Miraculous: Tales of the Wielders

by eigee00

Nathaniel Kurtzberg was used to go by unnoticed. But when he came back home after a particularly bad day to find a strange wooden box on the bottom of his backpack, the last thing he expected was for his anonymity to end. After agreeing to bear the responsibility of becoming the wielder of the Fox Miraculous, he must help Ladybug and Chat Noir to retrieve the Miraculous of Insight.

4. Mentors

The thing Marinette hated the most was having to keep secrets from Chat Noir. The thing was she couldn't tell him that she had started visiting the Guardian almost every other week since Volpina appeared. It's not that she didn't want to, but the Guardian was very explicit: Chat Noir was not to be told, he would come to him in his own time. Marinette was not to mention anything, even if the guilt gnawed her in the gut. She resolved to keep the visits to the bare minimum in result. She didn't want to hide more than the absolutely necessary from Chat, and this was after all, a pressing matter. There was a new fox in Paris. The real one this time, it so seemed.

Did Master Fu even know about him? Did he steal the Miraculous from Master Fu? Was he worthy? Marinette was so mortified that she almost didn't notice that the person she collided with as she took a turn to enter Master Fu's massage parlor was none other than Adrien Agreste.

"Adri-"

"Marinette."

"What are you doing here?" Both asked in synchrony.

Adrien ran his hand along the band of his messenger bag. "I, uh… was on my way home?"

"M-me too."

With that said, neither moved.

"Well… It was nice seeing you!" Adrien said politely. He waved at her and walked briskly away, hiding behind the next available corner while Marinette walked in the opposite direction, unknowingly doing the same. Adrien waited five minutes before he poked his head to see if the coast was clear.

"Are you sure this is the address?" He whispered to Plagg, who was hiding inside his shirt.

"Yes. Go, he's waiting for you."

"Who is? Do you realize how awfully suspicious this is?"He hissed at the feline god. A small part of Adrien wondered if this whole superhero deal had just been an elaborate scheme to abduct a pair of teenagers.

"You'll be fine. He'll explain everything. Even about the fox."

Adrien looked out to the street again. "Well, Marinette is gone."

"Go in, he should be waiting for you," Plagg instructed.

Adrien grimaced, still thinking it was rude to just barge in. He knocked.

Silence.

A minute passed and no one came to open the door.

"Just go in!"

Adrien sighed. "What if they're not home?"

"You're always whining about me not telling you things about the ring and now you're going to chicken out?"

"I'm not chickening out," Adrien complained, proving himself right by pushing the door open and revealing a narrow, wooden-floored hallway.

The faint smell of jasmine incense lingered in the air, floating along a soft fiddle melody. There were two paper doors on each side of the hall and a wooden one at the back. Three scrolls hanged on each side in the spaces between them, as well as one on the wooden door. The first two depicted a peacock and a butterfly, the next two a bee and a fox, the third pair had a ladybug and a black cat, and the one on the door at the back was the painting of a tortoise. To the untrained eye, these scrolls looked like decoration with Chinese motifs to get into the mood of the whole parlor but Adrien suspected there was more to them. They did say the best place to hide something is out in the open, after all. These were Chinese scrolls describing the essence of each animal, the wisdom each provided: iInsight for the peacock, change for the butterfly, wit for the fox, direction for the bee, and protection for the turtle. He didn't really need to stall on the ladybug and the cat, he knew: creation and destruction. The scrolls referred to the wisdom of these animals as "spirits." Kwami, he thought.

"Don't get distracted," Plagg said.

Adrien took in a deep breath and marched to the door with the tortoise painting. He raised his hand to knock again, only to find it was slightly open. He gulped, pulled it, and revealed a small Chinese man who looked around eighty. He wore khaki Bermuda shorts and a white-and-red Hawaiian shirt, and sat cross-legged on a mat with a meditation pose Adrien recognized from a magazine about Tibet that used to lie around the house when he was about five. There was a low-rise table next to him with two small porcelain cups adorned with hand-painted cherry blossoms, and a tea pot.

The man's eyes were closed and his lips were spread in a peaceful smile. If it hadn't been for the twitch of his face when the door creaked as Adrien entered, he would have assumed he was asleep. Next to him was a tiny green creature meditating. A Kwami, Adrien assumed.

"Hello, Chat Noir," the man said, slowly opening his eyes.

Adrien gasped.

The man smiled kindly at him and turned towards the table. "You should come sit."

Adrien hurried over to the opposite side of the table and plopped down, scared to make the Guardian wait. He had theories about how the ring fell into his possession. Magic, destiny, a miracle. Sometimes he even suspected it had been his father, Natalie, or the gorilla. In the end, after careful consideration it always seemed implausible that a person had granted it to him. He liked to believe it had been the sheer power of Plagg's magic, and Plagg being Plagg, never really refuted it. Not until he confessed there was a guardian of the Miraculous stones. Being in the presence of the man who changed his life intimidated Adrien.

"How do you- Plagg told me it was time I should meet you. He said you could answer some of my questions and help me find something I lost."

