Butterfly Boy

Chapter 26

They're looking at the stars, probably on the Eiffel tower or something.

Adrien looked between his friends nervously. A bit of his hair fell in front of his eye and he realized it was still windswept like it always got after he'd jumped around fighting.

He automatically ran a hand through it. It easily fell to the side in his usual fashion.

Suddenly Danny burst out laughing, making Adrien jump is surprise.

Danny couldn't help himself. He laughed as he crumbled on the floor helplessly. The whole situation was just too hilarious for him to handle.

His laughing reverie seemed to shake Ladybug out of her shock induced trance and she tensed. Adrien watched her clutch her yoyo like a lifeline and her eyes flit around the room as if looking for a way to escape.

Adrien looked on with fear in his eyes as he held his kwami tighter. Then he scowled in sudden anger. "What is so funny."

Danny snorted as he slowly got ahold of himself. "This whole thing- it's just..." he burst out laughing again, not even able to finish his sentence.

Adrien scowled harder. "Me being Chat Noir. Yeah, I'm sure nobody expected that. Someone as 'perfect' as the son of a famous designer to be the actual mess that Chat is." His voice cracked, making Ladybug and Danny snap to attention.

They stared at him with a bit of shock, surprise clear in their expressions.

"Well. I didn't mean it like that," Danny winced, "though that IS a bit surprising."

Adrien scoffed.

Ladybug bit her lip. "You're...you're not that different..."

"Sure. You don't even believe that lie!" Adrien pointed accusingly at her and she was shocked to find him considerably angry. She'd never seen him like this before. He laid his kwami on his lap before crossing his arms in an attempt to calm himself. However, the other two could see the respressed anger and frustration in the blond's expression.

"Everybody loves Adrien. He's a perfect and obedient child who's always positive and oh wait, he's a model." He brought back the discussion that had been on his mind since, mocking it. "What they don't know is that he has been trying to get his father's attention ever since his mom died! They don't know-" he paused as his eyes filled with tears. "They don't understand." Suddenly he was back to scowling and he looked at his friends in front of him. "And Chat Noir is the complete opposite. He's reckless and does stupid stuff and he's allowed to do it. It's the most freedom I've had in a long time. But nobody likes Chat Noir. They just tolerate him. Because he saved them like three times. The rest of the times he was just in the way. All I can do is destroy things." Tears were running down his face by now as he stared down at his hands and the ring around one of his fingers. How such a small thing could represent so much happiness yet so much responsibility to Adrien was a mystery to him. "They are so different I don't even know who I am anymore."

Marinette hadn't realized she was crying too when she reached forward to grab her partner's hand. "You're not so different. There's a little of you hidden in both personas. I know that you care a lot about other people. You yearn freedom. Even though, you're famous and could literally get anyone to do anything for you, you never abuse that power and you are very loyal. I've never seen a kinder soul, my kitty. You've saved me so many times. You're not in the way at all."

Adrien managed a small smile at her.

"So can I say that you're good at puns or is that gonna ruin the moment."

The two heroes groaned at their albino friend, who was grinning at them.

Adrien laughed as he wiped his face. "Thank you, guys." He glanced down and remembered his kwami, who was looking at him expectantly. He smiled, mumbled an apology and brought out a piece of Camembert from a plastic sack he had stashed in one of his inner pockets.

Danny scrunched his nose. So that's why Adrien smelled like cheese the whole time. It wasn't that bad of a smell. Danny liked cheese. It was just strong.

"This is Plagg," Adrien introduced. The kwami barely payed them any attention except for a warning glance, as if telling them to watch out what they said to his boy.

Danny smiled and waved. Cool, he thought, the ghost persona of a cat. It looked kind of cute, even all anime-like as it is. With its big head and giant eyes.

There was a sudden beep in the room and the occupiers flinched, not having expected more beeping. Ladybug's hand flew to her ears and her eyes screamed panic for a second. She turned to Danny and asked how many she had left.

Danny squinted. "There's three black spots if that's what you mean."

There was a tense silence as the two boys watched Ladybug and she pondered the pros and cons. She looked up at Adrien who cocked his head. He nodded. She could leave if she wanted. He wouldn't stop her.

"Well," Plagg asked impatiently and it was the first time the others had heard his voice and Danny immediately knew he was a sassy one. "If you wait any longer you won't have to make a choice."

Ladybug sighed and let go of her yoyo and relaxed on the ground.

Danny blinked in surprise. He'd never thought he would see something so brave from her. He grinned with pride.

Adrien meanwhile had widened his eyes and tensed up. "You sure, my Lady?"

Ladybug blushed red at hearing the same words she'd heard come from her partner come out of her crush's mouth. When Chat said it, it was a nickname. A part of his flirty demeanor that ended up in the both of them getting tangled in a battle of words and quips. It was their thing. She would definitely have to get used to this.

She nodded. "I'm sure. You deserve to know, Adrien."

Danny sighed. "Now that we're going to have to wait another one of these transformations out can someone fill me in. How the heck did you find me?"

Adrien smiled and gestured towards Danny's butterflies that were still perched on the boy. "We just had to follow them. The flocked towards one specific direction so we thought they would know where to go."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "So they could feel where I was? That's interesting. I thought the sensing the other thing was one sided."

Ladybug frowned, deliberatingly ignoring the beep stupidly close to her ear. "You can sense them?"

Danny nodded. "How else do you think I knew where the akumas were? I couldn't at first, but it's gotten stronger over time." He leaned back on his arms, a thoughtful expression on his face. He smiled. He'd learned a lot today. Hawkmoth wasn't the only one who'd gotten something out of this encounter. And he would use it to the fullest.

I know the timing isn't perfect but whatever. I'm done having to apologize every time cuz it gets old. I'll update when I can and i can't promise much. Sorry (darn there I go again)

I was going to have Danny gain hawkmoth type powers later in but decided not to bc it don't add anything to the plot and it wouldn't make sense with the ending. It also got too complicated. Danny would at first only be able to akimatize people with the person's own Akuma with which they had been akumatozed before (they'd keep their will of course), but then I realized that dnany had caught the Akuma before it akumatized anybody so that can't be it...and now I'm gonna drop it cuz this book is about the civilians stepping up in their own way, not more heroes appearing so I'm sorry.

Adios a todos los hispanohablantes y a quien sea que está traduciendo esto en el traductor de Google.

PS. I really wanted to make a HP 'why couldn't it be follow the butterflies' joke but then the other way around. Could also be PJO...