Description: Everyone cared about Ivan, and they were worried for him too. Little did they know - Ivan had worries too.
It was widely accepted (pun not intended) that Ivan was the biggest guy in his class. Unfortunately, this made Ivan a bit slower than his friends, and when akuma came around, he was often a victim; whether he was a target or not was situational.
Naturally, Mylene and the rest of the class were worried. Even though Ladybug and Chat Noir fixed everything… well, you can’t cure bad memories as you could with bones or diseases. So the students of Ms. Bustier (minus Ivan, Chloe and Sabrina) held a council at Marinette’s house to decide the best course of action over pastries.
There were lots of arguments given over how to keep Ivan safe. Marinette and Juleka suggested helping him blend in with clothes and makeup, Alya offered to find the local superheroes and get their help… there were many ideas, but none of them were really that good, as akuma tended to be rather unpredictable.
“WE SHOULD TRAIN HIM!” Kim shouted over the cacophony of quarreling kids.
Immediately, everyone else went silent, mulling the idea over in their heads. Finally, Adrien spoke up.
“That’s a great idea, Kim! Can I add on to your genius idea with an offer of my own?”
When Kim shrugged, Adrien continued.
“Should I get the Gorilla’s help?”
“I dunno, buddy - we gotta get the council leader’s opinion.”
Everybody’s eyes zoomed over to Mylene, the aforementioned council leader. She blushed harder than Marinette had blushed towards her now-boyfriend before the two suddenly got together, but the young Haprèle managed to nod nevertheless. All members of the group started cheering; they finally had a plan to help their big guy. Intimidating and scary as he could be, he was, after all, one of theirs, and nobody in their class was going to get left behind.
A new voice interrupted the celebration, slightly muffled by the fact that they were outside the window. Every face in the crowd, including Sabine and Tom (who had come up to see what was going on with all the sudden noise) whipped over to this stranger.
“No worries, guys, I can handle keeping him safe. If you want, I’ll make it a priority.”
The black and yellow striped newcomer told them with confidence exuded but clearly hiding a mix of awkwardness and fear to Alya, Marinette and Adrien.
“...who are you?” Alya asked, having broke out of the her shocked stupor first.
“I’m Negaueris, the newest ally to our local superheroes!” the Bee-wielding blow-in replied, a kind smile on his face.
But just as quickly as he had interrupted, his face grew serious. “I have information for Ladybug and Chat Noir, and I heard from a source that Marinette can get it to them! Is this true, miss?”
Marinette was starting to pick up on Miraculous-based lies (she’d made her fair share of them, after all) and had by that default learned to tell if someone was a wielder by their words. It was how she got Adrien and her together, after all! So, having figured out Negaueris already, she responded “Sure thing, but I need to grab my bag really quick. When I’m ready,” Marinette explained casually — freaking most of her class out in the process — “could you take me to somewhere safe so I can call Ladybug without anyone disturbances? We have some of her biggest fans right here, after all!”
Negaueris acquiesced to her request, and after taking her in his hands, he took off for a safe spot, leaving their classmates behind (when Marinette returned, she’d find that they’d all left. Apparently, that meant right above Ivan’s house, because that’s where they landed.
Marinette just giggled to herself when she realized out where they were. “I had a hunch we’d go here, Ivan.”
Hearing his name, the inexperienced Negaueris turned over to face her, and he would have spoken further had he not realized his blunder. He gasped out some words I refuse to put in this family-friendly fanfic. Marinette just looked surprised; she’d never heard him swear once, whether because of his quietness or mere refusal to swear. Still, she knew she’d be hearing a lot more swearing from him if he stuck around in the superhero business; it was a painful job.
Leaning into Ivan’s ear, she whispered, “It’s not a serious problem, Negaueris. We all know each others’ identities anyway.”
She sat down so nobody else could see her and transformed into Ladybug before the newbie could utter a word.
“We’ll talk about that later; for now, we need to get you some practice before we throw you at any akumas. I’ve already planned a newbie’s training out - you’re going to need it if you want to escape akuma, Negaueris.” Ivan recollected himself and nodded with the most determination he’d ever had about physical exercise.
