Hey everyone. I hope you've all been enjoying so far. For this chapter I'm introducing Luka into the story, but I'm not sure whether Luka and Nathanael have actually met before, so basically here they'll meet formally for the first time. With that said, let's get back to the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or the characters.
Nathanael carefully made his way onto the houseboat, curious as to where Juleka and Rose were.
Looking at his watch, he noticed that he was on time.
"I wonder what's holding them up." Nathanael thought.
"Hey." Someone called out.
Nathanael turned around, only to see someone was already home.
"Can I help you?" The guy asked.
"Sorry, I was just waiting for Juleka and Rose." Nathanael told him.
The guy stepped closer towards him, gripping the guitar in his hands.
"Let me guess… you're Nathanael?" He asked.
"Yeah." Nathanael said, nervously.
The guy just chuckled and strummed his guitar, surprising Nathanael with how intense the sound was.
"Sorry about that." He apologized.
"It's alright." Nathanael said, still disoriented from the noise.
After Nathanael regained his balance, he saw the guy put aside his guitar and hold out his hand for him to shake.
"I'm Luka." He introduced himself.
"Oh, it's nice to finally meet you." Nathanael said, as he shook his hand.
"Likewise." Luka said.
"Juleka mentioned you a few times." Luka said.
Nathanael shuddered at the thought.
"What did she say?" Nathanael wondered.
"A word of advice, stop hesitating and really think about what's most important to you, because you never know what could happen." Luka told him.
"Thank you?" Nathanael said, in confusion.
Nathanael wasn't sure why he would say that, but it wasn't exactly bad advice, so he just moved on.
Thankfully, Juleka and Rose arrived a minute later, alleviating some of Nathanael's awkwardness.
"I take it from your expression that he played his guitar when you met him." Juleka said, recognizing that distant look in his eyes.
"Yeah." Nathanael said.
Nathanael followed Juleka and Rose to her room, taking a seat on the bed.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Juleka asked.
"I wanted to talk to you about Alix." Nathanael said.
The two girls looked at each other, Rose with an ecstatic expression on her face.
"I knew it, you're having trouble telling Alix how you really feel, so you wanted to talk to us so we could give you some advice!" Rose exclaimed, as she jumped onto the bed and stood tall, striking an excited pose.
"Not quite." Nathanael said.
Rose's mood shifted from overjoyed to disappointed within a second, as soon as she heard those words.
Rose slumped back onto the bed and Juleka patted her on the back to comfort her.
"What's going on with Alix?" Juleka asked.
"I'm not really sure, it's just… lately she seems more distant, like I'm doing something to push her away." Nathanael explained.
Juleka and Rose looked at him, both of them having a good idea of what was going on.
"Okay, well… when was the last time you two were together?" Rose asked.
"Yesterday, I was helping her with work at the Louvre." Nathanael told them.
"Did she seem distant then?" Juleka asked.
"Not at first, we were just talking like we always do, she seemed like her usual self." Nathanael answered.
"What did you say before she started acting different?" Juleka asked.
"Not much, we were just talking about the Egyptian exhibit and how everyone was trying to find out all that they could about Ladybug." Nathanael told them.
Juleka and Rose looked at him intently, listening to him with the same intensity.
Nathanael took this as a sign to keep talking.
"After that, she asked me how much I cared about Ladybug and… I told her the truth." Nathanael said.
"The truth?" Rose asked.
"About how I admire Ladybug, how I admire who her for who she is and what she does for all of us." Nathanael told them.
"After that… she said we were done for the day and that she would see me later." Nathanael told them.
"Well, at least she still wants to see you." Rose said, trying to look on the brighter side of things.
"Did she act like this before?" Juleka asked.
"Not like this." Nathanael said.
Juleka sighed and decided to ask a question that might give them results.
"Did you ever talk about Ladybug around her before?" Juleka asked.
"Yeah, there was this sketch I made of Ladybug, Alix accidentally spilled her drink on it, but that's about it." Nathanael told them.
"What does that have to do with what happened?" Nathanael asked.
Juleka didn't answer his question, opting for a different approach.
"Alright, we all know you're not very confrontational." Juleka said.
Rose and Nathanael nodded in agreement.
"But, this is something you need to talk to Alix about." Juleka said.
"Just be direct and ask her about why she feels this way." Juleka told him.
"But what if she doesn't want to talk about it?" Nathanael asked.
"Don't worry, we'll talk to her first and see what's really going on." Rose told him.
"We help out and then you move in and talk to her." Juleka said.
"Alright then, thanks you two." Nathanael said.
"No problem." Juleka said.
Later.
After Nathanael made it home, he tried texting Alix, only to find that she was busy.
It stressed him out a bit, unsure on whether or not she was actually busy or still just mad at him.
Still, he couldn't let it get to him and decided to distract himself by sketching his next comic book.
Hours had passed by, pages and pages falling to the floor as Nathanael kept on sketching.
Half the time he didn't even know what he was drawing, it all passed by in a blur.
Finally, his exhaustion caught up with him, causing him to fall asleep, resting his head against his desk.
That night.
Nathanael suddenly woke up, the sound of someone's voice breaking him out of his sleep.
"What?" Nathanael whispered.
Nathanael looked out the window, seeing it was already dark out.
Nathanael picked up his phone, to see if he had gotten a response from Alix.
Looking at the screen, Nathanael sighed.
There was nothing.
"You really think I would want to talk to you?" Someone questioned him.
Nathanael turned around, shocked by the sudden appearance.
Standing there, in his bedroom, was Alix... or so he thought.
