Woo! Posting this much earlier today! You may also notice that I published an additional story. I think you should check it out if you like Pokemon; it's a collection of Christmas and winter-themed oneshots with the anime, game, and manga characters from Pokemon.
But for now, enjoy the penultimate chapter of Bee-utiful! That's right, penultimate. There's only one left after this one, so be sure to enjoy!
Monday was absolute hell.
First she had to deal with a screaming Chloé, angry for not being invited to an event she wouldn't have gone to anyways. How she even heard about Alya's party, Holly had no idea. The screaming gave her a horrible headache.
Then she had to carry all of the worried glances she got from her classmates, barring Nathaniel. Occasional questions were thrown her way, which she fielded with the standard I'm fines and It was nothings. These only made her headache grow.
Next she had made a plan to help herself out, to be carried out during patrol tonight. Cierr seemed to think it was a good idea, and she'd been alive for centuries, so that's saying something. However, she was stressing herself out about it, which didn't help her headache.
Her homework overload was great, too. She could barely concentrate on any of it, between her headache and her fingers itching to write.
At least she had finally gotten her homework done before patrol. And by that, she meant five minutes before patrol. Technically her bedtime (that's right; she was fifteen and still had a bedtime) was ten-thirty, so she was expected to be asleep anyway by the time patrol rolled around. She easily snuck out each night, and Paige and her parents were none the wiser. Her headache still wasn't gone, though. Damn, Chloé's shrieks had messed her up.
"You've been awfully quiet the last few days," Ladybug brought up near the end of patrol. The three superheros were taking a break at their meeting spot before going home for the night. "If something's bothering you-"
"It's nothing." Honey Bee felt like the words were the ones she had said the most in recent days. "I'm fine." She tried not to look to much at Ladybug, focusing on Chat instead. For some reason, she still found herself thinking of slap or kiss whenever she looked at Ladybug, even though there was no way Ladybug could have been there. "Let's just keep going."
Chat frowned in concern. "Honey, you don't seem like yourself. Are you feeling okay?"
She nodded, looking him straight in the eye. "I've just got a headache, that's all. Don't worry about me."
"It's hard not to worry when you've barely talked to us," Ladybug countered.
Deep breaths, Holly. This was as good a time as any to practice, wasn't it? In the dead of night, with two people she trusted her life with but whom she probably didn't know under the masks. The thought almost made her laugh if she hadn't thought about what she was going to say.
"Then I'll talk to you now, okay? Just give me a second." She needed to take the advice of that article she had read online and let go of her expectations of their reactions. "You guys are good at keeping secrets, right?"
They exchanged a quick glance. "Yes, of course. Where are you going with this?" Ladybug answered for the both of them.
C'mon, keep breathing. "So. . . Sorry, this is kinda tough for me. Only one other person knows about this, not including my kwami, so I really need you guys to not say anything at anytime unless we are absolutely one hundred percent alone, okay?"
They nodded. "Here goes," she muttered under her breath. "I've thought a lot about this, and I think you two will be the best people to tell for the time being. This might make it easier for me in the future. I want to stop being stressed about this." Realizing she was dragging this out, she took yet another deep breath. "I'm lesbian. And um, I guess you can ask me whatever you want at this point."
Ladybug was the first to react, her face softening. "I'm glad you trust us enough to tell us, Honey. And I'm also glad that this wasn't about something like only having a month to live. That would have been horrible."
"I have a question," Chat spoke up, a sly grin slowly forming. "Is this why you weren't charmed by my amazing cat-titude?"
The ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "Part of the reason, yeah. I don't think I would think of you as anything other than a really good friend, though." Chat grinned at her. "Seriously, I didn't think anyone I knew would react so well to this."
"You'd be surprised," Ladybug commented. "I have a friend who came out to our class as bisexual a year or so ago, and everyone handled it really well. There wasn't any teasing or anything in our friend group. We all stuck by her, just like Chat and I will stick by you."
A grateful, relieved smile grew on Honey Bee's face. "Thanks so much. I was debating not telling anyone yet, but something happened Friday night and I almost exposed myself when I didn't want to. That's why I was upset all weekend."
