A/N: I wrote this chapter about one and a half years ago.
This fact gets very obvious with some characters. It pains me to have obvious OOC moments, but my outline was based around Season 1.
Let's just make this an Alternate Universe.
In the middle of class, before Nick's eyes could get the chance to droop or his head could get the chance to fall asleep against his desk, he felt something tug on his pant leg. With a frown, the teenager tried to shake it off. However, the tugging wouldn't relent.
The moment the teacher turned her back, Nick ducked his head under the desk to see what's gripping on his pant leg. It was Motto. He was pointing at Nick's cellphone, which displayed the password screen. The kwami, with his eyebrows scrunched together and mouth turned into a pout, looked just as annoyed and bored with class as he was.
Niccolo rolled his eyes. He grabbed the phone from Motto. Tilting the screen slightly towards the kwami so he could see, Nick entered his password.
'macandcheese263764'
He passed the phone to his kwami, who was raising an eyebrow at him.
"Are you judging my password?" whispered Nick, looking defensive. Before Motto could reply, a voice cut in.
"Niccolo!"
Nick snapped his head back up to the front. Miss Bustier had her arms crossed, lips turned into a frown. Since the teacher had called attention onto him, Niccolo could feel the stares of his classmates. He shrunk into his seat.
"Y-Yes?" stuttered Nick, caught off guard.
"You came into class late today and now you're texting?" said Miss Bustier, hands on her hips.
"Uhh…" Nick fumbled for an excuse. After a beat of silence and everyone staring, Niccolo's face flushed. "...It won't happen again."
"It better. Next time I catch you late or texting or sleeping-" Nick winced at that. Miss Bustier continued. "I will be sending you to the principal's office. I've already been letting it slip for far too long."
Niccolo nodded hastily.
"Special treatment much?" scoffed the blonde girl from the front row.
There was a muffled, "Says you," from another row, but Niccolo couldn't locate where.
Suddenly the door opened, and everyone's heads turned towards the girl entering the room. At Miss Bustier's disapproving stare, the girl's cheeks tinged with pink.
"Marinette," said Miss Bustier. "I was just scolding our new student about bad habits like being tardy."
The girl winced at the bad timing. "I'm so sorry!" she apologized, rushing over to her seat. "There was a- uh- a cat stuck in a tree!"
Miss Bustier shook her head. "Just sit down."
She sat down. Miss Buster regarded Nick and Marinette for a second or two, before turning back to the chalkboard. She continued her lesson right from where she left off, allowing most of the students to turn their heads back to the front of the classroom.
When the attention was finally off Nick, he risked a quick glare to the kwami hiding between his foot and his bag. The fox had the decency to look sheepish, one hand gripping on Nick's cellphone and the other rubbing the back of his head.
With a sigh, Nick attempted to return his focus back to class.
"Now, this week is a very important week for tests, so I'm going to be a little harsher on you guys for the next couple of days. Come and talk to me if you need any extra help. For homework tonight, I'm assigning the second half of that worksheet…"
The last class of the day was science class. There was a teacher substituting for Ms. Mendeleiev. For the first part of class the substitute gave a brief explanation on the worksheets the students were supposed to be working on. Afterwards, the substitute stuck to the teacher's desk, only speaking when the students had any questions.
Of course, halfway through the class, most of the students began to socialize with each other instead of working on the sheets like they were supposed to.
Nick slouched in his chair, unsure of what to do now. Usually he'd try to skip class or doze off, but after that quick scare earlier today, he decided to not risk it at the moment.
He glanced over to the side to see his seat partner, Nathaniel if he remembered correctly, doodling around the sides of his worksheet again. Taking a closer look at his artwork, Nick noticed that they were pretty detailed. It consisted mostly of a girl with twin pigtails, smiling cheerfully. The shadows made the drawing pop, with the light adding a soft edge to the outline. Actually, that girl looks familiar. Isn't she that girl who was late today-
Nathaniel caught his look and self-consciously placed his arm on the desk, hiding the doodles from view. Nick immediately looked away, as if doing so would give Nathaniel a sense of privacy.
Fingers drumming against the desk, Nick reached into his bag in order to grab his cell phone for entertainment purposes. He then remembered that Motto took it earlier.
"You better not use up all my battery," said Nick in a low voice, hoping no one would overhear. Motto popped his head out of the bag, stuck out his tongue, then popped right back in. Before Nick could protest, a feminine and cheerful voice spoke.
"Hey Nick!"
Nick's brown eyes flicked away from his messenger bag and onto the bright smile adorning Rose's face.
"Rose," greeted Nick. "Hello."
