-Julian's POV-

"You only have one day to work on your fashion piece, and it must be your own design." Writing down everything Mr. Damocles says, I can't help but feel a little excited at the idea of this contest. "In ten hours your fittest presentation will be judged by none other than the great fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, the father of our very own student Adrien Agreste." Mr. Damocles gestures at Adrien, who scratches his head awkwardly, very relatable.

"In fact, Adrien will model the winning design in his next photoshoot." Gripping my pen tighter, I let out a sigh, I would've preferred if the winner would just win instead of having their designs shown off by one of the best teen models in the city, but I don't make the rules I suppose.

"And now, to announce this year's theme: derby hats." The entire classroom is silent, I don't blame them, what a random piece of attire to have a competition over.

"What can I even do with a derby hat…" I mutter to no one in particular.

"Are you thinking of entering Julian?"

I turn and give a small smile at Nathaniel, ever since we became desk buddies I've been getting more and more comfortable chatting with him, and even his best friend Alix, I don't even jump when they say my name anymore. "Kind of. I was at first, but the grand prize is kind of nerve wrecking, I think I'll just make a hat but not submit it…"

Nathaniel purses his lips, frowning. "That… doesn't make sense."

"Life doesn't make sense." I joke, giving him a small shrug before the school bell rings, the both of us enthusiastically packing our things before leaving.

Sitting on one of the more secluded benches in the courtyard to wait for my ride home, I draw up a nice table for possible combinations for cool derby hat ideas.

"Color… black, ribbons… yes, accessories…" I tap my pen to my chin as I think about possible combinations.

"Hey Julian."

Letting out a yelp, I hug the book to my chest as I look wide eyed at whoever just called me, heaving a sigh of relief as it was only Adrien and not someone scarier (like Chloe, I would probably pass out from fear if Chloe even looks at me.) "S-salutations Adrien!" I wince at the volume of my voice again, when will I ever learn to manage that...

The blond gives my book a curious glance. "What're you doing?"

"Umm…" I replied hesitantly, Alya may have said we were friends now, but I'm not sure about what Adrien himself sees me as, what if he doesn't like me? What if he doesn't like me and is only pretending to like me?

"Umm…?" Jumping at Adrien's curious voice again, I take a deep breath and decide to just go with it, it's been working for me so far.

"I mean, i-it's just some ideas of derby hats I can try out…" I said quietly, lowering my book so that Adrien can read it.

Adrien gives it a look over and smiles at me. "They all sound great, I didn't know you're interested in fashion design." Feeling a blush creep up on me, I stow away my notebook.

"I'm interested in fashion in terms of character design, you can know a lot about a person based on what they wear after all. Although I'm not really good at the designing part of it, fashion designers have a certain… flare that I lack." I said, clipping my bag shut. Adrien looks at me with a confused smile, like he didn't really understand most of what I just said. I take a deep breath, okay, I can do this.

"Actually… D-do you want to have lunch together? I umm… I have some questions I would like to ask regarding your umm… yourself-ness…" I cringe, maybe I should've practiced this more instead of jumping right into the design.

Adrien looks surprised for a second before smiling again. "Sure! I have some time before my next photoshoot, where do you want to go?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, I stand up and start walking with him to the exit. "A-Actually, do you think it's okay if we eat in my car? I-I know that's a pretty weird request but…" I trail off, how can I tell him that the thought of sitting in public still makes me nauseous.

The blond seems to understand, judging by his sympathetic look. "Sure, I've always wanted to try that!"

"It's nothing special…" I laugh awkwardly as we pass by Alya and Marinette's bench. Pausing slightly as I noticed Marinette's downcast mood, did something happen?

"Wow Alya." Adrien says beside me, suddenly Marinette lets out a surprised yelp, standing up so quickly she trips over herself and falls onto the floor. "Marinette!" I gasp, rushing to see if she's alright while Adrien and Alya continue chatting as if this is completely normal.

"Are you okay…?" I ask, carefully reaching down and helping her up.

Marinette gives me a shy smile. "I'm fine, sorry…"

"These sick designs belong to Marinette, off the chain right?" Alya explains, the girl in question giving Adrien a shy wave, slowly moving behind me as if wanting to hide from everyone here, which I can relate to.

