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p-artsypants · 3 years

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I’ll Handle This (10)

In Which Marinette Says the Thing

I was the most excited about this chapter and had most of it written already. :)

Also, I bumped up the rating a bit because there’s extremely mild nudity in this chapter.

(Ao3 | FF.net)

—

She looked fierce. Nails done, a cute, white skirt (that she hadn’t spilled her breakfast on!) and a red and white polka dot blouse. She was cute, she was hot, and she was ready to nab her man!

Said man walked into class wearing...

Oh boy.

A leather jacket, with no shirt underneath, a kilt, and knee high combat boots. There was not a single person that didn’t stare at him.

“Sup nerds?”

Nino entered with him, slightly chuckling, like he had heard a very funny inside joke.

Marinette gawked at him. “Adrien...”

“Aww! Pooh Bear! Look at how cute you are!”

Marinette’s initial horror in his appearance turned into excitement. He called her cute!

“Adrien, do we have to have this dress code talk again?” Miss Bustier sighed.

It turned out he did have a shirt on under the jacket. A black button-up. He untucked the flaps, and buttoned them, unevenly, to cover his sweet sweet bod. “Better?”

Miss Bustier shook her head, but urged him to sit down.

“Soooo,” Alya asked, with a wiggling eyebrow. “Are you wearing that kilt...properly?”

He grabbed the hem, squeezing his knees together to shuffle shyly. “You wanna see?”

Marinette burst into color. “Adrien!”

He laughed, “oh, I’m just kidding. I’m wearing boxers under this.”

“Alright everyone, get in your seats, it’s time to start!”

—

Marinette tried to do her very best to stay calm. But the very idea that a confession to Adrien would be happening today kept her distracted.

She stared at him, watching as he scrawled notes...in Chinese? He really was an overachiever!

The day passed in a crawl, Marinette fretting every minute.

Then the lunch bell rang, and students began to pack up for break.

“Adrien?” She blurted, her hands shaking.

He turned and looked at her, grinning, and lowering his sunglasses to flash her half-lidded eyes. “You rang?”

“Um...can we talk together? Er, go somewhere together to talk? I have something I want to tell you.”

His grin turned into a full tooth smile. “Of course! Where to?”

“Um...mom’s got stuff for sandwiches, if you want to come over.”

“Sounds wonderful!” He packed up his bag, and then held out his hand for her.

He wanted to hold her hand! Ah!

Nervously smiling, she put her hand in his, and let him lead her from the room.

At the risk of having a horribly awkward lunch, she took the lead, and led him upstairs to the slowly emptying third floor.

“What’s up here?”

“I...can’t wait anymore. If this makes things weird, you could probably catch up with Nino or the guys...”

He very gently touched her cheek. “I told you I wanted to have lunch with you, and I will. So say whatever you have to say.” He took his sunglasses off and put them on his head.

Marinette took a huge breath. “Now, I just need to know...who is the real you? Are you...is this who you are, and you were suppressing the rebellious, chaotic side? Or are you putting on a show?”

He blinked at her, eyes wide. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean...I support whoever you are. I want you to feel free to be you, and celebrate what makes you special, but...” she tucked some hair behind her ear, a nervous motion. “I just miss the boy I fell in love with.”

“Marinette...”

“I love you no matter what, though! I promise! I just...your kindness, your shy sweetness and honesty really captivated me. That day when you gave me your umbrella, and you went out of your way to apologize for the misunderstanding. You didn’t have to. I was the one that jumped to conclusions, but you wanted to make friends and get on the right foot with me. Your laughter, your smile...I was a goner.” She hugged the strap of her purse. “So this new version of you has been jarring, but...if I’ve been reading your signs right...?”

He pulled her into a hug. “Oh Marinette. Sweet, kind, thoughtful Marinette. You’ve figured me out. This is all an act. Except my attitude towards you. I feel the same.”

“You...love me?”

“Yes. More than I can express.”

She raised her head, tilting her chin and slowly closing her eyes.

The gag kiss during truth or dare was one thing, but Adrien would kill Plagg if he kissed Marinette in earnest like this.

Instead, he pressed a finger to her lips and smiled at her confused look. “Not yet. The timing isn’t right. If I could give you the world, I would. In fact, anything else, I’ll give it to you. You have my heart, and that will be yours as long as you want it. But I don’t think you want a relationship right now.”

“I’m confused...” Marinette said, her lips trembling.

“I want to protect you from my father and Lila. If I make you my girlfriend, they will try to hurt you to get to me. I’d hate to ask you to wait for me, since you’ve finally gotten the courage up to confess...but would you wait?”

Marinette reached up to hold his face, letting her thumb pass reverently over his cheek. How had she gotten so lucky to fall for a man so thoughtful? So loving?

“Adrien, I’d wait a hundred years to be with you. It’ll be our secret for now.”

He kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry. I know you wanted more from the conversation-“

“Just knowing my feelings are returned are enough. Thank you.”

He took her hand again. “You still want to feed me sandwiches? Do I still deserve it?”

“Of course you do...My Prince.”

Plagg almost retched, but he schooled his face into an adoring grin before he faced her again. “That’s adorable!”

“You like it?”

“I love it!” It was just cheesy enough for Adrien.

“Then that’ll be your nickname...in secret. No one else will know.”

“I think you’ll come to find that our little secret will be so much more fun between us.”

—

After lunch, Plagg and Marinette returned to school. They stopped holding hands as they approached the building, but they stood close and bumped each other coyly.

The behavior didn’t go unnoticed by Alya or Lila. But Alya was the only one to confront them.

“You two seem close,” she asked, twinkle in her eye.

“Oh, we just had a very funny lunch together.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep. Some great inside jokes. You had to be there.” Plagg sent a wink at Marinette and she seemed to swoon on the spot.

Plagg let her go back to her seat, ignoring the whispering from the girls behind him.

They thought he couldn’t hear them. He could.

Nino bumped his elbow. “Everything cool dude?”

“Absolutely. I’ll tell you later.”

—

Later came after school, of course. The second Plagg and Nino were away from school property, Plagg blurted out, “I’m a genius. I got Marinette to confess her undying love for Adrien. Boo-yah!”

“What?!” Nino shrieked. “Dude! She’s been trying to get that out for months! How on earth—no, wait. I know the answer.”

“Confidence.”

“And obvious flirting.” Nino scoffed. “Adrien always threw out the line, ‘you’re such a good friend’ in front of her. It was like wearing a big sign that said, ‘I will reject you!’”

“I’m right here, you know,” Adrien said, poking his head out of Plagg’s jacket. “And to my defense, I was trying to be faithful to—“

Plagg covered his mouth before he could accidentally reveal Marinette as Ladybug. “No excuses, lover boy!”

Thankfully, Adrien seemed to realize the mistake he almost made and nodded. “Fine, fine. I appreciate that you didn’t kiss her...again. So now what? Have we fulfilled that part of the contract yet?”

“Not quite.” He held up the ring. A paw print with three pads faintly shone on the surface. “Once a condition is met, you’ll hear the ring give its telltale beep and a pad will disappear. Once the paw print completely vanishes...well, you’ll be back in your own body anyway.”

“So...what do I need to do? She already confessed to me.”

This was a conversation better had without Nino involved. Of course he was a bro, and would be helpful for things. But Ladybug’s identity should still remain a secret.

“Nino...” Plagg began, with a drawl. “How much do you know about the birds and the bees?”

Nino sputtered. “HA! BYE!” And he made an about face and hurried towards home.

“Wait Nino!” Called Adrien.

“We’ll meet up with you later!” Plagg sang after.

Adrien looked to his body. “Please tell me you don’t have to...get up to some nasty stuff with my lady. Sure, it’s my body, but you’re like a bazillion years old and I was rather hoping to wait until marriage—“

“Calm down, Romeo. No, there’s not any hanky panky involved. I just needed to get Nino to leave without saying, ‘hey leave’. If he’s going to be suspicious, I need him on a whole other wavelength.”

“Okay, so if there’s no horizontal tango happening, then what are we doing?”

Plagg slipped the ring off his finger. “You need to spend time with her. Tell her or don’t. Just spend time with her outside of school and akumas and get to know her better. For an alibi, tell her that you haven’t been feeling well and you need to be in proximity of the Miracle Box. Then have her send her earrings to me so things stay even.”

“Will she go for that?”

“Probably. You know her better than I do.”

