"Who was that?!" Ladybug snapped, eyes furious as she stomped her way over to me. I flinched on reflex, body shaking as all sense of calm seeped away from my body now that Neeks seemed to be panicking too. The cold rain soaking through my clothes wasn't helping any.

"I-I don't know!" I shouted, sitting on the wet ground and placing my hands over my stomach to try a curb the nausea I was feeling from two peoples worth of panic. Ladybug began shouting again, but all I could hear was noise, her words dulled. I think it was something about how she seemed to know me. Chat Noir placed a hand on my head, scratching between my ears, and I leaned towards his touch. He was calmer than the rest of us, and I welcomed the feeling, needing it to seep into my bones instead of the overwhelming panic that was causing my heart to pound painfully in my chest and my stomach to burn and become nauseating like it had three years ago with the acid.

"He doesn't know her." Chat Noir stated calmly, cutting Ladybug's frantic yelling off. "She mentioned his Kwami, maybe she was a previous holder of his miraculous."

I shook my head and tilted it back to look at Chat Noir and Ladybug, blinking rain from my eyes. "No... No, she wasn't... I think she might be the enemy previous Wolven's faced over in America." I murmured as the final beep resounded, and Ladybug tensed. "Wolven, you need to leave before you turn back! You don't have more than a few minutes!" She said quickly, suddenly panicked. I think her nerves were just as shot as mine.

I nodded and stood up slowly, trying to control my shaking and trying to get Neeks to hold the transformation just a little bit longer. Next thing I know, I'm being lifted off my feet, causing my to let out a panicked cry.

"Hey, it's okay. It's just me. I'll help you to a place you can transform." Chat Noir said softly, his hold on me gentle but firm. I stared at him for a moment before nodding again and he smiled, waving and jokingly blowing a kiss to Ladybug before heading away from the park. "Okay, so, tell me where I'm going."

"You can drop me off by Tom and Sabine's... I live close to there." I said softly, letting myself relax in his hold from exhaustion.

"Got it... Hey, will you be okay? You've been getting wailed on tonight, and you didn't look so good when Ladybug started yelling at you."

"I'll be okay, Chat... I just think I'll take a break for a few days and then I'll be back." I said softly, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Alright," Chat sighed, "Get some rest and make sure you don't stay out in this downpour for too long. It won't do you any good to get sick." As if to make his point, I ended up letting out a soft sneeze, covering my nose and mouth with my arm. He let out a small chuckle of sympathy and smiled down at me. "See?"

I groaned softly and buried my head in his shoulder. "Gods and Goddesses, I did not want this day to go this way. It had been going so well for a while, too!" I whined like a small child. Chat laughed again and nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that pretty well."

"...Sorry you have to carry me."

"It's no problem. I rather like carrying Paris' little prince of wolves like a princess." He gave me a cheeky smile as my face flared, and I hid my face again with another groan.

"What a knight in shining armor you are." I said, a little sarcastically even though I meant it in a good way. Chat Noir just grinned and laughed again before finding me a place to transform back close to my home. He made sure I was steady on my feet and out of the rain before finally taking a few steps back and bowing at the waist.

"Here is where I must leave you. I trust you can get home safe from here?"

I nodded, crossing my arms loosely over my chest. I gave him a gentle smile as he straightened up. "Thanks, Kitkat. Tell Ladybug I wish you guys a happy Halloween, and I'll see you in a few days." He smiled and nodded.

"You got it." He saluted and turned away, heading back to his own home. The moment he was gone, I leaned back against the wall and caught Neeks as he fell from my necklace. He looked just as worn out as I did, so I quickly put him in my jacket pocket full of candy, feeling him shuffle around before beginning to eat.

I reached into my other pocket and pulled out my phone, seeing that I missed a ton of texts from Alya, Nino, and my mom. I texted my mom and asked for her to come and get me, telling her where I was. I didn't want to walk home, I just wanted to sleep. I carefully slid down the wall I was against, curling up and pulling my legs close to me. Mom said she'd be here in five minutes, so now all I had to do was wait.

