#He‘s always been a bit blind but this isn‘t normal

[idontliketomatoesleavemealone]

Guys, I‘m home alone right now (got home from school early) and my guinea pig‘s eye doesn‘t look good at all, what do I do?

[ecofinisher]

A New Partnership - Chap 20

Chapter 20

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26109937/chapters/66477067

https://www.wattpad.com/972489012-a-new-partnership-practicing

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13681547/20/A-new-partnership

In the evening Onyx sat on the top of the arc de Triomphe holding a smartphone in his hands adjusting the privacy settings of a group he created for the superhero squad.

„Okay, this should be fine for now,“ Onyx spoke to himself, then moved his right cat ear as he heard a familiar sound then looked back to see Ladybug appear and walk towards him. „Hey I‘ve just finished the group for us all,“

„That‘s cool,“ Ladybug answered sitting down next to him, then placed her hands under her face sighing while she looked across the metropole at the many buildings in front of her. Onyx noticed Ladybug was in a different mood, then held out his smartphone to the heroine that had the group member list open and Ladybug began to type down an email, while Onyx waited for her.

„How are you doing?“ Onyx asked earning a nod from Ladybug.

„I‘m good,“ Ladybug answered watching the screen load and show an account, which said Lady Bug, then pressed on the word add to join the group of Onyx.

„Ah you‘re spelled like that?“ Onyx asked making Ladybug shake her head.

„No, I just had to go that way, cause adding Ladybug twice would sound weird,“

„Okay,“ Onyx answered, then Ladybug found Onyx‘s account on the list next to her, which said Tomcat Onyx, making Ladybug grin.

„Tomcat?“

„Yes I‘m a male cat,“ Onyx stated making Ladybug chuckle, followed by Onyx, then Ladybug sigh making Onyx turn neutral at her noise. „Do you miss your old partner?“ Onyx questioned making Ladybug shrug her shoulders.

„You know…..I‘ve messed up a lot in the past. It‘s just because of my crush on his civilian identity I have put Paris in trouble, my friends and have all previous heroes have their identity discovered. I don‘t know why I kept insisting on going behind Adrien when he clearly wasn‘t interested in me or didn‘t seem to. Or why we didn‘t reveal each other's identity before right at the start? Nothing of all this would even come to happen,“

„I understand that you feel guilty for his absence now, but at least you know he‘s safer up in the UK,“

„I know,“

„If I may ask, I thought you were over him, or did I miss something?“

„I don‘t know, some things just keep remembering me about him,“ Ladybug mentioned. „I need to get over him, what good is it if we‘re both in different countries and he‘s moving on with his life with a new girl?“

„No good, just heartbreaking,“ Confessed the cat-themed superhero. „How did you find out about that? Have you still contact with him?“

„A civilian friend of mine has spoken with him and I even saw that girl. She was tall, light-blonde hair, hazel eyes…..she‘s like the Polish version of Kagami,“ Ladybug told. „I couldn‘t compete with her, so this Aja will be the same,“

„I don‘t know you fully Ladybug, but it‘s the first time I see you have insecurities, not about missions, but about yourself,“ „It‘s something I can‘t change Onyx and probably I never will,“ Ladybug said. „No wonder Adrien was more interested in Kagami or now Aja. They‘re all secure, confident and on good terms with him,“

„But you two were good friends during the time you two were fighting crimes together. Even when he was Adrien he sure saw you as a friend,“

„Yes he called me plenty of times a friend, but I never managed to ask him out on a date or anything normal. Kagami could, but not me because my fear was always blocking me.,“

„It‘s okay to have fears, you just don‘t have to let them overtake on you, like on these akuma villains. You didn‘t give up yet when it was hard to deal with, right?“

„Yes, but this is me as Ladybug….oh…..do you know what the worst part is?“

„Uh no?“

„I know now that Cat Noir had been Adrien Agreste this entire time and what would you think, if he knew what my identity was?“ Ladybug asked making Onyx shrug his shoulders. „He would see, that the real me and Ladybug aren‘t exactly alike, then lose his interest in me,“

