-Julian's POV-

"So, what do you think?"

What do I think?

"Umm…" I start, poking the charcoal a little. "It's food." I settle for saying.

Said food, which was originally a sandwich, has been completely scorched to hell and back, and the filling has been burnt to a crisp too, I doubt even Ossi would be able to stomach this.

"So what you're actually saying is, I should stop cooking and let the chefs handle it." My father says, sighing at his attempt to make me lunch for school.

I pat him on the back reassuringly. "That's probably for the best."

Minutes later I'm standing outside my house with actually edible food, waiting for the car to pick me up. Ossi peeks out of my collar.

"It's cute that your dad is trying." He says.

I chuckle. "It is, kind of like watching a newborn deer learning to walk." I say, before frowning, speaking of deers.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay Ossi?" I ask, worried. Ever since my dad's Akumatization, my Kwami's been extremely meek, either snoring away in my pocket, or talking much softer than usual, like just now.

Said Kwami grumbles halfheartedly. "I keep telling ya I'm fine. Gimme more credit, deers are stronger than ya think."

"Never said deers were weak." I mumbled, but couldn't say more as my car started to approach. Oh well. Regardless, I won't be exerting Ossi more than I need to. That much I can say for certain.

Arriving at school, I try my best to stealthily make my way to class. Ever since my dad's surprise pop in (which he now feels very bad about, hence the attempt at lunch making), everyone's been cozying up to me a lot more than usual. They've been everywhere, it's almost like I was some kind of new zoo attraction or something and it's been a hellish experience. Thankfully, I have Alix and Nathaniel around me most of the time, they help ward off most students (Alix mostly). They've really been great, they treat me just the same as before, and even rejected the gifts I got them as thanks. Even Adrien tries to help sometimes, emphasis on 'try' though, as Adrien joining would usually end up encouraging more people to crowd around us , and the blond's way too nice to say no which usually results in more work on Alix's part.

Well, at least he tries. I scoff to myself one time, as if I could ever get mad at Adrien anymore. He could probably back me over with a car and I would apologize, how much of that is based on the crush or just my generally meek personality is still up for debate.

"Good morning Julian."

Ah, speak of the devil. The adorable, handsome devil.

"Hey Adrien." I reply quietly as he joins me on the way to class. I look around for potentially dangerous students.

The blond doesn't seem to share my concerns though. "Can I talk to you about something?" He asks, sounding more shy than usual, which is strange.

Raising an eyebrow at his unusual behavior, I tried to say something, but before I could I noticed a group of students walking towards us with maliciously friendly intent.

"S-Sorry Adrien, maybe later? I gotta umm, copy Nathaniel's homework." I panickily excused myself before power walking to class, feeling a little bad for leaving the blond alone. But when it comes to school, it's every man for themselves.

-Time Skip to After School-

The two agents hide behind the table for cover, panting heavily, who knows how long it'll take before the monster finds them.

"Agent Smith, it's too dangerous! We must evacuate!" Officer Jones yelled, wanting to protect the agent that had crashed into his boring, mundane life and since then had taught him how to feel alive again.

However Agent Smith, who had fought tooth and nail for all she had, had ridden the waves of chaos and came out a winner, sends him an icy glare. "You're suggesting we run, Officer Jones?" She asks, voice proudly defiant. "After it devoured my family, my friends, even my beloved dog, Sniffles?" She stands up, facing forward with a determined look. "Never! I won't run! I no longer fear it, I'm going to face it, then I'll- WAAAH! "

Jumping out of my seat, I nearly topple out of my chair and onto the floor, but thankfully Alix manages to hold me steady before I could embarrass myself.

"CUT!"

I rub my eyes and focus on the scene in front of me. I got too absorbed in the narrative again, oops.

Today, Nino had commandeered our class into helping him film a short movie to enter in the upcoming film contest. Mylène and Adrien were the stars, playing Agent Smith and Officer Jones respectively, while Ivan plays the role of the scary monster lurking in the shadows. The other classmates are responsible for either maintaining the set, or acting as extras for when the monster needs some people to kill.

