A/N: SHOUT OUT TO MY STORY FOLLOWERS THANK YOU IT MEANS SO MUCH! I LOVE YOU
SORRY ABOUT NOT UPDATING SATURDAY!
4th of July is a busy day and a busy weekend for any crazy American.
Any way i made this chapter a bit longer to make up for my absence. I hope you guys like it!
I will post pictures of the free style dance class on my tumblr: Miraculous Big Apple
Again I don't own Miraculous and thank Thomas and ZAG for this blessing!
Enjoy!
On the 15th floor of a lovely glass building in New York, a class of 9 elite ballet dancers were just finishing their practice session. The boys were being told the dress code for the next open house recital while the girls changed in the locker room, preparing for art history. "Olivia, get me a lemon water from Clancy's before class starts. I need a boost of energy." Commanded Celeste, a very tall slim, girl with bright Olive eyes that complimented her milk and honey skin, and long deep green hair, which she was releasing from it's bun. Tessa yawned a weak, "Me, too." She was taller than Celeste, but not as graceful. She was fixing her extremely long blonde hair; adding extra pink bow barrettes around her bangs. She dressed in mainly fairy kei style and is obsessed with cute stuff from the 1980s such as My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears. "Get me one too, with extra lemons." Chimed in Daphne, as she applied her hazelnut lipstick. He hair was tied back in two snow-white braids contrasting her dark espresso skin tone. Celeste finished styling her hair and looked over at Olivia, she looked at her from head to toe. "You should get one too, you look like you could loose a pound or two." Olivia nodded, meekly, "I'll be back before the bell rings." And she slipped out of the locker room and down the stairs. Once she was alone in the abandoned stairwell she let out an aggravated shout and descended the stairs in a loud voice, "You could really use one? Really? I'm gonna fucking drown your goddamn waters with sugar and hope you gain those couple of pounds I need to apparently shed. Fucking Christ." Before reaching the door to the main campus lobby she took a deep breath straightened her clothes and smiled, a small, fake smile.
Olivia is a short girl, with orange red hair that ends at her shoulders. She is quite pale, but that's due to combination of not going out much and hating warm sunny weather. She has green eyes like her father; these eyes gazed over the Starbuck's menu, "I'll have a tall hazelnut cappuccino, please and thank you." She barely ate breakfast this morning and needed more than "lemon water" to keep her spirits up. Once she finished her small dose of caffeine she went across the street to Clancy's for the lemon waters. Walking back to her building with four lemon waters wasn't easy; neither was running into a group of people headed to the same class. They were from the free style dance sector. It's not that she didn't like these people there was just one person among them who (for lack of a stronger word than hate) hated her.
She lingered behind the rowdy group of free style dancers, since they were from a different dance sector she only saw them during class and at recitals; so she sees them often. Usually the free style kids and the ballerinas have no problems getting along, but in this class it's hard to do that with Celeste portraying her self as the face of the ballet troupe. One of the boys in front of her looks back and sees her looking down at the waters in thought and nudges another boy, who nudges a girl, who nudges the boy who hates her. She whispered a loud "Jean." And nodded her head in Olivia's direction. He looks behind them in confusion and sees her meekly following them not making eye contact out of awkward fear. He gives her a glare and whips his head back around talking louder now.
She felt him look at her, a painful ping of guilt spread through her. She gripped the cardboard holding the water a little tighter. She snapped out of it when she noticed they arrived. She climbed the stairs to her seat at the top of the lecture room. An aggravated voice made the class flinch with annoyance, "Well you're not late, but god you took forever! Can I have my water now? I hope it's still cold." Celeste snatched the cup out of Olivia's hand. Daphne did the same, and Tessa took hers slowly. Olivia gave a little smile; she added sugar to all of their waters. "Alright class, please be seated and calm down." Mrs. Keaton turned on the holographic black board; this turned on the student's hologram surface desks. "Today we are going to be talking about some famous artists from the early 2000's. Who knows who Banksy is?"
