Current One-Shot: Vulpin. In which Nathaniel gets the fox Miraculous, Chat Noir gets jealous, and Marinette gets both a headache and way too little sleep. Mari really shouldn't be allowed to be Ladybug when she's tired. If you're expecting a well crafted story, turn back; this one borders on crack.

Vulpin - Nathanette

This oneshot has been in the works forever. And by forever, I really do mean forever. Like honestly, it's been in the works for at least over a year. Mainly due to the fact that my inspiration for it is constantly shifting. Still, it's finally out here, so I hope you enjoy!

Ladybug's Point of View

Honestly, having another Miraculous wielder join the team should have been super exciting. It should have offered us another confidant to trust in, even if none of us could fully trust each other with things such as our identities. It should have meant a better chance at getting at Hawkmoth. It should have ensured that defeating akumas would get ten times easier. In fact, it should have made our lives ten times easier in general and made Hawkmoth's life ten times harder.

Instead, it just made my life ten times harder.

Granted, our first meeting wasn't super great. Volpina wasn't too long ago, meaning that my own emotions from that incident were still running quite raw. The appearance of another fox-clad self-acclaimed hero was a bit more than I was ready to take. I was skeptical and distrustful. Apparently Chat picked up on that, because he gave the poor guy an incredibly tough time on his first appearance. There was all sorts of questioning from him as I watched on with pursed lips, silently looking him over. None of us would have thought to do this before, but after Volpina, we could never be sure again. What if someone tricked us again? At least I knew Lila already - not that Chat knew that - so that I could have a clue that things were off. But what if we didn't know the victim in either of our forms next time? That was why we could not just accept this boy with open arms.

However, the red hero stood there and took the questions. Obviously he didn't veer anywhere into civilian territory or identity with them, which was definitely a step up from our other encounter with a fox who really was a fox. He also didn't make any moves for our Miraculous. Instead he just stared right back at me in a silent challenge with the slightest quirk of his lips, barely acknowledging Chat's existence beyond his answers. His turquoise eyes bored back at me until eventually I had to avert my gaze, admitting defeat.

"So you know what your Miraculous is and does. Everyone else in Paris does at this point thanks to Volpina." Chat snaps, preparing to ask yet another question after what feels like one hundred of them. It seems like this questioning comes out of a protectiveness, but now it seems to borderline on possessiveness, although I can't imagine why. I would have thought Chat would be excited to have another member join our team, but apparently I was wrong.

"Stop, Chat." I say wearily, growing tired of the interrogation. That tiredness overwhelms any thoughts about Volpina and how the last fox betrayed us, especially because while she set off plenty of warning bells, this boy isn't setting off any. Our mysterious arrival looks rather smug and pleased with himself, as if it's an accomplishment to have outlasted me in patience, which I suppose it is. It doesn't make me want to slap him any less though. "I think if he were an akuma, he would have done something by now. So, hero," I might as well ask a useful question now that I've finally decided to start speaking, "did you recently get your Miraculous?"

This boy looks back at me, almost seeming to be scanning me over thoughtfully before finally giving me an answer. "I suppose you could say that. It was after the Volpina incident, otherwise I would have revealed myself instantly to take her out as an imposter. I mean flying? Please. A fox can't fly." He shifts a little before offering me a quirky grin. "And before you take up the habit of just calling me 'hero,' not that I mind the nickname from you, the name I've decided on is Vulpin."

I take this moment to look the boy over. His costume, while more masculine, certainly resembles Volpina's, even down to the exact same Miraculous design, although that would be expected seeing as it's the Fox Miraculous. However, his hair is short and fire engine red, his bangs apparently staying clipped up with what appears to be a bobby pin of sorts. Hopefully Chat won't notice, because based on his reaction to the hero so far, I think he wouldn't let the poor kid live it down. Why he's acting like this, I have no idea, but it's getting old fast, so he'd better fix his attitude soon. Besides the masculine aspect of this version of Volpina's suit, it also is a dark red, actually seeming to fit well with his hair. He twirls his flute in his hand, looking quite pleased with himself, and I have to fight the urge once again to slap this stranger that is apparently going to be our partner. Who is this cocky child? Here I was thinking Chat Noir was playfully full of himself, but this boy takes that confidence to a whole new level.

