Sisters
Danny froze in the doorway of his kitchen, so filled with unbridled horror at the scene he just stumbled on that he didn't notice Adrien, Randy, and Jake running into him from behind until they were all sprawled on the floor.
Jake was swearing at him, Plagg was violently hissing, Adrien let out a yelp when Randy accidentally elbowed him in the ear; and yet none of that mattered as Danny phased out of the pile, causing the other three boys to fall back down as they were in the middle of getting to their feet.
"You know Jake," Haley said in an universally recognized tone all siblings know that immediately inspires violence, "You really should watch your language around people that others could see as….impressionable."
Jake swore some more, just because.
Danny was tempted to swear too, because he knew exactly how Jake felt, but Jazz was looking at him in expectation and he refused to give her the satisfaction of falling for the bait.
Look, it's a sibling thing. Something only Jake and Danny get despite Danny having an older by two years sister, and Jake having a younger by eight years sister. (There is a very clear difference in being an older sibling to being a younger sibling.) Randy can almost get it, seeing as he and Howard grew up together, so by proximity, he had a sort of older sister in Heidi. Adrien is an only child and is thoroughly baffled at the way they can go from sheer animosity on sight, to the sort of teamwork against parents that only siblings can pull off.
So Danny and Jake were the only ones to see the distressing scene before them as….distressing.
Danny's nosy, know-it-all older sister and Jake's nosy, know-it-all younger sister were currently sitting in the Fenton kitchen drinking tea together.
Danny and Jake were distressed.
"No." Jake said, pointing at the scene. "No no. Nope. No."
Haley gave him a sweet smile, "You never told me what a fascinating conversationalist Danny's sister is!"
Jazz gave her a blinding grin, "Thanks Haley! It's always nice to bounce my theories and ideas off someone who gets it."
Danny made a face, "Oh Ancients they're teaming up."
Jake nodded solemnly, "You know what this means right?"
They shook hands, both looking like they're about to march off to war. Danny shuffled over to Jazz. "This is for my own sanity."
Then he shoved a snowball in her face at the same time Jake dropped one on Haley's head.
Jazz shrieked, "Danny!" She jumped up and immediately started chasing him. Haley screeched at Jake and chased him out the other door.
Randy sighed, "We won't be seeing them for a while." Adrien just stared, utterly baffled.
Wayzz
(In which this drabble is both a Miraculous Holder AU, and also half of an idea I had for a Miraculous fic that I absolutely loved and refuse to write. Which mostly stemmed from me being salty about how all the classmates are treated both in fics and show, and my wishes for these kids to just be the chaotic kids they are. It's only half an idea cause there's a whole companion piece to it that I don't explore here.)
The whole thing started when Randy had learned that Adrien had thrown a boys only party and they hadn't been invited.
("But I didn't throw the party? Nino and the guys surprised me. I would have invited you guys."
"You could have texted us! We wouldn't even have to sneak past Gorilla, we'd just show up in your room! You have an international portal in your closet!"
"Okay we can have a guy's night, just stop crying Randy, geez!")
After a whole month of planning, some bribery, a bunch of morally dubious plots from both Norri and Danny, and Gabriel going on a business trip; Adrien's American friends, male classmates, and Luka, were once again having a party in Adrien's room.
(He had tried to invite Wayhem, not wanting a repeat of the last time he had a party, but both of them had been dismayed when Wayhem had told him that he was out of town for the weekend for a family event. Adrien decided to drag Wayhem to the next group event he went to, just to make it up to him.)
This time Adrien had convinced everyone to tone it down from 'wild party that gets crashed by Jagged Stone' to just an average 'all the guys hanging out, playing video games, and eating junk food' kind of party. And everything was going great!
Until Adrien had tripped grabbing some snacks and Plagg fell out of his pocket in front of everyone.
Honestly.
'Ladybug is going to kill me.' Adrien thought mournfully, too shocked by his awful luck to think of a quick cover.
Randy could feel Norri shaking in his pocket, the way they normally do when they're trying really hard not to cackle out loud.
There was dead silence before Nino pointed at Plagg and said, "That's a kwami.'
Adrien, quick and clever thinker he is, grabbed Plagg and stuffed him in his pocket. "No it isn't."
Nino gave him an incredulous look, "Bro. I know what a kwami looks like. That was a kwami. A black, floating….cat like….oh my god."
Max narrowed his eyes, "How do you know what a kwami is Nino?"
Norri shook even harder in Randy's pocket.
"Oh my god!" Nino stared at his best friend in realization.
"Wait Max, you know what a kwami is too?!" Kim asked in amazement.
"It's not a kwami!" Adrien squeaked.
Marc leaned over towards Nathaniel, "Do you know what they're talking about?" Nathaniel just shook his head. Ivan shrugged as well, but Luka was looking thoughtfully towards the rest of them.
"Dude you're Chat Noir!" Nino shrieked.
"No I'm not!" Adrien shrieked back.
Norri finally came tumbling out of Randy's pocket as they cackled out loud, "The cat is out of the bag!" Before falling back into howling laughter.
Plagg wriggled out of Adrien's pocket, "Sorry Kid, I don't think you can talk your way out of this one."
"Oh Ladybug is going to kill me." Adrien moaned before laying on the floor in defeat.
While almost everyone in the room freaked out over various things that were just revealed, for various reasons, Luka waited till it was mostly quiet before blurring out, "You all had a Miraculous before, haven't you?"
Randy just shrugged, picking up his own cackling kwami. "Kind of obvious huh?" He grinned as he held up Norri by the tail.
Kim gasped, "Dude, we're Monkey Bros!"
Randy lit up. "Monkey Bros!"
There was a long sigh from Nino's pocket, before Wayzz flew out. "Plagg your kitten really has your luck this round doesn't he?"
Maahj and Huginn gave up any pretense of hiding and joined Wayzz.
Adrien stared at his best friend. "You're Carapace."
Nino grinned as he helped him up, "Guilty. Sorry I couldn't tell you."
"Wait." Nathaniel waved his hands, "Wait wait wait….all of you has/have used a Miraculous before? And what exactly is a kwami? Some of us are a little confused here!"
"Some of us are a lot confused." Marc added.
Adrien turned towards the three boys who never used a Miraculous before, "You guys can't tell anyone!"
"Oh please, superhero 101, Adrien." Marc said. "I write comics for a living. I know that much."
"You're our friend. We can keep a secret." Ivan added.
"We can keep all of your secrets. Nathaniel added, gesturing at the rest of them.
Danny shrugged, "It's not like Hawkmoth can steal my Miraculous, so I'm not really bothered by it."
"Yo, speak for yourself." Jake muttered.
Luka stepped forward, "We got your back Adrien."
Adrien looked at his room, for once not feeling as big and empty with most of his friends to fill it. His friends, and allies in battle, who were even more amazing to him now.
"Thanks guys. Thank you so much."
Nathaniel broke the moment by saying, "So I still don't know what a kwami is."
Guitar
The ship rocked beneath their feet, sending Jake stumbling into Danny and Alya. Randy cheered from the crows nest, his hand holding a rope was the only thing keeping him from becoming a ninja pancake.
"Thanks for inviting us." Danny said as he pushed Jake off of him.