“What about the ring? Don’t you need to wear it because we’re switched?”

“Nah. It should be alright for a little while. It should stay with my body though.”

“Okay...I guess...I’ll go see Marinette.”

“Have fun!” Plagg wiggled his fingers in a farewell and started walking to where Nino had disappeared.

Nervous as all get out, Adrien fled to the bakery, trying to figure out what he was going to tell Marinette.

When was it appropriate to come clean? How long should he wait? Should he blab at all?

Soon, he was hovering above her trap door, and peering inside. Marinette sat at her desk, music playing as she worked on homework. Her head bobbed to some tunes.

“Okay, she thinks you’re Plagg. So she’ll welcome you in and listen to what you tell her. And if she finds out you’re Adrien, then she loves Adrien and everything will be fine. Right? Right!” He psyched himself up.

Using his poorly practiced phasing powers, he entered her room and came to float by her desk. “Hiya pigtails!” He chirped, in the typical Plagg style.

She jerked, before turning to him. Her eyes landed on the ring and widened with surprise. “Why do you have that?! Is Chat okay?! What’s wrong?!” She stood, and nearly knocked over her chair.

Even Tikki looked surprised.

“Everything is fine!” He rushed to rectify. Then he remembered Plagg’s crafted lie. “Mostly. I haven’t been feeling very good, so I think I need to be closer to the Miracle Box for a little bit. I brought the ring for you, if you would send Tikki to Chat for a little while. That way he’s covered in case there’s an Akuma attack.”

Luckily, she bought his dirty fib and started to remove her earrings. “Oh, well if you aren’t feeling well, that means Chat won’t be in top form. We can’t have that! Of course we can trade!” She took the earrings off and handed them to Tikki, before putting on the ring.

Adrien felt a tingle down his spine as the black metal turned rose gold on her dainty finger.

“Is he at home?” Asked Tikki.

“No, come with me, I’ll tell you.” And he escorted her up to the balcony.

“Did Plagg put you up to this?” She asked, once outside. “This seems like one of his hair brained schemes.”

“I mean...he came up with the excuse...but I thought Marinette’s confession today would fulfill one of the conditions of the contract, but it didn’t. Plagg said I should just spend time with her.”

Thankfully, Tikki was the nice one. She patted his paws. “I’m sure you miss her too. I won’t say anything. But I will be having a word with Plagg about this whole thing. He should know that body swaps don’t always work!”

“Don’t tell me that! I’m struggling as it is!”

“Sorry!” She giggled. “Why don’t you go on in. Be prepared though. She’s been all sighs since ‘Adrien’ returned her feelings today.”

If he could blush, he would have. “Oh boy...”

“Where am I going?”

“Oh, Plagg is staying with Nino now. He left home. And uhhh...Nino knows. About me, not Marinette.”

She scoffed. “That rascal.”

“Thanks for understanding, Tikki.”

“I’m understanding with you, because you’re the victim of a manipulative, chaotic creature of destruction and havoc.”

“He can be a bit of a turd.”

“What am I doing? You could be spending time with the love of your life! Now, go on!” Tikki pushed him towards the door before flitting off to Nino’s.

Suddenly faced with seeing Marinette again, and continuing to lie to her face, he sheepishly returned to her room.

She had ducked out for the moment, and he found himself alone.

Alone, but surrounded by dozens of pictures of himself.

Knowing about her crush put these photos in a different context, for sure.

“Just a fan” she said. She was a big fat liar too!

“Adorable, isn’t he?” Her voice grabbed him while he was off guard.

“Uhhh...I guess? For a human?”

She giggled, and set down the plate of cheese danishes onto her desk. “That’s Adrien. He’s kind of my boyfriend. It’s not official yet, but he loves me.” She smiled widely. “He told me just today.”

“‘Kind of’ your boyfriend? You’re okay with that?”

“He can’t date right now because of his father. But he asked me to wait for him. I’d wait a thousand years for him.”

His heart hammered in his chest. “What about three years? What if he can’t date until he’s 18?”

“That’s fine.” She said nonchalantly. “We can still hang out. We can focus on school and drama doesn’t have to come between us...”

“And if someone else available comes along?”

Marinette couldn’t know the real reason he was asking that question. She just fondly patted his head. “Sorry Plagg. I know you care a lot about Chat, but Adrien...Adrien means the world to me. I love Chat too, but in a different way. And he’s not available, not to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Chat will always just be my partner. Can only be my partner. We couldn’t date if I wanted too. It would be too difficult.” She sat back at her desk and sighed. “It would hurt too much.”

Adrien was struck speechless. How was he even supposed to respond to that? Was that an admission that she actually did have some feelings for Chat Noir?

It didn’t matter. Not now. “I didn’t mean to put you on the offensive. I was just...curious, is all. I’m happy you’ve found someone who loves you.”

She smiled at him then, scooping him out of the air and scratching his cheek with her finger. “Thanks Plagg. I hope I didn’t come off as snooty. I know you care about Chat. But he can fight his own battles.”

Her words made him feel like garbage. She had no idea, of course. Because up until the body swap, Adrien’s battles were not being fought. They were purposefully not being fought, because he was too chicken shit to upset anyone.

“Yeah...he’s brave alright...” he muttered.

Marinette settled down at her desk and continued on her homework.

What was a boy to do? He sat on the desk, and helped himself to the cheese danishes.

They were almost worth the trip over here by themselves.

“Enjoying yourself?” Marinette asked, eyebrow quirked.

At that, Adrien realized with thinly veiled horror that he had been moaning.

Eek.

“These are the most delicious things I’ve ever had!” Or maybe it was because Plagg had only fed him Camembert until now. Sure, Plagg’s taste buds were attuned to the foul stuff, but after a while, the same foods over and over get old.

Marinette just smiled at him fondly and continued with her work.

Would it be odd to look at her? Would she notice? He certainly found it hard to look away. He couldn’t stare at her during school. Not as Plagg, and not as Adrien from now on.

She tapped her pencil against her perfectly kissable lips, scrunching her nose and narrowing her eyes as she studied the page. It was adorable, but more so, it was the same face she made as Ladybug, when she was trying to solve her Lucky Charm.

Was it hindsight? Or if he saw Marinette making that face, would he have realized it?

Would he have cared enough to look at her?

Of course he would! He argued with himself. Marinette was always special, and her being Ladybug only elevated her in his mind. It was a match that made sense. Of course she was Ladybug. No one else could be so…wonderful.

But faced with her, and not knowing what to say or how to begin to explain the truth, he had to ask himself the tell tale question:

Did he like Marinette now because she was Ladybug? Or did he always like her, and was only in denial?

He begged it was the second. It had to be.

Her qualities were the same. There was nothing about Marinette that made him recoil or actively deny her identity.

Scratch that, Marinette was ridiculously clumsy.

But besides that, they were the same.

“Thinking about something tough over there?” Marinette asked.

“Huh? Oh. Uh...yeah. You know how it is.” Like that made any sense.

“Right. Like I could understand the problems of a Kwami.” She teased. “If you need to talk, I’m all ears.”

Soon. Soon he’d explain everything. But right now, he was just too nervous and scared of her wrath. “Thanks Marinette. I appreciate it. But I don’t want to distract you from your homework.”

She shrugged a little, not wanting to pry, before going back to work.

Adrien and Marinette shared the cheese danishes, and occasionally talked as she worked. When she got severely stuck, he would throw her a few hints.

Then she stretched, finished. “Oh thank goodness! I’m so tired, and I could use a lazy evening.”

“Marinette! Dinner time!”

“Well, after dinner, I’d like a lazy evening.” She scratched Adrien’s head. “Let’s just hope there’s no Akuma attack.”

“Fingers crossed!”

“You’ll be fine up here alone?”

“Of course. Have fun with your parents.”

“Oh,” she wilted. “Should I tell them about Adrien?”

“Why not?”

“I’m just scared that my nosy parents will ask a hundred questions. And we’re not even official.”

“Maybe by mentioning it now, when it becomes official, it won’t be much of a shock.”

“And maybe we can avoid another disaster like when my dad got akumatized. You’re right.” She couldn’t help but sigh. “Well, I’ll tell you how it goes!” And she went downstairs.

Adrien sat on her desk, scanning the walls and taking in all of his pictures. She really loved him, didn’t she?

And how long had that gone on, and he never noticed?

Was it okay to snoop? Of course morally and ethically, no, it wasn’t. But he was technically her sort of boyfriend. It couldn’t hurt.