„I don‘t think this would have happened. At least I believe that,“

„You can be honest with me. There is no possible way for us to be a thing,“

„I‘m being honest Ladybug, really. You know at the end of the day, you‘re still the same person behind that mask. The fact you two don‘t know each other that well, is because you were spending most of the time fighting akumas, that you probably never had time to get to know each other. Even if he knew your that good, he would have accepted it. Or should, I don‘t know him in person to be judging his actions and person,“

„If he wouldn‘t he would need to change?“

„You know from my experiences people don‘t really change. People do talk a lot about change, mostly girls, and look changing or trying to change just for someone to like you isn‘t great. You will hurt yourself with this task, also you will end up hurting the person you want you to like too. You will only show the person the traits about you, that they like, but you end up hiding the ones they don‘t like or even you dislike, in fear of losing that person. If you would do that every day you would get exhausted and feel different towards yourself. You…..wouldn‘t recognize yourself anymore,“

„This kind of doesn‘t make any sense. How do others turn better when they learned from mistakes they have done?“

„Age, time and Circumstances most of the time lead certain people to change earlier, grow up from what they are to what they become. We have Kagami for example, her father died years ago, she was left only with her mom, which apparently is blind. Two tragic circumstances, that lead Kagami at a young age to mature in a short period to be there for her mother. Some of these changes are actually just you growing up as a person. Or your former friend Viperion, he grew out of his rebellious acts during childhood as his father left and had to help out in the house taking care of his mother and his younger sibling. I don‘t know how well you knew him, but this is another piece of info I know about his past,“

„I have to admit, that for me Luka in the past doesn‘t sound like someone, that would harm a fly,“

„I didn‘t believe him either as he told me about it,“ Onyx admitted with a chuckle. „Ladybug look, you don‘t have to change those bits of you just for someone to like you, you just gotta be yourself. To 100% there is someone out there that likes you just the way you are,“ The black-dressed superhero assured making Ladybug smile gently at the superhero, which forward looked at the buildings as Ladybug began to look at him with an enchanted facial expression.

„I won!“ A voice shouted, then Onyx looked back along with Ladybug to see Super Snake land on top of the arc, followed by Hydra landing behind him.

„This was kind of mean for Carapace,“ Hydra mentioned looking at Ladybug and Onyx approach the two heroes.

„Here you two, add your superhero accounts and we‘ll be all connected,“ Ladybug said handing Super Snake out the smartphone of Onyx.

„What‘s on the to-do list today?“ Super Snake asked while filling in his information on the group.

„I was thinking of splitting us up tonight. Super Snake and Carapace would be with me and Onyx would practice with Hydra with their weapons,“ Ladybug suggested. „If that‘s okay“

„That sounds like a good start,“ Onyx mentioned looking at Hydra, which nodded. „Don‘t worry, we‘re both safe,“

„Alright will you two practice here?“ Ladybug asked earning a nod from Hydra, which then received the smartphone from Super Snake to add her information.

„If necessary we go down, don‘t worry,“ Onyx said receiving the smartphone back, then handed it out to Ladybug. „Just Carapace is missing,“

„We will see him, I call you later for a change of plans,“ Ladybug said earning a nod from the raven-haired superhero, then she left along with Super Snake and Onyx looked at Hydra, which took out her sword pointing at him, making him chuckle.

„Do you know some moves yet?“ Onyx asked making Hydra shrug her shoulders, then Onyx took out his staff and held it next to Hydra‘s sword.

„Well the basics I think,“ Hydra responded pushing the staff away to fence him with her sword watching Onyx hold his staff normally, then Hydra stopped and stabbed her sword on the ground. „It was bad, was it?“

„No I just thinking about your posture,“ Onyx mentioned walking at the side of Hydra, then looked down at her legs and used his staff to make a bigger distance between her feet, which were closer to each other. „I think you should have a foot behind you and your back should be straight,“ Onyx instructed watching her change position.

„Like this?“ Hydra asked earning a nod from Onyx.