The class was small only about 17 kids, but Olivia saw that one of the kids from the free style class was absent. "Where is Declan?" Ada whispered to Zoe. Ada and Zoe sat in the seats below her; they were from the free style class too and were always wearing the same outfits calling each other twins. "Oh that's right you weren't in class yet when it happened…" Zoe trailed off. Ada and Olivia were keen to know what happened. Zoe looked up at Celeste, and Olivia peeked over too. Celeste was wearing her earphones and spacing out on YouTube, so was Daphne and Tessa. "Okay," Zoe said is a quieter voice so Celeste couldn't hear, "Declan was gonna sit down when Celeste walked in, she bumped into him so hard everything he was holding – gym bag, water, books- went everywhere. She acted like she didn't' even see him and looked around like she bumped into thin air. She was like 'Huh I wonder what that was? Felt like a no-body-back-up-dancer who can't land a solo or front spot in groups. Probably because he's so bland and invisible no one cares to see him.' And Declan was fucking pissed dude, no one disses that ball of sweet sunshine. And the worst part was non of the other dudes were here yet to back him up, just me." Ada was getting mad, "So I yelled at her sure, but bitch brushed it off. Fucking heartless girl, Declan looked so upset he kinda just gathered his stuff and walked out." Ada shot Celeste a dirty look and brought Declan up on her message screen, she sent him 5 or more texts but he wasn't answering. "I hope he's okay…we gotta get the coach to see how good he is by himself. If he did his own solo it'd shut her up for sure." Ada continued to try and reach Declan.
Olivia felt horrible; even if she were there she wouldn't have been able to do anything. She never does anything; she snuck a look over at Jean. Jean was tall, at least 6ft with tan skin and dark brown hair. When he's not in her presence he's actually one of the nicest people you could talk to. Right now though he is tapping his foot pretty fast which usually means he's about to yell or do something he'll regret later. He also over heard Zoe and Ada's discussion, like Olivia, he wasn't in class when it happened. He would have done something. He always does something.
Before he could though, a car made its way through the room next to theirs. The building shook, everyone in class screamed. The hologram surface desks flashed, a yellow news bulletin panned across the screens. "Citizens of New York are advised to take shelter, an unknown entity calling himself the Attention Whore is rampaging the streets causing people to follow him with out looking at anything else. OH MY GOD HE IS THROWING ANOTHER-!" Just then another car was up in the air headed for the classroom this time.
"EVERYONE OUT NOW!" Mrs. Keaton rushed to the door. Anyone who hadn't already left was running for the door when the car flew threw the window. "CLASS IS OVER STAY SAFE AND DON'T FORGET TO READ PAGES 345 AND 267!" Olivia ran for her life and tried to keep up with the class but when they got outside she was separated and had to find shelter fast, she ran down the street to her dorm. Jean was running in the opposite direction, he was headed for his friend's apartment that he shared.
Another person was frantically running around the city, but not because he was trying to find shelter, no he was trying to find the right people for the miraculous in his care. Mr. Xiang had the two miraculous boxes in his satchel. He ran with purpose as he scanned the citizens around him. No one was doing anything particularly heroic. BZZZZZT! Televisions and radios across the city rang out in a horrible NZZZZZt buzz as they cut to the same station. "This just in Mariposa here to deliver the evening news! Citizens I will be your reliable news castor, your star!" A woman with a thick Spanish accent was plastered on every television in sight. Xiang stopped to watch the broadcast.
"Today our lovely topic of discussion is a particular boy out seeking to be seen! And he is waiting for a few individuals to notice him! Who am I speaking of? Why the ones who soared over our city and seen by thousands weeks ago. That's right folks! New York's Ladybug and Chat Noir!" Xiang cringed he noticed the woman's broach and purple choice of clothing, not to mention her name, Mariposa. This woman has the butterfly miraculous, but what does she want. Shit. Shit. Shit. I need to find someone soon; some one any- Xiang saw a woman and child hurrying across the street. A small shadow above them was getting bigger and bigger, he looked up and saw a car coming straight for them. He made a move to run to them even though he was to far, but a boy next him was quicker. The boy dropped his duffle bag and sprinted to them, tackling them both to the ground before the car crashed in the spot they had previously been. He didn't even look out of breath. In the awe of the moment Xiang looked down at the duffle bag. The boy helped the woman and boy to their feet making sure they were unharmed before turning back for his bag.
