MattPac, congratulations for being the one reviewer who guessed right on who I had imagined the third person to be! (You were the first reviewer on this story too!)

Third person: The real/original/intended one

He didn't mean to follow her.

Honestly, he didn't. It just happened.

And he didn't mean to watch her during lunch. He tried to fight it in the beginning, and he still did, but with every laugh that came from her, every flip of her hair...It just happened. And before long, it became routine. Lunch. Watching Marinette from the corner of his eye. Quickly looking away as soon as he caught himself watching her.

He felt like such a creep.

And yet, his sketchbook continued to fill with drawings of Marinette.

When Adrien approached the pair sitting in their usual spot during lunch, Nathaniel didn't think much of it. Well, that was a lie. It wasn't exactly a secret that Marinette had a crush on Adrien. In fact, the whole class was already betting on the outcome of their relationship. Nathaniel was the only one who betted that they would never end up together, but deep down inside, he knew that it was unlikely.

Which is why he felt his heart twist into a painful knot as he watched Marinette follow Adrien back to the classroom, alone.

And when he heard their identities...The pain stopped.

No, it was still there. There but distant. He felt empty.

As if Marinette wasn't perfect enough, she had to be Ladybug as well. How could he, Nathaniel, compete against Chat Noir? Adrien was already a rival that any girl would swoon for, but Chat Noir was a hero. Chat Noir and Ladybug, it was like the two were made for each other by some higher being's hands. A true match made in heaven.

He felt like a joke.

Any false hope that he had was gone, replaced by an emptiness. And when the two officially began dating, the emptiness grew and suddenly, he was walking. No, jogging. Running. Before long, he was back outside, in the courtyard.

The few students who noticed his presence paid him no attention. Not that they ever paid him any attention.

He gripped his sketchpad tightly, his pen shaking in his fist.

So that was it, huh? The end of the line for him. He almost gave a bitter laugh.

He was such a loser.

"Adrien, we should really get back before Alya puts me in an interrogation room," Marinette murmured. Her face was still a brilliant shade of red, buried in the crook of Adrien's neck.

Adrien sighed reluctantly but released her from his hug. "I guess so."

"About time," muttered Plagg, pulling a face. Tikki quickly shushed him.

"Nino's probably going to be asking where I was," Adrien laughed.

"Then should we go back now? Should we leave separately so we don't seem suspicious?" Marinette asked worriedly. "Oh no, should I tell Alya? Should I not?"

"Whatever you want, my lady."

"Maybe I'll—"

Whatever Marinette was about to say was interrupted by screams.

Immediately, the two whipped their head towards the sound, playfulness leaving their faces.

"Tikki, spots on!"

"Plagg, claws out!"

"Nathaniel! Get a hold of yourself!" Alya shouted, sticking her head out from behind a tree. Around her was chaos, as students ran around screaming, some of whom were chased by various flying objects. The doors back into the building were barricaded by steel bars which the Evillustrator had drawn up.

But as she hid behind a tree, Alya felt that it was a little...off. Yes, students were being chased by things drawn up by the Evillustrator but it the majority were being chased by harmless objects such as cotton candy, clouds, and dandelions. And was it just her, or was Alya the only one not being pursued by something? In fact, she doubted that she even had to hide behind a tree. The only students that she could really see who were in danger were Chloe (which was expected) who was being chased by a giant, red hot curling iron and, surprisingly, Nino who was being relentlessly pursued by a oversized red bouncy ball.

"Alya! Do something!" Nino cried, leaping over a bench which was then crushed by the ball a second later.

"On it!" Alya whipped out her phone, unlocked it, and began recording.

"This is Alya coming live from a scene of chaos! As you can see behind me, we have the Evillustrator making a return, this time at my school!"

"Alya!"

"Ladybug and Chat Noir are due to arrive any second now! Will they save these students in time? Or will Nino get flattened into a pancake?"

"Alya!"

