Juleka had been excited to share a class with Alya at the beginning of the year. She was a good learner when Juleka taught guitar, and she studied well in school. Sharing art class should be fun.
Except Alya was not an artist. Granted she could take good pictures, make a nice collage. But when it came to drawing, Alya was hopeless.
Juleka watched as her senior tried to properly shade the picture she had drawn of the wooden cube. None of the lines were even parallel.
"Alya you don't need to shade that hard on the edges," whispered Juleka before returning to her drawing.
"But it looks that dark on the cube," whispered Alya.
"Not on the edges," Juleka pointed to the side of the block that was out of the light's view, "This is a regular dark, while this," she pointed to the backside, "Is really dark."
Alya looked up between the block and her picture a couple times. She eventually dropped her sketch book on the desk before letting her head fall on it.
"Marinette made art class look so easy."
"Marinette's been sketching for years, she probably knew this sort of thing."
Alya just groaned, looking up to Juleka with her drawing not imprinted on her forehead. A small snort at their table drew both girls attention to a boy trying to hide his face with his sketchbook. Alya reached over to pull down the book, revealing a red headed boy blushing. Juleka remembered he was in a couple of her classes.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to laugh."
Alya looked over to Juleka, then back at the boy.
"You have something," he pointed to her forehead. Alya looked up trying to rub off whatever was on there. She got some of the lead on her finger tips, Alya sighing before realizing she was on top of her drawing as well. She pulled back to see her cube drawing now on her light orange shirt.
"Art hates me," she groaned.
"Art doesn't hate, just frustrates," said the boy as he returned to his drawing.
"Did some artist say that?"
"No, just me."
Alya raised an eyebrow before pulling down the boy's sketchbook to see he had been adding wood looking texture to his drawing of the block.
"I want to draw like that," Alya whined before letting him have back the book. The boy was back to a pink blush.
"It's not that good. Just a lot of art classes do this sort of exercise."
"So you're an actual artist," asked Juleka. The boy looked over to her and nodded holding his sketchbook close.
"Can you help me then? I'm going to fail this class with this thing."
"I-I guess." Nathaniel looked over to Juleka for help, Juleka shrugging. Good luck to Nathaniel if he could help Alya draw a cube.
"What's your name," asked Alya?
"Nathaniel Kurtzberg."
"Well, I look forward to your teaching Nathaniel."
Alya did manage to improve under Nathaniel's tutoring. By the end of that art class she could draw a cube. Granted Nino teased her for it, and Marinette whacked him for it, and Adrien gave a thumbs up because he apparently couldn't shade a cube. Marinette offered to help Alya, but Alya insisted on Nathaniel, Nino then mocking her for both her guitar and art teacher being her younger. Which earned another whack from Marinette.
From what Juleka had learned, Nathaniel was very patient with teaching Alya. He didn't speak much in class, either in art class or any other class Juleka had with him. Outside of art class, he always hung out with another boy who was always writing in a notebook. He would usually arrive in the last minutes of art class to meet up with Nathaniel before they went to whatever clubs they were a part of, if any. It was an interesting combo to watch.
The other boy arrived a few minutes earlier than normal, taking a seat next to Juleka as Alya was sitting next to Nathaniel. Their art teacher mostly left them alone once he understood what was going on, only checking in occasionally.
Rather than start writing, the boy held his notebook close to his chest, watching Nathaniel illustrate color mixing with the colored pencils to get skin tones. After going to dark with the cube, Alya seemed to hesitate going dark with the colored pencils.
The bell rang signaling the end of class.
"Alright everyone, good work for today. Remember we're going to start coloring our half portraits next week so bring a picture to me for approval."
Everyone answered with a chorus of yeses as they continued packing.
"Thanks again for all your help Nathaniel, you're a really good artist."
Alya always ended their art class with a thanks and a compliment, making the boy blush.
"I'm, I'm not that great with realism."
Alya lit up, catching his meaning.
"But you're good at some form of art! Come on! Show me!"
Juleka looked up from her bag to see Nathaniel nearly scared out of his mind as Alya tried to pressure him into showing his art.
"Alya, if he doesn't want to show you, he doesn't have to," Juleka interrupted as she pulled her bag over her shoulder.
"Aww, but I want to see."
"Come on, we don't always need to be nosey." Juleka pulled Alya and Alya's bag after her, leaving the boy behind.
