Familiar Stranger

"Children get inside, now go it isn't safe!" a woman was saying, ushering a small group of maybe fifteen or so elementary aged children through an open door. She looked over her shoulder nervously, picking up one of the smaller kids and carrying him inside even as he squirmed.

"Don't be scared!" he was saying, wiggling fiercely to try and get back to the ground, still grinning. "Nobody's got to be scared with heroes around!"

"That doesn't mean we should be outside with supervillains Cheney!" the woman said crossly, only setting him down once everyone was inside and she had her back to the door.

As soon as his little sneakers hit the ground he was running to the window, scrambling up with shining eyes to plaster his hands against the glass and smush his nose against it so he could see. From the vantage point of the daycare there wasn't much to see but he was still grinning happily, bouncing up and down on the windowsill seat cushion.

"Cheney get away from there!" the woman scolded, dashing forward to grab him and looking over her shoulder to bark at a few more children who were getting hyped up by the little boy's antics. But he refused to be calmed, going so far as to laugh when he caught a flash of black, red and green darting over the rooftops outside.

"Don't be scared!" he assured them, turning in the caretaker's grasp to address the other kids in his daycare with shining eyes. He giggled again before proudly declaring, "I'm telling you! Jade Turtle's gonna get them all!"

"And Ladybug and Cat Noir!" another kid added, all of the children cheering and getting hyper, rushing for the windows.

"Yeah sure!" Cheney giggled, snuggling into the care taker's arms. "Them too!"

Outside rushing over the rooftops of Paris were the heroes of the people, more or less side by side as they talked franticly.

"This thing hits hard!" Cat was saying, staff out and pole vaulting him over the gap between two buildings, Ladybug swinging through the street beside him and Jade on his left.

"And it's not just going for us!" Jade reminded them, expression focused as he looked through the augmented display on his goggles, shifting his weight on his shield to head in a straight line towards the tagged figure a few blocks ahead. The others followed his lead, having learned by now to trust his tracking.

Ladybug swung up, dismounting and rolling along the tile to sprint beside Cat Noir, referring to her teammates. "Its range of attack is huge and it keeps running AWAY. I don't get it is Hawkmoth not going for the miraculous or what?"

"Maybe hot head is going for what he wants first," Cat suggested, crouching onto all fours to clear another gap, positioning himself to sprint along behind Jade as he lead them there.

"Do we even know what the item is?" Jade chimed in, looking down to street level and gesturing for the others to follow him as he leapt off the building, flawlessly continuing to rocket forward as the others let him lead for now. He could see the baddy through the buildings about two blocks away, his goggles coming in handy for the billionth time since he'd started this thing. However as cool as all his extra bits turned out to be when it came to hitting hard and dealing damage it was the other two who won the race.

"We need to figure it out," Lady said, calling out to them as she flew overhead to stand on another rooftop, the bad guy now in sight. "We can't let this go any longer! It's time for an all-out attack."

"That's what I've been saying!" Cat whooped, landing on the same building as her but not waiting, taking the initiative and running straight in, Ladybug not far behind.

"Would you two slow down!?" Jade called in exasperation, having already lost sight of them and groaning as he went around, sticking to the street. Despite the fact that they were well off now Cat still laughed, turning to shout back "You stick to slow and steady turtle boy!"

Jade grit his teeth, banking hard and assessing multiple things at once as he rounded the final bend, coming upon the scene in a way he had started to grow accustomed to, which was insane.

It was big it was bad, and it was incredibly aggressive but that wasn't new. Jade sighed to himself as he rolled up, dismounting from the shield and bringing it up into a defensive position in one go, ready for anything.

Just another day on the job.

It was weird, of course it was. How could someone possibly get 'used to' something like this? But it wasn't totally that, it still took him by surprise every time how insane the fights would get, and it still scared the crap out of him but he was better at... dealing. He did it, there was never hesitation it was his job. The first few times yeah, adapting to a city wide warning actually meaning 'go get it' instead of run and hide was freaking, impossible. It was nuts, seeing giant octopus monster or whatever the hell and thinking 'oh yeah I should probably go deal with that' and not think 'Jesus Christ octopus monster'. For Nino it was usually a combination of both, but still the difference was... startling.

He just... This wasn't him, but it was. It was now. Nino would never do this, ever, no way. Run out and fight things, fight the bad guys save people cut ribbons. He wasn't that guy, at least... he hadn't thought he was.

But he did it, every time. No matter how scary it was he did it now, and he had done it the first time and he said yes. And he kept saying yes, every single day was an opportunity to back down and he didn't, and part of him knew he never would. He wasn't going to back down and let Hawkmoth win, he wasn't going to abandon his friends, he wasn't going to do the safe thing.

And Nino had always done the safe thing. The calm thing, the normal thing.

