Ladybug snuck out of her house away from the public eye.
She ran across the rooftops in the direction of the ongoing chaos.
As she ran, she heard various people throughout the crowd calling out to her and cheering her on.
She smiled to herself, running faster towards the direction of the massive cloud of gray.
As she came closer, she could now see what was making up the unidentifiable swarm.
It was none other than hundreds, if not thousands of pigeons.
Ladybug could hardly believe what she was seeing.
She glanced up in shock at the unusual sight.
"Ladybug!" Chat exclaimed upon seeing her. He then sneezed.
Ladybug met Chat's gaze. She could see behind the mask's tinted green visor that his eyes appeared watery.
"Are you ok, Chat?"
He sniffled. "No! These crazy birds are causing my allergies to flare up!" He sneezed again and then groaned. "What are we going to do about this?"
She shook her head.
"I have no clue… I don't even why they're flying in a cluster like this."
"It's all thanks to me!" An oddly high pitched voice answered them.
Ladybug and Chat turned towards the direction of the voice.
A tall man wearing a black and grey spandex suit with a pink mask revealing all but the center of his face stood with his hands on his hips. He glanced down at them with a wicked grin.
Chat groaned. "Can you make this quick and get them to go away?" He shouted at the strange bird-like man.
"What?! That's nonsense! Why would I do that?!" The strange man said stomping his foot down.
"You didn't even ask me my villain name yet!" He crossed his arms and pouted.
"If you tell us your name, can we go on our way of getting this over with?" Ladybug said as she rolled her eyes.
He uncrossed his arms and spread them out slowly. "I am… Monsieur Pigeon! Prepare to be attacked with my pigeon army of doom!" He then posed dramatically.
Ladybug covered her mouth trying not to laugh. Chat didn't bother hiding it, he doubled over laughing so hard, he clenched his side gasping for breath.
Monsieur Pigeon's eyes narrowed in anger.
"How dare you laugh at me!" He exclaimed. "Pigeon's, Get them!" He pointed at the two.
The cloud of pigeons began to fly towards them.
Chat yelped and went running. Ladybug ran with him.
They ran in all sorts of directions trying to avoid the flying group of birds headed straight for them. They continued running across the rooftops, but the birds still managed to remain close behind.
"Where to now?! We're all but cornered!" Chat yelled as he took a quick glance at them.
Ladybug slightly turned to look back at them as well. "I'm not sure! I'm at a loss as to what to do for this."
Chat frowned. "Well, we better think of something quick!"
"I know I know! Wait… I think I have an idea, follow me!" She jogged ahead of Chat, he sneezed once and followed after her.
"This is horrible!" He said sniffling. "And my eyes are watering so much!"
"Hang in there chaton, we're getting there." She yelled back to him as they ran even farther.
She stopped on top of an old abandoned building, and grabbed his hand, leading him to an entrance. They broke through the skylight.
She held onto Chat, slung her yoyo out and gripped onto one of the building structures.
They swung midair for a moment, before Ladybug released her yoyo, they fell a short distance to the ground.
Chat grumbled as he sat up. "Now what?!"
Ladybug looked around, the sound of the pigeons was not too far off.
There was one thing she had to do. She called forth her lucky charm.
A folded up tarp dropped into her hands, and a roll of duct tape. A gigantic cage also appeared in front of her. The top of the round cage was gapping open, as well as the small door at the bottom of it.
"How exactly is this going to help?" Chat said as he glanced over the items.
Ladybug looked at Chat with a smirk.
He frowned. "Oh no… Please don't tell me you're going to make me do something I don't want to do..."
Moments later, he found himself standing in the middle of the cage.
He stood there, staring at the opening.
The pigeons soon began to flood the building. They flew close together, and noticing him, began to fly into the cage.
He started inching towards the door slowly. His eyes were watering, and he was trying so hard to prevent himself from sneezing.
