Edit: scene changed. Recommended reread if read before 3/11/2022
It was past twilight, the point of time where there were more stars than sunlight and there were hardly any fiery reds and vibrant oranges left from the sunset. Temperatures had been dropping lately, as Autumn overtook Summer, and with the night breeze, it was a bit chilly.
Marinette- no, Ladybug- didn't find herself bothered by the wind. It was actually rather refreshing.
Ladybug gazed over the city she had sworn to protect. Street lamps had already begun turning on and yellow light spilled out of most windows. The glimmering of the city easily outshone the beauty of the stars, but there was something comforting about the softer light of the night sky.
She wasn't sitting on the Eiffel tower to admire the view, though.
She was here to take her first step in improving as guardian of Paris. Like she promised to Tikki, and to herself in a way. The thought resonated in her chest and she had a feeling her kwami approved.
Ladybug straightened up when she heard the sound of a baton twirling and a moment later she felt the light thump in the metal beneath her feet as another weight joined her.
"It's not often a little bug like yourself wants to meet with me this late."
Ladybug rolled her eyes, but she couldn't exactly say she was surprised that Chat started the conversation with a pickup line. "You must not attract the ladies, then."
She glanced to look at him just in time to see him lean back and splay a hand over his heart, like he'd been wounded. "Excuse me, I happen to be the cat's meow !"
He was grinning, looking rather self satisfied. Ladybug wondered if he was working on that one all day. She shook her head. "I didn't call you here to have a pun war," she said dryly.
"Isn't it a nice purrr k?" He wiggled his eyebrows- tried to at least, that was one of the few areas their small masks actually covered.
Ladybug's expression stayed unmoving and unimpressed.
Chat Noir coughed. "Right, umm, a meeting?"
His spotted lady nodded once in confirmation before clearing her throat. "I had a long talk with my kwami after Bubbler's attack. We agreed that, as heroes of this city, we should be more proactive in regards to akuma attacks."
"What do you mean?" Chat Noir cocked his head to the side.
"I mean we can't just let ourselves be caught off guard by akumas. We have to prepare and-" Ladybug sighed, but it didn't sound exasperated like it usually did when she answered a stupid question. She just sounded... tired. "I figured we should talk this over, brainstorm and stuff."
His brow furrowed and he put a finger on his chin. "So like, plan for certain situations and what powers an akuma might have?"
Ladybug nodded. "We don't know how Hawkmoth's powers work, other than him targeting people with negative emotions. We don't know if he comes up with the superpowers or if they're twisted by some sort of desire they have."
Chat Noir's peculiar eyes lit up. "If he's coming up with the superpowers, there's no way he'll be able to think of things we haven't! I love ani- erm, comics" He blushes a little and coughs. "And you're super smart and creative!"
"Which is why I think the powers are based on twisted desire. I mean-" Ladybug gestured over her shoulder, "think about The Bubbler. That's not a standard superpower at all!"
"That makes sense! Because Nino-" Chat Noir flinched, "that's the victim's name, bytheway- just wanted to throw a party for m - Ad - his friend."
"Bubbles seem relatively harmless compared to a raging rock monster," Ladybug agreed. "And a lot of young kids love bubbles, so the association is there."
Chat Noir nodded excitedly. He was practically vibrating and he vaguely reminded Ladybug of a kid promised candy.
"He might have some control over the powers, since explosive bubbles don't really lend themselves to a productive party," She continued. "But he could be limited by the person's desires."
"I can get a list of superpowers and known counters and we can run through scenarios!"
"Right. We also should be prepared for massive attack scenarios like hordes or all sorts of natural disasters."
"Oooh, I have another idea!" Chat raised his hand and bounced on his toes. "We can set up traps and lead akumas to them!"
"Cool down there, buddy," Ladybug smiled wryly. "If we set up too many traps then Hawkmoth might catch on to our game and make his akumas stationary, or unable to get caught in the first place."
He deflated, just a tad bit. "I guess you're right. But what else can we do..?"
There's a moment of silence as they both pondered the question. Ladybug bit her lip and Chat Noir pulled his hands through his disaster hair. Ladybug briefly wondered how he let it get in his face and eyes without going crazy- she personally always had her hair pulled back because she couldn't stand a stray strand getting caught in her mouth. It didn't matter if it 'framed her face better,' not when she's one second away from shaving it all off when she can't figure out how to get it away from her eyes.
