Boy

Has it happened that you have a plan for a fic and then THE SNEAKY goes on a different path? This is happening here. Have mercy on my soul.

There was something going on in Paris.

Gabriel Agreste tapped his fingers against his arms, crossed and tense as he thought about the past events.

Oh how close had he been when that girl, that Lila Rossi, had showed up to the city. She had been one of the closest akumas to retrieve the Ladybug's earrings –while using an illusion of his son but it had ended up being effective- and succeeding in his plans.

When she transformed into Volpina again and caused havoc among the Parisians with that illusion, creating so much despair for him to take his plan into action, oh he could have almost touched them from how close he was to succeed. It was unfortunate to be defeated in the end, but that was just a battle, not the war.

And then for a third time! As a different akuma but nonetheless, he could have achieved it, that girl was just a perfect piece in his game. Never mind the fact that that akuma was destined for someone else.

Yes, Gabriel frowned as he glanced through the window of his lair; that girl, that designer girl wasn't immune to negative emotions. As Hawkmoth he almost had her not once but twice, only to be ruined by the intervention of the teacher in the first one and then the girl had the audacity to avoid the second butterfly destined for her.

How had she done it, he didn't know yet. But he knew, he could tell thanks to his own miraculous that the girl's emotions could have been enough for him to have a powerful akuma, the most powerful one even, with all that sadness and anger and embarrassment swimming around, all hidden by a lid.

She had interacted with her on occasion. Of course as Gabriel Agreste, who had to admit the girl had potential for the industry. With enough studying and hard work he was sure she would get high in the professional ladder. Yet as Hawkmoth he was more invested in all those emotions.

But since Friday that pot of emotions had become almost inexistent under his radar. They couldn't have disappeared just like that! After his initial surprise, he found them still there, but in such a lower intensity it was strange. Not only that, but he had felt as if something was blocking his sight of her emotions. It had felt as if the girl was suddenly erased from the city, like she had been moved to another location, only to pop up moments later with such ease he had been stunned by that magical –because what other explanation could he have- event.

Then with his latest akuma the day before, that hadn't been the magic of creation that caused that tacky carp over the miraculous holders, it came from somewhere else. And to top it all, for one moment he had felt it, the intense sadness coming from his own son, the hurt and embarrassment over something he didn't know what it was, only for it to be blocked again out of his sight.

Yes, something was going on in Paris.

"Nooroo" he turned to the small purple kwami "what kind of power is it that is blocking my sight?"

Nooroo didn't want to answer, but the cold stare from Gabriel and the binding he had to him made it impossible to avoid.

"It's a different type of creation magic" Nooroo said, voice meek and eyes down "I haven't seen it for decades, hundreds of years."

"Creation magic you say" Gabriel turned on his heels "and who or what is the responsible of this? Is it another miraculous?"

"N-no master," Nooroo fumbled with their paws "this is from, well, they are called silver tongues, and they can breathe life in the words they speak."

"And how do they do that?"

Nooroo didn't answer right away, which meant either the kwami was fighting real hard to reveal or they simply didn't know.

"No matter, I will find this silver tongue, they might be better in getting the miraculous for me."

He called his transformation, the mask and suit of Hawkmoth appearing instead of the white pristine one he usually wore.

"Now, where is this magic hiding?"

Paris always had their ups and downs in emotions, many people possible victims for Hawkmoth to akumatize. He had had failures in the past, several of them downright embarrassing, but some, like that Rossi girl, had been useful enough.

Speaking of which, he smirked as he sensed the emotions of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng simmering in anger and disbelief, close to what had to be Lila Rossi and –he frowned- his son. He called an akuma, sending it to keep guard above the teens and strike at the right moment. He wanted Marinette on this, he wanted a strong akuma and he was not going to back down from the opportunity.

The akuma flew out of the window, passing rooftops and treetops, startling a few birds that sensed something off about the purple creature, as the akuma finally arrived to the top of the school building, close enough to find the six teenagers on the staircase, but far out of sight for any of them to even notice it.

Said teenagers wouldn't have been able to notice either way, since all the attention was in the staring from one to another, the tension was beginning to feel palpable.

Marinette was torn between keeping Alya from snapping and just leaving the place. She was not going to deal with Lila Rossi more than she had to at school, but if Alya were to call her out right there it would just create a pandemonium, and they were trying to keep it calm.

Adrien, on the other hand, was feeling Lila's nails almost digging into his arm as the girl looked from him to the others, and not once breaking her smile turning back to Adrien.

"What's wrong?"

"Lila," Adrien tried to pull her hands away from his arm "could you let-"

"Was it a lie?" Alya cut in, looking at Lila in disbelief "are you really friends with Ladybug or not?"