That was the real reason he dared to meet the guardian. It had been over a month since Adrien lost his father's book. By some insanely unusual good luck, his father hadn't noticed it was missing yet. But it was only a matter of time, and Adrien was scared of what his father would do if he found out it had been his fault. Going back to being homeschooled was one of the probable scenarios. That or the Ermitage, that boarding school just outside of Paris he used to menace Adrien with the few times he misbehaved, before he was allowed to go to public school.

"It's a book. He told me I should talk to you about it. I lost it and it had a bunch of information about the Miraculous stones. I wasn't really able to read it though, it's in a code. It's my dad's and I will be in a lot of trouble if he finds out I lost it. Do you know where it is? Oh, and have you met Ladybug yet? I think she should come over sometime since you're the guardian. I don't know who she is behind the mask though, so that might be a problem. Oh, also, I don't know if you're aware, but I think there's a loose akuma. He's pretending to be the fox wielder. I've been trying to contact Ladybug so we can cleanse him, but I haven't seen her this week so I thought-."

"Would you like some tea?" the man interrupted Adrien's rambling.

"I could head out alone and- what?"

"Tea." He pointed at the cups. "Tea first, questions later. It helps calm the mind."

"Uh… sure."

The man poured him a cup. "You should let Plagg out. I have some cheese for him."

He didn't have to say it twice. Plagg zipped right out of Adrien's shirt without even greeting the Guardian. "Cheese! Yes, I'm famished!"

The man laughed as he offered his hand so Plagg could sit. "Hello Plagg."

The kwami purred happily. "Hello master."

The green kwami who had been so far unacknowledged, flew up to meet Plagg. He bowed to Adrien first, smiling just as kindly as the old man. "Chat Noir."

Adrien, not knowing what else to do, bowed too.

"Wayzz would you help Plagg get to the kitchen, please? Chat Noir and I need to have a conversation."

"Of course, master. A pleasure to meet you," he said to Adrien, then he sighed. "Plagg."

"Turtle thing."

"Would you please stop calling me that? You'd think you'd have a little more maturity after all these millennia!" Wayzz pleaded as they flew out of the room through a door at the back. Adrien heard Plagg's banter for a moment longer, wishing the kwami had a more developed sense of decency, before silence gradually settled in the room.

Adrien took a sip of his tea just for something to do. It had a warm, herbal flavor.

"My name is Fu," the man explained.

Master Fu, Adrien thought, since Plagg and Wayzz called him master.

"I am the Guardian of the Miraculous stones, and the wielder of the stone of Protection. I gave you your Miraculous, Adrien."

The boy felt color leave his face. "How do you know my name?"

Master Fu chuckled. "I don't think there is a single person in Paris who doesn't know who you are."

Adrien blushed, looking down at his tea and holding the cup with both hands. "How… why did you…" He looked up as a memory suddenly flashed in his mind. "Wait, I remember you. You were that man on the sidewalk, that day in school. You… you didn't even know me, and you gave me the ring?" he exclaimed. "Why? A-and how did you manage to put it in my house without anyone noticing? We have cameras!"

"You did not know me and you showed me kindness," the man simply said. "That is what heroes do. They help, they sacrifice, all without expecting anything in return. I've lived long enough to know this is true."

"Yeah but… anyone could have done that."

Adrien had always been quite certain of his abilities as a superhero. Unlike his partner, Adrien thought of his duties as more of a game, a break from the miserable life he otherwise led. Being Chat Noir gave him freedom, it gave him friends. It changed his life. Often, he wondered what he did to deserve such good luck. Despite his problems with his father, the reality was that he was actually luckier than most kids in Paris. In France, even. He was born into one of the wealthiest families of the country. He had everything he could wish for. He had a good education. He didn't know the concept of needing something and not being able to afford it. Adrien was very aware of all these things, he reminded himself each day of them so that he could put his own grief into context. After all, experience had shown him that while he was born with privilege, you couldn't have everything in life. Something's has to give in order to make things fair for everyone. And while yes, he felt miserable for losing his mom and being ignored by his father, he knew from all the bad things that could happen to him, this was not the worst.

When Plagg came into his life, a part of him thought it was destiny. Again, he believed in the miracle of it all. It was simpler than considering the fact that someone might have looked at him and thought him worthy of the responsibility. That scared him. As Adrien Agreste he was no stranger to responsibility and expectation. Day in and day out, there was always someone expecting something out of him: A brighter smile, a better pose, a polite answer, perfect grades. None of that was expected of Chat. Ladybug did rely on him, but she didn't expect anything from him. She trusted him, which is different. The fact that someone gave him the Cat's Ring implied they expected something out of him being Chat Noir, and that made him restless. Attributing his luck to sheer unexplainable magic was easier, it helped him explain himself: Adrien wore masks, Chat Noir didn't.

"Why did you choose me?"

Master Fu fixed his eyes on Adrien as he sipped his tea. "I think I already answered."

"Yeah, but… You really just picked me because I helped you up? That's it, that's the reason why I'm Chat Noir?"

"Would you have done it for anyone else?"

Adrien pondered on the question and the answer was actually very prompt in his mind. Master Fu saw it in his face.

Yes, I would.

"What is past is past. You are Chat Noir now, and whether you believe it or not you have proven, at least to me, that you are worthy of Plagg's ring." Master Fu put his cup down and headed to an old cabinet, where he produced the object Adrien had been looking for.

"That's my book! How did you find it?"