She shook her head. The Bubbler did so much damage before anyone even knew where he was. He kidnapped literally all the adults before Ladybug and Chat Noir even knew he existed... It was dangerous for them as superheros to let Hawkmoth have the first move in every fight. Ladybug didn't know what would happen if an akuma ran around unchecked. Stoneheart and Bubbler were rather obvious, and Ladybug attributed that to Hawkmoth's own inexperience. If he grew smarter and made a more subtle villain that could blend in, it could cause so much chaos before the Heroes of Paris even discovered it.
"I think," Ladybug started, "we need to actively look for akumas."
"How?" Chat's head was tilted again. "I mean, they appear so suddenly."
"We can go on patrols and look for anything irregular, like super strange behavior or costumes."
"What type of strange behavior? We shouldn't really make assumptions on how people live." Chat hunched in on himself a bit.
Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Obvious things, like if someone's running away from something or if whole groups of people are synchronized..."
"Like signs of mind control?"
"Exactly." Ladybug nodded. "I also think people seeing us will put them at ease, to show we are doing something to help and not just waiting around."
"That makes sense. Man, we're like real heroes, vigilantes going on patrol in the dead of night!" Chat was back to being a kid on a sugar high, but he glanced back at Ladybug. "Er, no offense, M'Lady, but you don't exactly blend in."
The heroine quirked an eyebrow. "Really? I wouldn't have guessed."
He grinned and Ladybug suddenly felt like she'd fallen for some sort of trap.
"It's okay though, that just means I get to see your purr -retty spots more!"
The spotted hero smacked the back of his head lightly. "Focus, Chatton!"
"Sorry, sorry," He chuckled. "I couldn't help myself!"
"Anyway," Ladybug continued, "We obviously can't go on a patrol every day, we'll burn ourselves out."
"And I'm always super busy every day. I'd only ever be able to go out at night."
"We can't just choose a day of the week and go with that, because then we'll be too predictable..." Ladybug trailed off.
"Maybe we could just pick two random days to patrol every week?"
"I just said we can't stick with a constant schedule." Ladybug deadpanned.
"Well, I meant more like we pick two days for the next week every time. Like maybe one week we decide to do Monday and Wednesday, but the next week we do Thursday and Friday."
"And if we do it at random we won't create any patterns to get tracked..." Ladybug would have stroked her chin thoughtfully, but refrained from doing so- from what she had seen, the action only worked with wizards or guys with equally crazy beards. "We can start next week."
Chat Noir obviously didn't get the memo, because he made the mistake of stroking his chin. Instead of looking wise, it just made him look like a dejected frat boy. "I think we should do it on Wednesday and Thursday."
Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Sounds like a deal."
Chat Noir grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. "It's a date then."
"No."
They split apart after that, promising to meet up later. Chat Noir was just a silhouette against the night sky while Ladybug contrasted quite nicely with the darkness. Her incapability to be stealthy hopefully wouldn't cause any problems in a future akuma fight. Knowing her luck (though admittedly she had plenty of good luck as a superhero) might run out one day was stressful, to say the least. Like she was on a countdown timer until disaster struck.
Especially after Tikki's story about her first holder.
Ladybug shook her head mid yo-yo swing. The wind blew past her and she rolled onto the next roof, running and jumping off the edge just as she flung her choice of weapon once again and began to fall.
Marinette idly wondered how these regular night outings would impact her schoolwork. Her eyes widened.
She hadn't done the homework. And it was due tomorrow !
She made it back to her own roof quickly, but it was already nearly midnight. She went to her desk and began frantically working on the worksheet Madam Mendeleev passed out.
She was halfway through said worksheet when she remembered to detransform.
. . .
I glanced over at Adrien. I blinked slowly at him. He looked tired. I would feel annoyed that he tried to steal my only personality trait, if he wasn't vibrating like he chugged six five hour energy drinks.
I squinted at Nino, but he looked chill and didn't have bags under his eyes covered by makeup. So I could rule out that they binged some sort of show without me.
I had my own reasons for being tired. 1) practice. 2) practice. Same reason with entirely different reasons.
Marinette also looked dead on her feet- not that I really cared, but there was a trend going on and I wanted to know what was going on. So I listened in when Alya confronted her about looking like a zombie.
My eyes widened.
Crap .
I frantically scrambled through my backpack and pulled out the the chemistry homework that was due in about fifteen minutes.
. . .