"Hey, any friends of Adrien, are friends of ours!"
"Except Chloé." Marinette said as she passed by, carrying a box of wires.
"Except Chloé." Alya nodded. "Randy sure seems excited."
Randy gleefully shouted a mixture of English, badly accented French, and various breakfast foods as he slid down the pole back to the deck.
"He has his own band back in Norrisville." Danny said, "He is having the time of his life right now."
Randy landed on Ivan's shoulders before using him as a springboard, whooping the whole time. Rose and Juleka applauded him as he stuck the landing.
Danny rolled his eyes before looking for Adrien, finding him talking with an unfamiliar guy as the two set up Adrien's keyboard. Danny watched as Adrien suddenly lit up with one of his sunshine smiles and placed his hands on the guy's shoulders.
He narrowed his eyes. "Huh. Hey Alya, who's Adrien talking to?"
Alya and Jake both looked over to the pair on the other side of the deck. "Oh, that's Luka."
"That's Luka?!" Jake and Danny exclaimed.
Alya gave them a weird look.
"Adrien talks about you guys all the time." Jake explained, "We know about guitar boy, we just didn't know what he looked like."
Jake and Danny exchanged a look, before nodding.
Alya crossed her arms, "And that matters, why?"
"We've been making a list of all the people that's Adrien's type." Jake said.
Alya's eyebrows went up.
"So far only 3 people are on it: me, Ladybug, and Marinette." Danny grinned.
Alya had to bite back her laughter. If Marinette had been listening to this conversation, she'd be dead on the floor. "So what is Adrien's type?"
"Dark hair-"
"Blue eyes-" Jake said.
"And can pick him up like a sack of flour." Danny finished.
"Oh my god."
"He's talked about Luka and Kagami just as much as he's waxed poetic about Ladybug and given presentations of why Marinette is such a 'good friend'." Danny rolled his eyes even as he did the finger quotations. "We just didn't know what he looked like, so we could never put him on the list."
"We still need to see if he's capable of yeeting Adrien." Jake said thoughtfully, "I don't know how we'd set that up though."
"I got an idea." Danny said.
He waved his arm and yelled, "Hey Luka! Come over here for a second!"
Luka turned to look at them, and shrugged before walking over. Adrien gave Danny a suspicious look. He just gave Adrien a universal sign for 'no worries, nothing bad. But that only seemed to make Adrien more suspicious.
"Hey." Luka said as he joined the group, "You're some of Adrien's American friends right?"
"Yeah, can you go pick up Adrien?" Danny asked.
Luka blinked at him before giving another shrug. "Yeah okay."
The three of them watched as he walked back to Adrien.
"That was your plan?" Alya gave him an unimpressed look.
"Amazing." Jake said in awe, "He didn't even question us."
The three of them watched as Luka strode over to Adrien and very casually swept him off his feet. Adrien squawked in surprise as he threw his arms around Luka's neck. Luka turned back to them with a grin. All three of them gave him a double thumbs up as Adrien's face turned pink. Luka set Adrien back down and said something that made Adrien flush even more. Then he went back to helping set up the instruments leaving Adrien a flustered, frozen, confused mess on the deck.
"I think I like Luka." Danny said. "Now we just have to get Kagami to do the same test."
"Leave that to me." Alya said as she whipped out her phone. "But you guys know she doesn't have blue eyes right?"
"Eh, nobody's perfect."
A minute later Kagami came marching past them from where she had been helping Marinette with the costumes. She went straight up to Adrien and without a word she picked him before whirling around and marching to them.
Jake wheezed in laughter, "His face!"
Danny cackled, "It's as red as Ladybug!"
Goth
(I once wrote an Adrien and Sam penpal fic and I was today years old when I realized I would die on that hill. Also I've been wanting to write a Rebellious!Adrien fic for a while.)
"No."
Adrien felt like his heart was trying to beat out of his chest. His father's face was stonier than ever as he raised his head to glare at Adrien.
But Adrien wasn't backing down on this. Plagg's claws were kneading his chest in comfort and there was a rage burning in his bones he hadn't felt outside of his suit.
Gabriel set down his pen. "You do not have a choice Adrien."
"It's my life!" Adrien hissed. "I've done everything you've asked-no, demanded I do. I fence, I model, I take Chinese lessons and piano lessons-"
"And everything has been slipping ever since I allowed you to go to public school." Gabriel interrupted, "You are constantly skipping your lessons. I've entertained this little teenage rebellion long enough-"
"Rebellion." Adrien's voice went as flat and cold as his father's. He could practically feel his hair bristling in response to his anger. "You think this is a rebellion."
Gabriel opened his mouth, but Adrien cut him off. "No! I'm done. You really think I'm rebellious? You have not seen anything yet."
He turned around and stomped to the door, throwing it open with force.
"ADRIEN!" Gabriel thundered.
Adrien threw him a dark look over his shoulder, "I quit. Find someone else to be your golden goose."
He ignored his shaky hands and his father's voice as he slammed the doors behind him.
….
Chat Noir jumped across the rooftops of Amity Park, looking for a house he had only been to once before. Danny wasn't at his house, and Mrs. Fenton had gladly pointed him towards Sam's after giving him a sandwich and some cookies and a hug.
Chat eventually found the right address. He dropped down and peeked in a few windows till he saw the one with the Amity Trio in it. He knocked on the glass to get their attention.
The three of them snapped their heads to look at him, Sam eventually walking over to let him in.
"Chat Noir? Are you okay? Que faites-vous ici ?" She asked.
Chat shook his head as he slipped in. He dropped the transformation as Sam closed the windows and couldn't stop himself from freaking out. Plagg shook his head and flew up to nuzzle his holder.
Adrien let out a high pitched whine and sunk to the floor, gripping his hair in his hands. "Pourquoi ai-je fait ça? Mon dieu j'ai tellement de problèmes!"
Danny, Sam, and Tucker exchanged alarmed looks.
"Adrien?" Danny slid down in front of him, gently pulling his hands away from his hair. "What happened kit?"
Adrien let out a hysterical giggle, "Je told mon pére to shove eet."
Tucker let out a whistle. "Woah dude. That why you're freaking out?"
Sam kicked him in the shin for the lack of tact, and Adrien let put another hysterical giggle. Danny pulled him into a hug.
….
Adrien finally calmed down after a while and managed to explain what happened, leaving him an exhausted puddle on Sam's bed. Sam was petting his hair while explaining the overcomplicated plot of some American monster movie crossover series. Danny had left for the third time to fight a ghost, with Tucker following after receiving an annoying phone call about Technus.
"You know about teenage rebellions right?" Adrien interrupted her.
Sam looked at him, "I'm a goth to rich, preppy parents. Everything I do is teenage rebellion to them."
"I do not know how to rebel." Adrien whispered, eyes wide. "Where-where do I even start?"
Sam hummed in thought. Then she reached over to her bedside table and brought out a sketchbook, a few bottles of nail polish, and a little black zip up bag.
"How about a makeover?"
"I do not pull off 'goth' like you and Juleka."
Sam rolled her eyes as she shoved him up to a sitting position, "First of all: that's a lie, I've seen you pull off eyeliner sharp enough to cut. It would make any goth jealous. Second of all: I'm not talking about giving you a new thing like me."