"Actually," Nathaniel started, causing the girls to stop as the rest of the class left. "I want to show you."
Alya quickly pulled Juleka back to the table as Nathaniel exchanged his school sketchbook for a well worn sketchbook.
He looked over to his friend, still sitting at the table, before opening the book. Inside were sketches of faceless people posing. Alya took over flipping the book, until it got to people posing in costumes.
"You're a comic artist," whispered Alya, getting more and more excited as she flipped through. Eventually the casual posed got blackened line art with comic hero shading. But the people remained faceless.
"Do you think you could help me with some Alya," whispered Nathaniel. The girls looked up, pausing their page flipping.
"Can you and the Light Music Club help us?"
"You want us to pose for your hero comic," asked Nino. Alya and Juleka had brought Nathaniel and his friend, Marc down to the club room at their request. Alya had been excited at first and almost accepted on the spot if not for Juleka reminding them about last year. So they took the two sophomores down to the club room.
"Yeah, we want to make a comic book. I would draw and Marc would write it."
Marc held up his notebook reading "Untitled Hero Comic Project".
Everyone looked at each other, Adrien and Alya clearly more excited about this than the rest of the group by the way they bounced on their toes.
"This isn't going to be a big commitment, right? Because we do need to practice for our show in December," asked Marinette. Juleka would probably agree with Marinette's question if she wasn't pouring more tea for Adrien. And if Nino wasn't stuffing his face with chocolate cornett.
The boys looked at each other, then shrugged.
"Not really, I could even get poses while you guys practice."
"Plus we could always come back after Christmas if we need more poses," added Marc.
The club members looked at each other, Nino and Marinette nodding.
"We're happy to help."
Alya and Adrien immediately took the lead in the posing process. They both had read too many comics and watched way too many shows because they were filled with poses. And Juleka couldn't tell if it was helping or hindering Nathaniel's process.
Nathaniel stepped up to Alya's current pose, adjusting her arms slightly before tapping her legs with his feet. He stepped back to examine the pose before nodding and sitting back down to draw. Nino was air drumming in the corner. Marinette was drawing in her sketchbook, Adrien watching over her shoulder. Juleka was trying to work on English as Marc took Nino's seat to write some story ideas. Or dialogue ideas based on Marinette and Adrien's conversation.
"I think that outfit needs more cats."
"Unless they are selling a cat patterned material, I'm not making this a cat dress."
"But imagine adding pawkets on the skirt."
Marinette looked up with a blank look on her face, before gently pushing his arm.
"That was terrible. The pocket idea would be good, but no pawkets."
"It's growing on you though. You're still thinking about it."
"Are they dating," asked Marc, after a while of conversation.
"No, they're just in denial," answered Alya.
"Not in denial, just a reasonable level of maturity where being in a relationship in high school is pointless and we should focus on our studies," answered Marinette as she continued Sketching.
"But she totally likes me," answered Adrien with a wink.
"She likes a lot of people dude," called out Nino.
"But she likes me most, don't you princess?"
Marinette buried her face in her sketchbook.
"Traitor!"
"I didn't say anything!"
"You're silence said everything!"
"Did not!"
Marinette looked around for something, settling on an eraser to chuck at Nino, which hit him in the middle of his hat.
"Good throw," commented Juleka.
"Thanks."
Nino picked up the eraser and tossed it back, totally missing the desks. Adrien reached over to grab it. He handed it back to Marinette, holding on as she tried to take it back.
"A kiss for your eraser rescuer," he pleaded, raising his eyebrows. Marinette leaned in close, Adrien blushing, only for Marinette to snap the eraser out of his grasp when he started going slack.
"You're getting too flirty pretty boy." Marinette flicked his nose before going back to drawing. Juleka heard furious scribbling and looked over to see Marc writing in a flurry. She glanced over to Nathaniel who was subtly looking over at Marinette and Adrien rather than Alya.
"What's going on back there? I can't see anything!"
"Um, Marinette, could you pose for me," asked Nathaniel during the next session.
"What?" The club members were surprised by the request. Namely Alya. Juleka kind of figured this might happen after her and Adrien's interaction the day before.
"Well, you and Adrien. You have very good character chemistry together. So I think we might want to base characters off you two," explained Marc.
"But my poses," whined Alya.
"Which helped a lot," said Nathaniel.