He was just... a guy. But now he was a superhero, and the weirdest thing is that it didn't quite... feel wrong anymore.

Jade rolled, keeping calm as he sprinted around the enemy, prepared to follow Lady's signal and stun the guy so she could move in, Cat on standby to topple a building and give him the opening. It was practiced and fluid, he had fit right in to the dynamic. It had taken a few fights but now, four or five weeks in he was part of the team. He was accounted for in the plans, and sometimes he made the difference.

He kept thinking in all the spaces of the fight about how out of place he should be, and how much he wasn't. He kept thinking about how it was Adrien that was a hero, Marinette who could save the day not him even as he sprinted in, words falling from his mouth to charge his shield with power. He thought hollow thoughts about how he couldn't do this even as he lashed out, slamming into the foe and freezing him in a moment of time so Ladybug could swoop in, distant and repetitive doubts falling silent as the possessed item smashed against the ground.

Thinking about how he wasn't a hero while he saved the day, yet again. Keeping Paris safe.

He was just Nino.

Jade jolted from his thoughts in panic when he felt something clap sharply on his shoulder, the hard points slightly dragging against the material the first thing to alert him to the fact that it was Cat.

"I know that look," Cat Noir was saying, leaning forward to dominate Jade's view as Ladybug purified all the damage done, magic sweeping over and through them as Cat grinned and nodding knowingly. "Still think you're not cut out for this?"

Jade didn't reply right away, at this point hilariously predictable, so he settled with a chuckle as he adjusted his shield and fastened it to his back.

"Don't think that's ever gonna go away," he said honestly, eyes trailing over the victim as he lay collapsed on the ground, Ladybug speaking to him gently. He waited for a moment more, a distant beep hitting his ears and reminding him of his time limit before he said, "But I guess I'm not all that bad at it either."

His friend laughed, shaking his head and sighing dramatically as he collapsed his staff. "How long are you going to keep trying to convince yourself you're not a superhero dude? You've taken to this like a turtle to water," he smirked, "give yourself some credit."

"I'm adjusting," Jade said dismissively, sighing and looking away but Cat wasn't having it, sidestepping into view again.

"It's been two months! No adjustment needed! Get over it," Cat crossed his arms, feigning irritation. "You're great at this, deal with it."

"Oh shut up," Jade muttered, Cat laughing as the turtle started to walk away. "All three of us have our timers on, we can't waste time."

"Oh get a compliment and you run and hide," Cat chastised, laughing again even as the distance grew and his own ring beeped for the second time.

"Shut up," Jade reminded him, rolling his eyes as he turned to walk backwards and still face his friend. "We meeting up tonight?"

To his surprise Cat looked bashful for a second, laughing and looking away as he said, "Uh, actually. I was gonna ask, are you cool with handling patrol tonight?"

Jade stopped, one foot mid step as he raised an eyebrow. "Yeah I can, why though?"

"I'm just, uh," Cat answered slowly, hesitating to answer and slowly looking towards Ladybug who was still with the victim. He gave a very pointed look and head nod in her direction and Jade hummed in understanding.

"Alright bro don't worry about it," he said, giving a thumbs up as he prepared to head out. "Have a good one."

"Thanks man I owe you!" Cat assured him, waving with one hand and the other scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. Jade just chuckled, waving dismissively as he finally departed, dangerously low on time as it was.

Jade dedicated his last two minutes to getting as far away as possible, ducking behind a grocer and crouching in an alleyway to detransform. The flurry of magic washed over him and he quickly reached out to catch Wayzz as he fell, cradling the small turtle with a gentle smile.

"Hey buddy, let's go get you some grub yeah?"

"Are we patrolling alone again tonight?" Wayzz asked in a tired voice, sitting up in Nino's cupped hands and looking up at his charge with his large eyes.

Nino shrugged, lifting Wayzz to settle him in his hat. "Looks like it but it's cool. The superdudes need their date nights, I can cover it."

Wayzz hummed, not offering anything else right away as Nino pulled the brim of his hat down, taking only a few more seconds to assure Wayzz was out of sight before starting his walk home.

He sighed, one hand drifting towards his headphones as he considered using them but remembering a moment later as he always did that he couldn't use them with Wayzz in his hat. He really should invest in buds at this point, but silence was alright. He was getting more used to it.

He wasn't tired exactly, it was a weird feeling. His miraculous gave him a lot of power and boosted his body, but it didn't mean that everything he did wasn't exhausting. Using his power had a draining effect on him, like he was pulling his strength into one big blow so whenever he had to use it, which wasn't incredibly often, he was usually down for the count after that. He had asked the others about it but they didn't experience anything like that even when they had first started so he mostly assumed that's where rank came into play. They had higher stones, the top dogs, so they didn't get some of the drawbacks he did. He was made stronger yeah, but not as strong as them and his power took a lot out of him where as they could keep throwing punches for a good while after. Even without his timer encouraging him to wrap things up he could probably only fight well for five minutes after it anyways before he needed a break. Even so though, he wasn't... tired. He was drained but awake, it was weird.

