-Julian's POV-
"I thought you said you wanted to work on our term paper…" I grumble, hugging my school materials closer to my chest. When I received a call from Alix and Nathaniel the day before about meeting up for our project, I had thought it would be just the three of us in a secluded corner of the library or something, so I didn't bother to dress up.
Now I'm standing in a library filled with our classmates, dressed in basically my pajamas (technically it's just a larger jacket than normal and a t-shirt but I've never dressed this casually outside before), watching everyone focusing on some fighting game contest set to determine school representatives for the upcoming competition. Everyone's excited about it, except me, who's busy not pouting about it to Alix.
"Julian, you have to leave your house one way or another." Alix chastises, not taking her eyes off the screen. "You've been cooped up in your house the whole week! Nat and I were worried you might've died there or something."
"You guys could've just visited," I complain, still not happy about being tricked into this.
"That's what I said." Nathaniel pipes in, bristling at the look Alix sends him when he did.
I sigh, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Alix was right, I haven't been in the best of moods lately. Having already rejected countless offers to hang out, and aside from attending school, always staying at home too.
I can't help it. I'm still pretty mad about what happened last week.
Ladybug lied to me . I clench my fist and take a deep breath. The emotional side of me wants to lash out, just find any open ear to scream my frustrations into. But the wimpier side wants to believe that there has to be some reason as to why Ladybug would do that.
Like maybe she just needs that perfect superhero image she instilled in the people of Paris. Or that she felt as if flaws would undermine her authority as the leader.
Maybe she just doesn't want to seem weak or human, like what I'm doing.
Abusing my powers? Being a liability? Such bull-
"Julian!" I jump, looking back at Alix and Nathaniel, both sporting equally worried looks.
"Dude, we're worried about you." Alix starts, pulling me away from the group as the redhead follows. "All week long you've been angry, and snappy, and-" She pauses, looking at the artist. "What's that fancy word for being sad again?"
"Despondent?"
"Yes, thank you. Despondent." Alix says before continuing. "You know you can tell us anything, right?" She reassures, Nathaniel nodding beside her.
I want to guys, I really really want to. I curl in on myself. But-
"I-I can't, sorry… I-" I don't know what else to say, can't tell them, can't say why, can't do anything about it, can't-
"Crap, hey, stay with me!"
"Julian!"
Feeling a set of hands keeping me steady, I take a shaky breath. "I'm okay, I'm okay," I whisper, more to myself than them. "I'm okay," I say again with more conviction, clearing my throat and giving them a blank look. "Sorry, I just haven't been sleeping much."
"Again?" Nathaniel asks, subtly looking around. "I-Is is about the same thing? You know, like last time?"
I got confused at first, before realizing what he meant. The last time I was in a similar state, it was because Ladybug let slip that they don't trust me to be part of their team.
Is that why I'm so cut up over this? Do they not trust me after all?
"Maybe…" I settle to say, attempting a small shrug. "How's the contest going?
Both of them don't look too happy at the sudden change of subject but decided to let it go. Alix sighs as Nathaniel spares a look at the screen. "It looks like Max and Adrien are competing now." At the mention of the blond's name, I subtly lookup. Adrien and Max are sharing a friendly handshake before the match.
"They're already our top two, this competition is more of a formality than anything," Alix adds, smirking at me. "You know, if you win, you might be on the same team with Adrien."
I scoff. "Please, this is a serious competition, not an excuse to romance pretty boys, even ones as pretty as him," I muttered that last part, which did not go unnoticed as Alix's smirk turns eviler.
"You're just too scared to lose." She attempts at a taunt.
Which, embarrassingly, works a little.
"I'm not scared to lose." I frown, taking the bait. "I've been playing this game since the closed beta, my father directed the Ultimate Mecha Strike movie -"
"Wasn't that considered a colossal flop?"
I nod. "Yes, don't ever bring it up to my dad, he'll go crazy. The point is, I'm good at the game."
Alix and Nathaniel share a look. "So play it." They say simultaneously.
Suddenly flustered, I look away. "I-I can't."