She pulled out her bottle of black nail polish and grabbed his hand. Adrien didn't protest, as he had never had his nails painted with anything other than a clear coat.
"You already know your thing, Agreste. You just never got the chance to show it. Everything you did was an Agreste brand. Your clothing, your actions, your social media. Your freedom of expression and voice was smothered by expectations from your father-" The plastic top of the brush cracked under her fingers, and the two of them stared at it for a minute.
Sam sighed and finished painting his nails before speaking back up. "You just have to wear stuff you like. Do things for you, not anyone else."
Adrien blew gently on his nails, admiring the way they shined in the light and cooled on his fingers. "What if I don't know what I like?"
Sam scoffed, "Then we go shopping. We both have money to spare. Besides I've seen you eyeballing my black ripped skinny jeans, and you love all the pun shirts Danny wears."
She eyeballed his waist. "I don't think you'd fit into my jeans, but Tucker left his pair here when he was trying to reinvent himself. And I know Danny leaves his shirts here all the time so-"
Adrien suddenly hugged her, being careful not to smudge the fresh nail polish.
"Adrien, you are crushing my gothic indifference." Sam mumbled into his shoulder.
Adrien giggled, "You're an amazing friend Sam."
"Uggghhh let go of me you sap." She complained, but didn't make any move to break away.
Undertale
"Why are you crying?" Jake asked Adrien, who was making sad faces at his computer screen.
Adrien screeched and flailed around, startling Jake away from him. Plagg cackled from the bed.
"Don't do that!" Adrien said, "When did you get here?"
Jake gave him a funny look, "You didn't hear me crash into the coffee table?"
"Umm,"
"Dude." Jake shook his head, "Anyway, why are you crying?"
Adrien wiped his eyes, trying to remove any evidence of his tears. "I wasn't crying."
"You should have got here earlier," Plagg said, "He was bawling his eyes out."
Adrien threw a pencil at his kwami, "No I wasn't!"
"Aight, since Plagg isn't coddling you like the softie he is-"
Plagg hissed at him, his tail lashing.
"-you probably weren't crying over something, like, actually sad."
Adrien threw his hands in the air, "It is sad!"
"So you were crying."
Adrien scowled at him. "I was just playing a video game."
Jake peered around to see his screen, the familiar pause screen of Undertale on it, "Isn't that the game with the skeleton porn?"
Adrien spluttered and went as red as Jake's scales. "There's not-I don't-wait no!"
Jake and Plagg snickered at him.
Snow
Danny sat down next to Adrien, warming his hands on the cup of hot chocolate Mrs. Long had given them. Jake and Randy were shrieking at each other as they shoved snow in each other's faces and pants. He could hear faint purring coming from the folds of the blue scarf wrapped around Adrien's neck as Adrien stared dully at the slushy white landscape of the park.
"I have never hated Christmas before."
Danny just shrugged. "It's not all it's cracked up to be. My parents started fighting as soon as Black Friday hit. Kinda ruined all the magic for me and Jazz a long time ago."
"I used to love it." Adrien blinked glassy eyes. "I was never happier than when I was spending Christmas with my mom."
"You don't have to celebrate, you know."
Adrien leaned on Danny's shoulder, "Thought you guys were wanting to celebrate together."
"Me and you hate Christmas," Danny said, "And I'm pretty sure Randy is only in it for the presents."
"Sounds like him."
"But Jake knows all that. I think he just wanted us all in the same place, so no one had to mope alone."
Jake tacked Randy into a snow bank, burying the both of them.
"...I miss her." Adrien whispered. "It is the little moments like these when I miss her the most."
Plagg purred louder while Danny threw his arm over Adrien's shoulder to hug him. "Like I said, you're not alone."
Jump
(Miraculous Holders AU, and if the ending seems abrupt it's because it is and I was tired of looking at it. And no this is not the beginning of a romcom despite what some people think.)
It took Danny about half an hour before he could admit it to himself: he was totally lost.
"I thought you said you knew where he was!" He hissed quietly at the kwami in his hair.
"I do," Huginn said, "He's somewhere in Paris."
"You are the worst kwami ever. Paris is huge!"
"I could have said he was somewhere in France."
Danny made a frustrated sound as he pulled out a paper map, not trusting Google to give him the proper directions. As he did so he failed to notice the other person running towards him.
"So I think if we just-oof!"
He collided into someone else and they both went sprawling on the cobblestone. Danny's hand flew up to his hair, making sure Huginn was there and wasn't sent flying where people could see him.
(They weren't careful enough in Amity one day and his parents are more convinced than ever that Phantom is a ghost. He really didn't want to send Paris into a panic of something similar.)
The other teen groaned as he lay on the cobblestone, a look of resignation on his face.
Danny scrambled to his feet and went to help him up, "I am so sorry! Lo siento-nope, that's Spanish. Wait what's french for sorry?"
"Désolé."
Danny blinked, and focused on the guy that grabbed his outstretched hand. He grinned as Danny pulled him to his feet.
"Je suis désolé is what you are looking for. But you could always just say it in English."
Danny flushed, "Yeah, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."
He waved him off, "I am sorry as well. I was not looking either. My name is Adrien."
"Danny." Danny looked at the crumpled and slightly torn map, "Uh, would you be willing to help me with directions?"
"Oui. One of the tourist attractions? A hotel?"
"No, not a tourist." Adrien shot him a questioning look. "No really! I'm looking for this guy. I have this….problem I'm hoping he could help me with."
"Where does he live?"
"I don't know."
Adrien raised an eyebrow.
Danny huffed. "All I know is his name is Wang Fu and he owns, like, a tea shop or something in Paris. My source was rather useless when it came to directions." He winced as Huginn pulled at his hair in retaliation.
Danny saw that Adrien was giving him a funny look. "I know I'm making like no sense but I already tried Google and all it did was take me to the Eiffel Tower and I don't have the name of his shop cause my source hasn't been to Paris in forever-"
Danny groaned into his hands.
Adrien was silent for a moment, and then he said, "I think I know who you are talking about."
Danny peeked through his fingers to see Adrien making a thoughtful face. Adrien grinned at him. "You are lucky. Master Fu is my Chinese tutor. I would be happy to show you his shop."
Danny stared at him, hands dropping from his face. "You're serious? Don't you have somewhere else to be?"
"Oui," Adrien shrugged, "My Chinese lessons."
Danny let out a surprised laugh, "Talk about good luck!"
Adrien snorted, "Good luck tends to avoid me these days."
"Oh you got a case of Murphy's Law too?"
"Sans aucun doute," he replied wearily.
Danny had no idea what Adrien just said, but he could relate.
It was only a ten minute walk to Fu's shop, in which Adrien and Danny had spent making small talk. It was pretty cool to chat with a local who was happy to tell him all about the hidden spots in Paris.
Danny really wasn't here for sightseeing, and he had to go home in a couple days, but it was still cool.
"-and if you are ever caught in an akuma attack, I find alleys are a good way to stay clear of the damage."
Danny blinked, "Akumas?"
Adrien gave him a curious look, "Yes, Hawkmoth's akumas. You should have been informed of that when you came into the city. They give out booklets."
