-Julian Le Beau's POV-
"Welcome to the finals of our KIDZ+ competition! When today, one lucky winner will be announced as our brand new KIDZ+ weather girl!"
Pouring milk into my bowl of cereal, I look at the TV mounted on the wall in my kitchen.
"We started off with 5000 contestants. But with the help of our audience at home, we whittled our talent down to just these two amazing young ladies! So, let's welcome our fantastic finalists! To my right, Aurore Beauréal, and to my left, Mireille Caquet! Who will be the lucky winner? Vote now! Text 1 for Aurore and 2 for Mireille. And remember, standard text messaging rates apply."
The host announces again before the advertisements roll. Humming along with the catchy jingles, I take out my phone, voting for Aurore. From the glimpses that I've seen on TV, Aurore's personality just fits being a weather forecaster more, the upbeat and sunshiney (heh) attitude is just classic, although I'm not dumb enough to ignore the massive support for Mireille in the entire city.
"Who did cha vote for?" Ossi, my deer Kwami asks, flying out of my jacket once the coast was clear, although that's more of a formality by this point.
"Aurore, she deserves it." I put my phone aside and reach towards the loaf of bread I always have near me now for Ossi, grabbing a slice and placing it in the empty plate near me.
"Ya got guts kid, everyone knows Mireille is gonna win anyways, thanks." He tacks on before hopping onto the table, digging into his breakfast.
I shrug before finishing up my cereal. "I like rooting for the underdogs, besides, Mireille sounds way too shy for these kinds of things, I would know…" I mutter, grabbing my bowl and dumping its contents into the sink, rinsing before placing it into the dishwasher.
"Y'know being shy ain't a flaw right? Look at cha, savin' lives every day." Ossi floats next to me with his plate, I thank him before taking the plate and slotting it in the dishwasher as well.
"I know… But I do that as Faon Vert, not as Julian…" I mumble, before feeling something soft nudge me in the face, looking at Ossi I realized that he was trying to headbutt me, which would've hurt if his head was the size of a real deer and not my hand.
Ossi looks at me with an angry pout. "Now listen 'ere kid, no holder of mine is gonna beat 'imself up fer fun, if ya wanna get better, then start trainin', I'll coach ya." He says, determination clear in his words. I let out a laugh, reaching out to pet him, he was just so cute.
He doesn't seem to agree, dodging my hand. "Ey! I'm being serious 'ere, let's go outside today." He suggests, and my heart stops, but before I could retort he barrels on. "We can head out to the park for a walk, just one round! And then we can come back and watch Avatar cause I wanna know what 'appens next."
I let out a sigh, if I say no now, Ossi would probably just ask again tomorrow. "Alright fine !" I relent. Ossi lets out a whoop before flying up towards my room, me dejectedly trailing behind him.
Fifteen minutes later I find myself standing in front of my house door in what I think people wear around this time of year, heart beating wildly in my chest at the prospect of walking alone, in public, where people might talk to me.
"Are… are you ready Os?" I ask, mainly because I want to stall for time.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I even brought extra bread in case ya wanna munch." He offered, making me chuckle.
"Alright, I can do this."
…
…
I can't do this.
Standing in front of the entrance of the park, the number of people here already makes me sweat.
"Psst, hey." I jump at a voice before realizing that it's Ossi, speaking from the inside of my hoodie.
"I know I said to walk an entire round, but cha already made great progress by just getting 'ere, so I'm proud of ya." He praised, causing my face to grow red.
"I sat in a car most of the way here…" I said before taking a deep breath. I can do this, it's just a park.
Starting at the entrance, I begin to walk around the park's sidewalk. It's pretty packed since it's the weekend, lots of parents bringing their children to play, and there's even more pigeons everywhere than usual, gobbling up whatever the passersby give them.
"Halfway there, you got this." I mumble to myself as I march on. Approaching the fountain, I notice that there was a photoshoot happening right now, looking closer, I see Adrien Agreste, Paris' most popular teen model starring in it. Watching him pose so naturally in front of so many people, I can't help but feel a little jealous.
"I know, he's great isn't he?"
Letting out a yelp, I turned to realize that a girl was sitting under a tree near me, looking at me with a knowing grin. She had black horn-rimmed glasses, with a white spot on each side, wearing a short-sleeved plaid shirt with white, orange, and purple stripes, and light blue jeans.
"W-what? I don't, umm…" I stutter, cringing at my horrible attempt at conversing. The girl simply laugh before patting the dirt near her.
"You look like you could use a break, why don't you sit for a sec." She suggests. I look around to check if she's talking to another person that's not me, before realizing that there was no one here at all besides us; I hesitantly take a seat an arm's length away from the girl as she and I continued to watch Agreste's photoshoot.
Things were quiet for a moment, only the voice of the photographer could be heard as he continuously belted out orders to the model.
"I don't think Adrien is going to last much longer." The girl says, I nod quietly beside her, noticing the blond looking more and more worn down with each command.