Master Fu set the book on the table as he sat again. "Someone brought it to me."

"Lila?"

"Ladybug."

Adrien's eyes widened and felt his heart stumble. "Ladybug?"

"After the incident with your classmate, her Kwami was quick enough to spot it in your possession and advised her to bring it to me. You see, I don't know where your father got this book from, but this volume belongs to me. I lost it a couple years ago."

Noticing Adrien's mildly insulted expression, he laughed and added, "Well, you can't blame her for stealing it from Adrien Agreste. She doesn't know."

"Guess not... I still need to take it home, though. If my father finds out it's missing, I'm not sure what he might do. Plagg opened the safe for me."

Fu nodded and instead of answering, he went to take another volume from the cabinet that looked exactly like Adrien's book. "Replace it with this. It one of the other volumes, it should do the trick. But make sure he keeps it in the safe, I can't afford to lose anymore valuables."

Adrien nodded. "Master Fu?"

"Yes?"

"Why would my dad have a book about the Miraculous?"

Master Fu's expression remained neutral. He shrugged. "With a bit of luck, we will find out soon. Hopefully your new teammate will help us."

It was an answer that did not satisfy Adrien. He had this unshakable feeling that like Plagg, Master Fu was keeping things from him. But his attention drifted to a far more important matter. "Teammate? You mean the fox guy?"

Master Fu nodded. "Hawkmoth is gaining strength. You two will need all the help you can get."

"But…"

Fu raised a quizzical eyebrow at the young man. Adrien spent enough time with adults to know he was tethering on the thin line between asking questions and challenging authority, so he stopped.

"I understand this might be new for you," he said. "But if you can devise a way to fight three akumas back to back, without you or Ladybug detransforming, I'm all ears."

Have ideas? Oh, he did. He so did. Anything to keep the duo a duo. He didn't want a teammate, they didn't need a teammate. It's Ladybug and Chat Noir, period. Just him and his lady, no third wheels, no foxes. They could train more, try to use their power as little as possible, carry extra packs of Camembert and cookies. Anything was better than having another wielder! Besides, last time he trusted a fox, she tricked him. He wouldn't stumble over the same rock twice.

Adrien's face was too easy to read. "Adrien, open the book," he instructed. So Adrien did. "What do you see?"

He skimmed through the pages, finding pictures of each superhero and Kwami. "The Miraculous?"

"Which are a part of a whole. Your Miraculous and Ladybug's are the most powerful of them all, but that does not mean you are not vulnerable in your own right. Where you falter, the others do not. You are part of a team."

Adrien looked down. He still didn't like it, but for now he would not protest. Master Fu was right.

"I hope you two introduce yourselves. Try to remember how it felt to be new at this. Be as patient as you were with Ladybug."

Adrien furrowed his brows in concentration. "Have you been spying on us?"

His question pried a hearty laugh from the Guardian and reached over the table to tousle the boy's hair. A gesture that both took Adrien aback and made him feel inexplicably warm in his chest. It wasn't often he made an adult laugh. Actually, Adrien was sure he had never actually made an adult laugh before. It felt nice not to be scolded for once.

"I am the Guardian of the Miraculous," he reminded him. "And as long as you two- three- are still young, by extension that makes me your guardian of sorts, too."

Adrien smiled slightly. A guardian . For him. The thought was almost enough to let go of the fox situation.

"Now go," Master Fu said, taking the cup from him and putting away Adrien's original book.

"But-"

Master Fu shooed him with a hand. "I have a customer coming in today."

"But you didn't answer my questions!"

"I answered as much as you asked. If you have new questions you must come back next week." He wiggled his index finger at him, the way a teacher instructs a pupil.

"Okay, then I'll be back next Thursday."

"No. Not Thursdays," he said as he started clearing out the table and retrieving some herbs from a shelf.

Adrien frowned at him.

"I have customers on Thursday."

"Okay, then Monda-."

"I visit a friend on Mondays," he interrupted, with his attention still focused on his plants.

Adrien took a deep breath. "So Tuesdays."

"I meditate on Tuesdays."

"You were meditating today, and it's Thursday," Adrien countered.

"Come on Saturdays. Yes. Saturdays are good days for tea with Chat Noir," Master Fu said, as he mixed the herbs on a clay bowl, mostly talking to himself . "Now go, my customer will be here any time."

Adrien nodded with a small smile. He usually had extended study hours of Chinese and piano on Saturdays, but he was willing to lie about those. Having someone to visit was far more exciting than sitting alone all morning. He couldn't wait for Saturday to come.

He got up and slung his satchel over his shoulder, already with the other book safely stored inside. "Plagg?" he called. "Time to go home!"

The pair of Kwamis flew back into the room and Adrien pulled his shirt so Plagg could hide. "I'll see you on Saturday, Master. "

Master Fu bowed slightly at him. "Until then, Chat Noir."

"Oh, you can just call me Adrien, sir."

Adrien's polite farewell still lingered in the room when Master Fu's smile diluted into a somewhat pained expression. Wayzz flew to his shoulder and knowingly nuzzled him, trying to comfort him.

"He's too much like her, Wayzz."

"I know, master."

