Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir or Hetalia or Naruto. All rights go to their creators.


Chapter 6: Distance

Arthur was sitting next to Gilbert in the courtyard. He had given him his mousse as usual. And then he took out his phone to scroll for any news on any Akuma attacks that might have happened while he was in class. Rarely did Hawkmoth strike while they were in school which was good for him and Kiku he supposed.

"Yo! Dude, are you taking some kind of classes or something?" Arthur looked up from his lunch to see Alfred and his wide blue eyes standing over him with his hands on his hips.

He could assume he was talking about the incident that happened at the commercial shoot. "Fencing?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Man, I thought fencing was lame! Especially when you're jabbing people with fake swords."

"Kesesese! The awesome Gilbert does not partake in any activities that are 'lame.' How dare you think such a thing." Gilbert said from his place beside him.

Alfred grinned, expression determined, "So fencing could teach me how to fight bad guys!"

Gilbert furrowed his eyebrows, "If you get a sword, I guess you could. I've never tried."

"Did you not see my latest video?"

"I was busy this weekend. It's about that commercial right?"

"Well yeah and then some Akumatized kid from another school burst in. Had his nail gun pointed straight at this actor's face." Alfred held his fingers into the shape of a gun, "And he was all like 'Show me what you can do hero!' I thought he was a goner for sure and then Artie stepped in and blocked him! Alfred waved his arms around for dramatics, "And he had a cape! It was amazing!"

"Pfft. Really?"

"I've got it on video!"

"Yeah, cause I'm having a hard time believing this one here did anything other than run away."

"It's really not all that impressive." Arthur frowned.

Alfred squatted down to his level and gripped his shoulders, "A spotlight was going to fall on my head, and you kicked it away! Dude, I owe you my life!" He was deathly serious, and it made Arthur a little uncomfortable with how intense his gaze was.

"You don't owe me anything Alfred. You would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes."

"Eyebrows do you make it your mission to quote cheesy movie lines whenever possible?" Gilbert said with a smirk.

Arthur rolled his eyes.

Alfred grinned, "So if I show you, you'll check out the commercial?"

Gilbert shrugged, "Sure, what could it hurt?"

Alfred was going to show Gilbert the video, but he couldn't get the video to load because they were outside. Gilbert said he'd watch it later when he got home.

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Arthur had gone to the library and waited for Kiku. He hadn't seen the boy going on 3 weeks at this point. The boy had always said he was busy when he called him after school and even on the weekends. So, the only time he saw Kiku was when they met up for battles.

Arthur had even asked Alfred where Kiku was during their lunch breaks before, but the boy said he told him he was going to the library. Wherever he was, he hadn't told Alfred either.

"Are you still looking for your friend?" Arthur looked up from the book he was reading to pass the time, to see Yuet Lian.

They never really interacted outside of fencing classes and co-sponsored family gatherings, being in different tracks.

"Huh? What makes you think I'm looking for someone?"

"You've come in here for the past week looking around, pretending to read as though you are waiting for someone."

"Are you stalking me or something?"

"I just noticed your performance is off when we're sparring and it's no fun if you don't try." She gave him a smirk.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, "I didn't know you had a sense of humor."

She shrugged, "I think I know where he is."

"What are you talking about?"

"I asked Gilbert, and he said something about you being close friends with Kiku Honda-Wang. He's in my mathematics class. I saw him go into the music room, if you're looking for him."

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows and stood up to match her height.

The girl grinned, "I won't tell Monsieur Bonnefoy that you like Honda-Wang."

"We're just friends that's all." Arthur said, grabbing his bag and walking past her.

Yuet Lian decided to accompany him on his venture to the music room. She said that she was bored and had nothing else better to do. She assumed that there would be a fallout because there had to be a reason why Kiku was avoiding him.

Outside of the music room Arthur could hear the sounds of a guitar.

He glanced at Yuet Lian who raised an eyebrow.

