Chapter Text
“Ughhhhh.” The red-headed Kyle lets out a long groan. “Why did that Akuma have to keep us up until 2AM? I have an English test today.” Kyle complains. Kyle looked similar to how he did as a kid. Curly, thick, red hair and green eyes. But instead of the coat he’d wear as a kid, he now wore an orange sweater over a white long sleeve with blue jeans and sneakers.
The little red bug, Tikki, pops up from Kyle’s backpack that was on his shoulders. “I’m just surprised Cocoon wasn’t sleeping. But you studied really hard for that test! I know you can do it!” She chirps encouragingly.
Kyle chuckles. “Thanks, Tikki.” Kyle had been RedBug for about five months now.
Kyle liked being one of the town’s superheroes. It was definitely thrilling, made the boring town of South Park a lot more interesting. It was funny to him that some people thought RedBug and DarkClaw, the black cat superhero, were just a stunt done by the mayor at first. It took a few battles for everyone to realize it was all real. Kyle didn’t know if he would’ve believed it at first either if he hadn’t been chosen as RedBug himself. When Tikki appeared after he opened the box holding the earrings, he screamed so loud his mom thought he was being kidnapped. That was a fun night.
“I just hope he slows down on the akumas. I know you’ll never fail in school, you’re too smart for that! But it would be nice if you had a little more time for your friends…” Tikki brings up with a sigh.
“Me too. But wasn’t it your guardian that assigned you to me? He chose me to be RedBug.” Kyle counters. He turns the corner, continuing to walk down the street, South Park High school now seen in the distance.
Tikki lets out a small giggle. “It’s true! You know, I remember DarkClaw’s kwami once telling him that choosing teenagers wasn’t the best idea. But I think you’re perfect! Well… maybe a little too… reactive? But perfect otherwise!”
This statement elicits an eye roll from Kyle. “It’s hard to not be reactive when DarkClaw is you know— DarkClaw. But we’re approaching the school now. You should hide.”
Without another word, Tikki slips back into Kyle’s bag.
Kyle now approaches the front of South Park high school, which many students swarm. As he passes, Kyle catches a few snippets of conversation.
“Did you hear that RedBug and DarkClaw were up past midnight fighting a super villain?”
“Yes! I couldn’t sleep, I was watching the battle from my window!”
Kyle can’t help but chuckle as he listens. It might have been cool, but the bags under his eyes said otherwise.
As he makes his way through the school, the words of those around Kyle drown into the background of the sea of sounds.
Once in the hallway of the school, a certain group of people catches Kyle’s attention.
“Kyle! Kyle!” The voice is soft, yet excitable with a slightly country accent, masculine. This voice belongs to Leo Stotch, a short teenage boy wearing a closed teal sweater over a white t-shirt with jeans and sneakers. Most notably, he has a long scar over his left eye, which is slightly cloudy in color, but both eyes are bright blue-ish green in color. Leo was part of Kyle’s general friend group, alongside—
“Did you study for the English test today? I can’t believe we get to take a test on The Phantom of the Opera! I’ve seen the musical like eight times! Reading the book in class was amazing!” The excited ramble comes from a girl with long blonde hair pulled into two low pigtails, a large pink bow wrapped around each one. She has long bangs with a portion flowing in between her eyes, and two pink angel wing hair clips on either side of her bangs. She is wearing a pink, knee-length dress with many ruffles over a lacey white, short-sleeved blouse with pink heart buttons that can be seen peeking from underneath the dress. She wears white knee socks and pink Mary Janes. She has the same blue-green eyes that Leo had. And that’s because this girl was Marjorine, most often called Marjie, Leo’s twin sister.
Kyle gives a small laugh. “Yeah, I studied alright.”
“Did you stay up all night doing it? It looks like you hardly got any sleep.” Comments another blonde, but this blonde had darker blonde hair that was messy and went a bit past his shoulders. He has bright blue eyes, alongside a bandaid over his nose. He is wearing a white tank top, blue jeans, and a dirty and torn orange jacket that was too big for him, with worn combat boots to finish off the look. This boy would be Kenny McCormick, another one of Kyle’s close friends. “I hardly studied at all. I didn’t even read the book. Just some clip notes I found online.”
“Kenny!” Kyle scolds, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Remember what Mrs Nelson said. If you fail another test, you’ll fail the first semester.”
This statement elicits a non-chalaunt laugh from Kenny. “Whatever, dude. I’ll study for the next one, I swear.”
Out of the whole group of friends, there was one with whom Kyle was the closest. And that would be—
“Stan, you like music! Did you like the book?” Marjie asks, holding her fists in front of her to match her enthusiastic tone.