As for me… I could not help much, my father had told me that since he was on the panel of judges, having his son direct a movie to enter wouldn't be fair to the rest. (Sort of, he's actual words were "Are you planning on entering son? I'll let you win if you pay me." but I'm learning to read between the lines.)

That being said, Alya did manage to persuade me into co-writing the script with her, since we had so much fun writing out Marinette's lines a couple weeks ago. Thus was the origin of our script baby, and it's killing me on the inside that I can't play a bigger part in the filming, or even give a couple pointers.

Like how I can help Mylène work around her fearful personality.

Said girl had blonde hair styled into dreadlocks with some strands dyed green, blue, and magenta and gamboge eyes. She has a pink bandana to hold her hair back, and she has a necklace with a stone pendant. She wears a grayish blue shirt with a white silhouette design on the front of a bird holding a branch with leaves, which is underneath a grayish lime green hoodie jacket followed by dark gray jean shorts with black leggings.

Currently she had disappeared from my sight, presumably hiding underneath the table.

"Sorry Mylène." Ivan says, taking off the monster mask, looking apologetic.

Nino however was less so. "Mylène! That's like, the tenth take, and we're only on the first scene!"

"Fourteenth actually. But who's counting." Alix says, standing on the desk next to me. I snort before jabbing her side with my elbow, receiving a grunt, a glare, and an even sharper jab to my shoulder.

Mylène peeks out from the desk, looking at all of us. "I'm... sorry. I'm gonna do better on the next take, I promise."

"Anyone want some tea?" Rose, another classmate of mine chirps, waving a thermos around. I pout, I want tea, but damned if I'll say it out loud and risk drawing attention to me, maybe I can find a way to get Alix to ask for me…

Nino continues as I have an internal debate about tea. "You're playing a hero from the special forces. You're not supposed to get all freaked out!"

That didn't make Mylène feel better. "I know, but... that monster mask he's wearing is so... realistic and scary!"

Ivan however comes to the rescue, poking out his fingers through the mask's eyes and hoping it around. "Just big ol' me, Mylène. Nothing to be scared of!" He encourages, and I smile a little, they're such a cute couple. It even seems to help Mylène too, she's starting to move out of her hiding place more.

A rude and pompous scoff silences the room.

"If you ask me, he doesn't even need a mask!" Chloe tormented, laughing along with Sabrina.

Alix scoffs from beside me. "She's such a witch."

I frown. "I don't know. Something about her is kind of sad... I'm sure there's a reason as to why she acts the way she does."

"You're way too nice Julian, just take my advice and stay away from the girl. You'll go crazy trying to 'find the good in her.'" She finishes with air quotes.

I took offense to that, but before I could retort, another yelp alerted the both of us back to the stage. Mylène had bumped into Adrien it seems, who was in the middle of getting his makeup done by Juleka, another classmate.

Chloe stands, going for the kill. "And the Oscar for best pathetic scaredy-cat afraid of its own shadow goes to... Mylène!" She taunts before turning to me. "Tied with Julian of course, congratulations!"

I startle at the sudden attention before looking away in shame. What was that? I was literally just sitting here.

Come to think of it, Chloé's been more mean to me since everyone at school found out who my parents are, it's so strange.

"Still think she's redeemable?" Alix asks, patting my back reassuringly.

I grumble an incoherent response before looking back to the front of the class, red faced.

Mylène looks incredibly hurt by the bullying too, letting out a cry, she runs out of the class.

"Mylene, wait!" Ivan yells, ripping off the mask and running after her. I frown, worried. Truth be told I was planning on going after her myself, but if Ivan's going, I better not interrupt them.

The crowd bursts into panicked murmurings at what they just witnessed. Alix takes a seat next to me. "I feel kinda bad for Nat, he's just standing there holding the camera diffuser all awkward." She says.

"You volunteered him for it." I mumble.

The skater gasps. "As revenge! He painted my face on your locker last week!"