Right?

So he snooped. Just a precursory glance through her belongings. It was all very innocent.

Until he found the pink half-circle book. Her diary.

Maybe it was the influence of Plagg’s magic in him. Or this whole experience was turning him into a rascal.

But he opened the book and started to read.

The entries were pretty innocent too. Day to day things, balancing life as a superhero and a student. She mentioned him a few times. Using phrases like, ‘golden hair’, ‘handsome face’, ‘emerald eyes’, and ‘abundant kindness’. She wrote about the times they interacted. From him catching her when she tripped, to the glances they shared. Just the smallest interactions between them, she cherished.

It almost made his heart hurt with how moved he was.

And then there was an entry whose content made him feel a different sort of pain. She recounted a day he had not experienced. Her encounter with his akuma, Chat Blanc.

He read the pages, soaking up every heart breaking moment. All the cruel things he had said to her that he would have never known. Why hadn’t she said anything? Was it too painful? Or did…

Did she think he didn’t need to know?

The diary slammed shut as he was finishing the entry, and a very angry and embarrassed Marinette stood over him, glaring. “Little snoop.”

“Yeah yeah, cats and curiosity and all that. So sue me.”

She took the book away and put it in a box with a lid. “Remind me never to leave you alone in my room ever again.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.”

She walked away, heading to her dresser. “Are you like this with Chat, too?”

“Oh, I’m much worse. You have no idea.”

She laughed at him, and took her pajamas out of her drawers.

Then without warning, she took off her pants.

And Adrien’s mouth went dry. He watched as she slipped on her pajama pants, and then took off her shirt, and even her bra, before putting on a loose t-shirt.

He was not going to get that image out of his head for a long, long time.

She turned to him and started talking like nothing had happened. “So what do you want to do? I’m all done with homework, and so as long as there’s no Akuma attack, I can do whatever I want. What do you and Chat usually do?”

Adrien didn’t know how to tell her he didn’t really have free time. Plagg just looked up cheese blogs on his phone, or watched a movie while Adrien worked on homework.

“You pick. I’ll just watch if you want to play video games or design.”

“I’m actually kind of tired. I might just watch videos in bed.”

“Sounds fun! Can I join?”

“Sure! Whatever you want, Plagg.” Marinette climbed her ladder up to her loft and settled against her pillows. She pulled a fuzzy blanket around her legs and sighed in content. “Just what the doctor ordered!”

Adrien hesitated a moment, trying to decide where to sit. Her shoulder? Her stomach?

But Marinette took the choice away and patted her chest, just above her heart.

Eagerly, he settled, curling his tail around his body, and absorbing her body heat. She scratched between his ears and made him purr almost instantly.

This was heaven. When he got his body back, he’d lay his head here. Hopefully, she’d scratch his scalp just the same.

The videos played on her phone, just memes. Every time she chuckled, her chest would rumble with the noise, and fill him with joy.

He could hear her heart beating. The heart she had opened for him just today. A heart that he lived in.

And then her phone started flashing with a red light. And akuma alert!

“Uh oh!” Marinette clicked on the alert, checking out the details. “It’s a sentimonster! Come on Plagg, we can’t leave Misterbug out to dry!”

As she scaled the ladder to her balcony, he panicked. How was this going to work? Was she going to notice once they transformed? Would he be able to hear her thoughts like he could when Plagg transformed?

Would he look through her eyes?

She raised the hand with the ring on it. “Alright! Plagg, Claws out!”

Nothing happened.

“Um...Plagg, Claws out?”

“Oh.” Adrien gasped, “oh no.”

“Oh no what? Are you broken? Do I need to fix you?”

“No! I mean—sort of, but you already did your part! I’m just...”

“Plagg, what’s going on?”

He sighed, screwing up his lips and unintentionally showing his fangs. “Um...I’m not...I’m not actually Plagg.”

She stared at him, brows furrowing and eyes narrowing. “Then...who are you?”

“Promise you won’t be mad?”

“No guarantees!”

“Well, okay.” He gulped. “I’m...Adrien?”

She blinked. “Adrien? Like...no. No no no not like Adrien Agreste, my new supposed boyfriend?!”

“That’s me! Hi P-Pooh Bear?”

“What?!” She shrieked. “How?! When?! What—“ she snatched him out of the air with firm hands. “HAVE YOU BEEN ADRIEN THIS WHOLE TIME?”

“I mean, I’ve been Adrien my whole life,” he awkwardly chuckled.

“No, no don’t joke with me right now.” She sniffed. “How long have you been like this?”

“Um...about two weeks now. Since that day he came to school in a crop top.”

Marinette shut her eyes tight, a few tears slipping past her cheeks. “That long...”

“Marinette?”

“So it was all a lie? Plagg’s just—messing with us? With me? You don’t really—“ she squeezed her eyes shut and started crying in earnest.

“No! No Marinette! Of course I love you! I’ve always loved you, you know that! The second I learned you were Ladybug, everything made sense! I was so happy and I told Plagg he had to win you over. Please Marinette, this was never supposed to be malicious.” He nuzzled against her fingers, offering up a purr. “I promise.”

With her free hand, she wiped her face. “Alright, well suppose I believe you. What happened? Why are you like this?”

“I made a deal with the devil. Plagg, specifically. He said he was tired of me complaining all the time. So he said he could solve all my problems if I just agreed to it. Then I woke up in his body.”

“What problems?”

“Well...my unrequited love for you, for one.”

She blushed.

“My relationship with my father for two, and the third is Lila’s harassment.”

“Oh, I get it now.” Marinette sighed. “That’s why he was doing all those things...”

“You mean dressing like a moron and messing with Lila?”

“Yes. And flirting with me.”

“To be honest,” he scratched the back of his head. “I would have flirted with you earlier if I had known you were Ladybug. I liked you before, I was just trying to pretend I didn’t, because I wanted to be loyal to...well, you.”

She held him softly in her hands. “We’ve made a mess of things, haven’t we?”

“It was for our own good. Secret identities and all that.”

“You almost sound like you just repeat that to yourself, but you don’t believe it.”

“I had to repeat it to myself,” he urged. “Every day. Because I so desperately wanted to be with you, to spend time with you out of the suit. I was so lonely and I thought, if there was one person I could trust with my identity, it had to be you. But I wanted to honor your wishes. I just hoped to wear you down, eventually.”

She passed her thumb over his cheek and whiskers. “I had been thinking about it, ever since I became the guardian. I wanted to keep you safe, but if something happened to Plagg and you couldn’t transform, no one would know. I’m not upset with you, Kitty. Though I wish this reveal had happened a little more...mutually.” Suddenly, her eyes widened. “What are we doing?! We have a sentimonster!”

“Aw let him fight on his own! He deserves some sort of punishment for this and I have yet to come up with a good one.”

She chuckled. “Alright, fine. We’ll give him a few minutes and see how things are going.”

“You’re taking this better than I expected.”

“I’m in shock.” She chuckled, a little hysterical. “It took me so much courage to confess…and it wasn’t even to your face. That would happen to me.”

He floated out of her hand and nuzzled her face. “All that matters is that I know. We can’t be together quite yet, but the second I get my body back, I plan to make you mine.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely, Bugbear.”

She kissed between his ears. “Okay, My Prince. I look forward to it.”

The ring on her finger beeped, and a paw pad faded out.

“What was that?”

Adrien sighed with relief. “The condition has been met.”

“Condition?”

Just then, a swath of Ladybugs rushed over the city, righting whatever the Sentimonster had ruined.

“Well, looks like he didn’t need our help after all.”

Marinette laughed slightly. “They have been doing this a long time. It probably only took them this long to get it because of travel time.”

Adrien nodded. “So, just to clarify, you aren’t mad at me?”

“Of course not! It sounds like Plagg tricked you. Though I am mad at you for reading my diary…and watching me change!”

“In my defense, I was not warned you were going to change.”

“Still you could have turned around!” She blushed.

“Sorry, Bugaboo, I guess I was just a little star struck.”

She bopped him on the nose. “Now don’t try to flatter me to get out of being caught.”

A yoyo wrapped around the chimney above their heads, and Misterbug made his appearance. His very jarring, ancient appearance. He wore black leggings with a red loincloth around his waist. His shirt was cropped and had billowing sleeves. The mask was just a cloth that tied around his lower face.

“Well well well, I figured if you weren’t on the battle field, you were busy having a lover’s quarrel.” He smirked, the smile only creasing his eyes.

