A Cat Without A Home

You expect me to go away but I'm here to stay, meow.

"you," came the simple reply, like that answered everything.

Adrien gulped as he looked back at the boy dressed in a skintight leather cat suit... they even wore the same belt!

"Look, it's real cold out, and I haven't slept in ages ― literally. Will you please let me in," he said while pathetically skipping from foot to foot, teeth chattering.

Adrien blinked. He whipped his head over his shoulder. Nope, Plagg was still there, floating over and drooling on a mouldy blue cheese. Adrien shook his head in dismay.

The boy in the black cat suit sneezed. "Look, I swear I'm not some akumatized monster out to get you. And I'm not some creepy weirdo stalker wearing a Cat Noir costume either ― set your mind at ease." He sneezed again. "You aren't that popular anyway," he said sourly.

"But ―" then Adrien looked at the intruder's ring, it was flickering! "You're about to change back."

The boy pouted. "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"Okay," uncertainly, Adrien pulled the window open a little wider. The other cat boy jumped in.

Plagg broke out of his cheesy trance, turning to face the intruder. "Wha―?" Adrien shut the window.

"Claws in," the boy feebly mumbled, collapsing face-first on the floor.

Plagg's jaw fell to the desk as he watched an identical other Plagg fall to the carpeted floor right beside the boy. The duplicate Plagg had bruises all over its tiny body and seemed to be shivering with a heavy fever; its eyes would not open.

"So..." Adrien said with the best smile he could muster at the moment, "what should we do with them?"

Plagg turned to Adrien. There was an odd hiss to his tone as he spoke. "Why are you asking me? I'm not the one who let them in."

Adrien heaved a deep sigh. "You know, one of these days you're going to have to make an effort to be nicer to people."

"Why should I? People can't see me, anyway!" Plagg crossed his paws and stuck his snout up with a loud "hmmpf."

Adrien picked the other Plagg up carefully and placed him on a spare pillow by the fireplace. The poor little thing shivered in his hands. He bit his lip. He felt like he should be doing more, like he could be doing more. But he didn't know what or where to even start.

Next up was his own double. What made this even more confusing was how oddly similar this guy looked to him. It's like they were twin brothers, but Adrien knew for a fact he didn't have any siblings... he couldn't have any. Just who... was this dude?

He knelt beside him and checked the guy's pulse. It was weak, but he would live.

However when Adrien started hoisting the guy onto his shoulder, the dude groaned out in pain. Adrien blinked. He tried lifting him more carefully, but that only seemed to make matters worse.

The boy howled out in pain, the howl morphed into a choked hiss and then his eyes flashed open. Adrien was lost in a sea of green: those were his mom's eyes.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, placing the boy on his own bed.

Other Adrien smiled back faintly. "It's okay. I realize it must be quite the shock, seeing yourself like this."

"What happened to you?"

The guy let out a string of croaky chuckles. "It's a long story."

Adrien set his jaw. "I've got all night."

Still smiling, the guy shook his head. "Don't want to bore you with stupid stories."

Adrien frowned at him. He still had both hands on the boy's sides when a loud echoing knock rapped against his bedroom door. Adrien froze.

He had half the mind to mouth 'Quick, hide!' to Plagg, but faltered when he looked down at himself cradled in his own arms. Snap, how was he going to explain this?

"Adrien, is everything alright?"

That was Dad's voice.

Adrien cleared his throat.

"Adrien?"

"I'm fine! Snubbed my toe on the foosball table, no biggy." He winced, like that sounded believable.

Seconds passed in hushed silence.

Then he heard Dad groan from beyond the door. "Try to keep it down Son."

"Yes Sir!" he squeaked back.

A sigh, followed by footsteps moving away from the door.

Phew, that was a close call! Adrien glanced back down at...himself. "On second thought, it's best if you get some sleep. We can talk tomorrow."

His double gave him a smile in thanks.

"That is... if you... want... to talk?" Adrien finished uncertainly, cocking his head and twiddling his thumbs.

"We'll explain everything to you in due time ― me and Plagg, that is," the double said with a wheezy giggle. "Uhh... my Plagg."

Adrien smiled fondly down at him. "Okay man, get some rest."

The night passed without much issue. Adrien made himself a nest on the floor with the many spare pillows and cushions he had laying about his room. When morning came he woke with a yawn, stretching himself to full length.

He sat up and glanced at his own bed to find himself softly snoring, curled up to a ball under the blankets.

Adrien blinked, rubbed his eyes, but the image would not go away. "It's not a dream, then, I suppose..."

"No!" came the very loud and very pissed off reply from Plagg ― his Plagg. "It's not a dream!" The little kwami gestured wildly with his paws, tail swishing crossly. "All my cheese is GONE!"

Slowly Adrien stood on wobbly legs and wandered over to his desk. The tray with Plagg's treats looked empty. Plagg hissed at the other sleeping kwami that still looked badly beat up.

Adrien approached the cat slowly, reached out and ruffled its fur with his pinkie. He drew his hand back ― the kwami's body was unusually warm and sweaty with a bad fever. Adrien bit his lip, searching for a handkerchief or something he could use to cover the kwami like a blanket...

"Can you believe it?" Plagg went on, gesturing at the sleeping cat, "he even eats in his sleep!" He turned to glare at the other Plagg.

Adrien smirked. "Just like you then?"

He had finally located a kerchief to cover the kwami with, and waved off Plagg's outraged protests of "I'm nothing like him!" when a low moan from his bed caused him to twist on his heel. Adrien, the other Adrien, had woken up.

His left eye opened first, then his right. "What year is it?" other Adrien groaned out weakly.

Adrien blinked. "You mean you don't know what year it is?"

Other Adrien looked up at him and they made eye contact. The scowl from the night before, when Cat Noir had been freezing his tail off outside his bedroom window, was back on other Adrien's face. "No. I'm just asking you pointless questions to waste your time."

"Okay okay, Jeez! No need to get all passive aggressive on me, dude." Adrien held out his hands in a protective fashion. "I'm still processing all of this." He pursed his lip, "so are you like... from the future or something?" he blinked ― that would explain why there were two of them at the same time.

"I asked you first," came the grumpy response.

Apparently this kitty was from a future where he'd grown considerably crankier and less sociable... okay, Adrien could deal with that. He flashed his double the brightest smile. "It's the first year you got your powers!"

The double groaned. "In numbers?"

Adrien cocked his head in confusion. "Uhh... numbers?"

"I'm asking you what year it is, in exact numbers," the kitty growled out in an exasperated voice. "This information is of vital importance!"

Adrien blinked. "Oh! Oh! What year it is? d'you wanna know month and date too?" he said quickly, scrolling through his phone.

"Yes please."

Well at least he says please, Adrien thought to himself, means he can't be all that bad. "February 12th, 2022," he read out in an even tone.

A thoughtful expression crossed his double's face. "Thank you. I'm... not exactly from the future, well..." and here it got murky, "not from your future," the double bit his lip and tented his brows at Adrien, "at least I hope so..."

Adrien did a double take. "Not from... my future?" he gaped, "what do you mean?"

The double sat up, keeping the blanket around his shoulders. "I guess you could say... I'm from an alternate reality? Maybe?" he grimaced, "I don't know." With a sad shrug, Cat Noir Deux looked at the floor.

Adrien blinked at him. "But then... what are you doing here?"

Cat Noir raised his head and looked back at him with the saddest smile Adrien had ever seen himself pull. "Help you avoid making the biggest mistake of your life?"