Chapter 13

A/N: Arghhh this took me so long but like it's here? I am so so sorry for taking an entire three freaking weeks that was not nice at all. Again, very sorry. My friends, happy holidays! Not gonna lie, I'm so ready for what's left of season two to be over. I'm sure you'd agree with me. and um, I get that Will isn't an author but OOC! Yay! Have a good one guys.

Reverser

"Hey, Will!" Annabeth says brightly as she passes him on her way to fencing practice. "Writing again?" Will snorts.

"Yeah. This chapter's giving me a lot of trouble." He closes the book and stands, strolling over to her.

"What are you writing, anyways?" Annabeth asks, peering curiously at the cover. He quickly shoves it in his bag.

"That's classified information." Annabeth shrugs. He can have his secrets; she certainly has hers.

When are you going to finally go to the art room?" she asks, changing the subject. Will flushes.

"I don't know. Writing's not really art."

"Ah, sure it is. I know a guy who could use your help, according to Thalia at least. Tell you what, we'll both go in there tomorrow. See you then?" she asks, a hopeful smile on her face. Will sighs.

"Fine. See you then, Annie!" She smiles brightly as she walks away. Will's super nice, really friendly to everyone. He's not in her class this year but she knows that he and Apollo were actually online friends for a while. She bumps into Luke as she walks, shying away from him. She doesn't go near him anymore. Which reminds her- Percy. Really the main reason she doesn't go to the art room anymore, a favorite spot of his. The whole lifting the shirt thing was kind of sucky and disrespectful, but she can appreciate where he's coming from. And a part of her wants to just take him up on his offer, let him help her. Her pride fights against it though. Admitting to her crush that she was too weak, too cowardly to fight back? To help herself? To get out at the beginning? Helen hasn't hurt her lately since. It doesn't make her fear any less real, and just makes her look around every corner. She's thankful for Teddy guarding her door at night, their relationship growing as she becomes more fluent in sign language, but Helen still lives in the same household as her. And Percy can't go the way her father went. Another reason- if she admits it to Percy, asks for help, what else will come out? The truth about her father? Her late-night drinking excursion? Her crush on him? Not an option. So now she gets to wait and watch as he gets closer to Rachel. Which he is. Thalia must have spilled about him getting 'handsy' with her and Apollo politely asked Percy to move. So now, he sits in the back next to Rachel. Maybe it was unfair to describe it as 'handsy' but she needed Thalia on her side. And Thalia delivered. But he and Rachel look like they're having such a good time, she almost find it hard to interrupt them. She hugs her sides as she walks off to fencing, frozen smile on her features.

"Lemme see, Nico!" Percy whines. Nico scowls, even though the corners of his lips are tugging up.

"No." Reyna, a girl a year higher them, grins at them as she tugs her headphones off her ears, setting her weaving aside.

"C'mon Nicky, let the poor boy see." She pauses, grimacing. "Urgh. Not Nicky. I'll keep thinking about a nickname-a Niconame!" Percy chuckles and Nico flushes.

"Fine." He shoves the sketchpad onto Percy's workspace. Percy sweeps his designs and sewing materials aside and picks it up, flipping through it. After a few minutes, he looks up.

"This is an awesome concept, the Evillustrator keeping his powers. I love the way you drew Lady Jinx and Luckybug, that's awesome!" Nico ducks his head shyly.

"You think so?" Thalia, all the way on the other side of the room spray-painting a corner of wall, lifts her mask.

"We know so. Nico, the only thing holding you back is you. Percy, get your hands off of his sketchbook. Getting a bit handsy there." Reyna glowers at Percy as well; clearly, she's heard. Percy sighs and hands it back to Nico. A knock sounds on the door. Mr. Lee, the art teacher, opens it, revealing Annabeth and Will standing in the doorway. Annabeth gives a little wave, avoiding Percy's eyes.

"Hi guys! This is Will, he's a writer." Everyone grins at Will, save for Leo, who doesn't seem to be noticing anything as he welds pieces of metal together. Reyna kicks him and he jumps, almost burning his hand. He sets his tools down and lifts his mask.