"...I'm not very good at listening." Danny could feel Huginn laughing silently in his hair. "That sounds like a supervillain."
"It is a supervillain who takes someone experiencing negative emotions and turns them into a rampaging monster with a butterfly called an akuma so he can steal the miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir."
Danny blinked incredulously. At least Huginn was right in the fact that Paris would have the answers they were looking for. If Wang Fu didn't have anything to offer, maybe he could find Paris's resident heroes for some answers. Looking around, he didn't notice any damage similar to his own fights.
"And here we are!" Adrien gestured to the almost hidden massage parlor.
The two of them walked into the shop, the bell above the door announcing their arrival. "Un moment!"
Danny shivered with his kwami as the two of them felt the magic in the air wrap around them.
"Bon après-midi, Sensei!" Adrien called back, "J'ai amené un ami."
"Un ami?"
Wang Fu himself was very short in person, and gave Danny a very confused look as he walked into the backroom beside Adrien.
"Um, hello sir." Danny waved awkwardly, mentally trying to figure out how to get Adrien away long enough to talk about his miraculous problem.
Huginn solved that problem by jumping right to it, almost literally. Adrien gave a squawk of surprise as the small black kwami flew out of Danny's hair and up to Fu. "You are the last guardian correct?"
"Huginn!" Danny hissed.
"We need your help." Huginn continued regardless of Danny stressing out behind him. "Something went wrong with the miraculous."
"Umm…." Adrien was looking between Danny and Huginn with wide eyes.
Fu looked curious and somewhat baffled himself. "A crow miraculous? I had thought the Miraculous of Passageways and Death was nothing but a myth."
Danny threw up his hands. "Oh sure! Let's just forgo any sense of secret identities, it's not like my enemies are trying to kill me or anything."
"You are a Miraculous holder?" Adrien asked, looking like he got hit over the head.
"More or less," Danny muttered. He sighed heavily before lifting his bangs.
Wang Fu muttered something that had Adrien flushing as he reached up to look at the scars on Danny's forehead. "My miraculous fused to my head."
"And I thought my kid had bad luck!" Another black kwami flew up to poke at him.
"Plagg!"
"I see we're outing all the identities today." Huginn said, "Is Hawkmoth next?"
Danny smiled at Adrien, "Hey! Same hat!"
Anime
"Is this all you ever watch?" Danny asked as he tried to find something to watch on Adrien's netflix.
Adrien shrugged, "I don't question your choices of b-rated horror movies."
Danny paused to shoot him a look. Then he pointed to one of the options saved to Adrien's list. "How many times have you watched that?"
"...Why are you asking?"
"Because it would explain so much about your dating life."
Plagg cackled. Adrien pouted, "Hurry up and pick something. Just make sure it is good."
"We could always watch Sword Art Online."
"I said something good."
"You love anime!"
"Not that one!" Adrien said before jumping on Danny to steal the remote.
Danny, unfortunately, saw that coming and turned his arm intangible. "If I let you pick, we'd watch nothing but Host Club!"
"What's wrong with that?!"
While the two boys wrestled each other for custody of the remote, Plagg flew over to the TV and put in one of Adrien's many DVDs in the player. The two of them stopped shouting as they heard the TV start to play.
Plagg turned his nose up at them, "Next time just pick something."
Language
"Parfait je acapella Randy, baguette brioche wee."
Adrien stared blankly at his friend. "Where did you say you were learning French?"
Randy brightened, "There's this food truck circle-"
Adrien didn't even have to hear the rest of the story. He took a minute to despair for the upcoming conversation.
"Is this the same place you learned Spanish?"
"Duh, where else would I learn French?"
Plagg shook his head, "You failed Spanish miserably. You would have better luck with the internet translators."
"Do not-" Adrien huffed. Plagg knew exactly how annoyed Adrien got with google translate, being the horrible, chaos loving creature he was. "You could have asked me. I would have been happy to teach you. Or Sam. She's fluent in French as well."
"Sam scares me."
"That is valid."
"And I didn't ask you cause…." Randy flushed and looked at the floor. "We always use the translators in Paris, and you always speak English over here. I thought it'd be nice if you had someone else speak your native language. Cause you always speak ours."
That was….really sweet actually. Adrien might have melted a little bit.
"Ugh, that's so nice of you." Plagg said, disgusted. "Ugh."
Adrien swatted him away. "That's really great of you, but you said absolute gibberish to me."
Randy deflated.
"But I'd be happy to teach you some French. If you want to. Since Sam scares you."
"Really?"
Adrien threw his arm around Randy's shoulders, "Yeah. It would be a lot more fun with the two of us would it not?"
Randy grinned at him, "That sounds pretty bruce."
"And I can teach you all the swear words Adrien won't." Plagg said.
"YES!"
"No, Plagg!"
King
"King me."
"That's not how this game works." Jake deadpanned.
"But it's Checkers," Randy whined, "I know how to play Checkers."
"This is Chinese Checkers. It's totally different."
Randy, Jake, and Adrien were currently hanging out in the back of Lao Shi's shop. Danny had called them asking to meet there and he hadn't shown up yet. So the other three were amusing themselves with the few board games left there.
"Well then let's bring out the real Checkers then!" Randy said, knocking into the board and scattering a few of the balls.
"Avertir!" Adrien exclaimed, catching a few of the brightly colored balls.
"Fu Dawg took the Checkers board and all the cards. Something about settling a few bets. Or debts. I wasn't listening."
"We could play Chess?" Adrien offered.
The other two groaned.
Adrien rolled his eyes, "Ça ne fait rien."
Randy hummed, "I think I saw Monopoly-"
Jake and Adrien were quick to stop him with a vehement, "NO!"
Before any other suggestions could be made, a familiar green portal ripped open in the room. Phantom floated out of it, several rather large books in his arms.
He dropped them on the table, knocking all the pieces off the board.
"Yo what the heck man?!"
Phantom didn't answer and flew back into the portal, only to come out with another handful of books. He dropped those on the table too.
"What do you guys know about ghost politics?" he asked.
Randy clapped his hands and stood up, "Whelp I'm out."
Jake snagged his jacket and pulled him back down. "Oh, nuh uh. You are not leaving us alone to deal with this."
Adrien poked one of the books that was glowing suspiciously. "Why the sudden interest in ghost politics? I thought you could care less about that stuff?"
Danny huffed and transformed back, "I don't. But Vlad has decided to try and take over the ghost by claiming he earned the right to the throne during the whole Pariah thingy."
Jake whistles, "Glad I'm not you."
Danny made a face, "I just need some help finding reasons to make sure Vlad doesn't have a claim. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are working on some other stuff back home. But I thought you guys could help me cover the rest of it."
He grinned and patted the books.
Randy threw back his head and groaned, even as he reached for some of the books.
"So why is Cuckoo for Coco Puffs claiming royalty now?" Jake asked about an hour of research later.
"Heck if I know. He's been acting really weird for a while."
Randy let out a triumphant yell and slammed the book he was skimming down on the table.
"Hey careful!" Danny exclaimed, "I'm borrowing these from Ghost Writer, I don't need to give him a reason to put me in another poem."
"Do you remember the fight with Pariah?"
