"Jeanne, how are you feeling today?" Dr. Delacroix asked, looking at her over the top of his bifocals. Jeanne shrugged slightly, shifting in her chair. There were dark bags under her eyes and her hair hadn't been brushed.
"Not great." She admitted. "Adrien and I are fighting."
"About anything in particular?"
"Ideological differences I guess."
"I see." Delacroix pursed his lips. "Would talking about it help?"
"That's all I ever do here."
"Yes, but this is about what will make you feel better, Jeanne."
"Yeah. Sure it will."
"Remind yourself of how far you've come, Jeanne. You're a lot happier now than you were when I first met you." Delacroix said. "We do need to deal with your anger, though. You've been considerably more angry as of late." Jeanne sunk down in her seat, thinking back to what her life had been like prior to her brother receiving his miraculous.
Things had been different before the Miraculouses. They'd been quieter, more somber. Her days had revolved around therapy and trying to help her brother sneak out and go to school. She'd been taking online college courses, but mostly didn't have the drive to do much of anything. Her energy levels were low at the point when Adrien had gotten his Miraculous due to side-effects from her medication. The psychiatrist had changed it as soon as word of Jeanne's lethargy had reached him. But that day...the day Adrien had gotten his miraculous, she'd been helping him sneak into school.
"Are you sure this'll work?" Adrien asked as the two of them sprinted down the street.
"I made sure Nathalie was distracted." Jeanne replied, trying to force herself not to yawn. "She won't catch us." Unfortunately for the two of them, Nathalie reacted very quickly to the two of them vanishing. As Adrien and Jeanne ascended the stairs, Nathalie and the Gorilla pulled up to the school in the Agreste family car.
"Adrien! Jeanne! Please, reconsider!" Nathalie begged, stepping out of the car. "You know what your father wants!"
"This is what I wanna do!" Adrien said, his lip quivering.
"Please, you can't keep us trapped in that house forever!" Jeanne added in. Nathalie stood firm, although it gave her no pleasure to do so. Adrien and Jeanne hung their heads and started walking down the stairs. But Adrien was distracted by the sight of an old man falling to his knees. He immediately ran over to help him up, Jeanne right behind him.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, young man." The old man nodded his head and began hobbling away. Adrien and Jeanne turned back to Nathalie. She and the Gorilla stood imposingly on the front steps to the school, blocking Adrien's path.
"I just wanna go to school like everyone else. What's so wrong with that?" Adrien said.
"Please don't tell Father about this." Jeanne begged. Nathalie pursed her lips, making no promises. Gabriel Agreste was her boss, she couldn't just keep this from him. She had to tell him his children had snuck out of the house again . He'd probably try to restrict their movements even more. Nathalie herded the two of them back into the car and they headed home. Jeanne had started crying out of frustration. Adrien didn't cry, instead looking defeated and tired.
When they returned, Jeanne went to her room and Adrien went to the dining room for his lessons. Jeanne landed face first on her bed and screamed into the pillow. Helping her brother break the rules was the one thing she could count on to break her constant monotony. It wasn't like she minded the comforts of her room. She liked being alone sometimes, but not being able to leave ever was torture. She didn't even have any friends aside from Chloè and her brother. And maybe Thèo. She'd met him at an art exhibition a few months back and they'd been trading texts ever since.
"Jeanne?" She flinched as her father entered the room. "I need to have a word with you."
"Yes, Father." She sat up dejectedly.
"You and Adrien are NOT going to school."
"I know."
"Obviously you don't because you tried to sneak out. Again."
"I'm sorry, Father."
"You've said that before." Gabriel seldom raised his voice at his daughter, but he was growing impatient. "But you never mean it. The second I turn my back you're always running out the door again. I thought your room was your safe place."
"It is my safe place." Jeanne said. "But I can't stay here forever. Doesn't the doctor say I need to get out more?"
"It's not safe for you out there." Gabriel said. "The world is a dangerous place, Jeanne. Everything you and your brother need is right here, where I can keep an eye on you."
Jeanne stared down at her lap. "This isn't going to make me better."
"Yes, it will."
"Keeping me here forever is only going to make me worse and you know it." She looked at him, as if daring him to tell her she was wrong. Gabriel just turned and exited the room. Jeanne threw a pillow at the door, then rolled over and screamed into the remaining pillows. Why couldn't he understand?! This was just making her worse! Then she heard screaming from her brother's room.
"What the Hell? I know he's upset, but why's he screaming?" Jeanne got up and went to the door that connected her room to Adrien's. As she opened the door, a flash of green light almost blinded her. When it subsided, she was left dumbfounded. Her brother, or at least she was pretty sure it was her brother, stood in the middle of the room in a skintight catsuit, complete with little ears and a belt tail.