"Hey, new guy. Welcome to Captain McShizzle's crib," he says, winking. Nico glares at him and Will flushes. Mr. Lee gives them a warning face and smiles at Will.

"Hi, Will! Welcome to the art room. No cribs, unless you happen to be a carpenter and want to make one. This is our usual gang: Reyna, our fabrics expert, Percy, our designer, Thalia, our street artist, Leo, our metal-worker slash pyromaniac-"

"Hey!" Leo protests. "I only started one fire. One!" Mr Lee ignores him and finishes introductions.

"And Nico, our graphic novelist." Nico blushes and ducks his head.

"Not yet, I need to get a plot line and probably a whole different writer since I can't write shit-"

"Ahem," Mr. Lee coughs. Nico rolls his eyes.

"-stuff. At all." Leo shrugs, flipping his mask down.

"Find a writer then. Like, oh, I don't know, the blonde sunshine child standing in the doorway? Takes five minutes to introduce yourself." He snickers to himself and resumes welding. Annabeth nudges Will in Nico's direction and strolls off to sit next to Thalia. Thalia arranges her spray-cans and winks at Annabeth.

"How about Death-Breath and Sunny Boy, huh?" Annabeth laughs, glancing over at them. Will's just slid onto Nico's bench, nervously putting his things down. Nico scoots over obligingly, accidentally brushing Will's hand as he moves his sketchpad. They both flush and Annabeth looks back to Thalia, nodding.

"They are kinda cute. But no match-making schemes. Those don't always turn out well." Speaking of, she catches Percy's eye accidentally. He looks down, and seconds later her phone vibrates in her pocket, probably annoying Plagg. She pulls it out- one new text from Percy. It took her so long to get his number, and now she'll probably block it.

Percy: Hey. I know I screwed up

Annabeth: No shit

Percy: I have a rly big problem, and only u can solvei t. no tricks

Percy: *solve it plz plz plz plz

Annabeth: ...

Annabeth: Percy, I rly don't want to interact with u right now. u get that right?

Percy: Yeah but plz. ur the only one i can talk to

Annabeth: Fine

Annabeth: Don't make me regret this

Annabeth: Six at ur place

Annabeth: one trick and that's hte last u see of me

Annabeth: *the

She sets the phone down, not bothering to look at his response. She stands quickly.

"I have to go. Bye, Thalia." She walks over to Will quickly but trips over something, sprawling on the ground and knocking over his bag along with spilling her's. "Shit," she breaths, scrambling to get her stuff back into her bag, her face almost as red as Luckybug's suit. "Sorry, Will! Have fun!" Will smiles at her and resumes talking ot Nico. Annabeth hurries out of the room and into the bathroom, burying her face into her hands. Plagg floats up.

"Well, that was-"

"-Catastrophic. I know, I know." Plagg shakes his head.

"Do you? Hanging out with Percy again, really Annabeth." Annabeth lifts her head, looking at Plagg.

"How'd you know about that?"

"I can unlock your phone, duh. Back to the main point. Why are you hanging out with him, he freaking disrespected your boundaries, even if he is trying to get you out from Helen, I assume." Annabeth shakes her head.

"Plagg, he didn't do all that much compared to what other models have tried on me. And yeah, it wasn't great, but he apologized a bunch and despite all that's happened I still love him. I can't just ignore him Plagg, it's breaking my heart!" Plagg flies up to her face, patting it with his little flipper-paw.

"Alright, kitten. I just don't want you hurt." The sweet moment hangs in the air and Plagg shakes himself. "Got cheese?" Annabeth snorts, reaching into her bag.

"Do I have cheese? Hold on-what's this?" While foraging in her bag for the tin of cheese she keeps in it, her hand brushes against a book that wasn't there before. Smaller than her textbooks, thicker than her Kindle, it shouldn't be there. She grasps it and lifts it up, looking curiously at the cover.

"Diary of Luckybug? Is this for real?" Plagg grins.

"Only one way to find out." Annabeth shakes her head at him.

