-Julian's POV-
I stare at my father.
He stares back.
I present him with a box.
He opens it.
It's a cake!
He starts to cut into it.
But wait! I raise a hand before snapping my fingers, holding them over the cake.
My father gets it, moving a table in and carefully placing the cake on the desk.
We blow out the candles, after making a wish of course.
Then the two of us slowly draw our katanas to wait for the perfect moment to slice, and-
DING DONG
"AH!"
"Mother of-"
The doorbell scares the hell out of the two of us. My father sends me a bright smile.
"That must be your friends! I'll go get them!" He says, diving out the door before I could even respond.
"Don't be weird!" I shout after him anyways.
Ossi snorts from my pocket once we're alone. "Ya say that as if ya haven't been playin' pretend in a completely empty room for the past hour."
"Ossi!" I gasp, offended. "The art of pantomiming or mimicry are one of the biggest milestones in movie making history ! Movies wouldn't have-"
"-been the same I know I know." Ossi interrupts before I can go on a tangent. "Are ya really that excited to see the play tonight?"
I shrug, sighing a little. "Not really… It's going to be at the Eiffel Tower after all, and it's such a large scale event…" I say, hearing my dad open the large entrance door. "But one of my dad's old friends will be starring in it, and he asked the both of us to come."
"Ya didn't hafta say yes though!"
"I know." I wince, blushing a little. "But dad's been trying so hard for me the past couple weeks, the least I could do is try just as hard."
Before Ossi could respond, the door opens again, and my dad leads both Alix and Nathaniel into the blackbox theater.
"-Movies wouldn't have been the same! Tell 'em Julian!" My dad pleads.
I look at both of my friends' overwhelmed look and snicker. "Don't worry dad, I'll give them the entire history of miming before we leave."
"You better!" My dad laughs before ruffling my hair. "Alright I have some final preparations to make, you kids enjoy yourselves. Remember, we have to get to the bus by five, alright?"
The three of us yell back our affirmations before my dad leaves the room, closing the door behind him.
Alix lets out a relieved groan. "Thank God it's over!" She pulls out a beanbag and collapses on it as if it wasn't her first time in this house. "And I thought you were into movies Lian. You got nothing on your dad!"
"I'm not 'into' movies." I roll my eyes, putting away anything I don't particularly want people touching back into a locked cabinet. "And I can continue where he left off you know."
That put some fear in her eyes. "You wouldn't."
"The origins of the name came from Ancient Greece, where masked dancer Pantomimus-"
"Please stop." Nathaniel pleads as Alix stares at me in shocked betrayal, and I laugh again.
Alix snaps out of her shock, glaring at me playfully. "And here I thought you would need cheering up, guess you don't deserve your present after all."
That got my attention, I spun my head toward her. "A present? What is it?"
The skater smirks, nodding at Nathaniel. "Go on, show him."
Turning back to Nathaniel, he takes out a CD case, on the cover is an artist I've never heard of, wait-
"Is this signed ?" I ask, surprised, grabbing the case and looking it over. Wait, Jagged Stone?
Adrien likes this singer.
A blush makes its way to my face and I look away. "Oh, umm. Wow. Thanks." I mumble, accepting the gift and blushing heavier.
Alix laughs. "Relax Lian, we know you haven't listened to JS before, consider this as a gateway to real music."
I nod mutely, staring at the CD in my hand, I'll definitely listen to this… Not for whatever Alix says.
For Adrien. I think to myself before burying my head in my hands, attempting to hide my red face. Was that too creepy?
"H-How umm." I force myself to speak up, because if not Alix would definitely say something. "How'd you get this?"
"Chloe hosted an autograph session to get votes for class rep." Nathaniel explains, Alix shrugging next to him.
"I wouldn't have voted for her anyways, but I wasn't going to let an opportunity like this get away."
I nod, processing everything. "Marinette got it instead, right…?"
"Yep! Serves Chloe right!" Alix laughs before giving me a dark look. "It didn't take a genius to figure out why'd you skipped school for the rest of the week too. Just say the word and she'll pay."
Surprisingly, Nathaniel nods at her words as well, and if I wasn't so busy blushing I probably would've started crying. These people are actually my friends…? This is almost unreal.
Crap, they're actually waiting for an answer!?
"G-Guys!" I start off, panicking at their quiet determination. "Don't go after Chloe, please!"
I clap both my hands in front of them, begging them to not start a prank war with one of the most influential teenagers in Paris on my behalf. (Which they would win, no doubt about that, it's the repercussions I'm more worried about.)
The skater glares at me longer before sighing. "Fine. If you say so."