"Only because you swapped our ketchup packets with hot sauce." I grumble back, not really excited about the whole prank war side plot Alix and Nathaniel has going on since I'm usually a casualty on either side.

We'll see who's laughing once my order of yarn arrives.

"Epic, Chloé! Just epic! What are we supposed to do now without our leading actress?" Nino yells loudest amongst the crowd. Oh, right, they're having a crisis down there.

The blonde girl scoffs. "Who needs her, anyway? She was totally lame!"

" You're lame!" Ivan yells as he reenters the classroom. "Mylène is crying her eyes out in the bathroom thanks to you!"

I look at him with wide eyes. She's crying in the bathroom? That's terrible!

"Me, lame!?" Chloe instead asks, affronted.

"Hey, hey! Everyone chill out!" Marinette pipes in, whispering something to Ivan before saying to the rest of the class. "Fighting isn't gonna bring Mylène back. I'm the producer, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to finish filming tonight!"

Max clears his throat. "The deadline for the Parisian Student Short Film Festival is tomorrow evening, precisely 26 hours, 15 minutes and 14, 13 seconds from now."

"Thank you, Max! And we still have editing, post-sound, soundtrack…" Marinette rattles off before sighing.

"And who's gonna take Mylene's part?" Adrien asks.

"I'm gonna volunteer you, okay?" I feel my heart stop, looking at Alix in shock, before turning to the class. Thankfully, no one seems to have heard. Turning back, she gives me an exaggerated wink and I look away again, face overheating. Me? Co-stars with Adrien? Oh my gods oh my gods oh my GODS.

I fake a laugh. "Haha Alix! Y-You say the darndest things sometimes! I-I can't do that though, my dad's part of the judges." I fake another laugh, looking at her sweetly before pulling her closer to me. "I swear to gods that if you do, no one will find your body." I whisper darkly, still smiling.

"Like you could take me." She whispers back before relenting, not saying another word about it. (For now. Definitely for now.)

"Julian!" I jumped again in my seat (my heart is not happy with me right now) before turning to look at Alya, who was glaring at me quite fiercely.

"U-umm, hi?" I say, voice cracking a little from the panic, did I do something wrong?

"Did you add a kissing scene between Jones and Smith?"

What?

"No?" I ask with a raised eyebrow, is this a trick question? "Agent Smith doesn't need a kiss, her emotional journey-"

"I wrote it." Nino rightly interrupts before I could go on a tangent about proper character development and pacing. "It was just a little tweak. You know, to move the story forward." He explains.

" What!?" Alya shouts, stomping towards the aspiring DJ. "You edited my script without even telling me? That's low!"

Nino looks affronted. "Wait a minute! You mean our script!"

I sigh, it's technically part my script too but whatever. Wait a minute, why is Chloé suddenly in front of the class? Did she volunteer to play Agent Smith?

Wait a minute…

Does that mean Chloé is supposed to KISS ADRIEN?

"I-I need to go." I make a strangled noise to Alix, who looks confused but nods anyways, and I sneak out.

I take a deep breath before jogging to the bathroom, thankfully school has already ended so there's nobody around.

Calm down Julian . I think to myself, this is very unlike me. How can I call myself an actor if I get upset over fictional characters kissing? That's right, Agent Smith is kissing Officer Jones, not Chloé and Adrien.

Repeating that last sentence in my head over and over again, I hear a quiet cry from the girl's bathroom.

Mylene.

Frowning, I quietly knock on the door, hearing a loud scream from behind it.

"W-Who's there!?" Mylene's voice rings through the door.

"U-Umm… Julian, your umm... classmate…?" I answer back hesitantly, scratching the back of my head nervously. "Listen… I know that we've never really spoken much, but, I just want to say that it's okay to be scared."

Silence.

"...R-really?" The girl responds.

I nod, smiling a little, before realizing that she can't see me. "Y-yeah! Everyone is scared of something, but the fact that you're willing to face your fears is really admirable! Don't listen to what Chloé says okay?" I try to encourage, but unfortunately I said one wrong thing at the wrong time.