"Plagg, if this is real, that means-" Her face whitens. "Oh, my God, Will is Luckybug?!" Plagg's eyes widen but before he can say anything Annabeth begins speaking again. "Stupid move, putting his name right on the cover, but I must have grabbed it while I was getting my stuff into my bag. I mean, it kind of fits- both have blue eyes, but the hair is completely different. How much does the Miraculous change hair? I know it made mine super long before I shaved my head so it can definitely make the style different but do you think his kwami would really change it that much?"

"Hold up!" Plagg says loudly. "I read it-don't look at me like that, you were about to and you know it-and the whole thing is about the Evillustrator keeping his powers, similar to Nico's sort-of comic on your school website. It's not real, but do you realize what this means?" Annabeth shakes her head. "Nico and Will have the same fanon!" Annabeth snorts.

"I think you've been on my Tumblr too much."

"No, listen- give this back to Will. Tell him to give it to Nico. Don't tell Nico who it is, have him read it blindly, and wha-la! A great partnership and a great ship, period."

"i think you might actually care," Annabeth says, eyeing Plagg. He narrows his eyes at her.

"Do not! I just think you'd be more likely to give me my lovely. Where's the cheese?" Annabeth shakes her head fondly as she rummages through her backpack and tosses some to him.

"Not a bad plan, though." She hoists her bag up and Plagg flies into it. She sets off for a bench right next to the school exit and scrolls through the afore-mentioned Tumblr, viewing Miraculous fan content and re-blogging as her official Jinx account. She had made one early on, setting up an entirely new email- officialjinx - so she could have an official presence on a-lot of social finishes re-blogging a particularly good fanart of her and Luckybug, non-romantic for once thank God, and stands as Will comes out of the art room, talking animatedly with Nico. She steps in front of them, smiling apologetically at Will before she pulls him into a corner. She drags the book out of her backpack and slaps it into his chest. He stumbles, looking terrified.

"Annabeth, where'd you get this," he asks softly, glancing around. She puts her fist on her hip.

"You look nervous, which is odd, because that was freaking awesome." He looks even more terrified.

"You read it?"

"You expect me not to read something that has 'Dairy of Luckybug' splashed across the cover? Please. I read it. And you know Nico, that guy you were flirting with?" He begins stuttering.

"Was not-"

"Yeah, you were. It's fine. But he needs a writer, and you're the guy for the job." Will sighs, hugging the book to his chest.

"What if he doesn't like it?" Annabeth sighs, messing up his hair a little.

"He'll like it. But if you don't believe me, here's what we're gonna do. I'll give it to him, tell him it's from an anonymous author, tell him that if he likes it to meet the author at the Place de Vosges, 5 o'clock. You'll be there, and meet him, and it'll be awesome! What do you think?" Will's eyes dart nervously around before he cautiously around.

"Fine. I'll do it. But no matchmaking schemes! This is a purely artistic venture." Annabeth snickers.

"Right..." She pats his shoulder, swipes the book, and walks off, conveniently passing Nico. "Oh! Nico! Read this. If you like it, go to the Place de Vosges at 5 o'clock. The author will be there, and he's very willing to talk to you about it. I can't tell you who it is, for reasons, but at least consider it." Nico fumbles the book a little and his eyes widen as he reads the title.

"Diary of Luckybug? What the f-"

"Place de Vosges. Five. Be there." Annabeth skips off, ignoring Percy as he looks past Annabeth to Nico, and then further to Will.

Two hours later, Annabeth is not having fun. Neither is Will. He's a a blonde bundle of anxiety wrapped in a red hoodie and fiddling with a pen. He turns around to look at Annabeth, crouched behind a fountain, and she scowls at him. He gets the message and turns around, continuing to look around. Annabeth presses her back to the fountain and looks over the opposite side. Birds, bird man, depressed emo kid-wait. She throws a rock at Will and it hits him in the arm. He turns quickly and whitens as he sees Nico. Nico approaches slowly, clutching WIll's book for dear life. He scans the park and begins heading towards the bench as he spots Will, who for some reason, hides his face quickly. Annabeth strains her ears to listen in.

"Luckybug?" Nico says slowly. Will jerks up, surprised.

"Luckybug? No, it's Will." Nico looks at him with an unreadable expression.

