Marinette was sitting in her bedroom, doodling a little picture of her crush in her diary. Adrien didn't seem to notice how much she liked him; or if he did, he was very good at not showing it.
"Oh, Tiki," she muttered to her kwami. "How am I going to tell him?"
"You know, Marinette," Tiki answered, fluttering over to the diary. "I hate to say this, but if you can't even talk to him… maybe he isn't your true love."
"WHAAT? Tiki, how could you say that? Of course he is!"
"I'm just suggesting…. You're still young, Marinette. Maybe instead of spending all this time on someone who hasn't noticed you, you could be dating someone who's already interested in you."
"If you're suggesting I date Chat –" Marinette's phone rang and cut her off. It was Nathanaël, a boy in her class. She picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey, Marinette," Nathanaël answered. "You said we could work on our project today?" Marinette looked at the time – she was supposed to meet him at the library almost 15 minutes ago.
"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry; I'll be right there!" Nathanaël chuckled on the other end.
"Alright, see you in a bit." Marinette hung up and grabbed her backpack.
"Come on, Tiki! Ladybug can make it there much faster."
Nathanaël didn't know why he felt so nervous; it was just a project, not a date or anything. Still, the thought of seeing Marinette was making his heart flutter. He decided to work on his comic while he was waiting, to keep his mind off of it. He was almost done; he just needed to put the finishing touches on the last panel….
"Hey!" Marinette's sudden greeting startled Nathanaël. He quickly slammed his sketchbook closed and looked up, embarrassed.
"Ah, Marinette," he murmured back nervously. "You got here… quickly."
"Yes, well… uh…. I was nearby when you called," she explained nervously. Was she nervous the same way he was nervous, or was she nervous about something else? Nathanaël decided not to jump to conclusions. "What were you drawing?"
"I… uh… nothing! Just a… a Ladybug comic I've been working on…."
"Neat; I didn't know you were a Ladybug fan."
"Yeah. I mean, ever since the… the Evillustrator incident…."
"Oh yeah, sorry about that; that must've been awful…."
"I mean, I don't really remember, but…. I feel bad that you had to get involved."
"Don't worry about it. It wasn't that big of a deal."
"No, but like... It's not right to pressure people into dating you; I should've –"
"Look, you weren't yourself, I get that. It's no big deal." Nathanaël blushed heavily and looked away, too embarrassed to say anything. There was a horrible pause. "So…. Do you want to start working on the project, or were you gonna let me read your comic?"
"WHAT I… uh…." If it was anyone else, he would've refused, but he couldn't say no to that smile. "Alright. It's not that good, but…."
"Oh, I'm sure it's fantastic; you're the best artist in the class!" Nathanaël's face burned red and he handed over the sketchbook without another word.
Marinette flipped through the pages until she found the comic he was referring to. There was a "cover" page featuring Ladybug, and the caption read: "The Evillustrator: If things were different." She flipped the page and the actual story started. It picked up with a vivid panel showing the boat where the Evillustrator had taken her for that date. Marinette gasped. The details were perfect.
"Nathanaël, how did you remember all this?"
"Well… I didn't. I imagined it looked something like that. I probably got some of the details wrong…."
"No, actually…. This is exactly how I remember it." Nathanaël blushed, but didn't reply, so Marinette kept reading. She and the Evillustrator were sitting on the boat, and he was drawing music notes to create the atmosphere for the date.
"I don't understand," Marinette's character spoke in the next panel. "You've been akumatized; how can that be if you don't want to hurt anyone?"
"I was going after Chloé; but you said you don't like violence, and I don't want you to hate me."
"But…. I don't understand…."
"You know what they say, Marinette: Love conquers all. I love you." The next panel showed Marinette's character with a softened expression, and the panel after that made it seem as though the two were about to kiss. However, the subsequent panel showed the Evillustrator making an agonized expression, and Marinette's character was startled.
"What's wrong?" she asked him, as he doubled over.
"Hawkmoth… is… taking control…" he strained, his dialogue spaced unusually to show stuttering. In the next panel, he had grabbed Marinette and was looking desperately into her eyes. "The… akuma… is in… the stylus…. Find… Ladybug… please…. Help me!" In the next panel, he was on all fours on the deck of the boat, with a loud, painful shout illustrated above him. He stood, his face obscured, and the next panel revealed that his eyes had become all black, and his face was twisted with pain and rage.
"You…" he said, the font changing to show that his voice was not his own. "You will not get away to find Ladybug." Marinette's character backed away in horror as the possessed Evillustrator advanced on her, literally drawing a sword to attack her with. As he swung down, the panels transitioned to show Chat Noir had blocked the attack with his staff.
"Going a bit overboard for the first date, huh?" the masked hero smirked. The pun was so painful Marinette almost actually groaned. The Marinette in the comic didn't seem too amused either, but she didn't say anything. Chat Noir and the possessed Evillustrator dueled for a few panels, and then Chat shouted back to Marinette: "Go find Ladybug! She's he only one who can purify the akuma!" Marinette's character nodded and ran off. The fight scene continued, and Marinette was becoming increasingly impressed with Nathanaël's art style. The lines and colors worked perfectly, and he had a real good idea of anatomy, and the way he drew hands was impossibly flawless. Seriously, how do you even draw hands? Marinette never could – not well, anyways.
The fight seemed to be drawing to a close, and it looked like it was going to be the end of Chat. The Evillustrator had him pinned down, and was about to pull the ring off of his finger when suddenly something struck him – Ladybug's yo-yo. She had come to save the day. The way she defeated the Evillustrator was pretty much the same as how it actually happened, except for hawkmoth breaking in with lines like "Curse you, Ladybug!" and "I won't be defeated again!" In the end, the stylus was broke, and the akuma was purified. Nathanaël had drawn panels of the ladybugs setting everything back to normal, and the Evillustrator transforming back into Nathanaël. Chat and Ladybug did their fist bump, and Chat's ring immediately started beeping, so he ran before his identity was revealed.
"Ladybug, you… you saved me," Nathanaël's character murmured to her as she was helping him up. Lady bug smiled, and their eyes connected for a moment before they leaned in and kissed. The kiss was the last panel, and Marinette was blown away by the details: she could see every strand of Nathanaël's hair; every scale on Ladybug's suit glittered in the moonlight. She would've liked to have looked at it longer, but Nathanaël snatched the book away.
"I… I'm sorry; I know it's stupid…."
"I didn't think it was stupid," Marinette argued. "I really liked it." She smiled, and Nathanaël blushed.
"Th… thanks," he murmured. The pair looked at each other for a few moments, when Marinette heard Tiki open her purse. When Marionette looked, the little kwami was smiling and holing up a sticky note that said "Date him!" with a bunch of lines and little hearts coming from the words for emphasis. She closed her purse quickly, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks.
"We should probably start working on our project…" she muttered, embarrassed. Nathanaël nodded, and pulled out his notes. Marinette got out her notebook too, and opened it to the right page before biting her lip and asking, "Um… maybe after we're done here…. You wanna catch a movie together?"
"Oh! Uh… yeah! Yeah totally!"
"Alright, we can go together. That way I won't be late," Marinette joked, and he laughed along. Marinette caught sight of Tiki nodding her approval before the pair began work on their school project.