Suddenly, Ladybug was at the top, she threw the tarp over the opening, quickly breaking off a piece of tape and using it to pin down the tarp to the cage's exterior structure.
She then climbed to the other side and did the same, climbing all around the cage hurriedly trying to tape down the tarp as much as she could to prevent the pigeons from escaping.
Chat was now out of the cage; shutting the door behind him with his back against it to keep them from trying to break through the door.
Ladybug then jumped down.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" She shouted, summoning her miraculous cure.
The pigeons and cage disappeared, as well as the other items that were summoned for the task. All except for a single pigeon fluttering in the place the cage had been. It landed on the ground, cooing and looking innocent.
"No! No! No!" She heard Monsieur Pigeon yell.
He peeked through the opening in the roof. "How dare you! You both will pay! Just you wait until he hears this!" He screeched before taking off. The pigeon soon flew up towards the opening and left as well.
Ladybug quickly threw her yoyo up through the entrance, hooking it onto a nearby railing. She grabbing Chat Noir, and pulled them up. They landed on the roof once more, looking around. He was nowhere in sight.
"Damn it! He's gone! There goes another villain that's slipped away from us." Chat grumbled.
Ladybug stared off into the distance. "I'm more worried about the individual Monsieur Pigeon referenced. Perhaps he's someone these villains are working for." She mumbled as she looked off in thought.
Her earrings beeped.
Chat glanced at her. "You better go." He moved closer to her, and glanced at her earring. "You're down to one spot."
She nodded, ready to leave.
Chat inched closer to her, grabbing her hand. "But before you go…"
He pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her, lips about to meet hers.
"I think I'm a little traumatized by this experience… Perhaps a kiss will help-"
Ladybug covered her hand over his mouth, before wriggling out of his embrace.
"Goodbye Chat." She said with a hint of annoyance in her eyes.
Ladybug then ran off, jumping off the rooftop, swinging through the city until she was out of sight.
"I'll get that kiss someday." Chat mumbled.
…
Felix groaned to himself as he walked to the coffee shop.
His legs were aching from all that running earlier in the morning, and he was in no mood to be around anyone, but this wasn't too surprising considering how he normally felt about being around anyone who wasn't his Lady.
At least his allergies had all but subsided by now.
He sat at a table, impatiently waiting for a while, before eventually going up to order coffee. He decided he would just have to order for her as well since she seemed to be taking so long.
Setting up all the research, he began to read over everything one more.
The shop bell rang, and Bridgette stepped in.
She quickly walked over to where Felix was sitting.
"Sorry I'm late!"
"It's fine…" He grumbled not taking his eyes off of the project.
"I got you a coffee." He pointed to the additional cup sitting across from him.
"Oh... Merci beaucoup!" She said picking it up with a smile.
He merely nodded.
She took a sip and made a face.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No! It's fine!" Bridgette faked a smile and took another slow sip.
Felix sighed. "It's the coffee, isn't it?"
She looked down and nodded her head.
"See? That was easy." He said with a slight smirk.
Bridgette blushed. "Do you always drink your coffee black?"
He fiddled with his cup. "Pretty much, I like it that way."
Bridgette looked off in thought for a moment. "I'll be right back…"
She stood up taking her coffee cup with her, and made her way in line.
Felix watched her, perplexed.
Eventually, she came back and sat down.
She took a sip and smiled, before extending the cup out to him.
"Here, try some."
He made a look of repulsion. "You drank out of it."
Bridgette rolled her eyes. "C'mon, you'll love it!"
He rolled his eyes back as well, taking the coffee cup from her. He took a hesitant sip, his expression slowly softened.
"It's OK." He shrugged.
"Just OK?" She said raising her brow.
He took another sip and sighed. "Alright, it's more than OK… It's great."
She beamed a bright grin and giggled. "I thought you would think so!"
Felix looked away from her and glanced out the window. He then turned his attention back onto the project sitting nearby. His solemn expression returned. "I think we should work on the project now."