"But we also need poses with duos. Maybe even a superhero team eventually," added Marc.
"Um, I guess I could help. I think Alya would be better though." Marinette shuffled her feet, her index fingers poking each other.
"We'll see. Let's try," Nathaniel pulled Marinette over to the spot Alya had posed yesterday.
"Plus you'll need to learn model poses for your portfolio," said Adrien, Marinette nodding in agreement as she tried to move into a pose.
"Um, what kind of pose do you want exactly?"
Nathaniel taped the butt end of his pencil on his lower lip.
"Like you're about to confront a villain, ready for battle at a moment's notice."
Marinette nodded, biting her lip as she then tried to get into a fighting stance. Nathaniel frowned.
"Do you know if your heroine will have a weapon of some kind," asked Adrien, getting out of his chair.
"We haven't decided yet. Not sure if we want to go with flying or some kind of grappling line."
Adrien nodded as he stepped beside Nathaniel, stooping to his eye level.
"Maybe…" Adrien stepped towards Marinette, adjusting her stance.
"What about this?"
Nathaniel raised his eyebrows, slightly nodding his head.
"This could work."
"And then her partner would be like," started Adrien as he stepped in beside Marinette with his own pose.
"But he had like a long pole he uses to fight, so he holds it behind him ready to bring it forward."
Nathaniel nodded, more excited as he started sketching. Adrien helped guide Nathaniel and Marinette, gradually getting more flirty as the gentle touches continued, Marinette teasing him back, which led to more sketches and more inspiration for Marc to write.
Alya groaned, flopping her head on this desk.
"I can't tell if I like their development or it's too nauseating to deal with."
"If they do start dating, do you think it will be worse," asked Nino as he took a sip of tea."
"For our sake, I hope not."
Juleka smiled to herself, glancing at Marinette and Adrien. Their little secret wasn't hers to tell anyway.
"Thank you so much for your help!" After a week of sessions - most of which were Adrien and Marinette, with eventual Alya, Nino and Juleka - Nathaniel and Marc had all the info they needed. And maybe a bit more because then Marinette started getting involved with costuming.
Then Nathaniel helped her with model poses, which led to Adrien getting upset because Marinette hadn't asked him.
"Glad to help," said Alya.
"We'll let you know when we're done with the first issue," said Nathaniel.
"Hopefully June, depending on next semester's workload," added Marc.
"Oo, maybe we can do a promotion then, like write a song or something," offered Alya.
"We'll see," said Nino, looking over to Marinette who shrugged. Who knew if Marinette could come up with some sort of superhero kind of song. Or maybe they just dress up in costumes while singing their normal songs.
"Do you know what you're gonna call it," asked Adrien.
Nathaniel and Marc smiled at each other before holding up their books. Marc had a piece of painter's tape over the original writing with a new title while Nathaniel held up a cover illustration.
"The Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir," they answered. On the cover Nathaniel drew were two heroes in battle poses, clearly Marinette and Adrien. The heroine was flinging a yoyo while the boy wielded a pole like Adrien had suggested. The girl wore a tight red spandex suit with black spots, while the boy had a more cat inspired spandex suit.
Both the teens blushed, refusing to look at each other or the picture. Based on the smile from Nathaniel and Marc, they had succeeded in whatever goal they planned for that picture.
"I-it looks great. Really captures Adrien's love of cats."
"And Marinette looks really h-nice. Like a real hero."
Juleka looked over to Alya and Nino, both grinning.
"You know, I bet the Adrienette club would be very interested in this if it's based off Marinette and Adrien," said Alya, looking over at the guilty couple. Their faces went white as they started to protest. Nino escorted Marc and Nathaniel out the door as they continued to try and dissuade them, Nino asking the comic duo to think on it.
"That's what you get for being all flirty and adorable and not dating," teased Alya as Marinette and Adrien sunk down in defeat. Alya and Nino left them dead inside the duo to pack up for the day. Juleka bent down to look at Adrien and Marinette.
"You two ok?"
They both nodded, not moving from their spot.
"I think you broke them."
"I didn't break them, their non-relationship flirty tension broke them."
Adrien and Marinette immediately snapped from their stupor. "I'm not flirting!" "Oh trust me, that's hardly flirting."
Marinette snapped her head to look at Adrien.
"Right, my lady?"
Adrien waggled his eyebrows, Marinette turning bright red.
"Just date already!"
"No!"