"You don't have to be so stiff, it's just me!" Rose lightly gripped onto Nick's wrist. "C'mon, now is the perfect time to talk to some classmates! Our class has lots of activities together, so we know each other pretty well. Which means they all really want to meet you. You should introduce yourself. Juleka is over there right now!"
Rose gestured to the corner of the class. Since the entire class is basically socializing with each other, there are many clusters of people scattered around the room. The corner she motioned at is the one with the most people in it. Juleka caught Nick and Rose looking at their direction, so she offered a quick wave. Rose waved back enthusiastically.
"I don't know. You've probably noticed I'm not the most…" Nick grimaced. "...Sociable kind of guy."
"Oh, no pressure!" assured Rose, letting go of Nick's wrist. "I just didn't want you to be confused when we mention our classmates' names like yesterday."
Nick placed a hand in his chin. "Yeah, I guess I should know all their names before I invite them to my birthday party…"
"Birthday party?" Rose's eyes widened. "Is your birthday coming up? Are you having a party?!"
"Uhh…" Nick glanced over to his messenger bag for support. Unfortunately, the bag was still, because Motto needed to stay hidden. "My birthday is in a little over a week."
"So soon?!" cried Rose with a gasp. She placed her hands on her cheeks. "I need to buy you a present!"
Juleka popped in-between them. "A present? What for?"
Nick jumped, startled. "W-Where did you come from?!"
That's when he noticed the rest of the group Juleka was in were approaching. Two males and two females. Looks like despite the fact Nick turned down the offer to socialize with them, they'll come and socialize with him either way.
Rose turned towards Juleka. "Apparently it's Nick's birthday soon!"
"Oh." Juleka glanced over to Nick. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
"I didn't get the chance to," said Nick, ruffling his hair.
"Friendly advice; don't invite Chloe," warned one of the new people. It was a short girl with messy pink hair. "Unless you want someone to get akumatized."
"Nah, she might still akumatize someone just to wreck the party," joked the tallest one, a guy with a red short-sleeved hoodie jacket.
Nick shifted in place, acutely aware he's the only one sitting down. "So… Who's Chloe anyway? I keep hearing her name but I don't know what she looks like."
"Introductions time!" exclaimed Rose, clapping her hands together.
Mylène spoke first. "I'm Mylène, but we've already met yesterday," she said with a bright smile.
Nick nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah, I remember you."
The red hoodie guy spoke up next. "The name's Kim, I'm pretty much the strongest and fastest guy at school," he said, flexing his arm as if proving a point.
The pink-haired girl snorts, pushing his arm away. "Alix. If this meathead dares you anything, just decline. You'll keep your sanity that way."
"Wha- Hey!" protested Kim.
The guy next to him pokes up his glasses. "Last month alone, you've made exactly 43 dares at school. That's an average of 2.15 dares per school day."
Kim scoffs. "That's not THAT much."
"It was a rather slow month for you." The glasses guy straightened out his light green polo shirt, facing Nick. "I'm Max. It's nice to meet you, Nick."
"Likewise," replied Nick, scanning each of their faces for unique facial features to remember.
Rose gestured to the right side of the classroom, at the front row seats. "Chloe is the blonde girl over there. The one sitting besides her is Sabrina. They're best friends."
Nick tried to crane his neck to see the aforementioned girls, but the crowd around him blocked the way. Rose, oblivious to this, continued speaking.
"Sitting next to you is Nathaniel, you two probably already said hi, and as you know in front of you is Ivan. Then even further front is-"
"Are you guys doing introductions?" A cheery voice asked from the front-left side of Nick's desk.
Even more people. Four other classmates came from the left. Niccolo tried to sink into his seat. Considering the fact that there's people all around him, it didn't work out so well. The entire class crowded all around him. Niccolo couldn't see the substitute teacher, but he's willing to bet the teacher isn't paying them any attention. So Nick opted to keep his head low and stare at his desk.
"Alya Césaire, Class Deputy!" exclaimed that same cheerful voice.
"I'm Marinette, the Class Representative. If you need any help, you can just come to me for advice," said someone next to her.
"I'm Nino. I manage the school radio station," said another person.
"And I'm-"
Niccolo abruptly stood up.
"L-Listen, it's nice to meet you all, but I gotta go!" cried Nick. He grabbed his messenger bag and hopped over his seat, settling in the gap between Rose and Nathaniel.
Rose stared at him with wide eyes.
"Where are you going?"
Niccolo didn't answer. He swerved to the middle walkway, marched to the front of the class, and out the front door.
