This chapter and scenario was requested by loyal follower, ryeryethefanficfan! Hope y'all enjoy, and if you do, feel free to leave a "favorite" and maybe even follow me if you're not already! So, let's get on with it:

Note: 

YFAC - Your favorite anime character 

YBF - Your Best Friend 

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You were doodling in Chemistry class, not really listening to the blur of words coming out of Mr. Dickinson's mouth. Your pencil gently kissed the textured paper of your sketchbook, carefully adding the intricate details to YFAC's face. 

"[Y/N], what did you put down for number 6?" Mr. Dickinson asked.

You instantly started panicking, scrambling to get out your worksheet (you actually did have an answer, you'd just worked ahead and decided to draw while you waited). Because of the disorder, your elbow accidentally bumped your sketchbook onto the floor. 

The blonde-haired, green eyed boy sitting next to you--you believe you'd heard Mr. Dickinson refer to him as Ken--pointed to it and jeered, "Maybe if you didn't spend so much time drawing anime characters in class, you'd actually know what the heck was going on!" A few of the other students snickered at that. 

Ludwig had turned to look at you, as did all the kids in the front row, the commotion drawing their attention. You couldn't tell what he was thinking behind his neutral expression, but you wished you did. You looked at his dark, deep-set eyes, his thick eyebrows, his sharp jawline, and high, regal cheekbones befitting the face of a royal. His lips looked so soft, and you wondered what it would feel like to kiss them. You suddenly felt like drawing him. You hoped you weren't blushing. 

He reached down and picked up the sketchbook for you. As he handed it back to you, your fingers brushed his ever so slightly, giving you a light shock. He gave you a slight smile, perhaps to cushion the blow of Ken's remark and all the unwanted attention. 

Mr. Dickinson moved on as you tried to stop your heart from somersaulting. "Ludwig, do you have an answer?" 

He did, of course. "I've written down iron hydroxide and barium chloride." 

"Correct." Mr. D replied, moving on to the next question. 

Ken turned to talk to Dewayne, who sat behind him (you remembered his name because upon hearing it, you wondered why his parents didn't just name him Dwayne instead, why the extra syllable?)

 "Why are people like that so obsessed with anime? They need to get a life." Ken whispered. 

Dewayne shushed him. "You shouldn't talk about them. People like that go crazy if you make them upset. My friend has a sister like that and she bangs her head on the walls when she gets upset." Ken laughed at that like it was funny. 

People "like that"...

You wondered why they went through all the trouble to avoid using the word "autistic" if they were just going to make ableist jokes and comments anyway. You'd never even had a meltdown in class, so you didn't know why they thought of you as some sort of  ticking time bomb. Well, actually you did know why: because they were stupid assholes. 

The bell rang for lunch time. 

You and YBF sat in your usual classroom. It was one of the few that were actually quiet, devoid of the loud annoying students (you would say the First Years, but there were kids like that in every Year) that had lunch elsewhere. 

Other than you, YBF, and the teacher, there was only one other student, who usually kept to themselves. YBF usually did more than enough talking for the both of you, which was sometimes a blessing and a curse.

They leaned over and peeked at your sketchbook. "Is that Ludwig von Koopa?" 

"Yes..." You replied shyly. 

"Oh my God, it's so good!" They enthused. "It looks just like him!" 

They leaned in closer, a mischievous gleam in their eyes. "Do you like him?" 

You shrugged. 

"I didn't know he was your type. Or that you even had a type." They went on, and you wondered if it was the sudden warmth on your cheeks that gave your true feelings away, "I get it though: he isn't hideous, and he's known for being mature and old-fashioned, but in a good, old-timey gentleman way, not a conservative, judgemental one. And he's a prince, which means he's loaded!" 

"But I'm pretty sure behind that exterior, he's probably secretly a hoity-toity snob. I mean, having so many girls--and guys too, probably--chasing after you has got to go to a dude's head, you know? And speaking of ladies chasing after him, you should join the Ludwig's Ladies club." 

The club wasn't an official school club (though they tried to make it so, to no avail), but a group of girls (maybe they even had boys in the club at this point) who basically just covertly got together in one of the classrooms and talked about Ludwig during lunchtime. They were never usually seen around Ludwig himself though, since he made it clear to them that he preferred some silent solitude during lunch (heh, kinda like you), and they respected his wishes as if they were the law. 

"Ew, no!" You responded, the both of you giggling. 

"I just don't understand the point of wasting so much energy chasing after unattainable guys." You explained. 

"True, it's probably for the best." They agreed, "One of the Ladies' biggest rules is that none of them are allowed to date Ludwig, because Ludwig bElOnGs tO EvErYOne." 