Turning her camera onto the Evillustrator, Alya jogged up to him, phone in hand. "Evillustrator, will you tell the viewers your motives this time? How well do you think you can handle Ladybug and Chat Noir when they arrive?"

"Alya, I swear to—!"

"My motives are simple. I will crush Chat Noir, that I am certain of!" Evillustrator sneered, pausing in his drawing.

"And what about Ladybug? Are you not worried about her?" Alya asked, shoving the phone closer to his face. This caused him to frown.

"Ladybug is—different. I only wish to crush Chat Noir," the Evillustrator said uncertainly. "It is he I am after. Not Ladybug."

"Why is that?" But Alya quickly interrupted herself, before he could answer. She swung her camera around to the rooftops behind her, just in time to capture Ladybug and Chat Noir leaping down. Below, the students cheered.

"And Ladybug and Chat Noir enters the scene, right in the nick of time! Luckily, no students have been crushed yet." Alya did a quick sweep of the courtyard to prove her point.

"No thanks to you!"

"Ladybug! Hurry up and save me! It's trying to ruin my hair!" Chloe shrieked, ducking behind a tree which the iron crashed into, lighting the tree on fire.

Ladybug groaned but complied, lassoing the rampaging iron with swing of her yo-yo as Chat knocked the huge ball that chased after Nino out of the courtyard with his baton, much to Nino's relief, before chasing after the other creations.

"Ladybug, his pen!"

"I'm on it!" Ladybug called out as she sprinted for the Evillustrator, the iron fading into sketches behind her.

Before she reached him, however, he drew a clear box around the hero, effectively trapping her.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid you'll have to stay there for a while," the Evillustrator said smoothly. The tapped the pen to the side of his tablet, his eyes turning onto Chat Noir. "As for you…"

"Well, this situation seems fur-miliar," Chat muttered, nimbly leaping out of the way of boulder. He glanced back at Chloe, eyebrows raised. "Purrhaps you'd like to tell me what you did?"

"I didn't do anything! He's the one who just went crazy on his own!" Chloe cried out indignantly from behind a tree. "Why don't you ask him why he flew off the handle!"

"Chat, get me out!"

"One meow-ment, my lady!" Chat turned to Nathaniel, a smirk on his face. "So what's the paw-blem this time?"

"The problem is you!" the Evillustrator snarled, drawing spinning blades into existence. "Everything would have worked out if you weren't in the way!"

Chat frowned and swatted them away before leaping backwards and landing on top of the box trapping Ladybug. "Well, that's not very nice."

"Chat, what did you do?"

"Nothing, my lady! I'm purrfectly innocent!"

"Less puns, more action, Chat!"

"If that is what my lady purrfurs." Chat replied, a grin on his face as he raised his hand. "Cataclysm!"

The box shattered into black shards as Chat leaped off to avoid falling onto Ladybug.

"Lucky Charm!" A laser pointer fell into her hands and she grinned.

"Oh no you don—Argh!" the Evillustrator grunted in pain as his hands automatically covered his eyes from the laser. He didn't have time to react before Chat sprung forward and snatched the pen from his hands before snapping it in half, freeing the akuma.

Ladybug wasted no time in catching it with her yo-yo. Releasing the purified akuma, she smiled. "Bye bye, little butterfly."

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

The everything returned to how it used to be, Ladybug and Chat Noir both turned to each other, giving the usual fistbump as Nathaniel scrambled to his feet behind them. Around them, the students cheered.

"And a beautiful save once again from Ladybug and Chat Noir! Nothing less than expected from Paris' superheros!" Alya said enthusiastically, quickly running up to the pair, phone in hand. "Do you two have anything to say? How about an interview?"

"Er…" Chat's ring gave a warning beep, the first spot disappearing. "I would love to but this cat's gotta run. Purrhaps another time."

"Aw, don't be like that! How about you, Ladybug?"

"Sorry, I gotta go too," Ladybug apologized, giving Alya a smile. "Maybe next time."

