Chapter 8: New Heroes? (Keith's POV)

Keith smiles, even after experiencing akuma attacks and Adrien apologizing to Chloe has kept surprising him. She forgave him and they've been best friends since. The crazy thing was the akuma that appeared afterwards. Somehow we managed to make the akuma angry. And it almost killed us. How many times has he made someone mad at him now? Anyway he's doing well in fencing and piano. Mr. Agreste was right to take him out of Chinese lessons on Monday and to grant him the permission to work at the Bakery.

He's with Blondie working in the Bakery. Lot's of customers have filed in, but now it's dead.

"Hey Blondie, how's working in the back?"

"Fine, your people skills are improving, yes?"

"Yep but it's dead out here so I think you come out here and stop baking for a while. There's loads of pastries."

Blondie joins him. Her red apron is stained with batter and icing from their previous attempts over that night tow days ago, when they their employers trained them in the art of baking. Now Blondie seems to be doing great at it, same with him. And their talking to customers skills has improved as well. His temper and her nastiness are now out of the window and take a back seat.

It really is wonderful how the working of the Bakery has improved them both. And maybe he sees Blondie in a different way then he did on Monday night after he confessed to wanting to be friends with her.

"What?"

"Just noticing all the batter and icing stains on your red apron."

"Some of those stains are from you!"

"I know and I don't regret it."

"Cheeky!"

The bell rings and Keith turns around to the front of the counter and sees an old man in a red Hawaiian shirt. His hair isn't all gray and he has a goatee. He's hunching over walking with a cane.

"How may I help you sir?" Keith asks.

"Could I trouble you for some food?"

"Of course. If you have no money I can pay for it so it's not considered stealing."

"That's kind of Keith but I should at least make him a few fresh ones to go with the slightly less fresh ones. I have some batter for the croissants I was making."

"No, eh I don't want to bother you."

"Please, me and Raven are happy to help. Besides, it would make us feel better if we give something instead of nothing."

Keith smiles in agreement.

"Raven?"

"That's her nickname for me, I call her blondie, Real names Keith Kogane hers is Chloe Bourgeois."

"The mayor's daughter!? I hardly recognized her!"

"No surprise, whenever people ask for her name when she works the front they are always surprised. Like to think I helped but really it was all her. She just needed a little push in the right direction."

The old man gazes at him. "Yes I see that. I still feel awful about not giving you…"

"There's no better reward for saving someone than the happiness you feel afterwards."

The man gazes at him curiously, his eyes seem ancient and full of wisdom. His staring is kind of making Keith a little creeped out. But whatever it's fine, the man must have just taken an interest in him, is all.

"Here you go. Fresh croissants with jam and some other assorted baked goods. Are you allergic?"

The man shakes his head side to side.

"Then here you go. Enjoy!"

"Keith, Chloe I feel bad about this. Please take the items stored in these boxes."

He hands him a purple colored box that seems to be of Chinese decoration and hands Blondie the yellow.

"We can't take these! These must mean a lot to you." gasps Blondie. Keith swoops in, "We accept the gifts. We will treasure them and I hope you enjoy the food."

The old man's smile is so genuine and pure it makes Keith cry a bit inside. It makes him happy to see the man happy.

The little old man walks out of the shop and Chloe looks at him confused. "Why'd you take the gifts?"

"Blondie, that man felt bad and gave us a genuine smile when I accepted them after you declined. He looked so happy to give us them. I just wanted him to be happy. And I promise that I will take care of and treasure whatever is in my box. Because that man trusted me to have it."

"I understand. I'm just not used to people giving me things because I was nice to them. They were forced to, and I, I just wanted to not take anything from him, as he's sweet. But I see your point Raven. It would've broken his heart and I get that and we did deserve it I guess."

"See, sometimes being kind is to accept gifts given to you realizing that if you don't sometimes it can hurt people. You aren't taking what they're giving because they want you to have it, not because they are forced to."

"Makes sense. So I guess we'll wait to open these."

"At your place. We'll open them together. I just don't want Adrien to find out."

"How has it been going between you too?"

"Still hasn't apologized to me, but I'm being nice to him. Because I'm nice."

"Ha! Figures."

"Hey he's kinda like a newborn chick when it comes to social stuff."

Chloe nods, "Yeah he is."

"Well should we close? No one else is showing up and we could just have them call us for deliveries….So we hang out in the house upstairs and see what's in these boxes."

"You sure?"

"No, but I'm not sure I can handle the suspense. But we can wait till we're at your place. Cause we don't want to upset our employers."

"Wow, look at you, playing devil's advocate. We'll wait."

"Knew you'd say that. Better switch places now. Been in the front all morning, your turn Blondie."

She takes off the apron and hands it to him, "Good luck, Raven."

"Thanks, you too."

He notices they're almost out of macaroons so he starts to make those and then he moves on to muffins, cupcakes, some velvet red cakes, breads, turnovers, eclairs, some pies, strudels and finally Danishes.

Chloe comes in as he puts a fresh batch of Danishes, "It's closing time. Time to pack up,"

"Kay, I'll clean up here, and you can do the front. Check the cashier too. I put some money in there to pay for the food we gave the old man, which is around thirty dollars. Let them keep the change if I put too much."

He cleans up the flour and sanitizes the area by wiping everything down and putting the breads and pastries leftovers into his bag, as he feels throwing them out is just wasteful.

"You done Raven?"

"Yep! Now shall we go and see what that man gave us?"

"Of course, let's walk."

Keith smiles at her.

"So how'd the front go?"

