*Okay So! A lot to say here! This AU is kinda a mess! But Miraculous Ladybug is a mess so thats a given! At the very least you can know these chapters are gonna be released in chronological fucking order unlike the series.

SO! I've elected not to use the titles they call eachother (like Shijie and Xiongxang) because they're in Paris speaking french, all the buildings are named in french, the fic is in english, there are a number of Japanese terms in the series lore, just, adding another language would be a huge fucking mess so something had to give for my own sanity.
Also i know nothing about the Parisian School System so basically this operates off my understanding of how the American school system works bc thats what I know.
I hope you enjoy this fic, it's been a lot of fun to write! I'm probably going to use the original miraculous characters who got akumatized for most of the akumas because there are simply not enough named characters in MDZS to sustain a fic like this for any length of time.

xxxxx

On the morning of his first day of school Wangji rises at five am as he always does, as do his brother and uncle. He eats breakfast alone, as do his brother and uncle. His uncle always takes his light breakfast in his office; he has much to do as the Superintendent of the Paris Board of Education. Xichen eats at the dining room table, or occasionally at the kitchen counter, always someplace common to give Wangji the option of eating with him. Once in a while, he did eat with his brother, but not this morning. Today Wangji is sure his brother will ask if he is nervous, or if he is excited, and he doesn't know how to answer that question, so he dresses and eats alone in his room.

After his meal he does one final check of his new school bag, making sure he had everything he needed. This action is mostly to fill up time, he is certain he has everything he needs, his brother is the headmaster of his new school and he personally made sure Wangji would have everything on his school list.

For most of his life, Lan Wangji had been tutored at home, learning only from the best of the best, but this year Xichen had voiced his concerns and finally managed to persuade Lan Qiren to allow Wangji to attend his school.

"He needs to make friends his own age, it's not healthy for him to be alone all the time," he had said, unaware that Wangji stood outside his Uncle's study door.

"Wangji has expressed no desire for a public education," Lan Qiren had replied.

Eavesdropping was against one of the many rules of the great house of Lan. He knew his Uncle thought of it as bad form, and yet he stood outside the partly ajar door to his Uncle's study, listening to his brother make his case.

"If he's been alone his entire life, how would he know he was lonely?"

Wangji tilted his head. Truthfully, he had never given much consideration to whether or not he was lonely; but he knew his brother loved him, knew he would only ever do what he thought was best for him. So if this was a point of concern for Xichen he would agree to go to school simply so Xichen had one less thing to worry about. He wondered idly if they would be able to eat lunch together, it might be nice to see more of his brother.

There was a long silence between the two men that loved him until a gentle release of breath signaled the acquiescence that Xichen had been hoping for.

"Alright. I will sign him up for classes at your school in the morning."

"Thank you, Uncle. I'm certain he'll be happy there."

Wangji turned on his heels and left silently, wondering how long Xichen would wait before telling him.

The next morning Xichen had presented him with a copy of the student handbook.

"You don't seem surprised," he'd said.

"I know that you worry about me," Wangji replied.

Lying was also against the rules, but so was eavesdropping, so he elected to dodge the question. Xichen's eyes narrowed slightly and Wangi wondered if he'd read him, sometimes it seemed that Xichen could intuit his every thought, but his brother's gentle smile stayed in place so he knew he wasn't in trouble at least.

"I know it's a big change, but I think you'll enjoy yourself. Give it a shot, okay?"

"I trust your judgment."

Xichen nodded, patting him once on the shoulder. "If you have any questions you know where to find me," he said, indicating their shared wall. Wangji nodded once.

"Thank you, Xichen," Wangji said. He didn't bother to specify he was thanking him for looking out for him rather than delivering the Student Handbook, it wasn't necessary.

And so this morning Wangji had eaten breakfast and gotten ready for school. He wasn't sure how formally students typically dressed, so he settled on a fine sky blue ensemble that was roughly in between formal and casual and resolved to take note of how the other students were dressed once he got there. If this school had a uniform it would have taken a lot of guesswork out of this morning, he thought idly.