The guy in question has a tired look on his face, making his brown eyes look more sunken than they usually do. His dyed blonde hair is spiky, brushing slightly past his ears, his brown roots obscured by a black beanie. He wears a black hoodie over a red band tee, his torn blue jeans, and dirty red Converse, matching his rough vibe. Notably, Stan has many piercings—a nose ring, a horizontal surface piercing, a pair of snake bite and angel bite piercings, along with a handful of cartilage piercings on both ears. He also wears a pair of thick black cross earrings over his earlobes and a thick black choker with a silver ring in the middle of it. He takes a tired breath. “Opera isn’t exactly my thing. Plus, this was just us reading about it. I’m more of a rock person.” He points out.
Marjie purses her lips, her head slightly tilting to the side. “Ah! I see! You at least studied for the test, though, right?”
“Uh, yeah. Kinda.” Stan shrugs, then adjusts his jacket sleeves. “I slept early last night.”
“Are you losers actually talking about the homework?” This loud, obnoxious voice belonged to that of Eric Cartman, Kyle’s frienemy gone rival, one he had unfortunately known for basically his entire life. He currently wears a tan jacket over a red t-shirt, with dark jeans and brown sneakers. His appearance was usually pretty simple, but there were times where Cartman would scheme and spice things up. Today wasn’t one of those days.
“Eric, don’t tell me you didn’t study!” The sweet voice comes from a girl who was trailing alongside Cartman. She had long, dusty brown hair with straight bangs, blue eyes, and light freckles decorating her face. Her outfit consisted of a green spaghetti-strapped dress with a brown cardigan over it, and tan flats. She wears a flower crown made of fake roses atop her head.
This girl would be Heidi Turner, Cartman’s poor victim— also known as his girlfriend.
“I said nothing about not studying you, dumb—“ Cartman clears his throat. “Of course, I studied honey.” His voice is now one of plastic softness. “I just don’t understand standing around the hallways mumbling about homework before school! It’s lame!”
“It’s not lame, asshole.” Kyle counters. “It’s important. But I bet poor Heidi is right. You probably don’t even know what the test is on.”
“I do, too!” Cartman counters, crossing his large arms over his chest with an angry huff. “It’s on some book from the 90’s.”
“Try 1910. At least I know what year it’s from.” Stan responds with an eye roll.
“Of course you f@ggots would actually read a book! I listened to an audiobook. You know, the future.” Cartman retorts with an annoying laugh.
Kenny points to Heidi. “You have to know she actually read the book, too. Is that what you think of your girlfriend?” He asks with a calm tone, but it was clear that deep resentment founded his statement. “At least pretend you can stand her.”
Heidi shoots an anxious glance at Cartman, then looks at Kenny as she holds her hands to her chest. “I-I mean, I did! But at least an audiobook is consuming the material!” She offers hopefully. “I offered to study with him, but Eric was too busy.”
“Busy, yeah, sure. He was probably staying up playing games on his lame-ass Xbox.” Kyle shoots. God, he couldn’t stand Cartman. Cartman treated Heidi horribly, but the poor girl refused to leave. So, unfortunately, they all had to watch as he was an asshole to her and everyone else.
“Heidi, next time you wanna study, ask one of us. I know I’m kind of a dunce when it comes to this sorta thing, but my C average looks like the works of Einstein compared to this two-brain-celled loser.” Kenny offers with a snicker, sticking his tongue between the gap of his front teeth.
Cartman scoffs. “Fuck you, Kinny!” He sneers, continuing his inability to pronounce his classmate’s names correctly. “Come on, babe. We need to get to class.” He storms off.
Heidi remains still for a moment. She gives a small wave before following after Cartman without a word.
Marjie gives a small wine. “Poor girl. Why won’t she just leave him? She’s way too nice for that jerk!”
Leo shrugs. “You know how he had a hold on me as a kid. Maybe she just needs some help seeing things as they are.”
Stan takes his phone from his pocket. “Took my mom way too long to divorce Randy. I’m just glad she chose the right side when things got desperate.” He mutters the last part.
Kyle looks at Stan as he speaks. Desperate was right. Stan had spent his whole childhood dealing with his horrible excuse of a father, Randy. He just hoped that there wasn’t a similar situation required to save Heidi.
——————
Sitting at a lunch table is a group of friends, eating both boxed and school lunches.
A boy with tan skin wearing a navy blue NASA hoodie with black leggings and white sneakers is currently eating a cup of chocolate pudding. Despite this not being his lunch period, his boyfriend, Tweek, always made sure to give him something to eat. His period before lunch was English, and Craig was decent at English, so he sometimes found himself wandering out of the classroom to catch lunch with his boyfriend and friends.
