Orageux

Adrien becomes my friend through sheer force of will.

Wherever I go, he is there. He sits next to me in class, he partners up with me for all assignments, he even convinces me to watch his fencing practices so that we can go home together in his car. He shuts Chloe down at the first sign of meanness with a firm hand I didn't think he had – that he hadn't had in the show – and smiles at me so bright it's blinding.

It's not romantic, his interest in me or mine in him, it's just… sincere. I worry that he feels some sense of responsibility towards me from that fateful day, but he never, ever treats me like I'm a risk to myself, and I find myself wanting rather desperately to be his friend.

And that's what we are. Neither of us will say the word aloud because it seems silly and inconsequential, somehow, but we are friends and all that entails.

I start watching videos of fencing from the Olympics so that I can learn more about this sport he seems to love.

He asks me questions about Marinette's sketchbook – I can't answer those, but I show him my own drawings, professional looking drawings made in a cheap composition book by someone who had studied costuming at a university level in a past life.

I bring croissants to school, fresh from my father's bakery, to share during lunch.

He starts to teach me Chinese.

We spend all this time together, and it never once occurs to me that his father has surely taken notice by now, is surely watching me throughout the course of our acquaintanceship.

I don't even think about Hawkmoth knowing that I am friends with his son, because I am something approaching happy.

It's a tremulous feeling, this casual closeness. It's only been a few days, but we feel like old friends.

"Hey, Mari!" He greets me every morning-

"Hi, Adrien," I say shyly back.

The akuma that almost got me is silent for several days. I wonder if Hawkmoth has recalled it, even, if that was even possible.

And then I wake up one day and I can't remember how old I am – and I forget all about akumas and the plot because this is another vital, vital piece of my existence and it's been lost to me forever and I can't-

I skip school that day with my parent's approval and cry my eyes out.

I don't feel like I did that day, full of guilt and shame, but I have to make a concentrated effort not to fall into real, abiding despair. I remember – was it college? Or high school…? It all blends together, one birthday bleeds into the next in a smear of memories.

I was older than Marinette, I knew that much, but by how many years? Was I a grown adult? Just leaving my teens? I couldn't place it.

(But my knowledge of the show was still crystal clear).

Tom calls my therapist and asks if I can have an appointment that day during school hours. The receptionist agrees to squeeze me in and my parents agree that today is not a good day for Sabine (never me, I was out because I was unfit), to babysit Manon, the daughter of her family friend that I'd found annoying when watching the show.

(Just the thought of remembering something stupid like that, like a bratty child from a tv show, when I couldn't remember my own age was nauseating.)

I go to therapy and though I can't talk about the real issue, I find myself making progress. I talk about school, about Adrien. I tell my therapist that I had been having suicidal thoughts, but that those weren't a current risk.

I don't tell her how recent these thoughts were, and though I can tell she has her suspicions, she lets it slide as we are still so early in our sessions that she doesn't want to push me when I seem relatively stable.

The session goes well, at any rate, and I go home with my dad chattering happily about the positive progress I feel I've made.

I get a text from Adrien sometime after the session inviting me to meet him at the park and keep him company while he does a photoshoot. I hesitate over my phone, wondering if it's really alright. My parents haven't met Adrien but they were curious, too curious, and I just knew they would misunderstand and see our blossoming relationship as something other than the simple, sincere friendship that it was.

"Why don't you ask your parents, Mari?" Tikki suggests innocently, as I sit on my bed and stress over it like the worrywart I am. "The worst they can do is say no."

I bite my lip as I think – an unladylike habit I was often scolded for in my old life. The truth is, Marinette's parents have been nothing but kind and reasonable. They let me skip school today because I woke up crying, which was more kindness than I'd ever thought myself worthy of, and I didn't want to push my luck by asking to do something trivial like go see a friend and-

Oh. I see. I'm afraid that by asking to do something that will make me happy, I will invalidate my own suffering. A carryover from my old parents. You can't be that sick if you're well enough to watch television all day. You can't be struggling if you have time to goof off with friends.

Tom and Sabine are good people and kind beyond understanding. They've given me no reason to think they will react this way, but old habits die hard.

"Ok," I agree quietly, steeling myself for – I don't know what.