"That makes sense. Are you dating anyone, then?" Chat inquired, his green eyes curious.
"Actually, yeah. She's the other person that knows." She paused, not wanting to give too much of her civilian life away. "I'm really glad you two are taking this so well, I don't really know what I was expecting."
Ladybug grinned and winked. "Well, you should learn by now to expect the unexpected, especially if you hold a miraculous."
The three friends laughed at the truth in this statement. Honey Bee was glad she had gotten her truth out alright, and was ready to move on. "Come on, let's finish patrol. Last one to the Lourve is a rotten egg!" This was totally pulling a Chat Noir, but she hopped on her disc and sped off, her friends hot on her trail.
X-X-X
Holly was in a better mood the next day, but Paige was still steaming mad. She barely talked at all, ignoring Holly's apologies and staying out with friends all day to avoid her. The one day her parents weren't at work for the entire day as usual and Paige wasn't there or in a good enough mood to enjoy it.
Then again, her parents weren't in the best mood, either, since although they were home, they still had what Holly described to Cierr as "shitloads of paperwork to finish." So in other words, she had an excuse to hole up in her room for the entire day and write. One problem, though:
"Argh!" She slammed her laptop shut after a half hour, a blank document being all that she had been able to write. Not music, reading other works, drawing, or looking at other drawings helped. "Writer's block sucks."
Cierr looked up from the book she was reading. "No inspiration?" she asked before popping a pretzel bite into her mouth from her trail mix stash.
"Not a drop." Pacing around her room a bit, she ended by flopping face-down on her bed. "This sucks," came her muffled statement. Her glasses pressed uncomfortably into her face.
"Why don't you go somewhere? It's nice out today, and fresh air is good for you, anyways," the kwami suggested, turning a page.
Holly thought about this for a moment. "That's actually not a bad idea. There's a park near school; I can go there and stop by that bakery on the way." She pushed herself up, straightening her hair so it just barely touched her shoulders. "Yeah. This is good. Go out, get stuff done, enjoy the day." She grabbed her journal off of her desk and stuffed it and her pencil into her bag. "You coming, Cierr? I can get you a treat at the bakery."
Cierr grinned and flew into the opening of Holly's bag. "I'm coming, but you don't have to get me anything. Ladybug's kwami Tikki is the one who loves sweets; I want the saltiness, too."
Neither of Holly's parents responded with more than a wave when she announced that she was going out. Even that was more than she usually got, but it wasn't their fault. Still, she heard Cierr's little huff of disapproval as they left.
The bakery was right next to the park, which was perfect for her. She pushed the door open, breathing in the sweet scents. It wasn't as busy as she would expect at this time of day, but there was still a fairly long line to the woman at the counter. She took her time scoping out the different treats, recalling the croissants that she and Paige had had on their first day of school. Had it really been that long ago?
"If you're looking for a recommendation, the caramel chocolates are amazing." The voice brought Holly out of her thoughts, and she turned, smiling when she saw Nathaniel, sketchbook in hand.
"Hey, Nathaniel," she greeted, her gaze following his to the chocolates. They did seem pretty appetizing, and she was craving chocolate just thinking about them. "What's up?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing much, just have a little artist's block and was on my way to the park when I saw you, so I just wanted to say hi. How about you?"
"Writer's block. I was actually on my way to the park, too, I just wanted something sweet to snack on." The line started dwindling, so she stepped into it, Nathaniel following behind her. "Maybe we could help each other out?"
A nod and a smile. "That'd be nice." He nudged her forward as the person in front of her left with their purchase.
The petite woman smiled at them. "Hello, Nathaniel. And you're Holly, right? Marinette's told us about you. How are you two doing?"
"Fine, thanks, Mrs. Cheng," Nathaniel answered for both of them. She was confused for a moment before she remembered that this woman had said at the beginning of the school year that her daughter was in Holly's class. Until now, she didn't put two and two together. "And you?"
"Very well, thank you. What can I get for you two today?" She could definitely see the resemblance now between Marinette and Mrs. Cheng.
