#WHAT THE FUCK GUYS. WE GO ON QUARANTINE AND SUDDENLY WE'RE ON FIRE WITH SELF LOVE

[gigiree]

On Sentiment

Le Paon makes a sentimonster who looks like Chat Noir. Adrien now struggles to take care of him and not let him get hurt like the Ladybug Sentimonster was. I GUESS CONSIDER THIS ME JUMPING ON THE CRACK ADRICHAT BECAUSE IT REALLY IS CRACK. THANKS @buggachat. interpret however you want. im going with agape love.

On the day you are made, it is discovered just how powerful sheer emotion can be. On the day Le Paon swipes her fan and the winds give rise to your form, solid and warm, Chat Noir mirrors your wide-eyed wonder.

You are shocked when his green eyes (exactly like yours) narrow with fear. A hiss escapes his bared teeth. Even his hair seems to be on end, puffing all over the place with the static arcing in the air. You think it’s sort of funny.

What is this strange ticklish feeling in your chest? It’s all bubbly. You don’t stop it as it bubbles up and escapes from your throat. Ah! It’s a laugh. You like it. It’s warm and this new existence is oh so cold.

Le Paon’s will prods at your mind. It makes your body want to leap forward. To pounce and rend Ladybug and Chat Noir into black and red ribbons.

You don’t like that.

But still you pounce because your body burns when you don’t. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir save your feather from Le Paon’s clutches. Things feel a little warmer. A little scarier because things are out of your control, still.

“What do we do with him?! I don’t...We need to find a place for him. I don’t want him to be hurt. Not like her...” Ladybug tells Chat Noir desperately, running her hands through her inky hair. You want to touch it. It looks shiny.

Chat Noir looks pained. Scared. Not distrustful, but he looks at you like he might look at a spectre. He pinches the bridge of his nose with clawed fingers just like yours.

“We have to hide him. He’s got the same powers as me and he doesn’t have a limit that we know of. And I don’t want a version of me running around Paris up to no good.”

Ladybug laughs.

“You’re usually up to no good. Would there be a difference, Kitty?”

Chat Noir pouts. You smile. You like their humor. It’s funny. You want in. You want to be included. The feather in Chat Noir’s hand is held gently. You can trust them.

“Let me stay with you Chat Noir. I promise I won’t be trouble.”

Chat Noir still looks suspicious. Ladybug sighs.

“It’s probably for the best. You said your house is really big. I don’t have that much room in my home.”

So that’s how you, the doppelganger, ends up going home with Chat Noir.

----

Chat Noir, much to your surprise, is Adrien. 

His eyes are still green, but they are no longer exactly like yours.

There’s still the same suspicion in them, but it’s softened by the worry in his eyes as you struggle to slip on the pajama set he gives you. He seems very confused that you are able to take off your suit and glove, but cannot remove your mask or ears.

“H-how...How does that work?” Adrien asks you. Plagg seems unconcerned. He’s already curled up with his cheese on a stinky sock.

Plagg simply says “magic”.

You merely accept it, like you do with everything in this new life. You hadn’t existed up until yesterday. Why question little things now?

“Don’t know.” You say blithely, wincing when you accidentally tear the sleeve of the silky pajamas with your still-sharp claws.

Adrien sighs, but he’s gentle as he extricates your fingers from the fabric and helps you slip it on over your unruly hair. He doesn’t linger. He’s very quick about it.

But you still feel the warmth of welcome in his actions, and it makes you feel at peace. The feeling curls in your chest, warm and content. You let it rise up and lift the corners of your fanged mouth into a grateful smile.

“Thanks!” 

Adrien’s smile in return is sheepish, if somewhat uncomfortable. He tucks your feather under his pillow.

“You’re going to have to stay here until we can figure out what to do with you.” He says, then frowns. “Don’t go out without me. Don’t let anyone in this house see you.”

He tosses you a pillow and a soft blanket. You have to sleep on his spare couch, but it’s warm and you are safe and free.

You have no trouble accepting those terms as you curl up sleepily. You dream of red and black ribbons and feathers floating against the stars.