As I listened to the steady sound of the rain flooding the awning I was under, Neeks spoke up. "I'm sorry, Jasper... This is all my fault..." He said sadly, his voice shaking. I sighed heavily and put a hand in my pocket, petting him gently. It wasn't his fault, no matter how much he felt it was.

When mom finally got there, she came rushing over, hugging me tightly and pulling me as close as she could. She was warm and safe, and after today I really needed it. I could feel tears pricking my eyes already as I hugged her back tightly, pressing close to her and burying my head in her shoulder.

"What are you doing out here, baby? Alya and Nino came over an hour ago panicking about how they couldn't find you, and you weren't answering your phone!" I sniffed softly and rubbed at my eyes before quickly typing out my response and moving away from her so I could show her what I wrote, trying to keep my hand steady.

"I ran into the minions from the akumatized man. Mom, they showed me him. They transformed into- into him."

Mom gasped, eyes filling with tears as she hugged me tighter. "Oh, Jaspie... Jaspie, it's okay. He's gone now." She said softly, one hand wrapped around me and the other petting my hair. "Let's get you home where it's nice and warm, okay?" She said softly, kissing the top of my head and wrapping the jacket she brought around me.

I nodded and held her hand as she led me the short distance to the car, getting into the back seat and immediately laying down. Mom got in the front and drove us back home, with me falling asleep in the back seat.

This morning marked my first Halloween here in Paris, and I was looking forward to seeing everyone in costumes at school. Nathanael had said he would dress up as his akumatized version of himself, but with certain differences to give people comfort that he wasn't actually akumatized again. I was excited to see what he had looked like.

Marinette had said her costume was a surprise, Alya said she would be Ladybug- of course, Nino wasn't sure what'd he do, so I guess I'll see when I get to school, and Adrien said that he would dress up as either a knight or a prince of hearts. I smiled at the thought of him in either costume, remembering the conversation from the night before. Then I wondered who'd he sweep of their feet first; Ladybug or Marinette. A small part of me felt hopeful that, maybe, it would be me or my superhero form.

Neeks whined softly, his ears drooping as I changed into black skinny jeans, a blood red button up with a high collar, black vest, and a torn up cape with chains for the clasps. "Jasper...! You said you'd dress up as a Native American for me...!" I added some jewelry here and there and some really high quality fake fangs my mom got me for my birthday that actually made it look like I had fangs, giving him an apologetic look.

"Next year, buddy. Next year." I wrote in my notebook, which only caused him to pout even more. "If I let you transform me into Wolven, I'd gladly let you change the outfit to what you want." I added, showing him the note for a minute before tearing that page out, crumpling it, and throwing it in my trash. Neeks sighed and flew over, burying himself under my cape. "Fine, but Wolven is going to have to wait for some other time. Your body needs to rest for a few days."

I nodded and walked out of my room after brushing my hair and putting on some black boots. Mom was already waiting by the bathroom, holding up a makeup kit. "Alright, Jasper. Come here and let's get you all vampired up!" I smiled and nodded, rushing over to her and following her into the bathroom. Personally, I rather enjoyed letting mom do my makeup sometimes, even if it was normally just concealer. I thought it was fun, and she always managed to make me look good while adding her own artistic flare to it.

I sat on the toilet seat as mom opened her kit while humming This is Halloween and closed my eyes, letting her do what she liked.

I stayed as still as I could, letting her apply a little concealer under my eyes and on a few areas that needed it. "Do you want me to cover the scars that are visible?" She asked softly, and after a moment I shook my head. May as well have some sense of realism to the vampire. I could almost hear the smile in her voice as she replied in that soft voice she always got in the serenity of these sessions, "Alright."

We fell back into silence as she finished adding concealer, and I listened to the rustling of the products as she put the concealer back and started preparing the eyeshadow. "Okay... Judging by the outfit, you want black and red?" I nodded again and she laughed softly. "Got it. I'm about to touch the underside of your chin, okay?"