One hour before school was to begin Lan Xichen knocked on his brother's door and entered when prompted.

"You look nice, Wangji, are you ready?" Wangji nodded. "Alright then, let's get going. I'll give you a tour before the day starts."

Wei Wuxian rose from his bed like a very pissed-off corpse from the grave might: screeching and swearing and promising to have his revenge on his brother, who had poured a glass of water on his head to get him up.

"I'm going to fucking kill you, Jiang Cheng!" He shouted, swiping blindly at the air where he thought his brother might be, at a massive disadvantage while he was blinking water from his eyes.

Jiang Cheng laughed as Wei Wuxian's foot caught on one of the many random objects that littered the floor and brought him crashing to the ground, shouting fuck loudly enough that Madam Yu screamed for Wei Wuxian to watch his fucking language from the next floor down.

"You're going to make us late, asshole!" Jiang Cheng said, slamming Wei Wuxian's door shut.

He heard the muffled sound of his older sister saying "A-Cheng you didn't" before he leaped to his feet, shedding his shirt and using it to mop up his face a bit before pulling on a new one, his favorite torn black skinny jeans, a single sock (all he could find) and his shoes before snatching up his worn backpack that his sister had so very kindly prepared for him (removed the year-old half-empty chip bags) and filled with new binders and paper and pens that would assuredly not make it to the end of the day.

He stepped out of his room about a minute and a half later, hair uncombed and still wet, to hear the end of his brother's argument with their sister.

"He deserves it, Yanli! I told him that he had better not make us late again and he still didn't get his ass out of bed!"

Naturally, Wei Wuxian tip-toed as close to his brother as he could get before screaming "I'M READY!" Directly in his ear and getting a punch to the sternum for his effort. He roared with laughter and dashed down the stairs, glancing over his shoulder to see his brother pursuing him, Yanli trailing behind, taking the stairs like a civilized person.

"A-Xian," she said, "let's get going."

"It's not like we need to be in a rush, we live close anyway!"

Wei Wuxian ducked into the kitchen and grabbed the pop tart that had been set out for him next to the remnants of the proper breakfast Madam Yu had prepared for her own children. Jiang Cheng and Yanli both looked rather uncomfortable, Yanli clearly about to make them even later by offering to prepare him a proper breakfast when he ripped open the pop tart foil and bit straight into both of them at once like an animal.

With Jiang Cheng's desired screech of indignation achieved, Wei Wuxian stepped out the door like he hadn't just committed a terrible sin.

"You're gonna be late," he called over his shoulder through his mouthful of (despicably eaten) pop tart.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian argued the entire way to school (not that far) while Yanli mediated gently (unsuccessfully).

The three of them stepped into the courtyard from outside at the same time Headmaster Lan stepped into it from the inside, a young man with long hair at his shoulder. Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng had enough time to sense impending doom before Wei Wuxian threw his hand into the air and jumped up and down excitedly.

"Headmaster Lan! Headmaster Lan! Did you miss me?"

The Headmaster stopped in his tracks and turned to see Wei Wuxian and his broad grin. He smiled patiently and waved back even as he felt his brother tense beside him.

"What would he miss you for? You're his worst student, he was probably hoping that you would drop out over the summer!" Jiang Cheng snapped, following helplessly as his brother approached Headmaster Lan, who was still smiling despite the frown that the boy beside him was wearing.

"No way! Everyone loves me! Besides, there's no way I'm worse than Xue Yang!"

Jiang Cheng shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Besides, I'm totally Headmaster Lan's favorite! Isn't that right? That's why you keep calling me into your office all the time, cause you like hanging out with me!" Headmaster Lan chuckled.

The boy at his shoulder gave him an incredulous look, and now that they were closer the three siblings could see that the two of them were nearly identical.

"As a matter of fact, you're just the person I wanted to see, Wei Wuxian."

"SEE!" He said to his brother, elbowing him pointedly in the ribs.