„I‘m not a pro either, but I think it is better,“ Onyx answered. „You still have to find it out for yourself,“

„Okay I will try,“ Hydra said holding her sword up, then Onyx stood on the other side and attacked her battling her shortly making her lose the sword. „I‘m sorry,“

„Don‘t worry, you‘re practicing,“

„You seem very patient I noticed,“ Hydra mentioned making Onyx wide his eyes.

„You think so?“ Onyx asked earning a nod from the superheroine. „Thanks, I didn‘t think that about myself,“

„You already were patient with me the other day I told you, what happened,“

„I was just making sure you were alright,“ Onyx noticed. „So little dragon, shall we continue our training before Ladybug decides to change plans?“ Onyx asked, then is attacked by Hydra in surprise and he managed to dominate her watching her try to take the lead.

Gabriel sat in front of his computer typing down an email, then noticed on the top a bell symbol shake announcing an incoming mail, then Gabriel pressed on it to see, what type of email it was a saw the address of Adrien‘s boarding school and opened it.

„Redirected from Amelie Graham de Vanily…...Dear Mrs. Graham de Vanily, you‘re invited to see the performance of your son or daughter in the play as Romeo and Juliett…...“ Gabriel kept reading in silence then watched at the end of the invitation a message from Amelie, his sister-in-law.

„Hey Gabriel we saved a place for you at the play. I believe Adrien would love it if you would appear there. Imagine he will play the role of Romeo, isn‘t that great? Emilie sure would love if you would attend this play, Lovely greetings from the Graham de Vanily‘s.“

Gabriel closed the email, then continued to write on his email, then received a video call from Nathalie, which he attended it.

„Nathalie?“

„Sir guess what I‘m seeing right in front of my road,“ Nathlie turned her smartphone away from her face to show Carapace jump from tree to tree along with Super Snake searching for Ladybug, which was at the other end of the park waiting for their arrival.

„Are they practicing?“ Gabriel asked earning a nod from Nathalie.

„Also Adrien‘s successor and the dragon one were seen practicing at the top of the arc de Triomphe,“ Nathalie pointed out making Gabriel laugh.

„Their training won‘t help out much against my akumas. The reason they're still safe is, that they‘re all fighting together as an actual team and that Ladybug is still around,“ Gabriel said looking at the record of Nathalie, then saw Ladybug pass by flying at the top of the building, where Nathalie was followed by Super Snake. Gabriel heard Carapace call for the members of the team and Gabriel squinted his eyes to look closer at the superhero. „Nathalie zoom closer to that hero,“ Gabriel ordered watching the camera zoom at the face of Carapace, then he held his hand in front of his mouth to ponder about the face. „Has Carapace‘s identity not been revealed yet?“

„I remember all identities being revealed except for Ladybug‘s,“

„Wait a minute, I need to check out that ladyblog,“ Gabriel mentioned opening the saved page on his computer and scrolled the page down to encounter recent images of the new superheroes with the exception of the dragon superhero. Gabriel opened a separate tab to enter the blog again, then searched for the older posts to encounter the last task of the superheroes, where they stood in front of the Trocadero in front of Miracle Queen. Gabriel looked through the available pictures shared by a foreign user where he saw the civilian identities of the superheroes, then Gabriel zoomed into the picture to see the students. „Carapace is still around, cause his identity wasn‘t revealed and the only student here to not have shown the identity was Adrien‘s friend Niko,“

„Nino“ Nathalie corrected.

„Yes. At that time his miraculous was being used by Master Fu, so that‘s why we couldn‘t see him,“

„Have you got a plan, sir?“

„Not yet. I need to think about it,“

„Tomorrow I‘ll be there and try to help you out,“

„Thank you, Nathalie. I have to finish the call, I‘m trying to finish a mail,“

„Sure, have a good night,“ Nathalie wished turning the phone off, then Gabriel looked at the screen, where the picture of the superheroes stood, then jumped back to the previous tab to see the newer heroes.

„Whoever is behind each mask, you should not have shown up to fight, but don‘t worry, the day will come, where you all will make a mistake and suffer consequences,“ Gabriel reprimanded continuing to look at the pictures of the rookies.

