"Wait a second..." the woman thought for a moment. "...when did you start?!" Her eyes were now directed at Hawk Moth.

"W-What?!" He began to stutter.

"Didn't you start at the same time as me?!" Mayura asked, her words being fierce and her tone demanding for an answer. "That would mean-"

"No!" The man shouted before she could've finished her sentence. "I didn't start when you started! I was around before that."

"Oh really?"

"Really!" Hawk Moth tried to sound convincing, tough he was telling an obvious lie.

"How come I've never seen you in the news or heard of you before?" Mayura frowned. "I only knew there was another villain around when I became one myself."

"That's because I was quite an underground villain."

"Underground villain?"

"Yes." The man smiled, playing along to the story. "I guess the public only bothered to notice my existence when I had a worthy rival such as yourself."

"Mhm." The woman didn't sound convinced. "Until then you were just...underground as you say?"

"Precisely. Just like an underground artist."

"Oh." Mayura smirked when she felt an opportunity to really test this point. "Are you then suggesting that there are many underground villains I don't even know of?" She asked. "Is it a community?"

"Yes."

"Could you introduce me to some of them?" She got closer.

"Sure." He spat. "When?"

"Tomorrow night!" Mayura's evil smile was as wide as possible. "Will that be good for them? Or are they busy?"

"Tomorrow will be perfect!" Hawk Moth had to agree to make this all sound legitimate.

"Good." The woman was very close by now, her breath could almost be felt on his face. "See you tomorrow."

The man returned a nod as he stepped aside to put some space between them. "See you!" He repeated, his voice still loud and confident, but his face and body turning away so that the anxiety and stress present on it wouldn't be visible.

In a matter of second Hawk Moth was out the window and he had left Mayura's apartment.

At last she was left alone.

The woman took a deep breath as she walked back to her bedroom.

"Underground villains, huh?" The butler, still in bed laughed to himself as he watched Mayura walk into the room.

She didn't respond or look at the tall man.

All the woman did was detransform. 

"Nath?" Armand asked, shifting himself closer to the edge of the bed and moving into a sitting position.

No answer.

"Did he say something bad?" The butler questioned again.

Nathalie just shook her head; "What am I doing?" She turned towards him and sat herself down onto the bed. "What am I doing with my life at thirty two? Why am I playing to be some villain? This is all so stupid!" Slowly, by the end of the sentences the assistant couldn't help tear up from the overwhelming unanswered question, but at the same time a hand wrapped around her waist and pulled closer.

"Oh Nath." Jean whispered, his arms now hiding the woman's red face and their chests pressed against one another. "If only you knew how many questions I could ask right now about my life too"

"L-Like w-what?" She stuttered, struggling to wipe away the tears in between sniffs.

"Like how have I not gone insane when I've had the woman of my dreams in front of me for the past almost twelve years and why have I not asked her to marry me yet? Why do I let her slip out of my hands time and time again? How am I able to wish her the 'best' even if that means a future with someone other than me and an eternity of loneliness for myself? How do I become so selfless and why?" Jean smiled as Nathalie only continued to cry, but at least  slowly let herself sink into the warm embrace of the butler. "Why can't I just admit that I've loved her ever since I've laid eyes on her and that those first few months working together, the galas, the meetings, the business trips and the gatherings for those many spring, summer, fall and winter collections are what I treasure the most."

"S-Shut u-up." Was all that the dark haired woman could mumble as her watercolour eyes glanced up at Armand. "You're such an idiot speaking nonsense right now."

"I know." He chuckled. "But I also know the truth is that I love you Nathalie Sancoeur. I have loved you for a decade and I'll love you forever. I will always think of you, of us backstage in the dressing room, fallen down on the floor and all the clothes scattered on the floor. When we had no idea what we were doing there, even less of an idea what a mess we had trapped ourselves in for the rest of this lifetime. I will remember those warm summer nights in front of the Le Grand Paris waiting for you, waiting for the last metro to arrive and to see you with a small bag in hand, claiming that will be enough for a night."

"A-Armand." Nathalie whispered.

Her emotions were all over the place to begin with, but such mentions of old stories only made these emotions worse and amplified what deep feelings she has not yet gotten to express.

"Yes?" The butler waited patiently for an answer, his eyes beginning to fill with tears as well, while the hands of the dark haired woman pressed softly against the side of his face and essentially forced him to look at her.

"You're an awful man for saying such things." She said.

"And you're a lovely woman for listening." Jean smiled.

Nathalie sighed; she didn't want to admit how much she knew what Armand was thinking as their eyes watched each other.

The exact same thing was going on in both adults' heads, and yet not a single movement or action was done in order to fulfill those wishes.

"I don't want to lose you." The man broke then silence. "I don't want you to leave or leave without me." His expression turned a little more serious, but Nathalie remained between his arms, tight against him.

"I definitely won't leave tonight." Said the woman with a yawn. "After all I have to see what stupid thing Hawk Moth was talking about."

"Right."

It bothered Jean that they were both avoiding the topic which was so obviously lingering in the air, and ignoring what desires they shared.