"...Okay. I'm obviously dreaming." Jeanne turned around. "Yep. Definitely dreaming. My brother is totally not wearing a leather catsuit. Nope."
"Ohmygodyousaw." Adrien's eyes widened. "Jeanne, you can't tell anyone."
"Okay. So I'm not dreaming." Jeanne turned back around. "Can I scream? Cause I really want to scream right now."
"No! Please don't scream! Plagg said no one can know about this."
"Plagg?"
"The magic kwami that gave me my powers!"
"..."
"That sounded weird, I know."
"Are you on drugs?" Jeanne suddenly asked. "Did you eat some of my pills?"
"If I'm on drugs, then so are you." Adrien folded his arms. "After all, you're seeing me in this, aren't you?"
"...Fair enough." Jeanne said. "So...What? Are you, like, some kind of hero now?"
"I think so." Adrien did a spin. "Pretty cool, right? Plagg said I'm called Chat Noir."
"Sounds swanky." Jeanne forced herself to smile. She really was freaking out. Her brother looked like some kind of bootleg Catwoman and he apparently had a magic being called a Kwami? It really felt like she was off her meds at the moment. But no, this was completely real. Completely real and totally crazy. She needed to lay down.
"You should probably go save the day or something." She said. "I, uh, I really need to lay down."
"Will do!" Her brother went eagerly to the window and hopped out, managing somehow to stay alive through this. Jeanne retreated to her bed and laid there for a while, just staring at the ceiling. What a thing to have happen all of a sudden. Her brother was suddenly a superhero. Who would've thought? She felt a sudden pang of jealousy. He would be able to go out and do things now. He'd be able to live his dreams. And she'd still be stuck in her room all day. But despite the jealousy, she was happy for him, proud that her little brother was a superhero now. Out of everyone in Paris, it had been her brother who had been chosen to protect everyone they held dear.
It was an hour before Adrien returned, and by then Jeanne was feeling better. She'd started a drawing of him as Chat Noir, as well as his new partner. She'd turned on the news in order to know exactly what was happening at all times. Chat entered through the window and collapsed onto the couch beside her, turning back into Adrien.
"I thought you were supposed to have fun as a superhero." Jeanne said.
"I did have fun." Adrien said. "Anime didn't warn me it'd be this hard though."
"Anime didn't warn us about a lot of things."
"Can I have food now?" Plagg asked. "I'm starving!"
"You must be Plagg." Jeanne held out her pinkie. "I'm Jeanne. Nice to meet you."
"I said no one should know about me!" Plagg said, rounding on Adrien.
"She walked in on me! What was I supposed to do?"
"Ugh, I guess it's fine." Plagg floated down to the table. "Oooh! Camembert!" Jeanne had brought up a plate for a snack, the stuff had been leftover from a fancy party, but hadn't touched any.
"Oh. So that's what he likes." Jeanne peered down at the little kwami. "Oh dear."
"Great. Now I'm gonna smell like stinky cheese all the time." Adrien groaned.
"It could be worse. You could be one of them." Jeanne said, gesturing towards the stone beings on the TV screen. "Why are they still like that anyway? Didn't you beat them?"
"Did you capture the akuma?" Plagg asked.
"Capture the akuma?" Adrien frowned. "What does that mean?"
"Akumas are those butterfly things." Plagg said. "They turn people into villains. Ladybug needs to capture the butterfly so it doesn't spread and turn the guy back into a villain the second something goes wrong."
"So I can't do anything without Ladybug?" Adrien asked.
"'Fraid so." Plagg popped a large piece of camembert into his mouth.
.
The next morning saw another escape attempt by the siblings. By 7 AM, the two were out the door and on their way to Collège Françoise Dupont.
"You two are so weird." Plagg popped his head out of Adrien's bag. "Why would you want to go to school when you can stay home all day?"
"You don't get it, Plagg." Adrien said. "I've had enough of being shut at home by my dad. I want to meet people and make friends! Go to a normal school like everyone else!"
"And I want to get better." Jeanne said, sneaking Plagg a piece of camembert.
"You know what's strange?" Adrien glanced at the kwami. "The fact that all you eat is this disgusting, rotten, smelly camembert cheese and I have to smell like it 24/7. That's strange."
"If you want to be able to transform into a superhero, then stinky cheese is the price." Plagg said, chomping down happily. Jeanne smiled a little bit. They were almost there. They were almost at the school. They were going to make it! Just as they reached the school, though, Nathalie appeared in the family car. Judging from the look on her face, she'd gotten yelled at by Gabriel before coming there.
"Don't do this! Your father will be furious!" Nathalie begged.
"Tell him you were too late. Please!" Adrien said. Then he ran inside. Nathalie's shoulders slumped.