Adrien smiles at the girl hiding behind me. "You're super talented Marinette. You seriously have a good chance at winning."

The bluenette steps out from behind me. "Well, um, yeah! I... like- um, designs that- um… go upwards…?"

The entire group went silent after that, Adrien stares in bewilderment while Alya wildly gestures for Marinette to abandon ship. Me? I quickly look away, laughter slowly bubbling from me as I cover my mouth to hide it. Ossi's rumbling in my pocket as he's clearly fighting the same impulse is not doing me any favors to keep quiet either.

Marinette continues, still trying to salvage the situation. "Um, while stopping... I mean, uh- uh, um, thanks?" I choke out another laugh, deciding to just crouch down to hopefully sink into the floor before I embarrass Marinette too much.

Adrien seems to be the first to regain his composure. "Sure, and uh- good luck. Maybe I'll be wearing your derby at father's next photoshoot." He says before smirking down at me. "Are you done, Mr. Funny Bone? We need to get going."

Letting out an actual snort, I take a deep breath before smiling at Adrien. "I'll… I'll meet you at the front gate, there's something I need to do first." Receiving a nod, I turn to look at the two girls as Adrien walks away.

"Hey Marinette, I'm sorry for laughing earlier, you were just being so romcom, my heart couldn't take it." I cover my mouth again as I remember her entire conversation. Marinette blushes brightly at my reaction but thankfully doesn't look all that offended.

Feeling Alya pat me on the back, she gives Marinette an exasperated look as well. "He's right. Girl you gotta get a grip next time. But did you hear? Adrien thinks you're good enough to win!" The two girls let out an excited shriek as I finally regained my composure to stand up again.

"Well, I wish you good luck Marinette, may the best hat win." I smirk at her, receiving an equally competitive one in return, she really is a different person whenever Adrien is not around. Saying goodbye to the both of them, I quickly walked towards the entrance to meet up with Adrien for lunch and an interview.

Fifteen minutes later we're sitting side by side in the backseat of my car, sandwiches from the nearby café bought by the chauffeur in our hands and drinks in our respective drink holders. The chauffeur opted to stay at the café for his own lunch to provide the two of us some privacy.

"So… You said you wanted to know more about… myself-ness?" Adrien asks politely, even though I can hear the teasing tone in his words, feeling a blush creep up my face I avoid eye contact by staring at my iced lemon tea.

"Umm… Yeah, you know it's more like, a personality thing, to see if I can make a hat that fits your character… you know…?" I say quietly, a little embarrassed.

Adrien processed my words for a moment before smiling. "Oh, I get it! Okay, what do you want to know?"

Letting out a small sigh of relief, I pull out my notebook. I start by asking a few basic questions to get the ball rolling, things like his favorite animal (hamsters), hobbies (playing video games, watching anime, reading classic novels.) Favorite kinds of music (some singer called Jagged Stone whom I've never heard of, and classical music when he studies.)

"Do you play any instruments?" I ask, flipping the page over as I pretended to be writing intently, in reality I barely covered half of the first page but the dramatics are always fun.

Adrien seems to be a little amused at the page flip (perfect, the most important cue.) "Yeah, I play the piano…"

That got my attention. "Oh yeah?" I smiled. "What grade?"

"8! Do you play?"

Scratching my neck in embarrassment. "I do, but I'm self taught. I also play the guitar, because my parents think guitars are the best for my future."

"Because all male teenage leads play guitars in TV shows or movies." I refrain from saying, still not sure if I should take that reasoning from my dad seriously.

As always though whenever I bring up my parents, the mood shifts significantly lower, Adrien gives me a sad look. "Speaking of, you said your parents did not show up, during Alix and Kim's race."

Wincing, I take a sip of my drink to stall for time. "Umm, yeah, but it's not the first time, I'm used to it."

"Really?"

I shrug helplessly. "Yes really, it's not the worst thing in the world, I have food, and way too much allowance money, and as long as I behave get to do whatever I want…"

"Except stay at home forever of course." I think, still somewhat bitter.

"Where are your parents now?"