Xiang handed the duffle to the thankful boy, "That was very heroic young man, but please be careful and get somewhere safe." Xiang sprinted in the opposite direction of the boy. In the heat of the moment Xiang had grabbed whatever miraculous he could in the satchel and put it in the boys bag. Now he had to find one more hero. He wasn't looking where he was going when he made a sharp turn to cross the street and was meet with headlights and a horn. He expected to feel pain but he only felt the strap of his satchel pull him away from the headlights and back onto the pavement. He looked up at his savior, a frightened panting girl. He looked at the ground behind her. When the class was evacuated, Celeste, Daphne, and Tessa for got their book bags; Olivia took all of them and hers and made it out of the building. She had been running with the tiring weight for a while until she saw a man running straight for traffic. She dropped everything for him. He was impressed this small girl could carry so much. He helped her gather the bags after her awkward explanation and lecture about crossing the street and watched her take off to her destination. He had slipped the miraculous in the plain duffle bag that didn't match the other more decorated bags. He hoped his choices were right as he exhaled a breath of relief and worry.
When Jean finally got to his apartment he turned on the news. The purple woman was on every channel. Was this legal? Who was this lady? He searched for his phone in his duffle to find out where his roommate Aaron was. Instead of his phone he found a box that for sure was not his. He opened it to find a pair of black earrings, and a glow of red almost blinded him before it became a floating thing with eyes, oh god it was speaking to him. "Jean I know this may come as a surprise, but-" "HOLY SHIT WHAT ARE YOU!" Jean fell back almost hitting his head on the coffee table. "I am a kwami and my name is Tikki, Jean you have been chosen. You have seen the boy destroying the town yes?" Jean nodded his head at the red ball with legs calling itself Tikki. "Well Jean, it's up to you to stop him, destroy the akuma possessing him, and purify it before it's to late." What wait? "Wait…" Tikki went on to explain in vivid detail what akumas were, how to use lucky charm, and the idea of teamwork. Jean was lost. "I'm going to save the day? Is that what you said?" Tikki nodded, "Yes basically, all you have to do is put those earrings on and say 'Transform Me'. You'll have superpowers too, but use them wisely because they take a lot of our energy. You'll have mere minutes after it before you de-transform." Jean looked into the mirror by the door, yes he had pierced ears; it was a drunken dare he never thought would come in handy. As he put in the earrings he asked a few more questions, "It's not gonna hurt is it? When I say 'Transform Me' is it-" he saw the kwami fly into the earrings and a red flash caused him to close his eyes in surprise.
He felt something on his face and his clothes felt tighter than before. He opened his eyes to the mirror. He couldn't look away; his hair that was usually up was neatly combed down. He had on a black mask with red dots, his clothes looked military but slim fitting; his get up was red with black dots, and fully black on places like his shoes, fingers, and straps. "WHOA. I'm- I'm a superhero…" He felt something on his waist, a yoyo? He felt like he knew exactly what to do when he opened the 6th story window and tossed the yoyo out side. He yanked it and went flying. "IM SPIDER MAAAAAAAAAN!" he screamed as he soared the cityscape. After doing a few tricks and poses he stopped when he saw a couple of cars flying through the air. He swung towards the disturbance only to be met with a pole to the face. Sliding down face first he knew this pole wasn't there before he swung. Finally reaching the ground he noticed how the pole shrank and was not being twirled daintily in the hands of a very wild looking girl.
Minutes before Jean and Tikki's introduction and very tired Olivia had made it to her abandoned 3-room dorm, which she shared with Celeste and company. Letting loose the heavy baggage, she took her own to her room and rummaged through it for her phone to see if Celeste had wondered where her bag and maybe where Olivia was. Instead she found a jewelry box that most certainly was not hers. Maybe it was Celeste's and it had somehow found it's way in her bag after she dropped them on the street before pulling that man out of traffic. She opened the box to see what it was and let out a small shriek when a bright green light flashed in her face. Dropping the box she took a few steps back as she watched a small black cat shaped thing appear in the light's place.