It's nothing.

Arthur grabbed the handle of the door, twisted it and slowly pushed it open. He was greeted by two sets of eyes, one green and the other brown.

Antonio grinned a sunny grin at him, in mid-pluck of his acoustic guitar. He was sitting in a chair and Kiku was across from him, a book in his lap. "Hola mi amigo! Did you need to use the music room too?" Instruments surrounded them, pushed toward the far ends of the walls.

Kiku's gaze shifted from him. Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, and Yuet Lian pushed her way past him to step into the room. She looked between them and gripped Antonio's arm. "What were you working on? Sounds pretty good."

"R-really? I-I've been working on a little love song." Antonio rubbed the back of his neck. Arthur stepped back out into the hallway.

Kiku stepped out a moment later and closed the door behind him.

"You've been avoiding me to listen to Antonio play guitar?" Arthur raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

Kiku's gaze was on the floor.

"Is it worse than that? A-are you dating him or something?"

"No."

"Well then what's going on? Why didn't you tell me you were meeting with him?"

"Do I have to tell you who I meet with?" Kiku looked at him again, his gaze emotionless and stoic.

Arthur pursed his lips, "Well no, I suppose you don't. I wouldn't have minded studying in the music room if you wanted to. I didn't know the library was too distracting for you." He could feel a little irritation stirring.

"It's not that." Kiku avoided his eyes again. His grip tightened on the book in his hands.

"Then what is it? I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"You have to promise me you won't get upset."

Arthur let out a light chuckle, "I can't make any promises like that."

Kiku's expression was uneasy as he made eye contact with him, and he took a step back.

"Kiku? I was just joking."

"Just forget I said anything. It's nothing. I'll see you in the library tomorrow." Kiku said as he swiftly turned and walked down the hall.

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, "Kiku? Come on, tell me what's wrong." Arthur walked to catch up to the raven-haired boy. He gripped the other boy's arm.

Kiku audibly sighed, "I-I just want some space."

"Huh? Are you breaking up with me?"

Kiku turned to face him expression panicked, "No! We've been together all summer. You've come over to my home more often and we've been in that club together... I-I just wanted some time to myself."

"And you couldn't have told me?"

"I didn't want to disappoint you. You seemed so happy that we were spending time together." Kiku frowned, gaze towards the floor again.

"And you thought avoiding me was a better option?" Arthur crossed his arms, anger rising, eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

"I wanted to avoid conflict." His voice was soft.

Arthur let a breath out of his nose. He didn't know if he could still be angry at Kiku when he looked so remorseful. With how easy it was for Hawkmoth to manipulate negative emotions; he could understand why Kiku chose to dance around expressing discomfort.

Arthur could admit he was being a little clingy and by extension immature. And that was the last thing he wanted to be, Arthur did have an image to uphold. He didn't have to worry so much about it when being Cat Noir, so that was still fair game.

"Alright. I'll give you your space. Just let me know next time if something's bothering you. I promise I won't get upset, ok?"

Kiku nodded.

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Arthur was in the library; it had been a month or so since he told Kiku that he would give him some space. Kiku wasn't there, Arthur had gotten there early because he had an urge to do some planning. He hadn't had a moment like this to quietly reflect on the fact they still didn't know who Hawkmoth was. Arthur wrote down what they did know.

He was a male miraculous user.

He used butterflies along with his power.

Where did he get the butterflies? Did they appear when he used his miraculous?

Where did the butterflies go after Ladybug released them?

Paon works with Hawkmoth, is it possible they know each other outside of costume?

Arthur shook his head, focusing on Paon would get him nowhere. Maybe the butterflies flew back to Hawkmoth once released. He would mention it to Kiku on their next Akuma mission.

Someone coughed to get his attention and he looked up to see Kiku.

"There's a con next week. Alfred, Matthew and I are planning to go. Would you want to come as well? I-if there's room in your schedule that is."

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows.

"I would but I don't have anything to wear."