It was well past six when Adrien left Master Fu's parlor. Marinette had been waiting for him to come out, transformed as Ladybug on the roof of the building in front of the shop. She opted to give him the benefit of doubt that way. Her head became a whirlwind when she realized what Adrien's visit could mean. What was he doing there? It was awfully suspicious that he actually knew and visited Master Fu, even more so considering that he had that book the master had been looking for. Her stomach sunk remembering what Fu explained about that book when they first met. He suspected Hawkmoth had it in his possession before Adrien, that is how he learned to make akumas. He did not say anything more, but to Marinette the probability that Hawkmoth was somehow related to Adrien was clear as water. The idea tied her stomach into a painful knot. Would that mean Adrien had something to do with the biggest villain of France? Would that mean Marinette would have to fight him too?

She shook her head. No. He wasn't, he couldn't be.

The idea of fighting Adrien caused her such revolt in her stomach that she shut it down immediately, never to consider it again. She had been waiting for him the whole afternoon though, and that left plenty of time to imagine even scarier implications.

Adrien could be a wielder for all that she knew. It was awfully convenient that he suddenly showed up at Master Fu's at the same time that the fox started appearing. She had been visiting Fu for a month now and to the extent of her knowledge, Chat Noir hadn't found his way to him yet. So Adrien couldn't be him.

The worst implication of them all, however, was the idea that both of her suspicions were right: What if Adrien was both a wielder, the fox wielder to be precise, and somehow related to Hawkmoth?

She fixed her eyes on the blonde as he walked away.

"What were you doing there, Adrien?"

As usual, no one was home when Adrien arrived to the mansion. His father's upcoming summer line had just entered press season, so he and Natalie were hardly around. This meant that without either of them breathing on his neck the Gorilla loosened his leash: Adrien was allowed to commute by himself to and from his activities, curfew hours were pushed back slightly, and more leeway on his diet were all allowed so long as he always informed the Gorilla- George, actually, was his name.

He texted him: " Just got home. "

He marched to his father's studio and knocked, just in case the man was there. He was met with silence. Reassured, he opened the door. The studio was as cold and unwelcoming as any part of the house, with the exception it looked slightly more lived in. There was an unfinished espresso and weak cigarette exhaust steaming from the sleek silver ashtray on his father's desk. Various lookbooks, magazines, and loose designs cluttered its glass surface. He noticed the computer wasn't off, it was simply idle from disuse. Must have left in a rush.

Adrien felt a pang of pain as he glimpsed his mother's portrait, suddenly remembering why he was in the room at all. The sensation of Plagg nuzzling his cheek broke his distraction and he was forced to focus on the task at hand. Diverting his eyes from the painting, he brushed along the frame to find the hidden button that unlocked the portrait's hinge, and revealed the safe.

Without commenting, Plagg flew past the metal and moments later opened it. Adrien placed the book on the shelf, careful to put it exactly the way he found it. Unlike the first time, he actually gave himself time to scan the other contents of the safe, trying to tie loose strings. He wasn't stupid, something told him Master Fu purposefully chose not to tell him why his father had this book.

A ticket to Tibet. A guide and a map of the same destination. The picture of his mother on her thirty-eighth birthday. A blue brooch. Some old scrolls. A leather bound notebook.

He tentatively brushed the surface of the notebook, toying with the idea of opening it, but not daring to. He closed the safe's door, as well as the portrait.

He fixed his attention on the face of his mother for a moment then closed his eyes, sighed, and tried to remember what it was like when she was around. She left only three years ago. If he focused hard enough, sometimes he could swear he still heard her laugh in the halls, smelled the flowery scent of her perfume, felt her hand cupping his cheek when he awoke every morning. But he was scared. Because as time passed, as the memories escaped through his fingers, he slowly started forgetting her face, the color of her favorite dress, the exact pitch of her voice.

There was a reason he kept pictures of her all around his room. So he wouldn't forget.

"Adrien?"

He gasped, feeling how Plagg expertly scurried out of sight into his shirt.

"F-father."

The man pursed his lips at Adrien, looking coldly at him behind his glasses. "What are you doing in my study? You know you're not allowed in here."

Adrien gulped, feeling how the blood left his face. "I just… I was…"

Gabriel quirked an eyebrow at his son. "Would you like me going through your things, Adrien? Just answer me that simple question."

"N-no."

Gabriel nodded. "Well then, if you don't respect my privacy, don't expect me to do it either. Consider that in the future, if you ever feel like invading someone's personal space."

Adrien rubbed the band of his messenger bag and looked away, feeling ashamed of himself. "Yes, father."

"You may leave."

The boy hurried out of the room, and Gabriel shut the door the second Adrien left. The man waited a moment before walking to the portrait of his wife. He opened it, opened the safe, and felt anger course through him.

The book was back.

Adrien locked the doors of his room for good measure. He let Plagg out, dumped his bag on the floor and plopped down on his desk chair, rotating with momentum.

"That was close," he said, his heart still thumping in his chest.

Plagg was focused on nibbling on the Camembert he left unfinished that morning. He didn't say anything.

Adrien looked to the window, indistinctly scanning the Parisian landscape.

Too many things happened today. Or rather, he learned too many things. Things that needed to be processed, and that he needed to decide how to feel about.

His father's book. The new addition to the team. But perhaps most importantly, the fact that Ladybug knew Master Fu. And that she chose to hide it from him.