Nathaniel nods, letting out a quiet sigh of relief at my decision that I have to hold in a laugh.
"Do you want to watch a movie?" I ask, changing the subject.
"Alright."
"Sure!"
Both Alix and Nathaniel say, picking up their beanbags and following me to the entertainment room, making themselves comfortable while I set up the TV.
"What are we going to watch?" The redhead asks curiously.
I look away awkwardly. "W-Well um, I kind of wanted to watch the prize winning film from the film festival with you guys…" I point at a stack of blank CDs on the table next to the couch. "I watched most of them with my dad, but he didn't want to watch the prize winning one. Said that the results are rigged and a disgrace to the core of movie-making." I wince, that was putting it lightly. He also said that he would never associate himself with Mayor Bourgeois ever again.
"He got that right!" Alix supports. "Nino should've won first place! His movie was awesome! It's only cause the witch's dad is the Mayor and he had the final say that he was disqualified!"
Nathaniel nods. "I agree, considering our fears were the real deal after all, and we had superheroes!"
"Like Faon Vert?" Alix pipes in cheekily and Nathaniel blushes, looking away from us as I try to hide my own blush too.
"S-Stop reminding me!" The redhead whines, flopping back onto the beanbag pathetically while Alix cackles in the background.
I spare him a small, sympathetic smile. "Maybe we should watch something else, I think the winning film is a romance."
Nathaniel lifts his head up. "It's okay Julian, I was just joking." He goes back to staring at the ceiling. "It's pretty hard to imagine someone like Faon noticing me anyways."
My heart aches looking at him, even if it's some kind of hero worship as he claims, it hurts to know that your crush might never like you back. Now it's especially awkward too, since technically his crush knows about his crush now, but the problem is his crush isn't supposed to know because his crush and his crush's civilian identity aren't supposed to be connected!
My brain hurts just thinking about it.
"Chin up Nat!" Alix says, actually pushing up his chin. "Superhero boyfriend or not, you'll always have Lian and I on your side."
I nod when he looks at me. Now that I can agree with.
The artist smiles. "Thanks Alix, and Julian. We can watch the movie."
"Are you sure?" I ask cautiously, receiving a nod.
"I'm sure."
"Alright then…" I reach for the CD on top of the stack and open it, sliding it into the player. Who knows, maybe this wouldn't be as bad as it seems.
Forty minutes into it and I'm beginning to deeply regret ever thinking of this.
Not because it hurts Nathaniel, because he seems fine.
No. This film is especially painful for me .
"I have something to tell you." Edmond says to Robert, looking nervous while Robert looks surprised, but curious.
"I…" Edmond starts, biting his lip in hesitation. "I'm in love with Amelia!"
All of a sudden, it was like Robert's entire world fell to pieces. "Amelia…? You mean Amelia Blanchet?" He asks, voice rising as Edmond takes a step back, but nods.
Robert gulps, all this time. All this time, Robert has been going to Edmond for romantic advice to woo Amelia, has confided in him all of his plans to ask her out. All of them failed spectacularly, in such weird fashion that he couldn't explain, but upon hearing this. He knows.
"You've been sabotaging my attempts!" He yells, fist curling.
Edmond gulps. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! It just happened by accident at the start but then I couldn't stop! Seeing you with Amelia would-" He shudders. "Would destroy me."
"We're FRIENDS ! We're supposed to be friends!" Robert roars, raising his fist and punching him square in the face. Edmond falls onto the ground in a heap, the rain masking the tears from both sides.
"We're supposed to be friends, but you've ruined it." Robert says, all fight leaving him as he stares at his bleeding fist, the pain from it is nothing compared to the ache in his heart. "Stay away from me and Amelia. She doesn't deserve a man like you."
Robert starts walking away, leaving Edmond, his first ever friend behind, and the screen turns to black. Text plays in the dark.
"And as a friend who hurt the people he cares for..."
"...I don't deserve her either."
The movie ends and the credits play, a quiet, royalty-free song plays around us.
"Wow." Alix finally says, breaking the silence. "That was…"
"Heavy?" Nathaniel guesses.
The skater nods. "Yeah, Nino's film made me think that the festival would be way more upbeat than this."
Nathaniel hums, before looking at me. "Julian? What did you think?"
Huh?
"O-Oh." My voice cracks. "T-The effects were great, a-and the location and props were superb, and the characters-" I choke down a sob. "U-Uh, the- the characters-" I sniffle, wiping my nose.
"Woah, Julian, you okay?" Alix asks, leaving her bean bag and sitting next to me, Nathaniel on my other side.
I laugh. "N-Nothing! Nothing! I just-" I let out a shaky sigh, that movie was hitting a little too close to home.