The next day Nino sat on the stairs typing down a message to his girlfriend Alya, then after he sent it he received a notification from his friend Alya and Nino opened the message to see a closed video, making Nino furrow his eyebrow at seeing an Estonian-based train, „Huh? Slavic train with hardbass?“ Nino said pressing on the video to show a railway and a train coming along it with a quieter sound playing in the background. Nino noticed the train moving on the rail closer to the screen, then it was switched to a black screenshot with a bunch of people dancing in a dark to a louder bass making Nino grin at the video Adrien sent him. Video changed back to the train which still taxed on the rail making Nino have the feeling the train was slowly shaking on the rail to the music, then Nino pressed on the thumb up reaction and sent the friend three laughing emojis.

„Now that‘s a party I wanna do for my 18th birthday,“ Nino mentioned, then rolled his eyes up to see Luka approach and wave at the brunette boy.

„Good morning“ Luka greeted. „You seem amused today,“

„Oh Adrien just sent me this vine here and it kinda gave me a cool idea for my birthday party“ Nino answered playing the video for the tall boy.

„That would actually be cool,“ Luka admitted. „Better than in a house or a boat,“

„Hey your boat is great too, just for some reason the train variant seems double legit,“

„I believe so,“

„Are you going to hang out with someone today?“ Nino asked. „Alya is sick and isn‘t able to come to school,“

„Probably no one so far,“ Luka responded. „Well I lately have been hanging out with Jin,“

„We can give Marinette some company. Maybe I can help you two out in getting somehow closer?“ Nino suggested making Luka wide his eyes bewildered.

„Uh why are you offering to help?“

„We all know you like her. She…..well….it‘s hard to know if she likes you or not, but Alya believes she does too, but it‘s just because her crush on Adrien she doesn‘t really see you as a possible love interest,“

„Yes I understand that, but I prefer to let things go by themself. Marinette at the moment is upset knowing Adrien has a girlfriend,“

„Okay…..oh about that….she‘s not really his girlfriend, but as I saw he seems to have an interest in her, but doesn‘t feel like he wants to give her a chance at the moment,“

„He probably misses Ladybug I think or Marinette or Kagami. I really have no idea, but I know he would rather be here than there,“ Luka stated earning a nod from Nino.

„Adrien has a thing for bluenettes, all those three girls have the same hair color.“

„It probably has something to do with him have been locked up in his dad‘s house for years and now when he met these three, which were probably the ones to have shown him any actual, real interest in him. I always heard introverts and people, that are less outgoing tend to fall in love quicker than usual,“

„Marinette was the first girl I fell in love with first“ Luka mentioned. „I don‘t know why,“ He explained sitting down on the stairs next to the boy. „There was just something in my heart telling me, that she was the one. Isn‘t that crazy?“

„I think that love is like that. You see that one person and think wow she‘s so beautiful and I love her. You begin to think of how your life would be with that person, then it never happens cause she either doesn‘t love your back or loves someone else,“ „Yeah, this is how I felt most of the times during the days Adrien was around,“ Luka spoke a little sad. „No offense, Adrien is a good guy in my opinion“

„No worry man,“ Nino responded, then looked in front at the road to see Marc being dropped off by a woman, then he stood looking at the bakery of Marinette, where he encountered Lila crossing the streets.

„That‘s Lila, isn‘t it?“ Luka asked earning a nod from the Moroccan boy. „How is she dealing with what happened a few weeks ago?“

„Well, she‘s hanging out a lot with Marc and Nathaniel in the breaks. Also, she and Nathaniel have the task to take care of their baby flour for the…...shit!“ Nino jumped running downstairs making Luka wide his eyes surprised at his reaction. „I forgot my baby at home!“ Nino shouted running past Lila and Marc, which looked at Nino perplexed.

„What did just happen?“ Marc asked looking at Lila.

„I think he forgot the flour bag at home,“ Lila responded. „The project is kinda silly. What‘s the point of taking care of an ingredient, that doesn‘t live? It doesn‘t help us a lot in understanding the need of a baby,“

„I don‘t know it either. But hey it‘s school, I don‘t understand why we have to learn certain topics in math too,“ Marc responded, then both walked up into the court, then took out his smartphone to check the time and put it back again. „Nathaniel has been in the art room for 15 minutes. His mom dropped him off this morning,“

„Really?“ Lila asked earning a nod from the raven-haired boy. „Sounds unusual from him,“

„His mother just doesn‘t want him to oversleep while she is leaving earlier. He at least has time to work on the homework or his comic“

„Well that‘s good too,“ Lila agreed arriving with Marc at the entrance of the art room to see there Nathaniel, Rose, and three students from another class.