Marinette looked to Plagg. “Dearest Sunshine, do you mind terribly if I abuse your body?”

“Be my guest.”

Marinette wound up a punch and socked Plagg right in the shoulder.

“Ow! Hey, that actually hurt.”

“I hope you, you monster! How could you hurt my poor, sweet, innocent Adrien!?” She cuddled him close to her cheek.

Plagg scoffed. “Puh-lease. There is nothing innocent about that boy. Spots off.”

The pink light faded, and Adrien’s body remained. It was almost hard to look at him, even though she knew it wasn’t really Adrien.

“Oh, now she gets all shy~!” Plagg taunted. “I should have retransformed when I landed. Maybe she wouldn’t have punched me!”

“You deserved it.” Tikki said, flatly.

“Yeah, whatever. So? How’d it go?”

Marinette held out the ring. “It beeped?”

“Excellent!” He took it off her finger. “Two to go!” He slipped the ring on and took off the earrings. “Now I just have to focus on Gabriel and Lila. I think Gabe’s getting ready to crack. Lila though, I might have to push a little harder.”

“Thank you for the warning,” Marinette added. “It makes me feel better that I might not have to put up with her for much longer. So I can take a little damage.”

Adrien frowned. “Can’t I stay with Marinette a while longer?”

Plagg huffed. “I mean you could…but then you couldn’t see the absolute chaos that I planned.”

Adrien winced. “Ugh, fine. I’ll go with you.” He turned to Marinette, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “Bye Bugaboo. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Okay Kitty. I love you!”

Adrien’s heart nearly burst with love. “I love you too!”

“Gross.” Plagg gagged. “Alright, time to go! Adrien, Claws Out!”

—

Chat Plagg Noir returned to the Lahiffe residence, and swung in through Nino’s window.

Nino for his part, was nearly dancing in panic.

“You good, my man?”

Nino shook his head frantically. “There’s a policeman here for you! I tried to stall as long as I could, and said you were asleep and a heavy sleeper! But I think he’s about to burst down my door!”

“A policeman? What for?”

“I don’t know! He just said he had to talk to you!”

“Claws in.” Plagg walked over to the door, and exited, pensively watching the uniformed man in the living room.

“Did you have a nice nap?” The man asked, arms crossed.

“I did, until I was shaken awake. Is there a problem officer?”

“Adrien Agreste, you are under arrest.”

#miraculous ladybug #ml #fanfiction #I'll handle this #marinette dupain cheng #adrinette #adrienette #adrien agreste #adrien and plagg #body swap #identity reveal

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chelleaslin · 5 years

Text

Adrigami Week Day 7- Freedom (Chapter Seven)

@mlshipfleet

⚠️Warning; Offensive language (1 F-bomb), mild gore (description of wounds)⚠️

Kagami’s mind was foggy. She didn’t understand anything around her. There was this thick burning feeling in her nose, and a odd pressure on her shoulder. She blinked her eyes a few time, slowly, as she regained her vision and her thoughts. She lifted her heavy head, taking in her surroundings, she was on a rooftop and the city was in chaos. Thick clouds of dark grey puffs of clouds smothered the sky as she realised the sensation in her nose was the smell of smoke. The pressure on her shoulder increased as something red entered her field of vision. A girl clad in red latex crouched before her, she looked rather familiar but Kagami just couldn’t place it.

“Are you okay?” The women asked.

“I.. I don’t know.” She mumbled, furrowing her brows as she thought hard, was she okay? She raised one of her hands as she inspected her body, physically she looked fine but mentally she wasn’t so sure.

“It’s the effects of being akumatised, everything will come back in time.” A male voice spoke, something about that voice shook Kagami to her core. She snapped her eyes up once again. Standing behind the crimson girl was a blonde male, sporting a black leather suit.

As if by a simple flick of a switch, everything fell back into place. Kagami gasped as memories filled her mind one at a time, like a movie. Meeting Adrien, falling for him, finding out he was Chatnoir, being Chatnoir, bonding with him, their argument, her Mother. She felt back on to her back side, overwhelmed.

“I let myself be akumaised” she whispered in pure horror, ignoring Ladybug and Adrien’s presence.

“It’s not your fault.” Ladybug whispered, reaching for her hand and giving it a comforting squeeze. Kagami smiled tightly at the heroine of Paris, if only she knew.

Chatnoir, Adrien, cleared his throat awkwardly, gaining both the black haired girl’s attention.

“Sorry, M’lady but we’re almost out of power.” He reminded his partner, pointing at his beeping ring in emphasis. “Plus, we need to get this girl home before then.”

Kagami locked eyes with Adrien, her emotions heavy. She remembered what she had to do to keep him safe. She bit her lip, she was meant to take Adrien’s Miraculous, what was she going to do now?

“You’re right Chat.” Ladybug spoke as she stood up for her kneeling position. “Come on, Ill take you home.” She smiled. Kagami held her hand as she got pulled from her feet, her mind a mile away. She needed to take action now before it was too late.

“I can take her home, M’lady.” Chatnoir offered, Kagami’s heart might have swooned at the offer and simultaneously broke at the nickname, if she wasn’t to conflicted about other things.

Ladybug turned to Chatnoir, most likely to discussed who had more time to help Kagami home, but the Japanese girl didn’t give her a chance. She quickly reached out without much thought and snatched one earring straight out of her hear.

The red and black clad girl hissed in pain as she flinched back in shock. Straight away the girl struggled to stay transformed, her body glowing with a bright pink light as it slowly detransformed her. Ladybug quickly covered her face with her hands, trying to hide her true identity.

Kagami knew now was her chance, take the other earring. Her brown eyes flicked towards Adrien, he was frozen in pure shock. Frowning, she quickly reached out to grab the other half to the Miraculous. Chatnoir seemed to snap out of his shock and leaped into action. Kagami saw him crouched, ready to spring to his partners rescue so she quickly ripped out the last stud. Chatnoir pounced, running at Kagami at full speed, she needed a distraction. Without much thought she kicked Ladybug making the poor girl stumble backwards onto the rooftop edge. She lost her balance and started to fall backwards, Chatnoir quickly averted his concentration onto Ladybug. He grabbed both her hands and pulled her back into the roof and into his chest. Kagami stood frozen in shock, at both her actions and the fact that she could clearly see Marinette Dupin-Cheng standing in Chatnoir’s arms.

Her heart broke as she realised the two people, holding dearly onto eachother, loved one another without realising it. She had no chance with Adrien now that he knew Ladybugs identity, expecially because of what she was about to do.

She forced the earrings through her closed over ear piercing holds, she bite her lip in pain at her roughness. A small light appeared before her eye, a tiny creature like Plagg appeared. The Kwami, she thinks they were called, was red and resembled something akin to a Ladybug. One thing Kagami noticed right off the bat was that sad and scared expression on its small face. Her heart ripped into two.

“What are the words to activate your powers.” Kagami asked, her voice coming out harsher than she wanted. She still didn’t want to do this, become a villian, but she had no choice. For Adrien, it was an obligation she would burden.

“Tikki, Spot on.” The Kwami, Tikki, whispered in defeat.

“Why are you doing this Kagami?” Chatnoir yelled out, Marinette still firmly pressed to his chest. Tears of fright stained her pink cheeks as she still quivered a tad from shock. Adrien held her tighter as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms. Kagami glared at the contact before breathing steadily, she can’t let Her emotions take over her again.

“Tikki, Spots on!” She called out, her body engulfed in a bright pink light. She felt the transformation take over her, she was surprised to note that it felt different from Chatnoir’s. She looked at the two teens across from her, frozen in time. Both of their eyes were wide in shock as they reached out towards her. The transformation finished, the world returning to its normal speed, leaving Kagami standing fully transformed. Her Costume was similar to that of Ladybugs normal costume, but her was yellow and black.

“Kagami, Stop this!” Chatnoir screamed, slowly letting go of Marinettes side as he approached her. “You almost killed Marinette!” He yelled, his eyes burning with fury. Marinette curled in on herself at the mention of her name, her identity revel and defeat was heart wrenching for her.

“I’m sorry, Adrien.” She firmly said as she drew her yo-yo from her pocket. Marinette gasp of shock could be heard from Chatnoir’s identity reveal. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” She mumbled sadly, her Mothers threat rang through her head. She needed to protect Adrien! “Surrender your Miraculous, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Adrien’s froze for a second, mask slightly furrowed in thought.

