Neeks and I stayed on the down-low for another few days, but each day I missed an Akuma attack, I felt worse about missing it. I knew that Ladybug and Chat Noir could handle themselves, but since I was here it felt wrong to just ignore it and act like I couldn't help them in some way. I had to miss them though, because if I went to them I'd be tired beyond compare by the end of the week, and then I really would be useless.

After the break from being Wolven I felt much better, having been able to sleep for as long as I needed at night and regain my energy from the transformations, but Neeks still wasn't sure he wanted to let me transform again just yet. He seemed to think I wasn't fully better, even though I was totally fine and kept telling him so. Still, he didn't give. I was alright with that, though, even if I didn't like missing the fights, because it meant Neeks would be able to relax and he wouldn't worry anymore.

Mom's exhibition was drawing even closer, and she finally picked a date. She decided on making it December 20th, a week after my birthday. Yep, soon I would be turning fifteen, and around a month later, Adrien would be turning 16 and then everyone else would follow. I was lucky to have been placed in this year, otherwise I wouldn't be in the same school as them next year as they go off to the French version of high school. That was actually, quite probably, the one thing that threw me off the most. While I was a sophomore in high school back in America, I dropped back down to a final year in middle school because that was closest to my academic learning from America. It was weird having to refer to myself as a middle schooler again, instead of a high schooler.

Anyway, things on Mom's side have been going well, too. She and Madame Gosier met up again a few days ago and Mom was admittedly still smitten by the lady. At first that I thought that wasn't smart, because Madame Gosier has a boyfriend, but mom said that he sounded just as caring and she was shown a picture of him, so she could confirm that he was just as attractive. She had that same look in her eye that she did with Madame Gosier, so I figured as long as she didn't get hurt, I'd be perfectly fine with whatever happened between the three of them. I wasn't going to shove myself into their relationship, though, so they'd have to figure everything out themselves.

School was slowly reaching that stage where it was boring and dull almost 24/7. It didn't help that I had most learned all of the curriculum already in English and all the other subjects I actually cared about. Math and Science I was remembering stuff and learning new things in, which, while it was great, made it difficult for me to pay attention. I was never good with math and numbers to begin with, even if I could keep my grade up. Neeks helped me with my homework and filled in where I admittedly would blank out if my attention refused to hold or exhaustion caught up with me during the early days of recovery.

Like right now, I'm sitting in math class and trying really hard to focus, bouncing my leg slightly as one of the most boring teachers I've ever had explained the Pythagorean Theorem to us. I already knew what it was, and I honestly just wanted the last five minutes of class to pass as fast as possible. I heaved a silent sigh, bringing the worksheet we had been filling out between notes to practice concepts we were learning, and began to work on the problems, blocking out the teacher.

I was on my fourth problem when Neeks nudged my stomach lightly, diverting enough of my attention to hear, "Mister Wells!"

I tensed slightly, glancing up from my worksheet to see the unhappy face of my math teacher, Monsieur Bessette. He stood tall and intimidating, his hair cut short and eyes cold but tired. I gave him a questioning smile, and he sighed heavily, although it was surprisingly quiet. "Mister Wells, I may not know how they did things at your last school but you are not allowed to work ahead in my class! I admire your dedication and ability to understand this material but what if I teach you something you don't know? I want your full attention, okay?"

I nodded, face flushing red from the attention that I had drawn in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Alya give me a sympathetic smile. Monsieur Bessette nodded, patted the edge of my desk twice, then turned to the rest of the class. "Well, we have about a minute left of class so pack up! Be good in the rest of your classes, only two more to go!"

The other kids made a noncommittal sound as they packed their bags, and Alya sighed as hushed stretched and walked over to me. "Well, that was boring. You okay?"

I nodded, smiling reassuringly at her as I packed everything except my notebook and pencil. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go to our next class already, I want to get to English."

Alya gave me a sly grin, lightly nudging my side with her elbow. "You mean you want to see Adrien." She teased, making me blush. I huffed and looked away from her as I wrote down my next question for her.