"Will? But Annabeth said Luckybug would be here." Will frowns.

"Uh, she did? I though she told you that the author, me, would be here?" Nico crosses his arms, eyes going darker.

"Why would you title it Diary of Luckybug? I was so exited to meet him! You guys knew about my old crush on him, didn't you? That's right, make fun of the bi kid." Annabeth's hands go to her mouth. This is all going so terribly wrong. She actually didn't think Nico had had a crush on Luckybug, but it sort of made sense. Will frantically shook his head.

"No! That's not it at all! I never wanted to hurt you-"

"Save it," Nico snarled. He ripped the book and threw it down, storming away. Annabeth sprang up, rushing to Will's side.

"I'm so so sorry! I didn't think-I never thought-"

"Obviously," Will bit out, his normally cheerful face turning stormy. "Leave me alone. I can't believe I thought you would help me." He shrugged her hand off and picked up the torn pieces, striding off. Annabeth slumped onto the bench.

"Well, heck." Plagg flew out, clutching onto the edges of her jacket.

"Kid, I know you're upset, but luckily no one's been akumatized right?" Annabeth shot up.

"He would be, wouldn't he? Guess it's time for Jinx. And right after Percy. This is a sucky day so far," she mutters, ducking behind a bush, more into than behind. "Claws out!" She transforms with a flash of green light and runs out in the direction of Will, sending out an akuma alert and a text to Luckybug as she does so. Not even a minute later he lands next to her, taking off running. She looks around. "Where did you come from?"

"Jumped over the-ahem-bakery's roof. Who we getting?" he asks, loping along next to her.

"Potential akuma. Saw him when I was walking around. Hopefully we can get there before he-"

"I AM REVERSER!" a voice that sounds like Will, but slightly distorted, shouts. "If I'm not who I know I am, then neither are YOU!" Jinx flips over a paper airplane shooting towards her out of a pile of paper magically balancing on Reverser's forearm. He's standing on a large white paper airplane in a half-white, half-black, ying-yang style suit with a hood pulled over his head. Only his blonde hair stays the same. He has a furious expression on his face. "Get out of my way, I'm looking for Nico Di Angelo. Where is he?!" Luckybug stumbles back with a confused expression.

"Uh, you can't have him." Luckybug draws his arm back and tries to lasso Reverser's ride. It works, up until Reverser snorts and speeds of in the opposite direction. Jinx takes to the rooftops as she pursues them, alternately throwing her staffs at Reverser in an effort to stop him. She stops as he swerves, almost slamming Luckybug into a wall. They reach a bridge and Reverser throws one of his paper airplanes at a random cyclist. It makes contact and he begins cursing fluently as he completely looses control of his bike. It swerves into the Seine and he screams as he begins falling. Luckybug releases a few curses of his own as he makes a split section decision, withdrawing his yoyo from Reverser's plane and securing it to a bridge before jumping off. As he swings up with the cyclist, Jinx sees Reverser smirk, drawing back his arm to toss a paper airplane right at Luckybug.

"Luckybug, look out!" she shouts, racing to protect him and take the hit herself, better yet deflect the airplane. After all, that is her job. She skids next to him just as it hits his arm. He looks down on it in surprise before taking a step and tripping over nothing, falling in a heap on the ground. He tries to pull himself up and falls again. Jinx raises an eyebrow.

"Your greatest strength or personality trait is your gracefulness?" Luckybug rolls his eyes as he pulls himself into a sitting/slumping position.

"Right. I thought it would have been my luckiness or, y'know, my stunning looks, but here we are. I can't walk a foot without falling over my own feet." Jinx winces.

"Yeah, sorry. Guess it's back to villain fighting then." She turns, spinning her staffs. Reverser smirks as he fires off multiple airplanes. She dodges the first, jumps the second, and leans away from the third just in time for the fourth to hit her. Her pupils enlarge as she takes in the world with new lenses. Everything's too big, this suit is too restricting, that staff could hit her in the head, there's a freaking supervillain across from her. She yelps and goes backwards, knocking into Luckybug, who's clutching the side-rail. Together they go over the side, Jinx clutching him in a death grip and screaming. They hit the cool water hard, Luckybug flailing and trying to keep them both afloat. He throws out his yoyo, desperately hoping for it to hit and hold. Luckily, his luck hasn't run out yet, and it latches onto a railing. He pulls it and they fly out of the water, Jinx's screams reaching a new high. They land in a heap on a small stairwell, Jinx curling in on herself and looking around, terrified. How did she not realize how scary this big world was before? Luckybug tries to help her up and ends up falling over himself.