"Am I a bad person?" I settle for asking. The best friend duo share a confused look before looking back at me.
"Of course not!"
"Yeah! What Nat said. What brought this up?"
"O-Oh, you know…" I trail off, gulping, can I really share this?
Alix takes a look between the TV and me before gasping in realization. "Is this about Marinette?"
Bingo. I feel tears start running down my face. "M-Marinette likes Adrien, right…? I do too, we're like Edmond and Robert…" I look down pathetically. "Love triangles like these never work well in movies! If this keeps up we might end up like them! I'm going to get punched like Edmond because I'm a piece of homewrecking trash whose sole purpose is for dramatic filler !" I cry, burying my face in my hands and fully freaking out. Distantly I feel Ossi start purring in my jacket as an attempt to cheer me up.
It's not working.
"J-Julian you need to calm down!"
" Never tell people to calm down!" I wail, glaring at the surprised redhead before standing up to pace around the room. "People always tell others to calm down and it never works! It just gets them all whipped up! You see me all whipped up now it's because you told me to calm down!" I yell out loud.
"Julian, you're not gonna like this. Look at me." I hear another person say before looking back up at them.
"Wh-"
WHACK
"A-Alix!" In my daze, I hear Nathaniel shout. "You slapped him!"
I look at the both of them in wide eyed shock. Alix looks at me determined while Nathaniel looks horrified.
"There. I just slapped you in the face." Alix says, voice devoid of humor.
Snapping out of my daze, I glare at her, covering my cheek with my hand. "Ya think!? That hurts!"
"But are you dead?"
I freeze in place, face going back to the slack jawed expression. "W-What?"
Alix crosses her arms. "I asked if you were dead."
"Wh- Umm, No!?"
"There you have it." She glares at me. "You didn't fall in love with Adrien just to spite Marinette. You lo- like him because your heart says he's the right guy for you. If you hold back on pursuing him because of Marinette, then you're betraying Adrien by not giving him the choice in the first place!"
"B-But, Marinette would be so mad. "
"So what?" Alix counters. "So what if Marinette gets mad? You owe it to yourself to pursue your own happiness."
"B-But the movie-"
"I asked if you were dead and you said no, it's the same now and it'll be the same then." Her look turns softer. "Even if Marinette hates you for it, even if Adrien picks her over you. You'll still live. You get to pick yourself back up and find someone who actually deserves you. But you won't live by constantly hiding in fear, worrying about every possible scenario in your head. Got it?"
I gulp, sparing a look at Nathaniel, who looks scared, I don't blame him, I've never seen her this mad before either.
Is this what happens when you insult her friends?
The two of us stare at each other before I give in, begrudgingly accepting her words.
I owe it to myself to pursue my own happiness, huh?
"You didn't have to slap me so hard…" I grumble, rubbing my face. Immediately the tension dissolves and Alix gives me a smile, I notice the small tears welling up in her eyes too, but I shouldn't bring that up unless I want to get slapped again.
"As you always say. 'The moment felt right.' You would've done the same."
"You got me there." I smirk, still rubbing my face. "I'll tell this story to all future generations. The day I got a slap moment like in the movies."
Alix and I both share a soft laugh, making a silent promise between us, that next time…
...I have a perfectly valid excuse to slap her back. (I'll probably never use it)
"Y-You two are CRAZY !" Nathaniel finally shouts, and the two of us laugh at him before the door opens.
"Spawn! It's time to go and- Woah! What up with your face?" My dad asks, bewildered as I smirk at him.
"I got slapped as a way to remind myself of who I really am!" I answer honestly, holding in my laughter at Nathaniel and Alix's horrified faces.
My dad holds a blank look, giving me a once over. "Like in the movies?
"Mhmm!"
"Anything broken?"
"Nope!"
He nods. "Well, in that case." He places a hand on his chest. "I'm SO JEALOUS! You know I only ever got slapped on set during filming? It never felt real enough."
"I know right!?" I answer back, giddy.
"A-ALL OF YOU ARE CRAZY !" Nathaniel screams while Alix mutters "Damn theatre kids." behind my back before my dad and I break down laughing.
"Well we should get going now kids. Son, do you need makeup or are you going to wear that battle scar?" My dad gestures to my face and I shake my head.
"I have some makeup in my room, I'll go put it on." I turn to look at my friends. "You guys can wait downstairs, it won't take long."
True to my word, barely ten minutes passed before I walked down the stairs, face as good as new. It would be quicker if Ossi wasn't fussing over it and ruining the foundation with his fur, but I appreciate the concern nonetheless.