"I wanted to remind you that pop tart crumbs are not an accepted part of our dress code, and introduce you to your new classmate. Language." He chided sternly when Wei Wuxian mumbled fuck and swiped at his mouth with his arm. "It's impressive how many of the crumbs you managed to miss given you've used your whole arm to wipe your face," he said, still looking amused.

"Oh, A-Xian," Yanli said, pulling out her handkerchief and stepping past Jiang Cheng to wipe her brother's face.

"Thank you, Yanli!"

"You spoil him too much, Yanli, no wonder he acts like this. Between you and Dad he's never experienced a consequence in his life!"

Wei Wuxian gave a scandalized screech and grabbed Lan Xichen by the arm, facing his brother with mock indignation. Lan Wangji took a step back to avoid being too close to this loud boy who was only wearing one sock.

"Is Headmaster Lan a joke to you? What's he been doing all these years if not forcing me to face the consequences of my own actions? Isn't that right, Headmaster?"

"How uncivilized," Wangji said, speaking for the first time.

Wei Wuxian looked at him curiously, appearing to take no offense to the insult, unlike his brother, who was bristling, as if he hadn't just been insulting him as well. Yanli was looking between the Headmaster Lan and the new boy, visibly connecting the dots before either of her brothers.

"I know you…" Wei Wuxian said, staring intently. The boy visibly stiffened under such close scrutiny from a stranger. "You're the brother!" He cried suddenly, looking up to Xichen for confirmation while Xichen pried his arm out of his grip.

"Yes, this is my younger brother, Lan Zhan, courtesy name Wangji."

"I knew it! You've got his picture on your desk, I'm a frequent flyer in your brother's office," he added conspiratorially to Wangji, who looked disgusted. "You're even cuter in person!"

Wei Wuxian no doubt didn't notice it, but Xichen saw the tensing of Wangji's shoulders and the ever so slight darkening of his earlobes. He had to suppress a smile. All their lives Wangji had had an extraordinary amount of control over his expressions, but the blushing of his ears was something he'd never managed to rein in. Xichen thought it was horribly endearing.

"Leave him alone, look at how he's looking at you, he clearly doesn't think the same. Don't harass the headmaster's brother on the first day. It's bad enough we're almost late because of you."

"How is five minutes early almost late? Look, the headmaster's brother isn't even in class yet!" At those words, Lan Wangji turned and strode wordlessly away to the classroom Xichen had pointed out to him earlier.

"Huh? Did I say something wrong?" Wei Wuxian asked, turning to Lan Xichen, though Jiang Cheng scoffed at the question.

"My brother's never met someone so-"

"Obnoxious?" Jiang Cheng supplied. Headmaster Xichen cast him an amused look but didn't agree. (He also didn't disagree.)

"Our whole lives he's been sheltered and homeschooled, a classroom setting is a big change for him, please excuse him while he makes the adjustment."

"Don't worry, Headmaster, I'll look out for him!" Wei Wuxian said, puffing his chest out proudly.

"That's the last thing he wants," Jiang Cheng snapped, grabbing Wei Wuxian by the shoulders and pushing him toward their classroom. "Don't worry Headmaster, I'll keep my brother from harassing your brother."

Jiang Yanli smiled apologetically at him and followed her brothers, looking concerned.

Lan Xichen smiled as he watched them go, still (mostly) sure that he hadn't made a mistake by placing Wangji in Wei Wuxian's class.

Wangji's eyes widened slightly as the two students who had accosted himself and his brother stepped into his classroom. The loud one, Wei Wuxian, lit up when he saw him and tried to take the seat next to him, grinning, but his brother manhandled him into the bench behind Wangji and slid in next to him. Still too close for Wangji's liking but at least the boy's still wet hair wouldn't be dripping on Wangji's seat. Their sister hovered at the door for one more moment, looking concerned, but she smiled at them before she left.

You're even cuter in person, the boy had said, bringing heat to his ears and chest. He forced the memory away.

It didn't matter how cute the school troublemaker was.