A few brief moments later I felt her fingers gently tilt my chin up as a brush ran across my eyelids, and mom began humming again. She soon set the brush down and she hummed in thought. "Open your eyes, but don't look in the mirror. I want you to see the final result, and only the final result."

I did as asked, opening my eyes and blinking at the brightness. Mom rested her chin on her hand and crossed her arm over her chest, tapping her waist in thought. "Okay, good. Close your eyes again, please." I closed my eyes, and a few minutes later felt cold liquid on my eyelid, slowly running across the edge and flaring into a wing when it reached the corner of my eye. She did the same to the other eye before telling me to open my eyes again, then she ran the eyeliner carefully under my eyes to accentuate them more. I closed them again and she filled in the wings, before starting to draw what felt like little bats along the corners of my eyes. Mom giggled excitedly and I couldn't help but smile a little as well, excited to see what it looked like.

"Pucker your lips a little, I want to give you a little lip-stain to make your lips red." I did as told, and after she added a small amount of lip-stain she took another eyeliner and drew blood coming from the corner of my lips. "Open your eyes and give me a big grin!" I opened my eyes, smiling widely at her to show off my fangs. Mom looked so excited and proud of her makeup job, letting out a soft squeal.

"Oh, look at my handsome, beautiful little vampire! You'll knock everyone off their feet!" I laughed silently and rolled my eyes playfully, looking in the mirror to see what mom had done. I held back a surprised gasp, not sure what I had expected, but definitely not what she had done.

The black eyeshadow spread only slightly above my eye socket, giving my eyes a sunken look as little bits of dark red eyeshadow blended in and covered my eyelid along with the black. Black eyeliner formed most of the wings on my eyes, the bottom red and meeting the black with uniform ease. Small and big bats seemed to fly around the winged eyeliner look, and my lips had just enough red added to them to look like I had drunk from someone a while ago, the red eyeliner making another appearance from the left corner of my lips down to a little under halfway to my chin, looking like blood was dripping down and dried. Somehow, mom had managed to give it an almost feminine look without taking away whatever masculinity I had.

I smiled again, showing off the fangs, before launching myself at my mom, hugging her tightly in thanks. She laughed and hugged me back. "You look amazing, sweetie. Adrien will have a hard time looking away!" I blushed and lightly hit her arm, making her laugh even more. "Oh, come on! I know you can't wait to see him!" She cooed, laughing again as my cheeks grew even redder.

"Okay, I'll stop. Now let's get some food in you then off you go to school! Take lots of pictures of everyone's costumes, alright! I want to see them!" She gently pushed me from the bathroom, and I followed her to the kitchen to help her make breakfast. "What do you think would be good? I'm thinking eggs and bacon, but we can make whatever you want. I pulled out my notebook and quickly wrote my reply, "Eggs and bacon sounds wonderful. I'll make the eggs."

Mom nodded, smiling. "Got it. I'll start on the bacon then."

When I got to school after my mom took my picture, Chloe was just arriving in that big limousine of hers, dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Sabrina dressed up as a bunny rabbit. I frowned slightly, feeling like Chloe did not to the princess justice, but went on my way without giving them a second glance.

I spotted Rose and Juleka dressed as an angel and a fallen angel, respectively, and went over to them to ask if I could take their picture. The girls gasped and Rose cooed, placing her hands on her cheeks when they saw me. "Jasper! You look amazing! So alluring!" She complimented, making me smile and blush. "Oh, and you even have fangs!"

"You look awesome, Jasper! Where did you get the fangs?" Juleka asked, not as shy as she normally would be. I think it was because she warmed up to me, but I could be wrong. Maybe she was just comfortable around me.

I quickly typed up my response on my phone since I had it in my hands, "My mom got them for my birthday this summer, at some custom costume shop or something. I'm sure there is a place similar to it somewhere in France. Also, would it be alright if I took your picture? My mom wants photos of everyone's costumes."