"Why not?" They say at the same time again.
"Stop that, it's creeping me out," I narrow my eyes at them. "A-And, my best character, h-he isn't, well…" I turn to look at the contestants in the middle of their fight. Adrien and Max had picked NAD03 and MX-1 respectively, both extremely good offensive picks.
"My best character isn't good for one-v-ones," I admit. "It's meant for the two-v-twos, since it's pure utility and support, if he fought either one of those guys alone, it'll be a total pubstomp."
"You main FON-5?" I yelp at the new voice from behind me, jumping back and nearly crashing into my friends. "Sorry," Adrien says, a little apologetic. Peeking at the screen behind him, it looks like he won the battle between him and Max. "I overheard you guys and wanted to say that it's really impressive."
I blush, quickly looking away. "Y-You really think so?"
"Yeah!" The model smiles at me. "He's one of the hardest characters to master, you have to change weapons at the right time or your opponent will take advantage of it."
I smile a little despite myself. "T-The secret is to choose what your teammate lacks, like, if my teammate is NAD03, I would go for the range options, a-and damage or shield boosters depending on my partner's playstyle."
"As a NAD03 main, I would definitely prefer damage boosters, wouldn't want a repeat of the shield meta." The blond winks at me cheekily, an action so out of place from the naturally kind boy yet it fits perfectly on him. Oh gods.
"It's like a totally different language." I hear Nathaniel whisper.
"Shhh. Let the nerds communicate." I blush harder at what Alix said. Sending them a panicked look but receiving no help in return.
"Wait!" Another new voice interrupts our conversation much to my relief, looking at the source, Marinette has her arms raised, looking at Principal Damocles. She's looking a little worse for wear too, with visible eyebags and messier hair than usual. "Is it too late... to try out?" She asks timidly.
No way. I think, watching Adrien walk back to the seats and suddenly feeling a set of hands grab me from my sides before shaking me vigorously.
"She's going to try to get with Adrien!" Nathaniel whisper-yells.
"We need to stop her! Quick, Lian! Fake a heart attack! Adrien knows CPR! Probably!" Alix pushes.
I blush heavily at the mental image of Adrien performing CPR. "T-There's no way that's gonna w-work!" I whisper-yell back. Dammit, I should've entered the competition, played or something, I'm decent at
"Adrien just gave her his controller!" The artist points out, frantic.
I try to focus on the scene. "I-It's going to be alright!"
"Right, yeah! His hands are empty now! You should go hold it!"
"Alix, n-no !" I yell, tearing out of their grip before pushing them further back into the library. Looking back, I let out a sigh of relief that no one's noticed anything yet, before giving the two of them a glare. "You two are insane, you know that?"
"But you love us anyway." Alix counters and I roll my eyes, actually feeling better than I had in the past week.
"Regardless, I'm not going to get in the way of Marinette's attempts," I assure them, and myself. "Besides, maybe she isn't that good at video games."
"New High Score!"
The three of us turn back to the scene with something akin to utter horror. Marinette is dancing in front of everyone, cheering.
"What! I can't believe it! She... beat him?" Kim says in disbelief, distraught at having his best friend lost.
"Beat him? She pulverized him!" Alya corrects.
"LB-03? C'mon, that's a newbie's choice, right Lian?" Alix attempts to cheer me up, I sigh.
"Newb or not, it's still the strongest character there is, and game-breaking in the right hands…" I mumble, watching Marinette's perfect score rise to first place. On the bright side, I probably would've never beaten her, participating or not. I would've had a hard time beating Max .
Speaking of Max, the boy looks extremely dejected, muttering a couple of words about losing fair and square before leaving the library in a slump.
"Poor Max…" I mutter to my friends.
Nathaniel nods. "I heard that he was practicing for this the entire year."
"Well, that's the cutthroat business of video games." Alix laments. "You either win or lose, no in-between."
"You don't play many video games, do you?" I comment, looking back at the crowd. Adrien and Marinette are in the middle of a conversation, probably discussing after-school training plans while the rest are starting to leave.