Right as the bell rang a boy with slightly past chin-length hair pulled up into a half bun rushed in holding a large iced coffee and wearing large, dark sunglasses. He plopped down next to Wangji, the seat closest to the door, and tossed down his bags so carelessly that one of them toppled over and hit Wangji's thigh.

"Ah, sorry new kid!" The boy crowed, pushing his sunglasses onto his forehead and flashing him an easy smile that froze when he caught sight of the glower that Wangji was sending him. The boy gaped, visibly paling, before snatching his bag back and scooting as far away from Wangji as the seat allowed.

You should make friends your own age, Xichen had said. You'll have a good time, Xichen had said.

"Hey, Wuxian, who's the new kid?" The boy whispered as if Wangji wasn't right next to him.

"Name's Lan Wangji, he's the headmaster's younger brother," Wei Wuxian supplied. The boy looked even more horrified if it was possible.

"He can also hear you, you idiots," Jiang Cheng hissed.

"Boys, quiet. Nie Huaisang, you know there are no drinks allowed in class," the teacher said, giving the iced coffee a pointed look.

"Sorry Professor Ouyang, I'll just drink it all up so it won't be a problem!" He then proceeded to start gulping the iced coffee down as fast as he could. Wangji idly thought that relatively soon he would be dying to go to the restroom, but he didn't voice the thought.

"Alright, since it's the first day of school and I see we have a new student I'll reintroduce myself. My name is Ouyang Xin and I will be your homeroom teacher." Wangji internalized this information. "Now that everyone is here," he cast a look at Nie Huaisang who was guzzling the now quarter empty coffee, "I will call roll."

Wangji glanced up at him. He'd seen nothing of 'calling roll' in the student handbook,but after several seconds of observation it seemed that it was simply the teacher calling out the names of the students in alphabetical order and the students replied with 'here'. Wangji replied in a similar manner to how his classmates had and given the lack of reaction he assumed he did it right.

After his name was called Nie Huaisang collapsed back into his chair, gasping loudly as he gave up on his nearly half full drink and whined, "Wuxian, save me!"

"I could have told you this was a bad idea," Wei Wuxian said, standing up to lean over his desk and take the drink, leaning heavily into Wangji's personal space to do so.

Wangji leaned away, glaring and ignoring the tingling in his spine. "Sorry," Wei Wuxian said, flashing an apologetic grin as he collapsed gracelessly against the back of his chair.

As he watched Wei Wuxian took off the lid of the coffee and abandoned the straw, taking several large gulps, uncaring of the coffee that dribbled out of the corners of his mouth and down his neck. Wangji's breath definitely did not catch at the sight as his eyes followed the drips, his lips parting slightly as Wei Wuxian finished the remaining coffee off and sloppily wiped his mouth. He did not feel impressed but disgruntled when Wei Wuxian tossed the cup, now full only of ice, all the way across the room in a perfect arc into the trash can.

"Wei Wuxian!" The teacher snapped.

"Sorry Professor Ouyang, but I thought you wanted the coffee gone!" The class laughed and Professor Ouyang rolled his eyes, but administered no punishment, which annoyed Wangji.

Wei Wuxian collapsed back into his seat, half laying down, his head leaned back against the backrest, watching the lesson lazily. Wangji turned back to the front and focused back on the poem that Professor Ouyang was discussing. Wangji liked poetry, he had several poetry books at home that he read on his own time. This one in particular he'd already studied with his private tutors. He still took studious notes.

Nie Huaisang took no notes, but dozed off occasionally only to snap back awake despite the frankly alarming amount of coffee he'd ingested very quickly. Maybe drinking it so quickly made it less effective? He wouldn't know, he'd never drank coffee. Nie Huaisang did, however, peer nosily over at Wangji's notebook and gape. After a surreptitious look at the teacher he leaned to his left and gestured to the boys behind him, then pointed less than subtly at Wangji's notes. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian both pushed up onto their desks to peer over Lan Wangji's shoulder.

"What neat handwriting," Jiang Cheng muttered.