After letting them read the rather long message, I lowered my phone while waiting for their response. Juleka seemed unsure but Rose convinced her after a moment, which made the gothic girl smile. I smiled as well, thinking she had a very pretty smile, and took a few steps back as they posed for me, holding my phone up steadily and taking a few different pictures. All of them turned out well except for one, where an unsuspecting student passed by in the middle of the photo. I showed them to the girls, who looked excited and asked for the best one of the bunch once I got them on a computer to print them. I gave them a thumbs up and Rose clapped in excitement, before asking to take my picture.

This was how the morning went on, with me walking up to people and taking their pictures, then them taking my picture in return. It was beginning to reach the time Adrien would be coming when I heard someone shout my name excitedly, which made me turn around. I yelped weakly when a tanned Ladybug came slamming into me, hugging me tightly. "You look amazing!" Alya screeched, stepping back and quickly taking photos of me. I smiled for her and she laughed softly, bouncing in place. She was dressed in a surprisingly well made Ladybug costume, her Ombré hair pulled into low pigtails and cascading over her shoulders. She had a small pouch around her waist in the shape of Ladybug's yoyo, and I had a feeling that was where she was keeping her phone for the day.

"The others are going to flip when they see you! I think you just might steal Adrien and Chloe's thunder!" I blushed and quickly shook my head, crossing my arms in front of me in a giant X. There was no way I was stealing Adrien' thunder, and Chloe's? Well, she's been giving me the stink eye ever since I went up to Sabrina, Kim, and her for a picture. I think she knew I stole her thunder even with her fancy-schmancy dress and professional hairdo and makeup.

"Seriously, Jasper! You have been the talk of the school since you walked in here, apparently! Rose showed me the picture she took of you the moment I came in!"

She took my wrist gently in her hand and pulled me towards the entrance of the school where Nino was, dressed up as a zombie. "Nino, Nino! Look at Jasper!"

Nino turned at the sound of Alya's voice and he let out a whistle, grinning. "Dang, Jasper! You really went all out! The makeup is pretty awesome, too!"

"Thank you," I typed on my phone, "My mom did it for me. You guys look amazing, too."

Nino laughed and shrugged, looking down at himself."I mean, all I really did was shred some clothes and do a little movie makeup. You and Adrien are going to outshine me, easily."

Nino was wearing a plain white long sleeve shirt with a few large holes in the sleeves along with the ends having been shredded, his pants in the same condition. He had those kind of gory fake wounds from a Halloween shop expertly placed on his skin, making it look like he had been bitten in multiple places by a zombie, and eyeshadow was around his eyes to make them look sunken, much like mine. He had fake blood splattered on his clothes, along with dirt streaks.

"I think it looks very well done! You certainly look like a zombie to me!" I typed, showing him and making him laugh.

"Alright, I guess I can't argue with that."

"Good. Now go pose with Alya so I can take some pictures." I showed him playfully closer to Alya, who just laughed and smiled. She took out a yoyo that mimicked Ladybug's and she worked with Nino to wrap it around him a few times so it look like she had captured him, getting into a pose as Nino proceeded to act like a zombie in his confinement. I took a few pictures of them like that and watched as Nino spun around a few times to be free of the yoyo strings before slinging his arm over Alya's shoulders, both of them grinning and giving me peace signs as I took another photo.

The moment I finished taking the picture I saw a car pull up from the corner of my eye, and smiled when Adrien got out. He was dressed in regal clothing, but not the kind you'd see on a king or Prince. This was what you would see on a knight. He was wearing black and gold clothing, his pants slightly baggy but snug, his shirt had a high collar, nearly reaching his ears, and had gold stripes and accents along the buttons, collar, and sleeves, forming simple patterns along the single buckle that rested across his upper arms. He had on a long black coat that almost reached his ankles, gold stripes along the outer edges and around his waist as a belt. The inside of the coat was a rich, dark purple, and his chest, shoulders, and feet were covered in light, fake armor. He had a realistic- but fake, as he had assured everyone the day before- sword strapped to his waist. Basically, he looked astounding, and I was finding it difficult to looks away.

