Chapter Five: A Prank and A Question

Luka brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes. Life was just getting harder for him, but it was clear that no one would know. Plagg, the cheese-eating cat, made it clear that his father couldn't know. His mother, Lyric Agreste, was getting more and more worried about him. Lyric would fret over the tiredness that would constantly fill Luka's face after an akuma attack. How little she knew.

"Luka, would you like a ride to school?" Hugo asked, popping his face into Luka's room. Luka was fully dressed, but his feet were dragging and their were bags under his eyes.

"That'd be great, Father," Luka said, his eyes feeling heavy. He grabbed his back and loaded into his father's car.

"Luka, what's wrong?" Hugo asked.

"Nothing," Luka said. "Nothing's…" Luka yawned. "Wrong."

"You're really tired lately. Why?" Hugo asked. Hugo looked in the review mirror, and saw Luka closing his eyes.

"Nothing, like I told you…" Luka nearly dozed off.

"Are you staying up too late?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sick? You should stay home."

"Dad, I'm fine." He's asking too many questions.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Hugo let out a sigh. "If you say so, son." Hugo was a man of his father, with blonde hair and green eyes. Hugo typically worked outside, and his skin was tanned. Hugo was usually dressed in a black T-shirt that said, "Black Cat Forever" with a black cat's head and the words on a banner. Hugo wore baggy jeans and black high-tops like he was still a teenager.

Luka repeated Hugo's sigh. "I'm just tired." Luka combed his fingers through his hair. The boy was handsome, even with messy hair. Today, he wore a jean jacket, a white T-shirt, black jeans, and white tennis-shoes.

"Are you falling to sleep on time?" Hugo asked. Luckily for Luka, they pulled up to the school.

"Again, Father, I'm fine," Luka said. "Stop worrying so much."

"I'm not the only one worried. Your mother is worried, and Grandmama Marinette called asking how things were going," Hugo said. "She expressed her worry too, after I told her about you."

"Tell Grandmama that I'm fine," Luka said. "I love you, Father."

"I love you too," Hugo said, heaving a sigh. Right as Luka came out of the car, though, he heard a yelp.

"Gosh, why do I keep getting myself into trouble like this?" the girl murmured. "Mom's gonna be so mad…"

"Are you okay?" Luka asked, helping the brunette up.

"I'm fine, thanks, Luka," Ava said, rubbing her head. Luka couldn't help but blush. She was beautiful. She had a white bow in her hair, and her brown hair had blonde highlights. Her green-blue eyes were beautiful. She had a black and white long-sleeve shirt and a sky-blue skirt. Ava had white flats and knee-high socks.

Luka couldn't help but stare. "What's going on that you need to look- I mean dress- so, uhm, dressy?"

"My mom wants me to start- uhm, looking approachable. She thinks I should start dating, but when a girl doesn't want to, she doesn't want to, right?" Ava said.

"Oh," Luka looked like he wanted to say more, but Ava dismissed it.

"AVA!" a boy came running out. "I- I-"

"Spit it out, Gael," Ava told the boy. Gael was a tall boy, with messy black hair, big brown eyes, and tanned skin.

"Come with me," Gael grabbed Ava's wrist, dragging her away.

"Talk to you later, Luka!" Ava shouted.

"Talk to you late," Luka said, half-heartedly. Luka kicked himself. "Good gosh, Luka. If you want to ask her on a date, ask her on a date."

"Lukie-boo!" a high pitch voice said. Luka turned around to see Summer, a girl with long, wavy blonde hair. Her big blue eyes looked at his.

"Summer, my name is Luka, please call me that," Luka said, running his fingers through his blonde hair.

"Oh, come on, Lukie-boo!" Summer said, grabbing ahold of Luka's arm. "Let's go inside and see what Hammond is up to!"

"Hammond? You mean Ava?" Luka asked.

"Of course I do, Lukie-boo!" Summer hummed, and dragged Luka inside when they heard an ear-piercing scream.

"WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU DO THAT!" Ava's voice came. She came running out of the art room, covered head to foot in different colored paint.

"Ava! I'm sure they're sorry!" Gael came sprinting after her. Ava spun on her heel to face Gael.

"Gael- what were you thinking? You know they all hate me! And they have their reasons! Bringing me into a room with Ruby, Kali, Micky, and Thomas? That's just cruel!" Luka briefly remembered the students that Ava was naming off. Ruby was a quiet girl with dark brown hair, a tall stature, and was usually wearing a hoodie and leggings. Kali was a girl is short black hair, grey eyes, a short stature, usually wearing a sweater and jeans. Micky was a nickname for a boy named Joseph, and Luka wasn't sure how he got the nickname, Joseph just went by Micky. Micky was a large boy with chocolate brown hair bleached at the tips. Micky was known for being a trickster, so the chances that he was the one who planned the prank on Ava was a one-hundred out of ten.