He hated when people hid things from him. Especially those he loved.

It wasn't Marinette's turn to patrol that night but she decided to stay out in case she spotted the fox. She wanted to observe him closer before she and Chat actually introduced themselves. After hours of combing through the streets of Paris, she actually managed to find him in an industrial harbor adjacent to the Seine. She made a point of being as inconspicuous as she could, successfully thus far.

She caught faint trace of the fox's voice as he argued with himself. He seemed to be training with his flute. Ladybug saw how he'd play a four note tune, he'd hobble and lift from the ground for a few minutes, and then he'd come crashing down, slinging a few curses.

"No. No. No no no! Ugh, stupid flute!" He grabbed it with both hands and yelled at it. "Stop being so picky! I'm not playing for the Paris orchestra!" He didn't know if he was yelling at Tuli, but something told him he was listening. "If you wanted Chopin's Four Seasons you should maybe have thought about not picking an artist!" He sighed. After grumbling for a bit more, he picked himself up and tried again.

He failed again.

"If anything, It'll be an ego boost for those two."

She giggled. Unlike Chat, he seemed to have a self-deprecating sense of humor. A nice break, she was forced to admit.

She caught herself entertaining the possibility that the boy down there was Adrien. Her heart skipped a beat with guilt, but she reminded -or rather lied to herself, that she wasn't stalking him with that in mind. This was a mere reconnaissance mission. Then again, the idea was like the plague itself. It writhed and rattled at the back of her head, demanding to be acknowledged : What if that's Adrien ?

Her compact buzzed with a message. Almost gladly, she hurried to open it, eager to find the only person that could contact her through the device.

CN: Out and about, I see.

She smirked.

LB: You're not the only one that likes to go solo from time to time.

CN: But the Seine?

Her stomach suddenly dropped, remembering that both had the ability to know where the other was at any given time if they were transformed. All thanks to the not always handy GPS tracker on their weapons.

Another message: "M'lady, if you were feeling romantic you could have just told me. I'd treat you to dinner on the tower ;3"

She snorted. "Trust me kitty, this part of the Seine is anything but romantic. Smells like rotten fish. Bet you'd love it, actually :P"

CN: Your words wound me u_u Anyway, mind if I join? I have to talk to you. It's something important.

She silently pleaded it wasn't a love declaration. But Chat was right either way, they needed to talk. There was a certain fox-shaped elephant in the room that sorely needed to be acknowledged.

LB: Actually, yes. We do need to talk.

CN: Cool. I'll be there in ten.

In the meantime, Ladybug entertained herself trying to get closer to the fox without being spotted- no pun intended.

She lost track of time observing the newest, inexperienced Miraculous hero.

"Rumor has it there's another wielder."

Ladybug gasped, turning around to find nothing but shadows and a pair of acidic green eyes staring mischievously at her.

"Chat. You scared me."

"Not intentionally, m'lady. I swear."

Smugness overtook her, sensing her partner's flirting. "Always the gentleman."

Chat chuckled and walked out of the edge of the shadows to join Ladybug in the amber hues of the port's lampposts. Her attention was back on the fox wielder. Chat Noir rested his arm on her right shoulder.

"Warm night, isn't it?" He said, handing Ladybug one of the water bottles he picked up on his way there.

He snorted at the Fox's more than ungraceful antics. "Well, he's gonna come in handy."

"Aw, shush. Give him a break. He's trying hard, I've been watching him all afternoon. Besides, remember the first time I transformed?"

"All afternoon?"

Ladybug chose to ignore the faint edge of jealousy in Chat's voice. She shrugged. "I was doing reconnaissance."

"Who do you think he is?" He said, cocking his head.

Ladybug groaned. "What's with you and revealing secret identities?"

"Aw, come on, Ladybug. Aren't you curious to know?"

She glanced at him briefly through the corner of her eyes. "You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat."

"Good thing I got nine lives."

It only took his smirk for Ladybug to spot it. Right there, behind the cockiness of his expression and the way he wouldn't quite hold her stare.

"You okay, chaton?"

It took him aback just enough that he couldn't hide the sudden widening of his eyes, the twitch of his smile, in time for her not to notice.

After a moment of consideration, he simply smiled at her. "I'm fine, m'lady." Then he turned his attention to the Fox.

They fell silent. Ladybug knew Chat, knew that he was lying. Whether for her sake, for his, she didn't exactly know. But he was trying to hide something. At any rate, she didn't insist in cracking him open. Chat had this awful habit of pretending he was alright when something had hurt him, only to face it once he couldn't stand it anymore.

"We won't be the bug and cat team anymore," he commented quietly, without looking at her.

"It seems like it."

"Hmm."

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?"

He glanced at her. "Yes."

No. Ladybug knew there was something else.

"I was patrolling the other day and he kind of appeared. I knew I had to tell you right away."

Ladybug felt a sudden pang of guilt for not seeking him out the second Tikki told her.

"There's another thing, though."

"Yes?"

"Master Fu told me."

If she didn't know any better, Ladybug would have sworn her heart stopped.

She turned to him with wide eyes and her stomach in a knot. Chat simply held her stare for a moment and then turned his back at her, putting some distance between them.

