Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir or Hetalia. All rights go to their creators.

Chapter 13: Senti-Arthur

Kiku was hiding out in the locker rooms just as Arthur was getting ready to leave fencing practice the next afternoon.

Although Kiku was upset that Arthur had betrayed him, they needed to get everyone's memories restored. He knew the boy would be upset upon receiving his memories, and would want to set things right.

Arthur was one of the last ones out of the shower. When he was fully clothed, and was starting to pack his bag, Kiku wrapped an arm around the boy's neck, putting him in a chokehold.

Arthur clawed at his arm, sputtering, before eventually the movement stilled. Kiku dragged him outside, behind the staircase where the cloaked man, who went simply by the Guardian, stood waiting for them.

"Are you sure that he will help us, Ladybug?"

"Hai, he will."

The Guardian gave him a nod before touching Arthur's forehead and reciting the spell he'd done on Kiku.

Arthur groaned before blinking up at the two of them, eyebrows furrowed.

"Who the bloody hell are you? Kiku, what's going on?"

"This is the Guardian, he gave us our miraculouses."

"What's a miraculous?"

Kiku turned to the Guardian, "Did it not work on him?"

The Guardian squatted down, gaze still on Arthur, studying him, before he gripped his hand. There was no ring on his finger. And then he reached for a plastic pin of a cat on the outside of his jacket.

Arthur smacked the Guardian's hand. "Francis told me not to let anyone touch this pin, especially not strange men." His eyes narrowed.

"He is not Chat Noir." The Guardians said, looking up at Kiku.

"Who are you? What have you done with Arthur?" Kiku was surprised that Gilbert was right.

"Finally, I don't have to keep pretending to be him! His life is hard to keep up with, you know? I'm having a hard time doing everything and trying to do them well… as you can plainly see." He frowned, "I do hope I haven't ruined things romantically for you two, but Francis told me that I'm supposed to be with Feliks. I'm just following my orders." He looked down briefly, putting a hand on his chin. "I don't have a name per say; I was thinking James would be nice."

"What are you talking about?" Kiku was confused, he didn't have a name?

"He is a product of the Peacock Miraculous, apparently given free will." The Guardian said.

A sentimonster?

Why M. Bonnefoy would create a sentimonster of his stepson was beyond him. He had to be keeping Arthur somewhere.

"Can I help? I'm assuming you want to find Arthur and fix whatever mess this is." The Sentimonster said after Kiku helped him up to stand.

"Why do you want to help? Wouldn't that be going against the person who created you?" Kiku asked.

"Well I don't want to continue living someone else's life. I'm not very good at it either. I want to knit sweaters, and bake cakes, not lose in fencing practice and get told I sing very badly." James the Sentimonster frowned.

"So do you know where the Akuma would be that made everyone lose their memories?"

"I don't know anything about that. I could look around, what's an Akuma look like?"

"It's an object of some kind, something ordinary but it would probably be secured so you couldn't accidently find and break it. Monsieur Bonnefoy probably keeps it in your…um Arthur's house somewhere."

"Hmm ok. I'll take a look and let you know if I see anything like that."

"Arigatou…James. Don't tell anyone about this. Until we get that Akuma I'm afraid you'll have to continue pretending to be Arthur so as to not cause any suspicion." Kiku put a hand on the Sentimonster's shoulder.

"Alright." He gave Kiku a nod and it was strange to look into the same eyes he's seen countless times before and not see any intense emotion whether it be overwhelming adoration or hatred.

This wasn't Arthur but for now it had to be.

"I entrust that you will set things right, Ladybug." The Guardian said before he vanished.

The man was mysterious, but he trusted Kiku, and Kiku wasn't going to let him down.

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Kiku was eating lunch with Gilbert and Alfred again a week later.

"I feel kind of bad Arthur doesn't want to be in Kitty Section anymore." Alfred said.

"That's on him. We'll just make due until he comes around." Gilbert shrugged, "You know Eyebrows, he gets into a pissy mood sometimes."

Just then James came over to where they were sitting.

"We weren't talking about you!" Gilbert said, cheeks flushed pink.

"Yo Artie, what's up? I thought you spent all of your time with Feliks now." Alfred said, crossing his arms.

"W-well I came over to talk to Kiku actually. I'm not rejoining your band so don't get your hopes up." James crossed his arms.

"We don't want you anyway! Antonio is a great replacement!" Gilbert said, fists clenched at his sides.

Kiku stood up and grabbed James's arm. "We'll be back in a moment."

Kiku dragged him over to a more secluded spot in the courtyard.

"James, I understand you don't like being Arthur, but these are his friends and he loves this band. Please do not continue to destroy his relationships." Kiku said to the Sentimonster.

James let out a frustrated breath, "Alright."

"Now, did you find anything?"

James dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a silver pocket watch. "This was guarded with a key, and was in a glass box. My mum said it was some kind of family heirloom from her grandmother. You think it has an Akuma inside it?"