"Well, hero," My kitty hisses, taking a step towards the unfazed Vulpin, "I think that you'll find that we really don't need another partner on the team. We're doing quite fine on the team as it i-"

"You're on probation, Vulpin." I cut Chat off, causing him to give me a wide eyed look, obviously flabbergasted. "If you do anything that gives us any reason for suspicion during this time, I will not hesitate to mark you an enemy alongside Hawkmoth. Understand?" Vulpin nods, obviously looking pleased. "Good. We have patrol tomorrow night. I expect you to be here to meet us at 9 pm. Got it?" He nods again, tail swishing behind him as he offers me another smirk. I fold my arms, forcing my mouth into a firm line so as not to give this stranger the satisfaction of flustering me any further. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to have a chat with my chaton."

He nods, giving me a salute, which makes Chat tense up beside me. I shoo the fox off, and he offers me one last, satisfied grin before scrambling away. I watch him go for a moment before turning to stare at my leather clad partner, who looks torn between annoyance and preparing to scolded.

Apparently he chooses annoyed as his narrowed eyes stay focused on the fox that scrambles away, ears pinned back to the back of his head as he hisses, "He stole my exit!"

"Chat," I snap, forcing him to focus his attention on me. Apparently he realizes that he's in trouble because he reigns himself in, at least having the sense to look ashamed. "What the heck was that?"

"You were upset seeing him. He brought up Volpina in your mind all over again. I was protecting you!" He shifts uncomfortably under my glare as he sputters his reasoning out.

"There's more to it than that, Kitty." He perks up a bit when I use my nickname for him, and I almost regret doing so. "Spill. What the heck is up with you?"

"I don't like him." My partner finally mutters, staring down at the ground as his tail swishes behind him. "He's obviously up to no good. Besides, we don't need another person on our team!" He looks up at me, seeming distressed. "Our team is perfectly fine as it is."

I shake my head with a sigh, the corner of my mouth tugging up in amusement. "Just because we have another team member - even if he's only a potential new team member - doesn't mean anything less about our partnership. Change is good, and with akumas picking up in rate, it'll be good to have someone else to carry the load."

He doesn't seem to perk up at all, so I reach out and ruffle his hair as he mumbles, "I still don't like him, Bugaboo."

Honestly, perhaps that's when I should've known there was going to be trouble. Chat obviously hadn't been actually listening to anything I was saying, but I still hoped that it would help. Besides, it was another guy for Chat to bond with. That should've been a good thing. However, Vulpin's first patrol was my first sign that this was not going to be the case. I was there early, partly because I'd finished all of my homework and partly because I wanted to make sure I was there to greet our probation partner. I had decided to ignore that there was another part of me showing up early to make sure Chat and Vulpin weren't alone with each other.

"Ladybug." I almost have a heart attack when the fox taps my shoulder, whipping my head around to look at him from where I stand. His lips quirk into a smirk as he asks, "Oh, did I scare you?"

"No." I respond far too quickly to not sound like I'm making an excuse. "I was just startled."

He shakes his head, looking just as amused and sure of himself as yesterday. "Well, Ladybug, is there anything I need to do as a probation team member that I wasn't told last night?"

I shake my head. "No, just don't step out of line. Everything else you can learn as you go."

He grins. "I can do that." We stand there for a few moments, and when I begin to try and figure out what to say, Vulpin suddenly states, "The sky is beautiful tonight, isn't it?"

I look up, and I have to admit he has a point. "I guess I don't pay much attention to it, but yes, it is beautiful." I smile despite myself. "Do you look at the stars a lot?"