-------

You break your promise. You let someone in this house see you, but to your credit, it was to save Adrien.

They’d called for Chat Noir and Ladybug. You’d watched as Plagg’s magic, sharp and hor, wrapped itself around Adrien’s form. You’d watched as he’d given you a sharp glare with those same green eyes, before leaping out his window.

He’d left the piano music playing from his phone. You’d hid in his expansive closet. But your sharp hearing catches the jingling of a door knob being shaken. 

You only think of Adrien. You think of his kindness and his gentle exasperation as he’d brought you food and showed you how to brush your hair and told you how to play a game called Brawl Bros.

You only think of Adrien when you wrap himself in one of his luxury cardigans and sit on the piano bench and set your claws on the bench. 

You catch your reflection on the shiny, black surface of the piano and nearly hiss. You will yourself to change. You will it so much that your body burns.

It burns as your ears recede and your mask disappears and your claws shrink a bit.

It is without much fanfare that Nathalie opens the door, merely sees your mop of golden hair moving over the top of the piano, and leaves. She’d bought the ruse.

You stay there a bit more, heaving a sigh of relief. When you look back at your reflection, you are shocked to see that you look a little more like Adrien...but you’re not him. Your corneas are still green. Your fangs still large and your mask has gone away, only to give way to an inky darkness that mars the space around your eyes.

Strange.

You are tired. You take your blanket and your pillow and curl up in the closet to rest. The bed is Adrien’s space. You refuse to take it, in any capacity. You are not him.

-----

When Adrien and you can finally get down the rules for your ability to change your features, he decides it’s safe to take you to school.

“So yeah. This is my British cousin from my mom’s cousin’s uncle’s side. His name’s Garfield. He’s decided to study in Paris for a year.”

Nino blinks at you. Then he blink at Adrien. Then he blinks at you once more. 

“The family resemblance is uncanny, man. Your other cousin Felix looks just the like two of you too. Daaaamn.” He finally announces. 

Adrien sighs with relief. The arm he’s slung around your shoulder relaxes.

“Hahaha. Yeaaaaah. Family genes are strong. But Garfield, meet Nino.”

“Nice to meet you, bro.” Nino says, offering his hand.

You have it. You have your own name. It makes you so incandescently happy. You feel that familiar bubbling sensation in your chest. The one you know means you want to laugh. You do not hold back. Adrien usually holds back his laughs. Tucks them into the corner of his mouth and releases a modest puff of air when around people he doesn’t feel comfortable with.

You, however, have no such compunction. You were created in Chat Noir’s image. And Chat Noir laughs freely.

So you do.

You reach forward to take Nino’s hand and shake it so hard, his headphones rattle.

Adrien looks embarrassed. Nino looks enthused. 

Your sharp hearing catches the whispers of speculation from the class. But Adrien looks relieved and he shoots you a quiet smile that says “good job.”

You are warm and content. You have two friends now.

----

Marinette makes for a wonderful, third friend. She also happens to come with a myriad of others clinging to her wake.

He can’t blame them. She’s so bright and kind, she matches Adrien well.

She takes your hand after you cut it trying to work on your physics project. She uses a pretty, embroidered handkerchief to wrap up your wound. Her blue eyes echo familiar as they peer up at you.

“Up to no good again, Garfield?” She says this, but it’s teasing. 

That echoes familiar too. Her small hands are warm. 

You’ve already decided that you like her by the time she’s done wrapping up your wound.

“I can help you with this?” She gestures towards the pile of foam blocks on your desk.  

You feel a burning on your face. Ah embarrassment. Still, laughter always feels good. So you laugh at yourself. Then you nod. 

“Yes please. I’m not all that good with this stuff.”

----

Adrien screams into his pillow.

Plagg looks a bit sad as he curls up next to his boy. You click your claws together in agitation. It seems your base form will always be of Chat Noir’s double. It’s the most comfortable way to be when you want to rest.

A lot had happened today.

You’d stayed out of the way, but your sharp ears had overheard it.

Adrien begging his father to show up for the school’s talent day. His father’s frigid dismissal. Then he’d leapt out the window leaving you behind.