"Wow…that wasn't long. Oh hey, sup I'm-" "NO!" Olivia walked out of her room with her hands in the air. "Nope nopity nope nope, where ever you came from it can't be good, please go back I cant do this right now." Plagg floated in front of her face, "You're not allowed to nope out of this!" Olivia tensed and started backing up back into her room. "My name is Plagg I'm a kwami, you're Olivia and you're gonna be my partner, you're gonna be a superhero. So chill out and get me a bit to eat, I prefer Camembert cheese if you have it." Plagg stopped talking to look in her mini fridge. Olivia shook her head. "A super hero? What? How? Why me?" Plagg spotted something in the back of the fridge it had a bow and the words Happy Birthday on a tag. Jackpot. "When did you get this?" Plagg hoisted out a circular container. "About a week ago, it's still good I just don't eat cheese, back to the matter at hand! How and why am I going to be a superhero?" Plagg started to stuff his face, "Welp, you gotta stop that kid terrorizing the city, Ladybug is here too, she'll purify the akuma, but you gotta help her break it, I think you'll be fine. All you gotta do is put on that rind and say 'Transform Me' and boom superhero, couple other things-" Plagg kept on explaining but Olivia was lost, she looked at the silver ring. Putting it on her left hand she noticed how it fit her perfectly. "But what happens when I say 'Transform Me'?" She asked, looking at the ring she suddenly felt a surge of energy. Plagg was pitifully dragged away from his cheese and into the ring. "WHAT IS HAPPENING" She watched as her clothes disappeared and were replaced with black. When the transformation was over she looked at herself in her mirror. She cringed; she was head to toe in skintight leather, a belt crisscrossed around her waist. A leather cropped hoodie stopped at the start of her waist. She had cat ears clipped into her hair, speaking of her hair; it looked like she took a blow drier at maximum speed it, it was out of her face and a mess. There was even a fucking bell attached to the zipper of the hoodie. She had what looked like steel toed paw boots and touched her black mask with her clawed biker gloves. "Plagg what happened, I look like I'm off to a bondage convention. Plagg?" Just then she heard a very loud crash. Looking out her dorm window she could see Declan or as he was currently calling himself "The Attention Whore". Okay so I'm in leather off to save the day, got it.
She felt something behind her; she grabbed the silver cylinder at her waist. "What does this DO-!?". She had accidently press a button and 'cat'-apulted herself out her window. Now she was not so gracefully pole dancing across the sky, trying to stay calm. She felt a strong thud and looked down, a person wearing red had some how hit her pole and was sliding down it face first. She had to find a way to shrink this. She pushed another button and she was gently descending. Once on solid ground she held out a hand to the crazy looking guy in polka dots. When he looked up at her she felt so embarrassed. He was actually pretty cute looking, while she looked down right ridiculous. "Hi, I'm so sorry. My bad. Um," Looking at him more carefully he looked like the "Ladybug" Plagg said she would meet. "…Ladybug?" He looked taken back then looked like he was thinking. "Yeah, that sounds cool." He gave her a huge smile, she felt like she had seen that smile some where before, a long time ago. "I'm, uh…" oh gosh she ran into him and now she doesn't even know her own super name? Why didn't Plagg tell her, what was the one they were using on the news? "You're Chat Noir right? I thought you'd be taller…and a guy…" He laughed. She felt her nerves settle. "Yes that's me, heh, I thought you were gonna be a girl." He burst into an even louder fit of laughter. She let out a few laughs of her own. She hadn't had a conversation like this in a while, she hadn't made someone genuinely laugh in ages, years; she was always the one being laughed at.
"So," Ladybug finally calmed down, ", the bad guy seems to making a mess of the streets. He's headed north toward Times Square where everyone is watching that lady on the news…how are we gonna do this?" She remembered a few things Plagg tried to tell her. "Well, before I cut off my kwami he said something about breaking the 'akuma'. Do you know what he meant?" Ladybug nodded with wide eyes. "Right! I almost forgot! Mine told me I needed to purify it. It must be something Attention Whore has on him, I'm sorry," He started laughing again, ", it's just- Attention Whore- hahaha-who calls themselves-hahaha-that, I just-hahaha-!" Yes he's charming but he needs to get his head in the game. Chat tapped him on the head with her staff. "Come on Ladybug! We need to catch up to him to find out what to break! And to make sure he doesn't cause any harm to anyone in Times Square." Ladybug rubbed his head, "Right sorry…" Chat pushed a button on her staff and in seconds was on the nearest building's roof. "FOLLOW ME! I know a short cut!" Ladybug threw his yoyo and shadowed her from below, as he swung closer to the traffic of down town.