"C-Chloé was right though, I'm nothing but a scaredy-cat afraid of my own shadow." The blonde whispers through the door. "I should just quit."

I start feeling a little anxious. "Please don't! F-Forget about Chloé okay? Forget that I said her name in the first place!" I frantically correct myself.

Silence.

More silence.

"Damn it." I mutter, reaching for the door knob. Society be damned, I need to see if Mylene's alright.

"Julian? What are you doing?"

A familiar voice sounds from behind me, and I let out a sigh of relief. Okay, maybe society has a bit of a hold on me.

"Marinette, thank gods you're here." I say, facing her.

"What are you doing in front of the girl's bathroom?" She asks slowly.

I feel my face slowly turning red. "I-I was talking to Mylène just now, but she stopped responding, can you go in and check on her for me?"

"Oh! Sure! I was looking for her anyway." The bluenette says before opening the door to the girl's room. "Mylene…?" Her voice echoes throughout the room.

"Mylene?" I hear her ask again and I'm getting worried now, taking a deep breath, I poke my head in the room. Marinette is currently messing around with some goop-like thing on the mirror, it looks really gross. I tried to say something but was interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

"Sorry Julian." I hear Alya say as she bumps into me a little. "Marinette! Did you find Mylène?"

"No?" The girl in question replies.

"Well, you better come ASAP, producer! There's some serious lip puckering about to get going on!"

"What!?" The bluenette exclaims before looking at me frantically. "Julian, find Mylène okay? I have to take care of this!" She instructed before running out of the room with Alya.

"W-Wait! I can't go in there!" I yell back, but they either couldn't hear me or ignored my protests. I sigh in frustration, Marinette cares more about Adrien being kissed than a friend crying in the bathroom.

I freeze in place, Marinette cares more about Adrien being kissed… because she likes him too right?

She's always liked him, way before I did.

And now I'm crushing on the same boy my first ever friend has a crush on too, like some kind of homewrecker .

Feeling a little bit queasy all of a sudden, I quickly stumble into the bathroom, society truly be damned this time. Turning on the faucet, I wash my face once, twice, three times.

Feeling a little bit more calm right now, I laugh to myself. Now's not the time for romance Julian, you have a movie star to find. Speaking of movies, it might be because of the short film, but the quiet bathroom, running water, and me alone really does give a horror movie feel. Usually in horror movies if I open my eyes I would see a terrifying monster in the mirror's reflection. I should watch some horror with my dad when I get back…

I crack open an eyelid, and stare. There's a giant pink lizard looking monster standing behind me.

What ?

Am I too absorbed in the narrative again? Is my imagination going nuts or something? I turn around, there actually is a giant pink lizard standing behind me, its three eyes bore into mine, jagged teeth lining its jaws.

I stare at it with wide eyes. "What the f-"

"ROARRR" The creature yells, wrapping its tail around as I let out a squeak. The creature grows even larger before bringing me all the way down to the school's basement.

This is bad. I think to myself, struggling as much as possible but it feels like the harder I resist, the stronger its grip gets.

Finally, it drops me on the floor, but before I could do anything, the monster's jaw unclenches as a torrent of rainbow puke covers itself all over me, trapping me in what seems to be a giant egg.

Letting out a plethora of curses, I try my best to break out of it, but the puke is stronger than it looks, it might as well be as strong as cement.

"Damn it!" I yell, punching the wall again, Mylène probably got Akumatized. This is all my fault, I should've been more careful with my words to not upset her even further.

"Kid, it's not ya fault." Ossi pipes up from my pocket and I jump.

"You can read minds now?" I ask.

The Kwami yawns. "No, I just know ya too well." He flies out of the pocket, hovering in front of my face. "Ready to go?"

Nodding, I reach to my pen-

Ossi suddenly drops to the floor, lifeless, temperature rapidly increasing.

I stop.

"Kid?"

I shake my head. "No, it's fine, Ladybug and Chat Noir will handle this."