"It looks like a typewriter," Wei Wuxian hissed, sounding equal parts horrified and impressed. He reached out and tapped Lan Wangji on the shoulder.

"Do not touch me," Lan Wangji said, stiffening at the jolt he received. Not even Xichen touched him so casually.

"Lan Wangji, I realize it's your first day, but it's very rude to interrupt your teacher, please remain quiet during the lesson." Wangji opened his mouth to respond but was cut across by Wei Wuxian.

"Sorry professor Ouyang, I had just tapped Wangji on the shoulder to ask how his handwriting is so perfect! That one is my bad!"

Wangji heard the hard thump of Wei Wuxian's back against the chair as the teacher shook his head and returned to the lesson.

"Very well, one more disturbance and I'll send you to see the Headmaster."

"Aye Aye, Captain!"

The next disturbance came only seconds later, but surprisingly not from Wei Wuxian.

"Leave me alone, Jin Zixun!"

Wangji turned his head to see the student who had answered to Su She on his feet and glaring at a smug looking boy who was sitting in much the same manner that Wei Wuxian had been until a few seconds ago. Somehow, however, he managed to make it look more arrogant and brusque than carefree and lazy. The boy who had shouted was standing beside him, fists clenched and jaw set, forehead furrowed. Wangji noticed his bracelet, which appeared to have the insignia of an American superhero on it.

"Su She, sit down!" The teacher snapped. Su She glared first at the teacher, then back at Jin Zixun and clenched his fists before sitting hard back down in his chair. Wangji had hardly finished turning back to the front before the next outburst.

"Shut the fuck up!" All heads turned to face him again.

Wangji raised his eyebrows, glancing between Su She and the teacher, both of whom were starting to turn red with rage.

"Su She, go to the headmaster's office, right now."

Behind him Wei Wuxian made a dissatisfied sound in his throat and Wangji hated to admit it, but he agreed. It seemed like Jin Zixun had been provoking Su She while avoiding the teachers notice, and now he wasn't going to be punished. Looking at his expression, this was the exact end Jin Zixun had been after, as well. Wangji said nothing, not wanting to stir up trouble on his first day by making accusations that he couldn't prove. Still he made a mental note of both Jin Zixun's behaviour and of Wei Wuxian's disapproval.

"Of Course, Jin Zixun gets away with it again," Jiang Cheng grumbled, but didn't speak up. Wangji wondered if this was typical for him as he started to realize that high school might be a lot more complicated than he thought it would be.

The bell rang and students started getting to their feet, Jin Zixun and his cousin sauntering out as the teacher spoke.

"Alright, don't forget to finish your close reading notes for homework, those of you who have P.E. can head to the stadium, the rest of you go to the library for study hall."

Somewhere, in some dark corner of Paris, a single ray of light shone on a man in a dark purple suit and grey mask. A dark chuckle rose from deep within his chest.

"Perfect," he purred. "Just what I needed. Negative emotions."

The man tilted his head up to look through the small, dirty window that was the only source of light in the room. He raised up onto his tiptoes to crack it open, then flipped open the large sphere on top of his cane and released a glowing white butterfly into the dark and dirty room. "Anger, sadness… burn a hole into his heart, my horrible akuma."

The man closed his fist around the butterfly, snuffing out it's glow as black light manifested and flowed into his fist through the cracks in his fingers. When he opened his hand again the butterfly, miraculously intact and inky black, flapped its wings and lifted into the air. "Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!"

The butterfly slipped through the narrow window and into the warm summer air, flying in the direction of smouldering rage in a young man's heart.

Su She stalked across the second floor landing and flung open the door to the headmaster's office. Lan Xichen looked up in surprise and indignation.

"Excuse me, young man, it's polite to knock before entering someone's office. Why don't you step outside and try again, this time enter respectfully," his voice held only the faintest trace of an edge, but Su She still glowered as he stepped back outside. He closed the door behind him and clenched his fists, crushing the crumpled paper in his fist still further as he tried to force himself to perform this social nicety.