"Considering the ghost army, the pulling the entire town into the ghost zone, and me nearly dying a second time? Yeah."
Adrien leaned over and read the text. "Apparently if Vlad wants to lay a claim to the throne, the previous holder needs to accept his challenge. Did Pariah ever accept a challenge?"
Danny thought about it for a minute before blanching.
Randy's shoulders slumped, "So Vlad does have a claim."
"He didn't accept a challenge from Vlad," Danny said.
"Pariah accepted it from me."
Privacy/Private
"I, for one, am so proud of you my child."
Adrien shoved Danny off the couch for that comment, his ears burning.
Randy, unfortunately, was out of his reach. "Our little Kitten is all grown up!" He pretended to wipe a tear away. "Soon he'll be leaving the nest all together."
Nino snickered, "All grown up and asking actual people on dates. No more practicing on the pillows when he thinks no one's looking."
"You're all horrible," Adrien said.
Jake nudged him, "So spill. What happened?"
"Did you get any sugar?" Danny asked from the floor, "Cause you seem sweeter than normal."
Adrien groaned, "Keep that up and I won't tell you guys anything."
Danny, Randy, and Jake all made noises of protest and outrage. Nino just shrugged.
"Eh, I'll tell you dudes what happened if he doesn't," he said.
"How do you know what happened?"
"Marinette told Alya, who told me."
"How does Marinette know what happened?" Danny asked, getting back up on the couch.
"She was with me," Adrien said.
There was a brief silence as his friends processed that. Randy narrowed his eyes, "I thought you asked Kagami on the date?"
"I did….Marinette and Luka went with us though."
Danny gasped, throwing a hand to his heart, "And you didn't ask me to go with? I'm your type too!"
Adrien spluttered.
Jake tsked at him, "I can't believe you would cheat on us like that."
"Yeah!" Randy said, "We're the only one you go on four-way dates with!"
"It wasn't like that!" Adrien turned to Nino, who was shaking with laughter, "Tell them it wasn't like that."
"Dude, from what Alya told me it was exactly like that."
"Nino!"
His friends couldn't hold their faces any longer and broke down laughing. Adrien let out a huff and crossed his arms, waiting for their birth to die down.
Danny snickered, "Aw c'mon. Don't be such a grumpy cat."
"There's no need to pout," Jake added.
"I'm not pouting." Adrien pouted said.
Nino ruffled his hair, ignoring Adrien as he swatted him, "You totally are bro."
As the boys continued teasing each other, Nino took a moment to appreciate Adrien's attitude in the privacy of his room.
It was amazing.
The Americans seemed to bring out a playful side to his friend that Nino didn't get to see often. Adrien was never anything but himself with Nino (which was a lot different than when the young model was in the public eye), but being in private always shed layers that even Adrien didn't know he wore.
Nino was comforted by the fact that Adrien had found more people he could be himself around when he couldn't be there for his bro.
Outfits
"You know you guys didn't have to come." Adrien said.
Danny shrugged walking along next to his friend. "It's not a big deal."
"I've always wanted to see what a model does." Randy said.
"It's actually really boring."
Jake nudged his shoulder as they walked, "Sorry Kitty, you're stuck with us for today."
"Also I feel like I should tell you ahead bnb of time-"
"You three!"
The four of them jumped in surprise at the shout. Adrien let out a weary sigh as he spotted the man running towards them.
"What are you doing here?"
"Well we were-"
"I just thought-"
"Adrien invited-"
He cut them off with a wave of his hands. "Nevermind. No excuses. Just go find my assistants. They'll help you get ready."
With that he marched off towards the camera set up, leaving behind three befuddled teens and one exasperated one.
"Monsieur Brodeur likes grabbing random people to integrate into photo shoots." Adrien said, finishing what he was going to say earlier.
Randy's eyes lit up, "Are we going to be models with you?! Schweet!"
Danny rolled his eyes, "He's not serious about that. Is he?"
"Does this make us French models? I mean we're American but we're in France so-"
Adrien shrugged, "I kind of figured it would happen when you guys decided to tag along."
"And you couldn't give an earlier warning?" Jake asked.
"-and the outfits! Do we wear what we have on? Are we getting new ones? Can we keep the new ones!?"
"Monsieur Brodeur barely gives me any warning. And there's usually like four different photographers Father uses so I didn't know for sure if he was going to be the one here or not."
"This is so honkin' bruce!"
Pause
(Short sequel to Percentage)
Danny texted Jake and Randy quickly before putting his phone down with a quiet sigh, not wanting to wake his friend.
"I don't feel safe."
Adrien hadn't said anything after that one breathless sentence. He had just cried into Danny's shoulder as the halfa pulled him close. With the combined efforts of Plagg's worried purring and Danny's hushed reassurances, and Adrien's own exhaustion, he finally fell into a fitful sleep.
After a few minutes to make sure he really was asleep, Danny picked up his friend and moved to the bed. Adrien mumbled into Danny's shoulder at the movement but didn't wake.
Getting Adrien to stop sleeping-clinging to him would be impossible, so Danny resigned himself to being a human pillow.
Randy was the first to appear, the portal spitting him out of the closet in a bright flash of green. Jake was right on his heels and nearly bowled the both of them over.
Randy was immediately next to Adrien, nearly falling off the bed's edge where he perched. He gently pried one of Adrien's hands away from Danny's shirt, only to replace it with his own. Jake kneeled at the end past Danny's feet.
"What happened?" he asked quietly.
"Don't know," Danny said, "Didn't get much out of him. He just said he 'didn't feel safe'."
"Plagg?"
The Kwami looked up from his spot on Adrien's shoulder. His ears were flat against his head and his eyes glinted in the darkness. "We found Hawkmoth."
The other three frowned. That should have been good news. Adrien should be calling them up to tell them about a battle plan him and Ladybug have. He should have been thrilled to finally end Paris's suffering caused by Hawkmoth. He should be fighting the final, heroic battle with his partner and a blinding smile because good is finally going to win.
He shouldn't be crying in the privacy of a friend's darkened room at 3 am like his heart had been broken.
"Hawkmoth didn't find out his identity too did he?" Danny asked, holding his friend just a bit tighter.
"...We don't think so."
Jake sighed and slipped off the bed, "Okay. As much as I want to know what happened let's wait until morning when Adrien can tell us himself."
He walked over to Danny's closet and pulled out some spare blankets and extra pillows.
"I don't think all four of us will fit."
"Don't care," Jake said, climbing back onto the bed.
"We're not leaving," Randy added, pushing Adrien and Danny over so he could lay down.
Plagg gave an annoyed hiss as he got jostled, but resettled against his holder. The final battle would be put on pause for now. Adrien needed to gather his wits and the pieces of his heart. His American friends, as much as Plagg ragged on them, could offer him a shield of safety and comfort that his Parisian friends couldn't. Hawkmoth, Gabriel, resided there.
Plagg was almost positive that if Adrien had stayed and sought out Ladybug or Nino or, heaven forbid, Chloe; Adrien would be prime for an akuma.
Here he was safe. Tangled and squashed together with three other boys, but safe.
Fashion
Randy threw a couple shirts out of his closet before going back in.
"You're the French model. Aren't you supposed to be helping?" he said accusingly.