"Looking good son!" My dad gives me a thumbs up and I smile shyly, I look exactly the same as before but compliments like that still gets my heart going crazy.
After making sure that all of our belongings are accounted for, my dad unlocks the door. "Alright, let's go!" He declares, kicking the front door open as Nathaniel and Alix walk out, however as I walk past him I feel a hand grab my shoulder.
"You know Julian, I'm really happy that you're doing this." My dad whispers, crouching closer to my ear. "If you ever need to leave early, let me know, you don't have to say it but at least send me a text or something, alright?"
My heart nearly explodes from the amount of happiness that I'm feeling right now, my dad is-
My dad is pretty awesome.
"Okay." I say, smiling at him as I walk out of the house to join my friends, the four of us heading towards the bus' location nearby.
"So Mr. Le Beau! How long have you been friends with Mylène's dad?" Alix asks, probably bored because she was walking instead of roller skating.
My dad hums, he and I are wearing pretty inconspicuous clothing to hide from the public eye. That is to say just a really long brown trench coat and funny hat with sunglasses. (We look stupid.) "Quite a while, we've known each other since high school, but we didn't become friends until college where we both scored lead roles in a play. We've been close since then, we actually visit each other quite often back in the day with our kids for playdates!"
"Huh? You did?" I ask, bewildered. Apparently my parents sent me on many playdates that I do not remember at all.
My dad claps me on the shoulder. "Yeah! You two were adorable together, Fred actually wanted to schedule more of them because he loved seeing Mylène that happy. Man did he love his daughter. One time, Fred won a really prestigious award, but decided to skip the ceremony because Mylène was dancing on stage with her kindergarten group."
I gasp. "He turned down an award?"
My laughs. "Yep! The look on the award director's face was hilarious , he was so offended. Fred's lucky Elle and I were there to do damage control."
"Woah, who knew that Mr. Haprèle was so awesome ." Alix says with wide eyes.
Nathaniel nods, equally surprised. "I knew that her dad's an actor, but I didn't know he was that famous."
My dad snorts. "Trust me, if he hadn't wanted to stay in Paris to look after his family, I would've signed him in a heartbeat. That isn't to say that he isn't doing well here though." My dad adds as we finally approach the bus, and I finally notice that the posters for Mime's Extraordinary Adventures posted everywhere. His face is displayed prominently on them, talk about exclusive.
"Wow. You can barely recognize him in these" Alix points out, examining the posters closer.
"Yeah, the makeup really hides it." Nathaniel adds, amazed.
"That's the point!" My dad says, and I nod.
"Yep, mimes wear black and white makeup to further accentuate their face-"
"-so that they can portray emotions better." My dad and I say together before high fiving.
I smirk. "Actually, some mimes-"
"Oh look! We're here!" Alix shouts, a tiny bit of fear in her tone as we arrive at the bus stop.
A lady is standing in front of the bus, medium height with dark red-orange hair, aquamarine-colored eyes, wearing square-shaped glasses with brown rims and silver earrings. She's wearing a light gray turtleneck sweater, a purple vest with three dark brown buttons, dark blue jeans, and dark brown shoes with thick heels and a brown watch on her left wrist.
"Sarah! Hey!" My dad yells, alerting her towards us as she visibly brightens up.
"Mr. Le Beau! Welcome!" She waves at us as we walk to her.
"Didn't we agree to just call me Andray?" My dad jokes, shaking her hand.
"Can I just say how honored I am that the famous Andray Le Beau is watching this production." She continues, as close to fangirling as I've seen an adult act.
My dad laughs. "Please, the honor is all mine. Or should I say, all Mime?"
Alix, Nathaniel and I let out groans while the manager laughs anyways (who knows, maybe she did think it was funny).
"Oh! Where are my manners? Sarah, this is my son Julian and his two friends." My dad pats my shoulder.
I blush, wanting to bury my head in the ground. "N-Nice to meet you."
"Sarah!" A man shouts from the entrance of the bus and I let out a sigh of relief. He's quite tall with red-orange hair and pale blue eyes. Wearing a black derby hat, dark bluish gray dress jacket over a pale green shirt, dark blue jeans, and black dress shoes.
"We have to get to the Eiffel Tower for dress rehearsal. If you wait any longer, you'll be jeopardizing the entire production." The man says, and Sarah sighs.
"What's happening here?" My dad asks, looking at me confused as I shrug.
Sarah looks back at us, a little ashamed. "It seems that our lead is late, again. "
"Oh?" My dad smirks. "That definitely sounds like Fred alright, what's his excuse this time? Bees attacked? Fell asleep petting a cat?"
The director says nothing, and my dad regains a little composure, recognizing the seriousness of the situation.