With in minutes they had arrived in Times Square where Attention Whore was pulling all sorts of weird stuff out of his crazy looking bag, anything to catch people's attention, Chat had started to feel dizzy watching him pull a colorful rope out the bag. Ladybug griped her shoulders and shook her. She snapped out of it now noticing he had been screaming at her. "What...what's wrong?" she asked in a daze. Ladybug looked worried. "You were watching him for to long, if you hadn't looked away you would have become one of them." He pointed to the thousands of drooling people below, on the sidewalks, in the streets, and in their cars. "Thanks." She gulped. He smiled and she felt happily nostalgic again. Ladybug looked around the square. "His bag must be where the akuma is. Looks like it's time for our super powers." Chat Noir looked confused. Ladybug threw his arms into the air, "LUCKY CHAAARM!" There was a flash and something red with black polka dots fell into his hands. "
What am I gonna do with a mega phone? Hmmm maybe I could cause a distraction using this. Yeah! I'll get everyone's attention and that will make angry. With him trying to get everyone's attention back Chat can sneak up behind him and grab his bag. We'll destroy it purify the akuma and save the city. Perfect!
Chat Noir was so amazed. "Whoa! What's my power?" She closed her eyes and a word popped into her head. "CATACLYISM!" She screamed with her right thrust into the air. "WHOA!" She looked at the black smoking hand. "What do you think it does?" She turned around holding her hand out to show Ladybug, but accidently touched his mega phone. As it turned to dust so did the plan Ladybug had. "Great, now have nothing to distract him with and we'll both have just maybe 5 or so minutes before we change back!"
Chat Noir looked terrified, like she was on the verge on tears. She backed up from Ladybug, she fucked up; she wasn't meant to do this. She just destroyed the their chance to distract him. Of course this would happen, nothing lucky ever happens to her. Ladybug watched as Chat Noir looked like she was having a panic attack. She was muttering to herself and shaking. "Chat," he gently put a hand on her shoulder. ", Hey I'm sorry for freaking out." She tensed up. "I fucked up, I can't do this. We're not going to save him and it's my fault, its all my fault." He put his other hand on her other shoulder. "It's okay. You didn't know that was going to happen this is our first time doing this; we are bound to make a few mistakes. But we can learn from them." She stopped her erratic breathing to look at him. "Lesson 1: don't use your cataclyism on my lucky charms." She laughed at the phrase and calmed a bit. "Lesson 2: If you think you messed up, just play it off and move on to how to fix it. Grieving over a mistake is never worth the time. Use that time to find a new way to get it done." She nodded.
"Got it. I'm sorry," she gave him an apologetic smile and for some reason he felt like he'd seen it before. "Ladybug, I think I have a back up plan." She pointed to a very large air duct on the roof near them. "If you kick out the grate on that and take it off the roof you can use it as a make shift mega phone." Ladybug could see with his ladybug vision the grate and which section to remove from the duct. He spun around to Chat picking her up and spinning her around. "SEE! That was brilliant!" He set her down. "Okay I'll set it up while you sneak around the square behind Attention Whore, when he gets mad take his bag." He threw his yoyo to the near by roof to set up the mega phone. Chat was flustered, she had been picked up in class before but she never really paid attention to the touch. She snapped out of it and ran across the roof staying out of sight.