Alya pouted but having been used to the same reply nearly every time she asked, she quickly shrugged it aside. Instead, she turned to Nathaniel who looked around uncertainly, realization slowly spreading on his face.

"How about you, Nathaniel? You seemed to have quite a grudge against Chat Noir; did he do something to you?" Alya's eyes glimmered excitedly.

Both Chat Noir and Ladybug paused and looked at Nathaniel, along with all of the remaining students.

Nathaniel turned red. "I-It's nothing big."

"If it's nothing big then you can tell us, right?" Alya moved her camera closer as Nathaniel turned his face away uncomfortably. "C'mon Nathaniel, spill it already! Almost everyone here has been akumatized; it's nothing to be ashamed of!"

"What is going on here?" The sharp voice of Ms. Mendeleiev rang out across the courtyard. The science teacher stood with a scowl at one of the doors, her hands on her hips. "Back to your classrooms! Now!"

Groans rose throughout the yard as students grumbled before shuffling back to their forgotten lunches. Ladybug quietly laid a hand on Chat's shoulder, the two sharing a look before they dashed off over the rooftop, out of sight where they could transform back. Just before disappearing out of sight, Chat glanced back and locked eyes with Nathaniel for a single moment.

"Nathaniel! That includes you!"

Nathaniel jumped slightly, his eyes quickly moving to his teacher.

"Yes, Ms. Mendeleiev."

"Girl, you totally missed it! I suppose you're lucky in a way; you're almost never caught up in these attacks!" Alya slung her arm around Marinette's shoulders. "But don't worry; I got you covered! I got it all on video if you want to see!"

It was just after class had ended. Students were packing up, some lingering to talk about the earlier attack. A few patted Nathaniel on the back, assuring him that no one blamed him for it since it wasn't unusual for someone to be akumatized once or twice. Well, no one except Chloe who gave Nathaniel a death glare as she left, one hand patting her hair.

"Thanks, Alya. I'll check it out on the Ladyblog later," Marinette replied with a smile. As she got up to leave, Adrien turned and smiled at her, causing her to blush. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by Alya who smirked at her friend.

"So...Anything happened while you were gone?" Alya leaned in close, a sly grin on her face. "You know, with Adrien?"

"Nothing happened, Alya!" Marinette quickly replied automatically, her blush growing redder by the second.

"That doesn't sound like nothing. You want to do this the easy or the hard way?"

"Marinette? May I speak to you?" A quiet voice interrupted the pair. Nathaniel stood awkwardly behind them, his sketchbook clutched to his chest as usual. His smile looked painfully forced, his knuckles white from clenching his book too hard.

Alya and Marinette exchanged a glance.

"Sure," Marinette replied easily. She waited.

"Um, alone?"

"Oh." From the corner of her eye, Marinette caught Adrien curiously looking at them as Nino continued blabbering on about some party. "Sure. Alya, do you want to catch up later?"

"No problem. I'll call you later than!" Alya gave a playful wave before turning on her heels and all but dragged Nino mid-conversation out the door, leaving Adrien to slowly trail behind them out of the classroom in confusion.

Nathaniel nodded at the door. "Do you want to go outside to talk?"

"Okay." The two left the room. They walked silently for a few minutes, down the stairs and out of the school. Once in awhile, Marinette would glance at him but every time she did so, he simply looked ahead, his gaze unfocused ahead. His grip on his sketchbook would loosen from time to time but quickly tightened again. Soon, they entered the park, but not where most people tended to gather. Instead of stopping by the statue of the superheros or by the fountain, he led them to the shade of some trees, away from most people, where they stood stiffly.

Just as Marinette was about to break the silence, he beat her to it.

"Thank you for today."

"Huh? You mean for talking to you? It's no problem, really—"

"No. I mean about the akuma." He looked up at her through his bangs, his head slightly tilted downward. "Thank you for purifying it."