"Well, this isn't great," he mutters as he watches Reverser fly away. As he disappears Jinx appears to gain some confidence, enough to stand up.

"What are you gonna do?" she asks. Luckybug frowns, looking around.

"I guess we'll go after Nico." Jinx looks at him like he's a madman and edges away from him.

"You want to go where the villain will be?" Luckybug sighs and tries to walk up the stairs, tripping over himself again.

"Yeah. Look, I know it's scary, but you can just...stay with Nico wherever I hide him if you help me get to him." Jinx considers this then nods.

"Fine. Put your arm over my shoulder-don't strangle me- and if you send me into the Seine I'm beating your ass." Luckybug snorts.

"Fair enough." He awkwardly starts walking up, stumbling a bit. Jinx catches him every time, but she's not happy at all, stuck in a vulnerable position with a supervillain scouring the city. They reach the top, Jinx doing her best not to look down. Luckybug looks like a drunk guy who randomly stumbled onto a moving ship with the way he's swaying this way and that, never letting go of JInx's shoulders. She looks at him, twisting her head annoyedly.

"Looser, please? You're going to break my collarbone and I need to be able to make a run for it if Reverser appears." Luckybug loosens his grip a little, shuffling them both to the side to call a cab. One appears and they hop in.

"Louvre, please," Luckybug asks, struggling to buckle the seatbelt. Jinx does it from him, then curls into him, eying the taxi driver, who's tall, thin, and smoking a cigar. He nods. Luckybug jerks forward sharply as the taxi driver makes several sharp turns.

"What's your name?" he asks politely, Jinx giving him a death stare.

"Kyle," he replies, before screeching to a halt there. Jinx unbuckles herself quickly and gets out, shoving Luckybug as she goes. She turns back around to the open door.

"You drive like a maniac!" she shouts, slamming it. The driver rolls down his window.

"I'd rather be a terrible driver than a half-bit Lady Jinx and Luckybug cosplayer! Get a job." He speeds off, and Jinx considers running after him before remembering all the things that could happen to her if she does- namely: death, serious injury, and memory loss. She clings to Luckybug's side as they hobble into the empty Louvre. Leo's fiddling with a screwdriver and some piece of metal while Nico lounges across from him, sitting dramatically. Leo shoots up as he notices them.

"Luckybug? Lady Jinx? What are you doing here?"

"We're here to protect you, Nico. Will Solace has been akumatized and he's after you." Jinx expects Nico to blush, seeing as he had a crush on Luckybug at one point, but he says nothing, lifting his head with a steely glint in his eye.

"Alright. It was my fault, and now I'm paying for it. I'll go wherever you need me to." Leo steps forward as well.

"If Nico's going, so am I. I can be a crutch for you, Luckybug, even if I am only a bit taller than Lady Jinx." Luckybug nods, stepping away from Jinx and leaning on Leo.

"Jinx, you want to stay here?" She thinks about it, and then shakes her head.

"If you knew exactly where Nico would be, I bet Reverser will as well. I'm coming with," she says determinedly, grabbing a blanket from a corner and wrapping it around her shoulders. Luckybug's yoyo beeps and he pulls up the screen to a news broadcasting. Nico, Leo, and Jinx crowd around him, each holding him steady. Aeolus, the prime time news host, stares at the camera grimly as images flash behind him.

"Tens of thousands of 'space dumps', the term used to describe high-tech dumpsters containing Paris' trash orbiting around the Earth, sent up in Mayor Castellan's controversial 'Parisian Purity' Act, are about to come crashing down, due to the newest akuma supervillain. He is giving Luckybug and Lady Jinx an ultimatum: give up their Miraculous' and Nico Di Angelo or, quite simply, perish. Paris trusts it's superheroes to make good decisions, however I would get into my bunker if I were you." The news broadcast ends abruptly and Leo begins dragging Luckybug out the door, pulling Nico along. Jinx follows reluctantly.