“Congrats on the sixth anniversary, guys!” Congratulates an asian girl with long black hair with straight bangs, brown eyes, and purple, thin, rectangular glasses. She has a purple tank top on over a white t-shirt, alongside black jeans and black flats.
“Yeah, what Wendy said! I can’t believe you’re only 16, and still celebrating such a milestone!” Exclaims a girl with long, fluffy blonde hair and bright green eyes. She sports a red tank top, black shorts over black leggings, and red flats.
“Th-Thanks, Wendy, Bebe.” A boy with spiky blonde hair in a short ponytail with dark green eyes thanks. He is wearing a dark green button-up shirt with khaki pants and green sneakers. He picks up a bottle of water. “I-I didn’t realize when we started dating as kids that it would be a forever thing.”
Craig nods at his boyfriend’s words. He wasn’t usually a guy who dedicated himself to things. But unbeknownst to 10-year-old him, a new part of his life was born on that day. He flexes his right hand as he sets the empty pudding cup on the table. Notably, a blue silver ring rests on his ring finger. He looks at Tweek with a soft smile on his usually neutral face. “I’m excited for our date tonight.”
“Surprised you’re being so open, Mr ‘I have no emotions’. Just be sure to bring back some dessert, though.” Teases a slightly pudgy boy with brown hair and a red letterman’s jacket.
“Clyde, it’s their date, not ours. Why do we need dessert?” Responds an African-American boy with short hair and a purple sweater.
“Oh, come on, Tolkien. I’m just saying, man. I don’t care what mushy stuff they do in their free time. I just want cake.” Clyde waves his hand.
“We’re n-not getting dessert. We’re going out to eat.” Tweek explains as he fidgets with the ring around his finger.
“I just hope that n-no supervillain r-r-r-ruins your date.” A boy with crossed brown eyes and short yet curly brown hair states. He is wearing a brown sweater over yellow pants and brown boots. His sweater sports a couple of miscellaneous pins over the breast. Resting next to where he sits is a pair of walking crutches. He takes a bite of his sandwich.
Craig scoffs. Ugh, yeah. About five months ago, those superheroes and super villains showed up to add some liveliness to the boring town of South Park. Craig didn’t care for this new addition, though. The villains the main guy recruited always came at the most inconvenient times. “I was woken up by that damn supervillain fight.” Craig complains. “They better not ruin this date, or I’m gonna punch in the faces of both hero and villain alike.” He grabs Bebe’s milk carton, taking a sip.
“Hey!” Bebe crosses her arms with a huff. “Maybe if you ate during your actual lunch period, you wouldn’t have to steal other people’s food!”
“Let’s just hope Mackey doesn’t bust him again.” Clyde pokes a fork into his spaghetti.
Craig sets down the milk carton. “Mackey can suck it. I want to spend time with my boyfriend.” Craig grabs the garlic bread from Clyde’s tray, taking a bite.
“CRAIG TUCKER!”
The loud, accented voice comes from across the lunchroom. Marching up to the table is an older man with thinning hair and a green button-up shirt, alongside thick, round glasses.
“Uh oh.” Jimmy looks at the table.
“What do you think you’re doin’ skipping out of class again?!” Mackey points a finger at Craig. “Come with me, young man. You’re going to the Principal!”
“What? But Mrs. Withers knew I left! She doesn’t care!” Craig counters, an actually angry look forming on his face.
“What are you suprised for? You’re breaking the rules, you know what happens! I told you that if I caught you skipping class again, you wouldn’t get off with a warning! I am officially giving you detention after school today!”
Tweek gasps. “What? No! We have a date today!” He begins to slightly shake.
“You think I care? Maybe he shouldn’t have skipped out on class if your date was so important to him!” Mackey yells. “Come on, Craig. Now!”
Craig growls, clenching his fists, an enragement settling in his chest. This wasn’t fair! This was their sixth anniversary date! The fact that it was almost exactly three years after Tweek was taken into safety is what made the exact day mean so much. This wouldn’t stand. He begrudgingly stands up, crossing his arms. “Whatever. I… I’ll contact you after, Tweek.” He says with a disheartened tone.
Looks of sympathy form on the faces of all of his friends.
Tweek pauses for a moment before reaching out a hand to Craig. “I—“ He glances around. “I guess we could reschedule?”
Craig reaches his ringed hand out to Tweek, briefly taking his hand in return. “Tomorrow. I promise.” He decides. He wouldn’t disappoint Tweek.
“Craig, come on! Now!” Mackey grabs Craig’s hand, pulling him away from Tweek. And with that, Craig is escorted away.
Wendy furrows her eyebrows, then gasps as she notices a new group entering the cafeteria. “Stan!” She stands up, waving her hands in the air.