Gods we're still talking about this. "Uhh… the United States, wait, that was last week, Japan." I mutter, running their timetable through my head.

"Do you know when they'll come back?"

I sigh, any pretense of salvaging the mood completely gone. "I don't know, next month I guess? Depends on how the movie shooting is going."

"But that means you'll be living alo-"

"Adrien." I spit out, probably a bit too forcefully judging by how the blond recoils. I wince, looking back at my notebook, why am I like this? He was just worried about me. "I appreciate your concern, but I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"O-Okay, sorry…"

The two of us take a bite of our food in silence, accompanied only by the sounds of the drink in my hand, it's… It's awkward, and uncomfortable, and unpleasant, and those were all synonyms. I sigh and look at my notebook.

"What… what's your favorite food?" I ask quietly, feeling like I should and shouldn't apologize at the same time...

"Chouquettes." Adrien replies, similarly hesitant. Although his answer actually provokes a raised eyebrow from me.

"Really?"

The blond gives me a confused look back. "Yeah, really, why?"

"Well…" I think of a way to approach this delicately, it's probably not as obvious to everyone else but meeting Adrien as Faon Vert has alerted me to a few of his more prominent scents. "I've just always thought that you like cheese…"

That seems to catch him really off guard. "W-what!? I don't-" Quickly, he actually spins to sniff himself, something which caught me so off guard from the normally composed teenager that I let out a snort.

"It's fine, I'm sure no one else knows, I just have a stronger sense of smell than most." I give him a small smirk, before snickering a little at his continued panic.

While laughing at him, I can't help but look over his shoulder, past the window and to the cafe across us. For some reason, the patrons in that restaurant are all standing up, staring at the TV, their restlessness can be felt from here.

"What's going on over there…" I mutter, Adrien seems to pick up on it, looking out the window while I quickly tap on the screen in the seat in front of me, loading up the news channel.

" Pigeons have taken over Paris. This is just one of the many alarming situations giving authorities cause for major concern." The newscaster says, flipping through many pictures of pigeons completely blocking the roads, sidewalks and even railroads. The newscaster suddenly touches her earpiece. "Yes, I've just been told that someone named "Mr. Pigeon" is making an announcement."

Suddenly a video pops up on the screen, showing an Akuma dressed in pigeon colors, a bird call hanging on his neck as he flaps his arms intimidatingly above the crowd. "Oh, dreary day, poor Parisians." He says, and then lets out some really nicely done pigeon noises. "Sorry to ruffle your feathers, but Paris now belongs to the pigeons! Flap flap!"

Staring wide eyed at the screen, I need to quickly think of a way to get out of here to transform. But what do I tell Adrien? I can't even talk normally most of the time and now I have to piece together proper sentences that lead to something? What do I even-

"Julian, I need to go find my bodyguard, are you okay with staying here?"

Oh, perfect. "Yes please! I-I mean, yeah, stay safe okay?"

Adrien gives me a smirk. "You too." He says before running out of the car, the door swiftly shutting behind him.

Giving him a full minute (it's probably way too long but I can't risk it), I quickly darted out of the car too, turning the opposite direction of where Adrien went just in case. Turning the corner, I reach for my pen as Ossi flies out.

"Ya ready for this kid?" The Kwami asks.

"Always." I give him a cheeky smile before raising my pen at 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.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, I look around wildly for my teammates before noticing Chat Noir... with a blue cap on…? Dancing along the park road?

"Did I miss anything important or has Chat finally lost it…" I tease as I land in front of him, because if Chat's around, Ladybug is surely somewhere nearby too.

"Deer, dance with me!" Chat exclaims, I raise an eyebrow, I've never heard him so happy to see me before. Ladybug pokes her head out of one of the trees behind him.

"No dancing! You need to act natural or he'll never show up!" She chastises, the cat hero responds by yanking my hand, twirling me around before dipping me.

"What do you mean, I am acting natural." He says cheekily.

I smirk at him. "Are you sure?" Taking a second to enjoy his confused look before I quickly stand up, taking advantage of his stumbling to twirl him around and dip him instead. "Because I think this is much more natural…" I whisper, snickering at his quickly reddening face before standing back up and detaching myself from him. I look at Ladybug's exasperated face before she tosses a blue hat towards me.