I am anxious while I ask, stuttering even though that's a habit I thought I'd long been corrected of, but Sabine smiles at me gently and tells me that that sounds like a wonderful idea, adding that she knows I'll keep up with my schoolwork even if I take some time to relax with friends.

I can't help it – I'm so chock full of appreciation for this kind woman that I throw my arms around her in a hug of sheer gratitude.

Her hands are gentle as they settle on my back, but her return embrace is fierce and full of love.

It's hard to face her after that, so I take off for the park as quickly as possible, and when I get there I am both horrified and relieved.

The merry-go-round is frozen over completely and the photoshoot is in shambles as one of the more memorable akumatized villains of the week sets about trashing everything with her weather manipulation powers.

That's right – Stormy Weather has made landfall and I can't find a place to transform.

I see Stormy Weather heading right towards the park gate – right towards me – and panic.

She spots me.

"Hey Ice Queen!" Chat yells, not perched on the fence like he was in the show, but very obviously trying to distract her from me.

She glances up just in time to dodge his baton.

"My name," she begins, brow furrowing into a sharp v of anger, "is NOT Ice Queen – it's Stormy Weather!"

I take the chance to run, looking around the deserted park for any kind of cover.

There! Didn't Adrien transform by those boxes? They would have to be enough. At any rate, Stormy Weather was engaged with Chat now so Hawkmoth wouldn't see me.

"Tikki, spots on!" I whisper as I duck behind the boxes and let the transformation wash over me-

"Why don't you pick on someone your own temperature?" Chat asks, and she snaps, blasting him back with a gust of frigid air.

I don't hesitate, I throw my yo-yo and chase after him.

Think, think, think. What did Marinette do in the show? The akuma was in her umbrella, and I knew she could blast us back with gusts of air and… wasn't lightning one of her powers too? But she had to call a storm in for that, so maybe while she was holding her umbrella up…

I know he'll be fine but as he hurtles towards the ground my heart jumps to my throat so I leap down and catch him.

He's heavier than I thought, but transformed like this with strength coursing through me, he's not so heavy as to stop me from coming to his rescue.

"I know cats always land on their feet," I tell him lightly, laughter bubbling up behind the words at his bemused expression, "but the way I see it, you've only got nine lives to lose. Why risk it?"

A trace of pink appeared from beneath his mask – just good-natured embarrassment, I'm sure. He hadn't given me any reason to think he had feelings for me thus far and I wasn't going to do him the disservice of assuming he did when I was nothing like Ladybug in the first place.

"Did something happen today, Milady?" He asked with something approaching wonder in his voice. "Because you seem to be in fine form and feline great!"

I don't have a chance to laugh his words off – or puzzle over them – because Stormy Weather catches up to us then.

(Later, though, later I will wonder what he really knew about me, because there was something in his words that made me anxious. Until then, though, I really did feel good. My therapist told me I was making good progress and while I'd suffered a shock that morning, my parents and Tikki's support had me feeling more confident and, well, sure.)

"You!" Stormy Weather shouts, looking furiously at Chat. He must have pissed her off more than I'd realized because she totally ignores me in favor of immediately blasting him back with more air.

The beginnings of a plan start to form in my head, but how to get Chat in on the action when he's being blasted around like that?

"Hey!" I shout, not really thinking it through. "Ladybug stands against animal cruelty!"

I almost get her umbrella, ironically enough. She yanks it out of the way of my yo-yo at the cost of her arm; she quickly recovers and tries to blast me back with a gust of air but my yo-yo is wrapped around her arm so I flail about harmlessly in the breeze, keeping a vice grip on my weapon and then-

This is it.

"The forecast for today has changed," she announces maliciously.

"Chat! Umbrella!" I shout, wondering if he even heard me-

"Paris will soon be hit by a freak lightning storm!" She crows, raising the umbrella high. Storm clouds gather at an alarming pace as I struggle to pull back my yo-yo, abandoning my grip on her in favor of freeing myself up to dodge.

"Cataclysm!" Chat shouts-

Lightning comes blasting down from the sky blasting me backwards. My arms are crossed in front of me as meager protection from debris-

"The akuma, milady!"

I glance up and sure enough a black butterfly is flapping away from Chat and the broken umbrella. I hesitate-

"Lucky Charm!" I shout, keeping an eye on the escaping butterfly.

I worry for a brief moment that it won't work, but it does and I am left holding a book.