"I'll go back with you." Jeanne said. "I can't exactly go in, now can I?"
"Thank you." Nathalie opened the door for her and the eldest Agreste child got in. Nathalie looked really upset. Maybe this hadn't been the best idea after all.
"You won't lose your job, will you?"
"I'll handle it." Nathalie said. "I always do."
"I'm sorry." Jeanne retreated into herself. "I just wanted Adrien to be happy."
"I know you did." Nathalie sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You're so much like your mother."
"Everyone always says that." Jeanne hung her head. The car ride home was silent. Once they were back, Jeanne went up to Adrien's room and turned on the news, only to be greeted with more Stoneheart.
"Oh fuck." She scrambled for her phone, dialling Adrien's number.
"Jeanne?" She heard a lot of yelling on the other end. "I can't really talk right now."
"Oh." Right, the superhero thing. "Just, uh, be safe. Okay?"
"I will." He hung up. Jeanne watched as Chat appeared on screen. Okay, now she was worried. He was a superhero, but he was also her little brother and he was going up against a gigantic stone being. Multiple gigantic stone beings in fact. Oh, this was not going to be easy. She sat there and watched intently the entire time. She watched as her brother saved the entire city, chewing on her nails the whole time. She'd gotten a manicure a few days before, and she didn't want to ruin it, but chewing on her nails tended to be a stress reliever with her. Nathalie burst in a few minutes after it ended, looking even more disheveled.
"I had to sit there and listen to your father yell at me for the entire news broadcast. He is making me stress-eat." She was chewing furiously on a granola bar.
"I ruined my manicure because of this." Jeanne said. "Adrien's okay, right? Is he okay? I tried his phone but he didn't answer."
"I called. He's fine." Nathalie continued eating her granola bar.
"He turned his phone off, didn't he?"
"Yep."
"I'm going to kill him."
"Please do."
When Adrien got home, both he and Jeanne got chewed out by Gabriel for leaving on their own, but Adrien was allowed to go to school in the end. As long as the Gorilla went with him, that is. Jeanne was ecstatic and demanded to know everything about his first day at school.
"You need to talk to this Marinette girl." She insisted.
"She doesn't want to hear what I have to say." Adrien hugged his knees.
"Oh come on!" Jeanne screwed her face up. "Don't say that! Talking is good. Talking will fix things."
"If you say so." He muttered. Jeanne was determined to fix this. So she rode along with Nathalie to pick him up the next day, waiting eagerly for a glimpse of Marinette. She saw Adrien offering an umbrella to a pigtailed girl she assumed to be Marinette. She was...Wow, that was Ladybug. That girl was totally Ladybug. The posture, the body, the hair, it was all the same. Okay, so that was something.
"TALK TO HER YOU BOOB!" Jeanne shouted from the car.
"JEANNE!" Adrien went bright red, all the way to his ears.
"MAKE FRIENDS! FULFILL YOUR DREAMS!" Then she ducked back into the car. She was pleased with this. She had done her job as his annoying sister.
.
.
Jeanne laughed remembering the incident.
"Something funny?" Dr Delacroix asked, smiling.
"Just remembering Adrien's first day at school." She said. "I called him a boob and told him to make friends. It was so stupid."
"It sounds a little silly, but not stupid." Delacroix said. "In any case, I think our time is up for today. I'll see you again next week, Jeanne."
"See you next week." Jeanne said, waving as he left her room. Things had been a lot simpler before. But she'd also been a lot more miserable. She was happier with her new power.
"Hey...Is this a bad time?" Adrien peeked around the corner of the door between his room and hers.
"Well, I guess we have to talk about it sometime." She waved him in.
"Yeah, cat's outta the bag." Adrien laughed nervously. Jeanne snorted. Adrien hurried inside, closing all the doors and windows before sitting down in front of her.
"So."
"So." Jeanne said. "I'm a supervillain."
"You're something." Adrien said. "I'm just not sure it's a villain."
"I don't want to hurt anyone." Shii said from Jeanne's drawer. "We're just trying to help the akuma victims."
"I want to help them." Jeanne repeated.
"Jeanne." Adrien reached out and touched her hand. "If you really want to help these people, you shouldn't be...Shouldn't be..." He tried to search for the world. "You shouldn't encourage their self-destructive behaviors. It's bad for you and it's bad for them."
"I'm fine." Jeanne said.
"No, you're not! Your anger is out of control!"
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Jeanne demanded. "I can't stop it!"
"You're in therapy for a reason." Adrien pointed out. "Dr Delacroix can help you. I can help you. If you're going to keep doing this, I want to do it together! We're a team, aren't we?" He held out his pinky. "Right?"
Jeanne's expression softened and she hooked her pinky in his. "Right."
"Work with me, not against me."
"Okay. Fine."
