#deaf ladybug

Nathaniël snorted into his hand as he watched his best friend faceplant after trying to chase after a little girl who was barely over two feet tall. He looked away innocently when Marinette shot him a glare.

"I'd like to see you do better," Marinette signed to him after recovering to her feet, tryimg to save what dignity she had left after tripping over a Barbie doll car.

"Hey, I proudly admit I am awful with kids. You, however," he pointed his pencil at her, "are too nice to ever tell a child no when they want something." He nodded toward Manon playing on Marinette's phone for good measure.

Marinette pouted at him. "Why did I invite you over again?" Despite her remark, she had a playful look on her face as she leaned over the couch to get a better look at what he was drawing.

"Oh, wow! Nath, that's beautiful!" Marinette grinned at him, watching as his face turned a pretty shade of red to match his hair. "You've always been so good at drawing clouds."

Nathaniël smiled, willing down his blush. "I'm not one to focus on landscape pieces, but since they're picking a new weather girl, I had some inspiration."

"Speaking of weather, I'm glad the rain has cleared up." Marinette sighed, taking a seat besides Nathaniël where she could keep her eyes on Manon, who was playing with her dolls. "I usually love stormy weather, but it's been such a hassle to walk to and from school in."

Nathaniël perked up, "oh, that reminds me," he trailed off, moving his body so they were facing each other. "I was wondering if you wanted to start walking to school together. The bakery is on my way, and maybe now you'll have a reason to stop being late," he teased and she rolled her eyes at him.

"I'd like that," she pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "I feel like we haven't had much time to hang out together due to all these school projects they're throwing at us. I miss you," she smiled shyly at him.

Nathaniël's face flushed to match his hair. He began to stutter out a response, his hands moving without actually forming words. Thankfully, he was saved from his embarssment by the ceiling light flickering and the sound of the doorbell ringing.

Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng has installed a light monitor to let Marinette know when someone was at the door since she couldn't exactly hear knocking ― being deaf and all.

Standing, Marinette walked up to the door. Manon followed her, clinging to her leg as she opened the door. Nathaniël smiled when he saw it was Alya.

The two of them weren't very close. At least, not as close as she and Marinette had become, but they still talked from time to time. He'd help translate something in Sign if she hadn't know the right word for it, and she's bite back at Chloé if she made any snide remarks about him around her. She was the perfect balance of extroverted to push Marinette and Nathaniël out of their comfort zones, while still being respectful enough to keep in mind their boundries.

"Hey Mari. Oh! Hi Nathaniël," she grinned as she spotted him and he gave a small wave. Alya turned back to Marinette, speaking as she signed, "there's a foodtruck at the park to celebrate the new weather girl. Since the bakery is on the way there, I stopped by to ask if you wanted to join me."

Marinette perked up at the mention of food, realizing it was getting close to lunch time. Marinette turned to Nathaniël, "would you wanna go to the park? You can bring your sketch book, if you want."

Nathaniël set his sketchpad down before replying. "Sure, but it's not me you should be asking," he looked down, and she followed his gaze to the little girl clinging onto her leg.

Marinette had been hesitant to accept the babysitting gig, since being deaf could make things a lot more difficult. Nadja insisted it would be fine, and went on to say that she had been raising Manon to br multilingual and had put her in Sign classes, and that having a deaf babysitter would really help her to improve. That had been two years ago, and Marinette had been Nadja's go-to sitter ever since, despite her young age.

Marinette crouched down to face the young girl. "What do you say, Manon? Wanna go to the park?" She smiled as Manon jumped up and down in excitement, cheerinf about how much she loved the park.

Ten minutes later, Marinette was setting Manon down onto the carousel with Alya taking a seat next to the young girl. Nathaniël stood next to Marinette, laughing at the sight before something else caught his eye.

"Hey, isn't that the Agreste kid?" Nathaniël squinted at the figure from across the park, frowning at him.

Alya glanced over, "oh, yeah. Looks like Adrien's having a photoshoot or something." She turned to look at Marinette, "didn't you say he apologized for what happened?"

Marinette nodded, "yeah, he said he was trying to remove the gum Chloé put there and he was sorry for not correcting things sooner."

Alya rolled her eyes, "sounds like something Chloé would do."

Nathaniël continued to narrow his eyes at their classmate, "I don't know. Even if he did apologize, I'm not too sure I wanna be buddy-buddy with someone whose best friends with Chloé."

Marinette gave him a half smile, knowing that Chloé was just as awful to him as she was to her. Mocking his drawings, laughing at his clothes, teasing him over every little detail. She understood why Nathaniël was so hesitant to befriend Adrien.

"But still," she thought as her eyes glanced over to him. Adrien went out of his way to return her hearing aids to her and even gave her his umbrella. Sure, it was a small act of kindness, but it was still something that made Marinette see him in a different light. He was nice to her, even when no one else was watching, and it made her want to be kind in return.

