(Originally written for AU YEAH AUgust, Prompt 3 - Single Parent)

For everyone who's ever had a furbaby.

A Whole New World

Adrien stepped out of his car and grabbed Plagg, holding the giant, grumbling cat close as they laid eyes on their new house for the first time. (Well, not exactly his first time, he'd walked through it with the real estate agent, of course, but not with his precious roommate and best friend.)

"Just think, Plagg," he said to the cat. "No more cold marble stairs for you to slip on, no more being locked inside, no more Father to jerk us around and tell us to stay in our room unless he needs us for something… just you and me, buddy. A place of our own."

His stuff hadn't even arrived yet, and this tiny two-bedroom already looked like heaven.

Plagg yowled irritably.

"I know, I know," Adrien sighed. "I'll feed you here in a moment. But the vet said you needed to diet anyway, fatso. Just wait until I get all my stuff in from the car."

Plagg made another unhappy noise.

Adrien sighed and walked up to the door, shifting to get his keys out. His new little house even had a fenced backyard, so he could let his massive cat out to play once in a while. God knew Plagg needed it. Even if his enormous bedroom had been large enough for Plagg to run around in, he'd always yowled when there wasn't enough sunlight streaming through. The cat needed fresh air. And Adrien already had big plans for making their new house the best kind of home for both of them.

A sanctuary instead of a prison.

He opened the door and breathed deeply. The house smelled like dust and cleaning supplies, but it was all his. Well, his and Plagg's, he corrected, as he put his cat down in the middle of the floor. True to feline form, Plagg started sniffing everything.

Content that his friend would be occupied for the next few minutes, Adrien went out to the car to get a load of stuff. His furniture didn't come until tomorrow, but he was more than willing to sleep a night on the floor if it was in his very own place.

When he came back with his arms full, however, Plagg attempted to run out the open door. Adrien just barely caught him.

He was not prepared to search for his cat in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

"C'mon, you," he said, lifting his fluffy companion into his arms. "I'm gonna show you the back yard. Grass, sunlight… it's all yours, buddy. And it's fenced, so I don't need to worry about you running away."

Plagg perked up as soon as Adrien opened the door from the kitchen to the backyard, and Adrien smiled as he set him down on the grass. True, the backyard wasn't very big, but it did have a six-foot high wooden fence, so he didn't need to worry about Plagg trying to jump it. Maybe he could even install some kind of cat-flap in the kitchen door, so Plagg could come and go as he pleased…

Plagg spotted something and took off running towards the far-end of the fence. Adrien grinned and turned to go back inside the house to finish bringing his stuff in, when he heard a strange swinging sound.

He spun around just in time to see Plagg's tail disappear in between two of the planks of the fence. Apparently, one of the boards had come loose enough to move.

He heard a scream from the other side.

"Plagg, no!" he yelped, chasing his cat. He grabbed at the board Plagg had disappeared behind. Sure enough, it took little to no effort to swing it aside and peek his head through.

The blood drained from his face.

A young mother and her child lived here. And Plagg was currently laying on top of the crying toddler, while his mom looked like she was two seconds from beating his cat to death with a shovel.

"NO! No, please!" Adrien cried, before he could help himself. Plagg was all he had! And… his cat wouldn't really attack a child, would he? "Please, please!" He pleaded, struggling to get through the fence. "I'll get him! I'll pay—"

And then, both he and the mother realized that the little boy wasn't screaming. He was squealing with glee and hugging the massive ball of fluff on top of him.

"Kitty! Kitty!" he shrieked delightedly.

Plagg slowly turned his head to face Adrien, a look of pure satisfaction on his face as he started a loud, rumbling purr. Adrien was dumbfounded. Plagg liked kids? Plagg? The same cat that would hiss at Nathalie and made an effort to be as annoying as possible to his father?

"Louis? Are you okay?" the mother called softly.

"Kitty, Mama!" the toddler babbled happily. "Mama, mama! Kitty!"

