Prologue

Nathalie looked incredulously at her new partner. "Excuse me? You want me to go by what ?"

"Black Furrest." The wielder of the ladybug miraculous supplied, completely missing the scathing tone of her voice. "You know like Black Forrest but make it Furrest because you know, cats have fur."

"I got that." She said dryly. "God, you're worse than Adr- my godson. He makes puns all the time."

"Great. Then it's settled." He turned towards the people who were recording them from a distance and cleared his throat. "We are Red Velvet and Black Velvet, Paris' defenders!"

As everyone continued to cheer, Nathalie facepalmed. While Red Velvet would have made an excellent team with Adrien with their love for horrible puns and obliviousness of social cues, she was certain that she did Paris a favor by stepping in and preventing that disastrous combination from ever manifesting.

As Red Velvet held out his fist and gave her a wide smile, she found herself returning the smile and gently tapping his fist with her own.

"Pound it!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Can you believe this, we are actual superheroes!"

"I can after what just happened. Shoot! I need to go back to my office before Mr - my boss notices I'm gone." She yelped, extending her staff and leaping across rooftops.

"Hey wait!" Red Velvet jumped after her, using his yoyo to latch onto a chimney and swinging past her. She skidded to a halt as they landed on the top of a warehouse. "I know what my kwami said about secret identities, but since she tried to make my daughter fight a giant rock monster, however sweet and well intentioned she may be, my wife and I have decided to take the rules with a grain of salt. Since we would be working together, I don't mind sharing our identities."

"I…" She gulped. All of this was going forward too soon. Yet this man was earnest and kind, just like Emilie. Her first impulse was to deny the invitation and to keep things professional but she found herself nodding despite herself. It's what Emilie would have wanted her to do. Some time away from the Agreste mansion would be nice. She loved Adrien and Gabriel. They were her family yet they were damaged ever since Emilie went missing… All of them had coped with her loss in their own methods and none of them had been there for each other. Gabriel had cut himself off from everything else, she had busied herself with running the company and Adrien had kept himself distracted with his model work and studies.

"Great! My name is Tom Dupain-"

Her eyes lit up with recognition. "Owner of the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. I guess that explains the cake puns."

"You know of my bakery?"

"It's hard not to. It's the best in Paris and the one my company books for all catering events."

Tom beamed at the praise. "Thank you."

" I should tell who I am now, I suppose. I am Nathalie Sancoeur."

"Well Nathalie, would you join me and my family for lunch tomorrow at the bakery? You can bring your family too-"

"Thank you but I haven't told my family yet though I'd be happy to join you and your family for lunch. I'll clear my schedule for tomorrow."

She didn't expect that single decision to change her life. Before she knew it, she had another family… a younger brother in Tom, an older protective sister in Sabine and a kindred spirit in Marinette, who reminded her so much of Emilie and a little bit of herself…

She may have taken up the miraculous out of desperation, cursing Plagg with obscenities and planning on skewering the mysterious Guardian when she found him for even thinking about endangering Adrien's life, but now she wouldn't change it for anything else.


This story was inspired by Cornerverse's "Red Velvet AU" on tumblr.

I came up with the idea of Tom nicknaming his partner "Black Furrest" because the man loves his cake puns and this story was born from that idea.

Originally Sabine was supposed to be Black Furrest but I decided that Nathalie would be a better partner purely due to her no nonsense attitude.

Hope you liked this story and let me know your thoughts in the comments.