"Hey it's going to be alright, if there's one thing I know about Fred, it's that he always pulls through." He tries to comfort the distraught director.
It didn't work, the lady clearly looked conflicted, before sighing again. "Chris is still right." She says, looking at the man in question. "Let's get going, you'll be taking Fred's place tonight."
My dad gives me a look, clearly disappointed but deciding not to say it, instead choosing to sigh. "Well, then let's get on with the show!" He declares, letting Sarah, my friends and I up on the bus first before himself.
"Julian, is your dad alright? He was coming to see his friend after all." Nathaniel asks, looking worried.
I nod, giving both my friends a sad smile. "Yeah, he's familiar with the struggles a director faces, plus, he trusts Sarah."
"Well, whatever it is, this bus is amazing!" Alix declares, sitting at the far end of the bus along with Nathaniel and I while my dad sits with the director. "It's so much cleaner than school buses!" I laugh along with her as the bus starts leaving for the Tower, reaching for my-
"Shoot! Dad has my water bottle, be right back." I say to my friends before walking towards the front.
As I approach, the director seems to be in a really intense phone argument, my dad sits awkwardly at her side while the other man, Chris, looks at them from behind.
"Fred, I don't want to hear any of your lame excuses." Sarah shouts into the phone.
Fred tries to say something back, but was interrupted by her again.
"I don't care. It's not just this excuse, it's...every excuse. It's always an excuse. Well, enough is enough. Chris will be the lead tonight at the premiere. At least I can count on him." She groans before tossing her phone to the side, my dad frantically trying to catch it between his hands.
"Sorry you had to see that Mr. Le Beau." The director says, embarrassed.
My dad smiles, handing the phone back to her. "It's all good, but if I could just say, as someone who's known Fred since high school, it's rare for him to be like this, sure he's aloof but he's not irresponsible enough to miss out on something this important."
"Well, you haven't seen him in a while, people change man." Chris interjects from behind them, looking a little… evil?
"Hmm." My dad apparently shares my sentiment, narrowing his eyes at Fred's understudy before noticing that I was here. "Oh! Sorry son, did you need something?"
Getting my water bottle from him, I walk back to the back of the bus, trying my best to ignore any lingering stares from the rest of the crew.
"And here we have a wild Julian in his unnatural habitat, why don't you grace us with more mime knowledge, huh?" Alix says as I approach, framing my face with her hands as Nathaniel snickers.
I scoff. "If I was considered wild, the Julians would've been extinct by now, move aside." I say, crawling over them and back to my spot against the window and I let out a sigh of relief. This isn't as bad, as long as I'm in the corner of a room with familiar people by my side, I might actually do this. I'm only 30% anxious right now.
THUMP
A loud sound comes from above, and the entire bus of passengers let out a frightened yelp.
"What the heck was that!?" Alix whisper screams, crawling past Nathaniel and I to look out the window. Looking out with her, it's still the same passing scenery, except…
"Look, the shadows!" I point out, gesturing to the shadow of the bus. "There's two silhouettes on top of the bus, I think someone's-"
"G-Guys! There's something coming!" Nathaniel yells, pointing towards the window at the back of the bus. Looking out that one this time, I see a tall, akumatized man, dressed to look like a mime but with blue skin instead of white, currently leaping from car to car before finally landing on top of our bus with another thud .
"An Akuma's attacking!" I say, looking back at the inside of the bus. "D-Dad! Get the bus to stop!" I yell, I need to find a way to escape this place to transform.
My dad isn't listening, instead, he has a camera out (where did he get that?), filming Chat Noir, who had just jumped onto the car to the side of us before jumping back on top of the bus.
"Awesome! Hey, Sarah? Any way I can get to the roof of this thing!?" He exclaims, looking at the director expectantly, camera still rolling.
"Geez… You would think the excitement about Akumas would wear off by now…" Alix mutters.
I groan. "My dad wasn't in Paris when Hawk Moth appeared, so this is my dad's first close up of an Akuma, and he's too excited." I mutter, embarrassed and a little afraid of what my father might do.
Another loud thump followed by more yells, looking at the location of the sound, the Akuma had hit the side of the bus, dangling above the road as he glared at Chris.
"Fred!?" The understudy asks in terror.
The Akuma falls off the bus fully this time, landing on a nearby car and skidding all the way behind the bus.
"T-This is bad!" Nathaniel says, scared, I nod beside him, feeling extremely useless in this scenario, there's no doors at the back of this bus so the only way out is through the front.
There's a knock on the bus' door before Ladybug jumps in.
"Stop the bus!" She tells the driver.