It was 9:30 pm on a Wednesday. Adrien's curfew was 9 pm (his nutritionists, makeup artists, and fitness councilors would all have a conniption if he got anything less than 8 hours of sleep), but he had waited an extra thirty minutes just to make sure no one would check up on him.
"Do we have to go?" Plagg whined. "You go to school all day, then you take your other lessons, or go to photoshoots." Plagg stuck his tongue out as if he was retching. Or about to spit out a hairball, which Adrien supposed was about the same level of severity. "And now you want to take away my precious beauty sleep!"
Adrien raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you needed sleep."
"I don't," the kwami of destruction yawned. "But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it."
"You take cat naps all day."
"Any cat worth their whiskers knows those don't count!"
Adrien rolled his eyes, not that it was visible in his dark bedroom. He swung his legs out of bed and ruffled the sheets. He put a few pillows down to mimic a sleeping body, pulling the covers up until just the top of one of his throw pillows was peeking out of the comforter. He grinned. It was perfect.
"That's not going to trick anyone."
Adrien glared at his kwami, who was only visible because of glowing, green eyes. "Are you ever not a spoilsport?"
"Not when I have a large pile of camembert che-"
"Or-" Adrien had a wicked grin (his approximation of a wicked grin looked more like the face of a six year old who just shoplifted for a candybar). "Claws out!"
"NOO-"
Green light briefly illuminates the room before it faded back to darkness.
Chat Noir giggled and ran a hand through his hair, felt his claws and ruffled the perfectly styled hair. He took his baton from his belt and gave it a nice twirl. He cracked open his window and shut it behind him in a fashion where he could still open it when he got back.
A gust of cool wind graced his face and tousled his hair. He took a moment to close his eyes and bask in the crisp air of freedom. That was something he knew he could never fully appreciate as Adrien Agreste.
Because Adrien had the weight of expectations saddled on his shoulders all the time. His father tied him to photoshoots and modeling and private lessons. His whole life feels as though every second of every hour of every day was planned to perfection and sometimes... Sometimes it felt like he couldn't breathe. Everything he did was just someone else tugging on the strings.
Public school let him have choice, even if it put all sorts of new expectations on him. But he could live with those, because people weren't watching his every move like a hawk watches a baby bunny. He couldn't really get mad at Nino expecting Adrien to listen to his newest mix. And helping Keana get better at French was something he took upon himself, without anyone's input. All the teachers gave him plenty of time to do homework. But as soon as he leaves school, he's back to being Adrien Agreste: Model and Perfect Son.
Chat Noir doesn't have this problem, not really. All Chat Noir has to worry about is beating up the occasional akuma and then stopping Hawkmoth.
And the only person who's waiting for him was his Lady.
A bright grin was on his face and he vaulted away, jumping from building to building.
. . .
Alya was in a blanket burrito. She was in a blanket burrito on her bed. All the lights in the house were off and her little munchkin siblings had been tucked in for around three hours. Her older sister had retreated to her own room two hours ago, because she respects her own physical and mental health enough to go to bed at a reasonable time.
Alya hasn't respected anything other than superheros (which included her mom, because she somehow managed to raise four girls by herself) since she was eleven years old. So she was curled up in a blanket burrito on her bed, aimlessly scrolling through her phone with nothing to light up her room other than the ghastly blue light that came from her phone.
And it was around 11 o'clock at night (exactly 11:07) when Alya's phone began to blow up.
She squinted at the notification, just one at the moment. It was from the Ladyblog, specifically the 'Sightings' column. She swiped across to dismiss it, figuring it was just another one of those meme people who thought that posting a picture of their black cat under the 'Sightings' column made them funny.
Then 17 more messages popped up hardly a second later and Alya realized it might not be a joke.
Capricornicup: I just saw Ladybug swing by on her frickin magic yo-yo... I dont think im crazy, but my friend doesn't beleive me. Can someone back me up?
JaarjaarBinksisoldnews: I was near the eiffel tower and I saw Chat Noir WITH Ladybug! That was an hour ago tho...
WhiskerMeAway: I wish I was at the eiffel tower w/ chat noir uwu
Chumpchamp : WhiskerMeAway no one asked, simp. Anyway, I saw Ladybug near a bakery like forty minutes ago.
Capricornicup : Woah, that was fast! Thx guys! Nice to know im not crazy lol
Alya skimmed over the rest of the sightings. None of them had photo evidence, because of either how dark it was or not having enough time to react. She nodded firmly, and sent her message.