"Here, if you're going to be with Chat you can at least pretend to be a park keeper too." She orders.

Laughing, I quickly put on the hat (feeling a little annoyed that my antlers get in the way a little) and stand next to Chat. "Looks like we can be bait together."

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Umm, sure." Chat replies, completely out of it for some reason as I tilt my head, smiling at him, confused.

The two of us continue to pretend to make rounds along the park roads as Ladybug hides in the shadows.

"Where is he? He should've been here by now." The heroine mutters.

Suddenly Chat lets out a sneeze. Looking up with wide eyes, I see an entire sphere of pigeons heading towards Chat and I, engulfing the both of us and carrying us to wherever they were probably told to bring us.

"Gesundheit by the way!" I yell over the loud cooing of pigeons to Chat.

"Thanks! I'm allergic to feathers!" Chat replies, sneezing again as all of a sudden the pigeons push the two of us to the center.

"Well hey there." I smirk as Chat and I basically collide in the center of the bird ball. "What is it they say, 'birds of a feather flock together'?" I tease.

The blond scoffs, but smiles anyways. "Get your own material deer, I've already used that line."

The ball of pigeons finally drops us onto the roof of the Grand Paris Hotel, both Chat and I quickly dust the feathers off of ourselves, Chat sneezing along the way while Ladybug joins us.

"Where's that bird-brain Mr. Pigeon." Chat grumbles.

"He's gotta be here somewhere." Ladybug replies. Suddenly a bird call sounds from above us, looking up, we see the Akuma currently balancing on a cloud of pigeons as even more of them surround us.

"Call me crazy but I feel like birdseed all of a sudden." Ladybug comments as the pigeons start shielding us in completely.

"Hey boss Ladybug, got any ideas?" I ask, holding my blowgun out to keep pigeons away.

"Chat Noir's the predator here, doesn't he eat these things for breakfast?"

Suddenly a loud thud sounds as the pigeons fly away, revealing a large bird cage, trapping us in here.

The Akuma lets out a coo, t-posing above us as he flaps his hands (establishing his dominance). "Turpy day. I'm so ruthless." He laughs evilly.

Letting out more bird noises, he flies closer while Chat and Ladybug stare at him, I on the other hand am going crazy trying any way possible to get out of here.

"Your Miraculous. Give them to me or face the wrath of my feathered friends." The Akuma demands, the pigeons jumping on the cage causing it to shake as the rest of the birds point their rears towards us as we slowly understand the severity of our fate should we refuse.

"Dada-dee, on the count of three, my beloved pigeons will commence fire. You can still say you're sorry skins by handing me your Miraculous." He holds up a finger. "One, two…"

Ladybug glares at him before looking at Chat. "Chat Noir the bars!"

Immediately Chat activates his Cataclysm, destroying the bars as the three of us slowly approach the cowering Akuma.

"Well, well. Looks like the pigeon's really a chicken." Chat taunts. I nod beside him with a scowl, not feeling particularly nice at the moment, not after what I was nearly subjected to.

Mr. Pigeon coos again before standing dangerously close to the ledge. "Me? I'm not flying away. I'm just killing three birds with one stone." Letting out another coo, he blows into his whistle before diving off the ledge. The three of us let out gasps as we rush to the ledge, looking down we see the Akuma balancing on a cloud of pigeons again as I let out a sigh of relief.

"Merry Christmas!" he screams as his cloud turns into a sleigh, launching a giant ball of pigeons towards us. The three of us share a terrified look before rushing towards the roof's entrance, shutting the door behind us as it actually dents inwards from the force of the hit.

"That was way too strong! Do you think the pigeons are okay!?" I frantically ask my teammates, receiving grim looks from the both of them, I grimace myself.

Running down the stairs, Chat's ring beeps as he slows down behind us. "I've gotta get out of here before my secret identity is revealed!"

Ladybug spins around cheekily. "Yeah, you wouldn't want to let the cat out of the bag." She says before continuing her run down, Chat Noir giving her a deadpan look.