Marinette caught the glimpse Lila threw at her, the stare that said she was going to get back at her, but it was for a split of a second, as she moved away from Adrien and her face turned to one of shock and disbelief.

"W-what?" her voice quivered, making her look like she was confused at the accusation "Alya, why would I lie about such thing?"

"Adrien saw Ladybug debunking what you had said," Alya crossed her arms "he just said it."

"Well of course," Lila placed a hand on her chest "how else would we make it believable to keep her real identity a secret?"

Everyone turned to look at Lila when she said that, even Mauro who had stood up to stand next to Marinette. Oh the girl was good at making up stories on the go, he had to admit that.

"If she had acted like we usually talk" Lila kept going "then Adrien would have figured out who she is behind the mask" she turned to Adrien with a pout and Adrien felt his stomach dropping "we had to keep an appearance after all."

Marinette was fuming by that point. If she called Lila out then there was no way she would be able to back up her claim without revealing her identity as Ladybug. One glance at Adrien and she knew he was thinking the exact same thing.

"I have to throw off some things here and there for her safety after all" Lila sighed "I hope you can forgive me Alya, you of all people know how superheroes are."

"I uh," Alya faltered, looking at Nino and then to Lila "I-yes, identities are important after all."

"See? I would never try to trick you" Lila batted her eyelashes "how about I make it up for you? I can arrange an interview with Ladybug for you, a total exclusive."

"Really?" Alya's eyes lit up at that and Marinette had had it. She could not take this anymore. Her shoulders were tense and her eyes were practically throwing daggers at Lila, when she felt a hand on her side, followed by a loud laugh.

"Ay ajá," Mauro kept laughing "yeah sure, maybe you could call her right now and see if she's available."

"Excuse me?" Lila turned to him "have we met?"

"I literally showed up in your class two days ago m'ija" Mauro said "but go on, be our guest."

"I just said-"

"Secret identities, throwing people off their scent yada-yada" Mauro rolled his eyes "puro mame, to be honest, because I may be new here, but I'm not that dumb to see that's a terrible lie."

Lila huffed and glared at him, startled for once. Marinette couldn't help but to smile.

"Fine then," Lila huffed and pulled out her phone, glaring at Mauro as she typed something she didn't let anyone else see "of course I wouldn't call her, why would I risk that trust? But if she can be with us later today, she will answer."

Mauro spared a glance at the other two who didn't make another gesture, to Alya and Nino, where the latter was more perplexed as his girlfriend looked confused and desperately trying to understand the situation.

He moved closer to Marinette and pulled his pen out of her hand, moving as subtly as he could to Adrien's side.

"Now, can we go back to work?" she pulled Adrien's arm towards her "I'm sure you would want to have an amazing project, Adrien, keep those scores perfect after all."

Marinette wanted to gag at the sight. She turned to see Mauro who was apparently too preoccupied removing a cartridge of ink from his back pocket, snickering when a small black paw took it from under Adrien's shirt all the way to the other side of the sleeve.

Adrien felt it, the movement of Plagg from underneath his shirt and then the sticky sensation of ink being dropped on his arm and Lila's hand, where she jumped back as she looked at her now blue fingers.

"What!?"

"Aw, sorry" Mauro closed his pen "it's a faulty design, didn't mean to do that."

"Oh, really now?"

"It looks like it," Adrien looked at Mauro so he could give him the pen to 'inspect' it closer "my father has one of these if you press too hard it could happen."

"Of course," Lila took a tissue from her pocket to try and clean off the ink "is it a Mont Blanc? I got one from none other than John Green while we waited on a delayed plane to San Francisco."

Now it was Mauro who wanted to gag in response.

"So, shall we go then?" Lila ignored Mauro's face "the sooner we work together" she smirked at Marinette "the sooner I get to show you all that Ladybug is my one and only best friend."

She was feeling the anger invading her again, the frustration of wanting to call her out but being unable to without revealing who she was. It almost felt like her blood was boiling inside her veins, the lies so unbelievable she wanted to shout, get this over with.

"Look out!" Nino called out and pointed behind Marinette, everyone turning to see the purple butterfly flying towards her.

She had to calm down, she had to not let it take over her. But just as it was a few centimetres away from her, someone pushed her out of the way, her feet tripping on each other as she fell.

"No!" Nino screamed, pulling Alya out as Lila turned around and ran away, ignoring the rest of the teenagers.

Marinette turned around, her knees hurting from the impact, but the pain became non existent when she saw who had been the one that pushed her out of the akuma's way.

Adrien, who now had the purple butterfly mask on his face as Hawkmoth invaded his mind, his hand clutching onto a darkened fountain pen.

Welp, see you next chapter!