The substitute yelled after him, but didn't make any movement to stop him. Nick didn't stop walking until he reached the boy's washroom. Seeing that it's empty, the teen staggered over to the hand washing area. His elbows leaned against the edges of the sink, hands covering his face.
Motto popped out of the messenger bag. "Ha, I can't believe you just walked out of class like that!" he exclaimed, sitting on the handle of the faucet. "I wish I could've seen the look on everyone's faces!"
Nick didn't reply, face still covered with his hands.
The kwami's teasing smirk turned into a frown.
"Hey… Are you okay? Are you going to puke or something?" he asked in a softer voice.
A pause. Niccolo shook his head.
Nick took in a shuddering breath and let out an unsteady exhale. Seconds later, he turned on the faucet and began to splash water on his face. Wiping himself with a disposable paper towel, the teen took a couple of seconds to stare at himself in the mirror.
Motto hovered near his eye level.
"Wanna talk about it?"
Nick shook his head again. "Not really."
"Okay."
A beat of silence. Nick ran a hand through his messy hair.
"How badly do you think I messed up the chances of inviting them to my birthday party?"
"Psh, it's a party!" Motto waved his hand. "I don't know why anyone wouldn't come, even if they hate the host. It's free food. I'd say you're fine."
"Yeah, but the end goal is to invite Adrien Agreste. I need more appeal than just free food," protested Nick.
"True. You did cut him off and ran away when he was about to introduce himself."
Nick froze. "Wait what?"
"You cut him off and ran away when he was about to introduce-"
"-I heard you," snapped Nick, facepalming. He groaned. "I didn't even notice I did that! I stopped paying attention to my classmates after they all started crowding around me. Think it's salvageable?"
"Well you won't know unless you get out of the washroom and face the music." Motto sniffed the air. "Seriously though, get out of the washroom. Why is this your go-to place to sulk? Come here often enough and you'll start to smell like one. Now that'll really improve your social abilities."
"Oh shut it," huffed Nick, poking Motto on the forehead. Yet already he could feel the tension in his shoulders start to relax. Not that he'll ever admit it.
Motto grinned, returning inside Nick's messenger bag.
"Ready to face the music?"
"Not really," admitted Nick. He moved to leave the washroom anyway.
Opening the door, Niccolo came face to face with Juleka.
Juleka was leaning against the rows of lockers in front of the boy's washroom, a pensive look on her face. When she spotted Nick, a small smile crept upon her lips.
"I figured you'd be hiding out in the washroom," she explained, straightening up. "The substitute got mad that you left all of a sudden, so I was sent to go after you."
Nick winced. "I kind of made a scene, didn't I."
"No, it's cool. Rose is straightening out everything with everyone. Also, uh…" Juleka grimaced. "We're sorry for overcrowding you. Sometimes Rose gets really excited, and then I get excited, and we sort of get carried away. We really wanted you to have a good time here. Rose has noticed how tired you look all the time and wanted to cheer you up. We should've noticed you were getting really uncomfortable with all the attention."
"...Oh." Nick looked away, then mumbled, "That's uh… That's really sweet of you two. Thanks."
Juleka offered a tiny smile. "Don't mention it."
He shifted the weight of his feet. "We should get back to class."
Wordlessly, Juleka started to move towards the direction of the class, and Niccolo followed.
"Motto."
Nick shut his locker and closed the lock.
They were in the locker room. It was the end of the day, so there were too many people milling about for Motto to properly talk to him.
Still, Motto tried to discreetly whisper, "Yeah?"
"I'm going to do something crazy. Wish me luck."
Motto blinked. "Uh, can you run through your plan with me first-"
Motto was cut off as Nick began to run forward. He sped through the doors, avoiding the throngs of people leaving the school grounds. At the steps of the school entrance, Nick faltered a little. He shook his head, then briskly walked down the stairs.
"Um-" He tightened his grip on the strap of his messenger bag. "R-Rose! Juleka!"
A couple of steps away, the duo stopped and turned around. A look of surprise flashed on their faces, turning into a big smile for Rose and curiosity for Juleka.
"Nick!" "Hi Nick."
Nick jogged over to them, then took a moment to catch his breath. He wasn't tired, but he used those extra seconds as a chance to collect his thoughts.
"I, uh-" Niccolo fiddled with his bag strap. "Are you two busy today?"
Rose made a face. "We were going over to my house to work on our math homework together. I'm awful at math." She draped her arm over Juleka's shoulders. "So we figured two heads are better than one!"
"Math homework? We had homework?"
"The worksheets Miss Bustier gave us yesterday," explained Juleka. "Did you lose yours?"