“Why do you need the Miraculouli?” Marinette screamed out, her shocked state gone and a fierce look on her face. Kagami wonders why she thought Marinette couldn’t be Ladybug, looking out her now, she felt a small sense of fear. The Japanese girl bit her lip, she couldn’t revel to much but the way Adrien was looking at her, his face full of sorrow, she had to try to explain.

“They’re for Hawkmoth.”

A sharp intake of breath was heard from both the superhero’s, followed by a deafening silence.

“You,” Marinette mumbled, clearing her throat. “You work for Hawkmoth?”

Kagami tried to explain but suddenly Chatnoir leaped at her, tackling her to the ground. Kagami hit the ground with a head thud, Adrien instantly went to pin her down.

“Was it all an act?” He screamed, he was furious. “Did you actually pretend to care about me all for my Miraculous?”

“No-l”

“I actually believed you!” He gritted out, he sighed angrily before reaching for the earrings she possessed. Gasping, Kagmi kicked him off of her with a new found strength. Her blood started to boil at his accusations, she swung her Yo-Yo on a nearby billboard pole, ready to make her escape, One Miraculous was better than none. She couldn’t fight Adrien, at least not today.

“For the record, I’m doing this because I Love you Adrien.” She swung off the building, flipping her body in the air as she tried to escape. She thought she was clear as she landed on a far off building, close to the Agreste manor. She decided that she couldn’t go through with the plan, she could betray Adrien, even to help him. She needed to talk to Mr. Agreste, tell him that Chatnoir was his son and about her Mother’s plans of betrayal and exposure. Perhaps then she could face Adrien again when he was safe.

She spotted Adrien’s mansion on the horizon, she swung her Yo-Yo ready to hook it on to something when she felt a violent force hit her from her right. Her body was thrown to the ground, a heavy pressure onto of her. She heavily gasped in large amounts of air, the knock having winded her. A black figure rose from above her, it was Adrien.

“Get off me.” Kagami hissed as she stuggled to free herself. She tied to kick him off again but to no advail, he was ready for her this time.

“No, you can’t drop a fucking bomb like that and then leave!” He shouted at her. “Please, this isn’t like you. Just tell me what’s going on? What does Hawkmoth have on you?” He pleaded, his eyes full of hope. Kagami felt something in her break, a small crack in her stone cold soul amongst the many other cracks only Adrien could leave.

“I-“ her voice broke off, she couldn’t tell him. His heart would break, she knew his relationship was rocky with his Father already, this would break it. Villian or not, he was the only family the model had left, Kagami couldn’t take that away, along with the chance of Mrs. Agreste being resurrected.

Her eyes harden as she violently tried to fight him off. She kicked her legs, bucked her body and swung her arms as she screamed to be freed.

“Hey, hey, hey.” Adrien whispered, slightly panicked, he adjusted his weight on the smaller girl, pinning her legs so she couldn’t move them. She heard his ring beep loudly in warning, he was going to detransform soon.

“No, stop!” Kagami cried out, her voice full or sorrow and more vulnerable then she intended. Adrien grasped her failing arms, locking his hands with her, fingers intertwined.

“Please, I can’t help you unless you talk to me.” He whispered once again. A tear slipped out of Kagami’s masked, Browns eyes. She tried to turned her face away from Adrien but he caught her chin with one clawed finger.

“Please?” He begged.

Kagami’s body went slack as she gave up.

“My Mother works for Hawkmoth.” She whispered, she felt disgusted in her family name. Adrien loosened his grip, realising the girl wasn’t going to struggle anymore.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” She whispered, tears gathered in her eyes once again. How was she going to tell him about his Father?

“It’s okay, I get it, you had no choice. My Father is just as controlling.” He tried to softly smile in reassurance. He carefully detangled himself from the yellow clad girl, sitting next to her crossed legged instead.

“No, you don’t understand.” She bit her lip, breathing in and out through her nose. “Listen, I found out who Hawkmoth is..”

Adrien’s drew in a sharp breath, eyes blown wide.

“But, before I tell you.. please, his heart was in the right place.”

Adrien’s face looked absolutely murderous at that. He shot right up, towering over Kagami as he started to yell.

“He is a terrorist! No one as evil as that is a good person!”

Kagami, tried to stay calm. She wouldn’t be able to explain this to him if she lost her temper, this information was delicate and had to be explain correctly.

“Do you know why Hawkmoth wants the Miraculi?” She asked, gesturing to his clenched first and her own ears.

“To become more powerful!”

“No.”

“What?”

“When the powers of both Miraculi are activated by one wielder, that person gets a wish. Anything in the entire universe, no limits.” She explained. Adrien’s face held a mixed expression of shock and pure horror.

“See! Imagine what would happen if he got his hands on them? He would control Paris, The whole world even!”

“Adrien-“

“No!” He cut her off, “I’m sorry, I realise Hawkmoth is probably a family member or someone your family trusts but I can’t let them do this.”

“Adrien, It’s not-“ she was starting to get frustrated.

“They’re evil, no matter what you try to say, there is no excuse for what he has done!”

“Hawkmoth is your Father!” She blurted out, accidentally yelling.

Adrien completely froze, his face filled was too many emotions for Kagami to read.

“Adrien?” He didn’t respond. She pushed herself onto her feet and slowly walked over to the leather clad boy.

“Adrien?” She tried again. She slowly lifted a yellow cover hand, resting it on his masked face. He flinched at her touch, backing away from her. She withdrew her hands back in shock at his sudden movement.

“You’re lying.” He hissed out, his voice sounding darker than usual.

“What?” She stuttered out, feeling a little intimidated by the hero in front of her. She never had a plan on what to do it he didn’t believe her.

“You’re lying to protect the real Hawkmoth.”

“Adrien, Listen Is it really that hard to believe? After everything you told me about your Father and how he treats you?”

His face screwed up in pain for a second before hardening again.

“Yeah, he isn’t perfect but he isn’t evil!” He shouted, desperately trying to prove his point.

“Like I said, Hawkmoth has a good heart.” Adrien just glared more.

She took a deep breath.

“Adrien, he’s trying to bring back your Mother.” She whispered, watching his reaction. The pain she felt as she watch the emotions play over his features was worse then the pain her Mothers cane had caused her.

“M-mum?” He sobbed. Kagami bite her lip as she nodded. A final being rung out in the still air between them. A bright green light blinded Kagami for a second before Adrien, stood before her as himself. A black blur zipped right up into her face, a very angry cat glared at her.

“Drop the transformation.” He hissed. Kagami gulped, yeah she was a lot bigger than him but she knew he was powerful.

“I-I don’t know how.”

“Tikki, Spots off.” He hissed out again, his glare never faltering. Kagami quickly mumbled the words, a golden light surrounding her as the transformation dropped. A red bug, Tikki, dropped out of the air as she fainted. Plagg was quick to catch her but even he struggled. Kagami opened her palms, trying to assist the Kwami’s. Plagg bared his tiny fangs at her as he continued to hiss, she quickly removed her hands. The Cat eventually landed safely as he cuddle the other Kwami.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“You!” Plagg screamed, tears welling in his eyes. “You didn’t let her recharge before transforming.”

“Will she be okay?” Kagami whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. Tikki weakly opened her eyes, glancing at Kagami, she gave her a soft smile.

“I’ll be fine Kagami. I just need to rest, I don’t blame you. This is your Mothers fault.” The tiny red bug paused as she coughed violently. “How are you feeling?” Tikki whispered, giving her a pointed look. Kagami face screwed up as she felt the stinging sensation still on her back, how did Tikki know?

“I’ve been inside your head.” The Kwami laughed weakly.

“What’s is she talking about? Why is she worrying about you?” Plagg glared as he looked Kagami up and down,

“I-“

“Is it true?” Adrien suddenly butted in, kneeling beside the Kwami. “What Kagmi said about my Father is it true?” Tikki weakly nodded.

“Tomoe works for Hawkmoth, your Father. Kagami only found all this out a few hours ago.” Adrien’s face fell.

“I don’t know what to do. He’s my Father, he’s all I have left. If he goes to prison, I’ll-“

Kagami placed her hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“But he’s still Hawkmoth.” Plagg interjected. “You were gifted the Miraculous to stop him, it’s your duty.”

“I know, Plagg.” Adrien sadly sighed.