Silence. It was only accompanied by the sound of the flowing river and the distant voice of the Fox.

"Why didn't you tell me?" His question ripped Ladybug's heart in two, feeling more ashamed and pathetic than ever in her life.

Why didn't you tell him.

"Chaton-."

"Don't you trust me?"

"I do. Of course I do, Chat. You're my partner."

"Then?"

She searched his eyes and found she couldn't bear them. They held too much disappointment.

"I- I don't know. Look Chat, I- I just found out okay? I wanted to make sure it was safe for us-."

"I don't mean just the fox, Ladybug. Why didn't you tell me about the book?"

Ladybug fixed her eyes on Chat, unable to form a decent excuse.

"I... I don't know Chat. It all happened so fast. I mean, my Kwami was so impatient to have it and she wouldn't even explain to me what it was until she was about to take me to Master Fu. He didn't explain anything either. All I know that book is very important, that we might be able to defeat Hawkmoth now that Master Fu has it."

Chat Noir frowned and his ears drooped.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't think it was important, Chat. I didn't learn anything from it, and when I met Master Fu he forbid me from telling you about him. He said you had to go to him by your own means."

"I don't like it when you hide things from me," he muttered, looking to his feet. "It makes me feel like you don't trust me."

"I'm sorry, Chat Noir," she said sincerely. "I really felt awful about it, I swear. About Master Fu, I mean. And I was going to tell you about the fox in our patrol this week. I mean, it's not like I can go to your house and tell you these things the second I find out."

He smirked slightly. "Revealing identities, one. Keeping them secret, zero. I keep telling you, things would be easier if we knew each other."

She only smiled at him, then turned to the fox. "Speaking of which. There's something I need to tell you."

"Go on."

"I- I think I know who the Fox is."

Chat Noir widened his eyes, feeling how the bitter aftertaste of his disagreement with Ladybug morphed into utter shock.

"And I also think he has to do something with Hawkmoth."

He blinked a couple times. " What? "

"Did Master Fu tell you whom I had to steal the book from?"

Chat could not find the strength to pronounce his own name. He was petrified.

"Perhaps you've heard of him: Adrien Agreste."

Chat's heart dropped down to his feet.

"Anyway," she turned more serious. "I saw him going into Master Fu's parlor the other day."

He coughed. "Re-really?"

She nodded. "Don't you think it's odd?"

"Odd? Odd like… de-define odd, my lady."

"Isn't it convenient that the Fox appeared at the same time Adrien Agreste started visiting Master Fu?"

Chat twisted his face into a confused frown. "I'm sorry, I don't follow," he said, while taking a sip from his water bottle. His throat was drier than sandpaper. Did she know? Was it possible?

Waiting a second longer would have caused him a heart attack.

"What if the Fox is Adrien Agreste?"

He downright spit out the water. He coughed, wheezed, and once he recovered, laughed. Loudly.

"What?" She said defensively.

He really couldn't stop. The Fox, him? Now that was grand.

"You- HA HA HA - You think Adrien Agreste is the Fox? Aw, man!"

"He very well could be!"

"Not!"

"How are you so sure? He did have the Miraculous book."

"My lady, I am a hundred and ONE percent sure that dumb fox is definitely NOT Adrien Agreste."

"Don't call him dumb!" She smacked his forearm. "He's our teammate now. Besides, I still think it could be him." She crossed her arms and pouted stubbornly.

"Oh, really now?" Adrien was too amused, if also slightly jealous. "Well," he said, tapping his chin playfully. "Last time I checked, Agreste is blonde."

"So? Your hair color can change with transformation."

Chat snorted and ran a hand through his hair, intentionally posing like his civilian self. Maybe that will give Ladybug some better ideas. "Well, I for one, am a natural blonde m'lady. You mean to tell me this is not the way you look on a daily basis?"

"M-my hair is not as bluish, so yes, it can."

"Okay. Let's say it can for your benefit. That still doesn't explain his eyes. I saw the fox last night and his are blue. Mine are green, they don't change. Furthermore," he pointed at a billboard nearby, with Adrien's face stamped on it. "Exhibit A: Green eyes," he said, batting his eyelashes and leaning uncomfortably close into Ladybug. She pushed his face away from her, laughing.

"So you're basically saying you're famous super model Adrien Agreste?" she said between giggles. His lack of response only fueled her laughter.

"What ? I could be for all that you know, m'lady." His heart jumped as he threw that out there. Technically, he shouldn't. But she was already theorizing his civilian self was a superhero- the wrong one, just his luck. What was a bit of insinuation other than a friendly push in the right direction? But to his great surprise and slight annoyance, Ladybug did nothing but laugh out loud.

"You, Adrien Agreste?" She snorted. "Right!"

Chat didn't know whether to laugh or cry. All he could do was stare dumbfounded at her, with his jaw hanging open in disbelief and swallowing a strong impulse to rip his hair off his scalp. "I very well could be, thank you very much," he said, rather offended.

She bit her lip as she tried with all her might not to laugh at her partner. "I'm sorry minou, but no. Not at all! I really can't see it. Adrien is… well, he's sweet, shy, polite, cute…"

"If I didn't know any better, Bugaboo, I'd say you have a good ol' crush on Adrien Agreste," he said smugly.