"No, no, no! The boy has eaten too much spaghetti!" The photographer wails, looking wildly around the park for something. "Ugh, we need more energy! More romance! We need...a girl!" He finally exclaims, looking at the girl and I under the tree, charging towards us as I back away in fear.
"You! I need an extra!" He all but demanded. The girl looks surprised before pointing to herself incredulously. Taking this as my chance, I slowly slip away from their intense conversation.
"Who, me?" I hear the girl ask.
The photographer nods vigorously, yelling some more as I continue sneaking away.
"Are you okay?"
I yelp for the second time today as another voice brings me out of my frantic escape. Spinning around I see the model looking at me with worried eyes, blond hair even more stylish up close.
"I… I just…" I tried to say before the tears started forming as my breath quickens, crap crap crap.
"Hey hey it's alright, take deep breaths." I felt a set of arms slowly lower me onto the edge of the fountain. Listening to the voice as I try to steady my breathing, doing what I learned online, notice how the water feels in my left hand and my jeans in my right, breathe in, hold… breath it all out.
"I'm fine, I'm fine…" I said, more to myself than anyone else. Looking up now I realize that I'm sitting next to the model, Adrien as his hand is placed on my back soothingly.
"You're… You're Adrien Agreste…" I mumble stupidly.
The blond smiled. "That's me, what's your name?"
"Umm… Julian… Julian Le Beau."
"Nice to meet you Julian, are you feeling better?" The blonde smiles at me, luring me into a false sense of security before I realize something of great importance.
Looking at the blond with wide eyes. "Oh my gods! I interrupted your photoshoot, I'm, I'm so sorry!" I exclaim, standing up in a hurry, ignoring the stars that immediately appear from said action. Adrien looks even more worried at my swaying but before he even says anything, screams erupt from nearby civilians.
A girl dressed in purple with crazily done hair is currently using her parasol to send lightning strikes towards the innocent bystanders as they run away from her in fear. Adrien lets out a gasp as he stares at the destruction.
Gritting my teeth, I look around wildly, noticing a bunch of photoshoot equipment nearby, I grab the model's hand and pull him towards it.
"Y-you need to hide, it's better than risking being seen by her, I'm going to get help." I explain, shoving him behind one of the boxes of equipment, and taking off towards a secluded area before the blonde could react.
"Did I mention I hate Akumas? Cause I hate Akumas." Ossi grumbles as he flies out of my hoodie, I give him a weird look as I reach for the pen clipped into my shirt under my hoodie.
"You were doing so well! And the Akuma up and ruined it." The deer huffs.
I chuckle. "It's okay Ossi, I was about to hit my limit anyways."
Ignoring the quiet "You don't know that." from Ossi, I grab my pen and raise it up towards him. "Ossi, horns drawn!"
Ossi immediately dives into the tip of the pen, causing a deer head to appear in front of it. Swiping the pen across my eyes, the mask gets drawn and materializes onto my face, I drag the pen from my left hand back to my right as a brown suit slowly starts to appear from my arms towards the rest of my body. Twirling the pen around effortlessly as it slowly grows longer, I toss it upwards before reaching towards my back and pulling up a newly made hoodie, ears on its side and antlers on top as I catch the pen which has turned into blowgun as I lean against it with a lazy smile and a peace sign raised in the air.
Catching up towards the Akuma, I see both my teammates Ladybug and Chat Noir running along the buildings charging towards her. With a swift swing of her parasol a huge gust propels all the cars and even a bus towards them; the two of them easily dodge the cars, but the bus-
"Look out!" I yelled before charging towards them, blowgun ready as I shove them away, milliseconds before the bus slams onto the pavement where they once stood.
"That was close, are you guys alright?" I sigh as I check the both of them for injuries; they both look relieved to see me.
"We're fine, talk about close calls am I right kitty?" Ladybug elbowed the cat hero.
"Absolutely, you saved us once again deer!" Chat Noir joked as I rolled my eyes.
"That joke wasn't funny the first ten times Kitten." I grab both of their hands and haul them up from the ground, whistling at the destruction the Akuma had caused around us.
"Weather powers, ponytails with a parasol, I have a strong suspicion that the Akuma is Aurore Beauréal, she must've lost the weather girl contest this afternoon." I theorize as a TV near us suddenly turned on, revealing the face of the Akuma as she glares at us.
"Hello, viewers! Here's the latest forecast for the first day of summer. Looks like Mother Nature had a change of plans. Summer vacation is officially over!"
"Already? But I look so good in a swimsuit." Chat Noir complains as he wiggles his eyebrows and nose at Ladybug.
I can't help but snicker at his antics. "Brag all you want but you're only competing for second when I'm around." I exclaim, copying one of Adrien Agreste's poses that I saw at the fountain earlier, holding in another laugh at Chat's offended look before Ladybug drags the both of us towards the TV studio.
Arriving at the studio, I notice a cardboard cutout showing both Aurore and Mireille standing side by side. "Yep, it's definitely Aurore."
"The Akuma must be in her parasol, let's go!" Ladybug led us up to the top floor, where the film studio would most likely be.