Kyle, who is walking alongside his friends, looks at Wendy in the distance. His eyes then move over to the sight across the room, which is Craig being escorted out of the lunchroom by Mr Mackey. “Looks like she wants to talk to us.”
Kyle and his group made their way over to the table where Wendy was placed. As soon as they arrive, Wendy holds her fists up.
“Stan! Craig got detention today!” Wendy announces with worry. “He looked really angry! Don’t the villains get akumatized based on extreme emotion?”
“Don’t worry, Wends. Craig never gets too mad about anything. I can’t see why this would be different.” Clyde pops a meatball into his mouth with his fork.
Tweek slams his fists against the table so hard that food is sent flying and drinks fall over. “ERRRRG! You don’t get it at all, Clyde!”
Clyde raises his hands in defense. “What? What don’t I get?”
“Craig cares about Tweek more than anything.” Wendy answers. “If anything is going to make him angry enough for an akuma, it’s this.” She looks back at Stan.
Stan gives a sympathetic expression. “Yeah. When people are actually in love like them, it’s bound to overpower his usual apathy.” He advises. He sits next to Tweek. “Clyde, I think Wendy’s worry makes sense.”
“Well said, Stan.” Kenny agrees, finger-gunning. “While Craig is usually pretty calm, this is bound to ruffle his feathers. But now that he’s back in class, there’s nothing we can do. Just make sure to text him when he gets out.” Kenny suggests.
Kyle feels Tikki pull at his jacket from the inside. Was Wendy right? Would Craig get akumatized? He offers a smile. “I agree with Kenny. Just stay in contact with him, Tweek. And make sure Cartman doesn’t hear about this. He’ll just make things worse.”
“Agreed. I can’t stand him. He’s such a fucking asshole!” Wendy clenches her fists, sitting back down. “I gotta make sure once I publish my article on the inequality of girls versus boys in this school in the school paper, he doesn’t make a mockery of journalism by trying to publish some sort of counter-piece.” She grits her teeth. “But I know you wouldn’t let him publish anything, Jimmy.”
“Of co-co-co-course, Wendy. Publishing anything Cartman h-h-a-as to say would be a disgrace.” Jimmy agrees.
“We gotta go soon. But feel free to sit with us while we’re still here.” Bebe offers.
Kyle nods. He really hoped Wendy was wrong. But he wasn’t super confident in that fact.
————
“So I think I actually did pretty well on the test. Maybe it was all those hours of Marjie talking about the dang book that helped, though.” Kyle rambles with a laugh. He tried to always walk home from school with Stan when he wasn’t busy fighting villains. Luckily, Cocoon didn’t often strike while they were in school; it was usually the afternoon or night. Maybe he was busy, too?
Stan nods, his hands in both of his hoodie pockets. “I’m hoping I got over a B. I went to bed early, but I didn’t sleep very well.” Stan explains. “I kept having dreams about the farm.” He admits, looking at the ground as he walks.
A soft gasp escapes Kyle’s lips. “Ah… Um… do you want to talk about it? I-I mean— you don’t have to.” Stan usually chose not to talk about his nightmares. But it didn’t ever stop Kyle from accidentally asking.
Stan’s dark eyes move from the ground to rest on Kyle’s face. “Uh, not really.” He responds, confirming Kyle’s usual worry. “But… I dealt with it. I still managed to get like, one uninterrupted hour. Still better than the sleep I get at Randy’s house. I don’t even know why he still makes me sleep over.” He furrows his eyebrows, looking at the ground again.
Kyle clenches his fists. “I fucking hate Randy so much. The nerve that man has to call himself your father.” He spits. “I wish you could always just sleep over with me instead of that shity weed-filled apartment. You know you’re welcome any time, right?” Kyle couldn’t stand Randy. He never liked him, but after the incident, he hated him even more. He was just glad that things didn’t turn out worse, thanks to Sharon. Stan’s mother was always nice to be around. Sharon always had this tired look in her eyes, one that almost rivaled the one her son always wore. Almost.
“I think everyone that knows him hates him.” Stan says with a tired laugh, which is swiftly followed by a sigh. “Maybe I’ll sleep over tomorrow. I’ve gotta stay with him this weekend. I’m sure he plans to get high and make me watch the investment channel with him again. I swear to god my lungs are going to start decaying with how much weed he manages to stuff into my lungs even 2 days a week at a time.” He comments bitterly. “If it wasn’t for his weed habit destroying me mentally and physically, I probably would be a smoker by now. I’m glad at least Michael has the decency to not smoke around me. It’s seriously not that hard. I only stay with Randy 2 days a week! He's fucking doing it on purpose!” He suddenly rages.