Everything was in place, Chat was hidden behind and advertisement board and Ladybug was giving the signal he was about to start. It was getting dark out and the city lights were now bringing the square to life. He took it a big breath of air "GOOD EVENING CITIZENS OF NEW YORK!" The drooling people turned slightly, "MY NAME IS LADYBUG AND I AM HERE TO PROTECT YOU! EVERYONE LOOK AT ME!" Chat squinted she could barely make him out in the dark of the roof. Ladybug saw the citizens looking around in attentive confusion; he had their attention he just needed to get Attention Whore's. He looked around and noticed two spot lights pointed at a billboard; he tossed his yoyo to point them at himself. The people and Attention Whore looked up to the roof where he stood waving now in the spot light. "YES THAT'S IT! I'm RIGHT UP HERE!" Attention Whore growled and yelled at the people below. "NO LOOK AT ME, I'M THE ONE WHO NEEDS TO BE SEEN!" This was her chance; Chat launched herself into the air and used her staff to hook onto his bag. The sudden weight shift caused Attention Whore to tip to one side while falling with Chat pulling him down to the ground; the bag slipped off his shoulder. "WHA-!" Chat was free falling holding onto the bag, she was trying to position herself to use her staff but was caught and swung midair. She was in Ladybug's arms; he was headed for the billboard she leapt from. He balanced them on the narrow metal awning. Attention Whore had hit the ground looking dazed.
Mariposa who had been commentating the whole affair from the large television screen spoke in a sarcastic disappointed voice, "And Ladybug and Chat Noir save the day…will they be able to do it next time?" She smiled and enthusiastically proclaimed, "TUNE IN NEXT TIME TO FIND OUT! And again I'm MARIPOSA new face of New York news!" Suddenly cutting off, the TV went back to the regular news.
Gently setting Chat on her feet Ladybug excitedly suggested, "Rip that thing to shreds." Chat tore to bag apart with her bare claws and saw a small butterfly flew out of the frayed remains. "That must be it! COME HERE LITTLE AKUMA." Ladybug opened a special compartment in his yoyo that glowed with white light. He wound up his yoyo and flung it out to snatch the black butterfly out if the air. When he opened it he released a pure white butterfly free of evil. "Latter little butterfly." Below them a very confused Declan was just coming back to reality in the middle of a just as confused crowd of people. They all looked up at the illuminated billboard where Ladybug and Chat Noir gave a wave. Ladybug gave his yoyo one last toss in the air. "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" The magical healing light set cars back to their spots, fixed the hole in the classroom, and fixed Declan's bag, which magically appeared next to him.
They gave one more wave before disappearing to a deserted roof away from the crowd.
"That was- so- GOSH! I feel so alive!" Ladybug fist pumped the sky. "We did it, we actually did it. Good work Ladybug, you didn't need me, you were amazing out there." Chat gave him a real smile, not one of her fake ones. She almost forgot how to smile for real, but with him everything just came so naturally. Ladybug looked at the smile Chat gave him, now he really felt like he's seen that smile before. It gave him a weird feeling, he was sad. He shook the feeling off and stuck with the thought of how cute it made her instead. "What are you talking about, I couldn't have done any of that myself. I would have been lost if you hadn't been there!" He held out a fist. "We're a team." She laughed and fist bumped him. "You got it partner." A sudden beeping made them look around. Chat looked at her ring, she had two pads left. And Ladybug had two spots left. "We're gonna de-transform soon." Ladybug said almost nonchalantly. Chat had a sudden horrible thought, what if this guy knew her in real life. If he saw her for who she really was the chance of them ever being friends would die here and now. She hasn't had someone to call 'friend' let alone superhero partner in years. She can't ruin this, not again. "We can't reveal our identities to anyone. It would be dangerous if we knew who the other was. It would give us weaknesses that Mariposa could exploit." Ladybug hated to admit it but she was right. He was so ready to tell her his real name and show her his face. He hadn't felt this normal with someone in years. Sure he had plenty of friends, but ever since high school he had become a distant kind of guy, never really making strong connections with anyone. He was too afraid they would betray him and leave him, like she did…
"You're right, I'll deal with that…for now." He gave her a little wink. And tossed his yoyo in the direction of his apartment. He smiled and hopped of the roof hollering, "I'll be seeing you kitty cat!" Chat shook her head; she turned in the opposite direction, and hoped that Celeste wasn't back at the dorm yet. They both smiled a stupid happy smile all the way home.
The next day the coverage of Mariposa and the akuma were all over the news. In Art History the class was a buzz with news of the super heroes who saved the city last night. Mrs. Keaton replayed the clip of Chat Noir and Ladybug on the holo-board and let the class have a free period to talk about yesterday and finish the reading that obviously none of them did. They class was such a buzz they were unaware of the two quiet students sitting contently rewinding the new clips with stupid smiles.