"Well, thanks for inviting me here but I'm going to go home and hate my life now," I inform them, barely taking a step to the door before feeling the arms of my friends wrap around mine again.
"Nu-uh Lian, we're going to try that new shop that opened up. Dad said that their sandwiches are 'heavenly'" Alix says, intentionally blocking out the view of Adrien and Marinette from me.
I feel my heart rate pick up. "I-I don't think-"
"You can call your car over, we can eat in it if you want." Nathaniel adds. I frown, why must they be so damn understanding, it makes it a thousand times harder to say no.
Which is how I found myself sitting between an artist and a skater, on a bench outside the new store, food in our hands and homework all but forgotten (we still have a week anyways) as Alix rants about how her supplies store didn't have the color she wants.
"To be fair, I don't think Cadmium Yellow is a common color anymore." I muse, taking a bite of my sandwich.
Nathaniel frowns. "Isn't the material to make that really toxic?"
"Only if you don't know what you're doing!" Alix insists, talking with her mouth full. "Besides, it's not my fault my Akuma was that color, I'm trying to be as accurate as possible here!"
I look at her, surprised. "You're… painting your Akumatized form?"
The skater shrugs, losing a bit of energy in her posture. "Yeah, sometimes. It helps, you know?"
"Helps with what?" I press, worried.
She shifts around uncomfortably for a second. "Sometimes I get these nightmares, about, you know, my other self, and- What I did during it." She explains, and although it wasn't said, the words remain around us.
How she nearly killed Faon.
"Alix…" I want to tell her it's fine, that Faon's fine, but…
"I understand." I jump at Nathaniel's voice beside me. The redhead looked equally as harrowed. "When I was Akumatized, I-" He gulps. "I made a bunch of saws and threw them at Chloe. Faon jumped in to save her, but sometimes I wonder if he would've even been able to stop them if Chat didn't intervene in time."
"..." I'm at a loss for words, food suddenly tasting stale in my mouth. "I thought no one can remember what they did when they're Akumatized." I settle for saying.
The two share a look. "I don't think we do, not all of it at least." Nathaniel mutters, his best friend nodding beside him.
"Yeah. It's just bits and pieces, and most of them come from nightmares." She explains before sighing. "You're pretty lucky Julian, you haven't been Akumatized before."
I felt my fists clench. "It still isn't fair." I grit out, incredibly pissed off, not at them or myself, but Hawk Moth, for being so cruel to target children to do the dirty work for him.
"Yeah, it sucks." Alix sighs again. "But it's not all that bad, I can get over it by painting mostly, to remind myself that I'm not just a skater girl."
"I draw comics." The redhead pipes in before blushing. "I-It doesn't have any dialogue yet, but drawing myself as a superhero instead helps."
"Plus, Faon visits us pretty regularly, and- I don't know, seeing him alright and doing well… It helps." Alix shrugs, taking a bite of her food, not saying anything else, Nathaniel nodding beside me.
The sick feeling subsides a little as I stare at the sandwich on my lap.
I managed to help them, at least a little, thank gods . I squeeze the sandwich in my hands tighter. And Ladybug wants me to stop doing this? To show up only when there's an Akuma to fight?
I pack up the rest of my lunch in frustration, my previous appetite was all gone, before realizing that what I did made no sense to my friends, who are watching me with confusion.
"Sorry." I say. "I'm just thinking."
"Must've been a pretty angry thought." Alix comments, eating the rest of her sandwich in one go. "Hey, after this, let's-"
A cacophony of screams ring through the street, sharing an alarmed look with my friends, we quickly turn to see-
A giant robot-looking thing with two legs and a pyramid for a head, walking down the road, zapping anything in sight, and turning them into orbs before absorbing them into its head.
"MX-01?" I say out loud, is that Max?
"Forget that! We have to run!" Alix yells, grabbing both mine and Nathaniel's hands before running down the street, away from the Akuma, wildly dodging its laser beams.
"We need to get into a building!" I yell. "The Akuma seem to only be targeting people and cars!"
