Toi et Moi

Episode 1

Tugging on my white shirt and jeans, I roll my sleeves to my elbow and grab the black gloves on my dresser.

Blann flies around me and watches inquisitively as I slip them on. "Are you really going to be okay?"

"Yeah," I glance at him as I clench my now gloved hand, "as they say 'Das Leban ist kein Ponyhof." I recite in German and Blann looks at me in confusion. "Basically—life is never easy."

Grabbing my green flannel shirt and tying it around my waist, I look over at Blann. I raise an eyebrow and jerk my head towards my open camera case and wait as he drops down.

"I'm ready!" he squeaks up at me from the darkness and I nod silently as I put my camera strap around my neck.

As soon as my hand touches my door knob, a series of rapid knocks echo from the door and a childish voice shouts from the other side. "Come on, Evan! Mom told me to tell you that she said I should tell you she said that you better hurry if you're going to the park!"

Smiling lightly at her over complicated wording, I open the door and look down at her. "Good morning, Madeleine." I greet her calmly and watch with interest as her blue eyes sparkle happily up at me.

"Good morning!" she shouts excitedly and moves to grab my hand but stops and looks up at me. "Okay?"

I tense slightly and look away from her. I wanted to say yes; more often than not I usually did, but today... "I'm sorry, Maddie, but not now..." I trail off and half expect her to start to cry, but instead she just smiles up at me and nods her head. Turning around, she starts to march down the stairs and I follow behind her.

Going down another flight of stairs, we reach the 2nd floor with the living room and kitchen. Maddie skips over to Aunt Claire as she turns from the stove and smiles at the two of us. She chirps out a "Morning!" and hugs her before heading to the table to start eating her breakfast.

Smiling lightly, I readjust my bag and look over at the TV. A host animatedly talks about the Miss Weathergirl competition.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, I notice the time and look over to Aunt Claire nervously. "Can I leave, or...?" I trail off and Aunt Claire picks up on my uncomfortableness and her smile falls for a millisecond before returning.

"Of course." Her smile isn't as radiant as it usually is and I swallow because now I've made her upset.

Looking away from her, I bite the inside of my cheek and mumble out, "I'll be back later" before shuffling out the door and down another flight of stairs.

Stupid! She helped me a lot this morning and this is how I thank her? Frowning as I head out of the back entrance of the store, I start my journey to the park to meet Mr. Lacroix and help with the photoshoot. Aunt Claire's flower shop, L'amour des fleurs, isn't too far from where I had to go.

Entering through the gate, I spot the photography crew and Mr. Lacroix setting up by the fountain. "Mr. Lacroix," I greet the older man before getting straight to business. "What am I doing today?"

The grey haired man nods his head in greeting and goes back to fiddling with his camera. "Today we're going to photograph—" he glances up and his eyebrows raise—"ah, he's already here."

Looking out of the corner of my eye, I immediately recognize who it is and take a deep breath. Walking towards us is no other than my fellow classmate, Adrien Agreste. A part of me wants to bash my head in because, apparently, it wasn't good enough that we had the same classes, but now I have to spend an entire photoshoot with him.

Evidently recognizing me, Adrien's facial expression sours and the familiar swirl of guilt forms, making me look away. I already felt horrible about what I did every day and made sure to avoid him and Nino all the time (which was hard being in the same class and all). Aunt Claire said it wasn't my fault, but she's too nice to say otherwise. Mr. Lacroix goes to meet Adrien and I take the chance to go anywhere else except here.

I spot one of the guys moving the equipment and go over to help. Standing beside them, I nod lightly and start to move things to where they need to go. Chancing a glance at Adrien, we make eye contact and he pointedly looks away. Not blaming him, I sigh quietly and get ready for the no doubt long photoshoot.

The photoshoot surprisingly moves along with minimum problems (not counting one of the photographers getting a little too demanding and wanting an additional model) and the last photos by the fountain are wrapping up. Adrien basically ignored me the whole time but I didn't have a problem with it. In the end, my presence wasn't even really needed, but I wasn't going to turn down any potential learning experience.

While helping the others pack the nonessential equipment, a loud gust of wind, followed by screams, makes me whip around. My eyes shoot to the sky and I go still when I see an Akumatized girl laughing. Hearing the groans of people around me, I clench my fist and glare up at her before looking around for a place to change.

Not having much time, I rush out of the park and duck into a nearby alley and Blann quickly flies out of hiding. Zooming around nervously, he stops in front of my face and looks at me excitedly. "Are you ready, Evan?" he questions quietly and when I nod he takes a deep breath and smiles.

Not wasting any time, I roll my shoulders and say "ears up!"