Kyle gasps once more, an angry look forming on his face. “I’m glad you don’t smoke! That shit is terrible for you! Don’t even think about trying anything destructive, Stan!” Kyle stops walking.
Stan stops walking as well. He averts Kyle’s gaze. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m just glad Pete’s trailer home is only a few blocks from Randy’s apartment. Not that Randy is all that happy when I run away.” He clenches his fists, removing one of his hands from his jacket. “Actually, I think Pete said his boyfriend Mike is staying the night. Maybe I can sneak out again and watch a movie with them or something.”
Kyle remains silent for a moment. He was glad that Stan had remained friends with Michael, Henrietta, Pete, and Mike. Firkle faded often due to how much younger he was, but the others remained pretty close friends with Stan. Kyle almost envied them, even though he knew it was stupid. Pete’s situation wasn’t like Stan’s, but it was more relatable to Stan than Kyle’s life. Sure, his mom was insanely explosive and overbearing. His dad was a total self-obsessed jerk. But at least he was rich, living in a nice house with a full family.
Finally, Kyle speaks. “Stan—“
At what was probably the worst possible time, an alert on Kyle’s phone goes off.
Kyle grows, fishing his phone from his pocket. The alert was a non-descriptly labeled one— one that meant it was time for the weekly patrol with DarkClaw. Shit.
“Ah— I promised I’d do something for my mom. I even set a reminder to remind myself.” He places his phone back in his pocket. “Is it all right if I split? We can talk later.”
Stan nods. “Yeah, yeah. Of course. Luckily, I’m still at mom’s tonight. So I should be fine. Text me.” He waves, then starts off on his own.
Kyle grits his teeth. He sighs. Really?
——
It’s about 4:00 pm.
Craig is currently sitting in a desk in the corner of the mostly empty classroom. The only other person in the room with him was the man who sentenced him here in the first place. Craig was furious. He wasn’t allowed his phone or his computer, so he had been resigned to read a book he had found on the bookshelf. But he wasn’t really paying any attention to the words. All he could think about was how angry he was. His detention was two hours long. Two hours! Mr. Mackey must have been feeling extra testy. Craig didn’t understand why he cared all that much. His teacher didn’t care, so why did Mackey?
This date was important. Usually, they could’ve just pushed it back till later in the evening. But Tweek had a test tomorrow, and had to sleep at a good time. So it wouldn’t be good to keep him out late. This stupid fucking detention was ruining everything! If only there were a way out.
Mr. Mackey stands up. “Craig, I’ve got to go talk to Mr Charles about something. Do not go ANYWHERE! Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal.” Craig snarks, fighting back the urge to flip this man the middle finger. He had gotten so much better on that childish habit. But it was times like these that made it resurface. Times he felt so much anger and hatred for those trying to tell him what to do.
“Good.” Without another word, Mr Mackey exits the room.
Craig throws the book he was reading to the ground with a huff. He stands up, then walks over to the desk, grabbing his phone from within one of the drawers. He looks at the door, wishing he could leave without being noticed.
Slipping through the cracks of the door is a purple butterfly, otherwise known as an Akuma. It quickly places itself into Craig’s ring, which causes the room to go dark.
“Ah! I’m sorry to bother you. But you seem awfully upset—“ A soft voice begins.
“No, no, no!” Craig responds quickly, throwing his hand to the side. “I am not doing this. I don’t need your powers!” Craig hated this super villain. He disrupted things and made basic human feelings way too overly complicated with magic powers no one needed.
The voice doesn’t speak for a moment. “Look, I know you’re not a fan of this. I can feel it. You want something simple, right? I can give that to you! You don’t even have to have a costume or anything. I can give you the powers you need to still go on your date. All I ask in return is that you grab the Miraculous for me before or after. Does that sound like it could work?”
“The miraculous? What are those?” Craig asks, raising an eyebrow. “Why can’t you do it yourself?”
“You know RedBug and DarkClaw? They’re powered by jewelry called the Miraculous! It’s RedBug’s earrings and DarkClaws’s ring! I need them for something super secret, and I can’t do it because my powers don’t give me what I need to retrieve them! But yours could! Please, you want to go on your date, right? And I’m sure the counselor will be back soon! Either accept or don’t, but I just… well, I thought I would help.”
Craig remains silent for a few moments. He did want to go on his date with Tweek more than anything in the world. “You can make sure my powers aren’t flashy or anything? Just what’s needed to make sure my date still happens?”
“Yes!” The voice confirms enthusiastically. “Nothing flashy. You don’t even have to have a super villain name. Alright, Craig. Let’s not waste any more time.”
“Fine.”
