one of his best friends and get them all out of the issue at hand.
Ladybug was missing or rather was trapped and could not transform; her Kwami had slipped away, presumably through a glitch in whatever trap that Ladybug's alterego was locked in and had left when she couldn't get back to Ladybug in order to find a temporary replacement.
"You want me to become Ladybug for an Akuma fight right now, dudette?" 'She was a girl, right?'
"Yes, because we don't have much time, and Cat Noir can't cleanse the Akumatized victim by his self." She gave him a hopeful look with huge, blue eyes that only were asking him yet again to step forward as a new hero for Paris.
"I-I'm going to pretend to be Ladybug..? What do I do?" Nino sighed as he stared at the little Kwami that had barely had time to explain to him exactly what a 'Kwami' was.
"Well, you say 'Spots on' when it's time to transform, and you'll have to use Lucky Charm later on to get an item to help you temporarily disable the Akumatized victim and get their Akumatized item to break it in half or allow Cat Noir to grab it and break it. Then you have to use Miraculous Ladybug to restore the city back to what it was before. You've seen what Ladybug does, right?" Tikki took a deep breath, having not even introduced herself beyond being Ladybug's Kwami.
"Okay, Spots on." Nino bit his lip and ignored the fact that he was technically transforming into a woman superhero to save Paris from the danger of another Akuma.
Nino felt more than a little out of place in the skin tight suit with the red and black earrings that she'd barely managed to bring to him before.
He could feel the gentle resting of Ladybug's yo-yo on his hip and the gentle power of the transformation in his veins.
Nino couldn't imagine what Cat Noir would even begin to say to his temporary sidekick.
"So I'm your sidekick for the day. Your normal Ladybug couldn't make it." Nino felt ridiculous standing beside Cat Noir as the dark suited superhero stared at him, looking like he was choking on his spit.
"You're a guy." Cat Noir looked as if he'd just woken up in some parallel dimension or bizarre dream world.
"Yeah, I am." Nino wondered if it was truly possible to become comfortable and even confident in this skin tight suit with the earrings that rested on his ears.
"Where's Ladybug?" Cat Noir looked vaguely disappointed as if he couldn't imagine a world without his wonderful, female partner in fighting crime.
"She's a little caught up." Nino still couldn't bring himself to even refer to himself as Ladybug, and it may have helped him feel less awkward that Cat Noir couldn't do so either, "Just let me help."
"I am." Cat Noir murmured as his eyes found their way back to the villain that they were facing, Periodical Square, who had grown to feel trapped in her life and frustrated with how 'imperfect' and 'weak willed' her students had become.
Nino took a deep breath eyeing the Goggles that she wore as a supervillain over her face and the way that she gave them a squinty glare through them as if it were a microscope of sorts and not the goggles that they obviously were.
"Do you think that her Akuma is in the goggles?" Nino bit his lip and wondered for what would probably become the millionth time this evening, how exactly Ladybug did this every single time someone was Akumatized.
"Probably." Cat Noir still seemed slightly out of it as if he was still uncertain about handling this Akuma victim without his lady by his side.
"Okay, Lucky Charm." Nino felt like an idea even as he stared at the large mirror that had dropped into his hands.
Cat Noir smiled back at him as if he'd suddenly found the situation several times more humorous even as he moved to get into position and helped his temporary partner in crime fighting hold the mirror just right for the sun to beat down on it and shine straight through Periodical Square's googles and blind the woman for Cat Noir to carefully leap across the next two buildings and yank her goggles away from her and break them over his knee.
Nino stumbled a little in the sudden desire to catch up to Cat Noir and release Miraculous Ladybug; he was too relieved by a stumbling though ultimately successful skit as Ladybug to care that once again, he'd end up on the Ladyblog for helping save Paris.
Cat Noir turned to him, and Nino wondered how it must feel to be fighting crime beside an imposter for your best crime fighting pal, "Pound it?" Nino met Cat Noir's fist with his and tried to dispel the sudden wave of nervous guilt of stealing the show from the real Ladybug before he dropped down to the ground and hid to let the transformation wear off and stare into the eyes of the Kwami that had sought him out in an emergency.
Tikki beamed up at him, "Thank you."
"No problem, dudette." Nino took a deep breath and hoped that this event would pass like a series of meaningless events that were easily overlooked in a lifetime.
He didn't bat an eye, couldn't work up the nerve to, when Marinette rounded the corner to take her earrings back and profusely thanked him.
"No problem." Nino slumped against the wall anyway as soon as she was out of sight, realizing that it would be quite a mess the next day at school as Alya worked to figure out who had become Ladybug's substitute and whether that person knew the 'real' Ladybug.
Nino just hoped that she'd be calm enough to not ask him about what he 'thought' had happened the day before.
Nino hated the next morning even as Marinette seemed to have calmed down as if the fact that one of her best friends knew her secret identity and was okay with it, had even helped out in saving the day, was a lot more normal after a night's rest.
Alya had however leaned closer to their group and asked if anyone had seen the 'new' Ladybug that was just helping out a 'friend' the afternoon before and whether anyone knew about this new Ladybug, like who he was since he was obviously a guy.
She'd even mentioned how despite the slightly feminine appearance of the costume that he'd rocked it as if he was born to be Ladybug.
Adrien looked absolutely embarrassed and possibly frustrated with that fact, but did not explain why.
Nino found himself kind of wishing that Alya hadn't noticed him and that she didn't reference the fact that Nino had looked pretty good in drag.
He stared at his textbook, tired from a mostly sleepless night as he'd worried over what today might bring, and wishing that his textbook could just distract him enough from the real world that he just wouldn't notice the way that time passed or the things that people said.
Everyone seemingly had something to say about the 'new' Ladybug and even wondered who it was behind the mask; the mask was his saving grace at this point, because he couldn't imagine what people would say if they'd known that Nino Lahiffe had dressed in drag to save the day from an Akuma.
He hoped that whatever he felt that wasn't supposed to be in his bag ended up as something not completely life changing.
Nino stared at Wayzz as the Kwami calmly explained to him his job and how to succeed at doing so once the time came for his first debut as Carapace.
He just hoped that he wouldn't have to save the day in drag and that his first official day as a superhero would just go a lot smoother than the first two days of being an unofficial one.
The DJ sat down and simply watched the turtle Kwami and just hoped that this would prove easier than his last two, stressful attempts at saving the day, "You sure that they need my help?"
"It always helps to have another person there." The Kwami smiled at him as 'he' relaxed on his shoulder.
"Okay, thanks, dude." Nino shrugged as he stared at the little turtle that surely was changing his life in a rather big and at times, impossible way to believe.