"That…actually sounds kind of creepy and objectifying…maybe even a little cult-ish." You replied.

YBF chuckled. "You should see some of the things they get up to in there…and some of the things those girls create. Those bitches are crazy, honestly. It makes sense why Ludwig never sets foot in there." 

"Why are they so obsessed with him? I know he's great and all but isn't this a little much?" 

"I guess it depends on the person, everyone's got a reason. Like, this one girl, you know Tina? The girl that was absent for, like, ever? Yeah, when she came back to school she got in a fight. But it was out at the front of the school, by the fountain, and she got all wet and her stuff got thrown everywhere." 

You did remember that. A few people recorded it and put the videos online. Apparently, five seconds of fame was worth more than helping out. 

"Anyways, Ludwig was out there and he helped stop the fight. Tina was crying, so he gave her his handkerchief, and he helped pick up all of her belongings and escorted her to the nurse's office. The next day, she showed up at the Ladies meeting spot during lunch." 

"Well, that was nice of him." You acknowledged. 

"Yeah, she hadn't even wanted to join, though. She was looking for Ludwig so she could tell him thank you for his help and she thought he'd be in there, but he wasn't, of course. Then she asked if one of the girls had his number or something so she could get in contact with him. But….well, they took it the wrong way. You see, Tina's hot and everyone knows it. The other girls were probably jealous of how pretty she is. I guess they thought she was trying to get too close to him.  They thought she was trying to fuck him. And because she's hot, they thought she might even succeed.

Anyways, she ended up getting suspended  because one of the Ladies said she was a 'filthy whore who didn't deserve Ludwig'. Yeah, so it turns out Tina was pregnant."

"So that's why she was gone so long." 

"Yeah. When Ludwig stepped in, she was beating up one of the father's friends, because he was spreading rumors that she was a slut and stuff. But when Tina got pregnant, that was actually her first time, with her first love. It got kind of bad, and she got suspended for beating up the Lady and the dad's stupid friend….I think she's going to finish out the year virtually…"

"The teacher who's classroom they use is a Lady too," YBF plowed on like a running faucet, "Which is kind of problematic, I know. But he's a student volunteer in one of her classes. Iggy's in that class, so I guess she's just glad to have someone around who can handle him. She teaches a lot of underclassmen too, so maybe she just likes having someone mature around for once? She's also going through a messy divorce, so maybe she just enjoys being in the presence of a gentleman. I mean, who wouldn't? Anyways, she let's the Ladies get away with stuff in her classroom. I mean, so I've heard. I mean, it's not like I've ever gone--"

"It's pretty obvious that you've gone in there one too many times. Why else would you know practically all the tea there is to know? I mean, if you want to join the club feel fr--"

"Ew, no! I don't want to join that stupid cult. Anyways," They drawled, obviously changing the subject, "Are you going to give Ludwig your drawing?" 

"Hell no. I'd feel better if these crappy sketches never saw the light of day." You laughed. 

"Hey! They aren't crap, [Y/N]. You may not see the talent, but it's there." They assured you. 

YBF stood and brushed off their [tartan uniform skirt/black uniform pants]. "I've gotta go to the bathroom." 

"Okay." You said. While they were gone, you finished the sketch of your drawing. You were satisfied with it. You'd wait until you got home to start inking so you could use the nice, cool markers that you never brought to school so they wouldn't get stolen. 

You waited for YBF to return so they could keep talking your ear off, but they were taking forever! 

Immediately, you wondered if they'd accidentally died on the toilet! You were pretty sure that's how Elvis died, so you knew it was definitely possible. You got up and started for the door. 

Unexpectedly, you crashed into somebody as you were walking out. 

"Ugh! What is your problem?!" Ken shouted. 

"Sorry…" You mumbled before simply walking away quickly to avoid further conflict.

"Hey." YBF greeted you when you finally found them standing in the hall. 

"What was taking you so long?" You asked, somewhat out of breath. "I thought you died on the toilet."

"What?" They guffawed a little too loudly. "Shit [Y/N], where do you come up with this stuff?" 

"Anyways, I was just catching up with another classmate, Emma." They explained, rolling their eyes, "She asked if we had Chemistry homework again. Well, Emma, maybe if you didn't always have your damn earphones in, eyes glued to your phone while Mr. D was teaching, you would know we had homework!" 

YBF continued to rant about Emma as you walked back to the classroom. 

You let out a little screech when you returned to your desk.

"What's wrong?" YBF asked. 

"My sketchbook….it's gone." 

"Gone?" 

"Yeah, gone. It was right here on the desk and now it's gone!" You repeated.

"You might've put it back in your bag before you walked out the classroom." They suggested.