"They said they were going to try to clear things up with you!" Gael said.

"Of course they did! You know, Gael, you're so gullible sometimes!" Ava turned and sauntered away, leaving the boy crying. Ava was half his size, but Gael had a much softer heart than Ava.

"Hey, Gael, are you okay?" Luka asked, slowly approaching the crying boy. Gael whimpered.

"Why does she have to do this to me?" Gael asked, and then sprinted in the opposite direction. When Luka was about to follow him, Summer grabbed his arm.

"Leave him. He's a soft soul, he can't be cheered up without breaking more," Summer said. "I know, because I've tried." Luka looked at Summer's face, and all he saw was sadness. Summer truly had tried.

"Okay," Luka said, looking down at his shoes. The poor boy was likely to be akumatised, but the stronger the anger or sadness, the stronger the akuma. As long as he could help Gael in the long run. But now, Luka was determined to find out why Ruby, Kali, Micky, and Thomas had done that to Ava.

He walked into the room and heard Micky laugh. "Looks like lover boy is here to see what happened to his poor Ava." Luka flinched.

"What do you mean lover boy?" Luka asked.

"Oh, we all know you have the hots for Ava, have you seen the way you look at her?" Kali asked, hotly.

"I- urg," Luka tried to put it in words.

"Save it, hot-stuff," Kali said. Kali was a little taller than Ava, standing at 5 ft. "You like her, and we all know it. If you want to know why we did it, ask Micky."

"Uh- Okay, um, Mick-" Luka began, but Micky cut him off.

"It's fun! Ava's so easily angered!" Micky began to laugh. "You should've seen her face. A look of sheer HORROR! Oh my GOSH, it was so funny!"

"That's not-"

"MICKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" a loud voice called.

"Well, sounds like an akuma, I'm out," Micky said swiftly. Micky then hopped out the window and ran away.

That's when a paint covered akuma came in. Luka wasn't quite sure whether it was Ava or Gael, but it was an akuma either way. Sprinting away, Luka barely missed a spray of paint. He saw Kali get hit and she turned into a painted statue.

Once away, Luka was panting and Plagg fazed out of his jacket. "Are you going to transform or what?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Luka began. "Plagg, claws out!" A green light enveloped him, transforming him into Prince Noire. He started walking out of the closet just to bump into Ava, smearing paint across his black suit.

"Oh! Prince Noire!" Ava yelped. "I'm so sorry! The akuma is after me, so I was going into the closet to hide…"

"That's okay, princess," Noire said, opening the closet door. "You go hide, and me and Crim will handle the akuma." Ava's face burned bright red.

"Thank- Thank you!" Ava stuttered. Then, gaining a little courage, she asked. "Uhm, would you like to talk after the akuma is fixed? I have a favor to ask."

"No problem, princess," Noire said, grabbing Ava's hand and kissing it. Ava's face became even brighter.

"Yeah- uhm, meet me here," Ava said, stumbling over her words.

"See you then, Ava," Noire said. "Oh- and if I happen to stumble across you again during a late night akuma, I might have to tell your parents!"

Ava rubbed the back of her head. "Thanks. I mean- erm- I don't make any promises."

… (After the akuma attack)

"Pound it!" Lady Crimson said, putting her fist out to fist bump her partner.

"Pound it!" Prince Noire agreed. Gael sat on the ground holding his head. Prince walked over to the boy. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay? I want to know if Ava is okay! I was really mad at her and Micky and everyone else!" Gael said.

"Ava is fine, I ran into her while she was going to hide in a closet. Speaking of which, I should probably go check on her, she asked me to meet up with her afterward."

"You should recharge first, Heaven knows how long it'll take her to talk to you," Lady Crimson said.

"I guess you're right, as always, Crim," Noire said.

"Well, I better get going," Crimson said, and took off.

"You're good, right?" Noire asked Gael.

"As long as Ava is," Gael said with a nod.

… (After recharging Plagg)

"Ava?" Noire asked, knocking on the closet door.

"Is it over?" Ava asked, pushing the door open.

"All done," Noire said. Ava heaved a sigh and came all the way out revealing her outfit had been cleansed along with everything else the ladybugs had fixed.

"I was kinda sure since my outfit got fixed, but then again, it could be a trick," Ava said.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Noire asked.

Ava's face grew red. "I- urm- I was wonderingifyouwanttogoonadate?"

"What?" Noire asked. "Would you slow down?"

Ava took a deep breath in. "I. Was. Wonder. Ing. If. You. Want. To. Go. On. A. Date?"

"I thought the boy's were supposed to ask the pretty girls," Noire teased. Ava's face paled.

"So, you mean you don't…"

"No! Of course. How about a dinner at the park this weekend?" Noire asked. Ava squealed.

"You have no clue how much this means to me! Thank you!" Ava said and hugged the cat. She gave Prince a kiss on the cheek and skipped off, leaving Prince in a blushing mess.