"the moth's apprentice" chat noir x y/n

'stop prostituting yourself'

Inexplicably, Mari showed up to school sixty minutes early the next day — and yes — that is sarcasm you sense in my tone, because Adrien had an extra fencing practice in the morning. Her enthusiasm was not missed by the fencing coach, who I had to make a bullshit lie up to about me volunteering. 

It was all I needed for Marinette to ask the fencing instructor how long I'd been volunteering for, in which case my lie would fall to pieces and she would know the truth about me. Nervously, I paced back and forth in the change room. 

"Girl, I honestly think you need to take multiple chill pills, for real," Vector flitted next to my head, his raven wings beating up and down. His beady eyes stared at me. 

"I thought Kwami's were supposed to be helpful," I rolled my eyes as I pulled on my fencing uniform. The fabric was stiff and starch-like. Entirely uncomfortable. "You're giving me so much grief right now, Vector." 

"Sorry babes, but I'm serving you the truth and only the truth," he checked his claws. "If you want my opinion—" 

"I don't—" 

"—I think you should stop seeing Chat Noir." 

"What?" I paused, mid helmet adjustment. It wasn't what I was expecting to come out of his beak. "What does Chat Noir have to do with any of this?" 

The Kwami zoomed through the change room, and then came back in, this time with my bracelet. I had left it on the bench. My  hands immediately flew to the empty spot on my wrist. The bracelet was my mother's. She gave it to me the night Dad left. 

"Don't worry Birdy, you'll always have me," 

"She would be disappointed, to know that you're basically prostituting yourself to your enemy," Vector chirped. 

"okay, first of all, that's hurtful," I brushed aside any feelings I had from the Kwami's judgement. "I'm not prostituting anybody—" 

"Y/N? Are you on the phone?" I heard Marinette's voice from outside the change room. "Who are you prostituting?" 

"Yeahhhhh, sorry I'm gonna need to call you back," I pretended to hang up the imaginary phone, regardless of how stupid it felt. And then I shoved Vector into my bag, ignoring his quiet squawks. "Mari?" 

"Yeah?" 

"I'm not prostituting anyone," I faked a laugh. "That was just uh— my cousin from....Alberta," I invented. "He was making a joke about..." 

I realized Mari wasn't even listening when I heard the clicks of her phone. I packed the rest of my stuff up into my tote bag and unlocked the door. 

"Oh, good, there you are," Mari said. "I need your help to talk to Adrien." 

"No," I responded, point-blankly. She whined as we walked out the door. "I've told you before, that I don't give a shit about that blonde-pompous-model-boy." 

"I'm sad you think so little of me, Y/N," the very voice I didn't want to hear. Adrien Agreste. He was every bit the asshole I knew he was — but he was good at faking it. We'd clashed ever since the first day of school. 

"Oh, I don't think little of you," I shot back. "I don't think of you at all." 

Adrien laughed, and Marinette'S stupid face lit up. 

"Hey, Adrien," she clasped her hands together, slowly walking up to him. "You look super hot— I mean good— in that uniform." 

"Thanks," Adrien kept his eyes trained on me. "You're joining?" He gave me a weird look. "I've never seen you—" 

"How about a match?" I cut him off. "I should warm up anyways." 

He lifted an eyebrow. "You want to go a round with me to...warm up?" Adrien cocked his head to the side. "You don't want to save that for later when you've had some more training?" He smirked. 

I resisted the urge to slap the kid. I mean, who did he think he was? Hawkmoth? No one except maybe my great butterfly lord tells me what to do. 

"I don't need more training," I gritted my teeth. "I'm perfectly capable of fighting you, Agreste." 

Adrien shrugged. "up to you." 

I tilted my helmet down. "Let's get this over with, then."