(Edited)

August woke up to his alarm clock going off for the third time in the past half hour. He finally grudgingly got out of bed and turned it off. Walking towards his closet, he awoke Tikki and got dressed. "C'mon Tikki, get up," He said as he nudged her. "I'll get you a cookie from Grand-mère and Grand-père's bakery on the way back." Tikki looked at the time on the clock.

"It's 4:00 in the morning, don't you think that's early, even for you?" She said and flew towards her holder, landing on top of his head while yawning.

"You know that I need to do my laps and patrol before school, I can't skip one or the other, or be late for school. Mom would ground me if she found out I skipped." Tikki gave out a sigh and flew to August's school bag.

"I don't see why you don't just do both at the same time," She said, pulling out a bag of packaged and dry cookies. "At least then you can get more sleep and fresh sweets than...these." Tikki pulled out the sugar-loaded, dry biscuit that was good enough to restore her energy but didn't taste as good as the fresh ones Marinette fed her from her parent's bakery or ones she made herself.

August sighed, knowing his Kwami probably had better holders than him, those that didn't push her so much or gave her better food at the very least. "I don't want to use my hero strengths when I practice for basketball, it won't be fair to everyone and I need to earn my place myself, not have it sort of be given to me." He said, looking at Tikki with the same look he had when she became part of his life, eyes filled with hope. "I know that. I was saying that you could keep an eye out when you are on your run," Tikki gave a sympathetic giggle to August. She could almost understand how Plagg must have felt with his old holder being so busy all the time and finding ways to slip away to save the day. "Well, we better go if you want breakfast today," Tikki said, flying to August and hugged his cheek before going into his pocket.

An hour later, August has showered and changed. Munching on a croissant, he looked at what was new on the LadyBlog. The blog was dedicated to the last Ladybug was now given to the blogger's daughter, who was just as big a fan as her mother, and now had articles of the new Ladybeetle and all the 'akumas'. The old articles were still there and were given a special place on the blog, which was where August went. He ignored the video clips and pictures of him as Ladybeetle and read some of the first ones that came on the blog, trying to figure out what he was doing that made the akumas harder to fight every day. After half an hour and finding nothing, August gave up and pushed away from his desk, leaning back.

"Hey Tikki?"

"Yeah, August,"

"Do you think I'm a good Ladybug?"

Tikki paused for a moment. "Every Ladybug is different, and so far I haven't had one that didn't protect their home and people with all their heart." By know, Tikki was sitting in August's fire-red hair. "So to answer your question, I believe that you're the best Ladybug you can be." Flying down to meet him eye-to-eye, Tikki looked at August's crystal-blue eyes with her own. "It would help if you had a partner, you know that right?"

"How? It's not like one is going to magically pop up out of nowhere."

"You'll see," Tikki said before floating to August's bag. "Oh, and you have only 10 minutes before you're late for class."

Looking at the time, he saw that his Kwami was right and almost tripped over his chair trying to grab his bag and run to the door. Speeding through the hallway to the front door, August paid little attention to the photos and portraits on the walls of his famous fashion designer mother, his amazing of an artist father and him. Somehow, they looked like another family completely, but it was them. Sure, every year just like yesterday his mother would get a far off look in her eyes and pull away from everyone, but she always gets better the next day. His father gave up trying to figure out what made her act like that, but August kept worrying when she didn't even look at him for one year. She was better this year; she only walked away twice when she had the look in her eyes.

Running out the door and slamming it behind him, August ran through the streets until he got to his school's doors and to his classroom, the final bell rang just as he rushed through the doorway. Breathing heavily, he didn't notice the girl standing in front of him until he knocked her over, and proceeded on tripping over her. Bracing his arms out to not land on her, the impact made August nose to nose with the girl he knocked over. Her emerald-green eyes stared into his crystal-blue ones while blood boiling blush crept up their necks and face. Suddenly, the girl pushed August off with such force that he nearly fell onto his back but caught himself by grabbing the desk near him. Looking back towards the girl, he saw she had pulled herself up and another girl was at her side, he recognized her as Zoe Lahiffe, his classmate, and Ladybug's blogger.

"What the hell, August?! You don't need to make your entrances so dramatic when you're late. Look what you did to Emma…Emma? Hey, Emma you okay?" Zoe said, a concerned tone going towards her older cousin, whose face was as pale as a sheet. "Emma? Emma, are you okay? What the fuck did you do Kurtzberg?!" August slowly got up and he could feel his blush grow hotter as the thought of what could have happened came to his mind. "I'm sorry, I didn't even know she was there, I swear!" He said, raising his hands in innocence. "Look I'm sorry, I didn't do anything, you were right there! I accidentally knocked her over and fell on her, I admit to that but I did nothing else!" By now a crowd of his classmates formed around them as whispers passed back and forth.

"I-I'm fine Zoe. It was my fault; I didn't hear him come in." Emma said to her cousin. "Plus he's Marinette Kurtzberg's son, I don't want him telling his mom that I got him in trouble at school, it could ruin my chances in the competition."

Giving out a reluctant sigh, Zoe looked Emma in the eye. "Fine, only because you asked me."

"Yo, Kurtzberg." Zoe walked up to August. "We'll forget this if you keep your mouth shut, okay?" By now Zoe had backed August against a desk. "And don't mess with my cousin. Got it?"

After getting a frightened nod, Zoe walked back to Emma and took her arm. "C'mon, let's go sit down before we're marked tardy." With a little pout, Emma followed Zoe to their seat(s).

"I think you just made things worse." She said.

"Why do you say that?" Zoe replied, her voice making it sound as if nothing happened.

"If I don't get past security tomorrow, I'm blaming you."

"What did I do?!"

Cautiously peeking over his shoulder, August blushed as he caught sight of Emma near the back of the classroom. Looking away before Zoe saw him; he quickly grabbed his bag and went to his seat. Sliding into his seat next to his best friend, August put his head on the table and sighed.

"You know, that's not an ideal way of meeting a girl."

"Shut up Luke,"

"Or how to get on my sister's good side,"

"Shut up."

"If you wanted to hook up with Emma, you could have just asked, I would have set something up."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP LUKE!" By now August's face was as red as his hair from embarrassment.

"You know I'm joking right? Plus Emma wouldn't go out with you anyway."

"Why do you think I would go out with her? I tripped and made a fool of myself the second of seeing her." August's reply was flat and to the point. August shook his head. 'I'm pushing myself too hard.'

"Well, she adores your mom if that's anything."

Before August could respond, an exploded sounded outside the front of the school and the Akuma alarm went off. "Everyone go home! Go through the back and be safe!" The teacher shouted, leading a few of the kids out the door. "What's going on? Zoe!" August heard Emma ask her cousin as they headed to the door.

"You read the LadyBlog and my articles, right? Luke! Let's go!" Emma nodded, her brows knitting together. "Well an Akuma struck the school and we need to evacuate until Ladybeetle purifies it. Luke, get your ass over here!"

"C'mon Lu-Lu!" Emma called her cousin's twin.

"I'm coming! You good by yourself dude?" Luke said, stopping for a moment to look at August.

"Yeah, you go. Zoe's pissed already; don't want to her get madder." With that August ran outside with the other kids but hid before transforming.