I could feel heat creeping up my neck to my cheeks as I remembered the conversation the night before, my mind creating an image of Adrien in that outfit and holding onto Wolven just like he had the night before. I quickly shook my head when Adrien called out to us and began walking over, forcing the image from my brain. I must be a lot more tired than I thought if I was becoming Marinette-level of fantasizing.

"Hey guys! Happy Halloween!" He said excitedly, his eyes looking over everyone's costumes. His eyes widened when he landed on my and this time I blushed from embarrassment, biting my lip and exposing one of my fangs. I waved shyly, and his quickly looked away, his own blush creeping up on his cheeks. Alya and Nino, who saw the interaction, both laughed and grinned Cheshire Cat grins before beginning to compliment Adrien.

"Adrien, you look amazing! You actually look like a knight!" Alya nearly screamed, clearly excited as she took pictures of him as well.

"You look good in black and gold! I bet the girls are all going to faint when they see you, alone!"

"If not, then it'll probably be when they see you and Jasper together! Seriously, you guys look perfect together!" Alya smiled and pushed me closer to Adrien so she can take more pictures, only making me blush more as Adrien wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me from how harsh her shove had been. "A vampire prince and his dark knight!" She teased, making the two of us blush right as she took the picture.

"Alya!" Adrien reprimanded lightly, making her and Nino laugh. I was curious as to why Alya was teasing us so much when she obviously supported Marinette and her crush on Adrien, but I wasn't going to question it too much. Maybe she just wanted to support everyone no matter what, or thought it was fun.

Speaking of Marinette, was she really going to be late today? I wanted to see her costume before class started. I stepped away from Adrien when Alya was done taking photos and pulled up the question I had been asking all morning, "Can I take your photo?"

Adrien smiled and nodded. "Of course. Is there a pose you want me in?" I shook my head and motioned for him to do whatever he liked. He posed for me after a moment, definitely showing that he was a model without even realizing it, and I took a few photos before giving him a thumbs up to tell him I was done.

He came over to look at the photos and smiled as he looked at them, before I went to the page I had been writing on and typing, "You look amazing. You really are a knight in shining armor." I laughed scratchily, coughing slightly afterwards, when he blushed a little again. "Be wary of Chloe," I warned, "She's dressed as Belle and might take you for her prince."

Adrien laughed weakly, clearly not excited by that idea. Chloe really managed to make him uncomfortable, even if they had been friends before. "Thanks for the warning, but there is no way I'm escaping her when she'll see me in class."

"True, but now you have time to prepare."

Adrien nodded, stepping back from my personal space now that he didn't need to read my phone. He smiled a little and held out his own phone. "May I take a picture of you? I think you look great and I think father would want to see it, too." I nodded and he stepped back, taking a picture of me as I smiled at him. We all looked up as the bell rang and began to head to the classroom, Alya sighing in disappointment.

"Man, where is that girl? She promised she'd get here before school started!"

"Don't worry, Alya. She'll be here before the hour's over!" Nino consoled, patting her shoulder gently, a soft smile on his face.

When lunch rolled around, Marinette had indeed decided to make an appearance and we were all eating off to the side of the school's lobby-gym-thing. I still have no idea what it is, honestly. Marinette had made her own costume, and it was Musa from Winx Club- back when she had short hair and the pinkish-red outfit. I clapped now that it wasn't the middle of class, amazed at how much detail was on the outfit and liking how well she fit the look. She smiled and thanked me before I took her picture, then blushed darkly and stutter as Adrien- in his admittedly smoking hot knight glory- gave her a compliment as well. Alya rolled her eyes and playfully shoved Marinette's shoulder, reminder her to eat her lunch before drooling over Adrien.

In total, we had had three Chloe interruptions, one because she was upset I was stealing her spotlight, and Adrien, then the other two were her trying to convince Adrien he was her knight in shining armor and he should play the part. That included clinging to his arm, draping across his lap dramatically, trying to kiss him, and other personal space no-no's that she completely ignored. On multiply occasions Nino and Alya had to pry her off while Marinette glared and I comforted Adrien, giving Chloe a disapproving look and silently hissing at her a few times. Those actually managed to scare her enough to leave for a while, which always gave us a good laugh.