"Yes, I see the kitty," she said, giving her child a weak smile before turning to Adrien. He gulped at the hardness in her blue eyes.

"I am so sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't know the fence was loose."

"My landlord said he fixed that," she said, frowning at the fence. She gave a long, drawn-out sigh. "Don't know why I'm surprised he didn't. Your cat, is he dangerous?"

"No, no, Plagg is—" Well, friendly wasn't the word he'd use to describe the feline. Up until now, the only person he'd allow to touch him, aside from Adrien, was the Gorilla. And that was only to curl up in the big guy's lap. "He's never done anything like this before," Adrien finally said.

He watched as Plagg finally got off the kid enough to let him sit up, then promptly headbutted him. The dark-haired child squealed with joy and hugged the cat's head.

Adrien spared a glance over at the mother. Damn, she was cute. Dark hair, bright eyes, a kind face, nice body… She glanced at him and he quickly looked away, hoping she hadn't caught him checking her out. Gah, Adrien, you're screwing this all up!

"Umm, I'm—I'm Adrien," he said shakily, holding out his hand.

She studied him for a moment before she took it. "Marinette," she replied.

God, even her name was cute.

"I, um… I'm really sorry about all this," he stammered.

Marinette sighed. "No harm, no foul," she said with a shrug. "C'mon, Louis, time to go inside."

"'kay!" her son chirped, happily trying to pick up Plagg and carry him inside.

Adrien smothered a smile with his hand. He wouldn't be surprised if Plagg actually weighed more than the boy. There was no way….

"Louis, the kitty needs to go back home with Mr. Adrien," Marinette said gently.

"No!" Louis shouted, hugging Plagg tightly. "My kitty! Mine!"

"No, Louis," she said with a patient sigh. "The kitty's home is with Mr. Adrien. Besides, we have Tikki."

"No hug," Louis said with a pout.

"Well, that's true," Marinette said with a frown. "You can't hug the hamster. But you've got plenty of stuffed animals inside."

"Inside! Inside! Kitty, come in!" Louis shouted, trying to tug Plagg towards the door again.

His mother let out another sigh. "No, Louis. The kitty has to go to Mr. Adrien's house now."

Louis, now realizing that he was about to be separated from his new friend, started to cry. Marinette tried to pick him up, but he tightened his hold on Plagg so hard that Adrien had to step in and grab the cat; he and Marinette working together to separate the two.

"I'm really sorry about this," Adrien said again, holding a squirming Plagg and hoping Marinette could hear him over Louis's screams.

She just waved at him, already carrying her son back to their house.

Adrien kept a firm grip on Plagg until they were back inside their kitchen.

…

Hoping to make up for such a horrible first impression, Adrien resolved to try to fix the fence himself that very same day. He'd bought himself a hammer after all, and he had a few nails; how hard could it be?

Apparently, harder than he'd thought, he mused, glaring at the bunch of bent and twisted nails he'd managed to get into the wood. His fingers were sore from where he'd missed the nail with the hammer, his foot was sore from when he'd accidentally dropped the hammer, Plagg was glaring at him from the kitchen window….

"May I ask what you're doing?" came a female voice on the other side of the fence. Adrien jerked.

Marinette!

"I… uh, just wanted to fix this! Don't want a repeat of earlier!" he laughed awkwardly.

"Hmm, well, just nailing into the board randomly isn't going to help anything," she replied, easily pushing the loose plank aside to prove her point. Adrien felt his face flush as she smiled at him from the opening. "You completely missed the rail."

"Oh."

She's. So. Fecking. Cute. And she must think I'm such a loser, he thought to himself in despair. Can't even fix a fence!

"I—um… I can try again," he said quickly. "I just need to go get some more nails—"

"Don't worry about it, Adrien," she said, holding up her hand to stop him. "I'll take care of it later."

"No, really, I can—"

"I've been trying to put Louis down for a nap all afternoon, but you keeping making so much noise, he keeps waking up."

