Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir or Hetalia. All rights go to their creators.
Chapter 4: Back to School
Arthur and the rest of his friends were going to be in their final year of Lycées or high school. Arthur planned to go to University, but sadly if they hadn't caught Hawkmoth before applications started, his hopes of going abroad to London would be dashed. He couldn't just leave Kiku to defend Paris alone, especially when there was another supervillain running around with him, Paon.
Arthur wore his signature red scarf and leather jacket, but instead of a plain grey shirt, he wore a "#1 Ladybug Fan" shirt. He copied the design from the shirt he'd seen Alfred wear many times before.
So far he was going to be on time. No Akuma attacked this morning so he got into the back of the limo and gave Tino a quick greeting.
"Good morning Arthur!" The man smiled at him through the rear view mirror, "Are you excited for your first day?"
"I'm not going to tenth year Tino, It's going to be the same as it was last year." He said crossing his arms.
"I know that but it's your last year! Aren't you excited that it's going to begin? Pretty soon you'll start testing for and applying for University!"
Arthur let out a sigh, "Sure. I'm excited."
"Even if you're not, I'm excited for you! " He said before they pulled off.
When Arthur arrived, Tino wished him good luck and to have a good day before he closed the door. With that Tino pulled off. Arthur gripped the strap of his bag before walking up the steps to the school.
He'd received his schedule beforehand, and since he was in a different track from Gilbert and his darling Kiku, he would only be seeing them when they had a break for lunch. He went to his homeroom class first where they received their locker assignments. Arthur was in Lycées littéraire where he would have to take philosophy classes this year. Feliks was also in this track so he would be seeing him in his classes.
He had philosophy in the morning, and Maths right after, so he knew his mornings would be rough. Arthur walked in and his gaze briefly caught Feliks's. The other boy broke contact first, turning back to Tolys who he was sitting next to.
He walked past them and towards the middle, "Ciao Arthur! Sit next to me!" He looked across the room to see Feliciano flagging him down. He forgot the other boy was also on this track. He took a seat next to him, a horrible mistake really.
Feliciano proceeded to talk his ear off, "Are you excited? This is our last year! I'm excited but also a little scared because I'm not sure if I'll be able to get into a good University… mi fratello's pizzeria if I don't… to be a fashion designer. Oh! I saw your new line for the summer!.. how much they cost, oh-–"
Arthur stopped paying attention after that, and proceeded to think about how Paon had the power to create sentient monsters that looked like people. It's possible that Paon would try to make a sentient monster of someone he knew Ladybug and Cat Noir were close to. At the moment that person could be Alfred or Feliks. He and Kiku would have to be vigilant.
Arthur also thought about how he would be able to have study dates with Kiku. Which would be more dates than studying. I wonder how he looks when he's concentrating on something. I bet he makes a cute face. I can't wait to see–
Arthur felt something poke him in the cheek, snapping him from his thoughts. He turned to see Feliciano smiling at him, "What cha thinking about?"
Arthur frowned, "Nothing. I was listening to you."
"I noticed your shirt. You still have a crush on Ladybug?"
Correction, I'm absolutely loopdeloop over the moon in love with Ladybug.
"Yeah, what of it?"
Feliciano shrugged, "I dunno. I thought with how well you and Kiku were getting along…"
"Gilbert's been filling your head again, Kiku and I are just friends. He doesn't even see me that way." Arthur said just as the teacher walked in. Feliciano frowned briefly before he smiled again as the lesson started.
Since it was the first day they didn't use up all of the time and were allowed to just talk or use their phones the rest of the time. Feliciano brought out a sketch book and from what Arthur could see, it was a design of a dress. Feliciano started working on that.
Arthur scrolled on CheepCheep, and HetaTube to catch up on if there were any new Akuma attacks. So far Hawkmoth was quiet. Arthur knew that at some point he and Kiku would have to see if they could at least narrow down who Hawkmoth could be, Paon would be harder since he was a newer villain. When Arthur tried to remember his face, he was drawing a blank beside the royal blue peacoat he wore. It was very stylish.