My worry doubles as I wonder what it could be for – but I don't miss the chance to capture and purify the akuma.

"Bye-bye little butterfly," I murmur as it flies away. Then, anxiously, I throw the red spotted book in the air and cry out, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

My prayers are answered – it seemed that using my power before purifying the akuma still counted as far as the ability to restore everything to how it was before the akuma attack.

"You were on fire today, Lady!" Chat exclaims exuberantly. "Have we ever taken down a villain so fast? You spotted the akuma so fast and then I was like bam, Cataclysm, and we didn't even need your Lucky Charm, well we did at the end to fix things, but wow!"

I feel great. Just, really great.

"You were so on the ball, Kitty-Cat!" I return, pride blossoming in my chest. "I didn't think you'd even heard me, but you were right on it as she summoned the storm!"

We grin at each other like children and say it together, in perfect harmony:

"Pound it!"

"Ladybug!" someone shouts; oh shit, the news is here. "Is it true what you said about animal cruelty?"

I blink.

"Yes," I say, almost inaudibly, and then clear my throat. "Yes. As protector of the Paris, I stand for all of its citizens, great and small. Animal cruelty is shameful!"

I hear Chat's ring beep and know that my earrings aren't far off. I think about Alya on the first day of class, the words she would have said to me if I'd spoken to her about evil people and doing nothing. And I think that…

"The only thing needed for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke said that. The measure of a person is in how they treat those beneath them. Ladybug will always stand for those who cannot help themselves." I say firmly despite the waves of anxiety threatening to engulf me completely. "You don't have to be a superhero to make a difference. In my daily life I too donate even just a few euros to the SPA when I can."

My earrings beeped.

"Chat Noir is with you a hundred percent, milady," Chat announces to the press, smiling wide. "Saving Paris isn't something you need a superhero mask for – anyone can make a difference by donating to or volunteering with many of the excellent local charities benefitting animals, children, and the elderly."

His support means everything to me.

"That's right!" I exclaim, smiling wide. "Every Parisian is capable of making a difference!"

"That said, we need to go," Chat says with a casual salute.

My cheeks pink. I hadn't forgotten, but…

"You're right!" I say to him, seeing off the reporters with a friendly wave. "Bug out!"

I try not to go too far because I will need to walk back to the park to meet up with Adrien and eventually find a quiet place to transform back behind a dumpster in an alley. My phone was blown up with messages from my parents so I called them.

"Marinette? Sweetheart are you alright?" Sabine asks worriedly as soon as she picks up. I could hear Tom drop something in the background and presumably rush over to her side to hear the phone better.

"I'm fine, mom," I return, and it doesn't hurt quite so much this time. "I ran away before Ladybug came. I'm going back to the park now to check on my friend, I didn't see him when I left."

"Alright," she says, perhaps a little reluctantly, and then laughs. "You know, I saw Ladybug on the television just now. Would you imagine she shares your love for the SPA?"

My cheeks are burning, I'm sure of it. Sabine is referring to my purchase of several cupcakes that had been ordered at our bakery for a fundraiser for a local Parisian chapter of the SPA.

"Imagine that," I repeat weakly because I honestly don't know what else to say.

I don't know it then, but Ladybug mentioning donating to the SPA on the news will lead to a massive influx of donations of money and items not only to La Société Protectrice des Animaux but to several other charities because people were actually inspired by what I had to say and really wanted to make a difference.

I say goodbye to Sabine feeling sick and like I've severely overstepped – no one asked me to talk about charities and good people, but I try to focus on what we talked about in therapy and breaking negative thought chains and I try to straighten myself up to meet Adrien.

"Everything good?" Tikki asks tiredly, prompting me to apologize and dig free the box of macarons from my purse to feed her one.

"Yeah," I respond, having a little trouble focusing. "Sabine is really nice."

Tikki doesn't mind if I call Sabine by her name or Tom by his, which is a relief because I obviously can't call them that to their faces. Tikki's lack of judgement is a blessing I vow I will never take for granted.

"You should check in with Adrien," Tikki reminds me nicely. "He looked very worried about you."

"Oh no, Tikki, you're right!" I exclaim – because Adrien had already been Chat when I came upon the park, and he'd forced Stormy Weather's attention to him to give me the chance to run.