"Ha ha very funny." He says sarcastically.

"I know right, who knew that she could make jokes." I smirk, ignoring the superheroine's indignant shout.

Finally entering the lobby, the three of us run towards the exit before a, strangely familiar, important looking man calls out to us. He's wearing a dark gray dress jacket with three large black buttons over a white dress shirt. A dark red tie around his neck and there is a dark red folded handkerchief in the jacket's upper left pocket. He also has dark grey slacks and black shoes. Most noticeably he's wearing a blue, white, and red striped sash over his right shoulder, and the ends of the sash are tied together next to his hips with thick golden tassels.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir and Faon Vert! I'm in great danger- of losing big bucks if my guests leave Paris! You are going to get rid of those pigeons, aren't you?" He asks, he looks so familiar but I can't just put my finger on it.

"Of course we are, but before we do, I have an urgent need." Chat says, fidgeting in place while I stare intently at the man's face.

"An urgent need?" The man looks confused for a second before it hits him. "I see, head to the royal suite." He snaps his finger towards the elevator, Chat rushing towards it. "There's paper in there, but perhaps you would prefer... a litter tray?" The mysterious familiar man asks cheekily.

This time Chat's the one who looks confused. "Uh...? Oh right, no need for litter. But, um, could I have some Camembert?" He asks sheepishly before the elevator door shuts.

The man looks back at the both of us in confusion, and it finally hits me.

"Ohhhh, you're the Mayor…" I whisper with wide eyes… Before realizing that everyone is looking at me in shock now, Ladybug included. "I-I mean! Of course I knew that from the start. Hey Ladybug we should go upstairs to get a better look on things!" I laugh awkwardly as I grab Ladybug by the hand and walk towards the elevator too.

"You're… not going to tell Chat about my disastrous fail just now right?" I ask while in the elevator, giving her my best doe eyes and pout.

Ladybug just smirks at me, clearly unaffected by my pleading look. "No promises." She responds cheekily before the elevator stops and she walks out. "Great, we can get a much better view from up here." She continues on, completely dropping our last conversation.

Looking out the window, the two of us see the giant balls of pigeons flying along the buildings, a park keeper's hat escaping from their clutches as it flies away in the wind.

"Odd, pigeons are flying in the same direction…" Ladybug mutters.

I smirk. "Guess we better go follow them."

Right on time the elevator dings, revealing Chat. "Ready when you two are LBFV." He says, fully recharged and waiting for us. The two of us run into the elevator, Chat pressing the button down as we brief him on the situation.

Following the pigeons, we all eventually end up at the entrance of the Grand Palace. Peeking through the doors, we see a large cage containing all the park keepers sat despairing within its confines.

"So that's where Mr. Pigeon's keeping the park keepers he abducted." Ladybug concludes, looking at us.

"The Grand Palais" Chat says, before taking hard shallow breaths. Quickly recognizing the signs of a sneeze, I raise a finger to block his nose as I saw people in cartoons do, and he actually stops.

"Wow… can't believe that worked…" I say in awe, staring at my finger still blocking Chat's nose as he looks at me with wide eyes. "That said, that must mean there are pigeons around right? Chat's basically our pigeon radar."

"Well either his pigeon radar is on the brink or Mr. Pigeon's left the park keepers unattended." Ladybug theorizes.

Chat suddenly comes out of hiding, puffing his chest out. "Let's set the cat among the pigeons." He walks towards the entrance but Ladybug's outstretched arm stops him.

"Hold up kitty, it's too easy…" She whispers, looking at the two of us. "I got a plan." She says before running around the building with us right behind her.

Landing on the roof, the three of us look down on Mr. Pigeon's back facing towards us.

"If we can destroy that bird call, we'll be able to capture the Akuma. Okay, Chat you open the window, I'll grab him and yank him up onto the roof, and Faon you snag his bird call away from him." Ladybug explains.

"Easy enough." I say, stowing my blowgun and cracking my fingers dramatically.

"Let's go, early bird gets the worm." Chat declares, unlatching the panel, lifting the window open, suddenly a gush of feathers hits us before I realize what's probably going to happen.