"Really dead until around evening time, which was a pain. I can understand your feeling to just close, but it did get busy."

"Guess that means you're the smarter one out of us,"

Blondie scoffs, "At some things maybe. You're better at piano and fencing,"

"True, true."

"So anyways. I was wondering, you know we've been friends for like three days but I kind of want to take it to the next level. I mean as in dating. So, ah will you be my boyfriend."

Keith is kind of surprised by this. Sure he and Blondie are getting close as friends, because we spend so much time together when we have free time. And maybe he does like her more than a friend. But he's never had to go through this, neither has Blondie. So should he accept? She's really talented and smart and has quick thinking. And he does admire her, which could be seen as having a crush. So why not. And maybe his feelings for her will blossom over time.

"I'd love to be your boyfriend, Blondie."

And he seals the deal by kissing her on the lips. It is a surprise how soft her lips are and that he actually enjoys doing it. Keith ends the kiss by slowly moving away from her face and looking into her beautiful blue eyes. Maybe staying in Paris might not be so bad after all. Now that he's got Chloe, maybe he could actually stay here and live and not be afraid of getting back to the team in time to help them stop Zarkon. They've got Marinette after all. And he has no way of getting to the castle anyways.

He takes her hand and walks down the pathway, sunset clearly on the horizon with a mix of red, oranges, pinks and maybe a hint of purple.

Blondie takes him to the bedroom where she stays in the hotel. They each place the boxes out in front of them while sitting on her bed. Keith looks at Blondie, "We open on one, two, three." When they open their respective boxes a purple light forms from his and Chloe's glows yellow.

Then a tiger looking thing comes out of his and Chloe's has a bee thing.

The tiger thing yells, "Hello Keith! I am Roaar the kwami of Exaltation! You were chosen to help Chat Noir in the fight against Hawkmoth, do you accept it?!"

Keith looks at Blondie who is equally stunned.

"Roaar, now I need to repeat myself to my queen because of you're shouting."

"But I like to! And Master Fu knows I like someone who isn't afraid to raise their voice."

"Anyways, Chloe, you have also been chosen to help Chat Noir in the fight against Hawkmoth. Do you accept the responsibility?"

"What are you though? I heard you mention being a kwami.."

"Kwami's are born when humans idolize a thought or an idea! Pollen is the kwami subjection, I am the kwami of Exhalation!"

"Okay I get it, no need to be so loud." Keith raises his arms in surrender to the tiger kwami.

"Master Fu chose you two because of what he saw when you fought against Despair Bear, my queen. He wanted to give us to you separately but since you two spend all your free time together he decided that if you two know your identities it wouldn't be an issue my queen."

"Woah, woah, woah. He wants us to fight Hawkmoth? But we can't, we have a part time job, school, he has fencing and piano…"

"Blondie, we'll figure it out. After all we have each other, right?"

"You're right, it's just so daunting."

"Well this isn't my first rodeo, so I'll help you get the hang of it."

"Fine, we accept. And what do you..."

"Yeah! That's what we like to hear!" Roaar shouts. The female kwami certainly reminds him of when he was in Voltron, piloting the fast Red Lion.

"Keith in order to transform just say Roaar paint my stripes to detransform you have to say Roaar unpaint my stripes! Your weapon is your fists . So to activate a more powerful punch, all you have to do is say Collison and energy will concentrate around your fist allowing you to knock the akumas out of the park! You can only use it once before detransforming without saying the detransform phrase. You have five minutes to get away! Five minutes!"

"My queen you have to say Pollen buzz on to transform and to detransform you have to say Pollen buzz off. Your weapon is a spinning top that can be used like Ladybug's yo-yo. Your special power is Venom. On your fist it creates a stinger that will immobilize the victims. To make it appear you have to say Venom. Same rules apply for Keith's Collision power. Now my queen all you have to do with Keith is decide your superhero names. And then my queen you two are ready to start helping Chat Noir."

"Well, I guess I could be Honeybee since I am trying to be nicer. I would have chosen Queen Bee, but I think that would make it very obvious who my identity is."

Keith sighs, a superhero name. At least he didn't have to do that in Voltron. Maybe he could have the name Marmora. After all they also are fighting a war, albeit on a universal scale. And it's the only name he can think of. And if he can't use his fists he can always take his knife with him to battle an akuma. So Keith replies, "Marmora,"

"Raven you sure?"

Keith nods.

"While I think it's a fantastic name. Some of my cubs weren't as creative with their names like you. Though we used to be in China so all the names were in Chinese"

"You what?" Keith is surprised by this. Very surprised.

"Yeah, each country has a box with kwami's in it. China had us, the cat miraculous , the ladybug one, the peacock, the butterfly, the turtle, the fox and the animals from the Chinese zodiac. We are the Chinese miraculouses. There are others but we don't know what happened to them. Master Fu would never elaborate on how the miraculouses temple got destroyed. We aren't sure if any other boxes escaped harm."

Keith brings the kwami closer to him with hand trying to give the tiger kwami a hug.

"It's okay, you still have each other and your other kwami brothers and sisters. And you have me and Blondie."

"Fair warning my queen after we detransform we need food to help us get our strength back . I like chili peppers and Roaar likes brownies."

"That's because brownies are the best!"

"Settle down. Thanks for telling us your preferences, I'll make sure to have plenty of brownies stocked up for you after a fight."

And it would be good to try one. He hasn't had a lot of earth's food in the two weeks he's been back on Earth. Which is a shame considering all he's eaten out in space are weird but delicious food and the food goo.