I pick up the pace and grab my phone from my pocket, intent on calling him-

"Mari! You're okay!"

I glance up and Adrien is jogging towards me, face full of relief.

"Chat Noir saved my life," I tell him, not feigning the admiration in my tone. Adrien had gone out of his way to protect me and I appreciated it. "I think I'm in love."

I was feeling so good today that I couldn't help but tease him a little – and I got precisely the reaction that I wanted as he sputtered, looking awkward as hell.

"I'm kidding," I tell him (before he has an aneurysm). "But I'm pretty sure I'm his number one fan now. Just saying."

He laughs finally.

"There must be something in the air today," he muses, falling into step beside me as we head into the park side by side. "You seem happy."

I almost stop walking and just stare at him for that observation but instead I just don't look at him, feeling almost shaken by how those words struck me. He'd said something similar to Ladybug – I wasn't going to jump to conclusions about what he may or may not know, but it was enough to spook me that Chat and Adrien had observed the same thing about Ladybug and Marinette.

"My parents are very kind and understanding," I tell him slowly, mind whirring with these thoughts. "They let me take a day off for my mental health and, um, it helped a lot."

His smile is as bright and brilliant as the sun, without any self-focused anguish about how utterly unsupportive his father is. He's just happy. For me. It's humbling.

"Perfect!" The photographer exclaims as we draw near, causing me to blink and stop where I am, wondering what he could possibly be talking about.

"This is your friend, yes?" He asks, eyeing me up and down with concentration. "She will do!"

Adrien looks at me sheepishly and before I know it I am dragged into the photoshoot with him.

"Your braid, bring it forward over your shoulder!"

I comply feeling a little overwhelmed.

Adrien adjusts it for me, his smile apologetic.

"Perfecto! Now-"

Adrien makes it fun. Or he tries to, as much as possible. My smile is forced at first, my posing stiff and reeking of anxiety, but I am with Adrien, my friend, and it becomes easier, more natural.

To be honest, I don't even know what the photoshoot is for, and it's that thought that helps. I'm not thinking of magazines or editorials, it's just me and Adrien and the photographer asking for silly things like 'you are sharing the spaghetti, lean in closer, get lost in each other's eyes and take a big bite!' It would be hard not to have fun as my stiff posture melts into more natural, more fluid movements and the smiles on our faces are real, born of genuine laughter.

"Last one! The young lady will lean in like so," the photographer says, positioning me with eager (respectful, thank God) hands. "The young man will put an arm around her…"

He steps back towards the camera.

"He will look down with longing, yes with longing, and then-"

I feel awkward standing there with Adrien's arm gently, almost protectively draped over my shoulders so I shyly glance up at him to get a read on what he's thinking, fully expecting to have a laugh at his 'longing' expression.

Instead our eyes meet and I'm caught there for a moment-

(Adrien's cheeks are pink.)

"Yes! Yes!"

And then we were blinded by the flash of the camera going off twenty times in rapid succession. Blinded by the camera flash in broad daylight. Who would have thought?

"Sorry you got dragged into all this," he apologizes, and then the world is back to normal because he's casual, just himself, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his head.

"It's okay," I say, far more comfortable now than I had been a second ago. "I didn't realize modelling was such hard work!"

He gives me a loaded look and then we both dissolve into a laughter.

"Hey, Mari?" He says after a minute or two, sounding a little more sober than the situation called for.

"Hmm?" I'm not sure what he wants to say and am gripped with sudden anxiety-

"Thanks for coming," he says, and I feel the tension in me drop like a stone and dissolve into nothing at the sight of his brilliant smile. "I was worried when you didn't come to school today."

For a moment, I am speechless. Just speechless.

"Oh, yeah," he continues, like I'm not standing there ready to blubber my thanks for his consideration because we'd only been friends for a few days but he already cared so much- "I brought you notes from class today. If you want."

He fumbles through his bag and for a moment I think I see a little black thing there – and then he is giving me a modest number of pages, all hand-written. I'm touched that he'd obviously copied his notes for me.

"Hey, Adrien," I begin, wishing I were better with words so that I could express exactly what his thoughtfulness means to me. "Thank you."

Sometimes keeping it simple is best.

"No problem!" He answers, smiling brightly. The boy is like the sun. I feel warm as I return his smile with my own. "Anyway, let's go. I'll drive you home."