"Chat, hold your-"

It's too late, Chat lets out a loud sneeze, which startles Ladybug so much her yo-yo misses her target, alerting the Akuma as he turns and sees the three of us staring at him with wide eyes.

"So much for the element of surprise." Ladybug deadpans before the three of us immediately leap at him.

Mr. Pigeon lets out a cry before diving off the bridge, falling into a cloud of pigeons as they break his fall. Quickly jumping off the bridge too, the three of us chase after the Akuma.

Chasing him to the middle of the room, Mr. Pigeon blows his whistle again as the pigeons start forming balls around his fists, which was admittedly, really cool. "Deedly-dee dee, come closer, I have a bone to peck with you."

"I'd be honored." Chat says before the Akuma launches two punches towards us, hitting both Chat and I in the chest and sending us flying towards the park keepers in the cage. Ladybug lets out a gasp before getting hit by one it too, sending her careening into us as we break her fall.

Slowly standing up while the park keepers rudely yell at us to let them out, Ladybug activates her Lucky Charm, the swarm of ladybugs creating a small item before it falls into her hand.

"A coin? What am I supposed to do with this?" She mutters, looking around wildly as Chat and I both share confused looks.

"You can't buy yourself out of here!" Mr. Pigeon says, firing a ball of pigeons at us.

"Faon the vending machine!" Ladybug flips the coin to me as I finally understand its use. The heroine dodges through the pigeons as she ties her yo-yo to the Akuma's feet.

"On it!" I yell, throwing my staff on the ground as I step on it. "Sticks can act as hoverboards, Mind's Eye!" Suddenly a bright green board fills the surroundings of the stick and I immediately take off, skating in the air and dodging any errant pigeons before arriving at the vending machine. Inserting the coin and looking through the options, I decide popcorn would be the best bet.

"Chat Noir!" I yell, throwing the bag over the Akuma as the cat hero throws one of his staffs at it, puncturing the bag and sending popcorn flying everywhere.

"Snack time!" Ladybug announces as the pigeons charge toward the Akuma, Ladybug pulling her yo-yo that she tied around Mr. Pigeon's legs, pulling him upside-down over one of the beams on the ceiling.

"Chat Noir, grab it!" Ladybug yells. Chat rushes towards the birdcall, picking it up…

Before sneezing and flinging the whistle into the air.

"I got it!" I yell at Ladybug to keep her holding onto the Akuma as I fly towards the birdcall, grabbing it out of the air before throwing it onto the ground, stepping on it as I descend.

Mr. Pigeon lets out another scared coo before he faints, the Akuma flying out of the birdcall as Ladybug begins purifying it.

Letting out another sigh of relief, I take a look at Chat, who was gingerly rubbing his nose, which from what I can tell, is growing red from the irritation.

"I think you should get some rest Kitten, shame, I would've made you some soup if I had the time." I say remorsefully, showing him the countdown on my staff.

The irritation must've gotten worse for the cat hero as his entire face is turning red now. "I-I should, thanks for-" He sneezes again. "Thanks for the save deer."

"Anytime honey." I tease back, causing the blond to stutter out a response before running away from the scene. Letting out a small laugh, I turn to Ladybug who had finished checking up on the man who was Akumatized, and is now giving me a questioning look.

"What?" I ask, feeling a little self conscious, her eyes are way too piercing, I feel like my entire lineage is being judged.

The spotted superheroine chuckles. "Nothing, it's just cool that you and Chat Noir are finally friends."

I shrug. "Yeah, well, after he told me the reason why he was acting so cold, I couldn't really blame him."

"About how our Kwamis don't trust you? Because I don't care what they say, you've done nothing but help us so far so you deserve some credit."

"...What?" I ask with wide eyes, Ladybug and Chat Noir's Kwamis don't trust me?

Ladybug for the first time actually looks caught off guard. "Was… Was that not the reason…?"

"No..." I say, unsure about everything now. I've only met Chat Noir's Kwami once, and he seemed friendly enough, was that just a lie?