LadyblogOfficial : Thanks for bringing this to my attention! I'll get some nice juicy footage for all of you!
She changed out of her pajamas, threw on a pair of socks and shoes, and grabbed her apartment key, making sure to close the front door quietly behind her (it had a tendency to shut loudly enough that it shook the wall if left to its own devices and that'd wake up everyone in the complex, which was the opposite of ideal).
She took the stairs to get to the ground level- the elevator was shady and probably two or three decades old, so it wasn't exactly the 'subtle' option. The only sounds she could hear were the echoing taps of her footsteps
Something fluttered in her chest and Alya grinned as she felt the rush of the cool night air hit her face. It made her giddy and she resisted the sudden urge to run, jump, and cackle. Well, she tried to resist the urge to do those things, but she can't deny the little excited squeal she made.
Then she slowed and stopped, wondering how exactly she was supposed to find two superheroes who could cross the city quickly using rooftops and yo-yos and magic extending batons while she was restricted to the good ol-fashioned street. Especially without a clue as to where they were headed. She knew roughly where they had been, sorta...
LadyblogOfficial: Hey, Bugs and Kitties! I'm on the hunt for Ladybug and Chat Noir! If anyone has seen them recently and is willing to send a location, that'll help a bunch!
A grin nearly splits her face in half at the near instant reply and within moments she was jogging with google maps open as more and more locations pop up. Because apparently someone was smart enough to near instantly link all the locations to some sort of travel list thing which allowed Alya to track the superhero duo without reading through 50 billion messages.
She was 78% sure it was Max who rigged it up, because he's the only person she knows who's smart enough to do that and would be awake at this time of night.
The map updated and suddenly there was a line that was approximating their route and speed of travel. Alya raised her eyebrows. Make that 90% sure Max made it, the little genius he was.
Alya still didn't know how to keep up with them though...
A shine of metal under the street lamps caught her eye. Alya grinned, pulled out a pair of bolt cutters (something any aspiring intrepid reporter should have) and approached her prize. It was for the greater good. Just one sacrifice for the betterment of thousands is a small loss in the grand scheme of things.
She swung her leg over the bike, just barely managing to stand over the bar. She was already on her tiptoes, and the bike seat behind her was several inches higher, but Alya didn't let that deter her from her soon to be Successful Superhero Scoop. Scooting up on the seat, she had to lean to one side drastically just so she could touch the ground, she practically had to stand in order to fully pedal.
Alya launched herself, went approximately three meters before she hopped back off to adjust the seat to its lowest setting. She had enough restraint to not curse the giant who owned the bike, mostly because she was the one stealing borrowing it in the first place.
Twenty seconds later and she was pedaling fast enough for her poofy hair to get blown back by wind and her clothes to be plastered against her body. She had her phone in her right hand, her left hand on the handlebars, and she couldn't exactly say she was keeping both eyes on the road.
Five minutes later and her sides were heaving as she gasped for air.
"This is- w-a-ay harder than," she wheezed, "I th-o-ught it was gonna be."
Which was around the time she caught a flash of red in the night sky. Her eyes bugged out and her determination was renewed. However her endurance wasn't, but that didn't stop her from pedaling even though she felt like she was going to hack up a lung.
Ladybug vanished over a rooftop and Alya took a hard turn, bike tires skidding on the cement.
Then she was back to pedaling, searching for any glimpse of red on any of the roofs.
Her eyes darted back to the road in front of her and she yelped, turning the handlebars sharply to avoid the light post that had the audacity to be in her way.
Her tires screeched almost as loudly as she did as she was flung from the seat of the giant bike.
She hit the ground, bounced once, and slid to a stop with a groan. Her elbow was burning and she knew she skinned her knee.
But all the pain faded away as she caught sight of Ladybug -and Chat Noir- on a low roof across the street.
Alya fumbled her phone as she shot to her feet and pressed record. She zoomed in, which was when she noticed it.
A horned mask that nearly glowed in the darkness. It was bone white with black, soulless eyes.
Alya zoomed in even closer and she could make out the tattered scarf covering the lower half of the mask- where the mouth would be- and a ragged cloak that obscured the rest of the figure.
The two heroes seemed on guard- Alya couldn't make out what they were saying. Ladybug took a step forward and-
The figure vanished in nearly an instant, with the Guardians of Paris chasing after.
Alya stopped recording. She had a grin on her face that was so big it was starting to make her cheeks hurt.