When I wave goodbye to him and head home, I see Tom and Sabine watching his car pull away with unabashed curiosity in their eyes.

"Hi mom, hi dad," I greet them tentatively as I walk in.

"Did you have fun, sweetheart?" Sabine asks casually, too casually.

I have to fight the urge to laugh.

"Yes, mom. I got to be in a photoshoot, it was pretty fun. And Adrien gave me notes on what I missed in class today."

'Adrien?' Tom mouths at Sabine as though I can't see, making her elbow him.

"We're glad, sweetheart," Sabine says, and out of impulse I wrap my arms around her, following up with a hug for Tom, too.

"Thank you," I say, and though I can't articulate what for, they seem to understand at least the surface of what I am grateful for. "I feel much better today, and ready to take on school tomorrow."

When I finally get up to my room, Tikki zooms out of my purse, beaming at me.

"You did wonderfully today, Mari," she says, nuzzling my cheek.

"Thanks, Tikki," I return – and I mean it. Tikki was my first support in this world, and even now she's still the most important. "You're my best friend, you know that? Followed by Chat and Adrien, of course."

She laughs. It's a sweet sound. It's to the soothing sound of Tikki's voice that I later fall asleep.

The photoshoot is posted publicly to Adrien's modelling blog the next day. Honestly, I'm impressed because the photographer must have stayed up all night editing them. There were quite a few, mostly of Adrien himself, but I was gratified to see that, despite obviously not being a model, I didn't look terrible standing beside him.

There was a big buzz about it at school, and to be one hundred percent honest, I was shocked that Chloe didn't get akumatized because of it.

"You think you're so special, Dupain-Cheng," she sneered at me, waving her phone around in my face, "but you're not. Adrien was my friend first-"

"I'm not trying to steal your friend, Chloe," I tell her tiredly. I don't have the time or energy to deal with her today. "The photographer just wanted an extra and I happened to be there for moral support. He's still your friend. He can be friends with more than just you. Adrien is a great person, he won't just forget about you, you know."

I wish I could make friends with Chloe. I know she has a lot of potential, but I don't think I'm capable of coaxing it out of her. Not like this.

"Is everything alright?" Adrien asks, brow furrowed as he takes in Chloe's stance in front of my desk where I am seated, my expression blank.

"Everything's fine, Adrien," I respond, unable to meet his eye.

Was I just fighting over him? Did that count as fighting over him? I don't want to be the kind of person that fights over a boy, even if it's just for friendship reasons.

He takes his seat looking between us a little unsurely and then Chloe scoffs and heads back to her seat with Sabrina in tow. It's no wonder, I think perhaps a little spitefully, that so many people end up akumatized because of Chloe's spiteful behavior. Since I became Ladybug, I've had to fight four akumatized people that I didn't recognize from the show and two of them were directly caused by her.

Actually, on that note, I'd come to realize that my memories of the show probably only accounted for the more interesting akumatizations as far as plot and character development went. Life for me was very monster of the week except it could happen twice in one week, depending on the collective mental health of the city of Paris. I'd been worried that perhaps my presence was making waves in the form of new, different akumatizations, but Stormy Weather had given me a new outlook.

From what I could understand, based on the show's choppy timeline, the akumatizations that made it to the television series were key points in this world's timeline – meaning that less important akuma (ones that were defeated easily, for example) didn't get screen time.

Thus far, the akumas we had fought had required my lucky charm but had been pretty straightforward to defeat. Stormy Weather, despite being more powerful than the usual akumas, was taken out quite handily by Chat due to the advantage of my knowledge…

"Hey, you're Mari, right?" someone asked, bringing me back to planet earth from how far into space I'd been, lost in thought.

I blinked.

"Ah – yes," I stuttered elegantly.

It was Alya, I thought, a little shocked.

She grinned.

"I saw you talking to Chloe earlier, girl," she said, leaning forward like she was imparting some great secret to me. "You really stood your ground!"

I flushed.

"Oh. Thank you?" I ventured shyly, wondering where Adrien had gone because – because I trusted him to be my parameters in social situations.

"You know, Ladybug – who has to be a Majestia fan, omg – said that 'all that is needed for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing,'" she says, making air quotes. "And that girl? She is evil."

I laugh. And I think that maybe – just maybe – this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

To be continued in Anniversaire