"We were planning to have matching costumes from Naruto," Kiku held out his hand to list off who they were dressing up as, Alfred wants to be Naruto, Mathiew wants to be Kakashi, and I'm cosplaying as Sasuke."

Arthur wasn't a fan of cons because he wasn't a huge fan of anime. But if Kiku wanted him to go, he would. Arthur raised an eyebrow, "And who do you want me to dress up as?"

Kiku's cheeks were salmon pink with blush,

"Are you comfortable with wearing a dress?"

Arthur closed his eyes, took in a breath and let it out of his nose before opening his eyes.

"You're lucky I'm nice and you're cute."

"Arigato. You won't be disappointed." Kiku said, bowing his head.

"Take a seat. I wanted to run a theory I had by you." Arthur gestured to the empty seat across from him.

Kiku took a seat across from him, setting his bag down beside him.

"Do you think Hawkmoth's butterflies return to him when they are deAkumatized?"

Kiku places a hand under his chin, briefly in thought, "It is possible…Or they're just released into the wild."

"If they're wild butterflies, how does he obtain them? Would he purchase them? Or would he harvest them like plants to have an unlimited quantity?"

"All good questions. We would have to observe."

Arthur nodded, "It would be helpful to observe the next time Hawkmoth Akumatizes someone."

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Arthur stood seething, dressed as the only girl member of Team 7 in Naruto, Sakura. The pastel pink wig did not help matters. At least he was wearing shorts underneath.

"It's not so bad, Artie. You'll see more people in cosplay!" Alfred grinned in the orange jumpsuit he was wearing.

"You could have been Rock Lee, but Alfred insisted that we had to dress up as characters on the same team." Mathiew said, muffled as his undershirt was pulled over his mouth. He had on a grey-haired wig as well.

"Duh Mattie! It's like dressing up as Power Rangers from different shows. Their costumes were based on different themes and people would notice."

Kiku nodded and Mathiew rolled his eyes.

"Kiku dude, since when did you start working out?" Alfred said, eyeing his best friend.

Kiku's cheeks were pastel pink.

"Al! That's rude!" Matthew said

"It is not! Look at his calves! Did you join a sport recently? I'm just shocked I've never noticed before."

"I-I" Kiku seemed to be caught off guard and couldn't find his words.

"Of course, you didn't notice Alfred. It wouldn't be hard to get anything past you." Arthur spoke up.

"That's so not true! I only pay attention to the most important things!"

"Anyway, if you must know. Kiku and I took up a morning running routine."

"Oh! Damn I really need to join a sport, but the blog takes up most of my time! Ah well I'll figure out a workout routine." Alfred waves them off.

"Well let's get on with it then. The faster we go through, the faster I can get out of this outfit."

The con was filled with more people than he realized. Upon seeing the large array of costumes fans were wearing he didn't feel so bad about his costume. Tents with various plush toys and panels were being held in rooms further back with voice actors from popular animes.

There was even a stand that was selling costumes for that show Kiku liked, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. A blue wig with pigtails accompanied the Ladybug costume. And some kind of belt and a bell accompanied Cat Noir's costume.

They were sitting, waiting on a panel from some anime he's never heard of but had to do with some Titans or something to begin, when his ring beeped.

An Akuma attack was nearby.

He stood up and so did Kiku, they excused themselves to the bathroom. "Alright but hurry back, you don't want to walk in and it's already started," Alfred said and Kiku gave him a nod.

Arthur and Kiku found a place hidden behind a large cut out of some strong blonde superhero character from some anime about superhero school. They both had backpacks, under the guise of carrying merchandise, with their suits in them.

'"Do you think we'll be back before the panel starts?" Kiku asked.

"Not likely."

Kiku nodded and got his suit out of his bag.

"Do you want me to take care of it, and then you could go to the panel?"

"But only Ladybug–"

"Well yeah, but I could just use the grappling clip to catch the Akuma when I'm done. I'll just say you're taking a break."