"Not a lot, but sometimes. I'm an artist, so I love looking at beautiful things for inspiration, but I prefer to draw people." His gaze grows intense as he looks at me, and then he says, "I've drawn you before, but not just because you're a person. You're beautiful too."

My face goes red despite myself as I squeak, "Vulpin!" Chat's flirting never gets to me like Vulpin's compliment did. What the heck? My blush gets worse when Vulpin snickers, seeming awfully pleased with himself.

And for once my luck as Ladybug fails me, because Chat chooses this time to make his entrance. He doesn't speak, but from the anger flashing in his eyes, I can guess he heard Vulpin's comment.

"Let's get on with patrol." I say firmly, before either boy leaps at the other's throat. "Think you two can handle that?"

"Of course," Vulpin smirks, brushing past me and heading for the edge of the roof and gesturing out. "Ladies first?"

Chat hisses, shoving past both of us and glaring at Vulpin. "You don't make the decisions here, hero."

Groaning, I walk to the edge on the other side of the two feuding boys. "No, he doesn't make the decisions, but I will be taking the lead. Come on."

I expected things to be fine from there, but I was horribly mistaken. Chat and Vulpin kept making digs at each other and each attempted to one up what the previous claimed, said, or did. It was absolutely ridiculous, and while Vulpin seemed to be amused, Chat had a dark, calculated glint in his eges. Obviously one was taking it more seriously than the other. Plus, if I didn't know any better, I'd say Vulpin was just aiming to get under Chat's skin.

Eventually enough came to enough. We'd barely made it anywhere with our first patrol because I had to keep stopping and regaining control of the two boys, and there was a lot more of Paris to cover. As much as I was nervous to be one on one with Vulpin again - although why, I wasn't quite sure - I recognized Chat was getting out of hand. It was painfully obvious that he was prepared to push the fox off the roof. The only way I knew to stop him was to split our group for patrol.

"Okay," I snap at the two heroes as they begin to argue back and forth over who is the fastest, "We're splitting patrol. Chat, you take the left while Vulpin and I take the right. We'll meet up at the Eiffel Tower."

My partner freezes, face falling as he manages to stutter out, "What? My lady, you can't mean you'll be sending me al-"

I huff, for once resisting his puppy eyes. "You and Vulpin can't be trusted together, and I certainly can't send the inexperienced hero who is still on probation by himself. You can survive one time by yourself. We'll meet up, say if we saw anything important or any development we might have found for finding Hawkmoth, and then we can be done with this whole experience. I'm already nursing a headache from you two bickering." I mumble the last part, rubbing my forehead.

Chat's ears pin down, and I swear he legitimately hisses at Vulpin before heading off. "Fine."

He rushes off, obviously upset by me 'taking the newbie's side,' and I'm left to face Vulpin. However, I wish I could call Chat Noir back as I meet the redhead's gaze. He seems quite pleased as he steps a bit closer to me.

"So, are you going to show me the ropes?" I hate how smug he looks.

The night, surprisingly, went pretty well. I expected Vulpin to misbehave, but besides some general flirting and mischievous comments, he actually was trying to learn how this worked. I was impressed, to say the least. We fell into a familiar groove, different than the one Chat and I had and yet just as comfortable.

"Hey Ladybug," Vulpin grins as we check the last street, "I'll race you to the Eiffel tower."

"You'll race me?" I ask, quirking an eyebrow. He nods, smiling wider, so I shrug but decide to indulge him. "Be prepared to lose."

"Don't underestimate me." He responds, wiggling his eyebrows right back as he answers. "Ready?" I nod, and he smirks one last time before loudly announcing, "Go!"

I take off across the rooftops, throwing my yoyo forward to pull myself ahead. But Vulpin is faster than I give him credit for, and it's a neck and neck race. He seems very determined to beat me, and his powers seem to give him an advantage with leaping. I find myself giggling up a storm and try to shove him out of the way, but he gasps and shoves right back.