“But he can bring Adrien’s Mother back.” Kagami reminded the small group. Plagg rolled his eyes, Kagami had a feeling that he definitely didn’t like her.

“Not without horrific consequences.”

“Consequences?” Adrien asked.

“The universe must always stay in balance, perfect harmony of good and evil, light and darkness, creation and destruction.” Tikki whispered, stroking Plaggs arm as she utter the last two. “Where there is life, there must always be death.” The two teenagers looked at eachother in confusion.

“If Gabriel brings back someone he loves he’ll also lose someone he loves as well.” Plagg deadpanned while pointing to Adrien. A heavy silence filled the air as that new information sunk in.

“What are we going to do?” Kagami whispered.

“We?” Plagg snorted, “you’ve already done enough!”

“Plagg!” Tikki and Adrien snapped, the small cat jumped slightly, the fur on the back of his neck raising in surprise.

“Kagami is a part of this two, she’s in Hawkmo- I mean father’s inner circle now, perhaps she could go undercov-“

“No!” Tikki snapped, “Its too dangerous.”

“I know but Kagmi can handle herself-“

“No! I’m not risking one of my bugs lives, sending her back to that place is off the table.” Tikki, yelled trying to sit up. She groaned in pain, Plagg was right by her side, soothing her as he helped her lay back down.

“She isn’t one of your Bugs, Sugarcube.” Plagg gently whispered, “she forced the transformation, she’s no better than Hawkmoth with the way he uses Nooroo.”

Tikki used her little strength to slap him. The slap itself wasn’t very hard but the meaning behind it showed strength.

“You know what it’s like when we transform with our wielders, I’ve been inside Kagami Tsuguri’s mind, I have seen and relived the horror of her upbringing. I have felt the pain inflicted on her body by the women who birthed her. I feel everything she has ever felt, so don’t you dare for a second tell me she ain’t one of my Bugs. She is under my protection now and not you nor your kitten will send her back to that hell hole.”

Plaggs eyes widen, his jaw locked shut. He didn’t dare try challenge Tikki, the goddess of creation, he simply agreed. He glanced at Kagmi who was hiding her face in shame, he wondered what this girl had gone through.

“What is she talking about?” Adrien quietly asked, his eyes filled with concern. Kagami was going to ignore him, pretend she didn’t know anything, but the way he was staring at her right now. She felt like she could trust him with her very soul.

She quietly turned around and slipped her Yukata of her shoulders, revealing her beaten and bruised back. The cuts were still fresh, some of them slightly reopened.

She heard a collection of gasped behind her, tears watered up in her eyes.

“Don’t feel ashamed.” Tikki spoke. “The only person who should feel ashamed is the monster that gave them to you.”

Kagami bite her lip to stop herself from verbally reply, she would have cried if she did, instead she opted to just nod. She slipped the garment back on and tightened it again, taking her time to avoid talking about it. Once she was finally done she turned back around,nervous to face Adrien, as soon as she was facing them again, she was tackled. A head for of soft blonde hair tickled her nose as Adrien tightly wrapped his arms around Kagami.

“I’m sorry, I won’t make you go back there, I won’t let you!” He cried, his warm tears soaking her neck as he buried his face. Kagami felt her tears fall as well as she hugged him tightly back. What were they going to do? Both there Parents were monster and both of them had nowhere to go.

“What are we going to do?” Kagami voiced her concerns. “With both of our parents terriosing Paris, it isn’t safe for us to go home, yet we have nowhere else to go.”

Adrien stiffened up, She was right.

“I-I don’t know.”

“My Mother also knows both you and your Fathers identities. She is threatening to expose them to the public if she doesn’t get her wish.”

Adrien tensed up again before squeezing her harder, being mindful of her back.

“I don’t care, she can tell all of Paris. I’m not going to let her or My father hurt anyone ever again.” He pulled away from her and held both of her hands, he gave them a gentle squeeze as he smiled.

“What if Paris turn on you?”

“I didn’t become a hero for the praise and fame. I’m already a model. I just wanted to help people.” Kagami smiled, this is why she loved him.

“I love you.” She whispered. Adrien’s eyes widened. “You don’t have to say it back, but stop lying to me. I know you feel something for me! but I’m willing to wait. I know you said you love Ladybug and you just found out who she is under the mask, I know that this is all confusing for you, so take your time- mhmf”

Kagami’s words got trapped in her mouth as Adrien kissed her. His soft lips, pressed firmly against hers as he expressed all his feelings for her through that one action. after a few seconds the pair parted, slightly out of breath.

“I love you too, Kagami.” He whispered, “we’re going to stop Hawkmoth, all four of us.” He annouced as he looked at Tikki and Plagg who nodded in agreement.

“Even if we have nowhere to go, we’ll be together. This is just the Beginging of our, and all of Paris’, freedom.”

#miraculous tales #miraculous ladybug and chatnoir #marinette dupin cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #chatnoir #kwami #kagami tsuguri #Cat Miraculous #Ladybug Miraculous #Adrigami #Adrigami Week #Adrigami Week ChelleAslin

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aknazer · 6 years

Text

Plagg’s Day Out: Cheese

Also on Ao3

Day 2 >>

“Not a whole lot to say.” Plagg yawned widely, tiny fangs glinting in the low light. “A bunch of stuff happened, and here I am.”

“‘A bunch of stuff happened and here I am.’” Adrien repeated incredulously. “That’s the best you can do? You were gone for over twenty-four hours, Plagg!”

“What, were you counting?” The tiny god asked dubiously. “And I wasn’t gone. I was near by...mostly. Well, for a while, anyway. Within a couple hundred meters or so...”

“Plagg, this is no time for your crap!” Adrien hissed. “What if something had happened? What if there had been an akuma? Who would've helped Ladybug then?”

“Calm down,” Plagg drawled, “It was fine.”

“It was not fine!” Adrien snapped, then glanced around for anybody nearby before lowering his voice. “What the hell happened, Plagg? Seriously.”

“What, you want the long version?” Plagg eyed Adrien skeptically. At his resolute nod, Plagg heaved a sigh. “Fine, fine…”

It had been a pretty typical day. Adrien had been up at some ungodly hour for a photo shoot, which unfortunately meant that Plagg was also up at some ungodly hour for a photo shoot. And even if all he’d had to do was duck into Adrien’s school bag, it was still an uncomfortable, noisy, bumpy and altogether not very restful experience.

After the photo shoot, they’d loaded into the car. Adrien stunk of various chemicals, most of which the boy in question couldn’t smell, but were still fairly offensive to Plagg’s nose. There was the usual scents, now mostly un-offensive, that Plagg had learned to associate with Adrien being clean. Things like the scent of his preferred shampoo and deodorant, of the lingering soap scent left on clean clothing, and of the body spray Adrien liked.

...And god, that kid sprayed a ton of the stuff. Maybe it was a teenager thing? Or a teen boy thing? Plagg had been overwhelmed by it at first, and had since suggested (more than once) that Adrien should just change his freaking name to Axe. Adrien would usually argue that it was to combat the persistent cheese odor that seemed to linger, right before he smirked at Plagg and sprayed more of it, just to watch Plagg gag.

But the usual scents weren’t nearly as bad as the lingering scent of everything else. The various compounds and chemicals from the clothing, makeup, and even the makeup remover that all hung around Adrien like a cloud during and after shoots. The smell of sweat and the faintly baked smell of too-hot lights. Honestly, Plagg needed even more cheese just to ward off the foul odors. Adrien himself was either used to, or immune to, the smells, because they didn’t seem to bother him as he reviewed for his history exam on the way to school.

They never made it.

It was lunchtime, which normally meant cheese, but today meant “akuma attack.” Adrien had fled the car, losing his driver in the swatch of fleeing civilians, before ducking into a nearby alley to transform.

The akuma attack had taken all of lunch, so by the time Plagg and Adrien made it to school, they were both tired, cranky and hungry. Plagg had snuck into Tikki’s bag, but all she had was cookies. (And even if they wouldn’t make him sick, they wouldn’t fuel him and were unpleasant to eat.) By the time they’d made it home, both of them were running on fumes.

Usually once they were in Adrien’s room nobody bothered them unless it was to summon them somewhere else. And even then, it usually wasn’t until closer to dinnertime that anybody would appear. So both the boy and the kwami were caught flat-footed when a knock sounded at the door right as Plagg about to take his first, glorious bite of cheese.

“Plagg, hide!” Adrien hissed.