She posted it to the Ladyblog.
. . .
I messed up.
I messed up big time.
On a scale of one to ten of messing up, where one meant I missed my bottle throw in the trash and ten meaning I inadvertently caused a terrorist attack (more likely than you think), I would say it landed on a six or seven, maybe eight if I was being generous.
I was mortified when I got home from my practice last night. I was training in secret, and had been planning on showing myself when I was confident enough to help. The training was supposed to be secret, anyway, which obviously didn't work out.
But not only was I spotted, I was spotted by the two beloved superheroes, who immediately thought I was some sort of Akuma. I couldn't exactly correct them, since apparently being tied to Knight meant pulling an Ariel and losing my voice.
All in all, a pretty awful situation for the home team.
(I was proud that I managed to escape fairly cleanly)
But apparently I didn't escape as cleanly as I hopped, since I went to school the next day and was greeted with this:
"Have you heard the news in the Ladyblog!?" From Alya, who was shoving her phone at literally anyone who hesitated.
Including me- even though I was usually spared from these types of shenanigans (unless, of course, it was Adrien and Nino).
I had squinted my eyes at the blog post, a thirty second long video full of shaky and blurry footage of a midnight Parisian street and an article with the title The Ghost: Hero or Villain?
I was in the middle of scoffing at the stupid name, when the realisation hit me like a pillow full of bricks.
The humiliation crept up swiftly and equally as unexpected. Because now the newly dubbed The Ghost (which was a dumb name) was a sudden overnight celebrity- in the same sense that Bigfoot was a celebrity.
I sunk into my seat, hoping the collar of my Hawaiian shirt would hide any trace of my embarrassment. Then I buried my face in my hands to hide my eyebags- which may or may not have been darker than usual (which seemed almost impossible, since they have always been present and visible).
I could practically feel the concerned glances of my only allies in this crisis.
"Dude, you feeling okay?" It was Nino, because if the sound of his voice didn't give it away, then the fact he always led with 'dude' did. I gave a grumble that could be interpreted in a variety of ways, but was mostly a stalling tactic so I could come up with a good excuse. "Because you look like sh-"
Something slammed on my desk and I dragged my hands down my face. I blinked my eyes open to find perfectly manicured hands spread over my space. I blearily looked over to find the owner of the hands looking vaguely condescending and... something else. Smug? Scornful? I didn't know, mostly because I know or care why Chloe had even approached.
Chloe has mostly ignored me, despite seemingly out to get literally everyone else in the class. I had figured it was just because she didn't know me or because I was so completely unremarkable that I flew under her radar.
I guess it was only a matter of time before it was my turn to get publically roasted (though I'd soon figure out that ignoring me was more of an insult than not).
I was almost interested in what she would come up with.
"Your fashion sense is so atrocious that it burns my eyes whenever I see you," Chloe sneered.
"That shirt looks like you spilled ketchup on it!" Sabrina giggled in the exact way a mean girl from the Disney Channel would. I have yet to figure out their exact relationship. Sabrina was too much of a pushover for them to be in a relationship. But, at the same time, they were hardly apart. She had to be more than just a yes man... yes woman?
They stared at me, and I realized that I had not responded for a touch too long to be considered normal. "I wasn't aware I had a fashion sense."
Chloe's eye twitched. "Why do you wear those horrendous Hawaiian shirts every day then?!"
I shrugged. "Comfy. And I have lots." Then I grinned. "Just wait and see my winter wardrobe."
Chloe didn't speak, her only response was her face contorting briefly before she turned away sharply with a hair flick and stomped to her own seat. Sabrina glared and looked like she was about to hiss like some sort of feral cat, before she followed behind her... friend? Boss?
I turned back to my desk, only to catch the incredulous gazes of both Adrien and Nino. And Alya. And Marinette. And-
"Dude, what was that?"
I paused. "I'm pretty sure it was a conversation. Wild right?"
Nino shook his head. "No. I have never seen Chloe back down that quickly."
"I think you caught her off guard." Adrien offered up.
I tilted my head. "How on earth did I catch her off guard by being honest?"
Nino furrowed his eyebrows. "She might not have expected you to not care about fashion. Or maybe that you roasted yourself harder than she tried to roast you?"
"I'm my own worst critic." I nodded sagely. "There's nothing she could say to hurt me that I haven't already thought about."
Adrien looked scandalized. "Keana!"
I rolled my eyes, because he should have been used to my sense of humor by now.