"Oh… Alright." Bridgette agreed, trying not to look dejected.
They worked on the project for some time, until finally, they were finished.
Felix looked over everything and grinned to himself.
Bridgette secretly marveled at him. This was an expression she had rarely seen Felix ever do. It was nice.
She looked away quickly and focused on cleaning up.
He stood up now, putting his bag on his shoulder, and took the other materials in his arms.
"I'll be off now. I'll turn it in on Monday."
She nodded her head. "Alright, and thanks for the coffee!"
He nodded and walked out the door.
Tikki made a small noise from inside the purse, Bridgette opened it. "What is it Tikki?" She whispered.
"Now would be a great chance to try to establish a friendship." She suggested.
"Mon dieu! You're right!" Bridgette nearly yelled. Several people in the café glanced at her.
Ignoring them, she frantically picked up her things and nearly ran out the door in the direction that he had gone.
Bridgette's mind was racing as she ran through the crowd.
Was this really the right thing to do? Would he get mad at her? What should she say?
She saw him up ahead.
"Felix!" She called out to him
He turned around slowly. A look of confusion was on his face as he scanned the crowd, before his searching eyes made contact with hers.
That solemn look returned to his face.
He walked over to her. "What is it? Did you forget something?"
Bridgette laughed nervously. "Well, you can say that… I forgot to ask you something."
Felix held his breath for a moment.
"And what might that be?"
"Well… I was just wondering if you would you like to hang out sometime now that this project is over…"
He gave her a blank look. "What?"
Bridgette laughed as she scratched her head nervously. "I know that we said we would go about our ways and act as we did before, but I really want to try to be friends."
Felix stared at her. No hint of any emotion was on his face.
Bridgette's heart sank. "Or we can uphold the pact as planned…" She started to turn away. "I'm sorry if I bothered you, Felix." She started to walk away.
"Bridgette." She heard him say from behind her. She turned around and looked at him.
He struggled to get his words out. "As long as you don't try to annoy me too much… Perhaps… We could."
She stared at him in shock. "Really?! I'm so happy to hear that! Do you want to hang out sometime?! Oh, I know!" She hurriedly took two tickets out of her purse. "I have two tickets to go to the-"She stopped talking seeing that Felix was scowling at her.
"Oops, I'm sorry about that. I got a little carried away. I'll try to keep my emotions in check more often." She said with a small smile.
He sighed. "It's fine… I'm not asking you to change or anything. I'm just not used to talking to many people yet, or dealing with strong emotional responses." He said glancing away from her.
Bridgette smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for telling me that."
He slowly nodded his head. "And thank you for listening. I think it's best if I get going now, father expects me home by a certain time."
She smiled and nodded. "That's alright. À bientôt!" She said with a wave.
Bridgette then walked off in the direction of the bakery.
Felix glanced at her for a moment, before hurrying on his way to the mansion looming nearby.
He went into the lavish home, eventually making his way up to his room and sat down.
Plagg zipped out of his bag, flying over to Felix.
"You actually agreed to be her friend?!"
He shrugged. "I have no clue why I did that. I'll probably be regretting it later."
Plagg narrowed his eyes at him and crossed his arms. "I thought you didn't like that girl."
Felix raised his brow. "I didn't, but I've found that she's tolerable. At least she wasn't asking if she could be my girlfriend like I thought she would."
Plagg snorted. "You sound like you're disappointed that she didn't."
Felix frowned. "I don't feel that way towards her. Besides-"
"You're madly in love with Ladybug. Bleh." Plagg said.
"Now where's that camembert…" He zipped off to search for the cheese that he was fond of.
A knock came at his door. There was only one person who did that…
Plagg huffed and quickly came flying back, hiding behind Felix's tie.
Gabriel Agreste walked in.
"Hello Felix." Gabriel said as he stood in the doorway, his posture was rigidly formal as always.
"Hello father."
Gabriel walked farther into the room, "I've noticed you've been leaving the house quite often… While I don't exactly mind that you are, I would much prefer you notified me when you do, that way I can provide the security that you need."