Maths went by like this too, although they were let out early for lunch. Arthur had a piece of camembert, roasted almonds, Burgundy beef palate with Bourguignon, and a cup of chocolate mousse packed for lunch.
He took out his lunch and found a shady tree to sit under. He took out a fork to start eating before he heard the soft crunch of the grass as someone approached.
"Hey Eyebrows. Another fancy lunch I see." He looked up to meet the ruby red eyes of his friend Gilbert. "All I got was a ham sandwich on a baguette. Is that mousse?" Gilbert said, sliding down next to him.
Arthur smirked and grabbed the mousse, "I'll give it to you if you stop filling Feliciano's head with the ridiculous notion that Kiku and I are dating."
Gilbert pouted, "You're no fun. But fine, I give up. It's not my call anyway." Arthur gave him the mousse. "And Alfred's not gonna be too happy when he sees you in that." He smirked.
"As if I care. I'm Ladybug's number one fan."
"You haven't made a whole blog dedicated to Ladybug, or a CheepCheep account, or a SnapBlab and you haven't held interviews with Ladybug. You don't even watch the show based on him. The only person I think who could outrank Alfred is probably Cat Noir." He says before biting into his sandwich.
"Oh whatever. I can wear whatever I want."
Gilbert smirked, "You can. I'm just saying he's going to give you a hard time."
They ate in silence for a few moments before discussing plans to start up meetings for Kitty Section again.
Arthur looked around and didn't see Kiku but sure enough Alfred came bounding over to them.
"Yo! Dudes! How goes it?"
"Not much we were just discussing when we should plan our next Kitty Section meeting for." Gilbert said.
"Oh yeah! Are we still meeting at your house?"
"I think so, my father hasn't said anything about us not using his garage."
"Rad, just let me know when in the group chat."
Gilbert and Arthur gave him a nod.
"Is Kiku not with you?" Arthur asked.
Alfred raised an eyebrow and then smirked, "He went to the library. He said he wanted to look up something."
"Oh," He said, a bit deflated. They fell silent as Alfred and Gilbert looked at each other briefly before looking at him, matching grins on their faces. "What?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Well aren't ya going to the library?" Alfred said.
Arthur stood to match Alfred's height, "No. I don't want to disturb him. It's probably important." He said that but inside he was itching to see Kiku, the Cat Noir in him really wanted to tease him.
Alfred eyed him closely, grin not leaving his lips. Arthur walked past him, "You're creeping me out."
"Where are you going?" He asked as Arthur continued to walk further from them.
"Away from you and your strange expressions." He didn't look back, he walked past groups of teenagers standing around talking. He walked past the stairs.
"It looks like the direction of the library!"
"It's not!"
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Arthur walked into the library. There were very few students there. Mostly because it was the first day so there wasn't anything to study for. The students he assumed were just reading or enjoying their lunch alone to avoid socializing.
He saw Kiku towards the back with a short stack of books to his right and his nose in a really worn book. Arthur made his way over, after passing by and grabbing a random book off the shelf. He silently slid into the seat across from him.
He used his finger to tilt Kiku's book down, "Found you." He smiled at Kiku's slightly surprised expression. His voice was low.
"What are you doing here?" Kiku whispered back.
"I can't come into the library and read a book?" He said holding up the book he grabbed. He feigned a hurt expression on his face, "How rude of you. I just came over to say hi."
"Oh. Gomenasai, that was polite of you. I was just a little worried you were acting out of character to our friends."
"Serves you right." Arthur crossed his arms, mouth still in a frown before he couldn't stop the slight chuckle that escaped him, "I can't believe you fell for that. I came in here to see you, obviously." He said resting his chin on his hand.
Kiku pursed his lips, "Our friends are going to get suspicious."
"I have it perfectly handled. They don't suspect anything. I'm even wearing a "Ladybug's Number One Fan" shirt. A signal to everyone that I love Ladybug and not you."
Kiku sighed, "They are probably already suspicious."
"And what have you been doing? Where's the stuttering and blushing hmm?" He said, giving the other boy a smirk.
To which as though it were a cue, the boy's cheeks were pastel pink with blush and he hid behind his book again. "It doesn't work like that."