Wide multicolored eyes meet mine. " What? Whaddya sayin' kid?"

I try my best to look nonchalant and shrug. "I-I mean, it won't make sense you know? I'm already captured anyways, it'll be too suspicious."

"No it wouldn't! It's actually the perfect alibi! What's wrong with- Oh." The Kwami says before glaring at me full on. "Julian. I'm FINE . Please transform."

I give up on the false pretense, glaring back at him. "No."

"But kid!"

"I said no."

"It's an AKUMA!"

"So what?" I growl. "You're not exerting yourself, and that's final."

Ossi snarls. "If ya mad at me, just say it. Don't flat out dismiss things without reason."

"Okay, fine." I glare harder. "I am mad at you, you shouldn't have pushed younger me into transforming if you were aware that it would take a toll on your health."

"I didn't expect Chat to tell you about your powers!"

"You shouldn't have transformed me at all!"

"Stop being a brat!"

"Well stop being an idiot!"

A loud stomp interrupts our conversation, followed by the terrified voices of my classmates, and we both shut up for a tense second. The monster growls and pukes again before the footsteps grow more and more quiet, and then back to total silence.

Ossi sighs. "Listen. Children are hard to predict okay? Most Kwamis have a certain control of their domains, but what right does a Kwami of Imagination have to limit imagination itself? Barely any children have enough of it as it is."

I huff. It makes some semblance of sense, but that didn't stop me from feeling that-

From thinking that-

"I thought I was losing you…" I whisper, shivering at the mere mention of it. "You're so important to me Os, if I had found out that you disappeared because of me, I would-" I gulp, I can't even finish that sentence.

My Kwami's eyes turn soft, looking at me gently. "Ya not gonna get rid of me that easily kid. You're my fawn, remember?"

Sniffing, I try my best to give him a smile. "Sometimes it feels like it's the other way around."

Ossi sighs. "I'll let ya know if I ever feel too tired, alright? No more hiding the truth."

I take a breath, before nodding. "Okay, okay. I trust you…"

The Kwami smiles, before reaching into my shirt and pulling out the pen. "Alright then! Now, let's go kick some tail!"

Laughing lightly, I point the pen at him before whispering as quietly as possible. "Ossi, Horns Drawn."

Ossi dives into the pen and a bright light envelopes me. My miraculous quickly growing into the blowgun, the speed and strength of it completely breaks the shell of the egg. Take advantage of this, I place a well aimed kick at the crack, successfully shattering the shell into pieces as I stand for the first time in quite a while. Letting out a sigh of relief, I look around me, multiple eggs like mine are now laid all around.

"Sticks can be used as blowtorches, Mind's Eye." I whisper, transforming my blowgun into a bright green blowtorch before approaching one of the eggs.

"I'm going to get you out okay? Stay low." I instruct, melting the eggs from the top and rescuing Max, Kim and Principal Damocles.

Quietly leading them back upstairs, the first thing I noticed was that the entire roof was sealed up, which means it's safe to assume that we're trapped here.

And then a familiar scream reaches my ears.

"NATHANIEL!" I look at the direction of the voice. Quickly opening a random door, I usher the people I rescued into a nearby room with orders to stay perfectly still before taking off.

Running into the courtyard, I see the Akuma cornering the rest of my classmates, Nathaniel tied up in its tail.

Where are Ladybug and Chat Noir? I was barely able to think to myself before the Akuma grabbed Alix too, spinning around and facing me.

Aiming my blowgun at it, I fire a couple warning shots, which the Akuma deflects effortlessly before charging towards me. I brace for impact, but instead of hitting me, the Akuma charges right past me, barreling into a nearby classroom and slamming the door shut.

"GET BACK HERE!" I yell, chasing after the monster, preparing to batter the door down. Crashing into the door, I let out a grunt of frustration when I noticed the rainbow goop sealing it shut.

What's the point of being a superhero if I can't even save my friends!?

"Faon, hey!"

Pausing in my repeated attempts to break down the door, I look around confused for a second before looking up.