"I shouldn't shrug off my responsibilities." Kiku said, lips pursed.

"It's just one little battle. You deserve a break."

Kiku glanced back at the entryway for the panel. "Ok just this once." Kiku said, taking his earrings off.

"And you have the honor of cleaning up afterwards." Arthur said, taking off his ring and reaching in his bag for his wand and handing them to him.

Arthur put in the earrings, and Kiku reached into his bag for his grappling clip. After Kiku gave it to him, Kiku told him to be careful.

"Of course, I'm a professional." Arthur said, "Now go on before you miss it." Arthur lightly pushed Kiku to go towards the panel room.

Kiku gave him one last glance before he gave him a stiff nod and went into the room where the panel was held.

Arthur was dressed in his Cat Noir attire equipped with his baton and Ladybug's grappling clip and earrings.

Arthur ran out of the con and went outside. He listened for screams.

He made it a few blocks away from the con when he saw people dancing to no music with panicked expressions on their faces. The dancing caused people to stop their cars. Some had gotten out only to be hit by a stray blue beam in order to start dancing themselves.

Arthur maneuvered around the cars, seeing more and more Parisians dancing uncontrollably.

"What's wrong? Not up for a party! Well now you have to be! Show me those moves!" Arthur looked up to see a man with disco balls for hands, platform shoes, bell bottom pants, long blonde hair and a mustache dancing on top of a nearby building.

Arthur could assume this was the Akumatized person. Arthur would have to be careful not to get hit; he didn't have his regeneration powers.

Arthur couldn't see what the Akumatized object could be from here. Arthur extended his baton to reach the same height of the building before using it to propel himself onto the building's rooftop.

The man turned, "Ahh, Chat Noir. You've finally joined the party! Hawkmoth says, 'I need your miraculous."

"Sorry to be a party crasher. But that's not something I can do."

"At least join me for a dance, before I take it, non?" Arthur's just barely able to evade getting hit by the man's blast.

"You haven't even introduced yourself." He said before jumping out of the way of the next three basts.

"How rude of me, DiscoFever."

"I'm not one for dancing anyway. Two left feet as they say."

This open space wasn't helping, and he barely had time to think before he's jumping around again trying to evade the blue ray beams as though the rooftop was lined with hot coals.

"Maybe Ladybug would be a more willing partner?"

"He's not available. You have only me to deal with at the moment." Arthur made his way to the edge and jumped off. It hurt to land on his feet, bloody hell.

"Leaving so soon? We were just starting to have fun."

He hid behind a car to the bewilderment of the driver who was stuck dancing inside it.

He didn't know how to make a shield. It took Ladybug months to learn the right twirling rate. He needed a distraction. But he didn't have one.

Arthur was then struck with an idea; he could always pretend he was hit and start dancing.

Arthur copied the movements of the civilians around him, "You got me! Come and get the miraculous."

"Good! It's nice you see things my way! Dance parties all the time!"

DiscoFever made his way down, apparently there was a fire escape. How was the villain going to grab his miraculous with no fingers?

"You were right, poor thing. Two left feet."

When the villain got close to him, Arthur pulled his wrist and forced him into a sort of American hustle type style dance. He had taken to browsing dancing tutorials on HetaTube to sweep his beloved Kiku off his feet. He pulled the stunned villain into underarm turns, before twisting his arm into the hammerlock position and finally wrapping the villain's arms around in a way that caused him to scream, "Let go of me! Ahhh!"

Arthur glanced around on the man's arms, and neck before he noticed a crescent moon shaped earring in his ear and decided that was where the akuma was. Not having any free hands, he used his teeth to rip out the earring, subjecting himself to blood curdling screams of pain from DiscoFever.

"HAWkmoth I want OUT! Sacre Bleu! What the hell is wrong with you, man?"

Arthur spit out the earring before stepping on it and breaking it.