"Good thinking!" Alix replies, quickly running to the nearest high rise.
I need to transform. I think frantically, Alix is still holding my hand, and I don't want to slow them down. The only way I can think of now is to-
Intentionally tripping on my feet, I collapse onto the floor, ripping out of their grasp and earning a gasp from Alix and Nathaniel now ahead of me.
"Julian!" They both yell.
"I'm fine! Keep going! I'll be right behind you!" I yell back, standing up and running towards them. The two look incredibly distressed.
"But-"
"JUST GO!" I scream, running after them as they pick up the pace.
Dodging another shot aimed at me, I ran into the alley, taking a deep breath of relief.
Sorry, I'm sorry… I pathetically apologized to my friends before grabbing my pen.
"It's okay kid, we'll apologize later." Ossi reassures me.
I nod in return, I will, I definitely will. I point the pen to Ossi. "Ossi, Horns Drawn!"
Quickly turning into Faon, I leap up to the building's roof. Right now, the Akuma has taken the form of MX-01 from Ultimate Mech Strike and is currently at level two, which isn't that bad yet.
I need to stop it before it reaches level three . I think, grabbing my blowgun to ring Chat Noir and Ladybug before diving down and grabbing as many people as I can before taking them to the roof. The cars would be impossible to gather, but at least I can stall it from gaining that few more points.
"Stop trying to ruin my combo!" The Akuma yelled from a speaker somewhere, which meant that its actual form is piloting the mech instead of the mech itself.
"Can't even handle a little interference? How about you get good, scrub!" I yell, successfully diverting its attention as I quickly jump from roof to roof, that way, any errant beams it fires go into the sky instead of hitting any cars or civilians. That, combined with rescuing civilians, is taking a huge drain of my energy.
Should've finished that sandwich! I think desperately, checking my blowgun again. "No responses!? From both of you!?" I yell, why aren't they picking up their phones, they on a date or something!?
Suddenly the mech takes a sharp turn, ignoring me now. Cursing under my breath, I followed it to the Place des Vosges.
"Damn it damn it damn it." I jump faster. The park has way too many people, he's going to level up for sure after that!
The park goer's screams immediately hit my ears and I wince, gotta go faster!
"Well, well. Marinette, let's see who's victorious this time!" I hear the Akuma shout, paling, I land on a nearby roof, watching the mech towering over Marinette and-
Adrien!
The robot fires a beam, and I leap towards them, the force shattering the roof behind me.
Grabbing the two of them just in time, the momentum drags all of us away from the bench as it disintegrates from the blast. Hugging both civilians to my chest, I curl in on myself as I crash through the entire park, leaving a dust trail behind me and maybe a smashed-through tree or two.
"Are… Are you two... okay?" I pant, letting them go for a moment to check for injuries.
"I-I'm fine, Adrien?" Marinette asked, still in shock, Adrien looked more panicked.
"I'm okay, but-" He looks behind me. "You dove through trees Faon! Are you okay!?"
"I think so." I nod, trying to sit up but wincing at the sudden pain, which sends the blond into a deeper panic.
"Don't think you can get away that easily Marinette!" The Akuma yells, its footsteps coming closer.
"Damn it." I mutter, quickly grabbing them again. "Hold on." I say, winding up and jumping to the nearest building once more. Ignoring the pain as much as possible.
"Faon, please stop! You're hurt!" Adrien yells
I wince, gritting my teeth. "Yeah, I get that, stop reminding me." I grumble before landing on a building farther away and dropping Adrien.
"The Akuma seems to only be targeting Marinette, so go and hide, okay?" I order, quickly letting go of the blond and heaving a sigh of relief at the lighter load.
The model nods, a determined look on his face as he runs to the emergency exit.
I give Marinette a sorry look. "Sorry, looks like you're going to be stuck with me a little longer." I quickly pick her back up and continue running from the mech, which thanks to the detour, is gaining on us.
"Faon! Run through there!" I hear Marinette shout, pointing at a thin open section through the roof. It'll be a squeeze, but it can definitely lose our chaser.