"I have no fashion sense. Everyone else dresses me." Adrien replied.
"Why are you even over here then?"
"Howard texted me."
Howard shrugged at Randy's look, "He's french, thought he could help. Sadly he's useless."
Adrien scowled, "I can not believe I came all the way over here just to be insulted."
"You went from one closet to another. I can't believe you said he looked fine in crocs."
"He did!"
"No he didn't! They were crocs!"
Randy ran out of the closet, tugging on a dark pair of skinny jeans before falling in his face. He picked himself up off the floor before bouncing to the bed. He grabbed two of the shirts there and held them up.
"Which one should I wear?" he asked.
Howard and Adrien each pointed towards a different one without even looking at him.
"And the outfit before that? It ruined my eyes."
"Well what was wrong with that one?"
Randy sighed before walking over to his computer, sending over two video chat requests.
"He was wearing a horizontal striped shirt-"
"It was a nice shirt!"
"-with vertical stripes on his pants!"
Tucker ended up answering, Danny and Sam in the background and working on something. "What's up Randy?"
"Tell PJs I said hey!" came from behind him.
"Danny says hey."
"Hey back. Can you help me with my outfit? Adrien and Howard are here but neither of them are helping at all."
"-but they looked great on him!"
"Not with those pants!"
Jake answered sometime around then, "Yo I could have told you that. What's with the fancy threads anyways?"
Randy blushed, much to their amusement. "Debbie is throwing a surprise birthday party for Theresa and threatened me to be there. Not that she had to but…."
Tucker nodded sagely, "I understand. What's the choices?"
Randy held them up. Tucker and Jake both pointed to the right. "That one."
He let out a sigh of relief as he changed shirts. "Thanks. You're a lot more help than some other shoobs!" He directed that last part towards the two friends that were actually in the room.
Adrien and Howard paid him no mind and continued arguing. Well, less arguing and more shouting at each other in French and Spanish.
"Is Howard swearing in Spanish?"
Randy just shrugged and he grabbed his bag. "Yeeeeaaaahhhh. The hypno-spanish kinda stuck. Now I'm the only one of us failing Spanish and neither of us usually have any idea what he's saying."
Tucker and Jake snickered. Danny finally finished with whatever he was doing and shoved his way into view. Tucker let out a squawk as Danny jumped on him. "Just squirt them with a spray bottle, that'll get their attention."
"And give Plagg an excuse to claw my eyes out."
Danny opened his mouth to retort, thought about it, then closed his mouth with a shrug. "True."
"Well have fun," Jake said, moving to close his call, "Don't do anything Tucker or Adrien would do."
"There goes all my plans."
Cookies
Jake eyed all his opponents.
Danny's face was blank, but was fidgeting with his sleeves. Not a threat.
Randy was glaring, so he was clearly bluffling like he had been the past three rounds.
Adrien looked like the cat who caught the canary, but he also didn't know how to play so it could mean anything.
Plagg though….
"All in."
Jake frowned, debating whether Plagg's smirk meant he was going to win this hand, or was smirking to make them think he would win this hand, convincing them all to fold.
"Fold." Danny laid down his cards.
Randy glared some more, "Fold."
Adrien moved the rest of his pot into the pile. "I'll call."
Jake stared down Plagg, "Call. You are so bluffing."
"Am I?" Plagg purred, laying down his cards.
Jake looked at them and groaned, throwing his cards on the table. Plagg's four of a kind beat Jake's full house. "Aw man, you don't even like cookies!"
"Beating you losers is what makes it taste good!"
Plagg cackled flying towards the pile. Danny blocked his path, "Hold up whiskers, Adrien hasn't shown his hand yet."
Adrien shrugged, laying down his cards. "I still don't get how to read the hands. What'd I get?"
Plagg looked at the cards and groaned, as Danny and Randy whooped.
Jake shoved the pile of cookies in his direction, "Royal flush beats everything Kitty."
"Yes!" Adrien immediately grabbed one of the cookies and bit into it. "You can still have on if you want."
Plagg flopped on the table, pouting. "Losing takes all the taste out of it."
Hair
(Someone on tumblr asked me what sort of pets the SQ would have and this is the result.)
Jake's terrified shriek woke up the four other boys currently sleeping in Randy's room.
Danny was awake and transformed before his feet hit the floor, looking blearly around for the danger.
Randy had yelped in response before rolling off his bed and landing on Howard who started swearing loudly through Randy's hair.
Adrien had startled and got tangled in his blanket, his struggles throwing Plagg away from him with furious hissing.
Actually something else was hissing too.
Jake was still shrieking, legs and arms wrapped around Randy's bedpost much like a startled cat.
Somewhere above the cacophony of Howard's swearing, Plagg's hissing, and Jake's shrieking, Danny yelled, "WHAT'S WRONG?!"
"I SAW A THING!"
That did nothing to clear up the situation.
A shape moved in the dark towards them, scampering over blankets and pillows and Adrien who let out a shriek of his own.
Randy sat up, sitting on Howard and blinking blearily at the mess around him. The small shadow threw itself at him and Jake let out another hair raising shriek.
Plagg had enough sense to turn on the lights.
Howard groaned when he caught sight of the animal in Randy's arms. "I thought Garbage was at your estate?"
"He was," Randy said, nuzzling his most favorite pet ever, "You missed me didn't you? And you came all the way here? Such a good kitty!"
"Randy….why are you cuddling a raccoon?" Jake asked.
"This is my cat Sir Nicholas. I told you guys I had a cat."
"That is not a cat." Danny said.
"And his name is Garbage." Howard added. The raccoon hissed at him, before wrapping its arms around Randy's neck and cuddling closer. Howard hissed back.
"Son nom n'est pas si mal." Adrien mumbled as he finally freed himself from his blankets. "I 'ave 'eard worse."
"No, his name is Garbage. As in that's what's on his name tag."
"That's not a cat." Danny repeated as he transformed back.
"Yes he is."
Danny gave him an are-you-serious-right-now look.
Jake let his head thunk on the post he was still wrapped around. "Randy I cannot with you right now. I'm still trying to restart my heart man."
Randy scritched Garbage under the chin, and the raccoon let out some pleased noises as he melted into a fluffy puddle. "Captain Crunch is a very good kitty and really, really sorry he scared you. But in his defense, you knew I had a cat."
"Yeah, a cat. Not a raccoon who jumps on me and was reaching for me with his tiny little grabby hands at 2 in the morning!"
"T'es mignon quand t'es fâché."
Jake made a noise that sounded vaguely like a lizard being strangled. Adrien leaned over and stretched out a hand to Garbage, who sniffed it and then decided Adrien was okay and let him pet him.
"I do not remember teaching you zat?"
Randy grinned, "Nino says that to you and Alya all the time, I just asked him what it meant."
Adrien snorted.
"It's not a cat." Danny said to Jake.
"I know."
"He's getting fat." Howard said.
"No he's not! It's just fluff! Leave Smokey alone!"
Boots pride sequel
(Tumblr anon request during Pride 2021 that's not quite what they asked for but I couldn't get out of my head so I wrote it anyways)
Danny picked up first, "Okay KitKat, what could possibly be so important that you panic text us during lunch and then refuse to answer other than a vague keysmash and shocked cat emojis, and then FaceTime us."
