Okay yes I admit it.
I was impatient to wait. Yes, I know, it's a little rushed but I mean, Breeze started right in the first chapter so...
Let me have this one xD
I promise, the slow burn comes later!
But for now, lemme explain a bit about my headcanons! The next few chapters will be pretty theory heavy, I hope you guys won't be bored, there'll be a lot foreshadowing ;)
Enjoy~
Turned out, Nino was really bad at chemistry.
Well, he had known before, his grades told a story, after all. But as he sat in front of the test, scratching his short, brown hair in confusion as he stared at things he was certain he had never seen before, he realized he was really bad at chemistry.
His gaze flew through the front space of the classroom, since he didn't want Miss Mendeleiev catching him turning around, thinking he was cheating. Alya's eager scribbling could be heard above him and he shot his best friend a side glance, silently rolling his eyes as he saw him writing the correct answers just as eagerly as his girlfriend. With a short glance back, covering that up with a pretended yawn, he exchanged a quick gaze with Marinette, who was just looking up as he stretched.
She wasn't as fast at writing as their other two friends but Nino knew it wasn't because she hadn't learned. Oh, she had.
His eyes were downcast to his own paper as he stopped stretching again, crossing his arms and propping them up on the table in front of him. She just wasn't to good with a silent classroom. Whenever it got quiet, during exercises in class, or exams like right now, she got anxious.
The memories of last spring were still too fresh, too painful.
Only slowly, she had dared sitting next to Alya again, still needing her best friend's comfort whenever she was beginning to feel self-conscious again. And since Alya couldn't do that when they were supposed to work, especially during exams, Marinette was easily thrown back to back when the class had been like this all day long, back when she had been a murderer.
Apparently, though, his gaze had been enough to reassure her, because he heard her beginning to scribble again and smiled to himself.
It didn't help him, not really. But knowing he gave Marinette a chance to do god at this test was enough for him to accept a failure. He just asked himself if his parents saw it the same way.
"Dude, this test was hard.", Nino groaned, leaning on Adrien's shoulder. Adrien laughed and shook his head.
"I didn't think it was that bad. If you hadn't been up all night remixing songs and actually learnt, then maybe it would've turned out better?"
"Dude, I swear, I tried to punch these formulas into my head but they just wouldn't stick around!"
Alya and Marinette came up behind them, Marinette wriggling her arm around Adrien's waist beneath his arm. The brunette reached out and got something out of Nino's hair, something sticky.
"Yeah, I believe that."
The three of them started laughing, leaving Nino with a scowl on his face.
"No, I didn't try to actually write down the formulas and glue them to my head, thank you."
"Oh yeah?", Marinette reached to his cap and pulled out a tiny bit of paper, something written on it, "Totally not, right?"
"I-… May have fallen asleep on my desk, yes-…"
"Dude, you really need to start taking school a bit more serious. We'll be graduating this year.", Adrien frowned, inconspicuously looking down to see the necklace snuggly laying in the soft curve of Marinette's neck.
Nino shrugged it off, grinning.
"Bro, I got this. Don't you worry your precious little head."
"My precious little boyfriend's head.", Marinette smirked, reminding him of last night when they had been on patrol.
"I love you, my lady.", he murmured, kissing her on the lips. For a moment, nothing else existed in their world, just themselves and their kiss.
"… Mari?"
Alya's voice finally got through to them, her best friend rolling her eyes.
"Lovebirds, could you just not eat each other's faces while we're staying right beside you?", Nino asked annoyed, clearly trying to keep his gaze away from Alya who had her hands in her hips, "I mean, we're not doing it either. Get your act together."
"I already regret shipping you two. You're together for like, what, two months now?", she scolded but grinned, "Anyways, where will we be going for lunch?"
Later that day Nino came home from school and sighed as he threw his bag in one corner of the room, only to slump on his bed.
"Soon…", he groaned, "Soon I'll have the fall break and then I'll be able to chill."
He already heard his imaginary Alya shrieking, then grabbing his head and shoving it into his homework over the holidays.
"Oh man, why is life so damn serious? Why's it gotta be so damn hard?", he loudly complained.
He buried his face in his covers and enjoyed the warmth from underneath. Not that it was cold outside, fall was just nearing and everybody could feel that. Soon, it would be colder and he'd have to wear a jacket and a scarf… Nino didn't quite like the cold. He knew Alya did.
A little smile snuck onto his lips and he gave in a sigh.
Alya.
His beautiful girlfriend.
Sometimes he just felt too lucky when she pulled him in for a kiss or, searching for his embrace, wrapped his arms around her. He could've never imagined her liking a boy who stayed up playing DJ all night, not really caring for his body so it had resulted in a little stomach and not exactly taking school seriously.
He sighed once again and lifted his head, ready to take on the homework.
That's when he saw the little box laying on his desk.
Huh, did mom forget something here?
Nino got up and walked up to his desk, taking the little box into his hands, testing its weight.
Not that heavy. What is it with this?
He turned to maybe see his mom standing in the door, but it was closed as he had left it. Shrugging, he faced the box again and carefully opened it, maybe to find a necklace of his mother. Instead, he found a bracelet, a jade stone with a leather bracelet.
"Hm, not that fancy…", he murmured. Suddenly, a brightly green ball of light emerged from the box and he instantly dropped it, stumbling back against his door.
A little green guy appeared out of the ball of light, wearing a tiny Turtle shell on his back. Nino's eyes widened.
"Holy shiiiiii-… Are you a Kwami?!"
The green guy opened his eyes, yellow with green orbs in it, lifting his gaze to the teenage boy who was inching closer to him again.