Unbeknownst to him a black butterfly was fluttering behind him. It perched briefly on the crumpled piece of paper in his hand before being absorbed, turning the crumpled paper black as night. Su She's head was forced back as the sharp purple outline of a butterfly appeared before his face, hovering in midair.

A voice as smooth as glass and just as sharp filled his ears, "Stoneheart, I am Hawkmoth. I am giving you the power to seek revenge on those who have wronged you, but I require something in return."

"Okay Hawkmoth," Su She said.

An evil, black and purple glow expanded from the paper clenched in his fist to encompass his entire body, then expanded to several times his normal size.

Inside the office Lan Xichen was still waiting, thumb tapping the heel of his other hand. "Su She?" He asked, wondering if the student had just left.

The door burst open with so much force chunks of the sheetrock were sent flying. Lan Xichen was struck in the head and knocked to the ground.

"JIN ZIXUN!" Stoneheart screamed, so loud that the windows rattled in their panes.

The entire school shook with the force of something that sent several students ducking under their desks, cries of confusion and fear filling the air of Wangji's classroom.

"What was that?" Nie Huaisang asked, already fully under his desk. He peered frightfully out at Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, who had grabbed onto one another protectively.

"JIN ZIXUN!" A familiar, but distorted voice called.

A crashing and cracking of the pavement outside drew the braver of the remaining students to the window. Together Wangi, Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, and Luo Qingyang stared out the window in horror at the massive man made of stone stomping across the sidewalk, cracking the pavement with every step toward Xichen's car.

"JIN ZIXUN!"

"He sounds a bit like Su She," Wei Wuxian said thoughtfully.

"It's as if he's been transformed into a supervillain," Nie Huaisang stammered, peering out from behind Wei Wuxian's shoulder.

"A supervillain?" Lan Wangji repeated thoughtfully, still watching the stone man with a sinking feeling in his gut about the fate of his brother's car.

Lan Zhan had heard, of course, about the superheroes and villains in other countries, but there had never been any in France before. Lan Qiren had even declared them a hoax. Lan Wangji had never been so sure and now it seemed that he had been proven wrong.

"Xichen!" He cried out suddenly, remembering that Su She had been on his way to the Headmaster's office when whatever had happened to him had happened.

The stone man lifted up Lan Xichen's car and threw it into the building, shaking the entire structure, knocking Wangji off balance and into the teacher's desk. Dust and pieces of ceiling rained down on them as all the student's instinctively ducked.

"We have to get Yanli!" Wei Wuxian said, stumbling to his feet and running out the door after Wangji, turning the opposite direction, his brother close on his heels.

"Yanli!"

"Yanli!"

"A-Xian, A-Cheng, what's happening?" Yanli asked, peeking out from under her desk.

"A supervillain appeared! We have to get out of here right now!" Wei Wuxian said, darting forward and grabbing her by the arm. Jiang Cheng was right by his side, taking her other arm and helping pull her to her feet. Wei Wuxian had the presence of mind to grab her bag and together they made their way toward the door.

"Xichen!" Wangji shouted, running through the giant hole in the wall where the door used to be.

"Wangji?" Xichen replied, sending relief down his spine.

A hand appeared on the desk, covered in dust, before Lan Xichen pulled himself up, a river of red running down the side of his face.

"Are you alright?" Wangji was at his side in an instant, eyes wide with horror as he gently directed his brother's face toward him to inspect the injury.

"I'm alright, I think it looks worse than it is. You're not hurt are you?" Wangji shook his head, then wrapped one of his brother's arms around his own shoulders and dragged them both to their feet. "I can walk, Wangji." Wangji ignored him.

Stubborn, his brother thought hazily as he allowed himself to be directed out of the room.

For the second time today the Jiang Siblings entered the courtyard from the opposite side at the same time as the Lan siblings, this time under wildly different circumstances. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji made eye contact and seemed to have a moment of understanding before he spoke, eyes taking in Xichen's blood covered face.

"Our place isn't far, Headmaster."

Wangji steered his brother in that direction, after the others, but Xichen dug his heels in once they reached the threshold of the school. Wangji tugged on his brother, face stricken, for several seconds while the Jiangs disappeared into the fleeing crowd.