"Chat? Ladybug?" I ask in shock, noticing the two heroes gooped up against the second floor's railing and basketball hoop respectively.

"H-Hey Deer! Fancy seeing you here, huh?" The cat hero stutters out, and I cross my arms, unimpressed.

"I'm a superhero, this is my job ." I say grumpily, aiming my blowgun at the goop trapping them and firing, shattering the still hardening liquid and freeing my teammates from their trap.

I sigh, calm down Faon, it's not their fault that your friends were captured by the Akuma. Hopefully they'll be okay while we come up with a plan.

"Thanks Faon." Ladybug says before looking around in thought. "The more scared people are of it, the more powerful it gets! By defeating fear, we defeat it!" She theorizes, looking at the remaining classmates still present, specifically Ivan. "Did you see how it just left Ivan alone?"

"Yeah, what's that all about?" Chat pipes in.

Ladybug thinks for a moment while I nod in understanding, it makes sense, in movies, the monster won't touch the loved one.

"I think the monster is Mylene!"

"The monster is Mylene."

Ladybug and I say at the same time, well, Ladybug said it faster, but I'm not the one known on this team for my smarts anyways so this is already a great achievement.

My other classmates finally catch up to us.

"Where are Sabrina and Chloé?" Alya asks, Nino standing beside her, phone focusing very intently on my face for some reason.

"We'll find them, don't worry." Ladybug says confidently before whispering to Chat and I in a more quiet voice. "If we can find a way out of here…" She mumbles, while I make a funny face at the camera.

All of a sudden, Chloe's screams ring through the halls, followed by heavy thumping.

"Wait!" I say to the others, who pause in their steps. I shake my head. "It's too late, let's go to the Akuma's lair instead, I know where it is."

Without waiting for a response, I ran towards the cellar door. Unlike before, there's a thick trail of goo leading into it.

"I'm so amped!" Nino exclaims, and while a part of me wants to berate him, another part of me understands the excitement of a good film.

"Turn your amp down to about 4, will ya?" Chat says, fortunately having no such thoughts as mine.

The boy looks sheepish after that. "My bad…"

Opening the door, all of us rush down the stairs to the cellar.

Arriving down at the cellar, I realize that there are more eggs than usual. "I already freed Kim, Max, Julian and the Principal." I inform the team, who nods.

"Anyone in here!?" Ladybug yells.

"Ladybug, it's me, Chloé Bourgeois!" I hear her muffled voice from the egg say, sounding terrified.

"Don't worry! We'll get you out of there!" The superheroine yells.

"Well, hurry it up already!" Replied the voice, not as terrified as before and much more demanding.

"Alix, Nathaniel, are you here!" I shout, turning my blowgun back into the blowtorch.

Receiving confirmations from the both of them, I let out a sigh of relief, okay, so they're probably not injured.

"Adrien?" Ladybug joins in, and I nearly trip over myself. Adrien was captured too?

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine!"

I freeze in my tracks. That voice… Did not sound like it was from a pod. Is my super hearing acting up?

"What about Marinette?" I hear Adrien (Adrien? ⬛⬛⬛⬛?) say, and a sharp sting pierces my mind. What's happening ?

"Yeah, we've got everyone!" Ladybug replies and I groan, the pain is subsiding, what on earth was that just now? Magic…?

A loud crash, and I look up. Is it just me, or does the Akuma look much bigger than before?

It slowly walks to Ladybug. Before a large pod crashes into its face. Turning to the source, Chat laughs regretfully before dodging out of the way of its rainbow puke.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug yells, and a set of guitar strings fall in her hands.

She looks at me and smirks. "Can your stick turn into this?"

I give her a confused shrug. Since when was there a competition on our creation abilities? It's probably young Julian's fault.

"I got it!" Ladybug brain blasts, grabbing some equipment from a nearby cart. She hands me a traffic cone.

"Okay, we're all going to sing." She instructs, Chat lands on her other side.