It didn't end there, despite my existence apparently causing Chloe a migraine. And she must have overheard what I said and decided to take that as a challenge.
She cornered me next in the girl's locker room just as I was swapping materials for my next class.
She slammed my locker shut just as I had begun to turn around and kept her arm there. I looked over to her, only to see her leaning close. My nose wrinkled slightly since her attempt to intimidate me only made me uncomfortable.
"Listen, American," Chloe sneered at me, for a reason I couldn't quite decipher. "You keep your grimy little fingers away from my Adrikins."
"Wha...?" I blinked. What did that have to do with anything at all...?
She rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't understand. How dumb are you?"
A spark of irritation ignited in my chest, though it was mostly drowned by my bewilderment. What is this girl's problem? "I understand you perfectly fine. I just don't know why you care so much."
"It's simple, really." The blond flipped her hair and scoffed. "You're a danger to everyone around you."
Anger flared- it wasn't mine- and I could practically hear Knight growl.
"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?" My forehead creased into deep trenches. I hadn't done anything dangerous recently, my 'hero' practice was limited to myself and Chase, I was a pretty cautious person: I haven't ever even broken a bone in my body, though I did stub my toe hard enough that it bled once. I didn't go to the hospital or anything, so my record was still unbroken. I don't think I broke anything when I fell down that sinkhole-
"You didn't even realise your stupid little friend turned into an akuma even when it was standing right in front of you." Chloe's manicured nail was pointed straight at me, nearly an inch from my face. "And then you managed to get Adrikins in trouble and then got it mad!"
The fire returned, burning in the back of my mind. But it was stopped entirely by the chill of doubt and guilt.
Knight raged.
I couldn't tear my eyes away from the sneering blond. My vision was going hazy at the edges.
"Sorry, I have to get to class," Someone said. It was me, I think, because the next thing I knew, I was walking out of the locker room, each movement jerky and forced. Chloe watched me go the whole time.
(Hallways are hell to someone who's mid breakdown. So much noise and crowds and clutter and chatter and touching and gossip about who likes who and who hates who and-)
I stumbled into the bathroom. Each shred of embarrassment, joy, and positivity was buried under an all encompassing blanket of guilt and what if she's right? Am I just a danger to everyone around me, to my friends-?
Something bonked into my forehead.
I blinked. My eyelashes stuck together. My cheeks felt damp.
A black blur was floating directly in front of my face. I blinked again. My vision cleared and focused.
n̶o̷t̸ b̷a̴d̷.҉ g̸o҉o̵d҈.̸ P̸r҈o̶t̶e̸c҈t̴o҈r̷.̸ H̸o̶l̶d҉e̶r҈.̵ f̵r̷i̸e̷n̶d҉
They drifted closer, their stubby little arms opened wide. They pressed their cool body against my forehead- a hug, I realised, from a something that didn't have any concept of a hug.
It was...
(cold)
Comforting.
"You always know what to do." I smiled, which felt small and fragile yet unbreakable. "I shouldn't let some random girl tell me how to feel."
I felt better after another few minutes and headed to class.
. . .
Chase approached me at lunch, to my befuddlement. We generally had an agreement to not bother each other at school- he had his friends, I had mine, and I didn't know how to act around his friends.
He raised an eyebrow after asking about my day and then showed me the article on his phone.
The article I had completely forgotten about in the wake of Chloe being weird.
The Ghost: Hero or Villain?
Then he showed an edited version of Alya's video where, instead of running away, Ghost just vanished with a puff of smoke with the caption of 'yall ugly.'
It was under the newly added Meme category on the Ladyblog.
My face screwed up in pain as the humiliation returned. And it stung even more since Chase was there to laugh at my misfortune.
"This is serious!" I pouted. "How am I supposed to tell them I'm not a supervillain being controlled by an evil psychopath terrorist if I physically can't speak!?"
"You sure you want to talk about this in the lunch line?" Chase asked.
I stared at him. "What are the odds there are people close to us that are fluent in English and actually care enough to eavesdrop?"
"Hmm," He shrugged. "Sucks to be you."
"What happened to my supportive older brother!?" I cried.
"You killed him," Chase deadpanned, "with all your whining."
"I don't whine!"
AN: Sorry for the wait. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
I figured I should tell y'all I also have this posted on ao3, with additional content like art and drabbles for the series. Can't exactly post art in , so I figured I'd let you all know where to find it. I put the deleted scene over there.