He got up and walked over to stand beside Kiku and lean down next to him. "What are we reading?" To which Kiku looked over and flinched. "I'm generally curious now."
"I-I was trying to see if there was anything written about the miraculouses." They were so close to each other. Arthur wanted to kiss him. No one could even see them behind the book.
"Find anything?" Arthur felt his cheeks warm with blush as he made eye contact with Kiku, before his gaze briefly flickered to his lips.
"No. But you could look through a book in the stack on my right." He leaned in to capture the other boy's lips on his own but was stopped by Kiku placing a hand over his mouth.
"We're in public!" He whispered.
"And we're behind a book!" He whispered back, taking the other boy's hand from his mouth.
Despite how it seemed they didn't share many kisses, at least when Arthur thought about it. Or Arthur just tended to underestimate just how many times he'd kissed the Japanese-Parisian because he wanted more kisses. He just didn't see Kiku enough, that was his rationale.
Kiku shook his head, "Just help me look, please."
Arthur sighed before he smiled again, "Sure." He took a book from the stack and sat in his original spot across from Kiku.
Arthur would have to remember that they were back in school, and really he should be focused on his studies and Hawkmoth. He opened the book and skimmed through the pages, no mention of the miraculouses in there, even though it was about supernatural myths in France.
He set the book down just as the bell rang to end their lunch break. Kiku closed his book and placed it on his stack. Then he gathered his bag. Arthur did the same, "What class are you off too?"
"Mathematics." Kiku said.
"I'm off to my foreign language English 2 class. It's not too far. I could walk you there."
"T-That is ok. I have to stop at my locker. See you later." With that Kiku hurriedly went out of the library.
That's odd.
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Soon it was the end of the school week. Arthur had fencing practice, after the spring torments ended three months ago, he would be starting again in the fall.
Yuet Lian Chun was the best fighter in their class. She often beat Arthur and that got on his nerves to no end. But of course he had never expressed his irritation at losing to the skilled girl because her family owned Buzz Co. soda company and would sometimes partner with Bonnefoy brand in their advertising.
They had finished warm ups and were doing practice sparring sessions with each other.
The point of the sabre touched his chest for the third time and the referee called Yuet Lian the winner.
He shook hands with her and then he joined the rest of their team to watch one final practice sparring match. Gilbert was against Mathiew, who was generally worse at sparring than Gilbert.
"You went down easier this time." She said to him, "Are you distracted?"
Arthur felt his cheeks warm with blush. "No, I just didn't practice as much as I should have over the summer."
"So you were distracted."
Arthur pursed his lips, I haven't seen Kiku all week except for when we met up to fight Akumas.
"Is it about your upcoming fashion shoot for the fall?"
Arthur turned to the girl, her expression the same as before. It made sense that she would pay attention to those types of things because of Francis and her parents' business relationship.
"Yes, I'm worried this one won't do as well. Fall isn't really my season."
"Have more confidence. Professionals know what they're doing."
"Yeah Arthur, have more confidence in yourself." Antonio parroted, giving him a sunny smile.
Before they were in the Kitty Section, Antonio, Arthur, Gilbert, and Mathiew met in Fencing practice three years ago.
Arthur had already known Yuet Lian and had only talked to them when Antonio introduced himself and Gilbert. Mathiew approached when he overheard them talking about forming a band. Which had only been sparked when Gilbert heard him singing in the shower. It had been after a particularly messy battle and the school locker room was closer than going all the way home.
"Antonio, did you see the group chat for our next meeting, next Thursday?"
Antonio nodded, "Sí, sí I checked. I know I'm prone to forget sometimes but I take our band very seriously."
"I just wanted to make sure, just in case."
"I could come to your shoot to offer support." Yuet Lian spoke up then.
"I could come too, amigo!" Antonio said with a grin.
Antonio never went to his photo shoots. Why would he want to come now, did he have some sort of hidden agenda?
"You really want to come, Antonio? I thought fashion wasn't your thing."
The boy nodded furiously, "I do. We're amigos aren't we?"
"Sure."
A/N: There is a severe lack of girls in this story so, Nyo!Hong Kong is here: Yuet Lian.
Thank You for reading!
Criticism welcome.