"About that. Aren't you supporting Marinette when it comes to Adrien? Why are you doing the same for me when we clearly like the same person?"

Alya smiled and laughed softly, slinging her arm carefully over my shoulders. "Simple. I want both of you to end up happy, so I'm cheering you both on. Whichever one of you doesn't get him, I'll comfort." Alya paused for a moment, her grin only widening. "Nino thinks it might be you who gets him at this point, so I'll make sure that Marinette doesn't dislike you when all is said and done." She said, ruffling my hair. I scowled at her words, not sure if I should be worried, embarrassed, or happy that she was so open to the teenage love problems that her friends were experiencing.

She just laughed again and dropped her arm from my shoulder, waving goodbye as we split off to separate rooms for our next class. I sighed as I walked into the classroom, sitting next to Nathanael and talking to him a bit more. He showed me his new less private sketches, and I honestly loved all of them. He really was a good artist- he could make a living off this if he really wanted to.

When that class had finished, I went with Nathanael back to Mrs. Bustier's classroom and I told him when Mom's exhibition was. His eyes lit up and he smiled, already looking eager. "Really? That's great! I bet my dad will want to go see it, too. He really likes art- can't really draw or anything artsy himself, but he loves to collect it and look at it." He said happily, and I grinned.

"Perfect! Maybe he can add on to his collection, yeah?" I wrote, and Nathanael nodded.

"Yep! I saw some of the finished paintings when I was at your place last week. He'll love them!"

"That's great! He'll have to talk with mom over which ones are available to buy, though, because she has another buyer for a few of her paintings already. If he wants, she can make another variation of the picture." Nathanael nodded, humming in thought and smiling.

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens." He said thoughtfully as we walked into the classroom and to our seats. I nodded once again and set my notebook down so I could open my backpack and pull out the necessary materials for class. We fell into comfortable silence as we prepared for class, and we compared answers on our worksheets for the book we were currently reading. We liked to compare because it showed what we each thought was important, and if one of us was stuck on a question the other could help.

I glanced over instinctively when I heard the door open, smiling when I saw Adrien and Nino walk in together. Nino smiled and waved to us, Adrien doing the same when he saw us, and I returned the gesture along with Nathanael. They boys went to their own seats and then turned to face Alya and Marinette, although only Marinette was there right now. I turned back to Nathanael, and we chatted until class started, and then we focused on the teacher, although Nathanael's attention was split between Mrs. Bustier and his sketchpad.

When English ended, I said goodbye to Nathanael and went to the group of four waiting by the door. Everyone had easy smiles on their faces as we walked out, and Marinette was the first to speak. "So Jasper, what do you want for your birthday?"

I shrugged, chuckling a little when the other three froze in surprise.

"Wait, your birthday is coming up?!" Nino and Alya cried, staring at me slack jawed. Adrien just looked curious now, no longer shocked as I nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, December 13th. Oh yeah, Mom's exhibition is a week after, on the 20th at my place." Adrien hummed in mild surprise, before smiling a little. "That's cool. How old will you be?"

"15. I skipped a grade in America and that transferred to here, I guess. Although I dropped a grade here."

Nino snapped out of his shock and let out a low whistle. "Is that why you always seem bored in the lessons? You already know everything?" I nodded, shrugging again.

Alya was still shocked for a moment longer before she groaned and slapped a hand to her forehead. "I can't believe I didn't know that! I know everything about the kids in my class!" We all laughed at that, and I shook my head goodnaturedly.

"Our interview was cut short, remember? You never bothered to continue it aside from a few quick questions for the school blog."

Alya sighed and smiled, nodding slightly. "Yeah, that's true. I thought it'd be fine after that, especially since you never looked all to comfortable being interviewed."

"Yeah, sorry. I've had enough of being interviewed for one lifetime." I wrote with a small smile and wheezy chuckle. Marinette smiled and brought the topic back to gifts.