It took a moment before Nick recalled what they were talking about.
"Oh! Those worksheets! I finished mines yesterday," said Nick.
Rose snapped her fingers. "I remember that! I thought you just really needed to go to the washroom that you zipped through all those problems."
"Anyway!" said Nick with a squeak, "I needed help putting together invitations for my birthday, but I'm not very artistic and I don't know all the names of our classmates yet. So maybe…" He took in a breath. "I help you guys with math and in exchange you two can help me make invitations..?"
Rose promptly squeed.
"Invitations! That sounds like so much fun! I'd do it for free!"
"It does sound like fun," agreed Juleka. "I've never made invitations before."
"You can use your pretty handwriting!" gushed Rose. "And I can use stickers! Colourful stickers!"
"So… Is that a yes..?"
"Of course that's a yes!" Rose undraped her arm from Juleka's shoulder. "Let's go to my house! I have a ton of pretty paper we can use!"
"Don't forget about our math homework," reminded Juleka.
"I know, I know!"
As the two talked and walked, with Niccolo trailing behind them, Motto poked his head out of the messenger bag.
"This is crazy?" whispered Motto, "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"I've never went over to a friend's house before," admitted Nick quietly.
"Seriously? What about group projects?"
"Finished them on my own. Or worked on them collaboratively online. My dad wouldn't let me go over to a friend's house anyway."
Motto furrowed an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to get into trouble then?"
"Other dad."
"Nick, you're slowing down!" cried Rose, "Come on, we don't want to leave you behind!"
Niccolo snapped his head up to see that Rose and Juleka were already at the other end of the street.
"My bad!" yelled Nick, jogging over to catch up to them.
"You really are a math wiz!" complimented Rose, flipping through her completed math worksheets. "I've never finished math this fast."
They were lounging in her room. Rose laid on her stomach on the carpeted floor, Juleka leaned against the bed, while Nick sat cross legged near the door, absentmindedly chewing on his pencil as he checked Juleka's work.
"Mh-" Nick grabbed his pencil from his mouth. "Honestly, you knew the steps, you just had trouble knowing when to use them." With a nod, he handed over the worksheets in his hand to Juleka.
"Thanks for tutoring us," said Juleka, putting her finished homework in her bag.
"Yeah, thanks! Are you a tutor or something?"
"A tutor?" asked Nick. "Oh, no. I mean, I would tutor my sister sometimes, but really I just like math."
"You have a sister?" Juleka closed her bag. "Does she go to our sch-"
"Ahh, it's six o'clock!" interrupted Nick. "Do we have time for-?"
Rose clapped her hands. "The invitations! Right! Should all the invitations be in coloured paper? Oh but I want the words and stickers to be colourful too!"
"We can use coloured paper on the outside then white paper on the inside," suggested Juleka.
Rose gasped. "That's a great idea!" She turned towards Nick. "What do you think? It's your birthday party."
"Uh…" Nick shrugged. "I'm honestly clueless."
"I'll pull out the papers and stickers!" Rose stood up. "Juleka, can you get the pens and scissors?"
Juleka nods, standing up as well. They both left the room, but Nick can still hear the pitter patter of their feet.
"I'll… Stay here, I guess…"
Nick stood up, but mostly to stretch his legs. Out of nothing else better to do, he wandered over to Rose's desk. It was a typical desk, pink in colour, cluttered with leftover cut paper and decorated with stickers. A cork board pinned with pictures of Rose, Juleka, and her other friends hung right above it. There was a snow globe with a tiny Eiffel Tower laid precariously to the border of the desk, threatening to fall over and shatter. Niccolo placed a hand on it, pushing it away from the edge, deep in thought.
"Hey!"
Nick jumped, instinctively tightening his hands and shoving them into his sweater pockets. He turned around. His messenger bag on the floor was shaking, before it flopped over on its side. Motto crawled out of it.
Nick exhaled a breath of relief. "You need to stop scaring me."
"I think you just need to get used to me being around," replied Motto. "I'm bored."
"Can't you just play on my phone?"
"Well I would, but-"
Footsteps were getting louder. Motto darted back into the bag.
"I found my nice papers and stickers!" exclaimed Rose, skipping into the room. "Plus, I found some colourful glitter glue too. The class is going to love their invitations!"
She dumped her supplies on the floor. The stack of paper made a loud thud as it hit the carpet.
"That's… A lot of colourful paper," said Nick. "Do we really need that many?"
"It never hurts to get the perfect colour!" exclaimed Rose, "Do you think we need anything else?"