"That's cheating!" I squeak, barely keeping my footing as I land on the rooftop from getting shoved, throwing my yoyo forward again.

He rolls his eyes. "You started it!"

It doesn't take long to reach our end point. As expected, I win, but not nearly by as much as I expected. Laughing, I come to a halt, chest heaving to provide me with air as I watch Vulpin approach only a few seconds behind.

"It appears I've been bested," He doesn't seem too disappointed on the fact, if the pleased grin on his face is anything to go by.

"Seems like you guys had a fun time." The cold tone causes me to turn around, and I wilt a little at the angry, if not hurt, expression on Chat Noir's face. "Patrol isn't a game, Vulpin."

"Chat, don't start this agai-" I step forward, hoping to calm him before he starts another fight.

But Vulpin appears to have other plans, tilting his head and casually shooting back, "Oh, really? I didn't know you knew that, Chat, with all the puns you make."

Chat Noir steps closer, looking like he might just punch Vulpin. "You don't get to call me Chat."

"I think it's time we go home." I grumble, looking back and forth between the two. "Come on, let's go."

All the fighting made going to school that much harder; managing my team had become mentally taxing. After that first patrol, I quickly realized that was just going to be setting the precedent, and had to assign both Vulpin and Chat separate patrol days. I patrolled with Vulpin, because he was the newbie, but that often meant Chat was left to patrol alone, because I couldn't be patrolling every single day. This upset him; to an extent, I understood why. He didn't think it was fair. He felt he was being punished when, from his perspective, he hadn't done anything wrong. I could only assume that he thought what had happened was not his fault; it certainly was an explanation for why he was less in sync than usual during our akuma battles.

Still, I was exhausted all around from having to deal with the two bickering heroes, because more often than not Chat came up with an excuse on why I had to patrol with him too. It was physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. I wasn't sure how I was meant to keep it up.

Especially when I was struggling to simply keep my grades up.

"Girl!" Alya's hiss jolts me back to reality, causing me to almost fall right out of my chair. "Gosh, you haven't been mentally present in days. I swear you've fallen asleep in every single class twice a day for the past three weeks. What gives?"

I yawn, before offering the same excuse I've given the other eighty bajillion times she's asked. "Fashio-" Another yawn cuts off my statement. "Fashion project."

"Project or not, you need to get some proper bed rest. You're going to get sick." I appreciate Alya's mother bear tendencies, but in situations like these, they get annoying.

"Whatever you say, Alya." I slump down in my chair, laying my face down on my desk.

"Ugh, you, Adrien, and Nathaniel have all been like this today. My three biggest supporters of the Ladyblog in this class, through different means of course, and I can't talk to any of you due to whatever is causing...this." She says the word disdainfully, and I imagine her wrinkling her nose as I try to go back to the blissful sleep she awoke me from. "Whatever this is needs to be fixed, girl. ASAP."

"Mhm," I respond in the most noncommittal fashion the word has ever been spoken in.

Yes, whatever this was did need to be fixed ASAP. Sadly, that was out of my hands and in the hands of two eager to show off teenage boys.

We were all doomed.

It was destined to all come to a head eventually. I was exhausted, dangerously close to failing some of classes for this quarter, and fed up with my two partners. We'd nearly lost to several akumas - or almost failed to retrieve and purify them - due to both my dangerously high levels of exhaustion and the sheer stupidity that was Vulpin and Chat's silent contest to impress me. Honestly, all either of them were doing at this point was annoying me.

At least Vulpin seemed to notice this. He'd backed off a bit, given me some space from the whole thing. He'd even offered to take some of our patrols, if not all of them, on his own so that I could get the rest I so obviously needed. I refused on principle, but the thought behind it was endearing.