"So? What do you want?"

I shrugged once again as we made our way to the door. "I'm fine with anything, really. I know that isn't helpful but I never thought about it much." Marinette pouted but the others looked thoughtful. She sighed, rubbing at her arm a little. "Alright, if you say so. I'll figure something out for you." She hummed, smiling brightly with determination a moment later. "Yeah, I'll make something great for you!"

Alya laughed and patted Marinette on the shoulder, smiling brightly. "I'm sure it'll be great, Mari. I'll do my best to get you something awesome, too. Now, who wants to go see a movie on Saturday with us? Adrien, are you going to be free?"

"I think I'm free for a few hours in the evening. Nathalie will probably let me go."

"Great! Nino, Jasper? You guys aren't going to let him be the only one coming, are you?"

"I'll go." I wrote, just as Nino said he would as well.

"What movie should we go see?" Adrien asked, and Alya hummed, shrugging her shoulders after a moment.

"Let's just choose when we get there. Does six work for everyone?"

After a unanimous nod, Adrien had to go because he had a photo shoot and the rest of us slowly broke apart until it was only Marinette and I left.

Neeks shuffled around in my pocket and when I glanced down saw him poking his nose out of my pocket and I had a feeling he was staring at Marinette's bag because I could almost picture a hole burning in it. I frowned slightly for a moment and looked back up to Marinette, who had a thoughtful look on her face. I shrugged, figuring I'd ask him about it later, and smiled at her, motioning towards where our houses were as if asking her if she was ready to go. She nodded and we began walking the short distance in companionable silence.

"Hey, Jasper?"

I looked over to here, a little surprised at her sudden speaking. I figured today would be one of those days we stayed silent the whole way. I raised an eyebrow, motioning for her to go on. She bit her lip and seemed a little hesitant, but she nodded and took a deep breath before speaking.

"If you like Adrien, I won't stop you from trying or anything. I'm sorry if I haven't seemed like the friendliest person in the world because of it." She said quickly, blushing lightly and looking down. "I guess I just got jealous."

I smiled and patted her shoulder before removing it to write, "It's fine. I get it. You can keep pining for him too, and whoever ends up with him we be happy for, okay? Even if it isn't one of us."

Marinette laughed a little as she read what I wrote, nodding. "Yeah, definitely." She said happily, and we fell back into comfortable silence the rest of our way home, which wasn't very long. I split away first, waving goodbye and entering my own house. Neeks flew from my pocket and stared intently at the door, and I tapped him. He looked over to me, crossing his paws over his chest. "I think I know who ladybug is..." Neeks murmured, looking down. "I kind of hope I'm wrong, simply because of how obvious it is and dangerous it can be..."

"Let me guess, you think it's Marinette?" I wrote, showing it to him. His eyes widened and he stared at me in shock.

"I-yes, I do... Was I that obvious?" I nodded, smiling at Neeks and ushering him to my shoulder. Neeks huffed and leaned against my scarf carefully. "Well, alright then. How come you aren't freaking out?"

I shrugged again and went to my room to work on homework, writing "After the shock from Adrien, I kind of had my suspicions... Honestly it doesn't really surprise me anymore."

Neeks hummed and shrugged, leaning a little further into my scarf. "I see. Well, I'm amazed how neither of them seem to have realized- or their kwamis. We can sense each other! Especially the yin-yang duo... So it's kind of astounding that neither have mentioned it."

I simply shrugged one last time, setting Neeks down on my desk as I got out the folder I had my homework in. Neeks went over to my candy bowl and shuffled through it, looking for a candy he wanted to enjoy. "Hey Jasper?"

I looked over to him, urging him to continue. "When we run out of candy, can you get me something with chocolate?"

"I thought we agreed chocolate was going to be a special treat every now and then for you after the stomach ache you got that one time." I wrote, though I gave him a sympathetic smile

Neeks pouted, huffing. "Stupid dog-like genes..." He grumbled like a small child. I laughed and pet him, starting on my homework.