"Wangji, I have to stay and help the children evacuate. You go ahead with them."

"No!"

"Wangji-"

"No!" He repeated, face set. It was the first time Wangji had ever blatantly disobeyed his brother, so he knew that his mind was made and arguing was useless.

Stubborn.

"Alright fine, then help me get people out. The police should be here soon, I'd imagine. I can stand on my own, look," to prove it he withdrew his arm from around Wangji, and met his eyes resolutely and students and teachers darted past them.

Wangji nodded and helped Xichen search for straggling or injured students, mostly because he knew it would be impossible to remove his brother until they were sure the school was empty. Within a few minutes the police arrived and insisted that the two of them leave with the last of the students. Wangji got a smug sense of satisfaction from watching Nie Mingue scolding Xichen for putting himself at risk before personally shutting him in the back of a squad car to be taken home. Wangji was allowed to get in the front, apparently Nie Mingue only blamed Xichen for pushing himself while injured.

He watched in the side view mirror as Nie Mingue exchanged brief words with another officer before jumping into a squad car and speeding away, sirens blaring.

Stoneheart marched down the street, steps thundering, civilians fleeing before him as he searched fruitlessly for the object of his amplified rage.

"JIN ZIXUN!" He came upon a police brigade, stopping briefly just before it.

"NOW!" Nie Mingue shouted. He'd barely had time to make it to this blockade before the monster after putting Xichen into a car and sending him home. The assembled police force released a hailstorm of bullets into the monster, who didn't even flinch. On the contrary he roared and grew several feet taller and wider right before their eyes. He kicked the police cars out of the way and walked forward, swatting Nie Mingue out of the way like he was made of paper.

Yu Ziyuan was on a tirade. She stormed about the house shouting about unsafe schools, magical nutcases, and how all of this was somehow Wei Wuxian's fault. The usual.

"Mom, A-Xian saved me, he and A-Cheng both got me out of the school and brought me back home."

"Oh, and I don't suppose your useless brother could have done it on his own could he?" All three children flinched. Jiang Fengmian sighed heavily and squeezed the hands of each of his three children in turn.

"I'm glad you three are safe. What a terrible thing to happen, a supervillain in Paris. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Don't worry, Uncle Jiang, I'm sure a superhero will appear to take care of it!"

"Oh you're sure, are you? Because you understand these things so well? You stupid boy, you're always causing trouble for this family!" No one bothered to ask how one thing was related to the other, but Jiang Cheng and Yanli both cast him sympathetic looks and Jiang Fengmian patted him helplessly on the knee.

"Maybe you kids should go up to your room and rest while I talk to your mother."

Glad for the dismissal, the three children all filed out of the living room to their respective rooms, pretending that they couldn't hear the shouts of Yu Ziyuan behind them.

Wei Wuxian flipped on the light in his disaster room and picked his way across the clothes strewn floor to collapse on his couch. Idly he put on the news to see what was on about the stone man. He watched for several minutes, learning that the villain's name was Stoneheart, before he noticed something on his coffee table that (he was pretty sure) hadn't been there this morning.

"How did this get here?" He wondered, opening the small jewelry box, assuming it was something of Yanli's that had somehow managed to make its way into his room. A bright flash of golden light blinded him briefly and he cried out in alarm.

After several minutes of remaining by his brother's side while his head wound was taken care of in their dining room, Lan Wangji had been dismissed by his uncle and brother so they could discuss what would happen next for the school. Having used up all the willpower that he had for blatantly disobeying Xichen already today, Wangji reluctantly went to his room, where he immediately sat down and turned on the news.

It was a mark of how distracted he was that he didn't immediately notice the small jewelry box sitting on his coffee table in his immaculate room.