"Sing? So that's your plan." The blond comments. Wait, what happened to the Akuma?

Looking forward, I realize that the Akuma is now trapped under cataclysm-ed bars from above. Man, Chat's the true user of his Miraculous, unlike me who get what I want and Ladybug who gets what she needs, he has to improvise.

"You all know Smelly Wolf, don't you?" I hear Ladybug ask and I nod along, kind of confused at what's going to happen.

"Seriously? Smelly Wolf?" Chat asks, apparently just as confused as me.

Ladybug was undeterred, holding up a trash can lid to the cat hero. "Care to join us?"

The blond smirks, and seconds later has completely assembled a makeshift drum set using carefully balanced trash can lids, trash bins, and his staff as drumsticks.

"That's pretty awesome." I say with wonder. Chat looks caught off guard for a moment, before laughing awkwardly.

"Th-thanks, deer." He says with a reddening face, I raise an eyebrow in confusion.

Ladybug gathers our attention. "Okay everyone! 1, 2, 3, 4!"

We all start singing Smelly Wolf.

It's kind of weird, I haven't sung this song in forever, and never with others. Usually I just sing along to the TV, if baby me knew that I would be singing this as a teenager to stop a monster from destroying Paris… He probably wouldn't understand anything cause he's still a baby.

And it's working! The Akuma, not having any fear left to feed on I assume, starts shrinking until it's barely the size of my palm.

Walking up to it with the group, the Akuma barely spares us a glance before running to Ivan, clambering into his arms, shaking like a leaf.

"That's the same button I gave to Mylène!" Ivan exclaims.

Ladybug gasps. "That's where the Akuma is!" She grabs the button and crushes it, purifying the Akuma that flies out.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" She throws the guitar string in the air as her swarm of Ladybugs starts repairing everything in the school.

Rushing towards Alix and Nathaniel, I let out an internal sigh of relief that they're both fine.

"Are you two alright?" I ask, just to make sure.

Alix smiles at me brightly. "Of course! You're here after all, right Nat?" She asks, shoving Nathaniel lightly, who blushes, almost as if-

Oh. Right.

Clearing my own throat, I will the blush away from my own face and look away. "W-Well then, I'll see you two later, stay safe." I wish before leaping away to a secluded spot in the school. Recently I didn't have much time to talk to my teammates, having always used my Miraculous first, I should try to make time for them soon, it might affect our teamwork if I distanced myself any longer.

"Horns in." I whisper, a bright flash before Ossi flies out of my pen.

I glare at him.

"H-Hey kid. How are… How're ya doing…?" Ossi says weakly, clearly trying to act tough.

I cross my arms, tapping my foot in rage.

"D-Do you have any bread? Just a little though because, because that's the normal amount I eat after transformations."

I glare harder, before sighing, handing him a crouton.

"Why did I get the Kwami that have no self preservation." I grumble, letting Ossi fly into my pocket where the rest of the croutons are. I should've known he would still try to hide it even after promising. He and I will have words when we get back, revisit taking a short break as Faon for a bit, even if he'll hate it.

Stepping out of my hiding spot, I go back to class to get my stuff. Packing the last item in my bag, the rest of the class finally enters the room.

"Julian! You won't believe what just happened!" Alix says, sliding next to me, Nathaniel standing awkwardly in front of us, looking defeated.

"W-What?" I ask.

"Nathaniel got a chance to talk to Faon Vert and he flubbed it." Alix laughs, the redhead in question goes even redder.

"Ah, t-that's too bad." I mumble, feeling a little uncomfortable, what am I supposed to do with this? Faon Vert doesn't know about Nathaniel, I do.

"Hey."

The three of us turn to the new voice, Adrien smiles at the three of us. "Would it be okay if I talk to Julian for a bit?"

Alix turns to him, but not before I could see the evil smirk on her face. "Of course! Nat and I were just going anyways." She grabs the artist's arm and starts dragging him away, whispering a 'good luck' from behind the blond.