"I-It's nothing Faon! They just didn't know there would be a third Miraculous Holder. So it was completely normal for them to be suspicious." She excuses. "But Chat Noir and I decided that you're a good person, cause if you weren't-" She and I wince, Ladybug clearly not expecting to say that last part. Before she could continue, her earring beeps, a single spot remaining. "Sorry! I have to go, don't worry about it Faon, it's really nothing, okay?"

I frown as she swings away without even waiting for a response. Crossing my arms, I let out a huff. They had a meeting without me to discuss my true intentions? And what does she mean it's nothing? Ossi is my closest friend, that's probably the same for Ladybug and Chat Noir's Kwamis too. So if Ladybug and Chat Noir's closest friends don't think I'm trustworthy, how is that nothing?

-The Next Day-

In all honesty, I should've seen this coming. I've watched enough TV shows where the introverted loser gets roped into things by their extroverted friend. Yet I didn't suspect a thing when Alix went mysteriously silent when I showed her and Nathaniel my finished derby hat last night, and my hesitation to enter the contest.

I truly am a fool.

"I think it looks great, please you need to calm down."

Letting out a wheeze as I slowly collapse onto the floor, leaning against the presentation podium. Nathaniel looks down at me worriedly while Alix continues to pretend that I'm not experiencing one of the worst moments in my life.

"Wh… Why would you do this to me?" I whine, cradling the now empty hat box in my arms as I stare at Alix with the most betrayed look I can manage.

"Chill out Lian, your derby hat is adorable, Adrien's gonna love it." She responds, clearly not affected by my doe eyes at all.

"But… but what if he doesn't ? And you still haven't answered my question." I point towards Nathaniel with steely eyed determination, causing the poor redhead to actually take a step back. "You! Why did you let Alix enter me in this competition!?"

After the earth shattering information Ladybug told me yesterday, I almost didn't feel like making a dumb derby hat anymore. Yet all it took was one look at my interview notes with Adrien that made me pour my efforts into making this travesty (despite what Alix is saying). It did help take my mind off some stress though... I should've known they wouldn't stay away forever.

"I-I didn't know about this! Alix just told me to come today to support you." The redhead defends, giving me a helpless look that really makes it hard to stay mad at him. I let out a sigh as I slowly slid down on the floor in despair.

"Geez Lian, for someone so shy you can be so dramatic sometimes."

"I think I'm reacting to this appropriately." I snap back, sitting up and glaring at Alix who just blows a bubble from her gum, looking and probably feeling extremely unimpressed.

"Julian re lax. Your hat is great, why'd you even bring it today if you weren't planning on entering?" She asks, genuinely curious.

I let out a sigh. "I… I wanted to show it to Adrien after the contest… He helped me a lot with it so… I guess…" I trail off, not really understanding what exactly I'm feeling right now, a mix of 'I don't want to disappoint Adrien again' and 'I want to see him wear my hat.'

"Oh, I get it." Looking up to see Alix's knowing look and Nathaniel's confused one, I try to say something but a bunch of gasps alert us to the entrance. A formally dressed woman enters the school, wearing glasses with black and red striped frames, a red turtleneck sweater, a black dress jacket, black pants and black medium-heel shoes. She speaks with the headmaster before taking out a tablet, showing another person's face on the screen.

"Well… Here shall'eth be my perishment. Cruelty, thy name is Alix. How can you live with yourself knowing that it's my blood on your hands." I growl, peeking over the podium to Adrien leading the group around the other hats. Alix lets out an exasperated sigh, Nathaniel patting my back encouragingly.

"Hey Julian." Adrien greets as the group finally approaches my table, I feel my eye actually twitch at the pressure that I'm currently feeling at the moment.

The four (three in person and one online) viewers look at my derby hat, a simple black bowler with two raised bumps at its head to look like ears, a black silk ribbon tied around its rim and a bell hangs from it, its ringer was taken out so that it'll swing around soundlessly.

"Julian, this is…" Adrien says, wide eyes. I say nothing at first, but the sharp jab from Alix causes all the words to break out like a hole in a dam.

"Well y-you see! When I interviewed you I wasn't really recording the answers but more like the way you said them, because everyone answers questions differently you know? S-so from what I gathered you are really nice, but have a mischievous side and a penchant for being rather persistent, s-so I thought… you know… cats." I trail off, Adrien looking at me with a plethora of emotions that I'm nowhere near focused enough to decipher.