"I'll have a dozen of the caramel chocolates, please," she ordered with a small smile. She could just taste them now.
Mrs. Cheng nodded. "And for you?" she asked Nathaniel.
"A half-dozen strawberry macarons, please," came his response. He glanced at Holly while Mrs. Cheng gathered their orders. "I'm paying."
She shook her head vehemently. "No, that's alright, I can pay for myself." Really, it would be kind of awkward for her, because didn't people usually pay for each other when they were dating? And they were most certainly not dating.
He lifted his sketchbook a bit. "Seriously, if you're going to be such a good friend help me get over my artist's block, then the least I can do is pay for your sugar fix."
Take a deep breath, Holly. He stressed 'friends' there. "Alright, if you think that's fair."
"That'll be eight euros," Mrs. Cheng said with a wink upon returning. "Half off for Marinette's friends."
"Thank you," she and Nathaniel chorused as he handed over the correct amount and collected their treats.
"Of course. Have a nice day," she smiled before turning to the next person in line.
The two friends left with a wave, strolling down the sidewalk to the park next door. "How do you think we could help each other out, anyway?" Nathaniel wondered aloud, handing her the box with her chocolates.
"It's something my friend Amelia and I used to do. She's an artist and writer, and drew the cover art for a lot of my fanfictions as well as her own. Whenever one of us was stuck, we would swap journals. We would each pick a story or drawing, and then draw or write about it. So, I would choose one of your drawings and write a story around it, and vice versa. It really helps get the creative juices flowing. What do you think?"
"Sounds good to me. You don't mind me reading your unfinished works, though? I don't want a repeat of last time." He had to have been referring to when she nearly screamed at him for reading over her shoulder at lunch one day as she was writing.
She laughed lightly, remembering how scared he had looked under her glare. "No, most of what's in the journal I brought was just ideas and prompts, anyways. I may or may not end up using them to write stories later, but I don't write full works in this one."
Luckily for them, a bench was left unoccupied on the edge of the park, just waiting for them to sit on. The day was chilly, but not enough so that it was snowing, though it was in the forecast for sometime soon. Holly opened her chocolates, taking one out and putting it in her mouth as she took her journal out of her bag. "Oh. My. Gosh." The chocolate exterior melted away on her tongue, leaving the soft interior for her to suck on. "This is heaven."
"You should try the macarons," he said, offering her one of the pink treats with an amused glance. "They're even better."
She took it, handing him a chocolate in return. He was right, the fluffy pastries were marginally better than the chocolates, but she still had that craving to crush. "Alright. Here's my journal. Flip through until you find something you like, I guess."
"Same here." They swapped journals, skimming across the filled pages.
Nathaniel's art was good, but there wasn't too much that Holly thought she could write a story around. Another page flipped, but this time the art definitely caught her attention. "Is that. . ."
"Honey Bee. Yeah." He blushed a bit, gazing down at his drawing. Instead of Ladybug and Chat Noir together or other pictures like he had previously drawn, this one only had Honey Bee. So really, if she thought about it, it was a picture of her. "She may be new, but I think she's pretty cool."
Holly stifled a grin. "She certainly seems like it." It may be bad form to compliment herself, but who would know other than her? And Cierr, if she was listening. "She looks like she could just jump off of the page."
The drawing was done with shaded pencil rather than in color, but Holly could tell the difference in color even if she didn't see herself in the outfit every night. And did her hair really look that flowy when she was running? It was really something to see herself through someone else's eyes.
Which gave her a great idea. She flipped the sketchbook closed and handed it back to Nathaniel. "I know exactly what I'm going to write about, thank you."
"And I know what I'll draw. Those are some winning ideas you have in there, by the way," he said, tapping the cover of her journal once more before handing it over. "If you ever write using them, let me know. I've been meaning to check your fanfiction page anyway."
A slight blush rose in her cheeks. "You really don't have to do that." It's not like her fanfiction garnered a lot of followers, but he probably didn't know a lot of what she wrote anyways. Still, the thought of a friend liking her writing pleased her.