“What? Where? No!” Plagg complained. “I’m hungry!”

“Take the cheese with you!” Adrien retorted as the knock sounded again.

“I can’t lift it!” Plagg whined, demonstrating as he tried to haul the wheel up with him. It rose a few centimeters off of the ground before it dropped, hitting the table with a thump.

“Argh...just...just take it outside!” Adrien scooped up the cheese wheel and opened his balcony door, setting it against the wall out of sight.

“What? No! It’s too warm for it out there, it’ll melt” Plagg wailed.

“Don’t be a baby, it’s only for a few minutes!” Adrien tossed over his shoulder as he hurried to answer the persistent knocking. Growling under his breath about his chosen’s complete lack of refinement, Plagg phased through the sliding door after his snack.

And he had been right, dammit: it was too hot for outside cheese. Adrien usually kept his cheese in a plastic container stored in his backpack, which wasn’t ideal, but also wasn’t ruined by his body heat. Outside was probably about as toasty as a teenage boy, or so Plagg assumed. Still he scooped up the cheese and began eating.

He was about halfway through the wheel when he began slowing down. It had been a while - usually, the people around Adrien weren’t the type to chat. About three quarters through the wheel, and Plagg was mostly full, but Adrien still hadn’t appeared.

Chancing a look around, Plagg turned to peer inside the glass door. Adrien stood in the middle of the room, still and polite while his father spoke to him. He nodded occasionally, but Plagg could see from the body language that Adrien didn’t like whatever his old man was saying.

Typical. Plagg didn’t usually appreciate whatever Gabriel said either. The man was cold and distant at best, and demanded far more out of his son than was reasonable. To say nothing of his other, even more despicable habits.

A fluttering of wings had Plagg’s head whipping around, his eyes blowing wide as he screeched.

The (ballsy as fuck) pigeon just looked at him, cheese wedge dangling from it’s pointy little beak unrepentantly.

“Oh no you don’t!” Plagg screeched, darting towards the bird. “You flying rat! Give it back!”

The pigeon made a considering noise, then fluttered its wings threateningly. Plagg halted, hovering in the air and hissing menacingly.

The pigeon apparently decided that this was the right moment to make a break for it. Plagg howled as the pigeon took flight, lunging forward and leaping onto the offending rodent’s neck.

“Drop it! Drop it!” He hissed, trying to strangle the overgrown sparrow. “That cheese is mine! I haven’t eaten all day. All day, you goddamn beast! I protect this city, and that is my cheese!”

The pigeon didn’t care, and since trying to throttle the bird wasn’t having the desired effect, Plagg gave up with a sigh to consider his options.

Glancing over the side of the bird’s wing, he scowled. He was alarmingly high up. Not because of the height itself - being able to fly kind of nixed that particular fear - but because not the city was just a damn speck by this point, and he wasn’t rightly sure where he was.

“Well, this is just great.” Plagg grumbled, frowning as he tried to figure out the animal's flight path. Not that it was really that big of a deal if he wasn’t around - Wayzz and Trixx could help with any akuma that came up, and Pollen could be useful too, when she wasn’t being a little shit. But Fu got cranky if Plagg vanished for too long, and even if it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t think that would matter much to the old man.

All of this, Plagg thought bitterly, and the bird still had his cheese. At least it was flying lower now, but since Plagg didn’t know where he was, it really wasn’t much help.

Except… Plagg groaned and tried not to drool as the most amazing aroma hit his nose. It was like a choir of melty angels, calling him home…

“Well, you have fun pal.” He informed the pigeon, patting it fondly. “I’m out.”

The bird didn’t really seem to care, but since it had delivered him to a cheesy nirvana, Plagg was inclined to forgive it. Pushing up, he hovered for a moment, watching the bird (and his cheese) continue on, before diving down towards the building below.

Un fromagerie. An entire store filled with nothing but cheese. Swiss, parmesan, brie, muenster...everything from “abbaye de belloc” to “zwister” was there, including his beloved camembert. There were even a few specialty cheeses like Pule and Epoisses (though they were small in quantity, and the latter was in a specially sealed container).

Really, could he be blamed for taking just a teeny, tiny bite?

...Of everything?

He hadn’t meant to, honest, but it was cheese. Creamy swiss, tangy cheddar, mild muenster - even if camembert was his favorite, he loved them all. It wasn’t until he overheard a customer complaining about a chunk of the wheel missing, that he realized he may have gone just a bit overboard.

“What is this?” The shopkeeper muttered in mounting horror as he examined his wares. “What… What happened? The cheeses - they were fine this morning! Everything untouched and accounted for! What could have done this in such a short time?”

“Could it be mice?” The shop owner’s wife was examining the shelves.

“We’ll be ruined!” The owner wailed, arms flailing amusingly as he unashamedly panicked. “Word will get out that we’re infested with vermin, and nobody will come here! The restaurants will stop buying from us! The people will tell their families to go somewhere else! We’ll be run out of town!”

Sitting behind a particularly delicious red windsor, Plagg rather thought he was exaggerating. Stuffing another piece of it in his mouth, Plagg savored the port flavor and rolled his eyes are the man’s continuing histrionics. As if agreeing with him, the wife rolled her eyes, crossing to the door and flipping the open sign over to close the shop.

“Or,” she pointed out reasonably as the man continued to rant about how they would be living in the streets next week, “we could just take the nibbled cheeses off of the shelves? We can cut them up into smaller pieces and work about the bites, and sell them that way. Or set them out as samples. Not every wheel has been eaten, see? Just...one wheel of each. How odd.” She mused to herself as she wandered along the shelves, eyes narrowed as she scooped up the cheese Plagg had helped himself to.

Maybe it’s time for me to head out. Plagg mused, snagging another hunk of windsor for the road. Maybe he could get Adrien to buy him some? Then again, he had a good thing running with the camembert, no use giving the boy ammunition.

Ducking through the open door, Plagg found himself in the store room. He paused, his pilfered cheese half-forgotten in his palm as he surveyed rows and rows of cheeses. Far more than what was out front, certainly. Barrels and bins and shelves. Oak and cedar and glass and…

Chat Noir who? There were three other heroes; they didn’t need Chat Noir.

“The back!” The owner bellowed from the front. “We must hurry and make sure they have not defiled the stores!”

Stuffing the cheese into his mouth, Plagg darted under the lowest shelf, snugging himself in the shadows and ignoring the dust bunnies lingering there. Shoes squeaked past as the owner paced the shelves, muttering about mouse traps and pest control. Plagg was nervously considering his options when a knock sounded from the back door.

“Hello? Delivery!” Came the muffled voice from the other side.

“Ah! The cream.” The owner muttered, pausing in his inspection of his wares to open the door.

More shoes, and wheels, as a cart of dairy products entered. The two men chatted, pleasantries and idle conversation as milk and creams and cheeses found homes in refrigerated unit and on shelves.

“Go, or stay?” Plagg muttered to himself. On one hand, it was a cheese paradise. On the other, the two men were now talking about same-day exterminators and closing the store early.

At least the cart smelled of cheese. Also other dairy products, but cheese was in there. And delivery van was shiny, sunlight glinting off of chrome wheels. Maybe he could get a snack in there too, and it wouldn’t be so bad?

Taking advantage of the visible feet facing away from him, Plagg darted out from under the shelf and through the back door, swerving out of their line of sight as he made his way to the van. Ducking inside the back, he was disappointed to find that all of the wares were tightly sealed...and there wasn’t as much cheese as he had initially thought. A box or two, but it certainly didn’t compare to the cheese mecca he’d just left.

Sighing, Plagg phased through one of the cheese cartons, settling back onto the bed of shredded paper and patting the wheel of brie fondly. He kind of wanted more, but… his stomach was finally full. And it was dark and comfy, and smelled much better than a teenage boy’s backpack.

And with that being his last thought, Plagg drifted off.

It was the jostling that woke him up. The sensation of being lifted, the jolt of being set down, and the bumping as his crate was pushed along before the whole process repeated. Plagg blinked, bleary-eyed and confused, wondering where he was now, and how he was going to get home from here.

Wherever “here” was.

There were new voices, vaguely familiar ones as he was moved along. The delivery man, chatting as he pushed the cart. A cheerful, rumbling baritone from above signaled a tall man, and a softer sweeter alto came from lower down - probably a woman.