When he noticed it he wondered idly if it was a gift for his first day of school from his brother or uncle. He opened it and jumped when a large ball of light erupted from the box and zoomed all around his head. He dropped the jewelry box, slamming into the back of the couch, looking frantically to where his fencing saber was hanging neatly on the other side of the room. He looked back to the ball of light in time to see the golden glow fade into a small red… thing with a bulbous head and antenna floating in the air before him, wearing a pleasant smile not unlike the one Lan Xichen often wore.

Lan Wangji and the thing stared at each other for a long time, Wangji wondering if maybe he'd hit his head after all and had started experiencing hallucinations when the thing opened its mouth to speak in a very high pitched voice.

"Hi, Lan Wangji, my name is Tikki." Definitely hallucinating, it knew his name. He reached for his phone to text his uncle to send the doctor to his room when the little creature blocked his path, "No, no! Don't call for help! I'm your friend!"

"You're not real," Wangji said, not sure why he was bothering to speak to a figment of his imagination.

"I am real!" The little thing reached out and touched him with one of it's miniscule fingerless hands and he jerked back. It certainly felt real. "I'm a kwami! Please, let me explain."

"Very well," Wangji said, deciding on the spot that after he'd seen a man made of stone toss his brother's car into a building he could give this floating maybe not real, maybe real thing the benefit of the doubt.

"What the hell are you?" Wei Wuxian asked, leaning forward to take a look at the floating big headed cat that had appeared before him.

"What the hell are you other than someone who has no manners and lives in squalor?" Wei Wuxian blinked in shock, but quickly recovered.

"I'm sorry, who are you? My name is Wei Ying, courtesy name Wei Wuxian."

"My name is Plagg, and I'm a kwami!" The kwami (?) zipped around the room commenting on everything. "Oh, cool. What's this? Swanky. Can you eat this?" Plagg munched on his tv remote. "No you can't!" Wei Wuxian followed him around, giggling as the kwami tried to eat random inedible objects and made disgusted sounds.

"You're so funny, Plagg!"

"Thanks, I think so too!"

Wei Wuxian laughed again. "What's a kwami? How did you get into my room?"

"Kwami's grant superpowers to chosen individuals! Yours is the power of destruction, called Cataclysm. You're a superhero now kid."

"Seriously? How?"

"All you have to do is put on that ring and say 'Plagg, claws out!'"

"Alright!" Wei Wuxian said, putting the ring on his finger. "Plagg, claws out!"

"Wait! I haven't finished explaining-" but the kwami was absorbed into the ring and Wei Wuxian was engulfed in a green light.

"My ears aren't pierced," he said simply, looking down at the earrings.

After hearing the entire spiel that Tikki- his kwami- had given him, this seemed to be the only protest he could give voice to concisely at the moment, so it was the one he chose to speak.

"...That's your only objection?"

"Far from it, but it is my first."

"Well, I can pierce your ears."

"How?"

"With magic! It won't even hurt!"

"My uncle will be angry when he finds out."

"You can deal with a little anger from your uncle right? It's up to you to save Paris. You're the chosen one!"

He actually wasn't sure he could. Wangji had never done anything without his uncle's permission before. Perfectly meeting all of his uncle's expectations had always been at the top of Wangji's priorities. He said what he was supposed to say, did what he was supposed to do, made top marks in all his classes and excelled in every extracurricular that his uncle assigned him. The idea of his uncle being angry with him was foreign. The idea of doing something so rebellious as piercing his ears was frightening. And then there was the hero of Paris business. How could he be the hero of a city he'd barely seen? Could he even be called a Parisian?

Still, one of the many rules that governed his life popped into his mind.

Don't be dismissive of others.

He should finish hearing her out.

"Under what metric was I chosen?"

"Excuse me?"

"You just said that I was the chosen one. What was the method of selection? What criteria did I meet? What was the metric used to measure my worthiness?"

"Um?" Tikki blinked in surprise, seemingly thinking hard. "You have a pure heart!"

"Is that all?"

"You want to live a life that is just!" Wangji blinked in surprise. That was certainly an insight into his heart he hadn't expected Tikki to have.

"Is there no one else in Paris that meets this criteria?"

"Of Course! Your new partner!"

"Partner?"