But the competition was still going, mainly due to Chat refusing to let it go, and I was dreading the day it would truly come to a head.

Who would have guessed that that day would be today?

To be fair, it wasn't really my fault. The two of them had been going at it again in a smear campaign against each other during an entire akuma attack. I suppose it was meant to impress me, or at least sully my opinion of the other? All it really did was test my patience. By the end of it, I was at my wit's end, and thankful to have actually finished the fight and purified the butterfly.

Except then Chat Noir had the nerve to throw his arm around my shoulder while trying to plant a kiss on my cheek, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I shrugged his arm off, and when he had the nerve to look hurt by the gesture, I shove him a few inches away.

I suppose the fact that I kissed Vulpin for good measure might have been going a little far.

But Chat had looked so smug, and I was so tired that my brain wasn't functioning correctly anymore. I hadn't really processed what had been occurring till it was too late to turn back. Though, to be fair, once I did realize what was going on I didn't bother to stop the situation. I guess I kind of enjoyed it, and I could've sworn for a moment that Vulpin kissed me back.

The few seconds of blissful silence from the two - which was all I really wanted all along, peace and quiet from their bickering - was shattered as a hurt Chat tugged me away from Vulpin, whose face was now as red as his hair. Once he seeemed to have regained some control of his body, Vulpin darted off, and since I didn't want to hang around and explain my sleep deprived decisions to Chat - not that I was even required to explain them to him, but I certainly would have felt obligated to - I followed in suit.

Sleep deprivation didn't just affect my decision making though, and a lack of proper judgement caused me to mistime a jump on my way back home. I found myself flailing through the air, and landing with a less than pleasant sounding thud on someone's balcony. That was all the push my body needed apparently, because I passed out right then and there.

Which led me to waking up now and finding a red-faced Nathaniel staring back at me, with the first words flying out of his mouth of course being, "You're Ladybug?'

I blink, staring up at him from where I lay on what's presumably his balcony. "Noooo, I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I don't have the mask on, so I can't be her." I wiggle my fingers in front of my eyes for emphasis. Then I giggle, "Not till Tikki has her cookie." Trying to sit up, Nathaniel offers me a hand, but I wave it off, instead grinning and asking, "Who are you?"

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm able to acknowledge that I sound like I'm super drunk.

"Vulpin," Is the ginger's isntant response, and he freezes, his face going red again after finally beginning to return to its normal shade.

I wag my finger in front of his face, shaking my head again. "Nooo he's a silly fox. A cute fox, but silly. You don't have his mask, Tomato child." He sits down in front of me, and I rest my head on his knee, raising my eyebrows as I stare up at him to ask, "Do you kiss as well as he does though?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Ladybug is always okay." I insist, nodding my head.

"You really should have taken me up on doing our patrol nights alone." That comment is enough to make me reevaluate his previous statement, and I narrow my eyes while staring hard and long at his face. "Figured it out yet, Mari?"

I blink a few times before groaning, "Five more minutes. I don't have the energy to deal with this revelation right now."

As I shut my eyes and curl up in front of him, I swear he presses a gentle kiss against my forehead. "Okay, Ladybug."

This one-shot devolved into complete and utter crack by the end. But it was never meant to be a super serious one, so I suppose it's a fitting fate. XD It's not my best work, but I think it's a fun one. Obviously if it were a full fledged story I would have worked out their relationship development a bit more before that kiss, but hey, it's a one-shot, and besides, I have other things I want to write. So I hope you enjoyed that sort of Nathanette one-shot? Like I said, it was meant to just be fun. XD

Anyways, until next time! I have more one-shots in store - like the continuation of the Alyadrien appreciation one-shot that I'm doing despite that week having been months ago, because I liked the connected one-shot ideas I had - but also I have stories to work on, so we'll see what I actually get my lazy butt to update first.

Thanks for the support! I'm really glad you guys like these one-shots so much, they're so much fun to write. c:

~ Dagger