Nino and Alya had yet to breach the topic of where I had gone the night before, but I was grateful they hadn't, and at this point, guessed that they weren't going to. I think Mom had probably called them and explained the situation to them once I had fallen asleep.

"Everyone has such amazing costumes this year! They all look so creative and well thought out!" Marinette commented as we watched everyone in the area converse with their own friend groups. I nodded, smiling slightly as I ate my sandwich. Mom wasn't painting today, so I could trust her to remember to eat today and stay at school with the others.

"It is rather great. I thought it was creative for some of the people to go as their akumatized forms! With their own little twists of course." Alya stated, waving her phone around, where she had plenty of photos of people in costumes. "Adrien, Jasper, Marinette, you guys don't mind if I write about your costumes on the school blog, do you?"

"Not at all." I wrote, waving my hand a little dismissively. Adrien replied the same with a small shrug. A few minutes later the bell to go to class rang, and we went off to class.

I would tell all of you about the rest of my day, but nothing else super interesting happened at school or at home. Halloween had passed in a blur of classes and photos, and by the time I was able to finally sleep, I was exhausted. I thought I would be able to sleep with no problem.

The silhouette of a man towered above me, his expression unreadable as he stalked towards me, a vodka bottle held loosely in one hand and a bottle of Hydrochloric acid in the other. Everything was black and white. Why was it black and white?

"You disgust me. You think you have the right to talk back to me you Albino freak? It's your fault I lost my job!"

I felt tears of fear start to drip down, and I began to beg him to stop and think about what he was doing as I was slowly being pushed back into the farthest wall. I looked down the hall, hoping someone would come down it and save me.

My back hit the wall, and my heart lodged itself in my throat. "Wait, P-Papa, I-I didn't tell them anything, I swe-!"

My head jerked to the side, warm metal flooding over my tastebuds from biting my tongue. My head hurt. The bottle was heavy when it hit me. I swallowed and spit out leftover blood; heavy, terrified pants escaping me as I desperately looked for something to protect myself with.
There was nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing, why isn't there something?

"Shut the hell up! That damn mouth of yours, always running!" He was closer, so much closer. The alcohol was heavy on his breath and his eyes were nearly glowing from the malice inside them as they bore into me. His lips were curled in a snarl. My entire body was shaking, I felt like I was suffocating, and my voice cracked as I spoke again, desperate to tell him; to save myself.

"I didn't tell them anything! I never got in contact with your company!"

A loud shatter, burning and warm blood trailing down, mixing with tears, a strong scent of vodka. He had thrown the bottle and it exploded once it hit the wall, glass flying everywhere. My cheek and the corner of my eye were cut, I could feel the glass embedded faintly in my shoulder. I whimpered.

"Don't lie to me, boy! You were the only one who knew about that!"

Suddenly, the snarl disappeared and a sick smirk replaced it. Fear prickled even further into my skin, and I pressed against the wall to try and escape, having no where else to go. My legs no longer worked.

"I think the only punishment fitting that of a tattle-tail is they lose their ability to tattle, don't you?"

Faster than I could react, his hand constricted itself around my throat, slowly crushing my windpipe. He uncapped the bottle of acid. I gripped his wrist, weakly trying to pull his hand away.

"N-No, P-Papa...! P-Please, I didn't... D-didn't-"

He brought the bottle close to my lips, his grip only slackening enough to pour the acid down my throat. I could feel the fizz of it as it went down. I couldn't gather the air needed to scream. He gripped my throat tighter, and I coughed, choking from lack of air and the acid. My vision began to go black at the edges, I heard shouting from further away. My throat was on fire, and it quickly spread to my stomach. I gagged weakly, feeling the need to throw up but losing strength to even try. His gaze was harsh; eyes lit with an icy fire that chilled me to the bone, his brow furrowed in both madness and contempt, lips pressed in a firm line until the very edges quirked up. More black, everything was fading. My insides were burning. It felt like everything was dissolving.