You rummaged around in your backpack frantically as panic began to set in. "It's not here." 

You bit your nails nervously--or, at least what little nail you had left. 

"Okay, chill." YBF told you, "It couldn't have gone far. Maybe the teacher saw what happened. You should wait till they get back and ask the--" 

The bell interrupted their sentence, signaling everyone to head to 3rd block. 

"I gotta go, I have a long way to walk." YBF told you as they grabbed their stuff. As they headed out the door, they suggested, "Maybe check the lost and found?"

The sketchbook wasn't in the lost and found. 

You tossed and turned in bed that night, wondering what could've possibly happened to it. Was it stolen? If so, why? What would anyone want with it?

You decided to do some reading on Wattpad until you were tired enough to fall asleep. 

***

When you arrived at school the next day, one of your drawings had been ripped out of your sketchbook and taped on your shoe cubby. It was one of your shitty old drawings from maybe 2 or 3 years ago, from the front of the book. 

You snatched it off your locker, crushed it into a ball, and hurled it against the wall in frustration. You hastily shoved on your school shoes and marched down the hall to 1st block.

You noticed a small crowd of people gathered around another one of your shitty drawings, laughing and giggling and pointing. You kept your head down to avoid them. 

Your obscured vision resulted in your collision with YBF. 

"[Y/N]! I've been looking all over for you! Have you seen the drawings posted all over school?" 

You nodded. You were so angry and embarrassed that you couldn't say anything else. 

"Hey, it's okay," They assured you, "If we hurry, we might be able to take all the drawings down before school starts!" 

You nodded again. Their plan was arguably better than your plan of hiding away in the bathroom and crying. 

You bolted to your 1st block classroom to set your stuff down before following YBF around school to take down the sketches in the science hallway. You'd nearly gotten all of them when you froze in your tracks.

"What?!" YBF asked, almost running into you. They looked in the same direction and understood.

Ludwig was standing in front of one of the sketches taped on the wall. He stared at it long and hard with those deep, dark eyes of his. You were going to take a wild guess but based on your luck so far, he was probably examining the sketch you'd made of him. 

"What do we do?" You whispered.

"I don't know!" YBF frantically whispered back. 

"Should I…just go up there and take it down?" 

"No, that would be weird and rude." YBF whispered. 

You didn't exactly understand why it would be. The drawing wasn't his, and it wasn't like he was physically holding it. 

He grabbed the paper off of the wall. He glanced in your direction. You wondered what was going through his head when he looked over to see two underclassmen just standing there staring at him. Knowing him, he was likely used to it. He started walking in your direction. 

"He's coming!" YBF whispered hysterically, waving their arms in the air as if they just didn't care. 

"I know!" You whispered back, "Do you think he knows I made the sketch?" 

"Why else would he be coming over here?!" They spat.

"Okay, okay, [Y/N], just remember to keep calm and play it cool." YBF told you, even though they were the only one visibly panicking. So much for "hoity-toity snob", you thought. You half-expected Ludwig to just get weirded out and walk in the opposite direction. That would've been hilarious.

"Good morning, [ladies/gentlemen/[Y/N] and YBF]," He greeted you with a smile and a slight nod, "You two wouldn't happen to have noticed any more of these illustrations around school, would you?" 

"Yeah, we've seen 'em around." YBF replied, trying a little too hard to play it cool. 

"Are you gathering them?" He inquired, his gaze falling to the stack of retrieved sketches in your hand. 

"Er, yeah." You said, realizing that that had been the reason he walked over to you in the first place. He had no idea you were the artist. 

As he handed you the drawing, your fingers met again ever so slightly. You wondered what his beautiful hand would feel like if you held it in your own, his long, slender, delicate fingers wrapped around yours. 

"The illustrations have piqued my interest." He told you. "They're everywhere. They've seemingly appeared overnight with no explanation…they have no rhyme or reason, no overarching theme….I can only muse on the meaning of it all." 

You bit your lip, trying not to laugh in his face knowing they didn't mean shit. They were just the random sketches of a regular old high school girl. 

"Nevertheless, the artist is quite talented, and I am honored to have been selected as a muse, albeit unknowingly." He concluded. "If you happen to be acquainted with the artist, would you be so kind as to pass along my compliments?" 

There was something oddly satisfying about having him standing there, unknowingly complimenting your work. You considered confessing, but you didn't want to embarrass him. He might've even asked why you'd decided to draw him, and you didn't really have a good answer for that.

So you simply nodded and said, "Yeah, sure thing, as soon as we finish taking all these papers down". 