Plagg waited until everything was still and quiet before phasing out of the crate. He was in another store room, he thought. Not a cheese one, though, which was slightly disappointing. It was pitch dark, with only a sliver of light coming from the crack under the door. The voices were much further off, barely discernible even to his ears, so he figured it was safe to take a peek.

Just to be certain, Plagg stayed low as he went through the door, pausing on the other side to look around. Huge ovens were lined against a far wall, two bellowing noisily while the other two sat quiescent and awaiting use. A large block table took up most of the room, the shelf underneath it holding sacks of flour and containers of something sweet-smelling in a variety of colors. Two aged stools were shoved under the far end, paint chipping around the base of the legs. More shelves lined walls, holding rows of breads and cakes and supplies.

Plagg considered the two doors, each on an opposite side of the room. One was the stainless steel swinging type he associated with restaurants, and the other was plain wood. Voices and noises and chatter lay beyond the steel one, and Plagg could hear people talking, the sound of another door opening and closing, and the steady hum of traffic beyond that. The other...quiet.

Decisions, decisions… Plagg drifted around the room, unable to resist exploring his new surroundings while he considered his options.

“Alright, I’ll grab some more!”

The voice was too close for Plagg to safely duck back into the storage, so he darted up, settling behind a container of salt and a spice rack as a tall man lumbered into the area, swinging door squeaking in his wake.

That’s not a man, that’s a damn bear. Plagg mentally amended. The man was almost as hulking as that green guy Adrien occasionally watched on his television, with a barrel-like chest and arms, and the height to pull both off without looking like a gorilla. Still, he was fairly graceful despite his size, moving nimbly through the cramped space to the gleaming refrigerators that sat humming between the counter and the storage room door. Pulling open the gleaming silver door, he reached it and extracted a tray of dainty pastries, giving Plagg a tantalizing glimpse of something almost as coveted as his delicious camembert. Oblivious, the man shut the door and turned, humming as the swinging door signalled his exit.

Whispering a quick thank you to every (other) god he knew of, Plagg made a beeline for the refrigerator, phasing through it and hovering over the rack of chilled cheesecakes.

“But which to choose…?” He muttered to himself, eying them lined up like round soldiers awaiting inspection. And damn, if he wasn’t just the cat for the job. The raspberry cheesecake smelled heavenly, but the white chocolate made it too sweet. Same for the chocolate one. Another had glazed strawberries heaped on top, and Plagg paused to admire how they glistened, but...no.

Classic is always best, he decided, turning from inspecting the pecans crusting the top of the turtle one to grin at the original cheesecake sitting innocently in the middle. The perfect blend of sweet and creamy cheese. How was he supposed to resist?

Marinette swung through the bakery door, waving to her parents as she entered. Papa was setting chilled fruit tarts in a refrigerated display case, and mama was ringing up the customers at the register.

“Marinette!” Her father grinned at her. “Can you please grab a cheesecake from the back? We’re almost out.”

“Sure, Papa.” Marinette agreed, pausing to examine the case to determine which ones were already displayed. Sure enough, they had been rather popular today - raspberry especially. Nodding, Marinette pushed open the door into the kitchen, mind already reviewing what she needed to get done before patrol tonight. Opening the refrigerator door, Marinette gasped.

“Uh...meow?” The little black creature - kwami! - clearly hadn’t heard her coming. Frozen in shock, his paws were covered in cheesecake as his big green eyes blinked up at her in surprise.

“Are- Are-” Marinette stammered, torn between laughter and tears. A kwami! There was a kwami in their refrigerator, eating cheesecake.

Wait a second. Marinette’s eyes narrowed, taking in the carnage that had been a perfect and whole original cheesecake, and the kwami, presumably Plagg, that should have been with Chat!

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Marinette hissed, reaching out and snatching the little thing up. Cheesecake squished between her fingers as it gaped at her, his head poking out comically above her clenched fist. “What the hell are you doing here!”

“Um, well, there was a pigeon…” Plagg began nervously.

“Why are you not with Chat?” Marinette had swung fully from shock to anger, and was in no mood for word games.

“I told you!” Plagg’s eyes narrowed. “There was a pigeon.”

Marinette tightened her grip a bit and shook him. “You are supposed to be with Chat. Is he here? No! Then why are you?”

“I told you!” Plagg hissed. “Now lay off!”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Marinette frowned. “You have some explaining to do.”

“I am a god.” Plagg sneered from inside her fist. “I will smite you.”

“You are a menace, who is eating my parent’s livelihood.” Marinette snapped, bringing Plagg closer to her face.

“Plagg!” Tikki materialized next to her shoulder. “What are you doing here? Where’s Chat?”

“I keep trying to tell you!” Plagg wailed. “But someone won’t let me talk!”

“You are sitting in my fridge, covered in cheesecake.” Marinette said sternly. “Unless Chat is out front buying bread, you have no reason to be here. And even if he is out front buying bread, you have no reason to be eating the merchandise!”

“Marinette?” Her father’s voice sounded through the door, and all three creatures winced.

“Coming, Papa!” Marinette called, sighing and turning her gaze back to Plagg, who was still in her fist. “Okay. New plan. I am going to take Papa a cheesecake, and you are going to stay here and not touch anything until I return! Tikki, can you please guard him?”

“I can!” Tikki giggled. “Do you want us to go to your room instead? It might be safer there.”

Marinette eyed Plagg. “Can I trust you to do that?”

“On my honor as a cat.” Plagg intoned solemnly.

“I have far too much experience with cats to take that seriously.” Marinette drawled, rolling her eyes, “but I suppose it will have to do.”

“Me-ouch.” Plagg grumbled under his breath as Marinette released her grip. The two traded looks before Marinette turned, opening the refrigerator once more and withdrawing the ruined cheesecake. Sighing, she eyed Plagg balefully.

Next to him, Tikki nudged him. Hard.

“Sorry.” Plagg muttered.

Marinette’s wry smile said she didn’t buy it for a minute, but she didn’t call him out on it either a she tipped the rest of the cake into the trash before snagging the raspberry one and heading off.

“Come on, Plagg.” Tikki tugged on his arm imploringly.

By the time Marinette made it up to her room, the two kwami were sitting in her scrap basket, chatting. The two turned to look up at her as she entered.

“Okay.” Marinette gripped the bridge of her nose to ward off the impending headache. How did she get into these things? “Now, what actually happened? Is everything okay? Is Chat Noir alright?”

“Kitten’s fine.” Plagg’s head tilted to the side, his back leg coming up to scratch his ear in such a… a cat-like manner, that Marinette couldn’t take it. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Both kwami looked at her questioningly.

“You- you just looked like such a cat!” Marinette giggled, pointing to where Plagg’s paw was still poised mid-scratch.

Plagg huffed and lowered his leg, turning his face away from her. “If you’re gonna be like that-”

“Oh, stop.” Tikki chided, reaching over to pat him. “It is funny.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Marinette ruined the effect by giggling at Plagg’s obvious offense.

“No you’re not.” Plagg mumbled.

“Well, you weren’t sorry about the cheesecake.” Marinette shot back.

“What did you say to your parents, anyway?” Tikki injected as Plagg opened his mouth to reply.

“Oh.” Marinette blew out a breath that ruffled her bangs. “I told them I tripped and dropped it. Sad thing is, that’s completely believable. So, Plagg, what actually happened?”

“Oh, Marinette, you won’t believe it!” Tikki giggled, darting up to hover in front of her friend’s face excitedly. “It actually does involve a pigeon!”

“Really?” Marinette leaned around Tikki to give Plagg a questioning look.

Plagg harrumphed moodily. “Yes, Princess, it actually does. I wasn’t lying you know.”

“Oh no.” Marinette waved a finger at him, lips pursed. “I already have one cat calling me silly nicknames. I am not adding a second.”

“Sure about that, are you?” Plagg asked archly. When Marinette opened her mouth to reply, eyes narrowing, he asked “So, do you want to hear the story or not?”

Marinette paused and her mouth clicked shut as she debated the merits of continuing an argument she likely wouldn’t win, versus hearing Plagg’s tale. It wasn’t much of a contest, really.

“Hm.” She said finally, dropping to sit cross-legged next to the scrap basket. “Very well; you may continue.”

“Said the princess to the peon.” Plagg smirked, hurrying on as Marinette’s eyes narrowed. “So I was sitting on the balcony eating cheese, ‘cause I got tossed out of the bedroom, when this pigeon swoops down…”

#ml #Plagg Appreciation Week #We are Miraculous #Plagg's Day Out

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