"Hey, why don't I take a picture of you guys?" Marinette asked before pulling out her phone, walking back a few feet to get the three of them in frame. Manon smiled wide and toothy at the camera, Alya grinned as she held up bunny ears behind Manon's head, and Nathaniël looked amused with the whole situation as he stood beside them, leaning onto one of the nearby carousel horses.

Suddnely their smiles dropped into looks of terror and Marinette looked up to see why.

There, flying in the air, was a girl. Her skin was practically white, standing out against her dark violent and lavender swirled hair that she wore in sharp pigtails. Her outfit was mostly made out of deep purples with a matching umbrella in hand.

Shrieks filled the park as the carousel was entrapped by ice. Marinette sprinted to a nearby alleyway, quickly transforming before heading back. She bit back a groan as her yo-yo failed to cut through the ice, unable to get a solid hold on it.

Her antennae picked up on the sound of her friends and Manon shouting her name, worried for where she had disappeared to.

"Nice weather we're having," she heard a cheeky voice remark from beside her and she smirked as Chat Noir and her met eyes.

"We should be expecting lightening storms right about now," Stormy Weather shouted, aiming her umbrella towards the sky. Yùnqi watched as the sky crackled into violet lighting bolts, heading straight for Chat Noir.

She grabbed him around the middle, tossing her yo-yo to catch onto a streetlight and pull them away. Just as the two landed, more harsh wind came towards them ― sending cars crashing through the sky.

The wind knocked her off her feet and she felt herself gliding through the air before landing roughly, Chat Noir beside her. Before she could catch her breath, a bus ― a bus?! ― came heralding towards them.

Yùnqi held her breath, feeling Chat pick her up bridal style and leaping away just as the bus crashed into where they previously stood. Her heart lept into her throat she he set her down.

"Hello viewers," a voice glitched on the tv in one of the wrecked shops next to them. "Here's the latest forecast of the first day of fall ― looks like winter is coming early!"

"She must be at the news recording studio," she signed to Chat, who nodded, and the two took off.

She paused as her eyes caught on a cardboard cutout of Aurore Beauréal, another student at Collège Françoise Dupont. Her eyes widened as she realized it was her that they were facing.

"Come on, Lucky," Chat winked to her as he headed towards the studio doors. She was surprised that he knew what her name meant the first time he called her that, but assumed he must've Googled it and seen the Chinese translation for lucky.

"Huh?" Her brow furrowed as she realized the studio was empty. Then a crash was heard and she looked up to see the lights falling and Stormy Weather cackling as she fled the scene.

"Is that a damsel in distress I see?" She heard Chat asked teasingly and she pouted.

"Not all of us have nightray vision, you know," she hoped she was signing in the right direction.

"No need to bugout, your knight in shining leather is here," her partner grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet and towards the direction the akuma had run off to.

She was slightly relieved when they managed to make it to the roof, the darkness leaving them. Her relief was short lived as storm swirled around them, loud and violent.

"Hail!" Stormy Weather shouted, and Chat held up his baton to shield them from the downpour. Her eyes scanned their surroundings, landing on the large buildboard towering behind the akuma.

"Chat, I need you to cataclysm the railing," she signed before covering him from the hail as he lept into action.

She busied herself with creating a distraction as Chat destroyed the builing. The sound of the creaking grabbed Stormy's attention' causing her to lose track of Yùnqi, who used the opportunity to pull her to the ground and knock the umbrella out of her hand.

Chat Noir snapped it over his knee and Yùnqi released her hold of the girl as she tossed her yo-yo in the direction of the akuma. A moment later, a white butterfly flew into the air.

"Wait, how are you supposed to use your Miraculous Ladybug if you didn't use your creation?" Chat looked at her before gesturing to the crumbled materials surronding them.

Yùnqi thought for a moment before her eyes drifted to Aurore, who sat on the ground with a confused look on her face. A towel emerged from her hand and she held it out to Chat, "go warm her up, will you?"

After the whole fiasco was cleared up, Marinette de-tranformed near the park before sprinting to meet her friends. Manon launched herself into her arms, causing her to come to a hault.

"Marinette, there you are!" The little girl shouted, causing Marinette to wince as Manon's head was right besides her hearing aids. Still, she was glad the three of them were safe.

"Hey guys!" The four looked over to see Adrien smiling and waving at them. Alya and Marinette smiled back, and Nathaniël tried to not look too surprised at the friendly greeting.

They approached him, Manon still in Marinette's arms so she couldn't sign a greeting. "My photoshoot just got cancelled, what're you guys up to?"

"We were just heading to get Manon a lollipop before she loses her mind," Alya giggled, gesturing to the young girl. Adrien looked at her and smiled, causing the young girl to burrow her head into Marinette's chest out of embarrassment.

"Perfect!" A voice shouted from behind them, and they turned to see a man with a camera looking at them like they're were pieces in an art museum. "Beautiful! The picture of friendship is like no other ― no spaghetti can compare!"

The three looked at Adrien in confusion, who only laughed in embarassment. Alya simply rolled her eyes, grabbing the three of them ― four, with Manon in Marinette's arms ― and pulled them close, grinning at the camera.

Marinette smiled too.