"Actually…" Nick glanced over to his messenger bag. "Maybe, snacks?"
Rose perked up. "Snacks are a great idea! Let's go to the kitchen together!"
The girl skipped out of the room again, with Nick rushing to catch up with her.
Since Nick wasn't very artsy, he volunteered for the job of cutting and folding the paper. He insisted the other two girls have full reign on the art side of the invitations.
"Mylène should get this shade of green, like the cute sweater she always wears, ooh and Max should get this checkered brown, it suits him, oh oh and Marinette should have this white polka-dot pink, she loves that design, and-"
On and on Rose went, handing Nick each paper she listed. The pile got considerably bigger and smaller, with Rose either adding on multiple shades at once or changing her mind and discarding the paper from the pile.
"I'll just cut them when you're done," decided Nick out loud.
Niccolo opened one of the potato chip bags they laid out for snacks, sour cream & onion, and let the scent waft into the air. Seeing Rose distracted with colour matching and Juleka focused on testing out the pens, Nick discreetly grabbed a handful of chips. He shoved them into his bag.
If one strains their ears, they could hear the excited gasp Motto let out. There were tiny crunches of chip eating, but not loud enough for the other girls to hear.
"Nick," said Juleka, looking up from her paper. "What's your address? When's the party?"
"Right. I'll write it down."
Juleka handed over the paper she was scribbling on, along with a standard pen.
"My birthday this year falls on a Tuesday," says Nick, tapping the pen on his cheek. "So I guess I'll have the party on the Saturday after." He wrote down the date and address.
"Four days later?" asked Rose, temporarily snapped out of her colour daze. "You don't want it earlier?"
Nick hid a grimace. "Nah. The later the better." He handed the paper and pen back to Juleka.
Rose shuffled the papers. "What colour should Chloe get? I'm thinking yellow, but I don't know if I want yellow the same shade as her hair or her clothes."
"Chloe?" repeated Nick, furrowing his eyebrow. "Isn't she that girl everyone keeps telling me to stay away from? And not invite?"
"Yeah, but…" Rose fiddled with the two different shades of yellow. "I don't think she should miss out from hanging out with the rest of the class. Who knows, she might have fun!"
"In the end, you're the one who decides, Nick. It's your birthday," said Juleka.
Nick shrugged. "Well I've never met her before, so who am I to judge. Let's invite her."
"Okay!" exclaimed Rose, "And I've decided to go with the brighter yellow, and…"
As Juleka was putting the finishing touches on the names at the front of the invitations, she absentmindedly glanced at the time, then gasped.
"8 o'clock!" she cried, standing up abruptly. "I'm supposed to be home by now- I got to go."
"That's alright! I'm just putting the finishing touches on the stickers, then all the invitations are done!" exclaimed Rose.
Juleka nods. "This was fun. I'll see you two tomorrow at school. Bye!"
"Bye!" chorused Rose and Nick together. With that, Juleka hastily grabbed her bag and left the room.
Nick glanced at the time, furrowing his eyebrow.
"Strange, my parents should've called me by now…" he said.
Niccolo peered inside his messenger bag. Motto stared back with a guilty looking expression on his face. Raising an eyebrow, Nick pulled out his cellphone.
The screen was pitch black. He hit the power button.
Nothing changed.
Dread coursed through his veins. Motto mouthing 'my bad' didn't help a single bit.
"Outlet!" yelled Nick, grabbing his phone charger from his bag. This statement startled Rose, who knocked over her glitter glue on one of the invitations. Luckily it was only the edge, so it wasn't very noticeable.
Nick practically fell to his knees at the nearest power outlet. He slammed his phone charger into the outlet and the other end into his phone. As Nick's knee shook from waiting impatiently for the phone to turn on, Rose peered above his shoulder.
"What happened?" she asked.
The phone screen blinked on. After hastily entering his password and backspacing because of a typo, he was greeted with the notification 'You have 7 missed call(s)!'.
Four from his mom, two from Lila, and one from his dad. Great.
He called his mom, placing the phone on his ear. Halfway through the first ring, his mother answered the phone.
"Nick! Are you okay?! How many bones are broken?!" cried Francesca.
"What- None!" answered Nick hastily. "Who told you that?"
"You never, in the history of owning a phone, missed a call," said his mom. "You sometimes cancel them, but never let it ring or turn it off. At first I thought it got stolen or something, because karma, but then it was getting late and you weren't showing up home, I thought you were lying dead in a ditch somewhere!"
"Calm down, calm down, I'm sorry," apologized Nick. "The battery on my phone ran out and I didn't notice."