Kicking the door into the studio and running into the… empty room, it slowly dawns on me that what we've been seeing on the big screen was just a recording, which must mean…
"This is a trap!" I yell. Spinning around, my heart drops to my stomach as the weather girl stands by the door behind us, letting out a cackle, she raises her umbrella as a burst of lightning hits one of the lights, causing it to crash down towards us. Fortunately, we all jump out of the way just in time, but before anything else could happen, the entire building goes dark.
Switching to my night vision, I see the weather Akuma running away from us, but my teammates take priority over that.
"Ladybug watch out!" I yell, grabbing her arm and pulling her back from the broken light she was millimeters away from tripping over.
"Looks like someone needs to practice their night vision." I tease, Ladybug lets out a huff but jumps when Chat Noir grabs her other hand.
"Frosty the Snowgirl's getting away!" He shoots me a quick glare (knowing that only I could see it) before dragging Ladybug and by proxy me out of the room and towards the Akuma.
Racing to the roof, Chat pushes through the door before I could stop us to think things through, effectively and prematurely starting the boss fight.
The weather girl cackles from above us. "You airheads! You fell right into my trap!" She yells as large whirlwinds form all around us. "There's no way out! Party's over, fools!"
Ladybug glares up at her, "We're just-" she stops and looks at both Chat and I, I look at her curiously before realizing that- Shoot! I was still holding her hand! Quickly letting go in embarrassment, I look at Chat, who looks more embarrassed about being caught rather than holding her hand. Ladybug yanks her hand out of his before glaring at the Akuma again, "We're just getting started Stormy! Lucky Charm!"
A bright red bath towel drops onto her hands. "Huh, maybe one of us will get wet soon, that's… great…" I tried to remain positive.
"Great? We're about to be obliterated, but at least we'll be dry!" Chat was less optimistic.
"Just hold your whiskers and antlers you two." Ladybug chastises, wrapping the towel around her arm.
All of us assume our battle stances as we look back up at Stormy. "Hail!" She yelled, opening her parasol towards the sky as giant sized ice cubes rained down on us.
Stepping in front of my teammates, I point my blowgun towards the oncoming storm.
"Sticks can be used as umbrellas, Mind's Eye!" I activate my miraculous, imagining my stick as an umbrella before pressing the imaginary button which activates it. Immediately a bright green image of a large umbrella forms in front of me, blocking the hail from hitting us.
"I hope you have a plan guys, umbrellas can only last for so long!" I plead as a particularly large block of ice slams into it, pushing me back a little. Looking back I notice that Ladybug is making one of her idea faces, which is a relief.
"Chat, see that sign over there? Check it out!" She points towards the sign in question.
"All right, Cataclysm!" The cat hero activates his miraculous, hands glowing black from the power.
"Faon, protect Chat!" She instructs, giving me a stern look before sneaking away.
"Roger that!" I laughed before jumping in front of Chat to deflect a bolt of lightning sent her way with my new umbrella.
"That all you got!?" I hear Chat taunts as Stormy lets out a frustrated yell, sending more lightning bolts. I run beside Chat, umbrella shielding the both of us as Chat jumps to and fro before arriving at the sign, cataclysm destroying the metal bars keeping the sign up, falling onto Stormy.
The both of us watch as Stormy bursts through the billboard, failing to realize the yoyo attached to her ankle, which after a while, yanked her back towards the roof, the spinning crane knocking the parasol out of her hands.
"Give me a boost!" Chat yells, I hurriedly hoist my umbrella up, he jumps on it before I do, pushing Chat up as he leaps from my umbrella towards the parasol, grabbing it and tossing it to Ladybug.
"Get out of here, you nasty bug." She snaps the parasol in half as the Akuma flies out of it. Letting out a sigh of relief as her ladybugs repair all the damage caused by the Akuma, I walk towards Aurore who is starting to wake up.
"Uh, what am I doing here?" She mumbles.
I give her a sympathetic smile. "You were akumatized, something that happens when you experience really bad emotions." I explain as Chat Noir and Ladybug fist bump behind me, Aurore looks up at me in fear.
"Are you, are you going to arrest me!?" She asks, so terrified that I can't help but laugh at her reaction.
"No! No, geez, we've never arrested anyone before, don't worry, but I think it would be best if you apologize to the people you've hurt, even if you didn't know what you were doing." I explain. Aurore nods as the deer symbol on my blowgun starts blinking, showing me that I got a minute left before I transform back.
"Looks like I gotta jump, it was an honor fighting with ya Ladybug, Chat Noir." I give them an exaggerated bow which earns a snicker from Ladybug and a glare from Chat before I leap towards my home.
Entering through the balcony, I let out a sigh as I transformed back into my regular self, Ossi slowly floating onto my bed, exhausted.
"Geez, crime fighting takes a lot outta ya, can we have the delicious croissants now?" He asks hopefully, looking up at me with literal doe eyes, I let out a chuckle and head towards my door.
"Well… I was planning on keeping them for special occasions, but I think we've earned them today." Hearing an excited whoop as a kwami immediately flies on top of my head, I walk towards the kitchen to get the prized pastry for him, as thanks for changing my life for the better.