He let go of the villain, "I didn't have any free hands. And just so you know, you're a terrible dancer, not me." Arthur catches the Akuma with Kiku's grappling clip and the white butterfly was released. Arthur's gaze follows the butterfly, afraid it's going to fly back to Hawkmoth before he has a chance to follow it, but it flies to a windowsill in a nearby apartment and perches on a coronation.

So, it's just a stupid regular butterfly.

"Excuse moi, Chat Noir, do you know why my ear is bleeding?" The bloke who was DiscoFever was changed back into a regular man with actual hands and bright blue eyes. Same outfit though.

"That one's on me. Sorry about that, let me just make a quick call."

People also started to question why they were still dancing if the so-called villain had been defeated.

He dials Kiku's number and after a few rings the raven-haired boy picks up,

"Are you in trouble?"

"No darling. I handled it perfectly well on my own. But it seems I've made a bit of a mess."

"Hai. I will clean it up."

"Merci, mon amour. Au revoir."

Arthur slides the phone back into the folds of his costume before addressing the man again, "It should be fixed momentarily." The man's look of confusion did not fade.

And then a few moments later the city is enveloped in white light. People stopped dancing, regaining their ability to move on their own, and the man's earring and ear were returned to normal.

"Alright then, I'll take my leave." He said before taking a running start and propelling himself on top of a building towards the direction of Kiku's home.

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Arthur camped outside on top of Kiku's rooftop balcony for the first time in what felt like ages.

He and Kiku had spent a lot of time together over the summer, but mostly as civilians just doing things adolescents do going to movies, eating ice cream, skipping rocks, going to the beach, ice skating, and eating at various restaurants (begrudgingly with Alfred as to not seem like they were dating). But not as Cat Noir, not like before.

Arthur was lounging on a deck chair before hearing the door to the balcony open with a creek. He shifted his gaze to Kiku, "How was it?"

Kiku's eyes sparkled as he went into detail about the panel. How surreal it was to hear his favorite character's come out of the voice actor's mouths at will. He said something about some silly fan requests like making two characters say they loved each other. Arthur wasn't paying too much attention to the details, giving a hmm, and a nod when needed. He just loved seeing the other boy so passionate about something. With Arthur being thrown into things by Francis, he barely has time to indulge in Kiku's interests, so it was nice to see him doing something he enjoyed for once outside of school and superhero business.

"Well I'm glad you got to see it." He gave the boy a smile. He rested his arms behind his head.

"Are you sure you didn't have any trouble?"

"No of course not! I handled it perfectly on my own." Arthur noticed the worried expression on Kiku's face. "Although it would have been easier with Ladybug around, of course. I haven't gotten the hang of making a shield." Arthur frowns.

Kiku nodded, "What kind of villain was it?"

"A dancing villain. It's a shame he got to see my moves before you did though."

"You dance?"

"A little, I've been practicing." Arthur feels his cheeks warm with blush.

"I missed out then. Maybe you could show me another time."

"I've still got more practicing to do. It'll be perfect, I promise."

Kiku gave him a nod, before digging into his bag to pull out his wand.

"Oh!" Arthur fumbled with loosening Kiku's grappling clip and taking off the earrings.

They swapped the necessary items.

Kiku laid next to him, and he tried to make room on the rather narrow deck chair. It didn't seem to bother Kiku that they were so close.

"Fainting isn't fun. I should have found a place with a carpeted floor instead of the bathroom with cold tile floors." He said, looking out at the sky, brows furrowed.

Arthur let out a small breathy laugh, "I should have warned you about that."

"I'll catch you more often."

Arthur couldn't help but call the other boy cute, and they stayed bathing in the last of the sun's rays before he had to go home at nightfall.


A/N: I've never actually been to a con, I hope this is passable. I also had to look up instructional dance videos for the fight scene, was it worth it? I think so.

Butterfly discussion scene inspiration taken from "Meow-mory" by KillgarraghForever