"It could. Only one way to find out." Kiku grabbed the pocket watch and smashed it on the ground.

James gasped, but the only thing to come out of it was a dead butterfly.

"Is that supposed to happen?"

"No. It means it's too late to purify the Akuma. We'll need Kuro Neko's wand and his Miraculous instead."

James dropped to his knees and grabbed the now cracked and smashed pocket watch.

"Who is that? Do you think we could ask them for it?"

Kiku let out a short chuckle at that. He remembered the first time he called Arthur that.

Is that some kind of slur?

No, i-its Cat Noir in Japanese. If it bothers you I could–.

No, no I like hearing you call me that.

"No, we can't ask him. I'd have to do a bit more looking around in Arthur's home." Kiku said as James put the watch back into his pocket. He stood back up.

"I'm not sure Francis will let me invite you over."

Right. Arthur's mother.

"We could pretend that I'm helping you with a project."

"So when, exactly?"

"At the end of the week. I want to look for the wand. I know the ring will be harder to find."

"Honda-Wang, what are you doing here with my boyfriend?" He heard Feliks asked with Tolys in tow. Tolys gave Kiku a polite wave as they encroached on their space.

"Feliks this is ridiculous. I'm not going to steal him from you by just talking to him." Kiku crossed his arms, this was very juvenile.

If Feliks wanted the Sentimonster so badly, he could have him, he just wanted to get everything back to normal.

Feliks narrowed his eyes, looking Kiku over, "What's so important that it can't be said out in the open? Why are you all the way in this secluded little spot hmm?"

"We have a project for our science class coming up. We were discussing what time I'll be coming over to his house to work on it."

"Well I'll be there too. I want to make sure there's no funny business going on."

Kiku rolled his eyes.

And with that, Feliks grabbed James and pulled him away.

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At the end of the week Feliks picked James and himself up from school and drove them to Arthur's home. Feliks made a show of kissing James on the lips, just to get under Kiku's skin. But it really didn't matter to him. He wasn't a jealous person. Also it was a bit funny to think how appalled Feliks would be if he knew he'd been dating a sentimonster the entire time.

Feliks skipped up the steps and rang Arthur's doorbell. He was bouncing on the balls of his toes. James's face was a dark shade of red, clearly embarrassed. He felt a bit bad that the sentimonster was generally being used as a trophy to show that Feliks had one upped Kiku apparently. And that he'd sat back for so long and didn't do anything about it. Kiku didn't even realize how much being Ladybug had changed him.

M. Beilschimidt opened the door. "Feliks, you're visiting us again." It wasn't a question.

"Of course! But it's on official business this time. Honda-Wang, Arthurkins and I have a project to do for school."

M. Beilschimidt made eye contact with him, and Kiku kept his expression stoic. M. Beilschimidt gave a nod and stepped aside to let them all in.

"Arthur honey, you're home!" Mme. Bonnefoy appeared from another room into the living area where they were all standing. She walked over and wrapped James up into a tight hug.

"Mother, I have guests!" he said when the woman started kissing his cheeks.

Arthur looked just like his mother, down to the freckles sprinkled on her cheeks, and her bushy eyebrows. Kiku wondered if Arthur had seen her when she'd awoken, or if he'd been locked away beforehand. It seemed like Mme. Bonnefoy wasn't aware that James isn't Arthur or she could be keeping up appearances for them. But a quick sweep over her frame shows no peacock miraculous.

"Oh Feliks, you've come to visit us again." Mme. Bonnefoy let James go and turned to the other blond.

"Of course! We have a project to finish," Feliks muttered, "The three of us." He and Mme. Bonnefoy kissed each other's cheeks lightly in greeting.

Mme. Bonnefoy looked at Kiku then. This would be his first time meeting her. Her expression shifted from warm and inviting to cold and militant just then.

"Bonjour Madame Bonnefoy, I'm Kiku Honda-Wang, a classmate of Arthur's."

He bowed slightly, as the woman continued to stare at him.

"I hear that you're quite a troublemaker," she said.

Kiku frowned, with Feliks around, it made sense she would think that about him.

"I assure you that I am not."

"Well I'll be keeping a close eye on you until you prove otherwise." She turned to James. "I'll bring up some snacks a bit later. No closing the door, alright?"

"Fine, mother." James said with an exasperated sigh before leading the way upstairs to Arthur's room.

Feliks smirked at Kiku as he followed after James.

Kiku sat on the bed, only for Feliks to shove him off. "This isn't your spot anymore Honda-Wang." It was a force of habit for him to sit there, really he didn't need to because he was supposed to be looking for the wand.

Kiku crouched under the bed and started patting around, and sweeping toward himself with his hand. Although what he found were some plastic cat ears, a rubber ball, pencils and some shoes.

"What are you doing? Are you really here for a project?" Feliks asked.

He got up and looked through the chest of drawers, pulling drawers out, feeling around, but finding nothing but clothes.