Marinette's heart skipped a beat. "W-What do you mean?"

Nathaniel's gaze shifted to the side as he fidgeted nervously.

"I overheard you and Adrien during lunch," he admitted quietly. "Everything. I'm sorry."

Marinette's vision spun as she blushed, memories flooding back as she tried to recall every word that was said during that conversation between her and Adrien. She didn't know if she was more mortified, embarrassed, or horrified. "E-Everything?"

Nathaniel stayed silent but met her eyes.

She took that as a confirmation.

Marinette squeaked as her hands flew to her face, hiding it. Peeping through her fingers, she frantically scanned Nathaniel's face for any hints of his reaction but he simply smiled sadly. She struggled to find something to say, anything, but her words seemed to die in her throat.

The two stood in awkward silence before Nathaniel finally spoke again.

"I won't tell anyone, you know. I'm not the kind of person to do that."

Relief flooded Marinette but she still looked at him suspiciously. Slowly, she lowered her hands until just the tips brushed her chin.

"Is...Is that why you were akumatized?" Marinette spoke slowly, cautiously. The last thing she needed was for him to remember his anger and get akumatized again.

"Yes."

"...Oh."

Silence fell again.

"I liked you," Nathaniel started. He blushed faintly. "Well, I still do. But I had a really big crush on you before."

"The first time you were akumatized," Marinette remembered.

"Yeah. But I mostly got over you. I found someone else I liked; or I thought I did," Nathaniel laughed softly. "Turns out, I simply shifted my crush onto your other self. So I guess I never really got over you."

"You liked Ladybug?" Marinette asked in surprise. She, along with most of the class, had assumed that he had simply continued admiring Marinette from afar. Well, no, that made her sound conceited. But she didn't think that he had moved on.

"Yes. Which is why I was, um, akumatized after I overheard Adrien asking you out. I'm sorry."

"No, no, you don't have to apologize!" Marinette said quickly, her hands clutched together at her chest. "I should be the one saying sorry! I...I knew about your crush on me as Marinette but I still treated you like a friend instead of addressing it properly. I shouldn't have just left it like that."

Nathaniel smiled wistfully. "I didn't expect you to talk to me about it. And there was nothing you could have done. I was bitter about losing both 'Marinette' and 'Ladybug' to Adrien. But I'm happy that you found the one for you. Since it's for you, I won't tell a soul about what I heard from now on. Only for your sake."

"T-Thank you, Nathaniel." Marinette bowed her head, uncertain of what to say. "I'm really sorry I can't return your feelings."

Nathaniel shook his head. "It's okay. At least I wasn't rejected the same way Chloe rejected Kim." He forced out a laugh.

Marinette smiled awkwardly. "That would have been bad."

"Yeah…" Nathaniel rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "Well, um, see you around I guess?"

"Yeah, see you around." Marinette gave a single nod before slowly taking a small step back, her body already turning to escape.

Nathaniel gave one last smile before turning away, his heart dropping from both relief and misery.

"Nathaniel?"

He turned, a questioning look on his face. Marinette smiled apologetically at him, her hands holding herself at the elbows.

"Thank you."

Author's Note:

I haven't posted in awhile, sorry… m(_ _)m

This is the final chapter to this story; I'm really sorry to everyone who wanted a version with Lila but I hate her with a passion and even though I really tried to bring myself to write her, I simply could not do it…

I meant to update earlier but midterm season had started and since the scholarship for nursing school (that costs $56,000/year) I'm relying on relies on my GPA, I'm only writing in my free time (sorry)

A special thanks to my friend who designed this story cover (as well as other cover(s) ) 3

GuardianAngel1234567 - I really tried writing her, I'm sorry ;_; I ended up just finishing with the tomato child instead… Thank you for following this until the end! :)

FictionGirl11 - Same, lol. Nothing can make me write a redemption story for Lila. Nothing.

Thank you for reading!

black neko hime - Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)