Felix narrowed his eyes at his father. "I've left without security before, what's the sudden change now?"
Gabriel gave a look of discern, arching an eyebrow at his son. "I've been notified that you've been going to several places other than the school and the library. Locations that are outside the ones we agreed you could go to. These areas are more public than the others, and may present dangers to you." He said in that cold tone he had adapted ever since the disappearance of his wife.
Felix glanced away from him, trying to keep his composure.
What he really wanted to say was that he would be fine. He didn't need any security looking out for him. After all, he was Chat Noir. He dealt with the dangers that occurred in Paris, but he knew he would never be able to say these words to his father. He would have to reluctantly go along with his charade, and uphold the rules, no matter how much they suffocated him.
"I'll take the security measures you've established next time, father…" He reluctantly said.
Gabriel didn't look too convinced by this, but nodded his head. "You may not understand this now... But I'm only doing this for your sake, Felix…"
He glanced at his son for a moment, then turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind him.
Plagg flew out from behind his tie.
The kwami gave him a look of concern, before zipping off to the camembert supply.
Felix sighed and threw himself on the bed. He closed his eyes. Memories taunted his mind.
He kept seeing his mother's face, and how when she was with them, everything felt alright in his life.
He tried to stop the tears from forming, holding them back. He had cried enough over her disappearance, and how much he missed her. The heaviness in his heart was evident of that.
He got up from his bed.
"Plagg… transformer moi."
Plagg didn't argue or object. He merely submitted without a word.
With a blast of light that enveloped his body, Felix transformed into Chat Noir.
He was glad there was no patrol for the night. He needed this time for himself.
He opened the window, and ran across the rooftops of Paris, going as far away as possible from his home. He stopped when he was far enough, and in a secluded area.
Sitting down, he released his transformation. Plagg flew over and sat on his shoulder, while Felix blankly glanced at the city.
He took a piece of camembert out from his pocket, and handed it to the kwami.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Plagg said after he finished his food.
Felix gave a downcast look, keeping his focus on the city below. "I think it mostly has to do with how I feel about my mother's disappearance and how my life is now. All of it frustrates me so much, especially how father is now…"
He stopped talking and buried his face in his hands.
"It's alright Felix. You're going to be ok." The kwami said in his most comforting tone.
Felix dropped his hands from his face, and nodded his head slowly. "Thanks Plagg."
The kwami snuggled close to him, and even sounded like he was purring. Felix stroked the kwami with his finger, and continued to look over the city.
They sat there for a while.
"I think I'm actually going to try to make an effort to be friends with her." Felix finally spoke up.
"Are you?" Plagg said with a snicker.
Felix crossed his arms. "I think I need a change in my life, and the more that I think about it, my mother would have wanted me to befriend someone in school. She would probably be upset if she seen how I am now."
Plagg yawned. "Do what you think is best. Can we go home now? I'm getting really sleepy."
Felix snorted. "Fine, and don't you tease me about how this is going to affect my relationship with Ladybug!"
Plagg snickered. "I wasn't going to, but I'm tempted to now…" He said with a grin.
"Transformer moi!" Felix yelled before Plagg could attempt to try.
…
Gabriel Agreste retreated back to his room.
'Why does my son have to be so difficult?' He thought to himself with frustration.
He shut and locked the door.
Walking over to the large portrait of his wife, son, and him on the wall, he pulled on the frame. The portrait swung aside, revealing a safe, which was very much like the one he had down stairs, hidden behind the painting of his wife.
He punched in the code, the safe unlocked.
He took out a brooch, and closed the safe, pushing the portrait back into place as well.
Glancing at the brooch, he sighed, before placing it on underneath his tie.
Gabriel glanced at the photo momentarily, his gaze lingering on his wife's face.
"It's so difficult without you here, ma chérie… I promise, I'll do whatever it takes to bring you home again."