Candle In The Wind - Miraculous Ladybug Movie Rewrite

Chapter 2: Take me back to the night we met

"Here you go, sir!" Adrien panted, ducking back into the street corner and holding out the green and yellow umbrella. "These are the colors you wanted, right?"

School had ended twenty minutes ago and Adrien had spent the last fifteen of them running non-stop around all the stores in a five-block radius, looking for the exact umbrella that had been described to him. And he quite literally meant non-stop. His lungs were on fire.

But thanks to years of practice masking his emotions, no one would know by looking at his face that he was fighting for his life.

"Thank you, young man," said the stranger in the Hawaiian shirt, reaching to take it from him. "You don't give up easily, do you?"

"Oh, it was no trouble. I knew I'd seen it somewhere. And look, I was right! Now you'll be safe from all the..." Adrien glanced up at the cloudless sky, "...rain."

"Even so," the old man said, marveling at his new umbrella, "I truly appreciate it..."

"Uh, Adrien," he supplied.

"Adrien. I wish there were more people in the world like you."

"Thanks, but... I'm probably not as great as you think I am." Adrien rubbed the hair on the back of his head. He frantically tried to remember what his last good deed had been before today, but kept coming up short. "Lately, I've just been trying to help others a little more. I-I felt like it was about time, y'know?"

"But that's exactly what I mean," the man said, not deterred in the slightest. "I'm not talking about people who are naturally kind. I'm talking about people who are able to reflect and realize that they can do better." He looked up at the boy in front of him, eyes shining with an emotion Adrien couldn't read. "Those are the people I admire most."

Not sure how to reply, Adrien smiled politely. It was a nice little sentiment, sure, but he didn't really believe it. This 'new him' he was slowly trying to build up was more of a wish than a promise. And he couldn't shake the feeling that it would eventually all come crashing down.

"Well, I'd best be off." The man cheerfully patted the blond on the side of his arm (he couldn't quite reach his shoulder). "It's time for me to almost get hit by a bus. Do take care, Adrien."

"You too," Adrien said, watching the man walk away, using his umbrella as a cane to lean on. He stood there for a moment, trying to make sense of this very random exchange. Then those words finally processed in his brain and he had to do a double take. "Wait, what?!"

But in that time, he'd blinked. And the man was already gone.

★゜・。。・゜゜・。。・゜★

"Hmm," Alya contemplated, tapping her pencil against her chin. "You're right, that is weird. Chloé doesn't seem like the type to do the whole 'friend' thing. But you never know! Maybe this boy's telling the truth."

The sky was darkening as Marinette and Alya sat on a bench together on the outskirts of their school. Gymnastics had just finished (because Marinette's parents had insisted she take up at least one after-school activity) and now Marinette was trying to recover from the mortifying experience of falling flat on her face at least four separate times.

"How awesome would that be though?" Marinette said, staring off into space as she snacked on a bag of chips. "To not have Chloé making my life miserable at every opportunity."

"If she's as bad as everyone says she is, then pretty awesome," Alya agreed, sticking her tongue out as she went to write something down on the pad of paper in her hands. "What's his name anyway?"