With that, Craig is surrounded by a dark purple substance that quickly fades. Nothing about his appearance changes, but Craig could feel a difference. He walks up to the wall, reaching his hand up to it, which surprisingly passes through. “All right!” He exclaims. Craig quickly shoots a text to Tweek, informing him of the changed circumstances. With that he walks through the wall to his freedom.
——
Running atop the roofs of the city is Kyle— except it isn’t in his Kyle form. In this form, he is RedBug. A superhero sporting a red costume with black spots, black gloves, and thick black boots. He has a thick black belt, in which a short transparent waist-cape mimicking ladybug wings sprouts from. A red mask with black dots is across his face.
RedBug continues running until he jumps up high in the air. then lands on the roof of the mayoral office. Looks like he was late to the patrol, as DarkClaw was already there.
Perching on the roof is Dark Claw. He wears a velvet black cape, one that went down to his shins. The hood of the cape sports black cat ears and rests over his head. The cape obscures most of his hair, but his dark purple bangs peak out, nearly covering his emerald green eyes. Instead of a mask over his eyes, he instead has a black mask over his mouth and nose. His costume under the cape was somewhat simple, mostly consisting of a black bodysuit, although he wears purple gloves with green palms, and black boots with green rims on the top and bottoms. A belt rests over his waist, which also acts as the tail to his costume. He is currently holding his staff, which serves as both a communication device and a weapon.
DarkClaw looks at RedBug. “Took you long enough.” His gruff and deep voice speaks. “Did you run into any trouble on the way here?”
“Sorry, real life things, you know. Get off my ass.” RedBug snarks. . “I’m sure you understand having a life. Or at least I hope you do. You’re always bitching at me for not appearing the very second an akuma appears. Like you do that either. There’s a person under that mask, right?”
DarkClaw rolls his eyes. “We serve an important role for this city. It’s important we’re on time. Whenever Cocoon attacks, it’s usually this time or after. We can’t risk being late to notice any akumas.” He reasons. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think about me. But I’m tired of your complaints. Keep it to yourself.”
RedBug grits his teeth. Tikki always got onto him for getting fired up by DarkClaw. And he knew DarkClaw was technically right here. God, who was this? Clearly not someone who had anything going on in his life besides playing hero. “Whatever. You get any extra sleep after last night’s akuma? I had something to do today. But you probably didn’t.”
“Well, of course, as you would assume for a boy my age, I’m roaming the streets and eating pizza out of trash cans.” DarkClaw quips with a deadpan tone. “I’ll have you know that the exhaustion from the fight kept me awake, too.”
RedBug bites his lip. “Sorry. You just don’t act human. So sometimes it’s hard to understand that you are one.”
DarkClaw narrows his eyes. “Is that seriously what you think of me? I tell you to stop playing around because you treat this like a game! You act like your precious lucky charm is all we need!” He waves his hands in exclamation. “As if I’m not smart enough to figure out how to take the Akuma out before you even open your mouth.”
“Oh, I’d like to see you try! You’ve never once taken out the akuma by yourself! Yet you still act like your little cataclysm can defeat the villain in one fell swoop! Well, where’s that confidence when you randomly run away?!” RedBug fires.
DarkClaw simply stares at RedBug, remaining silent. It seems as if he is about to speak…
“HEY! YOU TWO!” Craig’s voice can be heard from the ground.
Was that— Craig?
RedBug peers over the edge of the building, looking down at what was indeed Craig standing below. “Uh… can we help you?” He calls. What was Craig doing here?
DarkClaw peers over the edge of the building as well. “What the fuck?” He mutters under his breath.
“UH, I WAS HOPING YOU COULD GIVE ME YOUR MIRACULOUS THINGIES, OR WHATEVER.” Craig calls.
DarkClaw laughs. “It doesn’t look like he’s got a costume. But it sounds like he’s been greeted by Cocoon.”
“I have to agree. It’s weird that he doesn’t have a villain form, though.” RegBug wasn’t actually shocked by this. It was just like Craig to not have a villain form when akumatized. But he couldn’t say that to DarkClaw. “Look, uh… whatever your name is… we can’t give you our miraculous. We kind of need them to protect the city from akumas. And it appears that you’ve been akumatized.”
“WELL, I HAD SOME TIME TO KILL BEFORE MY DATE!” Craig explains. He suddenly hovers in the air, flying upwards to be on the same level as the heroes. He then lands on the building.
DarkClaw looks at Craig. “Time to kill or not, we’re not giving you our miraculous.” He explains, putting a hand on his hip.
Craig rolls his eyes. “I promised the guy that gave me the powers I’d get them for him, so.”
“Well, we promised ourselves that we wouldn’t let the bad guy win. So if you could just give us your akumatized object, that would be great. You don’t even seem like you want to be here.” RedBug holds out his hand. This villain didn’t look very threatening. All he was doing was flying. Was Cocoon trying some sort of weird new strategy?