Adrien paled. "Oh—I'm sorry!" he exclaimed.

"It's fine, it's fine," Marinette assured him. "And thank you for trying. Just, don't worry about it for now, okay?"

"Yeah, sure!" he immediately agreed. She smiled at him.

"Good luck getting moved in," she said, letting the fence plank swing shut. "It's supposed to storm in a couple hours."

Adrien looked up. Sure enough, clouds were beginning to roll in.

Great. Just, great.

…

Later that night, he huddled with Plagg in the middle of the floor as thunder crashed outside. Or rather, he tried to cuddle with Plagg. Tried to pet him, to calm him down, but he couldn't really blame the cat for hissing and yowling, his fur standing on end. Every crash resounded through their empty rooms like gunshots. Finally, Adrien got up to make himself a cup of tea to calm himself.

Not exactly how he'd expected to spend his first night in his new place.

Plagg wandered into the kitchen, still growling and hissing irritably with each new flash.

"I know, buddy, I know," Adrien said soothingly, bending down to pet the cat.

Plagg hissed at him and sidestepped away, only to stop at the door. He yowled loudly and stood on his hindlegs to paw at the door.

"No, buddy, trust me, you do not wanna go out there," Adrien said. "It'll be even louder, plus rain."

Plagg yowled insistently.

"Wat-er," Adrien emphasized.

He yowled again, and started scratching at the door.

"Fine, you wanna see?" Adrien said, confidant that Plagg would run back inside the moment he saw the rain. He opened the door.

Plagg was outside in a flash.

Belatedly, Adrien remembered he hadn't properly fixed the fence yet.

"Plagg, no!" he yelled, chasing after the cat. Too late. Plagg was already through. Cursing, Adrien chased him through the rain, brushing water irritably out of his eyes when he got hung up in the fence. Really, this wasn't wide enough for a grown man to fit through, but if he turned sideways and pushed…

His pajama pants got caught on one of the bent nails from earlier. Adrien screamed in frustration.

COULD THIS GET ANY WORSE?!

He froze as his neighbor's door opened; Marinette's figure framed in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, obviously a little upset that he was trying to break into her backyard late at night.

"I'm—"I'm sorry!" Adrien yelped as his skin brushed against one of the nails. "It's Plagg! He's—"

His words died as she stomped over to him in the rain.

"You're going to get tetanus if you're not careful!" she scolded, helping him free his pajama pants and step out of the fence. "You really need to take these nails out tomorrow."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry!" he sobbed. God, he was so pathetic… his father was right, he wasn't ready to live on his own—

"It's all right, Adrien," Marinette's voice broke through his despair. "I know how stressful moving can be. You don't have to keep apologizing. Now, what's wrong with your cat?"

"He got out," Adrien said miserably. "And he headed straight for your house." He gestured to her home, where her back door was still hanging open from when she'd come to help him.

Her eyes widened. "Louis!" she gasped, sprinting for her house. Adrien followed her, hoping against hope that Plagg had behaved himself and he wouldn't have to apologize again….

They scrambled inside, tripping over each other, only to freeze in the entryway to her living room. Adrien gasped—part of him noticing the sweet, sweet scent of fresh cookies—at the scene in front of him.

Little Louis was curled up on one end of the couch with a blanket… and Plagg. The toddler was mumbling happily as Plagg purred and kneaded on him, both of them looking half-asleep already. Adrien risked a look at Marinette. She was gaping.

"I have been trying for hours to get him asleep," she whispered. "He hates storms, so I let him sleep out here, but…."

"Plagg too," Adrien admitted softly. "He's been yowling and hissing all night long."

But no longer. In fact, both boy and cat were already asleep, curled up tightly with each other, even though the storm was still raging outside.

Both he and Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at him amusedly.

"Well, I guess I'll get you a towel," she said, flicking water off her own skin. "And… do you want a cup of coffee?"

He smiled, his whole night suddenly looking a lot better.

"I'd love one."

End.