"Did you leave some things of yours behind post break-up?" Feliks asked.

Kiku walked over to the closet, stepping on something soft, he looked down to see a few plush bunnies. He kneeled down and started rooting around in that pile.

"And you're just ok with him looking through your stuff?" Feliks asked.

"He needed to find something and I don't remember what it looked like or where I placed it."

"So you lied to get him over here? Why am I not surprised?" Feliks huffed.

"It's not like that Feliks. It's just this one little thing."

"You say that, but I can't believe it. No matter how hard I try."

Kiku didn't find it in there. He got up and scanned the room briefly before walking across the room to a black chest sitting on the floor by Arthur's desk. But it had a padlock on it.

A lock! Of course it would be somewhere that needed a key.

"Do you have the key to this chest?" Kiku looked back at the both of them, Feliks was trying to wipe away his tears without him seeing. James was sitting beside Feliks.

"You've never once looked at me like you look at him." Feliks said and James looked between the two of them, flustered again.

Kiku raised his eyebrows. Really what could he say to that?

"I-I don't–"

Kiku turned around and started tugging at the lock.

Knock, knock.

"Cookies are here! How is the project coming along?" Mme. Bonnefoy walked into the room just as Kiku snapped the lock from its place on chest. "Feliks?"

Feliks tried to laugh, it sounded off, and unnatural.

"The project is going well. I needed something from in here. But I got it now." Kiku said, patting the chest.

Mme. Bonnefoy pursed her lips and set the tray of cookies down.

"Yes everything is fine." James nodded.

She stays for a moment eyeing them with slight suspicion but plasters on a smile, "Well you'll have to wrap it up soon. It's getting late, you both should be getting home for dinner. Unless you wanted to stay, Feliks?"

Feliks shook his head, "I have dinner waiting for me at home."

"Well you're always welcome to stay anytime, you know that." Feliks nods and Mme. Bonnefoy goes back down the stairs.

Kiku was honestly intimidated by her, a cold chill traveled down his spine, and he shook it off.

"Feliks, please know my feelings are genuine." James gripped Feliks's hand. Feliks pulled it away.

Kiku turned back around and lifted up the chest. After moving a few items around he found the wand and grabbed it. He stuffed it under his sweater.

"I only really went along with this to spite Honda-Wang, but he doesn't even seem bothered anymore. I know you don't actually feel that way about me, but it was fun to pretend just for a little while."

"Feliks–."

Feliks grabbed a cookie from the platter Mme. Bonnefoy had sat on Arthur's desk. Feliks met Kiku's gaze, taking a bite out of the cookie.

Feliks smirked at him, "I totally got you one last time, Honda-Wang. Good luck getting in their good graces now." With one last taunting laugh Feliks walked out the door and down the steps to leave.

Kiku pursed his lips. He really didn't need this right now. The door downstairs opened and slammed shut.

James grabbed a cookie for himself and took a bite of it. "He must have loved you alot, huh?"

"Feliks? I assure you our rivalry is born out of jealousy, not unresolved romantic tension." Kiku said standing up and going to grab a cookie of his own.

James shook his head, "Arthur, I mean. For Feliks to have known just from the way he looked at you."

It was strange to hear the Sentimonster say such a thing while looking at him with curious and innocent eyes. The same eyes that were anything but innocent…the face it shared…he tried not to look for too long or things would get muddled and he would end up having a lapse in judgment.

"Kiku?"

Kiku shook his head, "I have what I need. So I'll be going."

"I-Is that all? A-are we finished?"

"For now, if you can, look for the ring. But don't be reckless. You can't get caught." Kiku said, walking past him.

"I could walk you out." James said, grabbing his arm to halt him.

"It's not necessary." Kiku said forcefully pulling his arm out of the Sentimonster's grip.

James paused, gazing downward briefly, "I realize no one will ever look at me like that."

Kiku stopped, momentarily wondering if he was in an anime to suddenly have to worry about a sentimonster's feelings. Usually they were mindless puppets, but this one apparently had a lot of time to think about its place in the world.

"You're right. No one will. How can you just wear his face and act as though I should pity you for it?" Kiku took a step forward, narrowing his eyes.

And then Kiku saw tears. He didn't know Sentimonster's could cry. So after being creeped out understandably, Kiku realized that it wasn't fair to be upset with it. It wasn't James's fault, M. Bonnefoy had made him.

James gripped his shoulders and Kiku was going to apologize for being so harsh. But he didn't get the chance to. "I'm sorry Kiku. I've looked and looked, I just don't know where he is! What if he's gone Kiku?"

James shook him, and tried to meet his eyes; James was trying to get his attention, James's mouth was saying words but he had shut down then.

Kiku stood stunned, static jumbled his thoughts, as he wasn't processing the Sentimonster's words. But he did know one thing.

I can't do this alone.

A/N: The Guardian is Norway. I don't think I mentioned it before.

Thank you for reading. Constructive Criticism welcome.