Sarah starts walking up to the red-clad heroine. "Ladybug, what's happening?"
"One of your actors has been akumatized, and for some reason, he's seemed to be heading in for your troupe!" Ladybug explains.
" Fred?" The director asks incredulously, snapping my father out of his filming as well, as he looks up from his character, regarding Ladybug with a critical look.
"Hmm." He said, before turning to Chris, who is too busy gripping the chair in front of him tightly in horror.
My dad takes one step to him.
Suddenly, one of the bus' tires pops, and the bus loses control of its momentum, skidding around wildly.
Everyone starts screaming as the driver frantically tries to correct our path, but it's no use. I scream alongside Nathaniel and Alix, so scared that the three of us are practically hugging each other.
Suddenly, a flash of blond appeared at the front, Chat uses his staff to block the path of the bus, stopping it in its tracks just before it could crash into the Eiffel Tower.
"Okay, we need to get out of here!" Alix whispers to us.
"How!? The only set of doors are at the front, and the windows don't open!" I whisper back. Alix smirks a little.
"We can use this !" She points upwards. Looking up, I notice the emergency escape hatch located on top of the bus, because of the crash, the automatic locks have been released, and the hatch is opened.
Gasping, I look at the skater with wide eyes. " Perfect! Alright, you first!"
The skater looks at me in surprise. "What? No! You should-"
"We don't have any time!" I yell, Alix looks like she still wants to argue, but nods in the end as Nathaniel and I help her up the hatch. She immediately jumps down the side of the bus and runs off.
I look at Nathaniel. "Okay, you next." I demanded. The artist was easier to carry than Alix, and honestly that could either be because Nathaniel doesn't really eat much or Alix just likes to carry heavy-duty painting equipment on her person. Probably both. Nathaniel jumps off the bus too.
"I knew it!"
Gasping, I turn to look back at the crowd. My dad's grabbing Chris' collar by the scruff, looking extremely angry.
"It's actors like you that give the movie industry a bad name! You better hope Fred's okay because if not you better kiss your dreams goodbye!" He snarls at the actor while Ladybug tries her best to calm them down.
"Go dad." I whisper, getting the gist of the situation (Chris probably sabotaged Fred in order to play the latter's role on the big screen, unfortunately it's not as rare as one might think…) before climbing up one of the chairs, using my dad's anger as a distraction to escape.
Peeking my head up, I yelp before ducking back down as the Akuma jumps onto the bus, before running across it to fight Chat.
Looking back up, I pull myself up and out of the bus, months of being Faon Vert has made me much stronger than I was before, and pull ups are basically child's play at this point.
Silently landing off the back of the bus, I peek at Chat, who's currently fighting the Akuma, all the onlookers are too busy looking at the fight to notice me.
"It's a little risky…" I mutter to myself, wincing, definitely not an ideal place to transform. I take out my pen anyways.
"Ossi! Horns Drawn!"
A bright light envelopes me and I transform into Faon Vert, looking back at the fight. I notice with fear how much it has turned into the Akuma's favor. The Mime has Chat Noir pinned to the ground, and is pointing I assume an imaginary sword at Ladybug, preventing her from interfering.
A butterfly mask appears on his face for a second, before he reaches for Chat's ring.
His Miraculous!
Ladybug wraps her yo-yo around the Akuma's hand, stopping him.
"I don't know what's made you this violent, but I don't think your daughter Mylène would approve!" She yells, pulling the Akuma all the way to her.
The Mime slashes out of the yo-yo, pretending to toss something in the air.
Is that a-
Immediately leaping into action, I jump in front of the superhero duo, winding up my blowgun before batting the invisible grenade to the side, a loud bang ring through our ears.
That was too close.
Letting out an impressed whistle, I properly assess the Akuma. "Pretty good imagination you have there." I spare a look to the heroes behind me and pout. "Is this some kind of audition to replace me?"
Ladybug rolls her eyes as she stands up. "Thanks for the save Faon, that could've been bad."
Chat stands up too, laughing awkwardly. "Y-Yeah, sure gives a whole new meaning to silent but deadly."
I snort and Ladybug groans before activating her Lucky Charm.
A shoe box falls into her hands.
I raise an eyebrow. "Wh-"
"Look out!"
Letting out a gasp, I quickly turn to block a strike from the Mime who's now using an invisible sword before Chat kicks him away.
"Thanks for the assist." I say, smirking at the blond, who does a double take as he looks at me.
"A-Are you wearing... makeup ?" He asks, flabbergasted and flustered for some reason.