Quickly jumping higher, I run along the rooftops before diving through the gap.
"Argh, where are you Marinette!" I hear the Akuma yell and I let go of the breath I was holding before carrying Marinette to the hotel roof.
"Okay, stay here, alright?" I instruct, lowering her to the ground.
Marinette nods, looking worried. "Are you okay?"
I wince. "Does it really matter? Chat and Ladybug aren't here yet, the people need saving. Gods know I've inconvenienced them enough already." I mutter, looking around for signs of Akuma before sighing.
"L-Ladybug didn't-" Marinette says before stopping at my hardened look.
"Ladybug didn't what?" I press, wanting an answer, but another scream pries me away from the conversation and I shake my head. "Nevermind, stay indoors alright?" I say before leaping the hotel roof and towards the sounds.
Landing on the roof behind the mech, I look around for any civilians in its sight.
Where are Chat and Ladybug? I think again, looking at my blowgun to call them once more, but before I could, a flash of blond alerted me to the bus stop. Chat's there! Busy herding the bus passengers away from the Akuma.
The mech looms over to them, and I realize that there's no way the people are going to make it without some form of distraction.
Quickly jumping in front of the mech, I land in front of it, waving my arms around frantically. "Hey, Hanzo main! Quit aimbotting! " I yell any sort of gamer insult I can think of.
The mech turns to me. "I'm not aimbotting! it's all careful calculations! And said calculations indicate that your system's about to crash!" The mech raises a giant fist, crashing it down upon me.
"Faon NO !"
As Chat yells, a bright red yo-yo wraps around the mech's legs.
"You're the one crashing, robot!" Ladybug retorts, pulling the string taut, causing the mech to trip over itself, falling on its side, unable to move.
Thank gods . I take a moment to breathe a little.
"Faon!" I turn to see Chat running up to me and the next thing I know it I was wrapped in another hug, which should feel nice, but all it did was exacerbate the injuries as I gasp in pain.
"Sorry! Forgot that you're hurt." He says frantically, letting me go, before starting again. "Faon you're hurt! You need to get out of here!"
I shake my head. "Not until we purify the Akuma."
"But-"
"He's going to be fine Chat." Ladybug approaches. "He'll heal after we beat the Akuma." She says as if that will make us feel better.
I scoff. "Gee, thanks for the concern, leader ." I say dryly, Chat looks between us in confusion.
Ladybug visibly flinches but continues. "The Akuma is piloting a life-size robot from the game Ultimate Mecha Strike."
Chat nods. "We need to do it soon before he gets to level four."
"He's at level two now." I add.
"Wait, do we all know about that game?" The cat hero realizes with wonder, and I had to resist smiling.
A bright light suddenly engulfs us. Looking back, we notice with horror that the Akuma had absorbed the bus near us, growing brighter and brighter, forming a pair of arms and body, towering above us.
"Level 3!" The Akuma laughs maniacally. " Those Miraculouses are mine !"
Jumping away from a punch by the mech, the three of us start running, dodging laser beams before leaping onto a nearby roof, continuing our escape.
"We have to get him out of here before he destroys all of Paris!" Ladybug shouts to us before her and Chat lights up in realization.
"The stadium !" They both yell, making a sharp turn as I nearly trip over myself before scrambling after them.
Landing all the way to the stadium, a large spacious area free of people and vehicles. I wince again, the numbing pain is really starting to hurt now.
"Where's the mech?" Chat asks before a loud thud sounds from behind us. Turning around, the mech is standing in front of us imposingly.
Taking a deep breath, I fire a couple of shots from my blowgun, the attacks harmlessly deflecting off its shell. It retaliates, firing a continuous beam of lasers as the three of us frantically try to evade it.
"Attack the robot with your Cataclysm Power! It might be enough to shock him!" Ladybug tells Chat.
The blond stops in place, smirking at the enemy. "My pleasure." He activates his Cataclysm, charging at the mech and slamming his hand right on its chest. The machine explodes in bright light, disintegrating as the Akuma inside falls onto the ground.