"We have certain doom to face. C'mon, spots," Leo says, hailing a taxi. He pushes Luckybug in and Nico and Jinx after him. He gets into the front seat himself, handing the taxi driver some bills.

"Eiffel Tower. Make it snappy." The taxi driver raises her eyebrows at the passengers in the back.

"Is that Luckybug, Lady Jinx, and that Nico kid?"

"Make it snappy," Leo grinds out. She rolls her eyes but does as he says, flooring it. They swerve through the street, getting there quickly. Leo hops out of the front seat and guides Luckybug out, handing him over to Nico and helping Jinx out as well. She's about to snap something at the driver- probably about her driving again, but Leo just pulls her away. They come to a standstill in front of the Eiffel Tower, ducking under the police line. Reverser stands on the observation deck, looking down at them.

"Hand them over, Luckybug," he shouts through a megaphone. Luckybug scowls.

"Lucky charm!" he calls. Two sticks of bamboo fall into his hands and he scans the area. Reverser laughs.

"And now you're on a time limit. Have fun with that. Give 'em up."

"Turn Mayor Castellan back and I'll do it!" Luckybug shouts back, using a near by traffic cone. Reverser frowns.

"Your Miraculous' and Nico."

"Lady Jinx and Nico, then once you do it I'll give mine up," Luckybug bargains. After a moment, Reverser nods.

"Very well. No tricks." Luckybug snorts.

"Of course not. What, you think me, super-klutz, and her, scaredy-cat, could manage to fool you?" He laughs sarcastically and Reverser joins in. Leo helps him push Jinx and Nico over to the elevator, out of side. Once there, he begins talking.

"Nico, make a kite out of these-" he hands over the bamboo sticks-"-her staffs, and her blanket. Get something to blindfold her with if you can, she'll be terrified. Secure it with my yoyo." He turns to Jinx, who doesn't look happy with this idea at all. "Jinx, just run off the Eiffel Tower. We'll catch you, I swear. Please trust me. Drop the yoyo once you're airborne. When I say, call cataclysm and whip off your blindfold, and don't look down until you get his airplane. Then grab your staffs, get Will, and give me back my yoyo." Jinx starts shaking her head, then nods.

"This is terrifying, but I do trust you Luckybug. Alright." They get in the elevator and as the door closes, he can see Nico get to work. Leo helps him stumble back.

"You're gonna need to steer, I'll be useless," he says out of the side of his mouth to Leo. He blanches, but nods.

"If Jinx can run off the Eiffel Tower like that, I can steer a kite. Just tell me where." They watch in anticipation as the elevator rises, finally coming to a stop. Jinx, blindfolded, secured to a kite, runs full tilt out of the elevator past a stunned Reverser, and stops at the guardrail before taking a breath and swinging herself over, plummeting for a second before lifting up. There's only one problem-she's not dropping the yoyo.

"Drop the yoyo!" Luckybug screams. It comes crashing down, magical string elongating before Leo swipes it out of the air. "Make sure she avoids Reverser's planes," Luckybug says. Leo nods, shifting Jinx to the left and the right. Her face is deathly pale, and she's not making a noise. She swings towards Reverser, who's hopped on his airplane and is pursuing her, and Luckybug stumbles as he instinctively steps forward. "NOW!" he shouts. Jinx claws her blindfold off and slams her glowing palm onto Reverser's airplane. Reverser turns back into Will, Jinx slashes through the yoyo string and shimmies out of it before it reforms. The end falls to Luckybug's feet and he picks it up, falling to the ground as he does so, giving the yoyo a half hearted toss. "Miraculous ladybug!" Luckybug shouts. He can visibly see Jinx's face change as she looses her fears and shouts something, grabbing Will and pulling her staffs. His eyes go to the akuma, fluttering away. His gracefulness regained, he winds up the yoyo and pitches it at the akuma. Nabbing it, he catches the yoyo as Jinx lands with Will behind him.