Jake's face popped up on the screen, "You're lucky we know the difference between your 'I'm a mess and panicking' texting, and your 'serious emergency' texting….oh."
Nino waved.
"Sup Nino!" Randy greeted, "Where's Adrien?"
Nino snorted and tilted the phone down. Adrien was currently facedown in Nino's lap and making various distressed noises as Nino petted him.
He tilted the phone back up, "It's not as bad as my dude's making it out to be. He came out to the class today."
"That's….good? Bad? WTJ, I don't know y'all's class!" Randy threw his hands in the hair, accidentally throwing his phone in the air.
""Y'all's.'" Danny repeated.
"Nah it wasn't bad. Totally valid. Just…." Nino snickered, "Embarrassing for him."
"So what happened?"
"Madame Bustier had stepped out for a little bit, and we were all chatting. And we got to talking about superheroes."
….
"Ladybug is not the Captain America of Paris."
"Totally is!"
Alya hummed, "I just don't see it? I mean she's totally all for punching nazis and terrorists, Hawkmoth anybody? But personality and power wise? Nah."
"Marvel or DC?" Nathaniel asked, "Cause if we're talking heroes in general; power and personality wise she's totally Wonder Woman."
"I wonder what superhero I'd be," Alix mused.
"Flash." The whole class said in a once in a lifetime synchronization.
"Gotta go fast." Nathaniel smirked at her and she threw a paper ball at him.
"Max is clearly Iron Man." Kim spoke up, "But he'd be better."
Max tilted his head, "That would be the most probable hero identity going off skill set only. Personality wise however?"
"I'd be Batman." Juleka said, "That'd be awesome."
"An emo everyone has a healthy amount of fear of that's secretly a softie underneath and in love with a cute blonde." Alix nodded. "I can see it."
"Are you implying Rose is Catwoman?"
"If anyone in here is Catwoman, it's Marinette." Alya said, ignoring said girl's splutters.
"That's legit….I'd totally be a Ninja Turtle." Nino said.
Half the class booed at him.
"Stick to Marvel or DC!" Alya tossed her pencil at him.
He caught it laughing, "Fine! I'd be Hawkeye. Dude doesn't get enough respect in the hero biz."
He turned to Adrien, who was focusing on finishing up some homework. "Bro what about you? Who'd you be?"
"Spider-Man."
Alya snorted at the ready-to-go answer, "Spider-Man seriously? Why?"
"I swing both ways like him."
Adrien didn't notice the class go dead quiet after that as he finished the last few problems. Then he froze.
"I didn't mean to say that outloud." He breathed to himself, though everyone could hear it in the silence.
….
Adrien groaned into Nino's lap again. Danny was absolutely losing it on his screen.
"Are you telling me-" Jake snickered, "Are you telling me you came out early to your class, because you couldn't resist making a pun?"
Adrien just groaned again.
"How'd the rest of the class take it?"
"Bout the same as you guys." Nino said with a grin.
….
Alix was the first one to absolutely lose it, Kim following her seconds later.
Rose squealed, "Bi buddies! We finally have five! It rhymes now!"
"That was an embarrassing way to come out to us." Chloe sniffed, "Thought you'd do one of your little heartfelt speeches."
Alya had a hand over her mouth trying to hide her laughter while Marinette just looked like her soul left her body.
Nino was snickering, but he pulled Adrien into a one armed hug, "Bro, you're so valid. But you doing okay?"
"That wasn't how I wanted to come out to you guys!" Adrien whined, tucking himself into Nino's side.
Mylene took pity on him and asked, "It's okay Adrien! We're glad you're comfortable enough with us to be yourself!"
Alya controlled herself enough to ask, "Wait, how did you want to come out to us?"
Adrien flushed, "I was just gonna put 'It's me:' in the class chat followed by a pic of the bisexual flag."
That set everybody off laughing like crazy again. Alya shrieked with laughter while Matinette's head hit her desk with a quiet thunk. Alix had slid from her chair and was laying flat on the floor as she howled with laughter.
Mrs. Bustier finally came back only to find her class in absolute hysterics.
….
"Adrien, buddy," Randy snickered, "You dumb cat that was how you came out to us!"
"So I knew it worked."
Nino ruffled his hair, "It's alright. We know you're a hot mess and we love you anyways."
Adrien sat up just to hit him with a pillow.
Among Us Oneshot
(mightyno19 on Tumblr request. Low key based off something that happened to me in game. Adrien and Nino both have mini cremated and their names are Emma and Piper and whenever one of them dies they take care of each other's mini.)
Randy raced down the darkened hallway, barely able to see a foot in front of him. His footsteps echoed down the halls, his breaths came out short, and his heart felt like jumping out of his ribcage. Two others had already been found dead, with no leads on who did it. The meetings were growing tense and relationships fraying as everyone kept a sharp eye out for the imposters among themselves, waiting for them to slip up.
He ran into the wall, swore as he bounced back, and eventually managed to find the main switches.
He was just about to turn the lights back on when a shadow moved behind him.
Randy shrieked.
"Chill Cunningham, it's just me." Howard came within Randy's limited line of sight.
Randy let out a breath, "What the juice Howard? I thought you were about to murder me?!"
Howard rolled his eyes, "You sure are easy to sneak up on considering you're a ninja."
Randy stuck out his tongue. "Just help me with the fuse box real quick. The lack of sight is making me nervous."
He turned to flip the switches on, and never even saw the knife.
Randy blinked as he floated over his own dead body. His jaw dropped as he watched Howard vent into another room.
"Dude." Ghost Nino floated up beside him. "Talk about betrayal." Ghost Jake cackled next to him.
Danny came into the room and turned on the lights, just in time for Howard and Trixie to enter the room. Howard immediately reported the body.
"Et tu, Brutus?" Nino quoted. "Man I will never trust Howard. Lesson learned."
Randy goggled the scene as Howard accused Danny.
"He killed me. Stabbed me in the back!"
Ghost Jake continued to absolutely lose it next to them while the meeting got heated.
"YOU KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!"
"I DID NOT WHY ARE ACCUSING ME?!"
"What the juice?" Randy hissed. "You killed me you-you-"
"YOU WERE STANDING OVER HIS BODY! MY BEST FRIENDS BODY YOU MURDERER!"
"YOU ARE ACTING SO CRAZY NOW HOWARD WHAT THE HELL!?"
Randy seethed, "You lying traitorous lying liar who lies and stabs his friends!"
"Man, he is really committed to this." Nino said as they watched Howard convince everyone to vote off Danny.
Danny eventually stormed up to them.
"Going ghost." Jake, Nino, and Randy said together.
"That wasn't funny the first time and it's not funny the seventh either." Danny shook his head, "What the hell just happened?"
Jake started cackling again. "My best friend is a killer," Randy said.
Danny stared at him. "You're kidding."
"Nope."
"Howard?"
"Yeah."
"Howard killed you."
"We are clearly in the wrong timeline," Nino piped up. "Since Howard and Randy are betraying each other."
"Right?" Jake said, "Its like if you or Adrien abandoned each other and left your mini crewmates."
"Leave Emma and Piper out of this."
"Oh gosh you named them?"