He’d come back. A little angrier, a little sharper. But also resigned. Like he’d given up on something that had been making him happy.

You don’t have to ask much to gather that it is Ladybug. He’d gotten a more final answer.

“She likes someone else.”

You don’t know what to do about that. The one time you’d met Ladybug, you’d thought she was kind. A good person. Remarkable. But you’ve met plenty of kind people who are remarkable in their own way. 

Rose was remarkable when she’d made you a bracelet. Juleka when she’d done your makeup for a fun class film. Alya when she’d taken your hand and shoved an ice cream cone into it while you’d hung back from the group. Nino when he’d shown you his wonderful new remixes. Kagami when she’d arm-wrestled you and laughed as she took your arm down. Marinette was remarkable when she brought you eclairs everyday because you’d said once a while ago that you liked them.

Adrien was remarkable when he’d brushed back your tangled hair and asked you to play video games with him. Adrien when he’d shared with you his collection of favorite anime. Adrien when he let you make a mess and try on all the interesting clothes in his closet.

Adrien when he’d handed you your feather in a show of ultimate trust. He’d freed you.

Your chest feels tight? The color green comes to mind, but you don’t think much of it when you sit on the foot of his bed.

“I’m sorry. That...That sucks,” You say quietly. Which is unusual for you.

Adrien doesn’t move, but he moves to face you. HIs gaze softens with sorrow.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for, Garfield.”

Then you snort.

“I get it now. You named me after a fat, orange cat.”

Adrien rolls his eyes. Good. You’ve distracted him.

“An iconic orange cat.”

“I don’t eat that much!”

Adrien grabs his pillow, startling Plagg and hits you with it. You fall on the bed from the impact. The pillow over your face.

“You’re a good friend, Garfield.” He says after a moment.

 Adrien’s laughing. You’re in his space, and it’s okay. You’re his friend.

-----

Marinette likes Adrien. She’s told you this in confidence.

You don’t quite know what to say. Pain is a nasty feeling. It eats away at your chest and kinda makes you want to pounce just like Le Paon had. Pounce away from the source of the pain. Marinette is your friend. 

She cries into her hands. She’s been tired as of late. More stressed. Then she’d overheard Adrien rejecting an upperclassman’s confession.

I’m sorry. I like someone else.

She falls into your arms when you offer her a hug. 

The tight feeling in your chest returns. It’s painful, but not angry. You know it could easily become a bad thing, but your appreciation runs too deep to do so.

You keep it to yourself, but you get it. You understand Marinette. You really do.

Because Adrien is remarkable and it’s finally hit you that golden things can’t stay.

-----

You hold your feather in your hand. It’s fading.

You and you alone are responsible for this. Choice is a wonderful thing.

You take the shot for Ladybug and Chat Noir. For who you know now are Marinette and Adrien. The people who are most precious to you.

Rena Rouge shrieks behind them, just running up to catch sight of this new Sentimonster’s beam of energy piercing through you.

It was a good life. A short one, but the choice is all yours.

Because you exist. Because you feel. Because you’re you and your friend gave you a name and a home and memories worth dying for.

You feel really warm in their dual embrace. Chat Noir’s holding you. Ladybug’s stroking your hair. Rena Rouge has knelt to hold one of your clawed hands. Carapace watches, grief etched onto his face.

You suppose, you should feel grateful. Although you wish you could’ve spent a little more time with them.

Just a little more. You fade away, a “thank you” the last thing that floats from your lips like a lost feather in the breeze.

-------

You wake.

Their smiling faces greet you. Your friends.

They look a little older. A lot sharper and care worn, but their hands are warm as they stand you up in your shaky, solid form.

“H-how?” You cough out, incredulous.

Adrien laughs. Marinette looks amused.

“We made a wish. We missed you, Garfield.”

You feel that familiar bubbling feeling in your chest. You are breathless as you laugh and that laugh turns into sobs.

It hurts to feel, but it’s such a warm, comforting pain.

You’re glad of it.

#adrichat #adrien agreste #chat noir #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #WHAT THE FUCK GUYS. WE GO ON QUARANTINE AND SUDDENLY WE'RE ON FIRE WITH SELF LOVE