It's been about 30 minutes since I've been doing sketches of Adrien for his father. Gabriel has been hovering over my shoulder for the past 10 minutes. It's nerve-wrecking, but I'm working on the last sketch.

"Why is it taking you so much time to do this one? All the others were finished in less than 5 minutes." He asked, getting closer.

"I'm going more into detail with this one. If you look close enough, you can see the diamonds that are on the cuffs of his suit." I explained, handing him the sketchbook.

Gabriel took it, humming in response. "This is quite impressive, Miss L/N. I'm offering you this job. If you take it up, you'll have to draw a highly-detailed portrait of Adrien in the clothes I will pick out for him. You'll be paid $5k upfront and then the rest will be paid after your service."

"Hell y- I mean, of course, thank you!" I exclaimed, shaking his hand. He gave me a small smile, walking back to his car. "I have to go do something. Drop off Miss L/N at her house, and then take Adrien to the house." Gabriel directed the last part to Adrien's bodyguard.

Once Gabriel left, Adrien's bodyguard opened the door for us. "Wait, Andre is over there! Let's get an ice cream real quick, Y/N has never tried it before, and it's the least we can do since she's doing this!" Adrien smiled at his bodyguard, pointing over to an ice-cream man.

Adrien's bodyguard looked at his watch, tapping it. "We'll be back soon, it'll take 5 minutes!" Adrien took my wrist, running down to where the ice-cream cart was.

"Ah, Adrien Agreste! It's nice to see you again, where is your friend Marinette?" The ice-cream man asked, smiling.

"Hello, Andre, she's not here, but I brought another one of my friends! This is Y/N, she's new here." Adrien showed you off.

"Ah, a new 'friend'! The more the merrier! Let's see what flavors we should give... mm, green for the flawless model, pink for his beautiful new friend, and red for the love!" Andre exclaimed, dropping a heart-shaped cherry on top.

I took the ice cream, staring at the heart-shaped cherry. "I'm sorry, we're just fr-"

"T-Thank you for the ice cream, Andre! We'll enjoy it just how a couple will!" Adrien exclaimed, slinging his arm over my shoulders. He started walking towards the car, pulling me along with him.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to keep up. Adrien leaned towards my face, whispering. "If we tell him we're just friends, he'll freak and then get akumatized. It's best just to keep this front around him."

I stayed quiet, looking back at Andre. He was clasping his hands out of happiness. "Whatever keeps him from being akumatized, I guess..."

"Oh, Marinette! Hey!"

"Marin- Marinette?!" I turned around, meeting eyes with my first friend, Marinette. Her eyes were wide, most likely in distraught at what she was seeing.

"What are you doing here?" Adrien asked, walking towards her with his arm still around my shoulders. I gripped the ice cream cone tighter, averting my gaze to the floor.

I couldn't look Marinette in the eye. Not when her crush had his arm over me.

"J-Just walking around, hehe! What are you doing here?" She asked, over-excitedly. "Well, me and Y/N were doing something for my father, and then I saw Andre, so I decided to get some ice cream with her."

"Oh, well, I hope the 2 of you are having fun! I-I have to go now so... uh, bye..." She whispered, walking away. I lifted my head, watching as she dragged her feet up the stairs.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize I still had my arm over you!" Adrien chuckled, taking his arm off of me. I faked a smile, taking a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.

All of a sudden, a barrage of people screaming and running happened. Adrien and I turned around towards the city where the racket was happening.

"An Akuma..." Adrien muttered, taking my hand. "Hide here, I wouldn't want the Akuma to get you." He said, hiding me in a public restroom. He was about to leave before I grabbed his wrist. "And you? where will you be?!"

Adrien looked around, pointing to an alleyway. "Text me if anything, okay? And make sure not to come out." He demanded, shutting the door.

I stood there in the dark, listening to the racket happen outside. I wanted to go see if Adrien was okay, but he told me not to go outside and frankly, I didn't want to for the sake of my safety.

I turned on my phone, the sudden flash of light blinding me. "The news probably has a shot of what's going on..." I muttered, tapping the local news app.

"—And Cat Noir has arrived at the scene, but with still no sign of Ladybug, we don't know how Cat Noir will handle this!"

"Ladybug isn't there?..." I whispered, watching Cat Noir and the akumatized person fight.

"That's because she's in trouble."

I jumped due to the sudden voice. I lifted my head from the screen, looking at a kwami. Not Nezu, but someone who looked like her.

"Y-You're a kwami... who's your holder? And who's in trouble?!" I asked the tiny red creature. She lowered her head, sighing. "My name is Tikki... I can't tell you who my master is, but I have a feeling you'll figure it out. There's no time though. I need you to put in this miraculous, Ladybug is busy and I can't lend anyone else this miraculous. Rena Rogue and Carapace are nowhere to be found."

I looked down at her tiny hands, she was holding 2 earrings. "Just please, Y/N, put these on and say spots on! You need to go help Cat Noir!" Tikki insisted, shoving the earrings in my face.

I looked at her, letting out a sigh of stress. "I'm not as good as Ladybug, please don't expect much from me." I said, putting on the earrings.

"Don't doubt yourself, just go save Paris. You can do this!" Tikki cheered.

"Okay... Tikki, spots on."

Just like last time, my body moved on its own, putting on the costume. Once I was done, I looked down at my outfit. I had the signature, red-black color, along with a yo-yo strapped to my hip. I had a zipper from my neck that traveled down to my stomach, along with some boots that had a gold lining on them.

"Find Cat Noir, defeat the villain, yell miraculous ladybug, and that's it... you can totally do this." I gave myself a mini pep talk before walking out of the bathroom. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cat Noir running on buildings with someone behind him. Once he spotted me, he propelled himself towards me with his staff.

"M'lad-... New Ladybug I've never seen before..." He said with a slight sneer. "Who are you and where's M'lady?" He asked, pointing his staff to my chest.

"I'm a temporary Ladybug! Ladybug's kwami came up to me with her earrings saying that something bad happened to her!" I responded, pointing to the earrings.

Cat Noir got closer to me, taking a good look at the earrings. "The earrings look real and you have her costume with slight modifications... What's your name? I can't call you Ladybug, since you clearly aren't M'lady!" Cat Noir pouted, crossing his arms.

"I-I'm... uh, Epitaph?" I murmured. Cat Noir was a good hero, but he has to learn when is the appropriate time to ask stuff.

He looked at me for a few seconds, finally smiling. "Epitaph, I like it! Well, Epitaph, since you're my temporary partner you should know a few things! Number 1, you can't get distracted! Ladybug never gets dist-"

In the middle of Cat Noir's speech, the akumatized person jumped onto the rail, about to shoot an arrow into Cat Noir. I grabbed his waist, taking out my yo-yo, and flying to a building.

We landed by rolling on the ground of the building. "Number 2, learn how to use your yo-yo..." Cat Noir groaned, rubbing his head. I groaned, standing back up.

"Who's the akumatized person we're fighting?" I asked, spinning my yo-yo.

"Oh my, oh my, Cat Noir and a new Ladybug! This is so exciting!" The villain shouted from another building, holding a bow.

"What bow should I use? The hate or the love?... Mm, no, I can't use that one, I'm saving that for Adrien! So, looks like I have to use hate!" She spoke to herself, taking a black arrow from her back.

"I-I know that girl... that's Marinette Dupain-Cheng..." Cat Noir said in disbelief.

I gasped softly, tightening my fist. She must have gotten akumatized after she saw me and Adrien together.