"Oh thank heavens," whispered Francesca. Nick could hear a muffled "Samuel! Lila! Call off the search, he's okay!" Francesca returned to the phone call. "Where were you?"
"I was tutoring some friends of mine in math. Then we made some invitations for my birthday party together."
Francesca gasped. "That's amazing, Nick! Who are they? Are they nice? Are you going to sleepover? Should I bring some PJs and underwear-"
"Nope, mom, stop right there, I'm going home!" interrupted Nick. "Expect me in twenty minutes. Bye!"
"See you soon, sweetie! I can't wait for your birthday party!"
With that, Francesca ended the call. Nick sighed, staring at his phone.
"I can," he said to himself.
When Nick opened the door to his house, he could hear the sounds of television coming from the living room. He shut the door. The sound prompted sock muffled footsteps to rush down the stairs.
"Oh, you're home," said Lila, standing at the halfway point of the staircase. "Next time, answer our calls. You were freaking dad out."
"Ran out of battery," replied Nick. "Though I really doubt it'll happen again. On the bright side, guess who prepared invitations for their birthday?"
Lila raised an eyebrow. "You? No way. Your handwriting is atrocious." She walked over to Nick's messenger bag, but before she could look inside, Nick pulled it away.
"Well that's rude." Nick pulled out the invitations from his bag, making sure to not hit Motto. "And no, actually. Kind of. I worked on these with two classmates of mines."
Lila snatched them out of his hands. She barely glanced at each one, flipping through them at rapid speed, before she settled on a plain green one. The front spelled 'Adrien' in gold cursive. She tossed the rest back at Nick, but most landed back on the floor. With an unnoticed glare, Nick crouched down to pick up the invitations.
Lila scoffed. "Really?"
"What?"
Lila turned the open invitation in her hands so it faced Nick. From his crouching position on the ground, he craned his face invitation had a wavy outline, like all the other invitations, with white paper glued on the inside (Nick's work, which he was sort of proud of). Fancy handwriting noted all the details of the party (Juleka's work). Finally, the paper was plastered with cute doodles and stickers of miscellaneous objects, such as cheese and fencing swords (Rose's pride and joy, obviously). All in all, it didn't look half bad.
"This invitation is not extravagant enough! Who uses plain green?!" complained Lila. "The handwriting is wobbly and these stickers clutter the entire thing! The wavy border is just stupid."
Nick frowned. "Lila." He snatched the invitation out of her hands. "Shut up."
Lila had the decency to look sheepish, hand on the back of her neck.
"Okay, fine. Got too pushy there. I just want everything to be perfect for Adrien," said Lila.
Nick looked back at the invitation, at the uneven borders and wobbly handwriting and overdose of stickers.
"I think it's perfect."
Lila snorted. "You sap. Look, I guess you can argue that it's not that bad, but Adrien deserves the best of the best!" She crossed her arms. "How about I'll work on his invitation, since I'm the one who cares about him the most? I'll get those automatic music cards, type out the words, use professional paper-"
"We worked really hard on these invitations," cut in Nick. "I'm not going to single out Adrien's card just because you're obsessed with him."
Lila huffed. "If he doesn't come to our house for your birthday-"
"He'll come, I promise. So leave the invitation alone."
"Fine. I'll hold you onto that." With that, Lila marched back upstairs. Nick stared at her retreated back.
"Uh." Nick turned towards his messenger bag. "Why did I promise that?"
"Because you're a sap?" replied Motto immediately.
Nick narrowed his eyes and shoved the invitations back into the bag, purposely hitting Motto in the process. Motto merely laughed in response, watching Nick attempt to ignore him.
"Mom," said Nick as he entered the living room. "I need to speak with you."
"You're home!" exclaimed Francesca from the couch.
She was snuggled up to her husband, but the woman immediately extricated herself from his hold. She grabbed the tv remote placed on top of the glass table at the center of the room. The television paused. The room fell silent.
"Have you eaten dinner yet?" she asked. "There's still some left on the dining table, I covered it with plastic. You just need to heat it up."
"Later." Niccolo crossed his arms. "I'm mad at you."
Samuel stood up from the couch.
"That's my cue to leave."
The man all but ran out of the room. Francesca burst out laughing.
"Samuel!" she scolded, but Samuel was too far gone upstairs. She shook her head, a fond smile on her lips, then turned towards her son. "That silly man… Alright Nicco. What are you mad about? Tell your mother all about your teenage feelings."
Nick tried his hardest not to pout. "Don't patronize me."
"I'm not! Come on Nick, take a seat." Francesca patted on the green couch cushion beside her. "Why are you mad?"