“Like hell! If you’re gonna interfere with my date, then I’m gonna have to get more forceful!” With that, Craig reaches towards RedBug, attempting to grab for his earrings.
RedBug is pushed out of the way by DarkClaw. DarkClaw reaches for Craig’s ring. He promptly gasps as Craig turns intangible.
“That won’t be happening.” Craig responds. He turns tangible again, grabbing DarkClaw’s wrist.
DarkClaw then shakes Craig off of his arm in one motion, sending the boy flying.
Craig swiftly activates his flight again, stopping himself from going too far.
RedBug pushes himself to stand again. “He has two powers? What the fuck? What on earth? Look, do you at least have a villain name we can call you?” He quips as he begins to run towards Craig, spinning his yo-yo as he does so. He casts the yo-yo to a nearby lamppost, launching himself towards Craig, attempting to grab the boy as he does so.
Craig rolls his eyes, sending a gust of wind in RedBug’s direction, causing him to land back on the building. As Craig used this ability, he begins to fall back towards the ground. He swiftly manages to catch himself, hovering back in the air.
DarkClaw growls. “Jesus! It seems he can only use one power at a time, so maybe we just need to corner him in a situation where he uses his power to defend himself.” He suggests to RedBug.
Before RedBug can respond, Craig flies back up to the building, landing back on the top. He swipes his hand towards RedBug again. “You irritating superheroes continue to make my life difficult! We didn’t need all this commotion in our town!” He yells.
RedBeg swiftly dodges Craig, then jumps up in the air, landing back next to DarkClaw. “You’re being a hypocrite, you accepted the superpowers from Cocoon! You didn’t have to be here right now!” He twirls his yo-yo in front of himself defensively.
“Ugh!” Craig groans. “You know what? You’re right. I’m gonna go get ready for my date.” With that, Craig disappears.
DarkClaw sighs. “Well? What do we now? It sounds like he’s preparing for a date, but with who?”
“Time to find out.” RedBug already knew the answer, but he couldn’t reveal that. Hopefully, he would have some luck with his— “LUCKY CHARM!” RedBug tosses his yoyo in the air. Down falls a coffee cup with a ’T’ engraved into it, landing right in RedBug’s hands. He squints. “A coffee cup with a ’T’ on it. Um… there was that old abandoned coffee joint. Tweek Bros. They had a son. Maybe he’s involved? I don’t know, the ’T’ kind of gives it to me. But maybe I’m jumping to conclusions.”
“Well, we don’t have time to ponder or not. Let’s just go ask the guy.” DarkClaw then jumps to the ground, using his extending staff to swing himself away.
“Wait—“ RedBug clenches his free fist. “I COULD’VE USED ANOTHER LUCKY CHARM TO MAKE SURE!” He hollers. Fucking asshole.
—
Tweek is sitting on his bed, holding the hand with his ring out in front of himself. He closes his eyes, tears leaking from the brim.
Upon hearing a knock on his window, Tweek nearly jumps into the ceiling. “AAAAAHHHH!”
The window bursts open, and RedBug and DarkClaw swiftly enter through it.
Tweek turns to look at the two heroes. He opens his mouth to scream again, but within a second, RedBug is behind him, his hand over Tweek’s mouth. “Stop! You’re going to attract your parents!”
Tweek bites down onto RedBug’s hand, which causes the latter to grunt, but remove his hand. “Jesus!”
“I scream all the time! It’s normal to them!” Tweek argues. “What are you doing here?!”
“Are you the boyfriend of a guy in a blue hoodie with tan skin and black hair?” RedBug questions. He steps back from Tweek.
Tweek’s eyes go wide. He twitches. “Craig? Did he— did he get akumatized?!”
DarkClaw nods. “Yes. We need your help. We’re pretty sure you can help us. We just need you to agree to be bait.”
“BAIT?! FOR MY BOYFRIEND!? ARE YOU CRAZY! NO WAY!” Tweek screams. “I can’t fight him!”
“You don’t have to fight him! Just… lure him into a false sense of security so you can take his ring, where the akuma probably is, and break it. Then I’ll swoop in and capture the akuma.” RedBug gestures aimlessly with his hands.
“HIS RING?! NO! He got us those for our 4th anniversary! No way!” Tweek shakes his head furiously.
“No, we repair everything after!” RedBug assures. “It’ll be fixed! Please! You don’t want to go on your date where he won’t remember it after, right?”
Tweek freezes, looking at the ground. “He wouldn’t remember?”
“Akumatized villains don’t remember the events that took place during their akumatization.” DarkClaw informs. “You want your boyfriend back to normal, don’t you?” His voice softens. “We just need your cooperation.”