„Good morning Nathaniel,“ Marc and Lila greeted, then both stood beside him to see him drawing.

„Hey!“ Nathaniel greeted, therefore he looked up at the two friends. „Already here too?“

„Yes“ Marc responded.

„We just arrived“ Lila added, then looked up at the table of Nathaniel to see their flour bag with its face turned to the other classmates. „Oh Jimmy is here too,“

„You called your flour bag Jimmy?“ Marc asked curious.

„We didn‘t really know how to call it so we just called him Jimmy,“ Lila responded.

„Yes. It‘s not like it matters. It‘s just a bag of flour and I believe Lila and I would never have a child together as we both somehow have familiar issues,“ Nathaniel pointed out earning a nod from the brunette.

„Oh Nathaniel you know just because you all haven‘t got the most perfect family, it doesn‘t mean you will be just like them,“ Rose said walking towards the table, then picked up the bag to hug it. „You would give it the amount of love your parents couldn‘t give you,“

„I received love most of the time,“ Nathaniel defended himself. „Just not always,“

„I don‘t know about you two, but if I‘m ever going to have a family in the future….“ Lila said sitting on the table, while Nathaniel and Marc looked up at her. „If I find the right one and all, I really want to be a decent mom and be present to my kids,“

„Like Rose said, we won‘t ever be bad,“ Marc said approaching Lila. „The reason we will be better is because we have seen the mistakes our parents did and this leads us to act differently,“

„If your mom‘s job is more important than you, why does she even have you?“ Nathaniel asked making Lila raise her eyebrows at his question. „Err…..I mean this as a question, not that you shouldn‘t be here. It‘s just weird if she barely gives a fuck in checking you out or anything,“

„She does care about me. She…..just barely is there to show it to me. She keeps promising, that she will be earlier home or that we will be together on a weekend. But they never happened,“ Lila explained making Marc and Nathaniel feel sad for her.

„Why didn‘t you tell anyone about that?“ Rose questioned the girl, which shrugged.

„I don‘t know. I‘m afraid the social service would take me away and I would be in a worse place,“ Lila answered. „I think I‘m better off alone,“

„No you‘re not,“ Marc said.

„We‘re here as your friends,“

„You can always talk with us. You know we won‘t judge you,“ Marc said making Lila smile a little.

„You two are so kind. Why do you guys treat me like this?“

„You were honest about why you lied,“ Marc answered.

„And you‘re trying your best. You‘ve been doing it well so far,“ Nathaniel added, then one of the foreign student‘s phone rang, and the one, whose phone rang took it to attend it.

„Hey has anyone have any idea, who that akuma was yesterday?“ Rose questioned. „It was like a huge Unicorn, but creepy“

„I…..heard it was Kagami‘s mom,“ Nathaniel responded, then the trio along with Rose looked at the boy, that had attended the phone call being comforted by the two friends. „What happened?“

„We‘re going with you, Tony. You don‘t have to go to the retirement home alone,“ The female student said earning a nod from the male friend, which headed to the exit of the classroom.

Down at the entrance, Marinette appeared encountering at the stairs Luka chatting together with Nino, which had his bag of flour on his arms.

„Morning Nino. You‘ve heard about Alya?“ Marinette asked earning a nod from the best friend‘s boyfriend.

„Yep, I was talking with Luka here. He asked me if I would like to help him with the sound for his music video.,“ Nino mentioned. „I‘ve heard you would be responsible for the articles of clothing.“

„Yes I am,“ Marinette responded. „Hey, we could work this evening on it…..if we manage to get our homework done in time?“

„Haven‘t you done your homework yet?“ Nino questioned curiously.