"Smackdown, Chat Noir!" Ladybug gives the blond a high five.
"Chat Noir style, booyah!" He flourishes.
I huff. "Get it together, it's not over yet." I mumble, limping to the Akuma and staring straight at his currently unconscious form. Max doesn't seem to be wearing anything particular in his Akumatized form, the only thing out of place is-
Plucking the butterfly-shaped glasses off of his face, I toss it to Ladybug. "That should be where the Akuma is, can I get healed now?"
The superheroine catches the glasses with one hand, looking at me pensively before breaking them in half. The Akuma flies out of the glasses as she prepares the purification process.
Feeling the ladybugs swarm over me, I heave a sigh of relief as my back realigns itself, the absence of pain providing me with a sense of bliss that's impossible to describe.
Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I turn to see Chat giving me a timid smile. "Are you feeling better?"
I nod. "Back's fine, but I'm kind of exhausted, I think I'm going to head off." I announce, turning back to the direction of my house.
"Wait!" I look back at Ladybug approaching us.
"Faon, I need to talk to you." She says.
Gritting my teeth, I look away again. "Oh, you do? Fascinating. But too bad, I don't want to talk to you."
"What's… going on here?" Chat's confused voice interrupts us.
I clench my fists. I want to tell him about it, tell him how I'm being reprimanded for improper uses of my powers and that Ladybug is being unfair about everything, but…
Chat would probably side with Ladybug.
If Chat ends up siding with Ladybug… If Chat also thinks that I'm misusing my powers...
It would…
"It's nothing." I grumble, shrugging the cat hero's hand off my shoulder, ignoring his disappointed look afterward. "I'm going home." I take off before anyone else can stop me.
-? POV-
"What's this? A little squabble between teammates? Perfect."
"Disagreements only boil over and fester, and when that time comes. You'll be my best creation yet!"
-Julian's POV-
"So… Yeah, I'm sorry." I offer the presents I brought with me to school, it's the day after Gamer's attack. The moment I arrived at school, I was immediately tackled into a hug by Alix and Nathaniel, checked for injuries, and after I was deemed okay, promptly given the silent treatment.
The duo refuses to look at me during lunch, which sucks, but I deserve it.
"I-It's the brand new helmet you've wanted, a-and a new set of watercolors too. I really am sorry…" I trail off, unwrapping the apology presents.
Alix glares at me from the corner of her eyes. "Julian, what are you doing ?"
I flinch back. "U-Umm, apologizing? I'm uh, apologizing." I clear my throat, repeating what I said with a little more confidence.
The two share a look before glaring at me fully now.
"We don't want presents Julian." Nathaniel says.
I tense up. "B-But-"
" God Lian, think about it, would you be okay if we did something reckless and gave you a gift as an apology?" Alix interrupts.
I don't know what to say to that.
"Oh my God." Alix facepalms at my visible distress. "Did you realize that you were being stupid?" She prompts.
I wince. "Yes…"
"And do you promise not to do it again?"
Face red, I look away, ashamed. "Yes."
"Yes to…?"
"I promise that I won't make you guys continue running after I fall, we either escape together or fall together." Geez, I need to be more careful about how I transform in the future.
"Okay then." I jump at a hand clapping my shoulder, Alix shoots me a small smirk. "That's all you needed to say, no need to get us gifts."
I nod, still a little flustered. "U-Umm, thanks…" I look at the presents again before pushing them to my friends again. "Take it anyways? As thanks for teaching me…?"
"Julian-" Alix cuts herself off and sighs. " Fine . But only because I know that gift-giving is your love language."
"It's honestly more quality time-"
"Don't make me make you return this." She sends me a glare before picking up her gift. "Maybe I'll take you roller skating then, see how much 'quality time' you can handle."
Paling, I raise my hands in surrender. "Okay, I get it, no more gifts as apologies."
The skater nods with exaggerated seriousness, starting a new conversation with Nathaniel, the previous tense energy dissipating almost immediately and I heave a sigh of relief.
As long as they're on my side, I'll be fine.