Ignoring my internal wailings of betrayal by Alix, I smile back at Adrien. "Y-you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah." Adrien says, before looking a little hesitant again, and normally I would wait for him to say something, but something I saw out of the corner of my eye made me interrupt.

"Sorry Adrien, can I do something first?" I request, surprising the blond before he nods. Sighing in relief, I run up to the class, pass Nino and his friends excited gushing about the movie to the classroom entrance.

"Mylène!" I yell, surprising the girl as she lets out a squeak before clinging closer to her boyfriend, who starts glaring at me.

I wince. "S-Sorry, I umm…" I stammer, previous confidence completely gone. Feeling Adrien slowly walk up next to me, I take a deep breath to calm myself.

"I want to apologize for making things worse. You're a great actor, a-and my father always says 'The best actors are different off screen.', I really think you have potential." I admit honestly, the fact that she could even stand in front of a camera proves that she's leagues better than me, she just needs to know that.

Mylène finally smiles genuinely. "Thank you Julian, it means a lot coming from you."

I give her a bright smile before waving the two of them off along with Adrien, turning back to the blond, I jump a little at his calculating look.

"S-Sorry, I was planning to talk to her before she left. I'm all yours now." I mumble, blushing a little, gods why'd I have to say it like that?

Adrien takes a moment before asking. "What'd you think of Faon Vert?"

I feel the air leave my lungs, does… Does Adrien know ?

Coughing into my arm to hide the awkward pause, I look away. "T-The superhero? I don't know, according to the internet he's very childish, but with a kind heart." I blush more, it feels weird complimenting yourself like this. "He's always seen playing with children outside and basking in the awe of the audience, kind of like the opposite of me, I guess."

Adrien laughs a little at that. "I don't know… I think you two are more similar than you think."

I pull on my backpack straps tighter, does Adrien actually know? Is he baiting me into something? "Was that the question you wanted to ask?" I attempt to deflect.

Adrien laughs again, probably assuming that I'm just embarrassed, thankfully. "No, well, sort of." He says cryptically, and I frown. It's not like the blond to be so secretive.

"Do you think he likes someone?" He asks, and I actually have to lean against the school wall to prevent fainting.

"T-That was your question?" I ask again, and he shakes his head. So that wasn't his question too? What game is he playing at?

"I-I don't know about stuff like that." I answer half truthfully, blush growing heavier. "I haven't even seen Faon up close, I wouldn't know."

"Hmm." Adrien thinks before looking at me again. "Then what about Chat Noir, you saw him before right?"

Why is this happening . I think to myself, almost wanting to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Does Adrien not know how to ask personal questions? Then again he hasn't interacted with many people for a few years now so it would be understandable if he doesn't.

"Chat Noir likes Ladybug right?" I answer instead, because it's not too uncommon knowledge to know that Chat is in love with Ladybug.

"But how do you know he likes her?" Adrien presses.

"W-Well…" I think for a second. I trail off, remembering the moments between the two heroes. "Sometimes Chat Noir looks at Ladybug like she's his whole world, and if anything bad happens to her, Chat always seems to feel the worst between him and Faon, but I think the reason is more internal." I explain, I need to balance out some moments that I've seen in person with some lines I've written in movie analysis to make it sound not as personal. "He probably thinks about her all the time, and when she's around, his heart probably goes all crazy, and he likely can't stop staring at her when he thinks she doesn't notice." I trail off, sighing sadly. Maybe this isn't as impersonal as I thought, I'm just telling him the things I feel around Adrien…

Speaking of, the model has been really quiet for a while now. Turning to look at him, I notice this look of pure realization mixed with fear painted on his face, like he just discovered something terrible and wonderful.

"Adrien…?" I ask quietly, waving my hand in front of his face, successfully snapping him out of whatever's going on as he looks at me panicked.

"S-Sorry, I have to, I have to go." He quickly excuses himself from the conversation, all but fleeing from the scene, leaving me standing there confused. Why was he suddenly so eager to leave? It's almost as if…

Almost as if he found out that…

Oh…

Oh no.

uck.