„Just the one for next week is missing, I had planned this evening to…..help my dad sort out the stuff in our cellar. It‘s easier if we do it together than he alone,“

„Come, you can do it later or another day,“ Nino stated. „It's not like the cellar will go away“

„Yes, but I promised him,“ Marinette lied earning a nod from Nino.

„It‘s okay Marinette. If you want you can also postpone my invitation if you‘re very busy,“

„No, no Luka, it‘s fine. I just need to organize myself correctly,“ Marinette mentioned. „I could come for a bit or even do some designs while I‘m free of work,“

„If you think that‘s good for you,“ Luka responded. „But hey if you‘ve got a lot to do, just forget it. I don‘t want you to be always busy,“

„Thank you, Luka, but I really want to help you,“ Marinette admitted. „I owe you after the way I‘ve been treating you,“

„What do you mean?“

„I‘ve been always treating you like a plan B. You have been doing a lot for me and I never have been really thankful to you,“

„Oh well…..it‘s up to you. I just do this, because I just wanted to help,“

„I will make it up to you. I promise,“ Marinette said making Luka smile a little, while Marinette smiled too, but a little more bashful. Nino noticed Jin appear along with Yi, then he got up shrieking Marinette, which fell on Luka‘s arms hitting her head on his forehead.

„Oh shit, my bad“ Nino apologized looking down at the two, then Marinette grinned embarrassed turning red on her face and Luka helped her up while passing his hand on his forehead.

„I‘m fine,“ Said the raven-haired boy as Marinette grinned sheepishly at what happened.

„So am I. I‘m sorry,“ Marinette apologized. „Shall…..we go to the cafeteria for a drink?“ Marinette suggested earning a nod from Luka, which walked up the stairs followed by Marinette leaving Nino back which raised his fist in victory.

„Woo! They bought it,“ Nino chanted, then Jin appeared along with Yi, then looked confused at the brown-skinned boy.

„What happened?“ Jin began while Yi, watched the others leave.

„Eventually I managed to make them go alone somewhere. With a bit of luck, they get closer“

„That‘s cool,“ Jin agreed, making Nino smile, which walked into the court leaving the two childhood friends back.

„Did I miss something?“ Yi questioned looking up at Jin.

„You know Luka has been quite a little while in love with Marinette, but as she was….is in love with Adrien Agreste, she….never saw him as someone more than a friend,“

„Okay,“

„Yeah that‘s love,“ Jin said. „Have you ever had an interest in someone lately?" Jin questioned the girl, which shrugged her shoulders.

„I may have had a little interest in the superhero Super Snake. But he‘s a superhero. It‘s something I can‘t start with,“

„What‘s so interesting on him?“ Jin asked. „You don‘t know him really well?“

„I don‘t know. He just seems like a kind person,“ Yi answered. „Am I making you jealous?“ Yi asked noticing Jin getting embarrassed, which made her smirk.

„No of course not! It…..just is weird to have an attraction on a superhero. While I do have to admit I saw the new superheroine, that battled the horse-robot yesterday was kinda pretty too,“ Jin stated making Yi cross her arms.

„You seem like you have seen her from real close,“

„No…..from images…..from the ladyblog….well they‘re not really close, but…..she was pretty though,“ Jin invented making Yi chuckle.

„Alright I got it, don‘t worry,“ Yi commented walking towards the arc of the school. „I need to get to my locker, see you later,“

„See ya!“ Jin said waving at the girl, then Plagg locked out with his head from the shirt to look at Jin.

„Hey babyface, jealous of your superhero pal?“ Plagg asked making Jin frown.

„No I was just surprised at her answer not much,“ Jin responded.

„Did you want, that she would answer Onxy?“

„No I was expecting she would but she didn‘t,“ Explained Jin. „Hey come I need to get my French books, I‘ve got there one wheel of Camembert…..again,“

„Just the way I like it,“ Plagg said licking his lips.

„I don‘t understand how you‘re so small and eat that much,“

„I haven‘t eaten in years, Cheesesteak. You‘re lucky you didn‘t have to pass through that,“

„Good, good. At least I don‘t have to explain my parents where my money went,“ Jin mentioned entering into the court making his way to the wardrobe.