"Hello. I am Wayzz and yes, I am a Kwami. I'm the Kwami of the Turtle Miraculous wielder, a guardian of the two key Miraculous."
"The Ladybug and the Black Cat?", Nino asked.
"Yes, exactly."
"I didn't know there were more than the three I already know of you guys. The Ladybug, the Black Cat and the Butterfly. Are there even more?"
"Indeed, yes. But for now, I think it would be better if I told you about your role and your powers and then we'll see Master Fu. He'll be able tell you more about why you were chosen, what your duty is as the Turtle Miraculous wielder and about the other guardians. Is that fine with you?"
Nino laughed, sitting down in his chair and laying a little pillow from his bed on his desk.
"So first of all, you're welcome to sit here, then you won't have to float all the time. And second, you don't need to be all formal and fancy speaking with me, I'm just a teenager."
Wayzz nodded and smiled, settling down at the pillow.
"So then, young Nino, what do you want to know first?"
"Well, how do you know my name?"
"Master Fu chose you.", the little green Kwami explained, "He kept an eye on you and it's been decided by fate. You were chosen because he saw that you both needed and fulfilled the Turtle Miraculous as a new wielder."
"A new one? Who was the one before me? I mean, I know you guys are a few thousand years old, but-…"
"Actually, it is Master Fu himself. He gave his Miraculous to a new, younger wielder. That would be you."
Nino nodded, thoughtful.
"So then-… What's my transformation phrase?"
"Easy there, young one. Let me explain your role first. You're a guardian, that means, you'll have to protect the Ladybug and the Black Cat at all costs. They are the most important Miraculous, the yin and the yang. And you're one of five guardians, so that you know."
He paled and his hand shot to his chest, remembering the wound Hawkmoth had done to him. Of course, he hadn't remembered anything directly after the fight and thanks to Ladybug's cleansing light, he hadn't even gotten a scar. But it had come back to him through his dreams, nightmares.
"Protect them at all costs?", he shakily asked.
"Because you're the Turtle Miraculous wielder you have to do so even more. You have to protect all Miraculous, including the guardians."
Nino clenched his teeth, his hand gingerly moving to rub his chest.
"That's a lot of responsibility…"
"It is. But you proved to be worthy."
"And-… I'm a Turtle, right?"
"The wielder of the Turtle Miraculous, yes.", the Kwami chuckled.
"That means, I don't have to be slow, do I?", he tried to lighten up the mood and Wayzz laughed, much to his relief.
"No, you don't. You'll be pretty fast, actually."
The boy laughed as well, leaning back.
"I'm relieved. So, when I'm transformed, what powers do I have?"
Wayzz grinned, already looking forward to introduce him to his future abilities.
"You'll be a Turtle, so you'll have a Turtle shell that you can use as a shield."
"Like Captain America?", Wayzz tilted his head and Nino waved it off, shrugging, "I'm sorry, carry on."
"Like I was saying, you'll have a shield to protect yourself. Your secret superpower will be 'Shellter', a shield to protect others too."
"Sweet. So, I'll be a walking shield, then.", Nino grinned. Wayzz smiled, nodding. He already liked this boy.
"That's right. Your transformation phrase will be 'Shields up' and your de-transformation phrase will be-…"
"'Shields down', I suppose?", he smirked.
"Exactly. Do you want to see how you look in your suit?"
Nino's eyes went wide and he laughed, putting on the bracelet already.
"You bet!"
The tiny green Kwami grinned, as the boy fumbled with the leather bracelet. Master Fu chose really good again, he was sure Nino would be able to handle his life and his superhero identity. And he was sure, the boy would be a great guardian, he already saw big potential in him.
"Wayzz, shields up!"
The transformation went down his body like a bucket of warm water being poured over his head. He felt a mask appearing on his face and his normal clothes vanishing, to be replaced with a skin tight suit.
He opened his eyes again, looking down his body. A suit of different green tones covered him. Light green was underneath while he wore dark green boots and gloves. Additionally, there was some kind of armor in a few hexagonal shapes on his chest, resting on him like a second, slightly heavy skin and soothing the slight pinching feeling over his heart. A dark green hood with red and yellow highlights on his temples draped over his dark brown hair and on his back was a big, dark green shield with the design of a Turtle shell.
He was quick to position himself in front of his mirror, already trying out different stances he would maybe try when in battle alongside Chat Noir and Ladybug, no wait, his friends.
He hesitated, scrunching together his eyebrows.
Adrien and Marinette had kept it a secret for four years before they had revealed to each other. And it was because it had been necessary, Marinette had just revealed her secret identity to Chat because she needed to own his trust. Because she needed to get her Miraculous back from Hawkmoth.
Adrien had revealed… Well, okay, yeah, Adrien had revealed because he loved her and because he had wanted to protect her, prevent another misunderstanding like this from ever happening again. It had brought them together and it had saved Marinette.
Alya and he, on the other hand, had to find it out on their own, so they weren't even meant to know.
Would he be bound to have to keep it a secret too? From his friends?
He shook his head, wondering. But that could wait until later.
"Wayzz, shields down."
"I thought you wanted to be transformed a little longer, young Nino?"
The boy just smiled.
"Later. I guess, Alya's rubbed off on me because for now I just want a few answers. Can you take me to Master Fu, Wayzz?"
"You didn't even think of a name yet, Master. Are you sure?"
Nino grinned, nodding.
"I am sure, but actually, I already thought of a name when I was in the suit. What about 'Carapace'?"
Wayzz bowed his head, a slight smile playing his mouth.
"That is a good and strong name, young Nino. Well then, let's meet Master Fu!"
He just laughed, throwing over a jacket so that Wayzz could hide.