Niccolo tried to resist, but after one glance at his pleading mother's face, he relented and sat down.
"Flute."
Francesca stared at her son, uncomprehending, before it clicked. She grinned wide.
"Did you like it? It's top of the line, all silver, custom engraved flute just for you!"
Nick sighed, running a hand through his hair. He glanced at his bag, then back at his mom. "I do like it mom, thank you. But it's not what we agreed on. That flute you gave me had to be at least three thousand euro."
"Or so you think!" Francesca smirked deviously. "I know exactly what we agreed on. So I bought a brand new flute cheap from a friend of mine who never used it, got it cleaned and engraved for half the price from a huge fan of mine, then got it transported here quickly as a favour from a close friend. All of that was actually under a thousand euro, just like you asked."
"W-Wha…" Nick gaped at her. "You- You cheated!"
"I'd never dishonour a deal from my son!" protested Francesca, giving her son a bear hug.
Nick struggled under her grasp. "Mom! Can't breathe!"
Francesca let go, but not before ruffling his hair. "Now go eat. I don't want you skipping meals again."
Nick looked like he wanted to protest, lips pressed into a thin line, before he sighed.
"Okay, okay. You win." He stood up. "Thanks, mom."
"It's my pleasure!" replied Francesca cheerily, reaching for the television remote.
Nick left the living room with the sounds of television playing behind his back.
"Did you know your mom is awesome? Your mom is awesome," said Motto.
"Well, it's not like I have any other moms to compare her to." Niccolo shut the panel connecting his bedroom to the rest of his house. He grabbed his phone and charger, tossed his messenger bag on his bed, then promptly plugged in his cellphone to an electrical outlet.
Motto floated over to the phone and sat next to it.
"Sorry about using up all your battery. It's been ages since I've last touched a cellphone. I thought the battery capacity is more."
"It's fine." Nick walked over to his closet. "I'm going to sleep. All of this social interaction today has wiped me out."
"Ooh! Speaking of social interaction, want to hear what I researched on your phone?"
"Wait, you used my phone to research? You didn't play games or something to entertain yourself?"
Motto scoffed. "Who would waste their time on games when you got the vast world of endless information online?! I learned about the history of France! And where the best potato chips are in France! I would ask you to bring me there, but considering how you couldn't even bring me to Master Fu…"
Nick rolled his eyes, pulling out his pajamas from the closet.
"Is that all you researched?" he asked.
"Psh, I'm much more efficient than that!" Motto zipped over to Nick's pillow. "I also researched the whole social anxiety, antisocial, and asocial differences I was talking about earlier. Want to hear about it?"
"No."
"Great! So to simplify it, antisocial people are against society, unwilling to associate in a normal or friendly way with other people. Asocial people are those who are withdrawn from society because they feel like it has no importance. People with social anxiety feel nervous and uncomfortable in social situations, and they actually do feel physical symptoms like rapid heartbeat and dizziness. They're all similar, but today proved you're probably not asocial. I think you just have social anxiety, but it might be only minor because you were fine interacting with-."
"-Swell. You're a nerd."
Motto grinned. "Don't pretend like you weren't listening."
Nick turned around in an attempt to ignore him. He pulled out his sweater over his head to change his clothes. As he removed it, something fell out of his sweater pocket, and landed on a discarded pillow on the floor. Still, it made a loud thump.
Motto's eyes widened. "Is that-?"
Nick froze as he stared at the object. Motto flew over to it.
It was a snow globe, with a tiny eiffel tower in the middle.
"You don't own this. Where did you get this? I was with you all day!" Motto floated upwards to make eye contact with Nick. "Did you- Did you steal this from Rose?!"
"I, uh, wow." Niccolo picked up the snow globe. "I didn't even realize. I didn't mean to."
"Didn't- Didn't mean to- You got a problem, Freckles." Motto took the snow globe from Nick's hands. It looked ridiculously big on his tiny frame. "We need to return this."
"It's late at night, and I'm exhausted."
Motto pointed at the miraculous worn around Nick's neck, tucked underneath his black shirt.
"You literally have the power to go out, give it back to her, then return in less than five minutes."
Nick rubbed his face. "Fine… But you're not going to get chips until tomorrow morning. Motto, Foxtrot!"
First problem Motto didn't foresee and Nick was too tired to think about is that people sleep at night.
At the top of the adjacent building, Niccolo used his flute vertically as a cane, leaning his right arm on it and left elbow on top of that, all to prop up his chin with his left hand in a lazy manner.