"Bring me to the next hat." I jump at the stern, angry sounding voice of the man on the screen (Did he not like cats? There goes first place I suppose), the lady dutifully brings the tablet to Chloe's creation along with Mr. Damocles, Adrien still standing in place.

For what feels like an eternity passes between the two of us, a battle of wills as we stare at everywhere else but the other's faces.

"For the love of- Adrien what do you think of Julian's hat?" The both of us jump at Alix's outburst behind us, Nathaniel hiding behind her (more like hiding his smirk but I see it.) Adrien looks like a deer in headlights for a moment before clearing his throat.

"I think it looks great Julian." He compliments, grabbing the hat and putting it on. I let out a sigh of relief as it had fit perfectly…

Although…

"Hmm. something's not right…" I mutter, pulling his hat off his head as he stares at me confused.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

I shrug, fiddling with the hat. "I don't really know how to describe it… But for some reason the cat doesn't suit you as well as I thought it would, it's so strange… I could've sworn you would look good as a cat…" I mutter to myself, looking back at him with a glare. "You need to bring out your mischievous side, pretend you're Chat Noir."

And with that Adrien returns to his shocked astonishment from before. "U-umm, well…"

Suddenly Chloe lets out a gasp from behind us. "No fair! Marinette copied my design! It's scandalous, how could you do that?" She screams before crying into her arms.

Looking at Marinette, she notices and gives me a wink before looking back at the adults. "I apologize for the situation Mr. Agreste, but I can prove that this derby hat is MY original design."

The lady spins Mr. Agreste around. "Go ahead." He orders.

"Um" Marinette picks up her hat. "Everything on my derby hat is hand-made- from the embroidery, to the weaving of the band, to the stitching of the brim. All done by myself. And last, there's a special design element that only the true designer knows about:" She flips her hat upside down. "I signed mine." She says finally, showing the name 'Marinette' sewn onto the rim.

Chloe lets out a gasp, knocking over her podium before running off, crying and screaming "Daddy!" Which made me feel kind of bad for her…

On the other hand...

"Now that's the flare of a true fashion designer…" I whisper to Adrien, and it was true, Marinette is destined to be even more amazing in the future.

The lady spins the man to face Marinette again, "Very exquisite creation. You definitely have the laboring hands of a hat maker, miss…"

"Marinette." Adrien supplies.

"Congratulations on your demonstration, Miss Marinette. You're the winner." Mr. Agreste declares, the rest of us clapping and cheering behind them as Marinette gasps and thanks the man profusely.

"Congratulations Marinette!" I walk up next to her and Alya along with Alix and Nathaniel, she turns and thanks me too before looking back at the online man.

"Adrien will wear your derby on our next advertising campaign." The online man continues.

The blond in question reaches to grab the hat. "Awesome job Marinette." He says, causing the bluenette to blush as he slowly brings the hat up to his head before flinching, and letting out a sneeze. "Sorry, I'm allergic to feathers." He apologizes before sneezing again.

Marinette and I share a befuddled look with each other before looking back at Adrien. "Gesundheit!" We both say at the same time.

Adrien sneezes again. "Thanks." He says weakly before walking away, surprisingly still holding the hat. Marinette, Alya cheers side by side while I turn to Alix and Nathaniel with a small smile.

"Well…?" Alix asks, looking a little smug for someone who just shot put me out of the metaphorical bird nest.

Still…

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be…" I mumble, feeling my face slowly heating up. So maybe I was being a little dramatic, only a little though.

That was enough for the pink haired skater. "See? I'm always right, even when I'm wrong, I'm right."

I scoff. "Takes more than movie references to get back on my good side Miss Kubdel."

"Oh don't worry, I already have the perfect idea, what say we try to get Nathaniel to submit one of his pieces to an art exhibition next?"

The redhead in question darts his head up in alarm. "H-Hey! Leave me out of this!"

The two of us laugh as the artist frantically starts listing the reasons why his submitting his stellar artwork is a bad idea, but as Alix probably always knew, and I now know, sometimes all it takes is a little push.