"Huh? Oh." I rub my face, feeling a little self-conscious before covering it up with another smirk. "Like it? A good performer looks best both on and off the stage." I say, thankful that he can't see my blush. I'm surprised that he even noticed it in the first place to be honest, he must have a history of being pretty.
The blond gapes at me, looking completely caught off guard, but before I could even say anything, the Akuma drop kicks him to the side.
"Chat!" I yell in surprise, before growling at the Mime and engaging in combat.
"Faon! We have to make him really angry!"
"You kidding? He's mad enough at it-" I dodge away from an invisible slash. " -is !"
"Get Chat to help you, he's good at annoying people!"
"Hey!" I jump slightly at the indignant voice appearing from my left as Chat lands next to me, recovered from the drop kick. He has a pouty look on before shyly looking at me. "You don't think that's true, right deer?"
I snicker. "It definitely is, but I wouldn't have it any other way kitten."
With that the two of us jump into battle with the Akuma, doing our best to tick him off even more just making slight jabs at it and dodging out of his attacks while making childish taunts.
I would say we did an extremely good job.
"Hey, Mime!" Ladybug finally yells, having turned the shoe box into a homemade projector, a large image of the Mime's Extraordinary Adventures is displayed on the Eiffel Tower. "Nice poster, don't you think?" She taunts.
The Mime becomes visibly angry, charging at the Tower before slicing it off it's legs as it starts to teeter to the side.
"Wh-" I say in shock, before hearing the screams of nearby civilians. Cursing under my breath, I try my best to move everyone out of the way.
Thankfully, the Akuma saves the day, forming an invisible barrier in front of him to carry the Tower above him.
"Ladybug!" I yell, a little frustrated as she looks at me. "Why'd you do that?"
The superheroine looks at me in question. "The Akuma can only mime one thing at a time, this way, he wouldn't be able to change it."
I cross my arms, glaring back. "There should've been a safer way to achieve that, what if he had dodged? There are civilians here."
"You saved them, didn't you?"
"What? You can't just rely on us to-"
"Umm, guys?" Chat interrupts.
" What !?" The two of us yell at him, making him shrink back and officially making me feel a thousand times bad about myself.
"Ladybug has to purify the Akuma…" He mutters quietly, handing the Akuma's hat to Ladybug, and I sigh. Gods dammit Julian why are you like this.
Judging by the look on Ladybug's face, she feels equally as bad too. Who wouldn't when it comes to upsetting Chat. "You're right, sorry." She grabs the hat and takes a photo out of it before ripping it in half as a dark butterfly comes out.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" She throws the shoebox in the air as a swarm of ladybugs bursts forth and fixes all the damages, including the sliced in half Eiffel Tower and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Hey." I turn to see only Chat standing there, looking at me sheepishly. "Ladybug had to leave cause her time was running out."
"Figures…" I grumble, watching Fred, Chris and Sarah reconcile (sounds like Fred wasn't even that angry at Chris, some people are just too nice I guess) "You know, sometimes I think the whole 'fixing all damage done' power Ladybug has does more harm than good…"
The blond looks confused. "What do you mean?"
I shrug. "Just a feeling, I guess…" I trail off, not wanting to sow discord in the group. "Sorry, it's just an issue between Ladybug and I..." I say, before smirking at him and changing the subject. "You're not going to defend your bugaboo are you? I'm willing to listen, and if ya manage to change my mind I'll mention how awesome you are when I talk to her next."
"U-ummm, well…" He says before laughing awkwardly, again. I frown, he's been acting strange recently, did something happen between the two of them while I was away?
Suddenly the lights on the Eiffel Tower turned on bright, festive lights that could probably be seen all throughout Paris, I looked at the scene in awe.
"It's been a while since I've seen the Tower this close at night…" I whisper reverently, turning to smile at Chat. The light perfectly reflects off of his features, making him look much more angelic than usual, Ladybug probably would've fallen for him right then and there, too bad she had to leave so soon.
"Hey!" I jump all of a sudden, looking down to see Alix and Nathaniel, looking at me with worried eyes. "Faon! We need your help!" The skater pleads.
I smile. "Of course, what do you need?"
"Well, you see. We have a friend, Julian, who came here with us but got separated when the Akuma attacked and we can't find him!" Alix says urgently.
Nathaniel nods. "H-His father is looking for him everywhere, we're very worried about him."
"Oh." I say, with wide eyes, they were… Worried about me?
Gods I might actually start crying again.
"Yeah 'oh', so hurry up and find him with your hearing or whatever!" Alix urges, and I laugh internally, oh the irony.
I turn to Chat. "I got this handled, you can get going."
The blond nods, turning around and taking a step before freezing in place. I raise an eyebrow at him as he turns his head back to me. "H-Hey umm, will you be watching the show tonight?"