He moved his arms off of the assistant for a moment just to reposition himself better in the bed, but the very second that the embrace around Nathalie broke; she spun around.

Some slight hint of fear became sparked up in her eyes; as if the woman was to lose everything, but as she watched the butler chuckled at her, she calmed down.

"What?" He asked through a little laugh.

"I thought you were going to leave."

"After all I've told you?" Armand scoffed. "I think that would be the stupidest thing I could do."

A faint smile appeared on Nathalie's lips to the sound of this. "Right." She nodded.

Unexpectedly the room which held them captive because dead silent.

So silent in fact that their breaths and the rhythm of their hearts were the only sounds hearable.

They wanted to break what restriction this inability of speaking had casted upon them, but no words were found appropriate.

Suddenly, those painful few minutes where neither were able to do anything got broken by the ring of a phone.

Nathalie shook her head to focus back into reality; and as she did so, she saw her superior calling.

"It's Gabriel." The dark haired woman's eyes looked up at Armand while her hands reached down onto the bedside table to answer the call.
"H-Hello, sir." She said, stuttering

"Hello Nathalie." The grey haired man responded. "I was just calling to make sure that you wouldn't forget about the show tomorrow night."

"Oh." Her heart dropped. "That's very mindful of you, Mr Agreste."

The date of this fashion event had completely slipped from assistant's mind.

As a whole she had forgotten of her work at the Agreste Mansion and the upcoming event tomorrow.

The woman's could barely even recall the last time she had talked with her boss.

And now, not only did she need to suffer though a whole day of work, then be able to handle an event at Le Grand Paris, but she had also promised to meet with Hawk Moth.

It was absolutely chaos that Nathalie's mind became that second.

"You'll be able to attend the show, right?" Gabriel's curious voice wondered. "Nathalie?" He asked again as the line still stayed silent. "Are you there?"

"Y-yes!" She exclaimed as she got pinched by the butler to gain consciousness of the present. "I will be there." The woman reassured both her boss and herself. "Tomorrow."

"Fabulous." The grey haired man sounded glad, although in reality he was just as anxious of his villian-self's schedule the upcoming night as Nathalie on the other line.
"I will see you there." He ended the call.

A deep breath in and a deep breath out; he fell back on his bed.

"What will I do Nooroo?!" Gabriel whispered, his voice almost trembling. "I wanted to expose Mayura first and now I'll probably be the one getting exposed if I can't keep tomorrow's promise!"

The small kwami shook his head.

He couldn't say too much as he was not allowed to reveal the identity of the other villain.

However, Nooroo was allowed to convince his Master that worrying was not needed.

In the meantime Nathalie too hand fallen back on the bed.

She fell right into the arms of the butler who was there to comfort her once again.

"I-I won't be able to go to this fashion show if I don't want Hawk Moth to find out who I am!" She cried. "I-I have to run away! Leave Paris immediately and never come back!"

The woman would've wanted to jump to her feet right then and there, but someone held her back.

"That won't fix anything!" Jean said. "If you as Nathalie disappear and if Mayura disappears too, then Hawk Moth will surely know who you are!"

"Then what do I do!?!" The assistant sobbed, her hands grabbing the arms of Armand and shaking him for answers.

She was exhausted; there wasn't even enough strength in Nathalie to be able to hold herself up anymore.

So, in a matter of second she collapsed right on-top of Jean.

With her face now crying on the chest of his, the assistant had given up all hope.

Mayura's secrets were going to be revealed and no one could save her except some miracle of the next few seconds.

"I know what you'll do!" Armand whispered, his hands slowly brushing through the woman's hair.

And there it was: an idea out of the blue.

"What?" Nathalie's voice was still barely audible and her face red, but she was willing to stop the crying and listen for a moment.

"You will go to the show, make sure Gabriel sees you and then leave to backstage." Jean began.

"What will I do then?"

"Then." He smirked. "I'll find you and we'll make sure that Gabriel can see us both walk into a dressing room."

"Okay?" She was hesitant. "How will that fix things?"

"Well..." the butler cleared his throat before he spoke again. "Do you think your boss will want to open that door and check on you if he saw you walk away with someone who used to be your ex?"

"Why did you say used to be?" She frowned. "You still are."

"Alright." Armand sighed. "But think about it, wouldn't this be a great plan?"

Nathalie shrugged; "So we'll lock ourselves in the dressing room and I assume from there I'll transform into May, leave to meet with Hawk Moth and come back like nothing happened?"

"Precisely." Jean smiled. "Maybe celebrate in the end if everything goes right."

"Of course." The woman rolled her eyes.

She had cheered up for a moment now, and Armand had noticed.

"What?" He asked with sarcasm. "Can I at least get some credit and appreciation for this master plan?"

"Sure." Nathalie leaned closer to him.

Her eyes looking into his as she was fully on top of Jean.

"You're acting like I didn't just confess my love to you in the most dramatic way ever." He grinned when he added; "You can't say it was fake."

The assistant scoffed at that; "And you can't say you don't want something in return."

To be continued-