Someone screamed.

He dropped me.

"JASPer...!"

My eyes shot open but I couldn't see. I felt suffocated, thrashing wildly as I tried to get whatever it was on top of me off. I rolled, felt nothing for a moment, before feeling the cold ground accompanied by a loud THUD!

I scratched at my throat, feeling the burn of phantom pain and scars as I silently screamed and sobbed. I could blearily see Neeks through the darkness, hear his worried voice as he tried to touch me and comfort me. "Jasper, Jasper, breathe. It's okay..." His voice was murky, it sounded like I was underwater. I was dizzy, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't catch my breath.

"You're safe, Jasper..." Neeks said softly, nudging my shoulder. I shook my head, clutching my throat tight enough I was leaving my own bruises. I needed mom. She wasn't here. She had gone out for the night. I can't breathe. Can't breathe can't breathe can't breathe.

I felt the transformation before I saw it, and suddenly my sobs and gasps were louder and less pained, the pain in my throat lessened only slightly. I was shivering as I stood, Neeks taking over motor skills because I couldn't focus. I stumbled to my window and opened it, jumping out and my mind going to auto pilot. I needed to calm down, I couldn't get myself to breathe properly.

My vision was less blurry from panic and at this point it was blurry from tears. I was still gasping, trying desperately to regain my breath.

I didn't realize I was at the Agreste Mansion until I was already past the wall and looking up at the house. Relief trickled through my system. "Adrien." I breathed, ears dropping a little further.

I jumped to his room's window, grabbing onto the ledge to keep from falling. I knocked on the window, seeing the male asleep in his bed. After a few taps, I saw Adrien sit up and look around, his emerald eyes nearly glowing in the dark. He rushed over, eyes wide, and the window I was in front of opened a second later. I tumbled in, barely heard him say my name before I hugged the model tightly, burying my face in his neck and choking back another sob.

"Wolven?! W-What's going on? Wh-"

"Please." I hated how desperate my voice was as I pressed into his warmth, trying to push away all the remaining fear and anxiety. "S-Safe. Y-You're safe. I-I'm okay... I-I'm safe..." I was mumbling those words like a mantra under my breath as I hid my face in his nightshirt, trying to get that point across to myself. Even though I was calmer than I was at home, I couldn't stop my shaking.

I curled up as I felt his arms wrap around me protectively, his warmth encasing me. His scent, underneath the smell of cheese, was comforting, relaxing. My walls broke and I began to sob once again, placing a hand over my mouth to stop the cries from getting too loud. I felt a hand place itself on top of my head in between my ears, and I felt him start to rub there as a comforting gesture.

He said nothing, just held me as I cried, pouring out all the pent up fear in the form of tears. He even began to rock back and forth, stroking my hair and keeping me close. Soon, the fear and anxiety began to leave my body, exhaustion creeping into me instead, as well as embarrassment. I began to push away, looking at the ground.

I cannot believe I just burst into Adrien's room and held onto him like a baby. In my superhero form.

"...Wolv-"

"Sorry," I cut him off, my voice a hoarse whisper from the crying. "Sorry, I... I just... I remembered..."

He placed a hand on my chin and tilted my head up to be eye-level with him. "Wolven, it's okay." He whispered kindly, a gentle smile on his face that made my heart flutter a little. He looked sad as well, but inside those green eyes of his, I could see relief and kindness and something else I couldn't quite place. His hand moved to my cheek and I felt his thumb slide under my eye across my mask, wiping away any remaining tears. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. I won't pressure you into anything."

I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch with a heavy sigh that turned into a soft whine, placing my hand over his to tell him to keep it there. It was gentle. Warm. Slowly, I opened my eyes to look at him once again in the dark light, a shaky smile gracing my lips.

"Thank you..." It came out as a whisper, but the meaning behind them was louder than ever.