Shell Game | Miraculous Guardians Book 1

Chapter 1: Shell Shocked

Nino Lahiffe was the absolute worst at keeping secrets.

Call in an inherent trait, chance, bouts of awful luck, whatever, but everyone knew it was dangerous for him to know anything they didn't want anyone, Alya specifically, (and to that extent, all of Paris) to know, because he was a wimp and could not say no to her and everyone knew it.

Which was why he was still extremely confused as to why Ladybug would ever, ever give him a chance to be a superhero. The entire purpose of the masks was to keep their identities a secret. A secret. The one thing he could not do to save his life...or rather, Alya's.

"SHELLTER!" he yelled, trying to deepen his voice and not make it blatantly obvious who he was as he raised the shield above his head, struggling to balance himself as the weapon, nearly as big as him, pulled him back and forced him to hold on to Alya to steady himself.

So, not exactly the most heroic action he could have selected at that moment.

Oh, well, he decided as he carefully maneuvered Alya to the pavement. At least it hadn't been worse. His hood hadn't come down during the fight. That would have been just his luck, to finally get a chance to be a real hero, only to be discovered less than a minute later because of his lucky hat.

After all, it wouldn't have been the first time--

"Oh...this is our first look at a brand new hero!"

Before he could respond, Alya, having miraculously recovered, had already whipped out her phone and begun recording. Uh oh...

Nino glanced back at Ladybug for help. The girl merely shrugged as though submitting to their fate. The phone lense was jabbed up in his face and he took an unconscious step back, giving her a weak smile.

"What's your name?"

"Uh..." Help me, his eyes said as he pleadingly met Ladybug's gaze. Go on, was the response he received. Quickly, he thought of a name, something his class had just gone over in biology... "Carapace!" he blurted. "Call me Carapace!"

The dots on Ladybug's earrings flashed again. "Oops!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him away. "Gotta go! Bug out!"

With one last grin, Nino turned and took off after her.

They had met in a side alley where he'd morphed and said his farewells to Wayzz (but not before teaching the little dude a secret fistbump routine). And that had been the end of that. His once-in-a-lifetime chance to have powers. After all, it wasn't like Ladybug and Chat Noir needed help often. In fact, if Chat hadn't gotten himself stuck, then Nino wouldn't have been needed at all.

He didn't anticipate ever seeing Wayzz again (which probably explained the totally manly squeeze he'd given the kwami before he'd disappeared back into the bracelet) and he was sure that was the last time he would ever be called upon to help (After all, even if LB and Chat were outnumbered, they still had Rena Rouge, which...now that he thought about it...he found a little odd that she hadn't been Ladybug's first choice in rescuing Alya).

Going home just didn't feel the same after that. Something had happened to him that night, something more than he'd told Ladybug when she'd noticed his odd look as he prepared to run back to meet his girlfriend. He felt different. Stronger, braver, less...like him.

Ah, it was probably just the adrenaline getting to him. Wielding a miraculous was a lot more taxing than Ladybug and Chat Noir had made it out to be.