"Time to de-evilize," he mutters as the purified butterfly flutters out of the yoyo's opening. He turns, hugging Jinx. "Thanks," he whispers in her ear. Both pull back, flushing, and a news camera zooms into their faces, along with a microphone.

"Anything to comment?" a reporter asks. Sighing, Luckybug gives his usual answer.

"We're just doing our job. No further comments." Jinx raises a gloved hand.

"Actually, I have a comment." The news camera goes ever further into her face and she smirks, looking directly into the camera. "Who's a half-bit Lady Jinx cosplayer now, Kyle?" she says triumphantly. "No further comment." The reporter coughs, looking confused, but backs off. Will begins walking away, head down, but Jinx grins and straight up pushes him into Nico, who's talking with Leo off to the side. "Oops." Will stumbles, about to fall, but Nico catches him. Jinx saunters over.

"I think you two have something to clear up. Catch you later!" She fist-bumps Luckybug before taking off. She has places to be.

Annabeth taps her fingers on the counter nervously, hair piled into a messy bun and Pride and Prejudice propped open before her. Percy slides into the chair across from her. She sets the book down.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asks, sipping her hot chocolate. Percy leans in, looking from side to side.

"I asked for your help specifically, because...well...I'm in a similar situation." Annabeth spits her drink out into a napkin, sputtering,

"What the hell?! You're being abused?!" she asks in a whisper, regarding his father, who's at the counter, with a wary glance. Percy nods. "Good grief. You need to talk to someone, get out of your home. Go stay with Apollo, I have lawyers. Let's do it now, come on. Are you seriously hurt? Do we need to call the police?" she asks, eyes darting around his face. He leans back with a satisfied expression on his face.

"Why wouldn't you let me do that for you? Why won't you let me help you?" he asks. Annabeth furrows her eyebrows.

"I mean- I didn't know- I can take care of myself!"

"So can I," Percy says, shrugging. Annabeth scowls, grabbing his hand.

"You listen here, you need to get out. Do whatever you need to do, talk to someone. I can help you." Percy sits up, looking her straight in the face.

"Annabeth, I'm not being abused." He keeps speaking over her indignant protests. "But don't you see? How you wanted to help me, I want to help you the same way. Help me help you." Annabeth sighs, a defeated expression coming into her face. She pinches the bridge of her nose.

"It's just-the last time someone tried to help me, the last person who could help me-he ended up dead. I don't want you to get hurt." Percy puts his other hand over hers.

"We can do this. We will do this. Meet me again tomorrow, hell, sleep over if you want. You are going to get out of this. And, uh, could you get Thalia and Reyna off my back?" Annabeth laughs.

"Yeah, I can." She notices his hands over hers as if for the first time and flushes. He does, too, and takes them off hurriedly.

"If you don't want me asking, who passed?" he asks gently. Annabeth shakes her head.

"Not now. Maybe later." Percy lets it slide, for now. Annabeth stands, taking her book and drink, before she leans down to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you, Percy." He watches her leave with a flush covering his features.

Annabeth walks into the art room the next day, with an entirely different mood. Thalia is actually sitting next to Percy, watching him work, and gives her a side-hug when she slides in. It's crowded on the bench but they make it work. She's laughing over a joke Thalia's told when Will and Nico appear in front of her, both grinning.

"We did something," Will begins.

"And we couldn't have done it without you," Nico finishes. They slap a comic down in front of her. The cover is a typical picture of Luckybug and Lady Jinx, but with a different hero between them: The Evillustrator. Will flips it to the final page.

Dedicated to Annabeth Chase, who would make a decent Luckybug if she were less 'blonde female student'. Annabeth snorts.

"Nice." They smirk at her and as they take it back, walking back to their benches, Annabeth notices something new- their pinkies are intertwined.

A/N: Again, super sorry for the long wait. Writer's block is a real thing, and it sucks big time. I was considering another Luckybeth scene but I was kind of tired so yeah. Lol I just reread the last few sentances and if you're confused basically Nico and Will are saying that Annabeth is the exact opposite of Luckybug, a dark male superhero. Sorry. Thanks for reading!