Howard and Trixie won the round sometime after that, pausing before the next round so Adrien and Jake could change their hats again.
"Howard." Randy said over the Skype call.
"Why do you sound like you're about to cry?"
"I can never trust you again!" Randy cried. "Its clear I need a new best friend for the remainder of this game. I'm breaking up with you."
"You can't break up with me if I break up with you first!"
Trixie cackled, "Sounds like the BroTP is going through a rough patch."
"Adrien you're my new bro."
"You're going to have to share me with Nino." Adrien said.
"Two for the price of one buddy." Nino said, "I'd high five you if we were on the same continent."
"Spud you're my new buddy." Howard said.
"Okay dude."
"Hey wait-" Jake spoke up, only to be interrupted by Tucker.
"Alright enough musical friendships, next round starting….now!"
Debbie on the Case
(Random one shot posted forever ago on tumblr that I thought I'd add because while it's more Randy Cunningham themed, it's based off Rich Randy which I use in SQ.)
Theresa stared at the board. The criss-crossing strings, handwritten post-its, and suspicious photos taken from behind bushes were all fairly normal for the board. The subject matter scattered across the board though….
"This is supposed to be a two page report."
Debbie shrugged, tapping her pencil against her chin as she stared at the evidence gathered across her wall. Subjects and similarities pinned and connected with red string. "There's something strange here."
"A single paper, front and back."
"Something's off, can't quite put my finger on it."
"You were assigned this a day ago." Theresa blinked at the board, "It's kind of impressive….even if I am getting worried. Your slump that bad?"
Debbie let her head fall back to groan loudly at the ceiling, "The worst! No robot attacks, no monster rampages, no publicity stunts, no swinging around singing Spider-Man's theme song or Rachel's ninja along. Nothing for three. weeks. straight! What kind of ninja just, disappears?!"
As she wildly gestured to emphasize her point and the pencil flew out of her hand.
Theresa patted her shoulder in sympathy and ignored all the pencils stuck in the ceiling like the best friend she was. "That's kind of what ninjas do Debbie."
"That and inconveniencing me," she growled.
"So!" Theresa said, "Wealthy families. Any juicy conspiracies catch your eye?"
Debbie grabbed another pencil off her desk, "No more than the usual. Embezzlement, power grabbing coups, fraud, a frankly concerning amount of affairs considering they're all within the same small social circles."
"Anyone scandalous?"
"...Brickwall and the Dimanche's."
"Both?"
"Both. Same period of time too."
Theresa snorted, "Oh to be a fly on the wall when that affair came to light."
"Right?!" Debbie smiled viciously, "Also Marci might be a supervillain."
"No!" Theresa gasped, "Marci McFist? She's so nice!"
"The perfect cover story. I was reaching a bit on that though. She is really nice and adores her husband. No affairs in that relationship."
"Awe, at least there's still good in some of the one-percenters of Norrisville. That's not what's got you in your reporter zone though."
Debbie smiled at her, "True. What do you know about the old money families of Norrisville."
"That they have lots of money."
"Fair. Most of them help found Norrisville and still carry a lot of influence in town, regardless of city politics. The Blacknome's, the Dimanche's, the Cunningham's-"
Theresa started, "Randy?"
Debbie started, "What? No, the other Cunningham's."
"There's more of them?"
"No. Old money family. They're like, never in the city cause Jackson Cunningham has steel contracts with a bunch of out of town companies, and Kama Cunningham is a producer for Jazz and Blues musicians so she's constantly going out of town too. One kid, no media presence. Probably private school or boarding out of country. But here's the thing."
She reached over and tapped one of the pins, nine different strings stretched out to connect to different property deeds. "They own Cunningham estate down on Highe Dowler Drive of course, Cunningham Inc. and Cunningham Productions and Recording Studio on Main, two warehouses a couple streets over, two vacation homes outside of the city limits, and two random private properties in the suburbs of the school district."
Theresa squinted at the board, despite having been staring at it most of the time she had been there. She still didn't quite follow Debbie's line of logic and reason yet. "So? Sounds like every other rich person buying multiple properties to flaunt their wealth."
"That's just it! They don't flaunt their wealth!" Debbie gestured to some of her post-its, "The estate is a family estate. Old, passed down through the family since it's been built. The two main buildings and warehouses are strictly for work purposes. Vacation homes are actually pretty simple and built more for comfort. But these two properties?"
She tapped her fingers on the board. Theresa eyed her warily, "You didn't go stalk these houses, did you?"
Debbie scowled, "I couldn't find the addresses for those two private ones. But that is the weird thing. Why? What purpose could these two houses possibly serve two wealthy and busy individuals, neither of who are having affairs and spend most of their time at their offices or estate? It's the suburbs. Family homes and parks, not exactly the place for wealth."
Theresa shrugged, "Maybe it's for their kid?"
Debbie scoffed, "Why would they stay at those houses but go to a different school? If they were staying at that house-"
She froze, eyes wide as facts and speculations rearranged in her head. Theresa just watched while Debbie thought out her latest epiphany.
"If they were letting their kid stay there, he'd be going to our school." Debbie leaped across the room and over a desk to grab at the various yearbooks she has stored. "But there's no media presence around him, so is he being kept hidden? Nobody really cares about bloodlines anymore so they're not likely to be a bastard hidden from the public. And if they do go to our school…."
She held up four years worth of yearbooks, handing two to Theresa before quickly flipping through the two in her hands.
Theresa started flipping through as well, "But the only Cunningham I can think of is Randy."
Debbie shot her a look, "You always think of Randy."
Theresa flushed, "Well, yeah. But you know what I mean!"
Debbie rolled her eyes, "That would mean Cunningham is a secret millionaire and I can't see him or Howard going through high school keeping quiet about that."
"Maybe Howard doesn't know?" Debbie stared at her, "You're right, nevermind."
Like Randy or Howard would ever keep a secret from each other.
"Besides, you've been to his house before," Debbie added, "Or at least his closet."
Theresa turned red, "There was a monster attack."
"Uh huh."
The two of them flipped through the yearbooks in silence for a while. Debbie suddenly paused, her focus shifting elsewhere.
"Actually, has anyone ever been to his house? Other than you and Howard?"
Theresa shrugged, "Not that I've noticed."
"Not even birthday parties?"
"Always at Greg's."
"What do his parents do again?"
Theresa rolled her eyes, "You're not seriously thinking Randy is a secret millionaire, are you?"
Debbie was about to reply when a loud crash sounded outside the window. She abandoned the books to the floor and leaned her out. She caught a glimpse of the telltale signs of a robot vs. ninja fight.
"Finally!" She exclaimed, leaping up to grab her camera and take off towards the battle.
Theresa sighed before chasing after her, leaving the research behind to be buried underneath ninja research.
Oh my gOSH that was a bunch of prompts but I'm finally done with them. Now I can start working on the actual prompts you guys sent me instead of these drabbles.
My absolute favorites were Goth, Guitar, and Pause. Though I have a soft spot for Wayzz and King as well. Let me know your favorites!
Check out my SQ sideblog secretquartet on Tumblr for more, including some fanart people made for some of these! I love people so much :D And as always-
ENJOY MY VIEWERS OF THE CORN!