"Hmm?" I hum, smirking at him a little. "Maybe… Maybe not…" I smirk at him before leaping away and into an alleyway.
Turning back into Julian, I hear my name being called from somewhere close by.
"Julian! Julian!" The familiar voice shouts, panic in his words.
I take a deep breath, messing my hair up a little before peeking out of the corner of the alley. "D-Dad?"
The relief on my father's face was almost instant, he rushes up to me and immediately engulfs me in a hug.
"Where were you!? I was so worried when you weren't on the bus!" He chastised, pulling away and glaring at me a little.
I shrug. "Grouping up like that during a monster attack is cliché 101 dad."
My dad's glare deepens. "So is splitting up."
"Touché" I mumble, looking away from him in guilt. "Sorry…" I mumble again.
My dad sighs, standing up from his crouching position and massaging his temples. "Today has been a lot more stressful than I expected." He lamented. "You want to just head back home? We can watch the original copy of the play on DVD."
I laugh lightly. "A-Actually… I think I would like to watch the play…" I admit, scratching my head in embarrassment. Maybe it's because I was still coming out of a superhero's high, or that I said to Chat that I would be watching the show tonight, but something inside me just didn't want to go home yet.
My dad smiles. "Alright." He says, pride so evident in his tone that I have to look away or risk bursting into flames from the embarrassment.
We didn't say anything else after that, walking to the location in comfortable silence. Alix and Nathaniel were relieved when I met up with them unharmed, and things went right back to normal as I gave them a basic tour of what a basic dress rehearsal looked like while sprinkling in fun facts about mimes (they're fun to me ). We had dinner in a nearby restaurant (we ate on a bench outside because there's just more space there) while the actual rehearsal went on to save ourselves from spoilers before the big show. Finally, after a long, exhausting day, the play was ready.
The entire courtyard in front of the Eiffel Tower was lined with chairs and brightly colored lights. A gigantic stage constructed right under the Tower and a sound booth directly behind the audience, a truly magnificent stage.
"Hey! There's Adrien!" Alix whispers to me.
"W-What!?" I yelp, looking panickily at our assigned seats in the front row. Adrien is sitting next to Marinette and Alya, the bluenette is currently looking at him with a mixture of love panic while the blogger just looks exasperated. Adrien of course does not notice anything.
"You have to sit next to him!" The skater demands.
I shake my head furiously. "N-No! A-Adrien or not, I always sit on the aisle."
Alix rolls her eyes before sharing a look with Nathaniel, the two share an evil smirk and before I knew it, charges right towards our seats, taking the furthest available seat from the blond, leaving me with-
L-leaving me with…
"Hey Julian!" Adrien greets cheerily, sitting comfortably in his chair as I walk up to him.
"H-Hi…" I mumble, looking away from him and shooting the most murderous glare I could muster to the traitors I call friends. They stick their tongues out at me in response.
People always wonder why Nathaniel and Alix get along so well, but they just have to spend a couple days with them to understand.
"Are you excited for the play?" Adrien asks, looking to start a conversation.
I cough awkwardly. "Y-Yeah! Mr. Haprèle invited my dad and I to watch… They're friends." I mumble, sparring him a glance.
The blond nods before frowning. "Are you wearing makeup?"
Crap! How does everyone keep finding out!?
I settle for laughing a little too loudly. "A-A performer should look their best both on and off stage, don't you think?"
Adrien looks extremely shocked for a moment before wincing, grabbing his head in pain.
"Adrien?" I ask, panicked as he lets out a groan.
"I'm- I'm fine!" He says, before taking a deep breath and the look of pain subsides from his face. "Sorry, I don't know what just happened."
"You probably need to drink some water." I mumble, getting out my water bottle and passing it to the blond, who thanked me before drinking out of it.
Drinking… out of my water bottle...
"Damn Julian, halfway to first base already." I hear Alix whisper, blushing profusely, I elbow her in the shoulder, if she keeps that up I might have to cash in that slap soon. (I probably won't, 60% sure I won't.)
Adrien hands my bottle back to me. "Thanks Julian." He says, smiling brightly, the light of the Eiffel Tower enhancing his features, making him look, making him look…
Absolutely beautiful.
Music starts playing from the speakers, snapping me out of it as I immediately turn to the play, Fred and Chris step on stage, bowing at the audience before starting their performance. The entire time, I see Adrien sitting right next to me through the corner of my eye. He looks so pretty when he laughs…
It was later in the night where I realized that I remember nothing about the play at all. Too distracted to even pay attention to the beauty of theater...
Gods I'm in so much trouble.