Tweek takes a deep breath. “Fine. I’ll do it. When is he coming?”
“We don’t know. Got a place we can hide while we wait for him?” RedBug glances around. DarkClaw was weirdly nice to Tweek. Normally, he didn’t talk much to akuma victims or those affected by the akumas. What had gotten into him?
“Th-The closet!” Tweek directs. “Now hide! We can’t risk him seeing you!”
Both RedBug and DarkClaw nod.
Kyle gives a firm nod. Time to defeat Craig.
—
Tweek is sitting on his bed, once again staring at his ringed finger.
Craig appears in Tweek’s room. He has a smile on his face. “Tweek, the villain was actually helpful for once. I broke out of detention, so we can go on our date! I messaged you that plans had changed. Have you checked your phone?” He questions.
“HUH?!” Tweek glances around. “CRAIG?! I-I— No! I’ve admittedly been too sad. Wait— does this mean— you were akumatized?! Wendy was right!”
Craig walks up to the bed. He grabs Tweek’s hands in his own. “I guess my anger towards the forced cancellation was enough. But I can see why. You’ve always been such a motivator for me.” A slight blush coats his face. “So now we can have our date. As planned.”
A matching blush comes to Tweek’s face. He looks down at Craig’s hands. “That’s… really sweet. And I know you think that. But I want you to remember saying it!” Tweek suddenly re-adjusts his hands, then pulls the ring off Craig’s hand, quickly using full force to rip it in half.
RedBug bursts out of the closet, his yo-yo to capture the now loose akuma. “Get out of here, little bug.” Kyle quickly releases the akuma turned butterfly back into the air.
The dark glow returns around Craig, but melts away. As he didn’t have an akumatized appearance, nothing changes.
“CRAIG!” Tweek tackles Craig in a hug, causing the two to fall to the floor. “I-I’M SO SORRY I HAD TO BREAK YOUR AKUMA! I JUST WANTED YOU TO REMEMBER OUR DATE! WAHHHH!”
RegBug walks over to the bed, picking up the ring. He clears his throat. “Tweek, he doesn’t remember what happened. And I have his ring.”
Craig sits up. “Tweek! Are you okay?” He worries, holding his right hand out to Tweek. He looks at his finger, which is indeed missing his ring. “Whoa, wait… wait, what happened? Why am I not it detention? I mean not that I care, but…”
DarkClaw exits the closet. “Your love for your boyfriend caused you to get akumatized.” He informs. “But when Tweek found out you wouldn’t remember anything you did while in that state, he immediately joined with us to return you to normal.”
Craig softly gasps. He nods. “I think you guys are troublesome. But thanks for trying to… make sure of that. That I remembered my time with him.” He grumbles the last part.
“You go to South Park High School, right? We’ll go talk to the authority and tell them we took you out of detention.” RedBug offers. He holds out the ring.
Tweek sits up. He takes the ring from RedBug, then takes Craig’s hand, gently slipping the ring back onto his ring finger. He offers a smile.
“We should leave you two alone. Have fun on your date.” RedBug solutes. DarkClaw really was being nicer than normal. Maybe he was sick. With that last thought, RedBug walks over to the window, then jumps out of it.
DarkClaw nods. “Enjoy your date.” With that, he takes his exit as well.
Craig chuckles. “Well, now that I’m out of detention, do… you still wanna go on a date? I know how important this date is to you.”
Tweek puts a hand over his heart. “I… It is important to me. But it’s also important to you. And that’s what’s most important to me.” Tweek looks at the ground. “I remember that my parents told me they were going to make sure I never saw you again. I’m glad they got arrested. I-I know they abused me. I spent 5 months in drug rehab. But I’m happiest that we still get to be together. You’re always with me. And I love you for that. I know you’d do anything for me. Just maybe try to avoid getting in trouble at school, okay?”
Craig sighs. “I’ll try. It’s just hard when all the teachers are fucking dicks.” He then grabs Tweek’s hand. “But since you asked so nicely, I’ll stop leaving class.”
Tweek giggles. He squeezes Craig's hand. “A shitty lunch schedule won’t stop us. Now, you owe me a date.”
————
Sitting in a small green house, a figure is seen holding the small butterfly Kwami, Nooroo.
“Please, this is more than you realize! Your akumas are doing more damage than you think they are!” Nooroo begs.
A soft giggle his heard. “I understand your concerns, little friend. But I want to help people. And I know I can do it. And maybe they can help me in return.”
“It’s not worth it! The wish isn’t worth this! I never should’ve told you about it! She wouldn’t want this—“
“Whether she wants it or not, it’s what’s best. I can help us. And I know that I will.”
————