"Are you two taking on the task by yourselves? I might know some people who can assist--" 

Some random first year girl (who you recognized as one of Ludwig's Ladies) came running from around the corner. She curtsied deeply, gushing, "I would be happy to help, Your Highness." You wondered exactly how long she'd been standing behind that corner watching the three of you. 

"Thank you, Annelise, that would be greatly appreciated." 

She smiled, pleasantly surprised Ludwig even knew her name. "I'll send a text to the others so they can help out too!" 

With so many helping hands, you got the job done with ample time to spare before 1st block. 

Ken entered the classroom obnoxiously as he often did, Dewayne trailing behind. As Ken passed your seat, he noisily plonked something down on your desk. 

It was your sketchbook. It appeared lifeless with all the papers torn out of it. 

"You destroyed my sketchbook!" You exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at him. 

"No, I didn't. I just found the stupid thing in the trash and I thought I'd give it back. I was just trying to be nice. Can you understand that, retard?" 

"Hey!" Ludwig exclaimed, whipping around to look at Ken. "Your vulgar vernacular is a violation of school policy. You will apologize to this fine [lady/gentleman] for your insolence at once." 

Ludwig stood and his eyes darted down to Ken's waistline. "Pants worn below the natural waist are a violation of dress code policy." 

"IT'S a vIoLaTiON oF DrEsS cOde POlicy!" Ken mocked him in a whiny voice before laughing and shoving Ludwig. "Oh cut the crap! How long are you going to keep that act? Nobody talks like that for real."

"Kindly refrain from putting your hands on me, Kenneth." Ludwig replied calmly. 

Ken shoved him again to see what he would do. "What are you going to do about it, pretty boy?" 

Ludwig simply brushed off his uniform jacket where Ken had touched him. "Threatening another student and attempting to incite a brawl is also a violation. That's 3 violations, Kenneth, and the day has barely begun! Though, I suppose you wouldn't mind spending the remainder of it in ISS. Perhaps while you are there, the kind faculty could spare you a belt." He said, eyeing Ken's waist with mild disgust. 

"No way! Can he even do that?" Ken wondered aloud.

"Yes, I most definitely can." Ludwig answered, "The headmaster has bestowed upon me special permissions to deal with unruly students." 

You weren't sure if that was true or not, you'd surely never heard of such a thing. It wouldn't surprise you if the headmaster had given him special rights because he'd asked for them, since the Koopalings basically got everything they wanted around here. 

Mr. Dickinson popped his head out of the lab and informed you, "Ludwig's right. I've already called an administrator, Ken. You should gather your stuff so you'll be ready to go when they get here."

"But! But! That's not fair!" Ken shouted indignantly. "Dewayne should go to ISS, too! He was the one who took all the papers out of your sketchbook and put them all over school!" 

"Hey! Don't try and put this all on me, that was your idea!" Dewayne shouted back. 

Your cheeks flushed as you tried to avoid Ludwig's gaze, for it was now clear the drawings were yours all along. 

"Then both of you can spend the day in ISS together!" Mr. Dickinson declared. "As soon as you apologize to [Y/N] for all the trouble you've caused." 

"Sorry…" They moaned half-heartedly in unison. 

"It's fine…" You replied, even though it wasn't. 

The administrator eventually showed up and took them away. Then it was just you and Ludwig standing awkwardly in the empty classroom….together. Neither of you said anything, probably because neither of you knew what to say. 

"Thank you," You spoke up, "for, um, sticking up for me…and for the compliment earlier…" 

"You're very welcome…" He replied, "I…didn't know you were the artist--" 

"I know, I didn't tell you. Either way, it doesn't make anything you said any less nice." 

He smiled warmly and nodded, and you forgot how to breathe for a moment. "Yes, I suppose you are correct." 

Mr. Dickinson came back into the room and the two of you sat back down at your desks 

Ludwig went back to his book, his dark eyes pensive as he scanned the pages. You wondered what book he was reading, and what it was about it. You wondered if you happened to have the same taste in books. 

You wondered if he'd already forgotten about your drawing of him. I mean, you were sure he probably got loads of drawings from his fans already, you didn't know why he'd remember yours. You wondered why such a thought bothered you so much. 

Because you had nothing else to do (I mean, you could study before class starts but let's be real, you didn't want to) you decided to draw. You thought you'd start a new sketchbook after your last one was stolen and destroyed. Taking sudden inspiration from Auguste Rodin's work, you decided you wanted Ludwig to be your muse once more. Maybe you'd show him--or YBF, or even the Ladies--the finished product. 

On second thought, you decided against it. 

These works of art would be yours and yours alone. You would keep the muse's beauty to yourself, tucked away within the binding of your sketchbook, where it would be safe.