A quick precursory glance showed that all the windows are shut, with the locks properly locked. There are no trap doors on the ceiling to lead to the roof like his own house does.
So instead, Nick dropped down before the front door. He crouched eye level at the doorknob.
"A spring latch? Really? Rose's family needs to invest in better securi-"
Niccolo stopped. "Security…" He repeated to himself. Then, the tiniest of smirks crept up.
He looked around. His cloth tail followed his movement. There was a dumpster at the corner of the street.
Deciding to try his luck, Nick walked over to the dumpster. It smelt worse than usual. Nick's nose scrunched up in distaste. What a great time to realize he has enhanced smell.
Using one hand to pinch his nose and the other hand to hold his flute, Nick poked around the dumpster using the other end of the instrument. A few plastic containers, rotting food, and shopping bags later, Nick found an expired points card for a grocery store.
"Bingo," he whispered to himself, grin stretching on his face.
He grabbed the card, making sure not to touch any other foul materials in the garbage can. It was scratched and slightly dirty, but it'll do.
Niccolo returned to Rose's front door and stuck the card through the crack of the door.
After wiggling the card and adding pressure to the door and handle with his other hand, the card finally forced the lock to pop open, and thus the door opened.
"And that's why modern doors don't use spring latch door knobs anymore."
The house was dark. Everyone was asleep. Personally, Nick thought it was too early to be sleeping, but he remembered reading in an article before moving to France that the average sleeping time in France is greater compared to Italy's. Perhaps that statistic was valid.
Niccolo slowly crept into the house, taking care of his footsteps to not make any sound. Eventually, he made it across to the living room.
He frowned, looking at the staircase leading to the bedrooms. He could easily sneak in then sneak out with none the wiser, however it would be creepy to break into someone's room while they're sleeping.
He decided to settle for the dining table. Gloved hands held the snow globe as he gently placed the item down. At this angle to the staircase, it would be the first thing their family sees.
Patting himself on the back for a job well done, Niccolo quietly marched out of the house, a triumphant smile on his face as he locked the door behind him.
Motto glared at his miraculous owner.
Said miraculous owner would be blind to not notice his kwami's displeasure. Especially since Motto was only two centimeters away from his face.
"What. Was. That," growled Motto, flecking a stray spit on Niccolo's face.
Nick wiped his face with his sleeve, the movement pushing Motto away from his personal space.
"What was what?"
Motto let out a scandalized scoff. He gestured his tiny arms wildly at the window of Nick's bedroom.
"You know what!"
Niccolo picked up his night clothes- a wrinkled t-shirt and frayed shorts cut out of some old sweatpants- then gave them a tentative sniff.
"What's your problem? You're the one who told me to return the snow globe. I don't normally do that."
Motto shut his eyes. He rubbed his temples with his paws. Niccolo changed clothes in the silence.
Finally, Motto spoke, voice slow as if talking to a small child. "Niccolo. Please tell me. Why on Earth would you think I'd want you to break through the front door of someone's house?"
"Well the back door was locked."
Motto crossed his arms.
"Okay, okay, not in the mood for jokes." Nick plopped onto his computer chair. "It's practice."
Motto lowered his arms.
"Practice… For what..?" His eyes snapped at the computer monitor. "No. Don't tell me-"
Niccolo entered his password. The computer became alight to a news article.
Angel's Allure has Captivated Us All
The Angel's Allure, the Newest Diamond sent from the Leroi Family, has made a stunning appearance in today's Art Showcase!
The diamond has been generously donated a week ago, and already the Musee de La Franc has reached peak capacity- over half the number of visitors the Louvre gets daily!
The 4-carat diamonds weighs in 280 000 euro, making it the third most expensive item in the entire museum, right after the Midnight Desire Necklace and the Sharpshooter Telescope.
Moments of Niccolo typing furiously on his keyboard, of the codes and blueprints and hours of practicing his miraculous form flashed through Motto's mind. He fell silent.
"Don't worry," said Nick, leaning back on his chair. "Nobody will figure out who I am. Like a blank slate."
He smiled at Motto. Motto didn't smile back.
A/N: I don't think anybody has spring lock front doors anymore, but researching how to break into a house doesn't give me much results. (Obviously. It's a crime.) So. Artistic license?
Thief Miraculous User OCs were fairly common (especially fox miraculouses) back when I published the fic, which was one of the reasons why I was so nervous posting the first chapter and this chapter. Except after many months I couldn't think of any outstanding cons for posting this, so I pushed everything aside and did it.
The next chapter won't be coming soon, but I'm aiming for less than a year (yikes, I know). Thanks for reading so far!