She didn't deny it nor confirm it, but Chat knew his Bug better than anyone, and that blush on her freckled cheeks was as much evidence as he needed.

"You do!"

"Shuddup."

He laughed. Well, she can't figure out he's behind the mask for the life of her, but at least he knows she has a crush on him! Better than nothing. "No wonder you want him to be a wielder!"

"Stop it, Chat Noir!"

"Sho yow can meowk owt with him between patrowls." He puckered his lips at her.

"Real mature. And I don't have a crush on him!"

"Lady and Adrien sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i- OW! What'd you smack me for?"

"'Cause you're being dumb and annoying."

He chuckled, rubbing the spot on his head Ladybug slapped. "Uh huh."

"You can't be Adrien Agreste, Chat. He's not a dork like you."

"What's that supposed to even mean?"

"Well, you're you. You're the total opposite of Adrien."

Chat Noir flushed and laughed still not letting her taunting get the best of him. "Well, it's not like you know him! You wouldn't know what he's like."

"What if I do?" She taunted, poking her tongue out. Chat widened his eyes, and in that moment, both knew they probably talked a little more than they should.

"You know him?" It wasn't a question, it was an affirmation.

The lightness of Ladybug's jokes turned into sudden lead.

"I-I've saved him a couple times, if that's what you mean… Y-you know him?"

Chat Noir froze in place, frantically calculating the risks of telling her it actually was him. She did know him in civilian form. He could tell when she was bluffing. So why didn't she see? Why couldn't she put two and two together? She already said Adrien could be a wielder, and her first suspect was that stranger? Why not him? Her trusted partner, her friend?

"I… " After careful consideration, he chuckled and playfully nudged her. "I actually do, Bugaboo. I might even try to introduce you one day."

She smiled and searched his eyes for the lie. "You can't be serious."

He shrugged. "Have I ever lied to you, Bugaboo?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Then again, I don't see the point in giving myself unnecessary competition. I'm the only blonde you need in your life, m'lady." He winked.

Ladybug was about to reply to his flirting when a sudden, "THAT IS IT!" and a chaotic noise interrupted them. Seconds after, they saw a copper bulk fly right over them, spiral a few times, and then plummet straight onto a garbage container.

"Uhh..." They both winced and hopped to the roof the fox fell from.

"That's gonna leave a bruise," Chat commented, familiar with the occupational hazards of being tossed and hurled around in combat.

"How high do you think he fell from?" Ladybug asked.

Tin cans and plastic bottles shuffled, the Fox grunted and poked his head out of the trash. "Enough."

Ladybug couldn't help but giggle. "Well, at least he has a sense of humor," she said, then swung her yoyo to get to the floor.

Chat Noir stayed behind for a second, unable to suppress the annoyance inside him.

I have a sense of humor.

He shook his head, and hopped down. You're his partner, he's a teammate.

"Uh... Fox?" Ladybug stood on her tiptoes, too small to see over the edge of the trash container. "Are you okay?"

It was easier for Chat, who only had to peek to see the figure struggle to surface above the garbage.

"You okay there?" he asked with a tone not nearly as warm or welcoming as Ladybug's.

"I'm not an akuma, please don't hurt me!" The Fox peeked out of the trash just enough to look at them.

"Don't worry," Ladybug said. "We won't."

The Fox eyed Chat warily, remembering how he almost smacked him unconscious the night Marinette got mugged.

As if reading his mind, Chat nodded. "You're okay. Come on, grab my hand," he said, sighing with resignation.

Nathaniel noticed how easily Chat Noir pulled him out of the container and flushed with shame as he and Ladybug dusted him off. Ladybug smirked and grabbed a gnawed fish that hung from the Fox's shoulder.

"Look Chat, your lunch," she said and threw the foul smelling thing to his face.

"Ew!" He swatted at it and evaded it, thanks to his cat reflexes.

Ladybug laughed at Chat's glare. "Ha, ha."

She grinned. "Cats love fish."

A chuckle escaped Nathaniel's lips as he witnessed the banter between these two. From all the things he expected them to be, silly was not one of them. Serious, committed, no nonsense, yes. Dumb, sassy, sarcastic? Not so much. He liked it, though. It made him feel like he wasn't wrong about them: behind the mask they were teenagers just like him.

"See? The Fox agrees with me."

Nath gulped at the sight of Chat's glare.

"I-I meant no di-disrespect Chat. I mean, Chat Noir, sir. Uh... And so-sorry about the other day!"

Ladybug giggled. "You don't have to call him that! You'll encourage him."

"No, no, let him. I like the sound of Sir Chat Noir. He knows who's the alpha cat." He puffed out his chest and flicked his bangs.

"I'm technically a canine..."the Fox said with a small voice. "Bu-but you can be the alpha cat."

"The only alpha here is the alpha bug," Ladybug said smugly. "You can fight me on that, Chat."

He poked out his tongue, feigning irritation.

Nath couldn't help but smile at the two.

"So let's look at you," Ladybug said. "The real Fox Miraculous. I never thought we'd get to meet you! What's your name?"

"I'm uh..." Nathaniel scratched the back of his head. "That's actually a good question."

"You don't have a name?" Chat said accusingly.