Nino let out another long breath, taking advantage of the traffic in front of him to stretch out his legs and try and relax the muscles a bit. Which he had, which was probably one of the weirdest things about all this. He wasn't ripped but he definitely hadn't been this tone before he got his stone. He had noticed before that both Mari and Adrien were fit as hell but he didn't think a lot about it until he knew who they were. Now that he had spandex and a mask too he saw the changes, most settling in after three or so weeks. His legs were stronger, his arms were tone, his stomach was flat. He looked good, in his opinion, which was nuts. Having the bracelet was one thing but seeing physical changes in himself had been a little... disarming. Not a lot he could do though, not that he would change anything. Just weird.

He dimly realized that he had the right to walk now, barely registering his surroundings as he started to cross the street. He had gotten to know the city stupidly well in the last two months but he still wasn't one hundred percent sure where he was, but apparently he was the only one.

Nino looked up when he heard a noise coming from directly above him, Wayzz shifting in his hat and patting his hair.

"Master?"

Nino looked around to check that no one was nearby before saying, "You know you don't have to call me that Wayzz."

"No," the small voice came again, the kwami shifting again out of sight, restless now. "Master."

Nino paused on the sidewalk, eyes casting about to find a secluded place where he could figure out what the hell Wayzz was talking about before suddenly his hat was knocked off.

Nino jolted, fumbling to catch his hat and turning just in time to watch Wayzz in BROAD DAYLIGHT fly out away from him in the open air.

"DUDE," Nino exclaimed, watching in helpless desperation as Wayzz ducked behind a parked car before looking both ways across the street and zipping out of sight like a tiny green bullet. "DUDE!!" Nino called again, stumbling thoughtlessly into the street with his hat in his hands and almost getting car murdered in the process, skipping out ahead of the compact and quickly apologizing before sprinting in the direction Wayzz had gone.

Nino ran down the sidewalk, looking around him in a desperate panic as he saw civilians going about their daily business. Where the hell did he go?! Anybody could have seen him what the hell was he doing??

Nino ran forward a bit farther, heart hammering in his chest as he came to a new street corner, gold eyes scanning every inch of the area to see if he could see anything that could be Wayzz. The little guy was fast, which was misleading.

"Buddy?" Nino called, hesitating to say his name even though it wouldn't mean anything to anyone. He rethought his hesitation and after a moment he was just calling his name, running down the sidewalk. "Wayzz buddy! Dude where did you go?!"

He got no response, the DJ turning on the spot with his hands on his head as he realized he had no freaking idea how to find him. He doubted Wayzz knew the way home but he ran off out of nowhere! In the middle of the day!!

"Excuse me young lad," a voice suddenly said near him, old and amused. "Have you misplaced something?"

Nino turned, and less than five or so feet from him was an old Asian man with a smile on his face, ancient eyes somewhat familiar and shining with humor. He had a cane that he leaned against heavily, stood in the center of the sidewalk with one hand over his pocket. What set him apart in Nino's mind though was the red Hawaiian shirt, which stirred up a vague memory from what felt like forever ago.

"Uh," Nino stuttered, shaking his head and looking around again. "Yeah, uh..." He didn't know what to say. I lost my magical flying turtle? "I lost my uh... friend."

"Oh," the old man chuckled, clicking his cane once against the sidewalk. "That's a terrible thing to lose. Though I'd say you've found another."

Nino blinked, settling his cap back on his head and looking away from the old guy in his distraction. This dude was being weird and cryptic, he seriously had something more important to handle, but then he saw the old man raise his hand to shake with a kind smile.

"An exchange of names between friends is fitting," he said with that same mischievous sound in his voice, something obviously funny to him. "But which of yours would you offer? Nino? Or Jade?"

Nino froze, eyes widening and a sharp chill shooting over his body, horror seeping in. He was half a second away from blind panic before he saw something shift in the corner of his eye, Wayzz's familiar green antenna swaying out from behind the old man's wrinkled hand, the other still outstretched expectantly.

"I can give my own first," he said vaguely, taking Nino's shaking hand in a friendly gesture. "I've already given you one, another is not so much more to ask." He chuckled before looking up at the tall boy. "My name is Fu, it is nice to see you again young man."

Nino's breath caught in his throat, the bustle of the street and every other living thing fading out as he started to understand. Confronted right here in the middle of the street, an old man with shining eyes and good humor in every aspect of his being, and the old man with a stone of power standing at the entrance of the Notre Dame as the sky thundered and raged.

I've already given you one, another is not so much more to ask.

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