"That's what friends do, right?" With his signature small smile, he leaned over his sketchbook and produced a pencil from the side, starting to sketch. Holly rifled around in her bag for her pencil (eventually handed to her by Cierr) and jotted down her idea. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to write much else, as screaming echoed through the park.
Both pairs of eyes snapped towards each other. "Akuma," the realized in unison. Holly stuffed the rest of her chocolates in her bag with her journal, grabbing it by the strap and standing.
"Hold on," Nathaniel said. "Where are you going?"
"Um. . ." She raked her mind for a convincing lie. "My apartment isn't too far from here, I've got to make sure my parents are okay."
After a pause, he nodded. "I should do the same. Stay safe," he called over his shoulder, racing off in the opposite direction. She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and ran to find a spot to transform.
An alley caught her eye quickly and she ducked into it, checking back to make sure nobody was following her. Cierr phased through her bag, cheeks stuffed with trail mix, which she swallowed in one gulp. "Ready whenever you are," she declared, a (very adorable) game face on.
"Cierr, buzz on!" The amber light surrounded her vision as she had gotten used to, and she sped off on her disc, searching for the new akuma.
It didn't take her long; she just followed the sound of the screams to the Eiffel Tower. It was always the Eiffel Tower, wasn't it? Ladybug and Chat Noir looked like they had just arrived, but were already locked in with the akuma in question. "What are we looking at here?" she called to them, jumping off of her disc and throwing it at the akuma, perched on a bar of the tower. This one looked. . . strange, yet familiar. He seemed only a couple years older than her and was wearing a mashup of familiar-looking clothes. Something tickled the back of her mind, letting her know that she should definitely know the answer to this. It was just the clothing that she recalled; nothing else about the akuma rang a bell.
"Hell hath no fury like a cosplayer scorned," Chat Noir quipped, pausing to take another look at the akuma before dodging one of the red and white spheres being chucked at them before setting off a small explosion of compressed air. "Apparently some guys online mixed up his costume pieces so that it wasn't 'accurate.' And now he's on a rampage. If you ask me, Hawkmoth's really losing creativity with these akumas."
"True as that may be, that doesn't make them any less dangerous," Ladybug warned, spinning her yoyo to deflect the spheres. "Do either of you recognize what he's even wearing?"
Honey Bee blinked, studying the various costume pieces. Now that Chat Noir said that the costume wasn't accurate, she recognized it. "I do now. It looks like he was trying to dress as Ash from the show Pokémon, but they got the different outfits mixed up. He's wearing the jacket from Hoenn, the pants from Sinnoh, the gloves from Kalos, the shoes from Unova, and the hat from Kanto. There's no way to tell which gen he was trying to dress up as, but the akuma is probably in the hat, as that's the most iconic part of Ash's clothing, especially because it's the original design."
The akuma growled. She noticed that he wouldn't really have looked much like Ash anyways, given that he had what looked like green eyes and brown hair. "At least someone understands what I was going for. Those idiots online didn't get a single thing right!" He took a deep breath, grabbing another sphere- poké balls, she realized- and readying it in his palm. "For now, though, I'll get back at all the haters who say that Pokémon is for little kids. They don't have a clue how great it is!" He tossed the ball into the air and caught it again before smirking and tossing it at a small crowd that had gathered at his feet. "The Master's gonna catch 'em all!"
Not all of the people could run in time to avoid the ball, leaving it to explode at their feet. This one, rather than being an explosion of air like she had seen before, froze the people completely in ice. So the balls must emit one element of a certain type, she realized before her eyes widened. One of the people frozen had her eyes trained completely on the battle, on Honey Bee.
That person, frozen in the ice, was Paige.
Who's up for a cliffhanger? No? Oh well *dodges tomatoes thrown.*
The one time I actually write a halfway decent akuma (at least, in my eyes), it's about Pokémon because I apparently have a one-track mind and apparently have no problem addressing that matter. Ah well, you'll all see the aftermath of this akuma next week with the last chapter.
Thanks to ChimaTigon for favoriting and following, and everyone else for reading!