With a flare he could only attribute to the freedom of anonymity, Nath snarked back, "Yeah, I've been waiting all my life for this moment to get christened."

Catching drift of the fox's sass, Chat pretended to banter instead of letting it show how sorely he took the comment. "Then I'll call you Firefox, cause all you seem to do is crash," he said.

"Chat Noir!" Ladybug scolded him.

"What? I mean, look at his costume. We'll get sued if we're ever seen with him."

"Bet you're in hot water with Hello Kitty, then," Nath quickly fired back.

Ladybug laughed at Chat's pout. "Hey, don't give me those eyes, you started it. But Chat's right, you need a name."

"It has to be something original," Chat instructed.

"Says the guy who called himself Chat Noir, and is literally a black cat," Ladybug teased him, amused by how territorial he was behaving. It was always funny, and a tad endearing if she had to admit it, when Chat got jealous. "You could call yourself Red Fox," Ladybug suggested.

"That's copying!" Chat said.

"It's not," Ladybug replied.

"It's too."

"How is it copying if I'm Ladybug, and I'm literally a ladybug?" she said exasperatedly.

"Cause I called myself Chat Noir first. You copied me too, my lady," he said poking his tongue at her.

Ladybug simply rolled her eyes. "Dork."

"Let's call him Nicholas Wilde," Chat Noir suggested.

"Only if I get to call you Felix the Cat" Nath replied.

"No, you get to call me Sir Chat Noir."

"Okay, okay, we'll leave the name for later," Ladybug said with a definitive tone, already dreading the direction the boys' interactions would take. "What about your powers, do you know what they are?"

"I can shapeshift," Nath said. "But only for like, nine minutes total."

"Total?" Chat Noir quirked an eyebrow.

"I get three transformations. My first transformation lasts five minutes, then the second, three, and the last, one. I should be able to fly... or hover, I'm not sure yet. And Trixx said I can also make illusions, but I have to learn to play the flute for that."

yoLadybug and Chat Noir looked at each other like they had caught the strangest animal alive.

"I-I've been practicing though! It's not as easy as it looks." Nath rubbed his arm and looked down to hide his embarrassment. "I mean, for me. It- it must be easier for you guys. I'll try not to be a drag, I promise! A-and Trixx said I could join you when I was ready, so you don't have to worry about me getting in the way. You don't really need me yet, or at least that's what Trixx said."

"It sounds like Trixx knows a lot," Ladybug said. "Is that your kwami?"

Nath nodded and in return Ladybug gave him a smile. A kind smile, the type of expression she reserved for Manon or Chat when they needed encouragement.

"Well, you were chosen for a reason, there's no point in stalling," Chat Noir said, a little more stern and ignoring Ladybug's scolding glance. She was giving him too much leeway, in his opinion. They didn't get an adjustment period when Master Fu gave them their Miraculous. Besides, being a superhero was not the type of thing you studied for, or plunged into until you felt "ready." If he had waited to think about it when Plagg materialized in his room things would have ended badly.

"Don't listen to him, you can take as long as you need to," said Ladybug, and ignored Chat Noir's objecting glance. She was no stranger to feeling inadequate and underprepared. The fact that she was forced to jump into action when she became Ladybug was still one of the most upsetting memories she had. If she had someone to guide her back then, something of a superhero big brother, things would have been different. Of course, Chat Noir gave her the confidence she needed to act, but the first few months she couldn't help but wish for someone more experienced to show her the way.

"How is he going to learn, then?" Chat crossed his arms.

"By patrolling with us, and watching our battles with akuma." She turned to Nath. "We usually patrol together Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Chat patrols Sundays and Wednesdays, and I do it Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"You sure worked out a schedule," Nath said.

"Well, people usually have bad days on Mondays," said Chat.

"And they fire people on Fridays," Ladybug continued.

"Couples usually break-up on the early weekend," Chat explained. "With a few exceptions like the back-to-back akumas, Hawkmoth is pretty predictable. Or rather, the people he akumatizes are."

Something about that comment irked Nath, but he didn't show it. The fact that they were accustomed to anticipating people's emotions and disregarding them as a simple battle in the making was kind of crude to him, but it was all in a day's work, he guessed. After fighting akumas constantly for a year now, he could see how it became mechanic for the sake of practicality.

"Besides Chat has a million extracurriculars or something like that, and we both go to school." Ladybug shrugged. "We had to work something out. You'll have to come with us at least three times a week, so you learn our routes, and you'll get one yourself once you master your flying."

"And you have to show up to akuma fights," said Chat.

"E-even if I'm the middle of school, or like, a doctor's appointment?"

Both nodded.

"Part of the deal," Chat Noir said. "Being a superhero is not all fun and games."

Ladybug actually looked at him when he said that. He surprised her. They usually didn't talk a lot about what being a superhero meant for them, but because of his demeanor Ladybug always thought Chat saw it as a game where he could punch bad guys and flirt with her. Nothing else. But for the first time since she met him, she saw deeper. Of course Chat was dorky and silly, but she never stopped to consider what kinds of sacrifices he had to make in his daily civilian life to be Chat Noir. She'd have to ask him about that sometime later.

"Okay," the fox agreed. "I'll try."

"So," Ladybug said, unclipping her yoyo from her waist and spinning it a few times. "Are you ready for your first patrol?"